the festival Lantern s'installe for the first time in Europe

IN IMAGES - China has chosen the city of Tarn, Gaillac, to discover The fairy tales of China, a spectacle of lights. Magic guaranteed.

The Middle Kingdom is coming to the south of France this winter. While the panda "Yuan Meng", lent by Beijing, was baptized by Brigitte Macron Monday at the Beauval Zoo (Loir-et-Cher), Gaillac (Tarn) offers a unique show in Europe: the Festival of Lanterns, Féeries de China, a popular tradition held in Zigong and exported for the first time to Europe. Until January 31, the show illuminates the twin city of Zidong, in its listed site of Foucaud Park. And since its launch on December 1, more than 23,000 tickets have already been sold, 8,000 people having already discovered last weekend.

More than forty artisans from the Sichuan region worked for forty days to create 36 thematic paintings - six of which represent the identity of Gaillac, with a nod to the Griffoul fountain, the vineyard and the dovecotes .

In total, nearly 500 light sculptures radiate under the stars of Gaillac sky, where 5,000 bulbs were installed, not counting the LED lighting on the ground and in the trees with fireflies. Not to mention the painstaking work of setting up silk and painting to bring animals to life.

"It winds in the park, with a system of hooks stars plates, bowls, dice to alcohol. His head moves and he spits fire. "
Valérie Boutet

A luminous dragon was thus built on a welded iron base with 15,000 Chinese porcelains connected to each other by hand over a length of 80 meters. "It winds in the park, with a system of hooks stars plates, bowls, dice to alcohol. His head moves and he spits fire, "explains Le Figaro, Valérie Boutet, director of communication of the city of Gaillac and one of the project leaders of the Festival.

Another highlight of this festival launched during the Tang Dynasty (618-907): a reproduction of the temple of the sky of Beijing seventeen meters high, cultural jewel of the Chinese tradition dating back to the fifteenth century. Pandas with their bamboo, zebras or lotus flowers also have their place among the works. Four fantastic animals - the qilins, a mixture of lion and lucky dragon - that were made using 60,000 colorful medicine vials.

50,000 expected spectators

The arrival of this festival in France was born from a cooperation between the Gaillac Museum of Fine Arts and the Beijing Art Museum, which proposed the exhibition of 150 works of his collection, as of next June. The Association of Chinese People for Friendship Abroad considered that this relationship could be extended with a twinning of the cities of Zigong and Gaillac and on this occasion, the Festival of Lanterns was proposed.

"Zigong is a Chinese city inscribed in history. This is the cradle of the Lantern Festival, which began exporting in the 60s and 80s around the world, especially in the United States and Canada, "says the director of communication of the city of Gaillac. "We welcomed 8000 spectators during the first three days (the festival started on December 1, ed) and expect around 50,000," she continues.