Chinatown will be glowing bright with this lovely lantern installation.
Sadly, winter is on its way as the nights are getting darker, but one part of Birmingham which will be shining bright this month is Chinatown, with the arrival of a series of colourful, illuminated lanterns. Thirty giant, magic lanterns will be strung across The Arcadian in Birmingham’s Chinatown this Friday, with the eye-catching designs set to remain in place until November 15.
The lanterns are here in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the most important harvest event in Chinese culture. To celebrate, colourful lanterns in all forms are carried as beacons to bring prosperity and good fortune, although there’s another driving force behind this particular display.
These lanterns are promoting Netflix‘s sweet new animated film Over The Moon, with scenes from the film (telling the story of Fei Fei and Bungee the Rabbit’s trip to the Moon in search of Chang’e the Moon Goddess, whose tale first inspired the Mid-Autumn Festival) depicted across the lanterns. 12,000 LED lights help bring the story to life, and all I can say is, if you’re a brand looking to drum up interest with a publicity stunt, you’d better make it at least as enchanting as this one.
The lanterns were created by Liverpool‘s Lantern Company – who have also worked on displays for London’s mesmerising Lumiere festival, amongst other commissions- and this light installation has also illuminated the streets of London from this Wednesday (21 October). Birmingham’s display will be illuminated from Friday (October 23), and will be in residence for a shade over three weeks.
You need not worry as organisers have confirmed that wandering through the lovely lantern trail can be easily done whilst following all the coronavirus safety guidelines.
Pop into the restaurants and businesses around the lantern display, and you’ll be able to pick up limited edition treats inspired both by the film and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Tasty, magical, charitable – that’s quite the hat-trick! Birmingham businesses, Caffe Di Milano, Chung Ying, Ming Moon and Cafe Chino will be getting involved throughout the months of October and November as part of the celebrations.