Since China became a Republic, the celebrating of the Feast of Lanterns has tended more and more io pass into the realm of forgotten things, especially in the last ten years, since the Nationalist Government has been in power. The latter has frowned upon the practice of packed tight in their Peking carts peering through the small square window or out of the open fronts, where sat the drivers and trusted male attendants. Often the crowd would be so dense as to make progress impossible, but always it was a good natured crowd, bent on amusement.
A brief excursion through some of the back streets of Shanghai during the past few days has revealed the fact that the local Chinese population appears to be preparing to celebrate the Feast of Lanterns this year as it has not done for quite a considerable period. Many small shops are filled to overflowing with gay lanterns, and large numbers of people have been seen buying these and parading them indulging in ancient superstitions, and has tried to abolish the use of the old lunar calendar and its many festivals. In former days, however, the Teng Chieh was without doubt the most picturesque of all the fes-rivals celebrated by the Chinese people, On the days and nights immediately preceding it the youths of every city and village in China paraded the streets with long dragon-lanterns and illuminated floats, hobby-horses and lions, stopping at frequent intervals to indulge in what might be fermed set dances in which the dragon-lanterns were made to perform wonderful evolutions and the floats, hobby-horses and lions to whirl about in mad gyrations to the rhythmic beat of drums, the clash of cymbals and the wail and blare of trumpets. By daylight these performances were impressive enough. but at night they were truly spectacular. On the final night the activities of these celebrators would be redoubled and carried on far into the small hours of the following day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.