Source: Nanchong Information Office

NANCHONG, CHINA  - 9 February 2026 - On February 4, at a briefing on cultural and tourism activities for the 2026 Spring Festival hosted by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Nanchong City announced an extended Spring Festival holiday (from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the sixteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year, that is, from January 26 to March 4 of the solar calendar), inviting visitors from around the world to Langzhong, known as the "Ancient City of the World and Birthplace of the Spring Festival", to experience the most authentic and abundant traditions of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The celebrations feature a wide range of programs designed to offer residents and visitors alike an immersive cultural experience. Visitors can explore the "Langzhong Stone Rubbing Exhibition for the Lunar New Year", which showcases precious rubbings of stone inscriptions dating back 1,500 years, and trace the past through their tangible imprints. They may also encounter the "Old Man of the Spring Festival" roaming the streets in traditional costumes to bestow blessings and offer traditional New Year's greetings.

To enrich the visitor experience, the ancient city has curated a wide array of interactive experiences, with millennium-old folk customs unfolding one after another. A vibrant intangible cultural heritage (ICH) market will present more than 40 nationally and provincially recognized ICH items. Visitors can try their hand at crafting delicate shadow puppets or cutting festive paper window decorations. They may also choose to watch a performance of the Ba Commandery Nuo Opera, a representative ICH item of Sichuan Province that blends ancient ritual practices with folk opera and carries a distinctive sense of regional mystique. Running throughout the festive period, the New Year Grand Temple Fair brings together cultural performances, themed exhibitions, and modern recreational attractions. Whether watching the large-scale cultural stage play Legend of Langyuan or experiencing water tours or low-altitude flights, visitors of all ages are sure to be thoroughly entertained.

Langzhong's reputation as the "Ancient City of the World and Birthplace of the Spring Festival" stems from Luo Xiahong, an astronomer of the Western Han Dynasty, who compiled the groundbreaking Taichu Calendar here. Luo was the first to incorporate the 24 solar terms into the Chinese calendrical system and to designate the first day of the first lunar month as the official start of the year, thereby establishing the Spring Festival as a fixed annual celebration. For this historic contribution, he is revered as the original "Old Man of the Spring Festival". This calendar profoundly shaped Chinese agriculture and folk life for more than two millennia, securing Langzhong's place as one of the cradles of Spring Festival culture. Today, Langzhong Ancient City stands ready to extend its warmest welcome to every visitor from afar, offering the most authentic New Year customs and the most heartfelt warmth of its people.

Photo: Crowds fill the streets of Langzhong Ancient City, Langzhong City, Sichuan Province.

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