Baotu Spring Lantern Festival

The Baotu Spring Lantern Festival is a traditional folk cultural event held annually in Jinan, Shandong Province. As a traditional lantern festival, the Baotu Spring Lantern Festival has a long history. Every year on the Lantern Festival, the roofs, trees, water, and houses around Baotu Spring are decorated with lanterns, including dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, and crab lanterns. There is a saying in Jinan that "if you don't go to Baotu Spring to see the lanterns, it's not really the New Year." Jinan is famous for its many springs, with 72 famous springs, and Baotu Spring is the most famous of them all, known as the "Number One Spring in the World." Baotu Spring has a recorded history dating back 3,500 years to the Shang Dynasty. The ancient "Licheng County Annals" provides a detailed description of Baotu Spring: "The spring gushes from the ground, with three holes erupting, snow-like waves several feet high, and a sound like thunder, the same in winter and summer." Legend has it that when Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty traveled to the south, he brought Yuyuan Spring water from Beijing. When he reached Jinan and tasted the water from Baotu Spring, he was so impressed that he immediately ordered his entourage to switch to Baotu Spring water, calling it "Yuyuan Baotu," and declared Baotu Spring the "Number One Spring in the World."