To celebrate Lantern Festival, the Square at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) was adorned with colorful lights on the evening of Feb 12. Faculty and students gathered to admire the lanterns, eat tangyuan (glutinous rice balls), solve lantern riddles, enjoy lion dances, and experience the joyous and festive atmosphere.

As night fell, nearly 1,000 ordinary transparent basins were placed into a pool by faculty and students. They turned into dazzling floating lanterns under the reflection of the lights, symbolizing good wishes.

Floating lanterns crafted from transparent basins and light strips glow like fireflies. [Photo/news.hzau.edu.cn]

Under the exquisite lanterns, various riddle slips fluttered in the wind. In addition to traditional word puzzles, the organizing committee also designed riddles related to the school's culture and life sciences, which faculty and students enthusiastically tried to solve.

Subsequently, majestic lion dances elicited cheers from the faculty and students. Guided by members of the lion dance team, some faculty members and students even put on lion heads and lion costumes and tried lion dancing themselves, some of them using props such as stilts.

A lion dance draws a large audience of teachers and students. [Photo/news.hzau.edu.cn]

On the west side of the square, steam rose from large pots, filling the air with the sweet fragrance of tangyuan and attracting a long line of hungry faculty and students.

Late into the night, the Lantern Festival event finally came to a close, marking the beginning of a new, shared journey for the faculty and students.