The Shanghai International Light Festival is set to illuminate the city once again, kicking off in mid-to-late September and running for a full month, the Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau announced on April 2.

This year’s festival will cover more than 30 commercial districts, including Xujiahui, according to Le Jiahua, an official with the bureau.

To enhance the festival experience and boost local spending, businesses are encouraged to offer special discounts for ticket holders.

Leading travel platforms will also collaborate with over 50 tourist attractions to introduce bundled packages, such as combo tickets for the festival and a Huangpu River cruise or admission to the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Shanghai will further enhance its nighttime allure by upgrading landscape lighting along key sections of the Inner Ring Road, including areas in Putuo, Jing’an, Changning, Yangpu, and Hongkou districts.

This will create a striking Shen(申)-shaped nightscape belt along the city’s elevated roads. "Shen"(申) is an abbreviation of Shanghai.

The Xuhui waterfront and the Putuo section of Suzhou Creek will also see upgraded nighttime illumination.

The first Shanghai International Light Festival, held from Sept 19 to Oct 18 last year, attracted more than 16.2 million visitors from China and abroad, generating over 3.8 billion yuan in related spending.

The festival has since grown into China’s largest public light festival in terms of scale, coverage, diversity of activities, and cultural impact.

Source: Jiefang Daily