Preparations for the 2014 Datong Lantern Festival are set to start, on Jan 3, in Datong county, Shanxi province, with plans for 12 categories of fabulous ice lanterns as the highlights, for an extraordinary visual feast for locals and tourists.

The organizing committee have asked famous ice and snow artists, special lighting effects professionals, and ice lantern technicians to help with the show and have announced that ice lantern designs include a 56-meter-long ice lantern with the name “Flying over the Great Wall” to show the beauty of the Great Wall, horse-shaped ice lanterns for the coming “Year of the Horse”, an “Eiffel Tower”, and “Macau church facade” that display the technicians’ extraordinary skills.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw