Confucius Museum in Qufu, a county-level city in Jining, East China's Shandong province, launched a variety of activities starting on Feb 24 to celebrate the upcoming Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb 26 this year.

The celebration, which will last until the end of this month, includes diverse activities like making sweet dumplings and lanterns carved out of radishes, so that visitors can experience local festival traditions.

A special kind of lantern made of soybean flour is also being displayed at the events. These lanterns are shaped like the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, representing 12 months of a year. In addition, several intangible cultural heritages distinct to Qufu, including Dazhuang silk flowers, Fulin cloth tigers, as well as paper-cutting, are being exhibited to showcase the city's rich traditional culture.

A lantern made of soybean flour is shaped like a mouse, one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At a special section in the museum set up for the festival, visitors can guess riddles written on a dozen lanterns which are hanging from the roof.

Visitors can guess the riddles written on the lanterns. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]