Chinese lanterns light up winter for one small town in south of France
- Gaillac in the Tarn region has decided to recreate the celebrated light show staged in its twin city of Zigong in Sichuan
As darkness falls each winter night in the little French town of Gaillac, the glow of dusk is replaced with another – that of a thousand colourful Chinese silk lanterns.
The thousand-year-old town in the southwestern Tarn region, known for its wines, was not the most obvious place to launch what it trumpets as “the biggest Chinese event in France”.
But Gaillac happens to be twinned with Zigong, a city in China’s Sichuan province which is famous for its lantern festival.
For the second winter running Gaillac has transformed into a miniature version of its Sichuan twin, lighting up nightly with a dazzling array of giant lanterns in the form of dragons, flowers, birds and pandas.
Among the delighted spectators was a 90-year-old who gave her name as Simone, taking photographs of the imperial palace stretching 75 metres (250 feet).