Crossing Tongji Bridge – Foshan's time-honored festival tradition

Every Lantern Festival, the entire city of Foshan, South China's Guangdong province, gathers for one thing: Crossing Tongji Bridge.

For more than 400 years, this ancient bridge has been the place to be during the festival. On the 15th and 16th days of the first month of the Chinese calendar, families grab their windmills for luck, lettuce for wealth, and walk across the bridge from north to south, chanting "Crossing Tongji Bridge, troubles go away".

This year, from March 2 to 4, the tradition returns with a charity parade, lion dances, and night markets, bringing together the old and the new.