A six-metre-tall Rabbit Lantern, together with hundreds of smaller sky lanterns, illuminates the night sky as locals and foreign visitors celebrate the Lantern Festival and the Year of the Rabbit. The launching of sky lanterns, once a custom of the northern township of Pingxi, has now become a world famous event held annually during Lunar New Year celebrations, with participants writing their wishes on the lanterns and sending them into the sky. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES
