BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | In pictures: China's Lantern Festival

Chinese communities celebrated the traditional Lantern Festival on Tuesday. The colourful and sometimes noisy occasion marks the end of the Lunar New Year festivities which started on 12 February.

This traditional-style gateway is carved from ice at a lantern festival in Beijing.

The sculptors also paid tribute to the victims of 11 September by recreating the World Trade Center's twin towers.

In Tianjin, east of Beijing, a crowd gathered to watch a performance at a temple.

... and between shows, a member of the cast took a break.

Sign of the times: A lantern in Daxing, south of Beijing, expresses hope that China's WTO membership will bring prosperity.


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