Preview of the Changhai County Fishermen's Spring Festival Activities
The 2026 Changhai County Fishermen's Folk Spring Festival will be held starting February 5th on Dachangshan Island and multiple locations across the county. With the theme "Fishing Lights Illuminate the New Spring, Celebrating the New Year on the Island," it blends century-old fishing customs with traditional New Year culture to create an immersive island New Year experience. The event includes eight major sections: lantern exhibitions, cultural performances, intangible cultural heritage markets, calligraphy blessings, sea lantern releasing ceremonies, sea worship and blessing rituals, yangge dance performances, and lantern riddle guessing. The activities span from February 5 to March 3, 2026 (the fifteenth day of the lunar new year), covering important festive occasions such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, and Sea God Festival.
["Brilliant Lanterns Celebrate the New Year, Beautiful Changhai" 2026 Spring Festival Lantern Exhibition]
From February 5 to March 2026, the Dachangshan Island Wetland Park will showcase 30 sets of special lanterns centered on the theme "Strengthening by the Sea." The exhibition integrates local IP images reflecting Changhai’s island ecology, fishery industry, and urban landscape, combined with modern light and shadow technology to present a visual feast blending traditional craftsmanship and digital art. It is the most influential and popular cultural tourism highlight during the Spring Festival.
[New Year Series of Cultural Performances]
From February 25 to 27, 2026 (the 9th to 11th day of the lunar new year), the County Cultural Center Theater will host three consecutive special performances: a cultural volunteers’ show, a youth show, and a Golden Autumn Art Troupe show. These include songs, dances, instrumental music, skits, and crosstalk, performed passionately by local folk art groups, delivering authentic island voices and New Year blessings.
["Celebrate the New Year with Intangible Cultural Heritage" Island Intangible Cultural Heritage Market]
Starting at 8:30 AM on February 9, 2026, the County Cultural Center Plaza will open a one-stop intangible cultural heritage New Year market featuring 16 stalls selling representative intangible cultural heritage products from Changhai and various districts and counties of Dalian. The site includes a New Year goods area, performance area (drums, yangge dance, stilts), and folk experience area (pitch-pot, ring toss), offering visitors opportunities to shop, watch, taste, and play.
["Brush Spring Blessings, Sending Fortune to Thousands of Homes" Calligraphy Blessing Event]
From February 6 to 11, 2026, calligraphy masters and intangible cultural heritage enthusiasts will conduct on-site "order-style" writing at the County Cultural Center (February 9), Yangjia Village (8:30 AM, February 6), Sanguanmiao Village (afternoon, February 6), and Dongshan Community (February 11). They will freely give away Spring Festival couplets, "Fu" characters, paper cuttings, fishing lanterns, Chinese knots, and handmade blessing bags filled with New Year wishes.
["Lanterns Shine on Changhai, Blessings Fill Fishermen’s Homes" Changhai Sea Lantern Releasing Ceremony]
On March 1, 2026 (the 13th day of the lunar new year), the Dachangshan Island beach will host the provincial intangible cultural heritage event—the Changhai Sea Lantern Releasing Ceremony. It will showcase sea lantern making techniques and exhibitions, and organize citizens and tourists to release hundreds of ecological sea lanterns together, presenting a solemn yet romantic island blessing scene with hundreds of lanterns floating on the sea and starlight reflecting on the waves.
[Qixiang Garden Sea Worship and Sanyuan Palace Blessing Activities]
On March 1, 2026 (the 13th day of the lunar new year), Qixiang Garden and Sanyuan Palace on Dachangshan Island will open simultaneously. The garden’s colorful lanterns will be renewed, integrating lantern exhibitions, sea god worship, and blessing ceremonies. The nighttime sea lantern releasing event creates a solemn, mysterious, warm, and harmonious island folk atmosphere, making it the core place to experience fishermen’s faith culture.
["Colorful Silk Ribbons Dance, Yangge Celebrates Spring" 2026 New Year Yangge Dance Performance]
On March 3, 2026, the Dachangshan Island Seaside Square will host a grand island yangge dance festival. Eight teams from Dachangshan Island Town and Xiaochangshan Island Town, with over 600 performers, will participate. Incorporating powerful gongs and drums and folk percussion elements, the lively and passionate rhythms showcase the islanders’ spirited and optimistic spirit and rich New Year customs.
["Fishing Lanterns Illuminate Riddles, Enjoy the Lantern Festival" Lantern Riddle Guessing and Lantern Viewing Event]
On the evening of March 3, 2026 (the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the lunar new year), over 500 lanterns combining New Year themes and island elements will be hung at the County Government Plaza. The county intangible cultural heritage drum and yangge team will perform live. A lantern riddle guessing area and intangible cultural heritage folk experience zone will be set up simultaneously, creating an immersive festive atmosphere full of joy and celebration.
Come to Changhai and follow the fishermen’s songs to a New Year celebration between mountains and sea. Read the island’s story in the flowing lantern lights, touch faith in the flickering sea lanterns, feel passion in the booming drums, and rediscover the warmth of New Year customs in the intangible cultural heritage fireworks!