A temple fair at Ditan Park, where Chinese emperors used to worship the earth, opened here Sunday morning to herald a traditional festivity during the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 12 this year.

For the first time in its 17-year history, the Ditan Temple Fair this year will feature ice lanterns and ice sculptures from the snow-covered city of Harbin in northeast China.

Entertainment options include a skating rink and elephant- shaped ice slides, and other children's games made of ice and snow have been set up to draw crowds of kids, who are historically the most enthusiastic visitors to temple fairs.

As one of the most influential fairs in Beijing, the Ditan event also offers Chinese folk art performances, including Chinese operas, comic dialogs, acrobatics, mini-carvings, mask drawings, clay figurines and magic shows.

The annual event is one of the four major cultural events for the general public, along with the Ice Lantern Festival in Harbin, the Lantern Show in Zigong, southwest Sichuan Province, and the Kite Festival in Weifang, east China's Shandong Province.

Over 10 temple fairs are held in Beijing each year, attracting over 5 million visitors. Most of the other fairs will open Monday.

( China Daily February 11, 2002)