Beijing parks present 109 cultural events for Spring Festival holiday

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Parks across Beijing have staged 109 cultural events for the ongoing eight-day Spring Festival holiday to spice up the festive atmosphere, according to the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau on Tuesday.

As this year's Spring Festival coincides with the Year of the Dragon or the Year of the Loong, the popular parent-child destination, the Beijing Zoo, organized a zodiac exhibition covering 170 square meters.

Folk arts have proven to be another crowd-pleaser throughout the holiday season. Over 15 parks in the Chinese capital, including the Temple of Heaven and Beihai Park, greet visitors with folk arts activities such as calligraphy, lantern-making, and sugar-figurine blowing, said Ma Hong, head of the bureau's park administration office.

As a heated tourist city during the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing parks received more than 1.52 million visits on Tuesday, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, up 119.45 percent year on year, official data showed.

The Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is China's most important festival, falling on Feb. 10 this year.