Yesterday was Children’s Day, and Hangzhou gave the city’s kids a dazzling gift of light and color. That evening, the “Big and Small Lotuses” (two colossal stadiums for the past Asian Games), along with the Qianjiang New City light show, put on a special Children’s Day themed display. And starting June 1, the regular light show along the Qiantang River officially switched to its “summer edition,” bringing a more seasonal, summer-vibe visual feast to residents and tourists alike, set to run through the entire season.
To celebrate the special day, the stadiums on the riverbank flipped into “Children’s Day mode,” their facades shifting into dreamy, brilliant colors — like a castle straight out of a fairy tale, sending warm, glowing wishes down from the night sky. At the same time, the Qianjiang New City light show turned into a flow of blessings in the dark, scrolling through Children’s Day greetings and celebratory messages — a luminous tribute to the holiday for all the kids watching.
And that wasn’t all. Starting the night of June 1, the regular riverside light show switched from its spring theme to a new summer theme, welcoming the warmer season with a fresh chapter of light and motion. As for the schedule: every Friday and Saturday, there are two shows a night, at 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm. From Sunday to Thursday, there’s one show per night, at 8:30 pm.
The summer show takes its inspiration from summer nights, unfolding across the giant screens by the river in three chapters: “Night Fantasy,” “Ancient and Modern Pleasures,” and “Vibrant Surge.”
Going forward, residents and visitors strolling along both sides of the river will see something completely different from the spring edition: specks of starlight dancing with fireflies, weaving a romantic summer dreamscape; a thousand years of refined charm engaging in a silent conversation with the city’s neon lights, letting you feel time travel through ink wash hues and glowing beams; and the surging Qiantang tide echoing the warm lights of thousands of homes, bursting with an upward, life-filled energy.