Yuyuan Garden dressed up for Lunar New Year

The annual lantern show at Yuyuan Garden, a historical tourist site in Shanghai, started on Thursday and will run through February.

Large lighting installations featuring the ox, the Chinese zodiac animal for the upcoming lunar year, have been set up in the main plaza.

Lighting installations featuring the Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the Memorial of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China have also been set up on the façade of the Hua Bao Mansion to celebrate the centenary of the Party which would take place on July 1.

Lanterns with the traditional elements of the Yangtze River Delta, such as the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon in Hangzhou's West Lake, stone bridges and carp balloons have been installed along the lake under the famous Nine Zigzag Bridge to recreate the scene from the mobile game One Hundred Scenes of Jiangnan, which has been wildly popular in China.

Molly dolls, the toy series featuring a blue-eyed girl with curly short hair created by Hong Kong designer Kenny Wong, have also been made into lanterns and displayed in the shopping mall. The dolls, promoted by toymaker Pop Mart's, have created a craze among the youngsters in China in recent years, contributing to the company's successful initial public offering in December.