Hi-tech light displays illuminate Beijing night sky

The Beijing International Light Festival started recently at a lakeside park where high-tech installations provide an immersive experience to visitors and create a miraculous night scene.

Yuyuantan, a major urban park in Beijing is also a popular site for enjoying cherry blossoms in spring. As the sun goes down, the park is illuminated with a high-tech light show every evening and nature's beauty is highlighted with a little help from technology .

"The theme of our show this year is' Blue Space'. We've created a universe in which there is a blue planet. Visitors come in as explorers from Earth, they board the spacecraft and take them into the blue planet. And the installations they see in the park are different bio-landscapes on planet blue. There, they need to complete several tasks, which are the interactive installations we've set up, so the exhibition is immersive and interactive," said the festival director Ma Bo .

The whimsical night scene uses 19 different types of lighting equipment, including more than 12,000 point-source lights and two-kilometer LED light bands.

"This installation is called 'Awakening', and the concept is to use the warmth of our fingertips to thaw the glaciers on Planet Blue, to nurture the growth of this mystical plant on the planet," said Ma.

This is the second year for the Beijing International Light Festival and it will run until October 2021.