Lantern Festival kicks off: fireworks cause fire at Beijing hotel

China's traditional Lantern Festival will witness the biggest and roundest moon for the past 52 festivals Monday night.

However it will appear darker for a few hours because of a penumbral lunar eclipse.

The Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is an occasion for family reunion. People enjoy the beautiful lanterns on display in parks or markets, and eat Yuanxiao, small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour and sweet fillings. The moon is round on the 15th day of every lunar month. It marks the formal end of Spring Festival festivities.

The Sky Lantern is believed to be the media used to deliver messages to heaven. All one has to do is write down one's wishes and send it up into the sky and the wishes will be heard by God.

Legend claims that the higher a Sky Lantern rises, the more good luck it brings.

Lanterns are available in different colours. One could wish for wealth, health, or love and marriage depending on which lantern is chosen.

During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns (simplified Chinese: 兔子灯; traditional Chinese: 兔子燈; pinyin: tùzidēng) and solve riddles on the lanterns

A hotel adjacent to the new China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters in Beijing caught fire Monday night, witnesses said.

As of 0:00 a.m., the fire has been under control, but blaze could still be seen on upper floors.

The 159-meter building, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, is around a corner from the iconic CCTV main tower and part of the complex, the witnesses said.

The hotel was used during the Olympics, but the hotel won't officially open until mid-2009. Witnesses said some lights had been on in the hotel.

There was no immediate word of injuries, nor was the cause of the fire known. As Monday is China's traditional Lantern Festival, the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, fireworks were being set off nearby.

A young man who declined to be identified said the fire had apparently started at about 8:25 p.m., when firecrackers landed on the top of the building. Police couldn't immediately confirm that account.