Starting from December 5, Hangzhou is wrapping itself in a luminous winter embrace. A new seasonal light show - crafted by the city’s Urban Management Bureau, Qianjiang New City Committee (on behalf of Hangzhou Airport Economic Demonstration Zone), and Hangzhou Daily - invites people to experience the quiet magic of Hangzhou in winter. Titled simply “Winter,” the show unfolds in three evocative acts: “Scenes & Stillness,” “Rhythms of Life,” and “Hope in Bloom.” It runs nightly at 7:30 PM from Sunday to Thursday, with two showings on Fridays and Saturdays - at 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM - lighting up the city’s skyline with warmth and wonder.

The journey begins with a lone boat gliding through Hangzhou’s iconic waterways - the West Lake, the Grand Canal, and the Fuchun River, offering a dreamy winter voyage across the city’s liquid heart. Next, scenes of Song Dynasty life come alive: scholars warming themselves by crackling braziers, children laughing as they build snowmen - a captured moment of the refined coziness in the past. The finale turns toward spring’s promise: plum blossoms blooming at Lingfeng Peak, and people making quiet wishes beneath fragrant branches - a gentle reminder that even in deepest winter, life stirs beneath the surface.

More than just lights, this show weaves together Hangzhou’s snowy serenity, its thousand-year cultural elegance, and the everyday life of its people. It’s a tribute to a city that finds vitality in stillness and keeps reinventing tradition without ever losing its soul.