Feature: Folk organizations try to revive traditional flavor of Lantern Festival

"It was a great fun. I used to think eating yuanxiao and letting off fireworks were the only festive things we did," said Gao Lanxin, a 12-year old girl in a traditional Chinese red coat.

She tried nail-touching, a game married women play in the hope of having a male baby in the new year. In Chinese the word nail, or "ding", is pronounced like the word 'male'.

But organizers do not underestimate the difficulty of preserving these traditions in a fast developing society.

"We need to resort to modern marketing methods to promote the old traditions," said Gao Wei. Publicizing their ceremony on the internet attracted some netizens to the restaurant. A few supermarkets are using word puzzles to attract customers and some parks are earning money by holding lantern exhibitions.

"In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), a lot of old traditions are little more than memories for elderly Beijingers," said Zhang Wei.

"We are trying hard to revive the traditions, but there is a long way to go," Zhang said, looking around at the empty seats in the restaurant.

Editor: Lency