In March, Chengdu is brimming with vitality and the spirit of spring. On the evening of March 3rd, the Chengdu High-Tech Zone's 2026 Lantern Festival themed event, "In the Prime of Youth, Chengdu My Home—Galloping into Sichuan, Forging Ahead with Passion," was brilliantly staged on Jiaozi Avenue. This event followed the zone's 2026 work conference held during the first week after the Lunar New Year holiday, which set a determined tone for a strong start to the year. It served as a grand mobilization of talent and entrepreneurs from various sectors within the zone, who are embarking on the new "15th Five-Year Plan" journey with relentless drive and pioneering spirit.
The event featured inspiring declarations from nearly 50 companies displayed across the 52,000-square-meter giant screens of the Tianfu Twin Towers. Young professionals collaborated with artificial intelligence to celebrate the future, while 91 companies, participating both online and offline, offered over 1,300 high-quality job positions. As a city-level IP event held for the third consecutive year, this Lantern Festival celebration placed talent in the spotlight and businesses at the forefront. It adopted an innovative "1+4+N" format, which included one grand light show on the Tianfu Twin Towers, four youth talent showcases—a Lantern Festival youth talent concert, a Lantern Starry Sky Job Fair, youth interest-based social activities, and a Lantern-themed garden party—alongside numerous coordinated business district promotions. Together, these activities painted a vibrant urban picture blending technological innovation, youthful energy, and local charm.
At 7:27 PM, the Tianfu Twin Towers lit up instantly, marking the grand opening of the "Splendid Tianfu·Lanterns Illuminating All" light show. Traditional intangible cultural heritage patterns unfolded gracefully across the towers, featuring adorable panda-themed koi, a dragon and phoenix heralding a tech-infused Lantern Festival, and galloping horses symbolizing reunion and well-being. Four distinct light sequences seamlessly merged traditional festive elements with modern technology. Subsequent displays, including scenes of speeding horses, intangible cultural heritage crafts, aerospace dreams, and a starry Lantern Festival, collectively conveyed the city's dynamic and enterprising spirit. Aligned with the annual sub-theme, a custom visual titled "Galloping into Sichuan, Forging Ahead with Passion" was projected, depicting youthful figures charging forward on horseback, deeply integrating the determined spirit of the Year of the Horse with the innovative soul of Chengdu High-Tech Zone.
A highlight was the debut of the "Twin Towers Moment" light spectacular, created in collaboration with Kuaishou's Keling AI. This three-minute visual feast unfolded through seven chapters—such as a Shu embroidery scroll opening, koi signaling the start, a rocket launch, and ten thousand horses galloping—achieving a perfect fusion of Chengdu's cultural heritage and cutting-edge technology. Notably, a special "Enterprise on the Tower" segment featured motivational quotes from nearly 50 key companies in the zone, which took center stage. Phrases like "Steeds gallop across rivers and seas; real action leaps toward new journeys," "On-device AI builds dreams; intelligence reaches far, innovation shapes the future," and "Focusing on high-end measurement equipment; accelerating forward in 2026" lit up the night sky, radiating the companies' vigorous drive and vividly illustrating the zone's momentum to "build a first-class foundation and stride toward leadership."
The evening's Youth Talent Lantern Festival concert was a spectacular display of innovation. Unlike traditional galas, most performers and songwriters were professionals from frontline industries within the zone, such as electronics information, biomedicine, digital economy, and future technology. Partnering with AI, they transformed code into heartfelt melodies, premiering six themed songs, including "The Answer" and "Pulse," inspired by their industrial work and daily lives. "It's incredibly exciting to perform songs about our own industry on such a grand stage for the first time!" expressed a group of five singers from the biomedicine sector, the first team to present an AI-co-created song. The stage also featured "special performers"—multiple intelligent robots that participated throughout the event, from greeting and interacting with guests to providing accompaniment and dancing alongside human singers. Their smooth, synchronized movements drew enthusiastic applause.
The concert also included a "cloud greeting" from the soon-to-debut DeYun Club's first southwestern China location in Chengdu High-Tech Zone. Celebrities Guo Degang and Yu Qian appeared via video on the Twin Towers and stage screens, offering Lantern Festival wishes and generating cheers by giving away tickets through interactive segments. Previews of locally produced works like "Zhao Zilong," scheduled for their first showings in 2026, were also presented, highlighting the zone's latest achievements as a hub for digital cultural creativity. The concert concluded with melodies of "Shu Embroidery," "I Love My City," and "Chengdu" resonating under the night sky. All performers and the audience joined in a chorus, passing a giant banner reading "In the Prime of Youth, Chengdu My Home," pushing the atmosphere to a climax.
The "Lantern Festival Opening Boom, Offers Immediately Available" Starry Sky Night Market Job Fair was also in full swing. Twenty-eight quality companies hung distinctive lanterns above their stalls; job seekers could scan QR codes on the lantern banners to explore positions and submit applications with one click. Additional services, such as professional photo shoots and talent policy consultations, added a warm touch to the recruitment process amidst the festive lantern glow. "It feels less pressured; I submitted my resume while enjoying the night market," praised Zhang, a recent graduate, appreciating the novel format. An official from the Zone's Party-Mass Work Department noted that 91 companies participated online and offline, offering 270 positions with over 1,300 vacancies. Utilizing the "Golden Panda Talent Connect" mini-program for paperless applications, the event created a festive atmosphere blending recruitment with joy. Online applications will remain open until March 10.
Simultaneously, the "Youth Orange Circle·Buddy Fun Night" flash social activity for young adults created a warm, creative gathering filled with holiday spirit, attracting 80 single participants. Through AI matching and tabletop games, attendees quickly broke the ice in activities like "Treasure Sharing," "Brainstorm Challenges," and "Skill Puzzles." "Today, I not only found a hiking buddy but also felt the city's warmth toward young people," shared Xiao Li, who moved from Beijing to Chengdu six months ago, adding, "The event is very heartwarming and gives a sense of belonging." An official from the Zone's Youth League Committee stated, "We want to give the city's center stage to youth and young talent." The zone is focusing on the youth economy, striving to create relaxed communication platforms and new social scenes to help young professionals not only build careers but also enjoy a happy life in Chengdu.
The event further ignited public enthusiasm with three rounds of distribution totaling 1 million yuan in Lantern Festival consumption vouchers. "I just grabbed a voucher and will use it at the mall later," happily shared Ms. Wang, showing her phone, "Watching the show, joining the garden party, and getting vouchers made this trip totally worth it." Additionally, from March 3 to March 31, aligning with consumption peaks like the back-to-school and back-to-work periods and the spring sugar season, the zone is issuing 20 million yuan in "High-Tech 'Hot Product' Vouchers." These cover 14 "Life Season" categories, including drones, and five "School Season" categories like smartwatches. By combining corporate discounts with government subsidies, the initiative offers "discounts on already hot products" to continuously stimulate consumer spending.
Beyond the main venue, the zone coordinated with major business districts to launch the "Gathering Myriad Charms, Trendsetting in High-Tech" themed consumption promotion. This includes four "HI-Map" spring routes—"Back-to-School Gifts," "Spring Refresh," "Energetic Rhythm," and "Spring Sugar Life"—connecting various spots to unlock diverse spring experiences. The campaign, running through the end of March, aims to create a distinctive, district-wide consumption boost. Some malls in the zone hosted robot dances, music communities, and trendy national-style markets, attracting many young visitors. The Jiaozi Avenue business district also featured special scenes like a "Village Sugar Fair" shopping event and indoor lion dances, weaving together a comprehensive consumption landscape.
An official from the Zone's Commerce and Culture Tourism Bureau explained that the event implements higher-level directives to vigorously boost consumption and aligns with the zone's 2026 work conference spirit. "Starting from the Lantern Festival, we are launching two voucher campaigns, introducing four 'HI-Map' themed routes, and coordinating with key malls and cultural venues for numerous supporting activities to fully kick off March's cultural-commercial-tourism consumption drive, aiding a strong start to first-quarter consumption."
"This is already the third Lantern Festival that the 'In the Prime of Youth, Chengdu My Home' IP has accompanied us," remarked a zone official. "From the initial encounter in 2024, through the striving spirit of 2025, to this year's 'Galloping into Sichuan, Forging Ahead with Passion,' we consistently place talent in the leading role and businesses at the center stage. We aim to let more people see High-Tech Zone's vitality and feel its warmth, helping talents from all fields take root and fulfill their dreams here, collectively writing a striving chapter of 'peaceful heart, where I belong is home.'"
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