TORONTO, ONTARIO.- Thousands of special guests and dignitaries joined the Honourable Jim Bradley, Minister of Tourism, Wednesday night to unveil the spectacular Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place. The 65-night Festival, expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, opens to the public tomorrow and features one of the most awe-inspiring displays of traditional Chinese craftsmanship ever to be seen in the Western hemisphere. The opening ceremony, which featured a ribbon-cutting and the inaugural lighting of the lanterns, was also attended by Chen Xiaoling, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Toronto.

“I visited China on a trade mission in March and had the pleasure of experiencing the country’s grace and hospitality,” says Minister of Tourism Jim Bradley. “This particular festival offers people from all backgrounds a unique opportunity to discover and enjoy Chinese history and folklore.”

The highly anticipated event is the largest lantern festival to take place outside Asia and the most impressive presentations of its kind in North America. It has transformed the Toronto waterfront into a brilliantly illuminated display of Chinese culture and tradition. The festival boasts 30 grand-scale installations, displayed on both land and water on the Toronto waterfront at Ontario Place. It will also feature 2,000 traditional art and red silk lanterns.

“The process for this great festival actually started over two years ago,” says Ontario Place General Manager Glenn Dobbin, “I never realized the true magnitude and beauty of the lanterns until I travelled to the City of Zigong, China and saw them for myself. The partnership that we have formed with the China Colour Lantern Museum has been strengthened by hard work and cooperation over the past few months,” said Dobbin.

The lavish installations, some as high as 50 feet and as long as 300 feet, depict traditional Chinese temples, dragons and lanterns, using thousands of lights and traditional materials such as Chinese painted porcelain dishes, small glass medicine bottles, and tiny hand-crafted silk pods. Each display was meticulously designed and built by the China Colour Lantern Museum of Zigong, China. Pieces of the sets were pre-constructed in Zigong and shipped to Canada, along with traditional materials. Construction of the sets, and their painstaking decoration, involved the work of 60 Master Craftsmen over 45 days, while they lived at Ontario Place.

The displays tell the story of the first dynasty of a united China, the Qin dynasty, through to the final dynasty, the Qing dynasty. Highlights include The Heavenly Temple, a half-size to-scale replica of the Beijing Heavenly Temple, a well-known Chinese landmark originally constructed in 1420. Visible from Toronto’s Lakeshore Boulevard is a traffic-stopping 80 metre long Porcelain Dragon created using traditional hand-tying techniques and made with tens of thousands of Chinese cooking utensils such as bowls, spoons, bottles and wine cups. Also on display, in homage to the Festival’s host city, is a brilliant replica of Toronto’s CN Tower and Rogers Centre.

The Festival also brings to life an authentic and lively Chinese marketplace, evoking the essence of Beijing. It features a wide range of cuisine and crafts, and similar to traditional Chinese markets, guests can barter with the vendors to determine appropriate prices.

Each day, the Festival will also feature traditional Chinese cultural performances on stage.

The Festival would not have been possible without the generous support of its many sponsors, including Subaru, VISA, the Centre for Education and Training, and the title sponsor, Rogers.

“Rogers is proud to be the title sponsor of this historic festival celebrating the Chinese culture which is so much a part of Canada,” says Phil Lind C.M., Vice-Chairman, Rogers Communications Inc. “As a Canadian company committed to reaching out to the diverse communities across our country, Rogers is excited to be part of an event celebrating the deep-rooted history and customs of the people of China.”

The Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival runs from July 20 to October 1, 2006. The Festival opens each evening at 7:00pm and the lanterns will be lit each evening at dusk. Tickets are available at the Ontario Place gates daily from 6:30pm or in advance at www.chineselanternfestival.ca.