Shanghai cancels lantern festival at Yuyuan Garden

The annual Lantern Festival at Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden has been cancelled as the city government has begun taking preventative measures against crowd-drawing events in the wake of the New Year’s Eve stampede at the Bund, which resulted in the death of 36 people.
The famed three-day celebration was meant to start on February 19, marking the Lunar New Year holiday.
The move follows the cancelation of a similar lantern festival celebration at Guyi Garden in the city’s Jiading District, which local officials put the kibosh on due to “safety reasons”.
The festival attracted around 600,000 people to Yu Garden, a spread of narrow alleys and ancient buildings, on February 14 last year. Over 1.5 million people attended the event between February 22 and 24 in 2013.
Events in Beijing have likewise been cancelled and security has been upped in subway stations and tourist spots across the country.
[Image via Wikimedia]