Frugal festivities

People visit the Ditan Park decorated with lanterns for an upcoming temple fair in Beijing, capital of China, Jan 27, 2014. The fair will be held from Jan 30 to Feb 6. (Xinhua/Gong Lei)

Frugality is the main focus of organizers of the upcoming Spring Festival temple fairs. Cao Yuming, the park service director at the Summer Palace, said that the Royal Temple Fair will be staged for 200,000 yuan ($33,060) less than it cost in previous years, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Three thousand lanterns are being reused this year and 70 percent of the ornaments have been used at previous temple fairs.

Zhang Jinmei, an employee with the Ditan Park Temple Fair, said the park has managed to cut down the cost by 30 percent compared with last year. "The number of lanterns has been reduced from 13,000 to 10,000," he said.