Some 150 foreign correspondents and their family members gathered at the Laoshe Tea House in downton Beijing on February 22 to celebrate the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival.

At the event sponsored by the Beijing Information Office, they watched Peking Opera, made yuanxiao rice dumplings, wrote calligraphic blessings and played with shadow puppets.

The Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, it falls on February 24. At the Lantern Festival, people usually eat rice dumplings, watch fireworks and gaze at red lanterns. In this way, they end the Spring Festival holiday and start a new year.

HANDICRAFTS: Foreign reporters watch an artist inscribing a work

LUCKY TOY: Two women look at snake-shaped toys. This year in Chinese lunar calendar is the year of the snake

NOT SO EASY: Jaime A. FlorCruz, CNN's Beijing bureau chief and correspondent, tries to make yuanxiao rice dumplings

BEHIND THE SCENES: A man manipulates a dragon puppet in a shadow play

BLESSING: A man writes the Chinese character fu with a calligraphy brush. The character typically adorns doorways upside-down to "shower" occupants with good luck

BEIJING STYLE: Young performers present the Peking Opera Farewell My Concubine