Thousands of people in Taiwan and China celebrated the Lantern Festival by releasing paper lanterns into the night sky, visiting light installations and snacking on glutinous rice dumplings.

The Chinese Lantern Festival marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations and symbolises the coming of spring.

At the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in northern Taiwan, thousands lined up in the rain to light up and observe wish lanterns.

Villagers in Taiwan started using paper lanterns more than a century ago to signify to others it was safe to return after bandits raided their communities. Today, the lanterns carry hopes of peace and prosperity in the New Year.

A total of nine waves of lantern releases were interspersed with music and dance performances as part of the festival. The stars of the show were a pair of 3.6-metre (12-foot) pink and golden snake-shaped lanterns, in a nod to the Year of the Snake.

People in China also celebrated the Lantern Festival, although no officially organised event there sees the release of large amounts of paper lanterns.