Food Festival

We wish a happy and prosperous Year of the Rooster to all our Chinese players!

To celebrate the season, China-based build team LinsCraft has put together this incredible spread - a banquet of delicious festive food, over which loom monsters, marvels and auspicious iconography!

“At the center stands the evil legendary monster, 'Nian' (Year),” LinsCraft explains. “According to the legend, each year it comes to fetch children as its food. People created fireworks to scare Nian away and thus welcome a new year without the evil monster.

“Surrounding Nian is Chinese and Japanese cuisine, along with some Western drinks like coffee. We did not strictly stick to our Chinese food as we feel there is a need to include a global perspective. Behind Nian is our Chinese Lion Dance Costume holding the words saying ‘Golden Chicken’s New Year’. The auspicious crane beside it represents good luck.”

The symbolism doesn’t stop there! Papercrafts surrounding the table represent traditional Chinese art, while the fish are a kind of visual pun. In Chinese, the word for fish (鱼) sounds identical to the word for extra (余) - “yú” - so including fish as part of the celebration is a way to wish that the new year brings you an excess of wealth and prosperity.

With talent like this at their disposal, LinsCraft hardly need to wish. You can see some of their previous work over at their site. It’s impressive stuff! I particularly like the piece titled "The Port of Frontier" which imagines an epic fusion of industrial and traditional architecture: an Eastern steampunk concoction of smog, clockwork and classically curved rooftops. You can get a flavour of it in the video below (the thumnbnail of which is a render by Roy_B2)!