Winter returns once more to Yangshuo. Standing beside the old sugar refinery buildings, one can almost hear the machinery’s roar from over five decades ago. That winter, during the harvest season, there was no stillness—only the daily billow of steam and pulsating heat within the processing halls. From its industrial past to its present incarnation as Yangshuo Sugar House, the warmth of this land has never dimmed—a heat born of craft, of labor, and of hope for the year ahead. History continues in quiet resonance, each winter carrying the same enduring warmth.
Constellation of Wishes: Yangshuo Sugar House’s Stellar New Year Celebration
Since its inception in 2020, the Sugar House New Year Arts Festival has always embraced flame as its symbol for bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. Yet, through successive iterations, we have come to realize that true ceremonial significance is never dictated by the fire itself, but rather emerges from the collective choices, intentions, and engagement of every participant.
Over five years, the question of “to burn or not to burn” has gently surfaced in each festival dialogue, with every guest seeming to hold a personal view. This year, we have decided to formally return this contemplation to you all.
The fire tower will still stand in the winter night, but its fate is no longer predetermined. It may be ignited as the year turns, or it may stand in quiet companionship as we cross the threshold into the new year. The dance of flames and the vigil of silent blessings are equally precious; every choice reflects our unique hopes for the year ahead.
Before New Year’s Eve arrives, we will gather the wishes of all as the year draws to a close. Countless fervent aspirations will take the place of a single flame, allowing the mountains and rivers to witness the warmth emanating from each individual. Whether the fire rises or not, we will still share a warm gathering: let all wishes converge into a gentle yet steadfast light, guiding us into the dawn of a new year.
Gathering Wishes, One Light Per Hope: Making Individual Aspirations Visible Amidst the Landscape
Guangxi has long been a landscape of harmonious coexistence among multiple ethnic groups. For millennia, communities such as the Zhuang, Yao, Dong, and Miao have nurtured a lifestyle in synergy with nature among the karst peaks and river valleys, fostering a tradition of heartfelt and sincere well-wishing over the ages. This year’s Sugar House New Year Arts Festival draws inspiration from this local cultural tapestry. As we reconsider the meaning of the year’s transition, the landscape and the stars point us toward a different path: returning to the most authentic form of expressing hopes, allowing intentions to gather in stillness, and collectively welcoming a new beginning.
The 2025-2026 Sugar House New Year Arts Festival will commence on December 12, 2025, and continue through April 30, 2026. Centered on the themes of “Gathering Wishes” and “Carrying Wishes Forward,” this year’s festival will feature the core installation “Super Star,” designed by architect Ma Yansong. This installation will serve as a vessel for collecting wishes, with its exhibited state divided into two phases: before and after the New Year’s Eve ceremony.
During the initial “Gathering Wishes” phase, an online mini-program will be launched to collect wishes from all participants. Every sentiment of release for the past and hope for the future will flow into the “Super Star.” These wishes will ultimately be presented on wooden plaques adorning the installation, existing in harmony with the surrounding landscape. This embodies the festival’s most significant meaning this year: allowing individual aspirations to become part of a collective memory, preserved by time. In the subsequent “Carrying Wishes Forward” phase after the New Year’s Eve ceremony, the “Super Star” installation will settle into the Sugar House grounds in a renewed form, extending from winter into spring, continuing its dialogue with nature.
Core Installation “Super Star”: Reinterpreting a Traditional Ritual
Stars are poetry of the sky. Their rising, setting, and twinkling are the breath of the cosmos. In folklore, stars are the eyes of ancestors, watching over the peace of villages. In the animist belief that all things possess spirit, stars connect heaven and earth. In the Zhuang people’s creation epic, stars are the “silver nails” used by the deity Buluotuo to secure the celestial curtain, regulating the order of day and night.
This time, we translate this tradition into a collective event, inviting everyone to submit wishes via social media. These aspirations will be inscribed on wooden plaques and hung together on the core installation, “Super Star.” The main structure utilizes durable ash wood, while the wish-bearing plaques are made from renewable poplar, adhering to principles of environmental sustainability.
The installation will become a contemporary wishing tree, akin to a stellar vessel fallen into the Yangshuo landscape, carrying thousands of genuine hopes and weaving individual yearning into a visible, warm social tapestry.
Wishes Carried by Stars, Welcomed by the Wind: A Convergence of Hopes in Symbiosis with Nature
“Super Star” continues the tradition of Chinese well-wishing rituals, adopting the form of a star to carry aspirations, reweaving individual wishes into a dialogue between self and others, humanity and time, people and nature. Each wish cast is both a farewell to the past and a hope for the new year. When countless wishes gather here, they will collectively form the most radiant starlight of this New Year’s Eve.
On December 12, 2025, as the festival opens, the “Wish Gathering” mini-program will launch simultaneously on online platforms. When you submit your wish via your mobile device, it will be captured and collected. These wishes will then be manifested on wooden plaques adorning the “Super Star” installation, becoming an integral part of the December 31st ceremony.
From this moment, the New Year’s countdown transforms from a mere numerical change into a convergence of collective intention. After the turn of the year, “Super Star” will continue to exist in symbiosis with the landscape, evolving with the seasons, accompanied by mountain breezes and sunlight, guiding us together into the spring of the new year.
Core Installation “Super Star” Exhibition
Exhibition Period | December 12, 2025 – April 30, 2026
Venue | Riverside Terrace by the Sugar House Pool; The Karst Garden (from February 2026)
New Year Arts Festival | Wish Gathering Activity
Event Date | December 12 – 30, 2025
How to Join | Scan the mini-program QR code to enter the “Wish Gathering” platform, submit your wish, and indicate your preference for the New Year’s Eve ceremony presentation.
New Year Arts Festival | Guest Dialogue
Date | December 31, 2025
Time | 14:30 – 16:30
Venue | Bar Veranda, Pool Area, Yangshuo Sugar House
Special Guests | To be announced (released 3-4 days prior to the event)
Ticket | Complimentary for in-house guests
Sugar House New Year’s Eve Music Party | “Super Star” Countdown Ceremony + Fireworks Display
Date | December 31, 2025 – January 1, 2026
Music Party Lineup | Ben Huang / Mahakali
Time |
Music Party: 22:00 – 00:00
Countdown Ceremony + Fireworks: 00:00
Venue | Pool Area, Yangshuo Sugar House
How to Join | Complimentary for in-house guests (excludes unlimited drinks package)
About the Architect | MAD Architects, Ma Yansong
Born in Beijing, Ma Yansong is the first Chinese architect to win a major overseas landmark commission and is among China’s most internationally influential architects. He is an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a 2014 World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader,” a 2025 TIME 100 honoree, and the 2026 Guest Editor for domus magazine.
As founder and principal partner of MAD Architects, Ma is committed to bringing Eastern philosophical thinking into architectural practice, exploring future paths for architecture. MAD’s diverse portfolio spans the globe, including Absolute Towers (Canada), the Fenix Immigration Museum (Rotterdam), “One River North” (Denver), the Tunnel of Light (Japan), Zhongguancun Innovation Center (Beijing), Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Harbin Opera House, Quzhou Stadium, and the under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (Los Angeles). In 2024, he published Twenty City Chronicles and co-produced the documentary series City of Fantasy with Tencent News.
For more information please click： https://auruaresorts.com/en/SugarHouse
