Lantern Art
01 · Historical Records
After the 1950s, with the disappearance of the Lantern Festival, only two varieties of Beijing decorative lanterns remained — palace lanterns (gongdeng) and red gauze lanterns (hongsha deng) — while the crafting techniques of all the other patterned lantern varieties had been lost.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Decorative lanterns (dengcai), also known as 'festive lanterns' (huadeng), are a decorative traditional handicraft widely popular throughout China. Historically, hanging lanterns and displaying colored silks was the principal festival custom of the Lantern Festival, and a blaze of lights and colors was the most striking spectacle of Lantern Festival night. Beijing decorative lanterns have long been popular in the Beijing area. Classified by manner of use, they fall into several major categories — hanging lanterns, standing lanterns, wall lanterns, and portable lanterns; classified by materials of production, they include gauze lanterns, palace lanterns, trotting-horse lanterns, three-dimensional animal lanterns, metal lanterns, and liaosi (glass-thread) lanterns. The craft techniques of Beijing decorative lanterns are quite rich: framework binding in colorful materials, pasting and mounting, knotting, embroidery, carving, papercutting, and calligraphy and painting are all important technical means. Beijing's traditional lantern activities were held mainly at the Lantern Festival; later, lanterns and colored silks were also hung for auspicious occasions such as grand ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, and other festivities. Decorative lanterns have become a symbol of auspiciousness and celebration, embodying people's prayers for a better life and their longing for a happy future.
Hanging, pedestal, wall and hand lanterns
By use the lanterns are hanging, pedestal, wall and hand-held, each suited to a different part of the house or the festival night.
Tying, pasting, knotting, embroidery, carving
Frame tying, pasting, knotting, embroidery, carving, paper-cutting and painting calligraphy are all essential techniques of the craft.
Hardwood frames and auspicious inscriptions
Square or hexagonal hardwood frames are glazed and pasted with silk, painted or inscribed with auspicious words and finished with tassels.
What survived the loss of the lantern festival
After the lantern festival faded in the 1950s only palace and red gauze lanterns survived, the other types ceasing to be made.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Beijing decorative lanterns (Chaoyang District) take Beijing Xinruixiangtong Cultural Development Co., Ltd. as their protecting institution, and the craft is mainly continued through workshops and exhibition facilities in the eastern part of the city; together with Chongwen District, this is one of the two declaring regions of Beijing decorative lanterns, sharing the same lineage. The categories of Beijing decorative lanterns are distinguished by manner of use — hanging lanterns, standing lanterns, wall lanterns, and portable lanterns — and by materials — gauze lanterns, palace lanterns, trotting-horse lanterns, three-dimensional animal lanterns, metal lanterns, and liaosi lanterns. Forming a lantern requires multiple techniques — framework binding, pasting, knotting, embroidery, carving, papercutting, and calligraphy and painting — and a large decorative lantern is often produced through the coordinated division of labor of many people, with the frame, the lantern faces, and the ornaments completed separately before assembly.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Against this historical and cultural background, the decorative lantern art, which synthesizes 'light' and 'color,' has acquired a unique aesthetic value. Faced with a series of difficulties — the decline of the Lantern Festival, the gradual disappearance of decorative lanterns, the erosion of Chinese traditional festival culture by foreign festival customs, and the impact of modern technology on traditional handicrafts — Beijing decorative lanterns are struggling to advance and lack successors, and are in urgent need of rescue and protection. Beijing's traditional lantern activities were held mainly at the Lantern Festival; later, lanterns and colored silks were also hung for auspicious occasions such as grand ceremonies, weddings, birthdays, and festivities, and decorative lanterns thereby became a symbol of auspiciousness and celebration, embodying people's prayers for a better life. After the 1950s, with the disappearance of the Lantern Festival, only palace lanterns and red gauze lanterns remained among Beijing decorative lanterns, while the crafting techniques of all the other patterned lantern varieties were lost; the organization of the surviving techniques can consequently only be carried out around these two varieties.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Xiangman 01-0114
- Chen Weiyan 01-0115
- Li Zhuqin 01-0116
- Cai Binghan 01-0117
- Yang Zenggui 01-0118
- Zhang Jinpei 03-1260
- He Weifu 03-1261
- Chen Baihua 03-1262
- Deng Hui 03-1263
- Lin Hanbin 03-1264
- Yang Yurong 04-1793
- Ma Yuanliang 05-2631
- Wang Xiaowen 05-2632
- Wang Rulan 05-2633
- Hu Jinlong 05-2634
- Lin Shunkui 05-2635
- Xu Qianshen 05-2636
- Zhang Juntao 05-2637
- Zhang Shuqi 05-2638
- Liu Yaosheng 05-2639
- Li Banghua
- Chen Dizhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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