Qinhuai Lantern Fair
01 · Historical Records
The history of the Qinhuai Lantern Fair is long and deep; according to documentary records, as early as the Southern Dynasties period the capital Nanjing already had the custom of holding traditional Lantern Festival fairs, whose splendor was regarded as the finest in the whole country.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Qinhuai Lantern Fair is a folk cultural activity historically transmitted in the Nanjing region, also known as the Jinling Lantern Fair; it is held mainly during the period from Chinese New Year to the Lantern Festival each year. Since the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang promoted Lantern Festival activities in Nanjing in the early Ming dynasty, Nanjing gradually came to enjoy the reputation that the lanterns of Qinhuai are the finest under heaven, and the painted barges hung with lanterns along the Qinhuai River — commonly called lantern boats — became renowned throughout the world. In order to pray for favorable weather, family happiness, and peace under heaven, the people of the Nanjing region, during the Qinhuai Lantern Fair, continuously create through making lanterns, hanging lanterns, viewing lanterns, playing with lanterns, and making merry with lanterns the beautiful conception of ten thousand stars flooding the heavenly thoroughfares and vast squares churning with human tides, expressing their good wishes and their aspirations in life. Other folk cultural and artistic categories that shine in tandem with it — such as Nanjing paper-cutting, diabolo, rope knots, carving, shadow puppetry, beast dances, yangge, and stilt-walking — have likewise developed rapidly, in turn exerting a positive influence on folk culture and folk activities in other parts of China. Native and imported cultural and artistic elements of Nanjing run through the fair, constituting its artistic substance. Each year's Qinhuai Lantern Fair attracts numerous visitors from home and abroad; while appreciating the fair and experiencing the folk culture of Jinling, they also promote the economic development of the region.
Making, hanging, viewing, playing and livening the lanterns
Lantern making, hanging and viewing form the successive stages: frames are built and papered, lanterns go up along the Qinhuai, then the all-night play begins.
Lantern boats on the ten-li Qinhuai
Painted boats hung with lanterns on the river became the emblem of the fair, pairing water-borne lights with the stalls ashore.
Praying for fair weather and peace
Residents made, hung and played with lanterns to pray for good weather, family harmony and peace, turning the fair into a shared act of devotion.
The Lu school: form, colour and accessibility
Inheritor Lu Youchang, who began making lanterns in 1954, sums up his craft as form, colour and accessibility.
Lotus lantern and cloud-dragon lantern
Lu's Lotus Lantern was issued as a postage stamp in 2006, while Gu Yeliang's cloud-dragon work took silver at two national and provincial folk-art awards.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Historically the Qinhuai Lantern Fair was mainly distributed along the Qinhuai River basin in Nanjing; after the twentieth century it became concentrated mainly in the Fuzimiao (Confucius Temple) area, and it has now expanded to the five-li stretch on the eastern side of the ten-li Qinhuai. The core area includes Fuzimiao, Zhanyuan Garden, Egret Isle Park, the Wu Jingzi Former Residence Exhibition Hall, the Jiangnan Examination Hall Exhibition Hall, the Zhonghua Gate Barbican Exhibition Hall, and the area along Zhonghua Road, Pingjiangfu Road, Zhanyuan Road, and Pipa Road.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As an important folk cultural activity, the Qinhuai Lantern Fair is an important space in which the people of Nanjing have continued and transmitted folk culture down the generations; for a long time it has already become an important component of Qinhuai culture. Whether in historical significance, humanistic value, economic value, or social influence, the Qinhuai Lantern Fair is immense; as a distinctive cultural space of the Nanjing region, it will be carried forward and transmitted further. Lu Youchang (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1944, from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He began learning lantern-making in 1954. Lu-style lantern craft has three major technical characteristics: the first is form — the modeling design is of a distinctive style; the second is color — the bold use of contrasting colors, with a beautiful, generous coloration appreciated by refined and popular tastes alike; the third is universality — easy to popularize and easy to accept, so that the general public comes to know and recognize it. He has been awarded the titles of Jiangsu Province Arts and Crafts Celebrity and Outstanding Folk Artist of Nanjing, among others. The Lotus Lantern he designed and made was selected by the National Post and Telecommunications Administration in 2006 to be printed as a stamp and issued nationwide. Over the past ten years he has taken on a number of apprentices, and has cooperated with many colleges, schools, and training institutions in Nanjing to offer courses in Qinhuai lantern craft. He is a representative inheritor of the Qinhuai Lantern Fair, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage of the third batch. Gu Yeliang (recorded in the official archives of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in December 1962, from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. From 2001 he ran the Nanjing Fuzimiao Lantern Fair as contractor for eight consecutive years. He frequently gives lectures and teaches in primary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities. He has traveled to more than forty countries on cultural exchange missions, promoting Qinhuai lantern culture. He is a representative inheritor of the Qinhuai Lantern Fair, an item of national-level intangible cultural heritage of the third batch. The Cloud Dragon Lantern he made in 2004 won the silver award at the first Grand Afu Award of Jiangsu Province; the Qinhuai Dolls Celebrate the New Year he made in 2005 won the silver award of the Shanhua Award for Chinese Folk Literature and Art. In 2013 he received the honor of cultural talent under the Five Categories program; in 2017 he was named one of the Faces of Nanjing and a Three-Brings Celebrity among the local talents of Jiangsu Province.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lu Youchang 03-1466
- Gu Yeliang 03-1467
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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