Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsZiboshizhangdian, ShandongBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The origins of the Zibo Lantern Fair can be traced back to the period when the Grand Duke Jiang (Jiang Ziya) was enfeoffed with the state of Qi.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Zibo Lantern Fair is a festive event held by the people of Zibo every year at the Yuanxiao (Lantern) Festival, also known as "making merry with lanterns" (nao hua deng). The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, as the first full-moon night of the lunar new year, signifies reunion. Because "lantern" (deng) is a homophone of "male child" (ding), people regard carrying and celebrating lanterns as an auspicious omen of a family line flourishing with offspring. Over time, people have come to treat viewing and celebrating lanterns at the Yuanxiao Festival as a folk custom that rewards the gods and entertains the people, welcoming spring and praying for blessings. The Zibo Lantern Fair usually lasts three days, beginning on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month and ending on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. During the fair, the streets are ablaze with lights. Beneath the multicolored glow of Zibo lanterns such as the "cart lantern," "box lantern," "nine-bend Yellow River lantern," and "burning grape trellis," folk dramas such as Wuyin opera, molten-iron fireworks, Zhoucun xinzi (shoulder-pole) performances, folk costumed revelry, and traditional martial arts are staged in turn, offering more than the eye can take in. At the same time, the stalls of local snacks are lively and bustling, and the vendors' cries rise one after another. Every year, the Zibo Lantern Fair attracts nearly one million Chinese and foreign visitors. The Zibo lanterns displayed at the fair are distinguished by their sound, light, movement, novelty, elegance, and ingenuity. Villages also raise funds on their own and organize costumed performance troupes for intensified training. From the eighth to the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the troupes perform through the streets and lanes; afterward, outstanding troupes are selected by township or district to take part in the Yuanxiao Lantern Fair organized by the city. The Zibo Lantern Fair bears the imprint of Qi culture: folk gauze and silk lanterns were used as "signal lanterns" by which the Grand Duke Jiang commanded his three armies, and the custom later developed gradually in the imperial court, in temples, and among the people, growing ever larger in scale. The fair's character of "valuing harmony and beauty" (guihe shangmei) has positive practical significance in uniting the people's hearts.

Signal lanterns and Qi culture

Local gauze and silk lanterns are told of as the command lanterns of Jiang Taigong's army.

Lamps sounding for people

Because lamps sound like offspring, lighting and playing with lanterns becomes a wish for a large family.

Cart lamps and box lamps

Cart, box, maze and grape-arbor lanterns share a wooden frame covered in gauze.

Wuyin opera and molten-iron throwing

Opera, iron throwing and the Zhoucun shadow play rotate over the three nights.

Village troupes in the street

Village-funded troupes tour the streets before selection for the city festival.

Liaozhai figure lantern sets

Lanterns depict local legends and Liaozhai tales, making the display a collective telling.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It is widely popular in Zibo City, Shandong Province, with Zhangdian District at its center; its influence covers not only the central Shandong (Luzhong) region but also extends to the coastal areas of northern Shandong (Lubei). In the central Shandong region, many people were engaged in mulberry growing and sericulture as far back as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and locally there was a custom of washing silkworm trays by moonlight, with lanterns in hand, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. As soon as the twelfth lunar month begins each year, the lantern artisans of Zibo rack their brains and craft with great care, each hoping that their work will stand out in the lantern display. Lantern themes mostly draw on local folktales and mythological stories, with lantern groups based on stories of the state of Qi and characters from Liaozhai being especially common, giving them a strong regional cultural character.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The character of the Zibo Lantern Fair is captured in the single word "revelry" (nao). Zhang Xiangren (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnicity, born in August 1949, a native of Zibo City, Shandong Province. From childhood he took a keen interest in the art of lantern making; after starting work he devoted himself to studying the craft of making xinzi (shoulder-pole) lanterns, which he gradually perfected. In 1993, he designed a total of seventy lantern displays for Italy and Pakistan. Large lanterns he designed and made, such as "Peacock Spreading Its Tail" and "Cloud-Shadowed Ancient Pagoda," represented China at the Chinese lantern exhibitions held in Moscow and Berlin respectively. From 2010 to 2013, he was responsible for the organization, planning, and lantern design of the China Zibo Lantern Art Festival for four consecutive years. He is a representative inheritor of the Yuanxiao Festival (Zibo Lantern Fair), a project of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. In recent years, he has trained several inheritors of lantern making.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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