Exhibit of lanterns

Exhibit of lanterns

The Lantern Festival is an ancient folk culture in China. It generally refers to the large-scale lighting exhibition held by the government around the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, often accompanied by some folk activities, which are very traditional and local characteristics. On the 15th Lantern Festival of the first lunar month, Chinese people have the custom of viewing lanterns.

Zhang Daoling, a Peiguofeng native of Shunde Emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, held the ceremony of "Five Dou Mi Dao" in Heming Mountain, Sichuan Province, which is the oldest primitive lamp Festival ever known. During the Southern Dynasty, the traditional Lantern Festival was held in Jiankang (now Nanjing), the capital of China, and its grand occasion was the highest in the country. The Lantern Festival flourished in Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, and reached its peak in Ming Dynasty.

On May 20, 2006, the Qinhuai Lantern Association declared by Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (category: folklore; number: _-50).

On June 7, 2008, the lamp declared by multi-site merger will be listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (category: folklore; number: _-81) with the approval of the State Council.

Historical evolution

Every year on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, is welcomed. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called night "Xiao", so the fifteenth day of the first month is called the Lantern Festival. The fifteenth day of the first full moon in a year is also the night when the earth returns to spring. People celebrate it and it is also the continuation of celebrating the New Year. Lantern Festival is also called "Shangyuan Festival". According to the Chinese folk tradition, on this bright moon night, people point out thousands of colored lanterns to celebrate. They enjoy going out to enjoy the moon, lighting lights, guessing riddles, eating Lantern Festival together, family reunion and celebration of the festival.

According to the documents, as early as the beginning of the Southern Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was held in Nanjing, the capital of China, which was the earliest recorded Lantern Festival in China. In order to pray for good weather, a happy family and a peaceful world, the scene of colorful lanterns began to move from the forbidden court of the deep palace and religious places to the masses of the people. The scene of "full of lights in the city" was quite spectacular. In this regard, Emperor Xiao Gang and Empress Chen of Liang Jianwen used vivid poems to depict the social customs of the Southern Dynasty in which lanterns were used to add festive atmosphere.

During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, Nanjing was the capital of China at that time. On the banks of the Qinhuai River, there lived many high-ranking officials, nobles and nobles. Every Lantern Festival, they also imitated the imperial court and decorated with lanterns. The Eastern Jin Dynasty poet Xi Chiao has a poem "Poetry Lantern" describing the situation of lighting at that time. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of Southern Song Dynasty, paper technology developed rapidly and cost was low. It replaced a large number of applications of silk fabrics, and made the lighting art develop rapidly.

During the Han and Jin Dynasties, when the spring and moon blossomed, the rulers of Shujun Prefecture had to "indulge the people in recreation and play in the West Garden". At the same time, the lights are red and shining to whitewash the peace.

Since the Sui Dynasty, the custom of decorating lanterns and lanterns on Lantern Festival has formally taken shape. The activities of decorating lanterns and watching lanterns on Lantern Festival have become popular. The custom of decorating lanterns in Nanjing has been described in detail in Sui Shu of Wei Zheng in Tang Dynasty.

Tang Xuanzong fled to Chengdu during the Anshi Rebellion of Tianbao in the fifteenth year, and went to the street to watch the lights with the Taoist master Ye Qingshan. Lu Zhao, one of the four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty, is adjacent to the "Poetry of Viewing Lanterns": "Kaifang Banquet in Jinli, Lan Guanyan's early years. The colours are far apart and the light is far away. After the Han Dynasty, suspected stars fall, like the moon hanging by the building. Don't laugh so hard. Come and reflect the nine branches." This poem tells the grand occasion of Chengdu Lantern Festival at that time.

Former Shu emperor Jianzhang "traveled to Ranhua River from night to day", when "asking and lighting, no fixed date". Emperor Meng Chang of Houshu once said "Shangyuan Lantern View is on the balcony."

In Li Shangyin's poem "I wish I could see a lamp in Beijing on the 15th night of the first lunar month", "The moonlight lights all over the Emperor's capital, and the fragrant cars all pass through Baoyi Pass." It can be seen that the Lantern Festival in Tang Dynasty has a considerable scale.

In the first year of Jingyou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1034), the most sacred Wenxuanwang Temple (now Nanjing Confucius Temple) for Confucius worship was built in Nanjing. Along the Qinhuai River, it became a scenic spot. The lantern fairs in the area of Confucius Temple began to appear and developed rapidly.

Xin Qiji's "Blue Jade Case --- New Year's Eve": "Thousands of trees blossom in the Dongfeng Night. More blown down, stars like rain. BMW carved cars are fragrant all over the road. Fengxiao sounds, Jade pot turns, Fish and Dragon Dance overnight. It is also a vivid account of the Lantern Festival in the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to the well-known "Old Stories of Wulin", Linan, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was originally just a few tea houses near the streets. During the Lantern Festival, lanterns were hanging for sale. In these years, the climate gradually became the light market. The lantern Market usually starts several days before the Lantern Festival. In order to make the lamp market lively, Jingyin sends people to inspect the lamp market every year. According to the number of lanterns hanging in each shop, certain candles, lamp oil and fees are allocated. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Beijing Yin Hui will go to the Lantern Market in person. The travelers will carry a pocket full of paper money and give red envelopes to the travelling vendors in the Lantern Market to thank them for their contribution to the prosperity of the Lantern market, which is called "buying the market". In order to ensure the safety of the people who watch lanterns, local officials have made great efforts in security. Every year during the Lantern festival, huge candles or pine firewood are lit as street lamps in the busy and busy area of the workshop, and soldiers stand by to maintain order. Next to the street lamp, there will be several criminals in public, with the reasons for this person's crime on his body. For example, stealing the bracelet jewelry on the head of women, or misbehaving, taking advantage of the large number of people, they are kept in front of the women to play hooligans. In fact, these people had already committed crimes in prison before, and put them out for public demonstration. The purpose is to alert those who are rapists and to strangle the crime in its infancy as far as possible.

The emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty also supported the Lantern Festival very much. Every year at the second drum of the Lantern Festival, the emperor took a car and led the palace people to Xuandemen to view Aoshan Mountain. Aoshan is a high platform like an AO built in the center of the city. Hundreds of flower lanterns hang on it. The scale of Aoshan Mountain is clearly recorded in "Xuanhe Heritage of the Great Song Dynasty": "Since the winter solstice, we have built Aoshan high lamp on scaffolding, which is 16 feet long and 265 steps wide, with two Aoshan pillars in the middle." In Water Margin, the background description of Li Kui's troubles in Tokyo may be based on these real life plots. When the emperor enjoyed the lamp, Jingyin would wait outside Xuandemen for a group of selectable vendors with clean clothes and hygienic food, or artists with beautiful singing and dancing. The emperor would call them upstairs to perform, and the concubines and wives would buy snacks made by vendors. Because they don't know the price, they often spend several times more than ordinary people, and even some vendors get rich overnight. In addition, some large families in Lin'an also decorate various lanterns in their gardens and water pavilions, and open doors for visitors to visit. They also provide wine and vegetable entertainment to show their prosperity. And those who live in the quiet lane of the small family, also hang a number of five-color glass bulbs in front of the door to celebrate the festival, from a distance, like a fairyland.

After Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, built the capital of Nanjing, he advocated the Lantern Festival, which lasted ten nights a year, making it the longest Lantern Festival in Chinese history. Qinhuai Lantern Festival has reached a climax of development in this period. Zhu Yuanzhang spends a lot of manpower, material and financial resources every year to produce a considerable number of color lanterns to attract people to participate in the grand Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1372) was particularly ingenious in ordering thousands of water lamps to be set off on the Qinhuai River. Zhu Yuanzhang is also an expert in making lantern riddles, which promotes the content of Lantern Festival to develop in a more colorful direction. In the early seven years of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1409), Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Chengzu, gave 100 officials ten holidays on the Lantern Festival, and continued to display lights and colors to create a festive atmosphere. Three years later, it was ordered that outside the noon gate of the Nanjing Palace Museum, skilled craftsmen gather energy to organize lantern festivals, carefully tie up the "Long Live" lanterns in Aoshan and enjoy themselves with the people. This will happen year after year. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, Nanjing had become the largest city in the world at that time, and the pictures of Nandu Fanhui Scenery Map depicted the lively scenes of Aoshan Mountain and the people watching the performance with dazzling fireworks. The Lantern Festival depicted in Zhengde Jiangning County Chronicle in the late Ming Dynasty was even more flourishing.

Compared with the Song Dynasty Lantern Festival with strong government color, the Beijing Lantern Festival in the Ming Dynasty has evolved into a pure market behavior. Every year from the tenth to the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, businessmen and craftsmen from all over the country gather in Beijing to sell their own lanterns on Waibei Street, Donganmen. In these short days, it is not only the competition of lantern making technology, but also the competition of business strength. Beijing's shops and houses close to the light market, when the light market opens every year, the rent will double, which is several times more expensive than usual. If it is not a businessman with a very large business, he is easily afraid to ask for help. In addition, the design and technology of the lamp are also novel and varied. There are lanterns inlaid with pearls and jewelry, as well as lanterns from neighbouring countries or overseas traffickers, attracting endless visitors.

Jiang Yikui, a Ming Dynasty man, recorded one thing in the Outer Records of Yaoshan Hall: During the Lantern Festival of the New Year's Eve in the Ming Dynasty, craftsmen in the capital burned glazed bottles with glutinous juice and then made lanterns to store water and raise fish, with candlelight beside them, transparent and lovely. Wang Guzhi, a Huangyan man, spent a lot of money to buy one at home. He loved it and played all day. One day, when he accidentally hit the glass bottle on the ground, he smashed it and lamented, "My whole life is here, now I'm done with it!" The delicate degree and value geometry of Ming Dynasty lanterns can also be used as circumstantial evidence.