How to Raise A Red Lantern

In celebration of Lunar New Year, we look at the history and folklore of the iconic Chinese lantern—plus, how you can celebrate at home this year.

Category:Curiosities
Words by:Ben Hannon Hubley
PublishedFebruary 5, 2021

There is arguably no more prominent symbol of China in the Western imagination than the red lantern. They can be seen dotting the streets and storefronts of Chinatowns around the world and illuminating our fictive minds, from Zhang Yimou’s film Raise The Red Lantern to James Bond’s Skyfall. Since the very first paper lanterns were made over two thousand years ago, they’ve become ubiquitous in Chinese culture and much of the East Asian world—particularly in times of celebration, as they represent family gathering and a brighter future. Here, we take a look at the roots and symbolism of this iconic source of light and hope.

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A History of Light

In the beginning, lanterns were more practical than magical. The Chinese first began making lanterns during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) to protect a candle’s flame, and constructed them by stretching silk or paper over a frame of bamboo, wood, or wheat-straw. Soon after, lanterns were decorated with Chinese characters and used as wayfinding guides for shops—a romantic, candlelit take on the modern billboard.

Hundreds of years later, lanterns became as symbolic as they were functional. During the Tang Dynasty, parents would prepare a lantern for their children’s first day of school and have the teacher light it, a ritual blessing for a promising year. And on the last night of Chinese New Year, when the streets were alight with the red glow of lanterns during the Lantern Festival, young people were chaperoned in public in hopes of finding love, with matchmakers busy pairing couples—a tradition still practiced in some Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia.

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Ming Emperor Xianzong celebrating the Lantern Festival in the Forbidden City. Winter, 1485 AD.

Today, lanterns are ubiquitous in ceremonies, celebrations and even contemporary decor. An overwhelming amount—nearly 80-percent of China’s lanterns—are made in the small village of Tuntou in Hebei, in the foothills of the Dabie Mountains not far from Beijing. Nearly 80 million red lanterns are made here each year using techniques passed down through generations, earning this literal beacon of a town the nickname, “The Lantern Capital of China.”

Folklore & Symbolism

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