Qinhuai Lantern Fair, also known as Jinling Lantern Fair, Jinling Lantern Festival, and officially named Lantern Fair on Qinhuai River, is a popular

folk custom A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

celebration of the

Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=元宵節, s=元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié), is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth d ...

in the

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

area. Modern usage refers to the large-scale fair held yearly at the

Confucius Temple A temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is a temple for the veneration of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism in Chinese folk religion and other East Asian religions. They were formerly the site of the administration of t ...

of Nanjing between Spring Festival and

. There have been 25 fairs held up to date, and it is one of the most famous celebration of Lantern Festival in China. On the day of

, the fair reaches its climax. An old Nanjing saying, "If you don’t see the New Year lanterns at Confucius Temple, you have not celebrated the new year; if you go to Confucius Temple but don’t buy a lantern, you haven’t celebrated the new year properly." demonstrates the popularity of this fair. On June 2, 2006, the fair was named as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of China by the government of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

The most recent lantern festival took place on February 17, 2011.

History

Early fairs

The origin of the fairs can be traced back to

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

. During that time, the act of hanging lanterns was used in festivals and celebrations. When armies returned in triumph, government officials and civilians would gather to hang up lanterns around the city to welcome them home. Back then, embroidery techniques were passed into Eastern Wu from

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

(then

Jinling Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

) was the capital during

Eastern Jin Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...

and

Southern Dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

. Many nobles and members of the gentry lived on the banks of

Qinhuai River The Qinhuai River () is a tributary of the Yangtze with a total length of 110 km. It flows through central Nanjing and is called "Nanjing's mother river". It is the "life blood" of the city. The Qinhuai River is divided into inner and outer river ...

. When Lantern Festival came, these people would hang up lanterns and decorations, mimicking the Palace. During the reign of

Emperor Xiaowu of Liu Song Emperor Xiaowu of Song (宋孝武帝) (19 September 430 – 12 July 464), personal name Liu Jun (劉駿), courtesy name Xiulong (休龍), childhood name Daomin (道民), was an emperor of the Liu Song dynasty of China. He was a son of Emperor Wen ...

, the development of paper technologies resulted in low prices of paper, which made it a replacement for many textiles and contributed to the development of colored lanterns. From the Sui on, hanging lanterns on

became a tradition. By

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, lantern fairs on Lantern Festival became a regular practice. This time saw an increase in the scale of the festival as well as the number of days from one day on the Lantern Festival to three days between fourteenth and sixteenth of the first month of the

Lunar Calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gre ...

. Curfew restrictions were relaxed on these days. The festivals were very fancy, and many professional lantern artisans set up shops on the banks of Qinhuai River. During

Northern Song Dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

, the number of nights for hanging lanterns increased to a total of five, adding the seventeenth and eighteenth of the first month. The tradition of writing " Lantern Riddles" on lanterns was also formed. In 1243, the thirteenth of the first month was also added to the festival, which increased the duration to six nights.

Fairs in Ming, Qing, and Republic of China era

After establishing the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, the

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...

made

his capital. In order to create an ambiance of prosperity, he actively supported the holding of Lantern Festival. Afterward, the duration of the festival was increased to ten nights, making it the longest lantern festival in Chinese history. Every year, the Hongwu Emperor spent large amounts of money, material, and manpower in order to produce a substantial number of lanterns to draw people to the lantern fair. After the

Manchu people The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Q ...

entered into

China Proper China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...

and established

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, they continued and developed the local tradition. The classic, ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

'', describes the bustling view of lanterns. Every year on Lantern Festival, hordes of people gathered in the vicinity of the Confucius Temple with gongs and drums making ear-piercing noises, the liveliness surpassed even the celebrations in Ming dynasty. In 1864, the

Xiang Army 150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called '' tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebellion in Qing China ...

sieged and took Nanking, destroying much of the infrastructure in the process. This greatly hampered the traditions of the Lantern Festival in Nanking. Tseng Kuo-fan attempted to have celebrations reach their former glory by dredging the Qinhuai River and rebuilding the Confucius Temple in 1865. His efforts brought in a recovery of the tradition. At that time, businessmen from

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...

enjoyed their fame in lantern making. Soldiers of the

encamped in Nanking at that time also were adapt at making lanterns, which also contributed to the wide variety of lanterns. During

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

era, the area around the Confucius Temple was known for its lantern markets. However, due to perennial civil warfare, lantern fairs frequently suffered. In 1937, the invading

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

occupied Nanking, causing great damage to the Confucius Temple. Lantern fairs were suspended due to warfare once more. It was not until after 1939 that a small number of lantern merchants would occasionally be in the vicinity of the Confucius Temple. After 1945, due to the

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...

caused by the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, regular civilians did not have the ability to put on such celebrations, and the tradition of Lantern fairs nearly disappeared.

Fairs in the People's Republic of China

After the establishment of the

in 1949, the fairs were being revived slowly. In the 1960s, the fair had more or less reached its former scale. After the start of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

in 1966, folk arts such as traditional lanterns were seen as part of the

Four Olds The Four Olds or the Four Old Things () was a term used during the Cultural Revolution by the student-led Red Guards in the People's Republic of China in reference to the pre-communist elements of Chinese culture they attempted to destroy. The Fou ...

. Thus, the lantern market and fairs became prohibited. In 1977, the lantern market around the Confucius Temple opened for the first time after the

. In 1984, the government appropriated funds for the repair of the Confucius Temple as well as the surrounding landscapes. In 1985, the government of

Qinhuai District Qinhuai District () is one of 11 districts of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, China. Administrative subdivisions Qinhuai has administrative jurisdiction over the following 12 subdistricts: In 2013, Baixia merged into Qinhuai gaining ...

in Nanjing started holding officially sponsored fairs during Spring Festival and Lantern Festival time around the Confucius Temple. In 1984, Qinhuai Lantern Crafts Association was formed, and many civilian craftsmen started making lanterns with modern techniques. In 1988, a museum of Lantern Arts was built in the Confucius Temple, which brought the appearance of large-scale sets of lanterns in the fairs.

Lantern Art

The production of Qinhuai lanterns integrates traditional Chinese handicrafts such as weaving, painting, calligraphy, paper cutting, shadow puppetry, embroidery, sculpture and so on. As far as its production materials are concerned, the materials for making skeletons are mainly bamboo, trees, rattan, wheat straw, animal horns, metals, etc.; The materials that make up the light source vary from the use of pine resin, animal and vegetable oil, lacquer, paraffin, kerosene and other fuels, with bamboo, grass, cotton cores, etc. as the wick, to the use of electric light sources. Its surface translucent materials have also developed with the development of the times, including various colors of translucent paper, silk veil, painting yarn, cotton, as well as synthetic silk forging, plastic film, special glass and so on. Its production process has integrated a series of process techniques and production methods such as carpentry, lacquer, painting, carving, clay sculpture, knotting, mounting paste, welding, mechanical transmission, sound and light sound, electronic program control, etc. From a historical point of view, from the traditional single lamps such as lotus lamps, lion lamps, rabbit lamps, goldfish lamps, toad lamps, yuanbao lamps, to a variety of combination lights, large flower lanterns, and with the progress of the times, including ocean-going ships, carrier rockets and reflect the urban construction, mountain landscape of various lights, its categories have reached more than 400 kinds. In addition to the display of illuminations, the Qinhuai Lantern Festival also includes other folk culture and art categories in Nanjing, such as Nanjing paper-cutting, empty bamboo, knots, carving, shadow puppetry, animal dance, song, trembling, stilt walking, etc.

Current fairs

Since 2007, Fuzi temple scenic area has worked on a large-scale transformation and upgrading, the inner and outer

Qinhuai river The Qinhuai River () is a tributary of the Yangtze with a total length of 110 km. It flows through central Nanjing and is called "Nanjing's mother river". It is the "life blood" of the city. The Qinhuai River is divided into inner and outer river ...

water system has been integrated, opening up a new qinhuai river cruise route.In 2009,Qinhuai Lantern Fair introduced large-scale lanterns from Zigong, Sichuan province, and for the first time, light-colored art was mainly held. In 2010, in cooperation with Taiwan tourism agencies in the name of the Jiangsu lantern festival,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

lanterns were displayed and sent to participate in the

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name i ...

lantern festival for lantern exchange activities.In 2011, for the first time, the first Ming Wall International Light Festival named, invited the United States, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and other foreign lanterns to participate in the exhibition. In 2017, during the lantern festival, the Qinhuai Lantern Fair set a record of more than 600,000 tourists visited.

Notes

{{coord missing, Jiangsu Tourist attractions in Nanjing Festivals in China Lantern Festival