Research: Chinese Lanterns

At the present, internet technology has reached a pinnacle of development, leading to an extremely rapid spread of information. Information explodes in front of people's eyes and floods their lives in such a way that there is no time to browse and take it in one by one. Therefore, festivals become less lively; traditional culture suffers from the impact of novelty; the freshness of things does not last; the classics no longer live with longevity. “With the speeding pace of modern life, recalling the past is also a kind of luxury.” (Cui, 2015: 125)

Nowadays, the atmosphere of Chinese New Year is no longer as strong as it once was, and many traditional customs are gradually being abandoned. Few families now put up red lanterns specifically for the Chinese New Year and many large lantern fairs have been cancelled in some cities. As a result, some of the traditional skills of lantern-making are gradually being lost.

Lanterns have a long history, as introduced by Wei Cuncheng, a famous archaeologist in China. Chinese lanterns were the earliest portable lighting tools invented in the world. The oracle bone inscription "Dong" may be a depiction of the original lantern. The Southern History records the phrase "Ge lanterns hung on the wall". Ge is a white, coarse cloth woven from hemp, and the lantern made from it is probably the original form of the yarn lantern. Its use was as a door lantern (wind lantern) to mark official streets, names and identities. The red lantern, on the other hand, flourished only after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and developed over the years into the festive lantern used today.

The origin of lanterns has been described in many ways, but one of the more widespread ones is that the custom of playing lanterns on the Lantern Festival began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Eastern Han Dynasty advocated Buddhism and heard of the Buddhist practice of monks observing the relics of Buddha and lighting lanterns in honour of Buddha on the 15th day of the first month, so he ordered that lanterns be lit in honour of Buddha in the palace and temples on this day and night, and made the scholarly and common people hang lanterns. Later on, this Buddhist ritual festival gradually became a grand festival for the people. The festival went through a process of development from the palace to the people and from the Central Plains to the whole country. During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, in order to celebrate the peace and prosperity of the country, lanterns were tied and knotted to symbolise the "auspiciousness of the colourful dragons and the prosperity of the people and the country", and the lantern culture became widely popular.

In terms of shape: there are currently two types of lanterns, the Quanzhou style and the Fuzhou style. Among them, the Quanzhou style is the representative of Chinese lanterns.

In terms of types: palace lanterns, sari lanterns, chandeliers, etc.

Palace lanterns, as the name suggests, are lamps used in the imperial palace. They are mainly painted lanterns with a wooden skeleton inlaid with silk and glass, and painted with various patterns on the outside, also known as palace lanterns. It is one of the characteristic handicrafts of Chinese lanterns. It is famous for its elegance and grandeur, and is full of the atmosphere of the palace. As it was used by the court for a long time, it was not only illuminated but also decorated with elaborate and complicated decorations to show the wealth and luxury of the emperor.

Oil paper and bamboo lanterns are an ancient traditional Chinese art with auspicious symbols. It inspired me to develop new fabrics by combining this technique with knitting.

I hope that through my personal nostalgic and personalized designs, I can revive the lost memories of Chinese culture. The culture of the Chinese 'Spring Festival Gala' and the traditional Chinese lantern culture will also be key elements in my nostalgic design. Through innovative designs on old culture, I will inject a new soul into it, thereby continuing and promoting the cultural sustainability of Chinese culture and increasing the emotional durability of the audience. Through subsequent research into fabrics and materials, I will also consider and choose to use more durable and sustainable materials in this collection to better achieve sustainability.

This is the process of making these lanterns.