Lantern 灯笼
Lanterns, the traditional folk craftwork, are still popular all over the country. And the art of lanterns, as the precious traditional culture of Chinese, is also inherited  and continues among folks. We can say that lanterns play an important and irreplaceable role in Chinese long history and symbolize the brilliant culture of China.
The craftwork of lantern is still widely used in current society which can be seen in some happy days such as the Lantern Festival, wedding and celebration ceremonies. Besides, lanterns have some other functions in daily life. For example, at ancient time, when there was no electricity, lanterns were used as a tool of illumination, which brought great convenience to everyday life. At that time, people of all classes admired the specific culture of lanterns. As verified by historians, Chinese lantern was the earliest invented portable illumination instrument in the world. However, Chinese lantern was not just used to illuminate. It was also historic. The elaborate pattern of lantern was the intelligence gathering of ancient laboring people. Ancient lanterns were on the greatest artistic level. What’s more, the lanterns used in royal families and palaces were the most valuable, which had elaborately engraved decorative design, smooth lines, and plump patterns. All these designs fiercely impact on eyes. Besides, some lanterns not only have elegant lines and engraved designs, but also were decorated with Chinese characters, portraits of historic figures, pictures of the divinities of some legends, and the landscape of China, which perfectly blend the nature with the humanistic ideas and thus vividly reflect the high level of civilization of the society at that time.
Chinese lanterns not only played an important role in Chinese history, but also made great contribution to the development of international civilization. Some western countries got the skills of designing and making Chinese lanterns by means of missionaries and foreign trading, which greatly fasten their social development. While some oriental countries, especially those Asian countries, taking the advantage of the geographical position, learned the traditional culture of Chinese lanterns directly by means of the commercial communication, which means that even their current lantern designs have the trace of Chinese culture. So we can say that the brilliant Chinese culture has greatly impacted the whole world, among which the traditional lantern culture is an important part.
Nowadays, people usually use other instruments to illuminate instead of lanterns. However, lanterns still play a special role in certain occasions, especially the festivals and some wedding ceremonies. What’s more, recently great changes have taken place in the skills of making lanterns so that lanterns work better in decoration. Nowadays, lanterns are more and more used in advertisements.
At present, people have changed their taste for lanterns. As a result, traditional lanterns become the collections of some lantern lovers. Artists at home and abroad all have great passion for traditional Chinese lanterns owing to their elegant molding and convincingly exquisite craftsmanship.
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