Quanzhou Lanterns

Quanzhou lanterns are a traditional craft grown from southern Fujian's Lantern Festival custom of viewing lanterns, long-established and handed down across the city and countryside.

Made from bamboo strips, silk, cut paper and glass threads, the techniques include silk-wrapped, paper-cut (glass-thread) and bone-less pin-pricked lanterns, intricate in form and delicate in light.

An important vehicle of southern Fujian's Lantern Festival culture, exquisite and distinctly local, it entered the first national ICH list in 2006.

Each Lantern Festival, Quanzhou's old city holds lantern displays with lanterns hung through the lanes, the best time to admire the craft.