Festive Lanterns: Luoyang Palace Lantern

The Luoyang palace lantern is the representative form of the city's traditional handcrafted lanterns, its shapes largely inherited from courtly styles — refined and stately. Lantern-making here is said to be of long standing; in Luoyang, capital of thirteen dynasties, it is bound up with the folk custom of hanging lanterns at festivals, bright and auspicious, carrying people's wishes for good fortune and reunion.

Making a palace lantern passes through many steps — binding the frame, mounting the shade, painting the motifs and assembling — the frame prized for symmetry and stability, the shade of gauze or paper painted with flowers, figures and dragons and phoenixes. It is an intricate craft resting on the maker's hands, yielding a well-formed lantern with a soft, glowing light.

Festive lanterns (the Luoyang palace lantern) are a national-level item of intangible cultural heritage. As a representative Central Plains lantern craft, they unite the folk custom of festive illumination with refined handwork — a vivid vessel of Luoyang's folk art and celebratory culture.

At Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival and other holidays, places such as Luoyi Ancient City are hung with lanterns — the finest season to view the Luoyang palace lantern; on ordinary days, related heritage display and workshop spaces let visitors watch how the lanterns are made.