Village Hard at Work Making Spring Festival Lanterns

A villager in the Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei province make lanterns for decorating households during the incoming Chinese New Year. [Photo by Wang Weiqian for chinadaily.com.cn]

As the rest of the country gears up for the long Spring Festival holiday, one village in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province, is busy making lanterns to decorate households during the festivities that begin on Jan 25 this year.

Tuntou village in Gaocheng district, southeast of Shijiazhuang, is well-known for aptitude in producing 80 percent of the country's total lantern needs, according to hebnews.cn, a local news website in Hebei.

About 90 percent of the village's 6,800 residents are involved in the lantern business, the report claimed.

Villagers in the Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei province make lanterns for decorating households during the incoming Chinese New Year. [Photo by Wang Weiqian for chinadaily.com.cn]

Each family workshop in the village can make as many as 7,000 lanterns in a day during peak times such as Spring Festival, when according to Chinese tradition, families or hotels hang lanterns at gates as a way of celebrating the new year.

Last year, the village produced 200 million lanterns. Some were exported to over 10 foreign countries, including Russia, South Korea and Japan, according to Su Zhenguo, the village's Party chief.

A villager in Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei province checks locally made lanterns for decorating households during the incoming Chinese New Year. [Photo by Wang Weiqian for chinadaily.com.cn]

Lanterns made in Gaocheng, about 250 kilometers southwest of Beijing, date back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) and are known as Gongdeng, or Palace Lanterns.

Local history shows the name dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when Emperor Qianlong (1711-99) passed Gaocheng during his trip to the south and found lanterns hung on gates of local households.

He found the lanterns exquisite, brought some back and hung them in his palace, thus the name Palace Lantern.

A lantern made in Gaocheng district, Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Lanterns made in Gaocheng district, Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]