Lantern Festival is a traditional folk activity in China. During the period of Shun Di in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling, a native of Pei Guofeng, held a "Lantern Festival" ceremony in Hemingshan, Sichuan, which is the oldest known primitive Lantern Festival. During the Southern Dynasties, the custom of holding the traditional Lantern Festival appeared in Jiankang (now Nanjing), and its grand occasion was the highest in the country. Lantern Festival flourished in Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. During Yang Di's reign, the lantern festival was held at the end gate of the main entrance of Luoyang Miyagi, the capital of the first month, and the end gate was brightly lit.
On May 20, 2006, the Qinhuai Lantern Festival declared by Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage (category: folk customs; No.: X-50).
On June 7, 2008, the Lantern Festival declared in many places was approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (category: folk custom; No.: X-8 1).
According to documents, as early as the beginning of the Southern Dynasties, the Lantern Festival was held in Nanjing, the capital city, which was the earliest recorded Lantern Festival in China. In order to pray for a good weather, a happy family and a peaceful world, scenes decorated with lanterns began to move from deep palaces and religious places to folk people, and the scene of "bright lights" was quite spectacular. In this regard, Liang,, Xiao Gang, etc. They all described the social fashion of adding festive atmosphere with lanterns in the Southern Dynasties with vivid poems.
During the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, Nanjing was the capital of China at that time. There are many dignitaries, nobles and celebrities living along the Qinhuai River. Every Lantern Festival, they follow the example of the imperial court and decorate with lanterns. Poets in the Eastern Jin Dynasty learned to carve teeth with a poem "Poem Lantern" to describe the situation of decorating lanterns at that time. During the reign of Xiaowu in the Southern Dynasty, papermaking technology developed rapidly and the cost was low, which replaced the extensive application of silk fabrics and made the lantern color art develop rapidly.