Quanzhou lantern production began in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and continues to this day. According to the genealogy records of Fu and Huang in Fengzhou, Nan 'an, during the period, Fu led his troops into Fujian in the name of the left servant of Shangshu, stationed in (the predecessor of the state capital), built the Tang Palace in Taoyuan, and celebrated the emperor's ten thousand years according to Chang 'an lighting etiquette, so there was the beginning of lighting in Taoyuan. In Song Dynasty, Liang Kejia's "Three Mountains Record" contained "Quanzhou lanterns are colorful, lotus lanterns, hundred flowers lanterns, glazed lanterns, colored lanterns ...", which shows the richness of Quanzhou lanterns at that time. Ming metabolism in the "Five Ancestors Book" wrote that "there is more money in the world, and there are no more lights and candles than in Fujian". The "Minzhong" mentioned here is Quanzhou, which is enough for people to appreciate the grand occasion of Quanzhou Lantern Festival at that time. There is also the Dream of Tao 'an written by Zhang Dai in the Ming Dynasty, which records that Hangfutai entrusted Quanzhou and Nan 'an (a county under Quanzhou) to refine lanterns, praising its lanterns as "extremely skillful, ten lanterns can be made every two years" and "not broken in ten years". It can be seen that Quanzhou lanterns are famous for their excellent quality and exquisite craftsmanship.
Ancient lanterns were mostly twisted by rubbing paper. Chopped bamboo sticks were tied into lamp skeletons of various shapes, pasted with colored paper, painted with landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, wrote auspicious words, pasted with lace, fitted with silk ears, put candles or small oil lamps inside, and some even put sandalwood, thus making lanterns. This process is called color binding process, and this lamp is called color binding lamp. In the Ming Dynasty's Old Things in Wenling, it was described that "the surrounding screens and landscape figures are all famous pens. The lamp is on the third floor. If the altar is on it, it will smell for miles. " In order to show their skills, tie-color artists are ingenious every year, launching their own exquisite and novel masterpieces, playing their own brand names and competing with each other. Moreover, every family or shop will choose skilled craftsmen to learn their craft and imitate the binding of various lanterns, so the production of ancient lanterns basically belongs to the social tradition of everyone's hands-on, not the hands of full-time lantern masters. However, folk artists (locally known as paper makers) have played an exemplary role in leading the new trend of style and technological innovation, and they have made great contributions to the development history of Quanzhou Lantern Festival.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after the glass manufacturing industry was developed, craftsmen pulled glass into silk, which Quanzhou people called "material silk". Some ribbon artists use "silk" in the paper-pasted house to make it radiant. Subsequently, "wire" was also used in the process of making lanterns. In the Chronicle of Wenling written by Chen in the Qing Dynasty, it was mentioned that "either five-color paper, shredded materials or medulla tetrapanacis are used as characters, fish and insects, and the lanterns are lit" and "there must always be a lantern market in front of the double doors on the west side of Yamen." It is clearly mentioned here that the raw material of lanterns is silk, so there are Quanzhou silk lanterns.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Quanzhou paper engraving master Li Yaobao (1892-1983) inherited his father Li Jiushi's oil painting skills and his brother Li Qi's paper engraving technology, absorbed classical patterns, and created Li Yaobao's paper engraving patterns, and applied this exquisite paper engraving technology to the modeling patterns of silk lamps, with 165 pieces. This kind of lamp is dazzling, noble and elegant, which makes a great leap in the production technology and visual effect of Quanzhou lamp and greatly improves the artistic content of Quanzhou lamp.
Lanterns were also banned during the Cultural Revolution. After the reform and opening up, the local government held the first lantern exhibition after the Cultural Revolution in 1978, which greatly encouraged artists to make lanterns. Artist Cai created the first boneless needle lamp. This kind of lamp is cut into geometric figures by making drawings without a skeleton, and exquisite patterns are pricked on the geometric figures with needles, combined into a lamp, and then painted with pigments. Once the lamp is lit, the pinhole pattern is bright and dazzling.
Paper-cut silk lanterns and needle-punched boneless lanterns are outstanding representatives of Quanzhou lanterns, which are unique to China. Together with the traditional colored lanterns, they form the Quanzhou Lantern Series, and have held large-scale lantern exhibitions in the Philippines, Singapore, Canada, the United States, Taiwan Province Province and other countries and regions, which are very popular and well received. Especially in some Chinese-inhabited countries, overseas Chinese businessmen order Quanzhou lanterns every year to celebrate the Lantern Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival.
In addition, there is another kind of lamp in Quanzhou, called tin carving lamp, which cannot be popularized because of its high price.
Quanzhou Lantern integrates carving, painting, calligraphy, modeling, color matching, bleaching and dyeing, which is of great arts and crafts value. The story of the characters in the lamp, the scenery of mountains and rivers, and the folk customs are full of strong cultural connotations, edifying and enlightening people, and have high cultural value.
Set off the festive atmosphere, beautify the urban landscape and meet the cultural needs of the masses; Serve foreign cultural exchanges; Various patterns are widely used in decorative patterns of architecture, ship painting, clothing, shoes, hats and furniture.