Chinanews.com, Taipei, February 12. The Lantern Festival is approaching. Many counties and cities in Taiwan have held or are about to hold lantern festivals and lantern festivals to welcome the traditional festival in a lively atmosphere.
"Dongfeng night, thousands of trees are blooming, and the stars are like rain." Lantern viewing is an ancient cultural custom. Even today, there are still several old shops in Taiwan that have been making and selling handmade lanterns for decades or even hundreds of years. Inheriting traditional craftsmanship with simple ingenuity.
According to media reports such as the Central News Agency and the United Daily News, among the Lantern Festival lanterns in Beigang Chaotian Temple, Yunlin County, which will debut this year, there are works by lantern master Lin Congxian.
Lin Congxian is the fifth-generation owner of Beigang Senxing Lantern Shop. This old shop was founded in the fifth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1866) and has been operating for more than a century.
Today, the shop lanterns are jointly produced by Lin Congxian and his wife, their second son Lin Yinteng and their daughter-in-law. They continue the family's "one-stop" operation mode, from cutting bamboo, weaving skeletons, color glazes, and oiling all by hand.
Lin Congxian once said in an interview with the media that handmade lanterns look like a sunset industry, but only handwork can show the vitality of lanterns. To continue this skill must have a "fool spirit" and a sense of mission.
Lin Yinteng also said that he hopes to influence his children subtly and let the handmade lanterns continue to light up the century-old shop.
Lao Mian Cheng Firm in Dadaocheng, Taipei is another century-old store.
Lao Miancheng was founded in 1915 and is now run by Zhang Meimei, a 67-year-old third-generation successor.
Lao Miancheng originally sold sacrificial supplies, but in Zhang Meimei's father's generation, he sold lanterns exclusively.
In this store, in addition to traditional lanterns, you can also see Hakka floral cloth lanterns, hot-air balloon-shaped, and teddy bear-shaped lanterns in various colors.
Zhang Meimei once said in an interview that she was thinking about new products at any time, and she was very happy when she thought of innovative lanterns that someone would buy.
Zhang Meimei watched her father make lanterns since she was a child, and naturally learned this craft.
Many years ago, when her father died, she started the old shop herself.
She said that although it is really difficult to run a lantern shop now, she will keep the shop because "tradition is tradition".
The Spring and Autumn Art Society in Changhua City is a handmade lantern shop that has been open for about a year.
The works of Tang Qiushui and Tang Jiaxing and their sons can be seen in Changhua Nanyao Palace and Guandi Temple.
Tang Qiushui also told the media that he had "ambition" to make a super-large lantern to challenge the world record for bamboo lanterns.
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