Summary: The town of Tuntou in Hebei Province is responsible for producing an estimated 80% of China's lanterns, maintaining this dominance through traditional handcrafting methods passed down through generations. While this artisanal approach allows for flexible, cost-effective production, the town faces a potential future labor shortage as younger residents increasingly seek opportunities in cities.
Main Topics Covered:
1. The cultural significance of red lanterns in China.
2. Tuntou's central role in the handmade lantern industry.
3. The traditional, generational craft techniques used.
4. The economic advantages and modern challenges facing the town's industry.
The little town making nearly all of China's lanterns
In China, red lanterns could guide a traveller to safety in cold winter alleyways, be symbols of power outside an imperial hall, or act as a call to religious devotion when hung in a temple.
They are also absolutely synonymous with lunar new year celebrations right across the vast country and link today's Chinese people with the culture of their ancestors.
To imagine how many lanterns would be hung here, at any given time, is like trying to count how many trees would be in the Amazon.
And yet it is claimed that a remarkable 80% of the country's lanterns are still made – by hand – in one small town in Hebei Province.
Walking around the dusty streets of Tuntou you see evidence of lantern making everywhere you go.
A view through an open door into a courtyard might reveal a small group of villagers sitting on stools and making lanterns while they chat, while down the main street, red lanterns are piled up one on top of the other.
Nobody seems to know just how many hundreds of years ago the craft started in this part of northern China but, if you're born in Tunou, you are immersed in lantern making from a very young age.
"When you see others in your family doing it every day, you get the hang of it quickly," one woman told the BBC, adding that "Kids here can pick it up at from around 10-years-old."
It seems remarkable that, in an era of high-tech production lines, this town has been able to maintain a stranglehold on the lantern market, using production techniques from another era.
When asked about this, one elderly lantern maker said it was because they could easily fill diverse orders, no matter how small in scale, and do it more cheaply than factories could.
In the future, modern production may find a way to match what this village can do by hand, offering the same diversity of options at a competitive price, but it has not happened yet.
But a challenge for Tuntou is that many young people these days are not satisfied with a life of lantern making, instead opting for the lure of the city and the possibilities that urban existence can bring. This could mean a shortage of labour in the years to come.
However, for now, this is China's lantern town, and its residents are proud that it is known this way.
Meridiano
