About Box Lantern

The Box Lantern craft, introduced in 1853 when Sun Baoyuan brought artisan Zhang Hong from the imperial court to Zhaomaotao Town in Haixing County, was officially recognized in 2012 as part of the Hebei Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

A Cangzhou Box Lantern is typically constructed from a bamboo frame covered with translucent paper panels, forming a structured, box-like shape with multiple layers or sides, each displaying distinct painted designs. When illuminated, the lantern emits a warm glow that brings these patterns — often featuring flowers, landscapes, animals, or symbolic motifs — to life.

Its most distinctive feature lies in its performance form, where layers are sequentially ignited and shed using gunpowder, a design that contributed to its rapid spread to surrounding regions such as Tianjin and Shandong.

Today, the craft survives in a handful of workshops in Haixing County. The knowledge of its construction is passed down in a narrow chain of master-to-apprentice transmission that grows more fragile with each generation.