{"id":44192,"date":"2022-01-28T18:26:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T02:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=44192"},"modified":"2022-01-28T18:26:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T02:26:05","slug":"charm-of-lingnan-cantonese-style-palace-lantern-the-art-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=44192","title":{"rendered":"Charm of Lingnan | Cantonese-style palace lantern: the art of light"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022-Jan-27\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Source:\u00a0newsgd.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Editor’s note:\u00a0Lingnan culture is an integral part of splendid Chinese culture. In this series\u00a0of\u00a0reports, GDToday joins hands with the Guangdong Province Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese to provide an insight into the cuisine, folk arts, customs, architecture and other factors that lay a rich foundation for Lingnan culture.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the Spring Festival approaches, lanterns are gradually hung up on high streets and back lanes in Guangdong. Among them,\u00a0Cantonese-style palace lanterns are receiving great acclaim and becoming widely known even among overseas customers.<\/p>\n

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Palace lantern was invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty\u00a0(25-220) and entered a\u00a0stage of vigorous development in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1912). According to legend, after Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty moved his capital to Beijing, he recruited skilled craftsmen from all over the country to manufacture\u00a0palace lanterns for the imperial court.<\/p>\n

Guangzhou, as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, has obtained a large amount\u00a0of imported rosewood. Thanks to that, skilled\u00a0Cantonese\u00a0craftsmen in history developed and produced various\u00a0Cantonese-style rosewood palace lanterns integrating artistic and decorative features, and presented these lanterns as tributes\u00a0to dignitaries in the capital.<\/p>\n

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In 2009, the production technology of the Cantonese-style rosewood palace lantern was selected\u00a0into the third batch of the intangible cultural heritage list of Guangdong province. It\u00a0can be roughly divided into two\u00a0major\u00a0stages: the production of a rosewood frame\u00a0and the production of a glass painting\u00a0surface.<\/p>\n

The rosewood frame components\u00a0are carefully carved and made of rare and highly prized wood, such as narra, sandal wood and padauk wood, which are not easily deformed. The production processes include wood selection, baking, cutting, drawing, carving, scraping, assembling, rough grinding, painting at the bottom, fine grinding, color picking, painting the surface layer, and assembling. Each backbone\u00a0and interface\u00a0of the lantern\u00a0frame are finely made.<\/p>\n

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Carving is the hardest part of making a frame. Even a less complex pattern will take at least 10 days to carve by hand. If the pattern is complicated, it will take\u00a0several months or even half a year to be\u00a0carving. Craftsmen\u00a0usually use iron wire to saw through the wood, then carve the wood with knifes, and use iron wire to grind the wood gap again. After many times of grinding and trimming, a rosewood frame is completed.<\/p>\n

The paintings on palace lantern\u00a0glass\u00a0surfaces are usually traditional Chinese flowers,\u00a0birds, and landscapes. They\u00a0are colored with a special pigment commonly known as “lamp oil\u00a0(\u706f\u80c6\u6cb9)”. The inner wall of the glass surface\u00a0will be frosted in advance, which is conducive to softening\u00a0the light source.<\/p>\n

Finally, after assembling\u00a0rosewood components, glass paintings, tassels and a bulb, a beautiful lantern is ready to\u00a0be hung for use.\u00a0It is remarkable that a finished\u00a0palace lantern can also be folded and disassembled\u00a0for easy storage.<\/p>\n

In recent years, with the rise of Chinoiserie, Chinese traditional decorations\u00a0are\u00a0becoming more and more popular among the public. Rosewood palace lanterns are also widely\u00a0used in Chinese interior design. Modern rosewood palace lanterns\u00a0have\u00a0been improved and innovated in both design and function. They\u00a0not only maintain\u00a0their\u00a0classic looks and historic elegance, but also have\u00a0modern styles.<\/p>\n

Author | Yang Xiaobin, Ariel, Tonny (intern)<\/p>\n

Editor | Monica, Jerry<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022-Jan-27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Source:\u00a0newsgd.com Editor’s note:\u00a0Lingnan culture...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44193,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44192\/revisions\/44193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}