Culture

Salt and dinosaurs are written into the rock; the lanterns are written across the night sky. Every Spring Festival, Zigong (自贡) lights whole gardens into a cathedral of colour — glowing dragons the length of a city block, sets several storeys high, dinosaurs drifting above the crowds. This is the Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival (自贡国际恐龙灯会), and it is why the city is known as the “city of lanterns (灯城).”

A covered bridge hung with lanterns at the festival, a pagoda and a hill of blue light beyond — A lantern-hung bridge at the festival, its light mirrored in the water (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2017).

The modern festival began with a government-organised Spring Festival fair in 1964, which drew some 200,000 visitors; in 1987 it was renamed the International Dinosaur Lantern Festival (国际恐龙灯会), fusing the city’s two emblems and beginning to travel abroad. In 1994 it was named the “home of Chinese lantern festivals (中国彩灯之乡).” Today Zigong’s lanterns have been shown in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries — an export business that fuses traditional artistry with steel framing, motors, LED, and logistics to ship room-sized illuminated sets across the world.

What truly sets Zigong’s lanterns apart is the craft. Artisans bend bamboo and wire into armatures, then skin them in silk, paper, and glass; the signature move is to bind everyday objects — porcelain bowls and dishes, medicine bottles — into glowing mosaics. The subjects, too, are often local: the salt worker at his brine, and Zhang Daqian (张大千), the painter Zigong gave the world, are both rendered in light.

A lantern set assembled from blue-and-white porcelain bowls and dishes, lit from within — A set built from bound blue-and-white porcelain — the signature Zigong technique (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2017).

So a New Year folk custom, born in a city of salt merchants, grew into an industry shipped around the globe. That it is the Dinosaur Lantern Festival is no accident: salt, dinosaurs, and lanterns are the three ways this city tells its own story — and the lanterns are the one that glows, and the one that gets crated and carried away.

2016

The 2016 photographs move closer and grow quieter: pagodas appear through branches and curtains of blue willow-light, while the colour blocks, frames, and hand-built surfaces of the sets become easier to see.

Illuminated Chinese-style towers layered behind blue willow lights — Blue willow lights and tiered towers turn the garden into a luminous nightscape (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2016).

An illuminated pagoda glimpsed through bare branches (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2016).

A mythological group relief before a wall of coloured light — A mythological group relief against a wall of shifting colour (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2016).

A grinning cartoon corn lantern wearing glasses — A cartoon corn lantern shows the festival’s playful side (Colored Lantern Park; author’s photo, 2016).

2017

The photographs below are from the 23rd Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival (Colored Lantern Park / 彩灯公园, 2017); the last is a riverside scene in the city, the same winter.

The lantern bridge and a pagoda beyond (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Lantern sets mirrored in the water (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Floating lanterns under a bridge arch — Floating water-lanterns beneath a bridge arch (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

The bridge and a glowing gateway (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

The lantern bridge at dusk — The bridge’s roofline against the dusk (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

A giant porcelain-vase lantern with crowds — A giant porcelain-vase lantern; the crowd gives the scale (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

A salt-worker lantern — A lantern set themed on a salt worker — a nod to the salt capital (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Sign for the 'Millennia of Salt' lantern set — The sign for the “Millennia of Salt (千年盐韵)” lantern set (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

A lantern of the painter Zhang Daqian — A lantern of Zhang Daqian, the painter Zigong gave the world (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Panda lanterns — Pandas and a Sichuan scene in light (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Bamboo-shaped lanterns and blue willow lights — Bamboo-shaped lanterns amid blue willow lights (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

A gilded deity-and-dragon lantern — A blazing gilt deity-and-dragon set (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

A palace-and-phoenix lantern set (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

Illuminated gateways and a deer lantern (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

The 23rd festival entrance sign — The entrance to the 23rd Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival (Colored Lantern Park, 2017).

The festival entrance from the street — The festival entrance seen from the street (Zigong, 2017).

Riverside lights at night in the city (Zigong, 2017).