Puning Du's ancient village, with a centuries-old tradition of handmade lantern craftsmanship

Xilong Village is located in the northern part of Puning City, Guangdong Province. This ancient village carries a long history and unique cultural charm. It is one of the earliest formed villages in Puning City and even the entire Chaoshan area. The founder of the village is Du Zhuxuan, the commander of Chaozhou Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty. According to records, during the Dali years of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, due to wars, Du Zhuxuan led his family and villagers to migrate from Putian, Fujian to Chaozhou Rongshui Ancient Fortress (now Puning Chiwei Mashan area). Later, when the great Zen master passed by, Du Zhuxuan respected him greatly and had a deep discussion with him about Buddhism. They hit it off and donated Liangshan as a Taoist site, planted fruit trees in front of the rocks, and set up a year-round oil offering. Du Zhuxuan led the villagers to migrate to Xilong and finally settled down here. Today, nearly ten thousand descendants of the Du family still live on this land. The villagers mainly rely on traditional handicrafts for their livelihood. They inherit the ancient tradition of bamboo weaving. The bamboo hats and bamboo fans they make are sold at home and abroad. One of the highlights of Xilong Village is its famous Xilong lanterns (lantern colors), which have been selected as the 'Eighth Batch of Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Project List'. In the Yuande Building in Xilong Village, we visited the Xilong Lantern (Lantern Color) Workshop and learned about the past and present of Xilong Lanterns and the production process. The technique of Xilong lanterns has been passed down for hundreds of years since the Ming Dynasty. It is a very characteristic intangible cultural industry in the local area. Here, every household makes a living by making bamboo lanterns. Because the lanterns are handmade, they have to go through complicated processes such as weaving, pasting paper, coloring, and applying tung oil, which takes a long time, so the price of Xilong lanterns is not cheap, each ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, usually the bigger the more expensive. Xilong Village has a profound cultural heritage, with rich folk culture such as Xilong English songs and dances, Xilong lanterns, and the famous Masiyan Temple in its jurisdiction, which is a key cultural relic protection unit in Puning City. Every year on the evening of the 15th of the first lunar month, the villagers will hold a bamboo lantern lighting ceremony to create a festive atmosphere for the village.