Handmade Rare Chinese Lanterns Light Up the Mid-Autumn Festival

Hundreds of lanterns hand-painted by the community and the public are hung in the Blue House Cluster, on Sept. 3, 2022. T M Chan/The Epoch Times

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture since the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). For Hong Kong residents, this annual festival brings family, relatives, and friends together to celebrate and enjoy traditional food—especially the moon cakes. 

Our Epoch reporters went to Blue House Cluster to explore the festival lanterns and share them with our readers and Hongkongers around the world, as they are a significant part of Chinese culture.

Blue House Cluster is a set of four Grade I Historic tenement buildings in Wan Chai district in Hong Kong that were built in the 1920s and have been restored. They received an Award of Excellence from the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards in 2017.

The annual Tai O Lantern Festival in Hong Kong, which has been a hot spot for every Mid-Autumn Festival, was suspended this year. But the hand-painted lanterns “spread beyond” Tai O and are showcased in the Blue House for the first time during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The lanterns, which are hand-painted by the art community and the public, were hung up and lit in the evening of Sept. 3.

A close-up of some of the hand-painted lanterns hanging in the Blue House Cluster. T M Chan/The Epoch Times

The “Viva Blue House” project has cooperated with the community art organization “Tai O Fei Mao Li” to prepare for the Blue House Mid-Autumn Festival for the first time, passing the Tai O experience to the small community by organizing hand-painting lanterns workshops before the Festival, and encouraging the public to create a series of hand-painted lanterns with the theme of Blue, Neighborhood Under Moon, to decorate the Blue House Cluster and nearby shops for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival.

Hundreds of hand-painted lanterns are hung in the Blue House Cluster on Sept. 3, 2022. T M Chan/The Epoch Times

From now until Sep. 11, there is also a lantern riddle area in the open space of the Blue House. Everyone can participate and spend a beautiful night with relatives and friends.

The lanterns were lit up on Sept. 3 to add vivid colors to Blue House. T M Chan/The Epoch Times

Hundreds of hand-painted lanterns hung on the Blue House Cluster on Sept. 3, 2022. T M Chan/The Epoch Times

Some of the hundreds of lanterns hung in the Blue House Cluster on Sept. 3, 2022. T M Chan/The Epoch Times