CCTV News: When it comes to colored lanterns, many people will think of Zigong, Sichuan. With its unique cultural taste and artistic charm, Zigong Lanterns have become the protagonist of lantern festivals around the world. Today, Zigong Colorful Lanterns have occupied 85% of the domestic market and 92% of the international market, with the annual output value of the industry exceeding 6 billion yuan. Next, let’s start from Zigong together and open the Chinese story of the lantern going out to sea.

This is the Chinese Colorful Lantern World located in Zigong City, Sichuan. As the long-standing "land of colorful lanterns", there has always been a saying that "I will not look at the lanterns when I return from Zigong." The two colorful lights on my hands are as high as 18 meters. They are inspired by "The Legend of White Snake" and use Zigong's traditional silk frame three-dimensional modeling technology to create a huge portrait of White Snake and Xiaoqing. The lights light up under the night, showing a unique charm. During the entire lantern festival, more than 200 groups of lamps with different images were gathered. What kind of production process does these behemoths have to go through? Let's go to the factory first to take a look.

In the production workshop of a local lantern company, welding flowers splashed, and a "big crab" was taking shape; on the other side, the artist was spraying paint to color, and the mandarin duck colored lights gradually showed their charm. From designing images to making shapes, to completing papering and painting... a complex lantern production cycle often reaches three months.

Pharm bottles, porcelain cups, silkworm cocoons, and even CDs have also been used in the production of colored lanterns. The reporter learned that the cost of these raw materials accounts for about 20 to 30% of the entire production of colored lanterns. In addition, enterprises integrate more green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly concepts into the production of lanterns.

A lamp lights up more than just a city.

Over the past 30 years, Zigong colored lights have lit up more than 80 countries and regions around the world, and the cumulative number of domestic and foreign tourists for viewing lights has exceeded 400 million. Today, Zigong lanterns have become one of China's "business cards" for foreign cultural trade.

Lans carry around the world. Zigong lanterns Chinese-style "oriental aesthetics" stun the world.

From Zigong, Sichuan to the global stage, Chinese-style oriental aesthetics have lit up more and more cities, and Zigong lanterns have also become a window for cultural exchanges between China and the world. Next, we go to a zoo in the Netherlands to see their indissoluble bond with Zigong Colorful Lanterns.

The first hand of the Ouweihans Zoo in the Netherlands and the Zigong Lanterns in China was due to the fact that in 2017, the park welcomed two "national treasure-level" stars - the pandas "Wu Wen" and "Xing Ya" from China. In order to match these two Chinese giant pandas, the zoo decided to hold an event with Chinese cultural colors and ultimately focused on the Chinese Zigong lanterns with footprints across more than 80 countries and regions.

Since cooperation with Zigong lantern industry in 2018, the Netherlands Ovihans Zoo has held six "China Lantern Festival". The "China Lantern Festival" not only allowed the Dutch people to feel the charm of Chinese culture up close, but also injected new impetus into China-Dutch economic and trade cooperation.

Outside of the Netherlands, the unique "oriental aesthetics" of Chinese lanterns has also left its mark in more countries. In early 2025, at the Dublin Zoo in Ireland, Zigong lanterns that arrived as promised attracted many tourists to stop. In Singapore, the busiest Chinatown "Chinatown" has brought the festival atmosphere to a climax.

A variety of colored lanterns not only showcase the superb production process, but also incorporate rich Chinese traditional cultural elements. Zigong colored lanterns shine around the world have become an important business card for Chinese culture to "go to the sea".