What are Chinese paper lanterns?
Lanterns (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. dēng long) are hung on Chinese New Year’s Eve (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. Chú Xī) and stay until the end of the Chinese Lantern Festival (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. Yuán Xiāo Jié), fifteen (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. shí wǔ) days after the Chinese New Year (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. Chūn Jié).
Chinese lanterns are often red (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. hóng sè de) and round, with Chinese characters or drawings printed on them.
How do you make a Chinese paper lantern?
You will need:
- an A4 sheet of thin card (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. kǎ piàn)
- a pair of safety scissors (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. jiǎn dāo)
- glue (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. jiāo shuǐ) or tape (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. jiāo dài)
- coloured pens (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. shuǐ cǎi bǐ) or pencils (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. qiān bǐ)
Instructions:
Print out (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. dǎ yìn) the template onto an A4 sheet of thin card.
Colour in the flowers (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. huā) and add the Chinese characters provided, or any pattern that you like.
Fold (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. zhé) the card in half long ways, and carefully cut (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. jiǎn) along the dotted lines.
Fold the card around on itself, so that the cuts run from top (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. shàng miàn) to bottom (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. xià miàn), and use glue or tape to hold it together.
Bend the smaller rectangle (Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. cháng fāng xíng) template into an arch and stick it to the top of the lantern as a handle.
If you don't have a printer, why not try tracing the template?
Image caption, Step 1
1 of 5
Click below to download the instructions and template
Key Mandarin words
| Mandarin | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | Chú Xī | Chinese New Year's Eve |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | Chūn Jié | Chinese New Year |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | dēng long | lantern |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | hóng sè de | red |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | huā | flowers |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | jiǎn | cut |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | Yuán Xiāo Jié | Chinese Lantern Festival |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. | zhé | fold |
More on Make your own
Find out more by working through a topic
- count4 of 5
- count5 of 5
- count2 of 5
