Beanies, I have a question about Will Love in Spring: In episode 12 the main couple goes for some lantern exhibition. What’s the meaning of this exhibition? I could gather it probably brings luck (and never-ending love if you kiss 🙂) but I would like to know more details about this tradition. Thank you.

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    I’m not watching the drama (yet), but if you point me to the episode—even maybe the time stamp— I might be able to help 😊

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      Oooh, that would be lovely, it’s at the end of episode 12.

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        From what I can pick up from the conversations with nothing else to go on that’s happened in the drama, everyone is just surprised that such a large-scale event is being held in their (small?) town (the word used in Chinese is 镇, Zhèn</i, literally meaning “town”), which is not common. Usually, bigger events are held in cities (the Chinese word is 城市 or just 城, Chéng ), so the significance here would be that someone decided to take their time to pick up the dying skills and know-how of making traditional Chinese lanterns— which in and of itself is already something to sing praises about— and chose to come to a small town to have an exhibition (i.e. less exposure) versus choosing some big time city (e.g. Shanghai or Beijing) to have the exhibition (i.e. more exposure, more opportunities, etc.).

        Here’s some brief info about the actual Lantern Festival (元宵節) of Chinese traditions (versus just an exhibition, like in the drama):
        https://study.com/academy/lesson/lantern-festival-china-origin-traditions-significance.html#:~:text=The%20specific%20color%20of%20a,%2C%20hanging%2C%20or%20floating%20lanterns.

        About Chinese lanterns themselves, at the most basic (i.e. just the colours and not lanterns with illustrations on them, which are a whole different story 😅), the different colours of lanterns in Chinese culture mean the following:
        Red lanterns represent wealth and prosperity; Yellow lanterns represent good luck; White lanterns represent grief and mourning; Green lanterns represent health

        I hope this helps!! Don’t hesitate to ask more questions if you have any and to tag me in your posts! I’ll try to answer them to the best of my abilities 😊

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          Thanks!
          I don’t know when they first started mentioning this exhibition (my attention is usually fully on the couple 😅), but when the couple is leaving the tunnel on the bike, Male Lead says he is taking Female Lead for some kisses. We also see other couple kissing at the exhibition. That’s why I thought there is some kissing tradition/superstition behind the lanterns. The ladies were also admiring the writing on the lanterns (in an attempt to divert Mom’s attention 😅). Thus, I thought there was more to the exhibition than just showing the beautiful craft.

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          Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I love to know the meaning and intent behind old traditions which somehow get forgotten over time and become mere rituals. The same practices done meaningfully are so very satisfying. 👏💕

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          @dorotka @seeker
          It’s actually been a really neat experience for me, too, in terms of seeing Cdramas making it a point to highlight and bring back traditions and (almost) lost arts and skills (the Cdrama, “Meet Yourself” did a wonderful job of it), because it’s really true that a lot of skills for making traditional art and other culturally significant things is really dying, which I find so so sad. The Chinese culture goes back 5000+ years, so to have parts of this rich, deep, and historically diverse and longstanding culture die out is a real tragedy, especially when the dying out is caused by humans.
          Many of the older generations who have the knowledge and skills of traditional cultural arts and crafts have big egos unwilling to pass their skills down to the next generations because being the one and only person to know the art and the craft and skills makes them feel important and significant as they are physically and mentally dying—literally— from age and sickness, so they think the only thing they have to cling onto and which will help them leave a mark or a legacy is being the one and only one to know the craft, yet, the newer and younger generation—us— are like, “No, if you let this craft and the knowledge of it die with you, then it’ll REALLY be the end of it all” 🥺

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            This is really eye-opening. I used to think traditional arts and crafts are rare because the younger generation doesn’t want to take up the mantle or put in that kind of painstaking time and effort required. To know that a rich cultural heritage is in danger of losing their artistic merit because the older ones don’t want to mentor or share their knowledge is mind-boggling to me.

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            @seeker I’d definitely say that it’s our parents’ generation (baby boomers) that didn’t want to (maybe didn’t have the time) to learn it and want to carry it on, so it’s such a neat thing and such a treat to have Millennials and the older Gen Z (1995 to 1999) want to learn and carry on the traditions and skills

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            Well I do hope and pray that anyone who wants to learn gets a teacher. These traditions and skills are too precious to be lost in time.

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            Oh, this is so interesting… and sad… I know it often is about the next generation who is not interested, but the grandchildren usually find the interest again. It would be such a shame if this beautiful craft disappears…
            Btw, do you know more about the symbols on the lanterns? Or it could be any wish? And the exhibition was general or more oriented on New Year lanterns? And, ehm, is the kissing an old tradition or a new tradition? 😁😁

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            @dorotka
            I honestly think all the kissing at the exhibit was just a plot point for the mums to mention how the “… younger generation are more ‘open’ and ‘free’ (a.k.a. Casual a.k.a. Lack self respect a.k.a. Parents carry a “holier than thou” attitude) nowadays” compared to their generation.

            Chinese lanterns themselves—traditionally made out of paper, which was also invented by the Chinese— were used as a source of light in ancient times, then as the years went by and inventions progressed, lanterns made from different materials were meant for different things and even different people of different social classes, e.g. Umbrella lanterns used inside the home signify prosperity, palace lanterns signify a joyous occasion (e.g. wedding), slit bamboo lanterns indicated a funeral and the kickstart to a mourning period. The Lantern Festival’s origins itself were meant to signify the ascension of Buddha, but nowadays, it’s to signify the closing out of the 15-day celebrations of Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year for many others).

            As for painting different symbols on the lanterns themselves— whatever is painted on their doesn’t make the symbolism of it any different in Chinese culture just because it is on a lantern. In Chinese culture, we have different things that represent different things to us and these things can be pulled from anything in the world.
            Some examples:
            – bamboo represent strength & resilience
            – the colour red is for joy & good fortune; blue, black & white are for mourning (blue for mourning of the elderly, black & white for the young)
            – a Chinese dragon represents strength
            – flowers and butterflies represent happiness
            – plants in general represent growth
            – a rabbit on a lantern could represent the moon (because of the colour of the fur) and points back to QiXi Festival (the story of Weaver Girl and Cowheard), which is Chinese Valentines’ Day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival)

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