Ten Thousand River Lanterns Illuminate the Zi River: A Complete Record of Guilin's Festival Customs and Handmade Fans and Lacquerware
If your cultural trip to Guilin only involves a Li River cruise and visiting Elephant Trunk Hill, you'll miss the most vibrant layer of northern Guangxi—festivals, folk customs, and hands-on intangible cultural heritage experiences. The following itinerary combines two festivals with two hands-on workshops, covering Ziyuan, Longji, and Guilin city, suitable for splitting into two half-day trips or a full local itinerary. Dates are based on the lunar calendar and agricultural seasons, and are not dependent on fixed venues.
Ziyuan River Lantern Festival: A riverside ceremony held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.
The event takes place on the night of the 14th or 15th day of the seventh lunar month, with the main activity taking place along the banks of the Zijiang River in Ziyuan County, focusing on the section between the Wind and Rain Bridge and the Zijiang Bridge. Participants can begin making river lanterns in the afternoon: bamboo strips are bent into lotus or boat shapes, covered with colored paper, and the bottom is coated with tung oil to prevent water seepage. The wicks are made of cotton yarn soaked in oil. After the lanterns are released in unison at dusk, tens of thousands of lanterns float downstream, covering the river surface with warm yellow light. On the banks, there are also performances of traditional opera, antiphonal folk songs, and Miao reed pipe dances.
River lanterns in northern Guangxi are not merely for viewing. In the past, the Zijiang River was treacherous, and boatmen and their families would release lanterns on the night of the Ghost Festival to pray for safe passage. This custom, combined with the ancestral worship traditions of the Hunan-Guangxi corridor, gradually formed the Ziyuan River Lantern Festival, which has been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage representative project. The core experience is not just releasing a lantern, but the hour from building the frame to lighting it. Lantern release must be completed in a designated section of the river, and care must be taken regarding fire sources and the slippery riverbank.
Dragon Ridge Rice Planting Festival: Working as a farmer for half a day around the time of Grain in Ear (芒种).
Around the time of the Grain in Ear solar term each year, the ancient Zhuang villages of Longji and Ping'an enter the rice seedling transplanting season, with the specific date depending on the farming schedule and the village's arrangements. In the early morning, villagers transplant rice seedlings in the flooded terraced fields, while Zhuang women sing rice-planting folk songs in the Guiliu dialect on the field ridges. Tourists can walk barefoot in the fields and learn to transplant rice seedlings from the village elders, pinching the base of the seedling and inserting it diagonally into the mud. Catching fish in the rice paddies is a skill derived from the rice-fish symbiosis system; the slower the movements, the easier it is to catch fish.
The most anticipated event at dusk is the "Torch Parade in the Fields": thousands of torches are lined up along the terraced field ridges, burning from the foot of the mountain to the middle, resembling rolling flames on a dragon's spine from afar. The Rice Planting Festival is a key agricultural event for the Zhuang people in northern Guangxi, marking the beginning of the rice planting season. Locals believe that combing the rice seedlings awakens them and notifies the land god to begin plowing. It is recommended to wear dark, quick-drying clothing, bring non-slip slippers and a change of clothes, and be prepared to spend half a day in the mud.
Guilin Round Fan: Stretching a fan surface, painting half of the Li River
The making of Guilin round fans isn't just for master craftsmen. In traditional fan shops in Guilin city and Fuli Town, Yangshuo, beginners can start by stretching and painting the fan surface. The process usually involves selecting a bamboo frame, cutting Xuan paper or silk, stretching the fan surface taut onto the bamboo frame with paste or lacquer, and then pressing it flat to dry in the shade. Afterward, a Guilin landscape or a line of poetry about the Li River is painted on the fan surface with a brush. The processes of bending the bamboo frame and shaving bamboo strips are better observed: the craftsman softens the bamboo strips over charcoal and quickly bends them into an arc to form the frame of the round fan.
The history of fan making in Guilin and Fuli Town dates back to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and has continued to this day. Fans were once exported to Southeast Asia via the Li River waterway. One can take home a self-painted fan in half a day, but what truly remains is the sense of balance between bamboo and paper. After completion, do not fold or expose to direct sunlight immediately; instead, place it in a cool, shaded place until the paste dries completely.
Guilin Natural Lacquerware: Applying several coats of raw lacquer to pomelo jars and gourds
Guilin lacquerware differs from common wooden bases; it uses pomelo peel, gourd, and bamboo root as the base, known as a natural base. The experience typically begins with sanding the base, gently smoothing the surface with fine sandpaper, and then applying layers of raw lacquer. Each layer needs to dry in a shaded room for several hours, and visitors usually participate in one or two steps. Finally, it's polished with vegetable oil and fine tile ash. Because raw lacquer needs to dry in a warm and humid environment, a single piece is often completed in stages, making it suitable for combining with a round fan experience into a half-day to a full-day session.
Guilin natural lacquerware can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it entered the Lingnan market via the Li River shipping. Pomelo jars were particularly common, serving as tea canisters for boatmen and merchants. The most easily overlooked aspect of the process is polishing: the thinner the lacquer, the more demanding the hand's stability becomes. Note that raw lacquer can cause skin allergies, so gloves should be worn during handling. Finished lacquerware should not be exposed to direct sunlight; it should be allowed to cure slowly in a cool, shaded place.
By incorporating the River Lantern Festival and Rice Planting Festival into the solar terms, and reserving afternoon crafts like making round fans and lacquerware, cultural tourism in Guilin shifts from "viewing the landscape" to "experiencing life like a local." It is recommended to confirm the lunar calendar festival dates and terraced field farming schedules in advance, avoid the rainy season afternoons, and allow enough patience for mud, water, and lacquer.