Bridegroom's lanterns (新郎燈), a gift used in the traditional Southern Fukienese (閩南) wedding, play an important role in Kinmen's traditional wedding custom. To showcase the craftsmanship of the bridegroom's lanterns, the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC) has released a new episode, featuring Dong Teng-hsiang (董騰祥), a craftsman who specializes in making bridegroom's lanterns, as part of its video series "The Soul of the Craftsman (匠人魂)." Tung also became the first Kinmen craftsman documented in this series.
According to GACC, the bridegroom's lantern is one of the wedding gifts offered by the bridegroom in Kinmen County. On the wedding day, young people carry the bridegroom's lantern in front of the procession together with the groom. In the Southern Fukienese language, the lantern is used to symbolize fertility.
In 1937, when Japanese troops landed in Kinmen, the business between Kinmen and Xiamen, China, was cut off, and it made it impossible to buy bridegroom's lanterns from Xiamen. Dong Tian-bu (董天補), Dong Teng-hsiang's father who was fond of painting, developed a unique method to make bridegroom's lanterns, and successfully reproduced the essential for local weddings. Later, Dong Tian-bu changed his profession from farming to the bridegroom's lantern-making.
When the craftsmanship was facing the crisis of continuation, Dong Teng-hsiang, originally an appliance repair man, returned home at the age of 58 to inherit the skill. Following the passing of Dong Tian-bu in 2016, the Ministry of Culture registered the lantern-making skill as a cultural asset.
To document the rich energy of all walks of life and the spirit of the craftsman in Taiwan, GACC started the program in 2017. Supported by the MOC, 41 videos have been produced so far, and have accumulated 5 million views. To convey the rich stories of Taiwanese craftsmen to the world, the videos have been translated into eight foreign languages with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The series not only includes senior craftsmen, but also emerging ones; and their specialties range from traditional arts, culture and art, national defense, and sports, to name a few.
"The Soul of the Craftsman" series is available on GACC's Facebook page and YouTube channel.
(Photo credit: GACC)