Fringe Forum

The Cao family, from Nanjing, has long been renowned for its kite and lantern makers. In 1949, at five years of age, Cao Zhenrong began learning his art in the family workshop. In 1964 however, amid a “Party Rectification” campaign, the workshop was closed, and Cao was sent to be a labourer in a state-owned factory. Despite trying to maintain his skills in the turbulent years of the Cultural Revoultion, it was not until after the reforms of 1979 that Cao could seriously return to the family’s traditional craft. Since 1983, Cao Zhenrong has organised the annual lantern festival at Nanjing Confucius Temple complex, and since 1991, he and his family established a company and workshop that allowed him toconcentrate full-time on this traditional artistry. In 2007, Nanjing’s Qinhuai lanterns were registered as a part of the Jiangsu Prefecture’s “Intangible Cultural Heritage,” and Cao Zhenrong was recognized as one of the foremost exponents of this cultural and artistic legacy.

In the last ten years, Cao has also demonstrated kite and lantern making techniques in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Japan and the Philippines. Today, his daughter and chief assistant, Cao Hong, represents a new generation in Chinese kite and lantern making, further adapting these centuries-old methods to contemporary contexts.