Songhua River lanterns are an ancient traditional folk custom and folk religious activity. The Songhua River flows through the hearts of Guandong people, recording the life and death, suffering and joy of many generations. The river lanterns are a bright mark. The river lanterns originated in India. In the hometown of Buddha Sakyamuni, Buddhist believers hold the Mulan Festival on July 15th every year, and release river lanterns to worship their ancestors and transcend the dead. Mulan, in Sanskrit, means "hanging upside down". Basin, in Chinese, refers to a vessel for holding offerings. The river lanterns evolved from religious activities. Placing lanterns in rivers to transcend the dead and worship ancestors also has a long history in China. According to the "Geography of Shanxi Province", Hequ County, on the bank of the Yellow River in Shanxi, sets up a stage to perform operas at a dam called "West Pass" every summer and autumn, and the performances are all heroic stories of ancestors. Then, the river lanterns are lit and released to pray for the souls of the boatmen who died on the Yellow River. Its significance lies in that it records the entrepreneurial history of the Central Plains ancestors who "went to the west". This ancient west has become an important tourist attraction in Shanxi, and the ancient stage is a famous historical witness. The river lanterns have attracted many Chinese and foreign tourists and have become a wonderful program in the ancient Yellow River bend area. The river lanterns of the Songhua River have their own unique experience. The Songhua River used to be an ancient transportation route. The ships coming down from Changbai Mountain all came to today's Jiangcheng Jilin along this river, especially the timber, which was exiled here by rafting. From Fusong to here, it was called "North Flowing Water" in ancient times. "South Flowing Water" refers to the route from Linjiang to Dandong in Liaoning today, which takes the Yalu River rafting route. Rafting is a life-threatening business, and many brave men have never returned. This is because there are countless dangerous "checkpoints" on the river, and the slightest mistake can kill everyone. The "Old Evil River" checkpoint on the Beiliu River has killed countless people. Therefore, when a man (husband or son) dies, the whole family is sad and misses him. They are also afraid that these wronged souls will linger on the river, so the family will burn incense and offer sacrifices on the river bank. In addition, they will make lanterns, write the names of the dead on the lanterns, light candles in the lanterns, and let the lanterns float with the waves to express people's longing. At the same time, they also hope that these wronged souls can help the living overcome the difficulties in life. The most prosperous place for Songhua River lanterns is Jilin City. In the 18th year of Shunzhi (1661 AD), the Qing government established the Navy Camp here, which was called the Ship Camp in ancient times. The shipyard was built in 1917. Due to the backwardness of carpentry at that time, many people were killed or injured in both wood salvaging and shipbuilding, which caused instability in people's hearts. In order to stabilize people's hearts, the governor stationed at the shipyard invited monks to the riverside to perform rituals on the Ghost Festival on July 15 of that year to help the dead souls to be reincarnated. So every year on the Ghost Festival, families with deceased relatives would go to the riverside to release river lanterns. At the same time, lotus lanterns were hung high on the hilltops, valleys, mountain roads, and in front of ancient temples on Xuantianling in Beishan. The banks of the Songhua River surrounding the entire shipyard are full of sparkling river lanterns, and it is difficult to tell which are the stars in the sky and which are the river lanterns in the river. The Songhua River Lanterns have been integrated into traditional folk culture and have become an inseparable part of it. In Kanto, people often say that July 15th determines droughts and floods, and August 15th determines floods. Harvest. If the crops grow well on July 15th, people will have a good idea that they will probably be harvested. Since ancient people had a low ability to conquer nature, they believed that a good harvest was also due to the efforts of ghosts and ancestors, so they would hold grand sacrifices, especially when the harvest was not good. On the fifteenth day of July, the old people would say, let's make some lanterns for the ghosts. In the Guandong folk, the country people believe in the Ghost Festival. On this day, even those who don't live by the river will go to the cemetery to send lanterns to the "ghosts". People believe that hell is dark, and sending a bright lantern to the people there is also a way for their ancestors to come back and see if the family is thriving and whether the crops are good. The river lanterns in Jilin City are novel in style and variety. Uncle Tong from Tanjia Hutong, Jilin Shipyard, is a famous folk river lantern artist. Tong is a native of Jilin Province, and making river lanterns is his specialty. His elders knew how to make them during the Qing Dynasty, and by the time it was passed down to his generation, it had become a well-known family of river lantern artists. The river lanterns he made would jump high when placed in the river, with a good "Xiao string" on the bottom. They would float and shake for a while, and then float and jump, which was very exciting. Uncle Tong is good at making tower lanterns, lotus lanterns, and watermelon lanterns. The craft of making river lanterns has long become a traditional craft among the people in Jilin City. River lanterns are also sold at the temple fairs on the eighth, eighteenth, and twenty-eighth of each year, becoming a major feature of the temple fair culture along the Songhua River. On May 24, 2021, the river lantern release (Songhua River river lantern release) declared by Jilin City, Jilin Province was approved by the State Council to be included in the fifth batch of national representative projects of intangible cultural heritage.