Sangzhi Lantern is a very representative branch of Xiangxi Lantern, which is divided into Wen Lantern, Wu Lantern, Ugly Lantern, etc. Sangzhi Lantern is a folk song and dance art with a unique style formed by combining the singing and dancing art of Han culture with the life and customs of local Tujia, Miao, Bai and other ethnic minorities in Sangzhi. Sangzhi Lantern is mainly popular in 39 townships (towns, fields) in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province and surrounding counties and cities in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing. The performance form of Sangzhi Lantern is mostly "paired lantern", and the number of performers is generally one man and one woman. The image of the man is funny and humorous, and the image of the woman is elegant and dignified. There are many kinds of lanterns, including Wen Lantern, Wu Lantern, Ugly Lantern, etc. In 2008, Sangzhi Lantern was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list items in Hunan Province. Sangzhi Lantern has a long history. Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Posthumous Letter" during the Five Dynasties recorded: "Lady Han set up a hundred-branch lantern tree, eighty feet high, erected it on a high mountain, lit it on the night of the Lantern Festival, and it was visible for a hundred miles, and the light was dazzling." The era mentioned in this record is more than 1,300 years ago. The word "lantern" comes from this. According to the "Sangzhi County Chronicles" published in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, "During the Lantern Festival, paper-cut lanterns are made, or lanterns are made to play stories from towers. On the streets and drums and music festivals, villages hold festivals, hang animals and wine under the trees, and enjoy the sacrifices after the sacrifices." There are many kinds of lanterns. According to the "Sangzhi County Chronicles" published in the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, "The Lantern Festival lanterns include dragon lanterns, lion lanterns, and fish lanterns. Men and women make up and sing songs such as transplanting rice and picking tea, and play flower drums." After the Ming Dynasty, Sangzhi lanterns experienced two important development periods: one was the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, when continuous wars and severe natural disasters caused countless people to flee. When the Han people moved to Sangzhi, they also brought in foreign lanterns. The people of all ethnic groups in Sangzhi quickly absorbed and integrated foreign lanterns into Sangzhi lanterns, daily life and customs, and gradually formed a folk song and dance art form with local characteristics; secondly, after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Party Central Committee put forward the literary and artistic policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend". Folk artists in Sangzhi created unique martial arts lanterns based on their unique music, dance and living habits, forming the second development period. Sangzhi lanterns are a kind of folk song and dance art that is popular among the people of all ethnic groups in Sangzhi. The original ecological Sangzhi lanterns are mainly played on the table by two men, one dressed as a woman and the other as a man. There are many kinds of Sangzhi lanterns, including literary lanterns, martial lanterns, beggar lanterns, old man lanterns, harvest lanterns, etc. Sangzhi lanterns have a very rich variety of movements. Sangzhi lantern artists describe Sangzhi lanterns like this: "There are 360 images of lanterns, including animals, demons, dragons, fish, monkeys, the sun, the moon, thunder, rain, mountains, and plants. You don't have to worry about making a good lantern." Sangzhi lanterns pay attention to sets and circles. Sets refer to the movements related to hands, feet, body, and steps. Circles are a combination of many movements. Sangzhi lantern sets include 100 movements such as opening mountains, sharp points, leading horses, flower hands, touching sand on the seabed, splashing water in a golden basin, Guan Yunchang picking up his robe, holding stones and opening bows, and more than 80 combined movements such as "Chang'e flying to the moon", "bream on the beach", and "Zhaojun going out of the frontier". Lantern circles include three flips, three turns, three touches, a bow, half a moon, pulling four doors, scissors clamp, double-sided appearance, swimming fan, flowing tube pole, lotus out of water, etc. The representative program of Sangzhi Wen Lantern is "Flowers Bloom in Four Seasons", which reflects the pursuit of marriage freedom and the hope of happy and perfect love like flowers through the creation of the images of flowers and birds in four seasons; the representative program of Sangzhi Wu Lantern is "Ten Fights", which reflects the pursuit of a happy and beautiful life by the people of all ethnic groups in Sangzhi through the creation of the image of the spirits of heaven and earth popular among the people; the representative repertoire of Sangzhi Guaizi (Ugly) Lantern is "Don't Learn the Black Conscience of Pepper", the representative repertoire of the Old Man Lantern is "Ten Things to Do", and the representative repertoire of the Harvest Lantern is "Money Pot". In 2008, Sangzhi Lantern was identified as the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list items of Hunan Province.