Qingtian County is located in the mountainous area of southern Zhejiang. The Oujiang River runs through the county. It is beautiful with clear water and mountains, outstanding people and beautiful scenery. The folk art has a long history and profound cultural heritage. It was once named "China's Folk Art Hometown" by the Ministry of Culture. Among the colorful Qingtian folk art treasure house, "Fish Lantern" is the most traditional, representative and local lantern dance type, and it is also the representative traditional folk dance of fish lantern in Zhejiang Province. Qingtian County is 200 to 300 miles wide, with mountains and rivers. People use mountains as fields and raise fish in the fields (commonly known as field fish). In August, every family "tastes new rice" (custom activity): a bowl of new rice, a plate of field fish, sacrifice to heaven and earth, celebrate the harvest, and wish for more fish every year. The customs and habits formed by the reality of labor production are the source of life for the "Fish Lantern" dance. According to legend, the formation and development of "Fish Lantern" is closely related to Liu Ji, a founding hero of the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, heroes emerged. Liu Ji, a native of Nantian, Qingtian County, secretly recruited volunteers and practiced military formations in the form of fish lantern dance. After Liu Ji's arrangement and development, the number of lanterns was increased, the types of fish were enriched, and the military formation diagrams were infiltrated into the "Fish Lantern", thus forming a folk dance with a unique practice style in the evolution of history. The lanterns in "Fish Lantern" are made based on the image of freshwater fish in Oujiang River. The team is led by a long-handled big red bead, and the person holding the red bead blows a whistle to direct the lantern dance. The number of people in the lantern dance varies from place to place. Generally, there are single bead and double bead leaders. The single bead leader is an odd number (people to people), and the double bead leader is an even number (people to people). Behind the bead is a red carp with a dragon head and a fish body. The two largest ones are called "head fish", which are the "fish kings" of the whole team. The next two are called "second fish", followed by carp, silver carp, grass carp, crucian carp, field fish, pond fish, blue dragon fish, beach woman, shrimp, pufferfish, etc. The accompaniment of the "Fish Lantern" is percussion instruments such as gongs, drums, hairpins, and cymbals. The costumes are headscarves, belts, wrist guards, and leg wraps, which are similar to the dress of ancient warriors. When performing the "Fish Lantern", "Hongzhu" leads the team, and each person holds a fish lantern in his hand and walks in various formations. During festive seasons, wherever the "Fish Lantern" passes, gongs and drums are loud, lights are brilliant, crystal lights are shining, and fish leap and people jump. The crowds compete to watch and cheer, expressing people's pursuit and yearning for a better life, and reflecting the good wishes of good luck, continuous fish (surplus), good weather, and peace and prosperity. The dance movements of "Fish Lantern" are designed according to the living habits of freshwater fish in Oujiang River. The performance has always been based on changing formations. Local artists call it "walking formations". Various formations are called "formation diagrams". At the beginning, "entry formation" ("two dragons spraying water" or "single dragon spraying water") was used more. When marching, "weaving fence formation" is used as the basic formation diagram. The climax of the performance is divided into "spring fish playing in the water, summer fish jumping on the beach, autumn fish loving the bank, winter fish forming dragons" and other formation diagrams. The whole set of dance ends with "carp jumping over the dragon gate", which means that the carp turns into a dragon and soars into the sky, expressing people's yearning for a better life. The style of "Fish Lantern" is warm and simple, the props are exquisitely made, the dance movements are warm and simple, rough and unrestrained, and have strong military training characteristics. During the performance, the pursuit is "the lantern should be lively, the ups and downs should be big, the jumps should be high, and the speed should be fast." Since the reform and opening up, with the strong support of the cultural authorities, after several generations of cultural workers have passed on and improved, "Qingtian Fish Lantern" has participated in many domestic and international cultural and art performances such as the performance in the central performance area of Tiananmen Square on the anniversary of the founding of the capital, the 5th International Folk Art Festival, the 7th China Art Festival and the 13th Qunxing Award Square Dance Performance, and has achieved excellent results and won the title of "the best fish in the world". At present, various parts of the county have developed into many men's young and middle-aged, elderly, children and women's fish lantern performance teams, which regularly carry out cultural activities and have formed performance forms of different schools and styles suitable for stage, square, street walking, etc. On the basis of retaining the essence of the traditional "Qingtian Fish Lantern", cultural workers have brainstormed and made all-round improvements and innovations in the shape of lamps, clothing matching, music accompaniment, and dance movements, constantly giving new cultural connotations and artistic life, and launched the "Qingtian Fish Lantern Fish Playing Lotus" series. Its artistic modeling is more exquisite, beautiful and lifelike; its artistic style is more rough and unrestrained, combining rigidity and flexibility; its performance is more humane, its imagination is richer and its meaning is more profound. During the performance, the male actors holding the "fish lanterns" are sometimes excited and joyful, sometimes singing and dancing, sometimes lingering and lyrical, and sometimes fierce and unrestrained; the female actors holding the "lotus lanterns" constantly change the dance formations and formations like flowing clouds and water; through the "fish" constantly shuttling in the "lotus", it describes the life scenes of fish playing with lotus, free and joyful, forging ahead bravely, and high-spirited, reflecting the yearning and pursuit of the Qingtian people for a better life, and expressing people's deep attachment to nature and infinite love for life. "Qingtian Fish Lantern" has become an indispensable folk art form in modern society's mass fitness and festive activities, and has become a bright business card of Qingtian's local characteristic cultural brand.