Anren is located in the north of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. It has a long history and profound cultural heritage. It has been known as the "Old County of Shennong" since ancient times. Anren Lantern Festival Rice Sculptures are traditional arts and crafts used by Anren people to celebrate festivals or happy events. Making Lantern Festival Rice Sculptures, commonly known as "Zhaoji Pogao", is a unique local cultural custom spontaneously formed by Anren people for thousands of years. During the Lantern Festival every year, every household in the county, whether in urban or rural areas, men, women, young or old, must make rice sculptures to celebrate the festival. They are mainly used to worship the ancestor Shennong, for children's entertainment, market transactions, snacks, collections, etc.; in their spare time, people also make Lantern Festival Rice Sculptures to worship the gods or give them as gifts to relatives, neighbors and friends to celebrate when they get married, marry their daughters, celebrate birthdays, or when their children are one month old. Over time, this custom has also been formed in surrounding counties and cities. Lantern Festival Rice Sculptures have a long history. First, it is said that in ancient times, the ancestors of Anren started to make Lantern Festival to commemorate the saintly virtue of the ancestor Yandi Shennong who invented the farming civilization; second, according to the "Anren County Chronicles", "The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is commonly known as the 'half of the first lunar month'. On this day, every family eats Lantern Festival dumplings and uses rice flour to 'carve chickens' (make various kinds of animals after special processing) to offer to the 'Three Treasures Lord' to pray for the prosperity of livestock." Over time, it has become a cultural custom. Later, it gradually changed from being used for sacrifices to being used for market transactions, blind dates, gifts for relatives and friends, children's entertainment, and food. Lantern Festival rice sculptures have gone through vicissitudes of life and have accumulated rich cultural connotations. It has aesthetic value, historical value, cultural value, and folklore value. It has a very important and scientific reference value for the excavation and research of traditional arts and crafts. It has nurtured generations of artists in Anren, among whom Zhou Qingding, a famous animal sculpture artist, Zhou Guozhen, an international ceramics master, and Dongfangren, a famous painter, are typical representatives. Their artistic beginnings all originated from learning to carve chicken cakes with their parents when they were young. At the same time, it also enriched people's food culture and life and added joy to the festival. Yuanxiao rice sculpture is more of an emotion than an art. It reflects people's yearning for a better life and their pursuit of the best and most beautiful art. It is worthy of being a shining pearl in Anren folk art and a precious treasure of human civilization.