"solve riddles on the lanterns", also called "playing riddles", is an activity added after the Lantern Festival, which appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the capital Lin 'an made riddles every Lantern Festival, and there were many people guessing riddles. At the beginning, it was a busybody who wrote riddles on paper and pasted them on colorful lanterns for people to guess. Because riddles are enlightening and interesting, they are welcomed by all walks of life in the process of spreading.

The basis of lantern riddles is riddles, and the development of riddles has a process. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, riddles appeared. At that time, some "politicians" often used the metaphor method of folk tales and legends in their speeches in order to publicize their opinions and convince monarchs of various countries. At that time, this method was called "argot" or "thin word"

Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Xiaoyuanyian Festival, Yuanxi Festival or Lantern Festival, falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year and is one of the traditional festivals in China. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar, and the ancients called "night" "night". The fifteenth day of the first month is the first full moon night in a year, so it is called "Lantern Festival". According to the Taoist saying of "Sanyuan", the 15th day of the first month is also called "Shangyuan Festival". Since ancient times, the Lantern Festival custom has been dominated by the warm and festive custom of watching lanterns.

Playing dragon lantern, also known as dragon lantern or dragon dance. Its origin can be traced back to ancient times. Legend has it that as early as the Yellow Emperor's period, in a large-scale song and dance of Qing Jiao, there was an image of a leading bird played by a man, and then a dance scene with six dragons interspersed with each other was arranged.

The dragon dance recorded in writing is Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" in the Han Dynasty. The author vividly describes the dragon dance in the description of hundreds of plays. According to the Records of Sui Shu Music, Huanglongbian, which was similar to the dragon dance performance in one hundred plays during Emperor Yangdi's reign, was also very wonderful, and dragon dance was popular in many places in China. China worships dragons and regards them as auspicious symbols.