Lantern riddles first developed from riddles and originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, word games such as "argot" and "crossword puzzle" appeared in the court and literati, which can be said to be the earliest lantern riddle. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival literati wrote riddles on gauze lanterns, which can be said to be a veritable riddle.

Extended data

"Lantern Festival, the imperial city all night, the spring night will enjoy the lights, and the people are mixed. Poems and riddles are written on lanterns, reflected on candles, and listed in thoroughfares for anyone to guess, so they are called "riddles". Solve riddles on the lanterns became a riddle, and there is an interesting story. According to legend, a long time ago, there was a rich man named a smiling tiger. When you meet a well-dressed man, you try your best to curry favor with him; Seeing the poor man in rags, he blew his beard and stared. There was a young man named Wang Shao. Once when he went to borrow food, he was thrown out of the door because of his rags. Wang Shao became more and more angry when he went back. On the night of Lantern Festival, I tied a big lantern and came to the front of the smiling tiger's house. This big lantern is engraved with a poem.

Since then, the literal riddle has developed rapidly, allowing the words of the riddle to change in sound, form, meaning and position, thus producing the riddle. After the puzzle came into being, the boundary between lantern riddle and riddle became clearer. Because the meaning of words is a mystery, it is possible to have a sense of mystery. At this point, lantern riddles have become a unique literary form.