On the Lantern Festival, there is a folk custom of "watching lanterns and guessing riddles" in China. Folklore experts said that solve riddles on the lanterns has a long history in China. According to records, solve riddles on the lanterns has been popular since the Southern Song Dynasty more than 800 years ago, and it is still popular today.

Solve riddles on the lanterns, also known as playing riddles, appeared in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many people making puzzles and guessing puzzles during the Lantern Festival in Lin 'an, the capital. 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.

Lantern riddle is a unique literary form in China, which is full of national style and lively. 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"