During the reign of Emperor Yongping of the Han Dynasty (58-75 AD), when the Ming Emperor advocated Buddhism, it coincided with Cai Cheng's return from India to seek Buddhism, saying that on the 15th day of the first month in Mohatuo, India, monks gathered to pay tribute to Buddhist relics, which was an auspicious day to participate in Buddhism. In order to promote Buddhism, Emperor Han Ming ordered "burning lamps to show Buddha" in the palace and temple on the fifteenth night of the first month. Therefore, the custom of burning lanterns on the fifteenth night of the first month has gradually spread in China with the expansion of the influence of Buddhist culture and the addition of Taoist culture. The real motivation of Lantern Festival custom is that it is at a new time point, and people make full use of this special time stage to express their wishes for life.

The custom of putting lights on Lantern Festival developed into an unprecedented lantern market in the Tang Dynasty, and after the middle Tang Dynasty, it has developed into a national carnival. The lantern market in Chang 'an was very large, burning 50,000 lanterns with various designs, and the emperor ordered people to make giant lantern buildings, with a height of 150 feet, which were very spectacular.

Since then, the Lantern Festival has developed continuously, and the time of Lantern Festival has become longer and longer. The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty was "one day before and after Shangyuan". In the Song Dynasty, two days were added after the sixteenth, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was extended to ten days from the eighth day to the eighteenth.

In the Qing Dynasty, when Manchu entered the Central Plains, the court no longer held lantern festivals, but the folk lantern festivals were still spectacular. The date was shortened to five days and continues to this day.

"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.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, various acrobatic skills began to appear in the lantern market. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, besides riddles and hundreds of operas, there were also opera performances.

In addition to visiting the lantern market, people in the past dynasties also had customs such as welcoming Zigu to worship Ce Shen, crossing the bridge to touch nails and walk away from all diseases, and played games such as beating Taiping drum, yangko, stilts, dragon dance and lion dance. At the same time, we should also eat some festive foods: in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, we ate bean porridge or rice porridge cooked with meat and animal oil during the Lantern Festival; in the Tang Dynasty, we ate a kind of pasta called "Mian Cocoon" and baked cakes; in the Song Dynasty, there was a soup made of salted black beans and green bean powder, and a "dumpling" appeared. Since then, we have been eating Yuanxiao in the North and South of the Lantern Festival.

During the Lantern Festival, it is the opportunity for young men and women to meet their lovers, so the Lantern Festival has become the "Valentine's Day" in China.

The Lantern Festival in traditional society is a folk festival that is valued by both urban and rural areas. It is particularly lively in the city, and it embodies the unique carnival spirit of China people. The function of festival custom carried by traditional Lantern Festival has been dispelled by daily life, and people have gradually lost their spiritual interest. The complex festival custom has been simplified to the food custom of "eating Lantern Festival".