Lantern Festival, also known as Shangyuan Festival, Xiaoyuanyuan Festival, Yuanxi Festival or Lantern Festival, is the 15th day of the first lunar month and the last important festival of China Spring Festival.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival, because the ceremonial food on this day is called Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao is a round food made of glutinous rice flour and filled with sugar, also known as "glutinous rice balls", which means reunion and harmony.

The main activity of this day is watching lanterns, so it is also called "Lantern Festival". Taoism calls the 15th day of the first month Shangyuan, the 15th day of July Zhongyuan and the 15th day of October Xia Yuan, which belong to the birthdays of the three officials of Heaven, Earth and Water respectively. Lantern burning in Shangyuan was recorded very early, as far back as the Han Dynasty. It was lit on this night to commemorate Taiyi God (North Star King). According to "History of Monks", Emperor Han Ming introduced the custom of "enjoying lanterns in the twelfth lunar month" from the western regions. The dark day of the twelfth lunar month in the western regions is called the Great God Change. On that day, lanterns are lit to show the Buddha. After this custom was introduced into China, it gradually developed into appreciating lanterns.

However, the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month is indeed a folk festival after the Han and Wei Dynasties.