This story is also available in 繁體中文.
A Rabbit Made from Lantern Light
Before it became a cloth creature,
it was a lantern.
I remember a Spring Festival when I was in primary school.
Before the New Year, my mother — clever with her hands — made rabbit lanterns with her coworkers. They filled an office room from corner to corner.
Some could be carried by hand.
Some had little wheels underneath and could be pulled along the ground.
After school, I would run there just to see them.
That childhood scene stayed with me for years.
And much later, it returned as Lantern Rabbit.
A Nursery Rhyme Printed on Its Body
Its body carries a Chinese nursery rhyme many children grow up hearing first.
For generations, Chinese children have learned the rhythm of rabbits through this little song—often before they can even read.
Little white rabbit, white and bright,
Two ears standing upright.
Loves to eat radish and cabbage too,
Hopping and jumping, sweet and true.
It is not simply a children’s rhyme.
It is often one of the first pieces of language carried in memory.
A song heard in laps, in kitchens, in kindergarten classrooms.
Passed from voice to voice.
From one childhood to another.
Printing it onto the rabbit felt less like decoration—
and more like returning that memory to its creature.
A Rabbit on a Skateboard
What I loved most was its playful movement.
This rabbit rides a little wheeled spool, almost like a skateboard.
Not a solemn zodiac creature.
A rabbit in motion.
A rabbit going somewhere.
That made me love it.
Returning Twelve Years Later
Twelve years later, I returned to Lantern Rabbit and refined what I could not do the first time.
I rewrote the lettering by hand.
I found small red lacquered wooden spools.
I printed the patterns again with a subtle gloss that echoed the shine of painted wood.
The rabbit became brighter.
More complete.
Closer to what I had imagined.
Simplicity Was Its Character
Unlike Tongyao Tiger, this rabbit was technically simple to make.
Its form relied on restraint.
No nose.
No glass eyes.
No teeth.
No whiskers.
Only long ears—
and a small red ball tail.
Sometimes simplicity has its own kind of magic.
Rabbits During the Pandemic Winter
There was another rabbit year I cannot separate from memory.
During the month COVID swept through Wuhan, Lantern Rabbits covered my tea table and sofa.
Waiting to be sent out as New Year gifts.
Before mailing them, I sprayed each one with disinfecting perfume.
A strange ritual.
But it felt necessary.
The blessings had to arrive on time.
Even then.
Especially then.
Lantern Rabbit began as a childhood lantern.
It became a moving toy, a printed rabbit, and finally, a small carrier of New Year wishes.
—— over ——