Lantern Rabbit
燈籠兔
Soft steps
beneath the moon.
In Chinese tradition, the rabbit is closely connected with the moon. The Jade Rabbit appears in old lunar legends, and over time rabbit figures also entered seasonal customs and children’s toys. In Beijing, the clay Tu’er Ye grew from Mid-Autumn worship into a playful object that children could bring home.
Lantern Rabbit began with a childhood memory. Before one Spring Festival, when I was still in primary school, my mother and her coworkers made rabbit lanterns together. They filled an office room from corner to corner. Some could be carried by hand; others had little wheels underneath and could be pulled along the ground.
After school, I would run there just to see them. That room full of glowing rabbits stayed somewhere in my memory for years.
Much later, when I began making zodiac creatures, the memory returned. Before Lantern Rabbit became a fabric doll, in my mind it had already been a lantern.
A familiar Chinese nursery rhyme was printed across its body — one of those little verses many children hear long before they learn to read. For me, the words felt less like decoration and more like returning a childhood memory to the animal it belonged to.
I wanted the rabbit to carry the movement of those old wheeled lanterns, so it rides on a small wooden spool, almost like a tiny skateboard. It is not a solemn zodiac rabbit. It is a rabbit going somewhere.
Twelve years later, when I returned to the design, I rewrote the lettering by hand, found small red lacquered wooden spools, and printed the patterns again with a subtle gloss that echoed the shine of painted wood.
The form itself remained deliberately simple: no nose, no glass eyes, no teeth, no whiskers — only long ears and a small red ball tail.
That restraint became part of the character of Lantern Rabbit (燈籠兔). A childhood lantern, a moving toy, a printed rabbit, and finally a small carrier of New Year wishes.
Made by Hand
Original patterns are screen-printed onto fabric, then each piece is cut, sewn, filled, and finished by hand. Small variations are part of the process, making every zodiac companion slightly different.
Zodiac Years
People born in the Year of the Rabbit include:
1927 · 1939 · 1951 · 1963 · 1975 · 1987 · 1999 · 2011 · 2023
Your zodiac year returns every twelve years.
For those born in the Year of the Rabbit, 2035 is one of those special years.
