Artisan hand crafts lanterns

Monkey King, the most impressive product of Guo Erniu's company this year to celebrate the Year of the Monkey.

As 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, most of the lanterns Guo is making are monkey-shaped. One is 2 meters tall and is named "Monkey King" in tribute to the main character in the Chinese epic Journey to the West.

The massive "Monkey King", ordered by a business, will be displayed in Taiyuan's main square. Guo has also made dozens of smaller monkeys for individual buyers.

His other lantern models look similar every year, with slight changes and improvements. The most significant this year is a God of Fortune, symbolized by a fat, smiling man carrying a gold ingot.

The size and shape of the God of Fortune's ears varies each year, because people's tastes change.

Embracing the low-carbon trend, which seeks to avoid the production of too much waste, Guo started a rental business three years ago. "A model that sells for 20,000 yuan ($3,040), can be rented for 5,000 yuan," Guo said. "Next year we just 'skin' it and change the details of the structure."

Guo has been making lanterns since 1984, in the early days of China's market-oriented reform. On his return from a Lantern Festival party, Guo thought: why can't I make my own lanterns?