the story about the origin of the festival goes like this. buddhism first entered china during the reign of emperor mingdi of the eastern han dynasty. that was in the first century. however, it did not exert any great influence among the chinese people. one day, emperor mingdi had a dream about a gold man in his palace. at the very moment when he was about to ask the mysterious figure who he was. the gold man suddenly rose to the sky and disappeared in the west. the next day, emperor mingdi sent a scholar to india on a pilgrimage to locate buddhist scriptures. after journeying thousands of miles, the scholar finally returned with the scriptures. emperor mingdi ordered that a temple be built to house a statue of buddha and serve as a repository for the scriptures. followers believe that the power of buddha can dispel darkness. so emperor mingdi ordered his subjects to display lighted lanterns during what was to become the lantern festival。
