Haining, most widely for its Qiantang Bore natural wonder, is another renowned hometown of colored lanterns. The ancient town Xiashi has a time-honored tradition of colored lantern making, with some believing it to have a history of more than 1,000 years, starting from theTang Dynastyand thriving in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The Haining colored lanterns incorporate craftwork,calligraphyand painting.Haining colored lanterns are specially known for their elaborate pinprick craft, which was enlisted as tributes to the emperor early in the Song Dynasty. The lanterns apply bamboo strips as the frame, covered by paper with paintings. The excelling pinpricked picture workmanship is completely handmade. This kind of lantern usually requires more than 10,000 pinpricks to form a picture, with some big ones requiring as many as 200,000 to 300,000. The light in the lantern beams out through the many tiny holes, forming a vividly shaped picture.

Xiashi colored lanterns are not only widely recognized on the south of Yangtze River, but also enjoy international fame. Even before the founding of thePeople's Republic of China, the lantern twice won medals at international expositions. In 1955, the late premiere Zhou Enlai presented Xiashi lanterns to honored guests from Sri Lanka, and in 1994 the Haining local government gave a pair of lanterns to Lee Kuan Yew, the Minister Mentor of the Republic of Singapore, winning high acclaim.

A special kind of boat, dubbed "Dragon Boat Lantern", prevails in Leqing and Yongjia counties of Wenzhou City. A piece of arc-shaped wood is used as the boat's main body, while bamboo strips and paper are applied to form the shape of a dragon. The boat is three meters long and three meters high. The dragon's head in the front is delicately decorated with a pearl in the mouth and tassels hanging as the beard, while its body is composed of a five- to seven-storied pavilion.

Small flags of various colors are placed all over the "dragon" body as ornaments. The pavilion walls are made of two layers of paper. The inside layer is made of transparent white paper, and the outside is usually made of colorful paper carvings of various shapes. When the light in the "abdomen" of the dragon is lit, colorful and twinkling small figures vividly appear to the viewers. The whole boat is a combination of several boats equipped with more than 70 pavilions, on which about 300 silk figures are placed. These figures are largely from Chinese novel classics like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Complete Storytelling of Yue Fei.