In China, red lanterns could guide a traveller to safety in cold winter alleyways, be symbols of power outside an imperial hall, or act as a call to religious devotion when hung in a temple.
They are also absolutely synonymous with lunar new year celebrations right across the vast country and link today's Chinese people with the culture of their ancestors.
To imagine how many lanterns would be hung here, at any given time, is like trying to count how many trees would be in the Amazon.
And yet it is claimed that a remarkable 80% of the country's lanterns are still made – by hand – in one small town in Hebei Province.
Walking around the dusty streets of Tuntou you see evidence of lantern making everywhere you go.
