Sky Lanterns from Wish Lantern
Wish Lanterns are known by different names in different areas of the world – and in the US and China they are commonly known as Sky lanterns. The term sky lantern is a literal translation of the chinese characters that are used in Chinese Kanji, but the sky lantern has been accepted into different areas of the world by different names.
The Kongming Lantern (Chinese: 孔明灯) was the first hot air balloon, said to be invented by the sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang. Sky lanterns are claimed to date as far back as the 3rd century AD as a type of signalling balloon. It is however possible that the name sky lantern may come from the lantern’s resemblance to the hat Kongming is often shown to be wearing in paintings.
It is likely that this technological discovery is misattributed to Zhuge Liang because of the Chinese historical practice of attributing great discoveries to significant historical figures rather than to the actual inventors. According to the sinologist and historian of science Joseph Needham, the Chinese experimented with sky lanterns as early as the 3rd century BC – which suggests that they may not have come from Zhuge Liang.
We manufacture Wish Lanterns from a factory in China and export them to the UK through www.wishlantern.co.uk and to the USA through www.wishlantern.com.
