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.

还有一种传说认为元宵节与佛教有关。东汉明帝时期，佛教进入中国，这也是佛教首次传入中国，然而，佛教并没有对中国人产生多大影响。一日，明帝做了个梦，梦见皇宫里有个金人，正当他准备问清这个神秘人物的身世时，金人突然升入天空，消失在西面。次日，明帝委派一位学士去印度开始了他的取经之旅，经过几千里的长途跋涉，学士终于带回了经卷。汉明帝下令建造一所寺庙供佛雕安身、收藏经书。佛徒们相信佛能驱走黑暗，所以汉明帝宣昭他的臣民们张灯结彩，这样就形成了灯节。

The custom of lighting lanterns continued. However, the lanterns would develop from simple ones to those of various color and shape. The scale of the celebration also increased greatly.

张灯的习俗得以延续传承，然而，灯盏由简朴到华贵，样式繁多，庆贺的规模也愈来愈大。