Within the realm of digital media, the work aims to explore the strategies for preserving the traditional lantern making skills of craftsmen along the southern route of the "Silk Road" in the digital age. The digital design method is constructed to study the three-dimensional protection, and the digital research path is constructed from the aspects of digital imagery, video and animation, oral history recordings, VR three-dimensional models, and virtual interactive gaming experiences. The findings indicate that in view of the serious marketization of lanterns and the difficulty in inheriting traditional making craft, the use of digital means can systematically provide protection, which is conducive to the permanent preservation of the craft, and at the same time, it also provides new ideas for the intangible heritage protection of traditional handicrafts in China.