SHIJIAZHUANG CITY, North China: People in North China have a unique style of celebrating. They perform a dragon dance and create a Dashuhua light show by throwing molten iron into the night sky.
It involves taking old iron pots and melting them at a temperature of 1600 degree celsius. The molten iron is thrown at a wall where it produces sparks.
Listed as a national intangible cultural heritage, the molten iron firework thrived with the development of the Chinese iron smelting industry, which reached its heyday in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Da Shuhua or the Festival of Lights is an annual tradition from the last 300 years, brought to life by Blacksmiths who wanted to participate in the Annual Chinese New year festivities but couldn't afford firecrackers as they were a luxury thus, found a risky alternate of tossing cupfuls of molten iron against the city gate, the result of which was a lightening that looked like glowing flowers.