Da Shuhua is a 500 year old tradition practiced in Nuanquan Zhen on the border between Shanxi and Hebei provinces during the Lantern festival. Villagers perform the festival of lights, "Da Shuhua" for three days to celebrate the harvest and pray for good weather the following year. They throw molten iron onto the cold brick of the city gate which creates sparks that burst into the sky. The artists, who are now the 13th generation of practitioners of the festival, dress in sheep fur and straw hats and use handmade wooden ladles to splash the hot metal onto the wall. This unique folk festival happens only once a year and only in Nuanquan Zhen.

Video: D J Clark
Producer: Flora Yue

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About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a multimedia journalist for more than 20 years. As well as working for China Daily he runs an MA course in Multimedia journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University and is the Director of Visual Journalism at the Asia Center for Journalism in Manila, Philippines.