Iron-flower Fireworks
01 · Historical Records
Queshan iron flowers, also called "beating iron flowers" (da tiehua), is a large-scale folk traditional fireworks display transmitted in Queshan County, Henan Province; it began in the Northern Song dynasty, flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has a history of more than a thousand years to the present.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
When the Queshan iron flowers are performed, a two-storey flower shed six metres high is built in an open space; the shed is densely covered with fresh willow branches, with fireworks, firecrackers and rising goods bound all over it. In the middle of the shed an old pole six metres high is erected, bringing the total height of the flower shed to more than ten metres. A melting furnace is set up alongside, and a dozen or more performers take turns using flower sticks to strike the molten iron, at a temperature of more than a thousand degrees, onto the shed, forming iron flowers more than ten metres high; the iron flowers in turn ignite the fireworks and firecrackers, and with the addition of the "dragon threading the flowers" performance, the scene is magnificent, presenting a character that is thrilling and stimulating, festive and lively. The craft of beating iron flowers has a long history; the performance is imposing and the scale grand. The iron-flower artists enter the fray bare-chested amid iron flowers of more than a thousand degrees, advancing and retreating at will without being burned; the brilliance of modern fireworks and the mystery and peril of the traditional feat interweave, leaving viewers in awe. Iron-flower beating encompasses Taoist culture, commercial custom, folk craft and other content; it has enriched the treasure-house of Chinese folk art, and plays an important role in enlivening the cultural life of the people, raising national pride and strengthening national cohesion.
Raising the two-tier flower shed
A six-metre two-tier shed is raised and clad in fresh willow boughs hung with firecrackers and rockets.
The centre pole lifting the shed past ten metres
A central pole adds another six metres to the shed and serves as the axis from which the sparks spread.
Striking the molten iron into sparks
A dozen men wet their rods and strike molten iron onto the willow-clad shed, turning the shower into fireworks.
The dragon threading the flowers
A fire dragon threads the burnt trail below while firecrackers still burst overhead.
The one-primitive, two-modes layout overhead
The shed is laid out by the old cosmological scheme, with density and spacing in the corners decided that way.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
What spread Queshan iron flowers was not a text but the whole on-site ensemble of shed, furnace and people. The shed-builders, the iron melters, the iron-flower artists and the partners who set off the firecrackers each manage one part; a dozen or so people put up one shed, and no one alone could hold up that spectacle. From the Northern Song onwards there were established local precedents for setting off the display, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties it gradually took shape; temple fairs, god-repayment rites and shop openings would all invite a performance. In the twentieth century the craft for a time circulated only among acquaintances, apprentices mostly being brought along by one acquaintance after another; the nerve to hold the scene was rarer than accuracy of hand. Since Yang Jianjun took Li Wanfa as his master in 1979 and was able to stand on his own in 1988, he has broken iron-flower beating into separate process steps — sacrifice, shed-building, iron melting and striking — teaching apprentices separately for each, and has rearranged the layout of the shed according to the one origin, two forms, four images, five elements and eight trigrams, so that a single flower shed carries at once the rules of the metal-casting guilds and the orientations of Taoist ritual. Today the dozen or twenty-odd people able to hold a scene mostly come from this line of transmission.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Iron-flower Fireworks.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yang Jianjun (official archive record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in July 1949, native of Queshan County, Henan Province. In 1956 he began to come into contact with iron-flower artists, and steadily acquired knowledge about iron-flower beating. In 1979 he took the senior iron-flower artist Li Wanfa as his master. By 1988 he was able to operate and organize performances on his own, and had fully mastered the feats of Queshan iron-flower performance and related knowledge. He carried out in-depth excavation and compilation of Queshan iron flowers, restoring their ancient traditional features — including ancient sacrificial activities, secret formulas of iron smelting, and the building of the flower shed according to the one origin, two forms, four images, five elements and eight trigrams — all of which embody the characteristics of Taoist culture and the cultural traits of the ancient metal-smelting trade, bringing the project's traditional cultural form to completion. After retiring in 2009 he devoted himself to the study, performance and transmission of Queshan iron flowers. He has taken on several dozen apprentices. Representative inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage project Iron-Flower Beating, fifth national batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Jianjun 05-3035
- Liu Shangde
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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