Intangible cultural heritage Iron Flower blooms in Dunhuang

From the twelfth to the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in the year 2024, the ancient county of Dunhuang will light up with festive lanterns along its style street, as the iron trees bloom with silver flowers, and a myriad of stars ignite. The millennia-old intangible cultural heritage performance of 'Iron Flower' will be staged here. Molten iron, heated to high temperatures, is splashed by the performers with spoons, then struck into the air with boards, where it boils, burns, and scatters, painting various patterns in the sky. There are also specially made rotating tools that fling the molten iron into the air, forming spinning wheels of fire, resembling blossoming iron flowers, radiating with flowing light and colors, spectacularly illuminating the night sky, bringing smiles to faces, and brightening the festive atmosphere.

One of the eight scenic spots in Dunhuang, the party water north, speaks of the party river. The Danghe River originated from the Yanchiwan Nature Reserve in the Subei Mongolian Autonomous County. It is the first-level tributary of the Shule River. The melting water of the Qilian Mountain glaciers is the main source of the Danghe River. The only surface water that can be used in Dunhuang City, the life of Subei and Dunhuang, industrial water, agricultural irrigation can not be separated from the party river, even the famous Mogao Grottoes, Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Moon Spring are inseparable from the Party River. contact. It is because of the party river that there will be such an oasis in Dunhuang in this desert hinterland.