Youth, gorgeous in the Millennium ＂while the iron is hot＂
Reporter Xiang Fei’s photo report
In Changtianyang Wetland Park, South Taihu New District, artists who perform non-legacy iron flowers are a group of "post-00" young people from Kaifeng, Henan.
As night falls, in Changtianyang Wetland Scenic Area, South Taihu New District, Huzhou, the fire on the bamboo raft is burning. Bare-chested Zhang Shuai waved his paddle and struck hard at the molten iron raised by his companions. The molten iron at 1600℃ turned into starlight in the air and sprinkled on the river, and the reflection in the water magnified the splendor of "the fire tree and the silver flower fall" …
Artists who beat iron flowers lit a fire on the river.
Every time the iron flower blooms, it will wake up the cheers of the audience on the shore. Performer Zhang Shuai is from Kaifeng, Henan Province. Although he is only 20 years old this year, he has been engaged in the performance of playing iron flowers for many years. As one of the representative projects of national intangible cultural heritage, Tiehua is a folk cultural performance skill developed by ancient craftsmen in the process of casting utensils, which is mostly spread in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, especially in Henan and Shanxi, and has a history of more than a thousand years.
The day before the performance, the young team members were discussing the details of the rehearsal.
In the past two years, Tie Hua, as a non-legacy performance in online celebrity, quickly became popular all over the country, and Zhang Shuai followed the performance team to many parts of the country. Since the Spring Festival this year, the performance schedule has been very full, and Zhang Shuai has been on the move almost all the time.
During the "May Day" holiday, many tourists will camp in Changtianyang Scenic Area in advance and wait for the splendid performance in the evening in leisure.
The performance continued to be popular, attracting many young people to join the Tiehua team. During the "May Day" this year, almost all the team members who played iron flowers in Changtianyang were after "00". Oda, 19 years old, joined the iron flower show after graduating from school this year; Xiao Sha, who works in an enterprise, took advantage of the May Day holiday to perform. Niu Jinglong, who worked on the construction site for seven or eight years before, has also switched to join the iron flower team this year.
Zhang Shuai (right) and his friends are preparing tools for striking iron flowers. Zhang Shuai, 20 years old, has been playing iron flower for many years.
Niu Jinglong is installing the toner stick of Falling Flowers Show. He joined the Tiehuahua team this year and worked on the construction site for 7 years before that.
Niu Jinglong is installing the toner stick of Falling Flowers Show. He joined the Tiehuahua team this year and worked on the construction site for 7 years before that.
At night, the artists are debugging the performance of the fallen petal show. Every wonderful presentation needs to be prepared several days in advance.
For these young performers, the intangible performances from their hometown have long been integrated into their lives. Nowadays, this intangible cultural heritage has become a local industry, and more and more people are involved in it. Young people take their skills to see the outside world, and also convey their unique hometown culture to the world.
In the face of wonderful performances, tourists cheered and took out their mobile phones to shoot.
"The fire tree and the silver flowers fall, and all the stars bloom." In the past two years, the national intangible cultural heritage has become a popular performance in online celebrity.
———produced by Hutu.
Producer: Xiang Fei