English: The light performance in Nuanquan Town, Yu County, Hebei Province, China ist called “Da Shu-Hua”, literally meaning "beating tree flowers”. It has a history of over 500 years.
Blacksmiths smash big pieces of pig iron and hit it in furnace over 1600 degrees Celsius to melt it. Then wearing a sheepskin coat and a straw hat a powerful blacksmith throws molten iron against the rampart with a wooden spoon to create showers of sparks, which look like the canopy of a tree.
In ancient times, the rich could afford fireworks and firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year, while the poor couldn’t. The local blacksmiths in Nuanquan were inspired by the sparks from striking heated iron and created a cheaper way to make a show of lights. Poor families would contribute scrap iron to do the performance.