"Dashuhua" in Yuxian County of Hebei

"Dashuhua", literally translated as "beating tree flowers", is a traditional folk performance in Nuanquan town of Yuxian County, North China's Hebei province, to celebrate Lantern Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first month in accordance with the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. Local performers spray molten iron at 1,300 C against a cold concrete wall to form spark-like fireworks on the night of Lantern Festival and as a prayer for good harvest in the following year.

The tradition has been preserved for over five centuries and was listed as an intangible cultural heritage of Hebei in 2007.

The performance of "Dashuhua" was moved from Beiguanpu village to a newly built square when Nuanquan made huge investment to develop its tourism industry in 2006. The folk tradition has become commercialized and has been held regularly on the weekends from May to October in each year since 2009 when the local government put it on top of the agenda in a drive to accelerate the development of local tourism.

"Dashuhua" is today a leading program for Nuanquan in its tourism development and has driven the robust growth of other sectors in the town.

There are now five inheritors of the traditional performance.

Paper-cutting in Yuxian County of Hebei

The traditional art of paper-cutting in Yuxian county, North China's Hebei province, dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is a folk tradition of Han ethnic people widely known at home and abroad.

Compared with other schools of paper-cutting found throughout China, often fashioned by scissors and with paper of a single color, the art of paper-cutting in Yuxian is made with a special knife and is multi-colored. Drawing inspiration from other intangible cultural heritages such as Wuxiang woodcarving, local craftsmen carve into Xuan paper with a thin and sharp knife capable of finely slicing the paper in the creation of their unique version of paper-cutting products.

Local paper-cuttings were often pasted on the windows to celebrate the arrival of Spring Festival, also known as Chinese traditional New Year, and other important events in the past. Nowadays, they have become items for artistic collection and are often sent as gifts.

Early in August 2003, a national conference was held in Yuxian to further promote the popularity of paper-cutting art across the country.

The county has been named as the hometown of traditional Chinese paper-cutting art and a research base for the paper-cutting tradition in China.