Tree and flower

In addition to many places of interest, Yuxian, an ancient town with a history of more than 300 years, is the most attractive one.

To make iron flower is to burn iron to 1600 ℃ or so to become red hot metal. When it hits the city wall, it splashes with "fire trees and silver flowers", which is very shocking.

In addition to the performance of playing iron flower, there are also special songs and dances about local folk customs, which are very wonderful.

Now there are very few people who know this skill, because it is highly skilled, difficult to inherit, and requires a lot of investment.

Nuanquan ancient town was newly opened on September 28, 2015. Yuxian Nuanquan ancient town culture Co., Ltd. invested 150 million yuan to build the only indoor live performance theater in Hebei Province - "the first castle in the world". The theater can accommodate about 1000 audiences to watch at the same time. It is also the first time to move the "tree flower" into the indoor. Since then, watching indoor tree flower has become a must see play for tourism in Nuanquan ancient town. The show integrates dazzling lighting, gorgeous costumes, changeable stage, huge lineup, beautiful face, characteristic script and the ancient skills of playing trees and flowers, an intangible cultural heritage. It ends the history that trees and flowers can only be played outdoors and in the daytime for more than 500 years, and also makes tourists no longer return with regret.

Tree and flower

Dashuhua is a local traditional folk cultural activity in Wenquan Town, Yuxian County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province. It has a history of more than 500 years. It is splashed with molten iron on the walls of the ancient city, forming thousands of sparks. It is called "Shuhua" because it is like a tree crown with luxuriant branches and leaves. Its magnificence is no less than fireworks.

Later, the custom of "beating trees and flowers" during the Lantern Festival in Nuanquan town has continued to this day. As an ancient art, flower beating has become Hebei's "provincial intangible cultural heritage". "Beating trees and flowers" is a local traditional folk cultural activity in Wenquan Town, Yu County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province.

Historical origin

Folk customs

It is said that there were many blacksmiths' workshops in Nuanquan town in those years. During the new year's festival, the rich people set off fireworks to celebrate, and the blacksmiths were also eager for the festivity. However, the blacksmiths could not afford fireworks. They got inspiration from the sparks splashed when they were making iron, and splashed molten iron on the brick wall above the castle gate, as if fireworks were in full bloom. This kind of special "fireworks" has attracted more and more ordinary people, and its lively and festive atmosphere is by no means inferior to that of the rich who have fireworks. Therefore, there is a folk custom of "the rich set off fireworks and the poor beat up tree flowers" every Chinese New Year.

In the past, trees and flowers were played on the castle wall of Nuanquan town. Because the venue was narrow and more and more foreign tourists came to watch, the town built a new "world's first Castle tree and flower square" for performance.

Historical records

Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, was the first to record the activities of beating trees and flowers. In his seventeen songs of Qiupu, he wrote: "the fire shines on the heaven and the earth, and the red stars are in disorder. On the bright moon night of Nanlang, the song moves the cold river. " In 754 (the 13th year of Tianbao in Tang Dynasty), Li Bai traveled from Guangling and Jinling to Xuancheng and traveled to Chi and Shezhou. The seventeen songs of Qiupu were written by you Qiupu at this time. According to the records of Geography in the book of Tang Dynasty, "Qiupu is a place where silver and copper are produced." It can be seen from Li Bai's poems that the smelting workers in the Tang Dynasty were "beating trees and flowers" when they dumped copper slag. The red stars were shining in the purple smoke, which was extremely beautiful and colorful, accompanied by singing and dancing.

Zhangjiakou

On July 19, 2016, in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, the artists of "beating trees and flowers" changed the tradition of the previous January performance, dressed in heavy sheepskin jacket, and made ten thousand golden flowers with newly baked hot metal of more than 1600 degrees Celsius, which presented a visual feast for the audience and displayed and disseminated the unique charm of intangible cultural heritage culture.

Chua Gu Tuan

According to historical records, it was more than 500 years ago during the reign of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty that chuigutuan duoshuhua was formally formed. After chuigutuan's Li family built chuigutuan fort, a temple of fire was built in the gate of the fort. Before the social fire performance on the 15th of the first lunar month every year, we should first worship the God of fire, and then gather trees and flowers outside the castle wall to express our worship, reverence and gratitude for the God of fire.

Performance work

Hot iron city wall blossoms

The main characters of the performance are three artists wearing straw hats and sheepskin jackets. One is Zhong, and the other is Wang. They are both 40-55 years old. Their clothes are used to prevent scalding. On the nearly 10 meter high city wall behind us, we can see the rust, which is the mark left by the trees and flowers before. When the hot metal was poured into the basin in front of the wall, a master came on the stage.

I saw the hands of the white spoon extended to the molten iron, fire seedlings jumped up. When he threw a spoonful of molten iron to the city wall, the Pearl sized red water droplets burst into clusters of small umbrella shaped golden sparks, which scattered in the distance along the city wall, and the audience exclaimed.

For many first-time viewers, their previous interest may be that it has folk performance that modern fireworks can't compare with. I didn't expect that no matter how spectacular or brilliant it is, it's no less than powerful fireworks, but the difference is not so rich in color. In order to create a more enthusiastic scene, performers will pour several spoonfuls of molten iron one after another while the previous fireworks are still in the air, so as to make the sparks fall one after another and present a unique visual feast to people.

Wearing sheepskin jacket and bamboo hat, the performers of "Da Shu Hua" splashed the molten iron on the hard wall with a special wooden spoon. The molten iron with a temperature of more than 1000 ℃ splashed on the cold wall, splashing bright sparks, strung together to form a tree crown, and then disappeared into the dark night. Before the sparks dissipate, performers will make a new round of sparks, and the continuous sparks will form a golden "flower rain", which will bring warmth to people in the cold winter.

The flower of tree beating is also the flower of wisdom

I used to think that it was not difficult to "hit trees and flowers" and pour molten iron on the city wall. After seeing the performance of "beating trees and flowers", we know that "beating trees and flowers" has very high requirements for performers' arm strength and skills, and performers need to have great courage, so not everyone can do it. According to local people, there used to be a lot of blacksmiths' workshops in Nuanquan town. In order to celebrate the harvest, blacksmiths used their usual experience in ironmaking to invent today's "tree beating flower".

The preparation work before the performance of playing tree and flower was also thoughtful. The spoon made of willow root must be soaked in water for a few days, and then the surface is dried by slow fire, so that the spoon will not be burned by hot metal, and the handle will not be too hot. Craftsmen wear sheepskin jacket and hat, which is anti scalding. Despite being on guard everywhere, after a performance, the craftsman of the performance will be more or less burned by the splashing sparks. Therefore, the back of the craftsman's hand is always covered with old scars and new hot blisters - the craftsman leaves the danger to himself and presents the beauty to the people. The flower of tree beating is not only the ancient flower, but also the soul flower of craftsmen.

Although playing trees and flowers is good-looking, the people who play trees and flowers also want to stand firmly. There was once a man who did not stand firmly and almost put a spoonful of molten iron on his head, causing serious burns.

In fact, it takes a lot of physical work to play trees and flowers. In order to keep the audience in high spirits, the three performers will appear one after another. In the spare time of rest, a lady curiously went up and wanted to fight the tree flower in person. Unexpectedly, a spoonful of molten iron sank so that she couldn't hold it at all. She could only admire the extraordinary Kungfu of several artists in their free and easy use.

It is said that in 2013, there were only four people in Nuanquan town who could play trees and flowers. In addition to the three masters, there was also a young apprentice who was not very skilled. As an old custom, tree beating has high requirements on the strength and sprinkling skills of artists, so not everyone can do it.

festival activities

Nuanquan town in Yuxian County has a long history and profound cultural heritage. It is located in the west of Yuxian County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. It is named because of the long flowing spring water in the center of the town, which is warm in winter and cool in summer.

In addition to the Lantern Festival, paper cutting and other traditional folk culture, the people of Nuanquan town in this county have also inherited the only unique skill in the country for more than 300 years - "beating trees and flowers". During the Spring Festival, there was a grand occasion of "100000 people enjoying trees and flowers" in Yuxian County. "Da Shu Hua" expresses people's good wishes to celebrate the festival and yearn for a sweet life.

"Furnace sacrifice" ceremony starts

With the approach of the new year, the taste of new year in the streets of Yuxian County is increasingly strong. Big red lanterns hang high, big red "Fu" and tiger like paper cutting decorate the county. People who rush to the new year's fair are shuttling in front of the stalls, showing the importance of the traditional new year with unprecedented enthusiasm. As night falls, the traditional square lanterns in the alley of Nuanquan town become a unique scene. The red light is dotted with the dim night, which has a great New Year atmosphere. When you follow the crowd to Shuhua performance square, you will encounter many paper-cut stalls on the way. The paper-cut here is made by local people. Because of the strong local flavor and the low price, foreign tourists are willing to take some home.

Preparation process

In the "tree and flower square" specially built for the tree and flower show, there have been a lot of visitors

Chinese PinYin : Da Shu Hua