Fire in the sky

Traditional dances draw many tourists. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

Spraying the iron

According to Wang, there are more than a dozen ways of spraying the molten iron into the air, with tools such as an iron wire and a board. The spraying can be done either alone, or by a group of two or three.

Performers from Situ and nearby villages are paid a monthly salary of between 2,500 yuan ($384) and 3,000 yuan. And the performers are mostly aged between 35 and 40, though the oldest is 68.

Wang says the performance looks stunning on a snowy evening, because the molten iron also explodes into sparks for a second time when it touches the snow on the ground.

Speaking of safety, he says: "In summer, the molten iron does not injure us when it comes in contact with our bodies because of sweat."

As for members of the audience, they have to stand at least 30 meters away from the performers because the temperature of the molten iron can be as high as 1,600 C.

Sometimes, however, Wang does get scalded by a few drops of the molten liquid, and it can leaves holes in his clothes and scars on his skin.

Explaining how the tradition originated, Wang says: "In the past, we couldn't afford firecrackers to celebrate feasts, so we made our own fireworks in this way because the city has lots of coal and iron."

As for Situ, which is still coming to grips with its newfound fame thanks to the performances, it used to be just another village until the authorities decided to step in and develop it into a tourist attraction.

Zhou Xiaoming, the head of the village committee, says that as tourists are typically interested in traditional culture, they took the trouble to visit neighboring areas to find craftsmen who could perform datiehua and then train young people in the area.

Speaking of the newly introduced performances, he says that the show which was performed twice a day attracted about 20,000 people in total every night in February.

At the start of the show, the dancers would do a performance showcasing how blacksmiths lived and worked in ancient times.