Full coverage: ‘看中国’外国青年影像计划专题

By CCTV.com Panview

Editor's foreword: "Looking China" International Youth Film Project is co-organized by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), Beijing Normal University and Huilin Foundation. The program focuses on the young participants’ personal experiences of Chinese culture and encourages them to discover and tell Chinese stories from their own perspectives.

As of the year 2017, students from all over the world were invited to participate in the project. They were stationed in 12 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions here in China. Every filmmaker has worked out a 10-minute short film about Chinese culture around the topic of "Craftsmanship·Inheritance·Innovation.”

The movie, "The Soul of the Living Sparkle," directed by Staicu Marian and produced by Jiang Jiaxin, brings us to a fireworks factory in Liuyang, Hunan, the same city where fireworks were invented a thousand years ago.

The Chinese celebrate the invention of the fireworks every April 18 by offering sacrifices to the inventor Li Tian. Nowadays, local fireworks craftsmen are striving to develop their skills to meet the needs of global customers. Apart from production, design of firework shows are also important. It's a team work where timing, places, quality of firecrackers all play a crucial part.

Fireworks play an essential role in Chinese festivals, such as the Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival. It's also commonly used in weddings, opening ceremonies and other festive occasions. It's believed that fireworks can scare away evil spirits. Today, China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world.

The movie starts from the scenes of an ancient temple to some modern dance shows with fireworks at background. It develops at a slow pace, from the past to today. Maybe just like the sentence cited at the end of the movie, "Give light and people will find a way," this movie can inspire more people to learn about the fireworks industry in China.

(The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

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