THE highlight of Sydney’s Chinese New Year celebrations will be a dancing fire dragon, twisting from Town Hall to Darling Harbour, at times under a shower of hot iron.
the dragon, manipulated by about 20 men, will pass through and duck around tiny, glowing iron filings that are sprayed into the air by other performers.
The filings are red hot to look at but so small that they cool as they fall and are only slightly warm to the touch.
Or at least that is what the City of Sydney hopes, which is vouching for the safety of the ”close proximity” fireworks display.
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Nevertheless, the result is a spectacular and tactile fireworks demonstration that is high among the cultural traditions of China.
This particular performance, to run on Sunday, comes from the town of Huanglongxi, near the city of Chengdu, in central China.
The residents of Huanglongxi have been performing the fire dragon since the Song dynasty.
The director of the Huanglongxi performance, Mr Zhu, told the Herald in November that the firework display was very safe, but did need practice.
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One of the variants of close-proximity fireworks involves hitting a ball of molten iron filings into the air with a paddle, spraying them over a large area, and having them fall on the back of the dragon and its performers.
Mr Zhu said that while the filings were warm on their return to ground, performers still needed to get used to the sensation.
However, the types of fireworks more likely to be used in the Sydney display are cooler, hand-held close-proximity fireworks. the City of Sydney has booked the company that organised Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks, Foti International, to help with Sunday’s display.
Today marks the beginning of the Chinese lunar new year, and Sydney will host events over the next two weeks to celebrate.
Many of the events will feature performances by the City’s 2012 new year partner, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province.
Enter the dragon: new year begins in rain of fire