fireworks

China's Cai Guo-Qiang opts for more thrilling materials than traditional paint, clay or plaster, say. Instead, Cai has mastered the art of gunpowder, fireworks and other pyrotechnics (not to mention taxidermy).

You remember when you were mildly disappointed when you first came to Japan because you rarely if ever saw anyone wearing Kimono…then came summer and you saw all the girls with their beautiful flowery yukata on and shuffling about in their slippers, and the guys looking extremely cool in theirs clacking around in wooden slippers or sandals…headed for hanabi.

A festival named dashuhua commemorates Chinese farmers who were too poor to afford fireworks for a festival and used molten lead instead. The results are blazing and amazing.

Some of the fireworks seen in television coverage of the opening ceremony of the Olympics were created digitally, according to a report in The Beijing Times.