20/06/2025

FRIDAY | JUNE 20, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

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IN Liuyang, central China’s Hunan Province, the stories of fireworks have been passed down through generations. As the world’s largest production and trade hub for fireworks and firecrackers, Liuyang has a history of making fireworks that dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Its fireworks captivate audiences at many major events, such as 2008 Beijing and 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremonies. Demand overseas is soaring. Consistent quality, diverse products and stunning effects have earned Liuyang fireworks accolades from international consumers. Last year, Liuyang’s fireworks exports totalled 6.58 billion yuan (RM3.8 billion), reaching over 100 countries and regions. China accounted for 90% of global firework exports that year, nearly 70% of them originating from Liuyang. Behind the fireworks are moving stories of Chinese-style romance, some of which embody memories of lost loved ones. The drone and firework show, titled Tears from the Door of Heaven , was recently staged in Liuyang. The I MAGINE being able to visit a museum and examine up close thousand-year-old pottery, revel alone in jewellery from centuries past or peer inside a Versace bag. Now London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum has launched a new exhibition space, where visitors can choose from some 250,000 objects, order something they want to spend time looking at and have it delivered to a room for a private viewing. Most museums have thousands of precious and historic items hidden away in their stores, which the public never gets to see or enjoy. But the V&A Storehouse, which opened last month in a specially converted warehouse, has come up with a radical new concept. And it is totally free. “Museums should be and are for everybody. (so) the V&A’s collection is for everybody. It belongs to everybody, and everyone should be able to have free, equitable and meaningful access to it. “So this is a world first – never has anyone been able to be invited freely, without having to book into the same space as a national collection, on this scale,” said senior curator Georgia Haseldine. One fifth of the museum’s total collection is now available to be viewed and enjoyed in the four-storey building on the former site of the 2012 London Olympic Games. No protective glass “It is fantastic, it is so much better than an ordinary museum. “I am just really, really impressed by it. We have only just heard about it, but it is phenomenal,” enthused retired physics teacher Jane Bailey as she toured the floors. She was transfixed by the sight of the black and red drum kit which belonged to Keith Moon, from the band The Who. She said it would be great to be able to resuscitate the legendary drummer who died in 1978, to play a set for them. Jostling for space, side-by-side on shelves in a massive hanger which resembles a DIY commercial warehouse and stretches for more than 30 basketball courts, are everything from ceramics and tapestries, to paintings and toys from the Tudor period. There is even a 15th-century gilded wooden ceiling from the now-lost Torrijos Palace. It also has the Kaufmann Office, a panelled room which is the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside of the US. Hanging on display is the stunning stage front cloth made for the one-act ballet Le Train Bleu – a copy of a Pablo Picasso’s The Two Women Running on the Beach , which was specially designed for the 1924 Ballets Russes production. At 12m, its huge size means it has

Truly curated experience o London museum opens vast ‘on-demand’ storehouse to public A visitor looks at the artefacts exhibited in the main room of the newly opened museum V&A East Storehouse, in East London. – AFPPIC

opened up here in London”. Haseldine said “this building is a love letter to objects”. “To be able to see around the back of an object, to be able to look inside a dress, to be able to see the bottom of a pot, all these things are how we really learn about our material culture,” she added. Expert Kate Hill, who teaches cultural history at Lincoln University, said “it is pretty unusual for museums to open up their storehouses”. “Most of the time, they offer some ‘behind the scene’ tour, but their objets are not accessible. It is visible but not accessible.” Bailey said: “I would hope this is the museum of the future, because some are very, very stuffy. We went to one recently and it was excruciating.” – AFP

object of their choice.

rarely been seen since its stage debut. There is no protective glass. One of the first visitors to the Storehouse was Princess Catherine, a patron of the V&A and keen art lover, who took a tour earlier this week. She described the collection as “eclectic” as she used the “order an object” system to look at a samples book from renowned 19th century English textiles designer William Morris and rolls of ornate textiles and a musical instrument. All the works are available to the public seven days a week, and can be reserved via an online booking system for a private viewing at a date and time of your choice. Members of staff are on hand paying close attention as visitors don purple gloves and satisfy their curiosity, spending time with the

Love letter It is a huge departure from the usual admonishment of “Do not touch!” found in most museums seeking to protect their objects from damage. Curator Haseldine acknowledged “we have certainly met with some levels of scepticism and worry”. But she said once the idea was explained properly including “how meaningful it is to start to open up and give collections back to a community... people just start to think creatively about how we can do this”. American national Manuel Garza living in London said he thought the V&A Storehouse was “one of the most interesting spaces that just

Liuyang fireworks make Chinese-style romance global sensation

inspiration for the show came from Huang Jiayi, a high school student in Liuyang. Her grandfather Huang Weide is the founder of Qingtai Fireworks, a local fireworks company. Weide’s mother, Huang Jiayi’s great grandmother, died at an early age, leaving behind no photographs. To recognise this sadness, Jiayi came up with the idea of making a fireworks display that resembled tears, making them drop through a halo made of drones to express the deep feeling of missing lost family members. Every dazzling fireworks display lies the story of Liuyang’s industry upgrade: intelligent technology combined with cultural roots, urban fireworks driving cultural tourism consumption, and creative pyrotechnics igniting global markets. In 2024, its fireworks industry achieved a total output value exceeding 50 billion yuan, capturing about 60% domestic market share and accounting for 70% of national exports. Liuyang has refined “Chinese-style romance” through fireworks, illuminating night skies worldwide and allowing this millennium-old tradition to maintain its enduring charm.

In 2024, Liuyang’s fireworks exports totalled 6.58 billion yuan. – PEXELSPIC