Iron Flower Show (Da Tie Hua) is a traditional Chinese folk firework performance that started in the Northern Song dynasty, flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and has a history of over a thousand years. Today, it's mainly popular in Hebei and Henan. During the performance, with drums beating, the molten iron is heated to 1600°C-1700°C. Performers throw the scalding iron into the sky, and another person hits the iron with a wooden board before it falls, creating a spectacular scene of fiery blooms in the air.
"Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" is the pinnacle of Chinese green and blue landscape painting. This large-scale landscape scroll, measuring approximately11.9meters in length, was created by the Northern Song dynasty's genius painter Wang Ximeng. It reflects the highly developed painting art and aesthetic view of the Song dynasty. The painting not only demonstrates exquisite painting skills but also embodies the concept of harmonious coexistence between ancient Chinese people and nature.
The Valley of the Kings, located on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor, Egypt, is an important archaeological site. It served as the burial ground for pharaohs and powerful nobles of the Egyptian New Kingdom from the 16th to the 11th century BCE. The site is world-renowned for its architectural and artistic achievements, showcasing the height of ancientEgyptian funerary culture.
A World Heritage Site, the Old City of Cairo consists of five distinct Old City districts at the centre of this sprawling modern metropolis. Founded in the 10th century, the Old City of Cairo is one of the oldest Islamic cities in the world and has become the centre of the Islamic world. The Old City is home to a number of classified monuments (some 800 in total) spanning 1,300 years from the 7th century onwards. These monuments include ancient mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains, the massive walls and the huge citadel with its mosques and palaces. The central area of the World Heritage Site covers 312 hectares and comprises the bustling heart of the old city, from the Citadel and the Ibn Tulun Mosque in the south to the outskirts of Al-Azhar in the north, dominated by the huge Al-Azhar Mosque and the Khan al-Khalili Market, which is made up of shops and alleys.
Wadi Al-Hitan, the whale valley in the western desert of Egypt, contains priceless fossilised remains of the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, the Archaeoceti. These fossils represent one of evolution's most important stories: the whale's emergence as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal. This is the most important place in the world to demonstrate this stage of evolution. It provides a vivid picture of the shape and life of whales during this transitional phase. The number, concentration and quality of fossils here is unique, as is its accessibility and location in an attractive and protected landscape. The fossils in Al-Hitan show the youngest archaeocetes, which are in the final stages of losing their hind limbs. Other fossil material in the area makes it possible to reconstruct the environmental and ecological conditions of the time.