@book {1493536, title = {Community Fire}, year = {2023}, pages = {192}, publisher = {Peabody Museum Press and Aperture}, organization = {Peabody Museum Press and Aperture}, address = {Cambridge, Massachusetts}, abstract = {In his project\ Community Fire, the photographer Zhang Xiao takes a local, hometown look at Shehuo (社火), a Chinese Spring Festival tradition celebrated in rural northern Chinese communities, including temple fairs, dragon dances, and storytelling. Shehuo{\textemdash}literally, {\textquotedblleft}community fire{\textquotedblright}{\textemdash}is devoted to the worship of land and fire, and boasts a history of many thousands of years. During the festival, people hold ceremonies, pray for the next year{\textquoteright}s good harvest, and confer blessings of peace and safety for all family members.\ 

However, what was once a heterogeneous cultural tradition with myriad regional variations has largely become a tourist-facing, consumption-oriented enterprise. In the early 2000s, Shehuo received an {\textquotedblleft}intangible cultural heritage{\textquotedblright} designation from the People{\textquoteright}s Republic of China, resulting in increased funding in exchange for greater government involvement. While transforming the practitioners{\textquoteright} relation to Shehuo, this change expresses itself most visually in the way Qing dynasty{\textendash}era costumes and props have been replaced with newer, cheaper products from online shopping websites. Zhang{\textquoteright}s photographs capture how these mass-produced substitutions have transformed the practice of Shehuo. Through a colorful and fantastical blend of portraiture and ephemera that documents the blurred edges between the everyday and the absurd,\ Community Fire\ is a dynamic visual exploration of one of China{\textquoteright}s oldest traditions.\ 

Copublished by Aperture and Peabody Museum Press}, url = {https://aperture.org/books/zhang-xiao-community-fire/}, author = {Zhang Xiao} }