"In my 20s, I saw fireworks as romantic, bold and unrestrained, like a love poem to the sky," Zhong reflects.

"In my 30s, fireworks have become a livelihood — a business pursued with practicality by me and those around me.

"For me, fireworks serve as a temporal conduit filled with echoes from my childhood, the transition of my hometown, and the transformation of the industry."

A 10-minute documentary, titled A Poem in the Sky, recounts Zhong's story.

The documentary is an award-winning short film within the Image Possibilities Coproduction Plan, a project that fosters and sponsors both domestic and international filmmakers in creating documentary programs that shed light on contemporary China.

Launched in Aug 2022, the project resulted in the selection of 62 varied proposals. These proposals have recently been adapted into documentary films and subsequently distributed on platforms like the Discovery Channel and the online video-sharing platform Bilibili.

A screening ceremony took place in Beijing on Dec 15, in the presence of the young filmmakers and their protagonists, who came to share their stories.