Fireworks on the Tibetan Plateau: when spectacle violates place
On September 19, 2025, a series of blasts shattered the otherwise quiet and sacred landscape on the roof of the world-the Tibetan Plateau.This was a largescale pyrotechnic performance, staged by the outdoor apparel brand Arc'teryx and Cai Guoqiang, a notorious fireworks artist (Fig. 1).Titled the "Rising Dragon", the fireworks rampaged across the landscape at elevations between 4670 and 5020 m in Tibet's Shigatse region along Himalayan ridgelines, which hold deep sacred cultural meaning for Indigenous People and local communities.Promoted as a fusion of art, culture, and nature, the incident was met with immediate backlash from the general public and scientists on social media, both within and beyond China.This was more than an ill-conceived publicity stunt; it exposes a deeper issue: some privileged
Authors
- Xuening Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5872-6280)
- Xingyue Tu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7822-6139)
- Bading Qiuying
- Ziheng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2063-0328)
- Lingqiang Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0149-7456)
- Qian Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0580-7407)
- Honglei Jiang
- Lumeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4580-8287)
- Josh Gilman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0468-2785)
- L. G. Shao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9950-8443)
- Qun Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8057-8934)
- Lu Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4552-1403)
- Xiaoji Zeng
- Xin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-7944)
- Ning Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9513-9288)
- Jian Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3394-1507)
- Zhifeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-9824)
- Jun‐Xiang Li
- Xuan Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-3563)
- Chenwei Shang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2962-2965)
- Jianhong Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0052-5336)
- Zhuozhuo Lv
- Emily Sezate Yasutake
Institutions
- Zhejiang A & F University (CN)
- Guangxi University (CN)
- Hohai University (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Qinghai Normal University (CN)
- Hainan University (CN)
- Shanghai Normal University (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- Inner Mongolia University (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (CN)
- Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China (CN)
- Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CN)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Landscape Ecology
- Published
- 2025-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02275-x
- Primary Topic
- Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00