Iron of the tiger

When visitors walk into Chinese folk artist Zhan Dongsheng's house, in Xinyang, Central China's Henan province, they see animals such as tigers and dogs emerge vividly on pieces of 2-meter-long silk.

Unlike other painters, the 52-year-old man creates his creatures with soldering irons, common tools on construction sites but not the usual choice.

The "iron-painting" dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24). Originally, people burned patterns on the rumps of horse to differentiate the animals, an early form of livestock branding. The process evolved, and hot-iron tips were used to create patterns on bamboo, on wood, and even - very carefully - on silk.