--- title: Watch This Breathtaking Video of a Fireworks Ladder Into the Sky description: The artist dedicated the 80-second show to his beloved grandmother. canonical: https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-11T14:17:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:23:16.281Z og:title: Watch This Stunning Sky Ladder Burst With Fireworks og:description: Artist Cai Guoquiang has been trying to do this for over 20 years og:url: https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch This Stunning Sky Ladder Burst With Fireworks twitter:description: Artist Cai Guoquiang has been trying to do this for over 20 years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch a 'Sky Ladder' Made of Fireworks Reach to the Heavens > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5de849b1-025e-4cc8-81d7-9f0a9735cdaf&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Aug 11, 2015 2:17 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Aug 11, 2015 2:17 PM UTC A fiery, 80-second art installation from earlier in the summer that appears to show a towering ladder made of fireworks is going viral. The stunning installation, by artist Cai Guoqiang, took place in June in Quanzhou City in China’s southeast Fujian Province. It was carried out using a large weather balloon pulling on a 500-meter long wire ladder studded with fireworks and gunpowder,[ according to Yahoo News](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/firework-ladder-created-500m-into-the-sky-170644577.html). It was Guoqiang’s third attempt at creating _Sky Ladder_. In 1994, the artist attempted a similar show, but strong winds hindered the balloon from taking off. He tried again in 2001, when Shanghai hosted the APEC summit, but restricted aerial access due to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks meant that Guoquiang’s dream installation was again put on hold. _Sky Ladder_, referred to by some as a “stairway to heaven,” was dedicated to the artist’s grandmother, who just celebrated her 100th birthday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/"},"headline":"Watch a 'Sky Ladder' Made of Fireworks Reach to the Heavens","datePublished":"2015-08-11T14:17:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:23:16.281Z","description":"This is artist Cai Guoquiang's third attempt.","url":"https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","China","Art","fireworks"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3992358/video-sky-ladder-fireworks-china/","name":"Watch a 'Sky Ladder' Made of Fireworks Reach to the Heavens"}}]}] ```