Lantern Festival

I now interrupt this series of India blogs to comment on the Chinese Lantern Festival -- Chinese people are crazy about fireworks!!! I think I have discovered where the Beijing pollution comes from - simply all the fireworks that are set off during the 2-week spring festival, but particularly tonight, on Lantern Festival.   The Lantern Festival marks the first full moon of the year, and the end of the Spring Festival holiday, and after tonight many businesses that are still closed will reopen for business.  Many people left Beijing to go spend the holiday with their families, so the city has been quieter than usual.  I was actually a little sad that I would miss the New Year celebrations by going to India during this time, but little did I know about tonight!

Over the entirety of the festival, people have been setting off firecrackers in the day time and fireworks at night, but it has been pretty sporadic.  Since I returned to Beijing, however, the noises have been getting more intense, and today there were firecrackers going off all day long!  As soon as it got dark, the real craziness began, however, as I think every single person in Beijing is setting off fireworks at the same time.  Even if only a fifth of the people did, 1/5 of 22 million is quite a lot of fireworks for one night, and I would believe it!  There is a constant booming, banging, snapping, and whistling coming from outside, with a dull distant rush bringing the sound of further-away fireworks to me as well.  The buildings outside my apartment light up with flashes and sparks every 30 seconds or so, and I earlier I could see at least 4 large firework displays at once from my window.  I've even seen a few below me, in the courtyard below my 19th-story apartment!

I went to the nearby park to see if I could see any lanterns (turns out they're not celebrating there this year) but it was not a wasted trip because the park with its sparse winter tree cover and large open lake was the perfect firework-watching place.  I found a bench and camped out for over an hour, constantly turning around to the new booms and brilliant colors.  They have a HUGE array of fireworks here, most of them of the large variety we only see in city displays at home, and many different colors and designs I've never seen before.  Several of my favorites includes a green and red/orange one that reminded me of an apple, one with 45 degree flares framing an explosion in the middle, and one that looked like a tall fountain of water shooting up and falling down on itself, ending with a huge explosion of purple sparks.  There's something about the dazzling lights and designs that is so enthralling to me, and obviously the Chinese share my obsession - I've been home for 2 hours and the bangs and booms and lights are still going strong outside my window!  Happy New Year!