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https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1910479/less-bang-their-luck-chinese-cities-shrug-cracker-traditions China
Less bang for their luck: Chinese cities shrug off cracker traditions for Lunar New Year
Fireworks explode as people celebrate on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China, February 7, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.
Much of China’s population can expect sub-standard sleep after the country starts ringing in the Year of the Monkey. The rat-a-tat snaps of firecrackers, whistling rockets and mortar-like fireworks with possibly enough gunpowder to down a small aircraft will make sure of that.
But whisper it quietly: the skies this year might not be as spectacular, nor the streets so loud.
In Beijing, fireworks sales are down by a half this year after already falling a third in 2015. The central city of Zhengzhou is one of five provincial capitals outlawing firecrackers altogether. Shanghai is also banning them in the city centre but, in a nod to marriage customs, handing out free electronic ones to newlyweds.
Whether it’s due to expanding municipal restrictions, pollution concerns, a sagging economy or simply fading interest in a country that prides itself on having invented gunpowder, there’s a growing sense, at least among Chinese urbanites, that setting firecrackers just isn’t the essential tradition it used to be.
A girl and a woman sit inside the car as firecrackers and fireworks explode celebrating the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year of Monkey in Beijing just before midnight February 7, 2016. Photo: Reuters
“Everyone around me has seen on TV or heard the radio the last few years so we know what it does to pollution,” Wang said. “My children and grandchildren don’t shoot as many as we used to, and that’s not a problem. Why do you have to go crazy with it?”
But he pointed out he opposed any official ban like what the city had during the 1990s – which many residents flouted anyway.
“You still have to shoot a few and show the tradition to the kids,” he added. “It just wouldn’t have any New Year flavour otherwise.”
Nine years after Beijing lifted a decade-long ban, residents now seem to be voluntarily cutting back on firecrackers. Television stations have aired reports that fireworks stalls scattered around the city are offering 50 per cent discounts if not closing early this year. With a few days left before the New Year, merchants at the historic Tianyi market in west Beijing grumbled about sales that were down by at least a third this year, with most blaming the poor economy rather than changing habits.
Though Beijingers rang in the new year in traditional style on this street, the city felt fewer bangs this year. Photo: AFP
Believed to ward off evil spirits and misfortune, firecrackers have long been purchased for events ranging from weddings and funerals. But for many Chinese, particularly of an older generation, the acrid smell alone is enough to recall joyful memories of the Spring Festival and all its trappings, from the round-table family feasts to the cash-stuffed red envelopes doled out by grandparents.
For police, though, it’s something of a nightmare. There were over 15,000 fires related to fireworks during the 2015 New Year period, down 11 per cent from a year prior, according to the public security ministry.
Last week, Beijing police began sending notices via text messages and issued pleas on social media.
“Please set as few firecrackers as possible during the Spring Festival Period, minimise air pollution and help keep the capital’s skies blue!” said one such post by the police security bureau on Wednesday with a statement that detailed how many injuries Beijingers sustained in 2015.
Authorities in the capital appear set on the policy of allowing 24-hour fireworks on New Years Eve and New Years Day and 18-hour windows every day for the following two weeks. But bursts of firework-related mayhem in recent years have prompted officials and media commentators to call for tighter restrictions.
Stalls like this in Beijing have been feeling the pinch as sales took a dive. Photo: AP
But even if the densely populated cities were quieting down to the relief of authorities, many said the countryside won’t be giving up their fireworks for a long time yet.
Weddings, funerals, even when someone buys something big, like a television.
“Where I’m from, firecrackers are a must for all the big occasions,” Chen Tang, a 28-year old restaurant worker in Beijing, said one day before he was due to take a train home to rural Anhui Province. “Weddings, funerals, even when someone buys something big, like a television.”
Yet others shrugged off what they thought was a slightly fading tradition.
Hunched over his lunch at his stall, Deng Zhi, a 53-year old Tianyi merchant, said he associated firecrackers with his childhood in west Beijing, just a few blocks away. But that was a different time, he said.
“When I was little, of course I loved to set off firecrackers at New Year, but it’s not a big deal that we don’t use them so much now,” he said.
He pointed his chopsticks at a pork belly dish.
“When I was little, I also loved being able to eat fatty meat at New Year,” he said. “Now I can eat this every day if I want. Times change.”