It should come as no surprise that one often hears firecrackers going off in China. They are used to celebrate weddings and births, moving into a new house, and to send off the dead. But I have never heard so many firecrackers as I have since we’ve been in CZ. It’s a daily occurrence and often multiple times a day.
Yesterday, I took the boys for a walk, and we saw groups of kids all along the road playing with firecrackers. At one point, we saw a two-year old holding a firecracker, while his dad lit the fuse, causing my 6-year old to say, “That’s not smart.”
I think I mentioned that once it sounded like a bunch were going off outside our sixth floor door. When we opened the door afterwards, we found out they were (well, actually our neighbor’s door, but when there are 4 doors on one small landing, it’s all the same).
It’s not unusual to hear them going off late at night (it’s 11:15 PM as I write this, and someone just set some off!), but this morning was probably the worst – at 6:22 AM! Of course it woke us all up, and scared the boys. They went back to sleep, but there were two more rounds before 8 o’clock came. Someone in the neighborhood got married today, and apparently wanted everyone to know it.
I just edited the above. It’s now 11:21 and the firecrackers are still going strong.
Good night!
Kinda-sorta update: I just read that there was an explosion at a firecracker plant in this province today, killing 3 firefighters in a second explosion.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6879328.html
Update #2: We often hear one or two firecrackers going off, mostly set off by children. However, a couple times a week, they set off the big packs, with the results being this picture taken from our back window.
