Going totally crackers

By Raymond Zhou ( China Daily ) Updated: 2009-02-13 15:28:19

I heard one of these kinds of firework cones cost hundreds or even thousands of yuan, which means some people spend the average annual income of a regular worker on lighting up the sky in front of their home or business. Sure, they delighted onlookers, too. But wouldn't it be delightful in a more meaningful way if this money, or part of it, was disbursed to those in need? Just envision the smile on a kid in a poverty-stricken school when he or she receives free textbooks and stationery from some stranger who lives in some big city. Isn't that more beautiful than the stars, peonies, dahlia, or any other effervescent but evanescent sounds and shapes made possible in a flourish of fireworks?

But I digress.

I'm unsure whether excessive displays of fireworks are acts of self-aggrandizement, rather than just burning money. In the early 1990s, there was an incident in a suddenly rich southern province of two businessmen setting fire to large bills in a display of brinkmanship. If the rural workers who make the fireworks are happy, I guess I should not complain about rich people drawing attention to themselves by setting off fireballs. In Chinese, someone "on fire" can mean he is "hot", which, in turn, means he is more desirable than his rivals.

The most unique fireworks show I've ever seen was in Houston, or rather, above Houston. It was the Fourth of July. Fireworks were sporadic but all around the city. The plane I was on flew across the city before it landed at the city's airport and afforded me a fantastic aerial view of the city.

I figured not everything I saw was legal. There was a barrage of reports of cops finding vendors illegally selling fireworks for the holiday. Cities in the United States usually have one government-organized display, and citizens supplement it with their own legal or illegal mini-shows. The Lunar New Year celebration was restricted to one specific location and time so that firefighters could be on standby.

Now I'm beginning to see the benefit of this approach.

Speaking of a bird's-eye view, you wouldn't have noticed there was a Chinese city on the ground when you flew at night in the 1980s. I remember clearly when I arrived in Shanghai from Vancouver in 1986. It was like everyone was in a bomb shelter. But if I had been flying above Shanghai or Beijing on Monday evening what a sight that would have been!