Chinese New Year’s Eve 2014 - Breaking in the Year of the HorseThis is the view from the
Chinese New Year’s Eve 2014 - Breaking in the Year of the Horse This is the view from the hilltop lookout over Pu’er City, Yunnan (yes the panoramic view is marred by multiple high tension electricity pylons and cables which miraculously disappear in promotional images for the city) as midnight approaches to bring in the Lunar New Year on January 31st, 2014 - The Year of the Horse. This is not a huge city by Chinese standards (a population in the surrounding district approaching 2.5 million), so I would consider this display quite impressive. Furthermore, the view into the distance is obscured by a heavy pall of smoke already in situ from the preceding hours leading up to midnight. I can never get tired of the enormity of this. What you see is a healthy mix of tradition, male one-upmanship (“My box of fireworks is bigger than yours….oh….you have two boxes!”), a higher (probably non-disposable but increasingly disposable) income and a terrifying disregard for life, limb, property and the environment (but even I will disregard the latter in the heat of the moment). Love it or hate it, the sheer spectacle and abuse to one’s senses of a nation igniting fireworks, both on the stroke of midnight and for the proceeding two weeks until Lantern Festival (this year on February 14th), is a sight, smell, sound, taste and emotion second to none (in my humble opinion). This is not an orchestrated “Fourth of July” display or New Year’s Eve extravaganza, this is just every man and his dog letting off steam and sulphur fumes from their front doorstep, the roadside curb, the middle of the road, parks, carparks and rooftops either pooled with their neighbors or privately, as a deterrent to bad spirits in the upcoming twelve months. This is my seventh New Year’s period spent in China. I arrived on New Year’s Eve 2008, flying into Beijing with the city below a carpet of (mainly red I recall) sky bursts. Subsequently, I have “survived” celebrations several times now in Beijing, in Chongqing, Sichuan, and this is my third in Pu’er, Yunnan. Rich or poor (and these pyrotechnics are not cheap by Chinese standards), first-tier city or rural village, every man and his (only) son will light at least one fuse (and likely many more) during the Spring Festival period. With all considerations for pollution, waste and hazard to person and property aside, Chinese New Year is moving, exciting and illuminating. Imagine Fourth of July, New Year’s celebrations on Sydney Harbour, an Olympic opening ceremony and the sound and light show at any major techno party ever held combined and occurring simultaneously within sight and earshot, both on the ground and high above your head, and you are still not even close….. Happy New Year to you all…… Gong Xi Fa Cai! by itchydogimages on Flickr. Pu'er, Yunnan, China See more images from China on my Flickr site HERE….. -- source link
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