Chinese New Year is nothing like the U.S. The New Year is based off the lunar calendar which is why they celebrate it near the end of January. Their New Year festivities last an entire week where all offices are closed, most restaurants, and people literally light fireworks the entire week long. There are two major firework shows where the entire city is one large smoke bomb: New Years, where they light fireworks to scare off the evil spirits, and 4 days later when they welcome the god of fortune. The pictures below mark the beginning of the New Year celebration which started last Sunday. We partied at a friends till the early morning hours, and were awoken fresh at 9:00 AM to the blasts of fireworks which continued throughout the day. I woke up thinking the city had been attacked in war. The only major firework shows I have ever witnessed have been July 4 and July 24 in the U.S. where only certain officials were allowed to light so many fireworks, and the fire department was near on hand just in case... Not so in China! They sell all sorts of fireworks on the street to whoever wants, and you can light them anywhere, anytime throughout the week. TP had the most fun lighting firecrackers and throwing them in narrow dark alleys, in garbage cans with the lids closed so the top would blow off, off our balcony, and my favorite was when he helped two elderly women hang firecrackers from the trees.
I loved the fact that since Shanghai consists of mostly high rises, when the large fireworks exploded they were on eye level!
For some reason someone thought it would be funny to light a large firework off the balcony of the 18th floor WHILE HOLDING IT?? It was extremely exciting...especially since no one got hurt...except the guy lighting it. He lit it, turned away, and after the initial blast he turned to look back with mouth wide open in awe, thinking it was over, just when the second blast occurred and schrapnel flew into his open mouth, hit his uvula, and immediately it swelled and bled a little. This is what that first picture on the post belongs to.
I loved the fact that since Shanghai consists of mostly high rises, when the large fireworks exploded they were on eye level!
For some reason someone thought it would be funny to light a large firework off the balcony of the 18th floor WHILE HOLDING IT?? It was extremely exciting...especially since no one got hurt...except the guy lighting it. He lit it, turned away, and after the initial blast he turned to look back with mouth wide open in awe, thinking it was over, just when the second blast occurred and schrapnel flew into his open mouth, hit his uvula, and immediately it swelled and bled a little. This is what that first picture on the post belongs to.
4 comments:
let it be known that I was far away when this happened. I was not the smart guy doing this.
Taylor
It's all fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out. :-)
Nice disclaimer Tay.
Wow! That looks like it was exciting! I am sure that nothing in the U.S. can even compare! What great memories!
can i say jealous? maybe taylor can hook corbin up with a job and we could move over there too...oh and teach us chinese? how is that anyway, jen?
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