First came a burst of light. Then the boom. Someone was shooting off fireworks in the middle of Dong Fang Street. Not firecrackers or Roman candles. Real fireworks. The kind your hometown uses on national holidays.
Amazingly, this guy wasn't the only one with a makeshift fireworks display. The entire Shanghai skyline was lit up with them.
I'd seen Chinese New Year celebrations before. But in Seattle, it was limited to dragon dances and firecrackers tossed into doorways for good luck. This? This was mayhem. A delightful kind of mayhem.
As midnight approached, the fusillade got more intense. I stopped outside a posh-looking highrise. Two SUVs pulled out of the parking lot and stopped across the street, right next to a no-horn-honking sign. Ten members of an extended family clambered out. Two guys in their thirties opened the trunks and started unloading boxes of fireworks. Boxes and boxes and boxes of them. They began with several strings of 1000 firecrackers. Then came the low flying ones, and finally the heavy artillery - fireworks so enormous that you couldn't imagine them being deployed without heavy-duty security. I've never seen anything like it. I had to express my admiration.
I approached one of the two guys. "Beautiful," I said in English, offering my hand to him, "beautiful. Happy New Year." He grinned and turned back to the rest of the family, who had gathered close to see the unusual encounter. "Happy New Year," he replied, also in English. "We all wish you Happy New Year."
In 2006, the Chinese New Year begins on Jan. 29, in 2007 on Feb. 18.
Amazingly, this guy wasn't the only one with a makeshift fireworks display. The entire Shanghai skyline was lit up with them.
I'd seen Chinese New Year celebrations before. But in Seattle, it was limited to dragon dances and firecrackers tossed into doorways for good luck. This? This was mayhem. A delightful kind of mayhem.
As midnight approached, the fusillade got more intense. I stopped outside a posh-looking highrise. Two SUVs pulled out of the parking lot and stopped across the street, right next to a no-horn-honking sign. Ten members of an extended family clambered out. Two guys in their thirties opened the trunks and started unloading boxes of fireworks. Boxes and boxes and boxes of them. They began with several strings of 1000 firecrackers. Then came the low flying ones, and finally the heavy artillery - fireworks so enormous that you couldn't imagine them being deployed without heavy-duty security. I've never seen anything like it. I had to express my admiration.
I approached one of the two guys. "Beautiful," I said in English, offering my hand to him, "beautiful. Happy New Year." He grinned and turned back to the rest of the family, who had gathered close to see the unusual encounter. "Happy New Year," he replied, also in English. "We all wish you Happy New Year."
In 2006, the Chinese New Year begins on Jan. 29, in 2007 on Feb. 18.