The cops totally didn’t trust us after that though, and supervised our fireworking until we were done and went inside. Really, it was nice of them to make sure that we were setting explosives on fire the right way. We had a lot of fun setting off fireworks; I wish we could do it in America. It is a super good time, lighting stuff on fire. But I guess we were a pretty good case study on why you don’t let the general public blow stuff up. But it could have been a lot worse. We didn’t blow up the van, and nobody went to jail.
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Fireworks are so loud and sparkly when you are up close. You light the fuse, and then there is this loud BOOM and fire and a big splash of color in the sky, and you are like: Wow. I did that. And the People’s Republic of China trusts me with the responsibility of not doing anything wrong with this stuff. That is so great. I want to light some more sparkly stuff on fire. So then you do, and no one stops you. Not even the police officers who are watching you nervously from across the parking lot.
When we had blow up all the stuff that Y and Kenneth had bought, we wandered around to see what else was going on. Turns out, not a lot. Mostly people doing what we had been doing, setting off their personal stock of fireworks. But it wasn’t a fun thing to watch, because we would be walking, and hear something going on, like a bunch of fireworks getting set off, but by the time we had walked over there, all the action would be done. After trying to see stuff for about an hour, we decided that we were cold, and went home. We did see people setting off fireworks out of their windows, which I thought was very exciting.
Back home, at midnight, we watched fireworks. Apparently that was the time to see stuff, but I was just too tired. What I was able to stay awake for was incredible though. Unbelievable. Pow pow pow, like if you found 20 popcorn poppers and put a bunch of microphones up them and then set them all going at once. Then you might gather a bunch of coffee makers and get them percolating and set up another pile of microphones in front of them. If you did that, and kept it up for a solid 30 minutes, you would hear what New Years in Beijing sounded like. Lots before and lots after too, but right at midnight it was crazy.
It kept going all week too. There were still fireworks going off a week later. Every now and then, not the same intensity, but still fairly consistently. We got to the point where we didn’t even look up; where I didn’t turn my head to see fireworks going off in the periphery of my vision. I think there was some festival a week after New Years or something, because there was another big night of fireworks about a week later, but the constant barrage was just crazy. I never thought I would get sick of fireworks, but for about a week Beijing sounded like a war zone. One part of the neighborhood would set off a round, then another part would answer. Then the first part would return the volley. Then a third part would explain that it wanted in on the action too. With all the smoking that people do here, I am surprised that Beijing hasn’t been turned into a smoking hole in the ground several times over.
Oh well. Chinese people do know how to have fun.
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Fireworks are so loud and sparkly when you are up close. You light the fuse, and then there is this loud BOOM and fire and a big splash of color in the sky, and you are like: Wow. I did that. And the People’s Republic of China trusts me with the responsibility of not doing anything wrong with this stuff. That is so great. I want to light some more sparkly stuff on fire. So then you do, and no one stops you. Not even the police officers who are watching you nervously from across the parking lot.
When we had blow up all the stuff that Y and Kenneth had bought, we wandered around to see what else was going on. Turns out, not a lot. Mostly people doing what we had been doing, setting off their personal stock of fireworks. But it wasn’t a fun thing to watch, because we would be walking, and hear something going on, like a bunch of fireworks getting set off, but by the time we had walked over there, all the action would be done. After trying to see stuff for about an hour, we decided that we were cold, and went home. We did see people setting off fireworks out of their windows, which I thought was very exciting.
Back home, at midnight, we watched fireworks. Apparently that was the time to see stuff, but I was just too tired. What I was able to stay awake for was incredible though. Unbelievable. Pow pow pow, like if you found 20 popcorn poppers and put a bunch of microphones up them and then set them all going at once. Then you might gather a bunch of coffee makers and get them percolating and set up another pile of microphones in front of them. If you did that, and kept it up for a solid 30 minutes, you would hear what New Years in Beijing sounded like. Lots before and lots after too, but right at midnight it was crazy.
It kept going all week too. There were still fireworks going off a week later. Every now and then, not the same intensity, but still fairly consistently. We got to the point where we didn’t even look up; where I didn’t turn my head to see fireworks going off in the periphery of my vision. I think there was some festival a week after New Years or something, because there was another big night of fireworks about a week later, but the constant barrage was just crazy. I never thought I would get sick of fireworks, but for about a week Beijing sounded like a war zone. One part of the neighborhood would set off a round, then another part would answer. Then the first part would return the volley. Then a third part would explain that it wanted in on the action too. With all the smoking that people do here, I am surprised that Beijing hasn’t been turned into a smoking hole in the ground several times over.
Oh well. Chinese people do know how to have fun.
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