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Lunar New Year starts with a loud bang in China
2007-02-18
Lunar New Year started with a bang as China's 1.3 billion population ushered in the Year of the Pig with food, drink and massive firework displays. Huge explosions rocked Beijing overnight as residents set off a record number of firecrackers to scare away angry ghosts and welcome good fortune for the New Year. Hospitals are expecting a baby boom in the year of the pig, considered one of the most auspicious in the Chinese zodiac. For Chinese people looking forward to a week off work, New Year's Eve on Saturday focused on family gatherings, temple visits and extravagant firework displays which continued into New Year's day. The previous week saw what has been described as the world's biggest human migration, as hundreds of millions of Chinese jostled in trains, planes, buses and boats to make it home for the festivities. Excluded from the celebrations, however, were workers building venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who were ordered to work through the holiday week, media reports said. For most other Chinese celebrations began Saturday with isolated fireworks cracking throughout the day, building into a massive climax of sound and light from neighbourhoods across the city that kept the 15 million population awake into the early hours. The Chinese, who invented gunpowder, traditionally set off fireworks to scare away evil spirits that bring bad luck. Two years ago, the Chinese capital lifted a 12-year ban on firecrackers that had been imposed for safety reasons. The vice director of Beijing's Public Security Bureau said more fireworks were set off than last year. "This year more fireworks were sold and they were set off for longer than last year," Yu Hongyuan told state media. All police leave was cancelled as the city government mounted a tight security operation involving more than 400,000 officials, according to reports, including fire departments, neighbourhood watch teams and internal security personnel. Even so, media reports said more than 100 fires were reported across the city and 125 people were injured, three seriously, including one person who lost both eyes. Last year, 16 people died in China during New Year celebrations. Although for most Chinese see the pig represents wealth and happiness, images of the chubby pink beast were banned from state television out of concern they would offend China's 20 million Muslims whose religion bans the consumption of pork. Soothsayers signalled that not all would be rosy in the year of the pig. In the Lunar calendar, the year of the pig is represented by the sign of fire over water, explained Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo. "It is anticipated that there will be more international conflicts and disharmony, which will even lead to regional warfare, uprising and unrest, or the overthrow of governments in certain countries," he said. China's leaders took the opportunity to travel to poor and remote areas of the country to promote government policies and to take credit for increased wealth. President Hu Jintao was in rural Gansu province, one of China's poorest, where he visited the same village he inspected eight years ago and said he was happy to see more prosperity. "New houses are erected and plenty of food is stored, which shows the lives of the Daping people have really improved," Xinhua quoted him telling Daping villagers outside the village hall. Gansu farmers earned 2,100 yuan (296 dollars) a year on average, Xinhua said, more than 30 percent below the national average for rural workers and a long way below urban incomes.
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