Xin Nian Kui Le

New Year (Xin Nian) Shin Neean

Spring Festival (Chun Jie) Chewin Gee-a

We got a week off for the Chinese Lunar New Year (as opposed to the Gregorian New Year which is also celebrated here), or Spring Festival, which was nice, despite the cold. The shops and stores closed early in the week. So we had to make sure to have our groceries picked up from the super market by Tuesday. Linda and I went together to make sure that we got everything that we would need. Linda went when she was hungry and ended up buying half the chocolate in the store, along with every other heavy thing that she could find. So our walk back to the flat was a bit strenuous, but I feel it was my workout for the day.

The celebration has, it seems, been going on since I before I got here. Small explosions can be heard throughout the day followed immediately, of course by car alarms. The week of the Lunar New Year the explosions began to pick up. The street corners were filled with packages of fire crackers stacked as tall as I stand. Little boys and grown men had smiles on their faces as they would bend over with a lighter igniting the fuse. The sizzle and sparks were the only warning to passers-by of any danger ahead. Linda and I were grateful if it was just a small pop of the equivalent to our Black Cats.

As we left for our coworkers flat we walked the two blocks to the bus stop (I will go into how great public transportation is in a future entry) pausing or speeding up to avoid the explosions along the sidewalks. We came to the bus stop just as a man was igniting the fuse of a mortar round. We paused in wonderment as he was dong it in the middle of a packed parking lot of a restaurant. The man was obviously an employee of the upper class restaurant which had Mercedes and BMW’s and other automobiles sitting in the parking lot waiting for their owners to finish their meal so that they could themselves get in the safe underground parking lots that protect them most nights. The first mortar round launched high into the air exploding in a brilliant green that reflected off the curved glass of the restaurant to the delight of the diners inside. The second launched, but only went up maybe three meters and exploded with a thunder so massive that our ears were left ringing and unable to hear what were most likely tremendous echoes off the near by buildings. The red “stars”( http://people.howstuffworks.com/fireworks.htm) came shooting out of the shell in what seemed to me like slow motion. They careened into the fancy cars with white sparks trailing in their wake. One star split the distance between Linda and I as we stood near each other in awe at the danger all around us. We quickly made our way to the street and behind the protection of the bus stop glass.

The busses had stopped running by this time, but the taxis were out in full swing. In fact, aside from a few private vehicles taxis were the only thing on the roads. Our driver made a left turn onto a road in a canyon of tall apartments just as two men were lighting the fuse of a small mortar round in the middle of the street on to which we turned. They simply proceeded toward the right (east side) curb as the men scurried to the west. The fuse hit the charge just as my widow came parallel with the small cardboard cylinder. The flash was blinding and the bang deafening in the small car. The projectile shot up out of sight while sparks burst out in an inverted cone from the barrel. Light from the star burst above us reflected off the glass on the canyon towering over our back seat perches.

It was like something out of I am Legend, driving down the empty roads of Xian. People were at this time inside enjoying time with their families (Lunar New Year is like our Christmas.)

The apartment that we went to is on the 28^th floor with a wonderful unobstructed god’s- eye view of the ancient city. The wall that protects all four sides of the old capital was decorated with white rope lights outlining the parapet that once protected archers from attack. The battlements stand ready to be used to defend the city once again, but for now host a display of red lanterns and other decorations along the wall walks. (Sorry, I have been reading The Once and Future King again).

The fireworks had been going on since the day I got there, but they picked up the first day of the 15 day holiday period. More impressively they picked up even more starting at about 11:00pm. Explosions were echoing across the city at about 1 audible bang every 3 seconds. At 11:45 something that I have never experienced and will never forget happened. The entire city began to light up with a rainbow of colors from every street corner. I do not think I am exaggerating at all when I say that there were fireworks launching from every street corner in the city.

I am normally not very impressed with a fireworks display. The best I had seen up to this point were in Madison on June 28 of 2003. The second best, of course were the Independence Day fireworks put on by North Riverside in 2001. The lights and sounds were of Xi’an on breathtaking. The buildings inside the city wall are all under 6 floors. So the view was only limited by the pollution which was thankfully low that night. If China were at war I would have thought that we were being bombed. The bursts of light reminded me of those I saw on television in war zones. It occurred to me several times throughout the hour long non-stop aerial display that what I perceived as large explosions are actually tiny. These explosions were from small shells when the air force uses at a minimum a 250 pound bomb. I can only imagine what goes through the head of someone in those situations. Sorry for the digression.

The fireworks were launching between the high rises. The shots generally made it over many of the shorter buildings. Since we were on the 28^th floor, we were actually at a wonderful altitude. The firework rounds actually exploded outside of our windows. On several occasions we had to move out of the way of stars that actually shot into the apartment. I wish I had brought my bullet resistant sunglasses to the party. I will have to remember that for next time.

The next morning Linda and I were jarred awake by the wonderful reverberation of (literally) thousands of firecrackers echoing in our courtyard. The detonations continued through out the day. They have become less frequent, but are not expected to ever stop.

Xin Nian Kui Le (Happy New Year)