So I had no idea before I lived in China that Chinese New Year is actually 15 days long, filled with all sorts of celebrations corresponding to each different day of Spring Festival, filled with red lanterns, red envelopes, red clothing, red everything, delicious homemade dumplings, dragon dances, great big family meals, and.... fireworks, of course.
But this also means fireworks all the time, everywhere (literally). Most fireworks are your typical, traditional firework you would see on the Fourth of July (except 10x bigger, a million more, 360 degrees around you, 10 feet away from you (or less....), and all night long (or day long...)).
In some instances though, like when we were traveling through Harbin, this meant walking to breakfast (yes... in the AM..) while firecrackers were being set off in front of almost every building (similar to below). These fireworks were definitely the loudest thing I have ever heard, reverberating off the buildings and continuing throughout the morning while completely encompassing us (and the whole city) in thick, dense clouds of smoke. This delicate noise is meant for good luck, good fortune, to scare away evil spirits... and to make me deaf.
Not my photo, but this was outside almost every building that morning. I definitely did not feel like stopping to take a picture while my whole body was being shaken with the noise.
The result. If only this blog could make very, very, very loud noises, too.
The aftermath: piles and piles and piles of red paper covering the streets.
(Again, not my photos. As much as I love pollution, I was not about to stop to snap the above pictures.)
This 15 day celebration also meant fireworks regularly surrounding my apartment. Apparently, Baxian (my neighborhood) is quite the firework-loving-neighborhood. I could only bare the bitter cold for a few seconds, but it was absolutely incredible watching the fireworks from our "rooftop terrace" (way too cold for a picture). One evening, my dad and I watched the fireworks together on the roof with the help of Skype.
My bedroom window.
The living room windows. Hard to see with the reflection, but basically, tons of fireworks.
(Please note that these fireworks are by no means limited to Chinese New Year.... they are also for weddings, funerals, opening a business, buying a new purse, tying your shoes, and waking me up at 6am on Saturday mornings by setting them off right outside my window. Anytime of year.)
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