shanghai burns

11pm on the 4th of January* and already Shanghai is burning. The night is pockmarked with the rattle of banger fire and the booming, coloured flashes of high powered explosive.

According to tradition, letting off personal fireworks at (or near) the beginning of the 5th of January will bring you luck and prosperity - and listening to the Shanghai night, that's an awful lot of rich folk. 'Course, a man more pessimistic than myself might point out that the only folk getting rich are the firework sellers who command ridiculous prices for their high verlocity wares...

From my apartment I can see a guy down at the crossroads of Aomen lu and Xikang lu with a few boxes, just standing there, setting them off by himself. Just one bloke, and the result is something that puts the annual Hallowe'en firework display at Omagh showgrounds completely to shame. It's a scene that is repeated as far as I can see; a scene repeated all over Shanghai, all over China! These people go mad for their fireworks!

A bunch were let off just below my apartment, and it's quite a feeling seeing a massive firework branch out just yards away, with only a pane of glass in between. I never thought I'd be standing above looking down on huge exploding fireworks! Having said that, the night is alive with coloured flashes and I'm sitting here tippytapping into a computer... a 10 year old Pete would be really pissed off with me.

I'm away to let off my share.

(* Chinese calander. In real terms it's actually late February)