Where are those fireworks coming from? Life During the Chinese Holidays

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, from Parkson Mall, Kunshan!

Merry Christmas, from Parkson Mall.

How can someone live in China and miss the single-most important celebration of the entire year?

Yep, that's right.  I missed  the Chinese New Year.  What a disappointment!  In my own comparison, it would be like a foreigner living in the US and not celebrating Thanksgiving with a big turkey dinner.  Who does that?

Even though the holiday continues for almost a month, there is only one week where most of the important festivities occur.  This was the time Chitrak and I were in the US.  Supposedly, you can watch colorful dragon dances in the street,  walk down sidewalks that are littered  with the color red, and view grand firework displays that light up the evening sky.  But to be totally honest, I really just wanted to see a dragon dance.

Because many of the workers in the city are migrant, they take almost a month off to travel back to their families in their hometown.  Schools are off for over a month, businesses shut down for a week or longer, and the city becomes vacant.  This huge shift of people moving from the city to the countryside makes Kunshan, a city of 2.5 million people, look like a ghost town.  My friends who stayed behind told stories of desolate streets and boarded shops.  As if you were preparing for Y2K, you stocked up on all the bare necessities you needed, like milk and bread.  Sarah told me afterwards, I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't stocked up; there were only few stores open.  My friends have vowed never to spend another Chinese New Year in China.

Little did I realize, the Chinese New Year is followed by the Lantern Festival.  Yay!  Another chance to see a dragon dance and some amazing fireworks!

The town becomes a alive again, as a fresh beginning breathes life into the city with firecrackers and laughter.  Mostly everyone has returned to indulge in the traditional eating of rice dumplings, family dinners, and you'll never guess.... fireworks.  These were the small moments I was waiting for...  the loud blasts of light touching the sky, filling it with the smell of gunpowder in beautiful formations.  I know the Chinese are experts in fireworks, and so I waited.

Chitrak worked late that Monday night, so I locked myself up in our warm apartment watching a documentary on National Geographic.  I could hear explosions in the background, and they continued to get louder.  I grabbed my camera and ran to the window.

A man was confidently setting off fireworks on the pavement within feet of my building.  A large blast sent me falling back, trying to get hold of my feet.  The firecracker had exploded right outside the dining room window.  I began filming.  With giggles of delight, I tried to hold the camera steady, but without much luck.  The second blast again took me back, and the camera bobbed up and down.  As I looked below, I panned the camera on the man shooting off the fireworks.  He placed the firecracker on the ground and lit it with a match.  Then, he casually walked away, without threat or fear of hurt.  Is he alone?  I thought, Where is his family?  


Although I cannot confirm that he was all alone, I can say that I did not see anyone with him.  Once finished, he quietly picked up his things and headed towards wherever his destination was.  Before this happened, I saw flashes of light burst out of a nearby window and down onto the ground.  Believe it or not, one of the crazy neighbors in  the building across from us was shooting fireworks out of his window.

The loud blasts and explosions went into the night, with little rest for the weary.  I awoke at 5 o'clock the next morning to another KABOOM just down the street.

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