Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Featured Contributors

Spring Festival an opportunity to experience traditions

By Bruce Connolly | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-02-21 12:30
Share
Share - WeChat
Colourful festive wind wheels Beijing 2018 [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

As I write this piece during the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing is amazingly quiet. Unusually so — as this year, the Year of the Dog, started without the usual cacophony of firecrackers lighting up the sky accompanied by deafening explosions. Within the capital’s major urban zones, setting off fireworks is now prohibited both for environmental and safety concerns. This scenario takes me back to the Beijing of my earlier days when similar enforcements were in place. Historically firecrackers were a feature of older Beijing festive traditions, a time when people lived mostly within hutong communities. They were believed to have been invented in China over 2,000 years ago and were seen as intrinsic to the start of the Lunar New Year. Many earlier conventions have been difficult to transfer into today’s urban scene, where the majority of the population now lives in apartment buildings. That initial ban in Beijing was lifted in 2006, but 12 years later the city is again quiet. The sky outside the cafe where I write this is clear, with excellent visibility.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Next   >>|
Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US