The Year of the Rat

I was lucky enough to spend Chinese New Year in Beijing this year and because I couldn't be bothered to take my camera out of my pack a single time I have only this google-lifted picture to share with you of the experience (that is, until my friends upload their hundreds of pictures onto facebook) so I'm left with only the imprecise descriptive tool that is the written word to try and recreate what it was like.

Imagine, if you will, a city of millions. Imagine that each one of those millions has in his or her hand a dozen or so fireworks of different color, size, volume, and explosive shape. Imagine that on midnight of the New Year those millions of people rush into the city street nearest their home and begin doing what comes natural with fireworks. Imagine they've all been drinking, and as such aren't as concerned about safety as a professional fireworks-teer would be. If you can conceive of that then you have some idea of what I experienced in the wee hours of the first day of the Year of the Rat.

Now, bear in mind, I'm not talking about sparklers or some other sort of kiddie shi'ite. This was the real deal, and although it was easier to find a needle in a haystack than it was for a pasty foreigner to purchase fireworks in advance of the festivities, somehow all the native hosts of Beijing had in their possession at the midnight hour scores of colorful explosives. It's almost as if they'd been saving them all for themselves, or storing them up all year. Hell, they probably were.

Not that once things started rolling they weren't willing to share. I saw plenty of whities set off plenty of finger-tippers. I just didn't join in.

Now if this sounds at all like a complaint, or if it sounds like I didn't enjoy it completely, I don't intend it to. It was fantastic. It was beyond words. It was one of the most incredible spectacles I have ever witnessed. I loved every second of it.

There were other good parts in my trip. Donkey meat is surprisingly tasty. The Chinese people I had the good fortune of meeting, talking with, and sharing adult beverages with were all incredibly kind, funny, and most importantly: interesting. Peking duck is just as good the second time around. But nothing can compare to that citywide fireworks show. Chinese New Year is really something someone should experience in China once in their life if they can.