Beijing
formally removed the 12-year ban on setting off firecrackers on
Friday, although there are still some restrictions on the time and
the place of this traditional Chinese activity.
Within the Fifth Ring Road, lighting firecrackers will be
permitted anytime on lunar New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year's Day,
as well as from 7:00 AM to midnight during the following 14
days.
Outside this area, which is considered the boundary separating
the rural and urban areas, district and county governments have
been authorized to decide which areas have restrictions.
People will be allowed to set off firecrackers anytime and
anywhere in other areas.
Lunar New Year's Day next year falls on Sunday, January 29.
The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's
Congress, the city's legislative body, adopted the rule to remove
the ban on Friday by a 49-9 vote.
The original draft of the rule was revised twice before the
final version was reached.
Initially, the draft said setting off fireworks would be
permitted in the 16 days of Spring
Festival anywhere in Beijing.
However, that provision was challenged during a public hearing
last month. Most of the speakers appealed to have the time period
reduced for the sake of peace and quiet.
In a draft revision that was discussed on Wednesday, the
deadline for lighting firecrackers within the Fifth Ring Road was
fixed at 11:00 PM.
"But upon suggestions from Standing Committee members, we
postponed the time limit to midnight because of concerns about
tradition, and difficulty in law enforcement," Wang Jiayan, vice
chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Beijing
Municipal People's Congress, said on Friday.
Chinese tradition calls for the lighting of firecrackers on
midnight Lunar New Year's Eve as well as the first, fifth and 15th
days of the first lunar month. Sounds of firecrackers are believed
to scare away a monster called nian and are therefore a
symbol of good luck.
Beijing banned firecrackers in 1993 for pollution and safety
reasons.
However, as firecrackers are significant in the celebration of
the Lunar New Year, the most important festival for Chinese people,
the ban was challenged in recent years.
"Without firecrackers, Spring Festival is not a traditional
one," said Li Xiaoxia, a Beijing resident. "Many complained that a
Lunar New Year in which fireworks are banned is too quiet and
lacking in tradition.
"I was really worried that our children and grandchildren could
only know through history the tradition of lighting firecrackers
during Spring Festival if we continue the ban. In fact, I envied
those Chinese at Chinatowns in the United States when I saw them
setting off fireworks on television."
Although the ban was removed with restrictions, eight types of
places remain where the lighting of firecrackers is forbidden, such
as cultural relics, airports, filling stations, kindergartens and
forests.
(China Daily September 10, 2005)