Beijing has issued permit to 2,116 stores to sell firecrackers. That means, starting tomorrow, residents may buy quality firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year ( Spring Festival) that falls on January 29.

 

Among them, 585 permits were issued to stores within Beijing's Fifth Ring Road, sources said.

 

To ensure public safety, people are required to buy fireworks at authorized stores and use them responsibly, according to a circular from the municipal administration office of fireworks and firecrackers.

 

In September last year, Beijing lifted a 12-year ban on firecrackers during the Spring Festival in response to people's love for a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.

 

The municipal government has organized the sale of 600,000 boxes of firecrackers worth of more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) for its citizens, said Tang Yunli, an officer with the Beijing Public Security Bureau, Xinhua News Agency reported.

 

Authorities will keep a close eye on the sale of firecrackers to ensure the city does not run out of firecrackers during the holiday season, Tang said.

 

Beijing's first special quality supervision and examination station was established last November. The station includes 1,650 square meters of fields to test firecrackers' noise and other indexes.

 

Beijingers are allowed to set off firecrackers within the Fifth Ring Road all day next Saturday and on January 29, and from 7 AM to midnight every day from January 30 to February 12.

 

Stores found to sell illegal or inferior firecrackers will be banned from selling firecrackers for three years.

 

More than 78 million confiscated illegal firecrackers were destroyed in Beijing's Daxing District on December 22 last year.

 

(China Daily January 21, 2006)