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Hi everyone,
So what I meant to tell you earlier is that I was really close to the firecrackers, they were so loud and so smoky I had to cover myself up all over. The fun, however, is to be close, to experience the excitement! The word YEAR in Chinese is NIAN, a monster. Celebrating the New Year, to us, is GUO NIEN, which means “passing or crossing,” that is, “defeating the monster.” So the long-lasting and loud firecrackers, all that flashing fire, fits the purpose of scaring and driving the monster away. Normally Chinese people start burning the firecrackers right at midnight on New Year’s Eve, so the sound will carry over to the New Year.

As kids we would wait until the firecrackers stopped, then we would run into the smoke to pick up the un-lit ones. The luckiest kid always got the most. We just ran around all night picking up firecrackers! The loud sounds continued throughout the night. In the morning, people do a second round of firecrackers, to keep beating the monster. After this, the entire village is covered by red papers from the firecrackers, a very lucky scene. I like thinking back on my childhood, to those amazing moments at my grandma’s house in the countryside, Hainan Island.

In the big cities in China, burning firecrackers is not allowed. They can cause fires. So thanks to the technology and the wisdom of mankind, someone created the Firecracker CD, on sale for a few Chinese RMB (Chinese money). So people can buy the CD and play it at home to capture the spirit and sound of the firecrackesr. Trust me, it still be very loud, especially when you have a good stereo surround-sound system

At this point, I hope you will enjoy your encounter with all the loud sounds. You never know, maybe they will drive away the bad luck and bad spirits for you!

It has been 13 years since the last time I spent Chinese New Year with my family. However, the old memory still lasts and new ones keep coming. Yesterday, when I was down in China Town it was quite a touching moment for me: The MC of the ceremony inviting everyone to sing the national anthem with her, (and yes, it was American National Anthem), looking around at the crowd, a mix of people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. Yet, we all came to this very place at this very moment, to celebrate the Chinese New year of the Mice. We didn’t leave our own culture behind, we are continuously creating new cultures.