Quieter Beijing after crackdown on fireworks
Source: Xinhua |
February 8, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEIJING authorities have been cracking down on clandestine sales of poorly made and extra loud fireworks in towns bordering Hebei Province to minimize fire risks and injuries in the capital.
With memories of the 2009 fire near the new offices of CCTV, the state television network, still fresh and two deaths last week caused by faulty fireworks, the municipal public security bureau set up checkpoints in towns on the Beijing-Hebei border.
Liu Zhendong, a Beijing-born sales clerk, said he did not make his routine fireworks shopping trip to Gu'an, a small town in Hebei that is separated from Beijing's southwestern Daxing District by just one road.
"My colleagues who went there two weeks ago were stopped by police, their trunks were searched and they were told to light up all the fireworks right there," said Liu.
Many Beijingers choose to buy fireworks in Gu'an or Yanjiao, a satellite town neighboring Tongzhou District in eastern Beijing, where loud, powerful and long-lasting fireworks, which are not to be found at Beijing's fireworks stalls, were widely available at low prices.
In Gu'an, vendors could be seen waving fireworks packages at the roadside whenever a car with Beijing plates came in sight. Strings of 2,000 firecrackers sold for 20 yuan, less than half the retail price at Beijing's 560 franchised stalls.
Though some early birds had smuggled in fireworks before the checkpoints were set up and before the franchised stalls started business on January 29, many like Liu felt it was not worth the risk.
Beijing accountant Wang Chunyan said she felt this year's festive bangs were not as loud as previous years. "Also, I haven't heard a fire engine, even once."
Chinese traditionally set off fireworks to see in the Lunar New Year in a centuries-old custom to scare away evil spirits.
The debate over whether the explosives should be allowed in a modern society has continued for at least two decades. City authorities had banned fireworks for 13 years from the mid-1990s but were forced to lift the ban by enthusiasts who held that the ban "uproots traditional culture."
Though the toll booths from Gu'an and Yanjiao to Beijing are guarded by police from Hebei and Beijing, some vendors give their customers directions to escape detection.
"Jingkai Expressway is not the only route into Beijing. Just make a detour - drive west to Daguang Expressway and then drive northeast back to Beijing," a fireworks vendor in Gu'an told customers. "I promise there's no checkpoint on that route."
The two men who died in explosions last week had both set off fireworks bought outside the capital, according to Beijing authorities. Shoddy fireworks were also to blame for 233 injuries last Wednesday, Lunar New Year's Eve.
At Beijing's Tongren Hospital, the city's leading center for eye injuries, 78 of the 85 patients injured by fireworks received eye operations.
A quarter of them were children, said Dr Lu Hai.
With memories of the 2009 fire near the new offices of CCTV, the state television network, still fresh and two deaths last week caused by faulty fireworks, the municipal public security bureau set up checkpoints in towns on the Beijing-Hebei border.
Liu Zhendong, a Beijing-born sales clerk, said he did not make his routine fireworks shopping trip to Gu'an, a small town in Hebei that is separated from Beijing's southwestern Daxing District by just one road.
"My colleagues who went there two weeks ago were stopped by police, their trunks were searched and they were told to light up all the fireworks right there," said Liu.
Many Beijingers choose to buy fireworks in Gu'an or Yanjiao, a satellite town neighboring Tongzhou District in eastern Beijing, where loud, powerful and long-lasting fireworks, which are not to be found at Beijing's fireworks stalls, were widely available at low prices.
In Gu'an, vendors could be seen waving fireworks packages at the roadside whenever a car with Beijing plates came in sight. Strings of 2,000 firecrackers sold for 20 yuan, less than half the retail price at Beijing's 560 franchised stalls.
Though some early birds had smuggled in fireworks before the checkpoints were set up and before the franchised stalls started business on January 29, many like Liu felt it was not worth the risk.
Beijing accountant Wang Chunyan said she felt this year's festive bangs were not as loud as previous years. "Also, I haven't heard a fire engine, even once."
Chinese traditionally set off fireworks to see in the Lunar New Year in a centuries-old custom to scare away evil spirits.
The debate over whether the explosives should be allowed in a modern society has continued for at least two decades. City authorities had banned fireworks for 13 years from the mid-1990s but were forced to lift the ban by enthusiasts who held that the ban "uproots traditional culture."
Though the toll booths from Gu'an and Yanjiao to Beijing are guarded by police from Hebei and Beijing, some vendors give their customers directions to escape detection.
"Jingkai Expressway is not the only route into Beijing. Just make a detour - drive west to Daguang Expressway and then drive northeast back to Beijing," a fireworks vendor in Gu'an told customers. "I promise there's no checkpoint on that route."
The two men who died in explosions last week had both set off fireworks bought outside the capital, according to Beijing authorities. Shoddy fireworks were also to blame for 233 injuries last Wednesday, Lunar New Year's Eve.
At Beijing's Tongren Hospital, the city's leading center for eye injuries, 78 of the 85 patients injured by fireworks received eye operations.
A quarter of them were children, said Dr Lu Hai.
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