Beijing goes bang after sales ban on fireworks lifted
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-23 15:16

The sound of fireworks returned to Beijing with a loud bang over the weekend after a 12-year sales ban was lifted ahead of the Lunar New Year.

A man shops for fireworks as vendors stand behind their display in Beijing. The sound of fireworks returned to Beijing with a loud bang over the weekend after a 12-year sales ban was lifted ahead of the coming 29 January Lunar New Year. [AFP]

The sale of firecrackers, Roman candles, sparklers, cherry bombs and other fireworks had been outlawed due to the injuries and occasional deaths they caused, as well as the noise and air pollution they generated.

But, due to popular demand for what is an important tradition during the Lunar New Year, the Chinese capital's authorities lifted the ban for this year's event and sales began on Sunday.

"Spring Festival without fireworks is not Spring Festival," the China Daily quoted one customer, Sheng Hefei, as saying at a fireworks booth.

"It was fun and thrilling to light the firecrackers when I was little. The sound and (sight) of fireworks make it a real holiday."

According to the China Daily, 600,000 boxes of fireworks, worth some 12.5 million dollars has been distributed to 117 newly registered shops ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 29.

The sales bans were implemented in more than 200 Chinese cities in the mid-1990s, but by last year more than 100 had lifted them in an effort "to bring more atmosphere to the holiday," previous press reports said.

Although the ban officially remained in place in Beijing during last year's Lunar festival, fireworks injured 300 people and killed one person as police did little to enforce the regulations.

According to the new rules, fireworks will be allowed to be exploded within the city center all day on Lunar New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

From January 30 to February 12, citizens can blow off steam from 7:00 am until midnight.

But if the sounds of explosions throughout the city on Sunday were any indication, many people were not prepared to wait.