Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

Happy New Year!

We have been told and warned.  We read about it on-line.  They even said it on the evening news, various times.  Still, we were taken by surprise.  At 20:00 last night, it started.  We were standing on the porch, and the entire skyline just kit up.  The noise was almost unbearable, yet the site was spectacular.  If you haven't guessed it yet, I am referring to the demonstration of fire power shown by our Chinese neighbors on the eve of the new year - The Year of the Pig.  Fireworks.  Fire crackers.  Call them whatever you like - it was quite a show.
And then it subsided, and we thought that it was over, that everyone went happy and hopeful to sleep.  Only to realize, that the 20:00 show was only done to warm up the engines...  At exactly midnight, hell broke loose.  Back to the porch.  This time it looked more like the city was on fire.  The noise was indescribable, but I can imagine that people living in war zones can take a shot at describing this noise.  It was beautiful, powerful, amazing.

This is my first time in Beijing for the Spring Festival.  I can't compare it to previous years.  I can only compare it to Independence Day celebrations I have seen over the years in Israel, in the US and in France.  Compared to last night - all the above seemed like children playing with match boxes.  And that is the understatement of the Year of the Pig...

The year of the pig should be honored and blessed having had such a wonderful welcome.

I looked it up and found that within the twelve animals representing the Chinese cycle of years, there are different characteristics depending where they fall on a 60 year cycle.  For example this year is the "Fire Pig" (see also: Metal Pig, Water Pig, Wood Pig, and the Earth Pig).  I am going to guess that the demonstration of fireworks was particularly strong due to the fact that this year is the year of the Fire Pig.  You may want to look it up here: http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Pig.htm.  It may seem unlikely to find this information in the US Bridal Guide site, but I thought it was a good source of data.

So, welcome the Year of the Fire Pig.  I hope that you will be healthy, happy, generous and prosperous, productive and successful.

Happy New Year everyone - Xin Nian Kuai Le!,  新年快乐!

Posted at 07:42AM Feb 18, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[1]