January 26th marked the beginning of Chinese New Year (it's the Ox's year so little bulls are decorating everything). Actually, the celebrations are still underway (it lasts 15 days altogether, ending with the Lantern Festival when traditionally everyone makes animal-shaped lanterns and wanders the streets) but the main celebratory part is over. Shops close down for a week or so, the streets are deserted, and the city is largely abandoned as everyone has returned to their hometown (in a city like Shanghai, this describes most people).
The most popular way to celebrate is to light multiple, highly explosive fireworks: no wussy sparklers here, but huge rockets going up 50+ feet! Since no safety precautions are preserved (come on, it's China!), I wonder how many people lose limbs each year. At peak times, there was at least an explosion a second in my neighborhood, so the amount of gunpowder consumed must be huge. The ground is covered in red paper now (the firecrackers all are wrapped in red paper since that color is lucky). It sounded like I was living in a war zone, although things have calmed down a little now.
Two days after the New Year is the official birthday of all dogs (the official birthday of all people is the first day). Dogs celebrate by being given copious amounts of food by their humans: I hope Tina had a good time celebrating in the Ghost world (I burned a 5000 yuan (~ $700) ghost money note for her to spend: according to the Chinese, the afterworld uses currency for all purchases just like we do).
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