Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy Chinese New Year! We were not really sure what to expect as we spent the first two days of the Spring Festival in Shanghai. For one of the biggest cities in the world the Shanghai streets were nearly empty on New Year's eve (Feb 2). Many country side people return home to spend time with family and the many expats take the week long holiday as a chance to escape the city. There is not much to do as everything is shut down for the most part. We decided to head to Jeff's parents to get a view of the city and see the chaos that we heard would erupt at midnight.

We didn't have to wait until midnight, as many people started the festivities just after dark. Firecrackers and fireworks rang out throughout the night. However, this wasn't a state-sponsored celebration. If there was, then it would have been a waste of money. The people of Shanghai put on a show that I am sure is matched if few places across the globe. Around 9 pm, we took a stroll through the streets of Pudong to get a ground level view of the experience. And what an experience it was. Almost as soon as we walked out of the front door we were treated with a fury of firecracker bangs and fountain style fireworks. From the looks of the debris covering the streets, it was near the end of this particular groups display. A quick turn around the corner and we were treated to another first. Two guys pulled over on a main street and got a box that was all red and the size of a dishwasher out of their trunk. They then lit the fuse and stepped back to watch 100 3 inch shells be blasted int the sky. These weren't your backyard fireworks. These were spree quality fireworks reaching 40 - 50 stories in the air and exploding into cloud size bursts of red and green fire. Another three of four microwave-sized boxes of fireworks later, we continued down the street to an impromptu firework stand that was selling fireworks to passersby. I stopped to inquire about the price of the washing machine sized box. I was blown away when they quoted me 1,300 RMB (about $200). We were only at the stand a couple of minutes before 1 of the 2 large fireworks were purchased and dragged away in a cab. Considering the price, we figured that the largest fireworks were probably priced out the average Chinese persons budget. Boy how we were wrong....

Around 11:30PM the people of Shanghai had all took to the street to begin the "real" celebration. Imagine a firework display on the 4th of July at your favorite lake, river or park. Now imagine that firework display occurred concurrently with every other city in the areas fireworks. But, instead of being 30 miles between cities there is about 300 yards between firing locations. Then, multiply your normal 20-30 minute display by 3 to account for the fact that the show lasted from about 11:30 PM to 12:45 AM. That is exactly what the Shanghai skyline looked like on Wednesday night. The video attached barely does the scene justice. From my parents 39th floor apartment overlooking the river, you could see skyscraper tall fireworks in every direction. Truly amazing and a must do for firework lovers out there.

This year begins the year of the rabbit and people born in this year don red undergarments to ward off evil spirits. Some people get rabbits for pets and I am not quite sure if they stay pets or end up as dinner one day (probably the latter)! The new year also brought some great weather into Shanghai. The sun has been shining and the temperature has started climbing into the 50's. The most impressive thing on our walk back to our place the next morning was that by 10am the city had already cleaned up most of the debris left behind from all the prior nights festivities.