Fireworks

Today is the last day of the Chinese New Year...it began on the new moon and since today is the full moon the celebrations are ending. Therefore, it's the last day of revelry and should be properly enjoyed. The Chinese most like to celebrate the New Year by lighting off MASSIVE quantities of fireworks. And I'm not talking firecrackers and bottle rockets here; these things are certifiable bombs. Normally (in the US), one would be required to launch these types of explosives from a barge out in the water, or at the very least in a field a good distance away from the nearest onlookers. However, in Beijing, it is common practice to light off round after round of pretty intense explosives anywhere and everywhere. For instance, a little while ago, I was in my bathroom and a firework exploded about 10 feet from my window. Safe. I can also see plenty of sky rockets and artillery shells (that's what they're really called...Wikipedia it) from my bedroom window....being launched from the street below.

So a constant barrage of fireworks has been going off incessantly since about 5:30 pm. No surprise, then, when we heard this news: a major hotel in Beijing is ablaze and probably many people have been killed. Quite naturally, of course, this is front page NY Times but China official news sources refuse to report on it at all.