Stories of the Middle Kingdom

Disturbing the Peace

I've lived long enough to know that staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve, especially when you are home alone with a dog, serves no useful purpose. Really now, who cares? The new year comes whether you are awake or not. Staying up late only serves to make one sleep late the next day, and perhaps be a little crabby if you can't.

Are you surprised to know that Chinese celebrate this holiday? They have "Chinese New Year" which this year occurs on January 26th and is based on the lunar calendar. But they also celebrate the regular new year, that occurs according to the solar calendar. January 1st is a public holiday. This year everyone gets three days off of work: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. "Chinese New Year" is the BIG HOLIDAY where everyone goes home and has special memories, comparable in its' importance to our Christmas. The January 1st New Year, everyone watches TV, goes shopping, goes out to eat with friends, etc. January 1st is no big deal and most Chinese don't stay up until midnight, unless of course it is their usual habit to do so.

Chinese people exercise moderation in many parts of their life. They eat in moderation, use electricity in moderation, and even speak in moderation (except for a few people who talk into their cell phones at volumes indicating their ignorance of phones having speakers built in). But for some reason, the Chinese have absolutely no self-control when it comes to shooting off fireworks. Yeah, sure they invented them, but I wish they would make them take classes in how to use them politely.

Which brings me back to my early bedtime on New Year's Eve. I went to bed at 10:40 p.m. All day long, there were no indications that anyone even knew it was New Year's Eve (except they all got off work). It was quiet, calm, and peaceful. I surmised it wouldn't last. Sure enough, at the stroke of midnight, I bolted up in bed as the sounds of missles and bombs going off woke me.

Well, they sounded like missles and bombs. Some were right outside my building. They were all over town, in every direction you looked. Boom, boom, boom. It was like nothing you ever saw in America, not even at Disneyland. And it went on and on and on and on and on and on. I thought it would never end. How can they afford that many fireworks? It went on for half an hour. I didn't even have to go stand at the window. I opened the curtains, went back to bed, and lay there watching the light show. Since fireworks surrounded me, I had a view even from bed. I tried to fall back asleep, but it was impossible with the building shaking as it was.

And the scary thing is that they don't even care about this holiday. I dread January 26th like the plague.

In all these years, there are some things about China that I have never endeared myself to, and fireworks (along with firecrackers and canons used at weddings and grand openings) I cannot seem to embrace. I just want a little peace and quiet.

Bottom line...I was accidentally awake to see in the new year.