Happy New Year!!

I wanted to see Chinese fireworks. I think I achieved that objective.

Let’s see if I can describe this by comparing it to … Fireworks after Barry Bonds hit #756(*)? – Uh, No.
Fireworks after the Braves win the NLCS? – Minor league stuff.
Fireworks on the 4th of July in Boston? – Amateur stuff.
Fireworks on the Jan 01, 2000 Millenium Celebration? – Wimpy stuff.
How about – the fireworks after the Rebellion finally defeated the Evil Empire (episode 6)? – Sissy stuff (with a capital S)!

No, THIS is the way fireworks ought to be run!
No city or corporate organization – just go out and buy what you want with everybody else and fire ‘em up!
We’ll begin at dusk, say around 07:30 pm and continuing until well past 01:00 am in the morning. That’s over 6 hours of one continuous BOOM!
Fireworks on every street corner as far as the eye can see (and despite the Chengdu smog – you can see pretty far from the 12th floor).
And on each corner there are no less than four vendors selling fireworks.
A box of fireworks is 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 or 3 feet tall. Each box capable of a display rivaling anything you have seen on July 4.
A firecracker is about ½ inch in diameter and is on a roll about 25 yards long (roll it out and light it up!).
Fireworks shooting in front of you; Behind you; On your left; On your right.
From the grass; From the street.
Wherever you find a spot to put your box – let ‘er rip!
Meanwhile, all the cars and all the buses, and all the taxis and trucks, and scooters, and bikes are just cruising around just like any other normal time of the day. Fireworks going off 3 feet from a car? No big.
High shots, Low shots, Angled shots, Curvy shots. Red, Blue, Green, Orange, White. Everywhere you look – Boom.
And all of this is just on the corner next to our hotel. This scene is being repeated on every corner for as far as I can see. Way off in the distance, I see more. I am in complete and total amazement.
Shrapnel is falling all around including on my head and shoulders! I can’t see the street there is so much debris from fireworks. The Chinese are having a party like none I have ever seen.
I talked to a few locals. Saw some guy who turned out to be German who was looking for his friends (good luck), and I asked how long this will last. Turned out that was dumb question…he said “When it’s all gone!”
Duh. Just like firewood.
But lest you get worried about my safety, rest in the comfort the police were hand to prevent anyone from getting out of hand (never did figure out what their criteria was, though) and they did have firefighting equipment on hand (last photo attached) in case the really unexpected happened.
It’s now Thursday, and all is quiet. In fact, the streets are all cleaned up and I can’t tell it even happened.
Was it a dream?
Nope. Just New Years Day – China style!!





































see the fire protection system ......>>>>>>>>>>>

2008- One Night In Chengdu

Despite the entire hectic schedule right now trying to start this plant, we did take time out to hold our 1st Annual Anniversary Party celebrating the opening of our office in 2007 and the 2008 Chinese New Year.
And let me tell you, when these guys fiesta, they really fiesta!
We all drove out to some Theme Park near Chengdu (called Floral Land). It is sort of a flower themed Disneyworld (without rides). We had a private room and put on quite the shin dig!
There were games, and skits, and dinner, and fireworks, and fog machines, and bubble machines, and door prizes, and gift swap – and, of course, much toasting of the New Year.
The theme was “2008 - One Night in Chengdu”
Each department made up some sort of a skit including costumes and songs, etc. Believe me, there is no inhibition here. Everybody really gets into it. I got asked (“conned” or “rooked” might be better words) into being in the Quality skit. I was to play some sort of American (duh) so I didn’t have to wear a costume (whew), but I did have to learn two Chinese lines. I performed marginally, but it was fun. To be honest, I am still not sure what the skit was about.
The Master of Ceremonies (Zhou Jing from HR) did an unbelievably great job! He was funny, relaxed, and spontaneous and at times was like Phil Donahue jumping and running around with his microphone having people answer questions.
Three ladies performed a traditional Chinese dance with all the costumes and then right in the middle of it, broke into a “fly girl” dance and then back to traditional. It was terrific. These ladies got game!
Some of the skits were a bit long and since everything was spoken in Chinese, I well, didn’t have a clue. But I could enjoy the energy involved.
Yes, there were indoor fireworks (I did recall some rock band in USA burned up a whole club and people died a few years back from using indoor fireworks), so I kept my eye on the fire extinguisher and knew where my closest exit was, but fortunately, no incidents.
My gift for the gift swap was the “Bourne Identity”. It’s either in English with Chinese subtitles or overdubbed in Chinese with English subtitles, I don’t know because the box was in Chinese.
We had a great Chinese dinner (more food than any human should be asked to eat) and toasted everybody and everything and we wore out the cameras. The entire night was filmed and I hope to get a DVD of the evening.