Fireworks in China

The Olympics ended on the night of the 24th. About 10pm, while we were watching the closing ceremonies on television, we started hearing very loud thunderous explosions. Curious, I peeked out the bathroom window to see red sparks showering down from the sky. The boom of fireworks continued to echo through the Institute.

Cullen and I were afraid we would miss all of them. The loud booms, we suspected, were the signal of the end, and there couldn't possibly be much more left to the fireworks production.

We rushed outside and hopped on one of the bicycles. As we whizzed through the roads of the Institute, the fireworks continued. Sparkles of red and gold continued to rain down on the skyline. They were so close.

We exited the Institute to find a crowd gathered on the street, lining it as far as we could see either way on both sides of the street. A man on a Mo-ped puttered out in front of us with his puppy on the footrest. We stood with the crowd, ooo-ing and ahh-ing at the spectacle.

The fireworks continued from between 5-10 more minutes from when we heard the first big bang in the apartment. I had never in my life experience such a long extravagant display of diverse fireworks. There were blooms that exploded over and over, then large fiery missiles and glittery drops that sparkled as they fell. There were also the explosive bits that continued to pulse as they dropped to the earth. Each of these I had seen before, but never in such a long production or such a large quantity at a time. It was beautiful and inspiring.

When the Chinese do fireworks they do them right.