Exercising with old men

For the last year and a half I have noticed an old man exercising on the side of the road. His workout stations him are on my bus route. We do not see him each morning, but we have seen a variety of his exercises including:

1. Hitting a Tree
2. Doing the hula
3. Swinging his leg
4. modified push-ups
5. Doing the hula while hanging on to a bar

There was a period of 2 weeks that we did not see him and I got a little concerned about what had happened to him. Thankfully he returned and it was then that I decided I wanted to join him.

One Friday I went to the bus stop early and asked a friend to video me while the bus went by. Unfortunatelythat friend could not figure out how to video…. I had another friend video me. It was a short clip but fun none the less.

The following week was my break, so I decided that I would get someone to dedicate some time at oh…. 7am to video me doing all the exercises with the old man. My friend Carlos Fandango picked me with my hula hoop up in a cab and we went looking for the old man. We spotted him hitting a tree, but the time we got out of the cab he was gone. Why did the old man cross the road you might ask? To do the hula on the other side. I talked a little to the old man and showed him a couple of sentences in Chinese thanks to google translate “I like your exercises, can I do them with you?”. The old man is from the generation when a lot of people in China did not learn how to read so unfortunately we could not communicate, but we did get this video footage J

Here is the link to Old man footage

Two Drag Queens walk into a bar…

Warning Mom, do not show this post to Grandma

My last week in New York I got a recommendation from a friend to go to Drag Queen Bingo at the Bowery Poetry Club. He said that he has been multiple times and is a great cheap evening with bingo cards for $2 and happy hour drinks. We were advised to get there early and be careful during the Challenge Round as it normally involves the prize of two free drinks to the winners and the opportunity, or job of dancing or parading on stage naked with one prop.

It did not take much convincing to get my dear friend Erika to join me. I got there early and secured us front row seating so we could clearly see all the action. Erika arrived after the first act started, Taylor Mead. Taylor Mead is an 87-year-old icon in SoHo. He has been featured in work my Andy Warhol and the short film Coffee and Cigarettes. I was not sure what to expect when one of the bar tenders helped him on to the stage and gave him his tape deck. He had a bag with him with drawing that looked like a child’s interpretation of fairly tale characters. He described one of the characters as having tried to draw a horse it came out looking like a fox. So much of his act was a stream of things that started part way through and stopped some where before. That said it was an interesting performance to see. He read some poetry and used his tape deck/radio for effects. While reading he would pause to hold the tape deck near the microphone and move the tape deck in and out to create fades. It was a little comical that the tape deck was something that he seemingly used before but still was not sure how to start and stop the tape inside and often would turn down the volume and was thrilled when he found pause. The last poem was rather explicit. I am putting in the link to a performance of his as I think I can not fully describe how you feel when you hear an 87 year old man start a poem with the line “I wanted to lick his @$$____”.(this is a link to his performance... warning about the content)

Taylor Mead was escorted off stage and then Bingo got set up, complete with bingo hamster wheel for all the bingo balls and shinny pink tablecloth. Hosted by Drag Queen Linda Simpson and Murray Hill with a non-Drag Queen assistant that could do no right. Linda’s dry sense of humor and tone of voice was hysterical. She made giving away two fake boobies a ripe roar riot of a time. The prizes for each round were nothing that you buy with a straight face or sober but better than what I see sold on the streets of Shanghai that I think will only take up land fill space.

Prize 1: A monkey that lights ups while it’s arms propel it forward on the floor. During the demonstration of the prize the hosts tried to do a monkey call, and I must say failed miserably. Since I am a natural at monkey calls I chimed in, which was a hit. I was referred to monkey girl the rest of the evening… on another note I did not have a summer fling while in NYC, perhaps this type of behavior explains that a little more in retrospect.

Prize 2: Spider man bath mat. Need I say more?

Prize 3: The Friendship prize: plastic boobies. The rules for this round was that the winner had to give the prize to someone they did not know to promote friendships. Two girls tied that round and picked two males to receive the boobies (one boob each).

Prize 4: 3D holograms art of a duck and horses….

Prize 5: Challenge round, 2 drinks from the bar and a paper plate to cover your bits when walking around naked.

Prize 6: Place mats of an orange juicer with matching coasters

Final Round: Cash $169 the money from the bingo card purchases.

The only thing disappointing about the evening was that I found out about it all the last week I was in the city. Now I will be counting down the Mondays til I am back in NYC for some B-I-N-G-O!

Sporting events

I went to visit my parents in Seattle for a long weekend and see my brother’s band, The

Whisperlights, play one night. Before I arrived my friend Jen suggested that we go see the Roller Derby double header. I was definitely game as I had not seen a game yet and was super curious of the sport. I envisioned a bunch of angry women 30 somethings bashing into each other and yelling. This was not necessarily the case. We went to Key Arena and had a suite with some other people, a classy way to see the derby. When the players were introduced I knew that I found my new sport or spectator sport. The names are edgy clever plays on words and some alteration. I LOVE the names, the costumes and the creativity of the girls. The Rat City Girls were playing: Teams Grave Danger v. Throttle Rockets and Derby Liberation Front v. Sockit Wenches.

When being introduced the players’ sassy head shots were shown on the jumbo tron of each player. Some of my favorite names are:

From the Sockit Wenches

#17 Ima Handful

Grave Danger

#17 Muffstache

#12 Gauge: Carmen Getsome

DLF

Ann R. Kissed

# 20: Yoko Onoudi’nt,

Throttle Rockets

# 5 Eva Dead

The atmosphere was fantastic and the girls were giving other teams awards in the end and created a really positive environment. There were a lot of teenage girls celebrating their birthdays and I am sure figuring out what their roller derby name would be. Between the two matches there was a trapeze act that came on with only a small mat to catch them if they were to fall, making it more of a circus atmosphere.

When I got back to NYC I looked into the roller derby and saw that the Gotham Girls were going to play against Boston while some friends were visiting me. The teams were not as evenly matched… but still the environment was great. We saw families supporting their daughters, and friends there. I was amazed to see a grandma hike it up the stairs of a small college basketball court (the size of a High School gym) just to see her I am suspecting granddaughter play. The names were great and so were the costumes make up and of course the Jeer Leaders.

I got information on joining… possibly I will have to take classes in how to skate when I head back to NYC and become # 3.14 Risqué Roller.

Movie night

Well this summer has been amazing full stop. I have been using Time Out as my Bible of NYC. Doing everything from a comedy show where Demetri Martin and Aziz Ansari show up, to the seeing the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile being interviewed at the Asian Society, to bite size Broadway in Bryant Park and the list goes continues.

Last night I headed to Bryant Park with a friend to see Cool Hand Luke with Randy Newman a young prison on a chain gang. Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967 and the movie is very telling of the times and restrictions lack there of and censorship. The story line includes a lot of dares and “I bet you can not” mentality among the prisoners. The wardens do little to intervene besides putting different inmates in “The box” and wearing aviator glasses, which the cameraman has an affinity of taking shots of the reflection. There is one screen when the chain gang see a pretty woman washing a car rather explicitly, but still in censorship guidelines of MPAA, before the rating system started. The scene was basically a woman hamming up washing a car while the prisoners watched while digging a ditch.

We showed up around 8:30 and were able to snag chairs at the back. I guess if you want to get on the lawn you have to show up around 5:00. Old episodes of Bugs Bunny were being showed before show time. While the sound is probably better on the lawn we were able to see the screen well and were able to keep up with the movie. We still had a great time people watching and looking up at the buildings that surround the park.

Next Monday they will be showing Airplane! I think I will be there… despite the fact that later that week I will be flying half way across the world.

Bryant Park

Can take the girl out of China, but can not keep China away from the girl

This week seems like it has been a massive pull toward China.
Monday I went to a comedy evening with a friend I know from Shanghai.
Tuesday: The Asia Society sponsored an interview with the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile. I attended the interview, as I am planning on going to Tibet this October and want to understand more about the people and about China. Lobsang Sanyang was incredibly well spoken and his biography incredibly impressive. He talked about the hardships of Tibet and desiring a peaceful way forward.
Wednesday: I started by going to the Tex World trade show. There were hundreds of stalls there. As I was going through the rows of textiles, about 90% were vendors from China, 5% from USA and 5% from elsewhere. There were some from Shanghai and I looked at the addresses and knew where they were located or had been close to the location. I was handed business cards with two hands as they do in China, and heard Mandarin spoken. In some ways I want to be identified as having lived there and having some understanding. However, when I told vendors that I lived in Shanghai they assumed that I was with a factory or was doing manufacturing there, not that I was just in the US to volunteer for the cause of fashion.
Even though I am looking forward to returning to the US I still feel drawn to things from China while I am away only for a short while. I did not expect that when coming and wonder what will happen when I move back to the US full time. Perhaps I will have to take up Mandarin or frequent China town. Today I did get a whiff of a strong oder on the streets and thought, ‘wow it even smells like Shanghai today’.
With all this being said while planning a girls weekend in NYC in 2 weeks time, my only request has been “No DIM SUM”. I have to draw a line somewhere.

How we do it in China.

So I am absolutely loving NYC. That said I did have some culture shook last week. I was at a great event at a remodeled hotel off of 5th Avenue opposite the park, Pierre Hotels Two E Bar. All of a sudden I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to leave. I just was overwhelmed by the differences in how people interact here as well as the adjustments that I will have to make. I successfully have made friends in each country I have lived in but got a little nervous about starting over in my own country. Realizing that I will have to understand what my country men do and I can not blame it on cultural differences as it really is my culture that I do not always understand, nor know how to completely communicate in.
There have been a few things here that I find strange:
1. The metro lines in Shanghai communicate more than the metros in NYC (and there is a massive language and script barrier there). Shanghai metros tell you the next stop before you enter the train and this information is at each door way to the train. Also there is a board that states when the next train will arrive. In NYC you are lucky to know what train you are on, rarely do you know when the next train will come and the entertainment is watching the rats on the tracks below.
2. Actually that is about all I got. I miss the Shanghai metro. Other than that I will keep the roof top parties, the cruises on the Hudson and people holding doors for me and answering questions without me having to wave my arms around or sound like a 2 year old.

Amanda in Shanghai Goes to NYC for the summer

So I have not posted in AGES! I figure now is the time. I am in NYC for the summer staying with my lovely cousin in the Upper East Side. I am here to do two internships in the fashion industry. I am super excited as well as a little nervous about the learning curve I am in for.
I arrived yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running. I started out with a walk in central park then dinner and drinks in the city. Nicola works within spirits and has a fantastic network here. We went to a great punch bar where you can get a silver bowl of punch for table.

Dinner at a vegetarian diner consisted of heaping amounts of loud laughter with some of my cousin's talented bartender friends coming in from various areas of the country. After the dinner we continued to Amor y Amargo for some cocktails in a cozy place with an amazing bar top. Then to Death & Co. a speakeasy bar that has had the title best bar in NYC. The drinks were superb and the company was better.

Today I went shopping in SoHo with a dear friend Bobby. So many shops, so little time! I will definitely have to go back for more fashion research. Though all in all was a super productive day (glad I brought an empty bag).

I met up with my cousin for a rum cruise. We close to the Statue of LIberty and then back to South Street Sea Port. NY is amazing at sunset. The people on board were interesting and fun. There was a great mood as some people came from the Gay pride parade that celebrated the new law allowing gay marriage in NY.

I literally have had to pinch myself several times this weekend so far and i know that the summer is only beginning. The only downer was that some one stole my new month metro card, basically 100usd... it was a reminder that I lived in countries that are far safer than the country I come from. I think that will be the culture shock that I will go through while here and adjusting to being able to understand all the sign and the language but not always understand the behavior of my fellow country people.

That is it for tonight.

Calculated mistakes

One of the great things about living in China is that I can afford to do things that I could not back home. Cost of living here is lower, and labor is cheap (hence most everything is made here). I have never really been a messy person, but really have appreciated having a house cleaner. Last year my Ayi (house cleaner in Chinese, direct translation is Auntie) was fantastic, her name is Huang Qing. I absolutely loved her, she organized my clothes in ways I did not know was possible. She did cute things, like putting my eye covers over my stuffed animal's eyes, re-organized my books, re-organized my kitchen, my bathroom... ok so not all the things were cute in the traditional way, but they are if you love organization.
This past fall I moved into the French concession, and I love my neighborhood, unfortunately my Ayi did not want to make the commute. I felt so abandoned by her and lost. I got a replacement but I found that she did not get everything done that my other ayi was able to accomplish. She did not organize things for me, I had to re-organize and always felt like I was disorientated looking for my clothes. I felt a void that was left by Huang Qing. I stuck with the new ayi, despite the washing a leather skirt, throwing away pictures, and not doing the ironing. However this past weekend I had to let her go.
On Friday I came home and she was still mopping so I just popped in and went out, noticing that my math books were in a bag, but I had left them on the floor so did not think more of it and went to happy hour to meet a friend. When I came back she was gone. In the morning I wanted to get some work done before going to the literary festival. So I looked for my math books.... no where to be found... I looked in the hall in all my shelves, piles of things, and nothing. I had to have a friend call my ayi to see where they were. I was fearing that she took them or that she threw them away. While i am used to student wanting to deface math books, I am not used to my house cleaner feeling so strongly about taking my math books. It was not so much that it was math books, though that is a strange thing to take for a cleaner that does not speak English, but that she took anything.
It turns out she thought I did not want them and took them without asking. Who knew she was a Good Will Hunting in the works? Unfortunately I had to let her go as I did not feel comfortable with her taking my things, even if it is spreading math around. If she would have asked I would have gotten her proper books, not books on how to use the TI83 in an algebra 2 class.

F-U

Well over the last weeks I have been listening to NPR's year in review and have gotten addicted to Cee-Lo Greeen's song "Forget You (FU)". It is not just funny but it has such a great tune to it. Little did I know that it was popular in China, or at least that is the excuse that I am giving a dude I ran into in an Elevator door way. I was getting out on the elevator, and in China people have a different concept of personal space. Often in the metro you hardly have a chance to get off the metro before people start shoving themselves on. As I was getting out of the elevator there were two men, I went to the left and one of the men just stood there so I could not get past either way. I gave a look as if to say I need to get by, and his response was "F--k You" then I had to squeeze by him. I was shocked. I have not had a Chinese person be so verbally rude to me (well at least that I could clearly understand). I looked back and gave a dirty look, just to get a "F--k You too" back from him!

It was all too perplexing. Why, why the hostility, why the rudeness? WTF really. I am just hoping he had Cee-Lo Green in his head and was hoping I would catch the reference.

have not posted for a while

Well, it has been ages since I posted anything on here. Sorry about that. I am enjoying Asia and still having a fun time here. I will be here another 1.5 years and then plan to head back to the USA.
I was just home and it was great to see everyone and do my traditional AZ visit which includes going up A mountain, cookie baking day and a night at Casey Moores. I did not get any sewing done but hopefully next time.

Caution and Careful changed to Confused Curiosity

How people werer really helpful when I had a cast on then just confused and staring at the boot. I would catch people staring at me when walking around. When I got into cabs the drivers would point, laugh and start talking a lot. Once I was on my way into a pub and a guy from across the street yelled out "That is awesome!" My favorite reaction was a man that I walked past who stopped, then put his arms in the arm looking at my boot. It was like he was saying "Why why why did you do this to your self!"

Kindness of strangers

I fractured my ankle again a couple of weeks ago. At first is was really upsetting, as it is my third time since I have moved to Shanghai…. Three fractures in three countries over one year! It happened while I was playing touch rugby. I damaged my ligaments around my ankle and it is the first time in my life that I have had a cast. Thankfully I only have it on for 2 weeks (so I get it off on Wednesday).
Over the last couple of weeks with the cast I have been pleasantly surprised at how helpful the Chinese people in general have been. Doors are consistently opened for me, people get out of the way when I hobble by. I have had guards come up and put their arm around me to make sure I get up or down stairs safely. The guards at my building will get a chair for me as they hail me a cab and will get upset if I move closer to the curb instead of having the taxi pull in. Being a position where I have needed extra help, the Chinese have really stepped up. I guess when they see physical boundaries of cast and crutches I am not treated in the same way (lack of personal space) and people feel compelled to help me.

Expo round 2

Well I went to Expo over the weekend with Les & Chris. They came up from Hong Kong to see Expo and me : ) For a Saturday Expo was surprisingly really crowded. We went to the New Zealand Pavilion and Les and Chris knew people so we hung for a while.
As we walked around we would see people taking naps on benches, in the grass, in lines for Spain, Switzerland, and Saudi (I heard that the line was 8 hours alone!).
We had fun going between the pavilions and debating if we should get a drink or get in a massive line.
There was an expo parade with very non-PC participants, the USA float, at jazz instruments, cacti with big hats and people wearing head-dresses with cowboy shorts. It seems that they just mixed everything into two costumes to sum up a whole nation with a mix of cultural backgrounds.
I will be going back tomorrow to see DHS school band :)

A China Day

Thursday: I got to school and get a call from the school secretary that my flat is flooded, as of yesterday, and that my landlord needs to go in and fix things. This was rather perplexing since I was home that morning and did not notice any standing water, nor did I leave my place in a state that I wanted people go around in.
Shortly after that, the guards at our school and Ayis (cleaning ladies) came into my classroom half way through the day and started taking my tables. Of course we could not communicate and they did not understand that I needed them only that I was waving my arms around and pointing to the desks. Turns out that they needed tables and were just going to take all of mine, despite me having to teach. I got some back before my 6th graders came in….
But the real kicker of the day was after work when I got on a bus to down town, then a metro to the expo site to get tickets. Now a little background of the last month I have been trying to get tickets going to all the places that are supposed to have tickets. None of which have them, they seem to be “sold out” even though expo is not attracting the numbers in the first month that were projected. Also it is continual event and there are no passes that are different from day to do, besides 2 or 3 holidays. I went up to the desk, asked on the way in if I could be day tickets “yes you can”. Get up to the desk, “we only have tickets for the evening”, I question and say this is ridiculous. I only get an “I am sorry” and a few giggles. I ask to see a manager to see if I can get tickets, he has food in his hands and continues walking after saying no tickets. They refer me to all the places I have already frequented several times. I ask for a number to call, they give China Mobile’s number, who is the major seller of ticket “No we do not have any tickets”.
The next bright idea they have is for me to call the expo help line, which does not sell tickets and refers me to China mobile!!!!!!!!! There were vending machines for tickets but that area was closed. So for the major event in Shanghai there is no place to buy tickets in advance, organization at it’s finest. This is just the cherry on top of the miss information on the websites, and such. I will be going next weekend, but really question the slogan of “Better City Better Life” and some signs even include “Deeper friendship”. I walked back to the metro and went into a Lawsons that had an Expo ticket sign, but was not surprised with the lack of tickets.
At least there is still Expo Taxi.

And then there was Expo taxi

And then there was Expo-taxi.

Shanghai has a slogan around town “Better City, Better Life” in advertising for the world Expo that started last week (though only 80% of it all was finished). Since I arrived the city has been under a massive amount of construction for the roads, buildings and what seems like endless remodeling of stores. Things go up really fast here and it has been amazing to see. Out of all aspects of this facelift for Shanghai, my personal favorite by far is the Expo-taxi. Now it might seem normal to those in the West, but after months of smelly, run down, seatbelt-less taxis, the expo taxi is so refreshing and luxurious.
Here are the features of the Expo taxi:
1. Seat belts in the front and back
2. No white cloth on the seats (like all other taxi’s have here),
3. New car smell and not like cigarettes or weird foul smells,
4. Happy drivers (because they are driving Expo-taxi),
5. CLEAN
6. The doors are functional and one does not worry if you will break down.
The old taxis are still crawling the streets and you will see the expo-taxi sprinkled throughout all parts of town. When they first were sited about a month ago, I felt that every time I saw one empty I needed to hail it and just go for a ride down the block. Now when I need a cab, I will wait until a free expo-taxi appears. Today on my way home from the gym, I got a cab but before I opened the door, an unoccupied Expo-taxi came into my line of site and I ran for it.
I know I am not alone in this, as I was making my way home today in a fabulous Expo taxi, I saw a family about to get into a regular cab stop and stare with taxi envy as my Expo Taxi drove safely by. Yes “Better city. Better Life” Thank you Expo Taxi.

Changes in Shangahi with the coming Expo

1. I went to Hong Kong for break and flew out of Hongqiao airport terminal 2. It is completely new, completely clean. When I got a cab on the way home I got into a new Expo taxi. I was amazed that there were seat belts! Also the new car smell

2. My street actually looks like a street rather than a big ditch.

3. I went to go get a DVD, and the pirated DVD store (which are pretty much all the DVD stores here) only had legitimate DVD's. When I asked what happened the store employ just said "The police". I asked about a DVD that I wanted and her response was ..."Maybe tomorrow"

Funny quotes

Cash machines at Citi bank
"Please dip your card"
"Wait we are working on it"

Taxi
"Hello Passage, welcome to take my taxi"

How you say it

This past week started 3 weeks of the Shanghai International Literary Festival. The weather has been absolutely perfect for the event, pouring rain and cold. It is at M-on the Bund which looks over the river and the high rise towers across the water. So far I have seen Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad who has stories of war on Chechnya, Kabul, and Iraq. She spoke of her experience in Russia as a foreign student during University and one day was introduced as a reporter and that is what got her writing and researching stories of children of war. David Grossman started his lecture reading a passage in Hebrew from one of his books, and then later spoke of his own experiences politically, as a writer and as an Israeli trying to understand both sides of the conflict. On Wednesday evening myself and a colleague faced Shanghai traffic and made our way down to hear two Scandinavian poets read avant-garde poetry with the back drops of the skyscrapers with electronic adverts and pink rain and designs on them. It was an interesting juxtaposition to Sjon talking about fox hunters in Iceland writing the most Icelandic book for the 300 000 readers in Iceland. Also, for Lars Bukdahl to read about his different alphabets address concerns of what he says his only reader… himself. This afternoon I just got out of a session on Gandhi and the impact on the world and continued impact. Ramachandra Guha started quoting Einstein, on his 131st birthday that gave homage to Gandhi for his political stance and peaceful demonstrations. David Grossman’s structure of his sentences and phraseology put interesting twist and visuals to his stories and thoughts. My personal favorite was “that was too many quantities of time”.
All of the sessions I have enjoyed what the authors said and the comments brought new light to their work as well as issues around their writing as well as how they said it. I heard pieces of places I have been and people that have been important to me in the reflection of their mother tongues onto English. Åsne delivered some of Oslo to me, while Lars Bukdahl reminded me of Danish friends while reading his Jensen alphabet from his book on alphabets (it is funnier than you can imagine), and Ramachandra Guha’s head bob brought me flavors of India and dear friends that have come and gone from there.

Basement Speed dating

Between sessions at the literary festival I went to a café in the basement of M-on the Bund for a tea and get some work done. It looked as if there was an organized event but they let me sit down at an open table. I noticed that all the women were on side of long tables and men on the other. I ordered my tea and got to work.
The two men with microphones instructed the groups to get snacks. Then people started to be called to the front where three men sat in chairs with women volunteers behind them putting crackers on their foreheads that they had to get to their mouth without using their hands. In a way it reminded me of young life or camp and games we play with secondary students. I had no idea what was happening and tried to just continue working. Then someone sat down at my table quickly smiled looked at the men trying ever so hard to get the cracker to their mouth by contorting their faces, I asked what was going on …..speed dating!!!
As a single I have never been to speed dating and here I am stumbling upon it in Shanghai. I guess this is an alternative for these Chinese mid 20s early 30s, rather than having their parents sit in People’s square on a Sunday with their information written on papers hanging from clotheslines this group participated in speed dating to find a match. After the food on face event, the men got up and systematically changed tables. The fella that was at my table joined the others and no one replaced him at my table…. I never get mistaken for a local. I continued to watch the body language of the group: some people were not talking to the opposite sex or anyone for that matter, guys were talking to girls that were not their “designated” date, wing-men situations occurred to help out their neighbors; others went for more snacks possibly wishing they were not at the end of the table and could have more people to pull from.
I wonder if any of them will recount the story to their friends or kids of how they met at speed dating in a basement in Shanghai?
“When did you know you were for each other?”
“I knew by the expression that he was making that he was the one for me. I think he knew too, his eyes got teary and soft and it was not from the crumbs”.
I was writing this as I was sitting there and when I packed up my computer one of the male participants came up to me and started chatting. … haha

At close range

Tonight is the lantern festival, the 15th day of the New Lunar Year and the first full moon of the New Year. The Chinese gather with their families for a meal, to put out lanterns and set off an amazing amount of fireworks. We went down to Tai Kang Lu for a walk around, dinner and in hopes of seeing the fullest moon for the past 53 some years, by 10%. We were only able to catch glimpses of the moon during the taxi ride. Throughout dinner there was a constant stream of fireworks surrounding us. All seemingly rather low and close to buildings. On the way home on Yan’an elevated road we could see displays throughout of the city.
From inside my flat I would easily mistake the sounds as an air raid. In southern China unfortunately it was the case in a village where 21 people died from firework blasts at a family party. Many people were hospitalized after a group of people set off fireworks in the center.
It is still baffling to me to see adults about 5 meters away with their children setting off a box of fireworks under power lines. People consistently do this along each street, so much so that the silence can be more deafening than the booms. With the light up of the sky with fireworks the smoke has covered the brightness of the first full moon.