At the stroke of midnight, firecrackers shot up throughout the city and illuminated the sky with colorful streaks. Though the firecrackers in Shanghai were not as big or colorful as those seen in Hong Kong or Singapore, they seemed to have a very personal air to them. I could imagine children leaping up and down while their parents lit up the crackers on rooftops to celebrate the coming of the Year of Snake.

But in the morning, the streets were covered with shreds of red paper and large cardboard boxes. At first, I thought they fell from the roofs but realized that evening that many people lit up their firecrackers on the street.

Traffic was stopped in various parts of town as the explosives sizzled smack in the middle of the road. Some, luckily, were in bulky cardboard boxes but the smaller ones looked more like cigarette butts on the dark, wet road and were more difficult to see.

Sitting in a cab that was dodging burning obstacles in our path, my palms began to sweat with nervous concern, and horrid pictures of the car flipping over zipped through my head. Perhaps I'd seen too many movies with such violent scenes, but common sense told me that had the driver misjudged and driven over one, the Year of Snake might have been my last.

A Shanghaiese friend had told me earlier that fireworks have been banned in some parts of China such as in Beijing. Initially, I wondered why, as New Year's celebrations would not be the same without blazing fireworks. But I realized after that night that some people may not have been so lucky as I. There was a good chance some of them had met with severe injuries and perhaps had even lost their lives while celebrating the festive holidays in the past.

(Shanghai Star 02/15/2001)