The Chinese Spring Festival, better known to most westerners as the Chinese New Year, is the one time during the year that the residents of Beijing are allowed to shoot fireworks from within the fourth ring road. And given the chance, they take it with both hands and several lighters. For the two weeks comprising the Spring Festival and the week afterwards, leading up to the Lantern Festival (the lighting of many lanterns on streets marks the formal end to the new year festivities), the dark night sky of Beijing is scarred and streaked with light from the thousands of fireworks being set off.

Almost as soon as the sun has finally set, casting the city into a gloom softened only by the lights of various tower blocks and high rise offices (for there are no street lights), the Beijing populace, almost as one, begin an unsynchronised city wide show of light and sound. Even if the near vicinity is going through a lull in celebrations, bangs, pops, flashes and streaks of light can be easily discerned in the distance, making Beijing seem almost like it is in the centre of a war zone. People scamper between skyscrapers, through Hutongs and even on main roads setting up impromptu displays wherever they can. The result is spectacular. Whole buildings are lit up by these explosions - the sky becomes a charcoal grey instead of pitch black - and smoke settles over the city like the pollution during the day. The sound is deafening. The tall buildings amplify the bangs and crashes and the firecrackers that get set off seemingly every five minutes sound like the rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire and are ear bleedingly loud. This goes on until well past midnight, safely ensuring that the entire city is bleary eyed the next morning.

It's impossible to imagine this happening in any western city. The local police force would clamp down on it in a flash and the government would attempt to prosecute people under the terrorism act. Surely these loud bangs and flashes are an attempt to destabilise the government. No, fun is dangerous and can lead to people getting hurt or, worse, becoming terrorists. Didn't you know that fireworks can cause people to lose fingers and eyes? From there it's a short step to committing a terrorist act, you know. We've got statistics to prove it. No, they're not made up, we promise. It's refreshing to see a government actually promoting these kind of wild celebrations, even if they are, to a certain extent, forgetting about safety in the process. Reminds me of a time when people were allowed to ride bicycles without a polystyrene helmet (the biggest token gesture of them all, the only thing it would do in a serious accident is pepper the victims brain and the road with small, white specks). Oh yeah, and it's also amazing to watch (the firework display, not a severe bicycle accident).