Sparkler Therapy

China is changing rapidly.  (And yes, I’m aware that that is a “well, duh” statement.)  It is remarkable to think about how much people’s lives have changed just in the past ten years.  The greatest migration in the history of this planet is happening right now as millions of people leave behind familiarity in the countryside and embark on the unknown and insecure frontiers of the city.  Just how do people cope with all of this change?  How is stability and harmony (or at least a surface level appearance of stability and harmony) maintained? The explanations are many and varied from fields of history, psychology, sociology, and politics.  However, I will give you one simple tiny partial explanation.  For two weeks every year the nation is let loose to blow stuff up non-stop with little to no actual regulations.  If blowing up large quantities of explosives doesn’t relieve tension, I don’t know what will.

From lunar new year’s eve through the lantern festival two weeks later, the Chinese skies are alight with fireworks.  These aren’t your minor mom and pop fireworks of the states.  These are full blown, major fireworks set off in between high rise apartment buildings by your Uncle Zhao and Cousin Li.

Americans pack up dinners and camp out by riverbanks for hours in anticipation of a fifteen minute fireworks show on the fourth.  In China, you can sit back in your lazy boy and watch a six hour show outside your window that will rival any piddly July fourth display.

And really, I challenge you to find the person whose cares and burdens aren’t lightened to some extent by waving around sparklers and blowing things up.  In fact, you might even say it’s downright therapeutic.