Chinese Traditions

Living among the Chinese means being prepared for the unexpected. Last night around 11:30 pm, myself and several other teachers at the school where I'll be working were sitting around playing cards. We were in a high rise on the 11th floor, and this high rise is part of a larger complex of about 20 high rises that surround a central courtyard replete with a small fishing pond, several streams and three bridges. I've been told the layout is very feng shui appropriate. The buildings are arranged around this center courtyard in pairs, with roads leading out like spokes from a wheel all sides of the courtyard and between two highrises. So the distance between two highrises is the width of one of these roads, probably no more than 25 feet. All of a sudden, last night, there was a HUGE boom outside the room we were in, so we all rushed outside to the balcony. There were several people on the road below us lighting off fireworks. Not small fireworks, like Roman candles, but large projectile fireworks that light up in colors, think 4th of July with a little less oomph. They proceeded to let these fireworks off for five minutes, each one exploding between the buildings, most at our eye level. My friend Garrett even got hit with the sparks from one of these explosions. We were stunned - and couldn't imagine something like this happening in America without the fire department, police squad and SWAT team showing up. When it was over - other Chinese who had gathered on the surrounding balconies began clapping, and then everyone sauntered back into their apartments to continue whatever it was they were doing. Their nonchalance to the whole episode stunned us.
After our ears had stopped ringing, another member of the group who had spent some time in China explained to us the purpose of the pyrotechnics. It turns out when a Chinese family moves into a new house, they let fireworks off either late at night or early in the morning(can't wait for that one!) to ward off any evil spirits that may be dwelling in the house. I don't know if the contempory Chinese still actually believe that spirits are in their apartment, but the tradition lives on nonetheless.