China Makes A Grand Spectacle By Setting Off More Than One Million Firecrackers At Once [Video]
Because of the amazing multitude of cultures the world has, people in different countries celebrate the coming of the New Year in different ways. Here in the United States, we celebrate by counting down to midnight (by watching the ball drop), followed by champagne and New Year kisses. For some, the festivities continue with either a one-night stand or a AAA towing.
However, Eastern Asia loves to celebrate with a lot of fireworks, more so than what Americans are used to during their Independence Day. Imagine cities fogged over not from low-laying clouds, but smog from firecrackers and sparklers. That is what to expect in China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and other countries within the area during New Year’s Eve.
Supposedly in China, simple fireworks were turned into a grand spectacle when people decided to light off a lot of firecrackers all at once. For the record, the number is tantamount, counting in more than one million firecrackers in this magnificent display.
The video was uploaded by numerous pages on YouTube, but the latest upload was on Street Fights. How setting off more than one million fireworks relates to street fights surpasses my understanding, but maybe it is because the spectacle looks like riot control. Despite how it looks, the explosions of firecrackers were done in celebration in either China (which the video title claims) or Taiwan (which YouTube commenters claim is the true location).
Now, to be fair, one million firecrackers is not a record. All you have to do is search YouTube to find other videos of the same nature. Back in 2006, the Fireworks Convention in Appleton, Wisconsin, broke two firecracker world records at the time. They are the most firecrackers lit in one megastring (10,500,000) and the most firecrackers on one superstring. You can check out the records being broken in the attached video below.
What stands out about the display in either China and Taiwan is the simplicity and danger of it. The world record attached above was in a very controlled environment. The lighting in China or Taiwan was done in the middle of a street surrounded by pedestrians and observers. A million little things could have gone wrong. RYOT also brings up the fact that health and cleanliness is not taken into account. One million firecrackers leaves a lot of debris behind, and makes enough smog to harm those who are close enough.
Putting aside all the pros and cons, what do you think of either China or Taiwan lighting up one million firecrackers all at once? Did you find it to look cool?
[Image via Lia Chang]
