Where are the traditional folk activities related to fireworks?

Fireworks and firecrackers are unique traditional holiday products of the Chinese nation accompanied by the invention of pyrotechnics, and have been produced and set off for more than 1000 years. Setting off fireworks and firecrackers at major festivals and ceremonies is a national custom of the Chinese nation to express joy, celebration and progress and pray for peace, auspiciousness and happiness. It has far-reaching national traditional cultural connotation and is deeply loved by the broad masses of urban and rural people, overseas Chinese and compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. On a certain level, it is the materialization of the cohesion of the Chinese nation. "One-year-old firecrackers, spring breeze warms Tu Su", "New Year's firecrackers, every family is updated", "The sound of fireworks at midnight" and so on. It is a unique cultural landscape of the Chinese land and even the overseas Chinese settlements in the world since ancient times. The author believes that such a traditional culture that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people can never be simply banned.

For the sake of safety and environmental protection, large and medium-sized cities are forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers, and its original intention is undoubtedly good. The author also believes that it is necessary to properly limit the discharge of fireworks and firecrackers. However, it is not appropriate to engage in "one size fits all" and simply and rudely ban it completely. It is totally forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers, ignoring that fireworks and firecrackers are the carrier of China's traditional culture, completely cutting off history, ignoring national traditions and completely obliterating the positive significance and role of setting off fireworks and firecrackers. One-sided emphasis on the harm of setting off fireworks and firecrackers equates a total ban on setting off fireworks and firecrackers with advocating a healthy and civilized lifestyle, as if setting off fireworks and firecrackers is a backward, ignorant and barbaric behavior, which makes people feel at a loss as to whether it really defines the traditional culture of the nation. After the fireworks were banned, the atmosphere of major national traditional festivals became increasingly weak. Young people complain that traditional festivals in China have no cultural connotation except eating and sleeping. They think festivals in China are boring. Therefore, it is an indisputable fact that teenagers' holiday activities show an obvious "westernization" tendency and are keen on Christmas, Thanksgiving, April Fool's Day and Valentine's Day in the West. Interested citizens will find that the cities in the Spring Festival are deserted, while the cities in the "foreign festivals" such as Christmas are very lively and have a strong atmosphere. Such a strong contrast is worrying. Many folklore experts worry that in the long run, western culture will take festivals as a breakthrough, subtly infiltrate and transform China culture, assimilate the younger generation in China, and disintegrate the appeal of China culture and the cohesion of the Chinese nation. This is by no means sensational.

If we simply prohibit what the broad masses of people like and don't guide them correctly, it will inevitably bring adverse effects to people's emotions and psychology. Setting off fireworks and firecrackers is a unique way for China people to express and vent their feelings, and people's expectations need to be released in firecrackers. This is a traditional custom for thousands of years, which has been deeply rooted in people's hearts and cannot be changed by a ban. This kind of catharsis is forbidden, and there is no other channel to replace it, which will inevitably lead to people's emotions being suppressed. After fireworks and firecrackers are banned in urban areas, every Spring Festival, the general public will set off fireworks in the outer suburbs in droves, or step on balloons instead of firecrackers, or return home for the New Year, or simply ban fireworks. It shows that this kind of traditional behavior of missing tradition and seeking emotional catharsis can only be guided by the situation, but hard suppression is not enough. At the strong demand of the general public, the Nanning Municipal Government holds a fireworks show every year on New Year's Eve or on the night of major celebrations, which makes up for some regrets, but it smacks of "only state officials can set fires and people are not allowed to light lamps". People not only have to ask, is the fireworks party organized by the government absolutely safe and does not pollute the environment? In the face of the increasing phenomenon of illegal sewage discharge, the so-called "law does not blame the public", and relevant laws and regulations are facing increasingly severe challenges.

In fact, all countries are very cautious about their national cultural traditions, and do everything possible to avoid disadvantages and protect and carry forward their traditional cultures. Yes, fireworks are dangerous goods and pollutants, but should all dangerous goods and things that pollute the environment be banned? Not exactly. Isn't fire, electricity, gasoline and gas dangerous? Do cars produce less pollution than fireworks? But we didn't abandon it and go back to the wild times because we choked on food. How barbaric and dangerous bullfighting and running cattle are for us. Every Christmas, countless trees are cut down to make Christmas trees, but western countries have not banned these traditional cultures in the name of safety and environmental protection. Even in China, not every large and medium-sized city has completely banned the setting off of fireworks. As far as I know, fireworks and firecrackers have never been banned in big cities such as Tianjin and Dalian. Shanghai, which had been banned before, also "lifted the ban" at 1995 according to the wishes of the citizens, allowing citizens to set aside areas during the Spring Festival and restrict the variety of fireworks. Beijing has also made similar adjustments to the relevant ban of 1997. Nanning also set off a lot of fireworks and firecrackers in the suburbs in the Spring Festival of 2000, which made the general public sincerely happy, but somehow it didn't persist. Now it's time to think about this problem again.

From the perspective of protecting national traditional culture, the author thinks that the local laws and regulations prohibiting the discharge of fireworks and firecrackers should be appropriately adjusted, allowing citizens to discharge fireworks and firecrackers at regular and fixed points on major traditional festivals, and important celebrations can be discharged at regular, fixed and quantitative times upon approval. After the "lifting of the ban", the relevant departments should formulate mandatory regulations on the production, variety, specification, quality and safety protection measures of fireworks and firecrackers, strengthen law enforcement, strengthen the management of the whole process of production, transportation, storage, sales and discharge of fireworks and firecrackers, and reduce or avoid the occurrence of fires and personal injury accidents. Fireworks and firecrackers production enterprises should increase investment in scientific research, improve the technical content of fireworks and firecrackers production, reform the gunpowder formula, reduce the harm, and reduce the danger and pollution degree of fireworks and firecrackers. In this way, we can protect the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and reduce or even avoid the harm of fireworks.