Find a midway for safety and harmony

Should or should not fireworks be banned during Spring Festival? This question has become controversial over the past couple of decades and prompted the administration to act one way or the other.

But administrative measures cannot solve this conflict between modernity and traditional culture. Preferably, the solution should be a compromise between the opposing sides, between modernity and traditional customs, between safety and unfettered joy.

People who want fireworks to be banned cite the loss of lives and property, and pollution to stress their point. They also say fireworks have always been a risky affair.

They may be right. Environmental pollution caused by fireworks can no longer be ignored. The environment cannot take the huge volume of toxic gases that goes up during the few nights of colorful but damaging display of fireworks across the country. Besides, serious fires causing loss of lives and property have increased in recent years, like the one that gutted CCTV's new office tower on the day of Lantern Festival in 2009. The CCTV blaze, caused by illegal fireworks display, left one firefighter dead and eight injured, and caused an economic loss of more than 160 million yuan ($25.33m).

But imposing and lifting of bans both have been opposed, albeit by two different groups of people, during the past two decades. So a possible solution may be finding a middle path. Perhaps efforts should be made to limit the time, place, scale, decibel and kinds of fireworks.

First, the time to set off fireworks should be limited to the few days of Spring Festival. There should be a time limit, too, for other occasions like weddings, funerals and other important ceremonies.

Second, fireworks should not be allowed to be set off in residential areas and other crowded places. It's better to designate vast open spaces, especially for large-scale fireworks' displays.

Third, there should be a restriction on the scale of fireworks and the number of people who should be allowed to set them off at one place.

Four, an upper decibel limit for fireworks should be imposed. This limit is very important because fireworks in recent years have become more explosive and thus more dangerous to human and environmental safety.

And last, big and dangerous fireworks should be banned because they are a real threat to human safety. It is not difficult to make more interesting kinds of fireworks while keeping low their decibel levels and explosive power.

If such limits are imposed, we can have a more harmonious relationship between modernity and traditional culture.

The author, based in Hengshui, Hebei province, is a folk culture scholar and observer.

(China Daily 01/20/2012 page9)