Beijing declares War on Spring Festival, fireworks to be banned in heavy smog

Authorities in Beijing have found another excellent way to avoid taking actual constructive action on pollution and pass on responsibility – and misery – to residents: banning Spring Festival fireworks. 

While anyone who has lived in China for a national holiday can tell you that banning fireworks now and forever is an excellent idea, doing so as a "solution" to pollution is misguided and cruel.

The proposed ban will take effect if orange or red alerts for air pollution are issued during the holiday, red is the highest alert possible, in that circumstance people will need cheering up. For the people watching fireworks (as opposed to the people say, sleeping, or working, or trying to watch TV), they are an excellent method of getting cheered up, of forgetting for a second that the air we all breathe is slowly killing us and that the government which controls the country we live in can't think of solutions beyond spoiling Spring Festival. 

Oh, and banning barbecues. 

[Image via Flickr]