This lunar new year, inflammatory names are the hot sellers.
BEIJING – In America, fireworks tend to be named for the noise they make. In China, people buy them according to the message they want to send skyward.
To greet the Chinese new year of the snake, the nation that invented fireworks will explode this Saturday night with missiles that carry themes. "I want a rich, pale beauty" and "Bomb my boss to heaven" are among the brand names at stalls.
But in Communist-run China, even fireworks do not escape the politicizing of everyday life and activities.
"I love the Diaoyu Islands," is a popular seller, a reference to widespread Chinese hatred of Japan and a dispute over a rocky outcrop that China claims and Japan controls as the Senkakus.
To greet the Chinese new year of the snake, the nation that invented fireworks will explode Saturday night. Millions of Chinese will spend $55 per box on brightly decorated packages of powerful, multirocket fireworks.
The most inflammatory new brand this lunar new year, "Tokyo Big Explosions," has become harder to find in recent days after the company started withdrawing the brand and police confiscated it from several stores.
The crackdown is a somewhat contradictory sign that Chinese authorities are aware of the dangers of fanning Tokyo's anger even as Beijing continues to send ships and planes into Japanese waters and airspace to contest atolls that Japan says China had no interest in until a survey found that oil and gas may lie underneath.
"I volunteer to go to the front line; we will overthrow the 'little Japanese,'" said Chen Guangyi, 27, a fireworks salesman from Sichuan province, who claimed that 'I love the Diaoyu Islands' is the best seller at his central Beijing street-side stall.
Profits, not patriotism, are behind the naming of the fireworks, according to the Beijing Doudou Fireworks Company.
"At first, we just wanted to give new kinds of fireworks new names to attract customers; we didn't expect these two would become hot sellers," said the Beijing market manager of the company, who gave his name as Yang. "All Chinese people love our motherland, the territorial issues are very important to us, and the Diaoyu Islands belong to China, that's our indisputable principle."
Sizing up the $6 'Little Tank' fireworks, which move and fire when lit, sixth-grader Xu Yu was looking for anti-Japan products with his mother at a Panda fireworks stall in east Beijing. "I like anti-Japanese TV series. When I watch the news about Diaoyu Islands, I wish I could fly there as quickly as possible to fight with the enemy," said Xu, 10.
Fears that fireworks will worsen Beijing's heavy smog have prompted the government's brand new "firework index," issued twice a day. The index advises when conditions are OK for igniting fireworks.
The environmental concerns have hurt sales, said Yang Mei, manager of Chen Guangyi's stall. "Each year, sales are falling, as the government reduces firework outlets and the public better understand environmental concepts," she said.
Their stall still sells fireworks modeled on Japan's cartoon hero Ultraman. Staff insisted those products are given away for free with larger purchases. "Let's blow up and kill Ultraman!" chorused four salespeople.
But not all Chinese are so belligerent.
"Personally I don't hate Japanese, they are also human beings," said Wang Chengjun, a vendor at a Doudou firework stall beside Beijing Capital Stadium. He revealed that the company had withdrawn 14 different fireworks this week.
"I wish there is peace, not war, between China and Japan. I think the fireworks' name is only a joke."
Contributing: Sunny Yang
Source: http://www.theusalinks.com/2013/02/07/chinese-fireworks-have-explosive-messages/
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