Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. It is the year of the Ox. To say the least, last night was a night of celebration for the Chinese. Starting at about noon, fireworks started being set off. They were going off everywhere. When it got dark at about 6:00 p.m., the real fireworks began. It was a bit like living in a war zone. For as far as you could see, the sky was being lit up, and there was a constant grumble of explosions. I tried to take a few videos of the fireworks going on near our house. I know they are dark, but I wanted mostly to get the sound. These fireworks were going of a few dozen feet from our apartment building. We could stand on our deck and see people setting of foreworks everywhere. People were shooting them out of their windows even. This morning there was firework debris everywhere. According to tradition, fireworks are set off to warn off evil spirits. We should be ghost free for quite a while now.

Tomorrow we are heading to Nanjing for a four day vacation. We are charging the camera now, so we will be sure to take plenty of pictures, and I will update the blog afterwards.