"Year of the Rooster" Brings Celebrations and Hazardous Smog
As throngs around the world celebrate the Chinese New Year, fireworks in Beijing make pollution skyrocket
The Chinese, or “Lunar,” New Year—celebrated throughout China and expatriate populations worldwide—falls on January 28 this year.
Because the holiday’s traditionally celebrated with fireworks, millions were set off Friday night, January 27, in Beijing despite government restrictions on firework lighting.
On Saturday, as the Year of the Rooster commenced, the city was filled with dense smoke.
"In setting off fireworks, be conscious of 'setting off the (pollution) index'," an editorial in the Communist Party-backed People’s Daily Newspaper warned.
After a crackdown on street vendors, fireworks sales fell 4.9 percent this year compared to 2016. But the slight decline in sales appeared to do little to dampen the spread of pollution.
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said particulate matter in the air was measured
