The fireworks will last well beyond that, mostly til the supplies run out.

Last Big Hurrah will be night of the Lantern Festival which should be Feb 6. If prior patterns hold true (at least in BJ), the amount and duration of evening fireworks will die down a bit from now until the 6th, then another mini-New Year's Eve. Then things are supposed to end, and usually do except maybe for a few short bursts of firecrackers here and there. Even the Chinese public is sick of the noise by that time. With lots of urbanites having to go back to work as of Monday Jan 31, they aren't amused when they aren't getting enough quiet evening and sleep time after 10 pm.

If the central and local city governments had any sense, they would cut off the sale of fireworks and firecrackers the day after New Years. So many idjits would be popping off all their ammo in the first couple of days and then would run out sooner and we'd have a bit more peace.

Really though, I wish Beijing would go back to the prohibition of fireworks inside the city (5th Ring Road) which was in effect prior to 2006. They could arrange multiple professional fireworks shows in safe, public open areas around the city (similar to Western countries), and then just allow people small firecrackers and sparklers.

I can't imagine this really worked, did it? :eek:

Yes, at least in Beijing Eastern half of city, it did work and particularly inside the 4th Ring Road. It was quiet, except occasionally you'd hear some of the small firecracker strings going off. In the distance beyond the 4th Ring Road you could see larger fireworks going off periodically. The demarcation between No Fireworks and Free-for-All was supposed to be the 5th Ring Road, but in the early 2000's there was still was a lot of open undeveloped space between 4th and 5th Rings so people took advantage. But fewer neighbors to bother at that time. And I think the key factor was that except from "underground" sources, the sale of fireworks was not allowed, and if caught with them in the city, was punishable.

Supposedly, class B fireworks and M80s are prohibited inside 3rd Ring this year.

Very "supposedly." I'm inside the 3rd Ring (closer to 2nd Ring actually) and there have certainly been devices in that category being set off around here--in the evening. Even more interesting is that one of the nearby origins of some of the biggest explosions (think: military-style mortar rounds) is coming from about 50 meters from a police station.

This afternoon walked past that fireworks stand on Xindong Lu west side, about a block north of the the Gongti Beilu intersection. Sight of it made me furious. If I had a fire hose and way to connect to the nearby hydrant, I would have doused the whole place completely, and rendered all those nasty noisemakers useless. :mad: And the fireworks too.

Of course you can still by the powerful stuff, but at "back room" premium.

Supposedly bound-cylinder fireworks ( exploding in air) were banned.

Still looks like a mortar barrage going off.:rolleyes:

http://newscontent.cctv.com/news.jsp?fileId=123985

If this works, it'd be the first time I've ever really seen compliance to any rule in China...

Seem to be complying to this rule::p

致富光荣

I'm heading back to Beijing in a couple of days, arriving at PEK close to midnight. Does anyone know how the airport taxi situation is these days? Should I pre-arrange a driver to pick me up? I assume by now it shouldn't be hoards of residents returning on particular days right?

Ah shucks, i will miss the Feb. 6th fireworks... Back to BJ on the 9th.
Only 3 days till super bowl sunday. In MN now with the CPA, grrrr...,

- Anyway watching CNN here & saw two tourist ads for China, One tv ad for Air China, & the other promoting the city of Hangzhou. Interesting.

Answering my own question here in case anyone finds this useful -- arrived 2nights ago, taxi situation was pretty healthy, plenty of travellers but also plenty of taxis!

Needed some time to re-adapt to the dry dry Beijing climate (SG is hooooooooomid!), as well as mop up the dust that accumulated in my apt over the past weeks. Eyes and nose have been quite sensitive as a result!

Looking forward to the fireworks on the 6th then, since I missed pretty much ALL THE FUN ;)

Well, I wouldn't want you to feel left out. How about I round up all the delinquents within 200 m of my building, and bring them all over to your building so they can light up outside and fire away all night long, just for you! :p

Feb 6 must be one of those special days because the locals (in Shanghai) started scaring off the evil spirits at midnight, and have yet to let up.