Chinese usher in pig year with joy
Beijing had no snow on the eve of the Lunar New Year, but when
people woke up in the morning on Sunday, they saw the streets covered by a snow
of red scraps of paper
left by fireworks.
A little child plays fireworks in a street
in Beijing on the eve of Chinese lunar new year on Saturday, February 17, 2007.
[Xinhua]
It was a sleepless night, when people throughout the country,
urban and rural, reveled with firecrackers and the best food and drinks they
could prepare, to welcome the Year of the Golden Pig.
Beijing's official statistics show that by the New Year's Eve, more than
380,000 boxes of firecrackers had been sold, compared with 240,000 boxes for the
same period last year. This does not include unlicensed sales of cheaper but
substandard firecrackers, which is estimated to be more than the authorized
figure.
For many Chinese, enjoying fireworks is a traditional way for happiness and
celebrations. The festive mood this year is obviously stronger than ever before,
and that is justified when considering what a year they've had in 2006 and what
they are expecting in 2007.
Liu Hang, a retired worker in Beijing, enjoys telling his investment stories
in 2006. In a year's time, he got a return of 110,000 yuan (about US$14,000)
from an investment of 50,000 yuan in the stock markets.
China's stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen cherished the world's best
performance last year, with major indices rising over 130 percent, bringing
about profits to almost all investors, including individuals who had been losing
money in the market for quite a few years prior to 2006.
Experts comment the stock markets, after rudimental reforms since the second
half of 2005, are finally able to reflect the country's economic growth, which
recorded a GDP growth of 10.7 percent year-on-year to reach 20.94 trillion yuan
in 2006, the fourth straight annual double-digit growth rate for the world's
fourth largest economy.
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