One of my favorite China stories is about when I had just moved to China and the country was celebrating the Chinese New Year, two months ahead of schedule. I had a few beers at a Muslim restaurant where I was eating delicious Chinese pok BBQ. As I walked out, I see a group Chinese with Arabic features. They were holding sticks of dynamite, lit them and threw them in the air. This occurred during the beginning stages of the Arab Spring in the Middle East.
Well during that evening. Hordes of Chinese come out of their homes and they start throwing sticks of dynamite in the air. I’m thinking, OMG the revolution in China has not been televised and I’ll be lucky to live through the night.
Well I survived and the next morning I asked my coworkers about it and they just laughed and said, “Welcome to China and Happy Chinese New Years to you.” It turns out that the Chinese love firecrackers, and their favorite activity is to throw sticks of dynamite in the air. And each year, a few people die and some lose their hands due to dynamite explosion mishaps. They claim that dynamite brings good luck to the Chinese so that’s why they do it.
OMG!
Lucky you weren’t hit with any dynamite shrapnel.
Do you now participate in the revelry by throwing your own dynamite?
I guess that is one way to cull the population. lol
How could you move from Texas to a Communist County and dining in Muslim restaurants? Sounds really weird unless it was job related that would be one of the last places I would ever move to.