Happy Chinese New Year!
I hope everybody enjoyed their CNY holiday, with family gatherings, receiving red packets, and mahjong. All I had was foreign cuisine (pizza and Mexican food) as the new year’s Eve dinner since all Chinese restaurants were closed that night. Although we have all come back to campus, officially, CNY is not over yet. In China, the celebration will usually last until the 15th of January (lunar calendar), the lantern festival. Also, some traditions in Singapore are different from those in China. For example, I did not know about Yu Sheng and Lion dance before coming to Singapore. It seems that China is so big that the traditions in every province are slightly different, like hundreds of sets of mahjong rules. The Singapore tradition is very similar to those of the southern provinces in China. However, there are several common traditions that are practiced by all Chinese people around the world. They are fireworks, new year feasts, and gift-giving (including red packets). As we enjoy ourselves in this grand festival, few people have paid attention to the many types of pollution we created, which can be a huge problem.
Fireworks and firecrackers are largely made from black power, which is a combination of sulfur, carbon, and potassium nitrate (KNO3). If the proportion of each component is correctly used, the reaction would theoretically produce nontoxic matters only. However, in actual practice, black powder always produces pollutants like SO2, CO, particulate matter, and NOx due to incomplete combustion. In the northern part of China, with unfavorable meteorological conditions due to the constant high-pressure system, the impact of air pollutants is usually amplified. According to research by Foreback et.al. (2022), during the 2018 CNY, PM2.5 in Beijing peaked at 250 µg cm−3, and other air pollutants concentration increased significantly from normal values before the CNY. In 2020, many cities including Beijing had their air quality ranked as “heavily polluted” during the CNY period (fig.1).
fig.1 AQI during the 2020 CNY period (Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Centre, 2020)
Moreover, to give various colors to fireworks, heavy metals are also added to them. For example, copper gives a green color and strontium appears red. Lead, on the other hand, is often used as an ignitor for the combustion process. These heavy metals and their compounds become particulate matter, either inhaled by people or deposited on the ground, creating pollution which accumulates and is not degradable. The worst case is when heavy metal enters the water body and accumulates in aquatic animals which would later be eaten by people. Another form of pollutant created by firecrackers is its residue, the debris left behind that consists of unreacted black powder, red wrapping paper, and lead wires. It was estimated that a small-scaled city in China can produce 30 tonnes of firecracker residue per day, during the CNY period (jy135.com, 2020).
Firecracker residue (RunawayJuno, 2012)
With increasing awareness on the polluting effects of fireworks and firecrackers, the Chinese government implemented bans in 2019, stating that playing with fireworks and firecrackers can be illegal in particular periods and areas, designated by the government (China Communist Party, 2019). Offenders will be fined or given administrative penalties for public security, usually in the form of detention. The “designated areas” are usually the center of large cities, which means in the majority parts of China, especially towns and villages, playing with fireworks and firecrackers is still allowed. That makes the effects of this law questionable. It may help in reducing air pollution in heavily populated places, yet the total amount of pollutants is not likely to decrease, as does the damage it can do to the environment. Certainly, fireworks have become an integral part of Chinese culture, and it would be impossible for the government to implement a complete ban. The government has to find a different yet better way to resolve this problem, for example, new technologies that reduce the amount of heavy metal in fireworks and new fire powder which generates fewer air pollutants.
I came across such a video that depicts a “novel” way of playing with firecrackers: Using balloons as a substitute. It creates similar sound effects as firecrackers do. However, balloons (plastics) are yet another problem on their own. It seems there is still a long way to go as we deal with this issue.
Screenshot from a video. (宇宙戏坊, 2023)
That is not all for CNY! I will discuss other relevant issues in my next post!
References:
Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Centre. (2020). 专家解读：燃放烟花爆竹会对空气质量造成显著影响 [Explanation by Experts: Fireworks and Firecrackers Will Have Huge Impacts on Air Quality]. https://m.gmw.cn/baijia/2021-02/11/1302106603.html
Benjamin Foreback, Lubna Dada, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Chao Yan, Lili Wang, Biwu Chu, Ying Zhou, Tom V. Kokkonen, Mona Kurppa, Rosaria E. Pileci, Yonghong Wang, Tommy Chan, Juha Kangasluoma, Lin Zhuohui, Yishou Guo, Chang Li, Rima Baalbaki, Joni Kujansuu, Xiaolong Fan, Zemin Feng, Pekka Rantala, Shahzad Gani, Federico Bianchi, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Tuukka Petäjä, Markku Kulmala, Yongchun Liu, and Pauli Paasonen. (2022). Measurement report: A multi-year study on the impacts of Chinese New Year celebrations on air quality in Beijing, China. https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/11089/2022/#section3
China Communist Party. (2019). 禁止燃放烟花爆竹相关法律法规条款及解读 [The Relevant laws and Explanation on the Ban of Fireworks and Firecrackers]. http://xxgk.beihai.gov.cn/bhsaqscjdglj/zcfgzl_84882/zcfg_88759/201902/t20190214_1862767.html
jy135.com. (2020). 烟花爆竹对环境的危害 [Environmental Damage brought by Fireworks and Firecrackers]. https://www.jy135.com/shenghuo/7416.html
RunawayJuno. (2012). Fireworks residue. https://www.flickr.com/photos/runawayjuno/6748484711
宇宙戏坊. (2023). 现在提倡环保，福建老板的开业鞭炮都改成了气球鞭炮，还真是够聪明的！[Smart Boss who use balloons as replacements for firecrackers, in response to the current policies of environment protection] https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1o84y1h7qa/?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0&vd_source=568ef60ceff62b6b989580da772a94f7
Illustration created using Novel AI
