People bought firework in Shunyi, Beijing on Feb 3,2016. (Photo/Beijing Evening News)
Firework and firecracker celebrations will be banned in Beijing if serious air pollution is forecast for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
The ban will take effect if smoggy conditions warrant an orange or red air quality alert, during the holiday, which begins on Feb. 7. A red air quality alert is China's highest air pollution warning, which was issued twice in December 2015.
Starting from Wednesday, 719 vendors have begun to sell firecrackers in Beijing, 23.7 percent fewer than last year, Beijing Times reports.
Fireworks will be made available for purchase from Feb. 3 and will remain on sale for 10 days. Any unsold items must be in storage by Feb. 18, according to Beijing's Administration of Work Safety.
The Chinese have a tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year with firecrackers and fireworks, hoping the noise can fend off evil spirits and bad luck. However, with regular bouts of smog hitting China in recent years, fireworks' contribution to air pollution has drawn attention from the public and authorities.
More and more customers prefer to buy environmentally friendly fireworks, which contain no sulphur, produce less smoke through e-commerce platform where they could get a 31 percent discount says a supplier, who sold 100,000 yuan of firecrackers on the first day.
Beijing will actively limit the use of fireworks during the 2016 Spring Festival holidays. People are allowed to set off firecrackers for the whole day on Feb. 7— Feb. 8 and from 7 a.m. to midnight during Feb.9 — Feb. 22 within the Fifth Ring Road. People who break the rules will be fined up to 500 yuan (80 U.S. dollars).
