Chinese Culture and All That Noise
The world is full of noise. It's not just a Chinese thing, I know. But the Chinese have a special fondness for noise, apparently. There's noise everywhere, at all times of the day or night from all quarters. If noise is not the spice of Chinese life it is a condiment much over-used in the daily brew of the Chinese milieu.
Take firecrackers. Please. They're an infamous Chinese invention, of course, and were the compulsive and inevitable marriage of two other Chinese innovations: paper and gun-powder. (Other Chinese achievements include brewing tea, printing, movable-type, the horse stirrup, the symphonic orchestra, the internal combustion engine and manned space flight. (More on that later.))
The Chinese were inspired, the fable goes, by the popping of burning bamboo which scared off the dragons from attacking villages in ancient China. (Much to the relief of the villagers!) As a result, firecrackers are used to celebrate everything from weddings to the opening of envelopes. Huge strings of 'Black Cat'-sized firecrackers are set off in dynamic, ear-splitting, rapid-fire fusillades whenever custom requires an auspicious and raucous announcement. Or to scare off dragons, ghosts and evil spirits.
I was witness to one such sequential crepitation which went on for a full five minutes to herald the grand opening of a dress shop. A great coil of firecrackers was ignited on the street in front of the cubby-sized emporium. The oppressive racket and flash brought traffic to a stop and sent passers-by scurrying for cover. Consequently, the shop was closed for the rest of the day as the clerks had been temporarily rendered deaf and were reduced to shouting "What? What?" at each other.
In Mainland China, the People's Republic, the government has tried to curb the use of firecrackers in celebrations by promoting the sale of cassette tapes of firecrackers exploding. These recordings could then be played at extreme volume over public address systems thus certifying any celebration as authentically auspicious. Or to scare off ghosts. Obviously, alleviating noise pollution was not the goal. But the resultant litter from hundreds upon hundreds of firecrackers bursting their paper casings was causing too much of a mess. The recordings never caught on. Maybe because listening to explosions is just not as exciting as simultaneously watching them explode. More probably, they just weren't loud enough.
Firecrackers are not the only racket heard in China, of course. There is also the crash, clang, screech and squeal of traditional Chinese celebratory 'music'. (I'm forced to use that word - 'music', despite the fact that what the Chinese perform meets none of the word's usual definitions. I'll use inverted commas to isolate the word for a special deprecating connotation. I know this appears snobby and ethnocentric and most assuredly not P.C. I don't care. I do not adhere to the concept that all cultures are of equal merit. If you take offense, that's your nut to crack. Go on retreat, grow a sense of humor and get back to me. Or not. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Chinese 'music'.)
Latest Articles