A resurgence of fireworks during the lunar new year week in urban Beijing has forced the municipal government to issue a notice to tighten fireworks controls during the Lantern Festival which takes place tonight.

Ritualized cat-and-mouse games involving the police and fireworks lovers have almost become part of the repertory of the capital city's Spring Festival holidays.

A local newspaper report said that more than 100,000 policemen and volunteers patrolled Beijing's streets on lunar new year's eve to enforce the fireworks ban.

Yet, much to the government's vexation, many more firecrackers and fireworks were set off this holiday season than in the previous one, injuring about 300 local residents and causing 224 fires, compared with 51 for the 2001 festival period.

It seems that the quadrupling of fires so caused is enough to justify the government's prohibition and the firm rejection of criticism of the ban.

Firecrackers were banned in the urban areas of many major cities in the early 1990s to prevent fires, explosions and air pollution.

Beijing was the first among these cities.

Living in a crowded metropolis like Beijing, I do appreciate very much the government's strenuous efforts to make the city a cleaner and safer place, like setting strict limits on automobile exhaust emissions, checking industrial pollution and even imposing the fireworks ban.

However, the 8-year-old fireworks ban has proved rather ineffective, with the number of people defying it climbing in recent years.

The ban was adopted in the booming early 1990s when fun-loving Chinese lit a record number of firecrackers to celebrate their fast-changing lives.

The memories are still vivid of countless firecrackers and fireworks turning cities into jubilant, smoke-filled fun houses as the clock struck midnight ending the old year and starting the new.

Setting off fireworks on the eve of the lunar new year is an age-old Chinese tradition, which is supposed to drive away evil ghosts and bring good luck.

But enough turned out to be too much, and many complaints about the dangerous and annoying firecrackers during the festival, as well as people's increasing awareness of environmental quality, led to the introduction in 1993 of the regulation banning fireworks in the city's urban areas, which was approved by the city's People's Congress.

It is an undeniable fact that many believe New Year and Spring Festival lose their flavour without fireworks.

After a few years of the fireworks ban, more and more people naturally began to miss the noisy tradition which has been around for hundreds of years, and they began calling for a return of the old practice.

Many cities lifted the ban, and Beijing also set up 23 fireworks areas in the city's suburbs for fun-seekers from the city core.

Such compromises are in line with the changing role of the government from administrator to servant of the market economy.

But Beijing's recent re-emphasis on the fireworks ban for the Lantern Festival is understandable; after all, better protection of life and property from fires is always necessary.

Nonetheless, merely stressing the seriousness of the ban is far from enough.

Asking the people of Beijing to enjoy the pleasure of fireworks by driving a long distance to the suburban areas on lunar new year's eve is, if not impractical, an inconsiderate suggestion.

A workable solution is urgently needed.

In fact, the government has done and can do more to raise production standards for fireworks to reduce the risk of injury and fire.

The appalling poor quality of many fireworks is to blame for many of the mishaps.

To prevent people from setting off firecrackers randomly in urban areas, the government should set up more supervised fireworks areas that do not require people to travel long distances.

Of course, supporters of the ban do have a point in insisting on observation of the regulations while the country is sparing no effort in its campaign to promote the rule of law.

But more important than the text of existing regulations are the mechanisms to ensure that legislation is sensitive to changes in public opinion.

Maybe a public discussion on the ban should be held, where people's wishes can be listened to.

(China Daily February 26, 2002)