CHINA’SBANSFOR“IMPROVEMENT”

By David Lu '26

China is considered one of the most powerful countries in the world, in terms of power but especially in terms of their economic growth as they are known as the world’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP, totaling around US$18.32 trillion by the end of 2022. However, holding that power is a great responsibility and the government must not only take into consideration the potential success it would have in their country, but also how the repercussions of their every decision affect the future for all nations. Sometimes the Chinese government fails to see this, which leads to catastrophic consequences

To eliminate a problem altogether, the Chinese government simply implements a ban that may relate to the prohibition of a certain item, and while many might be upset about this, it would usually not spark aggressive behaviour towards the government, but if the population can’t see the importance before the placement of the ban, it may spread lots of hatred and confusion among the citizens

One such example would be the Firework Ban, which is quite amusing as they are regularly used for Chinese traditions Chinese people have used fireworks to celebrate holidays, especially the New Year, since as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). However, in the 1980s local Chinese governments enacted a variety of firework bans citing concerns over safety, health, and environmental pollution until 2013. There are several reasons why the Chinese government has decided to ban fireworks. Still, their biggest regret was to neglect the desires of their people, as the previous year's fireworks were barely lit up from the zero-covid policy. This would eventually lead to a protest in central China, where New Year's Eve revellers clashed with police and overturned a patrol car A video of the incident is going viral online The video was first posted on TikTok, also known as Douyin in China, but it has since been taken down. Later, the video was still accessible on Twitter, which is emerging as a new digital repository for anything that has been removed from the Chinese internet. The video was posted on Twitter with a caption in Chinese, which, when translated to English, reads as "A dispute was caused by setting off fireworks in Zhoukou City, in eastern Henan Province, China. The police tried to arrest the person who set off the fireworks People surrounded the police car and demanded that it let them go. Finally, the police car was overturned.” While many would think it was a mistake of the government, especially as after the protest many cities immediately lifted the ban, other countries around the world also attempted to ban fireworks as they caused many injuries and increase pollution greatly.