A full day of fireworks

On the fifth day of the new lunar year, the Chinese celebrate by setting off firecrackers to welcome the God of Wealth, Cai. (In Chinese, 正月初五迎财神, zhengyuequwu yingcaishen). It's a tradition that leads to a mercilessly cool day of fireworks -- mostly the really noisy kind -- that doesn't end until you're drunkenly passed out.

Here's what it looked like from a fourth-story apartment building in Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province.


My dad's younger sister's husband, or gufu (姑父), holding the string of firecrackers. I took the picture standing in the cramped kitchen.