The origin of setting off firecrackers and The spring couplets
2 min readSetting off firecrackers is a practice handed down from the remote past.It is related with burning bamboo stems.Bamboo stems have joints and are hollow inside.
When they are burnt，the air inside expands after being heated，and the stemsthemselves burst open and make a loud cracking sound.Later on，people placed gunpowder in the bamboo stems and thus invented firecrackers.Still later，paper rol1s replaced bamboo stems.By the close of the Qing Dynasty，there had been already special workshops in China making all kinds of firecrackers.
At first，people set off firecrackers for the purpose of keeping away evil spirits and seeking happiness.Legend has it that there was a strange savage beast whose body looked like a human being and who hid itself in remote mountains. Toward the end of every year，it would come out to kill people and animals.
However，the beast was afraid of light and noise.Whenever it heard the noise of firecrackers，the beast was so scared that it ran away.Therefore，at the beginning and end of every year，people set off firecrackers in order not to be disturbed by the beast.
Recently local regulations have been issued to forbid setting off firecrackers in cities，for they can cause fire accidents and hurt people.Despite these regulations，however，many citizens go out into the countryside to light firecrackers for the New Year celebration.
What is the origin of spring couplets？
Chunlian are couplets posted on gates during the Spring Festival.These originated from the“peach-wood charms”in the ancient times，which were meant to send off the old and usher in the new.These charms were tiny rectangular plates and made of peach-wood.In the Song Dynasty，paper came to be used instead of wood plates for writing spring couplets，and in the Ming Dynasty，encouraged by Emperor Taizu，spring couplets came to be greatly vogue.On one New Year day afterhe made Nanjing as his capital，Taizu issued an imperial decree requiring all officials，scholars and common people to paste a pair of couplets on their gates.As he traveled around，he was pleased to see these colorful spring couplets.
The time-honored practice of pasting spring couplets is still being followed to these days.However，the current couplets are quite different from those of the past as far as their meaning is concerned.They now either describe the flourishing national progress or wonderful sights of the land.They also give expression to people’s wishes for a still better future.
