Beijing has banned the use of fireworks within city limits for many years but the citizens are increasingly yearning for the return of the old days. A paper survey of Beijing residents reveals that 69.64% of those sampled are in favor of a certain degree of liberalization of the rule banning fireworks.

The Beijing Municipal Regulations on Safety of Fireworks (Draft) will undergo initial review during the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of Beijing's 12th People's Congress to be unveiled on July 19th. Citizens have raised their expectations that the strict prohibition on fireworks will be liberalized.

At present, the Standing Committee of Beijing's People's Congress is widely sampling the citizens' reactions to the Draft, with July 8th as the deadline for submission. Beijing residents can express their views on the website of the Standing Committee as well as by mail.

Earlier, the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs of Beijing's People's Congress used numerous ways to collect opinion from a wide spectrum of the public, including 218 discussion forums in which over 5,252 people took part. The Committee also distributed 60,000 survey sheets, with 5,000 sheets in each of the eight city-center districts and 2,000 sheets in each of the ten suburban districts and 57,431 survey sheets were filled out and returned. The survey shows that 69.64% of citizens approve of a certain degree of liberalization of the law forbidding fireworks.

(chinanews.cn July 4, 2005)