People are buying fewer and smaller fireworks than usual for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday in Beijing and Shanghai, where authorities have reduced the number of outlets allowed to sell fireworks.

A worker carries fireworks to put on display at a temporary sales outlet in Beijing’s Chaoyang district on Monday.[Chen Xiaogen/for China Daily]

The capital approved just 511 stores for the holiday period, down from 719 last year, with none of them within the Third Ring Road. Sales licenses are valid from Jan 22 to Feb 1, according to the firework management office.

In Shanghai, which has a population of 24 million, just seven outlets have been given licenses – all of them in suburban districts – compared with 77 last year.

Traders have seen mixed fortunes in both cities in the first few days of sales.

“Sales are not going well, but we saw this coming so we decided not to stock too many,” said a fireworks seller in Tiantongyuan, a populated residential area in Beijing, who gave his name only as Wang. “The price that distributors are charging has risen, so we have had to raise our prices, thus I don’t expect trade to boom.”

Panda Fireworks, the sole distributor to downtown Beijing this year, has predicted a 20 to 30 percent drop in sales, according to Beijing Daily. Yanlong Fireworks, another supplier, is only selling its leftover stock from last year in the capital’s suburbs and has announced it is considering quitting the market.

By contrast, in Shanghai’s suburbs, demand appears to remain high for some vendors. The only trader in Qingpu district said he has almost sold all of his stock – 200 cases of fireworks.

However, in both cities, people are purchasing smaller, child-friendly fireworks as opposed to larger-scale, louder bangers traditionally associated with Spring Festival celebrations.

“Most customers are just buying sparklers,” said Tang Banghua, who runs a stall in the capital’s Chaoyang district, referring to handheld fireworks that emit a colorful flame as they burn. “They’re entertaining and cheap, priced at just 20 yuan ($2.9) a pack.”

A woman in her 30s who visited the stall with her young son said: “I don’t want any myself, but my son insists. He likes the sparklers.

“It’s not convenient for us to set off big fireworks as we’re not allowed to do so until Lunar New Year’s Eve, and there are many restrictions on where you can use them. Also, the smoke they produce pollutes the air,” she added.

In addition to fewer licenses being made available, authorities have said that the sale of fireworks will be prohibited in the event of orange or red alerts for heavy air pollution.

“We’ll obey the policy, of course, but as traders, we just hope the weather stays clear,” Wang said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Environmental Protection showed the level of PM2.5 – fine particulate matter that is hazardous to health – rose from less than 100 micrograms per cubic meter to 700 on Lunar New Year’s Eve last year, when many people set off fireworks.

For centuries, Chinese have burned firecrackers and set off fireworks to drive away evil spirits, which eventually became a form of celebration.

Chinese carrier rocket designers are using their knowledge and expertise to tap into the public’s demand for fresh and clean air.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, a major developer of the nation’s carrier rockets and ballistic missiles, will soon put on the market an air purifier that developers say incorporates a host of cutting-edge technologies used on rockets.

Beijing Ares Technology Co, a subsidiary of the academy responsible for the development and marketing of air purifiers, has sold 10,000 Alpha-blue air purifiers, developed by rocket designers, to space industry workers and will launch 5,000 sets on the open market after the coming Chinese New Year.

Wang Libo, chairman of Beijing Ares Technology, said on Wednesday that he expects the product to be popular because it has better capabilities compared with other air purifiers of its kind on the Chinese market, while being reasonably priced.

“Compared with other purifiers of its size, the Alpha-blue has a much higher rate of delivering clear air and absorbing formaldehyde in a given period of time because we powder-coat its filter screens with nanoplatinum particles that are widely used in rocket production,” he said.

“We also made use of our designers’ knowledge of aerodynamics that they gained through the making of rocket bodies and engines to design the air purifier’s intakes and outlets to ensure it has better air circulation compared with other products,” Wang added.

In addition, composite materials and remote control technologies adopted by Chinese carrier rockets have also been used in Alpha-blue, according to Wang.

An Alpha-blue air purifier sells for 4,999 yuan ($727), much less than other purifiers with its capacity, which usually have a price of at least 8,000 yuan, he said.

“The academy has been transferring its space technologies to medical air purification for many years and has served a lot of hospitals. Now we want to help the public get rid of PM2.5,” he explained, referring to the most feared pollutant in Chinese cities – particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 microns that can penetrate the lungs and seriously harm health.

Several agents have signed contracts with Ares Technology, while the company is also developing a store on Taobao, the most popular online shopping website in China, Wang said.

Zhao Xiaozhuo, an electronic engineer at China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology who took part in the development of the nation’s newest Long March 5 and Long March 7 carrier rockets, said he adopted monitor equipment used on rockets for the Alpha-blue that allows users to monitor and control the machine anywhere and anytime.

He added that the Alpha-blue’s capabilities have been measured by China’s top quality certification firm and the test results show it has better performance than most purifiers on the Chinese market.