Time to silence this dangerous tradition and ban the bangs

As people get together with their family members and celebrate the Chinese new year, fireworks play an important role in creating that uniquely exciting atmosphere. As the saying goes, though, every coin has two sides.

It's hard to ignore the fact that fireworks and firecrackers cause serious problems when it comes to the environment, as well as health and safety.

Firecrackers contribute a lot to air pollution in many cities. According to monitoring data collected by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the air quality in 22 out of 86 cities, including Beijing, was reportedly "lightly polluted" on Feb 4, the second day of this year's Spring Festival.