Global General

World embraces new decade with gusto

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-02 09:56

Girls dressed in the garb of Shanghai World Expo mascot Haibao perform on a float on Friday at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, the biggest New Year celebration on the US west coast. [Zhang Wei]

Hundreds of thousands of revelers who braved chilly weather in New York's Times Square cheered when a 5,400-kg crystal ball covered with more than 32,000 bulbs dropped at midnight, ushering in the new decade and ending 10 years marred by war, recession, terrorism and threats of environmental catastrophe.

Fireworks were set off and 1,360 kg of confetti were scattered when the gigantic New Year's Eve ball dropped. Many people wore conical party hats and 2010 glasses that blinked colorfully, and some were jumping up and down to keep warm.

Cell phones were brought out to document the last few hours of a decade many wanted to leave behind. The crowds brought out heightened security. Hundreds of police officers were scattered around Times Square. Snipers were at various locations.

Fifty-eight-year-old Joao Lacerda of Brazil offered this wish after the ball dropped: "Much happiness and for the world, much peace."

From fireworks over Sydney's famous bridge to balloons sent aloft in Tokyo, revelers across the globe at least temporarily shelved worries about the future to bid farewell to "The Noughties" - a bitter-tinged nickname for the first decade of the 21st century playing on a term for "zero" and evoking the word naughty.

In China, which usually celebrates its traditional Lunar New Year, which falls in Feb this year, people thronged the streets to brace a brand new year.

A man tries to "grasp" the sun during a New Year's celebration in Rizhao, Shandong province, on Friday. [Chen Weifeng/China Daily]

In Shanghai, "fireworks" and "party time" were the two key words as residents welcomed their Expo Year. The Bund, Xintiandi and Xujiahui, three of Shanghai's landmarks, lit up the city night with a dazzling display of pyrotechnic prowess during the countdown celebration.

Thousands made the final moments count with the magnificent Bund view in Chen Yi Square. Many made their New Year wishes as the city kicked up its heels with explosive sounds. Yan Qi, the 27-year-old who got married in 2009, wanted to have a beautiful baby in 2010.

"It's going to be an Expo baby as my expected date of childbirth is in May," she said. "And I hope he or she has a beautiful life."

In Beijing, where the temperature dropped to -12 C, tens of thousands of revelers gathered at the Place Shopping Plaza with cheers, hugs and kisses.

At Taipei 101 in Taipei, the world's tallest building in use, 22,000 fireworks put on the longest new-year-opening show, totaling 188 seconds.

World embraces new decade with gusto It was the most expensive fireworks extravaganza for the 508-m skyscraper since 2004.

An estimated 650,000 people gathered for the event, and watched concerts staged by local stars while waiting for the show to begin.

In France, Paris jazzed up the Eiffel Tower with a multicolored, disco-style light display with hopes that 2010 and beyond will bring more peace and prosperity.

Las Vegas welcomed some 315,000 revelers with fireworks from casino rooftops, a traffic-free Las Vegas Strip and toasts at nightclubs from celebrities including actress Eva Longoria and rapper 50 Cent.

Even as some major stock market indexes rose in 2009, the financial downturn hit hard, sending many industrial economies into recession, tossing millions out of work and out of their homes as foreclosures rose dramatically in some countries.

"The year that is ending has been difficult for everybody. No continent, no country, no sector has been spared," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on national TV in a New Year's Eve address. "Even if the tests are unfinished, 2010 will be a year of renewal," he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her people that the start of the new decade will not herald immediate relief from the global economic ills. South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, was more ebullient, saying the World Cup is set to make 2010 the country's most important year since the end of apartheid in 1994.

A couple kiss during New Year celebrations in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, capital of Germany. Inset, a boy captures the special moment in Times Square, New York. [Reuters]

At midnight in Rio de Janeiro, about 2 million people gathered along the 4-km Copacabana beach to watch a huge fireworks display and listen to dozens of music acts and DJs.

The multitudes came mostly dressed in traditional white clothing, a nod to the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomble but a custom followed by nearly everyone as it is thought to bring peace and good luck for the coming year.

Officials said about 12,000 police were on duty during the New Year's Eve party in and around Copacabana to provide security.

Dressed in white and holding a glass of champagne in his hand, visitor Chad Bissonnette, 27, a nongovernmental group's director from Washington, DC, said: "This year was the toughest I've experienced - for the first time as an American I saw many friends lose jobs and businesses in my neighborhood close regularly."

In New York's Times Square, organizers mixed about 10,000 handwritten wishes into the confetti that was dropped over the crowds. They included appeals for the safe return of troops fighting overseas and continued employment.

Gail Guay, 50, of New Hampshire had this advice: "Don't look back."

China Daily-AP