Time has come to paint the town red in China, light things up, visit relatives, and feast. Now that it's Lunar New Year, cities from Shanghai to Vancouver are getting ready to usher in the Year of the Monkey.
According to Bloomberg, the biggest annual human migration in the world is underway with 332 million people on trains, some for days, to go back home for traditional reunion dinner, promoting sales of snacks and adult diapers.
Over 300,000 volunteers will give up their leisure time during the Spring Festival holiday to assist police enforce the new fireworks ban, according to a statement by the city's comprehensive management office.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, about 300,000 members of the public helped by putting up posters and handing out leaflets at different railway stations, city squares, shopping malls and tourist attractions all over the downtown region, according to Shanghai Daily.
Volunteers at South Railway Station in Xuhui District went as far as encouraging people to sign a pledge not to buy or light fireworks inside the Outer Ring Road.
On the other hand, in Changning District, home to several large foreign communities, the police helpers set up streamers that outlined new regulations in Chinese, Korean, English and Japanese.
Other members of the society have been obliged to denounce anybody found lighting, transporting, or storing fireworks during the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, police have been broadcasting public information messages over the radio, in addition to using electronic billboards to inform people about the new policies and regulations.
The police will also patrol in regions covered by the ban on Saturday and Sunday, and again on Feb. 11 and 22, the fourth and 15th nights of the Chinese New Year, both of which are conventional days on which to burn fireworks.
Jan. 1 saw the introduction of restrictions that ban lighting of fireworks and firecrackers within the Outer Ring Road.