I sent a note to Tony Perkins, a colleague from WISH who now works in China.  I wondered what it’s like to be over there on the 4th of July. 

Tony said he’s rarely asked about our “national day”.  But, in his response, he wrote:

You can get a special deal on an all-American burgers and fries dinner at Grandma’s Kitchen, a Cracker Barrel-like restaurant in the old embassy district.

There is no beating fireworks displays in China.  During Chinese New Year, ordinary citizens purchase and shoot fireworks that are equal to what is sent up from the top of the bank building in Indianapolis.  They simply buy the rockets, go to the curb on the street, and light them up.  This goes on every night for 10 nights or so in late January – early February, from 6pm until 2am.  Very few safety precautions are followed; each day I will see more than a dozen men, women, or children with badly-wrapped bandages on their hands or over their eyes.