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When I was a kid (which, believe it or not, was not too far away — or long ago, which ever term you favor), I was given into giving people fives. High fives, low fives, and heck, even a squashy five from time to time (no idea? I forgot how the squashy five went, too), and as I always say, “stuff like that”.

Now it’s time for Beijing — and the entire People’s Republic and all Chinese everywhere — to break fives.

That’s right.

Beijing tonight is, once again, a total war zone. There’s a reason behind this — this is the fifth day of the new year in the lunar new year, and letting things break, in essence (that’s what they mean by the Chinese word “po” (破)), is what you’re supposed to do. If I’m not mistaken, we have a perfectly harmonious society for the first 96 hours of the new year, only to be broken and shattered on the fifth day.

Well, nearly. Po Wu (破五) is what Beijing is going through — and any Chinese city at that. Tradition goes that on the fifth day of the new year in the lunar calendar, you break things. You let the fireworks have the mic, so to speak, and you eat dumplings (which you had about four days ago for the big festival on the first — at midnight).

In terms of just how or what is behind Po Wu, yours truly would like to know as much as you’d like to know (to be totally honest with you). Your now confused-but-still-cheerful blogger has only been in China for Chinese New Years since 2002 for good, so there’s a lot of tradition that slips behind view (and remains invisible to David Feng eyes — at least for now).

However, as you can see (or hear, if you’re around in the capital — read: war zone), fireworks and dumplings aren’t too far away. The price of fireworks, by the way, has dropped by around 20%. However, rather strong winds (to the tune of Beaufort Level 5) are threatening the capital, so the Fire Department is ready.

And by the way, if you’re inside the 5th Ring Road, you can only let your “artillery and flame” (as the Chinglish have it) let rip until midnight. If you want to let them rip for as long as your spirit decrees, you’ll need seek shelter — outside the beltway. The police will be on the streets in full force — a fine isn’t cheap, by the way…