Chinese crowds greet the New Year with a bang

BEIJING, Feb 18 (Reuters) Bright, deafening explosions and thick smoke covered China's capital at midnight, as Beijingers celebrated the beginning of the New Year and the end of a firework ban in exuberant fashion.

Chrysanthemum bursts several stories high alternated with loud strings of crackers at every intersection, with scant regard for passing bicycles or milling crowds.

''I hope that during the Year of the Pig I get really rich, and will be healthy and joyous,'' said Deng Yu, a white collar worker enjoying the cacophony with his friends near Beijing's ancient Bell and Drum Towers.

''I also hope my parents will stay healthy, and my friends -- a lot of them, all of them around the world can be peaceful and happy.'' Chinese cities have been gradually loosening firework restrictions, instituted over decade ago due to fire and safety concerns. This year was the first that fireworks were allowed throughout Beijing.

The city recruited 20,000 workers to sweep the streets of red firework debris that collected centimetres thick in some areas.

The volume of text messages, or SMSs, spiked by 40 per cent as Chinese wished each other a prosperous Year of the Golden Pig.

Children born when the gold and pig years coincide, or once every sixty years in the Chinese lunar calendar, are supposed to have a fat and easy life.

Today, the first day of the New Year, an estimated 40,000 people jammed into Beijing's largest Daoist Temple to burn incense and make a wish. Religion is making a comeback after decades in which China's communist rulers tried to ban or co-opt ''feudal superstition.'' A recent poll by Shanghai-based East China Normal University found that nearly one-third of Chinese, or about 300 million, are religious. But most worshippers standing in line at the Baiyun Temple, built in 1224, were more pragmatic than theological.

''I hope I can be blessed with happiness and my dreams will come true. But as for whether I am religious...as long as I get my wish that's enough,'' said Ling Bencui, waiting in line to have her incense thrown in the flames.

The Chinese New Year marks the world's largest human migration, as millions of workers overload trains and buses in the struggle to get home and feast with their families. This year, China's people will collectively make 2.2 billion trips.

The overstretched system leaves some in the cold. Housecleaner Liu Jin spent a lonely midnight on the train, since she couldn't buy a ticket that would get her home early enough to join her family.

''I was the second in line when the tickets went on sale, but already not a single ticket was available. Those jerks at the Ministry of Railways had sold them all out the back door,'' said Liu, a widow whose son and mother live hundreds of miles away in Harbin.

''I was so mad I marched over to the police to complain, but they said 'what could they do?' China has too many people.'' REUTERS PB PM1237