Holiday workers sacrifice for others(2)

In Beijing, after the fireworks climaxed at midnight and most residents went to bed, sanitation workers went to work in the cold one hour later.

A sanitation worker surnamed Duan said sanitation work would continue until 6 a.m. in order to remove all the debris from the spent fireworks.

Gao Qing, deputy chief of Beijing's Fire Police Command Center, said all fire departments had shifted to "top-degree operational readiness" for New Year's Eve.

"Our job is to make an all-out effort to cope with fire emergencies and make sure people can greet the new year with sound sleep," he said.

Since the fireworks will last until the first full moon of the first lunar month, medical workers, firefighters and sanitation workers will likely continue to have their hands full.

Power companies have also been running full-tilt to keep up with demand for electricity. Chinese custom dictates that evil spirits are dispelled not only by fireworks, but also ordinary lights, leading many Chinese families to turn on all the lights in their homes in hopes of having a lucky new year.

In the city of Macheng in central China's Hubei Province, electricians rushed to the village of Doupo to repair a transformer after 20 households reported power outages to the city's power supply company.

With 400,000 migrant workers returning home for Spring Festival Macheng saw its domestic electricity consumption hit a record high of 212,000 kilowatts on Saturday, up 10.1 percent from the same day last year.

When an emergency crew replaced fuses on the dead transformer in Doupo, villager anxiously waited nearby. Fifteen minutes later, lights were on amid cheers from the waiting residents.

"Chinese love to lights up their rooms during the Spring Festival. We have gotten used to restoring power on New Year's Eve," said Chen Yingshi, a worker who supervised the repairs in Doupo.

"If the government could spend more on power infrastructure in rural and less-developed regions in the coming year, I think I could retire with ease on next year's New Year's Eve," he said.