Starting the year with a bang, ushering in prosperity

On the Chinese New Year's Eve, strolling through the streets of Dali ancient town in Yunnan province, 40-year-old YouTuber Jasminia Gough from Australia found herself amid a blaze of light and sound. The streets suddenly came alive, with firecrackers echoing off the buildings and fireworks lighting up the faces of families gathered together to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

At the stroke of midnight, with a series of thunderous booms, "fireworks filled the sky, the streets became chaos, the noise was deafening, and the entire town came alive in a way I have never experienced before", Gough said in the introduction of a seven-minute video she posted about the special night. The YouTuber can be seen in the video bursting into laughter and setting off a few fireworks herself.

"I feel incredibly fortunate to be welcomed here … and to experience Chinese New Year. It is like nothing else in the world, and I will not forget tonight," she said.

That same night, in many parts of the country, people were setting off fireworks and firecrackers to drive away misfortune and express wishes for a healthy, wealthy and happy new year, as they have for the past 1,400 years — since Li Tian, a young man from today's Liuyang, Hunan province, invented them to ward off evil in 621.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), firecracker production in Hunan prospered, and during dynasties that followed, Liuyang fireworks and firecrackers were often designated as tribute items by the imperial court.

By 1875, Liuyang's fireworks were being exported to Europe and North America in large quantities.