 The smog that has been bothering the city triggered a huge debate on whether people should still play fireworks to celebrate the year of the horse. It seems like Beijing residents have made their choice. They pick health and better environments. Beijing has seen a couple of more clear days like this during the Chinese New Year. It's a Chinese family tradition to play fireworks during the Spring Festival. This year, however, the government has encouraged its people to limit the amount of fireworks played due to the smog. Some have claimed that it's making the New Year less Chinese. Shili Rong, a sociology professor in the University of Science and Technology Beijing, supports the proposal of fewer fireworks for a cleaner air. My colleagues' neighbors and I decided not to buy or play any fireworks this year. That's the least we could do for the environment. She does not think it's an act of losing tradition not to play fireworks. It's more than keeping the form when it comes to keeping the tradition. The spirit matters more and the form can always be evolving. Fireworks sales have slummed this year because of the pollution fears. But for Meng Fei Chen from Southern California, who's lived in Beijing for more than two years, limiting fireworks don't seem to be the fix. Instead of tackling the big issues of the factories, of the cars, of everything else, they just start focusing on these things that make it seem like a limited problem, so that might be fireworks. In Beijing, China, this is Alex Xi for BUTV.