China Gets Tough on Illegal Firework Factories

Officials are clamping down on the illegal production and sale of fireworks as the industry enters its busiest period ahead of Chinese New Year.

The move follows a factory explosion in the eastern province of Shandong on Saturday that killed 13 people and injured two. Scores of people die each year in similar blasts.

The ministry of public security said it had ordered local offices to increase monitoring work and take tough action against those producing and selling fireworks and firecrackers illegally.

Around one-third of the world's fireworks are made in China. Huge amounts are consumed domestically during Spring Festival, known in the west as Chinese New Year, which falls on 26 January this year.

Police in Shandong have arrested a couple over the weekend explosion. Qu Zhifan, the provincial public security department chief, told a press conference that Ling Xi'en and his wife, Lao Lanying, set up the plant without permission, claiming they were running a paint warehouse.

"Neighbors said they were not aware of the underground workshop until the blast went off," he said.

Another 11 people have been killed in illegal firework plant explosions in four separate provinces since mid-November, according to official figures, while six people in Inner Mongolia were recently jailed for a blast that killed 17 in August.

In the most notorious incident, in 2001, 38 children died when their school in Jiangxi was flattened by an explosion. Parents said the school had forced its pupils to make fireworks so it could earn money.

Beijing alone has seen two deaths, more than 1,500 injuries and 2,400 fires related to fireworks since a 12-year ban was lifted in 2006.