Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year in Hong Kong is always a vibrant fusion of traditional culture and modern sophistication. In the year 2000 - when the arrival of the Year of the Dragon was part of the city's amazing Millennium celebrations - the party was be bigger, brighter and extremely exciting.
Every year, from the amazing Chinese New Year Parade and one of the world's biggest fireworks display, to traditional flower markets and horseracing, the City of Life promises you an unforgettable experience and a fascinating opportunity to soak up some traditional Chinese culture. So make a date today, and get ready to say "Kung Hei Fat Choy" (prosperous wishes) in Hong Kong..
Spring Lantern (Yuen Siu)
Popularly referred to as Chinese Valentine's Day, this festival, held on the 15th day of lunar new year, marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Colourful lanterns in traditional designs appear in market stalls and are bought to decorate homes, restaurants and temples.
Special celebrations organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department take place in Ko Shan Road Park and Ko Shan Theatre in Kowloon in the evening.
Ching Ming
Ancestor worship is a Chinese tradition that goes back thousands of years. Ching Ming, or "Remembrance of Ancestors Day", is therefore a key holiday in the Chinese calendar. On this day families visit cemeteries to sweep their ancestors' graves and repaint the inscriptions on the headstones to show their respect. Public transport is widely used, particularly on routes along which cemeteries are located, and the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) runs extra services to cope with the increased traffic to burial areas in the New Territories. You should expect delays on public transport and on roads with access to cemeteries.
Birthday of Lord Buddha
Lord Buddha's birthday has great importance in Hong Kong's Buddhist temples. Worshippers show their devotion by bathing Buddha's statue. Many worshippers visit the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, home to the world's largest, seated, outdoor bronze Buddha. The Buddha Statue weighs over 202 tons and rises 26 metres above its platform on Ngong Ping Plateau. You can also observe the ceremonies of this ancient religion at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin and Miu Fat Monastery in Tuen Mun in the New Territories.
Dragon Boat (Tuen Ng)
The Festival commemorates the death of a popular Chinese national hero Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the Mi Lo River during the third century B.C., in protest against a corrupt government. Legend says that as townspeople attempted to rescue him, they beat drums to scare fish away and threw dumplings into the sea to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body.
Today, Festival activities recall this legendary event. During the Festival period, people eat rice-and-meat Dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves; and many look forward to swimming or even simply dipping their hands in the water. To symbolise attempts to rescue Qu Yuan, the real highlight of the festival can be seen when teams race elaborately decorated dragon boats to the beat of heavy drums. The special boats, which measure more than 10 metres, have ornately carved and painted "dragon" heads and tails, and each boat carries a crew of 20 - 22 paddlers.
Participants in the races train in earnest for the competition. Sitting two abreast, with a steersman at the back and a drummer at the front, the paddlers race to reach the finishing line, urged on by the pounding drums and the roar of the crowds.
Maiden (Seven Sisters) Festival
Girls and young lovers have this celebration all to themselves. It dates back to Chinese folklore more than 1, 500 years old. According to one legend, there was once a weaving maid, with six older sisters, who led a lonely life working at her loom throughout the year. Her father, the Heavenly Emperor, felt sorry for her and allowed her to marry a cowherder from across the Milky Way.
But after the wedding, she so neglected her weaving duties that the Emperor ordered her to return home and visit her husband only once a year -- on the seventh day of the seventh moon.
The celebrations centre on religious rites and competitions involving the art of needlecraft. As part of the worship, young women offer fruit and burn joss sticks and incense in the open air, chiefly on rooftops and in backyards and gardens, or at Lover's Rock on Bowen Road in Wan Chai, where they can scan the night skies for the two stars that represent the cowherd and the weaver maid.
Mid-Autumn (Lanterns) Festival
This Chinese equivalent to the West's Harvest Moon Festival is one of the loveliest nights of the year. Part of the celebrations commemorate a 14th-Century uprising against the Mongols when rebels wrote the call to revolt on pieces of paper and embedded them in cakes which they smuggled to compatriots. Today, during the festival, people eat special sweet cakes known as "Moon Cakes" made of ground lotus and sesame. Along with the cakes, shops sell coloured Chinese paper lanterns in the shapes of animals, and more recently, in the shapes of aeroplanes and space ships. On this family occasion parents allow children to stay up late, and take them to high vantage points such as The Peak to light their lanterns and watch the huge autumn moon rise before eating their moon cakes. Public parks are ablaze with many thousands of lanterns in all colours and sizes and shapes.
Chung Yeung Festival
The Chung Yeung Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth month, according to the lunar calendar. The festival's origins date back to 200BC when a man of the Han Dynasty avoided a catastrophe in his village by taking his family to a high place for the day. In Chinese folklore, the man took with him food and a jug of chrysanthemum wine. This story has developed into a tradition for Chinese to go picnicking in the mountains on festival days.
Chung Yeung is also a family remembrance day. Families visit graves to pay their respects to founding ancestors. They share the food they bring along, especially Chinese cakes, ko, which is a homonym of the word for "top". Hong Kong people believe that those who eat cake will be promoted to the top.
It is also an auspicious time for the young and they scrambling up the hills before they head home to make the most of the occasion. The festival is a great chance for nature lovers to take advantage of the public holiday and fine autumn weather to go walking through Hong Kong's numerous country parks.
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