The HONG KONG travel guide

  In this page :

FESTIVALS,   PUBLIC   HOLIDAYS,   EXHIBITIONS

FESTIVALS :

New Year

• Date : 01 January, 2010, Friday.
• Attractions :
  • Neon light decoration - all buildings along both sides of the Victoria Harbour are decorated with New Year theme neon lights.
  • New Year Eve - count down at Lan Kwai Fong and Times Square. Yacht owners drive their yachts out to the harbour and sea, they all sound their horns at new year moment.

go to top

Chinese New Year(a.k.a. Lunar New Year)

• Date : 14 February 2010, Sunday.

• Attractions : A series of attractions and celebrations starting from several days before the Chinese New Year, until days after. You should join the crowd and enjoy the both traditional and mythic events.
  
  
  • New Year Fair - 08Feb2010-14Feb2010 after Lunar New Year Eve mid night - biggest one is at the Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
    
    Flower Fairs are made up of many small stalls, the one in Victoria Park is divided into 2 sections - dry and wet. The wet section sells flowers and plants for Chinese New Year. Each flower or plant has its own good luck meaning for the coming year, such as kumquat, tangerine and narcissus bring good luck, peonies bring wealth, peach blossoms bring romance, gladiolous brings advancements in job and schoolwork. The dry section sells miscelleneous stocks, can be new year related or not. It is usually packed with people and full of excitment. After or approaching midnight of New Year Eve, all merchandize prices will be slashed especially flowers and other plants, some plant sellers might just distroy their plants instead of selling them too cheap. Bargaining is good fun here, buyers and sellers all enjoy the atmosphere.
  
  
  • Neon light decoration - all buildings along both sides of the Victoria Harbour are decorated with Chinese New Year theme neon lights.
  
  
  • 3rd day before the Chinese New Year - some old-styled or family-run restaurants are closed from this day onwards until several days after the New Year. As this is the day to give thank to the God of Kitchen, so followed by serveral days of rest. Some restaurants remain open but higher service charges are expected, you might as well check the service charge before you enter a restaurant.
  
  
  • Hair cut and shoes - Traditionally Chinese do not have hair cut nor buy shoes during the first several days of the New Year, so some hair dressers raised their price before the New Year (Note that it is rarely the situation nowadays, but you should check the price before getting a hair cut). On the other hand, shoe shops slash their price to compensate for the lost of business during the New Year holiday, so it is a good time to buy shoes.
  
  
  • Dragon dance and lion dance - mainly on the first 3 days of the new year. More frequently in the New Territories areas. As dragon and lion dances are organized privately, there is no definite schedules and place, but the chance of seeing one when you are on the street is pretty high.
  
  
  • Shopping - Some old-styled or family-own stores are closed on the first 3 days, so it is not good days for shopping. However, as Hong Kongers pay visits and buy gifts to their relatives and friends on these days, department stores, supermarkets and gift shops open extra long hours, with free gift wrapping services.
  
  
  • International Chinese New Year Night Parade - sponsored by the Cathay Pacific Airways, the New Year Night Parade was elected by the Lonely Planet Bluelist as one of the world's most fasinating attractions and celebrations, it features exaggerately decorated illuminated floats, international performing groups, and specially selected Hong Kong performing groups. Performance includes dances, marching band music, legendary characters and interactive entertainments with the audience. The parade snakes along Tsim Sha Tsui streets nearby the Victoria Harbour. Details are as below -
    • Date : 14 February 2010, Sunday, Chinese New Year day.
    • Time : 8:00pm to 9:30pm.
    • Opening ceremony : The Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza in Tsim Sha Tsui (for ticket holders only).
    • Parade route :
      • Starts from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza (for ticket holders only).
      • Proceeds along Salisbury Road to Mody Lane, makes U-turn and ends at New World Centre.
      • Three performing zones along Salisbury Road.
  • Temple visits and New Year wishes - it is customary for the Chinese to visit temples on the first few days of the New Year, both to give thank for the past year and to pray for good luck in the coming year. Here are some popular temples to be visited on Chinese New Year days.
    • Wong Tai Sin Temple - Chinese New Year day. It is believed that the first batch of people to put jos sticks in front of the statues will have good luck in the coming year, serious pilgramages usually queue up on New Year Eve so they can be the first batch. Wong Tai Sin Temple is full of pilgramages on Chinese New Year Day. Pilgramages also pick a jos stick, then get a jos stick interpreter to tell their fortune in the coming year.
      As a tradition, each year the head of the Leisure and Cultural Service Department of Hong Kong goes to Wong Tai Sin Temple to pray for good luck and pick a jos stick for Hong Kong, then tell the public whether the coming year will be good or not. In 2003, the worst jos stick was tossed by the Department Head, as it turned out that the entire year in Hong Kong was full of bad luck including SARS attack, H5N1 bird flu attack, stock market crash, property market crash and serious economic crisis.
      Location : Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon. Exit B3 of MTR Wong Tai Sin Station, clear signs are displayed to take you from the station to the temple.
    • Che Kung Temple - second day of the New Year is the birthday of Che Kung. Don't forget to spin the wheel to get rid of bad luck and attract good luck, also hit the drum to inform Che Kung that you are paying a visit, you can also buy a small colourful spin wheel to bring home to enhance good luck. Location : Shatin, the New Territories, it is situated between MTR Che King Temple Station and Tai Wai Station, so either - exit B from MTR Che Kung Temple Station (Ma On Shan Line), follow the signs and cross the pedestrian subway, walk west bound along Che Kung Temple Road for around 5 minutes; Alternatively, exit B from MTR Tai Wai Station (East Rail Line), follow the signs and walk for around 10 minutes. It is believed that people do not visit each other on the third day of the new year as they will end up quarrelling, so people may use this day to visit the Che Kung Temple. Hence Che Kung Temple is crowded on both the second and the third day of the New Year.
    • Wishing Tree - the current wishing tree is not the original banyan tree which was burnt down decades ago, this new tree is recently damaged by parasites, but survive. To make a wish, write your wish onto a piece of joss paper, tie it with an orange, then throw the whole set onto the Wishing Tree. The higher of the branch your wish paper reaches, the higher chance that your wish will come true. Orange and joss paper are sold at the spot. Location : Lam Tsuen, Shatin, the New Territories. Exit from MTR Tai Po Market Station (East Rail Line), take bus route 64K, 65K, or minibus 25K, get off at Wishing Tree or Tin Hau Temple.
    • Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery - can be visited at any day. Each buddha status has its own facial expression and posture, statues are situated everywhere at the area of monastery, also along both sides of the stairs. Location : Shatin, the New Territories. Exit at Shatin Station of MTR (East Rail Line), follow the signs and walk for about 45 minutes.
  • Fire crackers - Banned in Hong Kong for almost half of a century. However, in certain rural areas in the New Territories, people smuggled fire crackers from the Mainland China, and add some atmosphere to this big festival.
  • Symphony of Light - every evening along the Victoria Harbour.
  • Firework show - 15 February, Monday. (2nd evening of the Chinese New Year). starts at 8:00pm in Victoria Harbour. Try to find a good spot at the waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui, Central, Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay to watch the show.
• Festival food :
  • Every home has a delight platter(candy box) for visitors to munch on while chatting, traditionally it contains melon seeds (dyed in red, eat by putting the seed vertically sideway between your teeth and crack open the shell, then eat the inside seed), dried sugar-glazed winter melon, lotus seed and lotus roots. Due to sanitary reasons these dried sugar-glazed goodies are replaced by individually wrapped sweets. Delight platters are present in many stores too, so feel free to grab a sweet or two.
  • Vegetarian dishes on the first half of the Chinese New Year day, it usually consists of iceberg lectuce and hair-like algae (meaning to bring wealth), dried mushroom, dates and dried bean curd sticks.
  • Whole fish with head and tail, and dried oyster, served at lunch on the second day of the New Year.
  • Several kinds of cakes - Nian gao (literally means "year cake", made by sticky rice flour and brown sugar), turnip cake (made by turnip, preserved meat, dried mushroom and rice flour), taro cake(made by taro and rice flour), water chestnut cake (made by water chestnut, sugar, water chestnut flour and rice flour) - are served any time as snack or meal of the new year days.
  • Yau gok (deep fried new year dumpling) - made by ground peanut, sugar, coconut and seasame seed wrapped in thin pastry, deep fried into crispy. Served as snack at any time of the New Year days.
  • Tong Yuen(sticky rice balls) in soup, with various different types of stuffing such as brown sugar, seasame, red bean paste or peanut. Served before the Chinese New Year day when families and company staff members have get-together meals. Tong Yuen has a meaning of "stick together, or union".
• Other festival traditions :
  • Red - red is the most popular color for the Chinese New Year, meaning happiness. Black is avoided as much as possible.
  • Red packets (Lai See) - money is put into red packet envelopes and given out by married people to younger generations, and from supervisors to subordinates. This is done between the first day and the 15th day of the new year. Red packet envelopes can be bought in many places including newstands and convenience stores. Just for fun, in your hotel you can give red packets of around HK$20 to the bell boys, housekeeping maids etc. it is not a requirement but whoever receive them will be happy.
  • Greetings - "Kung Hei Fat Choy" is said instead of "hello" in the first few days of the new year. It literally means "Congratulations, you will be wealthy this year.". If "Kung Hei Fat Choy" is too difficult for you, simply say Happy New Year.
  • Horoscope - a new horoscope does not start from the Chinese New Year day, but starts on the day of the Spring Solstice. However, people celebrate Chinese New Year as if the new horoscope starts from that day. This chart gives you some idea of the 12 Chinese horoscope.
  • Posters - of various shapes and styles, to display good and lucky words. Weeks before the new year, these posters are for sale at many stores, and given away by department stores, banks, newspaper, magazines and corporations.

go to top

Chinese Valentine's Day (a.k.a. Spring Lantern Festival)

• Date : 28 Feburay 2010, Sunday(15th day of the first month by the Lunar Calendar).
• Attractions : Lantern riddles fairs. The largest one is in the Victoria Park. It consists of many stalls, all are decorated with colourful and fasinating lanterns, either traditional or outrangeous styles, you will be amazed by how interesting lanterns can be. Non-Chinese visitors will not be able to enjoy the fun of riddles in the fair, but watching people guessing the answers is equally good fun.
• Festival food : Tong Yuen(sticky rice balls) in soup, with various different types of stuffings such as seasame, red bean paste, peanut.

go to top

Bun Festival (a.k.a. Flag Festival)

• Date : 21 May 2010, Friday. (8th day of the fourth month by the Lunar Calendar).
• Attraction : it attracts a large number of visitors each year. Children are dressed up in ancient legendary characters, and carried up high by adults to parade around the main parts of the Island, it is a very colourful event as the colourful costumes and flags are everywhere. At midnight of the festival, there is a bun snatching competition. 3 huge bamboo-made "bun mountains" were filled with buns, and erected in the centre of a square, competitors are to climb the "bun mountains" and snatch buns, each bun carries a certain score, those on the top of the "bun mountains" carry higher scores, the competitor who gets the highest total score wins. Due to a fatal accident in 1978 when the bun mountains collapsed, the bun-snatching competition was prohibitted by the HK Government, until the popular local cartoon, My Life as McDull, talked about how much people missed the competition, the HK Government resumed the bun-snatching in 2005 with plenty of strict safety controls.
• Festival food : Flag festival is a vegetarian day for Cheung Chau residents, but to cater for the needs of a large number of visitors, many restaurants also serve non-vegetarian dishes.

go to top

Dragon Boat Festival (a.k.a.Tuen Ng Festival)

• Date : 16 June 2010, Wednesday. (5th day of the fifth month by the Lunar Calendar).
• Attraction : Dragon boat races in Stanley and Shatin Shing Mun River. The one in Shing Mun River is an international race, for serious boat racers invited from around the world.
  The race in Stanley is more for fun, commencing 2008 it is sponsored by the Sunlife Insurance Company which gives out free paper hats, fans, binoculars and other fun cheering gadgets. Competitor teams in Stanley Dragon Boat Race are representatives/staff members from various large organizations in Hong Kong, and is more interesting for tourists. Long shallow wooden boats are decorated to look like dragons, carrying arround 24 rowers, 1 drumer and 1 nevigator; rowers are to row according to the drum beats, from the assigned starting point in the sea towards the beach. The race area is surrounded in U-shape by yachts or boats from competing organizations, so their staff members can watch the race from their yachts or boats, whereas the public can watch from the beach which is actually a good place to watch the races, wear a pair of thongs (or swimming suit) so you can stand in the sea water while watching. At the end of the races (or when a boat overturns), rowers all jump into the sea and swim, it is believed that swiming in the water of dragon boat race brings good luck. Nobody cares who wins the race but rowers and audiences all enjoy a day of fun. Very special race and interesting to watch, starting from 10:00am till 4:00pm at Stanley Main Beach. In the evening, rowers and audiences like to go to the Stanley Main Street for beer and food, you might find free beer if you are lucky, the road is packed with people, laughing, drinking, talking and even dancing. Don't miss out if you are in HK on this day.
  
• Festival food : dumplings. Savoury dumpling is made of sticky rice, green bean and a small cube of pork and preserved egg yolk, wrapped in bamboo leaves, you can eat it with or without soy sauce. Sweet dumpling is made with sticky rice, alkaline water and lotus seed paste or red bean paste, wrapped in bamboo leaves, eat with sugar or syrup.

go to top

Ghost Festival (a.k.a. Hungry Ghost Festival, Yue Laan Festival or Maan Laan Festival)

• Date : 23 Aug 2010, Monday. (14th day of the seventh month by the Lunar Calendar).
• Attraction : Starting from 1 month before the festival, people burn paper fake money, offer food and inscent on the street to the restless spirits. It is believed that these offerings calm the restless spirits so they can rest in peace instead of tricking or harming those who live. Live Chinese Operas are also shown in many places, you may see that the operas are showing even though there is no audience, as the operas are shown to the spirits instead of the living people. The 14th day of the seventh month is the last day of the festival and the spirits have to go back to where they belong, so this is the day where most of the peak of ceremonies take place.

go to top

Mid Autumn Festival

Mid Autumn Festival is not a public holiday although many companies practise early day-off on this day, as people usually stay up late to admire the moon, the next working day following Mid Autumn Festival is a public holiday.

• Date : 22 Sep 2010, Wednesday. (15th day of the eighth month by the Lunar Calendar).
• Attraction : It is a colourful, romantic and delicious festival. Mid Autumn Festival is the day when the moon is the biggest, brightest and fullest of the year. There are several events -
  • Lantern Show - Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. Exit A2 from MTR Tin Hau Station, walk westbound, then turn left at Hing Fat Street, you'll see the entrance to Victoria Park. Or exit E from MTR Causeway Bay Station, walk east bound along Great George Street, cross the Gloucester Road (under a flyover), you'll see the entrance of the Victoria Park.
  • Fire Dragon Dance - Organised by the Tai Hang district community, all 3 evenings from 21 Sep 2010 to 23 Sep 2010. A 67-meter long dragon is made by tightly tied straws, joss sticks are lit and stuck onto the entire dragon, and is held by tens of people dancing and snaking along several streets in Tai Hang district. After each dance, they take out the burning joss sticks from the dragon for audiences to take home. You need to extinguish the joss sticks, take home and light them again, they help getting rid of bad luck(careful about the smoke detector in your hotel room). Exit B from MTR Tin Hau Station, cross the street (Causeway Road), walk southwestern bound along Causeway Road, you'll see a small bridge next to the Queen's College, follow the crowd and cross the bridge, you'll find the main area for the Fire Dragon Dance.
  • Moon admiring - It is a day for family get-together dinner. After dinner, people like to gather at various open areas, light their lanterns, eat moon cakes and fruits. Major gathering places include the Victoria Peak, Victoria Park, Edingburgh Square, Repulse Bay, Kowloon Park and Tsim Sha Tsui East Waterfront.
  • Wonder Water Land - Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Exit E from MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station, walk towards Salisbury Road, turn right, take the pedestrian subway (next to YMCA) to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Not a big event so check with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at (852)25911340 to confirm if the event is cancelled.
  • Sparkling Memories Under the Moon - West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade. Exit C1 from MTR Jordan Station, or exit A from MTR Kowloon Station, then take a taxi to the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade. Not a very convenient location, the event is not very attractive, can be skipped. Check with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at (852)25911340 to confirm if the event is cancelled.
• Festival Food : Moon cake (made by lotus seed paste and sugar, with salty egg yolks in the center), people use moon cake as gifts for their relatives and friends, and is a gift from insurance agents to their big clients. Hampers and fruit baskets are also good gifts for the festival. Festival fruits are star fruit, Pummelo and persimmon.
• Lantern : Mainly made of paper and bamboo sticks, a candle (or a small light bulb powered by batteries to avoid fire hazard, or anything that glows) is put inside to light the lantern. Original shapes were either round, star fruit, hairy rabit with wheels, or folded like accordians, but they are now of many different shapes, styles and materials.
• Revolving Lantern Lamp : Powered by AC, it is of 3 layers, the center part being a light bulb, the outer part is crafted with different patterns, the middle layer of the lamp revolves and form a rotating motion, like mininature merry-go-round, around the lamp.

go to top

Easter

• Date : 2 Apr 2010 (Good Friday), 4 Apr 2010 (Easter Sunday), 5 Apr 2010 (Monday after Easter Sunday).
• Attraction : It is a religion festival, so churches have big celebrations. Shopping centers also have decorations and small-scaled events. Not much excitment at all.

go to top

Halloween

• Date : 31 Oct 2010, Sunday. (Not a public holiday)

• Attraction : Trick-or-treating is done within individual residential complexes only so as to ensure safety of kids, residential complexes and shopping centers may arrange magic shows as well. Starting from several weeks before Halloween, some shops and street markets sell a lot of Halloween customes and decorations, the three major street markets that sells Halloween stuffs are the Ladies Street, Tai Yuen Street, and Rocky Road. For public events, the most exciting one is in Lan Kwai Fong, there is no organizer, people just show up in their customes on Halloween evening or the closest Saturday evening. To ensure safety of the overly excited crowd, Lan Kwai Fong in Halloween will be regulated by the Police, the St. John Ambulance and the Civil Aid Service, vehicles will be prohibited to enter Lan Kwai Fong and its surrounding streets, people can only move in one direction. It is suggested to take MTR to Lan Kwai Fong, as other public transportations can only drop you off quite far away due to the road closures. It is an exciting atmosphere, yet different from Halloween in other parts of the world, the East ghosts meet the West ghosts here in Lan Kwai Fong, you will see Chinese, Western, Japanese and other Asian ghosts, legendary and movie characters strolling along the streets of Lan Kwai Fong scaring passers-by, or hanging out at pubs, you will also see professional and amateur photographers tryiing to capture good shots. This is an unforgettable event that you cannot miss out.
• Theme Parks - both theme parks in Hong Kong have special arrangements for the entire Halloween month, entrance fees are higher than other months but it worths the money. Buy the tickets ahead of time from the company websites, or at any 7-11 convenient stores in MTR stations, do NOT buy the tickets at the theme park entrances, you risk wasting the long travel time as both theme parks are usually full in Halloween month evenings.

go to top

Christmas

• Date : 25 December 2010, Saturday
• Attraction : Light show and neon light decoration on both sides of the Victoria Harbour. Christmas decoration at every shopping center and department store, crowds gather at Lan Kwai Fong, Soho and Rudsford Terrace.

go to top

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day

To celebrate the handover of Hong Kong to China, and establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

• Date : 1 July 2010, Thursday.
• Attraction : Light show and neon light decoration on both sides of the Victoria Harbour. This is a day of 2 different extremes, on one side, patriots organize celebrations, ironically, opposition parties organize peaceful demonstrations against the government incapabilities, each year these demonstration attract many participants, both local and tourists.

go to top

China National Day

To celebrate the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

• Date : 1 Oct 2010, Friday.
• Attraction : Firework show in Victoria Harbour starting at 8:00pm, and lasts for 20 minutes. It is a one-day holiday in Hong Kong, but the whole week will be packed with visitors from the Mainland China as they have one whole week of holiday, some chain stores have signs displaying "reminbi accepted" so Mainland visitors do not have to worry about exchanging money, stores like to slash their prices to attact more business.

go to top

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN 2010

HOLIDAY	DATE IN 2010	DAY OF THE WEEK
Every Sunday		Sunday
New Year	1 January	Friday
Lunar New Year	13 February - 16 February	Saturday - Tuesday
Good Friday	2 April	Friday
Easter Monday	5 April	Monday
Ching Ming Festival	6 April	Tuesday
Labour Day	1 May	Saturday
Buddha's Birthday	21 May	Friday
Tuen Ng Festival	16 June	Wednesday
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day	1 July	Thursday
The next weekday following Mid Autumn Festival	23 September	Thursday
National Day of China	1 October	Friday
Chung Yeung Festival	16 October	Saturday
Christmas	25 December	Saturday
Boxing Day	27 December	Monday

go to top

EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS

Amongst the many large-scaled venues in Hong Kong, the below two hold the best international exhibitions and fairs all year round. Refer to the 2010 events in the HK Convention and Exhibition Center, and 2010 exhibitions in the AsiaWorld Expo. Alternatively you can visit their respective websites. See below for details of address, websites and phone number -

• The HK Convention and Exhibition Centre
  • Address : 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
  • How to get there : Exit A5 from MTR Wan Chai station. There are clear signs directing you to the Centre.
  • phone : (852)25828888
  • Event calendar


• AsiaWorld Expo
• Address : Hong Kong International Airport.
• How to get there : Exit at MTR AsiaWorld Expo station (Airport Express line). Or, take bus "X21 Express" from Middle Road (nearby Post Office), Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. The bus takes about 45 minutes.
• Event calendar

go to top