Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most colourful festivals on the Chinese calendar. Like other Chinese festivals, it is steeped in myths and lore and has its roots in the Harvest Moon. In Hong Kong today, it is a joyful occasion with families heading out to parks to bask in the full moon’s glow, munch on mooncakes and when children scamper about with their paper lanterns. This is a heart-warming must-attend event for any visitor.

In 2011, celebrations included a giant fish lantern, a hypnotic dragon dance and a host of events all over town. The centrepiece of the festival was the 'Lee Kum Kee Lantern Wonderland' in Victoria Park. A blaze of bright, festive illuminations led to the main attraction - a lantern sculpture so big it made a Guinness World Record. The giant 'fish' wowed locals and visitors alike for its scale and the beauty of its pulsating lights.

Nearby, in the quaint neighbourhood of Tai Hang, another giant created an even more dynamic spectacle. The Tai Hang Dragon Dance has made its way onto China's list of intangible cultural heritage, and if you were among the crowds who turned up to see its furious dance, with thousands of incense sticks and hundreds of performers, you will understand why. Timeless and mesmerising!

We hope you enjoyed the full moon over Asia's world city (and didn't overdo it on the moon cakes). If you missed it this time, no worries - there is always something going on in Hong Kong and just being here is enough of a reason to celebrate!

Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a charming and colourful annual event that celebrates, among other things, harvest time and the biggest and brightest moon of the year.

The festival also commemorates a 14th Century uprising against the Mongols. In a cunning plan, the rebels wrote the call to revolt on pieces of paper and embedded them in cakes that they smuggled to compatriots.

Today, during the festival, people eat special sweet cakes known as "Moon Cakes" made of ground lotus and sesame seed paste, egg-yolk and other ingredients. Along with the cakes, shops sell colourful 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 while eating their moon cakes. Public parks are ablaze with many thousands of lanterns of all colours, sizes and shapes. There are lantern carnivals and lantern exhibitions all over Hong Kong. Drop by Victoria Park for the Lantern Wonderland where you will see a giant lantern.