One of Hong Kong’s biggest cultural celebrations is almost upon us — Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on September 17, 2024. Apart from shopping for and gifting mooncakes to family, friends and colleagues, there are a ton of activities that you can check out to get in on the festivities — think colourful lantern carnivals, awe-inspiring fire dragon dances, and the first-of-its-kind drone show. So mark your calendar for some exciting Mid-Autumn Festival events that will take place throughout the following month.
Visit Lantern Carnivals & Lunar Displays
The highlight of the festival are the lanterns displayed across the city that symbolically illuminate people’s path to good fortune and prosperity. Many of these carnivals are organised by the government, but there are also quite a few put together by communities across the city. Here are some of the most popular lantern carnivals happening in Hong Kong this year.
Urban Lantern Festival at Victoria Park
This is the largest Mid-Autumn lantern carnival in Hong Kong, and is a riotous celebration of colour, food, and other practices associated with the season. Come for the lanterns, and stay for the stalls selling traditional snacks and festival-themed crafts.
Where: Soccer Pitches No. 1-6, Victoria Park, 1 Hing Fat Street, Causeway Bay
When: September 12-18, 2024
Lights on: 6:30pm-11pm (until midnight on September 17)
How to get there: Walk towards Hing Fat Street from Tin Hau Station (Exit A2) to enter the park via the basketball courts, take any of these buses, or alight at the Hing Fat Street tram stop.
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza
This display is the focal point of the Mid-Autumn festivities in Tsim Sha Tsui. Every year, there is a moon-themed installation at the Cultural Centre, right in front of the clock tower. This not only pays homage to the practice of moon-gazing, but also makes for great pics!
Where: Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
When: September 6-October 10, 2024
Lights on: 6:30pm-11pm (until midnight on September 17)
How to get there: It’s a 5-minute walk from the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier via Salisbury Road. Alternatively, you can take the MTR to East Tsim Sha Tsui Station (Exit L6) or East Tsim Sha Tsui Station (Exit J3) and follow the signs to the venue, or board any of these buses.
New Territories Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival
If you want to check out a less touristy lantern display, head to this peaceful New Territories park that comes alive during this time of year. The sprawling Tsing Yi Park will be dotted with lantern displays of all shapes and sizes that you can take your time viewing — and clicking!
Where: Tsing Yi Park, 60 Tsing King Rd, Tsing Yi
When: September 12-18, 2024
Lights on: 6:30pm-11pm (until midnight on September 17)
How to get there: The closest MTR Station is at Tsing Yi (Exit B or C), which will take you to the park via Maritime Square Mall. Click here for bus and minibus schedules.
Blue House Lantern Festival
Every summer, the Hong Kong House of Stories organises workshops during which families hand-paint lanterns that are used to decorate Wan Chai’s iconic Blue House — one of the best heritage buildings in Hong Kong. There are usually up to 700 lanterns suspended from the building’s façade facing Stone Nullah Road and in the courtyard.
Where: Blue House, 72A Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai
When: September 7, 2024 onwards
Lights on: TBC
How to get there: Head to Wan Chai MTR Station (Exit A3) or the O’Brien Street tram stop, and turn left on to Spring Garden Lane from Johnston Road. Then turn left again on to Queen’s Road East. Walk another two minutes to reach Stone Nullah Lane.
Tai O Water Village Lantern Festival
The fishing village of Tai O, called the Venice of Hong Kong, is known for its stilt houses, shrimp paste, and being the site of the Dragon Boat Water Parade. But it also pays tribute to the tradition of spotting the moon goddess Chang’e by hosting its own lantern festival. While the paper lanterns — all made by local artisans — are festooned along the village’s famous waterways, everyone’s favourite lantern-viewing spot is in front of the mural at Tai O Square.
Where: Tai O, Lantau Island
When: September 1-22, 2024
Lights on: 6:30pm-9:30pm
How to get there: Take the MTR to Tung Chung Station and take the No. 11 bus to Tai O. Alternatively, you can take the Mui Wo Ferry from Central Pier No. 6, and then take the No. 1 bus to Tai O. There is also a Tuen Mun-Tung Chung-Tai O ferry service.
Watch a Fire Dragon Dance
The tradition of fire dragon dances in Hong Kong dates back more than 140 years, when a plague struck the fishing village of Tai Hang. To combat this, the villagers created a dragon made out of incense sticks and paraded it around the village for three days — a ritual that has endured till today and become an important part of the Mid-Autumn festivities in the 852. There are two traditional fire dragon dances you can watch in Hong Kong.
Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance
The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance involves parading a 67-metre-long dragon made out of 72,000 incense sticks through the neighbourhood of Tai Hang. It’s a community event in which 300 dancers train for months to manoeuvre the dragon to perform intricate tricks and dance patterns. This year, more than 100 children will lead the procession, wearing traditional attire and holding lanterns. The parade will also be held at Victoria Park on September 17, which is the day of the festival.
Where: Tai Hang and Victoria Park
When: September 16-18, 2024 (Tai Hang) | September 17 (Victoria Park) on September 17
Time: 7:30pm-10pm (Tai Hang) | 11pm-11:30pm (Victoria Park)
How to get to Tai Hang: Head to the Tin Hau Station (Exit A2), go along Causeway Road before turning left, just past Queen’s College, and down Fire Dragon Path. You can also take a bus to Tin Hau Public Transport Interchange or take a tram and get off at Victoria Park (Westbound) or Hing Fat Street (Eastbound).
Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance
While the fire dragon dance in Tai Hang is the best known in Hong Kong, there is another in the village of Pok Fu Lam — a 200-year-old settlement in the southern part of Hong Kong Island. This 10-metre-long dragon made out of straw and bamboo is smaller than its Tai Hang counterpart, and is paraded around Pok Fu Lam only on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival by 20 dancers. The procession will go past significant landmarks in the village — such as Li Ling Divine Pagoda — and stop at the southbound bus station and two housing estates for performances. Traditionally, the dragon was released into the ocean, representing its “return to the sea”, but the ritual is now symbolically carried out on land due to environmental concerns.
Where: Pok Fu Lam Village
When: September 17, 2024
Time: 6:30pm-11:45pm
How to get there: Take the following buses to Pok Fu Lam Farm, which alight at the village bus stop.
Visit Lee Tung Avenue
Every year, Lee Tung Avenue has a canopy of lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival, which makes it a favourite spot among Instagrammers. This time, more than 800 fish-shaped lanterns will be suspended over the 200-metre-long tree-lined street, but the star of the show will be the 18-metre-long LED Fire Dragon that has been a staple of the Lee Tung celebrations of the season since 2016. A team of internationally renowned lion and dragon dancers will expertly move the “fire-breathing” dragon to perform captivating patterns.
Where: Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai
When: August 31-October 15, 2024 (lantern display) | September 17, 2024 (LED Fire Dragon dance)
Time: 10am-11pm (lantern display, lights on at 5pm) | 8:30pm-9:30pm (LED Fire Dragon dance)
How to get there: Take the MTR to Wan Chai (Exit A3), and cross Johnston Road to get to Lee Tung Avenue. You can also take the tram to O’Brien Street and walk for 2 minutes to get to the avenue from there.
Attend a drone show
The Hong Kong Tourism Board is organising the city’s first drone show for Mid-Autumn Festival, as part of its series of monthly fireworks and drone displays to celebrate important cultural events in Hong Kong. While details of the forthcoming show have not yet been confirmed, previous displays have featured 1,000 drones that form images associated with celebrations like the Dragon Boat Festival. They’ve also been 10-minutes long and are usually held at the Wan Chai Temporary Promenade.
Where: TBC
When: September 17, 2024
Time: TBC
Visit Sik Sik Yuen Centennial Carnival at Wong Tai Sin Temple
Wong Tai Sin Temple is one of the best temples in Hong Kong, and crowds flock here on Chinese New Year’s Eve to burn incense sticks and pray for good luck for the year ahead. But the temple also hosts an annual carnival during Mid-Autumn Festival that includes a lantern display, puppet shows, and Cantonese Opera. This year, there will also be stilt walkers, acrobatics shows, and martial arts demos, as well as lion and dragon dances by performers from Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Where: Wong Tai Sin Temple, 2 Chuk Yuen Village, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon
When: September 15-October 6, 2024
Time: Depends on the day. Click here for the full schedule.
How to get here: Take the MTR to Wong Tai Sin Station (Exit B2) and walk for 3 minutes towards the temple premises.
Visit Tai Po Lake House
This is one of the most picturesque spots in Hong Kong, and is popular for weddings and photo shoots. And every year for Mid-Autumn Festival, they have a massive moon installation, along with rabbit decorations. This year is no different, and visitors to Tai Po Lake House will see a 10-metre-high inflatable moon, as well as smaller moon and rabbit décor. Other festival-themed activities here include the chance to see wish-granting water lanterns and get clicks at a space-themed photo spot.
Where: Tai Po Lake House, 2 Hung Lam Drive, Tai Po Kau
When: September 7-18, 2024
Time: 6pm-11pm
How to get there: Head to Tai Po Market Station, and take the free shuttle from there to the Lake House. Check this list for the buses that stop near Lake House.
Check out a lantern market
While there are several places where you can see lanterns in Hong Kong, the Tai Kiu Market in Yuen Long is the definitive spot in the city during Mid-Autumn Festival. The market transforms into a colourful display of lanterns that pops up on IG feeds during this time of year. But if that’s a little out of the way for you, there are places on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon that should do the trick, such as Tai Yuen Street in Wan Chai and Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po. These thoroughfares are famed for their reasonably priced toys, but transform into kaleidoscopic displays of Mid-Autumn lanterns in the run-up to the festival.
Go moon-gazing
This tradition goes back to China’s Tang dynasty (618 CE to 907 CE), when people made offerings of food and drink to the moon goddess, Chang’e, to give thanks for the harvest. The largest gatherings are usually on the eve of Mid-Autumn, when everyone welcomes the moon. However, you’ll still spot crowds gazing at the moon on the night of the festival itself, and bidding farewell to the full moon the following day. You can’t miss the best moon-gazing spots in Hong Kong as they’re usually lit up by pinpricks of light from lanterns and glow sticks. The most popular places are Tamar Park, West Kowloon Art Park, Victoria Park, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, and Hong Kong Park. But you can also head to a beach or book a table at one of Hong Kong’s best rooftop bars that overlook Victoria Harbour. If you want to know what the viewing conditions will be like, check the Hong Kong Observatory website for updates.
Header image credits: Lee Tung Avenue, Leung Cho Pan via Canva, George Lau via Flickr via Flickr
