‘Kung Hei Fat Choy’! It’s Chinese New Year again - the biggest holiday of the year. Yesterday marked the beginning of year of the pig.

So how does life change in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year holiday? Most businesses shut down. Essentials such as supermarkets operate on only a limited schedule. Due to the nearly week long break, many people go away on holiday. Often people spend time with their family and visit relatives. Married couples give red packets filled with money to their children, relatives and colleagues. With the cease of most construction, the city is far quieter than usual. Where I live, you can hear birds instead of buses when you wake up!

One fun part of celebrating Chinese New Year is going to the special new year’s flower market in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. It’s PACKED with four, three-block lanes of stalls and people selling all sorts of items to bring luck and good fortune in the coming year. The atmosphere is raucous and fun.

Hawkers rent booths and decorate them (sometimes outlandishly) to attract attention. The merchandise on sale is extensive. Over the last few years, blow-up inflatable items have gained popularity. The plastic blow-ups are based on everything from animals of the Chinese zodiac, to items that sound like something with a double meaning in Cantonese, to items that deal with a current issue. For example, this year there were giant cigarettes, making reference to the recent ban of smoking in Hong Kong’s restaurants and public areas (which is a huge deal in a place with a deeply entrenched smoking culture.)

Old standards meant to bring good fortune are also present at the market. These include different types of flowers and fruits such as small orange trees. Pussy willows (for financial fortune) and peach blossoms (for love life) are also two of the more popular choices. (I bought both!)

Colorful paper and plastic pin-wheels seem to be popular items.

Small charms often in faux-jade that help to protect people of different zodiacs are also available for purchase.

Wonder what it’s like to walk through hundreds of stalls in a sea of thousands? Check out the videos! (more…)

Several people have told me that you can judge the current state of Hong Kong’s economy by the vibrancy of the yearly Christmas displays. Entire sections of the city are draped with multiple-story lights in celebration of Christmas and Chinese New Year.

From the look of things, the year was a prosperous one. Follow the link to check out the scenery in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui East neighborhood. (more…)

I’m a sucker for fireworks. I headed up to The Peak to check out the view from the top of Hong Kong Island. I took a taxi up, which is about a ten minute ride from Central. I got off at The Peak Lookout Cafe and made my way through the crowds who had the same idea I did. It was a clear night out and The Peak would have an amazing view of the fireworks which were set to explode from barges in the harbor. Once the show began I was surprised that they lasted a full 30 minutes. The last time I watched fireworks it was only 15 minutes worth. After about ten minutes I started to get antsy, so I left my first view point and headed along a path to check out the show from a different vantage point.

Although I missed part of the show, the aftermath of the fireworks was equally as impressive. A huge cloud of thick black smoke covered Tsim Sha Tsui, and blocked out the view of Kowloon side for around 20 minutes. This eerie view made for some cool photos. Click to see a bigger view.

For the second year in a row I attended Dragon-i’s Chinese New Year celebration. This year they also featured a lion dance and music by the d.j. Paul “Trouble” Anderson. The lion dance is always a special treat. It featured two lions - a silver one and a gold one. At the height of the performance the lions fetched something from the ceiling using their mouths. It is then unfurled and opens to be a banner with good new years wishes.

Every year there is a huge fair and flower market set up in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. It features hundreds of vendors in rows and rows of stands. The more traditional offerings are flowers - several of which symbolize luck for different things. The more modern offerings seem to be inflatable plastic toys of all manner and size. Most of these were on sale for around $10 HKD which is a little under $1.50 USD. Another element is the fact that Chinese New Year is tied to the zodiac which consists of different animals (the year you are born corresponds to one of these animals.) This year is Year of the Dog, so there was much dog-related merchandise on display.

The fair which covers around a quarter of a mile was completely packed!

The most major holiday in Hong Kong is Chinese New Year. It falls on a different day each year, and this is when people take their one-week long vacations. To coincide with this important holiday there are always big films released during this time. This year one of the films is The Shopaholics, starring Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi and Lau Ching Wan. I’m digging the poster. Another film that is being released at this time is Jet Li’s Fearless, which I’m also planning on catching. Fearless looks to be more like a classic Jet Li martial arts film, than a high-brow Crouching Tiger type epic, which is what’s been missing from the cinematic landscape for a long time. Congratulations to my friend Jacky for landing a role in this film!