words yvonne teh
photos (including cover) hong kong tourism board

Tai Hang's Fire Dragon is nothing to be afriad of -unless you happen to be a dragons king.

Tucked away behind Causeway Bay, the crowded, bustling shopping heart of Hong Kong Island, lies the more residential – and usually far quieter – neighbourhood of Tai Hang. But for three nights each year around the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is to that area, whose Chinese name means ‘Big Water Channel’, that thousands of people, many armed with cameras and camcorders, will flock. And it’s not for festive mooncakes or lantern displays either. Instead, what attracts the crowds to Tai Hang is a spectacular 67-metre long fiery ‘dragon’ made of thousands of burning incense sticks and stalks of dry straw and ‘pearl’ grass paraded through the neighbourhood’s backstreets by some 50 local residents at a time!

Back in the days when land reclamation had not pushed the shoreline so far away, Tai Hang was a small fishing village with just a few hundred inhabitants. In 1880, a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was lashed by a powerful storm – some versions of this legendary story say a typhoon – that devastated the waterfront hamlet. Around the same time, a large serpent entered the village and was killed by some of the residents. Shortly afterwards, plague and cholera broke out in Tai Hang, leading to the deaths of over 10 individuals.

One night, a village elder was visited in a dream by the Buddha – though, appropriately for an area home to a beautiful Lin Fa Kung (Palace of the Golden Flower) temple dedicated to her, some versions state the message came via Kwun Yum, the Goddess of Mercy – and learnt that the serpent beaten to death in Tai Hang had been none other than the son of the consequently wrathful Dragon King. As that aquatic monarch was afraid of fire, Tai Hang’s residents were instructed to make a fire dragon and dance through the streets with it. Which they promptly did and successfully rid themselves of both Dragon King and the diseases. And they have continued the ceremony with much gusto every year since – bar for the troubled times when Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation, and during the 1967 disturbances.

Regardless whether referred to as dance, parade or show, the Fire Dragon festivities have become a popular celebratory event and tradition in a Hong Kong often accused of not sufficiently appreciating its rich cultural heritage. Organized by the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association, it is also very much a community function, albeit one that welcomes the attention of people from beyond Tai Hang, some of whom may make their sole visit to the area when the smokey but still camera-friendly Fire Dragon – preceded by two dancing Dragon Pearls (Lung Chu) and accompanied by a drum, clashing cymbals, people bearing banners or gigantic joss sticks, and costumed children with lanterns in hand – makes its grand, extended appearance.

Chinese dragons being the essence of Yang (or maleness), female participation in the Fire Dragon ritual used to be limited to the cutting of grass. Indeed, women were once not allowed to touch the Fire Dragon and were forbidden to enter the neighbourhood’s historic Lin Fa Kung Temple when it visited there. These days, however, young women are among those who can be seen propping up the mighty dragon as it wends its way through the streets of Tai Hang and, on occasions (like the evening of September 25 this year), beyond. So be you female or male, old or young, Tai Hang resident or not, you’ll be welcome on a date with this wondrous creature to send September and the Dragon King far over the historical horizon.

The Fire Dragon is scheduled to appear on the streets of Tai Hang, including in front of Lin Fa Kung Temple, starting from 8:15pm on September 24 to 26. For one night only, on September 25, its parade route is due to extend to the Southorn Playground in Wan Chai.