Then & Now | 3 cheers for Hong Kong police during Mid-Autumn Festival Fire Dragon parade – they were helpful, efficient, with no one channelling their inner Darth Vader
- The Hong Kong Police did a superb job during the Mid-Autumn Festival Fire Dragon parade in Tai Hang, managing crowd movements efficiently and courteously
- After the parade the streets were both near-empty and free of litter – in other places, pavements would have been full of rubbish and roiling with rowdy drunks
![Members of the fire dragon dance team perform during the Tai Hang Fire Dragon parade in Hong Kong on September 29, 2023. The police did a superb job of controlling the event, Jason Wordie says. Photo: AFP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2023/10/11/2b6594a5-c079-4c31-b924-51900d5021a8_52febf64.jpg?itok=qyVRpcKl&v=1697011122)
The Mid-Autumn Festival has come and gone again for another year, but enduringly pleasant memories remain; colourful lantern displays, the surfeit of mooncakes and Tai Hang’s fabulous Fire Dragon procession are all reminders of Hong Kong life at its absolute finest.
After a four-year hiatus, this shimmering, smoking, supernatural neighbourhood protector was back doing what he does best – delighting the assembled throng with sheer kinetic spectacle.
Temporarily tangible, this evanescent representation of local “intangible cultural heritage” does not disappoint.
The Fire Dragon festival parade provides a welcome opportunity to give the Hong Kong Police a resounding three cheers for a job superbly done, instead of another of the sour raspberry blasts so richly merited in recent times.
![The fire dragon dance parade returned following a four-year hiatus. Photo: Sam Tsang The fire dragon dance parade returned following a four-year hiatus. Photo: Sam Tsang](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2023/10/11/dddaad96-3699-433a-9272-d8ab9a5f1380_e61a3eec.jpg)
Orderly but massive crowds directed by well-visible police were a welcome feature.
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