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Gavin Yeung

Transforming usually quaint streets into a fiery spectacle, this year’s Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance returns from October 5 to 7, coinciding with the 14th, 15th and 16th nights of the eighth lunar month, in a ritual with roots dating back to the waning years of the Qing dynasty.

Legend has it that this procession was meant to scare away a plague that devastated what was a Hakka village in 1880. The protective rite has transformed over the years into a mesmerising dance, all fire and fury, involving a dragon that unfurls, coils and explodes each night, carried by dozens of dancers beneath a canopy of as many as 12,000 burning incense sticks.

Each year, the 67-metre-long dragon is painstakingly crafted from straw, requiring a 300-strong troupe to carry it throughout the night. The spectacle usually starts at Lin Fa Kung (“Temple of the Lotus”), Tai Hang’s spiritual heart, where a ritual “awakens” the dragon before it sets off through the maze of narrow lanes. As it snakes through the neighbourhood to the relentless beat of drums, gongs and cymbals, the dragon blankets the streets in good fortune for the year to come.

What makes the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance special is its organic, community-led character, earning the ritual a designation in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011. In recent years, the Fire Dragon has also become a canvas for contemporary voices within Tai Hang. Artists and cultural guardians have used it as a focal point for community storytelling, bridging old rituals with aspirations for heritage preservation.

For outsiders eager to witness the Fire Dragon Dance, a few tips: arrive early to secure a vantage spot in Tai Hang’s famously narrow alleys; bring a mask to protect against the incense smoke; and prepare to be swept up in organised chaos. Plan your viewing spot strategically: the dance begins at Wun Sha Street at around 7.30pm and ends at Causeway Bay Road three hours later.

While the event takes place on only three nights each year, it has been enshrined year-round in the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Heritage Centre, which continues to educate visitors on the origins of the neighbourhood and its most famous tradition through exhibitions and family-friendly workshops, even when the streets have long been restored to their small-town atmosphere.
Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, October 5 to 7. Free admission; www.firedragon.org.hk


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Tai Hang’s legendary Fire Dragon is about to return in all its glory

Students play with an LED dragon along the streets of Tai Hang in September 2024. Photo: Elson Li

This year’s Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance returns from October 5 to 7. Photo: Elson Li

The dragon is carried by dancers under burning incense sticks. Photo: Elson Li

According to legend, the tradition originated as a means to scare away a plague in 1880. Photo: Dickson Lee

The annual Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is a celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on October 6 this year. Photo: Sam Tsang

The dragon requires hundreds of people to carry it. Photo: Sam Tsang

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PostMag

Culture

The flaming beast is ready to once again turn the neighbourhood’s sleepy streets into a riotous spectacle of sparks


The flaming beast is ready to once again turn the neighbourhood’s sleepy streets into a riotous spectacle of sparks.


Tai Hang’s legendary Fire Dragon is about to return in all its glory

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The flaming beast is ready to once again turn the neighbourhood’s sleepy streets into a riotous spectacle of sparks

The flaming beast is ready to once again turn the neighbourhood’s sleepy streets into a riotous spectacle of sparks