When Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival fireworks display nearly ‘fizzled out’ in 1983

“Police sources have warned that there could be ‘complete disruption of traffic and possible tragedies’ if a fireworks display were held during the festival. It is understood that several Government departments are also against the idea because of the crowd problem. The Government’s stance is seen partly as a bid to prevent any repetition of the ugly disturbances which caused serious crowd violence on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in 1980 and 1981.”

The big show was finally set to be held on October 16. “Nestled in a quiet bay off Green Island yesterday were three peaceful-looking barges that could probably blow up half of Hongkong,” reported the Post on the day. “On their decks were row upon row of what resembled chimneys with silver-foil tops. A closer look revealed that they contained even stranger objects that looked like exotic fruit from the South Pacific.

“A team of Japanese men looked on affectionately at the collection, which represented the culmination of five months of hard work and planning. For, in just 25 minutes tonight, they will see their efforts literally go up in smoke.”

The following day, the Post wrapped up, reporting that “a spectacle was what the crowds came to see, and a spectacle was what they got. They came by train and tram, bus and ferry, at first in ones and twos, and then in hundreds, until finally, they thronged the streets around the harbour in their thousands. Many more flocked to other vantage points – to the windows or roofs of any building with a view, or to the rails on the hundreds of vessels, big and small, which crammed the harbour.

“The crowd was so big, especially at Blake’s Pier, that the police decided to block all entrance and exit points to the pier shortly after 8 pm […] But all eyes were fixed on the two plain barges moored in the centre of a ring of picket boats as, right on time, they began to send their $950,000-worth of pyrotechnics skyward.”