Hong Kong"s Festivities Booming With Summer Spectacular And Mid-Autumn Festival
Hotels and serviced apartments are likely to see increased bookings throughout the next couple of months, with two major city-wide festivities taking place - the Hong Kong Summer Spectacular and Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Summer Spectacular - on until August 31 2013 - offers an exciting array of cultural, shopping, dining, sporting and nightlife events and activities throughout the city.
Running until August 11 is the International Arts Carnival 2013, one of the regions largest family arts festivals and offering an entertaining schedule of dance, music theatre, acrobatics, puppetry, comedy and multimedia theatre at various venues around town.
From August 9 to 11 the 2013 FIVB World Grand Prix - volleyball tournament takes place at the local coliseum. This leg of the FIVB World Grand Prix sees teams from China, Argentina, Czech Republic and Turkey competing in six sessions.
At the end of August is the Summer Pop - Live in Hong Kong concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, featuring the sounds of live Cantopo.
The Heritage Museum is staging - in collaboration with the Bruce Lee Foundation in the United States - an exhibition that looks at Bruce Lee not only as a film star and martial artist, but also a cultural phenomenon. Open from July 20 onward, the exhibition contains more than 600 items of Bruce Lee memorabilia, offering visitors a greater insight into his life.
And while anytime is a great time to shop and dine, the Summer Spectacular really is a great time to do so. Across town, shops, stores and restaurants which are designated Quality Tourism Services (a Hong Kong Tourism Board quality assurance scheme) merchants offer shopping and dining privileges for purchases made with a Visa card - privileges that include discounts, gifts and buy-1-get-1-free offers.
While the Summer Spectacular and Mid-Autumn Festival will likely see a rise in demand for accommodation in Hong Kong during these couple of months, the spread of festivity venues around the city results in a more flexible choice in hotels and serviced apartments for tourists wanting to stay near these various venues. Together with the MTR and public transport system, it means the events and activities are more easily reached, whether tourists are staying near Tsing Ma bridge, in Kowloon or Hong Kong Island.
The Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival takes place from September 14 to 22, giving the ancient Chinese harvest festival the modern treatment. Glowing lanterns merge with the city's trademark neon signage and fiery dragons dance through the streets as the festive metropolis pulsates under the full moon.
The Chinese have been celebrating this festival since at least the early Tang dynasty (618 to 907), with people making offerings of alcohol, fruit and other foods to the moon god in gratitude of a bumper harvest. Modern-day HK celebrates the mid-autumn festival in a characteristic blending of tradition with innovation.
As part of the festival, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance sees hundreds of performers, tens of thousands of incense sticks and a 67 metre dragon wind their way through the crowded streets in a mesmerizing spectacle. Displays of traditional mid-autumn festival lanterns, too, glitter throughout the city, the grandest of these being at Victoria Park on HK Island.
Then, of course, there are the moon cakes. An integral feature of the mid-autumn festival, these are believed to have originated with Yuan dynasty (1206 to 1368) revolutionaries who are said to have used them to pass secret messages among themselves.
Available from numerous shops, restaurants and even the F&B outlets at Hong Kong's serviced apartments and hotels during the festival, these delicious pastries - traditionally infused with embedded egg yolks and lotus seed - come in a vast array of moon cake flavours; mung bean paste, snowskin, cheese, chocolate, foie gras, sesame tofu, sweet potato, black truffle and caviar to name a few.
The Summer Spectacular - on until August 31 2013 - offers an exciting array of cultural, shopping, dining, sporting and nightlife events and activities throughout the city.
Running until August 11 is the International Arts Carnival 2013, one of the regions largest family arts festivals and offering an entertaining schedule of dance, music theatre, acrobatics, puppetry, comedy and multimedia theatre at various venues around town.
From August 9 to 11 the 2013 FIVB World Grand Prix - volleyball tournament takes place at the local coliseum. This leg of the FIVB World Grand Prix sees teams from China, Argentina, Czech Republic and Turkey competing in six sessions.
At the end of August is the Summer Pop - Live in Hong Kong concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, featuring the sounds of live Cantopo.
The Heritage Museum is staging - in collaboration with the Bruce Lee Foundation in the United States - an exhibition that looks at Bruce Lee not only as a film star and martial artist, but also a cultural phenomenon. Open from July 20 onward, the exhibition contains more than 600 items of Bruce Lee memorabilia, offering visitors a greater insight into his life.
And while anytime is a great time to shop and dine, the Summer Spectacular really is a great time to do so. Across town, shops, stores and restaurants which are designated Quality Tourism Services (a Hong Kong Tourism Board quality assurance scheme) merchants offer shopping and dining privileges for purchases made with a Visa card - privileges that include discounts, gifts and buy-1-get-1-free offers.
While the Summer Spectacular and Mid-Autumn Festival will likely see a rise in demand for accommodation in Hong Kong during these couple of months, the spread of festivity venues around the city results in a more flexible choice in hotels and serviced apartments for tourists wanting to stay near these various venues. Together with the MTR and public transport system, it means the events and activities are more easily reached, whether tourists are staying near Tsing Ma bridge, in Kowloon or Hong Kong Island.
The Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival takes place from September 14 to 22, giving the ancient Chinese harvest festival the modern treatment. Glowing lanterns merge with the city's trademark neon signage and fiery dragons dance through the streets as the festive metropolis pulsates under the full moon.
The Chinese have been celebrating this festival since at least the early Tang dynasty (618 to 907), with people making offerings of alcohol, fruit and other foods to the moon god in gratitude of a bumper harvest. Modern-day HK celebrates the mid-autumn festival in a characteristic blending of tradition with innovation.
As part of the festival, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance sees hundreds of performers, tens of thousands of incense sticks and a 67 metre dragon wind their way through the crowded streets in a mesmerizing spectacle. Displays of traditional mid-autumn festival lanterns, too, glitter throughout the city, the grandest of these being at Victoria Park on HK Island.
Then, of course, there are the moon cakes. An integral feature of the mid-autumn festival, these are believed to have originated with Yuan dynasty (1206 to 1368) revolutionaries who are said to have used them to pass secret messages among themselves.
Available from numerous shops, restaurants and even the F&B outlets at Hong Kong's serviced apartments and hotels during the festival, these delicious pastries - traditionally infused with embedded egg yolks and lotus seed - come in a vast array of moon cake flavours; mung bean paste, snowskin, cheese, chocolate, foie gras, sesame tofu, sweet potato, black truffle and caviar to name a few.
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