Party on the beach
In the first installment of her series on Hong Kong's outlying islands, Faye Bradley revisits some of the time-honored island festivals and finds out about newer ones that celebrate local traditions and environments.
Tradition and topography
Besides the traditional festivals, Hong Kong's islands have also been playing host to a variety of more recently introduced ones, though many in the latter group are about rediscovering and celebrating local traditions. Visitors to such events, often organized with active support from the islanders, get to sample local customs firsthand. The benefits are twofold. While visitors are likely to leave the island with a deeper appreciation of its heritage, their participation, in turn, ensures that local folk traditions continue.
Yim Tin Tsai in Sai Kung district remains pivotal to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's plan to attract tourists. In 2019, the city's Tourism Commission launched an innovative three-year pilot tourism project with the island at its center. The Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival was aimed at transforming the island into an "open museum", besides giving visitors a fresh and distinctive travel experience that seamlessly integrates arts, religion, culture, heritage and environmental elements.
- Sanya activates red alert as Typhoon approaches
- Recall vote shows 'Taiwan independence' separatism doomed to fail
- China holds third rehearsal for event marking 80th anniversary of victory over Japanese aggression, fascism
- Central delegation returns to Beijing after attending anniversary celebrations, inspections in Xizang
- KMT continues triumph in second round of recall vote
- China's anti-graft chief urges further improving discipline inspection work
