香港百年传统火龙点亮中秋节

Hong Kong has its own way to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival. Our reporter Zhu Dan brings you the "Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance", a spectacle unique to  the special administrative region.

Drums and cymbals clashing,Cameras and tripods standing by, Here comes the “dragon” in the narrow streets of Tai Hang, part of a tradition for HK people to celebrate the Mid-Autumn day.

These two large "pearls" are actually pomelos inserted with numerous sticks of incense, before getting twirled by two young strong men to create a stunning visual effect.

The two "pearls" will lead the way for the smoking dragon. Don't think the performance is an easy feat. The dragon head alone weighs around 50kg, and the performers have to take shifts while performing the dances.

This is the 67-meter-long dragon, made of over 70,000 sticks of incense and played by 300 performers. How long is it ? From the head of dragon to its tail, it takes about half minute to walk by a person.

But you wouldn’t believe this is a dragon, before its transformation. The dragon is built from straws and covered with joss sticks, before being lit at night. It would then paraded through the streets of Tai Hang for a total of three days and three nights.

The tradition began in the 19th century, when the people of Tai Hang began performing a dragon dance to stop a run of bad luck afflicting their village, and to rid them of a deadly plague.

More than a century later, their village was no where to be found in today's concrete jungle of Hong Kong. But the dragon spirit has lived on. It has even danced its way onto China’s third national list of intangible cultural heritage. The 100-year-tradition is also well celebrated by the people from around the world.

"My first time to be here, I think the tradition should be carried on," said tourists from Singapore.

"Interesting, lots of interesting things to see," said a boy.

After the 3-4 hour celebrations, don’t forget to get a stick of incense from the dragon, as it’s believed to bring you good luck. The celebrations of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival are in full swing!