Bringing in the Year of the Dragon
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Welcome to a new year in the Lunar Calendar. January 23 marked the first day of the Year of the Dragon and the beginning of three days of celebration in Hong Kong. Since it was a public holiday, I got a few days off from my internship and immersed myself in the festivities.
Preparing for the New Year
The days leading up to the New Year are filled with trips to the flower market and traveling back home. I went to one of the larger markets located in Victoria Park near Causeway Bay, a large shopping district in Hong Kong. Four long rows of vendors sold everything from stuffed dragons to stain remover.
There were so many people that traffic signs needed to be hung to show in which direction people should be walking!
One of the rows was dedicated to selling only flowers and plants. One Chinese tradition is to buy a small tree with mandarin oranges (“gut shue”), which can be thought of like the western Christmas tree. Small red packets, usually filled with money or candy, are hung from the tree to symbolize good luck and fortune in the new year.
Day 0: Getting together with family
January 22 is like the equivalent of the western New Year’s Eve. Families come together for a big dinner and eat traditional foods. Since this year is the year of the dragon, foods with the word “dragon” were the most popular. Some examples include dragon fruit and lobster (which in Chinese directly translates to “dragon shrimp”). My favorite was the longan, a sweet tropical fruit.
Day 1: Bringing in the New Year with a Parade
Hong Kong celebrated Chinese New Year with a parade on the first night. Six large floats, 12 international performing groups, and a total of 37 acts marched in the 90-minute show.
Most groups were from Hong Kong, Mainland China, or other countries in Southeast Asia, but there were two acts from the U.S. — the St. Louis Rams cheerleaders with NFL mascots and the Vibe Dance Studio from Utah, both participating in the parade for the first time.
Day 2: Fireworks
Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year fireworks show is arguably one of the best in the world. This year’s 23-minute show was no exception. An hour before the 8 p.m. start time, hundreds of boats flooded the harbor, racing each other to get a prime spot to watch the fireworks that would launch from a barge near Hong Kong Island. Police boats were used to keep boaters from getting too close to the barge.
This year, boaters had more than just other boats to think about — they also had to fight off the rain. Luckily for everyone without cover, the rain stopped right before the fireworks began.
Day 3: Chinese New Year Raceday at the Hong Kong Jockey Club
One of the most popular activities in Hong Kong is watching and betting on horse racing at the Jockey Club. A huge race is the Chinese New Year Cup.
Of my entire time in Hong Kong, I saw the most elements of feng shui at the racetrack. Near the entrance of the track were several small pinwheels for people to spin on their way in — turning the pinwheels symbolizes turning misfortune into good luck.
There was also an entire feng shui garden with even more pinwheels and also large models of old Chinese gold coins.
Since I had gotten there early, I only had to wait in line a few minutes to get into the garden, but when I passed it later in the day, the line was more than a hundred people deep. People would go and spin the pinwheels after losing a bet hoping to turn their luck around for the next race.
Joanna Kao is a Spring 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.