Cheung Chau Bun Festival Draws Over 18,000 Visitors
Quick Look
- Hong Kong's Cheung Chau Bun Festival attracted over 18,000 visitors on Sunday, featuring a Piu Sik Parade with children dressed as oil moguls and judges, and a midnight bun scrambling competition.
- The event also saw visitors enjoying local treats amidst 30°C heat.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival is an annual event in Hong Kong featuring a parade and a bun scrambling competition. This year's parade included children dressed as figures from current events and popular culture.
Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau Bun Festival drew more than 18,000 visitors on Sunday, including tourists who had travelled specifically to watch the parade featuring “floating” children dressed this year as Middle Eastern oil moguls and judges.
Visitors to the outlying island also splurged on frozen pineapples, watermelon juice and frozen mango mochi as temperatures hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).
The event, also known as the Da Jiu Festival, includes the Piu Sik Parade, featuring children held aloft on steel frames and carried through the narrow lanes while dressed as deities or figures dominating news headlines.
In the evening, crowds began to gather to watch the famed bun scrambling competition at midnight. Contestants race up a steel tower and grab as many imitation buns as possible.
Parade themes this year included rising oil prices, the HK$2 (25 US cents) transport subsidy and bid-rigging. Two children dressed as judges from the TVB court drama Themis were among the highlights.
Katelynn Wong, 5½, joined the float themed on rising oil prices. Holding a “petrol pump” and dressed in denim overalls with a Shell logo, Katelynn was partnered with a boy standing next to a jerrycan dressed as a Middle Eastern oil mogul.
