Kung Hai Fa Choy - Year of the Ox

Hi Friends, today we celebrate the Chinese New Year and Year of the Ox.  It is a public holiday for 3 straight days and friends and relatives will be visiting each other to bring luck to each other.  Elder will be giving red pocket (Lai See) to children and this will help to spread the luck.  

As for the title of my blog (Kung Hai Fa Choy), that is a very common greeting used in Hong Kong to wish each other Fa Choy (rich) in the coming year.

A Hot Mid-Autumn Festival

Well, it is the Mid-Autumn festival again but it does not feel like Autumn here in Hong Kong.

Due to the Typhoon in Taiwan, it is estimated the temperature will be around 33c and it will be the  hottest since the recording setting in 1969.  It is forecasted that there will be periodic rain too but it won't hurt the chances to enjoy the moon and Fire Dragon dance at TaiHang.

BTW, to allow people to enjoy the moon all night, public transportation such as MTR and buses will be running all night.  So do enjoy the moon tonight.

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

This year, Chinese New Year falls on the 7Feb. This is the year of the Rats and the public will have 4 days of holidays. This weekend, although it is extremely cool, there are lots of people in the malls to get prepare for the new year. This photo is the Lion Dance taken in the Elements and there are other Chinese decoration in other malls as well.



During the first few days of the new year, Chinese love to visit other family members and they will be bringing small presents to them. In return, they will be giving red pockets to the children. Family members will also gather for a family reunion before the new year.

Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and this year, it falls on 25Sep.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a historical festival rather than a religious one. In the 14th century, during the Yuan dynasty, the Mongolians ruled the Chinese. Rebel Chinese used mooncakes to coordinate a rebellion without being discovered. Hidden inside each mooncake were special messages containing information which was distributed widely. Lanterns were also used at night as signals from higher grounds as warning. The foreign government was successfully driven out and the Ming Dynasty was established. The mooncake festival also commemorates this proud moment in Chinese history. Hence, to commemorate and this proud moment of Chinese History, people started to make and eat the sweet cakes or mooncakes on that night every year.

In Hong Kong, there are a lot of celebrations and you can obtain more information from DiscoverHongKong.

At the same time, you can also purchase mooncake online through Kee Wah (which I have written earlier).