2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is a unique tradition amongst all the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations.

Beside lantern displays and lantern carnivals, Fire Dragon Dance in Tai Hang, Victoria Park, Pok Fu Lam and Lee Tung Avenue are also popular celebratioins. The first three are with burning incense and the last one is actually a modern version of the traditional style. Of all, the best is always the original one in Tai Hang.

Since the history of fire dragon dance is related to driving away the plague, the ritual has special meaning to everyone during the pandemic.

2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance for Mid-Autumn Festival
China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage

Amongst all the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, such as lantern exhibition, carnivals and moon cakes, Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is one-of-a-kind spectacle as well as unique celebration.

It starts to be known in the recent year as it has been listed as China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2011. Every year during Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be three consecutive nights of celebration with Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance.

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

Dragon pearls full of burning incense sticks spinning and glowing in the dark

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

When and where to watch 2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance?

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance usually last three days, from the day before the Mid-Autumn Day (14th of the 8th Lunar Calendar) till the day after (the 16th of the 8th Lunar Calendar).

Therefore, for 2023, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance will take place from September 28 – 30, 2023 every night (around 8:15 pm to 10:30 pm)

The parade runs via Wun Sha Street, King Street, Sun Chun Street and Tung Lo Wan Road and returns to Wun Sha Street to replace the burned-out incense sticks.

From all the streets (see yellow area on the map), the best location for enjoying this event is along Wun Sha Street. Usually the special stage will be set up for special guests in the middle of the street.

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

The entrance on Fire Dragon Path



Route of 2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

The route of 2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

Why is Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance spectacular?

Let’s start with some numbers :

  • History: 140 years (only suspended three years during Japanese Occupancy);
  • Dragon length: 67-meter long with 31 sections;
  • Incense stick: over 24,000 burning incense sticks;
  • Performers: around 300 strong men;
  • Weight of dragon head: around 48 kilograms;

When dancing up and down, left and right, it generates fascinating light trails. 300 performers, from 16-year old to 80-year old, are people living in Tai Hang or once lived here. They work together and dance the heavy dragon in turns to ensure the success of this annual event.

2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

The ritual binds generations together

What to expect from Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance?

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance starts usually with some warm-up performances. Lanterns with Chinese characters “大坑火龍” passing along Wun Sha Street is to announce the start of the ritual. Thousands of people are waiting on all the narrow streets and alleys of Tai Hang. No one knows from which street the parade will start this year.

2023 Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance for Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival celebration

Flags, drum and gong

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

lanterns written with “大坑火龍” (Tai Hang Fire Dragon)

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance Mid-Autumn Festival Hong Kong

Little girls with lotus lanterns for photo shooting

Accompanied with the roar of the drums and gongs, the dragon is led by two large fire pearls. Two strong men twirl the two pearls up and down and create pretty light traces.

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival Hong Kong

Twirling of ignited fire pearls

The head weighs about 48kg and performances have to play it in turns.

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival Hong Kong

Twirling of ignited fire pearls and dragon head

The pearls are actually pomelos inserted with numerous incense sticks. Twirling the pearl requires a lot of strength thus the performers are usually young men.

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

Performer twirls the fire pearl

The body of dragon is also so heavy that the performers have to take in turns. Performers will signal the teammate to take over once they get tired.

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

The ritual needs teamwork and cooperation

The tail of the dragon is also very heavy and jumps up and down.

Dragon tail of Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

Dragon tail

Two times of performance each night

The complete celebrations consist of two times of performance. Each time lasts about one hour.

During the break, you will experience how the incense is stuck onto the dragon head, body and tail as well as how to prepare the two pearls. The preparation of new incense for the second round takes over 30 minutes.

Hong Kong Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance on Mid-Autumn Festival

The performance needs great team work

Meanwhile, drums and cymbals are crashing and banging. Some additional performances like marching bands or small children dressed up in traditional costumes for photographers, will be arranged. Streets are filled with the sweet incense smell and smoke. The music and rhythm will indicate the start of the second parade.

At the end of the event, the team will load the dragon on the truck to Incineration, representing the dragon returning to heaven palace. In the past, they used to let it return to sea in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. However, it has been stopped due to environmental protection.

History of this traditional event

  • A typhoon, a python and a deadly plague

    The tradition can trace back to the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1880 when a typhoon hit the village. The villagers were living a simple and peaceful life as farmers and fishermen in this small Hakka village. A giant python came with typhoon and started to swallow the villagers’ livestock. The villagers finally managed to kill the python. A deadly plague suddenly spread through Tai Hang village in the following day and lots of villagers died.

  • Ritual to save villagers

    A Taoist said that the large python was the son of the Dragon King and the deadly plague was his retaliation. As the fire dragon is his strong opponent, the only way to stop the plague was to perform the “Fire Dragon Dance” and ignite firecrackers containing sulfur during the Mid-Autumn Festival for three continuous days. The plague finally went away after The three-day ritual paraded through the streets of Tai Hang. From that day on, the tradition was kept alive and is performed as a ritual every Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong.

box-info2 Did You Know

  • As a very unique event, Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance always attract many citizens and photographers. Cameras, lens, tripods are piled up along the streets.

  • Be prepared that the event is very popular and that it will be very crowded. We would recommend arriving at least 30 min to 1 hour ahead of time to secure a better spot.

  • There will be two times of parade every night. If you miss the first, the second round will start after 30-minute break.

box-info2 General Info and Details

Date: September 28 – 30, 2023
Time: 8:15 pm – 10:30 pm (Sep 28 & 29) / 8:15 pm – 10:00 pm (Sep 30)
Venue: Tai Hang, Causeway Bay (along Lily Street, Ormsby Street to Tung Lo Wan Road)
Ticket: Free Admission
Website: Tai Hang Official Website

How to Get to the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance?

By subway: The most convenient way is to take MTR to Tin Hau station and exit through A1. Cross King’s Road and walk through Fire Dragon Path. You will find the lanterns and flags on the way leading you to Tai Hang.

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2023 Victoria Park Fire Dragon Dance
(10:45 pm, September 29, 2023)

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Day, Hong Kong Tourism Board will invite the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance team to Victoria Park to share this heritage tradition to the public. Besides the lantern display, the performance in Victoria Park is undoubtedly the highlight of Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration.

Victoria Park is only several blocks way from Tai Hang. The team usually arrives around 10:30 pm and the performance starts around 10:45 pm. In case you would like to enjoy both lantern displays and fire dragon dance, Victoria Park is a good option.

Mid-Autumn Fire Dragon Dance in Victoria Park

Mid-Autumn Fire Dragon Dance in Victoria Park

Besides, Victoria Park will also hold the largest Lantern Carnival and Display for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

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Due to limited space, the movement and the atmosphere in Victoria Park is incomparable to it in Tai Hang. If you would like to experience the original style, you must visit Tai Hang.

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2023 Fire Dragon Dance of Pok Fu Lam Village
(Around 6:30 pm – 11:45 pm, September 29, 2023)

Pok Fu Lam village is a 200-year village on south Hong Kong Island. The fire dragon celebration during Mid-Autumn Festival has over 100-year history in this small village.

The length of the dragon in Pok Fu Lam is much shorter than Tai Hang. It is only around 10-meter long and performed by 20 performers.

Usually it will take place at the night of Mid-Autumn Festival.

Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance

Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance at night

Route of Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance

Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance

Ritual before the parade

The ritual starts at the entrance of Pok Fu Lam Village around 6:30 pm and will visit the Liling Divine Pagoda first, a 100-year old heritage building with the goddess to protect villagers. Then it will pass many main streets, Wai Chai (middle of the village), Lung Chai (end of the village), Choi Yuen (south of the village) to bless the villagers. After around 3 hours, the team will return to the entrance to replace the incense.

Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance

Then the parade will walk along Wah Fu Road towards Waterfall Bay for traditional ritual. Usually the dragon will be released to the ocean, representing “Dragon back to the sea”. Due to environment protection, the recent year the dragon will be handled on land. The complete event takes about 5 hours.

Where to watch Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance?

The parade will stop three times at the following locations for dancing performance.

  • 7:00 pm stop at Pok Fu Lam Village southbound bus station for performance;
  • 10:00 pm stop at Pok Fu Lam Village southbound bus station for performance;
  • 10:45pm stop for performance at Wah Lok House Wah Fu Estate on Wah Fu Road;

box-info2 General Info and Details

Date: September 29, 2023
Time: 6:30 pm – 11:45 pm
Location: Along Pok Fu Lam Village and Waterfall Bay
Ticket: Free Admission

How to Get to the Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance?

By subway: The most convenient way is to take MTR to Hong Kong University station and change to bus 4, 7, 40, 40M, 90B, 970 or 970X to Pok Fu Lam Village;
Or in Tsim Sha Tsui take bus 973 (Mody Road or Canton Road) to Pok Fu Lam Village;

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Lee Tung Avenue Mid-Autumn Festival LED Fire Dragon Fiesta 2023
(8:30 pm – 9:30 pm, September 29, 2023)

The performance in Lee Tung Avenue, technically is not using the traditional fire dragon with burning incense. Instead, Lee Tung Avenue showcases its version of dragon with lighted LED lights, starting from 2016.

You can experience a 70-feet LED-lighted dragon, smoke-free and without worrying about the potential hazard of burning joss sticks. The modern version of the traditional fire dragon highlights Hong Kong’s tradition with modern technology. Like many parts and places of Hong Kong, it is a juxtaposition of old and new.

After three-year cancellation, this year the LED Fire Dragon Dance is finally back again.

Mid-Autumn Festival LED Fire Dragon Dance in Lee Tung Avenue

Mid-Autumn Festival LED Fire Dragon Dance in Lee Tung Avenue

box-info2 General Info and Details

Lee Tung Avenue LED Fire Dragon Fiesta 2023

Date: September 29, 2023
Time: 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Venue: Along Lee Tung Avenue
Ticket: Free Admission

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