I Love Public Holidays!

Yesterday was the Tuen Ng Festival here in Hong Kong. The celebration, known for its famous Dragon Boat Races that take place all over the region, is one of a dozen or so public holidays that afford much-appreciated days off to the Hong Kong work force. Since a lot of people seem curious about the holidays out here, I think this is a good time to describe them.

Dragon Boat Races on Stanley Beach

Obviously the biggest holidays in the United States—namely Christmas, New Year’s Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday—are all observed here in Hong Kong as well. Unfortunately, we do not get the day off for Martin Luther King Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Columbus Day or Thanksgiving. Those are all uniquely American celebrations. But we do have our own share of interesting, tradition-filled public holidays.

Several teams speeding neck and neck towards the finish line

First and foremost among these is Chinese New Year, which, depending on when it falls, can account for two or three days off. The entire week is full of parades, fireworks and celebrations. Chinese New Year usually takes place in January or February. Since I was on vacation in Thailand during the past Chinese New Year, I missed the bulk of the celebrations, but I hope to spend next year's here in Hong Kong.

One of the big Asian festivals is the Ching Ming Festival, which generally falls in early April. For the locals, this is a day to spend time with family members and pay visits to the graves of deceased relatives. This year we lucked out with timing, as Ching Ming fell on Easter Monday. We were off from work on Good Friday, Easter Monday and—in order to observe Ching Ming—Tuesday as well! Gotta love a nice five day weekend!

Buddha’s Birthday took place in late May this year. That day, I went to the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, which I described in my previous post. The celebrations on Cheung Chau always coincide with Buddha’s Birthday, although they are separate events in terms of their origins. Visits to temples and monastaries are a very popular way for locals to commemorate Buddha's Birthday.

As I mentioned, yesterday was the Tuen Ng Festival, and it’s marked by the popular Dragon Boat races held not only in Hong Kong but in many other parts of Asia as well.

The crowds gathered to watch the races on the beach

Since I've only been here for seven months, I have not yet experienced the rest of the public holidays.

The next one on the calendar, set for July 1st, is SAR Establishment Day. Hong Kong is an SAR (or Special Administrative Region) of China. It was formerly under British rule, and on July 1st, 1997, Great Britain officially handed Hong Kong back over to the Chinese after more than a century of governing the territory.

Since Hong Kong's economy was extremely developed and profitable, China did not wish to tamper with it. Deng Xioping created the "SAR" to famously allow "one country with two systems" to maintain Hong Kong's capitalist, free-market structure. This is why Hong Kong is sometimes abbreviated as the HKSAR or simply the SAR, even though neighboring Macau is also an SAR. 

Every 1st of July is observed as a holiday to commemorate the handover, and, ostensibly, to celebrate Hong Kong's relative autonomy from the Mainland. Since July 1st is very close date-wise to our own Independence Day, I hope it will be a good chance to barbeque and enjoy summer weather.

In September, we have the Mid-Autumn Festival. A few weeks later, on October 1st, there is National Day. Then, in mid-October, we have the Chung Yeung Festival—the holiday I wasn't told about when I worked "Asia hours" in the States just before moving here. It's always nice to have the day off, but it would have been nice to know about that one beforehand, as I arrived in the office bleary-eyed at 2am on a Monday morning only to find out I needn't have bothered!

I have to say, Hong Kong has a pretty nice working calendar. It’s fine by me to get the day off from work to go and watch the Dragon Boat Races on the beach! And even though it was cloudy, somehow I still managed to get a lot of color—the Southeast Asian sun is very strong.

A race in progress

Yesterday was a wonderful experience. I woke up early and headed to Stanley Main Beach, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. It was certainly packed with spectators, but there was a good view of the action from almost everywhere on the beach, and the crowd added to the atmosphere.

The DFS boat

Lots of corporate companies sponsor a boat for their employees, so there were Dragon Boats from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, RBS, DFS, Bloomberg and dozens of others. Even the University of Michigan Alumni had a team! Many teams took their costumes really seriously, dressing up as sailors, panda bears, Flintstone characters and—most memorably—Avatars! There was even a costume competition at the end of the day.

Costumes are a popular feature of the races, like these boaters in sailor outfits

A team dressed as Panda bears

A nod to American pop culture—the Flintstones

My personal favorite—the Avatars

There was a lot of pomp and ceremony, and a lot of fun as well. You could watch the races from the beach, from the docks, aboard the countless boats moored offshore (usually chartered by a company with a boat in the race), or from several beachfront houses with patios and decks (again, usually rented by one of the teams). After several hours on the beach itself, I went to a party on the roof deck of one such home. Delicious German food was served, and it was great to meet some of the competitors who had actually won their race. All in all, I could not have asked for a better first experience at the Tuen Ng Festival!