The Fire Dragon Dance in

Pok Fu Lam Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay. Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the his ...

is the main activity during the Mid-Autumn Festival. People hope to beg for

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and be blessed by the

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

. It is an important part of the cultural heritage of Hong Kong.

Background

The Fire Dragon Dance in Pok Fu Lam is similar to

Tai Hang Tai Hang () is an area southeast of Causeway Bay located in the mid-north of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is home to many luxurious private apartments. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate profession ...

's. The origin of Fire Dragon Dance can be traced to over a hundred years ago in

. After suffering from a

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...

, the people of

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

were attacked by a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

that destroyed the village's peace. The villagers then caught the

and killed it. In the days following the snake's death,

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

broke out in Tai Hang. At that time, an elderly villager received Buddha's guidance in a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

that told him to hold The Fire Dragon Dance in the Mid-Autumn festival to drive away the plague. This succeeded, and people began to believe that The Fire Dragon Dance could drive away bad luck and plague. So the tradition of The Fire Dragon Dance has been upheld until now and the location spread from Tai Hang to Po Fu Lam. The Fire Dragon Dance is a traditional custom of the

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

ethnic group from China.

The Fire Dragon

Pok Fu Lam fire dragons are incense-lit, straw-filled dragons. The Fire Dragon are over ten meters long and made of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

sticks,

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

wire and straw (pearl grass) imported from China,. The dragon is supported by bamboo poles which become handles for the dancers. Villagers adhere burning

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

sticks to the skeletons and the burning incense sticks constitute the body of the Fire Dragon. Several large balls or

pomelo The pomelo ( ), ''Citrus maxima'', is the largest citrus fruit from the family Rutaceae and the principal ancestor of the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a sweet grapefr ...

s pierced with wooden sticks are used for dragonballs. In tradition's centennial anniversary in year 2010, leader of Pok Fu Lam village fire dragon dance team, Mr. Ng Kwong-nam, made an attempt for

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. He made a dragon which was officially measured to be over 73 meters long. It used 40 000

sticks and had 36 segments and two people for each segment.

Activities

The fire dragon dance starts at 6:30 p.m. on the mid-autumn Festival. At the entrance of Pokfulam village, there will be an altar, and incense will be burned at the altar to worship the fire dragon. Then, the villager will paint the eyes of the dragon, which is called "waak lung dim zing" in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. At 7 o'clock p.m., the fire dragon dance starts. The fire dragon will first dance around the Pokfulam road. It will then go to the Lin Ning Spirit and Xi Guo Da Wang

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

to pray, and enter the village after the pray. In fact, the fire dragon will pass through main streets: Wai Tsai, Lung Zi Duk and Coi jyun to visit each family in the village and bless the villagers. Afterwards, the fire dragon will return to the entrance of the village and other people can incense at the fire dragon and pray for bless there. The fire dragon will then be moved to the Waterfall Bay beach through Pokfulam road, Wah Fu Road and Waterfall Bay Road. spinning on the bus stop at the Pokfulam road twice and swaying at the Wah Fu Road in front of the Wah Lok House twice again. Finally, when it is arrived to the Waterfall Bay beach, the villagers will wear life jackets and bring back the dragon to the sea, which means "cong lung kwai hoi" in Chinese. The whole event will end at 11:30 p.m.

Location

Layout and History of Pok Fu Lam Village

Pok Fu Lam village is located on Hong Kong Island on

Pok Fu Lam Road Pok Fu Lam Road, or Pokfulam Road, is a four-lane road in Hong Kong. Built on Hong Kong Island, the road runs between Sai Ying Pun and Wah Fu, through Pok Fu Lam. Description It runs south from Sai Ying Pun, passing The University of Hong Ko ...

. The village is characterized by its narrow lanes and twisting alleys that form a complex network of paths through a collection of traditional one-storey buildings that feature walls of hay and stone and pitched roof tiles, some of which have been there since 1886, the establishment date for the original dairy farm company. The village houses around two thousand villagers today. The village is also home to some religious structures such as the Li Ling Pagoda and the Bogong Shrine.

Values

The tradition of fire dragon dance began in Pokfulam village about 200 years ago, it witnessed the changes of both the village and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, thus the historical culture of the dance to villagers and Hong Kong people is significant and momentous.

''To the villagers''

Pokfulam's fire dragon dance is not as

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

as Tai Hang's, but the whole community participates in the process of constructing the dragon. Despite the secret construction methods, other villagers can take part in the event: they help carry buckets, move heavy stones, and prepare turnip puddings. In fact, it aims to build a sense of

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

through the

division of work The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...

, and strengthen the bonding among villagers. Moreover, the fire dragon dance is literally meant as a

blessing In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will. Etymology and Germanic paganism The modern English language term ''bless'' likely ...

to the village as it will pass through each house and lane, symbolizing the dismissal of pestilence and wishes for the health of all villagers.

''To Hong Kong''

Pokfulam's fire dragon dance is a historical architecture, the villagers promote their community as part of

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and agricultural heritage of

. The villagers also willing to introduce visitors the ancient design, structure and reconstructions of the houses as education. The outsiders, men or women, could even be involved in part of the ‘dancing’ process, for instance, putting the incense sticks into the dragon, holding it and rushing down to the sea with other villagers. This is unlike the Tai Hang's. It is an important folk custom that expresses fraternity and

social harmony The Harmonious Society (; also known as Socialist Harmonious Society) is a socioeconomic concept in China that is recognized as a response to the increasing alleged social injustice and inequality emerging in mainland Chinese society as a result ...

. The

World Monument Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

claimed it as the modern appearance of the village belies its importance to the

history of Hong Kong The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a farming fishing village and salt production site, ...

, contributing to the preservation of the diversity of this

urban space An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

References

{{Southern District, Hong Kong Festivals in Hong Kong Pok Fu Lam Hakka culture