It was a public holiday in Hong Kong yesterday due to the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday which falls on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. A special celebration – the Cheung Chau Bun Festival – goes on in Cheung Chau island on this day and I decided to brave the crowds to take a peek at the festivities. Stupidly, I forgot to bring my camera and so I had to use my mobile phone to take photos, hence the really bad quality of the photos below.


The normally sleepy island is bombarded with visitors on this day. The only way to get there is by ferry from the Central Piers and people start going to Cheung Chau really early.


Lots of bun paraphernalia are sold on the island. They are so cute that I couldn’t help but buy some of these touristy things. I bought a bun-shaped cushion, two bun magnets, two phone charms, and a postcard. I know, I know, I’m such a typical tourist!


I love this T-shirt with all the different Chinese characters that have the word 包 as a radical. On its own, the word 包 means bun.


The 平安 (meaning safe and well) buns have different fillings like lotus paste, red bean, and corn. They are sold for HKD6 each.


Snacks made from glutinous rice flour.


All the restaurants on the island will have vegetarian fare on their menu on this particular day and even McDonald’s goes vegetarian by having a veggie burger.


At midnight, 12 men will scale this bun tower and they will have a basket strapped to them. They have to collect as many buns as they can as they scale up the tower. The ones at the top are considered the luckiest so it’s a competition to see who gets to the top fastest. These buns are not real ones, but rather ones made of spongy plastic.


The Pak Tai Temple is flooded with people going to pray.


Three big bun towers placed in front of the Pak Tai Temple. The paragraph below is taken from Wikipedia:
‘One story of the origin of the festival is that in the 18th Century the island of Cheung Chau was devastated by a plague and infiltrated by pirates until local fishermen brought an image of the god Pak Tai to the island. Paraded through the village lanes, the deity drove away evil spirits. Villagers also disguised themselves as different deities and walked around the island to drive away the evil spirits.’


Mini bun towers


There is a parade that goes through the main street to Pak Tai Temple and there are children dressed in costume as part of the tradition.


These two kids are dressed as an ancient king and queen.


School bands take part in the festivities as well, adding to the convival mood.


Lion dance performances with gongs and cymbals banging away are also an integral part of the celebrations. The parade ends in front of Pak Tai Temple, but we didn’t want to wait at the temple for three hours to see it.
My friends and I didn’t stay till midnight to watch the bun snatching competition as we didn’t want to spend the whole day in Cheung Chau. Moreover, the island was getting too crowded and we were feeling hot and sticky, so we decided to leave the island after we had seen part of the parade.
If you haven’t been to the Cheung Chau Bun Festival before, I think it’s worth braving the crowds to have a look around the island. It’s a very unique festival that’s integral to the history and culture of Cheung Chau and Hong Kong as a whole. One can sense a strong sense of community from the locals who take part in the parade and I love how tradition is upheld with this festival.