Entering its 10th year, the annual 'Standard Chartered Arts in the Park - Mardi Gras' will be held at Victoria Park this weekend.
One of Hong Kong's largest and most diverse outdoor art activities, the event will once again be highlighted by a parade of giant puppets. This year's theme is inspired by the five elements: earth, air, fire, metal and water.
Between August and October, 600 students from 100 secondary and primary schools worked with local artists to create a variety of costumes, headdresses, dance routines and giant puppets.
Wong Ho-lam, a Form Five student at Shun Tak Fraternal Association Tam Pak Yu College, led the school's team in creating a three-metre 'fire god' puppet.
'The puppet's head looks like the head of a dragon, and its body resembles a ball of flame,' she said. 'We used a lot of yellow and red to create a fiery effect.' Ho-lam added that making such a large puppet presented a lot of challenges. 'We used bamboo to construct its skeleton slowly and painstakingly,' she said. 'A team of 16 people worked together on it.'
She said she could hardly wait to see other schools' creations.
