“I wanted to show the world that Hong Kong has kept its cultural elements intact.”

But when Pang began his career as a magician-for-hire, working with balloons wasn’t part of the plan – let alone creating a sculpture of this magnitude.

“Years ago, a parent tossed a bunch of balloons and an air pump at me right before I was about to clock out from a kids’ birthday party,” he says. “I felt pretty disrespected, if I’m being honest.”

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Back then, Pang only knew how to tie long balloons he called “hot dogs”. But seeing the children gather around him, bursting with anticipation, motivated him to take up the practice.

“I gave myself two years to make balloon art my full-time job,” says Pang, who has founded his own company since.

Since 2012, Pang has been honing his craft with teachers and fellow balloon sculptors across Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and the UK. He’s also a two-time champion of the World Balloon Convention, winning in 2016 and 2018, and has a place in the Asia Book of Records, for “biggest balloon Christmas wreath”.

But Pang admits that times have been tough, especially during the peak of Covid-19.

“I had to resort to driving [a delivery van] just to make ends meet. It was hard not to question if balloon art was something the world needed.”

Then he remembered the purpose of his life’s work: to bring magic to the world. At that moment, Pang set his sights on breaking a new balloon world record.

It took multiple sets of hands to pull off his latest achievement.

Including his Taiwanese mentor Ho Kunlung in the project – who is co-credited with Pang by Guinness – was Pang’s way of paying homage to his years of guidance. Pang says it made him happier than breaking the record itself.

Pang also received help from a team of 60, including artist Qu Xusheng and volunteers from City University’s “Balloon Art Club” – which Pang helped found in 2022 – as well as secondary school students from The Methodist Lee Wai Lee College.

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Besides mustering enough people to take part in the project, designing such a large balloon sculpture posed a number of challenges, particularly in achieving the right proportions. Pang says he used AI and projector screens to draft his design.

“The hardest part of the project was designing a dragon that looked majestic, but still approachable,” he says.

“I had to get a balloon inside another see-through one to nail that glint in its eyes.”

Pang says he barely slept four hours over the three-and-a-half days it took him and his team to prepare for the sculpture’s grand reveal.

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But balloon creations don’t last forever and the dragon will begin to deflate after about two weeks, he says.

“Balloon sculptures are like fresh flowers. They bloom, then they wilt and shrink over time.”

Despite the fleeting nature of his medium, Pang feels that he has succeeded in sharing a special moment with the public.

The sculpture will be on display at TMTPlaza until February 17.