How Cheung Chau Bun Festival in 1978 left 100 injured, and why it was banned for 27 years

“Twenty-four people were hurt – several seriously – when two bun towers collapsed on Cheung Chau early this morning,” ran the story in the South China Morning Post on May 10, 1978. The number of injured was later reported as 100.

The incident occurred as the annual Ta Chiu (or Bun) Festival, held to appease the spirits of those islanders who had died of the plague or at the hands of pirates in times past, reached its midnight climax, with 200 people, mostly teenagers, scrambling up the 60-foot bamboo towers to pick buns – said to bring good luck and health – from the top.

“The crowd of about 2,000 scattered in panic as the towers began to crumble amid screams of horror,” the story continued. “The third tower remained standing.”

Two helicopters were dispatched to Cheung Chau to fly the seriously injured to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Kowloon.

In the following day’s newspaper, a reporter who was at the scene wrote: “Mid­night was gonged, young men swarmed up three 60ft bun towers – and moments later Cheung Chau’s annual bun festival climaxed in chaos and injury.