When Hong Kong put on a parade fit for a queen, complete with a giant cake and a square cow
- To celebrate the 25th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 1977, the city hosted a series of events, including a procession from Victoria Park to Victoria Barracks
- ‘A mammoth spectacular was promised – and that’s exactly what Hongkong was treated to’
“HK salutes the Queen,” ran a South China Morning Post headline on January 24, 1977. “Hongkong is planning a series of events to mark the 25th year of the reign of the Queen,” the story continued.
Celebrations began on February 7 at HMS Tamar, where “a naval gun party make Hongkong’s salute to the Queen at noon”, the Post reported the following day.
Next on the agenda was to be the “Biggest and best parade ever”, scheduled for April 21, the queen’s birthday. A Post article from March 15 enthused, “The use of phrases like ‘mammoth spectacular’ gives some idea of what is being lined up in Hongkong for the celebration of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee”.
And, on April 22, the Post reported that the event had lived up to expectations. “A mammoth spectacular was promised – and that’s exactly what Hongkong was treated to last night.”
The parade, which travelled from Victoria Park to Victoria Barracks and was watched by “an estimated audience of 100,000 on the pavements […] boosted to 250,000 by people viewing from high-rise blocks, and two to three million watching on television” was described as “dazzling”.
“From the precision marching of the Armed Forces and youth bands to the staccato lion dances and flowing dragons, the whole event testified to imagination, thought and effort.
“It was a classic case of something to suit everyone – the gay ‘Fairy Florists’ from the Pok Oi Hospital; the cute and colourful youngsters performing the dance of ‘the Phoenix and the Birds’; the skill of the Hongkong Chinese Martial Arts Association.