Plans to make Hong Kong's Yue Lan Festival as big as Halloween: cultural heritage to mix with cosplay and anime
Community leader unveils big plans for the Hungry Ghost Festival, including a cosplay competition and grappling with ghosts
Hong Kong will soon have its own version of Western ghost and fancy dress-fest Halloween - with a Chinese twist.
The city's Chiu Chow community aims to stage a three-day celebration for its Yue Lan Festival next year in the form of a carnival showcasing traditional cultures, food, qianggu ghost-grappling and even a cosplay competition to revitalise the intangible cultural heritage.
READ MORE: Hong Kong’s Hungry Ghost Festival: all you ever wanted to know
Anven Wu Yim-chung, a director at the Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organisations, said the city's Chiu Chow community had been trying to come up with ideas to promote such traditions among a younger generation.
Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said that with greater emphasis being placed on intangible cultural heritage, the promotion of the Yue Lan Festival would help generate cultural tourism.
Young people are particularly enthusiastic about [cosplaying]. I think this is possible
He said after the success of this year's ghost-grappling competition, which took place in Kwun Tong during the Yue Lan Festival in August, organisers were in talks with the government to find a bigger venue such as Victoria Park and obtain more resources for next year's event.
