Hong Kong new year pyrotechnics display back with biggest bang yet and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games fireworks chief calling shots
- Hong Kong Tourism Board says show will be biggest and longest new year extravaganza yet, lasting 12 minutes
- Liu Lin, director of fireworks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has taken the helm for this year’s display in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s New Year’s Eve pyrotechnics will return with a bang – the biggest yet – and a four seasons theme, with the display designed by the director of fireworks for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board on Wednesday revealed further details about the show, saying it would be the biggest and longest yet at 12 minutes, starting at midnight and spanning a distance of 1.3km from Central to North Point.
The pyrotechnics extravaganza will return for the first time since 2018, as the 2019 edition was cancelled because of social unrest, while the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to displays in the years after that.
“This year’s celebrations will be the largest in Hong Kong,” said the board’s executive director, Dane Cheng Ting-yat. He said the celebrations together with an “East-meets-West musical” were expected to attract large crowds along Victoria Harbour on New Year’s Eve, while showcasing the city’s “unique appeal to the world”.
Liu Lin, director of the fireworks operation at the Beijing Olympics 15 years ago, took the helm for the choreography of the “New Year, New Legend” show in Hong Kong. He said he was inspired by the changing of the seasons throughout the year.
“The countdown firework performance demonstrates the optimism and diligence of the people of Hong Kong, who inspire boundless vitality and innovation, and have given birth to one legend after another,” he said.
The show will kick off starting with winter, represented by red and green-hued fireworks to depict a Christmas atmosphere, followed by colourful flowerlike pyrotechnic blooms for spring.
