8,000 set to hit Hong Kong’s tranquil Tap Mun island off Sai Kung for rare Taoist parade

About 8,000 visitors from around the world were expected to flock to the tranquil Hong Kong island of Tap Mun (Grass Island) on Friday for a once-a-decade seaborne parade celebrating the Taoist festival known as Tai Ping Ching Chiu.

An elaborate flotilla in the waters off Sai Kung will carry three statues of Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Sea in Chinese folklore, from Tap Mun past Yim Tin to the island of Kat O, marking the climax of six days of festivities celebrating the traditions of Tanka and Hakka villagers.

A blessing ceremony was carried out on Thursday but the main event is Friday’s flotilla, for which 300 volunteers will be deployed for crowd and traffic control. Tap Mun Youth Club has sent 100, and chairman Tommy Cheung Chi-wai advised visitors to come early in the day.

He said the rare event was an important reminder of the local villagers’ colourful traditions.

“Those interested in witnessing the full rituals on land with the village leaders are advised to come early,” he said. “The three ‘merciful sisters’ will be escorted on board a fishing boat one by one starting from 9.30am, and the flotilla will set off at about 10.45am,” he said, referring to the statues of Tin Hau.

The boats will circle Tap Mun once, stopping halfway through the loop for an hour-long ritual involving burning paper offerings, and blessings from Taoist priests. The three goddess statues will then be returned to the island’s Tin Hau Temple at around 2.30pm.

Hakka and Tanka villagers to unite on Tap Mun island for once-a-decade Taoist celebration of their fishing heritage

“A good idea for onlookers is to walk up the trail behind Tin Hau Temple that leads to a park with a pagoda which overlooks Mirs Bay. This is where the boats will stop for an hour,” Cheung said.

Other attractions include two Chinese opera shows, one at noon and the other in the evening, inside a 900-seat bamboo theatre. A puppet show will also be staged in a 50-60 seat venue.

Cheung said Tap Mun got about 500 to 600 visitors on an ordinary day, but the thousands expected for Friday’s parade were set to bring shops, hawkers and restaurants a flood of business. He cautioned visitors however that, in line with tradition, only vegetarian food would be served.

More than 1,000 revellers are expected to come from overseas, most with family links to the villages. They include Dennis Lam, 62, from Britain, who has returned for a month with his two sons.

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“There were 11 of us here in 2009,” he said of his family in Europe. “This joint celebration with seven villages is something unique and special. It’s not only for seniors – it enables the younger generation to meet one another.”

Villager Pekky Lam, who runs a 36-year-old family restaurant on Tap Mun named New Hon Kee, said the festival was becoming more popular with outsiders. “More and more visitors have been coming since learning that this unusual event takes place here at such an out-of-the-way location but still in Hong Kong.

“Already, a day or so ago, we had loads of customers and prepared 90 tables of veggie meals for villagers and guests in three different time slots,” she said. “Apart from serving meals for the organisers and 300 volunteers, we also provide some meal packages for visitors with advance bookings.”

Some food outlets, including Sun Yau Kee Restaurant, have been struggling to cope with the rush. Owner Tang Pong said: “We’ve only got two staff so we prepared about 200 bottles of home-made cold drinks plus more than 100 bowls of sweet bean curd. Once they’re sold out, we are off. Unfortunately, our signature milk tea is undergoing purification, so it, too, is off the shelves.”