Cheung Chau Bun Festival

The Cheung Chau Bun Festival is a lesson what happens when tens of thousands of people cram onto a small island for an annual display of Chinese culture.

View large image During the 4th moon in the lunar calendar, Cheung Chau (Long Island) is transformed by the week-long festival; the island's narrow village lanes become jammed with folks trying to see the parade of floating children, lion and dragon dances, and visiting the temples and Cantonese opera shows.

It's no place to go if you're an agoraphobe, claustrophobe, sinophobe or xenophobe, but if you don't suffer from any of these fears, I have a few tips to help you get the most from the festival.

But first, a bit of history from CheungChauHK:

... while many people related it to misfortunes brought by pirates and disease during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), two old men said it was originally held on Hong Kong Island, in Taipingshan - where many people were killed by bubonic plague.

They said a man from Huizhou (Hailufeng) asked Pak Tei (Beidi) to stop the plague, other residents joined his prayers, and the disease subsided. Later, the festival was banned in Taipingshan, as fire regulations were tightened. The festival was transferred to Cheung Chau, where there was a strong Huizhou community in Pak She Street.

Regarding Pak Tei becoming like the island's patron saint: I have also read of ways he helped islanders in times of crisis, especially when plague struck in the late 19th century. Then, his first emissary was a stranger known as the Crane Brother, who rode about in a chair with knife blades for seat, arms and footrest. The plague subsided. It returned again after Crane Brother left, and a local took a turn in the chair, and the benevolent Pak Tei again came to the rescue.

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If you plan only to visit on the 8th day of the 4th month (the 3rd day of the festival) my first recommendation would be to visit the island by private junk. This turned out to be an excellent decision later in the afternoon, but I'll get to that.

We left from the Aberdeen Boat Club at about 10.30am for a relaxing cruise, first passing the immense Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which is one of my favourite sights and is always a pleasure to visit. As we cruised past the Ap Lei Chau Bridge, we entered Aberdeen Harbour, with dry-docks on our right. Moments later the captain steered the junk between orderly rows of large fishing vessels, many with families living aboard; in such a festive and friendly atmosphere, we couldn't help waving to them, as well as to the people aboard the smaller junks and the restaurant's shuttles coming at us from the opposite direction.

Before long we sailed out of Aberdeen West Typhoon Shelter and hit the open water of the East Lamma Channel. The seas were smooth but for the wake of the occasional container ship, and with a cool drink in hand and the breeze in our faces, the heat of the day couldn't touch us.

The one-hour cruise took us into the West Lamma Channel heading southeast toward the small island of Cheung Chau, which is perched off the southwest corner of Chi Ma Wan Peninsula of the enormous Lantau Island. At the same moment we pulled in to the private pier on Cheung Chau, a ferry berthed at the public pier and disgorged its full passenger load onto San Hing Praya Street.

Then the scorching heat became immediately apparent; the 32C temperature and high humidity combined with relentless sunshine made for instant perspiration. But as part of our junk trip, tables had been booked at a restaurant along Pak She Praya Road, a short walk away. The difficult part was navigating through the crowd, which was growing thicker by the minute; the path was a sea of umbrellas.

Once at the restaurant, part of the group decided to sit outdoors in the shade of the awning, while the rest moved indoors to enjoy the air conditioning. After the meal, everyone was free to choose their own path, and then meet back at the pier at about 4.30pm.

This is where things fell apart for my wife and I as far as getting the most out of the festival was concerned. The main problem was the complete lack of available information on the island for those who've never been to the Bun Festival. We were interested to watch the Parade of Floating Children, but had no idea of the route it would take. Moreover, to say the police were overwhelmed in controlling foot traffic would be a gross understatement. Lanes were suddenly and arbitrarily closed for no discernible reason, and by the time we figured out where the parade was there was no way to get close enough to see it; all the side lanes and alleys were packed with people.

After walking up and down the lanes I was able to find a short retaining wall that my wife could stand on that at least gave her a bit of a view, though still nowhere near close enough for her to be able to fully appreciate the parade. To say we were frustrated would be putting it mildly, but that was just the beginning.

After a while we decided to head over to the Pak Tai Temple area to get some photos of the bun towers and festival displays, but even that proved to be a challenge. I then realised that the best way to see everything unimpeded would be to visit Cheung Chau a couple of days before the main event, when the crowds would be much lighter. In fact, to get the most from the festival, the smartest thing would be to book a room in one of the island's guest houses a day before the event, map out a good viewing position for the parade well in advance, and then camp there hours before so as not to be blocked out. If that isn't feasible, the next best move would be to arrive on the junk and then head straight for the parade route.

But the cruise over was wonderful, so the day wasn't a total loss. I came to appreciate having the private junk at our disposal when we decided we'd had enough of the heat and the crowds. I won't go into the nightmare we faced in trying to get back to the pier (again, the police were out of touch with reality when it came to crowd control), but suffice to say that when we got a look at the huge queue for the public ferry, we were grateful we wouldn't have to stand in line for hours just get off the island; by 4.30pm we were more than ready to escape the insanity.

After the junk pulled in, envious faces watched as we climbed aboard, plopped onto the soft benches in the shade of the lower deck and sipped cold drinks. The relief of no longer being stuck in the throng made our booking worth every penny. The sail back to Aberdeen was even more enjoyable than the trip out and more than made up for the problems encountered on the island.

Still, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival had its highlights: I was able to get some decent photos, and we did get a chance to eat some "lucky" buns (even though we didn't get much luck from them). If nothing else, we have a much better idea of what to do next time to increase our enjoyment of the festivities. Here's another good site that you can use for planning should you decide to take in the event.

Most of all I highly recommend sailing on a junk. There's nothing like having the freedom to leave when you're ready, not to mention the relaxation and sheer pleasure of being on the water. And it's a great idea whether or not you decide to visit Cheung Chau; you could get a group of friends together and hold your own festival.

It's up to you whether or not to include buns.