HKTB stages first lantern event for Mid-Autumn Festival

With the Mid-Autumn Festival fast approaching, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is scaling up its festivities this year with a new large-scale international event: a lantern spectacular that blends cultures from around the world with traditional Mid-Autumn elements. 

Through this flagship event, the HKTB aims to build a promotional platform that links local culture and festive experiences with tourism-related offers, turning the charm of Hong Kong’s unique traditions into a draw for visitors and driving the tourism economy.

HKTB will stage its first-ever International Lantern Spectacular (國際中秋綵燈匯)at Victoria Park from 17 to 27 September. Centred on the theme of “reunion” (團圓), the event will bring together distinctive lanterns from 20 countries and regions, thousand-year-old Qinhuai lanterns from Nanjing recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage, and locally handcrafted lanterns from Hong Kong. 

Together with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s (LCSD) Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival (丙午年中秋綵燈會), also held at Victoria Park, HKTB’s International Lantern Spectacular invites visitors and locals to immerse themselves in dazzling lantern displays from across the globe, offering a world-class Mid-Autumn experience found only in Hong Kong.

Visitors to the World Lantern Boulevard will discover over 3,000 lanterns from 20 countries, featuring Korean silk, Brazilian patchwork and Polish paper-cut designs. The display celebrates cultural diversity and Hong Kong's inclusive spirit, bringing festive joy to all.

Visitors and locals can stroll through the area, discovering three major showcases of Chinese and international lantern art while enjoying an immersive celebration of diverse cultures. Taking centre stage is the Shadowlight, a giant themed lantern standing eight metres tall at the main entrance to Victoria Park.

Inspired by Hong Kong’s iconic banyan trees, it invites visitors and locals to weave among its glittering light and shadow, then look up at a canopy of layered coloured gauze, its many tiers giving three-dimensional form to the tree’s luxuriant growth. The flourishing canopy and cascading aerial roots symbolise Hong Kong’s global connectivity and warm welcome to visitors and locals alike to gather and experience the city’s appeal as Asia’s events capital.

Another highlight, Lotus Fish, features rows of giant lotus leaves in neat formation, with lifelike, brightly coloured carp darting nimbly through the play of light and shadows. Visitors and locals can stroll between the rows, taking in the lively scene of fish at play among the lotus leaves on either side.

Echoing the theme of “Reunion”, several lanterns will incorporate circular elements symbolising harmony and togetherness, creating memorable settings for visitors and locals to gather with loved ones and capture festive moments. Among them will be two distinctive Nanjing Qinhuai lanterns.

Dragon Gate will feature a pair of carp leaping from the water, with their graceful curves meeting to form a circle that symbolises fulfilment and good fortune. Above the lotus pond at the Model Boat Pool, Moonlit Lotus will be crowned by a spectacular seven-metre-tall moon lantern, mirrored by the glowing lotus lanterns on the water below, inviting everyone to gather beneath the same full moon.

From 17 to 20 September, HKTB and Po Leung Kuk will set up mooncake stalls at Victoria Park's South Pavilion Plaza, featuring regional varieties from Shanghai, Yunnan and Chiuchow, with all proceeds going to charity.

Alongside the International Lantern Spectacular, the city will host a range of Mid-Autumn festivities, including the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance from 24 to 26 September and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival at Victoria Park. 

The HKTB will also promote Mid-Autumn-themed activities, shopping and dining offers, large-scale lantern installations, and festive food markets presented by shopping centres and merchants throughout Hong Kong, encouraging visitors and locals to explore the city’s neighbourhoods in depth and boosting local economies.

HKTB executive director Anthony Lau said: “Hong Kong’s traditional festivals embody profound cultural heritage and immense tourism appeal. The city’s unique strengths as a globally connected hub where East meets West allow us to reinterpret these traditions from fresh perspectives. This year, HKTB is launching the first-ever International Lantern Spectacular. Together with the LCSD’s Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival, it will combine Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn traditions with lantern cultures from around the world, while linking up festive activities and spending experiences citywide to present a brand-new, large-scale international Mid-Autumn celebration found only in Hong Kong.”

“By combining local festive culture with tourism and spending experiences, the HKTB aims to attract more visitors to Hong Kong to experience first-hand the appeal of Asia’s events capital, where local traditions meet global cultures, and to drive the tourism economy,” Lau added.

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