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Hong Kong once again enchanted the crowds at the City of London Lord Mayor's Show today (November 12, London Time), with its most colourful and engaging display yet. This is the seventh time that Hong Kong has been represented at the Lord Mayor's Show.
The theme of this year's entry was "Hong Kong: Ancient and Modern" and featured the ancient traditions of the Hong Kong Wishing Tree and colourful dancing lions, combined with a contemporary dance troupe performing an updated version of Hong Kong's dragon boat dance. The dance is traditionally performed by the women of Hong Kong's many small islands. For the parade the dance was choreographed in a contemporary style and accompanied by music composed specially for the Lord Mayor's Show.
The Wishing Tree is an ancient tradition in Hong Kong, where people used to make wishes, tie them to an orange, and throw into the branches of the Wishing Tree near the temple of Lam Tsuen, a small village in the New Territories, in the hope that they would stay in the branches so that the wishes would come true. In today's Lord Mayor's Show, people along the route of the two-mile long parade took part by throwing their lucky wishing beanbags at a replica of the Wishing Tree. Hong Kong's float was number 38, which in Cantonese signifies 'Luck' and 'Prosperity'.
Agnes Allcock, Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London, which devised and organised the display said: "We welcome the new Lord Mayor of London, Alderman David Wootton and look forward to working with him. Our float in this year's Lord Mayor's Show demonstrates the Hong Kong's unique blend of ancient tradition and vibrant modernity, and it was wonderful to see so many people joining in by throwing the 'lucky wishing beanbags' into our Hong Kong Wishing Tree to wish for health, wealth and long life – I hope that people's wishes will come true and especially that they will visit Hong Kong to enjoy the sights and sounds of this great city."
The Lord Mayor's Show developed since 1215 around the newly appointed Lord Mayor's journey to swear an oath of allegiance to the reigning monarch. More than half a million people take to the streets to see the parade each year, while the BBC broadcasts it live to millions of people in Britain and globally. Hong Kong has a long tradition of working with the City of London and the Lord Mayor, who always makes a point of visiting Hong Kong during his tenure.
For more information on the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London, visit www.hketolondon.gov.hk. For more information on the Lord Mayor's Show visit www.lordmayorsshow.org.
Lion Dancers were provided by the Medway Dragon and Lion Dance Association in Chatham, Kent. The dancers were from the Sinman Dance Company, choreographed by Sinman Yue, ex City Contemporary Dance Company of Hong Kong, with music specially composed by Jiang Li based on traditional Hong Kong folk songs.
Ends/Sunday, November 13, 2011
Issued at HKT 08:00
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