I was born and raised in Hong Kong and now I am living in the United States for almost two decades. For the past 3 weeks I was spending my time in this lovely city Hong Kong which I haven’t step on this place for a very long time. It is really a life changing moment and I was glad that I got a chance to visit my family. This place seems a bit strange to me but at the same time it also reminded me a lot of things.
The Culture of Hong Kong
There are loads of things that can representing Hong Kong. According to an article that was published in the Jun 17, 2014 by South China Morning Post (SCMP) – The 480 things that represent Hong Kong’s culture: list unveiled after seven years’ work, there are 480 things that can represent Hong Kong’s culture like it named the title. Things such as Cantonese opera, egg tarts, pineapple buns and milk tea are all super duper unique items that was originally being found in this lovely city. Besides of that, there are more and more to go, after seven years of work by the government-appointed researchers, they found 480 of things that can really represent the traditional Hong Kong including umbrella making, Hakka folk songs, the making of snake wine and kung fu.
Besides of the traditional Hong Kong, the list also reflects that Hong Kong’s population incorporates diverse nature, from Bangladesh’s International Mother Language Day, the annual Hindu Diwali festival, to the Hong Kong Integrated Nepalese Society’s annual festival of women and poem reciting during Pakistani festivals.
Although Hong Kong is just a tiny city, it has a lot of stories and famous stuffs that attract millions of people to visit every year and I am proud of myself to be one of the 7 millions Hong Kongese 🙂
Below is a full version of the entire 480 intangible items of the Hong Kong Cultural Heritage List
1 Hakka Dialect
2 Wai Tau Dialect
3 Cantonese
4 Four-character idiomatic expressions
5 Fishermen’s Dialect
6 Fujian Dialect
7 Fujian’s Hokkien (Minnan) Dialect
8 Fujian’s Fuzhou Dialect
9 Chiu Chow Dialect
10 Hoi Luk Fung / Hoklo Dialect
11 Riddles
12 Cantonese Chanting
13 Oral Legends of the following lineages:
Sheung Shui Liu; Tuen Mun To; Chuk Yuen Lam; Ho Sheung Heung Hau; Tai Hang Man; Fanling Pang; Ha Tsuen Tang; San Tin Man; Kam Tin Tang; Lung Yeuk Tau Tang
Performing Arts
Dragon dances and Cantonese opera are among Hong Kong’s most recognisable performance traditions, but the heritage list offers more obscure gems. These include fishermen’s ballads and the interestingly named “Wedding Laments”.
24 Lion Dance
25 Dragon Dance
26 Pixiu (an imaginary beast) Dance
27 Unicorn Dance
Punti unicorn dance; Hakka unicorn dance; Hoi Luk Fung/ Hoklo unicorn dance
31 Engor (Dance of Heroes)
32 Cantonese Opera
Singing of Excerpts; Opera Music; Opera for Appeasing Gods; Opera Vocals; Episodic Acts of Cantonese Opera
38 Fujian Opera
39 Puppetry
Shadow Puppetry, Rod Puppetry; Glove Puppetry; String Puppetry; Hand Puppets in Cantonese Opera
45 Eight Categories of Instrumental Music (a type of music in Guangdong)
46 Ritual Music
Taoist and Buddhist Ritual Music
49 Rite Music
50 Cantonese Music (flourished 1920s-50s)
51 Chiu Chow Music
52 Nanyin (Southern Tunes
53 Fujian Nanyin
54 Zhuzhici Poems/Village Names in a Song
55 Hakka Folk Song
56 Funeral Laments
57 Wedding Laments (a Hakka ritual)
58 Fishermen’s Laments
Wedding laments for both ordinary fishermen and Hoklo fishermen; Death Rites
62 Fishermen’s Ballads
Social Practices, Rituals and Festive Events
Hong Kong has enough local festivals to fill your calendar, but notably present in the heritage list are those celebrated by minorities including Nepalese and Pakistanis. Martial arts also add a kick to the list, with traditions such as master Ip Man’s famous wing chun.
* Unique versions of these festivals or traditions in certain villages or lineages were included in the list but are excised here for brevity.
FESTIVALS:
63 Che Kung (General Che)
64 Tai Wong Yeh (Great Lord) Festival
Local iterations of the festival in Sam Mun Tsai and Yuen Chau Tsai in Tai Po, as well as Mui Wo
68 Tin Kung Yuk Wong Tai Tai (Jade Emperor)
69 Kwan Tai (God of War)*
72 Lantern Lighting Ritual*
89 Tai Ping Hung Chiu (ceremony for purification)*
94 Pa Tin Gei (ceremony for purification)*
97 To Tei (Earth God)*
107 Spring and Autumn Ancestral Worship of Lineage*
128 Man Cheong (God of Literature and Bureaucracy) Festival
129 Hung Shing (God of the Sea) Festival*
139 Kwun Yum (Goddess of Mercy) Festival*
143 Guang Ze Zun Wang (Revered King of Broad Blessings) Festival
144 Sam Shan Kwok Wong (Kings of Three Mountains) Festival
145 Pak Tai (Supreme Emperor of the North) Festival*
148 Offering Sacrifices to White Tiger during Insects Awakening Day
149 Chun Kwan Emperor Festival
150 Tin Hau (Empress of Heaven) Festival*
176 Tam Kung (Lord Tam) Festival*
179 LiLing Divine Festival
180 Kam Fa (Lady Golden Flower) Festival
181 Feast Day
182 Dragon Boat Festival*
187 Lung Mo (Dragon Mother) Festival*
190 Man Cheong (God of Literature) and Mo Tai (God of Martial Art) Festival
191 Chou (Zhou Youde) Wong (Wang Lairen) Yi Kung
192 Hau Wong (Marquis Prince) Festival*
195 Lo Pan (Master) Festival
196 The Seventh Sister’s Birthday Festival
197 Yu Lan Festival*
287 Tei Chong Wong (Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva) Festival*
291 Fire Dragon Dance*
294 Chai Tin Tai Shing (Monkey King) Festival
295 Wong Tai Sin Festival
296 Yuen Tin Sheung Tai (Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven) Festival
297 Tei Mo Yuen Kwan (Earth Mother Goddess) Festival
298 Wah Kwong (God of Fire and patron of Cantonese opera) Festival*
303 Autumn Sacrificial Rites
304 Ancestral Worship of the Kwok Clan in Kowloon City
305 General Cheung Fei Festival
306 Thanking Deities
307 Jiao / Da Chiu*
324 International Mother Language Day
325 Diwali (Festival of Lights), a Hindu tradition
326 Teej (Festival of Women), a Nepalese celebration
327 Poem Reciting Function, a Pakistani tradition
328 Holi (Hindu Festival of Colours)
329 Dussehra (Hindu Festival of Victory of Good over Evil)
330 Annakut (New Year’s Day in Hindu)
331 Orthodox Unity School Taoist Tradition (New Territories)*
338 Orthodox Unity School Taoist Tradition (Urban)
339 Complete Perfection School Taoist Tradition
340 – 346 including Taoist wedding ceremony, rehabilitation ceremony for temples and others
347 Cantonese Rite of Liberating the Flaming-mouths (Feeding the Hungry Ghosts)
348 Traditional Funeral Rites
349 Traditional Wedding Ceremonies*
355 Enshrinement ceremony for the Chinese Unicorn (once every 10 years)
356 Vegetable Tea preparation during festivals
357 Sek Shan Tou (Eating on the Hillside)
358 Basin Meal
359 Sticking Hui Chun (Spring Scrolls)
MARTIAL ARTS
360 Tai Shing Pek Kwar Moon Style (Monkey and Axe Hammer Style) – wushu
361 Tai Chi Chuan*
366 Northern Shaolin Tay Tong Pak Kar
367 Weng Chun Fist*
370 Pak Hok Pai (White Crane) Fist
371 Southern Shaolin Ng Cho Kun (Five Ancestors Fist) Tiebigong (Iron Arm Skill)
372 Hung Gar Kuen Style
373-377 Lam Family Hung Kyun; Kung Chi Fuk Fu Fist; Fu Hok Seung Ying Fist; Dan Tau Kwan; Tit Sin Fist
378 Fu Style Bagua Quan (Fu Style Eight Trigrams Fist)
379 Hua Yue Xin Yi Liu He Ba Fa Chuan (Six Harmonies Eight Methods Boxing)
380 Wing Chun Fist
381- 383 Pao Fa Lien Wing Chun; Snake Crane Wing Chun; Yip Man Wing Chun
384 Cangzhou Wushu*
387 Choi Lee Fat Fist*
390 Lung Ying Fist (Dragon Sign Fist)
391 Tanglangquan (Northern Praying Mantis)
392 – 395 Its variations
Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe
396 Culture of Traditional Chinese Medicine
397 – 399 Herbal Tea; Snake Wine; Bone Setting
400 Fishermen’s knowledge about the universe and the nature
401 Traditional Jade Stone Knowledge
402 Traditional Chinese Almanac
Traditional Craftsmanship
From its time-honoured soy sauce making traditions to jewellery crafting building techniques, this section deals with the tangible heritage that’s truly Hong Kong.
TECHNIQUES IN MAKING:
403 Fermented Black Soybean
404 Bean Curd
405 Seafood Sauce
406 Preserved Fruit
407 Fei Gei Lam (Aeroplane Olive)
408 Soy Sauce by local factories
409 Sesame Oil
410 Fish Maw
411 Shrimp Paste Blocks and Shrimp Paste
412 Pickled Vegetable
413 Soy Sauce (Fujian Sauce Factories)
414 Preserved Meat
415 Brewing Glutinous Rice Wine
416 Dried Oyster and Oyster Sauce
417 Fermented Soybean Sauce
418 Salted Fish
419 Moon Cake
420 Melon Seed (the snack)
421 Betrothal Cakes
422 Chiu Chow Sugar Loaf
423 Chiu Chow Style Sweets and Cakes
424 Chiu Chow Five Assorted Betrothal Cakes
425 Glutinous Rice Dumpling
426- 427 With lye or with pork
428 Sau Fan
429 Shek Lau Tsai
430 Cha Kwo (Steamed Sticky Rice Dumpling)
431 Ching Ming Tsai (Paederia scandens Sticky Rice Dumpling)
432 Sweet Potato Cake
433 Hakka Cuisine
434 Cantonese Cuisine
435 Chinese Dim Sum
436 Chiu Chow Marinated Food
437 Dumpling
438 Noodles
439 Egg Tart
440 Pineapple Bun
441 Wonton
442 Hong Kong Style Milk Tea
443 Yuan Yang Mixed Milk Tea and Coffee
444 Ding Ding Candy
445 Blown Sugar (small balloon can be made from syrup)
446 Paper Crafting
447- 455 Ghost Master; Sky Lantern; Flower-canon; Flower-lantern; Paper Offerings; etc
456 Drawn Work Figurine
457 Wreath Crafting
458 Flower Board Crafting
459 Wood Carving
460 – 461 ordinary and religious carvings
462 Charcoal Drawing
463 Mirror Painting of Deity Image
464 Gravestone Carving
465 Gold Leaf Decoration
466 Ivory Carving
467 Shiwan Pottery
468 Painting Mounting
469 Paper-cutting Technique
470 Lacquerware
471 Guangcai (The Canton Famille Rose Porcelain)
472 Seal Carving
473 Gravure-type Printing
474 Movable-type Printing
475 Dough Figurine Crafting
476 White Herring Bone Ornaments
477 Mahjong Tile Making
478 Brocade Box Making
479 Birdcage Production
480 Guqin (seven-stringed plucked instrument)
481 Umbrella Making
482 Piu Sik (Floating Colours) Making
483 Tattoo Technique
484 Face Threading Technique
485 Leather Shoe Making
486 Quilt Making
497 Sewing techniques
501 Lantern Band Embroidery
502 Cantonese Opera Headdress Crafting
503 Cantonese Opera Costume Embroidery
504 Jade Carving
505 Jewellery
506 Galvanised Iron Products
507 Chopping Board
508 Steamer
509 Cake Mould
510 Wooden Furniture Crafting
511 Coffin Crafting
512 Ying Stone (ornamental limestone from Yingde) Rockery Miniature Landscape Crafting
513 Gardening
514 Stilt House Construction
515 Traditional Architecture Preservation
516 Bamboo Shed Theatre Building
517 Wooden Boat Building
518 Fishing Method
519 Fishing Net Plaiting Technique
520 Aquaculture of Seawater fish
521 Gei Wai (Inter-tidal shrimp ponds) Operation
522 Aquaculture of Fresh-water Fish
523 Oyster Farming
524 Rice Cultivation
525 Vegetable Cultivation
526 Salt Making
527 Honey making
528 Pig Raising
529 Chicken Raising
530 Guangdong Hand Puppets Making
Images: SCMP
