Ring in the New - Chinese Style in Hong Kong

The story of the Chinese New Year goes back a long way. It all started when the legendary monster, locally referred to as 'Nian', began to visit the villagers on the last day of the year. It was believed that this monster was scared of the colour red and loud noises. So the village folk would hang red paper and tried to make as loud a noise as possible with firecrackers in order to save their lives from this man-eating monster. As the story goes, these repulsion strategies worked and ever since then the dawn of the Chinese New Year is celebrated in this fashion. With time, the New Year Celebrations became more and more adorned with other forms of celebration but the basic red paper and firecrackers are still part of it to keep the monster away.

Being a special occasion for all, the Chinese New Year brings out the traditions and festival culture of the locals. Pomp and pageantry, and flamboyance is synonymous with this celebration as the festive mood hits the streets with parades, fiestas, fireworks and other lively events.

Each year the flower markets and the Cathay Pacific Chinese New Year Parade takes centre stage at this festival. Sporting events, streets laden with food, music and bubbly crowds liven up the whole New Year atmosphere, and the upcoming Hong Kong's Chinese New Year Celebrations in 2011 is are ideal way to immerse oneself in the vibrant culture of the Island.

The 2011 Chinese New Year in Hong Kong will be held during the month of February and being a year round holiday destination, the city offers its visitors plenty of lodging options. But it being a busy time of the year, attracting tourists from all over the world, its best that you make your travel plans well ahead in time.

The city it self boasts a range of accommodation options offering modern amenities and facilities. Visitors can compare the different Hong Kong rooms and suites on offer through the Internet and also make reservations through the same mode. Most travellers prefer the Hong Kong business hotels and tourist hotels located closer to the city centre in order to experience the lively atmosphere to the fullest. For an affordable option with easy access to the city try theTraders Hotel, Hong Kong, a hotel which provides modern facilities and warm hospitality.

About the Author

Pushpitha Wijesinghe is an experienced independent freelance writer. He specializes in providing a wide variety of content and articles related to the travel hospitality industry.

Nightlife in Hong Kong

After an exhausting day of sight seeing the only thing to do in Hong Kong is not to lay back and relax, but to dress up and head out to one of the many happening night spots in the city. Some of the best bars and pubs in Asia can be found in Hong Kong, beer and various alcoholic beverages from a multitude of countries flow freely; locals drink to a long hard day at work or for unrequited love while tourists head here to experience the vibrant nightlife of Hong Kong.

There are also other ways to spend a evening like the Pearl of the River cruise, a restaurant boat. These trips are different to sitting in a hotel restaurant for instance you will have a nice breeze a moving landscape of the city with its skyscrapers, the lights the views and this is on both sides of you. The food is splendid and the service is very good, so have i think a nice leisure cruise or a restaurant in the city.

Though best-known for its big-city status, Hong Kong also boasts many amazing natural and man-made wonders. One of the most popular sightseeing activities involves taking the Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak

The hottest Hong Kong nightlife is found in Tsim Sha Tsui, Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong. These iconic, must see areas provide a wide selection of restaurants, bars and cafe's catering to any culinary tastes. Known as the trendy night district, you can be certain that you will be able to indulge in a wide variety of international and local beers, wines and spirits. While many tourists remain in Kowloon, the tourists "in the know" always attend these areas, which are also popular with the locals.

The next port of call has to be The Jumbo Kingdom a floating restaurant of the highest quality, situated in the harbour at Aberdeen. This can be done day or night but at night its lit up like Las Vegas and it is a wonderful sight. The Jumbo Kingdom is a very large floating restaurant, to give you an idea of size it can accommodate 2300 paying customers. The decor is as though you where in a Chinese Palace which is a wonder to walk around. There is a open deck cafe and restaurant, shopping complex, tea garden and a wine garden. This is a 6 star gourmet restaurant of sheer delight.

About the Author

Log on to http://www.myvacations.co.uk/ and you'll find everything that you need for Hong Kong Holidays

Facts About the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, commonly called Duanwujie in Chinese, as it is celebrated on the 5th of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Duanwu means the 5th of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and jie means festival, hence the name. For thousands of years, this traditional festival has been passed down from one generation to the next. It has been marked by eating Zongzi (steamed glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) and racing dragon boats.

The Origin of The Dragon Boat Festival

About the origin of the Duanwu Festival, the most popular explanation among the ordinary Chinese people is that it was derived from the activities of commemorating a great patriot poet, Qu Yuan. The story about Qu Yuan has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture and this festival, and passed down for more than 2,000 years. So it is definitely a very important factor for the origin of the festival.

But since some of the well-known traditions of the festival already existed even before Qu Yuan, other origins of the festival were also suggested. One explanation is that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from people's worship of dragons. In ancient China, people believed the dragon was the god in charge of water, which was vitally important to daily life and agricultural production. On the way of Duanwu, people raced dragon boats to entertain the god and offered him Zongzi as a treat. The sole purpose was to please the god to ensure a year of favorable weather. Another view is that the festival originated from the taboo of evil days. The fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is traditionally considered as evil month and the 5th of the month is particularly a bad day, so a lot of taboo had been developed.

Most likely, the festival was gradually derived from all of the suggestions and the story of Qu Yuan is certainly the driving power to make it a great festival today.

Major Activities of The Dragon Boat Festival

The celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival consists of the two major activities - eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats. Zongzi is the most popular food for the festival. The dragon boat races are the most popular activity during the festival, especially in Southern China.

Ancient Chinese believed that the day of Duanwu was unlucky because midsummer was just around corner. The hot weather used to bring various diseases, which could spread rampant-ly. Dispelling disease and driving out evil were the main purpose of the festival. People would paste on their front doors postures of Zhongkuiï¼OEa legendary Chinese ghost-catcher. People would also use cattail and mugwort leaves to drive away mosquitoes and other insects.

Since children are generally the most vulnerable to disease, they received extra care at this special time. Children would wear necklaces or bracelets, made of red, yellow, blue, white and black threads, to keep evil away from them. They would also receive colorful pouches containing fragrant herbal medicines as presents. They hung these around their necks, and would compete with one another to see whose pouch had the finest needlework. Mothers also made sure to battle their children in water boiled with herbal medicines. Modern science has proven that these medicines are, in fact, quite beneficial to health.

Ancient Chinese believed realgar was an antidote for all poisons, and therefore most effective to drive away evil spirits and kill insects. So everyone would drink some realgar wine during the Duanwu Festival, and children would have the Chinese character for "King" (note: the character cannot be showed by the website) written on their foreheads with realgar wine.

Where to Watch Dragon Boat Races?

Some famous places to watch the wonderful Chinese Dragon Boat Races during the Dragon Boat Festival are Neijiang City (in Sichuan province), Li River (in Guilin), Fenghuanggucheng (lit. Phoenix Old Town, in Hunan province), Xiamen (in Fujian province), Hong Kong and the Xixi Scenic Area (in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province).

Find more facts about the Dragon Boat Festival chinafacttours.com

David Bruce is a senior travel consultant from China Fact Tours. He has a good command of traditional Chinese culture and have traveled to many places of the vast country.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Bruce_Tan