PhotoEssay: Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance 2011

Aim: Learning/ Practicing Motion in your Photography and this is a good topic for Documentary Photo Essay as well as good subjects to shoot.

The event is starting at 730pm.

We'll dismiss at the event place and end up with drinks and photo sharing at 930-10pm, Venue: TBA

Map HERE (http://www.taihangfiredragon.hk/map.htm)

One of the most spectacular sights imaginable. It's a 67-metre-long 'fire dragon' that winds its way with much fanfare and smoke through a collection of streets located in Tai Hang, close to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3983829733_3f9b6b808c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalvintam/3983829733/)

Over a century ago, Tai Hang was a coastal village whose inhabitants lived off farming and fishing. A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival a typhoon and then a plague wreaked havoc on the village. While the villagers were repairing the damage, a python entered the village and ate their livestock. According to some villagers, the python was the son of the Dragon King.

A soothsayer decreed the only way to stop the chaos was to stage a fire dance for three days and nights during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The villagers made a huge dragon of straw and covered it with incense sticks, which they then lit. Accompanied by drummers and erupting firecrackers, they danced for three days and three nights – and the plague disappeared.

Just recently, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance was successfully included into China’s third national intangible cultural heritage list.

For more information, please visit www.taihangfiredragon.hk (http://www.taihangfiredragon.hk/)

View more photos HERE (http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/visit/tai-hang-fire-dragon-dance-800508) and HERE (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalvintam/sets/72157622394672651/with/3984564864/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3533/3984564864_371ae27e67_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalvintam/3984564864/) http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3470/3984577706_f186ac6605.jpg http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/6/6/0/event_53382592.jpeg