Hong Kong’s Hungry Ghost Festival will fall on September 6 this year, and the city’s biggest annual celebration of this Chinese tradition, the Yu Lan Cultural Festival, will look a little different this year compared to previous iterations as organisers embrace new ideas and attractions in hopes of drawing younger audiences to the event.
Yu Lan Festival is a long-standing tradition that holds major cultural importance within the local Chiuchow community, and has been observed in the city since the 1860s. In line with the significance and purpose of the Hungry Ghost Festival and Ghost Month, the objective of the celebration is to honour the dead and departed, and appease wandering spirits and one’s ancestors through burning joss paper offerings and incense. However, the Yu Lan Festival also includes community events, ceremonies, and performances, turning it into a multi-day celebration that visitors can participate in.
Yu Lan Cultural Festival 2025 will be held on September 12 to 14, running from 10am to 8pm at the Moreton Terrace Temporary Playground near the Hong Kong Central Library in Causeway Bay – a marked change from its usual venue across the street at Victoria Park.
Admission remains free, and this year will see the return of several key activities, such as the Festival Offerings competition to promote Hungry Ghost Festival traditions, guided tours to introduce visitors to the festival’s customs, and various workshops focused on ritual culture, such as paper crafting, tea serving, and calligraphy. Exhibitions on the culture of Hungry Ghost and its history, Chiuchow Buddhist ceremonies, and Chiuchow iron-rod puppets will also be on display.
One of the biggest highlights is undoubtedly the Festival Treats competition, where teams are locked in a race against the clock as they use handheld receptacles to ‘grab’ as many offerings as possible, which are thrown to them from the stage.
Aside from the usual, the organisers will also introduce a new immersive theatre experience named ‘Come Home to Depart’, which transforms the Yu Lan Cultural Festival into a stage that breaks the fourth wall and invites visitors to participate in the family comedy show.
Riding on the popularity of arcade games, the event has also set up Yu Lan-themed claw machines across the city in hopes of drumming up younger generations’ interest in this traditional festival. Visitors can test their skills at the various claw machines to collect a set of seven cards, and they can redeem the final eighth card at the festival. Launching gaming initiatives at an event meant to honour the dead feels a bit off-colour to us, but if that’s what it takes to reel in Gen Zs and Gen Alphas, then we suppose who are we to argue?
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