As yesterday was a full moon day, it was also the occasion of heading to the New Territories to see the mid-autumn festival activities.
In this case, I headed to see the mid-autumn festival in Shatin Park.
Shatin being a relatively new development on the outskirts of Hong Kong has a quite young population. At the same time, there are long-standing traditions in the local population which make it an interesting place to visit out of the city.
The moon
Obviously, it would not be a mid-autumn festival without the moon. As the sky was clear I managed to see a full-moon and even to take a picture of it.
![Full moon](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4445-1.jpg)
Somehow, we were lucky, as this moon was not visible in some areas of the new territories.
Attractions
The animations at Shatin Park were of two natures for this mid-autumn festival. Firstly, there was a number of stands with traditional activities, ranging from calligraphy on fans to hakka embroidery. For those who don’t know, the Hakka are a major component of Chinese immigration abroad, a population originally from the areas near the Yellow river.
But the most attractive stands were probably those where you could have a calligraphist writing your name in Chinese on a fan.
![Calligraphist](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4414.jpg)
![Details of calligraphy](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4600.jpg)
Other similar activities were the art of painting on snuff bottles.
![Snuff bottles](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4419.jpg)
Traditional Chinese Shows
Another component of the mid-autumn festival in Shatin Park was the showcasing of traditional mandarin shows. This brought up some question by hongkongese as the performers were exclusively from mainland… A way by the government probably of fostering an increased cultural integration of Hong Kong with the mainland?
![Singer](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4482-2.jpg)
Acrobatics took another part in the show, pretty much typical of mainland China for the degree of mastery which the performers showed.
![Acrobatics](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4591.jpg)
But however, the most appreciated show was probably the umbrella dancers who were extremely graceful and artistically irreproachable.
![Umbrella dancers in Shatin Park](https://visionsofasia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/North-POint-4498.jpg)
Finally, I also filmed a periscope of the whole show which you can watch here:
#midautumnfestivaj in Shatin park #hongkonghttps://t.co/VUtF3DiFTv
— Visions of Asia (@VisionOfAsia) October 5, 2017
Where was this?
In the little city of Shatin. You must take the MTR East Line to get there.