Tai Hang

For the area in Tai Po called Tai Hang (泰亨), see Tai Hang (Tai Po).
Tai Hang in the 1980s.

Tai Hang (Chinese: 大坑; literally: "The Big Water Channel") is an area southeast of Causeway Bay located in the mid-north of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The area was originally a slum, until its redevelopment after the 1990s.

Geography

Tai Hang is a valley with opening to the reclaimed Causeway Bay in north and So Kon Po in west. Its south and east are hills. The former coast is marked by Tung Lo Wan Road and the main road Tai Hang Road winds in the hills throughout the area.

The area of Tai Hang is divided into hilly south and plain north. The hilly area includes a public housing estate Lai Tak Tsuen and some highrise residential blocks for affluents, such as Illumination Terrace (光明臺)(5-7 Tai Hang Road) or Grand Deco Tower (帝后臺)(26 Tai Hang Road). The plain south has many old residential blocks, with a number of interesting restaurants along the streets. Its named after a stream (or drainage) from nearby hills.

Features

Lin Fa Temple in Tai Hang.

One interesting recent development in the plain north is that many new and special restaurants were opened, making Tai Hang a hot spot for dining and leisure.

Lai Tak Tsuen is located in the area. The famous Tiger Balm Garden was also located in the area.

The Lin Fa Temple is located at the end of Lin Fa Kung Street.[1] It was originally built 1863, during the Qing Dynasty, and was reconstructed in 1986 and 1999. The original use of the temple was a worship place for Kwan Yin, the goddess of mercy.[2]

Tai Hang fire dragon dance

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

For the three nights straddling the Mid-Autumn festival,[3] visitors can also see the spectacular Tai Hang fire dragon dance. 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. Fire dragon dance started in 1880 when Tai Hang was a small Hakka village of farmers and fishermen on the waterfront of Causeway Bay. This custom has been followed every year since 1880, with the exception of the Japanese Occupation and during the 1967 disturbances.[4]

According to local legend, over a century ago, 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.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.gohk.gov.hk/text/eng/welcome/wc_spots.html
  2. ↑ http://www.thaiworldview.com/hongkong/hkisland/causewaybay3.htm.
  3. ↑ As cited from Discover Hong Kong Tourism Board
  4. ↑ Geoffrey Roper "Report on Visit to Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, Mid Autumn Festival 1992", in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 30, 1990. pp.307-308

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tai Hang.
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Central and Western District Eastern District
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Southern District

Coordinates: 22°16′28″N 114°11′38″E / 22.27444°N 114.19383°E / 22.27444; 114.19383

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