If you're lucky, your trip might coincide with one of Hong Kong's colorful festivals. The only time shops and offices close at festival time is during the Chinese New Year, though some in Tsim Sha Tsui remain open to cater to tourists.

Below are the most popular events, including Chinese festivals and festivals of the arts. Your best source for additional information on all of these events is the Hong Kong Tourism Board (tel. 852/2508 1234 in Hong Kong), which can provide detailed information on where events are being staged and how to get there. For several of the festivals, HKTB even offers organized tours, which is one of the best ways to secure front-row seats without battling the crowds.

January/February

Chinese New Year. The most important Chinese holiday, this is a 3-day affair, a time for visiting friends and relatives, settling debts, doing a thorough housecleaning, consulting fortune-tellers, and worshipping ancestors. Strips of red paper with greetings of wealth, good fortune, and longevity are pasted on doors, and families visit temples. Most shops (except those in tourist areas) close down for at least 2 or 3 days; streets and building facades are decorated with elaborate light displays; flower markets sell peach trees, chrysanthemums, and other good-luck flowers; a parade winds its way along the waterfront, usually on the first day; and a dazzling display of fireworks lights up the harbor, usually on the second day of the holiday. Since this festival is largely a family affair (much like the Christian Christmas), it holds little interest for the tourist. In fact, if you're planning a side trip into China, this would be the worst time to go, since all routes to the mainland are clogged with Hong Kong Chinese returning home to visit relatives. Late January or early February (Feb 9-11, 2005; Jan 29-Feb 1, 2006).

February/March

Hong Kong Arts Festival. This is a 3-week-long celebration with performances by world-renowned orchestras, pop and jazz ensembles, opera, dance, and theater companies (including experimental theater and Chinese operas), and with ethnic music and art exhibitions. For a schedule of events, venues, and ticket information, call tel. 852/2824 2430 or HKTB at tel. 852/2508 1234, or visit the website www.hk.artsfestival.org. February/March.

March

Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament, Hong Kong Stadium. Known as "The Sevens," this is one of Hong Kong's most popular, and one of Asia's largest, sporting events, with more than 20 teams from around the world competing for the Cup Championship. A 3-day pass costs HK$750 (US$98). Contact the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union at tel. 852/2504 8311 or www.hksevens.com.hk. Fourth weekend in March.

March/April

Ching Ming Festival, all Chinese cemeteries (especially in Aberdeen, Happy Valley, Chai Wan, and Cheung Chau island). A Confucian festival to honor the dead, observed by sweeping ancestral graves, burning incense, offering food and flowers, and picnicking among the graves. Contact HKTB at tel. 852/2508 1234. Fourth or fifth day of the Third Moon, March/April (Apr 5, 2005; Apr 5, 2006).

April

Tin Hau Festival, all Tin Hau temples, especially in Joss House Bay and Yuen Long. One of Hong Kong's most colorful festivals, this celebrates the birth of Tin Hau, goddess of the sea and Hong Kong's most popular deity among fishing folk. The celebration stems from a legendary fisherman's daughter who could supposedly calm stormy seas and protect fishermen. To pay her tribute, fishing boats are decorated with colorful flags, there are parades and lion dances, and family shrines are carried to shore to be blessed by Taoist priests. Contact HKTB, which organizes special tours of the events, at tel. 852/2508 1234. Twenty-third day of the Third Moon (usually Apr) (May 1, 2005; Apr 1, 2006).

Hong Kong International Film Festival, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, City Hall, and other venues around town. More than 300 films from more than 40 countries are featured at this 2-week event, including new releases, documentaries, and archival films. Tickets cost HK$55 (US$7.15). For more information, call tel. 852/2970 3300, or check www.hkiff.org.hk. Two weeks in April.

April/May

Cheung Chau Bun Festival, Pak Tai Temple, Cheung Chau island. Unique to Hong Kong, this weeklong affair is thought to appease restless ghosts and spirits. Originally held to placate the unfortunate souls of those murdered by pirates, it features a street parade of lions and dragons and Chinese opera, as well as floats with children seemingly suspended in the air, held up by cleverly concealed wires. The end of the festival is heralded by three bun-covered scaffolds erected in front of the Pak Tai Temple. These buns supposedly bring good luck to those who receive them. HKTB organizes tours of the parade; call tel. 852/2508 1234. Usually late April or early May (May 15, 2005; May 5, 2006).

Buddha's Birthday, Buddhist temples throughout Hong Kong. Worshippers flock to pay respect to Siddhartha Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, and to bathe Buddha statues. The Po Lin Monastery on Lantau island is one of the most popular destinations on this day. Contact the HKTB at tel. 852/2508 1234. Ninth day of the Fourth Moon, usually either in April or May (May 15, 2005; May 5, 2006).

June

Dragon Boat Races (Tuen Ng Festival). Races of long, narrow boats, gaily painted and powered by oarsmen who row to the beat of drums. It originated in ancient China, where legend held that an imperial adviser drowned himself in a Hunan river to protest government corruption. His faithful followers, wishing to recover his body, supposedly raced out into the river in boats, beating their paddles on the surface of the water and throwing rice to distract sea creatures from his body. There are two different races: approximately 500 local Hong Kong teams compete on Tuen Ng Festival Day in May or June, with races held at Stanley, Aberdeen, Chai Wan, Yau Ma Tei, Tai Po, and outlying islands. An international competition is held -- usually a week later, along the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Contact HKTB at tel. 852/2508 1234. Fifth day of the Fifth Moon (June 11, 2005; May 11, 2006) for local races; contact HKTB for international races.

August

Yue Lan Festival (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). Released from the underworld, ghosts are believed to roam the earth for 1 lunar month each year. Religious ceremonies, street performances, and offerings of food and paper replicas of life's necessities are burned to appease the spirits of discontented ghosts (those who were murdered, died without proper funeral rites, or are without descendants to care for them), in an attempt to prevent the unhappy souls from seeking vengeance on humans. Contact HKTB for various venues (popular venues are King George V Memorial Park in Kowloon and Moreton Terrace Playground in Causeway Bay) at tel. 852/2508 1234. Fourteenth day of the Seventh Moon (Aug 19, 2005; Aug 8, 2006).

September/October

Mid-Autumn Festival, Victoria Park, Kowloon Park, and Victoria Peak. Held in early autumn, this major festival (sometimes referred to as the Moon Festival) celebrates the harvest and the brightest moon of the year. In honor of the event, local people light lanterns in the shapes of fish, flowers, and even ships and planes, gaze at the moon, and eat mooncakes (sweet rolls with sesame seeds, duck eggs, and ground lotus seeds). The mooncakes commemorate the 14th-century uprising against the Mongols, when written messages calling for the revolt were concealed in cakes smuggled to the rebels. Today the Urban Council organizes lantern carnivals in parks on both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, where you can join the Chinese for strolls among hundreds of lanterns, making this one of Hong Kong's most charming and picturesque festivals. Contact HKTB at tel. 852/2807 6177. Fifteenth day of the Eighth Moon, either in September or October (Sept 18, 2005; Oct 6, 2006).

October

Chung Yueng Festival, all Chinese cemeteries. The second time of year when ancestral graves are swept and offerings are made. Ninth day of the Ninth Moon (Oct 11, 2005; Oct 11, 2006).