Crowds top 10,000 at Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau Bun Festival as parade draws visitors

Several tourists say they came to see Piu Sik parade, where children dressed as deities and Middle Eastern oil moguls are carried on the streets

Hong Kong’s annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival drew more than 10,000 visitors by noon on Sunday, including tourists who had travelled specially to witness the signature parade featuring “floating” children dressed as Middle Eastern oil moguls and judges.

Visitors to the outlying island on Sunday splurged on frozen pineapples, watermelon juice and frozen mango mochi to beat the heat as the mercury hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

The event, also known as Da Jiu Festival, includes the Piu Sik parade, where children dressed as deities are carried through the streets on steel frames, and the bun scrambling competition, which has become one of Hong Kong’s best-known traditional events.

This year’s Piu Sik featured themes including rising oil prices, the HK$2 (25 US cents) transport subsidy and bid-rigging.

Two children dressed as judges from the TVB court drama Themis were also a highlight of the parade.

Five-and-a-half-year-old Katelynn Wong was among the children selected to participate in this year’s parade.

Holding a petrol gun and dressed in denim overalls with a Shell logo, Wong is part of the float themed around rising oil prices.