February 9, 2016
Kung hei fat choi (Happy New Year!) Today’s broadcast featured the Chinese New Year lion dance at the Shangri La Hong Kong hotel. This was just one of 20 different scopes dedicated to the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. #ScopeTeamHK, a group of Hong Kong’s biggest periscopers, organised a day of back-to-back 20 minutes broadcasts to share with you from our very different perspectives what it’s like to celebrate Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.
This Hong Kong lion dance is performed every year at various locations around the city. Today we were very lucky to watch it from the luxurious Shangri La Hotel Hong Kong and I really got in the middle of it all with a fantastic vantage point, but it was so loud with the sound of drums, gongs and cymbals!
The Chinese lion dance is performed by two people (one for the head and one for the tail) in an acrobatic way often times by martial arts school, which collect “lai see” donations in order to finance the organization. The dancers must be strong and agile as they leap on pillars and hold the weight of another on their shoulders.
This Chinese new year dance of lions is performed not only during the new year period, but also throughout the year to inaugurate a new business and bring success and good luck to the new owners as well as chase away any evil spirits.
To watch all of the #ScopeTeamHK broadcasts on Chinese New Year 2016 and learn more about our team, go to ScopeTeamHK.com.
