Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong 2027: Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance and lantern carnivals

💡 The Short Version: The Mid-Autumn Festival is on Wednesday 15 September 2027, and the general holiday is Thursday 16 September (GovHK). The Hong Kong Tourism Board lists mooncakes, moon-gazing, lantern carnivals and the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. The dragon dances on three nights, the 14th to 16th of the eighth lunar month, which are 14 to 16 September in 2027 (Tai Hang Fire Dragon Culture Hall). Tai Hang is a short walk from Tin Hau on the Island Line: Central to Tin Hau is HK$5.90 with an Octopus card (MTR).

What the festival is

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month and is an occasion for family reunions, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. In Hong Kong that means sharing mooncakes and gazing at the full moon, alongside lantern carnivals, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, mall displays and special shopping and dining offers across the city. The Tourism Board’s festival page names Victoria Park as the lantern carnival to head for, and suggests watching the full moon rise over the harbourfront.

The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

The Tai Hang Fire Dragon at Southorn Playground, Wan Chai. Photo: Stewart~惡龍, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Tourism Board describes a fire dragon bristling with thousands of glowing incense sticks weaving through the historic streets of Tai Hang to the beat of drums. The organisers’ festival site gives the build: a dragon about 67 metres long in 31 sections, with a rope core, a head and tail of rattan covered in pearl grass, and room for more than 12,000 incense sticks. Residents of Tai Hang, a Hakka fishing and farming village, have danced it since 1880, and it was added to China’s third national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011 (Tai Hang Fire Dragon, Tai Hang Fire Dragon Culture Hall).

How the three nights worked in 2026. The 2027 programme follows the same lunar dates; these are the organisers’ 2026 details:

• Night one (14th, the eve): the dragon’s eye is dotted at Lin Fa Kung temple, and it then dances into Wun Sha Street. The Chinese Temples Committee confirms the eye-dotting ceremony at the temple on the eve of Mid-Autumn (Chinese Temples Committee).
• Night two (15th, the festival): the dragon goes on to the Victoria Park lantern carnival.
• Night three (16th): after the final tour of the district, the dragon is sent off at Victoria Harbour in a ceremony the organisers call “the dragon returns to heaven”.
• Hours and place: around Wun Sha Street and nearby streets in Tai Hang, from about 8pm. The Tai Hang Residents’ Welfare Association, which organises it, gives the 2026 dates as 24 to 26 September (Tai Hang Residents’ Welfare Association).

Streets around the performance fill with spectators and the dragon gives off smoke and sparks, so wear clothes you do not mind smelling of incense. The organisers ask spectators to follow police crowd-control measures.

If the weather turns. The organisers’ 2026 guidelines were: a yellow or red rainstorm warning, or Typhoon Signal No. 1 or 3, still in force at 6pm and the dance goes ahead as usual; a Black Rainstorm Warning or Signal No. 8 or above at 6pm and it is cancelled; if either is lifted before 6pm it goes ahead, and the organisers’ decision is final (Tai Hang Fire Dragon). September is in typhoon season: the Observatory’s 1991 to 2020 averages give 0.67 days a year with Signal No. 8 or higher in September, and the weather guide explains the signals.

Getting to Tai Hang

Tai Hang is between Causeway Bay and Tin Hau on Hong Kong Island. For the Victoria Park part of the programme the organisers give MTR Tin Hau station Exit A2, then a left turn and the park entrance from Hing Fat Street. With an Octopus card an adult pays HK$5.90 from Central to Tin Hau and HK$4.90 from Causeway Bay (MTR fare data); see public transport.

Two places to see outside festival nights:

• Tai Hang Fire Dragon Culture Hall, 12 Shu Kwun Street, is open 10am to 10pm, with an appointment needed after 6pm, and closed on Mondays. It explains the dance and the area’s Hakka history, and its phone is +852 2805 0019 (Tai Hang Fire Dragon Culture Hall).
• Lin Fa Kung, the temple of the Goddess of Mercy dating from about 1863 and a Declared Monument since 2014, is open 7:30am to 5pm daily; the committee gives MTR Tin Hau Exit B and a 5-minute walk along Tung Lo Wan Road (Chinese Temples Committee).

Lanterns

Lantern displays at the Victoria Park Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival. Photo: Mk2010, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Lantern carnivals are part of the festival; the display in the photo was at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, a short walk from Tai Hang. The Tourism Board’s festival page lists the programme.

What to explore next

For weather in September, the Observatory’s 1991 to 2020 averages put the mean daily maximum at 30.5 degrees with 321.4 mm of rain; see best time to visit. For the other big festival, read Chinese New Year in Hong Kong 2027; for a plan, 3 days in Hong Kong and where to stay.