2021 is less than 48 hours away, meaning 2022 is coming soon. At the time of the New Year's Eve last year, Hong Kong was in the midst of the "menacing" fourth wave of the epidemic, and many epidemic prevention measures were returned to strict standards, so the Hong Kong Tourism Board moved the "Countdown to hong Kong Chinese New Year's Eve" held every year by the Tsim Sha Tsui Sea to the Internet for live broadcasting.
This year, with the epidemic gradually stabilizing and the social atmosphere recovering well, Hong Kong not only resumed the physical New Year's Eve countdown activities, but also held New Year's Eve concerts in the West Kowloon Cultural District and the Central Waterfront, and there were also countdown activities at Po Lin Temple and Central Street Market on Lantau Island, and the whole hong Kong greeted 2022 in a 360-degree way. But after the Omicron mutation almost swept the world, many countries were still forced to cancel the New Year's Eve celebrations.
Cartography | Wu Jianzong
West Kowloon Cultural District and Central Waterfront
New Year's Eve concert "Big Competition"
The Hong Kong Tourism Board announced in November that it will hold its first New Year's Eve countdown concert on the evening of December 31 at the West Kowloon Cultural District Arts Park, Hong Kong's new "punch-in point".
According to reports, this is the New Year's Eve countdown event that the Hong Kong Tourism Board has reopened after a three-year absence, and in the past, Hong Kong held a countdown event every year by the sea in Tsim Sha Tsui, but from 2019 to 2021, it was cancelled due to social problems or epidemic reasons.
This year, the HKTB also made an innovation, not setting up fireworks displays like in previous years, and instead inviting a group of singers to perform, including the boy band MIRARROR, Jiang Haijia (AGA), Hui Tingheng, Li Xingni (Gin Lee), Feng Yunqian, Zheng Xinyi and so on.
The finale of the finale invited the Hong Kong Orchestra to play classic movements, and the countdown clock on the exterior wall of the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition was also relocated to the exterior wall of the M+ Museum in West Kowloon, with a large screen of 110 meters wide and 65 meters high, which will display a 60-second countdown when stepping into the last minute of the New Year, and finally display the words "2022", and display "Happy New Year" New Year wishes in 15 languages.
The M+ Museum, which opened this year, is also a "new landmark".
On the other side, the "2021 Beautiful Night Hong Kong New Year's Eve Concert" hosted by NEW TV and co-titled by Fusion Bank will be held at the Central Waterfront Event Space. Yesterday (29th), the organizers announced 12 groups of highly representative singers and guests in the Hong Kong music scene, including Lin Zixiang, Li Keqin, Zhou Huimin, Ren Xianqi, Grasshopper, Du Dewei, Yong'er, Hana Juziqiao, Supper Moment, Mike Zengbit, Jace Chen Kaiyong and the finale guest stage king Aaron Kwok.
Aaron Kwok said he was very happy to participate in this New Year's Eve party: "The film work is relatively close, but I still try to free up the schedule to participate in the performance, because it is rare to stay in Hong Kong this year and count down the New Year with family and friends, and then I will also go all out to perform, give everyone a happy song and dance, and welcome the new year." ”
According to reports, the organizers arranged for more than 600 drones to take off for a large-scale parade that night, with the brilliant night view of Victoria Harbour, and the stage was full of fireworks.
Although tickets are not distributed for free by lot like the HKTB, the organizers of "Beautiful Night" also said that they will give away tickets for sponsored events to help support some low-income and disadvantaged families to have the opportunity to watch the concert.
As the organizers said, in 2021, Hong Kong will be "hit hard by a hundred industries" under the epidemic, and the New Year's Eve countdown activity will take the new year as the starting point of the new year, give warmth and encouragement through song and dance, send happiness and positive energy to everyone, and hope that everyone has confidence and courage, support each other to tide over the difficulties, alleviate the atmosphere of the epidemic this year, and encourage the hard-hit Hong Kong people to regain their morale and welcome the new hope of 2022.
All-round 360 degrees qi New Year's Eve
In addition to the two New Year's Eve concerts, hong Kong Cross-Chinese New Year's Eve also has many good places, in Lantau Island Po Lin Temple will hold the "Big Buddha Bell Blessing Xiangjiang - 2022 New Year's Day Bell Ringing Blessing Activity", with the bells of the Temple of Heaven and drones in the temple of Heaven above the Giant Buddha spelling out a number of blessing patterns, praying for the general public, singers Chen Jieling, Yan Mingxi (Gigi) and so on will also cooperate with more than 50 Chinese orchestra accompaniment.
The Great Buddha of the Temple of Heaven at Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island Tuyuan Tourism Development Bureau
In addition to the waterfront activity space in Central, the landmark Central Market with a history of nearly 100 years will also hold a countdown activity after it is revitalized and reopened this year, and entertainers such as Hu Hongjun and Tam Ka Yee will greet the New Year with songs and the public in the downtown area of Central. There are also fireworks displays and charity markets, and the proceeds of the market will be donated to charity after deducting costs.
Central Market
Other places, such as Ocean Park and Discovery Bay Ice Rink, also have New Year's Eve countdown parties with different themes. If you want to go to a more open place in the downtown area and enjoy the night view, then Admiralty Tamar Park, Cyberport Promenade, Tai Po Tolo Harbour Bicycle Trail are also good choices.
Omicron "Spoiler"
Multi-country New Year's Eve event shout card
According to Hong Kong media reports, the "Beautiful Night" New Year's Eve concert is known as one of the world's largest live countdown activities this year, to know that since the emergence of the new crown variant virus Omicron, many countries and regions have once again seen a new wave of epidemic peaks, the past always grand cross-Chinese New Year's Eve activities have also been forced to "shout cards".
According to comprehensive foreign media reports, bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, announced last week that the New Year's Eve event in Times Square would be "reduced in size" on a large scale to limit the number of people, and the mandatory people to wear masks, and the New Year's Eve party and music festival scheduled to be held in Atlanta had also been announced to be suspended due to the epidemic.
New York's Times Square 2020 New Year's Eve event was first held online in 114 years.
The most representative "Shibuya Year-end Countdown Event" in Tokyo, Japan, has been suspended for the second consecutive year since it was suspended last year due to the impact of the epidemic.
Singapore's Marina Bay New Year's Eve fireworks campaign has been cancelled, but fireworks will be set off in some central areas, and the government encourages people to stay at home. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and New Delhi, India, have decided to ban large gatherings during the New Year, and Bars and Restaurants in New Delhi are limited to 50% pick-up.
The countdown event in Bangkok, Thailand, has been cancelled, but celebrations held outdoors are still available. Participants are required to wear masks, register in advance, and be tested for the virus within 72 hours.
According to the CNN news network (CNN) reported on December 26, the New Year's Eve activities in many major European cities have been cancelled, including Athens in Greece, London in the United Kingdom, Paris in France, Rome in Italy and Berlin in Germany.
Last year, many European countries cancelled New Year's Eve activities due to the epidemic.
Hong Kong also cancelled the physical New Year's Eve countdown for the second consecutive year, only to resume in the third year of this year. On New Year's Day last year, when the "fourth wave" of the epidemic in Hong Kong was "menacing", the HKTB launched the "Epidemic Online New Year's Eve" and moved the "Hong Kong Chinese New Year's Eve Countdown" activity to the Internet in the form of live broadcast.
At 11:00 a.m. on Chinese New Year's Eve (31st), the HKTB's website and YouTube channel started the countdown clock, stepping into the New Year's Day of 2021, the three platforms simultaneously sent a 2-minute pre-made short film to the public, showing the beauty of Victoria Harbour fireworks and landmark buildings on both sides of the strait, and then adding different wishes in post-production, including "HAPPINESS", "2021", "LOVE" and "HEALTH", and mixing vibrant electronic music and orchestral music.
Screenshot of the HKTB YouTube video
It's just that such a "simple" cross-Chinese New Year's Eve is actually deserted compared to the previous lively and lively gathering together to greet the New Year; but the only advantage is probably that compared to the "crowded sea" offline, the visual effect of online New Year's Eve is indeed better.
The 2022 Lunar New Year fireworks display was cancelled early, which is the third consecutive year that the Lunar New Year fireworks display has been cancelled, in fact, in the past 5 years, Hong Kong's Lunar New Year fireworks display has only been successfully held in 2019.
2019 Chinese New Year Fireworks Display. Image source Hong Kong 01
In the 2018 New Year's Eve, the Tai Po JIUB bus crash, which killed 19 people and injured 66 people, demanded that the government cancel the fireworks display, and the authorities finally decided to comply with the demands of the masses; from 2020 to 2021, it was also cancelled due to social problems or epidemic reasons.
So in contrast, this year's cross-Chinese New Year's Eve to be able to hold a physical countdown event is indeed not easy to come by. The new year is coming, there must be new hope in the end, and I hope that everything can be put back on track as soon as possible.
Edit | Yingjie
Audit | Sasuke
Source | Hong Kong Business Daily Network, Hong Kong 01, Wen Wei Po
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