The fire dragon dance is organised by the Tai Hang Residents’ Welfare Association, which begins recruiting dancers in July every year. All those who take part have to receive extensive training before the event, and the dragon dance team is often invited to perform at other venues.

A new fire dragon is made by Tai Hang residents every year. Burning joss sticks are inserted onto a frame of dragon which consists of a head, tail and a 32-segment body. The head and tail sections of the frame are made of flexible rattan, while the ridge of the back is a rope 2 centimetres wide and 67 metres long. The rattan and rope are covered by a special kind of hay called “rice grass” or “pearl grass”, which provides the base in which the 45-centimetre-high “longevity joss sticks” are inserted.

On the 14th night of the eighth lunar month, a consecration ceremony is held for the fire dragon in Lin Fa Kung, the local temple dedicated to the deity Kwun Yum. Then for three consecutive nights, the dragon parade proceeds through the streets of Tai Hang in a clockwise direction along a route that stays mainly within the district, passing along Tung Lo Wan Road, Warren Street, Brown Street, Ormsy Street, Wun Sha Street, San Tsuen Street, King Street and School Street. Accompanying the procession are more than 20 boys and girls holding cloth lanterns. These lanterns are modelled after the mythical lotus lantern, cloud lantern and star lantern of heaven.

The event comes to a grand finale — “The Lucky Circle” — on the 16th night of the month. The fire dragon again parades through the community but this time on an anti-clockwise route that eventually leads to the sea, and it is then thrown into the water in a ritual known as “Dragon Returning to Heaven”.