Thousands of excited spectators packed the grid-like streets of a usually quiet Hong Kong neighbourhood Thursday night, eager for the resurrection of the city's fire dragon dance after a three-year pandemic-spurred dormancy.
Smoke and fire swirled in the heady air, wafting from the dragon's 67-metre body which is made up of thousands of incense sticks.
"I feel extraordinarily excited, everyone is," Cheung Leung, a member of the fire dragon dance committee, said.
Cheung, who has been part of the ritual for two decades, said organisers have been practising their performance since March, soon after Hong Kong scrapped all coronavirus restrictions.
