Hungry ghost festival - Chaozhou Opera in Hong Kong

The Hungry Ghost Festival falls every year on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. According to Chinese tradition, this is the month when restless spirits roam the earth. Many Chinese people make efforts to appease these transient ghosts, while ‘feeding’ their own ancestors. In Hong Kong, the occasion has been closely associated with the Chiu Chow community for more than 100 years. Around the city, you can see people occupying parks, piazzas and other sufficiently spacious places to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and the wandering ghosts, burning incense and joss paper, distributing free rice, and performing live Chinese operas (Chaoyin or Chaozhou Operas) and Chiu Chow-style dramas for ghosts in need of a bit of entertainment. In the long history of its development, Chaozhou Opera incorporates the essence of local folk art, which enriched its artistic contents and forms, and helped it become a special style. The dialect spoken in Chaozhou Operas dates back 1,500 years.