Lunar New Year 2024: Best Chinese New Year displays in Hong Kong

Citywalk is celebrating Lunar New Year with the “A Hundred Blessings for a Caring Community” campaign, aiming to promote empowerment and the social inclusion of minorities. Located in the event hall of Citywalk 1 is a 28-metre-long dragon display made with recycled fabric quilts—a nice eco-friendly touch. The dragon was designed in collaboration with a local lion-dance troupe and put together by women of ethnic minorities working for the sustainable fashion brand Rhys Company Limited. Families then wrote their wishes for good fortune on the body of the dragon, putting the final touch on this community-driven art piece that celebrates the holidays.

At Citywalk 2 is a cherry blossom garden display where various charity endeavours promoting pre-loved goods and waste reduction will take place, including a toy-swap station and a second-hand clothes boutique. Finally, a faux six-metre-tall wishing tree will be on display in the Citywalk Piazza. Give a $20 donation to the Society for Community Organisation and you can place a wishing card on the tree. Celebrate inclusivity, sustainability, and community at Citywalk this Chinese New Year!

Citywalk, Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan

Lee Gardens is being decorated with flower illustrations by artist Jess Phoenix for the Lunar New Year celebrations! The “Artistry in Bloom” display fills the Hysan Place Atrium with orchids, peach blossoms, lilies, and peonies. The display comes to life with three interactive spaces for passers-by to take a moment and wish for good fortune, all the while enjoying great photo opportunities. Windmills, a kaleidoscopic mirrored alcove, and drums animate the flowery display.

At nearby Lee Theatre, a peony-themed messenger conduit and an orchid-themed swirl installation complete the celebration.

Atrium, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

Lee Theatre, Lee Garden One, 99 Percival Street, Causeway Bay

The walls of Tai Kwun have become the canvas for a mesmerising light show this Chinese New Year. The “InnerGlow” architectural projection spectacle returns to Tai Kwun for the third year in a row, and the new display, “Dragon Tales,” ushers in the Year of the Dragon with an awe-inspiring show. At the main entrance ramp, the floor becomes a stream complete with fish and dragonflies. On the façade surrounding the Parade Ground, a projected film follows a dragon on a mythical journey with neon-inspired animations as a nod to Hong Kong’s historic neon signs. The performance will be projected every 30 minutes from 6.30 pm to 9 pm from now till 14 February (except on 10 and 11 February, so plan your visit accordingly).

Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central

For a boozy celebration, you can visit Carlsberg’s Year of the Dragon pop-up store at The One shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Promoting a dragon-themed limited-edition can collection, the brewer is taking over an outdoor space to present a bar, games, and cool decorations. Mixing elements of Carlsberg’s brand identity—deep green and the hop leaf icon—and Chinese New Year imagery, the “Giant Dragon” and the “Green Hop Leaf” decorations allow for a vibrant backdrop to your celebrations.

The One, 100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Pink spring blossoms are often associated with Japan as well as New Year celebrations, and real or faux blossoming trees burgeon in Hong Kong during this festive time. The two neighbouring Metro City Plaza malls, MCP Central and MCP Discovery, embraced pink over red this year to present the “Garden of Blossom Delights” display. Three installations are on show, namely the “Blessing Chime Tunnel” with over 500 Japanese wind chimes, the wooden “Hanami Teahouse” hung with cherry blossom paintings, and the “Forest of Lights and Blossoms” pathway lined with fabric-patterned columns, an installation inspired by Kyoto’s “Kimono Forest.”

MCP Central, 8 Yan King Road, Tseung Kwan O

MCP Discovery, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O

After officially opening its doors late last year, Airside in Kai Tak will celebrate its first-ever Chinese New Year. For the occasion, and in honour of the Year of the Dragon, the mall is hosting the “Local Dragon Quest” exhibition. The display notably includes the “Dragon In the Sky” celestial garden, with a delicate pavilion surrounded by blossoming flowers and adorned with lanterns. Both traditional and reimagined, a dragon-like installation designed by Wai Keung-lam was inspired by lion-dance troupes and made with recycled fabric.

Airside, 2 Concorde Road, Kai Tak

Taking over multiple locations in the Tin Shui Wai neighbourhood, the “New Year’s Blessing Parade with Chiikawa” is an ensemble of displays featuring the Japanese character Chiikawa and references to how Japan celebrates Lunar New Year. The star of the show is a three-metre-tall Kagami mochi immersive installation at T Town, inviting visitors into a lit-up space. At Tin Shui Shopping Centre, a Chiikawa figure stands in front of a fortune boat meant to represent a ship in Japanese mythology and the “Seven Lucky Gods” aboard. Finally, the displays at Tin Chak Shopping Centre are food-focused, inviting visitors to share longevity noodles, a festive fare for the festive season.

T Town, 30 Tin Wah Road, Tin Shui Wai

Tin Shui Shopping Centre, 9 Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai

Tin Chak Shopping Centre, 77 Tin Shui Road, Tin Shui Wai

Always one to celebrate in style, Central Market has an array of activities planned to ring in Chinese New Year. A flower market, a youth-led creative bazaar, a “Golden Chinese New Year” market, a historical exhibition of Hong Kong toys, and more will liven up the space during the festive season. Floating duck neon signs illuminating the Oasis outdoor space of the market ensures that this year’s Chinese New Year display stands out from the others around the city. In the pond of ducks, some dragons, a lantern, and Chinese coins refer to the upcoming Year of the Dragon celebration.

Oasis, G/F, Central Market, 93 Queen’s Road Central, Central

Citygate Outlets is transforming into a flowery garden thanks to local artisan Jennifer Hung’s “Wings in Blossom” installation. Having crafted over 100 paper flowers and butterflies of various shape and colour, the display heralds good fortune in the new year. The life-size flowers, including paper peonies, orchids, hydrangeas, cherry blossoms, narcissi, lilies, and hyacinths, carry different symbolic blessings. Within the flower garden, a pathway takes shoppers on a romantic stroll to a pink Chinese pavilion, the perfect place to contemplate the delicate beauty of the display.

Citygate Outlets, 20 Tat Tung Road, Lantau Island

If you’re a fan of the cartoon character Nailong, you’re in for a treat at Temple Mall and Choi Yuen Plaza’s “Celestial Dragon New Year Celebration”! At Temple Mall, Nailong participates in a vibrant recreation of a traditional lion-dance procession. Over at Choi Yuen Plaza, Nailong will quite literally take over, with three three-metre-tall inflatable Nailongs in festive attire gazing over shoppers from the roof of the mall.

Temple Mall, 136 Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin

Choi Yuen Plaza, 8 Choi Yuen Road, Sheung Shui, New Territories

Inspired by an amusing play on words, Festival Walk and Fat Coffee With—a lifestyle brand offering various everyday gear, from tumblers to apparel—are collaborating to wish everyone a kung hei fat choi. The colourful display features mascot Fat Jai leading an 18-metre-long lion dance installation. Nearby, the “Fat Jai’s Full House” installation and Chinese New Year pop-up store complete the celebration.

Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong

For Chinese New Year 2024, Times Square has collaborated with Canto-pop star and knitting enthusiast Panther Chan to dream up four different displays, starting with the “Whimsical Blossoms Knitway” at the entrance of the piazza, adorned with Chan’s knit designs and neon lights. The experience then takes visitors through the “Pretty Petals Pathway” and the “Era of the Knit” exhibition, featuring Chan’s creations. Finally, an interactive “Bloom Bloom Drums” zone presents three colourful drums which activate knit-patterned lights when hit. The various designs are inspired by flowers and spring blossoms, a sign of good fortune and luck for the coming year.

Open Piazza, G/F & The Atrium, 2/F, Times Square, Causeway Bay

IFC Mall welcomes the budding new year with a floral display. “The Petals of Prosperity” installation, inspired by pink-coloured spring blossoms, includes a six-metre-tall centrepiece towering over five interactive zones. The “Path of Blossoms,” “Blooming Abundance,” “Aromatic Blossoms,” “Butterfly Blessing,” and “Treasured Moments” petal-shaped zones are full of well-wishing attributes. Expect peach blossom trees, dahlias, peonies, roses, fluttering butterflies, and more, such as a Jo Malone fragrance station and a photobooth to capture memories.

Oval Atrium, Podium Level 1, IFC Mall, 8 Finance Street, Central

In what has become a yearly tradition, Hongkongers will flock to the pedestrian Lee Tung Avenue in Wan Chai to awe at its dreamy lantern display. Since last year, golden-hued lanterns in the shape of goldfish have been added to the mix alongside hundreds of traditional red lanterns, wishing abundance and good fortune upon passers-by. An eight-metre-long golden dragon installation at the Central Piazza and a Chinese New Year parade on 12 February complete Lee Tung Avenue’s celebration.

Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai