The Cheung Chau Bun Festival is one of the four most important events of the series;

For more than 22,000 residents of Cheung Chau, the fourth month of the lunar calendar sees the annual celebration of the popular carnival.  According to folklore, the carnival began in the late 19th century when a plague besieged the island and took numerous lives.

Locals hired priests to placate the wandering spirits of dead islanders in front of Temple of Pak Tai, the Taoist God of the Sea, while parading the deity’s statue along Cheung Chau’s narrow streets. The plague ceased subsequently, and Pak Tai rose to be a spiritual hero that has been worshipped annually

on the island ever since.

The week-long festival, which usually takes place in May, attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.