A "Giant Fish" lantern was lit in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Sept 5, 2011. This is the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival held by Hong Kong Tourism Board to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a charming and colorful annual event in China that celebrates harvest time and the biggest and brightest moon of the year. And this year’s festival falls on Sept 12.
Lanterns have been strung up all around the city, particularly near temples, but the biggest one is the "Giant Fish" in Victoria Park. The fish- shaped lantern is 37m in length and 13m in width. It is also going for a Guinness World Record for its hugeness. Up close, visitors will notice that all the scales are Chinese lanterns. The public can enjoy the pulsating colors from both outside and inside the fish. In Chinese, the word for “fish” has connotations of abundance, leaping forward, and prosperity. It is also synonymous with the word “entertainment”, which includes eating, drinking, and leisure.
According to Chinese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also a time for family reunion. On this family occasion in Hong Kong, parents allow children to stay up late and take them to high vantage points such as The Peak to light their lanterns and watch the huge autumn moon rise while eating their moon cakes.