Nearly a thousand people joined a Poon Choi (Basin Feast) Festival in London ChinaTown on July 2 (London time). The festival formed part of the programme of events organised or supported by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London (London ETO) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Other 20th Anniversary events organised by the London ETO can be found at www.hketolondon20.gov.hk.

     The Poon Choi Festival is organised by London Chinatown Chinese Association. Close to a hundred tables were set up in various streets in the China Town. Over 800 guests including UK government officials, mayors from various London Boroughs and leading figures in the UK Chinese community joined the Poon Choi feast which contained a great variety of different ingredients serving in one large basin for each table.

     Addressing the opening ceremony, the Director-General of the London ETO, Ms Priscilla To, said that the Poon Choi Feast is part of a unique food culture preserved by villages in the New Territories for hundreds of years. Villagers hold Poon Choi Feasts for important, ritual and festive occasions including religious offerings, weddings, the "lantern lighting" ritual to mark the addition of a male offspring to the family and the inauguration of the ancestral hall.

    "Hong Kong still holds such Poon Choi feasts nowadays on celebratory and important occasions. All these speak well of how Hong Kong could revitalise our rich Chinese heritage while being one of the most international and cosmopolitan cities in Asia.  
"So this is a great way to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Over the past 20 years, the 'one country, two systems' arrangement has gone well and Hong Kong has continued to thrive as an international business and financial centre.

     "The city and its people have weathered a number of storms since 1997, including the Asian financial crisis, the SARS and the global financial crisis. Throughout all these challenges, Hong Kong has displayed resilience, adaptability and determination and used these crises to take stock, reform and advance," Ms To said.

     Other Guests of Honour include the UK's Minister of State at the Department for International Development, Lord Bates, and the Counsellor and Consul General of the Chinese Embassy to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Mr Fei Mingxing.

Ends/Monday, July 3, 2017
Issued at HKT 23:58

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