Dance and Metal (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

If only I went to heavy metal music concerts... was my thought when I looked at this week's themes for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts.  But since I don't, I'm going to have to stretch things a bit -- or call it thinking outside the box! ;) --and am offering up images of a festive parade along the streets of Shau Kei Wan that featured such as meters-long "dragons" "dancing" about as they chase after ornamental balls stuck atop metal poles along with "dancing" lions and unicorns.

From such as the story of Saint George and the dragon, I get the feeling that dragons often have negative associations in the West (though, of course, the European blogger behind Dragon Days might disagree!).  Not so the Chinese dragon.  Consequently, its appearance at festivals (including the Tai Hang Fire Dragon festival/parade) tends to be greeted with joy along with excitement.

They may not be unique to Hong Kong like their fiery Tai Hang equivalent but I do like catching sight of the dragons that dance about during to celebrate the Taoist god Tam Kung's Birthday at Shau Kei Wan each year. For one thing, they truly make for a colorful sight. For another, I appreciate the teamwork as physical effort that goes into successfully staging these dragon dances. In addition, I see them as positive signs that cultural traditions -- a distinct cultural identity -- remain very much alive in "Asia's World City"; and that these simultaneously have distinctively local as well as general Chinese elements.