Sawt Falasteen - Burning effigy, bamboo crafts at once-a-decade Hong Kong festival

Residents of Kam Tin decked out their northern corner of the city with towering flower boards and a vast bamboo stage for the Taoist Jiao festival which dates back over 300 years.

The five-storey-tall, 42,000-square-foot stage won a Guinness World Record this month for being the biggest temporary bamboo structure and carries deeper resonance after a deadly fire devastated the city in November.

"I found it truly awe-inspiring," an onlooker surnamed Lee, 30, told AFP. "It's remarkably well-built and rich in traditional elements."

The burning of the five-metre (16-foot) paper "ghost master" on Friday marked the climax of the festival, and was attended by thousands.

The ritual was allegedly begun by the Tang clan in 1685 to honour local officials who helped them reclaim their coastal homes after government evictions.

The multi-day festival is one of Hong Kong's longest-running traditional events and features lion and dragon dances, Cantonese opera and puppet shows.

Dazzlingly illuminated boards around the village proclaim hopes for good weather and abundant harvests.

The event took over a year to plan and cost nearly HK$20 million ($2.6 million), organiser Derek Tang said.

Locals come every 10 years to make offerings at the altar and enjoy historical crafts like bamboo construction, he told AFP.

- Threatened tradition -

Hong Kong's usage of bamboo construction materials has been in the spotlight since a huge fire killed at least 161 people in Tai Po District last month.

Authorities said the blaze at the under-repair housing estate was likely made worse by protective netting that failed fire-resistance standards. The netting was hung from bamboo scaffolding encasing several tower blocks.

Officials initially indicated they would consider replacing bamboo with metal scaffolding but later said a complete phase-out may not be necessary.

Scaffolder Lai Chi-ming, 52, told AFP the disappearance of the centuries-old craft would be a "great loss" for the city.

With over a dozen master craftsmen, he spent two months building the altar in Kam Tin, which used about 30,000 bamboo and fir poles.

Rapid urbanisation has made villagers more anxious to maintain their local identity, said cultural anthropologist Liu Tik-sang.

"They really want to preserve their traditions in their way. The purpose (of the festival's scale) is to tell everyone that this means a lot to them," he said.

Organiser Tang said such events also face challenges from declining numbers of young people and waning interest in traditional culture.

"We must not abandon our traditional Chinese culture because of (urban) development," he said.

X.AbuJaber--SF-PST