Superheroes walk together for a cause

Children dress up walking with their parents

It’s Halloween. It’s time for fun. It’s time for party. It’s time for charity.

Various Halloween activities took place in Central on Saturday. Following the success in the past three years, HSBC again organized the Halloween Charity Parade with the sponsorship by other transnational enterprises on Saturday evening.

The parade kicked off at 5p.m. and marched from HSBC Main Building to Star Ferry Pier in Central.

The parade aimed to raise fund for the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. The donation would be invested in the Improvement Project of Cancer Patient Resources Centre in Tuen Mun Hospital, which would provide psychosocial support to cancer patients and their families and handles over 2,000 new cancer patients annually.

Many parents brought their kids to join the parade.

“It is a golden chance to teach my child about the importance of joining charitable events and helping the disadvantaged. Also, we can enjoy a memorable family day. I have spent more than $300 on the festive costumes,” said one of the participants Mrs. Wong, whose daughter dressed up as the Snow White.

Matt and Jamie, an American couple, dress up in Japanese style

The Halloween party mood in Central was getting deeper and deeper when the sky became darker and darker. Festive decorations could be seen everywhere in Lan Kwai Fong, such as jack-o’-lanterns, skeletons, witches and zombies. By 9p.m., Lan Kwai Fong was packed with hundreds of visitors to celebrate the festival.

Among the visitors, more than half of them were foreigners.

A young couple from America, Matt and Jamie, who dressed up as a samurai and a Japanese doll sitting outside a restaurant, caught many people’s attention.

Many people asked Matt and Jamie to take photos with them. The couple described Lan Kwai Fong as “the place with the best Halloween atmosphere all over the world.”

Apart from the foreigners and local adults, it was surprised to see a lot of children going to Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate Halloween.

Children, who barely had a chance to visit Lan Kwai Fong where bars and pubs located, now had the opportunities to experience the Halloween fever with their parents’s permission.

Children doing worksheets based on their observation in Lan Kwai Fong

"Spiderman, Batman, Superman" sitting together

The Boys’ and Girls’ Club Association of Hong Kong held a trip to Lan Kwai Fong for the children from the low-income family on Saturday night.

The participants learnt about the origin of Halloween and some traditional celebrating activities.

While they walked around Lan Kwai Fong, they had to finish a worksheet based on their observation so as to grasp a deeper understanding on the culture of Halloween and Lan Kwai Fong.

“They [children] get pretty surprised when they saw Batman, Spiderman and Superman sitting and having drinks together, which they have never seen them all in one particular Hollywood movie. They are fascinated by the stunning festive costumes. For most of the children, it is the first time to go to Lan Kwai Fong. They feel very excited but they think that Lan Kwai Fong is just too crowded,” said one of the volunteers in the event.

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