Festival won't have bun towers of fun

The landmark 14-meter-tall bamboo towers will be absent from this year's annual bun festival in Cheung Chau which is set to kick off on Friday.

The Hong Kong Cheung Chau Bun Festival Committee has been told by a contractor that it could not construct the towers because of a lack of staff and issues with the materials.

Replacing the three traditional giant bun towers are three drawings placed at Pak Tai Temple Playground, the site where the towers normally stand. A smaller tower used in the bun-scrambling competition is not affected.

It wrote on Facebook: "Due to the shortage of time, this is the only solution we can do for the situation. We will review this year's proposal later and hope the situation will be better next year!"

Committee chairman Yung Chi-ming said they have increased the budget by HK$40,000 to HK$130,000, yet the contractor still refused to accept the task.

The bun-scrambling race, another iconic event of the festival, will take place at midnight on Saturday. The "bun tower" for the bun-snatching race will be set up opposite the three giant bun towers - which are now replaced by paintings.

"We tried to find [other contractors] and see if anyone can help, but no one is willing to take the job," Yung said. "We have made a few bun towers now, which are smaller than those in previous years."

Commenters on the committee's Facebook post expressed disappointment, some saying the paintings seem ominous.

"Unlike Ullambana [ghost festival celebrated in July] which has stopped for four years due to Covid, you could still organize the bun festival even during the pandemic. You're not doing a good job," user Kau Chai said.

And Wong Ping Ping said: "You are ruining the tradition."

Set to sell well will be the Ping on buns, a perennial favorite at the festival, with the traditional white, steamed rice-flour buns containing sweet fillings and bearing a round red stamp with the Chinese character "ping on," meaning safety.

A bakery on the island has made a cold version with icy Ovaltine-flavored fillings to turn the Ping on buns into a dessert for the hot weather on Friday, when the mercury is expected to hit 30 degrees Celsius.

Bakery owner Kwok Yu-tin is optimistic about the business during the festival, hoping it can reach 80 percent of prepandemic levels.

"It will be a disaster if we make too many buns. But if we make fewer buns, we worry that they will be sold out quickly and may disappoint people."

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com