China events

Every winter from early December to late February (officially the festival opens 5 January), Harbin dons a fur-lined, technicolour dreamcoat of ice, snow and neon and gets down, Narnia style – no matter that it's...

While there isn't a parade, the city's annual celebration of the LGBTIQ+ community takes place in venues around town with film screenings, art events and educational activities, plus a rainbow bike ride and other...

Running for more than a decade and a half, the two-day JZ jazz festival hosts some impressive names in jazz, blues, funk and soul. Previous headliners include Kool & The Gang, Joss Stone, Bootsy Collins, Roy...

The city’s premier party draws more than three million tipplers every August. It's not just Tsingtao on the menu, so expect a galaxy of international and domestic brands.

For 12 days every July into August, Dalian stages its International Beer Festival, resembling Munich’s Oktoberfest. Beer companies from across China and around the world set up tents at the vast Xinghai Sq, near...

Tam Kong Festival is huge in Coloane. The birthday of the sea deity falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month (May or June), with festivities lasting three to five days. Highlights include a dazzling...

Held yearly from the last Saturday of February to mid-March, this festival takes place on Plum Blossom Hill near the Ming Xiaoling Tomb when the mountain explodes into pink and white blossoms. It's a gorgeous sight.

The Hong Kong edition of the world's premier art fair is a mega event where hundreds of galleries, thousands of artists, and art collectors from around the world flock to Hong Kong for five days of buying,...

Taking place over four days in late April or early to mid-May, Cheung Chau's annual Bun Festival is one of Hong Kong's unique cultural experiences. Honouring the Taoist god Pak Tai, the festival involves days of...

The festival of Saga Dawa marks the enlightenment of Sakyamuni, and occurs on the full-moon day of the fourth Tibetan month. In the Kailash region the highlight is the raising of the Tarboche prayer pole in the...

Savour 16 days of cutting-edge live jazz each October across various postindustrial venues at OCT-LOFT. The festival, which also offers workshops, screenings and exhibitions, is curated by B10 Live House owners...

One of Asia's top film festivals, the HKIFF has been running for more than 40 years. It screens the latest art-house and award-winning movies from around the world for two to three weeks straddling the Easter...

PIP, founded in 2001, has been instrumental in helping to put Pingyao on the global tourism map. The main exhibitions are held at the Confucius Temple. In 2018, some 3000 photographers from 35 countries took part...

For several days around the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, as has been the custom for hundreds of years, dragon-boaters race in waterways all over Hong Kong. It's also around this time that the...

During the second week of the fifth lunar month (around June/July), Tashilhunpo Monastery becomes the scene of a three-day festival, featuring masked dances, the creation of a sand mandala and the unveiling of...

The 15th day (full moon) of the fourth lunar month sees huge numbers of pilgrims walking and prostrating along the Lingkhor and Barkhor pilgrim circuits. Follow the locals’ cue and change ¥10 into a fat wad of...

One of Macau's unique festivals: on the evening of the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar (in May or June), local fishmongers and fishermen perform drunken dances with a wooden dragon and parade...

Banned for some years after a nomad grabbed the microphone and made political statements, the Litang Horse Festival has finally been brought back to life. Held over the first week of August, it attracts masses of...

On the birthday of the Fire God (华光师傅, Huáguāng Shīfu), usually around November, Bahe Academy guild hall throws a banquet for the opera industry (closed to the public). From early morning, gongs and drums sound...

During the Ghost Festival, celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the Yao and Zhuang eat 'rice of seven colours' (七彩饭, qīcǎi fàn), which consists of white glutinous rice, and rice dyed naturally...