Chung Yeung Festival 2025: Ancestors, Hiking & Autumn Air

Unfamiliar with the Double Ninth Festival? Here’s everything you need to know to celebrate Chung Yeung this Wednesday!

While many are familiar with the springtime Ching Ming Festival, its autumnal counterpart, the Chung Yeung Festival, holds an equally important place in Hong Kong’s cultural calendar. It is a day steeped in tradition, blending solemn remembrance with vibrant outdoor activity. Keep reading to discover things to do with the family this holiday!

Read More: The Sassy Mama Guide To The Ching Ming Festival

What Is The Chung Yeung Festival?

The Chung Yeung Festival (重陽節), also known as the Double Ninth Festival, is one of two major grave sweeping holidays in Hong Kong. On this day, families honour their deceased ancestors by visiting and cleaning their gravesites — a practice known as baai san (拜山).

This act of remembrance involves clearing away overgrown weeds, making food offerings (such as roasted suckling pig, fruit and rice wine), burning incense and performing rituals with paper offerings (joss paper). This is to ensure ancestors are respected and cared for in the afterlife.

The festival is also a day to embrace life and vitality by heading outdoors. The name ‘Double Ninth’ comes from the date: the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In Chinese cosmology, the number nine is considered yang (positive and masculine), and a double nine creates an excess of yang energy. To counterbalance this, the tradition of ascending to high ground emerged, making hiking and enjoying the crisp autumn air an integral part of the celebration.

Read More: Sassy Mama’s Guide To Festivities Around The Globe

When Is The Double Ninth Festival?

The Chung Yeung Festival falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In 2025, this corresponds to Wednesday, 29 October. As a public holiday in Hong Kong, expect significant crowds at cemeteries, country parks and popular high points across the city.

Read More: The Best Trails To Go Hiking In Hong Kong With Kids

The Legend: A Tale Of Escape & Survival

The festival’s origins are rooted in a famous legend from the Han Dynasty. The story tells of a man named Huan Jing who was warned by a soothsayer that a great plague would devastate his village on the ninth day of the ninth moon. Told to take his family to a high place, Huan Jing accepted the warning.

When he returned to his village the next day, he found all the livestock and villagers who had stayed behind had perished. His family’s escape by fleeing to the mountains established the core traditions of the Chung Yeung Festival: ascending to high ground for protection and well-being.

Read More: Stroller Friendly Hikes Hong Kong – Easy Hiking Trails And Accessible Walks

Modern Celebrations In Hong Kong

In contemporary Hong Kong, the day is a blend of ancient customs and modern leisure.

• Grave Sweeping: Families flock to cemeteries, leading to heavy traffic and crowded pathways. It’s a day of deep cultural significance.

• Hiking and Ascending: Following the ancient tradition, thousands of people take to Hong Kong’s trails. The roads to Victoria Peak and paths through Dragon’s Back and Lion Rock are particularly jammed!

• Chung Yeung Cakes: A special culinary tradition is the eating of Chung Yeung Gao (重陽糕), a steamed layered cake. The word 糕 (cake) is a homophone for tall (高), symbolising the act of ascending.

How To Celebrate Chung Yeung Festival?

You don’t have to be from Hong Kong to join in the spirit of the day! Embrace the yang energy and celebrate the arrival of autumn.

• Go for a Family Hike: Honour the tradition by heading to one of Hong Kong’s many scenic high points. It’s the perfect day for it! For inspiration, check out Sassy Mama’s guide to family-friendly hikes for routes that are enjoyable for all ages and fitness levels.
• Enjoy a Chung Yeung Cake: Stop by a local bakery to try a piece of this seasonal treat.
• Fly a Kite: In some interpretations, flying a kite from a high point is another way to send bad luck and misfortune up into the sky!

Whether you observe it as a day of quiet respect or an active outdoor adventure, the Chung Yeung Festival is a beautiful example of how Hong Kong preserves its ancient traditions within the rhythm of modern life.

Read More: The Mid-Autumn Festival In Hong Kong — Celebrate Its Traditions And Culture