REVIEW OF THE YEAR
The year was Coronation Year in Hong Kong as in other parts of the Commonwealth. The morning of Coronation Day was devoted to formal occasions. Services were held in churches of all denominations. The Governor reviewed an early parade of all branches of the regular armed forces and with these marched detachments from the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force. A Loyal Address was read to leading citizens in the Council Chamber and broadcast to the whole Colony. But it was in the afternoon that Hong Kong presented, for those who were fortunate enough to see it, her own traditional and unique spectacle of celebration. A dragon, a popular and friendly beast which Hong Kong seems to be slowly but firmly adopting as its heraldic emblem, was paraded through the crowded streets of the city. Its scales were of gold and its huge head was decorated and painted with all the emblems of ritual ferocity. It was 180 feet long and was borne by 90 energetic men. Before it and around it danced its tormentors twisting and turning their high sticks on which were impaled fanciful and highly coloured baits. These apparently have the power of leading dragons through all the contortions of the damned, and in and out of the crowds the writhing beast went, its bright tongue lolling and its kindly eyes, which had been given sight by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs at a traditional ceremony some days before, for ever seeking out the nearest of its unat- tainable desires. Behind the golden-scaled dragon came the stilt-walkers and acrobats, dressed in all the extravagant finery of the Chinese theatre, and clowns and comics in great variety. These all had their welcome but it was the dragon itself that stole the day. Perhaps a million people rejoiced in its serpen- tine progress through the wide streets and to all these it was a recognized and welcome symbol of a great occasion.
3