Kam Tin’s HK$20 million illuminated bamboo theatre has entered the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest temporary bamboo altar.
Kam Tin’s Jiao Festival on Sunday, December 14, 2025. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.Surrounded by flags and featuring a tin roof, the five-storey pavilion is the centrepiece of the centuries-old Jiao festival.
The week-long, once-in-a-decade thanksgiving festival continues until Friday, and is set to climax late on Thursday night as huge effigies are burned.
Kam Tin’s Jiao Festival on Sunday, December 14, 2025. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.The grand event, organised by the Tang clan, involves lion dances, vegetarian feasts, elaborate rituals and Cantonese opera.
“The largest bamboo structure altar (temporary) measures 3,897.409 m² (41,951 ft² 52 in²) and was achieved by Kam Tin Heung (China) in Hong Kong SAR, China on 9 December 2025,” the Guinness Book of Records website says. “The 2025 Kam Tin Heung Grateful Worship Ritual is a decennial Taiping Qingjiao in Kam Tin, Yuen Long, and one of Hong Kong’s longest-standing village ritual traditions, now in its 34th edition. “
Kam Tin’s Jiao Festival on Sunday, December 14, 2025. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.Taiping Qingjiao ceremonies are held to request blessings from Taoist deities for a particular location or neighbourhood. The tradition in Kam Tin dates back to 1685.
“Originating in the Qing dynasty after border restoration, it commemorates officials who allowed villagers to return and consoles those who died during the evacuation, becoming a key symbol of walled-village identity,” the website added.
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