Religious freedom is one of the basic rights enjoyed by Hong Kong residents and is guaranteed by the Basic Law and related laws. Hong Kong people believe in different religions. Many major religious groups not only publicize their teachings, but also set up schools to provide health and welfare services.
Hong Kong's public holidays combine the characteristics of eastern and western cultures. There are 17 days throughout the year, namely: New Year's Day, Chinese New Year (3 days), Tomb-Sweeping Day, Easter (3 days), Labor Day, the eighth Buddha's birthday on the fourth day of the fourth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the anniversary of the establishment of the SAR on July 1, and the Double Ninth Festival on October 1. Hong Kong has long listed traditional festivals with China cultural characteristics as holidays, which has also deeply affected the mainland. Since 2009, Chinese mainland has listed some festivals with China characteristics as national unified legal holidays.
Hong Kong hosts various cultural, recreational and sports activities every year. Larger events include Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, International Variety Carnival, Hong Kong rugby sevens, cricket and international horse racing. Hong Kong athletes also participated in many large-scale international competitions, such as the Asian Games and the East Asian Games. Hong Kong hosted the 5th East Asian Games from 5 to 38 June 2009.
There are many bars, karaoke bars, nightclubs and lounges in Lan Kwai Fong in Central Hong Kong, Soho District, Lockhart Road in Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui (Nathan Road, ashley road, Northford Terrace and Peking Road), all of which are frequented by residents and tourists.
The official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, and the government's language policy is "biliterate and trilingual", that is, written Chinese and English are used, and spoken Cantonese (commonly known as Cantonese), Putonghua and English are used. Cantonese is the main language used by Chinese in Hong Kong, while English is the communicative language used by non-Chinese. Since Hong Kong was still a British colony when simplified Chinese characters were introduced to Chinese mainland, the most commonly used Chinese in Hong Kong is traditional Chinese.
Hong Kong is the hometown of delicious food all over the world. In some streets of Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, East Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon City, there are many restaurants. Asian restaurants are all over Hong Kong, with spicy Thai soup, fragrant Indian curry, Korean barbecue, Vietnamese salad rolls, Japanese sushi and other specialties. Chinese restaurants in Hongkong offer special dishes from all over China, especially Cantonese restaurants. Other authentic dishes include Chaozhou cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Beijing cuisine and Shanghai cuisine, as well as vegetarian dishes. There is also tea and traditional Cantonese dim sum for breakfast.
Traditional local dishes in Hong Kong are mainly Cantonese dishes, while potted dishes are traditional dishes of indigenous people in the New Territories during festivals. Because Hong Kong is close to the ocean, seafood is also a common dish, and typhoon shelter dishes such as fried crabs have also developed.
Hong Kong cuisine is also deeply influenced by foreign food culture. There are many bars in Soho, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui in Central, and the Oktoberfest in Munich is held every year in Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui from 199 1. As for fast food, American fast food is mainly operated by McDonald's and KFC, and Hong Kong has also developed its own Hong Kong-style fast food, among which Cafe de coral, Cafe de coral and Maxim's fast food are the representatives.
Hong Kong is a traditional food popular among the people, which has always taken root and sprouted in Hong Kong, such as rice cakes, zongzi, fish eggs, egg tarts, steamed buns, almond cakes, blind man cakes, egg cakes, coconut piles, peanut cakes, sesame cakes, acacia cakes, chess pieces cakes, fried rice cakes, plaid cakes, peanut candy, bagged noodles, eggs, peanut beans, south milk crispy noodles and so on.