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When a new business opens in Hong Kong it's traditional for there to be lots of celebratory floral displays. Sometimes there are just lots of stands of flowers with signs denoting who has sent each one- the bank manager, friends etc. Yesterday I saw this amazing display outside a new Japanese restaurant opening near where I live. They also had a colourful red paper and floral plaque above the door. A quick google and I found this Wikipedia entry about the history of the banners.
I had often wondered about these banners as we live out in the New Territories in Hong Kong and there are a lot of old traditions that continue here while we didn't really see them over on the Central Island side. Previously I had seen huge banners erected to celebrate festivals, usually at a temple, but not really out of that context until we moved to the New Territories. Around here there are a number of Chinese Restaurants round about that have these wonderful banners over the doors. Supported with a bamboo scaffold these red paper banners are painted with text and decorated with shiny paper flowers. (love that shiny paper!) When my toddler sees them he's been known to point and declare "Christmas" and I can see where he's coming from!
There was a small one of these banners at the new restaurant opening yesterday, surrounded by so many floral bouquets it made quite a welcoming display for patrons, I hope the food is good!
I wonder when the floral bouquets started being such an important part of the new business opening ceremony, I can see how they would be related to the floral banners. If you have any knowledge about this please do let me know in the comments or by contacting me, I'd love to know more and to update this post! Thank you!
P.S. What I also like is if you happen to be going by when these bouquets are being thrown out, most of the flowers are perfectly fine still and you can grab an armful of flowers from the trash pile at the side of the street :)
