More than 300,000 people turned out to watch a fireworks display to welcome in the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong Monday despite the evening being marred by drizzle and heavy cloud.
The turnout for the 500,000-US-dollar display over Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour was around 200,000 lower than expected because of the poor weather and low visibility.
Monday's 23-minute display featuring 28,888 fireworks included a world first in pyrotechnics as a complex six-stroke Chinese character for luck spelt out in fireworks.
Images of pigs also lit up the sky above Victoria Harbour as fireworks funded by corporate sponsors were sent 300 metres in the air.
Monday was a public holiday in Hong Kong which, along with Chinese communities around the world, has been celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Pig which began Sunday.
The turnout for the 500,000-US-dollar display over Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour was around 200,000 lower than expected because of the poor weather and low visibility.
Monday's 23-minute display featuring 28,888 fireworks included a world first in pyrotechnics as a complex six-stroke Chinese character for luck spelt out in fireworks.
Images of pigs also lit up the sky above Victoria Harbour as fireworks funded by corporate sponsors were sent 300 metres in the air.
Monday was a public holiday in Hong Kong which, along with Chinese communities around the world, has been celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Pig which began Sunday.