In our group report, we mentioned three key features of the Bun Festival: going vegetarian, Piu Sik Parade and Bun Scrambling Competition. Actually, there are many other key features and attractiveness of the Bun Festival.
First is ritual marking start of Bun Festival (啟壇開光). Taoist priests will hlod the ceremony on the stage, and the purpose of this ceremony is to invite gods and goddesses to join the Bun Festival. After the ceremony, the festival will start officially.
Second is the sending of boats (遣船). In this activity, black paper dolls with paper boats will be sent towards the sea by local residents. This has the meaning of ‘driving away the plague and bad luck’, and welcome a new start for Cheung Chau.
Third is the ceremony to send the deities back to their temples (走菩薩). In the ceremony, different groups of local residents will lift up the statues of god and goddesses and race back to the Pak Tai Temple Plaza. As running can stimulate the atmosphere and has the meaning of being healthy and energetic, it is an important part of the ceremony.
Fourth is the flower board (花牌). In Cheung Chau, flower boards are used to announce joyful occasions such as birthdays, weddings and gatherings. During the Bun Festival, flower boards are also used to decorate the stage. (RTHK,2010)

Changes of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival has gone through a long history and changes have been adopted to fit the society. Most of the changes are shown in the Piu Sik parade, the Bun Scrambling Competition and the Ping An buns.
For the Piu Sik parade, the dressed children are lifted up by four people in the past. Also, children will only dress as gods, goddesses and Chinese traditional stories' heroes. But nowadays, children are carried around standing on barrows. Besides gods and goddesses, children will dress as famous artists and local politicians too, such as Donald Tsang and C.Y. Leung. Moreover, as the Bun Festival receives sponsors from companies such as Blue Girl Beer and SauTao (壽桃牌), sponsor logos are printed on some of the parade vehicles, and parade performers are required to wear T-shirts with the logos. (VJmedia, 2012)
For the Bun Scrambling Competition, the buns used in the past are eatable buns and the bun mountain is built by bamboos. However, Bun Mountains made of bamboos are not safe, which had collapsed and caused injury in the competition in 1978. After that, the Bun Scrambling Competition is suspended by the government. In 2005, the government allowed Cheung Chau people to hold the competition again, but the Bun Mountain is built by iron instead of bamboos. Also, plastic buns are used instead of eatable buns starting from 2007. (Apple Daily, 2007)
For the Ping An buns, shops selling these buns develop different flavors nowadays to satisfy tourists’ needs, such as white lotus paste, golden lotus paste and bean paste. On the other hand, the image of Ping An buns is used to make different souvenirs such as key rings, cushions and handbags.

Positive Impacts of the Changes
1. Increase Creativity
Many creative elements are added to the Cheung Chau Bun Festival in recent years, such as the new characters in the Piu Sik parade. These changes help the festival fit with the society nowadays and catch media attention. Also, it keeps the festival vital and attractive in people’s mind, instead of giving people the image of an old-fashioned traditional festival. It can attract tourists to visit Cheung Chau again, as there are new things to see every year.
2. Increase Safety
Many new measures are added to the Bun Festival to increase its safety, such as the change in building materials of Bun Mountains and the use of barrows instead of men to lift up the children in Piu Sik parade. These measures ensure that the activities in the festival are safe and reduce the chance of accidents.
3. Environmental-friendly
New measures such as the use of plastic buns instead of eatable buns are adopted in order to protect the environment. In the past, real buns are used in the Bun Scrambling Competition but they became dirty after the competition and produced waste. However, plastic buns used nowadays can be reused next year. As environmental-friendly is an important issue concerned by our society, these new measures can create a positive image for Cheung Chau.
4. Increase Profitability
Local residents and shops use different ways to attract tourists and increase their profit during the Bun Festival, such as developing new flavors of Ping An buns and selling ‘Ping An’ souvenirs. These changes suits with tourists’ taste and attract them to buy. Therefore, the profitability of residents is increased and it boosts the economy in Cheung Chau.

Negative Impacts of the Changes
1. Loss of traditional meanings of the Bun Festival
In our group report, we mentioned the commercialization of the Bun Festival. The tradition of going vegetarian no longer exist in some of the restaurants, and parade performers are required to wear T-shirts with sponsor logos. These change the value of the event and the traditional meanings of some activities are lost.
2. Indifference of other traditions in the Bun Festival
As the Bun Festival is a hallmark event in Hong Kong, the Tourism Board promotes this event to tourists and emphasizes on the Piu Sik Parade and the Bun Scrambling Competition. However, other traditions such as the sending of boats and the ceremony to send the deities back to their temples become indifferent to the tourists. Besides, ‘Ping An’ souvenirs are the only souvenirs sold to the tourists, as if the buns is the only key feature of the festival. Under this situation, many tourists lack understanding of other traditions and attractiveness of the festival.

Successful Factors
In our group report, we conclude that Cheung Chau Bun Festival is a successful event. I agree with our prior conclusion but I would like to add more analysis. Generally, I think the Bun Festival is successful because it fits many features of a successful event.
First, the festival creates a positive image for Cheung Chau. Through the advertisements and promotions made by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and participating in the festival themselves, tourists can see a vital, festive and attractive Cheung Chau. After the festival, many tourists say that they had fun and would come to Cheung Chau again in the coming years. (The Sun, 2010)
Second, the festival is unique and symbolic. The key features and attractiveness mentioned in our group project and above only appear in Cheung Chau. They cannot be replicated in other festivals or places. In 2011, this festival has been classified as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. Moreover, it is deemed by Time.com as one of the world's 'Top 10 Quirky Local Festivals'. (HKTB, 2012) These all proves the uniqueness of the event.
Third, the festival creates economic benefit for Hong Kong. According to New World First Ferry Services News, there were more than fifty thousands of tourists visiting Cheung Chau Bun Festival during 2007 to 2012. Tourists spend money on food, accommodations and souvenirs on Cheung Chau. This boosts Cheung Chau local economy and Hong Kong tourism.
Fourth, the festival generates pride and increase community cohesion. For example, parents treat it an honor if their children are chosen to perform in the Piu Sik Parade. Local residents all over Cheung Chau will work together to prepare costumes, bake buns and build Bun Mountains. Apart from that, many Cheung Chau residents who moved out to urban district before will come back to the island during the Bun Festival. (TVB, 2007) This is a time for them to have a family reunion and increase the social cohesion.
Last, the festival is sustainable. As the festival activities creates economic profits, many local young generation are willing to help holding the event. For instance, the method of building the Bun Mountain is passed from father to son in every generation. (TVB, 2007) On the other hand, some parts of the festival also changes to adapt to the present society. This not only celebrates and keeps the traditions, but also add fresh elements to the event, making the festival sustainable and long-lasting.

Conclusion & Recommendation
To conclude, I think changes are necessary for the Cheung Chau Bun Festival to be successful. Changes are not always bad but can help the festival adapt to the environment as time goes by, if they are appropriate. However, I have some recommendations for the government and local residents in order to reduce the negative impacts of changes.
First, we can deal with the problem of losing traditional meanings of the Bun Festival by reducing commercialization. The government can give more financial support to Cheung Chau, so that the festival does not need to rely so much on commercial sponsorship. Moreover, the festival committee can encourage the local shop owners who earned profit during the Bun Festival to donate money for the preparation of festival next year. The donated shops will receive a medal or certificate to praise their contribution. These measures reduce commercialization and make sure the sponsor advertisements will not disturb traditions.
Second, we can deal with the problem of indifference of other traditions in the Bun Festival by increasing promotion. For example, apart from the Piu Sik parade and Bun Scrambling Competition, the government can also advertise other activities of the festival, such as the ritual marking start of Bun Festival and the sending of boats. These activities let tourists know about the original purpose of the festival: driving away the plague and pray for good luck. Besides, souvenirs other than ‘Ping An’ products can be sold, such as the ‘mini flower boards’. Most of all, the government can change the official name of ‘Cheung Chau Bun Festival’ (長洲包山節) into ‘Cheung Chau Dajiao Festival’(長洲太平清醮), as the festival has other key features apart from Ping An buns and this name describes the festival more precisely.