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SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE OF
TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND EVENTS:
A CASE STUDY OF CHEUNG CHAU BUN
FESTIVAL IN HONG KONG
Poster Video
CHEN Xiangling
BA (Hons) in Public Relations and International Events Management
Department of Hospitality and Business Management
OBJECTIVES RESEARCH BACKGROUND
After Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau Bun Festival was listed as national intangible cultural
• To investigate the negative social heritage in 2011, tourist numbers surged. While commercialization brought economic
impacts resulting from the over- benefits, spatial overload triggered community sustainability crises.
weighted economic activities of Existing studies have mostly focused on the festival’s economic benefits, but have
the festival neglected the systematic deprivation of community agency caused by spatial overload.
• To understand the attitudes of Particularly, Asian context studies lack social impact analysis, making it hard to explain
the root causes of spatial rights conflicts.
local communities towards the
festival METHODOLOGY
• Triple Bottom Line: Balancing economic, social and environmental dimensions
• Spatial Rights: Analyzing power dynamics in spatial resource allocation via
Lefebvre’s spatial theory
• Mixed-methods approach:
• Literature review: Theorizing sustainability, cultural heritage, and spatial
rights
• Textual analysis: Apply content analysis of news reports to access residents’
Affect, Behavior, and Cognition by adapting the ABC Conceptual Mode
Unlike shallow satisfaction surveys, the ABC model decomposes residents' attitudes
into:
• Affect: Emotions like frustration ("tourists disrupt my life")
• Behavior: Coping strategies ("flee the island during festivals")
• Cognition: Rational critiques ("profits go to businesses, costs to residents")
FINDINGS
Q1: What are the direct impacts on local residents during the festival?
ABOUT THE INVESTIGATOR • Adverse Environmental Effects: Dense food outlets emit oil fumes and generate
noise.
As a PRIEM student, I am passionate • Transportation Inconvenience: Residents experience longer ferry waiting time and
need to adjust their daily routines to avoid the crowds.
about crafting diverse events— • Diminished Cultural Access: The crowds prevent residents from attending
whether cultural, corporate, or in person, forcing them to watch parades on television, reducing their direct
social. I aim to build a career in participation in the cultural event.
event planning by merging creative Q2: What are the negative social impacts of rising tourist inflow to the hosting community?
storytelling with seamless execution • Overloaded Public Services: Ferry service congestion & Land transport disruption
Community Friction: Weakening of social bonds within the community & an
•
to create inclusive and memorable asymmetric cost-benefit allocation
experiences. • Policy Neglect: Government measures prioritize tourist experience over the well-
FYP Supervisor: Dr LEE Man Fung being and sentiments of local residents
Stephanie Q3: What are the attitudes of local residents towards the commercialization of the festival?
Affective:
• Frustration over disrupted daily life
• Alienation from cultural rituals
Behavioral:
• Escape from the crowds
• File complaints with the relevant authorities
Cognitive:
• Express skepticism toward governance
• Feel anxiety about environmental degradation
73 Student Applied Research Presentations 2025 Student Applied Research Presentations 2025
