The lighting ceremony of the Christmas tree, which is said to be the tallest in Hong Kong, together with the arrival of the Santa team comprising an adult Santa and several mini-Santas, heralded the beginning of a month of good cheer and merry-making.

Starting from December 1, shops within Festival Walk will have extended opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights, Christmas and New Year's Eve, giving shoppers enough time to look for Christmas gifts and other holiday items in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

To the delight of shoppers and Santa fans, Santas will be kept very busy parading down the mall distributing candy canes and wishing all shoppers a "Merry Christmas" while the accordion plays Christmas carols.

Apart from Festival Walk, many other places in Hong Kong also put on an early Christmas look, with shops wearing their Christmas decorations and the exterior of buildings illuminated up with color bulbs.

In front of shopping mall Pacific Place, at Central, the roof of an overbridge was decorated with various lovely Christmas items, such as Christmas trees, gift boxes and color bulbs.

Time Square, another big shopping mall located in the densely- populated Causeway district, was also lighted up on Friday night with the decorative tower in front of the mall well dressed with Christmas items and the exterior illuminated.

The Christmas air seen everywhere in Hong Kong reflects the encouraging side of the Hong Kong economy, some shoppers said.

The government announced recently that the economy of Hong Kong performed very well for the third quarter of the year, with GDP attaining a 10.4 percent growth in real terms over a year earlier.

For the first three quarters of 2000 as a whole, Hong Kong's GDP had a highly robust growth of 11.7 percent in real terms over a year earlier, thanks to increases in export of goods, consumer spending and investment activities, the government said.

(Xinhua 12/01/2000)