2025 is fast drawing to a close, and while we’re still floating in that weird haze of days in between Christmas and the New Year, let’s take a look back at some of the things that captured our collective attention and made headlines citywide this year. From the opening on the long-awaited Kai Tak Sports Park and the Chiikawa mania that swept through the city, to category 10 super typhoons and the deadly Tai Po fire, read on for the topics that were on everyone’s feeds and lips in 2025!
Grand new openings
Hong Kong welcomed some brand-new landmarks and large-scale venues this year, chief among them the Kai Tak Sports Park which opened in March. The 50,000-seater stadium within the park has since hosted several major concerts and sporting events, such as Coldplay, Jay Chou, Seventeen, the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, and the Hong Kong Football Fest. Incredibly, the Kai Tak Stadium has ranked third globally in total number of ticket sales, with 1.25 million entries sold, amounting to US$191 million.
Other notable openings around town this year include the large integrated development Go Park Sai Sha, The Henderson with a slew of food and beverage offerings, and the Kimpton Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong hotel.
Best in the world
Of course we think Hong Kong is the best city in the world, but it’s not all bluster because we also constantly have more receipts to prove it! This year, we played host to the World’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony, and our very own Bar Leone got crowned the Best Bar in the World. In the same vein, Rosewood Hong Kong was ranked number one in the World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025.
Cute characters
2025 was truly the year of cute collectibles, from Labubu and Crybaby to anything small and fluffy that would look cute plastered all over merch. Hong Kong jumped right onboard this trend, with the Chiikawa Days exhibition taking over K11 Musea for three weeks in August. Hundreds of Chiikawa characters adorned both indoor and outdoor spaces of this Tsim Sha Tsui venue, while the MTR ticketing barriers at East Tsim Sha Tsui station even spoke in Chiikawa’s voice.
Later in the summer, the Water Parade at Victoria Harbour saw the giant inflatable characters of Labubu, McDonald’s Grimace, Kaws x Elmo, and Doraemon floating along our iconic harbourfront itself. Which cutesy characters were you in love with this year?
Sporting events
This was a major year for footie fans, as Hong Kong hosted four of the sport’s biggest teams: Arsenal, AC Milan, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspurs. All four teams were here to play pre-season friendly matches as part of the Hong Kong Football Festival, and even their game training sessions were completely sold out.
Hong Kong also jointly organised the 15th National Games, and our athletes came away with a record-breaking number of wins, including nine gold medals, two silvers, and eight bronzes.
Breaking Guinness World Records
Earlier this month, the Kam Tin Heung Jiao Festival took place in the New Territories. Also known as the Da Jiu Festival, this celebration is significant for occurring only once every 10 years, but this year’s festivities proved to be extra special, because the temporary bamboo theatre erected at Shui Tau Tsuen got awarded the Guinness World Records title of the world’s largest temporary bamboo altar structure. Measuring almost 3,900 sq m and standing at nearly five storeys high, this bamboo hall was an imposing sight to say the least.
Intense weather
Hongkongers know our summer typhoons are no joke, but this year’s bout of crazy weather phenomena seemed to be particularly intense. We endured two category 10 super typhoons, Wipha and Ragasa, marking the first time since 1964 that the Hong Kong Observatory had to raise the highest tropical cyclone warning twice in the same year. The Super Typhoon Ragasa was hailed as one of the most severe typhoons of 2025, battering the Philippines and Taiwan and causing plenty of casualties. Though Hong Kong escaped mostly unscathed in comparison, there was widespread flooding in areas such as Chai Wan, Heng Fa Chuen, Tseung Kwan O, and Sha Tin. The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel in the Southside also went viral when a clip circulated online showed tidal waves crashing through its glass doors and flooding the entire hotel lobby.
The Tai Po fire
Lastly, we’ve got the somber news of November’s Tai Po fire that shocked the world. A residential building in Wang Fuk Court caught fire on November 26 and it swiftly spread to engulf seven blocks in the housing estate. 161 people died in the fire, making it one of the worst tragedies in modern Hong Kong history. The only bright spark out of the horrible situation is that we got to experience firsthand how Hong Kong rallied around our fellow citizens in need, with scores of people stepping up to volunteer their time, efforts, and resources, while different industries also pitched in with various fundraisers in aid. The New Year’s Eve fireworks have been cancelled this year to pay respects for the deceased, and though our resilient city dusts itself off fast, we will not soon forget the horror and devastation of the 2025 fire.
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