Tens of thousands of people turned out for the Lunar New Year fireworks display that lit up the sky over Victoria Harbour, to ring in the Year of the Goat.

Spectators thronged to vantage points on both sides of the harbour - the Peak, Mid-levels, Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui - to view the spectacular show.

Tripping the light fantastic: Explosions of lights and colour punctuate the sky over Victoria Harbour.

Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa also attended the fireworks display at a Hung Hom hotel and performed the lighting-up ceremony from the hotel patio.

Sponsored by the Four Seas Group at an estimated cost of $4 million, the Leisure & Cultural Services Department co-ordinated the 23-minute show.

It was divided into eight "scenes" and more than 30,000 individual fireworks were used in the performance. They were fired from a large barge in the centre of the harbour, that was accompanied by eight pontoons.

Synchronised music broadcast through RTHK Radio 4 added to the audience's enjoyment.

The fourth scene featured patterns of "smiling faces". The fifth saw the Chinese lucky number "8" appear in red again and again against the sky.

The last, fastest-paced scene displayed brilliant red lanterns, brocade crowns and peonies, culminating in a stunning finale.

Meanwhile, more than 120 youths from the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, together with their family members, helped spread the message of keeping the environment clean and love for public property at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre this evening.

They also helped in the clean-up of the piazza after the fireworks display tonight.

From 4 pm to 10 pm, two verbal warnings on illegal hawking were issued at the cultural centre. Five tonnes of litter were collected - half the amount collected last year.