his holiday is the world’s biggest homecoming. But how do you celebrate in the midst of grief?

Every morning, 68-year-old Yip Ka-kui sends his wife a voice note that will never be heard. Sometimes he tells her about things he’s seen, or something that would make her laugh. Recently he shared that their granddaughter scored the second-highest grade in her class on end-of-year exams.

This would typically be a cause for celebration for the tight-knit family. But last November, Yip’s wife Pak Shui-lin was among the 168 people killed in a fire that tore through seven high-rise residential blocks in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.

Now more than two months on, the city is preparing to ring in the Lunar New Year, which begins on Tuesday. It’s the most important festival on the Chinese calendar – a time for families to reunite. Known as the world’s largest annual homecoming, each year hundreds of millions of people across China return home to visit loved ones. Most apartments in Hong Kong are already festooned with red lanterns and banners inviting happiness and good fortune.

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