Cultural Exchanges

Exchanges with the International Community

LCSD’s arts managers, curators and librarians regularly attend international conferences and festivals to keep abreast of new developments in arts and culture, and to scout for quality programmes for presentation in Hong Kong.

In 2014, overseas exchange programmes and international conferences that were attended by representatives of the department included the Annual Conference 2014 of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (Singapore); the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference in London (UK); the 9th China-ASEAN Cultural Forum in Guangxi (China); the China International Performing Arts Fair in Guangzhou (China); the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals (AAPAF) and the 16th China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) in Shanghai (China); the 2015 Arts Presenters Members Conference and the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Annual Conference in New York (US); the 70th International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Congress in Skopje (Macedonia); the 18th Southeast Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA) Conference in Vientiane (Laos); the Korean Film Archive’s 40th Anniversary International Symposium in Seoul (Korea); the BUSTER Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children & Youth in Copenhagen (Denmark); the Asia-Pacific Network of Science & Technology Centres 2014 Annual Conference (Brunei); the Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Conference 2014 in Raleigh (US); and the 4th Hong Kong-Taiwan Cultural Co-operation Forum in Taipei (Taiwan).

In March 2015, the Hong Kong Museum of Art co-organised the exhibition titled Lingnan School: The Awakening of Modern China with the Musée Cernuschi, Asian Arts Museum of Paris. Core exhibits were selected from the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and loaned to the Musée Cernuschi in Paris for the exhibition. This exhibition traces the development of the school, and demonstrates the impact of the period on its paintings.

The major exhibition Treasures from Tsarskoye Selo, Residence of the Russian Monarchs opened at the Hong Kong Museum of History in October 2014. This was the first official collaboration between museums in Russia and the Hong Kong SAR since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on cultural co-operation between Hong Kong and Russia. Featuring over 200 exquisite items on loan from the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve of Russia, this exhibition introduced the history and culture of Russia under the Romanov dynasty from the early 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century.

The Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) continued to strengthen ties with counterparts elsewhere in the world. In October 2014, HKPL organised an international library conference in Hong Kong, the 10th Conference on Cooperative Development and Sharing of Chinese Resources – Digital Legacy. Library professionals were invited from the Mainland, Macao, Taiwan, the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong to discuss the creation and sharing of Chinese digital resources.

Exchanges with Mainland China and Macao

To enhance cultural exchange, improve cooperation and extend networking, visits were organised with cultural bodies on the Mainland and Macao. Among such cultural exchange visitors to Hong Kong during the year were delegates from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sport and Tourism; the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Bureau of Zhuhai; the Office for Cultural Affairs with the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Regions, the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China; the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV; the Dongguan and Foshan Municipals of the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Bureau; and the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hongkong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.

LCSD collaborated with the Department of Culture of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Bureau of Cultural Relics of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in presenting the exhibition Assimilation into Han Culture: The Ancient Funerary Pottery of Guangxi. It was held at the Hong Kong Museum of History from July to September 2014. Featuring 76 sets of burial pottery models dating from the Western Han Dynasty to the Southern Dynasty, the exhibition illustrated the hopes of the people of the Han dynasty for a luxurious life after death and shed light on major dwelling types and other aspects of everyday life in South China at the time.

In November 2014, the Hong Kong Film Archive collaborated with the China Film Archive to co-present the screening programme From Real to Abstract: Cine Attempts on Stage Operas, featuring nine Chinese opera films produced from the 1950s up to recent times.

The Co-operation Agreement on the Development of a Digital Library in the HKPL was signed by LCSD and the National Library of China in April 2013. Since 2014, digitised copies of rare ancient books, local gazetteers, rubbings of ancient bronze and stone carvings, new year pictures and exhibition resources from the National Library of China have been made available to locals in phases via the Public Libraries Multimedia Information System.

The 15th edition of the annual Guangdong/Hong Kong/Macao (GD/HK/Macao) Cultural Co-operation Meeting, jointly presented by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Department of Culture of Guangdong Province, and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region, was hosted in Guangzhou in 2014. A range of topics was discussed during the two-day meeting, including the development and exchange of performing arts talent, programme collaboration and the interflow of cultural information, heritage and museum co-operation, library co-operation and exchanges, and intangible cultural heritage. The GD/HK/Macao Cultural Exchange and Co-operation Development Plan 2014-2018 was also signed at the meeting.

One major initiative held under the Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation framework was the annual Cantonese Opera Day. This was held in November 2014 in the Foyer and Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, in a move to further promote the art and make it more accessible to the community.

The second edition of the annual GD/HK/Macao Museums Professionals Forum was held on December 18, 2014 in Dongguan, when representatives from the three regions delivered talks on various topics. The forum will be held in Macao in 2015, and in Hong Kong in 2016.

A collaborative historical exhibition entitled Historical Imprints of Lingnan: Major Archaeological Discoveries of GD/HK/Macao ran at the Hong Kong Museum of History from June to September 2014. The exhibition was co-organised and hosted by the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Guangdong Museum, and the Macao Museum, and showcased over 700 valuable archaeological relics from the three locations. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Hong Kong Museum of History organised an international conference at which experts and scholars presented research findings on archaeological discoveries in the Lingnan region.

Other GD/HK/Macao cultural co-operation initiatives in 2014-15 included a creative writing competition to celebrate the 4.23 World Book Day, co-hosted by the HKPL, the Macao Central Library, the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province and the Shenzhen Library. Winning entries from the collaborating libraries were displayed in the libraries of the three regions.

International Horticultural Exposition 2014 Qingdao

LCSD coordinated a series of cultural programmes for Hong Kong Week staged at the International Horticultural Exposition 2014 Qingdao from June 26 to July 1, 2014. A total of 29 outdoor performances were held at the International Garden of the Expo on the theme of Arts for Life. Participating artists and arts groups included the Wind Ensemble of the Music Office, The Hong Kong Melody Makers of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, the R&T (Rhythm & Tempo) Tap Dance Group, singer-songwriter Jing Wong, and Band ToNick.

2014 Hong Kong and Macao Visual Arts Biennial – 300 Families

In September 2014, the Art Promotion Office coordinated the 2014 Hong Kong and Macao Visual Arts Biennial – 300 Families, which was presented by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, organised by LCSD, and curated by the Hong Kong International Photo Festival with support from the Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing. The exhibition was held at the Beijing World Art Museum, in the China Millennium Monument. The exhibition from Hong Kong this year featured photographic works by 14 Hong Kong artists portraying the stories of Hong Kong families. The Biennial serves as a platform for exchange among art practitioners from Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao, while also providing enjoyment for the Beijing population.

Hong Kong Week 2014@Taipei – Hong Kong Folklore．Literary Footprints

The third edition of Hong Kong Week in Taipei, presented by the Hong Kong–Taiwan Cultural Co-operation Committee, was held from October 17 to November 2, 2014. With Hong Kong Folklore．Literary Footprints as its central theme, Hong Kong Week 2014 featured a total of ten programmes in varied arts and creative disciplines held at major exhibition and performance venues in Taipei which together captured the essence and spirit of Hong Kong culture. Along with 20 extension activities, they attracted over 130 000 visitors.

The two opening programmes were Indigenous Hong Kong, an exhibition on Hong Kong’s intangible cultural traditions, and When Jingkun Met Cantonese Opera - A Chinese Opera Exchange Project. Other programmes included the dance drama Thunderstorm by Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio, the vocal concert A Poet and His Muse – Yu Kwang-chung’s Poetry in Music, and Heart of Coral, a chamber opera based on the life of Xiao Hong, the exhibition Journeys of a Hong Kong Poet, Leung Ping Kwan (1949-2013), the exhibition 50 Years of Hong Kong and Taiwanese Animation, the 2014 Hong Kong Contemporary Film Showcase, and the Hong Kong Lantern Festival and Creative Arts Market.

Touring exhibition of Huang Tzu manuscripts

In October 2014, HKPL and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music jointly organised a touring exhibition of rare Huang Tzu manuscripts during the 10th Conference on Cooperative Development and Sharing of Chinese Resources to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Huang’s birth. Besides Shanghai and Hong Kong, the roving exhibition was also taken to Beijing, Taipei and New Haven (US).