Hong Kong has one of the liveliest cultural scenes in Asia — a regional centre of the arts that thrives on a fusion of the creative talents from East and West. The Cultural Services Branch plans and manages performance venues, and provides and presents cultural and entertainment programmes to promote arts and culture in Hong Kong. It also provides public library services to meet the community's need for information, informal education and the profitable use of leisure, and to promote the literary arts in Hong Kong. Helping to preserve Hong Kong's cultural heritage and promoting an awareness of this through the provision and development of museums and related services also forms part of the branch's work.

	Performers from the East and West are invited to present cultural and entertainment programmes to the public.

	The creative environment of the Toy Library at the Hong Kong Central Library is designed to encourage children to use libraries.

Through these services, the branch aims to create an environment that encourages artistic expression, and advances a deeper appreciation of culture in the community. This will help in the development of a more open and mature society which embraces arts and culture as part of everyday life.

For its compact size, Hong Kong has excellent facilities for staging a range of shows. The facilities comprise: 13 performance venues, six major museums, six smaller museums, a film archive, two indoor stadia and a network of 72 public libraries including nine mobile ones.