MUSEUMS

The LCSD manages seven major museums: the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, and the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. Their roles are to acquire, conserve, research, exhibit and interpret both Hong Kong’s tangible and its intangible cultural heritage.

The LCSD also manages the Film Archive, Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre (vA!) and Oil Street Art Space (Oi!), the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, and the Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery cum Heritage Trail Visitors Centre, along with seven smaller museums, namely the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum, the Law Uk Folk Museum, the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum, the Sam Tung Uk Museum, the Hong Kong Railway Museum, and the Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery.

In 2016-17, over 4.5 million visitors patronised the LCSD’s museums.

During the year, the LCSD published its fourth Five-Year Corporate Business Plan for the public museums, covering 2015-20. This lays out the vision, mission and core values of the museums, and their plans for achieving excellence. Individual museums and offices also drew up their own Annual Plans for 2016-17.

From August 1, 2016, the LCSD has offered the general public free admission to the permanent exhibitions of five designated fee-charging museums under its charge, namely the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence and the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum. The permanent exhibitions of the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum offer free admission to full-time students. The Hong Kong Museum of Art is currently closed for renovation and is targeted to re-open in 2019.

To promote this free admission initiative, the LCSD launched a campaign titled ‘The most precious things in life are free’ in March 2017, spearheaded by three short videos and TV & Radio Announcements in the Public Interest (API).

A campaign was launched to promote the initiative offering free admission to the permanent exhibitions of LCSD museums.

The new Museum Advisory Committee, supported by three standing sub-committees on art, history and science, was established in October 2016 to succeed the three Museum Advisory Panels (Art, History and Science). The committee comprises academics, museum experts, artists, art promoters, marketing and public relations experts, and community leaders, who advise the LCSD on issues such as museum image-building and branding, strategies for business development, and measures for enhancing operational efficiency.

The first meeting of the new Museum Advisory Committee.

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee monitors and advises on Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). The committee, which comprises local academics, experts and prominent community figures, commenced its fifth term on January 1, 2017, with an expanded membership incorporating a wider range of experts. Its terms of reference cover the safeguarding of our ICH through research, promotion, enhancement, transmission and revitalisation.

Riding on the success of the first museum festival, launched in 2015, the LCSD presented a second version of Muse Fest HK in the summer of 2016 under the theme ‘是麼See More’, with the aim of raising awareness of our local public museums and bringing museum culture closer to the lives of ordinary people. Seven organisations, including other local museums, a tertiary educational institute and social service organisations, were invited to take part in the Muse Fest HK 2016 as either museum partners or supporting organisations. The festival offered 90 programmes organised into four main categories: a Museum Inside Out Activity Series, an Exhibition and Film Show Series, an Educational and Extension Activity Series, and a Muse Fest Special Activity Series.

Highlights of the festival included the opening event, A Night in Love with Monet, and the finale show, Museum of Art on Wheels x HKDI My Bowl • My Story Flash Mob Party. Other major events included Animal Party Go Go Go and the Amazing Animal Fun Tour organised for the Animal Grossology exhibition, varied activities under the Museum for All programme series catering for minority groups, and the Curator’s Kitchen Talk Series.

An interactive theatre activity, the ‘Animal Party Go Go Go’ organised for the Animal Grossology exhibition, enhanced children’s experience of visiting the museum.

The ‘Curator’s Kitchen’ Talk Series was an unconventional and light-hearted way for curators to share with museum visitors different topics relating to Hong Kong art, culture and science through cooking fun.

The In Touch with Palace Museum campaign, launched by the LCSD from end 2016 to July 2017, showcased an array of programmes such as exhibitions, talks, workshops, educational activities, TV and radio programmes. It highlighted the essence of traditional Chinese culture and its modern connotations, as well as the role and contribution of Hong Kong and the Palace Museum in the inheritance of Chinese culture.

The Museum Trainee Scheme aims to develop a new generation of museum professionals. Trainees are attached to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Film Archive, the Art Promotion Office and the Conservation Office, and receive two-year on-the-job training in museum management or conservation services. There were nine trainee placements in 2016-17.

The Hong Kong Museum of Art joined hands with the Guangdong Museum and Macao Museum to co-organise the exhibition Maritime Porcelain Road: Relics from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Museums (Touring Exhibition in Mainland), which was stationed in Shenzhen during the year. The exhibition highlighted the historical importance of Chinese export ceramics. Co-organised with the Dongguan Museum, the exhibition The Arts of Deng Erya and Huang Bore featured paintings and calligraphy by the two masters. In the exhibition Lost Treasures of the Shiqu Baoji in Hong Kong - Selection of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphies from the Xubaizhai Collection, the museum presented 13 works from the Xubaizhai Collection that were previously in the imperial collection, and highlighted the role of Hong Kong in helping conserve China’s cultural heritage in the last century.

During the year, the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre held an educational exhibition titled Gone with the Wings using a new curatorial approach. The exhibition allowed visitors to enter the museum ‘backstage’ to investigate a case of a missing exhibit, with clues left by the curator. The exhibition Listen to Hong Kong, also held in the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, presented the works of three artists who articulated sonic memories of Hong Kong and composed them into an ensemble.

A DIY corner in the educational exhibition “Gone with the Wings”.

In March, the museum held the exhibition Art Upon an Island at the Hong Kong City Hall, turning the spotlight on projects by two local artists inspired by Hong Kong’s many islands. An outdoor exhibition, Bear in Mind, opened in December 2016, featuring two installations by William Lim and Mok Yat-san that reconstructed memories that fascinated them. In partnership with soundpocket, a series of ‘sound art’ activities were also held in which memories of the museum and the city were shared.

In summer 2016, in partnership with Hong Kong Open Printshop, the museum and the Friends of the Hong Kong Museum of Art co-organised a programme for primary school students titled Summer Art Cadets 2016 – Fun with Paper. In a series of workshops and visits to the botanic garden and an exhibition, the students explored the plants and fibres used in making paper, and created paper artworks using different techniques.

The Jockey Club Museum of Art on Wheels Outreach Learning Programme is a moving art museum designed by the museum that tours various schools and the community. In the 2016/17 school year, the programme ran under the theme Hong Kong Sign • Hong Kong Signature. Interactive games in the mobile museum introduced visitors to works by famous calligraphers, words found in different parts of the city, and distinctive artworks by contemporary artists.

To attract students, families and culture lovers, the museum launched the education programme called Living with Bamboo: Museum of Art is Here in September 2016. This programme aims to enhance people’s appreciation of bamboo art and culture, from antiquity to the present day, using items from the museum collections. The programme included an exhibition and outreach workshops for schools and the community. An outreach programme titled In Touch with Hong Kong Artists – A School-based Art Learning Pilot Programme was launched to introduce the achievements of Hong Kong artists. So far the museum has produced 13 comprehensive teaching kits incorporating demonstration videos by the artists, which are available for loan to schools.

The education programme “Living with Bamboo: Museum of Art is Here” was launched in 2016 to promote wider appreciation of bamboo art and culture.

The museum also undertook several research projects during the year, one of which was ‘A Survey of Western Media Art in Pre-1960s Hong Kong (Phase I)’, undertaken in collaboration with the Hong Kong Art History Research Society. To facilitate research work on Hong Kong art, the museum has set up the Hong Kong Art Research Portal, an online platform where data and materials from the museum archive can be shared. In 2016, the museum kick-started the portal by uploading its own materials in the pilot phase. Work on the second phase has begun in 2017, including the uploading of information and records from the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. About 150 exhibition-related files have been uploaded onto the portal. The museum will continue to enhance the portal, and invite other museums, academic institutions and research organisations to participate.

The museum was closed for major expansion and renovation, and is expected to re-open in the second quarter of 2019.

The Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware is a branch of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Its collection features tea ware and related artefacts from the collection of the late Dr K S Lo, as well as rare Chinese ceramics and seals donated by the K S Lo Foundation. In 2016, the museum organised the Tea Ware by Hong Kong Potters Competition, which promotes ceramic art in Hong Kong. This year’s competition attracted 276 participants, and the exhibition featured 116 selected items of tea ware made by 93 local potters.

An exhibition featuring tea ware items made by local potters opened in December 2016.

To give viewers a better understanding of the history of tea trading in China and to showcase the creativity of Hong Kong potters, two new exhibitions were set up at Gates 35 and 36 of the Hong Kong International Airport from May 2016 onwards. The exhibition Legacy of Liangzhu Culture: Neolithic Relics from the Zhejiang Provincial Museum displayed 118 Neolithic artefacts of the Liangzhu culture, including delicately carved burial jades, stone farming tools and black pottery in unique forms.

Renovation in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware has been implemented in phases since December 2015. The museum has remained open during renovation, but some facilities were suspended until August 31, 2016. The museum, which also organised many activities to introduce visitors to tea ware and the art of tea drinking, attracted over 201 520 visitors during the year.

The Hong Kong Museum of History aims to broaden visitors’ horizons through its explorations of human history and the unique stories of Hong Kong. In addition to its permanent exhibition The Hong Kong Story, the museum regularly presents various special exhibitions either on its own or in conjunction with other museums and cultural organisations from Hong Kong, the Mainland, and overseas.

In collaboration with the Italian organisations Contemporanea Progetti and Expona, from June to August 2016 the museum organised the special exhibition Mare Nostrum : Roman Navy and Pompeii. Bringing together around 110 priceless exhibits from over 10 museums and heritage organisations in Italy, this exhibition showcased ancient jewellery, silverware, statues, marble reliefs and artefacts recovered from shipwrecks. It was also the first time that museum visitors in Hong Kong could view full body casts of Pompeii’s victims. The exhibition included a variety of multi-media programmes and 3D animations.

Visitors learn the history of Roman Navy from multimedia programmes in the exhibition Mare Nostrum: Roman Navy and Pompeii.

The exhibition included these body casts from Pompeii, a Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

The Maritime Silk Road was an important conduit for cultural exchange between China and the West. The exhibition Across the Oceans: the Local Connections and Global Dimensions of China’s Maritime Silk Road featured more than 200 rare artefacts from eight important Maritime Silk Road cities in China, helping bring the ancient Maritime Silk Road to life for modern audiences.

Visitors enjoying an interactive game in the exhibition gallery of Across the Oceans: the Local Connections and Global Dimensions of China’s Maritime Silk Road.

The museum partnered with the Hong Kong Toys Council and the Toys Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong during the year to organise the special exhibition The Legend of Hong Kong Toys. Showcasing over 2 600 toys familiar to Hong Kong people or made locally, the exhibition explored the evolution of toys in the past century and the way shrewd industrialists transformed Hong Kong into a toy kingdom. The exhibition also examined how the global entertainment industry influenced toy trends through animation, comics, cinema and television, and the role Hong Kong played.

The grassed area at the museum was covered with more than 1 000 yellow plastic ducks for the Legend of Hong Kong Toys exhibition.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dr Sun Yat-sen, the museum organised a number of special programmes in 2016, some in collaboration with other organisations. These included talks and two exhibitions: Inspiring Insights into Dr Sun Yat-sen and His Time, and A Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Birth (held at the Hong Kong Central Library). A book entitled Dr Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Revolution was also published in November.

Visitors pack the exhibition gallery at the Hong Kong Central Library to view artefacts and historical photos in the exhibition A Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Birth.

A book titled Dr Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Revolution was published by the Hong Kong Museum of History to mark the 150th anniversary of Dr Sun’s birth.

Throughout the year, the museum organised a wide variety of educational and extension activities in 660 sessions, including lecture series, seminars, workshops, conferences, field trips, film shows, competitions, historical dramas, as well as family and outreach programmes, all designed to cultivate public interest in local history and our cultural heritage.

The museum collaborated with the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education to organise the Future Curator Training Course in August 2016, in which 23 secondary school students participated, all of whom found the course very interesting and helpful for them to better understand curator’s wide-ranging work. Close collaborations with local universities and institutions, including the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist University, the University of Hong Kong and the Centre for Hong Kong History and Culture Studies of the Chu Hai College of Higher Education, resulted in running four public seminars and 41 lectures. Moreover, two international symposiums, namely ‘International Symposium in Studies in Hong Kong History and Society’ and ‘To the Seas and Beyond: An International Conference on the History of the Maritime Silk Road’ were held in 2016.

The museum continued its collaboration with the Art with the Disabled Association Hong Kong on the Interactivity Scheme, which offers sign interpretation guided tours and model-making workshops for special needs groups such as people with hearing or visual impairments. Meanwhile, the Inclusive Life: Museum for All project offered special guided tours with sign interpretation and audio description, and model-making and touching workshops for those with hearing or visual impairments and those with intellectual disabilities. A total of 186 participants enjoyed in the eight workshops.

The museum continued to run its Caring for the Community Scheme during the year for the elderly, new immigrants, teenagers, and ethnic minority groups, with a view to fostering the participants’ understanding of Hong Kong’s history and culture through such extension activities as story-telling and model-making workshops run in the community centres. The collaborators included local community groups and non-profit-making organisations, such as the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong, the Po Leung Kuk, Heep Hong Society and Hong Kong New Immigrant Service Association. A total of 429 participants benefited from this community scheme.

The Hong Kong Museum of History attracted over 1 037 600 visitors during the year. In addition to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence and the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of History also manages three small branch museums – the Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery in Quarry Bay Park, the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum in Sham Shui Po, and the Law Uk Folk Museum in Chai Wan. They attracted approximately 80 620, 38 700 and 17 900 visitors respectively during the year.

The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence, a branch of the Hong Kong Museum of History, occupies the site of the old Lei Yue Mun Fort in Shau Kei Wan. Apart from its permanent exhibition, 600 Years of Coastal Defence in Hong Kong, the museum presented two special exhibitions during the year: Braving the Storm: Hong Kong under Japanese Occupation, and From Son of Heaven to Commoner: Puyi, the Last Emperor of China.

Visitors appreciating the ceremonial court dress on display in the exhibition From Son of Heaven to Commoner, Puyi, the Last Emperor of China.

The museum also organised a number of public and special programmes, including workshops, public lectures and films shows to complement the special exhibitions. In addition, it organised a Fun Day in July 2016 that included an orientation game, balloon twisting, a crystal ball workshop, and a music concert.

A series of the Fun Day programmes including this music concert were organised to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of their museum visit.

The museum attracted approximately 170 600 visitors during the year.

The Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, housed in Kom Tong Hall, a declared monument, has two permanent exhibitions covering Dr Sun’s life and his close connections with Hong Kong. Two special exhibitions were organised during the year: Commentary x Humour = Cartoons before and after the 1911 Revolution; and A Visionary Thinker: Dr Sun Yat-sen and His Blueprint for Economic Development. The museum also organised special education and extension activities to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s birth.

The display of cartoons from China and overseas published before and after the 1911 Revolution helped visitors better understand the situation in China in the late Qing and early Republican periods.

An interactive play performed by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre gave audiences the opportunity to learn more about the revolutionary career of Dr Sun Yat-sen.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, the museum organised special public programmes including a lion dance performance, a performance of excerpts from Cantonese opera, and a silent interactive theatre performance, all held on December 11, 2016.

This museum attracted approximately 93 300 visitors during the year.

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum offered a diverse range of exhibitions and educational programmes during the year. One major exhibition was Ceremony and Celebration – The Grand Weddings of the Qing Emperors, which put on display 153 exhibits selected from the collections of the Palace Museum. Featuring documents, portraits, costumes, personal ornaments, dowry and wedding ritual objects and court musical instruments, the exhibition explained the marriage rituals and ceremonies of the Qing emperors. Artefacts highlighting local marriage traditions from the collections of local museums were also displayed, allowing comparisons between the grand weddings of the Qing emperors and the vernacular wedding practices of South China.

The exhibition introduced the grand weddings of four Qing emperors through a display of exhibits selected from the vast collections of the Palace Museum, among which were emperors’ portraits.

Jointly presented with the Le French May, the exhibition Claude Monet: The Spirit of Place featured 17 Monet’s most iconic works, demonstrating Monet’s artistic journey across his lifetime.

Viewers appreciating Monet’s paintings up close.

The museum also collaborated with the Hong Kong International Photo Festival to present the exhibition What Do You Want For Tomorrow?, which focused on women photographers and raised important questions about the relationships between gender and creativity.

An artist (right) explaining her photographic work to a visitor.

Combining fashion design and craftsmanship, the Fashion + Paper, Scissors and Rock exhibition explored cross-disciplinary creation. It included the work of five young fashion designers and artists who worked collaboratively with traditional craftsmen to incorporate skills such as gilding, the making of copperware and of Cantonese opera headgear, paper crafting, the painting of Guangcai porcelain, and rattan weaving in a unique series of fashion items.

Visitors examining a display of Cantonese opera headgear at the exhibition.

In tribute to Dr Louis Cha, the renowned martial arts novelist who wrote under the pen name Jin Yong, the museum has converted its Orientation Theatre into a permanent Jin Yong Gallery. Opened in March 2017, the gallery put on display more than 300 exhibits, including early editions of Jin Yong’s novels and many valuable related manuscripts, documents and photos. Visitors are introduced to the early career of Dr Cha, the creative process behind his martial arts novels, and the impact the novels have had on Hong Kong popular culture.

More than 300 exhibits in the Jin Yong Gallery explore the creative process behind Dr Louis Cha’s martial arts novels.

Visitors appreciating manuscripts and early editions of Jin Yong’s novels

The New Territories Heritage Hall of the museum was closed in mid-2016 for renovation and preparatory work of a permanent exhibition on Hong Kong popular culture. The exhibition is scheduled to open in late 2019.

The museum continued to participate in the Arts Buddies project, which in 2016-17 was jointly organised by the Education Bureau, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Institute of Creativity and Academic Community Hall of the Hong Kong Baptist University, and the Office of the Arts Administrator of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This project offered a series of training programmes to secondary and tertiary students on appreciating and promoting the arts. The museum also collaborated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Education Bureau in running gallery talks, workshops and seminars in support of training for teachers, life-wide learning and the senior secondary curriculum.

The Arts Buddies project aims at enhancing students’ appreciation of art, along with their skills in communicating their arts experiences with others.

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum attracted over 787 000 visitors during the year. The museum also manages two branch museums: the Hong Kong Railway Museum and the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum. These branch museums attracted approximately 275 800 and 40 700 visitors respectively.

The Hong Kong Science Museum provides visitors with fun hands-on learning scientific experiences, designed to spark curiosity and inspire interest in science.

The exhibition Collider: Step inside the World’s Greatest Experiment, held from March to May 2016, introduced the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. The exhibition included multi-media programmes that simulated laboratory environments and real components of the Collider, including a 2-tonne superconducting magnet. It also highlighted the role of scholars and scientists from Hong Kong in the research being conducted at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The exhibition welcomed around 130 000 visitors in total.

On April 18, 2016, the Hong Kong Science Museum celebrated its 25th Anniversary. An exhibition was held from April to June 2016 to showcase significant exhibitions and activities held since its opening, and the plans for its future development.

Based on a children’s book about unusual and ‘disgusting’ animal physiology, the exhibition Animal Grossology ran from July to November 2016. It included 16 exhibit modules with interactive exhibits and robotic animal characters, each introducing the weird behaviour and unique habits of different animals as well as their important roles in the natural world. The exhibition attracted 287 000 visitors.

Students exploring how a cow uses its four stomach chambers to digest food effectively.

Running from November 2016 to January 2017, the exhibition MARS explored the possibilities and challenges relating to the exploration of the planet Mars. Using popular Virtual Reality technology, the exhibition allowed visitors to experience a Mars landing and understand the preparations needed for establishing life on Mars in the future.

The exhibition T-Rex Revealed – The Augmented + Virtual Reality Experience was held from December 2016 to March 2017. Advanced technologies enabled visitors to enjoy an immersive and adventurous virtual experience involving a trip back to the world of the dinosaurs and a close encounter with the prehistoric giant T. rex. The exhibition was also packed with educational activities, particularly for children, which included drawing, jigsaw puzzle games, storytelling and paper folding. Over the entire exhibition period, the museum received around 240 000 visitors.

A visitor uses a tablet to enjoy a virtual encounter with a ferocious T. rex.

From February to April 2017, the exhibition Inspiration - Dreams Come True, jointly organised with the Inspiration Team, displayed the first homebuilt, Hong Kong-registered aircraft. Named ‘Inspiration’, the aircraft had successfully completed a three-month round the world journey. Formally registered as B-KOO, the plane was built by a team of 500 led by Mr Hank Cheng Chor-hang, the project founder and pilot. Alongside the aircraft were displays of panels, interactive games, videos and objects relating to the aircraft aimed at inspiring young people to consider a career in the aerospace industry.

Hong Kong’s first homebuilt and locally registered aircraft, ‘Inspiration’, is continuing to inspire young people to work hard to make their dreams come true.

To raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation, a new Biodiversity Gallery was opened on September 2, 2016. With more than 40 groups of exhibits on display, the gallery recreates many of our planet’s diverse natural environments and habitats. Visitors can explore nature using all their senses through interactive exhibits, dioramas and specimen displays based on four distinctive themes: Local Biodiversity, Variety in the World, Changes through Time, and Nature Lab.

The Biodiversity Gallery’s thematic zone Local Biodiversity introduces Hong Kong’s vibrant natural world in the areas of air, land, sea, estuary and stream.

The museum’s annual Young Scientists Study Tour took 20 secondary students and three teachers on a visit to CERN and other research institutes in Switzerland. At the museum’s Meet the Shaw Laureates 2016 public forum, winners of the Shaw Prize shared the challenges and joys of doing science. The museum co-operated with 42 scientific and government bodies to present HK SciFest 2017, offering over 170 programmes. Science Alive 2017, catering specifically for students, highlighted the importance of preserving the Earth’s beautiful and complex natural systems.

A science show at the HK SciFest drew an enthusiastic audience.

During the year, over 1 236 000 people visited the exhibitions and took part in the museum’s education and extension activities.

The Hong Kong Space Museum promotes astronomy through exhibitions, planetarium shows and extension activities. Its Stanley Ho Space Theatre offers awe-inspiring experiences through its Omnimax Shows, 3D Shows and Sky Shows, while its regular temporary exhibitions enable visitors to catch up with the latest developments in astronomy and space science.

To commemorate the arrival of the unmanned spacecraft Juno at Jupiter, a special exhibition titled Juno - Reveal Jupiter’s Secret under Its Mask was put on display in the museum lobby in 2016. The exhibition introduced the mission and highlighted new discoveries on Jupiter.

Jointly organised by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre and the museum, the Young Astronaut Training Camp selected 30 local secondary students from 175 nominees to take part in a space science and astronaut training camp. Those selected got to travel to Beijing and Jiuquan in July and August 2016.

Thirty secondary students visited the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center as part of the Young Astronaut Training Camp 2016.

A Stargaze Camp for All and the Blind was held on November 5, 2016 in the field adjacent to Astropark in Sai Kung, welcoming 2 200 participants. Booth activities and observation programmes were organised to give participants the chance to experience the pleasures of stargazing, and special activities were also held for people with visual, hearing and physical impairments, and for members of underprivileged and ethnic minority groups.

The 2016 Stargaze Camp for All and the Blind brought together 2 200 participants for a highly enjoyable evening.

The museum’s stargazing mobile app, Star Hoppers, has been downloaded more than 133 000 times since its launch in 2014. Targeting all interested in stargazing, the app includes Chinese and Western star charts, audio recordings of the stories of the constellations, and information about astronomical events and related activities.

During the year, the museum gave multiple screenings of one Sky Show, two 3D Omnimax Shows, two Omnimax Shows and two School Shows. The Stanley Ho Space Theatre programmes attracted around 283 900 visitors.

Over 28 000 people participated in over 477 sessions of extension activities. The permanent exhibition halls of the museum have been closed for renovation since October 2015, and are scheduled to re-open by late 2017.

The APO, in co-operation with various partners, organised a series of community and public art projects in 2016-17 designed to enrich cultural life and encourage public appreciation of art.

ARTivating Public Buildings is a public art project aimed at giving the public more opportunities to access art in their daily lives, by transforming some public areas of government buildings into interesting art spaces. Four sets of site-specific, community-related artworks, installed in July 2015, were on display until July 2017 in the Stanley Municipal Services Building, the Tung Chung Municipal Services Building, the Tai Kok Tsui Municipal Services Building and the Lung Yat Community Hall.

The artwork Here the Ships by Tang Kwok-hin at the Stanley Municipal Services Building uses a treasure map and objects from daily life aboard ship to narrate stories of Stanley and the sea.

Jino Yeung's work Look at Tai Kok Tsui Step by Step at the Tai Kok Tsui Municipal Services Building includes illustrations, photos and items collected from the neighbourhood to explore life in Tai Kok Tsui.

To give local artists more regular opportunities to showcase their work, the Public Art Scheme 2015 commissioned four local artists/art groups through an open competition. Two artworks have been installed and are currently on display, one in the Tiu Keng Leng Public Library and other in the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library.

One of the artworks from the Public Art Scheme 2015, Reading is always Good by Benson Kwun, has been installed at the Tiu King Leng Public Library.

One of the artworks from the Public Art Scheme 2015, Original Means by Leung Mee-ping, has been installed at the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library.

Energizing Tsun Yip Street Playground as Kwun Tong Industrial Culture Park (Phase 1) is a collaborative project undertaken with the Energizing Kowloon East Office. Building on the momentum of phase 1, in September 2016 an initiative called Public Art Scheme of the Tsun Yip Street Playground was launched with an open call for proposals from local artists and art groups. In December 2016, 21 proposals under seven industrial themes in Kwun Tong were shortlisted. Up to seven public artworks will be commissioned and installed in the renovated Tsun Yip Street Playground in August 2018.

Hi! Houses was an art project that was to rethink the use of space in old houses. Launched in January 2017, the project began by choosing four historic sites in Hong Kong, namely the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum, the Old House at Wong Uk Village, the Law Uk Folk Museum and the Sam Tung Uk Museum. Four local artists, Wilson Shieh, Lam Tung-pang, Fiona Wong, Jaffa Lam and their teams were commissioned to create site-specific artworks that injected new life into the old houses.

Seven screens created by Wilson Shieh and his team at the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum showcase seven important stages in Dr Sun’s life against the historical background.

The opening performance by artist Jaffa Lam and her team at the Sam Tung Uk Museum integrated contemporary art installations with modern dance and nanyin.

The #ArtTravellers Exhibition Series I: Decoding Exotic Lands, which opened in February 2017, was an art project in the Trade and Industry Tower, the first government building with space dedicated for art display purpose. The exhibition presented artworks created by two female artists, Eastmen Cheng and Ivy Ma, which explored the uniqueness hidden within an exotic landscape different from what we have perceived.

These two artworks at the art display area of the Trade and Industry Tower were created by Eastmen Cheng and Ivy Ma for the exhibition Decoding Exotic Lands.

Oi! is an open platform for the exchange of ideas among young local artists. It aims to promote art at the community level, and to encourage collaboration and co-creation in art.

In 2016-17 Oi! organised Montage Express, a creative film screening project involving six local art groups that explored contemporary topics relating to society and the arts. In the annual project performingART, which has run since January 2017, local artists Doris Wong, Annie Wan and Luke Ching, the art group Room 9 Dance Theatre, and the Beijing artist Xu Bing encouraged visitors to rethink their ways of seeing and describing the world through their art. Oi! also organised a number of community engagement projects with different communities, including XCHANGE: Social Gastronomy for designers, PLAY to CHANGE for architects, Writing at Oi! for writers, and the Connecting People series for young artists.

In the project Montage Express, Oi! was transformed into a community cinema as part of an exploration of the connections between film art and everyday life.

PLAY to CHANGE presented a series of exhibitions and public events that created a platform for architects and the public to engage in dialogues on city development, social concerns and other issues of daily life.

The 6th Artists in the Neighbourhood Scheme has helped local artists look for inspiration by dipping into local history and memory. Four exhibitions were staged at different venues during 2016-17. The exhibition North Point Dream Properties Limited explored the cultural characteristics and local housing issues of the North Point area; 7-Paperholic showcased encompass sentiments of artists towards the North Point community; Smiling Stone attempted to connect people with happy moments from Ping Shek Estate in Kwun Tong District; and 9 x 9 explored the sustainability of traditional craftsmanship and its viability as a medium of art in Hong Kong.

Visitors reflect on the housing problem highlighted by the North Point Dream Properties Limited exhibition.

Visitors listen to sounds collected from around the community in the Smiling Stone exhibition.

vA! is a hub for art learning for artists, art enthusiasts and the general public, with a special focus on new media art. It works together with artists and art organisations to organise quality learning programmes.

In March and April 2016, vA! in collaboration with City University of Hong Kong organised POST PiXEL. Animamix Biennale 2015-16, a participatory exhibition for the regional Asia art event Animamix Biennale. Eight Hong Kong artists were invited to present new media works in the exhibition, demonstrating how contemporary art has been influenced by animation and comic culture. In 2016-17, vA! also ran its year-long art learning programme Art Specialist Course, which helped young artists and creative talents start their art practitioner careers under the guidance of established artists, professionals and scholars. In addition, workshops and talks on new media art and contemporary art practices were organised at vA!.

The POST PiXEL. Animamix Biennale 2015-16 reflected the latest trends in new media art and encouraged visitors to explore the complex relationships between reality and the virtual world.

Participants in the Art Specialist Course 2016-17 exhibited their ink paintings and ceramic works at the graduation exhibition.

The ICHO has put in place measures to enhance the safeguarding of local ICH items, measures which include strategies for their identification, documentation, research, preservation, promotion and transmission. Based on the first ICH inventory published in 2014 and subsequent in-depth research, the ICH Advisory Committee announced in February 2017 its recommendation that 10 items should be included in the Representative List of the ICH of Hong Kong*. Following a three-month public consultation, in May 2017 the ICHO had collated the public views and submitted them to the ICH Advisory Committee with a view to promulgating the first Representative List in mid-2017. The representative list will provide a basis by which the Government can better prioritise ICH resources, particularly for safeguarding ICH items of high cultural value and those that require urgent preservation.

Performances of nanyin, one of the suggested items for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong.

In June 2016, the Hong Kong ICH Centre was established at the Sam Tung Uk Museum as an exhibition and education centre. The centre includes an ongoing exhibition featuring 10 local items inscribed on China’s national list of ICH** together with the relevant bearer organisations. Other major activities held at the centre included three fun days: ICH Fun @ Sam Tung Uk, ICH Fun @ Summer Time, and ICH @ New Year. The ICHO will continue to collaborate with bearer organisations of ICH items and other community organisations in organising festivals, exhibitions, displays, talks, workshops, seminars, and field visits, all with the aim of raising public awareness of and interest in ICH.

The ICH Fun @ Sam Tung Uk fun fair was held after the official opening of the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre, and featured performances such as Hakka dialect ‘singing dialogues’.

*The 10 items that have been recommended for inscription on the Representative List include nanyin (southern tunes), spring and autumn ancestral worship of the clans, the Tin Hau Festival (or birthday of the Goddess of Heaven) in Hong Kong, the Mid-Autumn Festival - the Pok Fu Lam fire dragon dance, the Taoist ritual tradition of the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school, the sek pun (basin feast), the technique of making Hong Kong-style milk tea, the technique of paper craft, the techniques for sewing Hong Kong-style cheongsam and kwan kwa wedding costumes, and the technique for building bamboo theatres.

**The 10 local ICH items inscribed on the national list of ICH are automatically included in the Representative List. They include Cantonese opera, herbal tea, the Cheung Chau Jiao Festival, the Tai O dragon boat water parade, the Yu Lan Ghost Festival of the Hong Kong Chiu Chow community, the Mid-Autumn Festival - the Tai Hang fire dragon dance, the arts of the guqin (the craft of qin making), Quanzhen temple Taoist ritual music, the Hakka unicorn dance in Hang Hau, Sai Kung, and Wong Tai Sin belief and customs. Cantonese opera has been a world ICH item since 2009.