HKSAR 20th Anniversary Celebration Events

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HKSAR 20th Anniversary Celebration Events

To mark the 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the city organised many celebratory events under the theme ‘Together • Progress • Opportunity’. These included a rich array of programmes, activities, sports matches and cultural performances that celebrated the successful implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ and helped foster greater social cohesion and unity. As a major organiser and supporter of many of these cultural and sporting events, along with various cityscape enhancement projects, the LCSD played its part to the full in sharing the joy of this significant anniversary with the people of Hong Kong.

Leisure Services

On July 1, 2017, the LCSD celebrated the exact 20-year anniversary date of the establishment of the HKSAR by exceptionally opening its fee-charging facilities across the territory for free use by members of the public. Over 190 000 people took advantage of this gesture to enjoy free use of the department’s facilities, which included free use of most of its indoor and outdoor leisure facilities and various types of crafts at water sports centres, and free entry to public swimming pools.

On the same day, the LCSD organised a free Storm the Park Day – Splish Splash@Tin Yip Road Park in Yuen Long District, providing park visitors with a variety of water fun activities. This was one of a series of Storm the Park recreational activities that ran from December 2016 to November 2017, bringing fun and games to park users in different districts across the territory.

The first edition of the Hong Kong Games was held in 2007, specifically to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR. Held biennially since then, its 6th edition in 2017 appropriately coincided with the HKSAR’s 20th Anniversary. The 6th Hong Kong Games ran from late April to the end of May 2017, and included eight parallel sports competitions in which over 3 200 local athletes competed. The Games generated strong community spirit, with thousands taking part in organised initiatives to cheer on sports people from different districts.

Large-scale sports events effectively attract the sort of large-scale community celebrations that are most in tune with the anniversary spirit. This is why the annual territory-wide Sport For All Day (held on August 6, 2017) was included in the anniversary celebrations. Sport For All Day encourages and promotes sport for all in the community by providing free use of most of the department’s leisure facilities to the public, along with a number of free recreation and sports programmes. In this anniversary year, it attracted over 230 000 participants.

During the year, the LCSD also supported a number of special mega sporting events, including the Hong Kong Masters 2017 (Snooker) and the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Picking up the celebratory theme ‘Together’ for the year, these international events helped enhance Hong Kong's image as Asia's sports events capital while at the same time fostering local pride and bringing people together as competitors and spectators.

In addition to sporting events, LCSD organised the annual Hong Kong Flower Show in March 2017, attracting a record-breaking attendance of over 670 000 visitors and more than 240 participating organisations from 17 countries. To mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s reunification with the Motherland, floral displays and landscaped gardens in the Show were enhanced with a subtle play of light and shadow to showcase the beauty of the blossoms at night. Visitors were also treated to two brand new attractions ‘Floral Marquee’ and ‘Maze Garden’, as well as a great line-up of special evening programmes including ‘Evening Concert’, ‘Dance Night’ and ‘Extravaganza’.

Cultural Services

On the eve of the 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR, the LCSD organised a celebratory Grand Variety Show. Broadcast live on television in both Hong Kong and the Mainland, the variety show brought together dozens of artists and performing arts proponents in a superbly creative homage to the occasion.

The International Military Tattoo held in July was another impressive mega event lined up to celebrate the anniversary with three performances at the Hong Kong Coliseum, showcasing the Military Bands of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, the Hong Kong Police Band, and other military bands from around the world including Scotland, Mongolia, the USA, Russia and the Netherlands.

The LCSD also invited world-renowned performers in music and arts to Hong Kong specifically as part of the anniversary celebrations. The celebrated Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle performed two sold-out concerts with Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in November, with free live relays arranged, together with radio, television and website broadcasts of the concerts across the globe.

The trainees of the Music Office (MO) and the elite MO alumni-professional musicians jointly presented the Music Office 40th Anniversary Gala to showcase the achievements of music education and promotion over the past four decades in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the MO invited the youth orchestras from Guangzhou and Macao to share the stage in the Music Spectacular concert to celebrate the anniversary and foster youth music exchange in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The ‘Progress’ aspect of the anniversary theme refers to the ways being developed to move Hong Kong forward and create opportunities for new industry sectors, such as the creative industries. With this in mind, the LCSD engaged local artists, architects and designers to exercise their creativity on various cityscape enhancement projects such as Blossoming Stairs and Seats • Together. For Blossoming Stairs, local young artists were invited to hold outdoor workshops next to the staircases decorated with flower motifs derived from the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, while Seats • Together involved local creative talents installing a range of functional and aesthetically appealing seats in selected LCSD venues. Ten out of 20 sets of these seats were selected to publish in the ‘China Public Art Annual 2017’ and the project has won several international awards such as the Winner Award of the ‘Asia Design Prize 2018’ in Korea under the ‘Space and Architecture’ category.

Several LCSD museums also featured highlight exhibitions specially themed for the anniversary. These included the Hall of Mental Cultivation of The Palace Museum: Imperial Residence of Eight Emperors organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and a special exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History titled Longevity and Virtues: Birthday Celebrations of the Qing Emperors and Empress Dowagers, both undertaken in collaboration with The Palace Museum in Beijing. Another Hong Kong Museum of History exhibition under the anniversary theme was Miles upon Miles: World Heritage along the Silk Road. All these exhibitions helped Hong Kong visitors better understand the rich cultural history of China, and celebrate Hong Kong’s own position in this history.

Two other major thematic exhibitions and a mega event, jointly presented by LCSD and world-renowned counterparts, attracted hundreds of thousands of local and overseas visitors. The exhibition Inventing le Louvre: From Palace to Museum over 800 Years, held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, presented a fine selection of paintings, drawings and other artworks and sculptures from the Louvre Museum in France. Elsewhere, the exhibition Eternal Life – Exploring Ancient Egypt showcased precious cultural relics from the British Museum alongside multimedia programmes and interactive exhibits specially developed by the Hong Kong Science Museum. Inspired by Fête des Lumières in Lyon of France since 1889, Lumieres Hong Kong was the first and ever mega event co-organised by the Art Promotion Office and the Association Culturelle France Hong Kong. The project illuminated 16 iconic locations on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon with light art installations by local and overseas artists, supplemented by a dragon dance parade during the opening ceremony and a series of fringe activities during the three-night festive period. These collaborations were anniversary celebration highlights, and also a sign of the global recognition that Hong Kong has won for its achievements over the past 20 years.

Continuing past museum successes, Hong Kong also hosted its first Museum Summit in this special year. The summit brought together some of the most brilliant minds from around the globe to connect and share their insights into the current and future state of museums, and to listen to addresses by 20 leading professionals from world-renowned museum institutions.

Highlights of Celebration Events

Date	Event	Description
September 2016 – November 2017	4．23 World Book Day Creative Competition in 2017 – Chinese Culture	An inter-school competition to promote reading and writing culture, and to enhance students’ understanding of the long history and rich variety of Chinese culture.
January 6 – 8, 2017	Dance Drama Crested Ibises and Dance Gala Fragrance by Shanghai Dance Theatre	The renowned Shanghai Dance Theatre performed the dance drama Crested Ibises, inspired by this remarkable bird, along with the dance gala Fragrance featuring several of the troupe’s prize-winning dance pieces.
January 20 – May 31, 2017	Reminiscences: Life in Hong Kong’s Built Heritage exhibition	This exhibition, the first of its kind to focus on major historic buildings in Hong Kong, was vividly presented through the imaginary lives of two figures born in the 1920s.
March 1, 2017 onwards	Opening of the Jin Yong Gallery at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum	The Gallery displays the martial arts novels of Dr Louis Cha (pen name Jin Yong), and explores the influence of his novels on Hong Kong popular culture.
March 1 – May 30, 2017	The Legacy of Liangzhu Culture: Neolithic Relics from the Zhejiang Provincial Museum exhibition	Through artefacts from Liangzhu, the exhibition explored the daily lives and thought processes of ancient people, revealing the glorious legacy of Liangzhu culture in Neolithic China.
March 1 – December 31, 2017	City Dress Up: Blossoming Stairs	This project involved decorating outdoor staircases at 20 locations in different districts with flower motifs derived from the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
March 2 – May 15, 2017	The Legend of Hong Kong Toys exhibition	This exhibition explored the changing trends in toys over the years and the connection between toys and our daily lives, and traced how Hong Kong emerged as a world-renowned ‘toy kingdom’.
March 10 – 19, 2017	Hong Kong Flower Show 2017	This popular annual community event features colourful landscaping and floral arrangements, along with a rich diversity of fringe activities for visitors of all ages. In 2017, the show attracted a record-breaking attendance of over 670 000.
April 9, 2017	Storm the Park – Flower Viewing and Sketching@Lai Chi Kok Park	This activity under the series included guided flower viewings, painting and colouring sessions, stage performances, ‘wishing tree’ photo corner and games stalls, all enabling participants to enjoy a happy family day in the beautiful spring season.
April 17, 2017	Music Office 40th Anniversary Gala	This gala show, performed by trainees and alumni of the Music Office, showcased the achievements of young musicians and celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Music Office.
April 23 – May 28, 2017	The 6th Hong Kong Games	This biennial territory-wide major multi-sport event included eight sports competitions and various community participation programmes for the general public. Over 3 200 athletes participated in the competitions.
April 26 – July 24, 2017	Inventing le Louvre: From Palace to Museum over 800 Years exhibition	Through a selection of masterworks, the exhibition told the story of the Louvre’s gradual transformation from royal palace to museum.
May 6 – 7, 2017	Concerts by the China National Traditional Orchestra	The orchestra delivered two sets of performances, Splendour of Folk Music and Impressions: Rediscovering Chinese Music, each capturing some of the essence of Chinese music. The orchestra was led by conductors Chen Xieyang and Liu Sha.
May 17 – 18, 2017	The Past of Shawan by Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble	This love story, set in the ancient town of Shawan in Guangdong, was told through beautiful choreography and set to famous Guangdong music. This was a Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Co-operation Project.
May 24 – September 18, 2017	Splendours of Dunhuang: Jao Tsung-i’s Selected Academic and Art Works Inspired by Dunhuang Culture exhibition	The exhibition introduced Professor Jao Tsung-i's achievements in Dunhuang Studies, and presented a selection of Professor Jao’s calligraphy works and paintings inspired by Dunhuang culture.
June – December 2017	Talk Series on Chinese Culture 2017	This was a series of talks and workshops hosted by scholars of Chinese culture.
June 2 – October 18, 2017	Eternal Life – Exploring Ancient Egypt exhibition	The exhibition displayed some 200 precious artefacts from ancient Egypt, and presented new research on mummies arising from the latest imaging technology.
June 3 – 4, 6 and 8, 2017	Giselle and Ballet Gala by The National Ballet of China	This spectacular programme included an array of Chinese and Western ballet classics.
June 13 – 18, 2017	Chinese Opera Festival 2017 Opening Programme: Peking Opera Gala	The programme included traditional classic repertoires performed by the Peking Opera Theatre of Beijing and the First Troupe of the China National Peking Opera Company.
June 17 – 18, 2017	Genesis and Spirit – A Showcase of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Zhejiang: Dance Drama Grand Red Trousseaus • Dream of a Maiden by Ningbo Song Dance Theatre	This dance drama, performed by the Ningbo Song Dance Theatre, showcased the rich intangible cultural heritage of Zhejiang Province.
June 20, 2017	Encore Series: Vocal Recital by Renée Fleming	Celebrated American soprano and four-time Grammy Award winner Renée Fleming revisited Hong Kong for a recital that included songs and arias from the French and Italian repertoire, Brahms lieder, and songs from the American musical theatre.
June 23 – 25, 2017	NINAGAWA Macbeth by Ninagawa Company	This was one of the most beautiful Shakespearean works of the late Yukio Ninagawa, critically acclaimed in international theatre circles.
June 24 – July 9, 2017	Muse Fest HK 2017	Together, the LCSD’s museums presented a feast of cultural and art programmes to the public that included blockbuster exhibitions, film shows, special activities, workshops and talks.
June 26 – 27, 2017	Museum Summit	Prominent speakers from major museums and international organisations in China, the UK, France and Russia shared their visions and experiences.
June 29 – 30, 2017	Concerts by the Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble	The Ensemble presented authentic Mongolian traditional music, transporting audiences to the vast Mongolian Plateau.
June 29 – October 15, 2017	Hall of Mental Cultivation of The Palace Museum: Imperial Residence of Eight Emperors exhibition	The exhibition featured around 200 artefacts from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, revealing its political, historical and cultural importance.
June 30, 2017	Grand Variety Show in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s Return to the Motherland	This spectacular performance by a group of renowned artists and performing arts groups was broadcast live on TV in both Hong Kong and the Mainland.
June 30 – July 2, 2017	Chinese Opera Festival 2017: Celebrating the Reunification with Cantonese Opera Classics Enlightenment of the Goddess of Mercy, Grand Birthday Celebration at Mount Heung Fa by The Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong	This grand-scale routine playlet showcased the artistry of Cantonese opera in its traditional form, performed by artists of different generations.
July 1, 2017	Leisure Facilities Free Use Day	Fee-charging leisure facilities were made available for free use by individuals. These facilities included most of the LCSD’s indoor and outdoor leisure facilities, public swimming pools and crafts at water sports centres. Free use day attracted over 190 000 people.
July 1, 2017	Storm the Park – Splish Splash@Tin Yip Road Park	This activity under the series included water games, such as giant inflatable water slide, water-fun maze, shaking boats, water bouncy castles, giant bubble and interesting water blowers games booths that enabled members of the public to enjoy the water fun.
July 2 – October 9, 2017	Longevity and Virtues: Birthday Celebrations of the Qing Emperors and Empress Dowagers exhibition	Through Qing court artefacts, this exhibition featured the Qing court rite on the ceremonies of the birthday celebration for the emperors and empress dowagers.
July 6 – 9, 2017	International Arts Carnival 2017 Opening Programme Pizzazz! by China National Acrobatic Troupe	The internationally renowned China National Acrobatic Troupe brought award-winning acrobatics and stunning new works to Hong Kong.
July 13 – 16, 2017	International Military Tattoo	This was comprised of three spectacular shows, a two-day outdoor carnival and a community concert performed by world-famous military bands, including the Military Band of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Military Band of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, the Hong Kong Police Band, and other bands from around the world.
July 22 – August 20, 2017	Summer Reading Month 2017: Thematic Exhibition for Children – A Tour of Chinese Culture	Activities during this large-scale thematic reading month to promote the fun of summer reading included a thematic exhibition, variety shows and parent-child workshops for children.
July 23, 2017 – July 31, 2020	City Dress Up: Seats • Together	This is a major public art project involving the installation of a range of aesthetically and functionally appealing seats created by local young creative talents in selected LCSD venues in 18 districts.
August 6, 2017	Sport For All Day 2017	This annual community event delivered free use of most LCSD leisure facilities together with a series of free recreation and sports programmes, all to encourage the public to do exercise regularly. It attracted over 230 000 participants.
August 20, 2017	Storm the Park – Toy Formula 1@Victoria Park	This activity under the series included radio-controlled model car parades, racing, demonstrations and play-in sessions, all of which gave participants a joyful experience of the vibrancy of park.
August 30 – November 30, 2017	The Art-Tune Encounter: A Gramophone Remembrance of Hong Kong and Shanghai exhibition	The exhibition presented the history of record trading between Hong Kong and the Mainland in the mid-twentieth century, focusing on the intricate relationship between two record corporations, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong.
September 22 – October 15, 2017	Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnivals 2017 and Mid-Autumn Thematic Lantern Display	A large-scale thematic lantern display together with an array of activities including lantern exhibition, ethnic song and dance performance, acrobatics, riddle quiz and folk craft demonstration were presented. Two sets of commissioned lighting installations were also put up at Victoria Park to enhance audience experience in the carnivals.
September 23 – 24, 2017	Apariencias by Compañía Eva Yerbabuena	The world renowned Spanish flamenco artist led her team in a programme of recent and highly acclaimed pieces.
October 6 and 8, 2017	Our Frontier is a Nice Place by Song and Dance Ensemble of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps	A project associated with the Belt and Road Initiative, this performance by the Song and Dance Ensemble of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps celebrated the beauty and splendour of Chinese ethnic dances.
October 20 – 22, 2017	World Cultures Festival 2017 Opening performance by Youssou N’Dour with the Super Étoile de Dakar	Youssou N’Dour, winner of numerous awards including Grammy and Polar Music Prize, brought along his band together with other young singers and dancers for an evening of African festivity.
October 29, 2017	Music Spectacular concert	The Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra shared the stage with a massive cello ensemble made up of trainees, Music Office alumni and their students, in a lively and vigorous music programme.
November 10 – 11, 2017	Concerts by Berliner Philharmoniker	The world-renowned Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, performed a long-awaited concert series with Seong-Jin Cho as piano soloist. Free live relays of the concerts were arranged at the Piazza of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Sha Tin Park and the Yuen Long Theatre Auditorium, while radio, television and website broadcasts of the concerts went across the globe.
November 11 – 12, 2017	Storm the Park – Family Camp under the Stars@Tai Po Waterfront Park	This activity under the series included camping in tents, kite-flying, firefly experience tour and identification of insects at insect house, stargazing, ecological tour and parent-child games, all of which gave participants a fun-filled family holiday experience in the park.
November 18, 2017 – March 5, 2018	Pixar 30 Years of Animation: Hong Kong Celebration of Friendship and Family exhibition	The exhibition featured artworks created by the artists at Pixar Animation Studios, together with videos of artist interviews that took visitors behind the scenes of animation production and revealed the craftsmanship and creative processes behind Pixar’s successful and much-loved films.
November 23 – 25, 2017	Lumieres Hong Kong	The project illuminated 16 iconic historic buildings and landmarks on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon with light art installations by 16 local and overseas artists, supplemented by a dragon dance parade during the opening ceremony and a series of fringe activities.
November 29, 2017 – March 5, 2018	Miles upon Miles: World Heritage along the Silk Road exhibition	The exhibition featured artefacts from mainland (Shaanxi, Henan, Gansu and Xinjiang) and from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, all illustrating the historical and cultural importance of the Routes Network of the Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor of the Silk Road for spreading trade, religions and cultural ideas between China and Central Asia.