CONFIDENTIAL
SCR 1/4761/78
18 April, 1978
HKK 020/1.
978
R C Samuel Esq
Far Eastern Department
F CO
CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXHIBITION
INDEX
пъ
WK OFFICER
PA
The Chinese Archaeological Exhibition, about which I last wrote to you on 9 March, is now installed at Star House and about to be opened to the public. The preview which was held last night was attended by the Governor and a number of senior members of the Hong Kong Government.
2.
The exhibition is very impressive. Although there are only 99 items, they are well chosen. The method of display is much less sophisticated than that used at the London exhibition but this simplicity is effective. The exhibition should be a great success. The organisers are trying to enable those seriously interested to see the exhibits without being trampled to death by charging $50 a time for a limited number of people to go in the mornings. Others can pay their $5 and be pushed through the sausage-machine in the afternoon. I am sure that the number who wish to go will be very great. Indeed I think the organisers underestimate the demand and have told them
so.
3.
The Chinese sent three experts from Peking to supervise the preparation of the exhibition: WANG Yeh-ch'iu, Director of the State Cultural Relics Administration Bureau; T'ANG Lan, an expert on bronzes, classical history and ancient scripts; and FENG Hsien-ming, a porcelain expert. The Governor decided that we should mark the occasion by inviting these three and other organisers of the exhibition to a lunch at Government House. The lunch took place today. So far as we know, it was the first occasion on which a senior official from China has accepted an invitation to go to Government House. The Director of the local NCNA, LI Chu-sheng, who was a member of the organising committee, was also invited to the lunch. This too is the first occasion on which any member of the NCNA has been to a Government House function. The invitation to Mr Wang was in fact seen by the Governor as a way in which he could invite the
CONFIDENTIAL
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