THE ARTS
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and modern, some of which were given in connexion with the celebration of the University's Golden Jubilee. The Hong Kong Dramatic Club, in addition to staging Chinese classical plays both in Mandarin and Cantonese, sponsored a concert of Chinese folk songs.
The end of 1961 saw the revival of the Country Concert series of the Music Society of Hong Kong, in which local artists per- formed short, simple programmes of Western and Chinese music at schools and community centres in the outlying towns of the New Territories.
A well-established feature of musical life in Hong Kong is the Music Festival organized by the Schools Music Association. The number of entries, over 3,200, was larger than ever and some performances reached a high standard. The Festival also included a Speech section for poetry, prose reading and dramatic recitation. In September three examiners from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music came to examine a record number of over 3,600 candidates. They remarked that it was extremely encouraging that so many young people were inspired to study music for its own sake and expressed the hope that interest in a great variety of instruments would develop.
The various Western dramatic societies continued with their established pattern of regular presentations in the autumn and winter months. Among the most successful and well received were 'Breath of Spring' by the Hong Kong Stage Club and 'Look Back in Anger' by the Garrison Players. There was increased activity by Chinese amateurs and several Chinese plays presented during the year were original works by Hong Kong's own playwrights who have exploited the abundant historical themes, such as, 'Chin Shih Huang Ti' by Yao Hsing-nung, as well as topics concerning Chinese life in Hong Kong, for example, 'Second Sight and Second Thoughts' by S. I. Hsiung.
Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was presented in English by the Hong Kong University Students' dramatic group, 'The Masquers', with a predominantly Chinese cast. This was a notable experiment in interpretation by Chinese actors in a traditionally English field.
On the other hand, the Wah Yan College students continued to make Chinese drama intelligible to Europeans through the