RECREATION
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respected but maybe a prosperous man. Courses in this and other forms of traditional art, including for example the carving of Chinese seals, were a feature of extra-mural courses run by both the Univer- sity of Hong Kong and the New Asia College of the new Chinese University this year. Exhibitions of painting, both traditional Chinese and western are taking place every day somewhere in the city. Hotels have led the way by using the walls of some of their public rooms for the display of new works and there is at least one successful commercial gallery in Kowloon, but undeniably the City Hall has become the major centre for the exhibition of art.
Any doubts about Hong Kong's interest in art would be dispelled by the sight of the City Hall's high block on a Saturday afternoon when it literally swarms with people devouring exhibitions of painting, sculpture, and photography. Setting the pace is the City Hall's own art gallery which staged shows of the Turner Water- colours from the British Museum and the works of nine modern British sculptors, both arranged by the British Council, as well as an exhibition of contemporary Indian painting. The British sculptures, some of which were set out in the City Hall garden were a novel experience for Hong Kong and an interesting com- parison with a subsequent exhibition by a modern local sculptor, Cheung Yee, whose work is illustrated in this volume.
The City Hall has become literally the home of many cultural organizations in Hong Kong since its committee and lecture rooms are the only meeting places many of them have. Notable among these are the photographic societies which abound in Hong Kong where photography is a highly developed art in which a very great number of people can afford to indulge. There are at least five important amateur photographic societies in Hong Kong and it is some measure of their standards that one of them, the Photographic Society of Hong Kong, was able to record this year that its members had taken all the first ten places in the Photographic Society of America's list of salon exhibitors.
GOVERNMENT COLLECTIONS
The City Hall also houses important reference collections and a lending and reference library. From the City Hall Museum col- lection of prints, paintings and photographs material was drawn