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RECREATION
and conferences and two public restaurants with bars. Local per- formers and overseas artists are presented regularly in the two auditoria. Unfortunately the demand for use of the City Hall facilities is far greater than can be satisfied, and, once again, a considerable number of performances had to be given in other localities.
The City Hall, often in association with national cultural organi- sations such as the British Council, the Goethe Institute and the Alliance Francaise, engages artists to give performances of music, ballet and drama. In 1971, a total of 60 such performances were given. The Urban Council also arranged 19 concerts of recorded music using sophisticated equipment in the Concert Hall where the acoustics are exceptionally good. In planning these 'hi-fi' concerts, attempts are made to include works which are unlikely to be heard 'live' in Hong Kong, and these have been particularly well received by the public. A new project for 1971, and one which proved popular with students, was the presentation of recorded chamber music in one of the lecture rooms in the City Hall. The admission-price for students at all Urban Council cultural presentations was $1, and there were full houses at the vast majority of the 115 performances.
Local impresarios also arranged visits of internationally renowned artists. In the City Hall they presented 17 artists and groups with a total of 33 performances.
In addition to participating in the Urban Council's own pres- entations, local musical groups and soloists gave 109 concerts in the City Hall during the year. In drama, three active English amateur groups and many Chinese dramatic groups, amateur and profes- sional, presented 47 productions with 123 performances in the City Hall.
CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
The collections in the City Museum and Art Gallery cover several different fields: Chinese antiquities, historical pictures, and local and contemporary art.
The Chinese antiquities collection embraces ceramics, bronze, lacquerware, jade, cloisonne, and embroidery. Although ceramics form the major part, recent acquisitions have expanded the collection of jade into some significance. A collection of Kwangtung paintings has also been developed, based on a bequest made by a Hong Kong painter, the late Mr Wong Po-yeh.
The historical pictures section consists of the Chater, Ho Tung, Law and Sayer Collections. This has been augmented steadily over