RECREATION
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At the City Hall, the Hong Kong Museum of Art is continuing to collect and exhibit works of art of all kinds-paintings, sculpture and prints, as well as decorative art and crafts. These are both contemporary and from the past, and reflect the art of China, Kwangtung and Hong Kong as well as East-West relations since the 18th century.
Of the contemporary and historical art pieces acquired in 1975, the 43 water- colour pictures by the 19th century artist Tingqua are considered outstanding. These will enlarge the museum's existing collection of historical pictures-consisting mainly of the Chater, Hotung, Law and Sayer collections.
The Chinese art section has been reorganised with a complete change in the display. On permanent exhibition is the museum's collection of Han pottery, T'ang, Sung and Ming ceramics, and Ch'ing porcelain. Displayed in rotation are bronze, jade, lacquerware, cloisonné and embroidery pieces.
During the year the Hong Kong Museum of Art organised 12 exhibitions, three of which were from overseas. Total attendance at the museum for 1975 was 210,011, representing an average of 762 people a day.
At the Lei Cheng Uk Museum, the Han tomb was re-opened to the public in August after being closed for a year for conservation work to be carried out. The tomb and various finds were discovered in 1955. Attendance from August until the end of 1975 was 11,646, averaging 109 a day.
Libraries
Another new library-at Kwun Tong-was opened in 1975. This brings the number of Urban Council public libraries to seven-four on the Kowloon peninsula and three on Hong Kong Island. There is also a separate study room at Kowloon Park.
The facilities of these libraries and the study room are freely available to all residents of Hong Kong. The branch libraries at Waterloo Road, Ping Shek Estate, and Kwun Tong in Kowloon, and at Wah Fu Estate and Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island, all concentrate primarily on lending facilities for adult and junior readers. But they also have newspaper/periodical sections.
The City Hall and Yau Ma Tei libraries—the main libraries for each side of the harbour-provide similar facilities on a larger scale and also have comprehensive reference sections. That of the City Hall concentrates on the humanities and social sciences, while the Yau Ma Tei library is strong on science and technology.
The Tsuen Wan public library-the first to be set up in the New Territories by the Urban Services Department-has continued to be popular, and proposals for establishing more libraries in the New Territories are now under consideration.
The libraries have a total book stock of 629,373 in both Chinese and English, and 3,120 reels of microfilm. They subscribe to 505 current newspapers and periodicals,