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THE MEDIA
releases sent by mail; and through personal contact with journalists. The London Office depends heavily on news and other information supplied by GIS-which sends a daily news round-up by telex and fuller details by airmail. Enquiries from the media are answered by the London Office information staff, though occasionally queries are referred to Hong Kong by the direct telex link with GIS.
In 1976 the information section of the London Office was responsible for the planning and organisation of a tour by the Hong Kong Schools' Chinese Dance Team, following its successful appearance in August at the International Festival of Youth Orchestras and Performing Arts, in Scotland. The team's post-festival tour included appearances in London at the Commonwealth Institute and the Court Theatre, Holland Park, and at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Midlands Arts Centre For Young People, Birmingham. The team also danced before several thousand people at two open-air performances in Cambridge, one of which was on the lawn in front of King's College Chapel. The dancers appeared on national and regional television in Britain, and were given extensive coverage by the media.
Film Industry
Film making is a large industry in Hong Kong, which ranks among the world's main film producing countries in terms of the number of major productions filmed each year. Until recently the industry concentrated to a great extent on producing films in Mandarin for Chinese audiences in many parts of Asia, but there is now an increasing tendency to look more to the markets of the West and also to cater specifically for Hong Kong.
In 1976 the two major producers-Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest-along with a few of the major independent producers, considerably extended the scope of their international operations, while cutting back to some degree on local productions. Multi-million dollar investments were made in films under production in other parts of the world; producers entered into commitments for high-budget co-productions involving major international film stars; and plans were made for the local production of Western-type films of internationally acceptable quality on a regular basis. At the same time, more overseas film makers made use of the relatively low-cost production facilities in Hong Kong, and a number of foreign feature films were shot in various parts of the territory.
Following the trend in recent years, the number of cinemas in Hong Kong again declined and at the end of 1976 there were 83 cinemas in operation compared with 87 the previous year. Per-capita cinema attendances continued to be among the highest in the world and totalled 53 million for the year, compared with 54 million in 1975. The three top-grossing films of 1976 were 'The Private Eyes', 'Jaws' and 'Jumping Ash', with receipts of $7.5 million, $5.5 million and $3.9 million respectively.
All films intended for public exhibition in Hong Kong must be submitted to the Film Censorship Authority. Censorship standards are drawn from ascertained com- munity views and during the year amendment legislation was enacted to permit a greater involvement in film censorship by members of the public.