RECREATION AND THE ARTS
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The Director of Agriculture and Fisheries is the Country Parks Authority and, advised by the Country Parks Board, is responsible for these facilities and for the provision of management and protection services for all lands designated as country parks and special areas. Greater attention is being paid to providing advisory and educational services for this valuable recreational resource through setting up more visitor centres and information posts, and arranging guided visits and talks.
Urban Council
The Urban Council plays a major role in community life, providing a wide range of recreational and cultural facilities in the urban areas. The council's executive arm for the management and planning of its recreational facilities, including parks, playgrounds, indoor games halls, beaches and swimming pools, is the Urban Services Department's City Services Department, while its Cultural Services Department provides libraries, museums, shows involving the performing arts and films, outdoor entertainment, and exhibitions of general interest. In the urban areas, this work is done under the guidance of the Urban Council, while in the New Territories the Cultural Services Department works closely with district boards, other government departments and community associations.
Among the many Urban Council projects completed in 1984 were the Wing On Plaza Garden and other leisure grounds at Tsim Sha Tsui East, Lai Chi Kok Park swimming pool complex, Wai Chi Street Playground, Carpenter Road Park Stage I, Yau Tong Playground and a training pool in the Wan Chai Reclamation Recreation Centre.
To maximise land use for recreational activities, particularly in built-up areas where space is limited, new or redeveloped Urban Council market buildings have one or more floors constructed specially for recreational or cultural use. The facilities provided include indoor games halls, libraries, auditoria, lecture and recital halls and exhibition space.
Four such multi-purpose Urban Council complexes have been completed, in Aberdeen (two), Ngau Tau Kok and To Kwa Wan. During the year, four other complexes were under construction in Western District and Lockhart Road on Hong Kong Island and in Ngau Chi Wan and Po On Road, Sham Shui Po, in Kowloon. Twenty similar projects in various districts are under planning. In addition, 18 new indoor games halls were at various stages of planning to supplement the network of indoor recreational facilities located in Aberdeen, Kai Tak East, Cheung Sha Wan, Morse Park, Boundary Street, Lai Chi Kok, Ngau Tau Kok, and Chun Wah Road in Kwun Tong, the last being completed in 1984 and leased from the Housing Authority..
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The Urban Council works closely with various organisations and government depart- ments in carrying out its annual sports and recreation programme. With a provision of $9 million, the council organised and sponsored over 12 800 sports and recreational events for about 0.5 million people. It also organised 686 free outdoor entertainment programmes in the urban area, ranging from variety shows and Chinese operas to ballet and orchestral concerts. About one million people were entertained at these events.
An intensive 44-day 1984 Summer Fun Festival was held during the holidays. More than 43 596 young people and children took part in various outdoor events including launch picnics, family harbour cruises, disco parties, carnivals, camping, music and film shows.
In celebration of the annual Dragon Boat Festival, the Urban Council and the Hong Kong Tourist Association organised the 1984 International Dragon Boat Races, with 14 overseas teams and 83 local teams participating. For the Mid-Autumn Festival, the council organised lantern carnivals at Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island and at Ko Shan Theatre in Kowloon which attracted more than 360 000 people. Other large-scale