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RECREATION AND THE ARTS
'The Transforming Age - 20th Century Chinese Painting from the Collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art' was the only exhibition on Chinese paintings organised by the museum during the year, while, 'Gateways to China - Trading Ports of the 18th and 19th Centuries' presented 60 historical pictures in oil, watercolour, pencil, lithograph and gouache showing scenes of 10 trading ports along the coast of China.
During the year, the museum acquired a number of items at auctions, including 12 rare antiques, some others from local artists and private sources, and over 40 items through donations such as teawares from Dr K. S. Lo and jade carvings from Mr Hu Jen Mou. The items will enhance the value of exhibitions to be held at the new Hong Kong Museum of Art.
The new museum will form an integral part of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui and will have a floor area of about 12 000 square metres. When opened in 1990, it will be equipped with six exhibition galleries and a wide range of supporting facilities.
The branch museum, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, continued to stage exhibitions on tea drinking and Yixing teawares. The semi-permanent exhibition of 'Chinese Tea Drinking' was a major attraction. Another exhibition, "Tea Wares by Hong Kong Potters', with its exhibits drawn from an open competition, gave local potters a chance to show their talent in producing ceramic teawares in traditional or avant garde style. The attractions of the museum collection, Yixing wares, were displayed again at the exhibition 'Yixing Teaware of the Qing Period'.
The Museum of Art also organised educational and extension activities, including a 'Hong Kong Children's Art Exhibition' to commemorate the opening of the Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre, regular lectures and film shows, small-scale travelling exhibitions, special slideshows and video programmes, sketching activity, pottery workshops and demonstrations for students and the public.
Sheung Yiu Folk Museum
The Sheung Yiu Folk Museum at the nature trail of Pak Tam Chung, Sai Kung, is in its fourth year of operation. The museum shows a 19th-century Hakka walled village of domestic units, a gate tower, kitchens, pig pens with display of period furnishings and farming implements. It attracted 67 210 visitors.
Hong Kong Railway Museum
Housed at the old Tai Po Market Railway Station and opened in December 1985, the museum deals specially with the history, development and services of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. It displays the old Tai Po Market Railway Station built in 1913 which is now a declared monument. The station's booking office, waiting hall and signal cabin have been restored for public viewing. Other exhibits include a full-sized mock-up of an electrified train carriage, six old historic rail coaches, two inspection trolleys and other rail artefacts. A museum handbook was also published for sale. The museum attracted 341 000 visitors.
Sam Tung Uk Museum
The Sam Tung Uk Museum, on which construction work began in February 1986, was opened to the public on November 28 this year. Located in Tsuen Wan, the museum was converted from an 18th-century Hakka walled village of a Chan clan. The 2 000 square- metre museum includes the restored ancestral hall, 12 village houses, a reception hall, an orientation hall, an exhibition hall, a lecture room, and museum offices all converted from