RECREATION AND THE ARTS
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Kong - People and Life' Exhibition were lent and displayed at a well-known department store in New York for the promotion of Hong Kong's exports for the Year of the Dragon. The video programme of the 'Made in Hong Kong' exhibition was lent to the Hong Kong Design Council for showing at the design/packaging exhibition presented jointly with the Tuen Mun District Board. The museum also co-operated with the Trade Development Council by lending it a slide programme used in the ‘Old Photos of Hong Kong' exhibition for showing in Tokyo to promote the 'Hong Kong Fair'.
The thematic travelling exhibitions to schools and institutes remained extremely popular, as did the talks and field trips on local history and archaeology for school teachers.
The 'Oral History Project' received keen response from the public and was extended for
another year.
The Ethnography Unit continued with its long-term research on Hong Kong's folk culture to collect and record information as well as visual material on traditional Chinese beliefs and customs through an active programme of fieldwork. Some surveys were done on the Ta Chiu and birthdays of deities.
The Law Uk Folk Museum in Chai Wan is scheduled to open in early 1989. It had been converted from a 200-year-old Hakka House. The Lei Cheng Uk Branch Museum, where the current exhibition ‘Han Tombs in Guangzhou' is on display, attracted many visitors and organised school parties with a total attendance of 46 288.
Hong Kong Space Museum
To enhance the attractiveness of the Hong Kong Space Museum's exhibits a renewal programme is being carried out with the intention of stimulating more public interest in astronomy and space technology. The renewal work will be completed late next year.
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At the Space Theatre, the major attractions during the year included three Omnimax film shows - 'Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic', 'Speed' and 'The Great Barrier Reef'; three sky shows "The Moon Enigma', 'Story of Stars' and 'Wonders of the Worlds'; and two educational programmes 'The Magic Sky' and 'Introducing the Solar System' for primary pupils. Temporary exhibitions on related themes were also held in conjunction with the shows, attracting 1 970 000 people.
Copies of the '1988 Astro-calendar' and a book entitled "The Stars', both published by the museum, were well-received by the public. In addition, 11 astronomy sessions, 24 film shows and 10 lectures were organised to cultivate interest in astronomy, particularly among young people.
Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology
The ground-breaking ceremony for the Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology was held on March 11, and piling work was completed in August, when a building contract was signed for construction of the superstructure. The building is expected to be completed in early 1990. Three overseas design teams were appointed in March to work on a conceptual design, preliminary designs and workshop drawings. An overseas design team was appointed to take over environmental design. The conceptual design of all exhibits was completed in November. All exhibit designs should be completed by July 1989.
Various activities, such as film shows, lectures and seminars on science organised throughout the year were well received, drawing more than 4 000 participants. Professor Yuan T. Lee, a Nobel Prize winner, was invited to deliver a public talk in July on ‘Science and Society'. The lecture was attended by more than 1 000.