RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
Sports and Recreation Venues
In 1992, 10 new sports and recreation venues were completed in the Regional Council area. There are now 27 indoor recreation centres, 13 swimming pool complexes, 89 tennis courts, 100 squash courts and 12 sportsgrounds. The newly completed Tai Po complex will be installed with full electronic display equipment in 1993. Furthermore, two fully air- conditioned indoor recreation centres, the first of their kind in the Regional Council area, have been planned for Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing districts. They will be completed in 1993 and 1994.
The council has three water sports centres - Tai Mei Tuk, Chong Hing and Wong Shek - and three holiday camps - Lady MacLehose Holiday Village, Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre and Tso Kung Tam Outdoor Recreation Centre. During the year, 70 000 people made use of the water sports centres and 301 000 the holiday camps.
Regional Council Festival '92
The Regional Council organises a month-long festival every two years to provide a wide spectrum of recreation, sport, cultural and environmental hygiene promotional activities. The third such festival, RegCo '92, adopted "Towards a better life' as its theme to reflect the council's commitment to providing better municipal services, and making the New Territories a better place in which to live and work.
RegCo '92 attracted over two million participants and spectators. Its opening parade and carnival held at Sha Tin Town Centre in the evening of November 14 was watched by 1.6 million viewers on live television and by 50 000 spectators along the parade route. There were over 20 attractive floats and a spectacular dance featuring a pair of 88-metres-long air borne dragons. The performances were led by the Xi'an Folk Art Troupe from Shaanxi province, and there was a demonstration of traditional music and dances by participants of different nationalities in their native costumes.
The festival offered both local and international events. The latter included the First Asian Championship in Sports Acrobatics, International Basketball Championship, International Handicapped Meet, International Kite Flying Festival, International Sand Sculpture Competition, and International Folklore Festival.
Among the highlights were two major exhibitions, the Ice Sculpture Fun Fair which displayed ice-carvings by Harbin master-craftsmen within a huge ice house, and the Lantern Festival which put on show 30 sets of lanterns assembled in Sichuan style. An exhibition of Chinese paintings by Lingnan School master, Kwan Shan-yue, was held at Sha Tin Town Hall.
Local events ranged from sport, cultural and entertainment activities to environmental improvement programmes. There were the Toy Festival, the Corporate Games, the Masters Games, open days of the council's leisure facilities, a photography competition, household and restaurant cleanliness competitions, litter bin design and garden design competitions, a waste reduction campaign, a drawing competition which attracted 3 000 school children, and a tree planting day.
Cultural presentations were staged by a number of well-known overseas groups as well as local artists and performing companies. From overseas were the Ballet National de Marseille Roland Petit from France, the SWF-Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden from Germany, the China Broadcast Chinese Orchestra, the Chick Corea New Akoustic Band
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