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explore the history, art and culture of Hong Kong. By the end of 2004, 6 100 children have joined the scheme.
The museum's exhibition programmes, together with its educational and extension activities, attracted some 632 000 visitors and participants.
The Heritage Museum also manages three branch museums Sam Tung Uk Museum, Hong Kong Railway Museum and Sheung Yiu Folk Museum. The Sam Tung Uk Museum in Tsuen Wan was originally a Hakka walled village built in 1786. It was declared a monument in 1981 and was later converted into a museum for public viewing. Located in Tai Po, the Railway Museum consists of the old Tai Po Market Railway Station building, two historical locomotives and various coaches used in the old days. The station building, in Chinese style, was built in 1913 and declared a monument in 1984. The Sheung Yiu Folk Museum is situated in the Sai Kung Country Park and is housed in a Hakka village built in the late 19th century. It comprises eight domestic units, pig pens, an open courtyard and an entrance gate-tower. The village and a nearby lime kiln were gazetted as monuments in 1981.
In 2004, the Sam Tung Uk Museum, Hong Kong Railway Museum and Sheung Yiu Folk Museum attracted about 248 000, 388 500 and 63 000 visitors respectively.
Hong Kong Science Museum
To follow the successful Exhibition on China's First Manned Space Mission, a small exhibition entitled China's First Manned Space Mission Exhibition II - Gifts for Hong Kong was presented from December 24, 2003 to March 21, 2004 to showcase presents from the delegation led by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the China Manned Space Engineering Headquarters, including the working and training suit donated by the astronaut, Mr Yang Liwei, two large satellite images covering the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the delta area of the Pearl River. Along with these items, the exhibition also featured memorabilia produced for the aerospace exhibitions held in the museum in 2000 and 2003. A total attendance of some 88 500 was registered.
Produced by the Chabot Space and Science Centre in Oakland, California, United States, a Planetary Landscapes exhibition, involving 11 pieces of interactive kinetic sculptures, was a unique blend of art and science designed to inspire observation, exploration and inquiry. The sculptures and photographs beckoned visitors to investigate natural phenomena and the interplay between chaos and order that continues to shape the planetary landscape of the Solar System. From January 2 to May 2, this exhibition attracted about 78 300 visitors.
Since their 2001 premiere in the Ancient Chinese Astronomy exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum, the elegant artefacts of ancient Chinese astronomy were on display in the Dragon Skies exhibition staged at the Chabot Space & Science Centre in the United States. Exhibited along with these exquisite and precious. historical relics were scale models of the Armillary Sphere, the Ecliptic Armillary Sphere and the Celestial Globe, and computer interactive exhibits produced by the Hong Kong Science Museum. The exhibition was a result of the exchange programme between the Science Museum and the Chabot Space & Science Centre that aimed at