170
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 1986, were confirmed.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Last month Hong Kong had the honour of playing host to Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh for their first visit to the territory in 11 years.
The visit was an historic occasion in Hong Kong as the Queen had just finished her highly successful first-ever tour of China.
This was a particularly noteworthy occasion for the Urban Council since not only was the official welcoming ceremony held at the City Hall, but the Hong Kong Coliseum was the venue for the magnificent Youth Spectacular staged by 6 000 young singers and dancers to entertain the Royal Couple.
On behalf of all Councillors, and indeed the people of Hong Kong, I am also glad that the Queen, through her two-day programme of visits to various parts of Hong Kong, was able to see how the territory has emerged as a thriving modern city with wide-ranging economic, cultural and sporting contacts with the rest of the world.
Now, to turn to another pleasurable occasion, last week the Urban Council had the privilege of enjoying the kindness and hospitality of the Chinese authorities on a visit to view the wide range of cultural facilities and activities in Beijing and Shanghai.
The three main objectives of this visit were:
(a) To enable Councillors to see first hand the cultural scene in China.
Several participants had not had this opportunity before.
(b) To pave the way for further cultural exchanges; and
(c) To obtain contacts to allow other visits to be undertaken at a future date. The highlight of our visit to Beijing and Shanghai was the meeting in the Great Hall of the People with Mr. Ji Pengfei last Wednesday who not only met us at the door but gave us 35 minutes of his valuable time.
Mr. Ji said that he considered that the cultural programmes and environmental work undertaken by the Urban Council, together with its promotion of recreation and sporting activities were of major importance in maintaining Hong Kong as a stable and prosperous territory. He had been impressed while in Hong Kong with the amount of greenery within the territory. He was equally sure that cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and China were vital to bring the people closer together and he urged us to continue with our important work.
The members of the delegation were particularly gratified that Mr. Ji went out of his way to give us his time and felt heartened that he appreciated the work that the Council undertakes.
We were also received by Mr. LIU Deyou, the Vice Minister of Culture, and through his good offices the working visits undertaken from morning to night every day were smoothly accomplished. We travelled from venue to venue with only breaks for meals, and were invited on a number of occasions to see even more groups, museums, etc., than we could fit into our already very tight schedule.
The Urban Council has a tradition of presenting some of the best that China has to offer in both the visual and performing arts. But China has a vast range of cultural activities and we were able to see exhibitions, private showings and performances, both public and several specially staged for us. We were also able to view some of the priceless treasures of China, some of which are rarely, or never, shown to the public, e.g. the most ancient manuscripts in Beijing Museum, skull fragments and rare fossils at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology, jade and bronze in the Shanghai Museum. We felt greatly honoured and privileged for the trouble taken to show the nation's cultural heritage to our delegation and the special treatment which we received.
Amongst the areas covered in Beijing were:
(a) Vertebrate Palaeontology
(b) Palace Museum
(c) Drama (Modern Po Tung Hua Play),
(d) Chinese Orchestral Music
(e) Oriental Opera and Dance
(f) China Arts Performing Company
(g) The National Library
Shanghai was only a two-day visit which covered:
(a) The Shanghai Folk Opera and Dance Theatre
(b) The Shanghai Museum
(c) The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
(d) Some members also squeezed in a visit to the Shanghai Library.
These visits included discussions on possible performances in Hong Kong and also on mutual co-operation in a number of fields, e.g. library computerization. Also, we were anxious to obtain one or more really top-class Chinese groups for the opening series of performances of the Kowloon Cultural Centre which will be opened in late 1989.
Page 106 of 201
171