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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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Anniversary Celebration' was published in 1987, the Music Office had more than 4 000 trainees and had already organized 3 500 Music For the Millions concerts, i.e. an average of 350 concerts each year.
Over the years, the Urban Council has indeed made continuous effort in promoting various types of music activities in Hong Kong. It has also encouraged music and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and other countries. During the last 20 years, in particular, it has not only invited more overseas professional music groups to perform in Hong Kong, but has played an increasingly active role in managing the professional Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, supporting the professional Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and indirectly subsidizing a number of amateur orchestras. Resuming the comprehensive services of the Music Office only means carrying on and further developing the work done by the Urban Council all these years, as well as making it easier for the Urban Council to come up with an overall strategy in promoting the art of music.
I support the Music Office's estimated expenditure for the year 1996/97, which is considered insufficient if the office is to resume its comprehensive services, simply because I hope the Urban Council can gain some operational experience this year and lay a good foundation for working hand in hand with the Regional Council. It is necessary and highly worthwhile to increase year by year the financial resources for music education and the continuation of music education.
In any case, I still support the Statement of Aims for 1996/97 on the major premise that we should progress step by step.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion. Thank you.
MR. HUNG CHUNG-FUN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I represent the Democratic Party to speak on sports activities organized by the Urban Council or the community. Hong Kong appeared to be doing well in the field of sports recently. However, the disabled seemed to have fared better than the able-bodied, a phenomenon which is a bit disappointing. For instance, Hong Kong just lost 1:8 to Guangdong in two soccer matches not long ago. It seems that efforts on sports promotion are falling short of our expectations.
First of all, I would like to talk about the promotion of cycling in Hong Kong. In fact, elitism prevails in Hong Kong as far as this sport is concerned. We have some distinguished cyclists in Hong Kong, such as CHAN Fai-lui of the 1970s, my younger brother HUNG Chung-yam of the 1980s as well as WONG Kam-po these days. We can see that behind their success, they have also tasted the bitterness of life. To quote an example, my brother has gone through more than 50 jobs in the past decade. Although we have these outstanding cyclists, is there a conspicuous cyclist team or a notable women's team representing Hong Kong? All of these questions are worth pondering upon! Nowadays, cyclists can only place their emphasis on the road cycling series, and they always complain about the lack of venues for practice purpose. Cyclists have to get up at four o'clock in the morning, take their bikes out onto the street and practise at dawn, and to endure the cold as
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