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Escorted by Sir Yuet-keung Kan, Deputy Chairman of the
'Progress Hong Kong Organisation Committee, and Mr. Len Dunning,
Executive Director of the Trade Development Council, the Royal couple
entered the Exhibition Hall a giant showcase covering 22,000 square
feet and featuring over 2,000 items worth some HK$4 million which have
earned Hong Kong a respectable place in the world's major markets.
As the Royal party entered the Exhibition Hall, they passed through
a 'Time Tunnel' displaying photo murals tracing Hong Kong's development
from a barren rock 133 years ago to one of the most sophisticated
industrialised centres of the modern world.
The Queen saw large pictures of old Hong Kong street scenes, the
harbour, buildings, and scenes of visits by members of her own family,
including the Princess Anne, the Princess Margaret, the Princess Alexandra
and the Prince Philip in 1959. At the end of the time tunnel, large picture
murals showed Hong Kong as it is today.
The Royal couple then passed through the skilled crafts centre,
where local artists were busily engaged in the arts of model ship building,
jade and ivory carvings, carpet weaving, ceramics and pottery painting, and
calligraphy, among others. The Queen showed a keen interest in each of them
as she passed by, stopping repeatedly to chat with the workers.
As she entered the products section, live models in Ching Dynasty
robes of imperial China and modern high fashion greeted her.
Mr. Dunning
provided the Queen with a running commentary of fashion in Hong Kong while
the Duke chatted with one of the models.
The Royal couple went through the products section seeing a bewildering
array of all sorts of items ranging from electronic and optical goods to
householdware, food, machinery, toys, pleasure craft and coin producing machine.
The last ..***