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Plans are in hand to declare five more Chinese temples, one Chinese monastery, one walled village and the relics inside the Kowloon Walled City Park, including the yamen building, as monuments. Other buildings and monuments may also be added during the year,
Mr Lung explained that it was important to declare and preserve these many items of our fast disappearing heritage for the benefit of current and future generations, adding that he was hopeful that approval would be given to all these items in due course.
He also paid tribute to the AMO staff, describing them as "a group of hardworking, knowledgeable and devoted professionals". "They serve the board extremely well and implement the decisions and programmes of the Antiquities Authority who is the Secretary for Recreation and Culture and whom our board advises. They deserve our, and indeed the community's, wholehearted thanks," Mr Lung said.
The Deputy Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr Benjamin Tang, said the AMO had been working over the past year on a wide range of projects, drawing on the expertise and advice of both the AAB and the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. These projects included the grading of 14 historical buildings, the production of a 13-episode TV series on heritage, the organisation of an archacological cultural exchange field programme with three Chinese archaeological institutions, the joint staging with the University Museum & Art Gallery of the Hong Kong University of an international conference on South East Asian archaeology, the opening of the Kowloon Walled City Park, and various other projects.
He pledged that 1996 would see the office continuing to work in full swing. "With additional resources granted to it, it will conduct two territory-wide surveys on archaeological sites and historical buildings respectively, computerise the office and its archives, produce publications on various heritage subjects, stage a School Heritage Festival in March and plan the establishment of another heritage trail in Kam Tin.
"A 10-part English language TV series on heritage will also be produced and screened," Mr Tang added.
Note to Editors:
The following is the historical background of the cathedral:
The foundation stone of St John's Cathedral was laid by Sir John Davis, the then Governor of Hong Kong (1844-48) on March 11, 1847. The stone was inscribed with the initials "VR" commemorating the year of foundation during Queen Victoria's reign.