XN000022-1995-03-09 — Page 26

-

25

-

Public urged to support heritage preservation

The mammoth port and airport development and other construction programmes in Hong Kong have necessitated major archaeological rescue excavations which have helped to increase significantly the public's knowledge of prehistoric activities in the territory, the Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr James So, said today (Thursday).

These excavations have been carried out by the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) of the Recreation and Culture Branch as well as outside parties commissioned on a project by project basis.

"It has been heartening that recently funds for many of these excavation projects have come from the developers of the sites in question, indicating that heritage preservation is gaining greater recognition and more support from the private sector," Mr So said.

"The Jockey Club has also been particularly supportive with grants for archaeological excavations."

However, he pointed out that these efforts would be largely in vain if heritage preservation was merely an academic pursuit of interest to a handful of scholars.

"The community must also be positively involved in order to show concern, to appreciate and to learn from the relics of our past," he added.

Mr So was speaking at the opening of the five-day Conference on Archaeology in Southeast Asia, organised by the University of Hong Kong's Museum and Art Gallery with the assistance of the AMO.

He said up to the present, 51 items including ancient rock carvings, archaeological sites and historical structures had been declared as monuments in Hong Kong, with 10 other outstanding examples of historical architecture deemed as such.

Furthermore, 340 buildings have been graded, which will serve as a pool for selection for further protection.

A