TNAG-1073-FCO40-1323-Policy-of-the-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-including-1981 — Page 372

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Community cultural, recreational and educational facilities

7.29

Outside the school system the government is actively promoting

recreation and the arts, underlining its aims in this area by the recent

establishment of a Recreation and Culture Division within the Government

Secretariat, which has taken over executive control of the Recreation

and Sport Service and the Music Office and assumed responsibility for

the policy aspects of recreation in country parks.

In recent years

Hong kong people have been able to pursue a considerable assortment of

cultural, recreational and educational activities in their leisure time.

Among the facilities now available in Hong Kong are 21 country parks,

covering about 40 per cent of the total land area; the extensive sporting

and cultural facilities of the Urban Council; the rapidly developing

Recreation and Sport Service, with its 17 district offices: Ocean Park

(the world's largest oceanarium); the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Centre with

its space museum and proposed arts facilities; the City Hall complex with

its theatre and concert hall; the annual Festival of Asian Arts, and the

Hong Kong Arts Festival. Hong Kong also has its own professional orchestras

(the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra),

a flourishing Arts Centre, an Academy of Ballet and a Conservatory of

Music. There are now museums of art and of history, and a Museum of

Science and Technology is being planned. The Urban Council and the Urban

Services Department operate 20 public libraries, as well as four mobile

libraries and gramophone and video-cassette libraries: the total stock

of books is 1.19 million volumes, and there are now more than 954,000

registered library members. These services and those provided by cultural

organisations like the British Council and the Goethe-Institut both complement

the formal education system and help to enrich the quality of community

life.

7.30

The growing community interest in recreation and the arts is

a healthy sign, especially as it is by no means confined to upper and middle