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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. On your behalf I would like to welcome our new Secretary, Mr. Roy SPENCER, and to wish him many happy years of association with this Council.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 1980 were confirmed.
## STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Another Festival of Asian Arts has just been celebrated. It was the fifth annual presentation.
It is thought abroad that its impact is of far-reaching consequence to the cultural scene of the region. Its rich significance seems more grasped and valued elsewhere. But, for Hong Kong, it makes friends and wins goodwill. It has done more perhaps than any other public activity here to earn the genuine respect of Asia where doing so counts and not only in esoteric circles. The Festival was not started on an impulse. Neither was it founded on a whim and put together at random. Nor was its purpose understood at once where it should have found favour here without demur. Just the contrary.
The success enjoyed from the outset was expected. For, the Festival was inspired by the vision of the altruistic role Hong Kong could play in the cultural setting of Asia. It was carefully organized. It had the backing of more than a decade of comprehensive experience in the City Hall and across the territory. It was the natural consequence of wide and sustained activities. The stage was thus set for just such an ambitious enterprise of lasting value to Hong Kong in every way.
The Festival has many dimensions. Some are immediately apparent, while others are not so obvious.
For Hong Kong, it is an opportunity for the appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of the peoples of the region and their artistic development as they evolve with the times. Moreover, at one and the same time, in every hall here and also out in the parks on both sides of the harbour, there is the opening of a world of cultural achievement beyond the narrow confines of the territory. It combats the chauvinistic tendencies such circumscribed conditions are prone to create. It is an education in itself and perhaps an enlightening experience of a lifetime for all those intellectually capable of exposing themselves to the mores and customs of foreign parts.
81
For the participants from abroad, there is the fulfillment of a mission to portray to a cosmopolitan society the artistic accomplishments of their people as they express themselves in myriad ways, each different from the other as customs and religion, environment and development, all play their part in multitudinous circumstances.
For their public authorities and private cultural organizations, the Festival means due recognition from another place. It is both a tonic and a compliment. And so, with it, each in its own context, there ensue more support and encouragement, perhaps even an upsurge of interest in the value of long neglected arts and an awakening of appreciation of their rightful place in human relations of an international order. This is possibly the real measure of the enduring service the Festival gives across the length and breadth of the continent.
These and other thoughts inevitably cross the mind when assessing the transcending value of the Festival of Asian Arts.
Let Hong Kong confess too, in all humility, that it may have found its soul by sharing its advantages here and there as it turns aside momentarily from the making of money, important as it may be to survive collectively, so as to appreciate the culture of Asia across the centuries and to laud the genius of man as it finds new artistic expression in this day and age.
## PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of October, 1980.
## QUESTIONS
1. MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG asked the following question (in English):-
(a) What has the attendance record of the Space Museum, including the sky theatre been since its opening?
(b) Is the attendance rate higher for the Chinese Language or English Language Sky shows?
(c) What general publicity and information materials on the Space Museum are there available to the public, either free or at a charge?
THE HON. F. K. HU, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURAL SERVICES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-
This question deals with the attendance at the Hong Kong Space Museum and publicity material.
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Page 57 of 120
80
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. On your behalf I would like to welcome our new Secretary, Mr. Roy SPENCER, and to wish him many happy years of association with this Council.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 1980 were confirmed.
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Another Festival of Asian Arts has just been celebrated. It was the fifth annual presentation.
It is thought abroad that its impact is of far-reaching consequence to the cultural scene of the region. Its rich significance seems more grasped and valued elsewhere. But, for Hong Kong, it makes friends and wins goodwill. It has done more perhaps than any other public activity here to earn the genuine respect of Asia where doing so counts and not only in esoteric circles. The Festival was not started on an impulse. Neither was it founded on a whim and put together at random. Nor was its purpose understood at once where it should have found favour here without demur. Just the contrary.
The success enjoyed from the outset was expected. For, the Festival was inspired by the vision of the altruistic role Hong Kong could play in the cultural setting of Asia. It was carefully organized. It had the backing of more than a decade of comprehensive experience in the City Hall and across the territory. It was the natural consequence of wide and sustained activities. The stage was thus set for just such an ambitious enterprise of lasting value to Hong Kong in every way.
The Festival has many dimensions. Some are immediately apparent, while others are not so obvious.
For Hong Kong, it is an opportunity for the appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of the peoples of the region and their artistic development as they evolve with the times. Moreover, at one and the same time, in every hall here and also out in the parks on both sides of the harbour, there is the opening of a world of cultural achievement beyond the narrow confines of the territory. It combats the chauvinistic tendencies such circumscribed condi- tions are prone to create. It is an education in itself and perhaps an enlighten- ing experience of a lifetime for all those intellectually capable of exposing themselves to the mores and customs of foreign parts.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 57 of 120
81
For the participants from abroad, there is the fulfillment of a mission to portray to a cosmopolitan society the artistic accomplishments of their people
as they express themselves in myriad ways, each different from the other as customs and religion, environment and development, all play their
part in multitudinous circumstances.
For their public authorities and private cultural organizations, the Festival means due recognition from another place. It is both a tonic and a com- pliment. And so, with it, each in its own context, there ensue more support and encouragement, perhaps even an upsurge of interest in the value of long neglected arts and an awakening of appreciation of their rightful place in human relations of an international order. This is possibly the real measure of the enduring service the Festival gives across the length and breadth of the continent.
These and other thoughts inevitably cross the mind when assessing the transcending value of the Festival of Asian Arts.
Let Hong Kong confess too, in all humility, that it may have found its soul by sharing its advantages here and there as it turns aside momentarily from the making of money, important as it may be to survive collectively, so as to appreciate the culture of Asia across the centuries and to laud the genius of man as it finds new artistic expression in this day and age.
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and
Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of October, 1980.
QUESTIONS
1. MR. HOWARD H. W. YOUNG asked the following question (in English):- (a) What has the attendance record of the Space Museum, including the
sky theatre been since its opening?
(b) Is the attendance rate higher for the Chinese Language or English
Language Sky shows?
(c) What general publicity and information materials on the Space Museum
are there available to the public, either free or at a charge?
THE HON. F. K. HU, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURAL SERVICES SELECT COM- MITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-
This question deals with the attendance at the Hong Kong Space Museum and publicity material.
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