HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
to other offices and venues and facilities under the management of the Urban Council.
4. MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question (in English): To promote the appreciation of drama performances in the Mandarin dialect, and other cultural related activities, can the Urban Council solely or jointly with the Education Department and/or other interested bodies organize an annual Mandarin-speaking campaign lasting for one week or more, during which period competitions, drama performances, etc. in the Mandarin dialect would be held?
MR. LO KING-MAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE SELECT COMMITTEE replied as follows (in English): Mr. Chairman, the question relates to two aspects of the Council's work, namely drama performances under the auspices of the Culture Select Committee, of which I have been fortunate to chair again this year, and secondly language related activities, as far as the Urban Council is concerned, organized by the Council libraries and right from the outset I would beg Mr. Joseph CHAN's forgiveness for having to go into some of his area of responsibility in answer to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question.
Drama performances are presented by the Council on the basis of their artistic or entertainment value, either to promote appreciation of the arts or for the enjoyment of the public or both. Although language of performance is one of the factors for consideration, it is not a major one so long as the choice is in line with the Council's primary objectives in presenting these performances. However, the Council does present, from time to time, productions in Putonghua by reputable drama companies and theatrical groups because of their artistic merits and popular appeal. Examples are 'Death of a Salesman' by People's Arts Theatre of Beijing in 1985 and 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' by the China Youth Art Theatre in 1986. At present, plans are in hand to invite two Putonghua or Guoyu speaking drama groups to participate in the 1991 Autumn Festivals.
The Hong Kong Repertory Theatre also mounted a production of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in both Cantonese and Putonghua editions in 1985. If a suitable script and Putonghua speaking actors are available, a similar production may be presented within the next two years.
The Council, however, has no policy to promote the appreciation of any drama performances based on language, although with specific regard to promoting a better understanding of Putonghua, the Council's public libraries do make substantial efforts.
Since 1979 a series of activities in Putonghua have been introduced by the Urban Council Public Libraries which also provide books and language tapes on the subject. The Council libraries regularly organize interest clubs where members are brought together to converse in Putonghua and to use relevant library materials. These clubs attract several hundred participants every year. One club was run last year for some 40 children to learn Putonghua through singing. Small-scale prose reading competitions and variety performances in Putonghua have also been organized by the City Hall library.
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In January 1989, the Library Section jointly organized a Children Story Telling Competition with the Radio Television Hong Kong and the Boys' and Girls' Club Association at the City Hall Concert Hall. The competition included a Putonghua category with seventeen children taking part and attracted a total attendance of 1382.
To promote Putonghua speaking ability, the Education Department has introduced courses in primary and secondary schools which teach students to speak Putonghua, and evening courses to train Putonghua teachers. Choral speaking in Putonghua is also included at the annual School Music and Choral Speaking Festival.
The suggestion of a Putonghua speaking week will be passed on to the Education Department for consideration; and the possibility of joint functions between the Education Department and the Council will also be explored.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English): Mr. Chairman, should joint functions eventually take place, could the Regional Council and also the Radio Television Hong Kong be invited to participate?
MR. LO KING-MAN (in English): Mr. Chairman, now, this time I really have to seek the rights to an elected member who chairs the Libraries Select Committee and which normally deals with this part of joint activities. Please take the floor.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the answer is yes. As the Chairman of the Libraries Select Committee, I think I have to thank Mr. Lo for providing information on what public libraries have done in promoting Putonghua and he didn't have to apologise. Promotion of Putonghua is in fact not the major task of the public libraries and it is only one of our extension activities. Through such extension activities, we hope to be able to attract our readers to the libraries to use our facilities. We have tapes, video tapes and books available for our readers. I wish to supplement that our major objective is to attract people into the libraries to use our facilities rather than teaching them to speak Putonghua. I hope we and the general public will understand that actually our work is very diversified.
MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, although I have heard from the Chairmen of the two Select Committees I don't think the major part of the question has been answered because Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question asks whether the Council can organise an annual Mandarin-speaking campaign solely or jointly with other bodies.
MR. LO KING-MAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, since I was the initial person to answer this question, may I therefore supply an answer. The crux of the matter is that we do not have a select committee on promotion of languages. That is the reason why under the present system of the Urban Council Open Meetings, Chairman of the different Committees will have to
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to other offices and venues and facilities under the management of the Urban Council.
4. MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question (in English):----To promote the appreciation of drama performances in the Mandarin dialect, and other cultural related activities, can the Urban Council solely or jointly with the Education Department and/or other interested bodies organize an annual Mandarin-speaking campaign lasting for one week or more, during which period competitions, drama performances, etc. in the Mandarin dialect would be held?
MR. LO KING-MAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE SELECT COMMITTEE replied as follows (in English):-Mr. Chairman, the question relates to two aspects of the Council's work, namely drama performances under the auspices of the Culture Select Committee, of which I have been fortunate to chair again this year, and secondly language related activities, as far as the Urban Council is concerned, organized by the Council libraries and right from the outset I would beg Mr. Joseph CHAN's forgiveness for having to go into some of his area of responsibility in answer to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question.
Drama performances are presented by the Council on the basis of their artistic or entertainment value, either to promote appreciation of the arts or for the enjoyment of the public or both. Although language of performance is one of the factors for consideration, it is not a major one so long as the choice is in line with the Council's primary objectives in presenting these performances. However, the Council does present, from time to time, productions in Putonghua by reputable drama companies and theatrical groups because of their artistic merits and popular appeal. Examples are 'Death of a Salesman' by People's Arts Theatre of Beijing in 1985 and 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' by the China Youth Art Theatre in 1986. At present, plans are in hand to invite two Putonghua or Guoyu speaking drama groups to participate in the 1991 Autumn Festivals.
The Hong Kong Repertory Theatre also mounted a production of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in both Cantonese and Putonghua editions in 1985. If a suitable script and Putonghua speaking actors are available, a similar production may be presented within the next two years.
The Council, however, has no policy to promote the appreciation of any drama performances based on language, although with specific regard to promoting a better understanding of Putonghua, the Council's public libraries do make substantial efforts.
Since 1979 a series of activities in Putonghua have been introduced by the Urban Council Public Libraries which also provide books and language tapes on the subject. The Council libraries regularly organize interest clubs where members are brought together to converse in Putonghua and to use relevant library materials. These clubs attract several hundred participants every year. One club was run last year for some 40 children to learn Putonghua through singing. Small-scale prose reading competitions and variety performances in Putonghua have also been organized by the City Hall library.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 66 of 95
125
In January 1989, the Library Section jointly organized a Children Story Telling Competition with the Radio Television Hong Kong and the Boys' and Girls' Club Association at the City Hall Concert Hall. The competition included a Putonghua category with seventeen children taking part and attracted a total attendance of 1382.
To promote Putonghua speaking ability, the Education Department has introduced courses in primary and secondary schools which teach students to speak Putonghua, and evening courses to train Putonghua teachers. Choral speaking in Putonghua is also included at the annual School Music and Choral Speaking Festival.
The suggestion of a Putonghua speaking week will be passed on to the Education Department for consideration; and the possibility of joint functions between the Education Department and the Council will also be explored.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):—Mr. Chairman, should joint functions eventually take place, could the Regional Council and also the Radio Television Hong Kong be invited to participate?
MR. LO KING-MAN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, now, this time I really have to seek the rights to an elected member who chairs the Libraries Select Committee and which normally deals with this part of joint activities. Please take the floor.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the answer is yes. As the Chairman the Libraries Select Committee, I think I have to thank Mr. Lo for providing information on what public libraries have done in promoting Putonghua and he didn't have to apologise. Promotion of Putonghua is in fact not the major task of the public libraries and it is only one of our extension activities. Through such extension activities, we hope to be able to attract our readers to the libraries to use our facilities. We have tapes, video tapes and books available for our readers. I wish to supplement that our major objective is to attract people into the libraries to use our facilities rather than teaching them to speak Putonghua. I hope we and the general public will understand that actually our work is very diversified.
MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG (in Cantonese):——Mr. Chairman, although I have heard from the Chairmen of the two Select Committees I don't think the major part of the question has been answered because Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question asks whether the Council can organise an annual Mandarin-speaking campaign solely or jointly with other bodies.
MR. LO KING-MAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, since I was the initial person to answer this question, may I therefore supply an answer. The crux of the matter is that we do not have a select committee on promotion of languages. That is the reason why under the present system of the Urban Council Open Meetings, Chairman of the different Committees will have to
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