ENG-1956 — Page 314

254

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

flourish and organized activities reflect the stimulus and guidance given to the younger generation.

The Schools Music Festival started nine years ago with an entry of 70 and no choirs. This year there were more than a thousand solo items and 205 choir and class entries. Paintings by pupils from the schools were exhibited in Japan, Trinidad, Gibraltar and London. The amateur dramatic societies, in addition to their usual programmes of radio plays and live shows, continued to encourage and advise on drama activities in the schools.

Professor Edmund Blunden of Hong Kong University, the celebrated poet and critic, was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for 1956.

In the sphere of photography Hong Kong continues to make international news, accounting, for example, for 61 of the 371 entries accepted for the Salon Photography Exhibi- tion in London.

The Third Annual Film Festival of the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia was held this year in Hong Kong. Here in common with other countries of the East the development, expansion and dissemination of tradi- tional art forms is taking place through the medium of the film.

The British Council continued to show an active interest in many local cultural groups. In addition to the library and reading room the Council maintains libraries of films, film strips, gramophone records, photographic sets and art reproductions. The reading room is in constant use for the display of exhibitions, some sent from England and others designed to encourage local artists.