ENG-1957 — Page 335

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

'The Autumn in the Han Palace' by Ma Chi Yuen, to the 1957 Festival of the Arts.

Late evening listening included detective stories three nights a week, and for morning listeners there was a thrice weekly 'Family Diary' which reflected the day-to-day life of a typical family in Hong Kong. An entertaining experiment was made with 'Family Chit-chat', a weekly dialogue between a husband and wife, which was useful in explaining various aspects of Government work. The weekly 'Workers Play- time', which has now been broadcast from 30 factories and industrial establishments, introduced a quiz in which con- testants answered questions posed by the Labour Department on such topics as industrial safety. In November a weekly series of broadcasts in Cantonese by a Government medical officer was opened, the talks dealing mainly with hygiene. In December a series of adult quiz programmes was started, with the help of the Education Department, in the Adult Education and Recreation Centres.

There was a further decrease in the number of Cantonese operas broadcast from theatres, from 50 in 1956 to 27 in 1957. Studio music productions increased considerably. To the well established studio concerts of Cantonese, Peking and Chiuchow music were added programmes of Soochow music, and music from the local cabarets. Request pro- grammes maintained their 'popularity, with letters being received from listeners both in Hong Kong and overseas.

Chinese sports programmes, previously limited to com- mentaries on games, included information on most sports in the Colony from soccer to weight-lifting.

Subjects covered in talks and documentary programmes included calligraphy, the Imperial examination system, poetry, the history of the late Ching Dynasty, the Tai Ping Rebellion, characters from history, life in Britain and life in Hong Kong.

The extension of broadcasting hours to cover the pre- viously silent periods in the morning and afternoon has