ENG-1980 — Page 267

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RECREATION AND THE ARTS

The ship, an ocean-going brigantine, was built in Hong Kong with a donation of $5.5 million from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. The vessel is the first of its kind to be constructed in the Far East for over 100 years, and the first sailing ship ever to be built specifically for Outward Bound purposes. Eighteen-day courses are being planned that will take 40 students at a time on voyages throughout the China Seas and to the Philippines. In the meantime, the school (at Tai Mong Tsai in the New Territories) will continue to expand its land-based courses, which provide very high standards of character training and development to people from many walks of life. Courses organised during 1980 involved the young and the old, business executives, families and the handicapped, and included such activities as rock-climbing, outdoor safety instruction, and deep-sea canoeing- all areas in which the staff at the school are particularly well qualified.

Ocean Park

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Ocean Park, a non-profit organisation, is the world's largest oceanarium, and is one of the most spectacular recreational and educational complexes in Asia. Developed by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club on land granted free by the government, it has attracted nearly eight million visitors since it opened four years ago.

Spanning a high, rocky peninsula between Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island, Ocean Park's lowland and headland sites are linked by cable car. During the year, plans were approved for installing a series of escalators on the mountainside bordering Tai Shu Wan, as an alternative means of access to the headland site where the park's three main marine exhibits are located.

The Ocean Theatre, with a 4,000-seat auditorium features daily performances by trained dolphins, sealions and a Killer Whale, while the Wave Cove - a simulated coastline of rocks and waves - allows visitors to see and feed intermingled species of seals, sealions and penguins. At the Atoll Reef, the shallows and depths of a tropical atoll are recreated, along with viewing galleries at four levels. This is the world's biggest aquarium, displaying some 300 species of marine life ranging from sharks to tiny coral fish.

The lowland site has been landscaped around a small lake and pools. In addition to animals and birds, it contains a touch-and-feed area, an innovative playground for children and two outdoor theatres. Special attractions in 1980 included many kinds of primates on loan from China, and the annual flower festival.

Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex

Overlooking the harbour on the site of the former Kowloon-Canton Railway teminus and newly-reclaimed land at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula, the Urban Council and the government are planning a cultural complex that will become the centre of Hong Kong's cultural life.

Upon completion, its facilities for the arts will include a crescent-shaped auditoria block housing a 2,300-seat concert hall for presenting unamplified orchestral music; a 2,000-seat lyric theatre for opera, ballet and stage shows; and a 350-seat theatre-in-the- round for drama and chamber music. A nine-story tower block will accommodate the offices of the Cultural Services Department, an arts library, a restaurant, conference and lecture rooms. The complex will also include a new Museum of Art.

Space Museum

The Hong Kong Space Museum, a $60 million project which forms the first stage of the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex, was opened in October. It provides the public with an