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RECREATION AND THE ARTS

Museum of Science and Technology The Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology project, initiated by the Urban Council, will have a total floor area of 20 000 square metres at Chatham Road East. While the new museum reached a further stage of planning in 1982, the Urban Council continued to finance the construction of a temporary museum as Phase I of the project. The temporary museum, to be completed in 1984, will later form part of the museum proper. Science exhibitions and lectures were already being organised in other venues on a regular basis. The first visitor-participatory science exhibition held in Hong Kong attracted 100 000 visitors over a three-week period at City Hall and Tsuen Wan Town Hall; 15 popular science lectures on topics of current interest were also held, with an average of 200 people attending each lecture.

Antiquities and Monuments Office

The Antiquities and Monuments Office of the Cultural Services Department had an active year recording, restoring and preserving a wide range of items of historical and archaeological interest. Two notable events were the completion of the first phase of the restoration of Sheung Yiu Village in Sai Kung Country Park, made possible by a generous donation from the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, and the opening of an old ruined Chinese fort on Tung Lung Island to the public in April. Work on the protection of ancient rock carvings and inscriptions progressed, with a view to public display in the near future. Students from the School of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong were employed during the summer vacation to continue the survey of Chinese rural architecture and to record local history in the New Territories. The survey this year focused on Lamma Island.

The Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance was amended in 1982 to permit the government to provide immediate protection for proposed monuments on a temporary basis while the merits of the case are being considered by the relevant authorities. Under the amendment, it is an offence to damage, destroy or make any alteration to a proposed monument without the permission of the Director of Urban Services who may, with the approval of the Governor, declare any place, building, site or structure to be a monument by reason of its historical, archaeological or paleontological significance. There are now 19 declared monuments, including steps and gas lamps in Duddell Street, Central; seven. rock carvings and inscriptions; forts; ancient villages; and the District Office North building in Tai Po. The year also saw the start of a territory-wide archaeological survey by two overseas consultants to assess Hong Kong's archaeological resources and to establish priorities in the research of sites.