ENG-1992 — Page 390

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

The museum continued to receive strong support from the community and the private sector. The IBM China/Hong Kong Corporation donated $4.8 million for setting up a computer classroom while the China Light and Power Company Limited sponsored $1.5 million for the Michael Faraday and the Modern World exhibition.

Heritage

Growing awareness of the importance to the community of Hong Kong's cultural and historical heritage is reflected in the activities of the museums run by the Urban and Regional Councils, and the work of the Antiquities Advisory Board as well as the Antiquities and Monuments Office. The Secretary for Recreation and Culture is the antiquities authority and implements the provisions of the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance. Through exhibitions, guided tours, publications, local studies, and community involvement projects, the museums and Antiquities and Monuments Office seek to achieve their twin objectives of preserving Hong Kong's heritage and increasing public awareness of its importance.

The year also saw the establishment of the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust - a milestone of heritage conservation in the territory. Apart from commemorating the contributions of Lord Wilson of Tillyorn in heritage preservation during his governorship, it provides a venue through which the community at large can actually take part and join hands in the cause. With this additional source of funding, more programmes on the protection and promotion of local heritage will become possible.

Hong Kong Museum of History

During the year Hong Kong Museum of History presented a large-scale thematic exhibition entitled Gems of Liangzhu Culture from the Shanghai Museum, in which 93 exquisite artifacts selected from the Liangzhu culture collection in the Shanghai Museum were put on display. Supplemented with photographs, models and other visual aids, the exhibition introduced the characteristics of the Liangzhu culture and threw light on the early development of Chinese civilisation, attracting 60 000 visitors. To complement the exhibition, and to provide a chance for Chinese and Hong Kong scholars to exchange views regarding research on Liangzhu culture, a special seminar on the subject was held and was well received.

In December, an exhibition, Dress in Hong Kong: A Century of Change and Customs, was presented to trace the original and stylistic changes in local costume. The exhibition covered about 150 items of local costume of the major ethnic groups and a series of tableaux depicting Hong Kong life and society in the past. A total of 64 000 people visited the exhibition.

A permanent exhibition, The Story of Hong Kong illustrating the development of Hong Kong from a small fishing village to a metropolis, remained very popular, attracting a total attendance of 165 000. A related inter-school competition of study projects on the history of Hong Kong education was held.

At the invitation of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, the museum's excavation team conducted a salvage excavation at Sha Lau Tong Wan, Ma Wan. The excavation lasted about a month and a number of pottery ware and shards with stamped patterns estimated to be dated between 4 000 and 5 000 years ago were discovered.

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