ENG-1993 — Page 381

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

life with the brigade in Hong Kong, as well as providing news from Nepal and other Gurkha units throughout the British Army.

The English-language channel broadcasts 24 hours-a-day from both Sek Kong, and the Prince of Wales Barracks in Central. This service includes music, hourly news, reviews, sports coverage, quizzes and phone-in competitions. Extensive use is made of a satellite circuit from London to relay the news and BBC programmes such as The World This Weekend and Sport on Radio 5.

BFBS London has a brief to keep its overseas listeners in touch with home, and provides live overnight and weekend programmes to Hong Kong, and a number of specialist music programmes presented by some of Britain's leading broadcasting personalities.

BFBS is essentially a welfare service, and stations around the world join together each year to raise money for the Wireless for the Blind appeal and other charities.

Film Industry

Despite the popularity of video clubs and the widespread ownership of video cassette recorders, cinema-going remained a popular leisure activity. Attendances in 1993 totalled 45 million, compared with 47 million in 1992. The number of cinemas increased from 175 in 1992 to 190 in 1993. Mini-cinemas in many cases replaced large cinemas and proved popular.

While imported films continued to be popular, good quality local films were still the favourites. During the year, locally-produced films totalled 426 (including 19 co- productions) compared with 376 (including 11 co-productions) in 1992. Action films and comedies continued to dominate the market. The biggest box-office hits for the year included Jurassic Park which grossed $61.9 million, Flirting Scholar ($40.17 million), King of Beggars ($38.62 million) and All's Well End's Well Too ($35.48 million). The film Cageman won the Best Movie, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay awards at the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Films are classified into three categories: those approved for exhibition to persons of any age (Category I); those advertised as 'not suitable for children' (Category II); and those to be exhibited only to people aged 18 years or above (Category III). Classification standards are based on the results of regular surveys of community views. A statutory panel of advisers, comprising about 300 members drawn from a wide cross-section of the community, assists in the classification process.

During the year, 1399 films intended for public exhibition were submitted for classification, compared with 1 190 in 1992. Of these, 249 were classified Category I, 501 Category II (62 with excisions) and 649 Category III (379 with excisions). A total of 7 294 items, including video tapes, slides and laser discs, were exempted from classification.

The Film Censorship (Amendment) Ordinance 1993 was enacted in July and will come into operation in January 1994. This regulates the release of cinema films in the form of videotape and laser disc.

Postal Services

In 1993, the Hong Kong Post Office surpassed the one billion mark in mail traffic handled. A total of 1 035 million letters and parcels (a daily average of 2.8 million) were handled, representing an increase of 5.5 per cent over 1992. Approximately 10 380 tonnes of letter mail and 5 414 tonnes of parcels were despatched abroad by air a slight decrease of

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