ENG-1996 — Page 452

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

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supports local artists by providing studio equipment and facilities for ceramics, sculpture and print-making for hire at subsidised rates.

Hong Kong Space Museum

The Hong Kong Space Museum provided an educational and entertaining experience for its visitors through its 55 groups of permanent interactive exhibits housed in the Hall of Astronomy and Hall of Space Science. In 1996, 345 000 people visited the exhibition halls.

Major attractions offered by the museum's Space Theatre included three Omnimax shows, Destiny in Space, The Living Sea and Mystery of the Maya, and two sky shows, Venus - The Unveiling Story and Cosmos in the Wheelchair — Hawking's Black Holes and Time and Comet Hale-Bopp. Besides the two original school shows, The Friendly Sky and The New Solar System, a new interactive school show, Sun, Moon and Stars, was produced for children aged six to eight. These shows attracted more than 489 000 people.

Hong Kong Science Museum

In 1996, the Hong Kong Science Museum attracted 620 000 people to its exhibition halls which comprise some 500 predominantly interactive exhibits. Two thematic exhibitions, World of Whales and Prehistoric Giants were launched during the year. The Energy Efficiency Centre, a permanent exhibition sponsored by the China Light and Power Company Limited and the Hongkong Electric Company Limited with a production budget of $1.1 million, was opened in July.

Generous sponsorship for renewal of exhibits was offered by IBM China/Hong Kong Corporation and Mercedes-Benz China Limited. An offer of exhibits, valued at $6 million, was also received from the Occupational Safety and Health Council to form part of a new exhibition on safety and health at work which is planned to open in 1998.

The museum provided a wide variety of science activities all year round including educational activities such as popular science lectures delivered by scholars and professionals from local universities and academic groups. Other popular programmes included the Fun Science Experiments and Computer Classes. The total attendance was 28 730. During the year, 892 school visits were organised for different types of schools and 92 451 students participated in the programme.

Hong Kong Museum of History

During the year, the museum staged a major exhibition, The Maritime Silk Route: 2000 Years of Trade on the South China Sea, jointly presented with the Guangzhou Museum and the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and supplemented with loan exhibits from the Macau Maritime Museum. In all, 113 750 visitors were recorded during the exhibition from January 23 to July 28.

The permanent exhibition entitled The Story of Hong Kong, which outlines 6 000 years of development of Hong Kong from the New Stone Age to modern times, attracted 245 319 visitors.

The museum organised a wide-ranging educational activities such as video shows, lectures, traditional handicraft courses, field visits to local historic sites and orientation programme for students of the Hong Kong Institutes of Education, all of