ENG-2003 — Page 488

RECREATION, SPORT AND THE ARTS

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With the aim of introducing to the public scientific research projects currently conducted in local universities and disseminating knowledge of 'frontier' technology, the Science News Corner staged three thematic exhibitions in 2003: Automatic Face Image and Sketch Recognition, Fruit Fly - Drosophila and Extremes of the Universe. The exhibitions, jointly developed by the universities and the museum, represented a valuable collaboration between researchers and museum professionals in promoting science. The exhibition will be renewed regularly to keep abreast of scientific advancement and technological breakthroughs.

As in the previous year, the LCSD's 'Teacher Museum Pass' Scheme served to encourage teachers to visit museums and make use of museum resources to support their work. The museum, serving as coordinator of the scheme, arranged orientation visits for teachers and processed applications for around 2 000 schools.

The museum continued to work with educational institutions and professional bodies on a number of special projects to promote science. Popular examples were the Fun Science Competition in February, the Symposium on Environmental Issues for Schools and 6th Primary Science Project Competition in July, the 36th Joint School Science Exhibition in August, and the Joint Schools Robotic Olympiad in November. The museum's exhibitions and extension activities attracted more than 870 000 visitors and participants during the year.

Hong Kong Space Museum

The Hong Kong Space Museum is dedicated to promoting astronomy and space. science to the public. During the year, the museum strengthened its astronomical observation activities. A special occasion was the week from August 27 when the planet Mars was at its closest to the Earth in 60 000 years. The museum remained open until late at night to enable members of the public to view the planet through astronomical telescopes. More than 5 000 people took advantage of the opportunity. In addition, the museum and the Hong Kong Astronomical Society jointly organised a Sidewalk Astronomy session for the public at the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in October. In this activity, about 50 astronomical telescopes were set up for use by interested passers-by, and more than 1 500 people took advantage of the opportunity to observe celestial objects.

To mark China's first manned space flight in October, the museum organised a number of activities including exhibitions, display of a model of the Shenzhou spacecraft and workshops. Related educational materials were also produced.

During the year, the museum published the Astrocalendar 2004. The museum's two Sky Shows, four Omnimax films, and six School Shows attracted some 290 100 people. The museum also organised 190 extension activities that had over 40 700 participants. Fourteen temporary special exhibitions, together with the permanent exhibits in the Hall of Astronomy and in the Hall of Space Science, attracted more than 317 700 visitors.

Hong Kong Film Archive

The Hong Kong Film Archive's major functions are to acquire, preserve, catalogue and document Hong Kong films and related materials. With a gross floor area of 7 200 square metres, its major facilities include a cinema, an exhibition hall, a resource centre and a number of temperature-controlled collection stores. It has