ENG-2006 — Page 460

388 | Recreation, Sport and the Arts

and Modern China' and 'Hong Kong in Sun Yat-sen's time'. The museum was converted from the historic building Kom Tong Hall, which was built in 1914.

The Museum of History also manages two other branch museums - the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum in Sham Shui Po and the Law Uk Folk Museum in Chai Wan, which attracted 58 550 and 22 000 visitors respectively.

Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence

The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence was converted from the old Lei Yue Mun Fort in Shau Kei Wan. Its permanent exhibition, '600 Years of Hong Kong's Coastal Defence' depicts Hong Kong's history of coastal defence from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the British period, the Japanese invasion to the period after Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese sovereignty. Visitors may also see the military relics in the Redoubt and on the Historical Trail.

Four year-long thematic exhibitions were presented on the museum premises in 2006, namely 'Archery Traditions of Asia', 'The Eight-year War of Resistance', 'Ancient Chinese Weapons', and 'Fujian Arsenal: Cradle of Modern Chinese Navy'. In addition, a symposium on 'Ancient Chinese Military History and the Thoughts of Sun Zi' was held in March in which over 80 academics and experts from the Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other countries took part. Diversified educational activities such as lectures, drills and field visits to military sites were held regularly. The museum attracted 161 900 visitors during the year.

Hong Kong Heritage Museum

'Leisure and Entertainment' was the theme of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum's programmes in 2006. A series of exhibitions were held, which included 'Enlightening Trivialities Ancient Chinese Pastimes' jointly presented with the National Museum of China; 'Hong Kong's Popular Entertainment' which traced the changes of Hong Kong's major leisure activities over the past 100 years; 'MEGartSTORE' which showcased some 300 artworks in a shopping mall environment with the participation of local artists, architects and designers; and 'The Fun of Collecting' which featured the unique collections of four local collectors.

A total of 1 214 educational and extension activities such as lectures, field trips, performances, workshops and competitions were organised during the year. Worthy of particular mention were two schemes entitled 'MuseKids' and 'MuseTeens'. The former, launched in 2003 for children from kindergarten to primary six levels, aims to provide the children with more opportunities to explore Hong Kong's history, art and culture. Some 6 800 children participated in the 'MuseKids' scheme. The other scheme, MuseTeens, is a new scheme introduced in mid-2006 for secondary school students. A series of training programmes was carried out under the 'MuseTeens' scheme which successfully stimulated an awareness of, and interest in, local heritage among its participants.

The museum's exhibition programmes, together with its educational and extension activities, attracted 514 300 visitors and participants.