ENG-2006 — Page 467

Recreation, Sport and the Arts 395

Books' and a bookmark design competition, called 'Into the World of Stories' for students.

A number of special programmes and competitions were held, aimed at promoting creative writing and appreciation and development of the literary arts. The 6th Hong Kong Literature Festival was held in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. In addition, the Awards for Creative Writing in Chinese in 2006 was held in collaboration with the HKADC to encourage creative writing in Chinese and to help budding writers to develop. Other major competitions included the Chinese Poetry Writing Competition and the Competition on Story Writing in Chinese for Students. The Book Donation and Sale Campaign was again held in February to promote reading and to reuse old books.

Cultural Exchange

Efforts to strengthen cultural links and cooperation with public

libraries outside Hong Kong continued during the year. Hong Kong's public libraries, the Sun Yat-Sen Library of Guangdong Province, the Shenzhen Library and the Macao Central Library used hyperlinks to share library news and events with each other.

Books Registration Office

The Books Registration Office helps to preserve Hong Kong's literary heritage through the registration of local publications and monitors the use of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system. It publishes 'A Catalogue of Books Printed in Hong Kong' in the Government Gazette on a quarterly basis, which can be accessed through the Internet. In 2006, the office registered a total of 14 842 books and 13 924 periodicals, and 717 new publisher prefixes conforming to the ISBN.

Sport and Recreation

A growing number of Hong Kong people enjoy a varied selection of sports and recreational facilities and activities. The LCSD develops and manages facilities such as sports grounds, playgrounds, sports centres, holiday camps, water sports centres, swimming pools and beaches. It also organises training courses, sporting competitions and other activities for people of all ages and abilities, and encourages passive recreation by providing parks and landscaped open spaces for such recreation to take place.

In addition, the department administers subventions provided to 25 camps run by 12 non-governmental organisations. Some 820 000 people participated in activities organised by these camps during the year.

The department is also the authority responsible for issuing and renewing licences for places of amusement. During the year, the department processed 77 applications for billiard halls, eight for public bowling alleys and six for skating rinks.