ENG-2016 — Page 400

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Books Registration Office

The Books Registration Office registers local publications and monitors the use of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system. It publishes the Catalogue of Books Printed in Hong Kong in the Government Gazette every three months. The catalogue can also be viewed on the internet. In 2016, the office registered 14,475 books and 9,020 periodicals, and issued 965 publisher prefixes totalling 16,850 ISBNs.

Heritage

Cantonese Opera

The government is keen to preserve, promote and develop Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. The Ko Shan Theatre New Wing provides a 600-seat auditorium and ancillary facilities for performances, training and rehearsals. In 2016, more than 81,000 people attended about 200 performances at the auditorium.

The Academy for Performing Arts offers the city's first Cantonese opera degree course. The Arts Development Council provides funding to the Cantonese Opera Academy of Hong Kong to organise training programmes.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

The government enhances measures to safeguard intangible cultural heritage (ICH), including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, promotion and transmission of such heritage. Items that had higher cultural value and an urgent need for preservation were selected for the first representative list of ICH.

The ICH Office made use of the Sam Tung Uk Museum to set up the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre as a display and resource centre. The centre opened in June, attracting 102,770 visitors.

Lord Wilson Heritage Trust

This trust aims to preserve and conserve Hong Kong's human heritage by organising activities and providing funding support to heritage-related community activities and research. The trust approved 11 heritage-related projects in 2016, bringing the total to 207 since its establishment in 1992.

Conservation Office

The Conservation Office conducts conservation treatment on museum artefacts, including paintings, prints, historical documents, textiles, metals, ceramics, sculptures, organic objects and archaeological finds. It carries out 17 projects of scientific research and analyses as necessary. More than 430 artefacts were treated in 2016.

Riding on the success of the first Conservation Clinic in 2015, the office continued to provide consultation on the care of participants' treasures under Muse Fest HK 2016. It also held 76 educational workshops and behind-the-scenes laboratory tours. In total, the office received

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