ENG-2018 — Page 395

20

Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

large-scale programmes included the 'Reading KOL' Short Video Competition and a Pop-up Library series held outside library venues to extend the pleasure of reading to the public. As a tie-in, the 4.23 World Book Day Creative Competition adopted the theme 'My Library!

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 2018, the office registered 12,880 books and 7,407 periodicals, and issued 940 publisher prefixes totalling 20,020 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. Its Cantonese Opera Education and Information Centre provides digitised and interactive Cantonese opera resources.

The Academy for Performing Arts offers the city's first Cantonese opera degree course. The Arts Development Council funds training programmes conducted by the Cantonese Opera Academy of Hong Kong.

Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Intangible Cultural Heritage Office organised activities during the year to enhance public knowledge of the items listed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong. The office is set to implement a funding scheme to engage the community in safeguarding and promoting intangible cultural heritage.

The government's Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre is a display and resource centre set up at Sam Tung Uk Museum in Tsuen Wan. It attracted 111,265 visitors in 2018.

Lord Wilson Heritage Trust

This trust aims to preserve and conserve Hong Kong's human heritage by organising activities and funding community organisations and individuals to implement heritage-related projects. It approved six heritage-related projects in 2018.

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The Conservation Office conducts conservation treatment on museum artefacts, including paintings, prints, historical documents, textiles, metals, ceramics, sculptures, organic objects and archaeological finds. Scientific research and analyses were carried out to complement the conservation work for 283 artefacts in 2018.

A conservation virtual reality game was launched at Muse Fest HK, attracting 1,635 participants to experience the fun of being conservators as they navigated the museum gallery to complete exigent conservation missions. The office also held 50 educational workshops and behind-the-

321