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An exhibition highlighting one of Hong Kong's recent achievements in creative production was launched in Yokohama City, Japan, today (October 23).
The exhibition, "Creative Hong Kong in Yokohama", features the comics and Chinese paintings of Lee Chi-ching, whose magnificent comic series "Sun Zi's Tactics" won the Grand Prize of the first International Manga Award organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan last year.
Lee is also creator of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the first set of Hong Kong comics published in Japan.
The exhibition, organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Tokyo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government as part of the "Yokohama Asian Wave 2008" event, will be held at the Yokohama Communications and Media Centre until next Tuesday (October 28).
Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative (Tokyo), Mrs Jennie Chok, said Hong Kong was immensely proud of Lee's achievements in the field of comics creation.
Pointing out that the second International Manga Award was also won by a Hong Kong artist Lau Wan-kit, she said this demonstrated that Hong Kong comic talent had attained international standard and was recognised in the global arena.
To promote the creative industry in Hong Kong, Mrs Chok said the Government had embarked on a number of initiatives not only to support the comics and digital entertainment sector, but also to nurture talent development.
Paying tribute to the Yokohama city government for its support in organising the event, Mrs Chok said that comics were a powerful medium for promoting cultural exchange and understanding between readers from different nations. She hoped there would be many more opportunities for future collaboration between Hong Kong and Yokohama in the promotion of cultural, economic and trade exchanges.
The paintings on display include the best of Lee's popular comics as well as Chinese paintings of scenes from martial arts novels by famous writer Jin Rong.
Also attending the opening ceremony today were the Senior Executive Director of Yokohama Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mr Yu Yokoyama; the Executive Director of Yokohama Economic and Tourism Bureau, Mr Hideo Yoshikubo; Mr Lee Chi-ching the artist, and about 70 guests.
Ends/Thursday, October 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:30
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