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Following is a question by the Hon Mrs Regina Ip and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
Since 1997, the Central Government, various provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Mainland have presented a number of reunification and anniversary gifts with native characteristics to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current maintenance condition of such gifts and whether they are separately or centrally kept;
(b) of the storage place, the degree of damage and whether it is publicly displayed at present, in respect of each gift; and
(c) given that the Government plans to develop a cultural institution with museum functions entitled M+ in the West Kowloon Cultural District, whether it will consider handing over all the aforesaid gifts to M+ for management, and setting up an exhibition gallery for commemorating Hong Kong's reunification with China to centrally display such gifts for public appreciation; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) & (b) The reunification and anniversary gifts presented by the Central Government, various provinces, cities, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Mainland to the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are in good condition. Most of them are displayed at various venues in Hong Kong for public viewing.
In respect of each gift, the storage place, the current condition and whether it is publicly displayed is shown in the Appendix.
(c) In accordance with the Recommendation Report of the Consultative Committee on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), the proposed museum in the WKCD will focus on 20th - 21st century visual culture. Moving image, popular culture, design as well as visual art (including ink art) have been proposed as the four initial broad groupings. The Museum Committee of the Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (the WKCD Authority) is responsible for taking forward the development of the proposed museum in the WKCD. The Committee will examine in detail the museum collection strategy and contents of museum collection. In addition, the WKCD Authority will gauge the community's aspirations and expectations on the WKCD as a whole and the design and user requirements of the arts and cultural facilities (including the museum) through a public engagement exercise. The target of stage 1 public engagement exercise will include stakeholders in the arts and cultural sector as well as members of the public. The WKCD Authority will have due regard to the views from different parties in formulating its museum collection strategy.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:29
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