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A spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (October 28) that all of the 168,000 admission tickets for the additional viewing sessions of the "Animated Version of the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" had sold out by 6.30pm today.
To cater for students and social welfare organisations, the LCSD has arranged 200,000 free tickets for group visits to be organised by schools and social welfare organisations during weekdays between Monday and Friday. As of today, a total of 1,740 applications requesting close to 200,000 tickets had been received from schools and social welfare organisations. The applicant organisations are being notified of the results.
Taking together the 600,000 tickets sold last week, the 168,000 tickets additional tickets sold out today and the near 200,000 tickets booked by schools and social welfare organisations so far, a total of 968,000 tickets for the 3-week exhibition have been taken up.
The spokesman thanked the public again for their enthusiastic support. He also thanked them for queuing up patiently and orderly at the counters despite the long waiting time, and expressed his regret to those who were unable to get tickets.
He said, "It is amazing that the 168,000 additional tickets were taken up by the public in just 8.5 hours, following the sale of some 600,000 tickets in six days last week. This reflects the overwhelming response of the public to the Animated Version of the Riverside Scene of Qingming Festival.
"For those who have secured tickets for viewing this masterpiece of modern computer animation technology fused with ancient Chinese art, they are reminded to visit the exhibition at the scheduled session as printed on the admission tickets," the spokesman said.
The LCSD will upload more information about the painting and the exhibition onto the website at hk.qingmingriverside.hk . The spokesman suggested that ticket holders visit the website to familiarise themselves with the content of the exhibition prior to their visit. He also urged them to obtain details of the transportation arrangements from the website, and allow ample time for travelling to the exhibition venue at the AsiaWorld-Expo.
In response to media enquiries on whether the opening hours of the exhibition will be further extended, the spokesman said, "The extension of opening hours involves a number of complex operational and logistical arrangements, including transport and venue management, etc. With the provision of the 48 additional viewing sessions, the exhibition will be open until 11pm daily and further extension of the opening hours will not be possible."
He added that the China Pavilion will re-open on December 1 and the exhibition cannot be held in two places at the same time. In addition, as the exhibition venue has been reserved by other organisations after the last day of the exhibition on November 29, the venue will not be available thereafter. Consequently, further extension of the exhibition period is not feasible.
The "River of Wisdom - Animated Version of the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" will bring to Hong Kong the spectacular exhibition shown at the China Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. Jointly presented by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and co-organised by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the LCSD, the exhibition will be held at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International Airport, from November 9 to 29. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust will be the exclusive sponsor of the exhibition.
For more details about the exhibition and transportation arrangements, please visit the website at qingmingriverside.hk . For enquiries, please call 1823.
Ends/Thursday, October 28, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:41
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