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The curtain comes down on Expo 2010 Shanghai China (Shanghai Expo) today (October 31) - and with it the end of Hong Kong's biggest, longest and most varied external publicity and promotional campaign for a single event.
The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, will join State Leaders and VIPs from around the world at the mega event's closing ceremony in Shanghai this evening.
Meanwhile, visitors will get their final look at Hong Kong's two exhibitions at the Expo Park before they close their doors for the last time at 10.30pm tonight.
The Hong Kong Pavilion, themed "Hong Kong - Potential Unlimited", and Hong Kong's Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) Exhibition, themed "Smart Card. Smart City. Smart Life", have welcomed over 3.3 million visitors during the six-month period from May 1 to October 31.
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, who headed Hong Kong's Expo participation, said Shanghai Expo was the largest, most comprehensive and longest running promotional effort yet undertaken by Hong Kong at an international event.
"Many of Hong Kong's top artists, entertainers, entrepreneurs, business people, and senior Government officials contributed enthusiastically to this superb team effort. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all individuals and organisations involved in the planning and execution of Hong Kong's participation in Shanghai Expo for a great job done," said Mr Tang.
"This sustained and high-quality effort not only helped to raise Hong Kong's profile in Shanghai and across the world but also helped to cement and deepen our strong links with many cities and communities."
"I must also thank the outstanding leadership, strong support and excellent co-ordination from the Shanghai Government, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Co-ordination, and other Shanghai parties concerned to allow us to have a most successful presence in Shanghai Expo."
"With meticulous planning and sheer hard work, Hong Kong enthusiastically embraced this opportunity and played a full and meaningful role in this mega event."
By the close of Expo, more than 2 million people had been welcomed to the Hong Kong Pavilion and over 1.3 million people to Hong Kong's UBPA exhibition.
Over the six-month Expo period, Hong Kong staged a feast of 69 events inside and outside the Expo Park covering key areas such as green living, tourism, branding, film, fashion, design, smart card technology and creative industries such as photography, comics and animation, and art.
During Hong Kong Week, from October 18 to 22, about 200,000 Expo visitors enjoyed the performances, the daily parade and other activities staged by 12 Hong Kong organisations inside the Expo Park.
Each month the Hong Kong Pavilion's Atrium Space hosted different exhibitions to provide visitors with an even richer understanding of life in Hong Kong.
These were "Green Living in Hong Kong"; "Hong Kong International Airport: Global Connectivity. World-class Service"; "One Country, Two Systems"; "Stories Behind Banknotes"; "Passion for Hong Kong: Exhibition of Works by Professor Jao Tsung-i"; and "Creativity of Hong Kong Industries".
A total of 6,000 students and teachers took part in exchange programmes to Shanghai to enhance national education and visit the Shanghai Expo to learn more about the world through the Expo platform.
Outside the Expo Park, Hong Kong provided an impressive line-up of events to satisfy every taste.
These included the "Festive Hong Kong Celebration" by the Hong Kong Tourism Board; a six-month "Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies" exhibition by the Hong Kong Design Centre; the "Hong Kong. City" photo exhibition by the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers; the "Hong Kong Comics and Animation Carnival" by the Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation; the "Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Showcases" by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited; the "Style Hong Kong" exhibition by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council; the "Fashion VisionariesˇEHong Kong" fashion show and exhibition by the Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association; the "Hong Kong Films Retrospective 2010" by the Hong Kong Film Development Council; the "Hong Kong - Shanghai Mobile Film Exchange Forum" by the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association; and Hong Kong's UBPA Exhibition Thematic Seminar and Exchange Programme "Hong Kong Smart City+" by GS1 Hong Kong and Hong Kong Public Key Infrastructure Forum Limited.
Two high level forums on legal and financial services were well received ˇV "Hong Kong Legal Services: Global Vision" and "Stronger Links, Stronger Markets: Hong Kong, the Mainland and the World" ˇV as were six other seminars on "Green Technologies, Planning and Opportunities", "Green Transport in Hong Kong, Asia's world city", "Chinese Creative Industries Forum", "Expansion through Business Presence in Hong Kong - Seminar on Innovation and Technology", "Creative Hong KongˇD Branding China" Seminar, and "Expansion through Business Presence in Hong Kong ˇV Seminar on Creative Industries".
A kaleidoscope of cultural events and performances featuring Hong Kong's finest artists wowed visitors from start to finish during Shanghai Expo.
During Shanghai Expo, Hong Kong organised a total of 34 cultural and performing arts programmes involving 100 performances.
The varied programme covered a diversity of disciplines including Cantonese opera, Chinese music, jazz, experimental theatre, drama, Canto-pop, modern dance, ballet and classical music.
The Hong Kong productions generally played to packed houses and to critical acclaim ˇV a tribute not just to Hong Kong's performing arts sector but also to the strong links between Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Back in Hong Kong, eight large-scale and 20 medium to small-scale roving exhibitions informing people about Hong Kong's Expo presence were held. They were all well received, with the large-scale exhibitions attracting more than 220,000 visitors.
Netizens were also able to experience Hong Kong's Expo efforts in the Expo Shanghai Online project. Hong Kong's Online Pavilion and virtual Hong Kong's UBPA Exhibition provided cyber visitors with a virtual but very realistic experience of the exhibitions.
Besides Hong Kong's own content-rich Expo website (www.hkexpo2010.gov.hk), other social media tools were also used to further the publicity drive.
A dedicated Youtube channel was created, while popular online platforms in the Mainland such as Douban and Youku were used extensively to engage netizens.
The youth. gov portal managed by the Efficiency Unit established a "Shanghai Wall Post" site and opened a Facebook page to encourage young people to get into the Expo spirit. It attracted more than 2,000 users to join as well as more than 1,000 photo postings.
Hong Kong's internet-based Expo outreach was the largest and most sustained project by the Information Services Department to date. The website had hosted about 80 videos and 300 news reports ˇV nearly all produced by the Expo publicity team ˇV and had received some 63 million hits.
The sponsorship drive for the HKSAR's participation in Shanghai Expo was also well subscribed, attracting more then $45 million in cash and in kind contributions from 43 sponsors.
A TV special on Hong Kong Week and Hong Kong's Expo participation is available on Radio Television Hong Kong's website, www.rthk.org.hk/special/ShanghaiExpo2010/hkweek_opening.htm
For more details on Hong Kong's participation in Shanghai Expo, please visit www.hkexpo2010.gov.hk .
Ends/Sunday, October 31, 2010
Issued at HKT 13:54
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