LCQ2: Enhancement of work of Chinese Culture Promotion Office
*************************************************************
Question:
In 2024, the Government established the Chinese Culture Promotion Office (CCPO), with the aim of promoting Chinese national culture on all fronts. However, there are views that while most of the events organised by the CCPO are focused on "longitudinal, quantitative promotion", as in the cases of mega exhibitions, performing arts events, and carnivals, they rarely touch on the "lateral connection" between literature, history and philosophy, but given that the soul of Chinese culture lies in "imparting morality through literature, drawing lessons from history, and engaging the world with philosophy", a lack of lateral accumulation of insights might turn cultural promotions into just superficial "photo check-in" activities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the specific strategies that the CCPO will adopt to change the current promotion model that emphasises mega events and quantitative indicators, such as by establishing a thematic mechanism for the "lateral connection between literature, history and philosophy", involving experts and civil academics in the decision-making processes for events organised by the CCPO, and aligning cultural wisdom with modern life practices, so as to avoid superficiality and "musealisation" in cultural promotion and further deepen the public's profound identification with Chinese national values?
Reply:
President,
Chinese culture is distinguished by its long history, vast scope and profound depth. Rooted in Chinese cultural traditions, particularly the Lingnan heritage, Hong Kong has also inherited a legacy of East-West cultural exchange. This unique blend has shaped a cultural development path with distinct Hong Kong characteristics, balancing inheritance, integration and innovation. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan highlights the importance of vigorously advancing the transmission and development of fine traditional Chinese culture. President Xi Jinping has also stressed that the essence of Chinese culture should be adapted to contemporary contexts and aligned with modern society so that it can be promoted in attractive and widely engaging ways. In this regard, in our work of promoting Chinese culture, the Government should uphold core principles while pursuing innovation, and present it in an accessible style that relates to daily life so as to enable its integration with the community and resonance with people.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) established the Chinese Culture Promotion Office (CCPO) in 2024. The CCPO has adopted this policy direction in discharging its duties of co-ordinating resources related to Chinese culture and history within the LCSD. Serving as a gateway for the public, especially young people, to explore Chinese culture, the CCPO aims to cultivate an interest in and deepen public understanding of Chinese culture through participation and experience, and strengthen national identity and cultural identity through participation and hands-on experience.
Since 2024, the CCPO has launched two signature projects, namely the General History of China Exhibition Series and the Chinese Culture Festival (CCF). Through exhibitions featuring cultural artefacts of different dynasties chronologically alongside supporting activities, the General History of China Exhibition Series presents the vertical development of Chinese history and culture in a structured way. The CCF, on the other hand, showcases the richness and contemporary vitality of Chinese culture laterally through a diversity of performing arts programmes, talks, educational programmes, and community events. These two signature projects are mutually reinforcing by incorporating local historical and cultural elements and fostering cultural interaction and exchanges between Hong Kong and different regions of the Chinese Mainland, offering the public a more comprehensive local perspective on Chinese culture.
An example is last year's exhibition "The Great Unity - Civilisation of the Qin and Han Dynasties in Shaanxi Province" under the General History of China Exhibition Series. Apart from the exhibition, it was complemented by such extension activities as public programmes, lectures and teacher's training sessions to give a multidimensional explanation of Qin and Han history and culture. In parallel with the exhibition, the CCF featured Xi'an as the city in focus to highlight the pivotal role played by the region around Xi'an in Qin and Han history. Related programmes included Xi'an drum music, Qinqiang opera, Cantonese opera "Zhou Yu Thrice Humiliated" and "The Battle at Changbanpo", talks on the "Three Kingdoms Opera", the "Three Kingdoms in Chinese Opera" Exhibition, and "Cantonese Opera Films: The Legend of Guan Gong". These programmes served to extend the history of the unified empire established during the Qin and Han dynasties to encompass related historical figures, literary narratives and operatic heritage. The public libraries also organised lectures on Qin and Han history and culture, and parent-child storytelling theatres. In addition, the CCPO invited scholars from the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong to deliver academic talks, and organised a study tour for teachers to cultural institutions and heritage sites in Shaanxi Province to facilitate the teaching of Chinese history and culture in depth. All these served to present the profound essence of Chinese culture by weaving together Chinese literature, history and philosophy. The previous two editions of the CCF recorded a total attendance of over 1.8 million. Around 85 per cent of the participants agreed that the CCF had enhanced their understanding of and interest in Chinese culture, showing remarkable results.
To enable sustained learning of Chinese culture among the public, the CCPO has set up a dedicated website and social media platforms to pool together online resources relating to Chinese culture from various museums, along with accessible short videos covering Chinese literature, history, philosophy, music, art, folklore and intangible cultural heritage, etc. The videos introduced, for example, Tang poetry, classical Chinese texts and ancient thinkers in an "edutainment" format with a view to transforming traditional cultural content into learning resources that are easier for the public to comprehend and absorb. To date, the short videos have nearly 800 000 cumulative views, providing a sustained learning resource for both the public and schools. To deepen public understanding of the Lingnan culture, the CCPO conducts on-campus lectures and workshops using resources from local and Guangzhou museums, and integrates the Lingnan music activities into school music lessons. Additionally, the "Chinese Culture in Hong Kong Gardens" series guides the public through the Lingnan Garden within Lai Chi Kok Park, offering an immersive experience of Qing-era Lingnan architecture and landscape design.
The CCPO has absolutely gone beyond organising mega exhibitions, performing arts events, and carnivals, and developed layered cultural learning pathways through carriers of culture in diverse formats. Indeed, these works are echoing President Xi Jinping's call for an effort to bring back to life artefacts in museums, visible heritage across the land, and words in ancient books in order to transform the static preservation of Chinese culture into its living transmission in daily life. The LCSD will continue to expand its programme portfolio and strategies, and incorporate a more extensive range of themes and contemporary elements so as to enable the public to experience the enduring vitality of Chinese culture and therefore further strengthen their sense of national identity and cultural confidence.
Ends/Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:59
Issued at HKT 12:59
NNNN