HONG KONG – The director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, Xia Baolong, has expressed his hope that Hong Kong's tourism industry will reach new heights on the path to continuous innovation.
Xia fully recognized the work of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the special administrative region when Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung met him in Beijing and introduced the latest work of the bureau on Thursday.
A day into arriving in Beijing for a three-day visit, Yeung on Friday attended a plaque unveiling ceremony for the Palace Museum Hong Kong Cultural Exchange Hub and witnessed the signing of the memorandum of cooperation on the promotion of Chinese culture and arts tech talent development in the mainland and Hong Kong at the Palace Museum in Beijing.
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With the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Palace Museum and the HKJC will jointly carry out the promotion of Chinese culture and arts tech talent development in the mainland for five years, the government said in a statement.
The collaboration involves the establishment of a Hong Kong cultural exchange hub in the Forbidden City to facilitate exchanges between Hong Kong and Chinese-mainland cultural professionals.
On Friday, the Jockey Club and a club-managed charitable organization — the Institute of Philanthropy — signed a memorandum of co-operation with the Palace Museum in Beijing, kicking off the project
Under the agreement, the institute will donate HK$440 million ($56.3 million) to the project.
The cultural exchange hub will oversee artifact reservation, exhibitions and cultural exchanges between art technology professionals from Hong Kong and the mainland.
Participants in the project will also host more exhibitions, pop-up activities and education events in Beijing and Hong Kong to foster cultural exchange between the two places.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Palace Museum Director Wang Xudong said that the cooperation is an important contribution to developing Hong Kong as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange as outlined in the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).
HKJC Chairman Michael Lee said the cooperation will bring people, especially the young generation, in the two places to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese history and culture.
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The same day, Yeung also met with Gao Zheng, director general of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and director of the National Museum of China to exchange views and explore cooperation direction on cultural and tourism development.
Pointing out that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has long been supportive of the work of the SAR government, Yeung said: “It gives policy support in cultural and tourism development and provides appropriate assistance in program implementation.”
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Hong Kong is positioned as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange under the National 14th Five-Year Plan. The CSTB has been integrating into the national development based on the principle of "shaping tourism with cultural activities and promoting culture through tourism", to develop the HKSAR into an international tourism hub and a core demonstration zone for multi-destination tourism.
