Hong Kong, Pearl of the Orient, is home to an amazing skyline and numerous scenic tourist attractions. Moreover, it is a place where architecture, art, history and a wide range of cultures meet and blend. The city shines and sizzles with its own merits and colors.
Cultural centers can play a vital role in promoting Hong Kong’s culture and heritage to the outside world. By showcasing the city’s artistic, historical and cultural offerings, cultural centers not only attract tourists and visitors from all over the globe, but also foster a greater appreciation of the city’s history and key characteristics. This is a message that resonates in a world where many prominent cities are vying with each other for people and talent.
A cultural center can provide a platform for local artists and creators to manifest their talent and work. By doing so, they can promote the arts and culture scenes in Hong Kong as well as create opportunities for local artists (including foreign artists who are working in Hong Kong) to gain exposure and recognition on a global scale.
Cultural centers can also serve as a hub for cultural exchange and collaboration, offering city spaces where people from different cultures and backgrounds can share their ideas, perspectives and experiences. This can foster greater understanding and appreciation between cultures and promote Hong Kong as a welcoming and inclusive city, merging the contributions of different nationalities and all walks of life.
There are several key cultural centers in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), established in 1962, was the first public art museum in the city, and is now custodian of an art collection of over 18,800 items, representing the unique cultural legacy of Hong Kong connections across the globe. By curating a wide world of contrasts, from ancient to modern, Chinese to Western, local to international, with a Hong Kong viewpoint, HKMoA aspires to refreshing ways of looking at tradition and making art relevant to everyone.
All in all, cultural centers can boost Hong Kong’s image as a highly civilized, open and exhilarating international city, and hence Hong Kong has great potential to upgrade its status as a meeting point fusing East and West, in all aspects, especially culture, dazzling people with its vibrant energy
The Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) is a private enterprise which since 1977 has been a platform for nurturing and supporting artists and infusing art into everyday life. Its unique arts and educational programs aim to make the arts accessible to all. HKAC believes in the transformational power of art for people from all walks of life. It brings art to the people of Hong Kong and abroad, by presenting programs for visual arts, performing arts moving images and media arts, comics and animation.
Another private cultural center is the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) in The Mills, Tsuen Wan. Through its multifaceted curated programs, which include exhibitions and co-learning programs, CHAT aims to be an art center that weaves creative experiences for all. It is currently staging an exhibition celebrating the life of Hong Kong actress and singer Rebecca Pan Di-hua. With the Sun, She Quells the Night — A Tribute to Rebecca Pan features video clips, images and photos, as well as old costumes worn by the cultural pioneer, whose career spanned music, films and art.
Hong Kong can learn from several important cultural centers in other countries. Musee d’Orsay, which opened in 1986, is a museum located on the Left Bank of the Seine, in Paris. It mainly holds French art, from 1848 to 1914, including sculptures, furniture and photographs. It houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces, such as those by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. In 2022, it attracted 3.2 million visitors. In Britian, a red-brick property in Liverpool where former Beatle Paul McCartney grew up is now owned by the National Trust heritage body, as is fellow Beatle John Lennon’s childhood home in the same city. Both houses are visited by many of the band’s fans from all over the world. Beatles-related tourism is estimated to be worth about 120 million pounds ($152.5 million) per year and supports some 2,500 jobs.
All in all, cultural centers can boost Hong Kong’s image as a highly civilized, open and exhilarating international city, and hence Hong Kong has great potential to upgrade its status as a meeting point fusing East and West, in all aspects, especially culture, dazzling people with its vibrant energy.
The author was the former head of financial management (general manager) of Bank of China (Hong Kong), director and deputy general manager of Nanyang Commercial Bank and an alternate director of Shanghai Commercial Bank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.