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公眾議題 • Public Issues g. on K g on f H o ity rs ve ni U se ne hi C e Th s, rt A e in f F t o en tm ar ep D 8 01 2 ht ig yr op C 316 West Kowloon Cultural District g. on K g on f H o ity rs ve ni U se ne hi West Kowloon Cultural District C e h On December 22, 2016, then Chief Secretary for Administration, Carrie Lam, told the press at the Hong Kong International T Airport before her trip to Beijing that “there will be a collaborative cultural project between Hong Kong SAR Government and , Palace Museum, Beijing.” ts be built in West Kowloon Cultural District. It will be operated and managed by West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA/ r Authority). A exhibition planning expenses will be supported by a donation of HK$3.5 billion from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities T e The majority of Hong Kong2 people only learnt about HKPM project as it was announced. In the society there was mixed opinions HKPM will display artifacts from the imperial collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. n on the fact that the collaboration decision had been made in the absence of public consultation. Controversy was thus stirred up in i 1 f F the Legislative Council, the political circle, among arts Then, practitioners, on the following and the day, public. she announced in Beijing that “Hong Kong Palace Museum” (HKPM) would o On June 29, 2017, a Collaborative Agreement was signed by the WKCDA and the Palace Museum, Beijing on the development of the HKPM, nt Information: 3 e scheduled to complete in 2022. • Local newspapers. tm • Press release of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. ar • West Kowloon Cultural District Authority website https://www.westkowloon.hk/. ep January, 2017 D • January 1 18 Chiu Kwong-chiu, Director of “Division of Cultural Research and Development of the Forbidden City” and the Deputy Director 0 of “China Research Institute for Culture and Design, China Academy of Art,” was interviewed by Ming Pao. On the controversy 2 trigged by the collaboration announcement made by the end of 2016, Chiu said that “it has a good side as there had never been so t much attention on culture. As far as I understand, the new Director of the Palace Museum is an aggressive person. In the past there Compiled by: Joanna Lee h had been very tight censorship and (artifact loan application) procedure was complicated. It is much simpler now. (The collection) ig could be more frequently exhibited in Hong Kong.” Chiu also said that “Palace Museum is just a name. Its essence is being a yr museum. I think there exists a higher level on which we can look into what we have got.” op C _____________________________ Design, construction and 1 “Speech made by the Chief Secretary for Administration to the press at the Hong Kong International Airport,” HKSAR Government p release, December 22, 2016. http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201612/22/P2016122200382.htm. 2 See WKCDA website: https://www 3 • The Collaborative Agreement 4 Press coverage, rust. Ming Pao P04-P05, January 1, 2017. (in Chinese): https://www.westkowloon.hk/tc/hkpmcollaborativeagreement. .westkowloon.hk/en/the-district/architecture-facilities/hong-kong-palace-museum. 4 ress 316 317 公眾議題 • Public Issues • January 4 . Vivienne Chow wrote in South China Morning Post5 that “those who support the project accuse detractors of failing to understand ng the cultural and historical significance of the Palace Museum...The problem here…is about how the deal was reached…The West o Kowloon Cultural District Ordinance states that the Authority should consult the public on matters concerning the development or K operation of the facilities.” The deal to build the HKPM with HK$3.5 billion of funding from the Jockey Club, and the appointmentng of architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee to build it, had been reached in the absence of public consultation. Chow also reported thato “even Ada Wong, a consultative panel member, said that she had only found out about the plan on the day it was announced tof theH press.” • January 5 o y t 6 Oscar Ho from the Department of Cultural and Religious Study, Chinese University of Hong Kong, wrote in Thes iStand News that “the harsh criticism from Michael Lynch, ex-CEO, on the imposition of PMHK in WKCD, expresses his stronge reactionr to the indiscreet disrespect to professionalism.” Ho described WKCD’s explanation on the incident “reduces all requirements,iv especially those related to cultural development, to the bare minimum of legally compatible.” He believed that “Hong Kongn people are cultured enough to U choose their perspective and are open-minded enough to embrace different points of view. eOpenness and plurality are what make Hong Kong likeable. The incident has become messy because it shows how our opennesse sand plurality are being impacted. Such a hasty decision is a result of the speculation of the possible embarrassment Beijing mightin face, and the misconception of equating opposite opinions in Hong Kong to resistance or hatred.” h C 7 Mathius Woo, Associate Creative Director of “Zuni Icosahedron,” wrote ine Ming Pao on the same day. He said that ten years ago, he had already “raised the need to build a Palace Museum in WKCD,” becauseh “there should be a society-facing, integrated cultural 8 T and art museum in every metropolitan.” In South China Morning Posts,, Bernard Chan wrote that he admitted the announcement had been sudden, being a member of WKCDA himself. “Yet, if we hadrt discussed this plan at LegCo, the process would have taken years. WKCD would take another fifteen years to complete evenA without PMHK, a project which might have been used (at LegCo) as a political weapon to insult Beijing.” He didn’t think anyonee would seriously refuse the Palace Museum collection (to be shown in Hong Kong). n Fi 9 However, also according to South China Morningof Post, Tanya Chan, LegCo member, called the six-week public consultation promised by Carrie Lam “fake”: “The realt question to ask is whether there should be PMHK in WKCD.” Oscar Ho urged the government to explain the reason fore buildingn HKPM in WKCD and for Rocco Yim to be appointed as chief architect. Indy Lee, representative of arts interests (drama)tm of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, was apprehensive that participation in the public consultation would be mistakenar as implied consent to the PMHK project. ep D 18 _____________________________20 5 Viviennet Chow. “Broken trust,” South China Morning Post, January 4, 2017. 6 Anh article by Ho Hing-kay Oscar in The Stand News, January 5, 2017. www.thestandnews.com/culture/ 原本是件美好事情 /。 ig yr7 An article by Mathius Woo in Ming Pao D04, January 5, 2017. p 8 Bernard Chan. “No reason to reject Palace Museum gems,” South China Morning Post, January 5, 2017. o 9 “Carrie Lam offers to consult public on museum project,” South China Morning Post, January 5, 2017. C 318 West Kowloon Cultural District • January 6 . The Stand News reported that in a special meeting of LegCo House Committee, Carrie Lam described her presence at the g 10 n meeting as “a responsible behavior.” She stressed that the incident did not violate any procedural justice, and said, “I don’t o see any reason why I should apologize for the outcome.” K g • January 9 on Tanya Chan told Apple Daily that she found (the Agreement) a violation of the existing procedures for the sake of followingf H the leader’s will. Chan “will not rule out the possibility of setting up a special committee, according to the Legislative Councilo (Powers and 11 Privileges) Ordinance, to investigate the incident.” “The Professional Commons” and “Hong Kong Cultural Monitor”ty co-organized a seminar on this day, during which Albert Lai, convenor of The Professional Commons, criticized the Governmenti as “avoiding rs public consultation, overriding WKCDA and appointing the architect.” ve 12 i Ada Wong told South China Morning Post that “the project itself was not a bad thing, but the Governmentn should explain how the decision had been made, and the procedures to follow.” She said that the six-week consultation U period was too short and was not optimistic about it. The Post contacted Kan Tai-keung, member of WKCDA, about sthee sudden postponement of the public consultation.13 Kan said that he could sympathize with the expectation for a public consultation,ne “yet this time around it is different. Public consultation is impossible.” hi C • January 10 e 14 h The Stand News reported that Rocco Yim, in a public consultation briefing T session, described his appointment “a usual practice and is ‘relatively effective and objective’ for this project.” Yim stressedt thats, he had been “open, candid, and at ease.” A piece of commentary in hk01 suggested that with the piecer of land intended for large-scale performance venue in WKCD A repurposed for HKPM, can one regard the installation eof a “political and cultural landmark” such as HKPM WKCD a political consideration?” The article also pointed out that ithen Communist Party of China would have regarded museums as political manifestation and totems of solidarity. Yet in theF U.S. people did not call the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument 15 f “museums.” t o en m rt _____________________________pa 10 Press coverage, The Stande News, January 6, 2017. www.thestandnews.com/politics/ 直播 – 到立法會為 – 香港故宮 – 解畫 – 林鄭 – 下周諮 詢非補鑊 – 早計劃 D/. 11 Press coverage,18 Apple Daily A02, January 9, 2017.