Exploring Hong Kong: Cultural Festival 2023

Our Vision 
The festival aims to develop an ultimate lifelong learning experience for the CityU community, to build a sense of belonging and enrich their knowledge by exploring the local cultures of six districts (North Point, Wan Chai, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Sha Tin, and Yuen Long) in Hong Kong.

Our Missions
1. To encourage the audience's understanding and involvement of the cultures of Hong Kong and creative pursuits through interactive platforms.
2. To provide academic knowledge and learning experience for the audience through our in-depth research.

Our Programme 
Our cultural festival " Exploring Hong Kong: Cultural Festival 2023" will be held from April 4th to April 14th, 2023. The exhibitions in the cultural festival will focus on Hong Kong's historic buildings and explore the culture of various districts in Hong Kong. In terms of offline event, in addition to workshops and lecture. This experience will allow the participants to deepen their understanding of Hong Kong's cultural heritage, the feature and traditional culture of various districts.

Our Website
Please click HERE


Details of the Exhibition 

Our exhibition which will be held in the University Concourse - Blue zone, 4/F, Yeung Kin Man Building, consists of 6 topics:

•    North Point and Shau Kei Wan: “Little Shanghai” and the “Boat Dwellers”
•    Exploring the past and present of Chinese community in Wan Chai through historical building and traditional custom 
•    The Ten-Year Diary: Garment and their Family
•    Kowloon City Assemble 
•    Sha Tin's Diversified Features: Life, Customs and Festivals 
•    Yuen Long District History and Culture: Rituals, Walled Villages and Food

Details of the Workshops and Guest Talk 
*Workshops will be held in the University Concourse - Blue zone, 4/F, Yeung Kin Man Building

Ordinary but Splendid: Adding Vibrant Colour to the life in Mei Ho House

Date 4/4/2023 - 14/4/2023
Time 17:30-19:30 (4 April)
11:00-17:30 (6, 12-14 April)
13:00-17:30 (11 April)
Introduction The story of Aa4 Zan1 啊珍 (Jane) is not an isolated case, but reflects a typical pattern of life in the early resettlement estates (徙置大廈) since the 1950s. In the 2000s, public housing quality reforms led to the demolition and replacement of these estates. Mei Ho House, the only remaining "Mark I" building and being kept as a 'container of memories', is in a way to continue to interpret the countless stories that happened in resettlement estates during the early days.

We would like to invite our audience to share their own interpretation through paintbrush after exploring our exhibition. They are encouraged to do the colour mixing, and to put a stroke on our Mei Ho House 3D model.

DIY Fabric Bookmark Workshop

Date 4/4/2023
Time 17:30-19:30
Introduction “When a bookmark tumbles out of an old book pristine and unwrinkled, it is like a gasp of breath from another century.”———Don Borchert (2007)

Books and exhibitions are both storytellers which reveal and pass on meanings. Jane’s story runs throughout our exhibition, which will emphasise that even though ways of living like hers no longer exist, they should never be forgotten. In our workshop, participants can create their own bookmarks by adding personal touches to fabric. So they can experience how fabrics are processed, along with reminiscing about their experience in our exhibition whenever they use the bookmark.

Sha Tin Indigo Dying Experience: the Color within Historical Memory

Date 6/4/2023
Time 12:00-13:15
Introduction Wong Uk Village was filled with a kind of plant that the villagers called "the blue tree" 300 years ago. Actually, it was also known as "Strobilanthes Asia". Villagers used it to dye indigo, but this craft gradually faded away. As a result of this workshop, the participants will be able to experience the interest of indigo dyeing, as well as better understand the history of Sha Tin and its livelihood.

Fotomo Workshop "Capture the Sha Tin Community Miniature"

Date 6/4/2023
Time 13:30-15:00
Introduction The workshop will introduce the techniques of making FOTOMO. Participants will make their own Sha Tin building FOTOMO. The making process will help them gain a deeper understanding of Sha Tin and recreate the past.

Mini flower board and traditional custom in Wan Chai

Date 11/4/2023
Time 12:00-14:00
Introduction An experienced traditional flower board master - Mr. Choi Wing Kei is invited to share the history and evolution of flower boards, operation and challenges faced by the flower board industry, and jointly explore the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and customs of the Chinese community. The flower board master will present a sharing session while participants customize mini flower boards.

Tong Lau: Memory of Old Hong Kong in Wan Chai

Date 11/4/2023
Time 15:00-17:00
Introduction This workshop will offer a short lecture to introduce Tong Lau's history, architectural style and current conservation practices in Wan Chai. With Blue House as an example, participants will gain an understanding of the past living conditions of Chinese in Wan Chai. Participants will refer to old Chinese household items and architectural elements of Tong Lau to customize bag pins/keyrings in “old Hong Kong style”.

Guest Talk: The Stories of the Boat People in Shau Kei Wan: Life in Stilt Hut and Boat Squatters

Date 11/4/2023
Time 13:30-14:50
Introduction

Tutored by Mr. Mok Chi Wing from Kaifong Tour, who is familiar with Shau Kei Wan and has witnessed the community's changes. The oral history of the dwellers in Shau Kei Wan would be introduced by Mr. Mok. Interactive approaches with participants would be used to explain the life of the boat people as well as residents on land at that time.

* Venue: Yeung Kin Man Academic Building Y5 - 302

Create Your Own Yuen Long Street Sign

Date 12/4/2023
Time Section I : 12:00 - 15:00
Section II : 16:00 - 18:00
Introduction Let's create a street sign! The aims of this activity is to encourage participants to be creative and to observe the surroundings of Hong Kong by designing a street sign that is related or reflected Yuen Long District. After the participants created their colorful street signs, they are invited to bring their signs everywhere and join the "Check-In Activity" by mentioning the festival's social media account on Facebook or Instagram.

Yuen Long Features Hide and Seek

Date 12/4/2023
Time 12:00-15:00
Introduction This activity aims to let visitors consolidate the knowledge they learnt from our exhibition boards. Our matching questions will be related to the features of festivals and food in Yuen Long District. Including Shap Pat Heung, Ping Shan and San Tin. It is important for visitors to read our boards carefully and capture the main features we include on it.

Smart Matching of Weitou Dialect

Date 12/4/2023
Time 16:00-18:00
Introduction Considering the Weitou dialect is one of the dialects common to walled villages, this activity is meant to introduce visitors to the dialect. First, we will prepare some Weitou dialect question cards and translate them into Cantonese and English. Our next step is to stick the cards on a whiteboard. Visitors can guess the meaning and match them in the correct order to get gifts.

“Connecting Kowloon City”: DIY Thai Bead Bracelets

Date 13/4/2023
Time Section I : 10:00 - 11:00
Section II : 16:00 - 17:00
Introduction The aim of this workshop is to use beaded bracelets to stimulate participants’ interest in Thai culture. Participants will use semi-finished bracelets to string beads of different shapes and sizes, and they can take away the bracelets as souvenirs. The participants will learn more about the living culture of Thai people after participating in this workshop and will gain a deeper understanding of the community of Kowloon City through entertainment.

Kowloon City tear paper art workshop

Date 13/4/2023
Time 12:00-14:00
Introduction Mr. Lee Sing Man, a paper-tearing artist from Hong Kong, is invited to share his experience of paper-tearing art with the participants. The art of tearing paper is similar to the art of paper cutting, which involves folding the paper in half, and tearing out the shape and pattern of the paper. This workshop teaches participants some simple tear-off paper skills, or participants can propose fonts or patterns that they want to learn. In addition, Uncle Man will teach in real-time so participants can experience the art first hand.

Embroideries Guided Tour

Date 14/4/2023
Time Section I : 12:00-12:10
Section II : 12:20-12:30
Section III : 12:40-12:50
Introduction By participating in this workshop, participants will be able to interact with the cloth sample and embroidery slippers. Aside from observing the technique of embroidery slippers, student helpers will introduce the design of embroidery slippers and the inspiration behind them. Last but not least, the changing nature of the industry from King’s Slippers Company's point of view will also be mentioned in the workshop.

Cup Sleeve Holder Making Workshop

Date 14/4/2023
Time 15:00-16:30
Introduction This workshop aims at enabling participants to experience the making of fishnets in a simple way by creating their own fishnet cup sleeve holder. To increase choices and inspire participants' creativity, five colors of hemp ropes are used in the workshop. Consequently, this workshop can raise participants' awareness of the boat people's technique for making fishnets.

Download Activities Timetables 

Activities Timetable 1
Activities Timetable 2

Inquiry

Website: https://exploringhkculture.wixsite.com/cityucah2023
Instagram: exploringhk.cultfest.2023
Facebook: CityU: Exploring Hong Kong: Cultural Festival 2023
YouTube : Exploring Hong Kong: Cultural Festival 2023
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@exploringhongkongcultlfest2023
Email: exploringhkculturalfest2023@gmail.com