Bay Area cultural links promoted

Cross-border cultural cooperation will open a bigger market for Hong Kong and Macao culture-related businesses and help ease disharmony in Hong Kong, officials said on Friday.

The report given in October to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China by General Secretary Xi Jinping and this year's Government Work Report delivered in March by Premier Li Keqiang both said the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao should deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, Xiang Zhaolun, vice-minister of culture and tourism, noted.

Cultural industries in the three areas should take advantage of development opportunities created by the new era and use their strengths in tourism, the arts and cultivation of young artistic talent to contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and promote Chinese culture to the world, he said.

Xiang made the remarks at a forum held on the sidelines of the 14th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair on Friday.

Lau Kong-wah, secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said this year marks a development milestone - the opening of big cross-border infrastructure projects, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link.

"The door has already opened. It will surely bring more exchanges to cultural industries and people on the two sides. This is a trend," he said.

Lau said the Hong Kong government supports cross-border cultural cooperation, saying that the administration has reserved funds over five years for supporting activities by local arts groups in the Bay Area.

Hong Kong lawmaker Ma Fung-kwok said the disharmony in Hong Kong in recent years is rooted in culture.

"The disputes have no direct connection with economic development but are the result of a deeper issue that has something to do with cultural coexistence and people's concepts," he said. "In this sense, in the long term, we need to deal with the culture issue well to tackle Hong Kong's problem."

He said the Bay Area will open more opportunities to Hong Kong's cultural industries. Hong Kong now has more than 20 art centers, and there are more than 60 in the Bay Area.

Mok Ian Ian, director of the cultural affairs bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region, said cultural cooperation between Macao and the mainland has entered a new phase thanks to a range of cooperative agreements.

Macao, a place where Chinese and Western cultures converge, occupied a strategic position on the ancient maritime Silk Road and is also an important bridge between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, she said.

Macao is building a Chinese-Portuguese cultural exchange center and organizing high-level cultural meetings, forums and exhibitions. It also will establish a regular mechanism to promote cultural exchanges with the mainland, Mok said.