HONG KONG 2004 - Recreation, Sport and the Arts

To enhance public awareness of the importance of 'greening' the environment, various community involvement projects and educational activities were organised in 2004. These included the Green Volunteer Scheme, Community Planting Day, Greening Hong Kong Activities Subsidy Scheme, Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development, theme flower shows and greening promotional talks. The Greening School Subsidy Scheme was also organised to promote greening initiatives at schools and attracted the participation of 700 schools and kindergartens. In addition, 40 schools took part in the 'School Planting Plot in Park' scheme and made arrangements for some of their students to practise gardening under the guidance of LCSD staff and their teachers. Some 330 000 students from 1 000 schools participated in the 'One Person, One Flower' programme in which Begonia seedlings were distributed to students for growing at home or in schools. The Community Garden Programme was launched in February to encourage the public to participate in greening activities at community level and to adopt greening activities as part of their daily life. Six community gardens were established in 2004 for organising gardening courses.

The Hong Kong Flower Show is a major event organised by the LCSD to promote horticulture and the awareness of greening. Every year, it provides a good opportunity for hundreds of thousands of local citizens and horticulture lovers all over the world to appreciate the beauty of flowers and share their experiences in flower cultivation. Participants to the show range from horticultural associations and floral art clubs — both local and from the Mainland — to green groups, District Councils, schools and the public. The show has been growing in size, content and popularity every year. Apart from numerous pleasing landscape displays, artistic floral arrangements and colourful horticultural exhibits, a rich diversity of educational and recreational fringe activities was organised for the enjoyment of visitors of all ages. They included student drawing competition, photo competition, exhibit competition, music and cultural performances, floral art demonstrations, plant maintenance workshops, green stalls, guided visits, recreation programmes and fun games. Various types of plants and horticultural products were put on sale in commercial stalls inside the showground. More than 180 local and overseas horticultural organisations from 17 countries took part in the 2004 show held in March at Victoria Park, attracting a record attendance of over 555 000 visitors. The main features of the overseas participants centred upon floral art, tree craft and folk dance. Among these participants were floral art masters from Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and Norway, arboriculturists from England and folk dancers from South Africa and the Philippines whose splendid masterpieces, on site demonstrations and performances were a visual feast for the spectators. Horticultural and cultural units from 16 provinces and 30 cities in the Mainland were also invited to present their distinctive landscape displays and cultural performances. The State Ministry of Construction also staged an exhibition, Gem of China — Exhibition of Chinese Landscape and Scenic Spots.

The LCSD is responsible for improving the environment of Hong Kong through the planting of ornamental trees and shrubs in public gardens and roadside amenity areas, and the preservation of trees. It maintains all public open spaces in the form of parks, gardens, sports grounds, football pitches and children's playgrounds, and also amenity plots and soft landscape plantings alongside highways and public roads. The services provided include landscape planting, horticultural research, tree maintenance and conservation. During the year, the department planted 22 000 trees as well as 3.1 million shrubs and seasonal flowers at these places and carried out landscape improvement projects for 33 hectares of park land and roadside amenity areas, including footbridges.

To enhance urban greenery and improve the environment of existing footbridges, the LCSD implemented an improvement programme at footbridges located in various districts by planting flowering plants in portable planters. The programme was completed in December, covering 13 footbridges.