The Hong Kong Palace Museum has launched a leadership program bringing together students from Beijing and Hong Kong to foster engagement and nurture talent in cultural and creative sectors, viewed as critical drivers for Hong Kong's economy and job creation.
A group of 16 students, eight from Hong Kong and eight from Beijing, have been handpicked for the Bi-city Youth Cultural Leadership Program.
This is the third edition of the program but it is the first one since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The program was entirely virtual for the first two years but now, for the first time, the program facilitates direct interactions with external visitors.
One of the tasks for program participants is to prepare activities for primary school students who'll be coming for a stay-over at the museum.
Patrick Lin is originally from the coastal city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, but he studies here at the University of Hong Kong. At the event, he tried to design a game that involves kicking a ball through a narrow target.
"It's a little bit difficult. We are trying to figure out the way that kids can play it more easily, but I still think it will be fun," said Lin.
In addition to attending master classes and touring different cultural institutions, participants are also doing internships with local companies to gain practical work experience.
Among them is Boy Kin, a student from Beijing, who recently completed a few weeks of his internship with Swire Properties, a sponsor of the program.
"Our work is to design an art walk, which means guide the audience through these art pieces and try to let them discover and recognize the beauty of these art pieces," Kin said.
After spending several weeks in Hong Kong, the students will travel to Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan Province and Beijing, where they will further their educational experience in different cities.
Hong Kong has a 10-year plan to develop its arts and cultural facilities and to foster the next generation of cultural entrepreneurs.
The participants at the program are well poised to take advantage of career opportunities in the cultural and creative industries.
According to Hong Kong's census and statistics department, demand for manpower in the creative and cultural sector is expected to grow by as many as 2,000 individuals per year till 2027, including opportunities in everything from curating to commercializing initiatives.
"To nurture them to become future leaders, we need to provide them with different opportunities to actually not just learn from textbook or from lectures, but actually a practical experience. They have workshops. They have lectures that they actually run them, and they understand visitors' needs and then talk to visitors," said George Ma, head of the museum's Learning and Development Department.
Students from Beijing, HK join leadership program at Hong Kong Palace Museum
The high-quality development of east China's Shandong Province featuring innovation and green development has been providing opportunities to foreigners ranging from business promoters to even internet influencers.
As leader in the country's foreign trade, the coastal province of Shandong has been making consistent efforts to push forward its high-level opening-up.
In the first half of this year, Shandong imported and exported 1.62 trillion yuan (230 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods, marking a 4.3-percent year-over-year increase, according to the customs data released in mid-July.
The province's export to regions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), South Korea, and Brazil continued growing during the period.
Ryan Norman, an American living in Rizhao City, has been witnessing all the changes for years as Shandong's close economic ties with the world have boosted its development.
By sharing short videos of him wondering in local markets and making dishes in a big wok, Ryan has attracted over one million followers on social media.
"I am Ryan Norman, an American from California. Now I am married with a Rizhao woman. I have been in China for 19 years. I did some business before, but in recent years I've been making short videos. If the weather is good, staying on beach makes me happier. There is a 28-kilometer sunshine seaside track and every summer, we run back and forth along the track," he said.
The high-quality development of Shandong comes together with green development. In 2023, the province generated over 158 billion kilowatt-hours of green power from new energy and renewables, increasing by 21.9 percent year on year and representing 24.4 percent of the total power generated, up 3.6 percent from 2022.
Last year, the province issued a three-year action plan on promoting green and low-carbon high-quality development, as the province is set to pursue a deep integration of culture and tourism.
"As the environment is getting better and better, more locals like to visit our tea tourism cultural park and its good reputation has attracted droves of tourists," said Yan Zaoning, director of a local tea park.
Sebastian Valcic from Germany now works in an innovation zone in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. He said in recent years, he witnessed over 500 enterprises from countries like Germany, France, Finland, and Japan setting branches in the innovation zone, and these changes boosted his confidence in China's high-quality development.
"Thanks to the institutional and mechanism reform of the Jinan Innovation Zone, I, as a German, can have the opportunity to join the investment promotion department of the Jinan Innovation Zone management committee. I am responsible for attracting global investment. Over the recent years, our team has signed over 100 projects. The Jinan Innovation Zone is a national new- and high-tech development zone, a free trade zone, a comprehensive bonded zone, a pilot zone for upgrading development engine, and a sci-tech innovation financial reform pilot zone. The innovation zone has so many institutional innovations and preferential policies for expanding opening-up. Every time we have an investment promotion event, I always want the investors to know how special here is," said Sebastian Valcic, an external liaison officer of the management committee's investment promotion department.
Apart from attracting investment, Sebastian Valcic said his team will also work to connect enterprises so that they can cooperate with potential partners up and down the industrial chain.
"We will introduce companies up and down the industrial chain to the enterprises so that they can connect, communicate, and cooperate with one another," he said.
According to its three-year action plan, Shandong will continue to enhance the quality and level of its trade and investment by enhancing the efficiency of using foreign investment and deepening international economic and trade cooperation.
Shandong high-quality development provides opportunities to international firms, individuals
