Hong Kong Unveils Blueprint for Arts and Culture Development, Strengthening International Cultural Exchanges

Government releases Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development (with photos/video)

The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung, promulgated the Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development (the Blueprint) today (November 26), setting out a clear vision, principles and strategic directions for the future development of the arts, culture and creative industries to further consolidate Hong Kong's position as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges.

Mr Yeung said, "The Blueprint is a comprehensive policy document of the Government on the long-term development of the arts, culture and creative industries. It sets out a clear vision, principles and strategic directions to foster future development to enhance the appeal of Hong Kong's culture, while at the same time boost citizens' sense of achievement and happiness, and further consolidate Hong Kong's position as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchanges and build a diversified cultural environment."

The Blueprint sets out a total of 71 measures under four strategic directions. The strategic directions and the relevant highlights are as follows:

(1) Promote Profound Traditional Chinese Culture and Develop Cultural Contents with Hong Kong Character

Enhance the structure of museums to enrichHong Kong people's understanding of Chinese culture and at the same time attract tourists to drive the economy;

Promote the cultural characteristics of the Lingnan legacy, promote the safeguarding and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and strengthen collaboration with other cities in the Greater Bay Area;

Promote profound traditional Chinese culture by organising and subsidising more activities, exchanges and collaboration related to Chinese culture and history; and

Nurture talentswho are familiar with profound traditional Chinese culture and complementwork on patriotic education.

(2)Develop Diverse Arts and Culture Industries with International Perspective

Develop Hong Kong as the "capital of creativity"to foster and support the development of local culture and creative industries;

Develop Hong Kong as the "capital of pop culture";

Improve the quantity and quality of hardware to facilitate the development of the culturaland creative industries; and

Enhance the cultural environment and broaden audience participation with a view to improving the achievements and satisfaction of Hong Kong people.

(3)Establish International Platforms to Foster East-meets-West Arts and Cultural Exchanges

Consolidate Hong Kong's position as the "capital of international mega arts and cultural events"by hosting and supporting more large-scale, diverse and innovative arts and cultural events, thereby providing a platform for cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world while promoting a mega-events economy;

Utilise Hong Kong's internationalised curatorial and creative skills to promote profound traditional Chinese culture and Hong Kong's unique culture locally and overseas, develop related arts and culture industries, and encourage the industry to participate in national arts and culture work; and

Attract arts groups and practitioners from the Mainland and overseas to conduct cultural exchanges with Hong Kong.

(4)Enhance the Ecosystem for the Arts, Culture and Creative Industries

Promote arts, culture and creativity and establish relevant industry chains in Hong Kong;

Develop diverse pathways and nurture local talent, gather talentaround the globe, and enhance ecological chains of the cultural and creative talent pool;

Strengthen market forces to establish mutually beneficial relationships between the arts, culturaland creative industries, and the business sector;

Support industries to explore the Mainland and international markets; and

Provide better infrastructure and enhance conditions for developing the sectors as industries.

Mr Yeung said, "The Blueprint is a starting point for us to continue taking forward our work building on the existing foundation. The Government will maintain close communication with the sectors with an open mind to review the priorities and action plans of the strategic directions and measures, and actively and pragmatically promote the long-term development of the arts, culture and creative industries."

Mr Yeung also thanked the Culture Commission for its active participation since its establishment in March 2023. The Culture Commission has held six meetings so far, and held in-depth discussions over areas including Chinese culture promotion, international cultural exchanges, arts and cultural talent nuturing, and industry development, offering constructive and valuable advice to the Government during the formulation of the Blueprint.

The Government will collaborate with major strategic partners, different industry stakeholders and the local arts and culture community, and will drive participation of the business sector and other areas to take forward measures set out in the Blueprint and drive the development of the arts, culture and creative industries together, taking into account the continuous development of society.

The full text of the Blueprint has been uploaded to the website of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (www.cstb.gov.hk).

Government releases Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development (with photos/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Government releases Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development (with photos/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference

Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):

Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,

Good evening.

Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.

That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.

The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.

Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.

Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.

To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.

This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.

First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.

Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.

Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.

These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.

Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.

Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.

Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.

History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.

In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.

Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.

This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.

We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.

That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.

For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.

Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.

All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.

I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.

So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.

Thank you very much.

Source: AI-found images

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Source: AI-found images