A launch ceremony for the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing today (5 August). It marks the start of a five-day cultural exchange programme for primary and secondary school students from underprivileged schools in Hong Kong and the Mainland. The programme is designed to deepen students’ understanding of traditional Chinese culture as epitomised by the Forbidden City, strengthening social ties and promoting appreciation of Chinese culture more broadly. As in 2024, this year’s camp is sponsored exclusively by the Institute of Philanthropy (IoP) and jointly organised by the Palace Museum and The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation. The Hong Kong Palace Museum collaborated as co-organiser supporting the recruitment of Hong Kong students for the programme.
Attending the launch ceremony of the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 were Wang Xudong, Member, Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 4th right); Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (back row, 2nd right); Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 6th right); Li Xiaocheng, Chairman of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation (back row, 1st right). They were joined by teachers and students who participated in the camp.
Attending today’s launch ceremony were Wang Xudong, Member, Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the Palace Museum; Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust; Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; and Li Xiaocheng, Chairman of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation. They were joined by more than 100 primary and secondary school students from Hong Kong, Sichuan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Fujian, Tibet and Xinjiang.
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Attending the launch ceremony of the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 were Wang Xudong, Member, Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 4th right); Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (back row, 2nd right); Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 6th right); Li Xiaocheng, Chairman of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation (back row, 1st right). They were joined by teachers and students who participated in the camp.
Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)
Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.
Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.
Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)
Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)
The five-day camp will see students and teachers visit the Palace Museum to learn about its history and culture, explore the Peking University, attend workshops on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum and visit the Olympic Games venues such as the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube). It will enable the students to interact and forge friendships while learning about Mainland history.
Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.
Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, said the Palace Museum in Beijing was not only a treasure of Chinese civilisation but also a valuable platform for young people to explore Chinese culture. The camp is an initiative under a five-year collaboration between IoP and the Palace Museum designed to promote Chinese culture and values and nurture arts-tech talent. Huang said he hoped young people would seize this opportunity to take part in activities and engagements to broaden their horizons and improve their understanding and cultural awareness.
Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.
Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, said that the mission of the Palace Museum is to promote traditional Chinese culture and to enhance young people’s cultural awareness by educating them about the history and wisdom of Chinese culture. The “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” charitable programme is designed to immerse young from the Mainland in the history of the Palace Museum. This year marks the Palace Museum's centennial, and more than 130 students and teachers from different areas of the Mainland have been invited to join the programme. He added that the Palace Museum would continue to promote traditional Chinese culture by nurturing young people’s knowledge of Chinese history and fostering their cultural awareness so as to build national pride and confidence and advance national rejuvenation.
Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)
Established in 2023 as an independent “think-fund-do” tank for China, Asia and beyond through a seed grant from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust, IoP aims to provide a platform that brings philanthropic stakeholders together to promote the betterment of societies. Under a five-year collaboration between IoP and the Palace Museum, the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp is a charitable project that has been run by the Palace Museum. Since 2011, the project offers educational experiences such as historical story-telling sessions, traditional craft workshops and exploration of cultural relics to enable young people from different backgrounds to learn about traditional Chinese culture. The camp is also designed to promote the development of arts-tech talent, as outlined in the National 14th Five-Year Plan to transform Hong Kong into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
As one of the highlights of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Year of the Horse campaign, the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum, with exclusive sponsorship from the Institute of Philanthropy (IoP), today launched “Heavenly Horses: Masterpieces from the Palace Museum”. Presenting nearly 100 horse‑themed paintings from more than 60 renowned artists, spanning the Yuan dynasty to the 20th century, the exhibition celebrates the horses as an enduring symbol of perseverance, vitality and national spirit in Chinese culture.
Guests tour the “Heavenly Horses: Masterpieces from the Palace Museum” exhibition.
The exhibition is part of a five-year collaboration between the Palace Museum and IoP to promote Chinese culture and nurture arts-technology talent in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. The aim is to help the younger generation deepen its understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture, while showcasing it in fresh, digital ways. Through interactive experiences with artificial intelligence, lectures and workshops, the exhibition highlights how technology can bring tradition to life. Beyond artistic appreciation, it underscores the strategic role of culture in fostering identity and pride, and in strengthening social cohesion across Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland.
Officiating guests at the launch ceremony were HKSAR Deputy Financial Secretary, Michael Wong Wai-lun (5th left); Deputy Director General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, Lin Nan (4th right); Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, Lou Wei (5th right); Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, The Hon Martin Liao (4th left); Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and IoP Chairman, Lester Huang (3rd right); Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and Deputy Chairman of IoP, Ann Kung (2nd right); Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and IoP Director, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (2nd left); Chairman of the Board of Hong Kong Palace Museum, Leo Kung (3rd left); Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Betty Fung (1st left); and Museum Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Dr Louis Ng (1st right).
Officiating guests at the launch ceremony were HKSAR Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun; Deputy Director General of the Department of Publicity, Cultural and Sports Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, Lin Nan; Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, Lou Wei; Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, The Hon Martin Liao; Deputy Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and IoP Chairman, Lester Huang; Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and Deputy Chairman of IoP, Ann Kung; Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and IoP Director, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges; Chairman of the Board of Hong Kong Palace Museum, Leo Kung; Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Betty Fung; and Museum Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Dr Louis Ng.
Guests tour the “Heavenly Horses: Masterpieces from the Palace Museum” exhibition.
Speaking at the ceremony, Michael Wong, Deputy Financial Secretary of the Government of the HKSAR, expressed his gratitude to the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Palace Museum for jointly organising this exhibition, bringing nearly 100 precious equine paintings to Hong Kong. “Since its opening in 2022, the Hong Kong Palace Museum has greatly contributed to promoting cultural tourism in Hong Kong, staging more than thirty exhibitions and welcoming over four million visitors to date,” he said. “The museum has become a must-visit destination for many tourists to Hong Kong. It has exerted tremendous international influence in telling the good stories of Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, further promoting Chinese culture.”
The exhibition is one of the highlights of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Year of the Horse campaign, presenting nearly 100 horse‑themed paintings spanning the Yuan dynasty to the 20th century.
The Hon Martin Liao, Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, a founding funder of IoP together with its Charities Trust, said, “The Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust established the Institute of Philanthropy as an independent ‘think-fund do’ tank for China, Asia and beyond. In 2024, IoP announced a donation of RMB 371 million to launch a five-year collaboration programme with the Palace Museum to promote the excellence of traditional Chinese culture, and to deepen understanding and recognition of Chinese history and culture among younger generations in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. This exhibition is a key component of the programme and one of the highlights of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Year of the Horse campaign. Featuring a variety of cultural, arts and community initiatives throughout the year, we aim to spread joyful celebration across the city, promote tourism and advance the development of sports, including horse sports.”
The Hon Martin Liao, Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony of the “Heavenly Horses: Masterpieces from the Palace Museum” exhibition.
Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, added, “The Palace Museum has long maintained a close partnership with the Hong Kong Palace Museum, collaborating to showcase the finest of Chinese art and culture to both local and international audiences, and to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding. This exhibition forms an integral part of a five-year collaboration between the Palace Museum and the Institute of Philanthropy, which aims to promote Chinese culture and nurture arts-technology talent. Horses were not only a vital means of travel in ancient times and representations of ceremonial standards, they also served as the foundation of national defence. They stand as a vivid symbol of the Chinese nation’s resilience and unwavering spirit. With a focus on equine motifs, ‘Heavenly Horses’ guides visitors to explore the artistic vision of renowned masters and uncovers the social landscapes, spiritual aspiration, and cultural exchanges of different eras, offering a deeper understanding of the profound richness and refined subtleties of Chinese civilisation.”
Guests tour the “Heavenly Horses: Masterpieces from the Palace Museum” exhibition.
As part of this collaboration, IoP is advancing a strategy of cultural dissemination that combines digital innovation with traditional heritage. The goal is to nurture a generation that carries a strong sense of national identity while engaging confidently with the world, deepening recognition of Chinese history and culture both locally and globally. Building on this vision, IoP is seeking synergy to inspire innovative ideas to address the needs of Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland – contributing to wisdom and solutions that promote the development of national and global philanthropy.
The exhibition is one of the highlights of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Year of the Horse campaign, presenting nearly 100 horse‑themed paintings spanning the Yuan dynasty to the 20th century.
The exhibition is part of the Club’s Year of the Horse campaign, which aims to honour the profound partnership between human and horse and to unite the community through thrilling races, international equestrian spectacles and a special series of cultural, sporting and family events. The year-long campaign is a community celebration, a tourist attraction and an opportunity to promote equine and community sports development. Complimentary tickets and free guided tours of the exhibition will be provided to underprivileged groups and students.
