Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London (London ETO) supported three Hong Kong performance programmes at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, highlighting the city's vibrant arts scene. The performances featured the One Table Two Chairs Charitable Foundation, zheng musician Wan Xing and a cappella group Yat Po Singers.
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Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Director-General of the London ETO, Miss Fiona Chau, addressed the audience before two performances staged on August 20 (Edinburgh time). She highlighted Hong Kong's vision of further enhancing its role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange, as supported by the National 14th Five-Year Plan.
"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is firmly committed to nurturing home-grown talent and expanding global opportunities for our artists. We are investing in world-class arts infrastructure, such as the new 50 000-seat stadium at the Kai Tak Sports Park, and have launched flagship events such as the inaugural Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo in 2024, which gathered leading artists and institutions from around the world," Miss Chau remarked.
Noting the growing connections between Hong Kong and Edinburgh, particularly in the cultural and business sectors, Miss Chau welcomed Edinburgh enterprises to explore the diverse business opportunities that Hong Kong has to offer. She highlighted the introduction of a two-tier liquor duty system in Hong Kong last year as an example of the city's strategy to facilitate business. This initiative has encouraged the trade and auctions of high-end liquor in Hong Kong, thereby giving impetus to the development of other high value-added sectors such as logistics and storage, tourism, as well as high-end food and beverage consumption. These developments open the door for even broader collaboration between Edinburgh and Hong Kong.
Running from August 1 to 25 in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom (UK), the Festival showcased three Hong Kong programmes: "Cantonese Opera x Children's Interactive Theatre: Dic Dic Chang Chang Playground" by One Table Two Chairs Charitable Foundation; "Rock Hard – A Theatrical A Cappella Adventure" by Yat Po Singers; and "Waves of Tradition: A New Horizon in Scottish-Chinese Music" by Wan and two UK musicians, Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black. These performances underscored Hong Kong's vibrant cultural contributions and its role in international cultural exchanges.
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Hong Kong performers bring East-meets-West creativity to Edinburgh Festival Fringe Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Land and Development Advisory Committee holds meeting
The Development Bureau briefed the Land and the Development Advisory Committee (LDAC) at its meeting today (July 27) on the two new measures to incentivise urban renewal. The major arrangements of the measures are as follows:
(1) The Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme: If a developer commits to pull down a building with residential elements in the seven designated areas (Note), whose building age reached 50 years or above with the site area not less than 700 square metres, and redevelop it into residential use, an additional 20 per cent premium-free gross floor area (GFA) will be provided as bonus. The developer can choose to submit planning application to the Town Planning Board (TPB) to directly utilise the bonus plot ratio in kind for in-situ redevelopment. The developer can also choose to translate the bonus plot ratio into land premium value for offsetting the land premium payable for in-situ redevelopment or any other land transactions in the Northern Metropolisand other parts of the territory. To simplify the execution procedures, the Government will use standard rates to calculate the premium value of the bonus plot ratio. All in-situ redevelopment projects joining the Pilot Scheme are required to be effected by means of lease modification to ensure timely completion of the redevelopment project. The bonus plot ratio will not affect other existing GFA concession measures. Subject to market response, the Development Bureau will evaluate the effectiveness of the Pilot Scheme, as well as introduce adjustments where necessary and consider whether the period of the Pilot Scheme will have to be extended; and
(2) The cross-district transfer of plot ratio (TPR) arrangement: It is to relax the current arrangements of TPR within the same district, allowing cross-district transfer of plot ratio from the sending sites to other areas across the territory, including the New Development Areas, so as to reduce the development density in the urban area. It is also to extend the geographic coverage of sending sites from Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei to the remaining five designated areas (Note), as well as removing the limit of two receiving sites and reducing the site area requirement of receiving sites from 1000sqm to 700sqm. To provide additional incentives, if the sending site is used for designated uses benefiting the local community, subject to the TPB's approval, certain premium-free GFA could be provided within the sending sites as bonus GFA, in addition to the full transfer of the plot ratio and GFA from sending sites in order to support the on-going management and maintenance of the sending site. Furthermore, the premium assessment arrangement will be relaxed to allow the land premium assessment for the sending sites and receiving sites to be combined. All cross-district TPR proposals will require submission of planning applications to the TPB, which will perform a gatekeeping role in ensuring the transfer will not cause adverse impact to the surrounding environment.
The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said "At present, the pace of building ageing in Hong Kong far exceeds that of redevelopment by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the private market. In the past decade, the number of buildings aged 50 years or above increased by about 510 per year, while on average only 160 buildings were demolished by the URA and the private sector. And not many redevelopment projects in old districts are financially viable these days. In this regard, the Government has to adopt a new mindset and bold policy thinking to give a stronger policy push to encourage the private sector to participate in urban renewal, with a view to expediting redevelopment and rescuing urban decay."
Members were very supportive of the two new measures proposed by the Government. They agreed that the Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme would provide incentives and enhance the financial viability of redevelopment projects in old districts, and that the cross-district TPR arrangement could further incentivise the market to use the planning tool to expedite urban renewal.
Members considered that it was time to give bolder and stronger push to promote urban redevelopment by the URA and the market. If the response of these measures is positive, members expected that the Government could extend the Pilot scheme and consider relaxing the implementation arrangements where appropriate. Given the measures would involve a lot of technical implementation details, Members would like the Government to set out such details in the application guidelines of the relevant measures, so as to facilitate implementation.
The above are two of the measures announced in the Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address to expedite urban renewal. Having consulted relevant stakeholders and taken into account their comments, the Government has formulated the implementation arrangements. The LDAC today mainly discussed the implementation details of the relevant proposals.
The Government will issue a joint practice notes for launching the Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme and revise the TPB Guidelines on TPR after obtaining the TPB's endorsement, with a view to launching the two schemes in the third quarter of 2026.
Note: The seven designated areas refer to Cheung Sha Wan (the same Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) covering also Sham Shui Po), Ma Tau Kok (covering Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan), Mong Kok, Sai Ying Pun and Sheung Wan (covered by the same OZP), Tsuen Wan, Wan Chai and Yau Ma Tei.
Source: AI-found images
