Speaker of the New Books Release Presentation of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Professor Mo Shixiang
The Macao Foundation and the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym) cooperates for the seventh consecutive year in setting up the “Macao Pavilion” at the “2017 Hong Kong Book Fair”, holding a joint exhibition with the Macao Polytechnic Institute and the bookshopPlaza Cultural Macau, Lda.. In order to promote Macao’s diversified publishing culture, the organizer will display excellent works by local entities in the publishing sector, including Pen of Macau, Association of Stories in Macao, New Generation Culture Association, University of East Asia Open College Students’ Association, Cultural Guildhall, Macao Carpentry Trade Union, Ox Warehouse, Macao Theatre Culture Institute, Step Out, Comuna de Pedra Arts and Culture Association, Hiu Kok Drama Association and Blue Blue Sky Arts Association, among others.
The Hong Kong Book Fair is one the largest book fairs in Asia, and is running its 28th edition this year. Last year, the Fair attracted nearly 1.02 million visitors, breaking all previous records. This year, the Fair is held from 19 to 25 July, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The “Macao Pavilion” is located in section IE-A20, showcasing over 800 Macao publications. It aims to introduce Macao’s unique culture to Hong Kong and foreign readers as well as to promote the achievements of each type of publication through the platform of Hong Kong Book Fair.
On 19 July at 3pm, IC held a New Books Release Presentation “The Great Doctor – Sun Yat-sen and Family in Macao” in conjunction with the lecture, at the Grand Foyer on the 3rd floor of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, hosted by the Professor Mo Shixiang of the Department of History of the Hong Kong Shue Yan University. In order to mark the 150th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen’s birth, IC launched the book “The Great Doctor – Sun Yat-sen and Family in Macao” by Professor Mo Shixiang last year, reminiscing Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary journey “from doctor to saviour of the country”. Macao was the doorway to the world for Sun Yat-sen to step out of his homeland when he was young, and it was also the starting point for Sun Yat-sen from being as a doctor to a country’s saviour.
In addition, the Macao Foundation will hold a New Books Release Presentation “Association of Piety and Longevity Kong Tac-Lam” of the series “Macao Wisdom Collection” in conjunction with the lecture on 24 July, at 12:30pm, at the Grand Foyer on the 3rd floor of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, hosted by Dr. Helen Ieong Hoi Keng. The Association of Piety and Longevity Kong Tac-Lam, located at Rua de S. José, Macao, set up the first female Buddhist school of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan during the period of the Republic of China, which became an important platform for the intellectuals’ activities at that time. Thus Buddhism’s “Palm-leaf manuscripts” also spread to Macao, and were inscribed on the UNESCO’s “Memory of the World Register” together with other Buddhist documentary heritage in 2016. The development track of the Association of Piety and Longevity Kong Tac-Lam is fully reflects Macao’s characteristics, nurturing a humanistic spirit within a unique geographical and historical background.
The Macao Foundation and IC are actively devoted to the promotion of Macao’s publications. Aside from participating in the Hong Kong Book Fair, both departments have also participated at the Taipei Book Fair for several years. In order to allow readers from Mainland China to have an in-depth understanding of Macao’s culture through its publication, as well as to present the achievement of the development of Macao’s publishing industry, IC collaborated with the Macao Foundation to participate in the 27th National Book Trading Expo, which was held from 31 May to 3 June in the city of Langfang, Hebei Province, known as a “road between Beijing and Tianjin, and a route around Bohai sea”, where they set up the “Macao Pavilion”. The Pavilion attracted the interest of numerous local readers and exhibiting entities from other cities and had a steady flow of visitors. Through the publications in the National Book Trading Expo, visitors were able to know about the blending of Chinese and Western cultures in Macao.
