More than 3,000 local and overseas artists, in collaboration with 150-plus institutions, local and Chinese mainland art groups, and associations from 13 provinces and cities, will stage over 280 performances and activities at this year’s Chinese Culture Festival in Hong Kong. The second annual event, spanning from June through September, supports Hong Kong’s aspiration to promote time-honored Chinese cultures and traditions, and to be a cultural exchange hub of global significance.

“Culture serves as a bridge that connects hearts and is a defining pillar of social harmony,” Ivy Ngai Suk-yee, chief manager (cultural presentation) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s government, said in her speech at the program briefing on Monday.

“We are looking forward to showcasing a wealth of outstanding Chinese cultural and artistic works with Hong Kong characteristics through the annual Chinese Cultural Festival, fully leveraging the city’s entrenched status as an East-meets-West center to tell the compelling stories of itself and the nation,” said Ngai, underscoring the lofty goal of strengthening the nation’s soft power, promoting patriotic education, and nurturing residents’ national identity and cultural confidence.

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With the vision of making the Chinese Cultural Festival a prominent cultural brand of Hong Kong, this year’s event will unfold with the theme of “characters”, echoing the nearly 6,000-year history of Chinese characters, also called Hanzi — the oldest continuously used writing system in the world. Xi’an, today the capital city of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province and an ancient capital of 13 dynasties through Chinese history, will be the city in focus this year, Ngai said.

As the city’s latest bold move to harness its cultural wealth with the backing of the country, Hong Kong staged the inaugural Chinese Culture Festival last year — an expansion of the city’s signature event, the Chinese Opera Festival, the 12th edition of which took place in 2024. It is among a dazzling array of initiatives that underpin Hong Kong’s coveted role as an East-meets-West exchange hub, outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and thrust into the limelight in Hong Kong’s 2021 Policy Address.

The flagship event got off to a strong start, bringing together over 4,000 artists from more than 150 local and mainland art groups, and associations from different provinces and cities to stage over 250 performances and activities in Hong Kong, with 900,000 participants joining online and offline.

Following the inaugural festival, the Chinese Culture Promotion Office was established as the event organizer, and given the mission of putting Chinese culture on the global map.

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The office, which has been operational since April 2024, was among a range of initiatives announced by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his 2023 Policy Address.

Contact the writer at sophialuo@chinadailyhk.com