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The exhibition of 䩕The Development of Banks in Shanghai and Hong Kong蒅 currently staged at the Hong Kong Museum of History will be extended until May 26.
The exhibition has been well received by the public since its opening in last November. Up to yesterday (March 10), the exhibition had attracted more than 80,000 visitors.
Jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC), and organised by the Museum of History and the Shanghai Bank Museum, the exhibition tells the story of the development of the banking industry in the two cities in the past 100 years and their long history of co-operation in trade and commerce.
The Chief Curator of the Museum of History, Ms Esa Leung Kit-ling, said the extension of the exhibition period would not be made possible without the support rendered by the ICBC and the Shanghai Bank Museum.
Ms Leung said: 䩕The content of the exhibition is rich and splendid. It displays more than 500 exhibits of which most are on loan from the Shanghai Bank Museum, local banks and private collectors. This is the rare opportunity that the Shanghai Bank Museum arranged for showing the cream of its collection in Hong Kong. Most of the artefacts on loan from local banks and private collectors are not usually shown for public viewing so people should not miss this exhibition before it closes.
䩕Most of the visitors would agree that this is a fun-filled exhibition. For example, the reconstruction of a Shanghai native bank vividly depicts the operation of a typical native bank, its scale and the natures of its business. Other artifacts range from an old bookkeeping machine with functions of calculation and memory storage and a banknote binder with lever mechanics to modern banking facilities like the first set of Visa Cash Cards issued in Hong Kong and a prop of ATM machine tailored-made for interactive games. They fully reflect the process of banking modernisation from manual tasking to computerisation.
䩕Saving boxes and deposit books of different eras as well as banknotes and share certificates issued in different periods would, of course, be in the collective memories of many people.
䩕After the Opium War in 1842, Shanghai and Hong Kong soon became the pioneers of China﷿s modernisation. Today, the two cities are the most advanced financial centres in the nation. The exhibition gives the public, especially the young generation, a deeper understanding of this part of history,蒅 Ms Leung said.
The exhibition is divided into six sections to trace the history of the banking industry in the two cities from the development of early native banks, the arrival of foreign-funded banks, the birth of Chinese-funded banks, and the financial industry in the two cities during the Sino-Japanese War, to the development of the banking industry around 1949 and during the period under China﷿s economic reforms.
To enhance visitors﷿ understanding of the exhibition, public guided tours and audio guide services will be provided at the exhibition. A series of lectures has also been organised. For details please visit the museum﷿s website. An illustrative catalogue has also been produced for the occasion and is available at the museum﷿s gift shop.
Located at 100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, the Museum of History opens from 10am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays. It is closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays). Admission is $10 with half-price concession available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, full-time students and people with disabilities. Admission is free on Wednesdays.
For details, please call 2724 9042.
Ends/Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:02
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