By Judith Yu
Historically, Hong Kong has long served as a bridge for cultural exchange between East and West. The city's international background and open social environment have allowed for a natural fusion of Chinese and foreign artistic resources. Within the framework of enjoying strong support of the Motherland and being closely connected to the world, Hong Kong can leverage the rich cultural resources from the mainland while participating in international cultural exchanges as an independent customs territory, thus establishing its unique position as a cultural hub.
The national "14th Five-Year Plan" explicitly supports Hong Kong in developing a center for cultural and artistic exchange between China and foreign countries, which bestows a special mission on Hong Kong from the national strategic level. In response, the HKSAR government has reorganized to establish the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, developed a 10-year development blueprint for arts and cultural facilities, and set up special support such as the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund, with annual cultural and artistic expenditures exceeding HK$5 billion.
In recent years, Hong Kong has actively developed an events economy, creating cultural brands with a density of "mega events every month" that covers various dimensions, including traditional arts, popular culture, and international frontiers. This is highly aligned with the strategic goal of building a center for cultural and artistic exchange. Through large-scale cultural activities, the aim is to gather international resources, activate industry linkages, enhance cultural influence, and assist outstanding cultural exports. Through the events economy, Hong Kong is transforming from a "cultural dock" to a "cultural source," with over 240 activities planned for 2024, demonstrating that the closed loop of "event planning—resource gathering—industry value addition—cultural output" has taken shape.
Transforming 'Cultural Confidence' into Global Products
In the future, Hong Kong needs to inject more Chinese narratives into its role as a "super connector." Internally, it should deepen educational and industrial collaboration with the mainland, while externally, it should utilize digital platforms, international events, and policy innovations to transform cultural confidence into globally accessible products and services. The core of this initiative lies in leveraging youth as the engine, technology as a tool, and cultural tourism as a medium to build an overseas ecology that combines cultural depth with market vitality.
Since 2022, after each Two Sessions, I have been invited to teach a class to about 200 students in Form 4 and Form 5 in Hong Kong, with a focus on "cultural confidence." In 2022, my lesson's theme was "The Chinese Cultural Confidence Behind New Guochao (China chic)," starting with the popular Palace Museum IP and discussing how the new trend stems from the profound cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, representing the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional culture, as well as deep cultural confidence and national identity.
In 2023, I shared on "Intangible Cultural Heritage," urging young people, as builders of society, to strengthen their cultural confidence, develop a sound personality, enhance their cultural roles, and fulfill their cultural missions, contributing to the dream of building a culturally strong nation for the Chinese people. Although each class can only influence the students present, I hope to spread cultural confidence through them to their classmates, parents, and friends, even if only in fragmented ways—this is a small step in reinforcing cultural identity among Hong Kong youth.
This year, I watched Ne Zha 2 in Hong Kong, moved by the combination of traditional Chinese culture and technological innovation, which also sparked more thoughts on cultural exports. In the upcoming small class after this year's Two Sessions, I will continue to choose "cultural confidence" as the main theme, starting with cultural phenomena like Li Ziqi, Black Myth: Wukong, and Ne Zha 2, hoping to inspire more Hong Kong youth to be fascinated by our culture and proud of its global presence.
Because cultural confidence is the most fundamental, profound, and enduring force in the development of a country or a nation.
The author is a Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
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