Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U pledged yesterday that the local government will make good use of Macau’s “golden business card” as a culturally renowned city, considering that Macau has been chosen as a 2025 Culture City of East Asia.
Ao Ieong made the remarks when replying to oral interpellations by lawmakers during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle yesterday.
In early June, Macau was chosen as one of the two Chinese 2025 Culture Cities of East Asia (CCEA).
The other Chinese 2025 Culture City of East Asia is Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province.
The Culture City of East Asia project is an arts and culture naming programme jointly launched by China, Japan and South Korea about a decade ago. Each of the three countries had chosen and designated one city as their respective Culture City of East Asia every year since the first and 2014 CCEA, but since the 2021 CCEA, China has named two Culture Cities of East Asia every year, with Japan and South Korea each continuing to designate one.
Until Macau’s designation as a 2025 Culture City of East Asia, other Chinese cities winning the title since the project’s launch are all mainland cities.
Ao Ieong said during yesterday’s plenary session that the local government is now planning and organising a raft of cultural activities and events to be held next year marking Macau as a 2025 Culture City of East Asia.
The policy secretary said that the various activities and events to be launched next year will include cultural exhibitions, international conferences, exhibitions and shows of intangible cultural heritage, as well as various other large-scale cultural, sporting and tourist activities.
Ao Ieong underlined that in addition to continuing with its branded large-scale activities and events next year, the local government will organise such events with stronger emphasis on cultural exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea.
Ao Ieong also said that the local government will study the possibility of launching promotional campaigns in various cities in the mainland, Japan and South Korea next year.
Location for open-air performance venue is good
Meanwhile, Ao Ieong also said that the government’s chosen location for setting up its Macau Open-Air Performance Venue in Cotai is a good one because it is close to large hotel resorts so that it would be convenient for spectators to walk to the nearby resorts to dine out, as well as those who have checked into the nearby hotels to return to their rooms after watching performances.
The government earlier this year launched its project to set up a temporary open-air venue for hosting concerts and other performances with a capacity of 50,000 spectators, to be located on a large plot next to the Lisboeta Macau resort in Cotai.
The government expects the temporary Macau Open-Air Performance Venue to start operating early next year.
The 94,000-square-metre government plot in south-east Cotai is located east of the Lisboeta Macau resort, and south of the Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau complex.
Ao Ieong also said that it will be a relatively short walking distance between the open-air performance venue and a Light Rail Transit (LRT) station in the area.
She said that the government will also plan the launch of special public bus routes serving the venue whenever a performance is held there.
Ao Ieong also said that the government plans to invite singers and performers from places such as the mainland, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea for concerts to be held at the open-air venue.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U addresses yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle. – Photo: GCS
