On the 10th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced on July12 the "Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum 2007," was held on July 22 in Hong Kong.

The forum's theme was "Culture coming home" and it attracted professional artists from all over the world to discuss the relationship between Chinese and Hong Kong culture.

The forum had four sessions: "World Creativity Summit: Launch and Public Dialogues," "Living Urban Heritage," "Culture Core Values and Chinese Modernity," and "Popular Culture."

Representatives and culture ministers from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippine, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and Vietnam and senior officials from the Ministry of Culture, provinces and municipalities of PRC were to take part in the forum.

The Home Affairs Bureau initiated the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum (ACCF) in 2003 to foster and enhance partnership between governments, to facilitate and promote private sector initiatives in cultural and creative industries, and enhance Hong Kong's profile as the cultural and creative hub of Asia.

The guest speakers included:

Prof. Yu Dan,Head, Department of TV and Cinema Studies, Beijing. Normal University, China

Prof. Tu Weiming,Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, USA

Prof. Ngugi Wa Thiong'O,Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine, USA

Prof Leon van Schaik Ao,Professor of Architecture, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Australia

(Chinaculture.org July 25, 2007)