The University of Hong Kong (HKU) held the ARTathon, an arts carnival at the Art Park of the West Kowloon Cultural District today (January 14). HKU students, alumni, staff and their families and friends enjoyed a fun-filled weekend.

As part of the 111th anniversary celebration series of the HKU, ARTathon is also the University’s first large-scale outdoor event since the three-year epidemic. The Art Park was transformed into a carnival, decorated with giant artistic balloon installations on the theme of the 111th anniversary of the HKU. A series of family-friendly arts and crafts activities, such as painting and  handicrafts were available at the event. Graduation gowns lending services were prepared for HKU graduates who did not have a chance to attend a physical graduation ceremony under campus infection control measures to take graduation photos with their friends and family.

The most noteworthy attraction of the carnival was the eight-metres-high outdoor Main Building installation with donated books – a symbol of knowledge sharing through generations. Professor Xiang Zhang, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU led the participants to donate books at the site. The books collected would be donated to local non-profit charitable organisations. Professor Zhang was pleased to share of joy of celebrating HKU’s 111th Anniversary with students and staff. Addressing the audience in a welcoming speech, he said “1-1-1” is a place-marker in the HKU history, and a beacon and symbol of hope.

Professor Zhang donated half of his annual salary earlier to support the development of the University and broaden the horizons of students. Two student representatives who benefited from the donation presented a souvenir to Professor Zhang to express their gratitude. Isabella Liu, a Year-three Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Sciences student, who did volunteer teaching work in Myanmar and took a gap year to work as the Director of International Association of Students in Economics and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC) said her experiences helped her to strengthen her belief in helping underprivileged children via education and her speech and hearing expertise in the future.

To further this spirit of caring for society, over 500 secondary school students who come from modest families were sponsored to visit the Hong Kong Palace Museum and join the carnival to share an enjoyable day of fun.

Discover more fun-filled moments in the online photo album: https://hku.canto.global/v/ARTathon

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