The “Hong Kong Story” permanent exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History reopened on Wednesday after a major revamp emphasising the city's roots in Chinese culture, with visitors expressing mixed reactions. It has been reduced from two storeys to one floor but expanded from eight to 10 galleries, featuring more than 2,800 exhibits. The exhibition's preface states that “shifting tides across China’s vast territory” have “inevitably affected” Hong Kong.
The “Hong Kong Story” exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui first opened in 2001 and closed for renovation in late 2020. It reopened on Wednesday reduced from two storeys to a single floor, though expanded from eight to 10 galleries.
The revamped display features more than 2,800 exhibits, including artefacts, historic photos and interactive multimedia installations. In the preface, it states that the “shifting tides across China’s vast territory” have “inevitably affected” Hong Kong. It adds that, “though seemingly insignificant in scale, Hong Kong’s unique historical circumstances and developmental path have made its people indispensable participants, witnesses and beneficiaries of the sweeping transformation of modern China”.
The first of four core themes, “Roots of Culture”, presents an expanded timeline tracing Hong Kong’s prehistoric trajectory and highlighting its integration as part of Chinese territory as early as the Qin dynasty in 214BC.
Visitors have expressed mixed reactions to the changes.