Dear Members,

May is an exciting month in the Hong Kong art scene. We have arranged guided tours to Christie's and Bonhams spring exhibitions, and the Hong Kong International Art Fair 2012. Each of these will abundantly feast our eyes with the creativity and craftsmanship of different cultures, from ancient to contemporary times.

Lectures are the Museum Society's traditional core activities, and we have organized two for this season - Stacy Gould, HKU's Archivist, will talk about family archiving; and Angus Forsyth, the Museum Society's Honorary Legal Advisor and a jade expert, will present a talk, Flying Manbirds and Fairies - Chinese Jade Parallels Intertwining Shamanism and Buddhism.

I must thank you for the donations and ad sponsorships for our 2011 Annual Report, which will help support the Museum and other meaningful art and educational projects. Please join us at our Annual General Meeting, with keynote speaker Francois Curiel, President of Christie's Asia. He will share with us the enigma of the auction business and the trends in the art market, particularly in Asia.

The Museum Society is sponsoring a three-day international Qing art conference with scholars flying in from around the world to present their expertise on this subject. This conference is organized by the HKU Fine Arts Department, which we endorse, not only as an academic endeavour, but also as a service to promote art to the public. We hope you will enjoy these in-depth and free presentations.

A series of interesting fundraising events will be organized to celebrate the Museum Society's silver anniversary in 2013. The first kick-off event will be a special fine dining experience with a sharing on the art of elegant living at the residence of Joseph Fung, a renowned architect and connoisseur.

Finally, UMAG Director Yeung Chun-tong is retiring at the end of June 2012, after 35 years of service to the Museum. We thank him for the warm friendship and kind assistance he has given to the Museum Society throughout the years. He has led tours, given talks and advice, for which we are grateful. We wish CT a long, healthy and happy retirement.

And to everyone a cool and blissful summer!

Bonnie Kwan Huo (霍關天穎)
Chairman