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The HKU Museum Society is delighted to present a guided viewing of 2 exhibitions at UMAG:

Tradition & Perfection: Paper Cuttings from China & Switzerland with Dr. Harold Kraemer and Reimagining the Diamond Pine: Ink Art of Wang Xin with Dr. Shuo Hua at UMAG

The first exhibition – Tradition & Perfection: Paper Cuttings from China & Switzerland.

Paper cuttings have long fascinated viewers with their expressive storytelling and extraordinary precision. For the first time, Swiss paper cuttings from the collection of Interlaken-based collectors Elsbeth and Niklaus Wyss are being juxtaposed with Chinese paper cuttings from the collection of the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, along with works from the Guanling Paper Cutting Art Museum and the Jieyiyuan Paper Cutting Art Center, Pingyao, both located in Shanxi province. The aim of the exhibition is to highlight the diversity and distinctive cultural identities of this fascinating art form. 

Speaker

Dr. Harald P. Kraemer (孔慧銳) is an art scholar, curator and designer with a focus on Museum Studies and Media in Museums. As a pioneer of Museum Informatics & Digital Collections (PhD, University of Trier), he is counted among the founders of the Digital Humanities. In Vienna, Dr. Kraemer completed the first MA programme for exhibition curators and has since curated and designed over 80 exhibitions. He has written and published widely on applied museology, museum documentation, media in museums, curating, and contemporary art and has taught these topics at universities in Bern, Glasgow, Hong Kong, and Zurich, among others. Since 2022 he has been at UMAG/HKU where he curated and published Metamorphosis & Confrontation. Tobias Klein (UMAG 2020), Couplet Pair Rebus. The principle of cause and effect in art (UMAG 2023/24) as well as 8 times 8. stories series systems in mythology & art (UMAG 2025).

The second exhibition – Reimagining the Diamond Pine: Ink Art of Wang Xin.

Painter and seal carver Wang Xin was born in Xingtai, Hebei province, in 1964, and graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1991. He currently lives in Beijing, where he teaches Master of Fine Arts students at the Communication University of China. This unprecedented exhibition of his paintings of pine trees offers specific insights into his philosophical mindset and, more specifically, the Buddhist influence of the Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra).

Speaker

Dr. Shuo Sue Hua is an Associate Curator at the University of Hong Kong, University Museum and Art Gallery. Her curatorial practice and research focus on the intersection of Asian pictorial art and exhibition culture and history, situated within transcultural and transmedial contexts. She has recently developed a curiosity for exploring the connection between Chinese pictorial art, nature and philosophy, along with an awareness of sustainability.

Image Credit: Courtesy of UMAG

In the 19th century, Victoria City on Hong Kong Island was divided into four districts: Upper, Central, Lower, and Western. The Western District was also known as Kennedy Town 堅尼地城, named after Hong Kong’s 7th Governor, Arthur Edward Kennedy (term: 1872–1877). Located at the westernmost end of Hong Kong Island, Kennedy Town had a slaughterhouse (堅尼地城屠房 Kennedy Town Slaughterhouse) and a pavilion (一別亭 One-Farewell Pavilion). Nearby Shek Tong Tsui 石塘咀, meanwhile, became famous for its entertainment and nightlife.

We are delighted to present a walk with Mr. Cheng Po Hung, a renowned expert in Hong Kong history and heritage.  He will guide us on a walk from Kennedy Town to Shek Tong Tsui to retrace the history of the Western District.

十九世紀香港島維多利亞城有四環，分別是上、中、下及西環，而西環又名堅尼地城(取名自第7任香港總督堅尼地，任期:1872年至1877年)。位處香港島最西端的堅尼地城有屠房和一別亭，至於接鄰西環的石塘咀，則以塘西風月而聞名。

鄭寶鴻先生是著名香港歷史及掌故專家，一直以來對推廣香港歷史的普及教育不遺餘力，他將帶領我們一遊此引人入勝的地帶。

Photo provided by Mr. Cheng Po Hung 相片由鄭寶鴻先生提供

This lecture is presented in conjunction with the Museum Society’s upcoming trip, “Canvases of Devotion: The Resplendent Art and Architecture of Northern Italy”. Members and friends are welcome to attend.

Lecture 1: Devotion in Renaissance Art of Northern Italy (by Dr. Isabelle Frank)

This talk will present an overview of the main northern Italian painters to be encountered on the tour who were associated with such artistic centres as Bologna, Milan, Parma, Modena, Bergamo. In the 15th century such artists were local, reflecting the distinctive style of their regions. In the 16th century the influence of three major masters, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, spread to these areas as well and one sees some artists imitating their style. However, northern Italian artists remained distinctive in their use of colour and light, inspired by the Venetian school of painting. Indeed, there was a famous rivalry between the so-called ‘disegno’ or composition of Florentine artists and the ‘colorire’ or colour of the northern painters.

Speaker

Dr. Isabelle Frank is an independent curator in Hong Kong. After six years as the founding director of the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong (2016 to 2022), she continued as consulting curator until 2024. Over this period, she mounted exhibitions combining art and technology and bridging Western and Asian cultures. She has collaborated with such international institutions as the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Latvian National Museum of Art. An art historian by training (with a Ph.D. from Harvard University), she has published on Italian Renaissance art and decorative art (The Theory of Decorative Art 1750-1940, Yale University Press, 2000), and has edited many catalogues for the Banga Gallery, most recently Amber: Baltic Gold (2022) and A Passion for Silk: The Road from China to Europe (City University of Hong Kong, 2024).

Lecture 2: Tales of three cities: continuity and innovation of historic architecture of Ravenna, Parma and Bergamo (by Professor Puay-peng Ho)

Western architectural history is born in Italy, and many minor cities in northern Italy bear witness to the continuity and innovation of architectural styles and expressions which began in major Italian centres of wealth, devotion, and power. These smaller regional cities, such as the three that will be highlighted in this lecture, contain buildings that derived from main architectural style with regional variations. They are delightfully innovative, particular in their integration within the tight urban space and the fusion of arts and decorations.

As a capital city during the 5th to 7th centuries of various states, Ravenna has managed to preserve many monuments from the Byzantine period which demonstrate the continuity of Eastern tradition of brick constructions, centralized plan with dome roof, and narrative mosaic works. The interior follows the Christian iconography seen in buildings in Constantinople and other minor Asian cities. The octagonal plan of Neon Baptistry continues the traditional form of baptistry started in Rome in the 4th century and fully decorated internally with mosaics. Walking in the city of Ravenna, one cannot help but feel the warm spirit of the place surrounded by brown-brick structures with imaginative interiors. As a city oscillating between many controlling powers in the medieval period, Parma is surprisingly spacious and contains some grandeur buildings, such as the cathedral and the baptistry. The octagonal baptistry follows the plan form of early baptistry typology but with innovative design features such as the tall volume, the use of pink Verona marble and rich painting decoration inside. Bergamo, with its upper and lower cities, develops its urban fabric and architecture over many centuries since the medieval time. Such ‘organic’ growth resulted in many unplanned urban spaces and unconventional building forms. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is a prime example of additive growth starting with a Greek cross plan with semicircular apses, porches, and loggia added over a long period of time, and the interior fresco from the 17th century Baroque period. The basilica we see today is nevertheless a holistic religious structure exuding spirituality with fine didactic details.

This lecture will illustrate the flow of Western architectural history through the examination of the architecture of these three cities, and to demonstrate the continuum of urban, architectural and social forms with innovations through the past ages.

Speaker

Profession Ho Puay Peng is the UNESCO Chair on Architectural Heritage Conservation & Management in Asia and is a Professor of the Department of Architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Design and Environment. Prior to joining NUS, Prof Ho was Professor of Architecture and served as Director of School of Architecture and University Dean of Students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Professor Ho received the Master of Art in Architectural Studies (First Class Honours) and Diploma of Architecture from the University of Edinburgh, and practiced architecture in Edinburgh and in Singapore. Subsequently, Prof Ho took up PhD research at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to present a guided viewing of “Zhao Hai Tien—Cultivation: 50 Years of Painting”; “Japanese Jewels: Imperial Silver Bonbonnières” and “Handmade and Handheld Song to Qing Dynasty Chinese Bronzes for the Scholar’s Studio” with the artist Zhou Hai Tien and Dr. Florian Knothe at UMAG.

Zhao Hai Tien—Cultivation: 50 Years of Painting, an exhibition showcasing Zhao Hai Tien’s artistic journey as a painter and her boundless explorations as a Hong Kong artist, both locally and internationally. Her work is distinguished by a poignant confluence of abstract expression, spiritual depth, and cross-cultural dialogue. From her early New York-inflected abstractions to the later meditative, calligraphic, and cosmic visual language, she has consistently infused her practice with vitality, reflection, and resilience—an enduring testament to her inquiry into identity, spirituality, and the cosmos. 

Born in Shanghai in 1945, Zhao Hai Tien emerged as a pioneering figure in modern Chinese art and was among the few of her generation to train overseas before China’s opening in 1979. She completed her early studies in Shanghai and Hong Kong, before moving to New York, where she earned a BFA from Cooper Union in 1969. Immersed in the dynamic New York art scene of the 1960s, she began experimenting with abstraction, transforming her artistic language in bold and innovative ways. Zhao Hai Tien’s artistic evolution and creative explorations are characterised by a remarkable diversity of media—from airbrush and automotive spray paint on wooden folded screens and acrylic on canvas to calligraphic experiments, large-scale public murals, and oil paintings. Her practice blends technical precision with expressive freedom, deeply informed by spiritual traditions. 

Now in her eighties, Hai Tien continues to paint with unwavering dedication, extending her artistic vision into both scientific and spiritual realms. Today, after five decades of artistic cultivation, Zhao Hai Tien stands as an important and influential figure, embodying a generation of Chinese artists who have navigated the intersections of Eastern tradition and Western modernity. Zhao Hai Tien reminds us that true artistry transcends age. 

https://umag.hku.hk/exhibition/zhao-hai-tien-cultivation-50-years-of-painting/

Japanese Jewels: Imperial Silver Bonbonnières, an exhibition of precious boxes that illustrate a well-documented tradition in Japan, which rose to prominence during the Meiji era and became formalised in imperial ceremonies. These containers, often made from pure silver and adorned with gold inlays and enamel, regularly display motifs that symbolise auspicious elements such as longevity, prosperity, and harmony. The story of Japanese imperial bonbonnières is a story of both creation and reception—of the master artisans who made them and the carefully selected recipients who received them. Makers like Kobayashi, Miyamoto, or Muramatsu upheld court traditions through exacting craftsmanship, while recipients, from nobles to foreign envoys, engaged in a socially meaningful system of imperial recognition.

All silver boxes on display are part of the Nancy and Robin Markbreiter Collection. This exhibition has been made possible through their generous support and the patronage of the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong.

https://umag.hku.hk/exhibition/japanese-jewels-imperial-silver-bonbonnieres/

Handmade and Handheld: Song to Qing Dynasty Chinese Bronzes for the Scholar’s Studio. The eighty-seven objects illustrate a remarkable cultural continuum that links ancient ritual traditions to a sophisticated literati aesthetic and intellectual life. These bronzes, having transcended their original ritual functions, became prized art objects, instruments of scholarly inquiry, and emblems of moral and political values. Their diverse forms—from ritual vessels to intimate incense burners and scholarly desk pieces—reflect the deep integration of bronze into the fabric of imperial and literati culture. In so doing, many of the plants and animals—mythical or real—carry important auspicious meanings that contribute to the learned culture from which they originate. These pieces have been generously loaned by Mr. Paul Bromberg.

https://umag.hku.hk/exhibition/handmade-and-handheld-song-to-qing-dynasty-chinese-bronzes-for-the-scholars-studio/

Speaker
Dr. Florian Knothe is the Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery and an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, HKU. He serves as the MA in Museum Studies programme director and has taught Museum Studies at undergraduate and post-graduate level for more than 15 years. Florian trained in conservation, art history and heritage law, and lectures and teaches internationally. With the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, he held a Mellon Foundation grant to investigate and initiate Museum Studies at HKU.

Image Credit: Courtesy of UMAG

The Executive Committee is delighted to organise a 2^nd heritage outing to Kuk Po with Professor Wang Weijen, Andrew KF Lee Professor in Architecture Design, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong / Design Director, Wang Weijen Architecture. In addition to the guided tour of the village and its surroundings, there will also be a guided tour of art works by Chan Kwan Lok.

Situated amidst the rural landscapes of Hong Kong’s Sha Tau Kok, Kuk Po preserves large area of mangrove wetlands and traditional Hakka settlements, juxtaposed against the backdrop of Shenzhen’s urban skyline across the sea. Supported by the Countryside Conservation Office, the design team from the University of Hong Kong has embarked on an initiative encompassing design research, conservation, and revitalization efforts in Kuk Po, to implement an acupuncture planning strategy through site participation and micro-renewal. By conserving and repurposing heritage structures and reimagining public spaces within the village, the design interventions aim to elevate the environmental quality of Kuk Po while re-fostering a sense of place with the community.

Based on the framework of the “Kuk Po Vision,” the study interweaves architectural, landscape, and community, addressing the study of wetland valleys, Feng Shui woods, and the typological and structural characteristics of Hakka architecture. Over the past four years, the team has launched initiatives to revitalize built structures and enhance the surrounding environment through a series of collaborative endeavors, including exhibitions at Kai Choi School, restoration of the Kuk Po Common, establishment of the Kai Choi Plaza, community engagements with the Art Kuk Po Program, construction of Eco Toilet, and renovation of the Ruin Garden.

The team emphasis on research and place-making within the design process, addressing issues of typology, texture, structure, and tactile qualities, as well as active community involvement, to reconstruct the historical memory of the site. The design explores alternative urban and rural spaces in Hong Kong, promotes sustainable urban and rural environments, and raises public awareness of traditional architecture and community culture, as well as conservation of the ecological and landscape environments. The project covers:

Kuk Po Common – Adaptive Reuse of a School Building for Community Spaces.
Kai Choi Plaza – Place Making with Collective Memories.
Art Kuk Po – Space Catalyst and Culture Participation with Creative Intervention using Kai Choi School, Kuk Po Common, and the plaza as venues.
Eco-Toilet – Green Infrastructure with Organic Recycling.
Ruin Garden – Heritage Conservation of the Sung family mansion built during the Qing dynasty with Innovative Method.

Resource Person

Professor Wang Weijen, Andrew KF Lee Professor in Architecture Design, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong / Design Director, Wang Weijen Architecture.

Integrating architecture with nature and culture landscape, his practice and research respond to high-density urban context, rural conservation, and sustainable environments. His design projects covering campuses and community buildings, consistantly received awards from HKIA, HKIUD, AIA Hong Kong, AR, WA, and was reviewed by Kenneth Frampton in Modern Architecture (2020).

Previously Head of Department of Architecture at HKU, he was the 2023 Howard Freeman Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, curator of 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale for Hong Kong Exhibition, and 2007 Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture. With research focuses on typology of Chinese Architecture and Cities as well as Hong Kong’s urban rural spaces, his published books include Refabricating City: a reflection, Regenerating Patio: Studies of Macao’s Historical Urban Fabric, Kuk Po Vision: An Account of the Architectural Environment in a Hong Kong Village, and design monographs Urban Courtyardism by UED and Taiwan Architect.

Photo Credit: Kuk Po Vision

The Executive Committee of the University of Hong Kong Museum Society invites you to join the Margaret Wang Memorial Lecture Fund One Day Symposium, exploring the intersections of Architecture: City, Landscape & Heritage.

The multi-volume work Ten Books on Architecture (De architectura) by Vitruvius Polio, a Roman architect and engineer from the 1st century BC, is the only architectural treatise to have survived from antiquity. Vitruvius defines architecture through three essential attributes: structure (firmitas), function (utilitas), and beauty (venustas). This definition remains a cornerstone of architectural discourse today.

In light of the critical social and environmental challenges of the 21st century, along with rapid technological advancements, how has architecture evolved in its concerns for humanity, utility, and beauty compared to the Classical and Renaissance eras? As many buildings and landscapes become competing markers in an age of speculative cities, how can architecture, urban planning, landscape design, and conservation integrate new knowledge and skills to address broader issues within the built environment? This integration is vital for creating a more sustainable and resilient architecture and urbanism for the decades to come.

As urbanization accelerates at an unprecedented pace in the Pearl River Delta, how can architects and planners expand their concerns from Hong Kong to the Greater Bay Area, identify shared values that address issues over high-density urbanism, public spaces, traditional settlements, sustainability, and the urban-architectural transformations of scale over time?

This symposium invites four renowned scholars and architects, each with expertise in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and conservation, to explore how the architecture and urbanism of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area can effectively address these pressing issues and take a leadership role in shaping the future of the built environment.

Speakers 

Chu, Cecilia

Director of MPhil-PhD Programme and Associate Professor, School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Trained as an urban historian with a background in design and conservation, Cecilia Chu’s research and teaching focus on the social and cultural processes that shape the forms and meanings of built environments. She is especially interested in the intersection of professional and popular knowledge of architecture and landscapes, particularly in the Asian context.

Chu is the author of Building Colonial Hong Kong: Speculative Development and Segregation in the City, which received the 2023 Best Book Award from the Urban History Association and the 2024 International Planning History Society Book Prize. She is a co-founder and past president of DOCOMOMO Hong Kong and an editorial board member of Journal of Urban History, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong, Surveying and Built Environment, and Built Environment. She received her PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.

He, Shengjing

Head of Department and Professor, Lady Edith Kotewall Professor in Built Environment, Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Hong Kong

Shenjing’s research interests focus on social infrastructure, urban and regional governance, gentrification, rural-urban interface, low-income housing, and healthy cities. She has published over 200 papers and five books and has been listed as Top 1% Scholar Worldwide by Clarivate Analytics (2016-2025), Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists (2020-2025).

Shenjing was awarded the prestigious National Distinguished Young Scientists Fund by National Science Foundation of China and Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship by RGC in 2025 and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK) in 2021. She has served as a co-editor-in-chief for Area Development and Policy since 2023 and editor for Urban Studies (2012-2024).

Shenjing is the Chair of Asia Pacific Network for Housing Research and Vice President of Asian Planning School Association. She also serves as an advisor for many Planning and Design Institutions, Governments, and NGOs.

Wang, Weijen

Professor, Andrew KF Lee Professor in Architecture Design, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong / Design Director, Wang Weijen Architecture

Integrating architecture with nature and culture landscape, his practice and research respond to high-density urban context, rural conservation, and sustainable environments. His design projects covering campuses and community buildings, consistantly received awards from HKIA, HKIUD, AIA Hong Kong, AR, WA, and was reviewed by Kenneth Frampton in Modern Architecture (2020).  

Previously Head of Department of Architecture at HKU, he was the 2023 Howard Freeman Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, curator of 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale for Hong Kong Exhibition, and 2007 Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture. With research focuses on typology of Chinese Architecture and Cities as well as Hong Kong’s urban rural spaces, his published books include Refabricating City: a reflection, Regenerating Patio: Studies of Macao’s Historical Urban Fabric, Kuk Po Vision: An Account of the Architectural Environment in a Hong Kong Village, and design monographs Urban Courtyardism by UED and Taiwan Architect.

Yim, Rocco SK

Executive Director, Rocco Design Architects, Adjunct Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong                                                                           

Rocco Yim is currently Executive Director of Rocco Design Architects. Since winning a First Prize Award for the L’Opéra de la Bastille international competition in 1983, his works have consistently been awarded both in Hong Kong and overseas. Recent accolades include ARCASIA Gold Medals in 1994 & 2003, World Architecture Festival category winner in 2010, Chicago Athenaeum Architectural Awards in 2006, 2011 and 2013, German Design Council Iconic Award and ULI Global Award in 2014.

His works have been published in various regional and global journals and have been exhibited four times in the Venice Biennale over the last decade. He is currently Honorary Museum Adviser to LCSD and a member of the IAF Council of International Advisors for the University of Southern California. He was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Social Sciences by the University of Hong Kong in 2013.

Moderators

Seng, Eunice M.F.

Head of Department and Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong                                                           

Eunice Seng is the founder of the award-winning SKEW Collaborative, a founding member of Docomomo Hong Kong, the 2017 co-director of the Singapore Architectural Festival, and a licensed architect in the Netherlands. Previously PhD Programme Director, she teaches history, theory, and design. She is a recipient of the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award and Senior Teaching Fellow. 

Seng holds a BA(AS) from the National University of Singapore, an MArch from Princeton University, and a PhD from Columbia University. Her research as an architectural historian examines the intersections of architecture, housing, public space, gender, and labor in Asia. She is the author of Resistant City: Histories, Maps, and the Architecture of Development and is currently working on a book project, Housing Contingency, investigating Hong Kong’s urban development. Her and SKEW’s work have been exhibited internationally at venues including the Venice Biennale, Seoul Biennale, and Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale.

Zhu, Tao

Associate Professor and Deputy Head, Department of Architecture, Co-director of the Center for Chinese Architecture and Urban Design, University of Hong Kong

Tao Zhu holds a Master of Architecture and a PhD in Architecture History and Theory from Columbia University. His scholarly work focuses on contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism, with publications in leading journals such as AA Files, AD, and Domus. He is the author of Liang Sicheng and His Times (2014) and a contributor to A Critical History of Contemporary Architecture (2014). 

In 2010, he was honored with the inaugural Architectural Critics Award from the China Architecture Media Awards.

As a practicing architect, his built works include the Shenzhen Wenjindu Bus Terminal and two Hope Project Elementary Schools in Sichuan and Gansu. He is currently engaged in several large-scale projects, including Block 2 of Shenzhen Liuxiandong New City District (under construction) and the South District City Renovation of Dafen Village (planning). He also serves as the City Construction Consultant for Chang’an, Dongguan, aiding its urbanization through research and design.