The “Hong Kong Literature Mansion” organized by the pro-establishment Hong Kong Writers Association Chairman, Pan Yaoming, announced last year, officially opened at 7 Mallory Street in Wanchai yesterday morning. The opening ceremony and exhibition “Everything Has A Story – In Search of Flowers in Literature” were held.
However, starting from the 11th of this month, the “Southern Writers’ Handwriting and Relic Exhibition” organized by the Hong Kong Literature Mansion, the Hong Kong Writers Association, and the China Modern Literature Museum at the Hong Kong Central Library has sparked controversy over exhibition content errors and image copyrights infringement. After the opening ceremony, when asked by reporters about the above-mentioned controversies, Pan Yaoming was interrupted by his PR advisor and pulled away, saying, “I’m sorry, there’s still a meeting, let’s talk later.”
The opening ceremony was conducted in Mandarin. When addressing the audience in Mandarin, Pan Yaoming mentioned that the “Hong Kong Literature Mansion” could establish an identity for Hong Kong culture. He described the “Hong Kong Literature Mansion” as having held the first and largest “Southern Writers’ Handwriting and Relic Exhibition” in Hong Kong’s history, allowing the audience to feel the inseparable connection between Hong Kong and Chinese culture, as well as Hong Kong’s unique creativity and cultural inclusivity as an open society.
Several officials attended yesterday’s opening ceremony, including Lu Xinning, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office, and Yuen Yun-hung, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism. Chief Executive Li Jiachao was unable to attend and delivered a video message instead.
Since the opening of the “Southern Writers” exhibition on the 11th, discrepancies have been pointed out by members of the society, including errors in the caption of Eileen Chang’s image and misattributing photos from writer Xiao Si’s works to a mainland literary magazine, causing a stir.
The “Hong Kong Literature Mansion” responded to the incident on the 18th, stating that image captions had been updated and expressing “sincere apologies to scholars, enthusiasts, and the public dedicated to Hong Kong literature research” for any shortcomings. However, critics pointed out that the exhibition boards were still not thoroughly revised even after the updates, further criticizing the mansion for listing image sources, retaining the mainland magazine that allegedly used Xiao Si’s photos without permission, and including Xiao Si’s name in the arrangement. ◇