Dozens of people attended an art exhibition in Southampton aimed at promoting Hong Kong culture.
Hong Kongers attended the event organised by Hong Kong Welcome, a group aimed at helping Hong Kong nationals settle in the city.
Held at Harbour Lights Picture House in Ocean Village, the gallery featured the works of a Hong Kong artist. The Lord Mayor of Southampton also attended the launch on Saturday.
Event organiser, Elaine Lo, spoke of the importance of making people from Hong Kong feel welcome.
She said: “We aim to promote Hong Kong culture in Southampton because recently there is a lot of Hong Kong people settling in Southampton and they have a lot of different talents, such as creativity.
“A lot of different skilled people are now in the city and so we aim at promoting our talent and also our culture to the community.”
She added: “We have our unique culture, we have our language, we have our written language, spoken language, and we have our values so we really would like to preserve them, even if we move to a new place.”
Hong Kong artist, Jerry Tsang, 52, shared his excitement at being able to showcase his art in Southampton.
He said: “All the paintings are based on Hong Kong scenery I created when I was in Hong Kong. I will continue to paint when I have settled in the UK.
“As a creator of art, any form of art, I am always happy to share what I created not only with people in Southampton but anywhere with anyone.
“I feel very excited to have that opportunity, especially here.”
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The Lord Mayor of Southampton, Cllr Valerie Laurent, shared the importance of events like this where Hong Kong nationals can come and socialise with other Hong Kongers.
She said: “These events are essential because when people from Hong Kong arrive in the city they have a different culture.
“They don’t know anybody and are very brave people who had to leave their homes so I think that this event is something that brings people together in the city and that is very important.”
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