Miss Law's Beijing Visit Highlights Cultural Cooperation and Film Industry Development with Chinese Officials.

2025-04-03 21:15 Last Updated At：21:28

SCST continues visit to Beijing

The Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, and some members of her delegation, continued their visit in Beijing today (April 3). They called on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the China Film Administration.

Miss Law visited "Ancient China" exhibition at the National Museum of China in the morning. Then, she met with the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Mr Gao Zheng, and briefed Mr Gao on the preparations for the Asia Cultural Co-Operation Forum 2025. The forum will be held on April 22 and 23 with the theme of "Connect, Create, Engage: Bridging Cultures for all". Miss Law thanked Mr Gao for taking the time to lead the delegation to Hong Kong to participate and was very encouraged by the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and hoped that the forum would become an important platform for promoting cultural co-operation in the Asian regions. Miss Law also said that the National Museum of China showed an example of how to enrich the content of Hong Kong's museums and enhance the museum experience for citizens and visitors to Hong Kong. Mr Gao said that the National Museum of China will fully support and provide professional guidance for the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to establish a museum to introduce the country's development and achievements and to prepare exhibitions related to the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

In the afternoon, Miss Law met with the Executive Deputy Director-General of the China Film Administration Mr Mao Yu. She sincerely thanked the Central Government for its strong support to Hong Kong and expanded the liberalisation measures to Hong Kong's film industry under the framework of the Agreement on Trade in Services of Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, which has facilitated the Hong Kong film industry entering into the Mainland market. Mr Mao said that there are many outstanding young film talents in Hong Kong, and they can be given more opportunities to develop and participate in film-related activities in the Mainland to broaden their horizons. Miss Law hoped to work with the China Film Administration in the future to promote in-depth exchanges between the film industries of the two places, and jointly foster the high-quality development of Hong Kong and Chinese film industries.

Miss Law also visited the Hall of Honor of the Training Center of the General Administration of Sport of China and was briefed by the Director of the Training Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, Mr Yang Xinli. Through introducing the stories behind the photos and exhibits, Miss Law learnt about the spirit of resilience and perseverance of the national athletes, as well as their struggles to win honours for the country. Miss Law said these touching stories not only demonstrated the country's significant achievements in sports, but also embodied the national spirit of unity and progress, which are good examples for Hong Kong athletes to learn from.

Miss Law will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (April 4) noon.

TACO Hosts Workshop on Acupuncture for Smoking Cessation, Attracting 100 Practitioners from Hong Kong, Mainland, and Macao

2025-04-11 16:00 Last Updated At：16:08

DH's training workshop on Chinese medicine acupuncture for smoking cessation attracts about 100 Chinese medicine practitioners from Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao

The Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health (DH) today (April 11) organised a training workshop on Chinese medicine acupuncture service for smoking cessation to introduce the latest research and practical solutions to help smokers quit smoking through the use of acupuncture. The workshop attracted about 100 Chinese medicine (CM) practitioners from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.

"Since being designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Smoking Cessation and Treatment of Tobacco Dependence in 2012, the DH has become a regional hub for supporting training in smoking cessation treatment and services. Smoking cessation training is provided to healthcare professionals in Hong Kong, the Mainland and throughout the Western Pacific region on a regular basis. Today's training course covered smoking cessation counselling, the mechanism and treatment plans of CM smoking cessation, as well as practical demonstrations of acupuncture and ear point treatment techniques, helping frontline CM practitioners further enhance their knowledge and skills in delivering cessation treatments. About 80 frontline CM practitioners from the Mainland and Macao participated in the training course," the Head of TACO, Dr Fung Ying said.

Dr Fung said that studies have shown that acupuncture, combined with ear point treatment and professional counselling, can effectively alleviate withdrawal symptoms and the short-term discomforts that may appear when smokers start to quit smoking, thus increasing the success rate of quitting smoking. The DH-subvented CM acupuncture smoking cessation service operated by Pok Oi Hospital has reported a quit rate of over 20 per cent (i.e. the percentage of service users who self-reported staying tobacco-free in the past seven days) at 52 weeks after the quit date, comparable to that of the smoking cessation services using nicotine replacement therapy.

"The Government is introducing various tobacco control measures, including strengthening CM smoking cessation services. In this connection, the DH has subvented three more service providers (from one to four in total) this year to operate smoking cessation clinics focusing on counselling and acupuncture. The service attendance can be approximately doubled," Dr Fung said.

Apart from organising CM smoking cessation service training courses, TACO also organises the Annual Training Programme on Tobacco Control for tobacco control workers in the Western Pacific region, and conducts smoking cessation treatment training courses to enhance the capability of local healthcare professionals in providing smoking cessation support.

"The above training course and training programme will be held in the third and fourth quarters of this year respectively. TACO will deepen its co-operation and exchanges on tobacco control with the Mainland and other areas in the region, and will provide smoking cessation training and support to promote smoking cessation and safeguard public health," Dr Fung said.

Members of the public can call 1833 183 or visit the smoking cessation thematic websitefor more information on quitting and the available support tools and services.