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Huang Qingchen

Over the past few weeks, Hong Kong has offered a vivid demonstration of what it means to be a cultural hub. The city has transformed into a stage glittering with events that draws visitors from all across the world.
The second Hong Kong International Cultural Summit, held on March 22-23, kicked off the season, attracting more than 1,000 thought leaders and members of the global art community for in-depth dialogue. Then Art Basel Hong Kong began, bringing together 240 galleries from 41 countries and regions. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui announced that Hong Kong will be the only city in Asia hosting the art fair for five more years.
In April, the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival screened more than 200 films from 71 countries, including 11 world premieres. The ongoing French May Arts Festival and the launch of Hong Kong Comic Con 2026 this month are expected to create even greater buzz.
No doubt Hong Kong’s cultural assets are extraordinary. On the one hand, the city boasts world-class venues and infrastructure. The West Kowloon Cultural District continues to mature, with the Hong Kong Palace Museum and M+ winning acclaim worldwide. Kai Tak Stadium, which opened in March last year, was already ranked third globally in ticket sales by year’s end. In its first year alone, the stadium attracted 1.9 million attendees.
On the other hand, Hong Kong offers a unique environment of openness where Chinese culture and Western culture actively converge. The city hosts a remarkable array of mega-events and cultural activities, from the Chinese Culture Festival to Art Basel, demonstrating a level of cultural inclusiveness that few other Asian cities can match.
Moreover, it is one of the biggest art auction markets in the world, with transaction values remaining at the global forefront.

But assets alone do not guarantee success. As the crowds disperse and the exhibition halls empty, a question lingers: What comes next?
For all the excitement of the past few weeks, Hong Kong’s cultural story is still in its early chapters. The question is whether the city can build on this momentum to achieve something more enduring. Three priorities deserve attention.
First, strengthened cross-sector collaboration among culture, tourism, sports and retail is necessary. Too often, a visitor who comes for Art Basel might leave without visiting a single local gallery or heritage site. A tourist who attends the rugby Sevens may never set foot in a museum. A concert at Kai Tak generates buzz, but the surrounding commercial zones and art spaces see only a fraction of the spillover.
The opportunity lies in weaving these strands together. This means designing integrated packages that combine event tickets with hotel stays, dining experiences and guided tours. It means coordinating calendars across sectors so that a major sport event coincides with a gallery night or a film festival to ensure that the economic benefits spread far beyond the venue gates.
Hong Kong has all the pieces: what it needs is the strategic coordination to assemble them into a cohesive whole.


Second, acting more ambitiously as a storyteller is crucial. Standing at the intersection of East and West, Hong Kong is a natural international launch pad for Chinese culture. The Chinese Culture Festival draws tens of thousands of participants every year, but the overwhelming majority are local.
The real opportunity lies in presenting a vivid and authentic picture of China to audiences overseas. It requires a deliberate strategy of global dissemination – a role Hong Kong is uniquely positioned to play.
Third, deepened resonance at the local level, for communities and neighbourhoods, is indispensable. Hong Kong has proved it can attract the world. The next step is to ensure that the cultural boom reaches every corner of the city, beyond Central and West Kowloon.
This means investing in community-based programmes that bring art to public housing estates, schools and neighbourhoods. It means designing family-friendly events and affordable ticketing schemes that make world-class culture accessible to households in Tin Shui Wai. It also means nurturing home-grown talent whose output speaks to local experience while touching millions of hearts globally.
The national 15th five-year plan, covering the period from 2026 to 2030, supports Hong Kong in deepening its role as a centre for cultural and artistic exchange bridging China and the rest of the world. As the city, for the first time, is drafting its own five-year plan with cultural development as one of its priorities, there is good reason to believe that Hong Kong’s cultural moment – not a fleeting season of festivals and exhibitions, but a golden era of cultural exchange – is coming.


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Opinion

Hong Kong Opinion

Here are three ways the city can build on the recent momentum of art and cultural events to achieve something more enduring


Here are three ways the city can build on the recent momentum of art and cultural events to achieve something more enduring.


West Kowloon Cultural District

Hong Kong tourism

Art Basel

Hong Kong International Film Festival

China

Hong Kong

Rosanna Law Shuk-pui

Hong Kong Museum of Art

East Kowloon Cultural Centre

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


The best of Hong Kong as a cultural hub is yet to come

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Here are three ways the city can build on the recent momentum of art and cultural events to achieve something more enduring

Here are three ways the city can build on the recent momentum of art and cultural events to achieve something more enduring