One hundred years ago today, the man responsible for Mickey Mouse was born - and a new world of animated magic and family entertainment soon spread throughout the globe.
To mark the birth date of Walt Disney, the company he founded has launched a year-long round of celebrations titled '100 Years of Magic'. In Hong , the birthday party is being celebrated with an ice show, Disney on Ice.
'The celebration should also help people around the world become more familiar with our company's extraordinary heritage,' Michael Eisner, chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company, told a Hong Kong audience earlier this year.
In Hong Kong and Asia, while the Disney name is synonymous with fun cartoons and character toys, many may not know much of the man himself, who died in 1966.
As the 100 Years Of Magic celebrations get under way, the company - poised to begin construction of a new Disneyland amusement park in the SAR - hopes to shed some light on what Mr Eisner describes as an 'extraordinary' man.
Walt Elias Disney, a commercial artist, headed to Los Angeles to seek his fortune in 1923. It did not take too long. By 1928, Mickey Mouse (first sketched by Walt himself) had starred in his first 'talkie' movie called Steamboat Willie. A nation beset with the woes of the Depression warmly welcomed Mickey as they sought amusement and escape in the ensuing cartoon series.