The Collector | A Palace Museum in Hong Kong opens door to a wealth of treasures

Despite the furore over the government’s decision, an institution with access to the 1.8 million items in Beijing could be a great opportunity for the city - but only if its curators meet international standards

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Why you can trust SCMP

Enid Tsui

Published: 7:00am, 12 Jan 2017Updated: 12:09pm, 12 Jan 2017

Well, they asked for it.

For years, officials told the Hong Kong public that their opinions mattered when it came to the fantastically expensive West Kowloon Cultural District. They held public consultations galore, leading to ever more delays in the start of construction. Then, the government shouted, “Surprise!” (or was it “Gotcha!”) as it presented the Hong Kong Palace Museum as a fait accompli.

People are not going to readily absolve the government for skipping the usual tendering procedures, hoodwinking lawmakers who monitor the district and behaving so furtively that its motives would inevitably be called into question. The patronising, lecturing tone of officials banging on about how people in this supposedly international city must learn “their own” culture doesn’t help, either.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary Carrie Lam (left) and the director of the Palace Museum, Shan Jixiang, at a press conference in Beijing last month. Picture: Dickson Lee

The war of words between Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the project’s critics has focused on whether due process has been observed in the planning of a Palace Museum in West Kowloon, the announcement of which was made on December 23.

If the project does go forward, other questions need to be asked about the content and how it is going to be presented.