After almost two decades, a showcase of Hong Kong history reaching all the way back to prehistoric times is undergoing a major revamp. The eight galleries of the permanent exhibition, occupying two floors at the Hong Kong Museum of History, cover everything from the city’s geological and landscape formation to ancient forests, and the earliest human activities thousands of years ago. The Hong Kong Story exhibition opened in 2001 and has attracted more than 11 million visitors, who also learned about the period when the city was under the British. The timeline stopped at 1997, when the city was returned to China. The exhibition closes for the overhaul on Monday, and when it reopens, in 2022 at the earliest, many of the large-scale models and life-size replicas of historical scenes are likely to be replaced by interactive presentations. It is also expected to be updated to include more recent events from after 1997, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic of 2003 and the Occupy movement of 2014, which saw protesters seeking political reform shut down parts of the city for 79 days. Experts agreed it was time for a revamp, but some wondered what would be retained, thrown out or recast, especially where it concerned colonial rule and politically sensitive incidents. “It’s not just me. Many people are worried that after the revamp, the exhibition might downplay Britain’s role in Hong Kong and increase descriptions of China’s role in the city,” said Chan Chi-wa, a Chinese history teacher and author of several books on Hong Kong’s history. Half the galleries covered British rule between 1842 and 1997, from the Sino-British Opium Wars, to the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during World War II, and the city’s spectacular growth since then into a major metropolis. One photo gallery featured portraits of 21 British governors from 1843 to 1941, with displays of items such as their books and documents. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which is in charge of the revamp, said an expert advisory panel comprising mainly historians, scholars and museum management staff was formed in 2016 to suggest ideas for updating the permanent exhibition. Two sources on the panel told the Post that the governors’ portraits, which took up a lot of space, were likely to go, though details about them could still be featured in another form. Many life-size exhibits, including of the prehistoric forest, ancient human life and folk culture, may also be replaced, according to one of the sources. The insider also said the new permanent exhibition would shrink to occupy only one floor, freeing the second floor for changing, temporary exhibitions. “When the exhibition was first built, life-size models were popular,” he explained. “But given the technology available now, many items can be presented in a virtual manner, instead of having large, expensive replicas.” Politics in Hong Kong was also covered in the exhibition, with a timeline accompanied by pictures, including of the 1967 riots, which lasted eight months and left 51 dead, as well as Hongkongers’ involvement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989. An exhibit titled “A million march” described how more than a million people took to the streets of Hong Kong in solidarity with the Beijing protesters, although it did not mention that the mainland authorities cracked down on June 4 by sending tanks into the square. A 10-minute video presentation of local history between 1842 and 1997 included clips of the annual June 4 candlelight vigil held in Hong Kong. Both sources expected the two incidents to remain in the new exhibition, but said the revamp plans had yet to be finalised. Replying to queries from the Post , a spokeswoman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said the revamped exhibition would present Hong Kong’s historical and cultural developments “in an objective and unbiased manner”, based on professional and academic principles. The museum would also ensure that exhibitions abide by local laws, including the sweeping new national security law , and would seek legal advice if questions arose. Professor John Carroll, from the University of Hong Kong‘s history department, thought it was “high time the exhibition was updated”. On plans to scale back the parts on prehistoric Hong Kong and add post-1997 elements, he said: “These are appropriate changes, though I would be happy seeing the prehistoric section staying as it is. The natural history section is so large it could be its own museum.” He suggested that last year’s anti-government protests , as well as the city‘s efforts in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic this year, could feature in the updated exhibition. History teacher and author Chan was concerned that elements related to British rule might be removed and the narratives would shift. He wondered, for example, if the revamped exhibition might refer to Hong Kong as “a city under British rule” rather than a colony. “Many primary and secondary school pupils visit the museum to learn about Hong Kong history outside the classroom. It is important for it to stick to historical facts,” he said. University student Tony Wong, 22, who made a point of visiting the exhibition before it closed, said: “I took photos to keep, because what we can see now might not be what we will see after the revamp.”