Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

The proceedings were p u b l i s h e d as Studies on Hong Kong Drama. This was a significant event in the academic development o f Hong Kon g theatre. I n 1993, the I n t e r na t i ona l Conference o n Con t empo r a r y Chinese Playwriting was organized b y Sir Run Run Shaw Ha ll w i t h the aim of providing a forum for exchange amon g Chinese- speaking theatre lovers the wo r ld over. Abou t 20 Chinese plays were selected for critique by scholars from different countries. One participant was Mr . Gao Xingjian , who later became Nobel laureate in literature in 2000. Prof. Fong's subsequent collaborations w i t h Gao, as well as the staging of Gao's work, The Other Shore, at the Academy for Performing Arts in 1995, can be traced back to this conference. I n 1996 ， t h e f i r s t C h i n e s e Drama F e s t i v a l ( Ch i na , Ho n g K o n g, and Taiwan) was held in Beijing. It was then decided that the event w o u ld be h e l d e v e r y t w o y ea r s. Sir Run Run Shaw H a l l , h a v i n g stocked up on experience and contacts from the two previous large- scale conferences, was invited to host the symposium o f the second festival i n 1998. The papers presented i n the festival were late r published in Chinese Drama in the New Millennium. Studies on Hong Kong Drama Mr. Gao Xingjian (left) visiting the University in January 2001 . Seated next to him is pro-vice-chancellor Prof. Ambrose King. Chinese Drama in the New Millennium The second Chinese Drama Festival Symposium, 1998 Hong Kong Culture: A Multiplicity of Colours 13