To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the Motherland, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) especially organized a series of celebratory activities through the SHKP Reading Club’s annual summer flagship programme Read to Dream. The activities involving organizing an innovation and technology (I&T) proposal competition, sponsoring the publication of an illustration book, and the activities at the Hong Kong Book Fair, including a STEM talk, strengthen the promotion of I&T and reading among young people and equip the young generation with knowledge to deal with the changes and challenges in the future. All kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools students are welcome to participate in the activities.

Most of the activities in “SHKP Read to Dream – Celebratory Series of HKSAR 25th Anniversary” are government-accredited events to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). One of the major activities is Future Engineer Grand Challenge”, which is co-organized with the Hong Kong STEM Education Alliance, divided into primary, junior secondary and senior secondary categories. With the theme ‘Innovation and Technology Ideas for Improving Daily Life’, the competition encourages students to unleash their creativity and design various applications and tools that leverage the latest technology to enhance the quality of their daily life. The competition has attracted 100 teams from 48 schools, and the final round will be held in late August. The awarded teams with excellent performance will attend the prize ceremony at SHKP’s sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck. The Group is also sponsoring the publication of a children illustration book titled Hong Kong Chronicles for Children - HKSAR 25th Anniversary Edition and organizing the free distribution of the book and outreach activities in kindergartens and primary schools to enable students to learn more about special Hong Kong landmarks and their stories over the past 25 years in an interesting, easy-to-understand way.

The STEM talk, titled “Enjoy Reading STEM for an Innovative Future”, which is part of the Future Engineer Grand Challenge competition, was held at the Hong Kong Book Fair today and kicked off the Read to Dream 2022. The talk invited six I&T professionals and authors, including Professor Wong Kam Fai, Associate Dean (External Affairs) of the Faculty of Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong STEM Education Alliance; Dr Ray Cheung, Chairman of the Hong Kong STEM Education Alliance and Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at City University of Hong Kong; the Honourable Tang Fei, Legislative Council Member and Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers; Ronnie Yeung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Gifted Education Teachers' Association; Patrick Tang (STEM sir), Chairman of the iSTEM Ed Association and Guest Lecturer at The Education University of Hong Kong; and Renee Leung, author of “Hong Kong Chronicles for Children”, registered teacher and media worker. The talk explained STEM from educational, lifestyle and community perspectives, and shared facts about Hong Kong’s technology development over the past 25 years and the I&T achievements on the mainland. The talk was well attended by over 100 students, parents and book lovers.

Addressing the STEM talk, SHKP Executive Director Christopher Kwok said, “Hong Kong has already progressed to be a world-leading 5G city. As outlined in the 14th National Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong is positioned to be developed into an international innovation and technology hub. Therefore, SHKP is especially collaborating with organizations like the Hong Kong STEM Education Alliance provide youngsters with growth opportunities and organize a series of activities to strengthen their knowledge of Hong Kong history and its technology development over the past 25 years. The activities also encourage them to gain knowledge and unleash their imagination through reading, and to contribute to Hong Kong and the country to build a bright, innovative future together when they grow up.”

In addition, Read to Dream this year has continued its collaboration with long-term partners the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and St. James' Settlement, sponsoring over 1,000 students with free admission tickets to the book fair and an allowance for buying books. Since its launch in 2008, Read to Dream has reached over 30,000 underprivileged students in various districts, ranging from Primary 4 to Secondary 3.