HK Avenue of Stars reopens

Avenue of the Stars (Photo from AoS website)

Hong Kong’s Avenue of Stars (AoS), the popular tourist attraction along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, will be open again to the public starting tomorrow (January 31) after being closed for renovation for more than three years.

Cherry Tse, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, said the new AoS has an aesthetic new look, is now more functional, and convenient for local residents and overseas visitors, making it a world-class harbor front landmark.

The renovation enhanced the AoS features related to the Hong Kong film industry. In addition to the 107 original superstars’ handprints, nine new handprints from the winners of Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress will be added soon.

A special pig hoof print from one of the McDull statues has also been included while all handprints have been newly designed and carry the elegant bronze colour of the Hong Kong Film Award statuette.

The handprints have been finely crafted and the palm prints are clearly visible. After relocating the handprints to wooden handrails, visitors can now enjoy a closer look at them.

The four bronze statues are also no longer surrounded by fences so that visitors can get closer. The statues of Bruce Lee and Anita Mui are decorated beneath with flowing-water features.

The water installation for Bruce Lee flows faster to represent his martial arts fighting speed, while the Mui’s flows more slowly to mimic her performance on stage.

With the integration of digital technology, visitors can use smart phones to scan QR codes near the handprints to view a brief biography and film footage of the superstars and learn more about them.

They can also take photos next to the statues of the superstars with the augmented reality (AR) based technology on site.

Secretary Tse thanked the Yau Tsim Mong District Council (YTMDC), the Harbourfront Commission (HC) and the travel and film industries for their affirmation and advice, as well as the New World Development (NWD) for its efforts in taking forward the whole renovation.

The renovation, which began in October 2015, also increased the waterfront’s shaded and green areas by about 700 per cent and 800 per cent respectively.

Environmentally friendly materials have also been used – the railings and chairs are made of a bio-based wood substitute which mainly consists of rice husks, while the light-coloured pavers, which partly comprise recycled glass, help reduce heat absorption.