China News Agency, Hong Kong, September 29th, title: Visiting the Hong Kong Police Force Museum: A Century of "Revitalized" Police Force

　　China News Agency reporter Han Xingtong

　　Walk up the steps along the green hilltop Gan Road, passing the murals painted with the theme of the police force, and the Hong Kong Police Force Museum is at the end of the trail.

The curator Zheng Junde stood at the entrance to greet the reporters of China News Agency, and pushed open the door of the museum with a century of history of the Hong Kong Police Force for us.

　　It is understood that the predecessor of the Police Force Museum was the Old Wan Chai Gap Police Station, which was completed in 1939.

Since the 1980s, the place has been converted into a police museum.

As the collection of cultural relics continues to increase, the facilities in the museum are aging and the exhibition model is outdated, the museum started a revitalization plan in mid-2020. The related works were completed in mid-September this year and reopened to the public.

　　The revitalized museum has four exhibition halls: the historical exhibition hall, the special exhibition hall, the serious crime exhibition hall and the triad exhibition hall.

Zheng Junde introduced to reporters that the revitalized Police Force Museum connects indoor and outdoor exhibition areas, adds fashionable elements such as staircase paintings and street murals, and adds some "punch-in" spots for taking pictures.

The museum uses different technologies to add interactive elements to the exhibition. Some exhibits are equipped with videos and digital photos, and some featured exhibits have added audio guide function, so that visitors can learn more about the stories behind the exhibits.

　　Walking into the reception area, you feel like you are in an old police station in the 1960s and 1970s. The report room signs and magnet telephones that were once placed in the Stanley Police Station are all displayed here, creating a connection with the new time and space. On one wall are three virtual windows, recreating the street scene of the past with technology: the bustling downtown of Central with people coming and going, the tram passing smoothly, everything comes alive.

　　Going forward along the corridor, a huge "Hundred Years History of the Police Force" unfolds beside him. Zheng Junde said that this long scroll presents the historical development and major events of the police force since its establishment in 1844 in the form of a 15-minute animation.

The reporter noticed that landmarks such as the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, the Police Headquarters, the Big Buddha, and the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hung Hom are all covered. The animation condenses the changes of the police force in three days and three nights. The alternation of day and night simulates the early police force’s handling of piracy and plague problems, the training of trainees in the police training school, the police force’s rescue operations after two ships collided at sea, and the police’s response to the illegal “Occupy Central” and “revision turmoil” in recent years, etc. law enforcement actions, etc.

　　The History Exhibition Hall is the most important exhibition hall of the Police Force Museum, and some precious documents are made public for the first time, including the treasure of the town hall, a specimen of the "Tiger of Sheung Shui" with its mouth wide open.

Zheng Junde said that the story dates back to 1915, when villagers in Sheung Shui reported that they found tigers on the nearby hills. Later, when the police went to the scene to investigate, they were attacked to death by a tiger that was suddenly thrown out.

Later, the police and villagers went up the mountain to hunt tigers, and finally a foreign police officer shot the tiger to death.

Zheng Junde pointed to the top of the tiger's head, and the bullet marks from the fatal shot that year were still clearly visible.

　　On the other side of the exhibition hall is the development of the police force after the return of Hong Kong, the most representative of which is a row of male and female police caps.

Zheng Junde told reporters that on the evening of June 30, 1997, the police force issued a new police badge to each police officer, calibrated the time, and changed it on time at the moment of the transfer of power at zero o'clock.

　　The thematic exhibition hall in the museum is currently holding a national security theme exhibition. In addition to displaying the Constitution, the Hong Kong Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law, the walls are also decorated with basic knowledge of 16 areas of national security.

As for the Serious Crimes Exhibition Hall, a selection of "contemporary strange cases" that have occurred in Hong Kong over the years will be displayed together with short films, so that the audience can understand how the police criminal investigators persevered in solving strange cases behind these shocking cases.

　　At the end of the visit, Zheng Junde returned to the main entrance with the "punch-in" positions arranged by the police representatives in white and blue, and behind him was an ancient cannon with a history of a hundred years. In his opinion, it made the history of the police force three-dimensional and vivid. Entering modern life with the help of technology and connecting with visitors is the new mission of the museum.

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