Hong Kong's cultural landmark theater aims to regain past glory

A symbolic building in Hong Kong, the theater featured performances by international artists and witnessed the booming period of the film industry.

"It was a time of postwar recovery and the State Theater as a performance venue was quite unique under the background," architectural conservationist Wendy Ng said.

In June 1956, an art ensemble from the mainland arrived in Hong Kong and gave spectacular performances in the theater, marking the first such event after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The performances received enormous popularity in Hong Kong.

"In the history of Hong Kong's performing arts, the State Theater has an irreplaceable position and great cultural value. It had all the makings of a 'cultural landmark' at that time," Ng said.

Its glory faded through time. The building of the theater was gradually turned for other purposes, including a snooker hall and neighborhood shopping center. The theater closed in 1997, two years after a fire accident.

But the iconic theater remains in people's minds.

Ng has many joyful memories in her mother's children's wear store in the shopping center of the theater building when she was a preschooler back in the 1980s. She still kept a ticket for the last film shown in the theater before its closure. "It was Mr. Nice Guy starring Jackie Chan. I watched it with my mother and older brother."

The good news is the theater will hopefully come into life in the future.

The theater structure was listed as a Grade I historic building of Hong Kong in March 2017 and its current owner, Hong Kong-based conglomerate New World Development, will begin a conservation project after the exhibition, with the goal of restoring it as the landmark for culture and arts by 2026.

"Its history may have faded through time, but its story is far from over," Adrian Cheng, chief executive officer of New World Development, said.

Ma has treasured for 24 years a newspaper clipping about the theater's closure and she is eagerly looking forward to the day the theater comes back as beautiful and prosperous as ever. "People in the neighborhood will have a good place," she said.