Over 120 colourful big Buddy Bears with unique features are on their world tour and will meet the Hong Kong people in May at the central lawn of the Victoria Park.
The visit of these lovely Buddy Bears is to promote love, peace and solidarity and foster public arts, showing the public how we can incorporate art into our daily lives.
Also, they will help raise funds for the Community Chest of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Committee for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. The proceeds will be donated to these organisations to help the needy.
What are Buddy Bears?
In 2002, a German called Dr Klaus Herlitz and his wife, Eva, had a mind of creating a symbol representing understanding and tolerance among nations. As they thought that people from different countries were fond of bears, regarding them as friendly and lovely, they came up with the idea of creating Buddy Bears.
Painted by artists from different countries, the design on each Buddy Bear is unique and special. In the exhibitions around the world, Buddy Bears are all hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder to give the message of solidarity, tolerance and understanding among nations.
In the summer and autumn of 2002, over 120 Buddy Bears were first displayed in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition soon became a signature event of the city and attracted more than 1.5 million visitors.
Why Buddy Bears come to Hong Kong?
When international superstar Mr Jackie Chan was filming in Germany in 2003, he was so fascinated by the enchanting Buddy Bears on the streets that he made a special visit to the Buddy Bear workshop of creators Dr Klaus Herlitz and his wife, Eva. When the movie star learned of the Buddy Bears' message of global peace and tolerance, he proposed to bring the exhibition to his home city, Hong Kong and he raised the proposal with the Government.
Why Buddy Bears are displayed in the Park?
These artistic Buddy Bears displayed in the Victoria Park will help promote public arts in Hong Kong. As the general public admires these exhibits in a place familiar to them, they will see for themselves the tremendous potentials of public space in promoting creative culture and arts. They will realise the effectiveness of involving both the artist and the people in enhancing the cultural aspect of life.
The charitable Buddy Bears
One of the aims of the United Buddy Bears Exhibition is to help the needy children around the world. On completion of the world tour, these Buddy Bears will be sold by charitable auction in Berlin, Germany. The funds so raised will be donated to the UNICEF.