Picture of the Day: Hong Kong's Garbled Message

How much of this can you read in a few seconds?

The Vancouver International Film Festival began yesterday and sitting in the theatre waiting for my first film to start, there was a slide show of ads, and one of them was from the Hong Kong government.

As this slide was only shown for a few seconds, one had to take a picture of it to really read and understand what's going on.

What caught our attention was the tagline on the right: 

HK: Raise capital. Raise a family. Raise your heartbeat.

Hong Kong. A world of opportunities.

"Raise capital" refers to Hong Kong being a financial hub, we all get that. But "Raise a family" seems odd as the next sentence, though perhaps a subtle hint that the city's birthrate is plunging, where in 2023, a woman in Hong Kong gave birth to 0.75 children during her childbearing years.

What does "Raise your heartbeat" mean? Blood pressure from stress comes to mind... 

The words are set against some images promoting the arts, like a rock concert, Chinese opera and an art installation. What does that have to do with the tagline?

It is only when we read the words on the left do we see it is referring to the West Kowloon Cultural District or "WestK" as it's known these days.

"Sitting on more than 40 hectares of harbourfront land, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the world's largest preserves of art, culture and entertainment, positioning Hong Kong as the premier arts and cultural hub of Asia," it reads.

"Already it boasts breathtaking architecture: the Xiqu Centre, home of year-round Chinese opera; the iconic M+, the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia; and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, which houses treasures from Beijing's Forbidden City. 

"With bike-friendly promenades, pet-friendly parks and indoor and outdoor performance venues, this exhilarating swirl of art, culture, lifestyle and nature adds a new dimension to the allure of Hong Kong as one of the most liveable, connected, family-friendly cities on earth."

Then there's the Toronto phone number for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and a QR code!

But really, this slide flashed on the screen for only a few seconds, once every five minutes or so. Hardly any of the viewers would have been able to read any of the text on the left column. And on closer examination, there are so many things going that it's quite confusing.

Perhaps a dramatic photo of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong would have gotten people's attention?