Taiwan brings a cultural love affair to Hong Kong

All things cultural from Taiwan, including flagship brands, will be on display at the tenth edition of the island's largest festival in Hong Kong.

Taiwan Culture Festival, an annual government-sponsored event bringing different types of artists and exhibits from Taiwan to Hong Kong since 2006, is going the extra mile by presenting an international cast and a miniature expo on creative industries.

"How to innovate on the basis of tradition is our strength," said Lu Chien-ying, director of Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Centre, which is presenting the festival.

"This year we would like to offer a moment of thinking and fun for Hong Kong through some of our distinguished cultural envoys," she added.

Apart from bringing the Taiwan Philharmonic, the island's top orchestra, for its Hong Kong debut, the festival will feature Paris-based fashion diva Sophie Hong, who will present her silk design to the city she is indebted to for her success.

"My encounter with Xiangyun silk started with a piece of cloth I came across at a Chinese emporium here in Hong Kong," Hong recalled prior to her show, which opens tomorrow at Midtown in Causeway Bay.