Hong Kong youth win Best Delegation at International Unesco Model Conference by showing Central District as heritage site
- At the 2-day event held in Kazakhstan, Americana Chen and Sky Lee bagged the prize by presenting how Central District is a ‘harmony’ of cultural conservation
- This marks the second consecutive year representative from Hong Kong have earned this distinction
Sky Lee (from left) and Americana Chen have won the Best Delegation award at the Second International Unesco Model Conference. Photo: Unesco Hong Kong AssociationTwo Hong Kong students have been named Best Delegation at the Second International Unesco Model Conference, marking the second consecutive year the city’s representatives have won the award.
“It was a different experience from winning last year,” said one of Hong Kong’s representatives, Americana Chen Sze-wa, who is Unesco Hong Kong’s Youth Affairs Representative and a student at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
She added that last year’s conference was held remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. “This year, it really felt like winning because there is [an] award ceremony and ... trophies.”
The other representative, Sky Lee Man-chun, said: “I personally am very honoured that I can get to represent Hong Kong ... to win this Best Delegation.”
‘Ugly’ produce, fan economy: students’ reports on Hong Kong consumer culture
The two-day conference was held last month in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It brought together 34 youth delegates from 20 different nations and tasked them with presenting cultural sites from their homes that were worthy of the title “World Heritage”.
Chen, 21, and Sky, 16, picked the revitalised Central District. Their plan demonstrated how the district’s renovated structures combine modernity and history, as well as East and West, making the area a “harmony” of cultural conservation, they said.
The historical buildings they presented included PMQ, Central Market, Tai Kwun and the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum. Though other delegations questioned the historical authenticity of Central District, they thought otherwise.
“[The places] show Hong Kong’s uniqueness from British and Japanese occupation and how Hong Kong people, despite having such a small city ... tried their best to protect it and to utilise this piece of area to both conserve culture and to modernise it,” said Sky, who is a student at Harrow International School.
Sky added that the delegation’s compelling presentation of Hong Kong’s unique culture helped them bag the Best Delegation prize.
Apart from discussing cultural heritage, the conference also gave participants a chance to explore the local culture of Kazakhstan and meet students working at the Unesco office there.
“It’s a good experience for us to just network and connect with people locally from Kazakhstan because it helps us to understand their culture. For example, we tried their local snacks, we ate their local food,” Chen said of their experience trying horse meat.
One of the representatives’ most memorable moments was touring the petroglyphs – which are ancient rock carvings – of Tanbaly, one of the five Unesco world heritage sites in Kazakhstan.
“It was really eye-opening to see an actual ... heritage site from very ancient times where people actually drew what they did on the wall,” Chen shared.
Hong Kong teens win award for game sparking youth interest in museums
Now back in Hong Kong, the two representatives reflected on what they learned from the conference.
“To be able to truly appreciate how local people from their country think about their site [and] how treasured those sites are to them was really educational,” Sky said.
For Chen, she recognised the importance of her role as a young advocate.
“A big takeaway is seeing how you could propose innovative solutions to world heritage protection and just understanding that world heritage protection requires [a] global effort,” she said, “and that we as youth, play an indispensable role.”