A distinguished keynote speaker and an academic-professional panel will
anchor the two days of programming, exploring how Intangible Cultural
Heritage can thrive in an age shaped by intelligent media.
Panel title
From Cultural Heritage to Cultural Connection: Strategic Communication, Intelligent Media, and Place-Based Engagement
Panel description
How can heritage, including intangible cultural heritage, build meaningful, ethical, and lasting relationships with diverse publics in an age shaped by intelligent media?
Bringing together academic and professional perspectives, this panel explores Chinese short-video platforms, popular religion and cultural tourism in Hong Kong and Macau, arts technology, and place-based cultural engagement at Hong Kong International Airport. It examines how strategic communication can move audiences beyond discovery and attention towards understanding, participation, and lasting cultural connection. The discussion will consider how cultural context, community authority, creative interpretation, ethical governance, and trusted partnerships can ensure that technology and wider visibility support transmission, community benefit, and public value.
Session format
Four 15-minute presentations by Qian Guo, Kwok Shing Chan, Mathias Woo, and Karen Ng, followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A involving all five participants, including Natalia Grincheva.
Panellist
Kwok Shing Chan
Department of Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University
Popular Religion, Tourism, and Governance in Hong Kong and Macau
Abstract
Mazu, also known as A-Ma or Tianhou, is a sea goddess revered by more than 200
million devotees, including those in Hong Kong and Macau. The celebration of Mazu in Hong Kong is
highly localized and community-based, whereas in Macau, the newly promoted Mazu celebration since
2000s is more transnational, tourism-oriented, and closely linked to cultural and faith diplomacy.
This difference is largely due to variations in government policy and support, highlighting
distinct cultural governance models in the two regions—particularly under the “one
country, two systems” framework.
Biography
Kwok Shing Chan is an anthropologist, receiving training in Hong Kong and U.K. with a focus on Chinese culture and society. His research interests are Chinese lineages in rural Hong Kong, religious-cultural tourism and governance across the Straits, and Chinese customary mortgage practices in Hong Kong and Taiwan under colonial administration.
Panellist
Qian Guo
Centre for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology
(SUSTech)
Beyond Visibility: Reframing Heritage Communication in the Intelligent-Media Ecology
Abstract
The expanding visibility of cultural heritage within intelligent-media environments
calls for a reconsideration of how heritage communication is conceptualised and evaluated. Drawing
on research on intangible cultural heritage in China’s short-video ecosystem, this
presentation examines how platforms, algorithms, creative industries, tourism, and institutional
mediation reshape the conditions under which heritage becomes visible, interpretable, and
valuable. It identifies a series of interconnected problematics: visibility and transmission,
mediation and cultural authority, cultural and economic value, spectacle and meaningful encounter,
and local embeddedness and communicative mobility. Rather than treating communication as a neutral
channel for the circulation of pre-existing cultural content, heritage communication is approached
as a process through which meanings, relationships, authority, and value are negotiated among
communities, institutions, platforms, markets, and publics. The central question is under what
conditions mediated visibility can generate sustained cultural understanding, participation,
public value, and transmission.
Biography
Dr Qian Guo is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Social Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), an Associate Researcher at ELICO (Lyon), and Deputy Director of the Editorial Office of Heritage—a leading CSSCI-indexed journal in China. Her research interests include intangible cultural heritage communication on social media, algorithmic curation, AI driven transformations in heritage practice, and the interplay of digital platforms, cultural policy, and creative industries. She has conducted extensive fieldwork across multiple cities in the Greater Bay Area, as well as in other countries including Turkey and France, dedicated to understanding the visibility and sustainability of cultural heritage in diverse cultural contexts; this research has been supported by the French Embassy's Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences. She is the author of a French-language scholarly monograph, Réinventer le patrimoine urbain chinois (2025), and has published multiple papers in journals including Culture & Musées and Emerging Media.
Panellist
Karen Ng
General Manager, Corporate Branding & Marketing at Airport Authority Hong Kong
Culture in Motion: How Hong Kong International Airport Connects People and
Place Through Storytelling and Placemaking
Abstract
For millions of travellers, the airport represents both a first encounter and a
final memory of a destination. This presentation explores how Hong Kong International Airport uses
arts and culture to create distinctive, place-based experiences that reflect Hong Kong’s
spirit. Through case studies spanning cultural festivals, interactive installations, architectural
storytelling and cross-sector partnerships, the session will demonstrate how airports can become
cultural gateways that engage diverse publics. It will also discuss the role of collaboration,
creativity and digital innovation in shaping future airport experiences, offering insights for
organisations seeking to connect people, places and communities in meaningful ways.
Biography
Karen is leading the strategic development of the Hong Kong International Airport brand across integrated marketing, customer engagement, and cultural initiatives. With more than 30 years’ experience in global agencies and corporations, including Huawei, TCL/ALCATEL, and CATALO, she brings deep expertise in branding, communications, and audience engagement.
Working across branding, tourism, arts, and culture, Karen helps position HKIA as both a leading aviation hub and a gateway that showcases Hong Kong’s creativity. Her work spans brand strategy, destination marketing, passenger experience, and partnerships with cultural institutions, artists, and commercial organisations.
She is passionate about using creativity, culture, and collaboration to build meaningful connections among people, places, and communities.
Panellist
Mathias Woo
Co-Artistic Director cum Executive Director, Zuni Icosahedron
In the Depths of Ink Traces, One Sees the Jianghu: My Practice of Art
Technology and Traditional Revitalization
Abstract
Hong Kong director Mathias Woo uses art technology to activate, not museumify,
Chinese tradition. Over 30 years he has collaborated with xiqu / ink masters and built community
arts education. Projects translate calligraphy, ink aesthetics, yin-yang, and opera’s song-
vocal-movement-act into immersive sound, visuals, projection, and motion capture. The Jockey Club
Learning Chinese Culture through Arts Tech Theatre Programme and productions like Tang
Xianzu’s Dream on Dreams, Jin Yong Xiqu Theatre – The Smiling, Proud Wanderer and Lord
Guan Yu on Stage treat technology as Partner to the Tradition. Woo seeks a third way between
sterile preservation and entertainment: immersive yet deep, playful yet respectful, so audiences
feel tradition bodily and culture becomes accessible translation.
Biography
Mathias is renowned for striking aesthetics merging literature, history, architecture,
and philosophy, his 200+ productions worldwide revitalise Chinese and Asian traditional
arts through spatial design and arts technology.
He serves as mastermind and curator of the Jockey Club Learning Chinese Culture through
Arts Tech Theatre Programme, and has created Buddhist-inspired works such as a piece integrating
the Heart Sutra with Bach. In 2025, he founded Zuni Arts Tech Lab. In 2024, he worked with a
national master-level team on ZdX Theatre – Chinese Opera ABC and an adaptation of Jin Yong’s
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. He has curated the Z Innovation Lab since 2017 and launched the
Architecture is Art Festival in 2009. His honours include Best Adapted Play (9th Chinese Theatre Awards)
for Left Unsaid, top East Creative Award prizes, and the International Design and Kyoto Global Design Awards.
DISCUSSANT
Natalia Grincheva
School of Creative Industries, LASALLE, University of the Arts Singapore
