• The Art of Innovative Construction
• Explore sustainable green living with Hong Kong artists

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 21 September 2020 – Construction Industry Council — Zero Carbon Park (CIC-ZCP) proudly presents: “Art in Construction”, an exhibition that gathers local artists to explore and showcase the connection and creativity between construction and art through various forms including sculptures, installations, paintings, photography, and workshops. Starting from today, “Art in Construction” is held at the CIC-ZCP in Kowloon Bay and supported by a free online virtual exhibition and a guided tour video. By incorporating 360-degree camera technology, the exhibition allows everyone to experience the creativity of construction, engage with art, and sample what it’s like to live a greener lifestyle.

The Art of Innovative Construction

The evolution of construction throughout history demonstrates mankind’s creativity and commitment to sustainability. From building houses and cities with wood and stone to today’s use of innovative technology and sustainable methods to establish communities living in harmony with nature. CIC-ZCP is pleased to present “Art in Construction”, an exhibition and a series of activities that showcases the synergy between construction and green living. Like art, the imagination and creativity of construction are both impressive and breath-taking.

Mr. CHONG Kin-lit, Paul, Chairman of CIC-ZCP, remarked in the exhibition’s promotional video: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges confronting mankind. CIC-ZCP is a pioneering and inspiring project serving as a knowledge-sharing platform for industry practitioners in low carbon building design and technologies. By organising various types of promotional activities, it is our mission to increase public awareness of low carbon living. Recently, CIC-ZCP has been completely renovated with several innovative green initiatives. Allied with the art pieces, we hope to bring an exciting facelift.”

‘Construction’ is more than an industry. The word itself evokes a sense of mankind’s inventive spirit in order to keep up with modern times. Located at CIC-ZCP, ‘Art in Construction’ highlights the creativity of construction and the part technology plays in turning high-quality green homes into a reality. This gives the public a better insight into the philosophies that go into sustainable design, and better appreciation for the creativity and vision behind them”. Mr CHONG continued.

                                

Construction and art never stops, even during the pandemic. “Art in Construction” is also available for free as a virtual tour at www.zcpart.org. By browsing the virtual exhibition, visitors can get a 360-degree view of the exhibits. In addition, a guided tour video will launch on 25 September, during which the curator and artists will take the public into the world of art and construction to understand the stories behind CIC-ZCP and the exhibits.

The four themes of “Art in Construction”:

 

Art and Construction: A Crossover Experience

While high-rises and parks are designed meticulously by architects, building desirable homes requires concerted effort from the community. With painting, toys and building blocks, Artist LAM Tung-pang constructs his ideal city–complete with hills, people and high-rises–in the installation, Things Happened on the Island. He invites visitors to rearrange components to build the city together with him, a process evocative of the collaboration and rapport behind green communities and innovative technology in urban development.

Fusing Oriental and Natural Charm

Sustainable development and green living seem to be relatively modern concepts. In fact, since ancient times, the Chinese have long believed in the importance of the symbiosis between man and nature. Referencing natural elements like water and wind, veteran Hong Kong Sculptor LEE Chin-fai, Danny has created Urban Waterscape, a group of outdoor sculptures that double as benches for public use. Artist LAU Hok-shing, Hanison has combined Penjing, or miniature landscapes in Sitting Table — Hong Kong, with Chinese Ta, a type of platform seating, to create a space for outdoor recreation where people can meet and relax. With artistic craftsmanship, Lee and Lau demonstrate mankind’s philosophy of co-existing with all things in nature, whilst also preserving tradition and illustrating the possibilities of green living.

Concerns about Environmental Issues

This year, temperatures in the Arctic Circle reached a new peak of 20 degrees Celsius, while carbon emissions in various regions are still on the rise. As people pursue their ideal homes, global warming and the greenhouse effect remain acute issues that need to be addressed. Many artists around the world are emphasising the importance of environmental protection with their art. Photographer LAU Chi-chung has been portraying the countryside for many years. In Landscaped Artifacts, he has created a beautiful composition of woods and village houses that convey the tension between human expansion and the forces of nature. Painter YUEN Chun-tai, Ivy has spent half a year walking through multiple hiking trails alongside reservoirs in Hong Kong. A series of drawings named Forestry illustrates the rise and fall of Hong Kong’s horsetail pine population and how it parallels the city’s urbanisation, as well as increase in plantation projects and the threat of pests.

Sculptor MOK Yat-san often depicts polar bears, one of the victims of global warming, in various forms. The name of the art piece Beware of the P Bear is a humorous but thought-provoking reminder to bear in mind the severity of climate change. Another one of MOK’s exhibits, Lovingkindness, resembles traditional Penjing (the ancient Chinese art of depicting trees and landscape in miniature) by condensing architecture and juxtaposing the mini-scenery with a polar bear. Visitors can then get a bird’s eye view of the landscape from above, shedding their physical limitations, and exploring the organic relationships between landscape, trees and rocks in miniature form. The intention of using Penjing is also so that visitors can visualise themselves taking a leisurely stroll through the scenery.

Practise Green Living

Humans are like builders of life. Similarly, artists are mindful of sustainability in their everyday lives and practices too. In Modern Landscape, Artist WONG Chun-yam, Leo upcycles rocks and cement fragments collected from construction sites to form sculptures, recreating the stories once told by the structures themselves. Meanwhile, Artist Duo MUDWORK invites visitors to practise green living through their artistic creation, Tree Call which makes use of wood fragments to create small DIY bird whistles. Farmside Art Research Lab (Part-farmer, part-artist Monti LAI and cross-disciplinary artist Meiki LEE) is inviting the public to participate in the Roving with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art workshop. The workshop is designed to take place in the familiarity of home and to initiate one’s connection with nature through breathing exercises, creative poetry, and drawings created by ink pressed from vegetable leaves.

Photos Download: https://bit.ly/3mwzAFM

“Art in Construction” Programmes

Date                                18 September (Friday) to 17 October 2020 (Saturday)

Location                        Construction Industry Council — Zero Carbon Park

                                        8 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

Time                               09:00 — 20:00 (Indoor) ; 07:00 — 20:00 (Outdoor)

Online Exhibition        www.zcpart.org

Guided Tour Video    Launch on 25 September 2020 (Friday)

Workshop Video         Roving with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art

                                        Launch on 26 September 2020 (Saturday)

Appendix:

 

“Art in Construction” Exhibits and Workshop Highlight

 

Things Happened on the Island

Acrylics, charcoal, pencil, scale model and wooden toys on plywood

LAM combines painting with a three-dimensional model and invites visitors to join the creative process in a humorous and interesting way. Visitors can use the toy blocks to create their own ideal cities as an extension to the scene.

LEE Chin-fai, Danny:

Urban Waterscape

Stainless steel, iron

Derived from the concept of three-dimensional papercutting, the installation tries to capture the movement of flowing water by simulating the silhouette of waves and ripples, forming an interesting and welcoming urban waterscape.

LAU Hok-shing, Hanison:

Sitting Table — Hong Kong

Wood, daily objects

An art piece that doubles as a bench that people can sit or lay on. By using regularly available materials and discarded items found on the street, elements of a garden are combined to create mountains and rivers in order to demonstrate enjoyment in life is not merely based on materialism.

LAU Chi-chung:

Landscaped Artifacts

Photography

Seasonal changes make the process of creation a volatile one. By capturing the ruins found in nature, LAU’s work bears witness to lived lives and passed time. Mankind made his mark on the land he walked, but Mother Nature is now taking her turn to give it a makeover. Though unable to turn back the clock, she has transformed the land into an environmental sculpture.

YUEN Chun-tai, Ivy:

Forestry

Installation

After reading through century-old reports from the Hong Kong Botanical and Afforestation Department, YUEN walked along reservoirs small and large, trying to find the remaining horsetail pines (Pinus Massoniana) in Hong Kong — hundreds of thousands of which had been planted (now gone) in order to present the tree-planting history of previous generations.

 

MOK Yat-sun:

Be Aware of the P Bear

Painted fibreglass

It seems surreal that a polar bear is lying on an open space in the heart of an urban metropolis. Although we are many miles from the Arctic, as a member of the “Global Village”, how can we turn a blind eye to the threat of global warming? The surreal artwork reminds us of the need to strike a balance between urban development and nature conservation.

MOK Yat-sun:

Lovingkindness

Stainless steel & gold sheets

MOK’s work resembles the design of Chinese Penjing with a view to portraying an elegant world within a microscopic setting. Visitors can get a bird’s eye view of the landscape and explore the organic relationships between landscape, trees and rocks amongst the miniatures. A close look further helps unlock the imagination, taking the mind on a leisurely stroll of the garden.

WONG Chun-yam, Leo:

Modern Landscape

Mixed media

WONG upcycles rocks and cement fragments collected from construction sites into architectural sculptures, recreating the stories once told by the structures themselves.

MUDWORK:

Tree Call

Installation

The trees may remember the birds singing and the birds may remember the trees. However, the birds can no longer be heard. Through processing local wood and turning it into bird whistles, the tune of nature can be heard again.

 

Farm Side Art Research Lab: Roving with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art
Workshop
The Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art workshop is designed to take place in the familiarity of home and to initiate one’s connection with nature through breathing exercises, creative poetry, and drawings created by ink pressed from vegetable leaves.

About the Construction Industry Council

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) was formed in 2007 under the Construction Industry Council Ordinance (Cap. 587). The CIC consists of a chairman and 24 members representing various sectors of the industry including employers, professionals, academics, contractors, workers, independent persons and Government officials.

The main functions of the CIC are to forge consensus on long-term strategic issues, convey the industry’s needs and aspirations to the Government, provide professional training and registration services, and serve as a communication channel between the Government and the construction industry. Please visit www.cic.hk for further details.

About CIC-Zero Carbon Park

Established in June 2012 and located in 8 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, CIC-Zero Carbon Park (CIC-ZCP) is the first zero carbon building in Hong Kong developed by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) in collaboration with the Government. CIC-ZCP is an exhibition and education centre for advanced ecological building design, as well as an information centre for low/zero carbon building technologies, promoting low carbon living and the development of smart city in Hong Kong.

Website http://zcp.cic.hk/chi/home

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LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/construction-industry-council

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YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsK1xjqkm-xHCZTe1E3B26Q

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 21 September 2020 – STC International, a Taiwanese company specialized in solar energy system integration, under the assistance of GTPO (Green Trade Project Office) and ITRI, successfully built its presence from the ground up in the ASEAN market. From Cambodia’s rural area to Malaysia, from NGOs to retail restaurants, STC’s solutions are being adopted in ASEAN nations thanks to its leading technology and services. STC is a perfect example of a SME bringing its flexibilities and niche focus into full play.

SHANGHAI, Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Hurun Report, a leading provider of high-quality lists and research, released Hurun China Digital Insurance Agencies 2020 on 16 September, 2020. The report, the first of its kind by Hurun Report, lists the 10 highest-rated digital insurance agencies in China based on their business performance and innovation abilities in the past two years. 

Digital insurance refers to a business model supported by the internet, mobile communication networks and other technologies, which sees the insurer and the insured signing contracts and providing services though insurer-owned online platforms or third-party purchasing platforms.

With a long industry chain and diversified products, the insurance sector is highly integrated with other industries. Hence, various platform business models have emerged in the digital insurance sector.

It is worth noting that the list in this report focuses on internet and tech enterprises that hold stake in, invest in or set up online insurance agencies with individual customers and insurance agents as targets. Insurance agencies targeting corporate clients are excluded from the list. In addition, research in this report only covered private businesses in the Chinese mainland. 

The post-pandemic era has seen health becoming one of the hottest topics and diversified insurance products, said Rupert Hoogewerf, the chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report. Quoting statistics from Insurance Association of China, Hoogewerf said Chinese insurers’ premium income increased by 6.5 percent year on year to 2.7 trillion yuan in the first half of the year.

Insurance agencies have played a crucial part in insurance purchases, whose premium income has accounted for over 80% of the total premium income for the past consecutive years, Hoogewerf noted, adding that the practice of independent service providing and marketing has shaped the insurance sector, and, at present, near 70% of China’s 700 national insurance agencies are eligible to market online.

Digital insurance in China has enjoyed leap-forward development in the past years, Hoogewerf said. He further explained that, besides internet giants Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com, Ctrip, Didi, Meituan and other platforms have rolled out insurance services. Relying on massive active users and taking advantages of big data and cloud computing technologies, those companies have designed insurance products in accordance with the consumption scenarios of their original platforms, including entertainment, shopping, travelling and mutual health aid, to meet the insurance needs of different customer groups, said Hoogewerf. For instance, Hoogewerf added, Ant Insurance provides shipping insurance for online shopping and Ctrip offers insurance for flight accidents and delay.

In digital insurance business, there are other companies that worth gaining people’s attention, such as scenario-based health insurance marketing agencies represented by Qingsong Health Group’s insurance platform, and China’s earliest online platforms that obtained online insurance brokerage licenses represented by Huize Insurance, said Hoogewerf.

As insurtech embraces a new development era in both China and the global market, multiple business players have been competing for the position of industry leaders, Hoogewerf noted. He said the prospects of Chinese digital insurance agencies are promising, given the trend of independent service providing and marketing in insurance industry as well as the rapid development of internet technology.

Top 10 of Hurun China Digital Insurance Agencies 2020

Source: Hurun Report

Brief introduction of examples of agencies on the List

WeSure, an example of digital insurance agencies affiliated to the internet giants

In 2017, Tencent officially launched its online insurance subsidiary WeSure in its WeChat Pay service, aiming to connect potential insurance clients with different insurance scenarios by capitalizing on the high engagement rate of WeChat and other social media networks under Tencent. WeSure enables consumers to buy various insurance products, inquire and settle claims online via WeChat and QQ. So far, WeSure has established cooperative relations with around 20 insurers including Taikang Online and PICC. In 2018, the platform introduced Insurance Hongbao, a stimulus of certain amount of money that encouraged WeSure users enrolling their WeChat contacts as new users and therefore targeted potential clients. In July 2020, WeSure, along with media and a dozen of insurers, launched China’s first insurance festival which saw the participation of 148 million users. WeSure data showed its total compensation in 2019 exceeded 330 million yuan, seven times of that of 2018.

Insurance platform of Qingsong Health Group, an example of digital insurance agencies affiliated to online crowdfunding platforms

Established as a crowdfunding platform for serious illness treatment, Qingsong Health Group has helped cultivating users’ awareness to insurance. It then started its insurance agency catering to the needs of its user group and insurance clients. Based on users of Qingsong Health Group, the insurance platform interacted with the group’s other subsidiaries, such as the crowdfunding and public benefit platforms. After its upgradation in 2020, the insurance platform, collaborating with insurers CPIC and Zhongan, launched a marketing campaign targeting users in their 20s and 30s. By measures of allowing using daily steps to deduct premiums and encouraging payment by instalments, the campaign had made it easier for young users buying insurance.  

Huize Insurance, an example of professional digital insurance agencies

Founded in 2006, Huize.com was among the earliest few platforms in the country obtaining online insurance brokerage licenses. Its establishment marked the birth of China’s first Internet insurance "supermarket" that integrated insurance purchase and product comparison. Being an early bird and hence benefiting from advantages in attracting users and partners as well as technological supporting, Huize.com has reshaped the insurance sector through offering clients one-stop integrated insurance solutions. In regard of brand marketing, the platform cooperates with 17,000 media marketing entities, covering WeChat, Zhihu, Sina Weibo and other leading social media communities. The marketing contents targeting individual users focuses on insurance knowledge introduction, product comparison and evaluation. The comprehensive marketing strategies have brought significant and constant attention to the platform. Through online customer support and call center service, Huize.com achieves efficient communication with users and conducts purchases. Insurance premiums of Huize Insurance in 2019 exceeded 2 billion yuan, an year-on-year increase of 110%. In February 2020, Huize Holding Limited successfully listed and commenced trading on Nasdaq Global Market.

About list compilation: This list was compiled via qualitative and quantitative comprehensive research methods. Firstly, basing on recommendations by industry experts and published information, Hurun Report selected nearly 150 corporates with digital insurance operations and conducted a preliminarily screening (including confirming basic information such as headquarters locations, founding date, insurance brokerage qualification, etc.). Then, researchers made a thorough study on 40 enterprises with satisfying performance. Through in-depth analysis of overall information of the targeted companies (including profile, shareholder structure, public relations, partnership relations, enterprise value and financing information, number of users, reputation, marketing strategy, etc.), Hurun Report rated the companies by 12 indicators of 4 dimensions with the quantitative method. The top 10 platforms were selected based on comprehensive ratings.