Over the past year, Hong Kong has received heartfelt greetings and visits from top experts of various trades on the Chinese mainland. There have been warm moments over these interactions among local residents, the nation's top brains in aerospace, architecture and engineering, and astronauts in orbit and world champions. China Daily put its lens on these visits and events to recap these memorable days.

1. Aerospace themed visit

June 23-25

Six of the nation's top aerospace scientists held talks at six Hong Kong campuses and shared their passion and the nation's achievements in aerospace with the young minds.

June 27 to July 9

Hong Kong residents were able to see the lunar soil sample, brought back from the moon by China's Chang'e 5 lunar probe in December 2020. This was the first lunar collection seen at a local exhibition in more than 40 years. The exhibition also featured models of the lunar probe and hundreds of exhibits to tell the inspiring stories of Chinese scientists over the last 100 years.

2. A video call from outer space

Sept 3

In a video call beamed back from the Shenzhou 12 manned spaceship, three taikonauts - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo – answered questions raised by Hong Kong students and showed them how to conduct experiments, do exercise and drink water, as well as how their lives were in space.

3. Nation's top experts' visit to showcase nation's architectural and engineering prowess

Oct 25-30

An exhibition to showcase the nation's architecture and engineering prowess was held in Hong Kong. Miniatures of iconic Hong Kong architecture were also on display, including the Hong Kong International Airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

4. Mainland Olympians' visit sets off sports fever

Dec 3-5

A 29-strong delegation of Tokyo Olympic medalists from the mainland visited Hong Kong. The delegation included Asia's fastest man, Su Bingtian, who set a new Asian record in the men's 100m at the Tokyo Olympics, table tennis Grand Slam winner Ma Long, and Sun Yiwen, the first Chinese fencer to win an Olympic gold medal in individual women's epee. They met local residents and disciplined services staff in the city.