Colony during the 50's. They were conducted, as far as possible, as extensions
of the Mainland educational system, the best students from Hong Kong being
selected for higher education in China, where, following graduation, they stayed
to work for the "reconstruction of the Motherland", or else were sent back to
Hong Kong, often to become teachers themselves.
5.
The situation changed considerably in 1959. The failure of the Great
Leap Forward, the introduction of communes and the three years of natural
disasters meant that China could offer little to graduates from Hong Kong's
communist schools, nor, indeed were the students particularly anxious to go there.
Instead, the schools followed the instructions given to all overseas Chinese
groups to be "self-supporting and law-abiding". This involved improving their
local image by concentrating on academic studies. Additionally, as their
graduates were now compelled to seek employment in Hong Kong, the communist school
had no option but to take part in the local school certificate examinations, which
they had previously shunned as part of Government's "slavish educational system".
6.
In 1966, when political activity in China was intensified, the cui' of
KAO study was promoted with ever-increasing zeal. The teaching staff in Hong Kong
were clearly uncertain what attitude to adopt since the education system inside
China was being brought to a standstill by the Cultural Revolution at this time.
Their doubts were resolved with the outbreak of confrontation against the
Hong Kong Government in May 1967. Students and their teachers were involved in
printing and distributing inflammatory leaflets and in the manufacture and
planting of fake and real bombs. During confrontation 37 communist teachers and
217 students were arrested and the headmasters of certain schools detained under
the Emergency Regulations. A warning from the Director of Education in the 1967
summer vacation reduced overt activity. Romb making continued, however, and
when a student was injured while making a bomb in the Chung Wa Middle School, Government closed the school and subsequently deregistered it.
7.
By the end of 1967, on instructions from China, the local communist
movement stopped its campaign of violence. Almost immediately communist schools,
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