144
A SENSE OF HISTORY (PART I)
CARL SMITH
YING WA HAS LONGEST LINK WITH THE PAST
Which is Hongkong's oldest school?
There could be several answers to this question. It depends on how one interprets the word “oldest.”
Does it mean the school with the longest continuous history, one that has no breaks? Or is it the school with the oldest tradition? What about the school that has gone through several changes of name and administration? Or is it perhaps the school that has the longest links with an educational institution of the past?
A number of Hongkong schools could be candidates for the honour of being oldest, depending on how one interprets their history. Ying Wa Boys College, St Paul's College, St Joseph's, Queen's College, Diocesan Boys, Diocesan Girls, the Confucian school next to the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road, all might qualify. In this series we shall set forth the historical basis for each of these schools to lay claim to being the oldest in Hongkong.
The school, however, which has the longest link with the past is the Ying Wa Boys College. It is to be admitted that the chain has been broken and the name changed.
Ying Wa carries on the tradition of the Anglo-Chinese College which was established at Malacca in Malaysia in 1818. In 1843 the school was moved to Hongkong. In 1856 it was closed.
In 1914, the Chinese congregation associated with the missionary society which was instrumental in founding the Anglo-Chinese College in 1818, opened a middle school for boys called Ying Wa College, the Chinese translation of Anglo-Chinese, thus continuing the tradition.
Editor's note: These articles are reprinted with the author's kind permission from the South China Morning Post. They appeared in a series between 1977 and 1979.
144
A SENSE OF HISTORY (PART I)
CARL SMITH
YING WA HAS LONGEST LINK WITH THE PAST
Which is Hongkong's oldest school?
There could be several answers to this question. It depends on how one interprets the word “oldest.”
Does it mean the school with the longest continuous history, one that has no breaks? Or is it the school with the oldest tradi- tion? What about the school that has gone through several changes of name and administration? Or is it perhaps the school that has the longest links with an educational institution of the past?
A number of Hongkong schools could be candidates for the honour of being oldest, depending on how one interprets their history. Ying Wa Boys College, St Paul's College, St Joseph's, Queen's College, Diocesan Boys, Diocesan Girls, the Confucian school next to the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road, all might qualify. In this series we shall set forth the historical basis for each of these schools to lay claim to being the oldest in Hongkong.
The school, however, which has the longest link with the past is the Ying Wa Boys College. It is to be admitted that the chain has been broken and the name changed.
Ying Wa carries on the tradition of the Anglo-Chinese College which was established at Malacca in Malaysia in 1818. In 1843 the school was moved to Hongkong. In 1856 it was closed.
In 1914, the Chinese congregation associated with the mission- ary society which was instrumental in founding the Anglo- Chinese College in 1818, opened a middle school for boys called Ying Wa College, the Chinese translation of Anglo-Chinese, thus continuing the tradition,
Editor's note: These articles are reprinted with the author's kind permission from the South China Morning Post. They appeared in a series between 1977 and 1979.
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