Two schools started on School Road locale c.1920s ? And years later ...

Submitted by hkspace_wl on

Background   (quoted from Tung Lin's post, here)

There is a school site I want to investigate regarding its origin. If someone could check on the first educator who operated this address: 12-C School Road 
(area : 8000 sq ft) in the 1920s, 30s, up to the 40s.

Before the early 50s, it was named Sum-Sum Kindergarten. In 1958, my dad rented this site to operate the Ching Tak Kindergarten..  

Its construction is quite unique and has a higher level of design than the other schools in the island village. The major classroom is just as roomy as
a church assembly. Its back wall has a square hole designed solely for movie projection from the other classroom. The front yard is very big. Its backyard
is on a lower terrace, overseeing a Boundary Stone, which is the one in Tai Choi Yuen..

Some notes of my findings continue here :

I.  The red brick building should be there still, after ~100 years. It still shows up in the school's events in recent years, as their website. [1] 
   It may not show up in Google Street View as it seems to be on inner part of the school site. May refer to the GIS map here. It is at 5B School Road, opened in 1928.
   It was appraised as Grade 2 historic building back in 2009.
   One clue about the school building may be a public work done in 1933 (a previous work was notice boards in 1930). [2]
   Before 1928, the school had resided in different places (firstly on 18 Tai San Street) and ran under rather adverse environments.
  
II. My guess that the Girls' school may be on 12C is because of the linkage 'L.M.S.', which as Tung mentioned the property next to CTK on School Road. [3] 
   And its later connection to education, 'tended to accommodate foreign children', and as kindergartens in 1940-50s. There seems some correlation among these, 
   not purely coincidental. Possible ? I am not sure if better evidence may be found to support it, or not. (*)

   It is found out further that the LMS Girls' School is actually run by the organization 'HK and New Territories Evangelisation Society'. 
   There was also Sunday school held at the school site. This was co-operated by the Union Church and To Tsai Church. [4]  

(*) p.s. I said it too early above. At this hour, more specific information shows up. Chinese name of this Girls' School is probably 端儀學校 (since 1918). It may have lasted until WWII began. [5] Even a 1926(?) photo of the pupils, from the CCC CC Church 100th anniversary special issue, was shared by the 'CC Nostalgia' FB, here. Any idea already ?  : )

In the era when the 'mui tsai' debate was ongoing in Hong Kong for another round in the 20s, I think, setup of two Girls' schools in Cheung Chau and Tsuen Wan in
early 1920s is a progressive initiative. e.g. the Cheung Chau one is likely sizable and of good standard to receive continued subsidy, than the new Free School opened in 1920.
These some 40 girls who received years of primary education may not know the story then... 
Yet some of their offspring may still be living in Cheung Chau today perhaps.

Please advise me if I have mistaken any information in this post, or add your other inputs. Thank you.

 

sources and notes

1. recap the the 2008 school publication pdf here. Photos of the red brick building are shown from page 3 onwards.    

2. 'work consisted of sinking a well of 28'0" in depth' at Cheung Chau School, completed in Sept. 1933 by Chiu Sing Kee  (PWD Report 1933)

3. on land registry, 12C School Road entry is shown in English name as :

     Tai Choi Yuen, Cheung Chau     CCL 1472 S.A.   Grace Garden  (the Garden's name also hints something about its history ?)

    [present day remains]
     about the 2013 google Street View shared by Tung before, it could no longer show the details. But the two flights of steps are visible (link).    

    [birthday party] 
     in Sum Sum Kindergarten, birthday parties were held every season, as reported on Wah Kiu Yat Pao (e.g. 1952-10-14)  

4. SCMP, 1924-3-17; China Mail, 1924-3-28, p.4   
     as recorded, J.L. MacPherson was a member on its Controlling Body, c.1924-1926

5.  refer also CCC publication in Chinese :  Wu Sing, issue 658 p. 5 (June 2012)
 

Thank you!

The one photo that appeared in one of the CCC CC 100th Anniversary collections really drew my quick attention. Its date was in the 1920s.

The bulk of students lined up in a few rows in front of the west wall of my dad's kindergarten, which was also our home on the site for nearly 15 years. The address is 12c School Road. 

I recognize all the physical appearance of the stone wall, the windows, and the door. The students were looking at the farmers' valley, better known as Tai Choi Yuen.

Cheers,

Tung

Timeline

a) 1927 - Government allocated funds for the construction of a permanent Anglo-Chinese School. Hong Kong Blue Book 1927 refers.

b) 1928 - Completed in November with five classrooms. Maximum number of pupils to be accommodated was 160. Report of the Director of Public Works for 1928.

Cheung Chau Government Secondary School evolved from the Anglo-Chinese School. The latter school appeared in 1908 until a permanent building was constructed in 1928 (as mentioned above).

Source

  1. Historic Building Appraisal: https://www.aab.gov.hk/filemanager/aab/common/historicbuilding/en/537_Appraisal_En.pdf

 

Oopsie!

In one 1920s' photo of the entire group of students from the CC Girls School appeared in the CCC CC 100th Anniversary collection. I must have misread its location as my dad's Ching Tak Kindergarten. Sorry!

It had a similar type of stone wall, for sure, and similar windows and doors, but the few rows for students to stand on seemed to be very wide steps. CTK didn't have this building type. Secondly, there seemed to be grass or plants in the foreground. CTK didn't have the wide steps and had no grassy yard, but only a small hard cement playground instead.

Someone suggests the walls looked like those of the CC Baptist Church. I know it's no match at all.

I believe that should be the west wall of Penial Church at #1 School Rd. The entrance on these wide steps was accessible on Tai Sun Backstreet and would serve very well as a perfect spot for all photo ops.

Tung

as not an islander, I could only base on written information and photo images for analysis. I have seen photo of the foundation stone before, which was set up in 1936 with Peniel Church. That is why I am puzzled about the years gap and put a ? in my post above.

Is it possible that part of the stone building is a reuse, which may have been there for over 90 years ? [1] What I pre-conceived has limited my search.  

Readers could also view and consider on your own. Street view of the west wall and main entrance on School Road may be seen here. Some on-site
viewing or expert opinions of the stone wall formation and texture may also help.

Above are just my observations and reasoning, not a proof. In fact, these matters may be well over 100 years by now. Documents or eye witnesses are not likely to find further... Unless it may be found that the original owner of these two lots is the same person or related (CCL 1472, CCL 980) during that period.

Some information says that the Girls' School location had moved several times. 
 

notes
1. readers may compare it with the Cheung Chau Baptist Church (c. 1951), which is also a stone built house

Hi Tung,

Sharing a 1960 map portion I just met, which shows a zoom-in of the School Road / Tai Choi Yuen junction (link removed).
Left to the Peniel Church, we could see another school. I think its Chinese name is 慈光學校, the English name may read Tse(?) Kwong School. [1]
So by then, some kind of 'education corridor' may have taken shape, in the heyday around this neighbourhood.  

There are quite a number of interesting building details drawn opposite the church, before entry to School Road. They may mean more to residents of Cheung Chau.
Do they offer any cues for your memory, about something ?

I would share the full map link in my next update, in case it is useful for your other studies.

 

Best regards.

 

notes
1. the actual name is likely Gracious Light Primary School, per the school registration cards (post 1946), as on grs.gov.hk
 

Hi hkspace_wl,

About the area on your map : 

  1. Tze-Kwong (Private) Primary School opened in 1954 and permanently closed down by the summer of 1957. It remained as a ruin for termites, rodents, and bats.  I don't know what it was before that.
  2. Tze-Kwong School also operates its kindergarten at a nearby location, which is quite hidden from the Tze-Kwong school. Near the corner of Penial Church, there is a side alley, beginning with two flights of narrow steps then going up slightly all the way to its higher top. Quite oddly, most of the houses and buildings along this alley are still registered as on the School Road.
  3. Let's ignore the small houses. Going up, the first big building on the right side is Shun Tak Tung Heung Wu. However, the handwritten marking of its name is wrongly assigned to the site of the nearby kindergarten. On the left, there is a much bigger residence building. It houses several families within.
  4. At the end of this alley, there are three more rising steps which lead to an open gate for a spacious playground and the kindergarten. It is a very quiet place, even unknown to many local people. There is a big row house consisting of three main sections. The middle section is taller and twice as long as the section on both sides. The playground must cover a few thousand square feet. In front of the row house, there stand the gigantic Twin Red Coral Trees. (I still have photos of those.)

  5. Another big building adjacent to the right side of the playground is the Church of Christ in China on Cheung Chau. So the gate also provides access to another pocket of buildings as indicated on the map.

    Regards

    Tung

 

Hi Tung, thanks for your kind info.

The link of the larger map of 1960 is here, for your reference.

If I did not misread from the map, the site of Sum Sum Kindergarten, and any earlier 'school' is likely the lot CCL 801 RP. The parcel on its left reads CCL 801 S.A (?). From land registry online, full land info of CCL 801 RP for download may be ordered with a cost. 

From my limited experience, only the deed of the property may contain more specific information though.  And its reference no. may not be known, until above land register enquiry is ordered.

Tung, thanks for your detailed elaboration of this area refreshed in the previous post. They enable us to recognize and zoom in to related lots.

Some further info from the land records :

   - CCL 801 S.A, possibly originated in 1939, really belonged to CCC CC. Letter of consent was granted to a surviving manager in 1980s whose surname is Wong (* this is the original CCC CC Church location)

   - CCL 801 (RP) should match the location of the Sum Sum Kindergarten in early 50s. In late 60s, there was a declaration of trust by someone to another beneficiary. It had been a leased lot before the 70s. 
 The later lot no. of this land is CCL 1472. This is address 12C School Road today.  

It may not be coincidental that all three stakeholders cited above are with same surname. 
This happens to be the same as the original donor of CCL 801 S.A to CCC too, c.1941.
So, there remains some possibility that this lot is related to CCC in some way and had a school once... 
Even though we have no way to know its connections back in the 1930s or trace backward from above records (earliest records appear to be 1939).  

The search could end here, unless new kinds of evidence in public domain arise in future.

Afterword
There had been a private American Missionary School in CC for children evacuated from North China in 1938, as the Government Admin Reports 1939. 
Location not mentioned. But I think it is not likely located within this quiet, inner zone, from background we read so far. 
 

As announced last year, the CC Government Secondary School will cease operation by Sept. 2028. Intake of fresh students are reducing and it will merge with TSK Victoria Sec. School in Wanchai ultimately. In other words, the school will not get passed its 100th anniversary there (own permanent building from Dec. 1928).

For the time being, future usage of the historic red brick building is possibly not sure yet.

 

Firstly, I would like to thank all those who have helped in searching for changes to the CCGS during its early years.

Based on some related postings, I strongly suggest that the site of Tze Kwong School had once been a temporary site for CCGS after its destruction by a typhoon episode. Then a decision was made to build the red-bricked replacement, as being seen as the frontal section of the existing building.

But the site, marked as Tze Kwong School, seemed to be owned by the Cheung Chau Public Free School, a charity opted for the poor street kids on the island. So the site would likely accommodate both schools at that time period, during the mid 1920s.

Therefore, not only would a red brick building be built on a new site, reshaping the biggest orchard land into a large plot of land for the CCGS and fields for basketball, tennis and British soccer, but also an expansion plan of a brand-new CC Public Free School nearby at the top end of the School Road.

The date of completion of the new CC Public Free School is openly readable from the inscription on the main gate. 

I don't know much about the site of Tze Kwong during the 1930s. It might become a warehouse for the local businesses.

In the wake of the break of the wars in mainland China, some Chinese nationals fled to CC. They wanted to be certified teachers in the colony. Tze Kwong was established and provided a legal way for them to achieve that honorable goal. They worked diligently in order to get qualified into the intensive teacher certification program. For two years, every five days a week, they had to teach their classes during the morning at Tze Kwong school and hastily took the midday ferry ride to Kowloon, attending classes at the education institute. So going home was always so late and so tired. To them, that was the toughest time to be proud of, enough to win so much respect from friends and students at that time.

I was once a little school kid at Tze Kwong. My mom was one of those teachers.

But only 4 years later, the Tze Kwong School had to close. Simply because the teachers would foresee a brighter future elsewhere ahead of their career advancement. The private school was too small to attract both new teachers and students, and lacked financial support from anyone.

I am quite happy to see Cheung Chau Government School still in existence.

No suggestion of its next plan after 2028.

Good memories will remain good for a long while I guess!!

Cheers

Tung

PS The other school for European families is not within my knowledge. 


Hi Tung,

Thanks indeed for sharing personal experiences of the schools and life situation in the 50s. They are precious moments and that we may know more.

Cheung Chau Free School was started at 18 Tai Sun Street c.1921. CC Government School dated back to 1908 and met much difficulties initially. 
It is recorded that it was once at 18 Tai San Street. It had moved to multiple locations, before the 1928 permanent building. 
These somehow reflect how education efforts in CC were hard at the start of 1900s. Details may be hard to find after decades now.
18 Tai San Street is a Grade 2 historic building, still existing now.

As for the two-year 'teacher certificate' in the 1950s, one early coverage about its prizing giving day by Governor Grantham at NTC in 1950 is found.   
Lists of persons in the English section and Chinese section were included. In the Chinese section, about 37 names were listed.

Btw, Tze Kwong School's period may be from 1954(?) up to 1961.

 

Best regards 🙏

 

sources
1. CC Government School History (link, 2026 ver.);   
    readers may take screenshot of the 2nd page (pg 25) and use Google or others to translate it
2. China Mail, 1950-1-17 p.3
3. Wah Kiu Yat Po

Another new school!!

Now, a teacher, I think, who was Mr. Yeung Yu-Lun from CC's Kwok Man Primary School realized an opportunity just so perfect for his career dream to come true while the Tze Kwong School was seemingly struggling at a critical crossroad. So he quickly started a new school named Silver Star Private School with a kindergarten program all in the heart of the Tai Choi Yuen farmland district.

The site he developed is about 2 minutes' walking distance from Tze Kwong. So it was a very good thought to conveniently salvage the outflow of students from Tze Kwong School sooner or later.

The same year, the kids and their parents were all so hopeful about seeing a new future that early and basic education was indeed becoming within their reach at an affordable cost.

As for my family, I would never ever have thought that only a few years later, my father would join this Band Wagon of School Planting on Cheung Chau. He, too, would finally become a respectable kindergarten principal.

And that was how I, being a primary school kid, became a shadow caretaker of his school. Lucky me indeed! The additional duty on all the minor repairs on this site helped me to learn a lot of life skills for future applications.

Honestly, I worked very hard and quite reluctantly, not knowing it was a wonderful part of my life in hindsight.

 

Tung

Not sure if one has visited the Reports by the Director of Education for the 1920s and thereafter. The Reports do give the names of schools operating on Cheung Chau. 

For example, in 1920 besides the Government-run Cheung Chau School (AA 20), there were three other subsidised schools: Loh Mo To (AA 37), L. M. S. Girls' School (AA 24) and Fung Sam Kei (AA 22). 

Perhaps a crosscheck of their school addresses may yield results that one is looking for.

AA: Average Attendance

Source:

  1. 1920 Report: https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/a1920/417.pdf

It seems to be my own memory always begins at the Tze Kwong School. There were lots of peculiar things that appeared to distract my daily life. I laughed at most of those.

Sometimes, my mom and other teachers did not get the salary in full amount, they understood the school was in trouble. No problem! We would have free dinners in the school with all the  teachers and their kids. So much fun! A party time it really was.

To save money on the bill for electric lights, all the classrooms were kept dimly alight, because CC's electric power rate was very expensive. It was not the fault of the school, it was the Power house! Hey, wasn't it good for us to come and play a hide-and-seek game any time we wanted? In certain classrooms, I don't even know who the teacher was, quite confusing sometimes. 

If we had absolutely nothing to do or to watch while awaiting the dinner delivery from the restaurant, don't worry! Look up to some ceilings. And find out who would count the most number of bats in the teacher's chamber! 

When we were out of spending cash, our smiles were even more than sincere! Why? A penny saved is a penny gained. Therefore, we saved a lot!!

I have a vivid memory of a trip to Kowloon where the school headmaster had promised to get some money for us from his son. We ended up spending a few hours in his dormitory. His son was on duty doing the firefighting drill with a water jetting machine, quite visible to our view. 

Oh, No! We were in need of money, not water. Even though in the Cantonese language in Hong Kong, verbally, money can be referred to as water. I suppose my parents did get the money as promised, and for myself, I was really happy to watch a good firefighting drill. Of course, I learned to respect their profession too.

Tung

Hi Moddsey, thank you for referring the document.
I am aware of the reports of 1920's in the previous study, but no findings there. The two romanised names do not come close to any known school names or persons in Chinese in that era, not found so far. No address is mentioned in various reports either.

Actually, similar difficulty met when we tried to trace backward from the late 1930's to earlier. Not easy to find any connecting info, either in English or Chinese within the public domain.

As above, the Cheung Chau L.M.S. Girls' School is likely equivalent to 'Tuen Yee School' as above findings. (link)
The new 'Cheung Chau Free School' (c.1921) is said to be opened by Hon. Mr Lau Chu-pak (1867-1922), as the Government Admin Report 1921. No other source about this history is found yet. 
But it was in the Chinese village, not on School Road though. 

 

My speculation about logical feelings suggests that there were three schools, each operated by three respective "Tongs", which are the communities based on their dialects and background native prefectures. They were there long before 1898, while the CC was still under the jurisdiction of the Ching Dynasty. 

These schools were traditionally funded by the Tongs and received nothing from the colonial department, so they strongly ignored the registration even in the early 1920s. Their AA numbers are about 20s to 30s each, so they are not only too small to have a separate building, but also seemed to be part of the social staging grounds for festive events.

However, some years later, they realized the colonial department did look after the education matter with a modern approach, like the formation of the School Road Corridor. I think that was the time for the Tongs' schools to join altogether for a modern school. 

This was in fact how Kwok Man Primary School was established. Finally, with government subsidy, it soon became the biggest non-religious funded school on CC island in the 1960s. The location, however, is nothing near School Road, about 15 minutes' walking distance away. The three Tongs were Po On, Wet Chiu and Dong Guoon. And it is very likely other smaller private schools had to close too. 

As for the girls' school associated with the L.M.S., it seems to be in the same location as the original CCC church. The building group was quite consistent for dual functionality. However, in 1941, a new CCC church, on the adjacent lot donated by the Wong's family, was built with the traditional church design, having an arcade which overlooks the valley of Tai Choi Yuen, with the church bell high up below the cross, which is on top of the attic. 

As for the girls' school, it somehow appeared to have moved to a different location, about 10 minutes' walking distance away. It was quite near and on opposite sides to the Cheung Chau Theater, the only movie cinema at that time. It remains to have a special association with the L.M.S.

Sum Sum Kindergarten could have begun in 1938 on the previous site for CCC church and the girls' school based on the historical factor. Alarmingly, Shanghai at the time, had already lost to the Japanese invasion. So the Chinese government had to issue massive evacuations of schools and factories in order to sustain a policy of long-term resistance. That's why some of their staff seemed to have previously been evacuated from Canton, a city likely soon to be a target of the Japanese invasion there. 

 This is how the picture evolved on the address of 12c School Road. I think the name Grace Garden is truly meaningful with blessed tenants. For a long time, the land was owned by the Wongs family too. I don't know about the situation after the 1980s. 

You know, as a norm of modern warfare, church sites are not always supposed to be on the list of destruction targets. These are the sacred grounds, so the gigantic Twin Red Coral Trees on this site, in fact, grew very magnificently even through the waring years. 

Regards

Tung.