Jump to content

Wah Yan College, Kowloon

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Splee (talk | contribs) at 00:14, 26 March 2013 (removed Category:Roman Catholic secondary schools in Hong Kong using HotCat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about Wah Yan College, Kowloon. For the other Wah Yan College on Hong Kong Island, see Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.
Wah Yan College, Kowloon
Chinese: 九龍華仁書院

School Badge of Wah Yan College, Kowloon

Motto In hoc signo vinces
Latin, "By this sign you shall conquer"
Established 1924
Type Grant-in-aid
Supervisor Fr. Stephen Chow, S.J.
Principal Dr. John Tan
Location 56 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Telephone Number 2384 1038
Religion Latin Rite Catholic
Governing Body Society of Jesus
School Colour       Green
Campus Area approx. 41,000 square metres
School Magazine "Signum"
School Yearbook "The Shield" Chinese: 華暉
Brother School Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
Homepage http://www.wyk.edu.hk

Wah Yan College, Kowloon (WYK; Traditional Chinese: 九龍華仁書院; Jyutping: gau2 lung4 wa4 jan2 syu1 jyun2, Pinyin: Jǐulóng Huárén Shūyuàn; demonym: Wahyanite, pl.: Wahyanites) is an eminent Roman Catholic secondary school for boys run by the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus. Located at 56 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, it is a grant-in-aid secondary school using English as the primary medium of instruction. It is considered [by whom?], together with its brother school Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, as one of the most prestigious boys' schools in Hong Kong.

Wah Yan College, Kowloon

Aims

According to the school website,[1] the school is aimed to give students opportunity to know Christ, to build a school/learning community in which everybody may respect and co-operate with each other, to encourage students to work for a just society, and to serve the needy. The main focus of the school's mission from 2009-2014 is to enhance the learning capacity of the students.[2]

History

Formative years

Established in 1924 by Mr. Peter Tsui Yan Sau (徐仁壽, formerly a teacher at St. Joseph's College), WYK is one of the oldest and most prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong, and was the first English-speaking college to be administered by local Chinese. During the 1930s, Mr. Tsui, himself a devout Catholic, saw the need of the pupils for greater spiritual guidance, decided to gradually hand over the administration to the incoming Jesuits, while the latter was seeking to serve in some local education establishments. Besides the two Wah Yan Colleges in Hong Kong and Kowloon, the Jesuits also sought to form a Catholic University in Hong Kong. Yet with the University of Hong Kong already established in 1911, the Jesuit fathers turned to organise a Catholic hostel for its male students, which hostel was to become Ricci Hall of the University. Mr. Tsui left Hong Kong and became a successful rubber planter and hotelier in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah of the British Malaya. He died in Hong Kong on 19 February 1981, age ninety three.

Pre-war developments

Before the Second World War, the school was located on Portland Street and later moved to Nelson Street in 1928. Under the auspice of A. E. Wood, then Secretary for Education, the school was added to the Grant List, and was hence under Government subsidies. A branch was also opened on Austin Road to cater for students in senior years, the premises became the Tak Sun Primary School after the war. A South China Morning Post article in 1928 reported the WYK to be the biggest school in Hong Kong with a student population of 500. Despite new facilities, however, senior students were still required to cross the Victoria Harbour for laboratory lessons at the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

In 1941, Hong Kong was attacked by the Japanese forces, the Jesuit priests of the College helped organise the evacuation of the Kowloon civilians to the Island as they closed down the school. During the occupation, the Japanese prohibited its resumption on political grounds. The Nelson Street campus was so thoroughly looted that, Mr. Chow Ching-nam (周淸霖), then Principal, could only salvage a small portion of school registers and documentations, and the students had to bring in their own chairs when the College reopened after the war.

Expansion and maturity

Around 1947, the school authorities began the search for a new campus as its enrolment further increased. A proposed acquisition of a site on Ho Man Tin Hill Road was turned down. After negotiations with the Government of Hong Kong, a piece of former paddy field was granted and it moved to the current premises on Waterloo Road in 1952. This provision of land was large by Hong Kong standards, making WYK one of the largest campus in the urban Hong Kong area. This precedent was soon followed in the case of land provision for the Hong Kong campus, where the plot granted by the Government was also of significant size. The present campus was opened by the then Governor Sir Alexander Grantham in 1953. In 2005 a new annex of WYK was opened providing new science labs, a music room, a Computer Assisted Learning Room (commonly called CAL Room) and a student activity room.

Mr. Laurence Tam (譚志成), a former Arts teacher during the late 1960s, pioneered a new Chinese ink painting movement which he integrated in his curriculum experimentally. He left the school to work as a curator at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1971.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ http://www.wyk.edu.hk/
  2. ^ http://admin.wyk.edu.hk/documents/C01%20School%20Annual%20Plans/Mission_2009-14_MC_2009-10.pdf
  3. ^ "Big shoes to fill for new club boss". Hong Kong Standard. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wah_Yan_College,_Kowloon&oldid=546994394"