Wah Yan College, Kowloon

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
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 , 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, 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.

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

• LEE Martin Chu-ming (李柱銘), former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency; former chairman of Hong Kong Democratic Party.
• CHAN John Cho-chak (陳祖澤), former chairman of Hong Kong Jockey Club; former managing director of Kowloon Motor Bus (1933) Ltd.
• LEONG Alan Kah-kit (梁家傑), former chairman of Hong Kong Bar Association and a candidate of Hong Kong Chief Executive Election 2007
• MAK Tak Wah (class of 1962), scientist (discoverer of T cell receptors, a key component of the human immune system) [1],[2],[3]
• TO James Kun-sun (涂謹申), member of the Legislative Council (Kowloon West)
• TSANG Kenneth (曾江), actor in Hollywood productions such as Die Another Day
• TSO Wung-Wai, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, also an active politician in Hong Kong
• YING Michael Lee-Yuen, Former chairman of Esprit Holdings Limited.
• NG, Stephen Tin-hoi(吳天海), Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Wharf Holdings Limited (九龍倉集團有限公司); chairman, president and chief executive officer of i-CABLE Communications Limited (有線寬頻通訊有限公司); deputy chairman of Wheelock and Company Limited (會德豐有限公司); director of Joyce Boutique Holdings Limited and Modern Terminals Limited (現代貨箱碼頭有限公司); chairman, president and chief executive officer of Wharf T&T Limited (九倉電訊有限公司)
• TSE Paul (謝偉俊), member of the Legislative Council (Tourism Functional Constituency).
• YUEN Tin-fan (袁天凡)
• Chan Koon Chung (陳冠中), author of "The Fat Years (盛世)".

School Hymn

I

  Our Captain and our King,
  We kneel in love before Thee
  Our hearts in tribute bring
  Glad homage here to pay.
  O do not Thou disdain
  The give so mean, so poor;
  More precious far we fain
  Would offer and more pure.

II

    Grant us we pray, Thy cause
    To champion, though so lowly,
    Nor ever fail nor pause,
    When trials throng and press.
    O God of battle, smite,
    And nerve us for the fray;
    O Prince of Peace, Thy light
    Can ev'ry toil repay.

CHORUS

      Our deep love O Lord
      Till this our life is o'er
      Be Thine forever more,
      Be Thine forever more,
      Yes, Thine forever more.

School Prayer

O Lord Jesus, be with me all through today to help me to live as I ought to live.

Be with me at my lessons, so that I may grow in knowledge and never give up any task, no matter how hard and difficult it is, until I have tried my best.

Be with me at my games, so that, whether I win or lose, I may play fair, and if I win I may not boast, and if I lose I may not make excuses.

Be with me in my pleasure, so that I may enjoy your gifts and never use them selfishly or to hurt others.

Be with me in my home, so that I may be kind and considerate, and that I may try to make the work of others easier and not harder.

Be with me in the streets, so that I may be a credit to my school and to those who love me and to myself

Be with me in my disappointments and sufferings, so that I may have strength to overcome my problems and accept my pain with courage and cheerfulness.

Help me to be the kind of boy you want me to be.

This I ask for your love's sake. Amen.

See also

• Education in Hong Kong
• Wah Yan College, Hong Kong
• Wah Yan One Family Foundation
• List of secondary schools in Hong Kong
• List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong
• Society of Jesus
• Fo Pang

External links

• Official site
• WYK Past Students' Association
• Wah Yan International Network
• Wah Yan Boys' Community