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Wah Yan College, Kowloon

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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
九龍華仁書院
Location
Map
56 Waterloo Road

Yau Ma Tei

Hong Kong
Coordinates22°18′52″N 114°10′25″E / 22.314577°N 114.17351°E / 22.314577; 114.17351
Information
School typeGrant-in-aid, Secondary school
MottoLatin:
In Hoc Signo Vinces
English:
By this sign, you shall conquer
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic (Jesuits)
Established20 November 1924; 100 years ago (1924-11-20)
FounderTSUI Yan Sau, Peter
StatusActive
AuthoritySociety of Jesus
Medium of instructionEnglish
School codeWYK
PresidentDr. SO Ying Lun (Supervisor)
PrincipalCHOW Tze Sze, Cecilia
GradesF.1 – F.6 (Formerly F.1 - F.7)
GenderMale
Campus size41,000 square metres (4.1 ha)
Campus typeUrban
Colour(s)Green  
Sports
PublicationShield
NewspaperSignum
AlumniSee below
Sister schoolWah Yan College, Hong Kong
Websitewww.wyk.edu.hk
Wah Yan College, Kowloon
Traditional Chinese九龍華仁書院
Simplified Chinese九龙华仁书院
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJiǔ​lóng Huárén Shū​yuàn
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpinggau2 lung4 wa4 jan2 syu1 jyun2

Wah Yan College Kowloon (WYK; Chinese: 九龍華仁書院; demonym: Wahyanite, pl.: Wahyanites) is a Catholic secondary school for boys run by the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus. It is located in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and is a grant-in-aid secondary school using English as the primary medium of instruction. The total land area of its campus is among the largest for Hong Kong secondary schools, and it's one of the most prestigious schools in Hong Kong.

History

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Formative years

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Established on 1 December 1924 as a branch of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, by Mr. Peter Tsui Yan Sau (徐仁壽, formerly a teacher at St. Joseph's College), Wah Yan College Kowloon 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, and decided to gradually hand over the administration to the incoming Jesuits who were looking to serve in some local educational establishments. Besides the two Wah Yan Colleges, the Jesuits also sought to form a Catholic University in Hong Kong. But with the University of Hong Kong already established in 1911, the Jesuit fathers turned to organizing a Catholic hostel for its male students, which became Ricci Hall of the university. Mr. Tsui left Hong Kong and became a successful rubber planter and hotelier in Kota Kinabalu, British North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia). He died in Hong Kong on 19 February 1981, at the age of ninety three.

Pre-war developments

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Before the Second World War, the school was located on Portland Street and then moved to Nelson Street in 1928. Under the auspices of A. E. Wood, Secretary for Education, the school was added to the Grant List and hence under Government subsidies. A satellite campus was opened at 103 Austin Road to cater to students in senior year. The premises became Tak Sun Primary School after the war. A South China Morning Post article in 1928 reported WYK to be the largest school in Hong Kong with a student population of 500. Despite new facilities, however, seniors had to cross Victoria Harbour for laboratory lessons at the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.

In 1941 when Hong Kong was attacked by the Japanese forces, the Jesuits 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 documents, and the students had to bring in their own chairs when the college reopened after the war.

Expansion and maturity

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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 portion 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 (CAL) room, and a student activity room.

Also in the campus is the St. Ignatius Chapel,[1][2] under the parish of St. Teresa's Church. Fr Stephen Law is the rector.[2][3]

Mr. Laurence Tam (譚志成), an 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.

The school hymn of Wah Yan College Kowloon is Our Captain and Our King. The origin of the hymn is unclear, but it is believed to have originated from Northern England back in the 18th century.[4]

Wah Yan College, Kowloon
Photo taken from the West Gate, showing the main building (left) with the new additions Law Ting Pong building (right)
Verse 1

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 gift so mean, so poor;

More precious far we fain

Would offer and more pure.

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.

Verse 2

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.

Results of public examinations

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Wah Yan College, Kowloon, has produced 8 perfect scorers "10As" in the history of Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and 1 "Top Scorers" / "Super Top Scorers" in Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE).[5][6]

7 x 5** "Top Scorers" are candidates who obtained perfect scores of 5** in each of the four core subjects and three electives.

8 x 5** "Super Top Scorers" are candidates who obtained seven Level 5** in four core subjects and three electives, and an additional Level 5** in the Mathematics Extended (M1/M2) module.[7]

Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE)

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  • 1988: 10As: Michael LO Man-chu, admitted to HKU Faculty of Engineeging, and PhD program at MIT Department of Chemistry.[8][9][10]
  • 1991: 10As: William WOO Chun-fai, SCMP Student of the Year 1992, admitted to BA in Law at the University of Cambridge.[11]
  • 1995: 10As: David TANG Yue-tan, admitted to BA at Columbia University and graduated with Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.[12][13]
  • 1997: 10As: Anthony LUI Kai Chung, Awardee of Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation Scholarship to study Computer Science and Engineering at UCLA.[14]
  • 1998: 10As: Alan LUI Siu-lun, admitted to BSc in Material Science at CUHK. [15]
  • 1998: 10As: CHAN Ka-fai [15]
  • 2003: 10As: Jeff SZE Chun-fai [zh], admitted to B.S. in Mathematics at Stanford University.[16] Under Secretary for Education
  • 2003: 10As: Dominic KWOK Tsz-yeung, admitted to HKU MBBS.[17]

Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE)

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  • 2014: "7 x 5** Top Scorer": Yii Pun-kit, admitted to HKU MBBS.[18][19]

Notable alumni

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Current Legislative Council Members

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  • TSE Paul (謝偉俊), member of the Legislative Council (Tourism Functional Constituency)

Politics

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Law

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Business

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Academia

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Art and performance

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "St. Ignatius Chapel and New Mass Time – Wah Yan College (Kowloon)".
  2. ^ a b "St. Ignatius Chapel – Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong".
  3. ^ "Clergy 牧職人員 – St. Ignatius Chapel | 聖依納爵堂".
  4. ^ "WYHYMN". www.interlog.com. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  5. ^ "DSE狀元". HK01. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  6. ^ "歷屆223狀元". Ming Pao Daily News. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  7. ^ "HKDSE exam results reveal eight top scorers from eight schools". The Standard. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Sir Edward Youde Memorial Medals". Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Results of HKCEE released yesterday". Overseas Chinese Daily News. 11 August 1988.
  10. ^ "Lo, Michael Man-chu, 1971-". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Award-winner urges students to balance activities". SCMP. 22 January 1993. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Yue Tan David Tang". Open government data in New York State. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Exams 'fail to test abilities'". SCMP. 10 August 1995. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation Scholars" (PDF). Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation Scholarship Foundation. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Top two modest in success". SCMP. 7 August 1998. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  16. ^ "SZE Chun-fai". East Week. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  17. ^ "List of Registered Medical Practitioners". The Medical Council of Hong Kong. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  18. ^ "List of Registered Medical Practitioners". The Medical Council of Hong Kong. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  19. ^ "Top DSE students of the class of 2014 voice concerns over future of Hong Kong". SCMP. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  20. ^ "Big shoes to fill for new club boss". Hong Kong Standard. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  21. ^ "Science.ca : Tak Wah Mak".
  22. ^ "citzine.ca > Stuff > Cool Canadians > Tak Wah Mak". citzine.ca. Archived from the original on 28 June 2003.
  23. ^ "Medical Biophysics".
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