Prof. TONG Duen-ching —— Early, arduous days of the New Asia community
(00:16)
New Asia College was established by several poor scholars, such as Mr. Ch’ien and Mr. Tang, who all fled to Hong Kong. They had no connection with anyone in Hong Kong society. Thus, thanks to Mr. Wang Yeah-feng’s initial financial support, the third and fourth floors of Nos. 61, 63 & 65 Kweilin Street were rented. At first, everything seemed fine. However, Mr. Wang Yeah-feng went bankrupt the following year, and he could no longer support New Asia financially. You may wonder, how could these poor scholars maintain New Asia College in its formative years? At that time, they had to pay rents, cover the College’s operational costs, and disburse salaries to teachers. We did not even have any janitors back then. Janitorial duties were carried out by students as diligent work cum frugal study.
(01:54)
Back then, many students were refugees fleeing the Chinese Mainland. As refugees, they had nowhere to live other than where Tiu Keng Leng is. It was formally named Rennie’s Mill.
(02:10)
<Displaying photo of New Asia students visiting Tiu Keng Leng, February 1952; Tong Duen-ching third from right>
The land was barren, previously a graveyard. The [Free China Relief Association] ① provided aid to the refugees. Many of our schoolmates lived there. When dormitories were not enough, they slept at the graveyard. They walked all the way from Rennie’s Mill to Kweilin Street for school. If they could not return home in time after school, they stayed on Kweilin Street and slept at a small corner next to the staircase. Many schoolmates joined a church. On Sunday, they could go into the church for some rest. But after entering New Asia, they thought New Asia was a better place to go than the church because the church only opened during services, but in New Asia, they found somewhere to stay for a moment, and a staircase to sleep by at night.
(03:30)
Those schoolmates who lived in Rennie’s Mill received six dollars in food vouchers per person per month, supported by the Free China Relief Association. Many of them engaged in hard labor, even going up the mine in Ma On Shan for jobs or building new roads in Tsuen Wan. So, our teachers were poor scholars, and our schoolmates were poor students.
(04:13)
Our teachers usually spoke in Mandarin. Local students were rare back then. For a start, they knew nothing about the College. “Look how inferior it is! Running a college in a few flats?”
(04:37)
<Displaying photo of plaque with the characters meaning “The College Departments of New Asia College”>
We called ourselves “The College Departments of New Asia College,” but the general public did not know or recognize so. Thus, young refugees were the major source of the College’s students. A Cantonese coming from Guangzhou, I gradually learnt to comprehend my teachers’ Mandarin by listening. Initially, I found Mr. Ch’ien’s Mandarin difficult to comprehend, more difficult than average because of his heavy Wuxi accent, but I got used to it as I listened more.
(05:23)
The College was arduous back then, so were the students. At lunchtime, my schoolmate and I went to a restaurant on another street near Kweilin Street. Two loaves of bread for twenty cents. One plate of butter for twenty cents. The two of us ate a loaf of bread each, sharing the butter. Many schoolmates could only spend six dollars for food per month. Therefore, they led an arduous life as refugees.
(06:14)
To make ends meet, the College raised funds from every known friend, but most of the friends it could count on were refugees themselves, without any local people. They could not carry on after donating once or twice. The College was thus in great hardship. As Comptroller, Mr. Tchang Pi-kai had no other choice but to pawn his wife’s jewelry, trying to subsist. These are bits of our arduous past.
(07:05)
Although life was hard in the Kweilin Street era, as it happened later, Mr. Ch’ien Mu went to Taiwan and secured subsidies from there, so that we could continue up till 1953, the year I graduated, when Yale University from the U.S. set foot in Hong Kong. At the time, [Yale-in-China Association] had a sum of money for continuing to aid Chinese society. Previously, they set up a medical school in Changsha with this money. Professor Harry Rudin from Yale University confirmed New Asia College as the organization which deserved [Yale-in-China’s] aid the most. Since then, New Asia College has received subsidies from Yale[-China]. Harvard University and other organizations followed and gave help. Thus, at New Asia College after 1953, conditions changed for the better.
(08:33)
<Displaying photo of Graduation Ceremony for New Asia College Class of 1953; Tong Duen-ching second from right, front row>
That year happened to mark my graduation. I entered in 1949 and graduated in 1953. By 1953, New Asia had been granted with American aid.
– End of Interview Video Transcript –
NOTES :
① The original wording by Prof. Tong, in Chinese, may be translated literally as “the Relief Administration,” which possibly means either the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) or the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA). Instead, it was the Free China Relief Association (Taipei-based, established in 1950) which was the main provider of aid to refugees settled in Tiu Keng Leng at that time, thus calling for clarification.
Image source:
1. Six Decades of Endeavour: A Pictorial History of New Asia College. Hong Kong; New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.