HKIS-Reunion-68-69-Memories

Why Support the HKIS Annual Fund?

HKIS is a non-profit, independent school, and receives no funding from any government or
religious organizations. In order to maintain the highest standards of excellence, HKIS relies
on many sources of revenue to cover costs. These include tuition and fees, endowment
interest income, and Annual Fund donations. We have all benefited from the generosity of
donors who have given to the Annual Fund since its inception in 2000. Unlike tuition, Annual
Fund contributions are tax-deductible in Hong Kong and the United States.
Every gift matters. More than 80 percent of Annual Fund donors make gifts in amounts less
than $50,000 HKD. Last year, with the help of the Annual Fund Committee (AFC), these
donations added up to more than $13.1 Million HKD.
Every area is strengthened. The Annual Fund covers all parts of HKIS — including
scholarships, academics, the arts, athletics, speaker series, and more.
Every HKISer benefits. Gifts to the Annual Fund benefit every student, every day, and help
ensure the continuing value of HKIS’s educational excellence for all alumni.
The HKIS Annual Fund supports our school's Mission and Student Learning Results by
providing the means to attract and retain the finest teachers, develop and expand academic
and co-curricular programs, and maintain and enhance the school infrastructure. Everyone in
the HKIS Community (parents, alumni, faculty, and staff) is encouraged to contribute to the
Annual Fund. Participation demonstrates commitment and support of the school’s Mission
and Student Learning Results.
All gifts to the Annual Fund are immediately applied to the school’s areas of greatest need.
This flexible funding allows administrators to strategically address emerging needs in all areas
of HKIS and take advantage of unexpected opportunities as they arise.
Want to become more involved in the HKIS community? Become a gladiator for the Annual
Fund. Please join the Annual Fund Committee.

For more information, please see the HKIS website or contact Advancement
at +852 3149 7819 or at [email protected]


223

REUNITED

& it feels

so good

after

50.YEARS !

Hong Kong International School

Classes of 1968 & 1969

Now it is up to YOU to stay in touch . . . and keep singing!

ü Join our FACEBOOK (private) Group page “HKIS 1968 &
1969 Alumni” . . . especially and only for our class alums.

ü Write a CLASS NOTES update for Dragon Tales.
ü Keep Christy (69) & Ed (68) informed of your CONTACT info.
ü Nominate yourself or a classmate for HKIS RECOGNITION.
ü Give back and DONATE to the HKIS Annual Fund.

224

Printing of our 50th+ Reunion Memory Book was made possible by a generous donation in loving
memory of our 1969 classmate, Earlene, from her family:


Parents: Elizabeth V. Wirsching

& Norbert R. Wirsching


Sisters: Margaret G. Still, HKIS Class of 1968

& Elizabeth V. del Alamo


Son: Theodore J. Wirsching Welch












The Wirsching family at Kai Tak airport - June 18, 1968
Earlene, Mrs. Wirsching, Margie, and Mr. Wirsching


Thank you to the Wirsching family
with sincere appreciation

and fondest memories of Earlene.





225

50th+ REUNION MEMORY BOOK
HKIS Classes of 1968 & 1968

INDEX

1968 Class Graduation Photo & Speakers... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

1968 Class Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

1968 Graduation Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

1968 Message from Bob Christian to Graduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

1968 Orientale Yearbook Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160a-160d

1968 Orientale Yearbook Seniors & Senior Class Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76-91

1968 Seniors Photo Collage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

1969 Class Graduation Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

1969 Class Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

1969 Graduation Diploma – Debra Dale Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

1969 Graduation Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

1969 Graduation Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

1969 Graduation Remarks – Marty Borgman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

1969 Message from Bob Christian to Graduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

1969 Orientale Yearbook Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145-160

1969 Seniors Photo Collage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Agenda of Reunion Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Annual Fund – Support HKIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Athletic & Service Awards – 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-61

Attendees 2019 Reunion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 2
BIO – Adcock, Steve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
BIO – Andersen/Brigham, Lindy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
BIO – Bordwell/Roby, Margo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
BIO – Borgman/Allen, Marty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164-165
BIO – Bosley, Tay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
BIO – Brannigan/Farber, Kris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
BIO – Chen, Edmond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
BIO – Christian, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168-169
BIO – Fishel, Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
BIO – Fox, Stefan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
BIO – Gelbard/Linsenbaum, Susan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
BIO – Gilhooly/O’Neill, Trish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172
BIO – Gooch/Deaver, Mindy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
BIO – Gore, Beth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
BIO – Hadinoto/Watkins, Ginny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95-96

BIO – Ho/Mok, Barbara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
BIO – Hornbostel (Wirsching)/Still, Margie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97-98
BIO – Hum, Rick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 175
BIO – Israel/Warren, Barbara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176-177
BIO – Jimmerson, Al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
BIO – Jones/Bodine, Debbie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
BIO – Lipschultz, Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
BIO – Loh, Jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
BIO – Mache, Eric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
BIO – Magill/Frauens, Anne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Supplemental Folder
BIO – Malaihollo/Latupeirissa, Hilda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181-182
BIO – McCaskill/Wendell, Christy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183-184
BIO – Miller, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
BIO – Munn/Anderson, Pam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101-102
BIO – Mushett/Baldridge, Cheryl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103-104
BIO – Oliver/Giberson, Brenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186-187
BIO – Raborn/Carlton, Becky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
BIO – Scarbrough/Bomsta, Sheryl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188-189
BIO – Soong-Jaeger, Doreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
BIO – Strouss, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
BIO – Surh, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
BIO – Swaine, Michael . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191-192
BIO – Swaine, Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108-109
BIO – Terwilliger, Janet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..110-111
BIO – Tsui/Zee, Steve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193
BIO – von Behren/Keup, Karen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
BIO – Waddell, Harry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
BIO – Weisz, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
BIO – Young/Jang, Roxanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Bob Christian Alumni of the Year Award (2016-Michael Swaine) . . . .219-221

Cartoons by Zabo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Cheerleaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Dedication of Memory Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1

Directory – Maps, Class of 1968 & Class of 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207-212

Dragon Math 2019 & 1968/69 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

DragonTales – HKIS Alumni Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

Faculty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204-206

Handbooks – HKIS 2019 & 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

HKIS 1967 Boards – Management & Business Advisory Committee . . . . . .12

HKIS In the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11

HKIS PR Brochure (1967) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Inspires – HKIS Awards (Barbara Israel Warren & Michael Swaine) . .216-218

JUNTO 56 Graduate Tonight 13-June-1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..118

JUNTO HKIS Newspapers – Vol. 1 1968 Nov & Dec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-43

JUNTO HKIS Newspapers – Vol. 2 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-53

Letter of Congratulations – 1967 HK Director of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Letter of Congratulations – Bob Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Letter of Congratulations – Ron Roukema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Life in the 1960s in the U.S. & Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..15-21
Memorial – Anderson/Persons, Diane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Memorial – Blair/Peacock, Jan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Memorial – Breen/Bester, Janet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Memorial – Byler, Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Memorial – Grimsley, Gregg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Memorial – Hadinoto, Glenn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Memorial – Hornbostel (Wirsching)/Welch, Earlene . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .200
Memorial – Myers/Sloan, Madeleine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Memorial – To, Annie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Memorial – Vaughn, David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Newspaper – South China Morning Post 13-June-1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Newspaper – South China Morning Post 14-June-1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Newspaper – South China Sunday Post Herald 7-Jan-1968 . . . . . . . . . .13-14

Newspaper – Sunday Post Herald 30-June-1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Photography Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Prom Photos – 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Prom Program – 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Prom Program – 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Prom Photos – 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

Prom Summer Enchantment Orientale Supplement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70-71

Prophecy 1968 Senior Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..75

Prophecy 1969 Senior Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128-130

Prophecy by the Junior Class for the 1968 Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 72-74

Reunited – How to Keep in Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224

Rings – HKIS Senior Class Rings 2019 & 1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Thank Yous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214, 215, 225

Veterans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Wills – 1969 Senior Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131-144

Supplemental Materials: BIO – Anne Magill Frauens

HKIS Annual Fund

Letter of Congratulations – President Donald J. Trump
Newspaper – NYT 22-August-2018: The New Thing in

Hong Kong’s Public Schools: White Students

Zolima CityMag – 18-April 2019: Why Are School
Uniforms So Common in Hong Kong?

Some people are old at 18 . . .
and some are young at 90!


Don’t worry about getting old . . .
worry about thinking old!








225



Why Are School Uniforms So Common in Hong Kong?

By: Zabrina Lo & Christopher DeWolf
https://zolimacitymag.com
April 18, 2019

There are exactly 2,179 kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Most of
them require students to wear a uniform, each one of which is a window into the unique history,
values and traditions of the school it represents. And more than that, they reflect the different
faces of Hong Kong. Run by government or church, English-speaking or Chinese, pro-Beijing or
the politically neutral – the diversity of Hong Kong’s schools is embodied by the uniforms worn
by their students.

Coco Ma did not enjoy the idea of wearing a uniform when she first started attending St. Paul’s
Co-Educational College. “I was very annoyed with it!” she exclaims. Girls at the school wore a
royal blue qipao, with strict rules about length and accessories like jumpers and scarves. There
is only so much each student can do to assert their individual identity. “People strive to change
their looks by altering their shoes, watches, or hair styles, but often we just all look the same,”
says Ma. And yet she eventually came to see the uniform as a badge of honour. “I think it’s
beautiful, traditional, the epitome of Chinese beauty,” she says. “Since it is a traditional qipao, it
reflects the long history of our school and our identity as students there.”

It’s a history that is particularly significant for Hong Kong. When it opened in 1915, St. Paul’s
was one of the city’s first all-girls schools, and it was the first to require uniforms in 1918. (It
became co-ed in 1945 when it merged with its sibling boys’ school.) The girls’ first uniform was
a two-piece qipao with white tops and matching pants or skirts, but it was eventually replaced by
the simple one-piece qipao that students still wear today.

Hong Kong
School

uniforms
100 years
before our

HKIS
uniforms!

Chinese children wearing Magua on the way to study in America 1870s.
Photo courtesy Hong Kong Museum of Education.

It isn’t clear when the first school opened in Hong Kong, but the oldest recorded institution was
Li Ying College, which opened around 1075 in present-day Kam Tin. For the most part, though,
education was the domain of small-scale village schools, of which there were around 20 when
the British arrived in 1841, when the population of the entire present-day territory of Hong Kong
was just over 100,000. The government eventually began regulating those schools, but it wasn’t
until 1862 that true public education made its debut with the opening of the Central Government
School — later renamed Queen’s College — in 1862.

But Hong Kong’s religious leaders were not satisfied with the idea of universal secular
education, and they pressured the colonial government to give Catholic and Protestant schools
equal footing with government schools. That laid the groundwork for the educational system as
it exists today: a network for government-regulated but otherwise autonomous schools.

When St. Paul’s chose the qipao as its uniform in 1918, it simply reflected the way that most
Chinese people in Hong Kong dressed at the time. There were no overriding regulations or
standards for uniforms, so it was up to each school to decide what their students should wear.
Some, like the Kowloon British School — a government-run institution reserved for the children
of expatriates — seemed to take an ad hoc approach to adopting a uniform. “There was no
school uniform until, in my time there, a pupil called Helen Wylie came to school in a dark blue
tussore dress which the headmaster liked so much it became [the] girls’ uniform,” wrote a
former student named Barbara Anslow, who attended the school in 1928.

It wasn’t until after World War II that uniforms became nearly universal in Hong Kong. The
number of schools swelled to accommodate the millions of mainland Chinese migrants who
settled in the city from the 1940s to the 1960s. Space was at such a premium that some classes
were held on the rooftops of public housing estates. Perhaps the popularity of uniforms was a
reaction to the widespread poverty and squalor of the era.

“Visiting writers who documented local life during the desperately overcrowded, poverty-stricken
1950s and ‘60s often commented on how immaculately Hong Kong’s schoolchildren were
turned out when they emerged from hillside squatter huts and densely packed tenement
buildings,” notes local history writer Jason Wordie. “Many school uniforms — then as now —
were primarily white, which made laundering in such conditions all the more challenging.”

As Wordie and many others have noted, school uniforms are a “social leveller” that helps erase
the class distinctions between students. It’s hard to tell a scholarship student from the scion of a
wealthy family when they are wearing exactly the same thing. At the same time, though, the
cost of buying a uniform could be a burden for poor families, and some working-class schools
decided not to require uniforms for that very reason.

Former mill engineer Hui Chor-tin recalls how his primary school, which was run by the Hong
Kong Bar-Bending Workers Union, drew its students from the shantytowns around the Kowloon
Walled City. “You could tell what a student’s family condition was from the way he dressed,” he
says. “Some poor kids would wear their undershirts and pants to school but teachers didn’t
discourage them from doing so. Everyone was from a similar background so they wouldn’t laugh
at others who wore worn-out clothes to school.”

Uniforms may have been an attempt to erase distinctions between students, but they only
underscored the difference between schools. A uniform might ensure a kind of equality in the
classroom, but it’s just the opposite outside the school gates. “Some of us, when we hang out
with our friends after school on the streets, will choose to take off our school badges, because
we know what we are doing represents our school and we want to protect the reputation of
that,” recalls Coco Ma.

Group photo of graduates of St. Paul’s Girls’ College, 1921.
Photo courtesy Hong Kong Museum of Education.

Indeed, the design of different uniforms is a way to distinguish one school from another, but it is
also a testimony to the various historical periods in which they have evolved. “Before the ‘50s,
students simply wore whatever they had in their wardrobes,” says Paul Lam, a first-generation
school uniform tailor and owner of Kam Lun Tailors, which was established in 1961. “This
explains why secondary school girls mainly put on maids’ suits whereas boys wore Yat-sen
suits or maids’ suit-inspired coats and trousers, which weren’t exactly school uniforms. I myself
have worn those too, when I was a kid!” Strange as they may seem, the names of these
uniforms do a good job of reflecting their origins. Maids’ suits (daai6 kam1 zong1 大襟裝) are
derived from the clothes traditionally worn by housemaids, which was a two-piece suit
consisting of a blouse and trousers. The top blouse had a high collar and small splits at both
sides, with simple binding by fabric buttons on the collar and front flap. “The dyeing technology
wasn’t as advanced as modern days,” adds Lam. “So the uniforms were available in only two
colours – white and light blue.”

In the early 20th century, Western fashion began to exert a significant influence on Chinese
dress codes, especially when the Qing court was overthrown by Sun Yat-sen, who founded the
Republic of China in 1912. Maguas (maa5 kwaa2 馬褂), which were loose robes with wide cuffs
commonly worn by Chinese people, were replaced by cheongsam (coeng4saam1 長衫), notes
Iven Cheung, Assistant Curator at the Hong Kong Museum of Education. “Cheongsam, much
more Western in their cutting, were simple long gowns worn by male students after the fall of
the Qing Dynasty, marked by the slender fit of the light white cotton robes which were paired
with belted trousers,” he explains.

The Republic of China introduced another sartorial innovation: the Yat-sen suit, also known as a
Chinese tunic suit or, most commonly of all, the Zhongshan suit (zung1 saan1 zong1 中山裝). In
an attempt to distance China from the Qing-era wardrobe, Sun commissioned a suit based on
the Japanese military uniforms he had witnessed while living in Japan. The suit is best known
for high collar, three cuff buttons, five front buttons and four pockets. “They represented Sun’s
Three Principles of the People, the five branches of government and the four Chinese virtues of
propriety, justice, honesty and shame respectively,” Cheung says.

Girls of Queen Elizabeth School, 1970s.
Photo courtesy Hong Kong Museum of Education.

In the early 1950s, school uniforms became more practical in style, a response to the rapid
development of industry in Hong Kong. The Overalls (gung1 jan4 fu3 工人褲) were inspired by
the work clothes of 18th-century Europe, which consisted of an apron stitched to a pair of
trousers to protect the layers underneath from dirt—a concept observed in the classic apron-
styled green school dress of Belilios Public School.

Some schools preferred a more elaborate and exotic look, such as checkered and Scottish
tartan patterns. Although having no relevance to the Scottish culture, they were adopted for their
appealing appearance for one-piece dresses in the summer and skirts in the winter from the
1960s to the ‘80s. Apart from shapes and patterns, the advancement of modern-day technology
has enabled uniforms to be dyed in different hues of the same colour. The qipao, which is
currently used 16 schools as a uniform for girls, is distinguished by various shades of blue,
except for Pooi To Middle School, which keeps their summer uniform for senior form students in
traditional white.

As for boys’ uniforms, the basic combination of a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers has
not changed since the 1950s. Under British influence during the colonial period, a slim, English-
style cut was popular and blazers were commonly worn in public schools. “Both the blazer and
the shirt are more tightly fitted, while the school tie is longer and more elegant with a pointed
end,” says Cheung. “The trousers are long, slender and cropped above the ankle, giving the
outfit an English gentleman’s style.”

For all their social, historical and cultural connotations, uniforms have the biggest impact on the
pupils who wear them. Tom Chan, who studied at St Mark’s Secondary School, recalls how
proud he felt when he was able to switch from a junior to senior uniform. “The red tie for juniors
is simplistic but the senior one is really cool – it’s navy blue, which contrasts nicely with the
design of the tie,” he says. “The colour scheme has a kind of professional sophistication to it.”
Having graduated from St. Paul’s in 2015, Coco Ma now looks back at her uniform with
fondness. “I realised how precious those times were, when we were all wearing the same outfit
to school,” she says. A common purpose, a common identity – and a last journey through order
and guidance before the tumult of adulthood.

The New Thing in Hong Kong’s Public Schools: White Students

New York Times – August 22, 2018

At Hong Kong’s international schools, like this one, the student body is becoming increasingly Chinese. In the city’s public
schools, however, there are more white students than ever before. Credit Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
By Angie Chan
• Aug. 22, 2018
阅读简体中文版閱讀繁 中⽂文版
HONG KONG — For generations, Hong Kong’s prestigious international schools exclusively educated the children
of wealthy Western expatriates. Today, placement in those schools is increasingly competitive and enrollment fees
can exceed $1 million, making them some of the most expensive private schools in the world.
Recent changes to the city’s demography — prompted by Chinese politics and global markets — have driven up
tuitions and resulted in a dramatic shift in the complexion of the city’s schools: An increasing number of ethnic
Chinese students are now enrolled in international schools, and many more white students are occupying desks in
Cantonese-language public schools.
“Private schools here are bloody expensive you know, and we have twins,” said James Runciman, a Briton, shop
owner and father of two 6-year-olds who are set to begin second grade in September. “We just can’t afford to send
our kids to these schools,” he said of the private international schools, which replicate the curriculums of Western
countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada and France.
As students return to school next month, there will be more white students in public schools than at any time in the
city’s history, a telling indicator of how Hong Kong is both shaking off its colonial past and losing its draw as a
magnet for the West’s wealthiest workers.
Last year 818 white students were enrolled in the city’s public schools, according to the Hong Kong Education
Bureau, which labels all Caucasian students “white” regardless of nationality or self-identification.

Local and mainland Chinese students made up
about a quarter of the student populations at
international schools in 2017. School fees can
exceed $1 million for those schools.
Credit Bobby Yip/Reuters



That number represents a small fraction of the overall public school population, but is indicative of a 44 percent
increase from 2013, when only 556 white children attended public schools. Robert Adamson, a professor of
curriculum reform at the Education University of Hong Kong, said white students were increasingly attending public
schools because they had been priced out of the city’s international schools by a newly rich immigrant constituency:
mainland Chinese. “International schools are in high demand from a new market — mainland China — and fees
have increased considerably in recent years,” Professor Adamson said. “Thus, some traditional students are
struggling to gain access and therefore look to local schools instead.”

Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese control from Britain in 1997, has long been considered Asia’s pre-eminent
financial hub. For decades, the world’s largest banks sent Western employees to the city on lucrative expatriate
contracts that included money for housing and school tuition. But China’s meteoric rise to become the world’s
second largest economy has meant an influx of mainland bankers to Hong Kong. Today, Mandarin is more likely to
be heard spoken on a bank’s trading floor in Hong Kong than English.

Still, after a decline in expatriate whites following the 1997 handover, the city has seen an increase in its white
population in the last decade. As China has opened its economy, many foreigners have come to Hong Kong looking
to open — and work for — businesses eager to gain access to China’s enormous markets and its inexpensive goods
and services.

From 2006 to 2016, the number of white residents increased by 60 percent, to 58,209 from 36,384. The majority of
those whites were from English-speaking countries, including Britain, the United States and Australia. But as of
2006, 16 percent of whites in the city did not speak English at home, according to a government report that cited
German-, Italian- and French-speaking residents. The government tracks the number of “whites” as an “ethnic
minority” in the city, but its statistics do not break that down by nationality.

Vicente and Florencia Runciman, 6-year-old
twins, are among a growing group of non-Asian
students attending Hong Kong’s Cantonese-
language public schools.
Credit Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Western firms have been less willing to offer employees gold-plated relocation
packages. And white workers in the city are no longer just bankers, but also small-business owners, middle
managers at tech start-ups and baristas in coffee shops. “Many low and middle-management people are not given
the same packages when asked to move here,” said Jacqueline Cohen, an American who moderates a parents group
on Facebook for expatriates with children in public schools. But as expatriate packages have declined, prices at
international schools have increased. Tuition at international schools can exceed $42,000 a year, excluding so-called
debentures, which can exceed $1 million at the most prestigious and expensive schools.

Debentures are lump-sum loans that incoming students are required to pay to the school on top of regular fees. Large
debentures often come with the promise of admission at some selective schools. The loans, used for capital projects
at the school’s discretion, are sometimes reimbursed at graduation, but can also be bought and sold on a secondhand
market. Some debentures, however, depreciate and are never returned.

Increasingly, many of the students at international schools are Hong Kong locals or the children of mainland
Chinese parents. Foreign students once made up 100 percent of those schools’ populations. In 2017, however,
foreigners accounted for less than 75 percent of students at primary international schools. Local students accounted
for 21.6 percent of the student body, and “nonlocal Chinese,” a Hong Kong government designation for
mainlanders, made up about 4 percent, according to the Education Bureau.

Hong Kong prides itself on being a diverse, international city but it is also largely segregated — not by law but by
custom.

Students at an international school in 2011.
Credit Bobby Yip/Reuters



For many white parents, however, a Chinese-language education is an added reason to send their children to public
schools and a chance for them to better integrate in the city. “We consciously put our children into Cantonese
schools,” said Ms. Cohen, whose children are 11 and 12. “They need to know the language to be a full member of
Hong Kong.” Katherine Ferreira, Mr. Runciman’s wife and the mother of twins, Vicente and Florencia, 6, also said
learning Cantonese was an important factor in deciding to enroll her children in public schools. “This is a different
continent, so I saw it as a good chance to learn a new language,” said Ms. Ferreira, who is from Chile. “If they’re
going to learn a language, now’s the moment.”

Primary public school students are required to use English and Cantonese in their regular classes and learn Mandarin
too. High schools are typically designated either as English-language or Cantonese-language schools, with the other
language and Mandarin being taught as electives. Aiken Bridges, 13, said he is the only non-Chinese student at the
English-language secondary school to which he will return in September. “My friends usually speak to me in
English,” he said, adding that he was still nervous when speaking Cantonese outside class.

Hong Kong’s students often rank among the world’s top
performers in math, reading and science, according to
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development.

GCreettdyitIPmhaigliepsp e Lopez/Agence France-Presse

The vast majority of immigrant students enrolled in the city’s public schools are Asian, which the government’s
ethnicity statistics do break down by country of origin. Last year there were 6,267 Pakistani students in public
schools — the single largest immigrant bloc — nearly eight times the number of white students. Unlike whites, non-
Chinese Asian immigrants have attended the city’s public schools for decades. Some South Asian families complain
of systemic racism, arguing that the schools fail to teach their children Cantonese, the predominant Chinese
language spoken in the city, which is necessary for public sector employment. (In addition to “white” and the nine
most common Asian countries from which students trace their heritage, the Education Bureau also has demographic
categories for “other Asian” and “others.”)

Hong Kong’s students often rank among the world’s top performers in math, reading and science, according to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That reputation, however, comes at a cost. Many
students say the schools are high-pressure environments in which rote learning is stressed over critical thinking.
Some experts attribute a rise in teenage suicide to the stress and rigor of school. About 35 students killed themselves
in 2017, according to Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong, a nonprofit anti-suicide organization, a 50 percent increase
over 2016. More than 93 percent of high school students reported that school led to anxiety, according to the group.
Western parents are often shocked by the long hours spent at school and the mountains of homework students in
Hong Kong are expected to complete. In many cases, expatriate parents who send their children to public elementary
schools use the money they have saved to pay for a private or international high school once classes get harder.
“I chose my children’s mental and physical health over their results when they got to primary two,” said Ms. Cohen,
the American who moderates the “Cantonese School Parents Group” on Facebook. “After school and their
homework tutorial, they will have the time for relaxation and a balanced life.”

A version of this article appeared in print on Aug. 22, 2018, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the
headline: Spiking Demographic in Hong Kong Public Schools: Whites



Anne Magill Frauens

HKIS Class of 1970

1020 Stonebridge Lane
Leland, NC 28451
Birthday:
Social Media: Cell: (808) 779-2326
Spouse:
Children: [email protected]

Grandchildren: January 29, 1952
Facebook & Instagram
(divorced)
Katherine Sawyer (40)
Emily Sawyer (37)
one grandson, Jack Sawyer Mazmanian

Favorite HKIS Memories: Sadie Hawkins Day, Barbara & Diane - parties,
passing notes - best friends, Peter Fishel, getting the hems of our skirts ripped
out, horse races, etc.

After Graduation: Moved back to Washington, D.C. area and

graduated from McLean High School in 1970.

Significant Life Events: Started teaching high school, to switched to social

work in medical and mental health fields. Had two daughters, lived in Honolulu

25 years and England. Cruises to the Holylands and Alaska.

Bucket List: Aurora Borealis, African Safari and Baltic cruise.

Note to Classmates: Hong Kong was one of the happiest years out of
many!

Dennis A. Minich

HKIS Class of 1969

562 Hawthorne Lane
Winnetka, IL 60093

Cell: (847) 624 0929

[email protected]
[email protected]



Birthday: March 20, 1951
Social Media: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter - but do not use often
Spouse: Johanne Minich
Children: Christina Minich
Grandchildren: None

Favorite HKIS Memories: Cross country practice through the villages of Hong
Kong. Going to the American Club after school. Going out dancing on the
weekends. Being with friends.

After Graduation: Received my undergraduate degree in business and
economics from George Washington University and then a master’s degree from
Northwestern University. Worked for KPMG LLP from July 1975 to February
2006 and then moved over to Andersen Tax LLC in April 2006 and still work
there today.

Significant Life Events: Having the opportunity to travel the world and visit
places that one may not visit today. Raising a wonderful daughter. Having
relative good health. Successful career.

Bucket List: Nothing special. Visit family and friends in my retirement years.

Note to Classmates: Thanks for all the good times in Hong Kong in 1968 and
1969.

David J. Landau

HKIS Class of 1969

19640 109th Place
Bothell, WA 98011

Phone: (425) 420-3860

[email protected]

Birthday: December 3
Social Media: Facebook
Spouse: Mary Jane Patterson Landau (HKIS Class of 1971)
Children: Andrew and Fiona
Grandchildren: Daniel, Georgia, Hank and Leo (All under four)

Favorite HKIS Bob Christian; a gentle and sincere man.
Memories:

After Graduation: Retired from a life in the restaurant and food industry
five years ago.
Significant Life Realtor, with Redfin, last four years.
Events:
Married Mary Jane (Nee Patterson class of ’71) in the
chapel at HKIS.
Visit with my good bud Pete “Acey-Deucy” Lipschultz.
Grandchildren, such a blessing and joy to be with.

Bucket List: Lengthy cruise.

Message to Classmates: I’m excited to see you all and hear about your lives.