It Happened Here: First British church school opens in Hong Kong, November 1, 1842
After the first Opium War ended in 1842, and the island of Hong Kong became a crown colony, the Morrison Anglo-Chinese School found itself moving from Macau to Morrison Hill in Wan Chai, becoming the very first British church school in the city on November 1.
The school was established in Macau in 1839 as the first school founded in China by Christians. Its goal was to educate Chinese children to understand English and Western culture. When it moved to Hong Kong in 1842, there was a grand total of 11 students, but within two years, that number had tripled. Subjects taught in this school included astronomy, history, geography, mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, music, and traditional Chinese texts, such as I Ching and Classics of Poetry. Trained under such a modern system, its graduates were well-rounded and equipped for further studies.
It didn’t last long. By 1849, the school had closed – but its graduates had a big impact on Chinese history. One of its most famous alumni, Yung Wing, went on to graduate from Yale in 1854, the first Chinese student to graduate from a US university. Later, he returned to serve the Qing Dynasty and was a lifelong supporter of reform in China, helping to send more students to the US to further their studies.
Jinxin Ma
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