Leung Wai Chiu, Molly

Born in April 1923, Mrs Chiu was the sixth of the ten children in the family. She had two mothers. Her father had already had a wife in the mainland before getting married again in Hong Kong with another woman – Mrs Chiu’s biological mother. Mrs Chiu’s father was a merchant in import-export business, trading goods especially flour from the USA. In the old days, the brands of flour in Hong Kong’s market were White Green and Old Man. Mrs Chiu had already started schooling before the age of four. She spent two years in kindergarten before attending Class 1 in the primary section of Belilios Public School. Just before she turned eight, when she was studying in Class 4, her father passed away. Her biological mother, who was one of the first graduates of Vernacular Normal School for Women, had had a few years of teaching experience in the primary section of Belilios Public School.

Title	Personal and family background
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Social Life
Duration	3m20s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-001

Mrs Chiu’s father died one year after being diagnosed to have cancer. At that time, studying in Primary 4, Mrs Chiu had to quit school for a year. Mrs Chiu’s biological mother, who found it too difficult to take care of the whole family on her own, had to close Tuen Mung School which was run by her. Her biological mother worked as a private tutor in order to raise Mrs Chiu, Mrs Chiu’s elder sister and younger brother. After a year, Miss Hung, Principal of the primary section of Belilios Public School, suggested that Mrs Chiu could take the entrance examination for free places in the school’s six-year English class. Originally, after discussion, the school authority did not think Mrs Chiu was eligible for sitting the examination as the free place quotas were mainly for students who had completed Primary 4 at other girls’ schools such as Lai Chak Middle School and Southwestern College. However, in view of the relation between Mrs Chiu’s biological mother and the school, the school authority eventually allowed her to take the examination on condition that she should get top result. There were four subjects in the examination included English, Chinese Writing and Mathematics. Once an examination of a subject was taken, the candidates who were not good enough were eliminated. As a result, for each subject, the number of students being disqualified could fill a whole classroom. Mrs Chiu was very frightened, but she finally managed to be one of the five students being accepted. Her biological mother accompanied her all the while, waiting outside the classroom. Besides her, all other candidates were also female Chinese students.

The English class of Belilios Public School followed the descending order schooling system – Form 8 was equivalent to Secondary One. Students started by enrolling in Form 8, until they finally moved on to Form 2 and took the Hong Kong School Leaving Certificate Examination which was considered graduation of secondary school. Afterwards, they could be promoted to the matriculation level. In Belilios Public School, the primary section was a four-year ascending order system which started with Primary 1. The beginning of the school term was moved to autumn when Mrs Chiu enrolled in Form 8. Since her result was excellent, she was promoted to the next level only after half year. By the time Mrs Chiu was in Form 4, there were no free places any more. Her biological mother’s former colleague (teacher of Health Education) told Miss Bascombe, the principal, about Mrs Chiu’s performance and her financial condition. Miss Bascombe then offered Mrs Chiu free place for two more years until she sat the Hong Kong Leaving Certificate Examination in June 1941. At that time, students had to take the examination in seven subjects.

Given her family’s financial situation, Mrs. Chiu did not think she could go for matriculation. Therefore, she went to Queen Mary Hospital by herself to apply for the position of nurse in the X-ray Department. After the interview, the female head nurse immediately offered her the position. However, when measurements were being made for tailor-making uniforms, the Head of the Hospital found out that she did not meet the age requirement of 20 and thus refused to employ her. This had made her very disappointed.

Mrs Chiu’s biological mother would let her do anything that was right. Therefore, she financially supported her to continue her matriculation studies. Nevertheless, less than two months after the school term started, Mrs Chiu was offered employment by Hong Kong Air Raid Precaution Bureau in Happy Valley. Her duties included typing and categorizing documents, etc. To Mrs Chiu, her work during the month or so was nice, and she was happy about it. Her monthly salary was $60, and her working hours were from nine to six. Even so, she was reluctant to spend three cents on the tram ride to office. The work of Hong Kong Air Raid Precaution Bureau was instructing citizens to protect themselves and get under shelter during air raids. Therefore, there were models of air raid drills exhibited in the office. Mrs Chiu’s home was next to Wan Chai Police Station at the seashore (now Gloucester Road). From the balcony of her house Kai Tak Airport could be seen.

Title	School system of Belilios Public School. Enrolling into a free place. Career after graduation from seconday school.
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Education| Japanese Occupation
Duration	13m
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-002

On one morning in 1941, at about eight, Mrs Chiu saw a bomb blasted in Kowloon Peninsula. It was not until she enquired at Wan Chai Police Station did she believe that it was an air raid by the Japanese army. Her adopted younger sister was then attending the primary section of Belilios Public School and was taking the tram to school at that moment. Eventually she was taken home by Mrs Chiu’s schoolmate. Although Hong Kong Island was in chaos, Mrs Chiu did not stop going to work at Hong Kong Air Raid Precaution Bureau until a few days later. Afterwards, thinking that it was too quiet at home, her whole family temporarily moved to her elder sister’s place, bringing along their furniture. Her sister, her brother-in-law and their children were living next to a petrol station at the junction of today’s Hennessy Road and Heard Street, and where Caltex House is now. Their flat, which had a big balcony, was at one end of the third floor. There was once when the Japanese army fired a cannon-ball at the petrol station from Beacon Hill and mistakenly hit her elder sister’s flat. Fortunately, the whole family had moved to their neighbour’s place next door. Moreover, fragments of the cannon-ball had fallen onto the frame of a cubicle apartment inside the flat instead of dropping on the ground. Otherwise, Mrs. Chiu’s younger brother who was inside it would have been killed. After the Japanese invasion, the city was a little calmer. Mrs. Chiu’s brother-in-law lost his job as a draftsman in the Department of Reclamation. With a basket on his back, he became a hawker in Lyndhurst Terrace. For more than a month, Mrs. Chiu and her biological mother also hawked in the street with a board taken from the bed, selling oat meal and bread.　

Every week Mrs. Chiu studied Japanese at the Methodist Church in Wan Chai (now the Chinese Methodist House Church in Hennessy Road). The course lasted six months and Mrs Chiu came first in class. Then she found from a newspaper advertisement an opportunity to work as assistant to nurse at Misugi (transliteration) Dental Hospital. The location of Misugi Hospital used to be a popular bicycle shop called “Shun Ying Bicycle” (now close to Sincere Insurance Building at the junction of Hennessy Road and Arsenal Street). Other than Mrs Chiu, there were also two assistants to nurse who lived in Kowloon. The owner of the hospital, Dr Misugi from Japan, who went with the Japanese army to Hong Kong, had a local girl friend. He was assisted by a Taiwanese couple, Mr and Mrs Hsu who could speak Japanese. Later Mrs Chiu taught them English. Dr Misugi thought highly of Mrs. Chiu because of her and her family members’ qualifications and background. Therefore, Mrs Chiu was not required to do the cleaning work. She only had to manage the equipment and the clinic as well as receive Japanese patient.

Title	Work and lives during the Battle of Hong Kong and Japanese Occupation
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	22m56s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-003

Life was miserable in Hong Kong around 1942. Mrs Chiu’s younger brother needed medication for his illness. Moreover, the British government asked her elder sister and her brother-in-law to live in Macau. As her younger brother had worked for the Hong Kong government before the War, he could get subsidies from the British Council in Macau. Therefore, one after another, her biological mother, her younger brother and her adopted younger sister moved to Macau. Mr Ng, who was her biological mother’s friend and her classmate’s father, and who used to teach in King’s College, referred her biological mother to a Chinese school organized by the British Council in Macau, where she got a teaching post.

Mr Wong Yuk Tong, the boss of Ming Shun Company, was a “saint” to Mrs Chiu. As goods were frequently transported by big junks to Macau, Mr Wong registered Mrs Chiu as a member of the crew so that she could easily visit her family in Macau. Mrs Chiu thought that Ming Shun Company had the convenience of doing everything because they later collaborated with the Japanese in their business. At that time, there were still some companies run by the Chinese, and some of Mrs Chiu’s classmates were working in those companies which were in transportation and food business. However, those kinds of companies closed down more easily than others.

On the big junks, Ming Shun Company’s goods were covered by large canvas. Mrs Chiu would sit inside the cabin of the junk, and she had met her classmates there. The big junk set off from Hong Kong in the afternoon but did not arrive at Tai O until dark. Therefore, it had to stay there for the night and set off again next morning. Although the big junks sailed with the help of machines, the journey still took a whole day. Once Mrs. Chiu was in Kam Shing Restaurant (transliteration) and experienced a bombing raid by the Allied air force. Luckily, she was not harmed. There was another occasion where five to six military aircrafts hovering over the big junk, demanding removal of the canvas for examination. In the meantime, Mrs. Chiu and some other passengers were standing at the edge of the junk, getting ready to jump into the water for fear that the aircraft would bomb the junk. Finally the aircraft left and everyone was relieved.

Near the end of the Japanese occupation, there was once when Mrs. Chiu boarded the junk feeling sick. A translator from Hong Kong suggested that she should go ashore to see a doctor, so she stayed overnight at the translator’s friend’s place in Tai O. Next morning when it was almost time for departure, a crew member came to tell Mrs Chiu that their junk disappeared. Eventually, in the afternoon the translator’s friend helped them find a boat in Tai O to take them to Macau. What happened was that the big junk, with people and goods, was kidnapped by pirates. Fortunately, the passengers later managed to get to Macau safely. While Mrs Chiu was stranded in Tai O, she was not able to contact her biological mother, who was scared and worried. As her younger brother had just died of tuberculosis, her biological mother did not allow her to leave Macau. As a result, Mrs Chiu had to resign from her job in Ming Shun Company. During the few months in Macau, Mrs Chiu received subsidies from the government because of her younger brother. Her biological mother was still teaching and living there with her adopted younger sister, whom was taken home from hospital by Mrs Chiu’s biological mother when her elder sister received training in midwifery there. Her adopted younger sister is five to six years younger than she. Mrs Chiu remarked again that she was a lucky person – despite all the hardship in her life, there was also happiness.　

Title	Whole family migrated to Macau during Japanese Occupaiton. Dangerous Encountering at sea. Background of adopted younger sister.
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	15m54s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-004

During the Japanese occupation, the only pastime Mrs Chiu had in Hong Kong was participating in activities such as singing in a choir, joining youth group, etc, in the Methodist Church in Wan Chai a few times a week. Operation of the church was the same as that before the War, with choir, Sunday school and Chinese hymns singing. The church, which no Japanese went to, offered a venue for a six-month Japanese course with an objective to provide a life-skill for youths. The class met three evenings per week and students had to pay a fee. Basic business conversational skills were taught. As focus was not on reading and writing, the examination was mainly on conversation. A lot of students of the course worked in the same liner company, with which Ming Shun Company had business.

During that period, Mrs. Chiu got information by reading local daily newspaper. Life in Hong Kong was more monotonous than before. People had to cut down on food, replacing their regular meals with Fairy Cake (Editor’s Note: Rice Ball cooked by alkaline water) and food with no stuffing. Everyone was allocated 6.4 taels of rice by the Japanese government. Mrs Chiu’s family had then moved to Macau. Mrs Chiu did not wait in line to get rice as Ming Shun Company provided food for their employees. She even gave her rice to her relatives and friends. Once again, Mrs. Chiu remarked that the bosses of Ming Shun Company were very kind to her. At that time, the British Council in Macau gave subsidies to former civil workers in Hong Kong. Her brother-in-law’s former colleague in the government told him about it, so her elder sister’s whole family moved to Macau earlier than her biological mother. Her brother-in-law did not get any job in Macau, so his family lived on the subsidies of the British government.

The dormitory of Ming Shun Company was located next to Tak Wan Tea House in Bonham Strand, Central. Its area was about 200 square feet, with a kitchen, a living room, a canteen, etc. Only Mrs. Chiu and a female caretaker with her two children lived there. The caretaker was responsible for cooking and doing the laundry, etc. The food in the canteen was good, with both meat and vegetables. The menu of Pak Wan Restaurant was not any different from that today, and Ming Shun Company would host feasts there for the Japanese. There was great disparity between the rich and the poor, and there were more jobs related to the Japanese. Markets were still open as usual – though business was not as good as before. All the commercial activities in Hong Kong continued; employees or lovers went dancing in the night clubs. At that time there were brothels there. Mrs. Chiu had never witnessed the savagery of the Japanese. Her husband’s relatives had once seen his great aunt being threatened by the Japanese with a sword and forced to kneel down on the ground at Ching Fung Terrace (transliteration) in Bonham Road. During the Japanese occupation, Mrs Chiu was not happy because her younger brother was sick and her biological mother did not have a job. Despite the hardship her family suffered, their life was not bad. Mrs. Chiu’s two bosses (Mr Wong – the owner, and Mr Kan – the manager) were very kind to her. Later when her family had moved to Macau, Mrs Chiu, who stayed in Hong Kong, was taken care of by the woman living with her in the dormitory. Moreover, Mrs Chiu had contact with her classmate whose workplace was near Ming Shun Company and they sometimes got together.

Title	Lives during Japanese Occupation: Learning Japanese, Food and salaries, Entertainment
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	17m33s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-005

Mrs Chiu’s father liked to watch horse races and ball games. When Mrs Chiu was a baby, her parents would push the rattan carts, bringing along milk bottle and milk powder to watch ball games with her. Before the War, there was usually yielding in horse races. The audience stands were bamboo scaffoldings, and accidents such as fire in the racecourse and collapse of the audience stands did occur. When Mrs Chiu grew older, she did not go to the races with her parents anymore. Horse races were considered important activities then, and every year there was a “Big Race’ on a Sunday with events that lasted the whole day long. The women who went there would have their sequin clothes tailor-made. (Mrs Chiu’s daughter added: My grandma had said that at that time any woman who didn’t have perfume to put on her body would smoke her clothes with sandalwood instead.) During the Japanese occupation, Mrs Chiu had once watched a horse race with young male relatives of Mr Wong Yuk Tong, the boss of Ming Shun Company. There were a lot of audience in the racecourse, and usually there was yielding in the races.　

The first wife of Mrs Chiu’s father was from the mainland. After she had given birth to two sons, Mrs Chiu’s biological mother (in 1916) gave birth to Mrs Chiu’s elder sister (now 94 years old). Later her first mother and two sons went to Hong Kong to live with the whole family, and her first mother gave birth again to two daughters. When Mrs. Chiu was a little girl, her father dressed her as a boy, making her wear shirt and shorts. It was only after Mrs Chiu had entered Belilios Public School did she begin to wear girls’ clothes. Her biological mother was called Kong Wai Man. Her maternal grandfather had three hardware shops opposite Sheung Wan Market. He could observe from the first floor what was happening downstairs through a hole on the ceiling of the ground floor. Mrs Chiu’s biological mother was the fourth child of the family; her maternal grandfather arranged for her mother and the fifth aunt to study at Vernacular Normal School for Women whose classes were held in Belilios Public School, and they became the first graduates. However, her maternal grandfather thought that “only those who are poor will teach”. Her biological mother speaks English and had once taught Chinese at the primary section of Belilios Public School. After getting married, her biological mother ran Tuen Mung School where she was the principal. The school was located in a semi-detached building at On Hing Terrace in Central. There were three floors including a little hut on the roof. Chinese primary section and junior secondary section were available in the school. Later when her maternal grandfather had larynx cancer, her biological mother closed the school in order to take care of him. The students of Tuen Mung School were transferred to Min Yin School near Prince’s Terrace on Caine Road. When Mrs Chiu was in Primary 2 or 3, her maternal grandfather died. Her biological mother had learned Chin Woo (Editor’s Note: one style of martial arts), and tennis. She loved her children very much – she did not only let them join the scouts, but she also took them to the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association and Lai Chi Kok Swimming Pool to swim.

Title	Family lives and entertainment in the pre-war period. Family background and career path of biological mother.
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Social Life
Duration	13m3s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-006

Mrs Chiu studied at Ying Wa Kindergarten next to Hop Yat Church, the Church of Christ in China. The kindergarten was located at a small house in front of Ying Wa Girls’ School, with an area of more than 750 square feet. At that time there were not many kindergartens in Hong Kong. During the lessons, all the boys and girls sat around to form a large circle and sang songs. Their teachers told them stories. After a lesson, the students put the mats on their back and walked in a circle. Then they put down the mats and learned to write. The children of Director of Education were Mrs Chiu’s classmates.

Mrs Chiu’s whole family lived next to Belilios Public School and opposite to Queen’s College until they bought a house in West Street in Sheung Wan and moved there. Many people from Dongguan lived in West Street, making mats in the street for foreigners. When her father died, her family was living below Prince’s Terrace in Caine Road. Later they moved to the flat they rented at the shore of Wan Chai. In earlier days, Mrs Chiu had to travel a long way to school, and she would pass the residence of Ho Tung before reaching Ying Wa Kindergarten. She was taken to school by her biological mother’s dowry girl while her younger brother was taken care of by a nanny. The dowry girl was arranged by Mrs Chiu’s biological mother’s family to follow her biological mother to Hong Kong until her mistress’ children had grown up. Mrs. Chiu’s father had bought a long-board cart (i.e. rickshaw) for transportation to office. He hired a full-time driver and provided meals for him. Before he died, he had ordered a car; however, he had died before it was delivered. Ying Wa Kindergarten had no uniforms, so Mrs Chiu wore shirt and shorts to school. When she went to toilet, a staff would accompany her.

When Mrs. Chiu was studying at Ying Wa Kindergarten, she was taught by Miss Fung who was relatively old, as well as a female assistant surnamed Tam. Two inspectors of the Education Department, Yu Hung Kwan (transliteration) and Law Yan Pak often went to Belilios Public School for inspection, so they knew Mrs Chiu’s biological mother. Moreover, the inspectors’ daughters also studied in Ying Wa Kindergarten with Mrs Chiu. Yu Hung Kwan’s daughter was Mrs Chiu’s classmate from kindergarten through secondary school. Law Yan Pak had four children; her daughter, Law Yu So (transliteration) and Mrs Chiu did not only study together, but they still get together for a meal now. Ying Wa Kindergarten followed a half-day system, and Mrs Chiu was not required to take the entrance examination perhaps because she was recommended by her biological mother’s friend for enrolment. Christianity was not a requirement for parents there, and there were no lessons for Bible stories. Lessons in the Kindergarten included singing, dancing, painting and so on, but English was not in the syllabus. The reason why Mrs Chiu could get into Belilios Public School afterwards should be related to the fact that her biological mother had taught there before.

Title	Memories of Ying Wa Kindergarten
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	11m52s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-007

Before Mrs Chiu was born, Her biological mother had been teaching classes of Primary 1 to 3 at Belilios Public School. While she was teaching there, she always sharpened the pencils for her students. Belilios Public School was established in 1890, originally called Central School for Girls. To commemorate E.R. Belilios, a rich Jewish businessman, who donated $25,000 in 1893 for building new premises in Hollywood Road, the school was renamed after him. Both Belilios Public School and Ying Wa Girls’ School were famous schools for girls then. At that time, because of reasons such as high family expenses, most parents sent their children to school later. The school fee of Belilios Public School was then very low – only $2 per month. Mrs. Chiu did not have to take entrance examination for Belilios Public School because her biological mother and her aunt used to teach there.

Title	Biological Mother's memories of teaching at Belilios Public School
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	2m59s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-008

Belilios Public School was originally located in Hollywood Road but later moved to Ellis Kadoorie School. In the School, it had been said that the boys of Queen’s College often went there to watch the girls. The environment of Belilios Public School was very nice, with a large square building and a field. There were about four floors in the building, and there were a large balcony, a principal’s office and a bridge. The bridge connected with the field, which then connected with Gough Street. There were a back alley and a two-floor building as classrooms for the primary section. The field was used for PE lessons and students skipped the ropes there during recess. On the Hollywood Road premises there were four to six classrooms with more than twenty students in each class. Every classroom could hold up to thirty students who were each allocated one desk and one chair. The desks and chairs were arranged in horizontal and vertical rows. The desk had a drawer, and the top could be opened. The blackboard was movable. (Editor’s remark: After the war, Belilios Public School moved to Ellis Kadoorie School.)　

The principal of the primary section was Miss Hung, whose face was long. She had a tall figure and wore Chinese styled blouse and skirt. Miss Hung did not have to teach, and she seldom lectured students. During recess, lunch-time and after-school hours she always patrolled the school, and she was very nice to students. Mrs. Chiu again reminisced about the episode in which Miss Hung advised her to apply for free place in the School. What she remembered about the primary school teachers was that Miss Chan taught Chinese, and one teacher dozed off while students were reading out the text. All the teachers in the primary section were Chinese women. Only in the secondary section were there male teachers. There were Chinese and English classes, and many British teachers taught there when Mrs. Chiu was in Form 6.

The daughters of the two Inspector s of school from Education Department were Mrs Chiu’s classmates. One was very well-mannered and the other was very naughty. In primary school, the naughty one sometimes played a trick on the teacher who had only one eye. When she was told to stand up as punishment, she often asked the teacher to get some tissue from her schoolbag so that she could go to the toilet. Some of Mrs. Chiu’s classmates in primary school were rich, and some were not very well-off. Since kindergarten, Mrs. Chiu and her half-sister had gone to school together so they were very intimate. Originally the primary section of Belilios Public School had not any uniform. Later they had cheongsam as their uniform, whose style was the same as that in the secondary section with dark brown binding tape and light red brown fabric belt. Students would change into shirt and dark brown shorts for playing ball games.

Title	School lives in Belilios Public School: Campus, Uniform, Classmates, teachers and principal of primary section
Date	09/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	12m55s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-009

After learning that the Japanese army had surrendered, Mrs Chiu, who considered Hong Kong her native place, went back there on her own the next day. Her biological mother contacted Mrs. A York of the British Council for her to resign from the job as salesperson. One week after Mrs. Chiu had gone back to Hong Kong, a staff recommended her to work at Government Depot in Pedder Building as her elder brother was allocated by the government to work there. Hong Kong was then ruled by the British in the form of a military government. The Depot was for distributing food items such as sugar, flour, etc., to citizens, a great number of whom went there to get them every day. The working hours there were from nine to five. The Depot, which was closed after about a year, was managed by foreigners who had left the concentration camps or those who came from Britain. Every day the Director went there for checking. Most of the staff, who had worked for big companies before the War, were waiting for Hong Kong to recover so that they could go back to their original formal positions. Mrs. Chiu worked in one of the sections. Other members of her section included a married man and a 30-year-old bachelor (later became Mrs. Chiu’s husband). After the Depot was closed down, her husband was recommended by the Swiss manager of his section to work for Francois D’Hardivilliers Company, a French company specialized in metal and iron. As for Mrs. Chiu, the Director of the Depot recommended her to work for one of the four big companies in Hong Kong – Gilman and Company, where he originally worked for. There were four Directors in Gilman. Mrs. Chiu had worked there since 1946, and resigned 30 years later for taking care of her grandchildren.　

During the rule of the military government, curfew was imposed in the evening, but gradually it was cancelled. Hong Kong was recovering with everything going back to its place. However, those who used to work for the Japanese became unemployed. After the rule of the Japanese ended, everyone went back to his original position or looked for a new job. Of all kinds of businesses, the one that experienced the fastest revival was trading companies followed by those related to people’s living. Mrs. Chiu emphasized again that there had been a lot of changes in her life, but she felt very luck. During the early period of Hong Kong’s recovery, the Japanese partners of Ming Shun Company left. Mrs. Chiu went back to the dormitory of Ming Shun Company and lived there. Being taken care of by the helper again, she could feel that the love from the former colleagues of Ming Shun Company was just like that of her family.

Title	Social and employment condition under a military governemnt after 1945. Worked in Gilman Group
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Social Life
Duration	13m27s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-010

During the first year in Gilman and Company, Mrs. Chiu was responsible for accounting work in its music branch. The Director of Accounts there was a foreigner who could speak Cantonese though not fluently. Before Gilman and Company’s business recovered, Mrs. Chiu had encountered difficulties in typing for her boss, but her colleague helped her to overcome them. She had already learned typing before the War to equip herself for a job in large commercial institute. In the old days her father often took her with him when he visited the company owned by one of the people in-charge of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Gilman and Company had the practice of arranging new employees to learn accounting in Kennedy Road for a few months. Therefore, Mrs. Chiu had the chance of receiving training after she was employed there. When she left the music branch, she went back to the headquarters to handle the general ledger, i.e. the transactions between Gilman and banks. Two years later, she was transferred to the shipping department to handle the accounts on food imports. For many years, she had been working in the accounting department with more than a hundred staff.

Title	Career in Gilman Group
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	7m11s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-011

In order to let Mrs. Chiu’s elder sister finish her schooling and look for a job, as well as to let her younger brother continue his studies, her biological mother made Mrs. Chiu quit school at Primary 4. Mrs. Chiu mentioned again how she took the examination for getting a 6-year free place in the English class in Belilios Public School. There were about one hundred candidates, and the subjects were Chinese, English, Mathematics, Writing and so on.

In Belilios Public School, there was an organization called Wah Kwong Group (established in 1940). The group taught students to sing patriotic Chinese songs which had critical content. Mrs. Chiu thought that the group was introduced to the School by her classmate, Lam Wo On (transliteration). When Mrs. Chiu was in secondary school, she joined the Girl Guides, and was a member of the school basketball team to play in competitions. A few months after graduation, she worked as a Guider to assist the Captain in Girl Guides courses at an orphanage in Tai Po. When Mrs. Chiu was in primary school, she joined the Grasshopper and met once a week to learn knot tying. The uniform of the Girl Guides in secondary school was a button front shirt; Mrs. Chiu’s had 10 to 20 badges sewn all over the sleeves. The Girl Guides were assessed for cooking badge and did not have marching drills very often. Their officer who was the elder sister of George Choy, a doctor at Queen Mary Hospital, was not required to stay at school. Every year, the Governor of Hong Kong invited the Girl Guides to the Government House and the Governor’s residence on the Peak to have fun for a day. It was not necessary to have try-out for the Girl Guides. However, as there were a lot of students who wanted to join, the School organized two troops – the 3rd Hong Kong Troop and the 4th Hong Kong Troop. Mrs. Chiu was a member of the 3rd Hong Kong Troop. In 1939, Belilios Public School started to have uniforms.

Title	Memories of extra-curricular activities in Belilios Public School: Girl Guide, Wah Kwong Gorup, Basketball Competition
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	11m5s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-012

Miss Bascombe had been the principal of Belilios Public School for four years and happened to be in that position during Mrs. Chiu’s last two years there. Her predecessor was Miss Skinner. Miss Bascombe was very good in Mathematics and she would lecture the students who were not attentive. Mrs. Chiu mentioned how Miss Hung, the principal of the primary section, recommended her to apply for a free place, and how Miss Hung patrolled the school. She also talked about a few primary school teachers: one dozed off during the lesson; Miss Or, who taught Chinese and Writing, were dedicated in teaching students; Miss Yeung was blind in one eye (Mrs. Chiu again remembered the student who often played tricks on the teacher); Miss Leung taught Chinese and Writing. The old man who taught Chinese in the secondary section wore a long gown to school. In the primary section of Belilios Public School, students did not have uniforms. Mrs. Chiu wore button front shirt and trousers only when she was promoted to the secondary section. Students wore similar styles of clothes. Mrs. Chiu’s home was close to school; at that time, she was not living with her non-biological mother. Before the War, Miss Bascombe’s successor was a Chinese whereas after the War, Miss Stephen took on the position. After graduation, Mrs. Chiu still had contact with the school. At first there were more than 30 students organizing the alumni association, and the monthly dinner gathering they started then is still organized today. There were two to three classes in each form in Belilios Public School.

Miss Lopes was the leader of Girl Guides whereas Ms Choy was the leader of Hong Kong Girl Guides. Miss Skinner was not responsible for Girl Guides, but she sometimes invited the members to her home for gathering. She was a gentle lady, always patted students on the head to show her affection. On the other hand, Miss Bascombe was a solemn person whose specialization was Mathematics and taught the senior forms the subject in English. She had taught Mrs. Chiu Mathematics, Geography and Algebra. When Mrs. Chiu was in Form 8, subjects such as Geography and History were taught in English, for Chinese and Writing, Chinese. Mrs. Chiu’s result in English was good, and she spoke English at home – her mother could speak English, too. Outside the classroom, students of Belilios Public School did not speak English. Around 1939, Ms Medley advocated forming English Society the members of which had to speak English in the class; whoever failed to do so would be fined. The fine would then be used for a one-day tour on the Peak. In Belilios Public School, there was no assembly period. Since Mrs. Chiu was a Girl Guide and played ball games for the school, she had the chance to get in touch with Miss Skinner, who lived near the University of Hong Kong. Both Miss Skinner and Miss Bascombe were single. Miss Skinner as well as Miss Stephen did not have teaching duties. At that time, the subject of Health Education already included scientific elements. As for extra-curricular activities, there were neither sewing nor reading of the Bible but Girl Guides. Ms Martin was the one who was specialized in teaching foundation artistic knowledge such as design.　

Mrs. Chiu admitted that she was very active, so she was fond of all kinds of activities. She had played British basketball and formed a team with seven to nine people to compete with teachers’ college, Central British School, Diocesan Girls’ School and St Paul’s Convent School. Her School’s results in competitions were good. The students practiced in the playground and had used the sports ground of Northcote College of Education and King’s College for that purpose. Before the War, Belilios Public School borrowed the gym and swimming pool of King’s College for lessons. In the PE lessons, there were activities such as gymnastics, swimming and ball games. In the old days, only King’s College and St Stephen’s Girls College had swimming pools. Assessment for the swimming badge was held in these two schools. As for Mrs. Chiu, she had started to swim since the age of three.

Of Mrs. Chiu’s classmates in secondary school, some were not Chinese and some were of mixed race and could speak Cantonese fluently. All the classmates got along very well. Outside the class, everyone would chat and chase each other for fun. When no one among her classmates had any idea who won the scholarship, Mrs. Chiu might let her good friends know. She liked to dance, play ball games and skip the rope when she was attending primary school. Her classmates did not care even if their trousers slipped down while skipping the rope. Seeing this, Miss Hung would reprimand them. After getting into secondary school, although some students wore more unusual clothes to school, others mostly wore plain long gowns or button front shirts and trousers. Mrs. Chiu did not go out to have fun with her classmates until she grew older. It was not until Form 6 was there Chinese in the curriculum. Mrs. Chiu’s teacher (trained in classical Chinese) who taught that subject was very old. There were some students who were bold enough to play truant in order to buy tickets at Queen’s Theatre. The students mainly watched movies at the nearby Queen’s Theatre or Entertainment Theatre (today’s Entertainment Building). Mrs. Chiu usually watched movies with her elder sister and her brother-in-law. On the night before the Japanese army bombarded Hong Kong, she watched “Gone with the Wind”.

Title	Memories of Belilios Public School: Principal, Teachers, Schoolmates, Uniform, Extra-curricular activities
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	29m58s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-013

Before the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong, Mrs. Chiu had volunteered for joining Air Raid Precaution Corp to teach citizens measures against air raid. In each team there were eight to ten members who were equipped with armours and helmets. Every week, one or two classes were held in the evening in which the teams taught precautionary measures against war. Mrs. Chiu again reminisced about the process of applying for the position of nurse at Queen Mary Hospital. All the applicants should have taken the Hong Kong School Leaving Certificate Examination, and they were then required to write two English essays. Graduates of Belilios Public School were given priority for employment in Queen Mary Hospital.

Mrs. Chiu was a member of Air Raid Precaution Corp. After applying for the job at Air Raid Precaution Bureau, she was notified by the Bureau that she was accepted and should start to work at the end of August in 1941. The office of the Bureau was located in today’s Newton Hotel Hong Kong in Queen’s Road East. There was only a few staff there, men and women, who worked from nine to five for a monthly salary of $60, equivalent to that of a draftsman. Mrs. Chiu again reminisced about the day when the Japanese army declared war. She mentioned how her adopted younger sister did not know how to get off the tram on her way to school, and what happened during the war. For the first week after the war started, Air Raid Precaution Corp still had to work at night to provide training for people in the neighbourhood – teaching them to take shelter in the caves. The depot for her Air Raid Precaution Team was at Soldiers and Sailors Home in Wan Chai (today’s junction of Hennessy Road and Anton Street).

Title	Joining Air Raid Precaution Corp and Air Raid Precaution Bureau in pre-war period
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	8m35s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-014

Belilios Public School did not offer family education for women. There were more sports activities than education on family care. Students there gave priority to studying as preparation for future employment. At that time, many of Mrs. Chiu’s classmates quitted school to get married, but there were also some who planned to get into university. Mrs. Chiu’s biological mother had arranged for Mrs. Chiu to learn Chin Woo style of martial arts, and she made children’s swim-wear for her children. Being raised and educated by her biological mother, Mrs. Chiu was able to see the distinctions among women of different eras and realize the importance of self-respect.

During teacher training, her biological mother received the message that women should contribute to the society. It was not until Mrs. Chiu graduated that women started to work in the society in Hong Kong, but the career path for women was not very clear.

About half of Mrs. Chiu’s classmates went out to work in many different fields such as office work in foreign or Chinese companies, government jobs as well as teaching and nursing posts, which had just begun to recruit female staff. At that time, Queen Mary Hospital had recruited a lot of Mrs. Chiu’s seniors in Belilios Public School. During the Japanese occupation, many of them who worked in Queen Mary Hospital went to Chongqing to continue their work as nurse and start studying medicine.

After the War, women started to have their own goal and even had to go out to work. At 23, Mrs. Chiu married a man who came from a relatively conservative family. However, her parents-in-law respected her and understood the existing social phenomenon of going out to work for women. At that time, a number of Mrs. Chiu’s classmates who had already had children went out to work.

Once again, Mrs. Chiu mentioned what her maternal grand-father’s response was when her biological mother and her aunt got the certificate from Vernacular Normal School for Women. She thought that later in Hong Kong there had been several cases in which women were successful in running a school. There were women who took on the role of principal in schools such as Southwestern College, Lai Chak Middle School and Heung To Middle School, etc.

The principal of Min Yin School before the War was an alumni of Belilios Public School. There was not much connection between Belilios Public School and other girls’ schools or government schools. At that time, boys’ and girls’ schools had hardly any communication. Mrs. Chiu mentioned again the rumour on Queen’s College and Belilios Public School and emphasized again the gradual change in woman’s role in that era.

There were not any anti-Japanese activities in Belilios Public School. What Mrs. Chiu could remember most was that her schoolmate, Lam Wo On (transliteration), taught students how to sing and led them to sing together. Such things were regarded by the teachers as extra-curricular activities. Mrs. Chiu had never heard of any schoolmates going back to the mainland to participate in anti-Japanese activities. After returning to Shaoguan, her husband had thought about joining the army because he had financial difficulties. However, he eventually abandoned the idea as the Japanese army came to occupy that region.

During her days in Belilios Public School, Mrs. Chiu had never come into contact with religion. Nevertheless, she was influenced by her elder sister who was baptized when she was a student nurse, and her classmate had invited her to participate in church activities. Therefore, she joined the Methodist Church. Once again, Mrs. Chiu reminisced about her experiences in the Japanese class and how she got a job. Her elder sister studied in the Chinese class in Belilios Public School and spent two years in St Paul Convent School before learning nursing in Kwong Wah Hospital at 15. Four years later, she was relocated to Tung Wah Eastern Hospital to become a midwife for two years.

Title	Women's role changed according to circumstance
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	21m
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-015

Mrs. Chiu thought that studying in Belilios Public School had changed the second half of her life. She was glad to have been able to enter a good school which provided her with learning and various activities. In reminiscing about the difficulties and disappointments in life, she thought that she had also learned a lot of things. With the floats on her back and her children by her side, her biological mother travelled all the way from Wan Chai to Central and took the ferry to Lai Chi Kok swimming pool for swimming lessons. This was all for the purpose of giving what was best to her children. To Mrs. Chiu, the most happy thing was for her family of eight to ten people to rent a motor boat for swimming at Stonecutters Island. At that time not many children had a chance to go swimming like that.

Miss Ho was an alumni of Belilios Public School. After being trained in Britain, she went back to Belilios Public School to teach subjects such as History and Geography, and she had also been the principal of Belilios Public School for a short term. Miss Ho’s father was a pastor and her younger sister was Mrs. Chiu’s classmate in kindergarten. She despised the poor and fawned over the rich, so she only asked the rich students questions in the class. Mrs. Chiu was a poor student using her cousin’s old books, but her academic result was quite good, and she despised Miss Ho. When Mrs. Chiu was in Form 8, there was once when Miss Ho asked her questions and reprimanded her for giving a wrong answer. However, when asking another student whose father was a teacher of King’s College, Miss Ho said that the student’s answer was right although it was the same as Mrs. Chiu’s. Mrs. Chiu reminisced about her conflict with Miss Ho and the kind words said by some good teachers at Belilios Public School. In summarizing her life, she thought that there were pluses and minuses, hardship and luck, and she was happy about her life.

Title	Review on unforgettable episodes of schooling and life
Date	16/12/2010
Subject	Education
Duration	7m
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	TW-LWC-LIFE-016