Lai Lok Shing

Lai Lok Shing failed to gain a place in a government or subsidised secondary school after taking his Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE). From an advertisement on Wah Kiu Yat Po (“Overseas Chinese Daily News”), he learned that La Salle College Evening School (“La Salle”) was recruiting students. He applied and was subsequently admitted. La Salle was located on the road of the same name in Kowloon Tong. Its evening school operated from about 6 to 8 pm with three or four lessons each day and a recess in between. There were no extra-curricular activities. Although tuition at La Salle was quite expensive, Lai Lok Shing’s Dad still supported his son’s studies there.

The curriculum of the evening school was similar to that at standard secondary schools, but had no religious subjects nor extracurricular activities. As all classes were taught in English, Lai Lok Shing found it hard to keep up with the progress and his results were not satisfactory. As evening school here was taught by the day school teachers, the teachers had already become tired by late afternoon. Feeling that evening students were of poorer quality than their day school students, the teachers were not enthusiastic in teaching. In each class, the dedicated class teacher taught students about morality and manners. As students at La Salle came from different walks of life, they wore different types of schoolbags and shoes. These students had poor performance in SSEE, and many only stayed at the school for just a year. The uniforms and school badge for students at the evening school were similar to those of the day school. It was the first year of the evening school and it offered several classes of Form One. The evening school eventually developed into today's Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College in Ho Man Tin.

While studying at La Salle, Lai Lok Shing helped his family to take care of their grocery store during the day as his father had already retired from the naval dockyard . Lai Lok Shing attended La Salle without any intention to study until Form Five. At that time, most kids in the resettlement estate became apprentices in factories, while others learned haircutting or driving. Considering the expensive tuition fees and his inability to catch up with the progress, Lai Lok Shing went to study in South Sea Textile for a work-study programme. He made this decision so that he did not have to pay tuition fees and could earn a wage while studying

While studying at La Salle, Lai Lok Shing went to the library every day to read newspapers. He paid special attention to news about further studies. One day, when he read Wah Kiu Yat Po, he noticed that South Sea English Secondary School (“SSESS”), which was run by South Sea Textile (SST), was recruiting students. The advertising notice said “Our school has a beautiful environment! Recruiting work-study students! Free tuition! Hostel and textbooks provided! Same curriculum as standard secondary schools!”. SST only recruited healthy, young men and had no restrictions on age, education, height and weight. Interested individuals could visit the school, fill in an application form and attend an interview. The students were mostly about 16 to 17 years old and lived together in a dormitory.

The 1960s saw the prosperity of Hong Kong’s textile industry. SST was a large manufacturer and employed thousands of workers; among them were foreign employees from India and Pakistan. SST was located at a large, well-equipped premise at 9½ Milestone in Castle Peak Road in Tsuen Wan. The plant was built by the waterfront with an inland lot consisting of an office building, dormitories, a dining hall, an auditorium, a playground and other facilities. The two lots were connected by a private tunnel.

In explaining what processes were involved in the textile industry, Lai Lok Shing says that cotton was firstly spun into the yarn as a semi-finished product. The yarn was then woven by semi-automatic machines attended by workers standing by the machines’ sides. After joining the factory, Lai Lok Shing served as an apprentice for three months, learning new skills as he worked. Filled with flying cotton fibres, the plant was very hot and wet and the management arranged annual chest x-rays to protect employees’ health. As it operated 24/7 on three eight-hour shifts, the plant also had a round-the-clock medical room. Lai Lok Shing’s mother regularly cooked hair moss soup to help her son fight off pneumoconiosis at work. Female staff only worked daytime hours, while men took turns to work the middle and night shifts. The only time the whole plant stopped operation was on Lunar New Year Day, using a staff roster system for other holidays. Eventually, the factory adopted a mandatory single rest day per week in accordance with changes in local labour laws. Life was very hard and during one Mid-autumn Festival, Lai Lok Shing had to work a night shift while others were celebrating the festival. That said, employer-employee relations were harmonious with both parties meeting each other at regular seminars and making middle level management be accountable for their performance.

SSESS adopted the words “Diligent in working and thrifty in learning” as its motto. Meals, lodging and textbooks were all provided to students free of charge. Each day, there were lessons for two to three hours studying up to seven subjects including Chinese, English, Mathematics, Chinese History, World History, Chemistry and Economics. The school had no summer vacation. Some teachers of SSESS came from Kiangsu-Chekiang College and the students had their examinations in this college. The teachers showed understanding to the students and trained them to develop independent mind. In doing so, they compiled concise lecture handouts and placed great emphasis on moral education. The factory also put in job assessments for each student on their individual school reports.

Looking back, Lai Lok Shing describes students trained by the school as being “South Sea Flying Fish”. As students often felt the pressure of managing work and study, they occasionally found leisure in the back garden where the scenery was beautiful. Lai Lok Shing obtained grade “B” in Chinese and grade “C” in Chinese History in his HKCEE exam plus passes in other subjects. As he felt the factory condition was bad for workers’ health, he decided to leave the factory after graduation in search of better future. To this end, he applied for a position of government clerk he saw advertised in a newspaper. He worked in the civil service until retired in 2004. After taking HKCEE, some students stayed on at the factory, while others accepted the school’s interest-free loans and undertook further studies. Relations among the students were largely harmonious, and an alumni directory was published at the time of graduation. When he was about to retire, Lai Lok Shing recalled his memories at SSESS. Respectful of his origins, he was happy to write an article for publication about his old school.

The campus of South Sea English Secondary School (SSESS) was a single-storey building with each class having its own room. Additional facilities there included a chemistry laboratory, library cabinets and a small auditorium. The school was unique in Hong Kong in that it adopted a six-year system with Form Five divided into lower and upper forms to be completed in two years. As students often dropped out later on, the school ran more classes during Form One and Two than in subsequent years. While classes for early years had up to 30 students, numbers dropped to around 20 in Form Four and Five. Since female workers were allowed to work only day shifts, the school only admitted boys. The school provided free school uniforms and two to three hours of classes each day which were shorter than those at standard secondary schools. The principal of the school was a northerner and was a very serious man with rich teaching experience. The principal only spoke to the students at the school in English and was particularly concerned about students’ manners and attires.

On the very rare occasions the proprietor of South Sea Textile visited the school, , and even so he seldom talked. Lai Lok Shing mainly saw the proprietor in the workshop. Inspectors of the Education Department sometimes came to observe lessons. The factory owner occasionally came to the school with visitors. Pao Hsing Cotton Mill later began operating a school of similar format. Except for Chinese and Chinese History, all other subjects were delivered in English. It also hired foreign teachers to teach oral English and arranged group discussions in class to let students practise English conversation. As the daily operation was conducted in English, the school encouraged students to speak English after class. But only some of the students followed this advice. Teachers here taught textbooks in the classroom and also distributed well-prepared handouts. Some of the teachers went sent from Kiangsu-Chekiang College; others were employed from outside and resided in the school. Because of this, the resident teachers stayed with the students whole day and were concerned about them. The teachers encouraged students to develop their own characters and never treated them as workers. They also taught students in the class about manners and world views, so that they could get along well with workers at the workshop.

Most students at SSESS were kids of similar age from poor families and were very serious about their studies. As many of them failed to get a subsidized school place, they came to SSESS to combine work with study. SST only stopped production on the first and the second day of Lunar New Year. As students had few extra-curricular activities to occupy them during the holidays, Lai Lok Shing took the initiative to organised a picnic with his classmates in a Lunar New Year. As students had little spare time after work and after class, they usually watched TV in a common room. Later, it was stated in the law that work-study students were entitled to one rest day every week. On the rest day, the students either went home to see their families or went out in groups to watch movies . The students did not organise any associations and, with the exception of an alumni directory published at the day of graduation, the students did not really publish any kind of publication.

After completing secondary school, graduates could choose to continue in the textile engineering courses so that they would work for South Sea Textile on  design or management positions. Other graduates left the factory and furthered their studies elsewhere. Those who obtained good result in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) would go on to study matriculation, with interest-free loans provided by the factory. SSESS had operated for about 10 years and Lai Lok Shing was a graduate of the school’s fourth or fifth year. After taking the HKCEE, Lai Lok Shing assumed the role of family breadwinner and got a job as a clerk in the civil service at a monthly salary of about HK$500. At the same time, Lai Lok Shing received loans from the factory to study  Economics and Mathematics of matriculate level at Cognitio College’s evening school. He sat for the university entrance examination two years later which later helped him to be promoted to auditing clerk in the Audit Department. Lai Lok Shing believed that his work at the Audit Department let him broaden his horizons and understand the accounting system of different government departments. Three years later, he was transferred to the District Office to handle matters of land transaction. After three years , he was transferred to the Inland Revenue Department where he served as a tax inspector until retired in 2004. At this department, Lai Lok Shing had a colleague who was a student from SSESS.

As Lai Lok Shing spent many years away from home while he did the work-study programme, he sometimes felt unhappy and homesick. That said, he had clearer life goals and learned to treasure his time. Lai Lok Shing always felt he was a student rather than a worker. Living in the factory while studying at the factory school made him feel that he was  out of touch with the outside world. He found that adhering to a fixed  timetable made his life more positive. Lai Lok Shing comments in the interview that shift work at SST clock turned day into night. Another shortcoming of working in the textile mill was that he did not like the flying cotton fibre in the workshop which was hazardous to worker’s health. Lai Lok Shing had always liked writing since his childhood and regularly achieved satisfactory marks for composition at school. Constrained by family financial condition, Lai Lok Shing was not able to study in the university, but he eventually happily supported his two younger brothers for their studies in the United Kingdom.

South Sea Textile (SST) adopted a three-shift system, working eight hours in each shift without break. Work-study students work the middle shift from 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm and the night shift from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am the next morning. The factory had a van to deliver bread to the shop floor to feed the workforce while they worked. The workers could go to the canteen after they had finished their shifts. The canteen provided subsidised, low-cost meals and operated like a fast food shop offering five types of cuisine to satisfy the eating habits of workers from different provinces. Students on the middle shift got out of bed around 9:00 am in the morning, attending class after breakfast and taking lunch after class at 11:30 am. They then started to work at 3:00 pm. The students working night shift went to class in the afternoon as they went to bed in the morning. Classes were arranged to match with the students’ working hours. In this way, students working for different shifts could still enjoy the same number of lessons. Soon after Lai Lok Shing started working with SST, a new policy was implemented which required that one rest day be allowed for all staff members every week. Some workers played ball games in the factory on the rest days. As ordinary workers did not have to attend classes, they had more time to enjoy activities outside the factory.

Work-study students were allocated to do spinning, weaving and quality inspection. For Lai Lok Shing, he used to work at weaving. Since SST used fully automatic machines for spinning and weaving, work-study students received three- month training to ensure normal operation of the machine. Work-study students in the weaving department were only allowed to handle low-cost coarse fabrics and twill fabrics that required only basic skills. The factory cared about the health of the workers and arranged annual chest x-rays for workers every year. The company arranged workers who found to have a lung disease for treatment. Workers there were well aware of the risk of occupational diseases and brought their own masks to work. Some work-study students also wore masks in work. The workshop environment was very noisy and some workers used earplugs but very few work-study students took similar precautions, as worker’s awareness of occupational health was not as widespread as today’s.

Work-study students earned daily wages. Lai Lok Shing earned more than HK$500 per month. When he later worked as a government clerk, Lai Lok Shing earned a monthly salary of around HK$472. Lai Lok Shing handed over his entire salary to his parents. Male and female workers were paid by piece rate according to the value of the fabric types which they worked for. Unlike senior male staff, work-study students seldom worked overtime and female employees only worked day shifts. While some permanent workers looked down on the work-study students and made little effort to get along with them, other full-timers were willing to give guidance to the students. The turnover of workers at SST was low. Some workers were promoted to supervisor (Assistant Foreman) or foreman. Work-study students who intended to stay in the factory were given specialist training after completing secondary  education.
The premise of SST was divided into two parts, with the factory located along the coastal side and the living area and school situated in the inland. The two parts were connected by a tunnel. Unmarried male and female workers lived in the dormitories provided by the factory irrespective of their seniority. As their work during weekdays was physically demanding, the workers seldom played around after work. They usually spent time in sleeping to be ready for the work next day. SST had a separate dormitories for its work-study students with both large and small rooms equipped with bunk beds for the student. At night, the warden turned off the lights at a certain time.  Students of higher level stayed in smaller rooms where they enjoyed more private space.

The factory also set up a separate room for the workers of “five goods” to reward those who were punctual and productive. Appraisals were made annually and winners could use the room for a period of one year to cook food and to sing songg, etc. The quality of workers at SST was very good, gentle and polite. The nature of work for male and female workers was very similar. The number of unmarried and married workers was roughly the same. Weaving masters sometimes treated work-study students and female workers to outings and occasionally even took the opportunity to find their dates. Lai Lok Shing met his wife who was also a textile worker introduced by his neighbours. They shared similar work experience in the textile factory in which made them feel connected. Lai Lok Shing still kept in touch with other classmates after graduation, but sadly they had little time to get together since they had their own families.

The Lai family put up a Rediffusion TV in their grocery store and placed benches inside the store to attract residents to come into the shop and watch TV for one cent per head. Children liked to watch cartoons, while adults preferred Cantonese movies and Cantonese operas. Kung fu master Wong Fei Hung’s series and opera artist Yam Kim Fai’s programmes were especially popular. The store also rented out mahjong sets which residents could take back home to play. In line with the changing tastes of the time, the Lais’ grocery store mainly sold snacks such as ice cream, candies and biscuits. That said, if several kids came in to enquire about Chupa Chups, the Lai family would place an order and start selling this trendy snack. In those years, snack advertising was not popular on television and children influenced each other in their choice of snack. Lai Lok Shing normally helped out in the grocery store, watching the cartoons were on TV while helping his parents to collect TV dues. When his parents were out, Lai Lok Shing usually had to look after the grocery store on his own. The Lais’ shop had a lot of regular customers, and the family had deep affection with the neighbours as a result. Next door to the store was a Chinese medicine shop which had several benches and was the main gathering place in the neighbourhood. Lai Lok Shing’s father frequently nipped outside to socialise with others there.