Ma Ho Fu

Ma Ho Fu Ho Fu was born in Hong Kong in 1925. Her biological parents abandoned her as they had too many daughters. Then she was adopted by her adoptive mother and followed her last name as Ma. Her adoptive mother was an unmarried woman from a rich family in Guangzhou. She taught in kindergarten. When Ma Ho Fu was 3 years old, she was brought up by her Godmother (Baptized) , Yik Wai Fong. Miss Yik was a teacher at Pui Ching School. Pui Ching School was also called “Italy Infant Church”, which became the Sacred Heart School later. Ma Ho Fu had plenty of happy memories at Pui Ching School. She boarded for one and a half years during which she learned to speak English. At the beginning, Ma Ho Fu was bullied by some non-Chinese boys. She was pushed down the stairs and got injured. However, she did not report the incident to the Sister. Ma’s adoptive mother visited her once a week, bringing her some Chinese cookies, which the non-Chinese boys loved to eat. They traded these cookies with Ma Ho Fu with bread. Ma Ho Fu shared the snacks generously. She even requested her adoptive mother to bring more Chinese cakes for her classmates. Since then she became more popular with other kids. She had a memory about sister Magde-ida that during a visit of an education inspector at Pui Ching School, Ma Ho Fu took the initiative to order the whole class to “stand up” and “sit down”. 

Later, when Ma Ho Fu went with her adoptive mother to Guangzhou, Sister Magde-ida kept for her the skirts and a special kind of blouse from donors. Ma Ho Fu felt she was loved by Sister Magde-ida. Her adoptive mother was invited to be the warden of Guangzhou Zhixin School. Ma Ho Fu had a golden childhood at Zhixin.  Ma Ho Fu got her godmother when she was baptized. Her baptized godmother was single and taught Chinese at the primary school of the Pui Ching School.The school was managed by Italian sisters. It took care of the poor, abandoned and handicapped children. The teachers taught the children to knit and to take care of the younger abandoned children.  The school also admitted the children who could afford the tuition fees to study as boarders, most of whom were non-Chinese. As a result, the local abandoned children and the non-Chinese wealthy children learned English together in the same class.

Ma Ho Fu moved to Guangzhou with her adoptive mother when she was five. Before starting formal schooling at Zhixin School, Ma Ho Fu had been playing around on the hills for a year. She picked fruits, caught cicada and enjoyed honey from the honeycomb. She had made friends with the daughter of a worker at the school. Her adoptive mother was the warden of the Zhixin School. Her job was to take care of the boarders from South East Asia. Although adoptive mother came from a big family with complicated family relationships, Ma Ho Fu admired very much the personality of her adoptive mother and was impressed by the commitment she made to the school.

Zhixin School was founded to commemorate the Pastor Chu Zhixin, who sacrificed his life for Chinese Revolution. The first principal of the school was the wife of Chu. Ma Ho Fu had studied for four years in Zhixin School. Ma Ho Fu didn't find it hard to finish the school work there. Her adoptive mother left the school when Ma Ho Fu was studying Primary 4. Despite that, Ma Ho Fu continued to study at Zhixin School herself. After Zhixin, Ma Ho Fu continued her study at Guangzhou City Primary School. She had to repeat Primary 4 in the new school, because the academic level at Zhixin was lower than that at the city school. Ma Ho Fu became more serious about learning since then. Meanwhile, in her adoptive mother's home, Ma Ho Fu lived with a Mui Tsai together, who was treated equally by her adoptive mother.

After graduating from the Guangzhou City Primary School, Ma Ho Fu studied at the Guangzhou Provincial Girls' School. At that time, a girl with junior secondary education could teach at kindergarten and Primary 1 if she finished two years' teacher's training. Unfortunately when Ma Ho Fu was in Junior Secondary One, Guangzhou was invaded by the Japanese. The Guangzhou Provincial Girls' School moved to Shun Tak, and when Shun Tak was invaded, the school moved back to Guangzhou. Ma Ho Fu followed the movement of the school carrying a few personal belongings only. The first semester passed under the war fire.

Admission. Ma’s godmother retired when Guangzhou was invaded by the Japanese. Ma Ho Fu returned to Hong Kong to take care of her godmother while her adoptive mother remained in the Mainland with her own sister. Back in Hong Kong, Sister Mother Ida recommended Ma Ho Fu to be admitted to the lower secondary section of Pui Ching School free of charge. However, as Pui Ching School had art subjects only, Ma Ho Fu chose to study in Tack Ching Girl’s School, which was also a catholic school and had Mathematics and Science subjects. Ma Ho Fu noticed that Mother Ida did not recommend another girl to any school. Ma Ho Fu thought that it was because the girl wore curly hair. From this, Ma Ho Fu thought that  Mother Ida was a traditional person.

Daily Life. Ma Ho Fu had a harsh life at Tack Ching. She left her home at Robinson Road early in the morning to take ferry from Central Pier to Sham Shui Po where Tack Ching Girl’s School was located. At night, she had to prepare dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast for both her godmother and herself. Everyday, her godmother gave her 5 cents for lunch. Ma Ho Fu always asked classmates, who did not have lunch at school, to buy food for her which normally cost 1 to 2 cents only so that she could save money to buy books. At that time, Tack Ching Girl’s School was small, the classrooms for the junior classes were located at the second floor. The church was down-stairs. After class, Ma Ho Fu spent time reading books at a book store near to the school, which allowed her to read many books during the years she was in Tack Ching. After school, Ma Ho Fu would go to buy food in the Central market and walked up five steep slopes from the Central to Robinson Road.

Relationship with teachers. Tack Ching Girl’s Secondary School provided three free seats for students, one of which was Ma Ho Fu. Despite it, Principal Ngai Woon Jing (Sr. NGAI, Mary SPB) treated all the students equally. There were around 10 students every class, amongst whom two to three were nun students. The school was particularly harsh to the nun students. Each classroom accommodated three classes of students of different grades. But they knew each other. During the class, the teacher would ask one class of students to practice Calligraphy while giving lecture to another class on another subject.

Tack Ching had 8 to 10 teachers. There was one teacher, who believed in Communism, always promoted communist ideology to the students. The students called it "pink injection”and they did not want to be too close with this teacher. This teacher left the school after one year. The male science teacher was a fat man and spoke with accent. He sometimes wore white gown to do science experiments. He was always made fun of by the students; however, he had such a good temper that he did not punish the students. The English teacher Cheung King Yiu (actually she was godmother of confirmation of Ma Ho Fu) had a good relationship with Ma. She taught oral and written English to the students. As Ma Ho Fu knew only a few alphabets, she could not catch up with the progress.  The English teacher’s father was willing to help Ma, but Ma Ho Fu couldn’t accept the help as she needed to take care of her godmother after school. Nevertheless, Ma Ho Fu visited Cheung King Yiu’s home occasionally, and Cheung’s mother prepared food for poor students. Ma Ho Fu kept in contact with Cheung King Yiu after she left Tack Ching. Cheung became Ma Ho Fu’s godmother of confirmation later, and she had served in Social Welfare Department.

The music teacher, with the last name Mui, was only 2 to 3 years older than the students. After graduation, she began to teach in Tack Ching Girl’s Secondary School. There was one time she took the class to Butterfly Valley for a school trip, however, Ma Ho Fu left early to rush home to her godmother of baptism at home. She thought of a way to inform her teacher of her leaving the group: she left a memo on a tree trunk. Unfortunately, no one discovered that memo. Teacher Mui was scared and tried to look for the missing student. In the cooking class, students enjoyed very much to do cooking. Ma Ho Fu had good performance at Tack Ching except English..

Relationship with classmates. During the two years at Tack Ching Girl’s Secondary School, Ma Ho Fu made good friends with several classmates. She was able to keep the relationship with these friends for many years. Most of the students at the school came from rich families who lived near to the school. For example, the fathers of two classmates were civil servants. As the school did not provide senior secondary education, Ma Ho Fu returned to the Mainland to continue her study. Ma Ho Fu remembered that there were three nun students in the class. One of them finally gave up her commitment as a nun and went to America after she finished the undergraduate degree by distant learning. The other two became nuns in Beijing and Taiwan respectively. Ma Ho Fu vividly remembered that she had participated in a performance called “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with the whole class, which she acted as Dopey (one of the seven dwarfs). After graduation, the whole class of 38 students scattered in different places between Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Zhaoqing. Ma Ho Fu and her classmates met once a month at Guangzhou after World War II. Later they met only at festivals. Tack Ching did not have a school hymn. The school uniform was composed of a set of sam (clothes) and pants of Chinese style in grey colour. The sam was decorated with ramp button and framed margin. It was later changed to a white blouse with blue dress and a tie fastened with rubber band. 

Ma Ho Fu lived with her godmother and her godmother’s niece until she graduated from Tack Ching Girls’ School. Her aunt in Guangzhou (the younger sister of her adoptive mother) asked Ma Ho Fu to go back to Guangzhou for work. She returned to Guangzhou with the company of the traders who came back and forth between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Her aunt wanted Ma Ho Fu to work with her at Qujiang, Guangzhou. When she learned that the Guangdong Provincial Normal School for Women in Guangzhou offered free-of-charge training for girls, Ma Ho Fu decided to continue her study there. The Normal School offered free admission but charged the girls meal expenses only.

Ma Ho Fu was admitted to the Guangdong Provincial Normal School for Women in Guangzhou based on her academic results in the Tack Ching Girl’s Secondary School. During war time, the school was relocated to Lian Xian. Ma Ho Fu studied text books, and then learned teaching theories afterwards. In the second year, she had to accomplish the internship. In a biographical essay she wrote about her life, entitled “How I became a teacher”, she recounted the process and the difficulties. Lian Xian did not have regular schools. All local children studied in private si-shu. The teachers at the Normal school suggested the intern teachers to mobilize and organize the male workers into classes so that they could have the chance to practice teaching. The male workers worked in the day and joined the classes in the evening. Initially, the intern teachers also taught girls at their homes, which gradually attracted the attention of the other people. Ma Ho Fu recalled some interesting stories about teaching these people. Ma Ho Fu taught Chinese and Mathematics in the classes while other interns taught social affairs. The curriculum was equivalent to those in ordinary primary schools, but the course materials were jointly hand-made by the intern teachers. It was how she and her classmates completed the internship in the second and the third years. Ma Ho Fu recalled that the students in Lian Xian respected the teachers very much. They had made shoes for her and even came to visit her in Guangzhou.

Apart from education theories and teaching methods, students at the Normal School also learned specialized subjects. English, Chinese and Mathematics were core subjects. Students could choose between Music, Drawings and Physical Education. Ma Ho Fu preferred Music. She remembered that once the students organized a singing performance to raise fund for a field trip to Guilin, where they made school visits and teaching demos. However, Ma Ho Fu missed this opportunity as she was sick with stomach problem. In 1944, Ma Ho Fu graduated from the Normal School. Most of the graduates were sent to teach in remote orphanages, while some of them were sent to a Christian School in Shuangxi Shan. Ma Ho Fu and two other relatively outstanding graduates were sent to the Lian Xian Lian Xing Zhen Cental National School. One year later, the World War II was over and she returned to Guangzhou to teach Primary 5 in the Guangzhou City Third Primary School. Her godmother told Ma Ho Fu that a friend of hers called Wong Kam Ho had opened the Hon Chuen Primary School in Cheung Chau. Ma Ho Fu could work in the school. Although the Guangzhou City's Third Primary School tried to convince Ma Ho Fu to remain there, Ma Ho Fu decided to return to Hong Kong to accept the teaching position at Hon Chuen where she was offered additional benefits for food and accommodation.

Ma Ho Fu decided to go back to Hong Kong to pursue teaching as she graduated from Tack Ching Girl's Secondary School, and she had always preferred to live in Hong Kong. More importantly, there was too much “pink injection” (activities that promoted Communist ideas) at certain schools in Ma Ho Fuinland China.

Being the most reputed school in Cheung Chau, Hon Chuen Primary School has produced graduates for many generations, many of its students coming from wealthy families in commercial business. The name "Hon Chuen" represented the constant joining and graduating of Chinese students.  Ma Ho Fu recalled having a good relationship with the postman in Cheung Chau, who used to prepare mails and peaceful bun from worshipping ceremonies for her.

Surrounding Environment of the Campus. Hon Chuen Primary School was located on the main street of Cheung Chau where Pak Tai Temple, shops and other schools could be found. Hon Chuen Primary School was a building of 3 storey high: the third floor was used for staff quarters, the second had 3 classrooms, and the ground floor was where the kindergarten section was in operation.

Teaching Methods. At that time, the school only admitted students from Primary One to Primary Three. There were 2 teachers in the kindergarten section. The primary school also had 2 teachers, one teaching Chinese and the other teaching English language. They had to teach 3 classes. The school adopted parallel teaching, meaning that a teacher had to take care of two classes at the same time. While one class was practising Calligraphy   , for example, the other class was learning a different subject, Mathematics for example. Wednesdays and Saturday afternoons were holidays at Hon Chuen. Ma Ho Fu used to bring students to the beach on Wednesdays, picking seashells and singing songs. The students enjoyed it very much and would give seashells to Ma Ho Fu as gifts.

Background of the Teaching Staff. Mathematics, Chinese and English were also taught at the School. The English teacher was a graduate from Belilios Public School. Although she never had professional training in teaching, she was very much welcomed because of her fluency in English and her proficiency in piano and she could teach music. Her father was a priest. Ma Ho Fu taught Music, Ma Ho Mathematics, Physical Education and etc. Physical Education classes took place on the little field next to the school building, but there were not many sessions. Registration for teaching profession was not yet formalised yet back then in Hong Kong. As long as the principal of a private school was willing to hire a teacher, registration was not necessary. The monthly salary for teachers in Hon Chuen was 60 dollars. Albeit a sad decision, Ma Ho Fu left Hon Chuen after only one semester for a job offer at Sung Tak School, which was newly opened in Tai Po by an acquaintance of Ma Ho Fu. Ma Ho Fu left Sung Tak after one semester because she was infected Malaria in Tai Po.

Impression of Sung Tak School. The founder and the principal of Sung Tak School was a friend of Ma Ho Fu’s. It was a well established school, with a big campus situated inside the village hall. However, Ma Ho Fu considered that Sung Tak was not as good as Cheung Chau Hon Chuen Primary school because teachers and students were less intimate at Sung Tak than and the students were less motivated to interact with the teachers. Each classroom was managed by one teacher, while each teacher was assigned certain subjects to be his/her specialized teaching responsibility . During the time at Sung Tak, Ma Ho Fu also took a painting class offered by the Education Department during the summer in Sai Ying Poon. The class was held in the Psychiatric Hospital under the instruction of Maytin Kan.

Ma Ho Fu majored in Chinese at Guangzhou Normal School for Women. After graduation, she taught Chinese, sometimes also Arts and Crafts, Music and Physical Education. Ma Ho Fu used to teach junior students all subjects except English. Ma Ho Fu thought that Mathematics of senior grades was more difficult, she preferred not to teach the subject for senior students.

Experiences from temporary substitute-teaching. After that, Ma Ho Fu had also been substitute teacher at St Paul’s Secondary School in Happy Valley and S.K.H St. Jame’s Primary School. She always maintained good relationships with the schools. When Ma Ho Fu was a student at Tack Ching Girls’ School, she used to visit a book store opposite to the school, and that was the time when she learned of the works of Lu Xun. She had also decorated the classroom’s exhibition board with the drawings she made with her classmates based on “The True Story of Ah Q”.

Reasons for Employment. Through the introduction of Mrs Wan Chik Hing, who was the sister of the brother-in-law of her adoptive mother, Ma Ho Fu attended a job interview meeting Miss Ho Chung Chung, Principal of True Light Primary School (nowadays’ Hong Kong True Light Secondary School (Primary Section). Back then, schools seldom used open recruitment to find teachers. Mostly candidates were referred through people’s connection. Miss Ho was selective in choosing the right candidates. A member of school board had introduced a female teacher to Miss Ho, but Miss Ho rejected her because this lady wore curled hair which Miss Ho found it unfit with the school norms. Ma Ho Fu had always worn straight hair, and only once had her hair permed when she was advised by the principal of St Joan of Arc School (Primary Section).

Relationships with the School Principal and Teachers. Ma Ho Fu had taught at the True Light Primary School for 8 years, during which the school was located on Caine Road. The school was a six-storey building, with two to three spacious classrooms on each floor. There were two to three classes of students for each grade, with a total of more than 10 classes in the school. Each of the teachers specialised in certain subjects. Teachers including Ma Ho Fu were provided with meals and lodge. Two to three teachers shared a room while two supervisory teachers shared one room. They lived happily together. Life was simple at that time, teachers used to take a walk in Hong the Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (which was called by the Chinese “Bing Tau Fa Yuen”, literally meaning garden of military superintendent) and enjoyed an ice-cream at a store nearby on their way back. A memorable story she recalled was that when the teachers rehearsed a drama called “David and Bathsheda”, to be performed at Christmas.

The teachers at True Light Primary School did not enjoy having meals with the principal and the supervisory teachers at the same table. In one occasion when Ma Ho Fu was ill, the principal Miss Ho Chung Chung visited her and sang hymns with her. Ma Ho Fu felt that Miss Ho was a kind person. Ma Ho Fu believed that her sense of belonging with the school was not built on monetary income but the relationship with the principal. Miss Ho demanded the teachers to work hard, to get their work done on time, but at the same time she understood the teachers well. Ma Ho Fu considered that teachers should not use physical punishment or unkind attitude. She thought that teachers should be able to persuade the students with sensibility. Siu Wai Lin, the principal of St Joan of Arc School, was a very strict person, but she was very nice to Ma Ho Fu. For instance, the principal had helped Ma Ho Fu in a lesson when she inspected the classrooms, and let new teachers sit in Ma Ho Fu’s classes for one to two weeks before they started teaching.

Teaching Memories and Methods. Ma Ho Fu’s memories of her students: a boy had sent her love letters for 2 years. When Ma Ho Fu taught in True Light Primary School of Hong Kong, she had helped a student to overcome his peeing problem. At that time, many domestic servants used to gather outside the school to serve their little masters to have lunch and to pick them up after school. The students at True Light had their lunches at the school. Ma Ho Fu used to visit all classrooms during lunch time, where she was once approached by a domestic servant who told her about her little master’s refusing to eat. Ma Ho Fu successfully encouraged the student to eat properly. True Light Primary School used to organize the students to go to enjoy watching birds in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens every month. The school admitted a small number of boys. Most of the students at True Light were from better-off families, but the school also admitted students with good academic performance and offered sponsorship for those in need. Students from poorer families were eligible for sponsorship as long as they could pass all subjects. The amount of sponsorships varied every year, depending on the number of sponsors in the year.

Relationships with students. Ma Ho Fu liked to keep the connection with students. She used to pay more attention to students from poorer families and offered her hand to them when needed. In the True Light Primary School one of the students from a poor family was reluctant to open the lunch box his parents prepared for him. Ma Ho Fu later encouraged this student to apply for admission into the St. Joan of Arc Secondary School where poor students were allowed to pay half of the school fee. Ma Ho Fu also assisted him to apply for a scholarship from the Wah Kiu Yat Po until his unemployed father found job again. In the meantime Ma Ho Fu also offered free tutorials to the student so that he could keep up his school performance. Ma Ho Fu maintained good relationship with this student. When he grew up, he had helped Ma Ho Fu a lot in return for her kindness. When Ma Ho Fu worked as a substitute teacher at Pui Ying Primary School, she had taken care of a student who was sick and gave her tutorial lessons. Afterward, this student took very good care of Ma Ho Fu. He always bought Ma Ho Fu gifts every time when he returned from his trips as a seaman. He also voluntarily renovated her home when Ma Ho Fu stayed in Guangzhou.

School’s Ma Ho Funner of Education. True Light Primary School of Hong Kong was stricter to boys than to girls because parents usually had higher hopes on boys growing up with fine manners. Despite it, the moral education did not differ between boys and girls. Ma Ho Fu thought that the children were cultivated with good manners through different activities: morning prayers, discipline and moral lecturing, singing hymns, assembly before going back to classroom after recess, lining up in queues after school waiting for their domestic servants to pick them up . The students were allowed to play on the playground, but forbidden to run around .As the students behaved themselves well, Ma Ho Fu thought it was easier for the teachers to teach in the classroom. In Ma Ho Fu’s opinion, boys were more willing to listen and learn, while girls were more timid and sensitive to minor unpleasant things. Unlike boys, girls tended to hold grudges.
 
Qualifications of the Teaching Staff. At True Light Primary School, Ma Ho Fu had always been a teacher of junior classes from Primary 1 to Primary 3. She had once taught senior students for a brief period. It was because some teachers thought that the workload of teachers of senior grades was heavy. So one of the teachers suggested swapping classes between the two groups of teachers. For less than a month, teachers of junior classes taught senior students and vice versa, until the teacher who made this suggestion changed his mind. The principal told the teachers that experienced teachers were more suitable to teach junior students.

With the recognized qualification (after Ma Ho Fu completed teachers’ training at Northcote College of Education), Ma Ho Fu became a registered teacher, which was also the requirement in the True Light Primary School. At the time when she taught at St. Joan of Arc School (Primary Section), she took a training course for unqualified teachers at Northcote College of Education.  In those days, not many teachers of junior classes obtained professional teachers’training . Over time the required qualification of teachers became stricter and stricter. True Light had very high standard for the teachers, and for that reason most of the teachers possessed good qualification. The school later required teachers who had not received professional training to improve their qualification, so that they could become registered teachers. In those days, education inspectors (from the Education Department) were hot-tempered which made many teachers nervous when they taught in the presence of education inspector. When she taught in Cheung Chau Hon Chuen Primary School and Sung Tak School, the schools did not report the teachers’ qualification to the government. The True Light took a different stance, it reported teachers’ qualification to the government.

The establishment of the School. In 1955, a catholic priest invited Ma Ho Fu to teach at a catholic school. Ma Ho Fu then left True Light Primary School for St Joan of Arc School (Primary Section). St. Joan of Arc was comprised of the secondary section, primary section, and a kindergarten. It was founded by the executive committee of St. Joan of Arc, and was built on the old site of Wah Yan College on Robinson Road, with Miss Siu Wai Lin as the school’s first school principal. During its foundation stage, Ma Ho Fu had worked overnight to knit shawl for the fund-raising sales.

Background of the School Principal. Siu Wai Lin came from a big, wealthy family. She graduated from an English school, and since a young age she had been diagnosed with heart problem and rheumatism. Siu was committed to education. Her family had helped the founding of St Joan of Arc School. Siu was very young at that time, about the same age as Ma Ho Fu. Although Siu did not have much experience in education, her first commitment in education was to be the school principal. Siu’s sister was a close friend of Ma Ho Fu’s godmother of confirmation. When Siu learned that Ma Ho Fu was an experienced teacher, she offered her a teaching position with good salary without meeting her in person. The salary at True Light Primary School was 90 dollars, compared to 160 dollars at St Joan of Arc. St Joan of Arc Primary Section charged expensive tuition fees.

Students’ Progression and the different methods of teaching Boys and Girls. St Joan of Arc School (secondary section) was a boys’ school. The primary and kindergarten sections accepted both boys and girls. Similar to True Light Primary School, St Joan of Arc (Primary Section) also adhered to a set of strict and serious educational principles. As Ma Ho Fu pointed out, the approach to girls was different from that to boy. From her observation, girls were more sensitive to negative criticism, and hence teachers had to be gentle when talking to the girls. On the other hand, boys were more straight-forward. They wouldn’t feel embarrassed after being lectured by the teachers, but it took the teachers more energy to convince them. Ma Ho Fu believed that boys were more open-minded, and they did not tend to hold grudges. For example, at one of the alumni events, she met a boy whom she had disciplined for some faults he had made. She found that this boy had already forgotten about the punishment and the incidents altogether. St Joan of Ark’s primary and secondary sections invited applications for admission at the same time. There was a direct promotion system between the primary and the secondary sections. Most girls at the True Light primary section were promoted to the secondary section directly.  Only 2-3 boys remained at the senior grades of the primary section. Not many boys continued up to the senior grades because they had no chance to be promoted to the secondary section of True Light. But most of them were admitted into similarly renowned schools, such as St. Paul’s College. At the St Joan of Arc School, there were bridging courses and programmes for students from the primary section to adapt to the secondary school life. Only a few of them were not admitted into the secondary section. Some could not meet the academic requirement for direct promotion and some changed to other schools under parents’ decision. At St Joan of Arc School, extra-curricular activities were not compulsory. There were actually not many extra-curricular activities and the students mostly went for picnics, for example picnicking in the nearby Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens .

The difficulties in establishing and running Maryland College. St. Joan of Arc School was originally located on Robinson Road before it was removed to North Point. In 1966, School Principal Siu Wai Lin left Joan of Arc and founded a new school called Maryland College, which was operated in a house on Bowen Road in the Mid-Levels. Ma Ho Fu and a couple of other teachers followed Siu Wai Lin to Maryland College and agreed to forgo salary increase every year. Maryland College was a private catholic school. It was not under the parish’s supervision. The campus in the house was very crowded. There were 2 independent classrooms on each floor, one for each grade. Ma Ho Fu was a teacher for junior grades at Maryland College and so the school needed another experienced teacher. The teachers later pooled their money and bought the house. When the school stopped running, the teachers redeemed their shares back. Ma Ho Fu undertook a one-year training course at Northcote College of Education, which was also in the Western District, when she was teaching at Maryland College. The course syllabus was similar to that she had taken in Guangzhou Normal School for Women. There were about 30 students in that course, most of whom were teachers who had studied teacher’s training in other areas and hoped to satisfy the teacher’s qualification in Hong Kong. Ma Ho Fu had a pay rise upon completion of the course.

Background and Qualifications of the Teaching Staff. Maryland College and St Joan of Arc School (Primary Section) adopted similar teaching methods. As its location was not convenient, Maryland College had fewer students and many students were late to school. Ma Ho Fu had mixed feelings there. The establishment of the school was no easy task. The school had difficulty sustaining due to shortage of fund. Although Maryland College and St Joan of Arc (Primary Section) charged similar level of tuition fees, and most students came from wealthy families, Maryland had lower income than St Joan of Arc, because Maryland had lower intake of students than Maryland. In addition, some of the teachers at Maryland were not registered teachers. The schools that Ma Ho Fu had worked for hired teachers regardless of their religious beliefs. Had Maryland College continued to run, Ma Ho Fu would have stayed there as she was highly regarded by the principal Siu Wai Lin. Some of her friends had suggested to her that with her qualification, she could choose to teach at government schools where she could secure better pay than in private schools. Ma Ho Fu had no regrets of her decision of staying with catholic schools. After her adoptive mother died, she had even less economic burden which might push her to find better-paid jobs.

In 1973, through the referral of a priest, Ma Ho Fu took up a teaching job at Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School (Morning Session). She turned down the promotion as supervisory teacher as she worried that her health would be affected by the busy workload. Ma Ho Fu decided to teach there because Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School took education very seriously. She worked there till retirement. The family backgrounds of the students there were very different from what she encountered before. There were both wealthy and poor students. Some students enjoyed subsidies to study in the school. In the previous schools, Ma Ho Fu used to enjoy the respect and gratitude from the parents. At Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School, however, Ma Ho Fu had had met two parents who had caused some trouble in the school.

At True Light Primary School, in order to get to know their students better, teachers used to pay home visits to all students. As most students came from wealthy background, the teachers had to make appointments in order to meet the parents. In most cases, teachers could meet the mothers only. In the 1980s, as the society changed a lot, the students at the Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School came from less wealthy families, and the principal also changed to adopt stricter rules. Tai Kok Tsui Catholic Primary School was a subsidized school, whilst all the previous schools Ma Ho Fu had worked for were private schools. Ma Ho Fu believed that Tai Kok Tsui school did not change its style to meet the government’s requirement as they received subsidy from the government. Instead the school had to adjust itself under the pressure of the parents.

Ma Ho Fu observed that teaching methods had changed over time. Ma Ho Fu’s insight in teaching: teachers should use different methods to fit with the conditions and personalities of different students. The major role of a teacher is to find the potential of the students. Ma Ho Fu believes that teachers today had a tough life. They were under the pressure of continued learning and attended many different talks. The principals she had worked under had never forced her to undertake continuing professional studies. But the principals had asked other teachers with less experience to continue studies.

 Ma Ho Fu recalled an experience she had with a foreign teacher at St Joan of Arc Primary Section, where they had some misunderstanding due to language barrier. St Joan of Arc was an English school. Chinese was used only in Chinese Language classes and most of the teachers were educated in English schools. Ma Ho Fu didn’t have the chance to teach at Sacred Heart Canossian School. She would have a good chance to teach there if Sister Magde-ida introduced her to the school. But Sister Magde-ida should have retired in Italy when Ma Ho Fu became an experienced teacher.

Ma Ho Fu’s Godmother of Confirmation was a secular sister, named Cheung King Yiu. She was unmarried throughout her life and was born in Hong Kong. She had studied at the Sacred Heart Canossian School, Lingnan University of Guangzhou, and had studied for a Master’s degree in social work at an university in the USA. Sister Cheung taught English at Tack Ching Secondary School. She was also the teacher of Ma Ho Fu at Tack Ching. She returned to Hong Kong in the 1940s, and she became the Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in 1955. Sister Cheung had taken care of Ma Ho Fu throughout her entire life. Yik Wai Fong, Ma Ho Fu’s godmother at baptism had a Guangzhou origin. She was handicapped in her leg. In Hong Kong she had taught Chinese at Pui Ching Primary School. By the time Ma Ho Fu went to study at Tack Ching Secondary School, Yik had already retired. Yik was very fond of Ma Ho Fu.

The family name of Ma Ho Fu’s adoptive mother was Ma. She came to Hong Kong from Guangzhou after the World War II. These 4 women, Ma Ho Fu, her adoptive mother, the 2 godmothers, and a biological niece that Yik adopted as her daughter in Beijing lived together in an apartment on Robinson Road. Adoptive mother of Ma Ho Fu did not work when she returned to Hong Kong after the War and she passed away in Hong Kong. During Japanese Occupation, Ma Ho Fu’s aunt from Guangzhou (younger sister of adoptive mother) told Ma Ho Fu to return to Mainland China for work. Ma Ho Fu left her house in Robinson Road, heading back to Mainland China, and finally enjoyed teacher’s training at that time. After the War, Ma Ho Fu returned to Hong Kong for work and hired a domestic servant to take care of her adoptive mother.  Ma Ho Fu did not have to support the living of Yik (Godmother at baptism).