a school without a field

i had a neighbour who studied at hong wen school. i remembered it was located at the corner of a street in the kampong kapor area. i think his school uniform then was white shirt and khaki shorts. i do not remember seeing him in tee-shirt or pe attire as the school did not have a field or the space for conducting physical education lessons.

hong wen school has a very interesting past. this is what i got from a plaque outside the building:

hong wen school and the hin ann huay kuan (a clan association) were established in 1920 by members of the hing hua dialect group from fujian province in china. this dickson road campus, set up in 1955, was the second of three campuses. the first was on queen street, where the school opened with only 50 pupils. it was not an easy beginning. in 1923, the great drepression forced the school to close down for two years, and in 1940, riots broke out between the hing hua and foo ching dialect groups, during which one hundred foo ching men raided and destroyed the school. shortly after, in 1942, the school suffered yet another setback when the japanese occupied singapore, resulting in a further three year closure.

the school's history at dickson road is altogether a more peaceful one. for its duration of its stay here from 1955 to 1973, it prospered and grew. however, by 1973, singapore was undergoing extensive urban redevelopment and masses of people were moving from traditional ethnic quarters near the city centre, such as little india, to new towns in the suburbs. hong wen school faced a population drain. hence, it decided to move to a more central location - victoria street - in 1981. the premises at dickson road are now occupied by the singapore buddhist welfare sevices.


incidentally, hong wen school will move at the end of this year to towner road, the place which chun see blogged about.