One declared monument and three historic buildings with grading associated with Ta Teh Institute now stand in the institute’s former site in Tuen Mun (the present-day Hoh Fuk Tong Centre). The buildings include Morrison Building (the former Main Building; a declared monument), Hoh Fuk Tong House (the former girls’ dormitory / commonly known as “Red House”; a Grade 3 historic building), Pavilion (a Grade 3 historic building) and Canteen of Hoh Fuk Tong Centre (the former Democracy Hall; a Grade 3 historic building).
Ta Teh Institute
After World War II, Hong Kong's population surged as society gradually recovered, but there was only one university in the territory. Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu and others thus proposed to establish a university offering arts subjects in Hong Kong, resulting in the founding of Ta Teh Institute in 1946. Ta Teh Institute aimed to nurture young people to serve the country. It was praised for its patriotic, democratic, progressive and pragmatic approach to education, as well as good discipline.
The Main Building of Ta Teh Institute was Fong Yuen, the private villa of renowned anti-Japanese general Cai Tingkai who loaned it to the institute at no cost. Born in Luoding county, Guangdong in 1892, Cai held important government positions, such as member of the Central People’s Government Committee, after the People’s Republic of China was founded. Fong Yuen was located in San Hui on Castle Peak Road. It was built in 1936 in Art Deco style, including a rendered exterior with Shanghai plaster that was popular at the time.
At its early times, Ta Teh Institute had an impressive faculty. Courses were offered in the departments of Commerce and Economics, Law and Politics, and Arts and Philosophy, and student recruitment was rigorous. In September 1946, Ta Teh Institute published a student recruitment advertisement on newspaper and borrowed classrooms from Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) to hold the entrance examination. The examination was conducted by Chen Chi-yuan, Yang Yitang, Qiu Kehui, Zhang Mingsheng and an English teacher from YMCA and, was witnessed by inspectors from the Education Department of the Hong Kong government. In its first intake, the institute recruited over 100 students.
Ta Teh Students from All Over the World
As Hong Kong is easily accessible from different parts of the world, it has always been the gateway to South China. Thus, Ta Teh Institute students came from most of the provinces of the Mainland and overseas. When the institute was about to close, there were more than 100 overseas students from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, among other places, accounting for approximately one-third of the total student population. Therefore, many regional student associations were set up in Ta Teh Institute, including Nanyang Student Association and, native or student associations for students from Fujian, Chaozhou, Guangxi, and so forth. These associations promoted solidarity and mutual assistance among the students and reflected Hong Kong’s convenient transport network.
The students of Ta Teh Institute formed a close-knit community. In 1984, the Hong Kong Ta Teh Alumni Association was established in Guangzhou. It received overwhelming support from alumni all over the world, attracting some 300 former students to Guangzhou. Subsequently, alumni associations were set up in Guangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Beijing and other cities. There were, smaller alumni communities in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Henan and Xinjiang, as well as other provinces and cities, and a joint alumni association in Nanjing. In Hong Kong, the Ta Teh Alumni Association was established in 1994. Today, the alumni associations remain active, with activities organised and publications produced to advocate the Ta Teh spirit.
When Ta Teh Institute ceased operation in 1949, Fong Yuen changed hands, and the site now houses the Hoh Fuk Tong Centre under the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China. The Centre’s Hoh Fuk Tong House was converted from the girls’ dormitory of Ta Teh Institute, commonly known as “Red House”.
Contributions of Ta Teh Institute Students
Even though Ta Teh Institute operated for a short time with only about 1,000 students in three years (1946–1949), the contributions of the students were significant. With a faculty made up of first-class scholars and experts from the Mainland, the institute attracted many ambitious young people from the Mainland and abroad. After completing their education at Ta Teh Institute, the graduates served the country. Following the institute’s closure, most of the teachers and students returned to the Mainland. Some went to the front lines in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, while others engaged in financial and revolutionary endeavours in South China and Beijing. After 1949, former students of Ta Teh Institute were spread over to more than 20 provinces across the country, putting their talent to good use in various positions. Many of them became the backbone of their organisations, such as executive vice governors; high-level officials in state or provincial government units; secretaries, vice presidents, professors and lecturers in tertiary institutions; secondary school principals; provincial deputy directors of banks; company directors; chief foreign correspondents; and editors-in-chief and deputy editors of provincial and national newspapers. They contributed immensely to national construction and development in many areas. Thus, Ta Teh Institute nurtured many talented individuals for the development of the country.
Faculty of Ta Teh Institute
Before redevelopment, the building that now houses the Canteen of Hoh Fuk Tong Centre was Democracy Hall, used by Ta Teh Institute to hold thematic talks. Ta Teh Institute had an unprecedentedly impressive faculty, comprising scholars who came to Hong Kong from the Mainland after World War II. The then Governor of Hong Kong, Alexander Grantham, said there were many highly knowledgeable professors in Ta Teh Institute, many of whom were renowned Chinese scholars. The quality of its faculty was significantly higher than that of other educational institutions in Hong Kong.
There were over 60 teachers teaching at the institute, and close to 60 scholars and experts were invited to give talks. Many of them were renowned writers and scholars at home and abroad, including Yang Bo-kai, Chen Tzu-sheng, Shen Zhi-yuan, Teng Chu-min, Huang Yao-mian, Sa Kung-liao, Liu Si-mu, Chien Chia-chu, Jian Bo-zan, Hou Wai-lu, Zhong Jing-wen, Hu Sheng, Chow Kong-ming, Szu-ma Wen-shen, Qu Bai-yin, Lin Lin, He Xiang-ning, Chiao Kuan-hua, Mao Dun, Tsao Yu and Guo Mo-ruo. Owing to the distinguished faculty and contributions of Ta Teh Institute, renowned scholar Lu Wei-luan, who is better known by her pen name, Xiaosi, referred to that period of time as “the second climax in the history of modern literature in Hong Kong". Ta Teh teachers were indeed hard to find, as they received only meagre salaries, and some worked as volunteers. Patriotic and passionate, the teachers were frugal, relentless and selfless.
The teachers and students of Ta Teh Institute shared a close bond, and there were many heart-warming stories. For instance, Chen Zhao-han from Taishan sought to suspend his studies due to financial difficulties, which school president Chen Chi-yuan thought was a great pity. So he granted Chen Zhao-han an exemption from school fees and miscellaneous fees, and arranged him to engrave wax tablets so that he could earn a living and support himself through his studies. Indeed, the teachers of Ta Teh Institute were both knowledgeable and caring to their students.
Address:
28 Castle Peak Road – San Hui, Tuen Mun, New Territories.
Not open to the public