Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School

Kiangsu and Chekiang Primary School is a co-educational primary school in North Point, Hong Kong founded in 1953 by the Kiangsu and Chekiang Residents' Association of Hong Kong. It was the first school in Hong Kong to teach primarily in Mandarin Chinese, and for many years continued to be the only school to do so.The school has a nursery and kindergarten section, and children are admitted from their second birthday, into the nursery class.HistoryThe school project was initiated by the Kiangsu and Chekiang Residents' Association of Hong Kong in 1949. Donations of HK$256,722 were raised to build a school on a 2200sqft plot of land on North Point Road donated by its Vice Chairman. In 1953, Jeannie Sun Fong-chung (孫方中), then aged 25 and with no experience as an educator, was appointed the founding principal of the school. She boldly pioneered use of Mandarin as the medium of instruction, because she strongly believed it could cultivate a sense of belonging to China, but also improve students' Chinese language skills. Another revolutionary idea of hers at the time was to employ native English speakers to teach English. In the political environment prevailing at the time, the revolutionary idea of teaching in Mandarin resulted in being branded "left-leaning". Sun served as the school's principal for 48 years.Upon application from the school, the Government allocated a 8500m2 plot of land at 30 Ching Wah Street, the school's present location (then known as the "South campus") and construction began in January 1956. The school moved into its new premises in 1958. The foundation stone was laid by Hong Kong Governor Sir Robert Brown Black on 26 February 1958, and the school was ready for the new intake in August of the same year. The North Point Road site became known as the "North campus" thereafter.