From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1973
Hongkong, April 13
Certified teachers prepared last night to launch a second boycott affecting several hundred thousand pupils at hundreds of Government and aided schools. The first boycott was held on April 4 at the call of the Joint Secretariat of 13 Hongkong Educational Bodies. The 20,000 teachers, led by Mr Szeto Wah and Mr Lam Wah-hoy, put a four-point proposal to the Government including education reforms and better pay. A Government spokesman said the inexplicable changes in attitude of the Joint Secretariat 'must call into question both their sincerity, motives and indeed their objectives'.
Mr Szeto said the teachers had been patient for two years and there 'was no other recourse to take except to boycott teaching in classes'.
The next day thousand of teachers ignored the boycott. A Post survey found 10 of 33 primary schools of the Church of Christ China had normal classes. A Government sample survey showed that at most Hong Kong Island aided schools 75 per cent of teachers did not take part. In Kowloon, only 40 per cent of teachers took classes in aided schools.
Peking, April 13
Mr Teng Hsiao-ping (Deng Xiaoping), 69, the former Chinese Communist Party Secretary-General who was severely criticised for his 'revisionist' policy during the cultural revolution, re-emerged last night as China's Vice-Premier. His rehabilitation was the most important comeback of a leader since the violent phase of the cultural revolution ended in 1969.