Slice of Life
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.
Mr Teng was ruthlessly criticised by the Red Guards for helping to carry out 'anti-Party and anti-people' policies. In January 1967, he tried to commit suicide in the face of violent criticism. In 1968, the People's Daily branded him the 'No2 capitalist roader, renegade and counter-revolutionary revisionist'.
Hongkong, April 14
Lap Sap Chung will be ceremoniously resurrected next month - in a bathing costume. An enormous pair of baggy swimming trunks is being tailored for the monster, who has a new head made of PVC plastic. The ugly, grimy creature, who will retain his spots, will lead off a week-long Beach Clean Up campaign scheduled to begin next month. It will be part of the Clean Hongkong Campaign. A launch ceremony will be held at Repulse Bay.
Hongkong, April 16
Vijay Amritraj, the 19-year-old Indian number one, yesterday fought off the last survivor of Australia's crack Davis Cup squad, John Cooper, to win the Hongkong National Hardcourt Tennis Championship at Victoria Park. Amritraj won his three-hour 10-minute final 7-9, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3 to collect $15,000. Cooper won $9,000. Cooper had conquered the great John Newcombe the day before but lost his cool against Amritraj midway through the five-set struggle. The victory tops a week of gripping tennis in which he beat second-seeded Mal Anderson in three sets and Geoff Masters, seeded third, in five sets before seeing off Cooper. The Madras teenager played with the maturity of a player who has been on the circuit much longer than three years.
Nairobi, April 16
Landlocked Uganda is to have a navy, according to President Idi Amin. In the absence of further explanation, observers assumed the Ugandan fleet would cruise on the waters of Lake Victoria.
Manchester, April 17
England star Bobby Charlton, 35, one of the outstanding figures of world soccer over the past decade, is to retire at the end of the current English season, his club Manchester United said. Charlton, one of the survivors of the 1958 Munich air disaster in which many of Manchester United's best players were killed, played in a record 106 internationals for England between 1958 and 1970.
