Old boys relive their school days at exhibition

Old boys, former teachers and current students of Hong Kong's oldest public school, Queen's College, gathered yesterday to mark the opening of an exhibition of the school's 115-year-old magazine, The Yellow Dragon.

Skipping meals and hogging the playing courts at lunchtime, cramming for exams and the camaraderie between classmates - these were some of the fond memories exchanged yesterday at the exhibition opening at the Hong Kong Central Library.

The Yellow Dragon, first published in 1899, is the oldest secondary-school publication in the city, carrying education and school news along with students' literary contributions.

Old boy Dr York Chow Yat-Ngok, attending the launch yesterday, said he had been a reader rather than a contributor.

"I wasn't a top student, nor was I a literary whizz in school, so I've always only been a reader [of The Yellow Dragon]," the chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission said.

Chow, former secretary for food and health, recalled how he was involved in sports - including winning inter-school badminton competitions - the choir and the arts, while "learning to appreciate different people for their different talents".

He said he was worried that the boys' school would join the government's direct-subsidy scheme, under which it would operate, in effect, like a private school, charging fees.