Mainland-born pupils victorious

IF the only English phrase you knew in Primary Six was 'This is a cat', you would surely panic. So did mainland-born student Chiang Mung when he first came to Hong Kong seven years ago.

The Queen's College fifth-former never dreamed that he could score 10 distinctions, including an A(1) in English, in the HKCEE this year.

Mung, 18, was among four 10 As science students at Queen's College, which achieved the territory's best HKCEE results. The school also produced seven 9 As and five 8 As students.

'I'm a northerner. When I first arrived, I hardly knew a word of Cantonese, not to mention English. I was studying Primary Six in China, but I had to repeat Primary Five here,' recalled Mung, an only child.

'I experienced repeated failures in the beginning, but things changed when an English teacher gave up his lunch time to tutor me. I am very grateful to him.' Family support and encouragement was an important factor in the success of the four young scholars. The students, not the typical bookworms many would imagine, talked about their values and ideals rather than their ambitions.

Ieong Sze-ming inherited his fascination for mathematics from his headmaster father who taught him to do calculations in his head. 'When I went to the market I found that many vendors cheated - I'd always be quick to correct them.' Mung's secret to success is determination. 'You must have a strong desire to do well and make use of every minute of your study time.' He has high ideals. 'I love philosophy and admire Bertrand Russell. Of the three driving forces that Russell talks about - the desire for love, the thirst for knowledge and wisdom, and sympathy towards suffering fellowmen - the last one is most important to me.' The four high achievers, including Yeung Yin-tak, 17, and Choi Yat-lun, 16, would like to study in the United States because of its 'better education system and technological advancements'.