At first sight St George's school in Scotland seems an unlikely setting for pioneering links with the mainland and Hong Kong. Situated near Edinburgh Castle and housed in grand Victorian-style buildings, it represents an important landmark in Scottish educational history.
It was established in 1888 by a group of women who had campaigned for more than 20 years for equal education for women and girls.
'Some of the founders were suffragettes,' explained headteacher Judith McClure. 'They were keen to give women the opportunity to study not only at school but in higher education, because universities did not take women.'
Four years later, Scottish universities relented and admitted women, and St George's girls were among the first women graduates in Scotland.
Its luminaries include Marie Stopes, the pioneer of family planning, and it justifies its single-sex policy on the grounds that it encourages girls to throw off stereotypes and compete in fields that are traditionally male dominated, such as medical science and engineering.
'We are turning women into not aggressive career women but equal partners with men,' Ms McClure said.
But the school is also breaking down barriers in a different direction, by forging links with Hong Kong and the mainland and enthusing pupils about learning Putonghua - and not just in St George's, but across Scotland.