Book Description

In Daily Giving Service: A History of the Diocesan Girls’ School, Hong Kong, Moira M. W. Chan-Yeung and her fellow contributors present a comprehensive history of one of Hong Kong’s oldest girls’ schools. As an alumna of the school, Chan-Yeung traces the history of her alma mater from its establishment in 1860, its development over the last 150 years until the recent decade. Having experienced stability and turbulences in Hong Kong in the twentieth century, the school has become one of the most prominent girl’s schools in the city. In several chapters written by other alumni, various aspects of school life of different eras are reconstructed and remembered. The author and other contributors focused on the postwar era in which Hong Kong grew from a small city to a global metropolitan. The expansion of the Diocesan Girls’ School largely followed this trend. The history of the school has also long been connected with the socio-economic development of Hong Kong society, sharing its happiness and sadness. “This book is likely to become the gold standard against which all future school histories in Hong Kong are judged. Comprehensive, insightful, and full of fascinating anecdote, the inspiring story of DGS is told both chronologically in Moira Chan’s main text and thematically in the specialist chapters contributed by her co-authors. This is a school history that tells us much about the larger story of education in Hong Kong while focusing on a single educational institution.” —Peter Cunich, Director, Centenary History Project, The University of Hong Kong “The history of DGS reinforces my observation that Hong Kong schools form an unusual system that combines the best of East and West in the philosophy and practice of education. The younger schools in Hong Kong that mushroomed later were basically modelled after schools such as DGS. That accounts for the excellence envied by many.” —Cheng Kai-ming, SBS, JP, Professor Emeritus, The University of Hong Kong “The history of DGS reveals how the path taken by the school over the years reflects the very qualities that define a person. DGS, like our home Hong Kong, has witnessed in equal measure challenges, disasters, and triumphs, and has dealt with them with equanimity. Dignity, respect, tolerance, courage, fairness, honesty, and of course excellence—underpinned by pastoral care—represent those essential qualities that have had to be called upon. As we now know, they have become the minimum tools expected of her students to realise fully their true potential in life and properly contribute to our community. This is their story.” —The Honourable Mr Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, GBM, Former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal (2010–2021)