The current school building is located at 1 Ying Wa Street in Shamshuipo of Kowloon in Hong Kong. It was formerly a school of London Missionary Society and later became a member school of The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China.
History
The first institution with the name of Ying Wa College was founded in Malacca in 1818 by of the London Missionary Society, the first Protestant missionary to China. The Rev. Dr. William Milne was then appointed Headmaster. The fundamental deed declared the object of the College to be ''The reciprocal cultivation of Chinese and European literature; and the diffusion of Christianity''. Apart from its work of a school, the Anglo-Chinese College also trained evangelists and pastors. Leung Faat and the Rev. Hoh Fuk Tong were among the first Chinese to heed the call to preach the Gospel.
The college was part of an even broader scheme by Morrison for the evangelization of China. This was, to build at Malacca what he called an " Anglo-Chinese College." It’s object was to introduce the East to the West, and the West to the East ; in other words, to mediate between the two civilizations, and thus to prepare the way for the quiet and peaceful dissemination of Christian thought in China. The idea fired him with enthusiasm. He wrote home, urging the friends of China to take it up. Here, he said in effect, is a language which is the speech of something like one-third of all our species. Tens of thousands of English boys and girls are educated to know dead languages. Surely some may be found to learn this living one, and hence be enabled to make known the Christian faith to the many lands where Chinese is spoken. The college was to be open to all Chinese students of European literature, and European students of Chinese. Our missionaries, as they came out to the field, would learn in the college the language in which they were to preach.
The proposal was warmly taken up. The London Missionary Society gave the ground. The Governor of Malacca and many residents subscribed. Morrison himself gave ?1000 out of his small property to establish the college. The building was erected and opened. Printing presses were set up, and students were enrolled. Milne was the president ; and while no student was compelled to declare himself a Christian, or to attend Christian worship, it was hoped that the strong Christian influence would lead many of the purely literary students to become teachers of Christianity. Intense as were his Christian convictions, he could sanction nothing that would do deliberate violence to the convictions of another ; and he had a faith that Christian truth would eventually prevail on its own merits, and need never fear to be set side by side with the truths that other religious systems contain. Eight or nine years after its foundation, Mr. Charles Majoribanks, M.P. for Perth, in a Government report on the condition of Malacca, singled out this institution for very high praise on account of its thoroughly sound, quiet, and efficient work.
A settlement having now been established, under British protection, and in the midst of those islands which are inhabited by a large Malay and Chinese population, reinforcements were sent out from England. After a period in Malacca they were sent on from there to various centers: Penang, Java, Singapore, Amboyna, wherever they could find a footing and establish relations with the people. In this way many new stations sprang up in the Ultra-Ganges Mission. A magazine was issued, entitled The Gleaner, the object of which was to keep the various stations in touch with one another, and disseminate information as to progress in the different parts. The various printing presses poured forth pamphlets, tracts, catechisms, translations of Gospels, in Malay or in Chinese. Schools were founded for the teaching of the children : for the great obstacle to the free use of the printing press was that so few of the people comparatively could read. The missionaries had to be many-sided, now preaching to the Malays, now to the Chinese, now to the English population ; now setting up types, now teaching in the schools ; now evangelizing new districts and neighboring islands, now gathering together their little congregations at their own settlement. The reports do not greatly vary from year to year. The work was hard, and seemingly unproductive. The people listened, but often did not respond. The converts were few.
After Hong Kong was ceded by China to under the Treaty of Nanking, the College was moved to Hong Kong Island in 1843 by the Rev. James Legge, the famous translator of the . The school building was situated at the junction of Hollywood Road and Staunton Street. At a time when the Christian church had yet to be officially established, the College was used as a religious centre where Christians assembled to worship the Lord. An important activity of the school was printing the Old and the New Testaments with its own printing press. Rev. James Legge continued to be Principal until he was appointed by the Government in 1864 to help prepare for the opening of . For lack of a successor, the Anglo-Chinese College ceased to operate.
In 1911 the elders of the To Tsai Church and the Revs. Cheung Chuk Ling, W. T. Pearce, and H. R. Wells revived the college so that the training of the sons of church members might be carried on. In 1913 the London Missionary Society responded to the appeal of the To Tsai Church to provide a Headmaster for the project, sending Arnold Hughes to Hong Kong, and the college was re-opened as a middle school in 1914 in rented premises, first at 9 Caine Road, later at 45 Caine Road, and finally at 80 Bonham Road .
The school grappled with many financial problems and it was at this time that help was received from the China Congregational Church and the School Committee was enlarged to accept representatives from its new friend. Financial assistance was also received from the Government.
In 1917 Hughes was called up for service in the First World War and the Rev. W. T. Pearce became Acting Headmaster until Hughes returned at the end of the war. The school suffered a great loss in 1922 when Hughes became ill, and died in Japan while on his way back to England on sick leave. In that year the London Missionary Society transferred the Rev. L. G. Phillips from Xia-men to Hong Kong and he served as Headmaster for over two years.
With Phillips's departure in 1924, and troubles in connection with the premises at 80 Bonham Road, the school entered another difficult period. The premises were rented from the government who now wanted to auction them off. The school committee asked to be allowed to buy the property and there arose a dispute with the Rhenish Mission even though the rental had originally been undertaken with a view to protecting the property and preserving it for the German mission. The committee contemplated closing the school, but eventually the dispute was resolve and the school continued under the guidance of Shum Wai Cheung.
Expansion period
In 1927, the school decided to build its own premises. Shum succeeded in raising over six thousand dollars from the staff and students. Together with fourteen thousand dollars from the Provident Fund and a government subvention of twenty thousand dollars, the school committee decided to construct the new school building on the site of Mongkok Church at Bute Street in Mongkok with the understanding that the school was to share its new hall with Mongkok Church. The government withdrew its financial aid when construction work was underway and the school was completed in September, 1928 with the aid of some loans.
In 1930 Shum resigned and the London Missionary Society agreed to urgent appeals from the school committee that the Rev. Frank Short should be allowed to serve the school as Headmaster. Short administered and developed the school so well that it was restored to the Grant List and the extra funds thus gained made improvement installing possible. The Rev. Frank Short continued in office until 1938 when he had to devote more time to administrative work for the London Missionary Society. Herbert Noble who joined the school in 1933, succeeded Short.
The school building, commandeered by the Japanese authorities during in World War II, was used as a P. W. D. depot. The Headmaster, a member of the naval volunteers, was taken prisoner of war and the staff became scattered. At the close of the war the building was restored to the school committee and re-opened in November, 1945. Noble convalesced in London and was substituted by the senior master K. Y. Yung. When Noble resumed duty in 1946 the enrollment had increased to such an extent that almost 600 students were crowded into a building originally designed for 350. The College premises in Bute Street, Mongkok proved to be too small to operate an ideal school. A project for building a new school was therefore contemplated and negotiations resulted in the selling of the existing land and building to the friends of the Mongkok Church.
With a plot of land granted by the Government as the college site, the school authority started to erect a new building at Oxford Road in Kowloon Tong. The construction work suffered repeated setbacks concerning its location, foundation and plan. It was only through the zealous efforts of Noble, who exhausted himself, and the magnanimity of the public, who made generous donations, that the project became a reality in June 1962. In the same year Daniel P. K. Au officiated at the foundation ceremony. The new school was opened by the Governor of Hong Kong, , in October 1963.
Development period
After serving the College for 30 years, Noble retired in 1964 on account of his poor health. He was remembered for his dedicated service and remarkable contributions which helped enhance the prestige of the school. He returned to England soon after retirement and died in December 1964. Terence Iles who succeeded Herbert Noble as Headmaster was most active in organising various extracurricular activities with a view to developing students' all-roundedness.
After 8 years of service, Iles resigned in 1972 and was succeeded by Rex King who devoted his life and energy to the good of the school. In addition to improving the school facilities, he also attended to pupils' application, which resulted in marked progress in academic work.
In 1978, King resigned and was replaced by H. B. Mui . After 12 years of service, Mui resigned in 1990 and was succeeded by P. K. Yeung. The college continued to expand, with classes extended to 31, the school curriculum constantly revised to tailor for students' needs and various innovations made. Being inheritor of a long and glorious tradition, the school will continue to follow the footsteps of its predecessors in carrying out its weighty mission.
Notable alumni
*Liang Fa
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*Samuel Hui
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*Gu, Shao-zhang 古紹璋
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