Chung Cheng High School Project
by 1 Courage
Members: Yun Xi, Chloe Tan Kei, Alica, Nicholas Lim Yi Wei, Wei Hui, Yun Kai
1939-1945
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| Current Chung Cheng Campus Plaque |
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| Kim Yam Road Campus |
Chung Cheng was established at 60 Kim Yam Road in 1939 by a few prominent people. The name of the school was from China's leader at that time Chiang Kai Sek. It started with an all boys school.
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| Chiang Kai Sek |
One of them was Zhuang Zhu Lin, who was born in Mount Hui An in 1900, followed by his university education in the US before returning back to Singapore to become the 1st principal of Chung Cheng.
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| Zhuang Zhu Lin |
Another was Lim Bo Seng, who was Chung Cheng's school surpervisor. He would then establish the Force 136 to fight against the Japanese, only to be tortured by the Japanese regime in 1944.
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| Lim Bo Seng |
The third one was businessmen Aw Boon Haw. He created the product Tiger Balm and co-founded with his brother the theme park Haw Par Villa. He was the Chairman of the School Management Board.
Students at that time came from as far as Thailand and the Philippines. Chung Cheng, like many other schools in Singapore, was forced to close when the Japanese Occupation started in 1942.
Milestones after the Japanese Occupation
From 1945-1954
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| Entrance of Chung Cheng High Main |
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School in the 1950s
(right side is present soccer field
while left side have a concrete pavement currently) |
After The Japanese Occupation, Chung Cheng reopened again. It started enrolling female students and accepted students whose ages were older than the average. The school achieved top honours in the first Singapore High School National Examinations. The student population in Chung Cheng increased so much until they had to buy a piece of land at Goodman Road, naming it Chung Cheng High School (Main) while calling the one at Kim Yam Road Chung Cheng High School (Branch). The Kim Yam Road Campues was then moved to Guillemard Road in 1969, near Chung Cheng High (Main).
On the 1954 Riots
Singapore's first attempt to introduce a compulsory conscription rule in 1952 was unwelcomed by the Chinese Middle School students like Chung Cheng . On 13 May 1954, violence erupted when hundreds of students clashed with the police. As a result, 26 were injured and 45 students arrested. The National Service riots marked the beginning of intense communist subversion in the Chinese Middle Schools, which had became a place for communist sympathisers in Singapore.
Why the incident had happened?
 Before Singapore's independence, Chinese education in Singapore had progressed principally due to the contributions of rich Chinese philanthropists. Chinese schools were run by governing bodies which comprised members selected more because of their prestige than knowledge of running an institution. The British did not help the Chinese in all aspects of life. When it came to economic opportunities, the colonial government also preferred the English-educated, leaving the Chinese-educated dissatisfied. The Chinese schools in Singapore like Chung Cheng had strong ties with China. When China became a communist country in 1949, communism had a strong influence on the Chinese-educated community. Before the establishment of Nanyang University in 1955, the highest level of Chinese language education in Singapore was offered by schools like Chung Cheng High School. (the equivalent of secondary schools and junior colleges today).
 
About the National Service Ordinance
The National Service Ordinance was introduced by the British government in 1952 (it took effect in 1954). The purpose was that Singaporeans who aspire to have self-government in the country should be able to defend themselves. This law requires males between the ages of 18 and 20 to register for part-time National Service, and thereafter they will be allowed to enter the Singapore Military Force (SMF) or the Civil Defence Corps (CDC) for further training.Those who did not sign up were given harsh penalties. Initially, 98% of eligible students had sucessfully registered themselves and did not resist it.
However, this law caused Chinese Middle School students like Chung Cheng to be angry about this as they feel that they had to serve the British when the British did not give in to their demands, feeling that the British do not even care for the Chinese population at all. While the law incited resentment towards the colonial government,it caused the communists to be an ally to the Chinese Middle School students like Chung Cheng in order to exploit the students' grievances to their political advantage.
Description of the event
On 13 May 1954, 500 students held a demonstration against the ruling. 500 Chinese schoolboys and girls tried to march onto the Istana to lodge their protest and failed to disperse. The Riot Squad stepped in and the event turned violent. 20 students and six policemen were injured. The police then arrested 44 boys and one girl whoe are all above 16, however, they were released the following day on bail. Later, as the demonstration gained momentum, 1,000 students locked themselves in at the Chung Cheng High School. The police forced them out the next day.On 18 May, the students had a 55-strong delegation demanding that students be exempted from National Service, which was turned down. As more student demonstrations were expected in the weeks ahead, therefore in 21 May, all Chinese Middle schools like Chugn Cheng was closed for summer vacation two weeks earlier. In defiance, the next day, on 22 May, 2,500 boys and girls locked themselves into the Chung Cheng High School. Parents of the students came down to the school in the morning on 23 May to fetch their children but the student leaders prevented the parents from entering the school. The police later persuaded the leaders to let the parents pass and the school grounds were cleared peacefully by 11 am. Because of the vigorous resistance, the ruling had failed. The colonial government agreed to postpone National Service. The demonstrations awakened the Chinese students' consciousness and strengthened the influence of student leaders and caused them to form the Singapore Chinese Middle School Students Union (SCMSSU).
On The 1956 Riots
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The
government deregistered and banned two pro-communist organisations.
They are the Singapore Women’s Association and the Chinese Musical
Gong Society while the Singapore Chinese Middle School Students Union
was dissolved. This caused the violence to start. Roadblocks, troops
and helicopters were used to deal with the riots.
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Parents whose children are from
Chung Cheng High School Main
gave food supplies to them.
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The students camped
at Chung Cheng High School and Hwa Chong. They organised meetings and
held demonstrations for about two weeks. The meeting ranges from an
hour to 3 hours. When the demonstrations occurred, the teachers left
as they were unable to control the rioting students, leaving to the
students controlling Chung Cheng because the students did not want to
continue with lessons at 4 pm when they were supposed to be dismissed
at 5.30 pm. The reason for boycotting was that they were dissatisfied
with the government's policies on Chinese education. During the
boycott, there will be 1 students guarding one of the 3 gates in
Chung Cheng. They did not carry any weapons. On Oct 24, the
government issued an ultimatum that Chung Cheng High School and Hwa
Chong must be vacated. As the deadline approached, rioting started at
both schools. When the police arrived at Chung Cheng during midnight,
the students were extremely well prepared for it. They broke up into
groups and left the school on selected routes. The riots spread to
other parts of the island. It lasted for five days. 13 people were
killed and more than 100 were injured while about 900 people involved
were arrested. These activities were lead mostly by the Upper
Secondary students in the Chinese middle schools and the support from
the student's parents and the communist trade unions.
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| Policemen clearing up after the riots |
In
the aftermath of the demonstration, riot reinforcements took place
such as the one on Picture 2.1. There is a stand on the bottom right
hand corner of the picture. It might be possibly for the police to
have regular unannounced checks along the roads.
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| Picture 2.1 |
1965 - Now
Independence and Nation-Building
Chung Cheng students did not participate in any strikes from 1959 to 1965 as their parents mostly supported the current government which is the People's Action Party. The students eventually decided not to strike and focus on their studies, which will lead to their newfound success into the 21st Century.
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| Grand Auditorium- Zhu Lin Lou |
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Innosphere-
Former Science and
Technology Block |
In order to improve the learning environment, Chung Cheng had several school-expansion programmes since the 1950s. The most notable one was the building of Zhu Lin Lou, which houses all the administration offices, the HOD's offices and the Grand auditorium, which was the largest in the whole Southeast Asia region when it was opened. Another was the Science and Technology block, which is the present Innosphere, was completed in 1975. Chung Cheng High school (Main) was accorded SAP status in 1979.
Unfortunatedly, the size of the lake was reduced by two-thirds by the Art and Craft block, which was completed in 1992. At the very same year, Chung Cheng achieved very good results in the GCE 'O' Level Examination and was one of the 'valued-added' SAP schools. It continued to achieve outstanding GCE 'O' Level results in 1993 and was ranked among the top 10 'value-added' schools. Chung Cheng achieved autonomous status in 1996 for consistently good O-level results. Unfortunatedly, the lake was reduced by two-thirds in order to build the 32 classroom block Hao Ran Lou, which had been completed in 1995, and Zhuo Pu
Lou, comprising of a 320-seater lecture theatre, computer laboratories, a Media Resource Library, Science Laboratories and a music room with classrooms was build into a portion of the lake. It was completed in 2000. Facilities such as tennis courts, a street soccer court and a lawn was then build. The Grand Auditorium was also refurbished with new seats and parquet flooring, increasing its seating capacity to 2000. The heritage gallery was then build in 2003.
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| Zhuo Pu Lou |
The most important milestones in the 21st Century was the awardance of the Centre of Excellence for Chinese in the East Zone in 2005 and the renovation of the Science and Technology Block into the Innosphere, which houses all the facilities related to Chinese Culture and all Ashectics CCAs. The school was placed in Band 1 for the recent school ranking exercise 2007. In 2010, the school was awarded with the School Excellence Award, the highest award in the MOE Masterplan of Awards.
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| Indoor Sports Hall-built between 2010-2012 |
At the same time, Chung Cheng carried out PRIME, which lasted till 2013. It involves building the new Indoor Sports hall, refurbishing all buildings, including adding linkbridge and shelters to buildings.
Pictures
and sources:
http://.docstoc.com/docs/132424050/More-Sources-for-Riots
( source from a Chung Cheng
student involved)
http://www.ourstory.asia1.com.sg/independence/ref/riot56.html
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_middle_schools_riots
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