Belilios Public School

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Belilios Public School
Location
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
51 Tin Hau Temple Road, North Point, Hong Kong
Information
Type	Public
Motto	Climb High See Wide
Established	1890
Principal	Ms Ho Yuk Yee
Number of students	850 students
Colour(s)	Green and orange
Medium of instruction	English
Website	http://www.belilios.edu.hk/

Belilios Public School (Chinese: 庇理羅士女子中學, abbreviated as BPS) is the first government school for girls in Hong Kong, founded in 1890. It was also the first bilingual school in Hong Kong. It is in North Point.

History[]

In 1890, the Hong Kong Government set up the Central School for Girls at Old Bailey Street^[1] as the counterpart to the Central School (Queen's College, Hong Kong). Mr. Emanual R. Belilios, a Jewish philanthropist donated HK$ 25 000 for a new building for the Central School for Girls in 1893, at the old site of Central School where a three-storeyed building was erected between Hollywood Road and Gough Street.

The school was renamed Belilios Public School in honour of Mr. Belilios. In 1946 after the Second World War, BPS moved to Hospital Road. In April 1965, the school moved again, to its present premises in Tin Hau Temple Road. To mark the occasion, a new school motto (Climb High, See Wide), a school song and a new school badge were created.

Founder[]

Belilios Public School in 1897.

Belilios Public School in 2005.

The successful opium trader^{[citation needed]} Emanuel Raphael Belilios was born in Calcutta, India, on 14 November 1837. His father was , member of a Jewish Venetian family. Emanuel married Simha Ezra in 1855, and in 1862 he settled in Hong Kong and engaged in trade. Belilios had a house in the mid-levels, and another on the Peak of Hong Kong Island. He kept a camel at his peak residence.^[2]

In the 1870s, Belilios was chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited.^[3] In 1876, he became Chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Belilios died in London on 11 November 1905.

"Thirty years after he set foot on Hong Kong, he was appointed to the Legislative Council in recognition of his many contributions to Hong Kong society. However, Mr. Belilios was best remembered for being a great philanthropist. Before he made the $25,000 donation to enable our school to have a new 3-storeyed building, he had donated $5,000, one third of the total costs for setting up the Alice Memorial Hospital, which served as one of the major teaching hospitals for students of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (which later became the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong). With a view to promoting the welfare and education of Chinese girls who were driven to crimes and prostitution by poverty, Mr Belilios also made available the funding for establishing a probation home for girls. There was and is also an abundance of scholarships established with Mr Belilios' donations either during his lifetime or upon death. They have enabled needy students to pursue education at the universities".^[4]

Class Structure[]

There are 24 classes; this includes 4 classes each for F.1- F.6.

House[]

Achievements[]

BPS is one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong. While its students generally achieve superb academic results, the school promotes also all-rounded development in different fields of arts, music and sports. Entrance hurdles are high and the school is reputed to have one of the toughest admission criteria in Hong Kong.

The following were its achievements in the year 2016/17 –

Performing arts[]

• The 68th Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival: 2 Champions, 7 First runners-up in the English section; 8 Champions, 6 First runners-up in the Chinese section.
• The 53rd Schools Dance Festival: Honours Award and Choreography Award in Bulgarian Dance, Highly Commended Award in Slovak Dance (Trio).
• The 69th Schools Music Festival: 2 Champions, 7 First runners-up
• Hong Kong School Drama Festival: Award For Outstanding Script, Award For Outstanding Director, Award For Outstanding Performer, Award For Outstanding Stage Effect, Award For Outstanding Cooperation, Award For Commendable Overall Performance.

Sports[]

• The Swimming Team : Champion in A Grade 50m Butterfly and B Grade 50m Free Style Division One .
• The Volleyball Team : First Runner-up in Division Two

Notable alumni[]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (August 2008)

• Lee Sun Chau (周理信, 1890–1979) – One of the first female Chinese doctors of Western medicine in China.^[5][6]
• Tak-Hing Sin (單德馨) – The first Executive Secretary (Director) of the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association (classmate of Lee Sun Chau 周理信)^[7]
• Denise Yue – Former Secretary for the Civil Service and former Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (Commerce and Industry)^{[citation needed]}
• Nellie Fong (方黃吉雯) – Former member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and Legislative Council of Hong Kong^{[citation needed]}
• Professor Icy Lee - Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, CUHK
• Canny Leung (梁芷珊) – Entrepreneur, author, lyricist and screenwriter
• Money Lo (盧敏儀) – Practising barrister and former actress
• Lana Wong (黃夏蕙) – Actress
• Hilary Tsui (徐濠縈) – Former actress, the wife of Eason Chan
• Charmaine Li (李思欣) - Actress
• (蘇文極) - Isabella Chau's classmate
• Lau Wai Ming (劉惠鳴) - Cantonese opera artist, Arts Advisor and Artistic Director^[8]
• Lily Leung (梁舜燕) - Late Hong Kong television actress
• Little Thunder (門小雷) - Cartoonist
• Gloria Tang (歌莉雅) - Singer
• Louise Kwong (鄺勵齡) - Soprano at the Young Artist Programme of Rome Opera House in Italy from 2018 to 2019^[9]

See also[]

• Education in Hong Kong
• List of schools in Hong Kong

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belilios Public School.

• Belilios Public School Official Website
• Belilios Old Girls Association
• Belilios Old Girls Foundation
• The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited: History
• Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Newsletter, December 2004

Coordinates: 22°17′06″N 114°11′36″E / 22.2849°N 114.1932°E / 22.2849; 114.1932