Every school has its own school song. Those rural schools that once existed before urban development are no exceptions.

School songs have been a century-long practice in Hong Kong. Each of them represents the educational philosophy and nurturing vision of the school it attaches to, and is a key component connecting all pupils and students of the same school. Between 1950s to 1970s, rural schools in Hong Kong thrived in extensive prevalence, amounting to 800 rural schools across the then territory. Later, as schools were normalised and relocated to urban areas, many of these rural schools were suspended due to low enrolment rate. These abandoned campuses eventually became the precious “collective memory” shared among people in the neighbourhood.

The Rural School Song Talk jointly held by CALC and CACHe invited Miss SZE Ka Yan, the founder of Fragrant Village, to share with us her determined effort in collecting information about rural school songs over the past few years, revealing the little secrets beyond the melodies and lyrics.

每所學校都有校歌，那些在都市發展歷史中被湮沒的村校，亦不例外。

校歌在香港有超過一百年的歷史，每首校歌都代表着那間學校的治學理念、辦學理想等學校文化，亦是歷代莘莘學子共同擁有的回憶。上世紀五十至七十年代，香港的鄉村學校盛極一時，全盛時期全港幾乎有800間村校。隨着學校正規化及搬遷至市區，不少村校因收生不足而停辦，這些村校是承載着當區居民「共同回憶」的文化場所。

是次講座邀請到香村創辦人史嘉茵小姐，分享過去數年蒐集到的鄉村學校校歌，破解校歌中的音樂和用典，為我們打開戰後鄉村生活的鑰匙。