Robert Baden-Powell established the world's first Boy Scouts in Britain in 1907. with unexpected quickness, the first Chinese Boy Scouts was established in 1912. The Chinese Boy Scouts first started in missionary schools and its early development was concertrated in Shanghai and Jiangsu province. In 1928, the Nationalist Party (KMT) started to turn the Scouts into a tool to mould ideal future citizens of the country by indoctrinating the Scouts with the Three People's Principles and training them with practical living skills. In the 1930s, stimulated by the Japanese invasion and inspired by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany's extensive use of youth organizations to train highly militarized youth to serve the nation's needs, Chiang Kai-shek entrusted the Blue Shirts, who were led by the graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, to be responsible for the Scouts affairs. They changed the focus of remodeling the Scouts from politicization to militarization. the KMT believed that the "reformed" Scout program would produce a patriotic and disciplined youth who had the will and the ability to contribute to the nation. in addition, by expanding the Scout program, the KMT believed that rural areas and creating a separate Girl Scout program, the KMT believed that rural children and girls, who had been ignored by the Scout organizers before the KMT period, would become valuable citizens to help revive China. However, there was an uneasy gap between the reality and the KMT's expectations. Due to the missionary and non-government orgin of the Scouts, the KMT found it difficult to indoctrinate the Scouts with its political principles. Furthermore, the uneasy relationship between the government and the party, and the lack of funding became hindrances to KMT's effort to spread the Scouts nationwide. the relatively small number of Scouts in China also limited the effect of militarizing and creating separate gender roles for all Chinese youth as the KMT had envisioned. This thesis is divided into four parts. First, it will discuss the early development of the Boy Scouts before the KMT's takeove (1912-1928) with the focus on the Boy Scouts organizations in Shanghai and Jiangsu province. it will also discuss how the organizations dealt with patriotism in political movements. Second, it will analyze how effective the KMT was in terms of taking over the Scout organization nationwide. It will also analyze why during the Nanjing Decade (1928-1937), the KMT changed the focus of the Scout's development from political control into quanitative expansion by incorporating the Scout program into the formal school curruculum and expanding the Scouts from the cities to rural areas. Third, it will analyze, from 1930 to 1937, how the KMT under the influence of the German model responded to the same dilemma faced by Baden-Powell in Britian in the 1910s: should the purpose of the Boy Scouts program be to train future citizens or future soldiers? Last, it will analyze the assumption behind the KMT's formulation of the Girl Scout program: should girls be good housewives and mothers in the home or active citizens in society as boys were supposed to be ?

This dissertation constitutes a detailed investigation of the history of the Lok Sin Tong Free School. It discusses how benevolent societies expanded their service scope in Hong Kong, as well as how the reforms in the education system and teaching curriculum of mainland China affected those in Hong Kong in the 1930s. Lok Sin Tong, one of the most remarkable charitable organizations in pre-war Hong Kong, formally expanded into the education field in 1929 with the establishment of the Lok Sin Tong Free School. The School was located at 32 Dai Tit Street, and its aim was to provide free education to children from Kowloon City who had formerly been deprived of schooling. The School began accepting male applicants in 1930. The first principal was Tam Kit-Sang, and the second was Wong Bun-Po. The School offered primary education and a four-year curriculum focusing on Chinese education. By 1938, when a new campus was established, the School’s number of students exceeded 300. However, soon after the outbreak of the Pacific War and Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in December 1941, the School was forced to close its doors. This dissertation comprises six chapters. The first defines the term “free school” and reviews the history of research on the Lok Sin Tong Free School. The second chapter outlines the historical development of Kowloon City and the Kowloon Walled City prior to 1941, and discusses how the local Kowloon City culture was key to the reestablishment of Lok Sin Tong’s services in the late 1920s following a suspension of services early in the century. The third chapter traces the origins and narrates the development of Lok Sin Tong from 1880 to 1941, with an emphasis on the improvement in its services under the leadership of Tam Kit-Sang and Chan Cho-Chak. The fourth chapter investigates the Lok Sin Tong Free School between 1929 and 1941, with special attention paid to its size, the quality of its teachers, its administration, curriculum and pedagogy, and student performance. An evaluation of the School’s overall effectiveness on the basis of these criteria follows. The fifth chapter presents a comparative study of the teaching and learning activities of the Lok Sin Tong Free School and those of the (1) Long Jin Free School and (2) Tung Sin Tong Free School. This comparison reveals the transformation of and changes in Chinese education in Hong Kong. The last chapter concludes the dissertation with a discussion of the interactions among free schools, benevolent societies, and the local community and culture in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Music / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / History / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Music / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy