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About 200 smiling and clapping kindergarten students have today (Thursday) given the wife of President Jiang Zemin, Wang Yeping, a warm and musical welcome to Hong Kong.

Mrs Jiang was joined by Zhou Hanqiong, the wife of Vice-Premier Qian Qichen and Mrs Betty Tung during the visit to the Pui Ching Primary School, Kowloon.

During the 35-minute visit, the VIP visitors presented prizes to outstanding students at an end-of-school-year ceremony and variety show.

After receiving their prizes the smiling students were patted gently on the head by Mrs Jiang and Mrs Qian, while some even managed to give Mrs Tung a little kiss on the cheek.

The students presented their guests with a framed souvenir of their paper-folding handicraft work. The gift was reciprocated by Mrs Jiang, who presented the school with several large boxes of crayons for use by students.

Following the prize ceremony, the VIP visitors and the 500 attending students, parents and guests were delighted by a performance of a traditional Chinese folk dance and an energetic modern dance.

Mrs Jiang, Mrs Qian and Mrs Tung were then escorted to the covered playground where about 60 students from the Pui Ching Primary School Orchestra performed a rendition of the dance music of the Yao, an ethnic minority from southwest China.

The three VIP ladies then left the school to attend the opening ceremony of the new Hong Kong International Airport.

The popular Pui Ching Primary School, with 49 primary and 24 kindergarten classes, has been teaching Putonghua to Primary 3-6 students but will expand its classes to include Primary 1 and 2 classes from the 1998/99 school year beginning in September.

The school places much emphasis on all-round development of students and encourages them to take part in a wide-range of extra-curricula activities catering for the varied interests of youngsters.

The school, sponsored by the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong, has adopted the activity approach for primary and kindergarten classes and encourages the use of audio-visual equipment in teaching.

End/Thursday, July 2, 1998

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