Originally published in The Gateway Issue No. 14 (May 2009)
For a man so small in stature, Brother Henry packed a big punch. We are fortunate that he left us many first hand accounts of his life and times which makes any attempt at a life sketch that much easier. Here goes.
Brother Henry Pang was born on the 14th April 1920 into a long-established Hakka family in the city of Haifeng, China, where his father was mayor. His father was a man of great compassion and understanding and, though not yet a Catholic, worked closely with the parish priest, Fr Henry Valtorta.
Brother Henry highlights two aspects of his childhood:
“We were fortunate to inherit a tremendous respect and love for learning. Even more, we valued respect for the individual. I remember my mother repeatedly reminding me that I ought to say thank you for every little favour and service rendered.”
The 1920’s was a time of turmoil in China. In 1929, Brother Henry’s uncle, Peng Pai (彭湃), who had led a peasant movement against the warlords, was executed by the forces of Chiang Kai Shek. His father was also targeted but he managed to make it to Hong Kong with his family. They discovered that Fr Valtorta was now Bishop of Hong Kong. Here is Brother Henry’s account of the family baptism:
“I was baptized by Bishop Valtorta himself, on Christmas Day 1931, in the Hong Kong Cathedral. On that day my father, my elder brother and myself - all three of us - received the name Henry. We were named after the Bishop, who gave us no choice. My mother was named Elizabeth after the Bishop’s mother”! Brother Henry was then eleven years old.
The Brother Director of St Joseph’s College at the time was Matthias Linehan and, on the recommendation of the Bishop, he employed Brother Henry’s father as a teacher of Chinese.
Both Brothers Henry Pang and Anthony Cheung first attended St. Joseph’s College, which became the seed ground of their vocation.
Brother Henry singles out one teacher in particular as being the main influence in his decision to join the Brothers:
“His son, Anthony Cheung, was going to the Brother’s Novitiate in Penang and he said to me, “How about it. Will you go together with Anthony”? This good man, Benedict Cheung, also helped me secure my father’s permission to leave home. In April 1937 I left for Penang. Since that time I have always been considered as a member of the Cheung family”.
While still in the Juniorate Henry wrote a personal letter to the Bishop of Hong Kong and had this to say: “I am still a junior novice. I am as happy as ever in God’s service and I will try my best to become a good Brother of the Christian Schools so that I may procure God’s glory and the salvation of souls.” Brother Henry joined the Novitiate in September 1939, just as the world was going to war. He spent some five years as a student Brother, prolonged because of the Japanese occupation. He had also to spend quite some time in hospital because of tuberculosis. Together with other Brothers he studied Japanese and for over a year had to teach through this medium. Henry was a good student and later took Japanese as part of his degree. In order to survive the war years he had to do some farming and fishing, tapioca and maize supplementing the meagre ration of rice.
The Japanese surrender in 1945 brought a huge sigh of relief and the Brothers were immediately sent to reopen various schools. Brother Henry was sent to St George’s School, Taiping, Malaysia. He recalls: “ I spent nine very happy years of my life in St George’s School, and even now any news, article or photo of the school awakens happy memories of those activity-filled days of 1945-54”. It was in Taiping that he learned good schoolmanship from three excellent headmasters, Brothers Denis Hyland, Casimir L’Angelier and Alban Rozario.
Those were hectic days. Each teacher had 42 periods a week. There were no free periods. Brother Henry proved to be a conscientious and capable teacher. In addition to the regular subjects, he taught Latin and Mandarin. In his limited free time he started to study Mandarin seriously, fitting in an hour’s tuition every afternoon. In general he promoted Chinese culture in the school, preparing items for the annual concerts. He also promoted scouting and this was to be a lifelong interest.
His busy and fulfilling life in Taiping came to an end in 1954 when he was recalled to Hong Kong in view of starting La Salle Primary School in Kowloon. He proved to be the right choice. After detailed preparations, La Salle Primary opened its doors on the 2nd September 1957, with 425 students in 10 classes. Brother Henry was to be the school’s guiding light until his retirement in 1984 when there were 36 classes in two sessions. Even before the opening of the school he had equipped himself with a degree from London University, taking Mandarin and Classical Japanese.
He worked hard for excellence, supervising school extensions and conversions. The library was a little beauty and fully utilized while the carpeted room called “Storyland” was his pride and joy. A football field, swimming pool and hall were also built and well used. The school orchestra and cub scouts were always supported. He shaped his teachers into responsible and conscientious educators. As to academics, here is a sharing from an old boy:
“In 1960, La Salle Primary secured 2 Grantham scholarships and 25 Government scholarships out of 150, a sixth of the total. That made Brother Henry the envy of all school headmasters and parents alike, so much so that it was jokingly remarked that he had a hand in setting the questions and marking the papers. The record was never broken”.
Of all the outstanding alumni of La Salle Primary School, perhaps the towering figure of Bruce Lee stands out. The 11 year old was a dynamo from the start. “He was quite a bundle,” said Brother Henry. “To get him to learn it was necessary to totally work off his energy. So as soon as he walked into the classroom I would have him cleaning the blackboard, opening the windows, fetching the registers and running messages. He was quite a boy. He left a deep impression on me.”
Brother Henry had a good understanding of children and he knew that they loved animals, fish and birds. So he built an Indoor Aquarium, an Open Air Aviary and a miniature Zoo in the school. These and many other innovative projects made the children feel their school was their second home. Perhaps that is why Brother Henry did not see himself as a disciplinarian. “I would rather have children learn through love and respect than the rod and fear. Students should be encouraged and allowed to excel. It is important that they are not made to feel inferior in any way. In the long run in life it is confidence that matters, not how much you know. The only complaint from parents, teachers and janitors was that I never punished anybody and allowed the children too much freedom and liberty – I was spoiling them.”
The 1960’s, however, were by no means a bed of roses for Brother Henry. In June 1966 there was a fierce downpour and the school’s granite retaining wall collapsed. Six people were killed and sixteen were injured. An inquest into the incident returned a verdict of accidental death. The verdict may have been a relief for Brother Henry but there is little doubt that the incident affected him deeply. Around the same time, six of his relatives in China fell victim to the atrocities of the cultural revolution. It was not a time for feet of clay.
By the 1970’s Brother Henry was something of a respected public figure with a growing number of professional commitments. He was involved in the organizing of several seminars to help teachers become more socially aware, to relate the classroom to life. He himself was invited as guest speaker at many educational functions. Meanwhile, in La Salle Primary itself, the annual Christmas concerts ran for 3 nights to packed houses. In these ways the profile of the school was further raised. It was not surprising that Brother Henry himself had become an institution.
Recognition from abroad was not lacking. The Board of Trustees of De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines, awarded him the “Signum Fidei” Medal at the Commencement Exercise on 17th June 1979. This award is conferred by the University on individuals who have accomplished outstanding work in their respective fields of endeavour. The citation, etched on a bronze plaque, was read at the Conferment Ceremony and called Brother Henry Pang a Beloved Headmaster, Educational Innovator, Dedicated Religious Teacher.
Brother Henry was a firm believer in school foreign exchange programmes. One such was to Japan, to “the Beavers of Ichikawa”, a football team of young boys. The underlining motive was to promote mutual understanding and work towards world peace. Here is an excerpt from Brother Henry’s account of one trip to Ichakawa which took place in April 1981, composed of 37 boys and 14 adults: “The three and a half hour journey to Tokyo was peaceful and uneventful except that, at the request of an American tour leader, we went to one section of the jumbo and sang to a group of about 100 travel-weary and homesick American tourists heading home to Texas. We started off with several folk songs like ‘The cuckoo and Cockles and Mussels’, but when we suddenly switched to a number of Japanese songs like ‘Haru-ga-kita, Fujisan and Sakura’, all the Japanese passengers suddenly woke up and began to clap. Some got so enthusiastic that they joined in vociferously. This impromptu concert on the plane will always be remembered by these little fellows as a great and unique experience.” Unique indeed. It is almost unimaginable for something like this to happen today!
When it came to his own recollections in the tranquility of retirement, Brother Henry had this to say: “In all my 50 years I have yet to come across a bad boy. I have had students ranging from slow or average to bright and brilliant and lots of geniuses. For all of them, I believe in laying as deep and broad a foundation as possible, not looking at the boy today but the man tomorrow.”
Early on the morning of 6th September 1982 he received a phone call from his native city of Haifeng telling him that his mother, now ninety-one, was very ill. Taking the Blessed Sacrament with him, he caught the first flight to Guangzhou and after a six hours dash by car was at her bedside. She could not talk but showed her delight especially when told about the Blessed Sacrament. She lived for another 3 days. Brother Henry often spoke movingly of this trip to see his dying mother.
Retirement from formal school responsibility arrived in 1984. Streams of visitors came to visit him and he joked, told stories and enjoyed conversation. He also remained faithful to his duties as spiritual director of the Mother of our Redeemer Praesidium. He always possessed a deep devotion to the Mother of God.
He now found time to indulge in a life-long aspiration, water-colours and calligraphy. He tells us:
“Ever since I began to scrawl as a child, I have always wanted to write, and at some stage to take up Calligraphy as a form of Art.
I thank God that after retirement I still find myself usefully and enjoyably self-employed with calligraphy and water-colour painting. I have now reached the stage when my work has become financially worthwhile. I am happy so far as I have been able to do something to help relieve the poor and needy and support worthy causes.
My calligraphy always carries some inspiring message. So despite my dwindling strength I can still wield this gentle instrument in the cause of justice, peace and love”.
The “worthy causes’ mentioned above covered the globe. Lasallian projects for the poor and needy in India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Africa were special beneficiaries.
Signs that all was not well health-wise, however, had been evident for some time. Already he was suffering from ankylosing-spondylitis and his stoop had become quite pronounced. He walked with a cane in the manner of an ancient Chinese philosopher. He was soon affectionately dubbed Commissioner Pang! Apart from spondylitis, he was now afflicted by diabetes and psoriasis and a weakening of the heart. Hospitalisations increased in frequency and seriousness and when discharged he was in a wheelchair most of the time. In his 1992 Christmas message he writes: ‘The end of 1991 and early 1992 nearly saw the end of me. I received the Last Sacrament twice and survived two heart attacks’. Members of his Legion of Mary group visited him in hospital.
‘He could hardly recognize us and his voice was feeble. His words were: ”Study hard and be a good student”. These last words really touched us’.
On the 1st May 1993 he underwent high-risk heart surgery. Although he came through the ordeal, there were complications and he remained critically ill. A second heart attack as well as renal failure on the 22nd brought about the end and he passed away in St Teresa’s Hospital. The funeral Mass was held in St Teresa’s Church on the 27th and the church was packed to capacity. He was laid to rest in the Brothers burial plot in Happy Valley.
Thousands of boys passed through Brother Henry’s hands, some of whom, like the kung- fu star Bruce Lee, became famous. Yet he somehow could remember the names and faces and even special traits of almost every one of his students - an astounding feat of memory.
