Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Graham Hassall, Baha'i Faith in Hong Kong, bahai-library.com.
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Bahá'í Faith in Hong Kong

Graham Hassall

1998

The emergence of Bahá'í communities in all corners of the
world, amidst all peoples, cultures and religious traditions, is
gradually giving substance to the vision of a world community
generated in the last century by the Faith's prophet-founder,
Bahá'u'lláh. In Hong Kong, one pillar of this expanding global
society has been established through the efforts of a small and
dedicated group of His followers.

Among small territories, the position of Hong Kong is unique.
Whereas most colonies have evolved toward independence, or some
form of self-determination, Hong Kong has become a Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Until
annexed by Great Britain in 1842, the islands of Hong Kong were
quite insignificant and sparsely inhabited. The English had
arrived in the east to trade with China, particularly in the
commodity of tea, but the Chinese had initially restricted the
movement of "foreign devils" to Canton, north of Hong
Kong. There was at first a great deal of cultural
misunderstanding. As the Chinese had no tradition of making
"equal treaties" with other lands, Europeans were
expected to take a subservient position; but this expectation
angered the English, and there was often trouble.

Relations were further strained because British traders began
purchasing tea with opium. The Chinese government opposed this,
and the conflict escalated into the Opium War, 1840-42, which the
British won through their possession of superior weaponry. By the
1842 Treaty of Nanking they commandeered the island of Hong Kong
(favoured by the British for its proximity to Canton) and five
other harbours. In other treaties the British, who were concerned
at Russian and French expansion in the region, secured Kowloon in
1860 and then leased the New Territories in 1898 for a period of
99 years. A total land area of 1,061 square kilometres was
acquired in this way.

Although Hong Kong Island and Kowloon had been ceded in
perpetuity, it was obvious by the late twentieth century that
they could not be separated from the New Territories. In 1984 the
British and Chinese agreed that the colony would revert to
Chinese sovereignty at the expiration of the New Territories'
lease on 30 June, 1997. Hong Kong is now a "special
administrative region" of China.

The Afnán: Hájí Mírzá Buzurg-i-Afnán and Hájí
Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí

There were Bahá'ís in Hong Kong in the lifetime of
Bahá'u'lláh. Hájí Mírzá Buzurg-i-Afnán, a cousin of the
Báb who lived and traded in Hong Kong in 1879, was part of a
trading empire that Balyuzi described as "stretching from
Hong Kong to Bákú". Bahá'u'lláh once requested from
Mírzá Buzurg a few pairs of good spectacles to be given as
gifts to prominent men in Beirut and Damascus. Aqa Mírzá
Ibrahim, a nephew of the Báb, lived in Hong Kong during 1881-82.
Another member of this family, Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí, son
of the Báb's maternal uncle Hájí Mírzá Siyyíd Muhammad,
resident in Hong Kong from 1870 to 1897. He later visited in
Haifa. 'Abdu'l-Bahá subsequently wrote of him in Memorials of
the Faithful:

What a radiant face he had! He was nothing but light
from head to foot. Just to look at that face made one
happy; he was so confident, so assured, so rooted in his
faith, and his expression so joyous. He was truly a
blessed being. ...After he had received the endless
bounties showered on him by Bahá'u'lláh, he was given
leave to go, and he traveled to China. There, over a
considerable period, he spent his days mindful of God and
in a manner conformable to Divine good pleasure. Later he
went on to India, where he died.

It is not known whether the Báb's relatives established a
community of believers in Hong Kong. According to Balyuzi, Hájí
Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí exercised a virtual monopoly on trade in
Chinese porcelain to the Persian nobility. His clients are said
to have included Násiri'd-Dín Sháh. A number of ornamental
Chinese vases sent by him to the Holy Land are now located in the
Shrine of the Báb. No doubt further information about these
Persian traders in the new and rapidly expanding British colony
will be uncovered. For the moment there are no indications of
other Bahá'í progress there until the infrequent visits by
Western travellers that commenced some two decades later.

Early Bahá'í travellers

The visit to Hong Kong by American Bahá'ís Howard Struven
and Mason Remey in 1910, during their world-encircling travels,
seems to have been no more than a stop-over. Agnes Alexander, who
introduced the Bahá'í teachings to Japan and Korea, first
visited Hong Kong in 1923, although this too was most likely a
transit visit. Miss Alexander returned to Hong Kong on several
more occasions as much as thirty years later.

In 1924 Martha Root visited Hong Kong for the express purpose
of making the Bahá'í teachings more widely known. She arrived
from China on 27 March 1924 to undertake a busy schedule, meeting
editors, librarians, and the president of the university. She
spoke on radio, and at the Hong Kong University. "Long
articles about the Bahá'í Teachings" were printed in
"all the leading papers of Hong Kong". The Hong Kong
Telegraph carried on its front page for 17 April a report of
her public address before the Theosophical Society. Another
travelling Bahá'í, Mrs Lorel Schopflocher, who had recently
visited Ceylon and Borneo, and who was passing through Hong Kong
at this time, attended the same lecture, and spoke about the
Bahá'í movement in America and Canada. The South China
Morning Post reported that "Two distinguished
visitors" were in Hong Kong: Mrs Schopflocher, who was
staying at the Hong Kong Hotel, and Martha Root, at the Astor
House Hotel:

While interviewing Mrs. Schopflocher and Miss Root
they both said that the Bahá'í Revelation is the spirit
of this age. It is the essence of all the highest ideals
of this century. The Bahá'í cause is an inclusive
movement; the teachings of all religions and societies
are found in it, Christians, Theosophists, Buddhists,
Mohammedans, Jews, Freemasons, Zoroastrians, find their
highest aims in this cause. Socialists and philosophers
find their theories fully developed in this revelation.

Martha Root received further coverage in the South China
Morning Post following her lecture at Hong Kong University on
"Universal Peace and how the Students can help bring
it". From Hong Kong Martha Root travelled to Vietnam and
Canton, before returning to give another five lectures at the end
of May. On May 15 her lecture to the Theosophists on "New
Views of Immortality" was reported in the Hong Kong
Telegraph and The China Mail. Miss Root returned to
Hong Kong briefly in 1930, and again spoke at Hong Kong
University. She recalled a year later:

When I spoke in Hong Kong University the second time
last year, a beautiful girl in the university called upon
me the next day and said: "What can I do to promote
the Bahá'í Movement in Singapore, my home city?" A
professor's wife who was calling at the same time, told
me afterwards that if that girl takes up the Bahá'í
Movement, she will certainly be a great teacher for she
is one of the brightest and most capable girls in the
entire university.

Whether or not this woman promoted the Bahá'í teachings on
her return to Singapore is not known (there were no Bahá'ís in
Singapore at this time). In Hong Kong Miss Root associated with
her Esperanto friends and acquaintances. Presumably, she also met
Mr Pei Tswi, a Bahá'í who lived in Hong Kong for a decade from
the late 1920s (about whom little else is known) - although such
a meeting between the two is nowhere recorded.

The only other Chinese Bahá'í known to have resided in Hong
Kong prior to the Second World War is Liu Chan Song, whose
address was given in the directory of the Bahá'í World volume
for 1939-40 (p689) as 767 Nathan Road, Kowloon. Mr Liu had heard
of the Bahá'í Faith while a student at Cornell University in
the United States. After returning to China he worked for the
government. By 1943 Mr Liu had moved to Kweilin (Quilin), Kwongsi
in China. There were other brief visits by Bahá'ís to Hong Kong
in the 1920s and 30s. Siegfried Schopflocher visited about 1927.
Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehler passed through in 1932. Mark Tobey and
Bernard Leach visited for a week in 1934, during their
investigation of eastern artforms and philosophies.

From the late 1930s the countries of Asia experienced
considerable social and political turmoil. Bernice Wood, an
American Bahá'í who had been living in Shanghai until the city
fell to the communists, stayed briefly in Hong Kong about May
1949 before moving to Bangkok in Thailand. She returned in 1960,
and for almost three decades made her home in Hong Kong.

The World Crusade

Such is the scant record of Bahá'í activity in Hong Kong in
the first century of the Bahá'í era. Although followers of
Bahá'u'lláh had lived in the colony during his lifetime, no
Bahá'í community had been established, and throughout the
Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh's son `Abdu'l-Bahá, the intermittent
visits by Bahá'í travellers had similarly produced little
result. It was only during the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi,
`Abdu'l-Bahá's grandson and his appointed leader of the Bahá'í
Faith, that a more systematic approach to the planting of the
principles and teachings of the Bahá'í Faith had its impact on
countries world-wide, including Hong Kong.

When Shoghi Effendi embarked the Bahá'í world on a
"decade long, world encircling crusade" in 1953 Hong
Kong was one of several hundred locations around the world to
which the members of larger Bahá'í communities were called on
to direct their energies. At a conference convened in New Delhi
in October 1953 for the purpose of discussing the movement of
Bahá'ís to new posts throughout Asia, Hong Kong was among those
territories marked for consolidation. The British Bahá'ís were
given primary responsibility for this task. However, as it turned
out, Bahá'ís from a number of other countries came to settle in
the colony, through a variety of planned and unplanned
circumstances. As the community expanded it corresponded at first
with a committee of the British National Assembly, and later with
the Asian Teaching Committee in North America.

Early pioneers and travellers

Shoghi Effendi had asked the North American Bahá'ís to open
two other territories close to Hong Kong and to China. These were
the Portuguese colony of Macau, and Hainan Island, which was part
of China. Frances Heller visited Hong Kong on her way to the New
Delhi Conference. She stayed at the Victoria Hotel, visited Macau
for a day, and decided to pioneer there after the conference,
arriving on 20 October 1953. Miss Arden Thur travelled directly
from the New Delhi conference to reside in Hong Kong:

After the Conference in New Delhi, October 1953 [one
of four conferences held at the beginning of the World
Crusade], I went to Burma, Thailand, Malaya, and Hong
Kong - arriving in Hong Kong in December 1953. The
purpose of these travels was always to meet the Bahá'ís
and teach the Faith. These experiences are my eternal joy
- friendships through the Blessed Beauty.

Miss Thur secured a three month position with the British
Publishing Bureau selling advertisements in the Hong Kong Medical
Journal, before departing, in March 1954 to make her pilgrimage
in the Holy Land at the invitation of Shoghi Effendi. Miss Thur
later wrote:

Hong Kong was beautifully international. I met many
important people who were there then. I participated in
society events with Mrs Church, the woman who ran the
advertising bureau. She was not well liked but even this
association helped me to meet people and speak of the
Faith "Those months in Hong Kong were among the most
meaningful of my life. I really felt like a pioneer.
There were many confirmations of a spiritual nature for
me and a feeling of constant assistance from on high.
Even though there were no declarations of new believers,
I had the feeling that being there was important. Now
looking back I realise that three months in a place is
not really pioneering, but it does not change the impact
that those three months had on my life....Mr Sun Sun was
a money changer on Queens Road. He became a good friend.
I visited him later when coming to Hong Kong in 1956 and
again in 1958. At those times, Mamie Seto was pioneering
there and I took a young Englishman, Maurice (Tim)
Williamson to meet her. He was an inspector of police and
he liked Mamie. He attended Naw Ruz with the friends in
1958 and spoke of having a spiritual experience after
hearing about the Faith, but he never declared. "

Although no one became a Bahá'í through the activities
initiated by Miss Thur (the one Bahá'í she found in Hong Kong
had heavy work commitments and little time to spare), her
presence provided an important sense of continuity at a crucial
period in the community's early stages.

Hishmat and Mahboobeh Azizi

Hishmat and Mahboobeh Azizi arrived in Hong Kong in March
1954. They were from Tehran, and had volunteered to pioneer to
the remote destination of Hainan Island while attending the New
Delhi Conference. They had tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain visas
for Hainan while in India, and later in Singapore, and once more
on their arrival in Hong Kong. They were to wait until the 1980s
before they succeeded.

Gian and Mrs Lachmi Datwani

Mr Gian and Mrs Lachmi Datwani arrived in Hong Kong on 4
August 1954. Mr Datwani had met Mrs Shirin and Dr Fozdar in
Singapore and become a Bahá'í there before his wife had left
India (Mrs Datwani became a Bahá'í in February 1954). Gian
served on the first Singapore Local Spiritual Assembly, and
having moved to Japan with his wife in November 1953, served on
the first National Spiritual Assembly of Japan. On their arrival
in Hong Kong the Datwanis unsure of their future, but Gian soon
obtained a position managing a trading company. Hong Kong became
their permanent home.

Anthony and Mamie Seto

Anthony and Mamie Seto arrived in Hong Kong from San Francisco
on 1st October 1954. The Setos had become Bahá'ís in Honolulu
in 1916 and had moved to San Francisco in 1932 (Mami Seto's
family was from Michigan, while Tony's was from Canton, in
Southern China). In 1943-44 they pioneered in Canada's Maritime
Provinces, and in 1951 Mrs Seto was elected to the United States
National Spiritual Assembly. She and her husband thus brought
considerable experience to their new pioneer post.

After settling in Hong Kong, the Setos received a six month
extension to their visas, to 30 June 1955. They also obtained a
year's permit for entry to Macau. Mrs Seto wrote to the Suleimani
family, who had lived for many years in China, and were now in
Taiwan:

We are just getting settled and are concentrating on
some friends and we feel that we are needed here to keep
up the continuity of the work. Also, my husband is not
well and I feel that he should not attempt travelling and
visiting for a while. The entire matter of selling our
business, making plans for the journey and the strain of
travel have been hard for him and he is just becoming
rested.

There was now a small group of Bahá'ís in Hong Kong, and
others had settled in Macau. Charles Murray, an elderly Canadian
Bahá'í, had arrived in Hong Kong early in 1954 and was living
on his pension in a small room. Carl and Loretta Scherer had
arrived in Macau in December 1953. The Azizis moved between Hong
Kong and Macau, able only to obtain three month extensions to
their Hong Kong visa, where Mr Azizi was working hard as a
merchant of Persian carpets, and seeking more permanent status.

In March 1955 Mrs Seto described progress in Hong Kong in a
three page report to the Asian Teaching Committee of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the United States:

For over a year now we have had active workers here in
Hong Kong, but as yet no immediate results; there are
always the remote ones, as we have been repeatedly
assured. Arden Thur did very good work here as did
Charles Murray; the latter rarely lost an opportunity in
presenting the Faith, and fearlessly gave the Message
whenever there was an opening. The Scherers, Frances
Heller and the Azizis likewise have sown many seeds, and
also Mr. Datwani.

Mrs Seto found the Chinese people "very pleasant people
to be among", and admired their kind, gentle and sweet
qualities. They responded to friendship, were earnest and
sincere, and worked with an admirable "vim and
intentness". She felt that the Chinese adhered to their
religious beliefs with a devoutness that would make them firm
Bahá'ís, once they knew of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings. The Setos
attended meetings of ECAFE, the United Nations Association,
dinners at the American University Club, and lectures at the
University of Hong Kong. They presented Bahá'í books to the
head of the Chinese Department after attending his lecture on
"China's Age of Faith". Nineteen people had attended an
event to commemorate World Religion organised by the Bahá'ís.
Mrs Seto had spoken on the Bahá'í Faith to audience of 20 at
the Kowloon Union Church, an interdenominational Christian
Church. A report to the European and Asia Teaching Committee in
November 1955 focused on dinners hosted by the Setos, and other
activities with which they were involved:

... We had Persian pilau prepared by Mrs. Azizi, and
East Indian curry prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Datwani. We
are holding two regular study classes per week, and we go
out to attend different gatherings, lectures and meetings
with the view of meeting new people. In this connection
my husband and I joined the United Nations Association of
Hong Kong, first studying its by-laws to see if these
contained anything that contravened our Bahá'í
Teachings. During the United Nations Week Celebration, I
was asked to be chairman of a meeting and my husband also
spoke briefly.

Mamie Seto considered Hong Kong an attractive place, with a
magnificent harbour, but overcrowded. Many refugees had arrived
from China in recent years, and there were shortages of housing,
water, employment, schools, and telephones (there were 18,000
ahead of the Setos in the queue for a telephone). Hong Kong was a
"melting pot" of peoples in which many languages were
spoken. The local news was broadcast in Cantonese, Mandarin and
Fukienese. Few Chinese spoke English and few foreigners spoke
Chinese. The people worked hard, many working seven days per
week.

Community activities

In the first years of the Crusade a number of Bahá'ís passed
through Hong Kong en route to their virgin and consolidation
goals, or otherwise travelling to visit new Bahá'í communities.
Indian Bahá'ís Zena Sorabjee and her husband visited for two
days in May 1954, en route to Japan. The Nadler family had passed
through Hong Kong after having spent four years in the
Philippines and Hazel Mori visited en route to Manila. The
Suleimanis visited in November 1954, renewing there their
acquaintance with Elin L. Tsao, who with her late husband, Dr
Y.S. Tsao, had been a member of the Bahá'í community in
Shanghai. Hand of the Cause Mr Zikhrullah Khadem, together with
Mrs Khadem, and Miss Haddad, visited Hong Kong and Macau in
November 1955. Mrs Seto reported to Mr S.A. Suleimani in Taiwan:

Yesterday all three went over to Macau to visit the
friends there and will be back here by Saturday for an
evening talk to the local friends and our contacts at our
apartment. This is our greatest teaching opportunity and
we have sent out invitations to all prospects whom we
feel will be interested.

The visitors departed Hong Kong for Bangkok on 21 November.
Mrs Seto informed Barbara Simonds (secretary of the East Asia
Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
British Isles), that Mr Khadem inspired the Bahá'ís "by
telling of his travels and experience in working for the Faith in
various lands. He sets the great example of strict and implicit
obedience to our Beloved Guardian."

Association with so many Bahá'ís from other lands thus gave
heart to the Hong Kong pioneers, and demonstrated to the first
Hong Kong Bahá'ís the reality of the global community of which
they had become a part. Charles Duncan, Knight of Bahá'u'lláh
to Brunei, later recorded of this period:

The greatest cooperation has always existed between
the friends in these two crucial spots in the orient. Mr
and Mrs Carl Scherer and Francis Heller went to Macau.
later, Mr and Mrs Anthony Seto went to Hong Kong. There
was constant exchange through visits and correspondence.
Although there were new declarations in these colonies,
the progress was slow due to the fact that the population
in both places is mobile. Hence, after declaring, the new
believers often left to go to Japan, Taiwan, England,
India, Cambodia and other places. Although the victories
gained are for the entire Bahá'í world, keeping the
Bahá'í work going in Hong Kong and Macau was difficult.
Later, Dr and Mrs Dean and Bernice Wood went to serve the
Faith in Hong Kong. Pioneers came and went. Slowly a
community was built in Hong Kong consisting of long time
residents. They were of Chinese, Indian, British and
Southeast Asian backgrounds. There was a constant stream
of Bahá'í visitors from abroad including travelling
teachers, tourists, pilgrims, Auxiliary Board Members,
Continental Counsellors, and Hands of the Cause.

On 16 February 1956 Mrs Seto reported some of the community's
activities to the European and Asia Teaching Committee:

In our letter of 24th January to you, we wrote of a
tea we were giving at our home for selected members of
the U.N. Association of Hong Kong. This tea turned out to
be a most complete Bahá'í meeting. After the meeting
progressed and tea was served, the Vice-Chairman of the
Association said to my great amazement and utmost
delight, "Mrs Seto, please tell these friends about
the Bahá'í Faith." After such a pleasing request,
I felt very free to speak, and did so for well over half
an hour. After which I gave those present Bahá'í
pamphlets in the Chinese language, and to the
Vice-Chairman, a brochure of the proposals for the
revision of the U.N. Charter. The friends stayed on and
on until early evening. Present on this occasion were a
professor, a doctor and students, none of whom had ever
heard of the Faith. We shall give another tea in the
coming months and throughout the year. We are working
closely with this organisation.

We have also given three of our Bahá'í books to the
head of the Department of Oriental Studies of the Hong
Kong University, for his private library. In a warm
letter which we received in acknowledgement of this gift,
he gave us a special invitation to attend a series of
four lectures, he was giving on the subject of Tibet. We
have accepted the invitation and are learning much about
this mysterious land.

The Setos added much confidence to the work of the small
Bahá'í community. Through her involvement in the United Nations
Association, Mamie Seto demonstrated how it was possible to
inform public-minded people about the Bahá'í teachings. Gian
Datwani also joined civic organisations, such as the Lion's Club,
at which he gave occasional addresses.

New Bahá'ís

On 12 February 1956 four "very fine young men"
joined the Bahá'í Community who were "punctual, dependable
and eager for knowledge" became Bahá'ís having studied the
Bahá'í teachings for ten months. These were Chan Lie Fun, Chan
Lie Kun, Ng Ying Kay, and Nari Assudamall Sherwani. The families
of Chan Lie Fun and Chan Lie Kun (who were twins), and Ng Ying
Kay, had fled from Canton to Hong Kong at the time of the
Communist revolution. The twins' father was a bank employee in
Canton, and Ng Ying Kay's father had been a minor official in the
pre-revolution government. All three young men spoke both
Cantonese and Mandarin, but their educational and career
opportunities had been disrupted by the revolution. Chan Lie Fun
and Chan Lie Kun were now working at the Kowloon Motor Bus
Workshop. They heard about the Bahá'í Faith through a cousin,
Mr Ng Wing Kwong, who told them of the experiences of a Mrs Wu,
who had met Bahá'ís in Macau. Lie Kun and Lie Fun lived at the
National Bahá'í Centre in Hong Kong for a number of years
before migrating to North America.

The fourth man who declared in February 1956, Nari Assudamall
Sherwani, left the colony soon after. He had arrived from East
India in late 1955 to train in his cousin's import-export
business, Dhanamall & Co. of which Mr Datwani was manager. On
February 12 Mr Sherwani had attended a talk at the Seto's home,
at which Mr Mumazi - a resident of Japan, spoke of his recent
pilgrimage in the Holy Land. Mr Sherwani had already accepted the
message in his heart, and joined without hesitation when the
three young Chinese men who were also present declared their
belief in Bahá'u'lláh. Although Hong Kong was a cosmpolitan
city, Mr Sherwani stated that it was only at Bahá'í meetings
that the several races - Chinese, European, and Indian -
integrated, and so demonstrated the truth of the Bahá'í
principle of racial harmony and unity. Like a number of others
who became Bahá'ís in Hong Kong, he departed, intending at
first to live in Japan, but moving then to Africa and eventually
to Ireland (from where he continued to visit Hong Kong
regularly). Among the other members of the early Hong Kong
community were Paul and Mary Shia, who had been living in Macau.
Paul Shia was already in Hong Kong when Mary arrived in February
1956. After residing for a time in Tsuen Wan in the New
Territories, they they moved to Cambodia and later to North
America.

The formation of Hong Kong Assembly

The enrolment of four new members allowed the Hong Kong
Bahá'ís to form their first Assembly at Ridvan 1956. The
members were Mamie and Anthony Seto, Gian Datwani, Chan Lie Kun
and Chan Lie Fun, Paul and Mary Shia, H. Azizi, and G. Punwani.
(Although part of the community, Mrs Lachmi Datwani was not yet
twenty-one years of age).

Table: Hong Kong LSA 1956-1963

1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963

Mamie Seto
Mamie Seto
N.Sherwani-vc

Paul Shia
Paul Shia
M.Seto-sec
Mamie Seto
Mamie Seto

Mary Shia
Heshmat Azizi

KH. Chiu
Mary Shia
Mary Shia
B.Wood-tr
Bernice Wood
Bernice Wood
- sec

Gian Datwani
Gian Datwani
G.Datwani-ch
Gian Datwani
Gian Datwani
Gian Datwani
Gian Datwani
Paul Shia

Chan Lie Fun
Chu Kwok Hung

M.Seto-sec
Mamie Seto
Mamie Seto
JimmieY.Jung
LachmiDatwani

Sun Pao Kang

H. Azizi
F.W.-Strong
F.W.-Strong-tr

F.W.-Strong
Wu Ying Chi
ChanLieKun
ChanLieKun
Chan Lie Kun

G. Punwani
Chu Hon Lung
Chan Lie Kun
Chan Lie Kun
Chan Lie Kun
Chan Lie Fun
Chan Lie Fun
Chan Lie Fun

Paul Shia
Paul Shia
Chu Hon Leung

Chu Hon Leung

Chu Hon Leung
L. H. Lewis
H.Azizi
H.Azizi

Anthony Seto
Anthony Seto
Lachmi
Datwani
Lachmi
Datwani
Lachmi
Datwani
Paul Shia
Marjorie
Buckle
L.M.Y.C. Tao

Chan Lie Kun
Chan Lie Kun
Chan Lie Fun
Chan Lie Fun
Chan Lie Fun
Mary Shia
Chu Hon Leung

Chu Hon Leung

Table: Delegates to North East Asia Convention 1957-63

1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963

H.Azizi
H.Azizi
M.Seto
Mamie Seto
Mamie Seto
Mamie Seto
M.Seto

T.Seto
M.Seto
?
?
H.Azizi
Gian Datwani
H.Azizi

At the beginning of 1957 there were 14 members in the Hong
Kong Bahá'í community: Anthony and Mamie Seto, Hishmat and
Mahboobeh Azizi; Gian and Lachmi Datwani, Mr Chu Hon Leung - who
joined at the end of 1956; Mr Chan Lie Kun and Mr Chan Lie Fun;
Mr Wu Ying Chi; Mr Chiu Kwok Hang; Mr Punwani; Paul and Mary
Shia. There were also the Datwani's two daughters and the Shia's
son.

Mr Chiu Kwok Hung had become a Bahá'í late in 1956. He was
then 26, and living at Castle Peak Boy's School, 19 miles from
Kowloon, too far to be able to attend meetings regularly. Chiu
wrote that he had been impressed with the nomenclature for
"Bahá'í", (Tai Tung + plus Chinese idiograph),

which signifies "the world is unified and all
people irrespective of their races are sisters and
brothers in the fourseas family". In fact, such
magnificent enlightened ideas had been manifested by
Confucius, one of the greatest Chinese philosophers over
2500 years ago in the late Chow dynasty. He related
"Tai tung" as "only could people love one
another, the wars be perished; true philanthropy and
peace be permanently maintained."

Mrs Seto described Chiu Kwok Hung, who was a member of the
United Nations Association of Hong Kong, as the community's
"most gifted bi-lingual believer". He subsequently
translated a 20-page Bahá'í booklet from English to Chinese.

Bahá'í Writings were to be translated into five Chinese
languages (Chungchia, Kado, Kapo, Mongol, and Na-Hai) during the
World Crusade. From June 1958 the NSA North East Asia appointed a
three-member "standing committee" in Hong Kong to
identify books to be translated, select well qualified
translators, and supervise translation and publication. Among
translations completed were Stanwood Cobb's Tomorrow and
Tomorrow, by Mr Sun Pao-Kang, in 1962.

In about March 1957 there were three further declarations:
Ling Che Fai and Lee Pun Kwong, both aged 19, and Vashi Daswaney,
an East Indian merchant (who soon after moved to Hong Kong from
Singapore, and eventually to India). Another to arrive in 1957
was Mr Francis Warrington-Strong, a Lieutenant in the British
Navy who had become a Bahá'í in Britain shortly before arriving
in the Colony on his final tour of duty. He returned to England
following his retirement in December 1959. Also resident in Hong
Kong were Dr Sidney Dean and Isabel Dean, until Dr Dean was
invited to become Director of the New Era school at Panchgani,
India, in 1964.

Bahá'í visitors began to visit Hong Kong in ever larger
numbers. These included Hands of the Cause Jalah Khazeh in 1957
and Mr Ala'i in 1959. Other visitors at this time included Mr
Marangella, Mr Smits, Arden Thur, Mr and Mrs Naderi, Mrs Momtazi,
Anita Ioas, William Maxwell, Mr and Mrs Scherer, Harry Yim and
Manuel Fereria. A newspaper printed an article featuring Albert
Rakovsky, a Bahá'í from Westmount, Quebec, who visited Hong
Kong for just one day. When Mr and Mrs Sabet visited Hong Kong in
1957, they hosted a dinner for the Bahá'ís at the Miramar
Hotel.

The public profile of the Bahá'í community was raised by a
visit to the colony for six days by Shirin Fozdar and Mrs George
Lee, of Singapore. Mrs Fozdar spoke to the Indian Women's Club,
and the United Nations Association. She also met the executive
committe eof the Hong Kong Council of Women, appeared on radio
and television, and had interviews published in five Hong Kong
newspapers.

With the Bahá'í community expanding in size, administrative
responsibilities multiplied. Until the Hong Kong Spiritual
Assembly could afford its own premises, its office was officially
designated as Mamie Seto's home, at 3 College Road, Kowloon. For
answers to administrative questions, it corresponded with the
British National Spiritual Assembly, and the committee in Britain
established to correspond with overseas communities under the
British NSA's care. The Assembly wrote to seek guidance, for
instance, when Mr Punwani attended few LSA meetings or other
Bahá'í events. It was known that he worked from 9am to 10pm
daily, but also, he seemed to show little interest, as he was
seldom heard from in later years. The Assembly wanted to know
whether his position on the Assembly could be declared vacant and
another member elected.

The Hong Kong Bahá'ís were holding feasts, conducting
Bahá'í holy days, maintaining a regular weekly study class, and
managing a Bahá'í fund. Bahá'ís were invited to speak from
time to time before other organisations, including the United
Nations Association. Some 30 people attended Hong Kong's Naw-Ruz
party in March 1957, including sixteen guests. It was the Hong
Kong Bahá'ís' first "public" gathering, and a sign
that the Bahá'í community was gathering momentum. On 15 June
the community's voice was added to those of Bahá'í communities
in other parts of the world in protest at the ill-treatment of
the Bahá'ís in Iran, and in thanking the Shah for the
restoration of Bahá'í property. A cable sent to the leader of
Iran said:

PLEASE ACCEPT HONG KONG BAHAIS ABIDING GRATITUDE
YOUR GOVERNMENT NOBLE ACTION IN RESTORING NATIONAL
BAHAI HEADQUARTERS OUR BAHAIS PRAYING GOD'S
PROTECTION YOUR THRONE LASTING PROSPERITY YOUR GOVERNMENT
REALIZATION ALL DESIRES YOUR BELOVED LAND.

An application for registration of the Hong Kong Assembly with
the government was made on 21 March 1958. Mrs Seto, as secretary,
followed this with a letter explaining the nature and spread of
the Bahá'í Faith on 24th March. The Assembly was registered on
29 May 1958.

The National Spiritual Assembly

From 1957 until 1974 Hong Kong was part of the Regional
Spiritual Assembly (called the National Spiritual Assembly) of
North East Asia. This Assembly was first elected at a convention
held in Tokyo, Japan, 27-29 April 1957. Hong Kong's delegates to
this convention were Hishmat Azizi and Anthony Seto. A further
seventeen delegates were elected by the Bahá'ís in Korea,
Taiwan, Macau and Japan. Shoghi Effendi sent a message to the
first convention outlining the tasks for these Bahá'í
communities for the remainder of the Ten Year Crusade:

With feelings of exultation, joy and pride I hail the
convocation of this history-making Convention of the
Bahá'ís of North-East Asia, paving the way for the
emergence of a Regional Spiritual Assembly with an area
of jurisdiction embracing Japan, Korea, Formosa, Macao,
Hong Kong, Hainan Island and Sakhalin Island.

This auspicious event, which posterity will regard as
the culmination of a process initiated, half a century
ago, in the capital city of Japan, under the watchful
care and through the direct inspiration of the Centre of
the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, marks the opening of the
second chapter in the history of the evolution of His
Faith in the North Pacific area. Such a consummation
cannot fail to lend a tremendous impetus to its onward
march in the entire Pacific Ocean, a march which will
now, no doubt, be greatly accelerated by the simultaneous
emergence of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the
Bahá'ís of South-East Asia and of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand.

I particularly welcome the establishment of this
highly important institution in the capital city of
Japan, as it affords a splendid opportunity for the
diffusion of the Light of the Faith, and the erection of
the structure of its Administrative Order, among a people
representing the overwhelming majority of the yellow
race, living in the islands of the Pacific Ocean and in a
country regarded as one of the strongholds of the
Buddhist Faith.

I feel a warm tribute should be paid, on this historic
occasion, to the members of the American Bahá'í
Community, as well as to their elected national
representatives, who have, for so long and so devotedly,
promoted the interests of the Faith in that country, and,
in recent years, in its neighbouring islands.

I call upon the Regional Spiritual Assembly now being
formed to signalize its birth through the initiation of a
subsidiary Six-Year Plan, designed to swell the number of
the adherents of the Faith throughout the area of its
jurisdiction; to multiply the groups, the isolated
centers and the local spiritual assemblies; to obtain
recognition from the civil authorities for the Bahá'í
Marriage Certificate, as well as the Bahá'í Holy Days;
to inaugurate a national Bahá'í Fund; to consolidate
the work initiated in the newly opened territories; to
lend an impetus to the translation, the publication, and
dissemination of Bahá'í literature in divers languages;
to establish summer schools, and Bahá'í burial grounds;
to propagate the Faith throughout the smaller islands of
Japan; and to acquire a plot to serve as the site of the
first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of North-East
Asia.

May the blessings of Bahá'u'lláh be showered, in an
ever-increasing measure, on these newly emerged
Communities now hold aloft, so steadfastly and so
valiantly, the banner of His Faith, and may the outcome
of their collective efforts illumine its annals, and
contribute to a notable degree to the consolidation of
the institutions of the Bahá'í embryonic World Order
now being erected throughout the length and breadth of so
vast, so turbulent, and yet so promising, an area of the
globe.

Unfortunately, the success of the first convention was
followed by the untimely death of Tony Seto. For five months he
had undergone medical treatment in California for a heart
ailment, returning to Hong Kong in February. Elected as one of
Hong Kong's two delegates to the first National Convention of
North East Asia, he flew to Japan, where he suffered a heart
attack while boarding a plane for the flight home to Hong Kong.
His death at this time was a severe loss to the entire Bahá'í
community, no less than to Mrs Seto. Cables expressing sympathy
reached her in Yokohama, where her late husband was buried.
Shoghi Effendi cabled:

GRIEVED SUDDEN LOSS DEAR HUSBAND VALUED CONSECRATED
HIGH MINDED PROMOTER FAITH RECORD HIS DEEPLY APPRECIATED
SERVICES BOTH AMERICA ASIA UNFORGETTABLE REWARD GREAT
ABHA KINGDOM ASSURE LOVING FERVENT PRAYERS PROGRESS HIS
SOUL

"My dear husband was Chinese, while I am an
American," Mrs Seto later wrote to a new Japanese Bahá'í,
"but in our marriage we worked for this World Religion of
Bahá'u'lláh. We both loved Japan and the Japanese people."
Mrs Seto returned to the United States to settle her late
husband's affairs, before returning to Hong Kong. Whereas the
loss of a life-long partner while living in a foreign land might
have crushed the will of some, Mrs Seto remained in Hong Kong
another five years. In 1957 she was appointed to the Auxiliary
Board, but her health was failing. Her departure for Burlingame
in California on 5 June 1962 meant that others now had to
initiate activities, not only support those that others planned.

Functioning of the Hong Kong Assembly

The mid-years of the Ten Year Crusade were characterized by
steady if unspectacular progress. An article on the Bahá'ís was
printed in the Hong Kong Tiger Standard, one of the
leading newspapers. In 1958 eleven of the community's 14 members
gathered for the third election of the Assembly (Mrs Mamie Seto
and Mr Hishmat Azizi had left to attend convention in Tokyo). In
June 1959 there were just thirteen members. In addition to
holding regular feasts and meetings, the Bahá'ís continued
their involvement in United Nations activities, and presented
Bahá'í literature to prominent individuals and public
libraries. Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era was donated to
the library of the Hong Kong Club in August 1959, and the
Bahá'ís remained in occasional contact with a professor of
Oriental Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Mr Azizi gave a
talk about Persian carpets at the YWCA. Mrs Seto's speech to the
United Nations Association on 24 May 1959 was reported briefly in
the South China Morning Post, and she addressed the
Association again on 16 November. Her report on progress in the
colony written to the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land in
August illustrated the limitations within which the Hong Kong
Bahá'ís worked:

While not withholding the message from any receptive
soul, we have kept in mind the wish of the beloved
Guardian to seek out the people with capacity. The
Teachings have been freely given to the educated, the
prominent and influential Chinese of the Colony. My
husband never overlooked his former classmates, business
acquaintances and friends in making clear to them his
purpose in coming to Hong Kong. Yet to date there has
been no response whatsoever... Although the Faith has
been given to the rich, the educated and the prominent,
it has been accepted by the lowly. These lowly ones have
no homes, no money, so the meetings are all held at my
home...

Mrs Seto attempted in her report to provide an accurate
description of progress in the colony. She noted there had been
small victories: relations with the United Nations Assocation had
remained strong. One member of the U.N.'s Refugee Committee had
moved to Switzerland, and had apparently become a Bahá'í there.
Late in 1959 the Hong Kong Bahá'ís donated $300 toward purchase
of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár site in Japan.

In December 1959 Hand of the Cause Mr Shu'a'llah Ala'i visited
Hong Kong, and inspired the Bahá'ís "with his humility,
knowledge and service to our Cause". Other visitors in the
year came from Australia (Mrs Jean and Miss Alicia
Hutchinson-Smith), Korea, Iran, Cambodia, Canada, France, U.S.A.,
Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. In February 1960 Mr Rafi and Mrs
Mildred Mottehedeh of Conneticut visited, as did Mrs Helen L.
Carter, of California. Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander visited
for a week in November, staying with Mrs Seto. The following year
she made another visit, this time visiting the Philippines also.
Also in Hong Kong in 1960 were Mr M. Azizi and Mr and Mrs
Kazempour, who were waiting for visas to return to their pioneer
posts Japan. Mr M. Labib was also present for several months,
prior to moving to Japan. He worked in Mr Azizi's shop, and often
spoke to audiences gathered on the Persian carpets. Miss Elsie
Elliot, later a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, was
among the guests at these early meetings.

Despite so much worthwhile activity, the Bahá'í community
grew by just three members in the year 1960-61: Mr Lewis, a 43
year old school teacher from England, who joined on 11 September
1960; Mr Jimmy Y. Jung, who arrived from Macau; and Mrs Bernice
M. Wood, who arrived from Kuwait. Apart from an absence between
1967-1972, Mrs Wood remained in the Colony until her departure in
August 1990 at the age of 77.

In the early 1960s the Local Assembly met at the home of the
secretary, Mrs Mamie Seto, at 268 C, Prince Edward Road, Kowloon.
Feasts were held regularly, but it was sometimes difficult to
gather a quorum for Assembly meetings. For some, work hours were
long and tiring, and there was little time and energy available
for community events. On 7 March 1961 Hand of the Cause Dr
Muhajir surprised the Hong Kong Bahá'ís, when he arrived
unexpectedly after attending the opening of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
in Kampala, Uganda. "Hong Kong", he later wrote in an
assessment of the many countries he visited that year, "...
needs the patience of Job...". Dr Muhajir encouraged
numerous Malaysian Bahá'í youth to travel teach in Hong Kong,
and also encouraged Filipino Bahá'ís to settle there. He
returned many times over the years, sometimes accompanied by his
wife, Mrs Iran Muhajir.

The Local Spiritual Assembly began to appoint committees to
undertake the various tasks involved in community function: in
1962 there were committees responsible for Hospitality, Feasts,
Language, and Teaching. Public meetings were being held monthly
or bi-monthly at the committee room in the City Hall, and small
study classes were being held in individual homes. Some new
members joined the community in 1962: Mr Ng Wing Kwon, who had
studied the Faith since 1955, and whose two nephews Chan Lie Fun
and Chan Lie Kun had joined in 1956; Mr Ng Ying Kay, another of
Ng Wing Kwon's relative; and Miss Marie Peres, a fluent speaker
of Chinese, Portuguese and English, who had heard of the Faith
from Mrs Buckle, with whom she was then residing. Following the
departure of Mamie Seto, activities were maintained at a modest
level. Feasts were sometimes conducted in Mr Azizi's carpet shop.
The feast of Kamal (August 1, 1962) was attended by just
five members (Mr Gian Datwani, Mr Jimmy Yen, Mrs Bernice Wood, Mr
Sung, and a guest).

The Bahá'ís in Macau faced the same challenges in
establishing a community as were the Hong Kong Bahá'ís. In 1957
Mr Datwani began weekly visits to Macau to teach Bahá'í
classes. His efforts were continued in the early 1960s by Mr
Azizi. During 1960-61 Mr Azizi visited the Bahá'ís in Macau
nine times. At the end of the Crusade there was one Local
Assembly in Macau. The Hong Kong and Macau Bahá'í communities
continued their close relationship, and were jointly administered
(first under the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia,
later under the National Spiritual Assembly of Hong Kong) until
Macau established its own National Spiritual Assembly in 1989.

Completion of the World Crusade

Ridvan 1963 marked the completion of the decade long
"World Crusade". In ten years the Bahá'í message had
been taken to many hundreds of new destinations. The number of
National Spiritual Assemblies around the world had risen to
fifty-six, and the governing body of the Bahá'í world, the
Universal House of Justice, had been established with its seat on
Mount Carmel in Israel. Although progress had not been rapid in
Hong Kong, the foundations of Bahá'í administration had been
laid. The Bahá'í World, reporting the years 1954-1963,
recorded the existence of the Hong Kong Local Spiritual Assembly
and the presence of an individual Bahá'í in Kowloon.

The Nine Year Plan, 1964-73

Between 1964 and 1973 Hong Kong remained under the
jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of North East
Asia. A series of goals was set for the National Assembly and the
Hong Kong Bahá'ís to achieve, far in excess of their
accomplishments in the previous decade. They were to raise the
number of localities to twenty, the number of LSAs to five, and
the number of these which were incorporated to three. Further,
they were to obtain from civil authorities recognition of
Bahá'í Holy Days and the Bahá'í Marriage Certificate.

There were about six additions to the community in the first
year of the new plan, including Mr Chan Ching-ki, Miss Linda Wong
of Kam Tin. Other new Bahá'ís at this time were the Hui family:
Mr Hui Ping and Mrs Hui, Mr Tan Men, and their daughter Hui Oi
Ling. Sisters Irene and Nancy Young joined in June.

The Local Assembly met on Sunday evenings at the Centre, prior
to the 8pm weekly fireside. The community was working toward the
establishment of an Assembly on Victoria Island by Ridvan 1965.
Teaching activities were also going on in the New Territories.

The community continued to receive visits by Hands of the
Cause: Tarazu'llah Samandari in 1966; John Robarts in 1968 while
visiting the newly appointed Counsellors in Japan; A.Q. Faizi in
January 1969; A.A. Furutan in October 1971, while returning from
the Oceanic Conference in Sapporo, Japan, and again in 1974 and
1976. Collis Featherstone, like Rahmat Muhajir, visited Hong Kong
on numerous occasions. Ruhiyyih Khanum represented the Universal
House of Justice at the International Conference in Hong Kong in
1974. The visits of these Hands of the Cause were often only
brief, but each was nonetheless a precious experience for the
Bahá'ís.

Additional support for the Hong Kong Bahá'ís emerged in the
1960s through the work of Malaysian Auxiliary Board Members
Yankee Leong and Leong Tat Chee, who first visited Hong Kong,
Macau and Taiwan in 1965. Yankee Leong was subsequently appointed
to the Continental Board of Counsellors, and continued to visit
Hong Kong in that capacity. On some visits he remained for
several months. It was from Leong that Jerry Lulla, of Kowloon,
heard of the Bahá'í Faith in April 1968 (in a dentist's waiting
room?) He became vice-chairman Kowloon LSA, and married Linda
Lau. The couple moved to the United States the following year.

It was through Yankee Leong and Leong Tat Chee that R.D.
Gulwani, an Indian of Brahman and Sinhi background, became a
Bahá'í. He declared his faith in the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh on
9 February 1966, having held discussions with the Malaysians for
three days. He participated in Hong Kong Bahá'í activities
vigorously until he returned to India in 1969.

The devotion of Leong Tat Chee, from Malacca, was a particular
inspiration to the Hong Kong Bahá'ís in their teaching
activities. To the distress of the community, he died on 9
October 1972, after a prolonged illness.

Members of the Continental Board of Counsellors were also
frequent visitors to Hong Kong in the 1960s: R. Momtazi from
Japan (the primary counsellor assigned to Hong Kong); K. Payman
from Indonesia; Victor Samaniego from the Philippines, and
Chellie Sundram from Malaysia. Counsellor Firaydun Mithaqiyan,
resident in Laos, visited several times during the years 1970-75,
before moving to Hong Kong with his wife and two daughters. The
Mithaqiyans settled first at Lamma Island, later moving to Mei
Foo in Kowloon.

Additional pioneers arrive

In 1967 Jacqueline Lee arrived in Hong Kong, her husband
Chester following two years later. The Lees had become Bahá'ís
in Cambodia in 1955. Chester had been detained by the authorities
there for 18 months on his return from the World Congress held in
London in 1963, and in 1965 the couple had moved to Vietienne in
Laos. Now they were moving again, to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong
newsletter, 29 April 1969, reported:

Chester Lee recently arrived from Laos to settle down
here with his wife Jacqueline - God willing! Already he
has rejuvenated the Chinese friends. He is certainly an
answer to our prayers as for long we have hoped he would
be permitted to come to Hong Kong to communicate the
Bahá'í spirit and teachings to the Chinese folk in
their own tongue. He is very very welcome and it is hoped
that he rapidly settles down to enjoy a long, happy and
worthwhile sojourn.

Chester Lee was appointed to the National Administrative
Committee charged with preparing for the formation of the
National Assembly, in 1974. The Rubitsheks were another family
who arrived in 1967. They settled on Victoria Island and were
able to strengthen the Assembly there. Nuri and Graham Pepper
arrived in Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1967. The
Rubitschek and Pepper families established Bahá'í children's
classes, which were later handed on to Mona and Meena Datwani. In
1968 Navidad (Baby) Cruz became the first Filipino Bahá'í to
settle in Hong Kong. She remained more than a year, teaching in
the New Territories and on other islands.

Although these pioneers were valuable additions to the
community, the Bahá'ís were still poorly positioned to convey
the Bahá'í teachings to the majority of the people. More
Chinese-speaking Bahá'ís were needed, and the community looked
to the arrival of Malaysian pioneers. Other hindrances were
bureaucratic. When in 1967 a committee (comprising Gian Datwani,
Jody Rubitschek and Len Lewis) was formed to make plans for
celebrating the centenary of the public proclamation of
Bahá'u'lláh, and approaches were made to Hong Kong broadcasting
authorities to allow the broadcasting of Bahá'í programs. The
committee was informed by the Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting
Company that they were:

... not in the position to accept any broadcast
material on religion, finance and politics. We regret
therefore, to decline your kind offer of a series of
short talks on the Bahá'í Faith, because of this
reason.

Acquisition of the Bahá'í Centre

Yet another hindrance to the community was the lack of an
appropriate meeting place. Dr Muhajir decided when visiting Hong
Kong in December 1967 that the time was right to acquire a
Bahá'í centre. He may have heard that property prices had
fallen as a result of recent race riots in the colony - or may
have simply felt inspired, for he soon found an apartment in a
block still under construction on the eleventh floor of the
Hankow Centre, Middle Rd, Tsimshatsui in Kowloon. The apartment
was 840 square feet in area, and cost HK$64,000. While this
amount was substantial for the community at that time they agreed
to make the purchase. The Hong Kong and Kowloon Local Assemblies
held a joint meeting on 31 December to consult on purchase of the
Centre. Although they did not have sufficient funds to make the
purchase outright, they were confident that the funds would be
found, and that the combined resources of their Assemblies would
be sufficient to cover the Centre's ongoing expenses. The Hong
Kong Bahá'ís made the first down-payment, and a large
proportion of the outstanding sum was donations by the National
Assemblies of Iran, Malaysia, the United States, and Japan, and
by several individual Bahá'ís.

Full cooperation and consultation between the Bahá'ís was
required to make the new Centre operate successfully. Officially
opened in August 1968, it housed the National secretariat, and
had live-in facilities as well as room for study classes and
meetings that were open to the public. Maintaining the centre
proved a challenge to the small community. Mr. Lewis made
considerable financial contributions in the first months, and the
Local Assemblies of Kowloon, Shatin and Hong Kong each paid a
share of the Centre's monthly expenses.

National Administrative Committee

As a step toward the later establishment of a National
Spiritual Assembly in Hong Kong, the National Spiritual Assembly
for Northeast Asia decided that the time had come to establish a
National Administrative Committee (NAC). The nine-member
committee, appointed in 1968, had six duties: incorporate the LSA
of Hong Kong as soon as possible; plan methods of proclamation in
the colony; plan for teaching and consolidation activities,
including a teaching institute and summer school; organise plans
for teaching in Macau; transfer ownership of the Hazirat'ul-Quds
to the LSA of Hong Kong; and send copies of the comittee's
minutes to the National Spiritual Assembly.

Chester Lee and Graham Pepper attended the first NAC meeting
on 26 October 1969, in addition to those named by the NSA. The
NAC immediately added Mrs Datwani to its membership, appointed a
four-member Hazirat'ul-Quds committee, and devised a provisional
teaching proclamation plan.

The committee's initial consultations indicated considerable
concern at the weak position of Hong Kong's three Local
Assemblies. It believed each was in danger of lapsing, and
considered the possibility of establishing a business in Shatin
in order to place a pioneer there. The NAC was concerned,
furthermore, at the community's ability to raise sufficient funds
to pay for the activities that had now been added to the already
onerous task of paying off the newly-established Bahá'í centre.
The small proportion of active Chinese members compared to
non-Chinese, moreover, led to considerable consultation. Minutes
of the committee's meeting with a visiting American Bahá'í,
Colonel Pelle, noted:

Difficulty of deepening and teaching Chinese friends
in Hong Kong who are as a social group, very pragmatic
people, was also a problem which to date had not been
solved, in spite of considerable thought and effort. It
was considered essential to maintain three LSAs at all
costs.

Twelve of Hong Kong's sixty-six Bahá'ís were non-Chinese:
Len Lewis, Jerry Lulla, Graham and Nourieh Pepper, Gian and
Lachmi Datwani, Al and Jodie Rubitschek, T.A. Jashan. R.D.
Gulwani, Irma Marsh, and Vicky Etzkorn. But no more than a sixth
of the Bahá'ís were regularly attending meetings. Informed of
the situation, the NSA requested Mr Tehrani to visit Hong Kong.
He came for two months at the beginning of 1970 to assist in
stimulating the community's activities. He visited again in 1971,
with the objective on that occasion of consolidating Bahá'í
communities, and assisting in reforming the existing Local
Assemblies.

Signs of Growth

The Hong Kong Spiritual Assembly, having been first registered
in 1958, was incorporated as a limited company under the
Companies Ordinance on 28 November 1969. This form of legal
recognition granted the Assembly tax exempt status, and
strengthened the legal status of the BahÇ 'ê i community in Hong
Kong. In the next few years the activities of the Assembly
increased, as did the number of enrolled members. There had been
just 14 BahÇ 'ê s in Hong Kong in
1957; by 1961 there were approximately 60 BahÇ 'ê s and not one but
three Local Spiritual Assemblies. Hong Kong's second Local
Assembly was formed in 1967, on Victoria Island. The first
Assembly, which had been known as the Hong Kong Assembly, was
renamed the "Kowloon" Assembly. By the 1970s there was
a need for new approaches to teaching the Bahá'í Faith more
widely in Hong Kong society, and the solution came following the
appointment of a National Teaching Committee, and the decision to
undertaking wide-spread teaching campaigns.

The National Teaching Committee

In 1971 a National Teaching Committee was established to
co-ordinate the propagation efforts of the Hong Kong Bahá'ís
in. Chan Lie Kun was chair of the committee, Ambi Gabathy vice
chair, Yin Hong Shuen secretary, and Chan Lie Fun treasurer.
Peter Tsang was also a member.

Hong Kong's three Local Assemblies were reformed at Ridvan
1971. In August 1971 the NTC resolved to establish at Ridvan 1972
a Local Assembliy at Tsuen Wan, an industrialised town that had
recently been opened by Yan Kee Leong. The committee also moved
to address the needs of Shatin community, assisting its youth
committee and encouraging the commencement of children's classes.

First Malaysian Pioneers

In May 1971 the NSA of Northeast Asia informed the Bahá'ís
of Hong Kong that two pioneers were soon arriving from Malaysia,
intending to stay in the colony for two years. Yin Hong Shuen was
the first. After two months in the colony he wrote home:

Not being able to speak Cantonese is a major problem
as almost everyone speaks nothing else. I learn Cantonese
in the mornings, and go to the villages in the afternoons
with Uncle Yankee and another Bahá'í. Hong Kong and
Kowloon are very beautiful, but I much prefer the
countryside especially the mountains. We visit the New
Territories a lot. Shatin is about nine miles from
Kowloon and there is a local assembly there with a very
cheerful group of Bahá'ís...

There is a continuous flow of Bahá'í visitors to
Hong Kong, from a couple who have been pioneering for the
past seventeen years in Swaziland to Hand of the Cause
Collis Featherstone. Hong Kong, as you all know, is at
the crossroads of Asia.

...We had a very interesting proclamation meeting in
the City Hall where over a hundred attended. The speakers
included Orpha Daugherty from the Philippines, Counsellor
Rehmani from Iran and a Vietnamese Consul. Terry Madison,
a very vivacious Bahá'í professional singer, sang for
the audience. Publicity was obtained in three local
English papers and over the radio.

That same evening we went with a busload of Iranian
Bahá'ís touring the New Territories, and visited Lok Ma
Chau at the Chinese border where special prayers were
said.

The possibilities are so immense that really one
cannot even imagine the final outcome of our humble
efforts in Hong Kong. We are hopefully awaiting more
pioneers from Malaysia.

Yin Hong Shuen was elected secretary of the National Teaching
Committee in 1971, and contributed signficantly to the teaching
activities of the years immediately ahead. Hong Shuen volunteered
to move to Shatin. In October 1971 he introduced to the Faith
Lawrence Ip, who became a Bahá'í on 4 April 1972, at age 22.
Two years later Ip was elected to the first NSA, and became its
secretary. In 1975 he went travel-teaching in the Philippines,
and met there Veam Cornejo, whom he married in 1976.

Forty-Day Teaching Campaign - 1971

The idea of conducting a 40 day teaching campaign in Hong Kong
was conceived at the Oceanic conference in Sapporo, Japan, 2-5
September 1971. Following this conference, a special
international meeting was held in Hong Kong on 14 September to
discuss plans in detail. Hands of the Cause Dr Muhajir and Mr
Furutan, the Counsellors in North and South East Asia, and the
National Assemblies of Northeast Asia and Malaysia, all
contributed to the consultation, which resulted in the Bahá'ís
aiming to attract fifty new members, in nine new areas. Efforts
were made to attract newspaper coverage. In September Chester Lee
and Gian Datwani approached the media, and reporters from the Hong
Kong Standard and the South China Morning Post visited
the Bahá'í Centre and interviewed Hong Shuen.

The campaign commenced in October 1971. Counsellors Vic
Samaniego and Yan Kee Leong took part, as did Philip Marangella
who moved from Japan to Hong Kong at about that time. Mrs Mae
McClinton assisted for ten days while en route from the United
States to her pioneer post in Swaziland. Other participants
included Charles Duncan of Korea, Ray Cooprider of Taiwan,
Hashemi Assassi of Iran, and Auxiliary Board Member Betty
Fernandez of Malaysia.

The campaign targeted islands, rural areas, college campuses,
urban areas, civic organisations, and even the communities of
boat people. Pamphlets were distributed, advertisements placed in
newspapers and public meetings held. A progress report by Ray
Cooprider appeared Bahá'í News in January 1972:

Public meetings are now being scheduled for five
communities outside of Hong Kong and Kowloon. With
publicity, slides, and 50,000 copies of the new Chinese
pamphlets we hope to make the name of Bahá'u'lláh known
to many people throughout Hong Kong(p9).

Hong Kong Bahá'ís were also extensively involved: the
Datwanis and their children Mona, Lolita, Meena and Ranee (who
all spoke Chinese), Mr Azizi, Chan Lie Kun, Chan Lie Fun, Yin
Hong Shuen, and R.D. Gulwani. In the course of the campaign Yan
Kee Leong, Charles Duncan and Ray Cooprider made two four-day
trips to outer islands which resulted in declarations by
twenty-four people. On another occasion they were accompanied by
Chan Lie Kun to Peng Chau Island. Leonard Lewis, secretary of the
National Administrative Committee, and one of Hong Kong's most
dedicated Bahá'ís, passed away at this time. He had arrived in
the colony from England seventeen years earlier as a school
teacher at Victoria Barracks. He learnt of the Bahá'í teachings
from Mr Labib and Mrs Seto in 1960, and had since worked
tirelessly for the progress of the Hong Kong Bahá'í community,
giving particular support to the establishment of the Bahá'í
Centre. His passing was noted in the South China Morning Post.

More Malaysian pioneers arrive

On 19 January 1972 two more Malaysian Bahá'ís, Mr Teh Tiek
Hoe, a graduate of Kuala Lumpur Technical College, and Richard
T.K. Lee, a newspaper correspondent with the Straits Times,
arrived in Hong Kong. Mr "Hungshun" and Mr
"Tekho" (as they were known) arrived in Hong Kong
highly recommended by the NSA of Malaysia, and by Hand of the
Cause Dr Muhajir. They stayed at the Tai Po Bahá'í Centre to
concentrate on teaching activities, reporting to the Malaysian
Bahá'í News:

As soon as we settled in and found our bearings (it
was so cold!), Uncle Yankee, full of youthful vigor and
bouyant spirit took us round on whirlwind visits lasting
many days, to meet the Bahá'ís living on various
islands around Hong Kong. These places had been opened up
during the forty-day campaign and we were quite amazed to
see how much the friends had achieved. These islanders
are steeped in traditions of which they are immensely
proud and to bring in a single believer in this
atmosphere is equal to bringing in a few hundred in more
fertile places.

The success of the first 40-day campaign resulted in two more
being conducted before Ridvan 1972. Nineteen new localities were
opened, and more than 60 new members were attracted during these
campaigns, boosting the size and capacity of the community just
two years before the formation of the National Assembly.

The energy and enthusiasm of the Malaysian pioneers made
possible Hong Kong's first Winter School, held at the Bahá'í
Centre in February 1972. 19 Bahá'ís and 7 enquirers
participated. Lee and Teh also organised a youth teaching
Institute in July 1972. The growing numbers of Bahá'í youth was
a sign that the community as a whole was expanding. A National
Youth Committee was established in 1974, its first members
including Meena Datwani, Stephen Fong Kwok Wai, Graham Smith, Tse
Yip Oi, Yik Siu Ying, and Mary Sze.

Passing of Philip Marangella

Philip Marangella, who had retired to Hong Kong after having
spent almost two decades in Japan, passed away on 31 January
1974. He had attended the North East Asia Convention in Japan in
1973, and although ill on his return to Hong Kong had continued
his Bahá'í administrative duties. In particular, he had been
engaged at the time of his death in determining the allocation of
delegates among the Hong Kong communities in preparation for the
election of the first National Spiritual Assembly.

Other new members

Toward the end of the Nine Year Plan the Hong Kong community
was bolstered by the addition of pioneers, and new members. K.H.
and Monavar Attar, formerly pioneers in Algeria and France, who
resided in Hong Kong from 1972 to 1986. From Hong Kong Mr Attar
frequently attended business fairs in China. An able speaker, he
associated with the leaders of Hong Kong's religious communities:
the Sikhs, Taoists, Baptists, Brahma Samaj and other Hindus. Mr
Attar was also a member of the Lions Club and Toast Masters, and
participated in activities of the United Nations Association.
Before departing in 1986 the Attars donated to the community the
Bahá'í Centre at North Point in King's Road. This property was
later sold, the proceeds from its sale contributing to the
purchase of the Bahá'í Hall in Shelter Street.

Graham Smith arrived from Australia in 1974 and settled in
Tsuen Wan. James Liew arrived from Malaysia in January 1974 and
remained one year. A fluent speaker of Cantonese, he convened a
workshop in Chinese, and was able to assist with his knowledge of
Bahá'í administration. He attended the first National
Convention as a delegate.

In August 1974 Michael and Sharon Bond arrived in Hong Kong,
after living for three years in Japan. Dr Bond was a lecturer in
psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Bonds were
the first non-Chinese Bahá'ís to live at Shatin, where there
were some 30 Bahá'ís, and a functioning LSA. Sharon Bond
recalled:

I remember Tsang Bei Dak who used to mass-teach with
us on Sundays in then rural Shatin. We also had a younger
Peter Tsang (no relation to the above), Mr and Mrs Yik
and their daughter Yik Shiu Ying, and Lau Kin Kwok in our
community. We had most of our Bahá'í meetings in the
Yik's home. Counsellor Yankee Leong often came to Shatin
in the early days for mass teaching with us. I believe
Shatin was the third LSA formed in Hong Kong.

The Five Year Plan 1974-1979

By 1974 there were five Local Assemblies in Hong Kong. The
Universal House of Justice decided it was now time for the Hong
Kong Bahá'ís to establish their National Spiritual Assembly. At
Naw-Ruz the Universal House of Justice informed the community of
its responsibilities for the next five years:

It is with special joy that we hail the establishment
of your National Spiritual Assembly, a significant
development in the onward march of the Faith holding
great promise for the future. To the north and to the
west live millions of souls, nearly a quarter of the
world's population, the vast majority of whom have not
yet had the bounty of hearing of the Teachings. To your
community is given the challenge to play a preponderating
role in winning the hearts of the Chinese people for
Bahá'u'lláh. For this role you must now prepare
yourselves.

In the next five years, the Bahá'ís of Hong Kong and Macau
were to:

* Raise the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies to a
minimum of 10 in Hong Kong and two in Macau;

* Provide for the incorporation of Local Spiritual
Assemblies in all areas except Macau;

* Greatly increase the number of believers in all
parts of Hong Kong and in Macau with a view to the
establishment of a solid base from which the Message of
Bahá'u'lláh may reach Chinese-speaking areas of the
world;

* Incorporate the National Spiritual Assembly;

* Acquire a national Hazirat'ul-Quds by conversion of
the present local Hazirat'ul-Quds in Kowloon;

* Acquire a site for a future Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
assisted by the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan;

* Acquire a local Hazirat'l-Quds in Macau;

* Take over from the Universal House of Justice
jurisdiction over Bahá'í activities in Hainan Island
and establish at least one locality there;

* Encourage and organize regular Bahá'í activities
and classes for women, youth and children of the
communities of your area;

* Mobilize Bahá'í youth for active participation in
the teaching and consolidation work, assigning them
specific goals such as the further development of the
teaching work on high school, college and university
campuses in your area, and the opening of new areas;

* Establish a Publishing Committee for the purpose of
providing translations of Bahá'í literature into
Chinese and, in cooperation with the Publishing Trust of
Taiwan, to publish such literature;

* Make plans to accommodate, and derive the greatest
benefit from the International Conference to be called by
the Universal House of Justice in Hong Kong in November
1976;

* Assign extension teaching goals to the stronger
Local Spiritual Assemblies under your jurisdiction.

The Hong Kong Bahá'ís were reminded, in addition, that it
was their privilege to "provide a continuous flow of
Chinese-speaking travelling teachers to various parts of the
world", and that they would receive pioneer assistance from
Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Formation of the National Spiritual Assembly

These objectives were in the minds of the one hundred
participants at the first national convention, held 26-28 April
at the Mandarin Hotel. Ruhiyyih Khanum attended as representative
of the Universal House of Justice. She presented the community
with a lock of Bahá'u'lláh's hair. Representatives from nearby
Bahá'í communities also attended the convention: Kimiko
Schwerin from Japan, Counsellor K Payman from Indonesia. Late on
the first evening the convention cabled to the Universal House of
Justice:

OFFER SINCERE GRATITUDE FOR HAVING
HONOUR OF AMATULBAHA AS REPRESENTATIVE FEEL THIS BOUNTY
AND PRESENCE TWO COUNSELLORS TWO AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBERS
AND REPRESENTATIVE MOTHER ASSEMBLY WILL GREATLY HELP US
ACHIEVE SUCCESSES TOTAL 84 BAHAIS PRESENT INCLUDING 17
DELEGATES WE PLEDGE CARRY OUT OBJECTIVE OF FIVE YEAR PLAN
AND BESEECH YOUR PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES FOR OUR RAPID
ACHIEVEMENT ALL GOALS.

The first National Spiritual Assembly consisted of two
Chinese, two Iranians, two Indians, one Filipino and two
Americans. Thomas Lane was elected first chairman, Chester Lee
vice chairman, Lawrence Ip secretary, and Khodabakhch Attar
treasurer. The newly elected NSA had the privilege of meeting
with Ruhiyyih Khanum, and the Counsellors. The Universal House of
Justice cabled:

DELIGHTED NEWS SUCCESS YOUR FIRST
CONVENTION PRESENCE HANDCAUSE AMATU'L-BAHA PRAYING
SHRINES SUCCESS HIGHEST HOPES WIN GOALS ATTRACT DIVINE
BLESSINGS CONFIRMATIONS.

Conclusions

Although the Hong Kong Bahá'í community remains one of the
colony's less-known religions after several decades of concerted
effort, its foundations are undoubtedly firmly established, and
its further consolidation is assured. The formation of the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Hong Kong in 1974
was the culmination of efforts commenced by Bahá'ís at least
fifty year previously. In diverse countries Bahá'í communities
have grown and developed at rates which have varied in response
to prevailing social, religious and intellectual conditions, and
as a result also of the effectiveness of their own actions.

Hong Kong society presented a unique and in many ways
difficult society in which to transmit new religious ideas. It is
a congested commercial entrepot developed by a people who
have for the most part arrived from China as either economic or
political refugees. In their new environment they have focused on
rebuilding material prosperity, using traditional Confucian,
Taoist and Buddhist values in matters of religion.

Any novel systems of religious belief would have struggled to
take root in such a distracted environment. Some of the
difficulties that faced the Bahá'ís, however, were attributable
to their own circumstances as much as to social and religious
conditions. These related to culture, and to language. The first
pioneers were from Western, Indian, or Persian backgrounds, and
spoke English rather than Cantonese or Mandarin. Quite naturally,
therefore, those to whom they gave the Bahá'í message were
predominantly English-speaking - whether members of the
expatriate community, or else well-educated Hong Kong residents.
Both groups were highly mobile, with the result that perhaps half
of all of those who became Bahá'ís migrated out of Hong Kong.
It may have been that employment conditions in the colony
inhibited many of the pioneers from staying permanently in Hong
Kong: their presence on fixed contracts may have deterred them
from learning Chinese. A later group of pioneers, the Malaysians,
were not as limited by language, and were more successful in
moving among Hong Kong people and attracting them to the Bahá'í
community in larger numbers.

Chinese speaking Hong Kong residents who did become Bahá'ís
were frequently tied to long working hours, or resided in distant
locations which prevented their regular attendance at Bahá'í
meetings. One result of this continual absence seems to have been
their gradual distancing from the consultative and
decision-making processes that are at the heart of the Bahá'í
administrative system, leading to their social and psychological
remoteness from the dynamics of Bahá'í community development.
The historical records mention but only briefly Mr Moon Chow, who
was unable to attend meetings because of business demands; and
Paul Fong, who worked as a hotel receptionist; and Mr Sun Fat,
the first Bahá'í on Lantao Island; and Stephen Fong, from
Silver Mine Bay on Lantao Island; and Roland Hshu, who left Hong
Kong in 1957 to work aboard a ship. Neither do the records tell
of the life of Chi Fai Ling, or of Ng On (who worked in a shoe
shop and was unable to attend meetings); or of Pong Choo, first
Bahá'í in Po Toi; or of Mr Wong Shiu Fun, who became a Bahá'í
in Tsuen Wan in July 1971; or Dr Shu Feng Wong, an early Bahá'í
of Tsuenwon; or Yick Shui Ming, of Shatin; or Anna Yee, who
married Fok Hoy of Seattle.

Whereas numeric growth of the Bahá'í community was not
large, other achievements were nonetheless notable. Ethnically,
the Bahá'ís exemplified a diverse but unified community. There
was Mrs Kosim Satyaputra, an Indonesian Bahá'í who lived in
Hong Kong with her children Kosim and Widyustuti, and Mr Teksang
Lee, who heard of the Bahá'í Faith from Shirin Fozdar while at
High School in Bangkok, Thailand, and who contacted the Bahá'ís
when he moved to Hong Kong about 1964. There were Bahá'ís from
India, England, North America, and Malaysia, each adding their
temperament and cultural flavour to Bahá'í meetings,
consultation, and festivities.

In the years since the formation of the National Spiritual
Assembly the Hong Kong Bahá'í community continued to expand.
Land for a future Mashriqu'l-Adhkár was purchased
in 1975; an international conference attended by 600 Bahá'ís
from 34 countries was convened in Hong Kong in November 1976. By
1979 the Hong Kong Bahá'í community had grown to ten Local
Spiritual Assemblies, and a total of twenty-six localities. The
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Macau was
established at Ridvan 1989. By 1991 there were twenty-two Local
Assemblies in Hong Kong.

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