![](https://heritage.spc.edu.hk/upload_files/90_alumni/58.png)
Tse Ping Fui
謝炳奎
(1923–2018)
Class of 1941 - Lo Chung (The Chief) of Hong Kong’s Scouts
1941屆畢業 — 香港童軍主領袖
Born in Shantou (Swatow), Tse Ping Fui studied at St. Paul’s College from 1934 to 1941, joining the Scouts in 1935. During the Pacific War, Tse worked as an interpreter for the Americans. A key figure in the Hong Kong Scouts’ post-war development, he is known as lo chung (‘the chief’) within the association.
Tse was a boarder in his first year; most college boarders at the time were Thai Chinese who only spoke Teochew. Knowing Cantonese, Mandarin, and Teochew, Tse found himself an interpreter within the hostel.
As the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, the local administration strengthened defences in preparation; this included civil training in collaboration with the Scouts. Tse was a dispatch rider and served on the air raid precaution patrol. In the Battle of Hong Kong, Tse helped St. John Ambulance medics (stationed at the College campus) navigate Central’s streets to treat casualties. Among the many displaced following the fall of Hong Kong, Tse joined the US Office of War Information in 1944, translating intelligence from the Huizhou–Chaoshan region. He returned to Hong Kong in 1947.
After the war, at the behest of principal Evan Stewart, Tse helped to rebuild the 10th Hong Kong Scout Group. He successively served as the 10th group’s scoutmaster (1950–54), the Victoria District commissioner (1955–61), Hong Kong Island Area’s first commissioner (1961–68), and Tai Tam Scout Camp’s chief warden. Tse frequently led his scouts to international jamborees. He was appointed the Scout Association of Hong Kong’s honorary commissioner in 1975.