Establishment of Dade College

位於屯門何福堂會所內的馬禮遜樓建於1936年，是抗日名將十九路軍軍長蔡廷鍇將軍別墅一部分。1946年至1949年間，該別墅被用作達德學院的校舍。達德學院是在周恩來和董必武指示下創辦，多位當時著名的中國學者均曾在此講學。學院培育了不少年青知識份子。建築物見証了香港在近代中國歷史和中華人民共和國建國史中所扮演的獨特角色。

馬禮遜樓以裝飾派藝術建築風格建成，選用上海批盪，廡殿式的屋頂以青釉中式瓦片砌築，四角飾以瑞龍，反映了中西相容的獨特建築風格。

Antiquities and Monuments Office. (2020, January 23). Declared Monuments in Hong Kong. https://www.amo.gov.hk/b5/monuments_79.php

The communists who stayed behind quickly moved into their respective areas of expertise. Qiao Guanhua (喬冠華), Huang Zuomei (黃作梅) and Tan Gan (譚幹), who had extensive Hong Kong experience, set up the Hong Kong Branch of the Xinhua News Agency and Dade College (達德學院) in Tuen Mun, New Territories, in October 1946...At the same time, Zhou Enlai, who was involved in the negotiations with the KMT in Nanjing, instructed Lian Guan and Lin Ping, both senior cadres of the South China Bureau of the CCP, that "the Party needed a base in Hong Kong to accommodate some 'democratic personnel' and cultural workers who were to be evacuated to Hong Kong from Nanjing, as the civil war was imminent".

Both Communist Party and KMT would like to start a school in Hong Kong. One month prior to the actual opening of the college, it ran an enrollment advertisement in the media and attracted 100 regular students. Students came from three main sources: the KMT-occupied areas (~70%); various Communist guerrilla cadres in Guangdong; and cadres from Communist parties in Southeast Asia. Regular students from Hong Kong looking for genuine post-secondary training were in minority...Many Communist leaders who were living in Hong Kong gave occasional lectures there, including Guo Moruo (郭沫若), Qiao Guanhua, Mao Dun (茅盾) and the famous novelist Cao Yu (曹禺). But the Hong Kong government discovered the real nature of the college, a training center for Communist cadres and sympathizers. So on 23 October, 1949, the Hong Kong government cancelled the registration of the college.

Chan, S.J. (2014). East River Column -- Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.