Barbara Yung attended Rosaryhill School from the third year of primary education (she was 7 years old at the time) through the fourth year of secondary education (18) (she was 15 years old at the time she left Rosaryhill to move to England).
Rosaryhill School was a bilingual Catholic school with kindergarten, primary and secondary school (15).
The school was known for being neat and well-disciplined. Both the students and the teachers wore tidy and orderly uniforms (the uniforms were custom made for the teachers). The rural location of the school at the time provided healthy fresh air, but was therefore difficult to reach. (16) A school bus service ensured that students were picked up and returned from various places on the island (15).
The boys and girls were taught separately, the classrooms and playgrounds were even separated and the lesson schedule was arranged in such a way that they did not meet each other during breaks (15).
Class photos show Barbara in both primary and secondary school classes.
It is striking that on one class photo of a primary school class (year not known) there are both boys and girls. All other photos show only girls (4).
In the primary school class photos, Barbara had short to medium length hair and was always in the back rows in the picture (4).
Once in high school, her hair grew longer and her position in the picture moved forward. Finally in class 4G, her last year at Rosaryhill, she was in the front and center in the picture. Two years earlier in class 2G she stood in the 2nd row, and held the school crest (4).
Other photos show that Barbara was very active in the newly formed gymnastic group and also participated in a gymnastics show on a sports day in which she played a leading role (4).
She herself only told me positive stories about her school days. I can’t remember details of these stories, but I do remember that she told me that she was very popular and got a lot of attention from the boys at school. She had little contact with girls her age. Some guys tried to get her attention by pulling her long hair, something she found very annoying (3).
In a TV video made in May 1985 she also talks about her schooldays at Rosaryhill (18).
Unfortunately, I haven't had any contact with her old classmates so far. Therefore I have no confirmation of what Barbara really was like in her class.
Father Xavier (one of the founding Fathers of Rosaryhill School and from 1967 till 1990 principal of the secondary school) remembers Leslie Cheung as a pupil but not Yung Mei Ling. He only mentions her in his memoirs that she contacted him to make a recording at school for the video recorded in May 1985 (17).