OVERVIEW OF THE CHEFOO MAGAZINE The Chefoo Magazine was established in 1908 as the official organ of the Chefoo School's Association. The Chefoo School had been founded in 1881 by the China Inland Mission, and the alumni association was established in January 1908. At the end of their first year they produced their first magazine as a means of communicating with their membership, potentially in the UK, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Shanghai, and anywhere else in the world where former students were located. Although the Association still exists (2019), the last magazine was published in 2018. This was a remarkable 110-year run, especially when considering that the School in China was closed in the early months of 1951 when Westerners were forced to leave China. Throughout much of the history of the Association, it was dominated by alumni from Great Britain. This is not surprising given that for its entire time in China it was a British school. However, soon after it was formed branches were established in Shanghai, North America (Toronto), and Australia (Melbourne), and even, mysteriously, in Manchuria. A branch was later established in New Zealand. Branches were the instruments for soliciting personal news and essays for the magazine, and for distributing the magazines throughout their jurisdictions. A constitution was established in 1929, and this formalized what was no doubt already common practice. The executive function of the Association was the Executive Council of the British Branch. Further, honourary positions were formed that included a President, and several Vice- presidents. Vice-presidents traditionally were former teachers and headmasters of the Chefoo School. These honourary people could be consulted, but they had no executive functions. This constitution was unchanged until 2014 when the British Branch folded due to aging, and the executive council was now composed of the chairperson/secretary treasurer of the three remaining branches: North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The presence of the Association is still quite apparent in Melbourne and Toronto where annual reunions are held with attendances ranging from 20 to 30 people. Occasional email communication from the former editor of the magazine is shared with approximately 120 Chefusians in various parts of the world. But essentially the Association is fading away, the very youngest being in their seventies, and the oldest range from mid-eighties upwards to 100 (at least one Chefusian lived to be 106; at age 105 he had renewed his subscription for two more years). Magazine Name The name of the magazine for most of its history was The Chefoo Magazine. However, for many years the cover title was simply Chefoo, although for most of those years the first page stated that it was The Chefoo Magazine. In 1933 there was a low ebb when apparently it became questionable whether the magazine would survive due to an insufficient number of members to finance its production and distribution. For a few years it was referred to as the 1 | P a g e