School History

Murray Hill Chinese School (MHCS) was founded at Murray Hill, New Jersey, in February 1983, and was thus named. There were 30 students divided into 3 classes. The classes were held at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Summit. As the school grew, MHCS moved to Faith Lutheran Church in Murray Hill in the spring of 1985. The cultural classes started that year as well. In the fall of 1989, MHCS moved to New Providence High School. It remained there until the fall of 1997, when MHCS moved yet again to Watchung Hills Regional High School to accommodate growth. MHCS now has language classes, including Traditional class (pre-k to 10), Bi-lingual class (Pre-K to 8), and Adult class, cultural classes, and adult cultural classes. The student enrollment is about 300. 

MHCS joined Chinese American Cultural Association (CACA) in February 1989 to become a group member. Five Chinese schools − Mid-Jersey Chinese School, Union Chinese School, Raritan Valley Chinese School, Edison Chinese School and Murray Hill Chinese School − and five clubs – Chinese American Music Ensemble, Chinese American Dance Ensemble, Women’s Club, 40 Plus Club and Young Players Philharmonic − are part of CACA.

Looking back, we must attribute MHCS’ continuous growth and outstanding reputation to not only the hard work of past principals, teachers, and administrative staffs, but also to the enthusiastic parents’ support and service to the school, and their involvement and guidance in their children’s education. At MHCS, we not only are engaged in teaching the Chinese language to Chinese Americans of the next generation, but also are expected to pass along the cultural roots to them so that they are proud to be Chinese Americans. Furthermore, we strive to help create a mainstream value system of Chinese origin in culture, politics, economy, education, and all aspects of society. We sincerely hope that every parent will join MHCS’ teaching and administrative staff to work hard to achieve this goal.