in hong kong, szeto wah studied at the yau ma tei government school and then the queen's college, and graduated from the grantham college of education. under his brother szeto ming's influence, he and his siblings joined the ywca which had a strong left-wing leaning at the time during his student life. he was contacted by the underground communists and joined the chinese new democracy youth league, the predecessor of the communist youth league of china, in september 1949. under the instruction of the communist party of china, szeto founded the hok yau club in 1949. without any official affiliation, hok yau club was responsible for recruiting youths for the communist cause. among the recruits at the time was mo kwan-nin, who rose to the deputy director of the new china news agency in 1980s. the club ceased to function between 1952 and 1953 after it was busted by the hong kong police special branch. at the same time, he entered the teaching profession in 1952.