HKU Bulletin June 2006 (Vol. 7 No. 3)

20 21 ARTS Everyday Life in Hong Kong 1942–1945 The University Museum and Art Gallery held a photographic exhibition of one of the solemnest periods in Hong Kong history. H undreds of visitors flocked to the University Museum last month (May) for an exhibition of photographs depicting the fall of Hong Kong and everyday life in the territory under Japanese Imperial Administration, from 1942 to 1945. The display, entitled Hong Kong During the Japanese Occupation, is the fourth in a series of exhibitions on local history to be held in collaboration with Mr Cheng Po Hung. Previous displays have included historical photographs of Hong Kong eateries, brothels and tramways. This time the collection of nearly 70 black and white pictures presents a vivid depiction of the traumatic wartime period. On Decembe r 7 and 8, 1941 Japanese forces conducted a series of attacks on Pear l Harbour, the Phi l ippines, Malaya and Hong Kong in an attempt to cripple the United States Pacific fleet and seize the South East Asian colonies. The battle for Hong Kong, which began eight hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour and ended after 18 days of resistance, was part of Japan’s mission to conquer East and South East Asia and thus make it a power equal in dominance to Europe and America. Hong Kong’s position as a centre of Chinese resistance to Japan’s imperial ambitions also made it more vulnerable to attack. By Christmas Day 1941 it had become clear that further resistance was futile and Governor Mark Young surrendered in person at the Japanese Headquarters at The Peninsula Hotel (later to be renamed the Toa Hotel), making this the first occasion on which a crown colony had surrendered to an invading force. When the Japanese established the Governor’s Office in Hong Kong in February 1942, the administration made clear that the primary purpose of the captured territory was ‘as a centre of supplies for troops’. They renamed roads, made structural al terat ions to Government House (the tower of which still stands), built war shrines to dead soldiers and began work on extending Kai Tak Airport. They also carried out a severe repatriation scheme in the name of self-sufficiency. Millions of people were repatriated to the Mainland, many dying of starvation on the journey. When the Japanese entered Hong Kong in 1941 the population stood at 1.6 million. When they left in 1945 it had dwindled to about 500,000 people. A Forgotten Wartime Tragedy A Hong Kong-based author recounts a wartime tragedy that cost the lives of nearly 2,000 men. A new book, detailing one of the costliest American on British friendly-fire catastrophes of the Second World War, was launched by the Hong Kong University Press in May 2006. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britain’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy , by Tony Banham, reconstructs the fateful voyage of the Japanese freighter, which was torpedoed by an American submarine, in October 1942. On board were two thousand British prisoners of war being transported from Hong Kong, where they had been captured, to Osaka when the freighter was hit off the Zhoushan Islands, south of Shanghai. During the fall and occupation of the territory (from 1942 to 1945) some 4,500 members of the Hong Kong garrison perished. But a full one thousand of them died directly, or indirectly, as a result of this sinking. Banham, an authority on the battle of Hong Kong and author of Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong 1941 , chose to write about the incident because he said “It had been shamefully neglected.”. “Apart from that it was such a powerful story in its own right: a three-act drama encompassing the fighting and the surrender of Hong Kong, the sinking of the resulting Prisoners of War (POWs) on the ship, and the survival of those tough or lucky enough to come through.” Only around 750 of the 1,834 POW’s survived the sinking and Banham has consulted American, British and Japanese sources to give a gripping account of the tragedy and the experiences of the captives, the captors and those abroad the submarine that sunk her. The book took three years to write, although Banham spent much more time researching his subject. “It has been very satisfying to write,” he said. “As it has meant so much to the survivors to have their story told for the first time. Those whose fathers, or grandfathers, were on board have been equally pleased that their experiences have finally been acknowledged.” The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britain’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy is available from the Hong Kong University Press . Ian Inglis, whose father John Inglis (a Bombardier of the Royal Artillery) was a survivor of the Lisbon Maru, reads the web page dedicated to this tragedy.