13th June 2010 (16)
JAPANESE INVASION IN HONG KONG
Japan invaded Hong Kong in Dec 1941 and occupied it for three years and
eight months. Life was hard under the Japanese brutal administration. There
was inadequate supply of food and everything was rationed. Most people did
not have enough food to eat and many died of starvation or malnutrition. Very
often many young women were raped.
My mother-in-law told me that during the Japanese invasion, she carried my
husband, her first child, on her back, and sold second hand clothes in the
streets to make extra cash. The exchange rate was fixed at HK$2 to one
Japanese Military Yen. But the Japanese government forced all the citizens of
Hong Kong to exchange all their Hong Kong Dollars to Japanese Military Yen
at a rate of HK$4 to one Japanese Military Yen which was the sole legal
tender. The people then became poorer with this unfavourable exchange rate
imposed by the Japanese occupier. After the war in 1945, the Japanese
Military Yen became worthless.
My father was at that time a young member of the Volunteer Defence Force
which was formed in 1854. It was a local auxiliary military force funded by the
Hong Kong and British Governments. On the day of the Japanese invasion,
he was on duty guarding the Wong Nei Chong Reservoir. He suddenly heard
some loud shooting noise from above and something just flew past his steel
helmet, causing a small dent. He realized that he had a lucky narrow escape.
As his family did not come from China, he and his parents were then
transported by the British government to Macau, a small island off the
southern coast of China, and stayed there until the Japanese surrendered.
This applied to most of his relatives as well. They all then returned to Hong
Kong when it was liberated from the Japanese.
During this period, my mother was not married to my father yet. She once
mentioned that she had worked in a Japanese business firm for a short time
and she had picked up a few words of Japanese.
I was brought up hearing constantly people talk about ghosts being seen in
the old Hong Kong Government Offices in Central District and also in the old
Supreme Court, both buildings being used by the Japanese as headquarters
of the Military Police of the Japanese Imperial Army and ordinary Hong Kong
citizens were tortured to death or executed.
Yuen-yee
JAPANESE INVASION IN HONG KONG
Japan invaded Hong Kong in Dec 1941 and occupied it for three years and
eight months. Life was hard under the Japanese brutal administration. There
was inadequate supply of food and everything was rationed. Most people did
not have enough food to eat and many died of starvation or malnutrition. Very
often many young women were raped.
My mother-in-law told me that during the Japanese invasion, she carried my
husband, her first child, on her back, and sold second hand clothes in the
streets to make extra cash. The exchange rate was fixed at HK$2 to one
Japanese Military Yen. But the Japanese government forced all the citizens of
Hong Kong to exchange all their Hong Kong Dollars to Japanese Military Yen
at a rate of HK$4 to one Japanese Military Yen which was the sole legal
tender. The people then became poorer with this unfavourable exchange rate
imposed by the Japanese occupier. After the war in 1945, the Japanese
Military Yen became worthless.
My father was at that time a young member of the Volunteer Defence Force
which was formed in 1854. It was a local auxiliary military force funded by the
Hong Kong and British Governments. On the day of the Japanese invasion,
he was on duty guarding the Wong Nei Chong Reservoir. He suddenly heard
some loud shooting noise from above and something just flew past his steel
helmet, causing a small dent. He realized that he had a lucky narrow escape.
As his family did not come from China, he and his parents were then
transported by the British government to Macau, a small island off the
southern coast of China, and stayed there until the Japanese surrendered.
This applied to most of his relatives as well. They all then returned to Hong
Kong when it was liberated from the Japanese.
During this period, my mother was not married to my father yet. She once
mentioned that she had worked in a Japanese business firm for a short time
and she had picked up a few words of Japanese.
I was brought up hearing constantly people talk about ghosts being seen in
the old Hong Kong Government Offices in Central District and also in the old
Supreme Court, both buildings being used by the Japanese as headquarters
of the Military Police of the Japanese Imperial Army and ordinary Hong Kong
citizens were tortured to death or executed.
Yuen-yee
Manual labourers
Hawker earning for a living
Grocery store
Japanese banknote