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'The Test of Uilr'* Dcifydd Emrys Evans C hapter Six of The First Fifty Years was written by Sir Lindsay Ride, then Professor of Physiology. It was entitled 'The Test of War' and dealt generally with the impact on the University of the disaster which struck Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded and conquered the colony in December, 1941. It also tells of the manner in which the University was able, albeit in times of adversity, to go some way towards fulfilling the high ambitions of service to China which had been so cherished many years earlier by Lord Lugard, ambitions which had largely been frustrated. Sir Lindsay's story necessarily started some time before the invasion of Hong Kong itself as the Japanese had already advanced south through a China in increasing turmoil. In describing the contribution of the Medical Faculty to alleviating China's plight, he said this (at p. 60): 'China's civil and military medical services were still only in embryo when the japanese started their military operations against her; the resulting casualties and sickness among the Chinese population were appalling. There was ample scope for medical assistance of all types, and two of the organizations set up to help were the League of Nations field units and the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps (MRC). One of the former units was run by Dr R.c. Robertson, who later became our professor of pathology, and with him were two of our graduates who had to leave the Kailan Mining Administration when the japanese captured the mines. They were Drs Chia Shih Ching (1924) and Hua Tsejen (1928). Many of our graduates served with the MRC; Dr Sze Tsung Sing (1931; after the war to become the University's first professor of public health) who was already in * This chapter is reprinted from Constancy of Purpose: Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong by Dafydd Emrys Evans. Hong Kong University Press (1987). 169 170 Dafydd Emrys Evans the Chinese Ministry of Health, joined Dr (Robert) Lim (professor of physiology at the Peking Union Medical College and the driving force behind the MRC) as officer in charge of the preventive side of the work. Another of the earliest of our graduates to join was Dr Eva Ho Tung (1927); she commanded a unit in the field for some years before returning to serve during the hostilities in Hong Kong.' Sir Lindsay records the names of many graduates who assisted and served the MRC in many ways: Dr John Ho Hung Chiu (1940), Dr Philip Mao (1938), Professor Cheng Kwok Kew (1939) and Dr G.M. Abraham (1939) among them. When Lingnan University, successor to the Canton Christian College, was forced to move from its Canton campus at Kong Le (now occupied by Zhongshan University), the University opened its doors to the Lingnan medical students who were thus able to continue their studies, an act of cooperation as will be seen later to be repeated by mainland universities for the benefit of HKU medical students during the occupation. Hong Kong had prudently prepared itself as best it could for the worst to happen and many plans were ready for implementation when the blow fell in 1941. The University, then consisting principally of the Main Building, was earmarked as a relief hospital superintended by Professor Gordon King, though Queen Mary Hospital nearby took the major brunt of treating casualties both civil and military, and members of the University provided essential round the clock services there too. As Sir Lindsay put it: 'Since the names of all those who served during the war are recorded elsewhere, it is not intended, even if it were possible, to mention here separately the service rendered during the hostilities of every member of the University.' A pity! On Christmas Day, 1941, the inevitable happened and Hong Kong fell to the Japanese. Normal life was impossible and it was clear that the University's doors would close. But what of the students whose courses were thus interrupted? Though the European civilian population (those not nationals of countries allied to Japan) were to be interned in the grounds of the recently completed Stanley Prison (and some members of staff were to die there), this did not happen immediately and the University moved to put its house in order. Some medical students had actually been sitting down to take their final examinations even as the Japanese bombed Kai Tak airfield on the morning of Monday, 8 December...

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