East River Column: Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After

Preface

Preface Those who apply the doctrine of Dao to help the ruler will oppose all conquest by military force. War being so destructive will, as law of cause and effect, bring harm to the Maker. With the station of soldiers, thorny bushes might grow, thus affecting the livelihood of peasants. Great wars are always followed by famines. Therefore a good general will not use force to carry out invasion. After the war, he does not think it an act of glory. Despite the effect he does not boast of his merit. Despite the effect he does not take pride in it. Because he considers the force so used is only a regrettable necessity. After the war, he does not love violence. When things reach their prime, they will decay and become old. Violence by the use of force is against the nature of Dao. — Chapter Thirty, Daodejing, Lao Zi. 6th Century B.C. This book has had a long gestation. As a child who has witnessed the Japanese invasion and their atrocities inflicted upon the people in Hong Kong in 1941–42, it was a defining experience not only for me but also for members of my family. Despite the burden of having a family of eight children and holding down a full-time job in the government, my father served as an Inspector of the Special Constabulary and took up arms in defending Hong Kong. Subsequently, he took the entire family to China, where he worked for the British Information Attache’s Office in Guilin and the British Army Aid Group (BAAG) in Kunming, Yunnan, China. On V. J. Day, my father, the late Mr. Chan Kwok-wing, was a proud member of the BAAG’s “S” Section. Together with his colleagues, they were flown to Hong Kong in the first week of September 1945. Their Commandant, the late Sir Lindsay Ride, landed in Hong Kong only several days ahead of them. Their task was to “identify, locate, apprehend all traitors, collaborators and enemy agents”. In a way, I owe it to my father to write a book about this period of Hong Kong’s history, and to him this book is dedicated. x Preface As I resumed my primary schooling, interrupted by the war, I gradually became interested in books and articles written about the war years in Hong Kong. During my undergraduate years at the University of Hong Kong, I was influenced by Professor Ronald Hsia. He is a distinguished economist of world standing, and his knowledge of modern Chinese history is immense. By a happy coincidence, I had the privilege of being appointed District Officer, Sai Kung, New Territories, Hong Kong in 1980. Many of the heroes and veterans of the East River Column of the Guangdong People’s Anti-Japanese Guerrillas Force who lived in the district told me their stories. Another coincidence was the publication of Professor David Faure’s short oral history project, “Sai Kung in the 1940s and 1950s” shortly after I took office. With limited resources at his disposal, Faure produced a useful source of background material. For the first time, the subject was published in both English and Chinese. Shortly thereafter, Edwin Ride published the British Army Aid Group, Hong Kong Resistance 1942–1945. It provided an impetus for me to collect materials on the subject. However, from the Chinese side, much of the materials were still being classified as “confidential” and restricted to internal consumption only. When veterans of the East River Column celebrated their 40th anniversary in Shenzhen in December 1983, the Governor, the late Sir Edward Youde, noticed the event and suggested to me that it was a project worthy of a full-size book. The late Professor Barbara Ward of Cambridge University, who was teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong then, encouraged me to pursue the research in earnest, when she discovered that I was collecting materials for the subject. With a full-time job of steering the development of a new town of some 300,000 people, it was difficult to sit down and start writing the text. In the meantime, I had the good fortune of tracking down the late K.M.A. Barnett, a distinguished member of the Administrative Officers Grade of the Hong Kong government. He personally took part in the defense of Hong Kong at the Lyemun Barracks as a soldier of the Royal Hong Kong Defense Force during...