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4 Resurrection (1941–61)
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Resurrection (1941–61) 63 Soon after the fall of Hong Kong on Christmas day 1941, the entire British population in the colony was arrested and put into concentration camps — officers in Argyle Street near DBS, other ranks in Shamshuipo and civilians, women and children in Stanley. Mr. G. Goodban and three other English members of staff, namely Mr. B. J. Monks, Mr. A. K. Crawford and Mr. G. G. Davies, were taken as prisoners of war and placed in concentration camps; and Mrs. Goodban and their first child, born on 23 December 1941, were taken to Stanley. Many prisoners were tortured and then killed; others suffered from malnutrition and died from illnesses; while some, including two masters from DBS, were sent to Japan for hard labour. Mr. Goodban and Mr. Monks were not well enough to be sent to Japan but joined labour units in Hong Kong. During the period of Japanese occupation, many people fled Hong Kong, reducing its population from 1.6 million to 600,000. Most schools were closed and student numbers shrank from 112,000 to between 4,000 and 7,000.1 DBS was turned into a military hospital. It is believed that most of the DBS teachers had left Hong Kong but Mr. Young Saye and Mr. Y. S. Chan stayed behind, with the former working as a cashier in the Star Ferry and the latter as a clerk and as a private tutor. Several DBS staff did not survive the war: Mr. T. S. W. Chan, the bursar, died at home in 1943 and Mrs. M. Hassard, the matron, died in the Stanley Internment Camp in 1945. Sociopolitical Setting After the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, the British government immediately sent a task force, led by Admiral Harcourt, to Hong Kong to 4 Resurrection (1941–61) 64 To Serve and to Lead reclaim British sovereignty and put the colony under military administration for eight months from 1 September 1945. The essentials, including order, food supplies and public health, were put in place very efficiently, and by the end of 1945 the situation had improved to such an extent that Hong Kong was reopened for trade and the banks were fully functional, though rice and fuel remained in short supply. In April 1946, Sir Mark Young recuperated sufficiently to resume his interrupted governorship, restoring civil rule and reintroducing the crown colony system of government on 1 May 1946.2 The reopening of DBS coincided roughly with the return of civil rule to Hong Kong. Young was remarkably forward-looking and far-sighted. On the first day of the return to civil rule, he declared that the British government was considering means by which the residents of Hong Kong, as elsewhere in the empire, would be given a fuller and more responsible share in the management of their own affairs. He began to implement a number of policies and reforms, but they failed to outlast his short term as the local Chinese elites did not support his plans and Sir Alexander Grantham, who succeeded him in 1947, also did not share his views.3 Moreover, the political situation in China was changing. 4.1 Speech Day in 1948 [3.83.87.94] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 14:18 GMT) Resurrection (1941–61) 65 Soon after the Japanese surrender, civil war broke out in China which eventually ended with the communists taking power in the Mainland and Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing on 1 October 1949. Later that month, the Chinese army reached the border of Hong Kong and, although the communists considered the treaties that led to the ceding of Hong Kong and Kowloon and the lease of the New Territories invalid, they wisely decided to maintain the status quo. This move proved to be strategically sound because, in return, Britain recognized the new regime on 6 January 1950. When the Korean War broke out in June of that year, China was forced by circumstances to help North Korea when the US army, sent in the name of the United Nations to support South Korea, reached the Chinese border in July. China was able to use Hong Kong to break the embargo imposed by the USA and the United Nations to serve its interests. Goods were imported, smuggled if necessary, and exported through Hong Kong. The civil war brought an endless stream of refugees from different parts of China into Hong Kong throughout...