War Experience
On December 8th 1941, Japanese forces invaded Hong Kong.
The fighting that ensued has many names: the Battle of Hong Kong, the Defense of Hong Kong and most importantly, the Fall of Hong Kong. Because after 17 days of fighting, on the 25th of December 1941, Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese army.
Hong Kong was occupied under Japanese rule for three years and eight months, until it was then surrendered back to British rule on the 15th of August 1945 near the end of the second world war.
This page provides teachers with resources to give an introductory overview of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, for you to then continue onto topics of either Education, Japanese Propaganda or the Stanley Internment camps. In these topics, students can research further into the scoial asepcts of war that underline the political narratives by studying the consequences of the war experience of those left behind in Hong Kong who were not evacuated to safety like their European peers before the arrival of the Japanese army.
*Important to note*
The research collated together on these pages has been done so with a young audience in mind. The Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong deals with very difficult themes and topics, however, this website offers students the chance to explore this event without delving into graphic subjects.
It is important for students to engage with this event to understand the consequences of the racist evacuation and immigration policy studied before that prevented many Chinese and Eurasian civilians from escaping the occupation.
‘Those who suffered the most, both in the invasion and during the occupation, were the same people the Japanese repeatedly insisted were not their enemies: the Chinese’
John Caroll, A Concise History of Hong Kong (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), p 123.
Let's explore what Caroll means by this, how did they suffer, and why just Chinese people?
The Second Sino-Japanese War
This was a war fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, which began on the 7th of July 1937 near Beijing with the Marco-Polo Bridge incident, which is considered to be the start of the Second World War. The Nationalist capital, Nanking, fell to Japan later in December 1937, and which afterwards Japan continued Northward and Westward of China taking major ports, cities and railways.
Hong Kong was declared a neutral zone of conflict in September 1938. The British Empire was very reluctant to assist the Republic of China against Japan because Britain did not want to entice Japan into war. [Ref 1]​.
'The Japanese Army had marched right up to the border of the New Territories and seemed poised like a cobra waiting for an opportune moment to strike'
​From Dr Li Shu-Fan Hong Kong Surgeon (Victor Gollancz, 1964) p. 91.
Why did the Japanese want to invade Hong Kong?
Hong Kong described by Philip Snow as a ‘thorn in the Japanese flesh’ because arms were being supplied through the colony to those fighting Japan in mainland China of 6,000 tons a month. [Ref 2]
Hong Kong was vulnerable and quite indefensible because of its geographical placement between war-torn China and the South China Sea, and the British Government were very aware of this through a series of assessments carried out in 1937 and 1938. [Ref 3] In the Alberta Report 1987, it revisits the events of Hong Kong in which it quotes Winston Churchill who said 'If Japan goes to war with us, there is not the slightest chance of holding Hong Kong or relieving it.' [Ref 4]. Which is where the title of Tony Banham's book Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941 is derived from.
​
They took no risks with British women and children, who were evacuated as early as June 1940, but were willing to take risks with Chinese women and children.
Preparation before the invasion
Air Raid Shelter Constructions in Hong Kong 1941
With the Japanese army looming close to the border of Hong Kong, preparations were made in the event of air raid bombing. See if students can point out the large presence of Asian children in these photographs
Imperial War Museum, ‘British Forces in Burma, Malaya and Hong Kong, 1941-1942’: IWM (KF 112) Air Raid Precautions in Hong Kong 1941, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205206687 [Accessed 12 April 2025].
University of Wisconsin Libraries, ‘AGSL Digital Photo Archive – Asia and Middle Eas Harrison Forman Collection: 9404, Hong Kong, women with children sitting in street with Photographers notes: Hong Kong, air raid shelters, https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsphoto/id/4916 [date accessed 14 April 2025]
University of Wisconsin Libraries, ‘AGSL Digital Photo Archive – Asia and Middle Eas Harrison Forman Collection: Digital ID fr211857 Construction of an air raid shelter in Hong Kong near the National Bank of New York, 1941. https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsphoto/id/18293/rec/25 [Date accessed 14 April 2025]
When Japan invaded, they mainly aimed bombs towards governmental buildings as they wanted the infrastructure of Hong Kong to remain largely intact. If neighbourhoods or hospitals were hit, it was because they were near government buildings. [Ref 3] Check out Japanese Propaganda in Hong Kong to see why they may have wanted Hong Kong to remain intact.
On the 8th of December 1941, Japan finally attacks
Imperial War Museum 'Wetton Desmond Collection': HU 2780 The Battle of Hong Kong, A Japanese landing party charges into Hong Kong in December 1941. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205195080 [Accessed 12 April 2025]
Japan declared war on Britain and the USA through the bombing of Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December 1941. Japan then invaded Hong Kong on the 8th of December, and the Battle of Hong Kong commenced 18 long days of fighting.
Kowloon fell to Japan first on the 13th of December, which lies in the northern area of Hong Kong across Victoria Harbour. This was a very detrimental loss for the British defense as Dr Li Shu Fan recalls in their autobiography that ‘most of our warehouses were in Kowloon, and packed with machinery, food, medicine, and other necessities of war’. [Ref 5]
No Surrender!
Following the fall of Kowloon, the Japanese army issued a surrender offer to Governor Mark Young, who declined it under orders of Churchill to never surrender.
But this brought stirrings of anti-British resentment as Philip Snow insights that some of the inhabitants ‘did perceive that they were pawns being sacrificed in a larger strategic game’. [Ref 6]
We can understand this resentment from the message given by Winston Churchill to Governor Mark Young during the Battle of Hong Kong, 'We are watching day by day and hour by hour your stubborn defence of the port and fortress of Hong Kong. You guard a vital link long famous in world civilisation between the Far East and Europe. All our hearts are with you in your ordeal. Every day of your resistance brings nearer our certain victory.' This is because the resistance from Hong Kong intended to prevent the Japanese army from invading another British territory as they would face loss from ongoing resistance and fighting. [Ref 7]
In 1946, at the annual dinner for the British Medical Association, Dr P. S. Selwyn Clark, the director of medical services in Hong Kong, described the conditions during the Japanese occupation.
Clark reported that ‘A reasonable estimate of the actual number of deaths among civilians from weapons of war during the hostilities would be 2,000.’ [ref 8]
The lives of these civilians, including women and children who were left behind by the evacuation scheme were all a sacrifice as part of the larger British war effort. Hong Kong was seen to be inevitably doomed, and its civilians were essentially sacrifical lambs.
Tony Banham argues it's important we remember the lost lives of these civilians because ‘While Singapore’s admirable memorial was constructed to remember the 50,000 or so citizens lost during the second world war, Hong Kong, which this appear demonstrates lost approximately six times as many civilians, has built none.' [ref 9]
An overview of the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong
Japanese Troops entered Hong Kong led by Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai and Vice Admiral Miimi Massichi on 26th of December 1941
Imperial War Museum 'The Battle of Hong Kong 1941': HU 2766, Japanese troops enter Hong Kong led by Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai and Vice Admiral Miimi Massichi, 26 December 1941. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205195081 [Accessed 12 April 2025]
General Rensuke Isogai (1886-1967)
University of Hong Kong Libraries Special Collection 'Frank Fischbeck Collection': ff_dbw_01305 General Rensuke Isogai (1886-1967), https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8049n983t#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-905%2C-96%2C2341%2C888 [Accessed 12 April 2025]
Britain surrendered Hong Kong to Japan on the 25th of December 1941, and the Japanese army quickly spurred into action. General Isogai Rensuke was the governor of Hong Kong from the 20th of February 1942. Rensuke looked at Hong Kong ‘as an outstanding promising arena in which to develop ‘political schemes’. [Ref 10]
​
Political agenda
'Asia for Asians'
​
They aimed to foster a cooperation between the Chinese and Japanese to promote their political message that they were liberating the people of China from the white ruler of Britons.
​
‘Hong Kongs population in 1941 was split into two main groups, Europeans and Asians, poised against each other’ Hong Kong: a society in transition; contributions to the study of Hong Kong society (1969) chapter 5 Hong Kong under Japanese occupation: changes in social structure by Henry J. Lethbridge page 79.
​
The Japanese propaganda utilised the feelings of injustice and anti-British sentiment, and that would have built near the beginning of the Battle of Hong Kong as it became clearer that the British government would save their own European women and children but use the Chinese population as sacrificial pawns. ​​​​​
Primary Source: Japanese Propaganda
Check out this Japanese leaflet from 1941 during the battle of Hong Kong that was used to stir anti-British sentiment and encourage the Asian population of Hong Kong to rise up against the British authorities:
Have you really sold even your soul to those playing the part of a Liaozhai character?
Japanese flag...not Chinese flag
University of Wisconsin Libraries, ‘AGSL Digital Photo Archive – Asia and Middle East Harrison Forman Collection’: Fr211811Hong Kong, street scene with Japanese flag hanging from Prince's building 1941. https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsphoto/id/18266/rec/23 [date accessed 14 April 2025]
Queen Victoria Statue in Statue Square in Hong Kong in 1911 before it was removed by the Japapnese. University of Bristol Special Collections Historical Photographs of China
Statue of Queen Victoria, designed by Mario Raggi from The Illustrated London News', 28 January 1893, page 118. Bk13-04 from the University of Bristol Special Collections Historical Photographs of China.
The Three Day Celebration
In the first three days of the Japanese Occupation, their troops were given essentially free reign of the city. This was an incredibly terrifying period of time for the civilians of Hong Kong, which consisted of robbery, property damage and assault. The treatment of the civilians completely underlined the political message and propaganda of the Japanese invasion.
It was in which Philip Snow describes ‘in other words it would seem that the 23rd army had lost sight, by this stage, of the very pan-asiatic ideals on which their campaign was supposed to be based’ [ref 11]​
Primary source: Excerpt from Hong Kong Surgeon (1964) by Dr Li Shu-Fan, page 124.
'Before the last gun of the battle of Hong Kong had cooled, the Japanese had settled over the city and island like a swarm of hungry locusts, seizing, stealing, plundering, squeezing, under a hundered different guises. Their whole attitude was summed up in remark that a gendarme made to my house boy, Ah Cheuk: "Well, we've captured Hong Kong, and everything belongs to us!" '
But the Japanese propaganda of the Hong Kong News says otherwise...
Primary source: Hong Kong News 31st of December 1941
Page 1 Shops Re-Opening:
‘After the Japanese Army entered Hongkong they speedily started restoring order. Patrols were sent round to help the city regain its normal state’
​
Page 2 Message to Chinese:
‘The million and ore who compromise the Chinese population of Hongkong, and who have been under British Imperialism for over 100 years have now been released…New Hongkong has fallen into the hands of Asiatic people and the base of British Imperialistic strength has been destroyed.’​​
Activity: Which source is more reliable?
Have the students discuss which could be used as a more accurate account of the Japanese army's behaviour during the first few days of the occupation.
Make sure they consider the provenance of each source for example
-
Hongkong News was the only newspaper authorised to be published in English, and was produced by Japanese authorities.
-
Hong Kong Surgeon was written as an auto-biography in 1963 by a Chinese doctor who was Li Shu-Fan was the former medical adviser to the president of the Republic of China. At the time of the invasion, Li Shu-Fan was the medical officer-in-charge of the Casualty clearing hospital.
Hunger
Before the invasion, Hong Kong was overrun with refugees from mainland China who were escaping the Sino-Japanese conflict.
​
In a report by Dr Sewlyn in 1946, it was said that ‘the population of Hong Kong was just under 1,000,000, but almost immediately it was swollen by 100,000 refugees, many of them from Shanghai’. [Ref 11]
​
As a result, there were essentially too many mouths to feed.
​
The population went from the 1,750,000 it was before the invasion, with the inclusion of the Chinese refugees, to 600,000 by the time of Japan's surrender in 1945. [ref 12] The reason for such a drastic drop in population can be attested to death through hunger, disease, executions and war casualties. But also Japanese authorities forcibly removed people from Hong Kong to tackle to the food problem. [ref 13]
​
British reports in the post-war period can give an insight into the war experience as they evaluate the state of condition of Hong Kong civilians to set out procedures to help them recover. For example, in Leo Goodstadt's article on the social, economic and political reforms in Hong Kong, found that ‘the military administration had discovered a serious level of deficiency disease among children at the end of the war and gave a high priority to tackling this problem. In 1946, it was estimated that 15,000 school children needed daily food supplements if they were to avoid malnutrition.’ [ref 14]
​
This aligns with Dr Li Shu-Fan's account of the issue of hunger, which caused a large number of deaths.
‘Since all food supplies had been seized by the Japanese, rice could only be purchased on a ration basis’ and only at a few designated government depots. Instead of the normal two pounds a day, the quantity was cut down to a few ounces per person.’ [ref 15]
​
Watched by Able Seaman OF HMS SWIFTSURE hungry Chinese queue for an issue of rice shortly after the British Occupation of Hong Kong.
‘in rain, wind, or beating sun thousands of people queued, and they were so closely packed that their heads looked like the black heads of matches in a box.’
​From Hong Kong Surgeon (1964), an autobiography by Dr Li Shu Fan about the queue for rice rations during the Japanese Occupation​
Imperial War Museum, ‘Admiralty ABS Series’: IWM (ABS 998), British Pacific Fleet 1944-1945, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205259877 [Date accessed 14 April 2025].
References
​
-
Philip Snow, The Fall of Hong Kong: British, China and the Japan Occupation (Yale University Press, 2003) p. 48.
-
Snow, p. 34.
-
Snow, p. 40
-
Hong Kong Veteran's Commemorative Association, 'Chapter Four - Why Were Canadians Sent to Hong Kong?'
https://www.hkvca.ca/Corrigan/Chapter_4.php#:~:text=In%20%E2%80%9CThe%20Alberta%20Report%2C%201987,loss%20we%20shall%20suffer%20there. [date accessed: 13 April 2025] -
Dr Li Shu-Fan, Hong Kong Surgeon, (Victor Gollancz, 1964) p. 94.
-
Oliver Lindsay, The Lasting Honour: The Fall of Hong Kong, 1941, Hamilton 1978, p. 40.
-
‘Hong Kong During The Occupation’, The British Medical Journal, 1, (1946), pp. 167-168 (p. 167).
-
Tony Banham, ‘Hong Kong’s Civilian Fatalities of the Second World War’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch (2019), pp. 31-50 (p. 46).
-
Snow, p. 93
-
‘Hong Kong During The Occupation’, The British Medical Journal, 1, (1946), pp. 167-168 (p. 167).
-
Ibid p. 167
-
Banham, p. 39
-
Leo F. Goodstadt, ‘The Rise and Fall of Social, Economic and Political Reforms in Hong Kong, 1930-1955, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, 44 (2004), pp. 57-81 (p. 69)
-
Shu-Fan, p. 146.