for the labour of China's southern provinces. Reclamation and afforestation were carried out; a network of motor roads was cut into the hills; public health administration and antimalarial measures combined with the steady and natural growth of the city itself to present in 1941 a picture very different from that of a century earlier. The rich interior of China was connected by railway with the wharves and warehouses built for the world's shipping; schools and a university were established; Chinese, European and American air lines met in the Colony's airport; shipyards which could build the hulls of 10,000 ton ships and docks able to accommodate the world's largest liners were constructed and light industries were born and thrived.
After Japan invaded China in 1937 the Colony became a refuge for many Chinese and the population grew to over one million and a half. Until the fall of Canton at the end of 1938 valuable war supplies were able to reach China through Hong Kong. With the outbreak of war in Europe in September, 1939, the position of the Colony became precarious, and on 8th December, 1941, the blow fell. Powerful units of the Japanese Army, supported by the Japanese Air Force based on Canton, struck at the Colony. The first attempt of the Japanese to land on Hong Kong Island was repulsed on the night of December 15th- 16th, but a second attempt on the night of the 18th-19th was successful. After some bloody fighting on the Island, the Colony was surrendered to the Japanese forces on Christmas Day. The isolated brigade on Stanley peninsula held out for a further day before capitulating on superior orders.
Hong Kong remained in Japanese hands for over three and a half
years. The population fell from more than one and a half million to less than half that number, largely as a result of the ruthless Japanese policy of compulsorily repatriating Chinese to their original homes in Kwangtung.
The Colony was liberated when units of the British Pacific Fleet entered the harbour on 30th August, 1945, about two weeks after the capitulation of Japan. A brief period of Military Administration was followed by the re-establishment of Civil Government on 1st May, 1946.
146
A