192
DAVID FAURE
Madam Wan of Ha Yeung (near Hang Hau), for instance, carried firewood into Kowloon, leaving Ha Yeung at 2.00 in the morning. But the Japanese came and "cut their firewood", and then took her husband away to work for them. She had some rice, and could purchase in addition to what she had her ration of 6.4 taels of rice per day at Ngau Chi Wan. For fear that she might be robbed, she kept her rice in a pit in front of her house. Girls were afraid of being raped when the Japanese came. They darkened their faces with soot and hid under straw. The Japanese sometimes found them nonetheless.85
Mr. Uen Chan Wan of Ta Ho Tun gave us a description that we heard time and again in our interviews:
"Every day I carried firewood into Kowloon with my wife. Life was hard. At the time, oil was 8 cents a catty, eggs 12 for 10 cents, kerosene 3.5 cents a catty, sugar 5 cents a catty. We split bamboo lengthwise into two halves, dried it and sold it for fuel. Then the Japanese wanted labourers to build the road, and asked the village heads to find a person from each family. In principle, a day's work was paid four taels of rice. There was not enough to eat, even when we added what we ourselves grew. We had to eat cassava flour, leaves, and even bark."86
Or, from Mr. Wong Ts'ing of Nam Shan Village,
"During the War, every household had a ration ticket that entitled it to buy four taels of rice a day.
At first you had to go to Kowloon to buy your ration rice; but later it was possible to buy it in Sai Kung. That was more rice than you would now eat, but there was no meat at the time. Many people had swollen feet. It was a very bad time. My father ate bamboo shoots and finally died with swollen feet."87
Mr. Chan Uet Shing of Chiu Hang and his wife worked as porters, and described their experience,
"I was beaten by the Japanese. And there were many bandits who came down from the mainland. There was the rice ration, but you had to buy the rice at Ngau Chi Wan."