regarding a clandestine relationship that he had many years before with a Chinese lady and which produced three children.
Roderick O'Brien addresses a totally different subject. In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, after the defeat of Lon Nol's Khmer Republic forces, and entered Phnom Penh. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge remained in power for nearly four years, pursuing policies which resulted in the death of nearly two million people through execution, starvation, and disease. The question of a tribunal to bring those responsible to justice has been on the drawing board for several years but has yet to materialise. Roderick has lived and worked in Cambodia and provides a factual, objective and unemotional account of the tragedy of Cambodia and what may lie ahead.
The exploits of H.M.S. Hermes on the China Station in the 1930s occupy Jonathan Parkinson. Hermes was the Royal Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier and was, by all accounts, a happy ship. She was ultimately sunk by the Japanese off Batticaloa in 1942; a sad end to a distinguished career spanning nearly 20 years.
Where would our Journal be without the redoubtable Keith Stevens? Keith has produced another splendid article for this volume. It recounts the Russo-Japanese War fought largely on Chinese soil - and with scant regard for the Chinese people who suffered greatly - almost exactly 100 years ago.
The Notes and Queries section is an important miscellany of this and that. Each little and not so little piece represents an investment in time and effort by the individual concerned. Included is another piece on the Chinese Labour Corps in Europe during World War I (See The Chinese Labour Corps in France, 1917-1921, Vol. 40, JHKBRAS, pp. 33-111, and various Notes and Queries in Vols. 41 and 42); some interesting photos which I will leave readers to mull over themselves; a further moving piece (which was almost an article) on Samuel Cornell Plant by his nephew Michael Gillam no less (see The Life and Times of Captain Samuel Cornell Plant, Vol. 41, JHKBRAS, pp. 407-416); a note on the Belilios Star (Hong Kong's official life-saving medal); and a piece on what became of the Tyndareus Stone which used to adorn the sitting out area beneath High West (Victoria Peak) before it was plundered - I see no other word for it - by the British Army in 1993.