[ { "id": 208013, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 52, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "36 \n\nG. C. EMERSON \n\ncheques to fellow internees who had extra yen. These cheques were payable after the war and were called ‘duress cheques' as they had been written under duress. After the war the Hong Kong Government announced that people should not feel obligated to honour them. However, as those who signed the cheques had done so willingly and felt that in many cases they had saved them from starvation, almost all the cheques were honoured. As a result, a few of the internee-traders who held many of these cheques became wealthy.\n\nOne man was said to have done this:\n\n1st he traded 8 lbs. of rice for a tin of golden syrup\n\n2nd — he sold the syrup for HK$500\n\n3rd — he sold the HK$500 for ¥3000\n\n4th he sold the ¥3000 at ¥10 to £1 for a £300 cheque.\n\nThus his original 8 lbs. of rice, which before the war was worth about 1 shilling and 4 pence, was eventually turned into 300 pounds sterling!\n\nFood and the Black Market occupied much of Camp \"gossip\", and another topic frequently talked about was repatriation. For the British, repatriation never occurred, partly because in exchange for them, the Japanese asked for a group of Japanese interned in Australia who had been pearl fishermen there and hence knew the coastline very well. Fearing a possible Japanese invasion of Australia, for which these people would have been invaluable, the British government refused to allow their repatriation. The Americans and Canadians in Stanley Camp were, however, repatriated. On 29th June 1942, the first group, mostly Americans and numbering about 300, left on the Asama Maru for Lourenco Marques, Mozambique, where they met the Gripsholm bringing Japanese from America. Changing ships, the Americans reached New York on 25th August 1942. The second repatriation took place in September 1943, when approximately 140 internees, mainly Canadians, returned home.\n\nOne internee, watching the Americans march down to the jetty in Stanley Bay to board small boats which took them out to a ferry for transference to the Asama Maru, wrote:\n\nWe sat on the wall of the cemetery and with deep emotion watched them go. We had dreams of good food for them, of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208019, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 58, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "42 \n\nG. C. EMERSON \n\nJanuary 5 \n\n21 \n\n24 \n\nFebruary \n\nAssembly at Murray Parade Grounds; internment in waterfront hotels \n\nMove to Stanley \n\n1st meeting of Temporary Committee \n\n1st meeting of British Communal Council \n\nJune 29 American repatriation on \"Asama Maru\" \n\n1st meeting of First British Community Council \n\n1st Allied air raid on Hong Kong 1st Red Cross parcels, from Britain \n\nAugust \n\nNovember \n\nFebruary April/May \n\n1st meeting of Second British Community Council Arrests of bankers & Dr. Selwyn-Clarke (Director of Medical Services) \n\n1st meeting of Third-British Community Council \n\nCanadians repatriated on \"Teia Maru\" \n\nExecutions of seven internees \n\nSeptember \n\nOctober \n\nJanuary \n\nFebruary \n\nSeptember \n\n2nd Red Cross parcels, from Canada \n\nMilitary took control: Civilian Internment Camp, H.K. became military Internment Camp, H.K. \n\nBritish Community Council dissolved; District Chairmen to run Camp \n\n1944 \n\nJanuary 16 Bombing of Bungalow C-14 internees killed \n\nMarch \n\nMay \n\nAugust \n\n15 \n\n3rd Red Cross parcels (part of Nov. 1942 shipment, from Britain) \n\nNews of Germany's surrender \n\nEmperor's broadcast in Tokyo \n\n16 Japanese informed Mr. Gimson of surrender \n\n30 Rear Admiral Harcourt arrived; flag-raising ceremony in Camp", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208674, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "104\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nEngdall was Catholic. They were also allowed to bless the body in the Consulate quarters for a few minutes only.\n\n16-Father Toomey sings a Requiem Mass for Mr. Engdall at 8:30. The four recent escapees were brought back and placed in the Prison today. It is said that they look pretty well the worse for wear, having been treated pretty roughly, and on an almost starvation diet. Brother Anthony goes to the Hospital again.\n\n17-Sunday. Father Toomey preached at all three Masses. Canteen opens in the afternoon, with a limited supply of Gruyere cheese selling at $3.00 a half pound, and soda crackers at 10¢ apiece.\n\n18-Sister Paul gets word in that all Maryknoll Sisters may remain no repatriation. Bishop Valtorta suggests that if we get out of the Camp, we go to Macao and carry on our language school there. In the Camp there has been organized a sort of an international welfare society whose members are trying to get some needed supplies for the internees. Today, volunteers were called for to help out in its office and Father Madison got a job.\n\n19-Father Allie starts a convert class, beginning with five adults. In response to our request that we be allowed to return to our House in order to get a few books, we are told that the place has been cleaned out and that there is nothing left. Father Gaiero has a slight touch of dysentery.\n\n20-The International Welfare Association hands out khaki shirts, handkerchiefs, tennis shoes, soap, porcelain cups and toilet paper, in very limited quantities. Father Allie suddenly gets permission to go to St. Paul's Hospital in the city for an X-ray treatment.\n\n21-Report that the Asama Maru will arrive here on June 15th and leave on the 16th, with the repatriates. Father Downs succumbs to an attack of dysentery, and goes to Tweed Bay Hospital. Father Quinn also comes down with the \"flu\" or something akin to it.\n\n22-Father Allie returns from Hong Kong, with very disconcerting news of the conditions in the city, with the result that another meeting of the brethren was held, and five of the new men decide to return to America and hand in their names to the Council. Further report also has it that the 12 Maryknoll Sisters will go, the other four remaining in Camp. Father Gaiero better.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208678, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "108\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nthat $30.00 go to the community kitchens, the rest to the individual. However, now, due to discounts, the increase in prices and the delay in getting these parcels moving, we get about 37% less than we otherwise would. Again we Maryknollers divided out $75.00 into two portions, one of $50.00 for our own little community kitchen, and the remaining $25.00 being personal. So in the final analysis, each individual got about $16.00 worth of food and toilet articles. To satisfy our craving for sweets, most of us got bulk chocolate, only to find that this was a bit wormy. However, we soon boiled the worms out of their happy home, and consumed the home. The repatriation boat delayed until the 23rd of the month, and there will be a choice of first, second and third-class passage.\n\n12- Another funeral service for Mr. Engdall, with Father Toomey officiating and Father Allie giving the eulogy. Drawing takes place today for staterooms on the Asama Maru. The American kitchen staff quits, in order to pack up for departure. No tears shed!\n\n13- The International Welfare Association hands out a few more goods, such as handkerchiefs, toilet paper, etc. A new squad of cooks take over and everybody pronounces the food better cooked. Photographs of the repatriates taken on the lawn. An entertainment this evening outside on the Bowling Green in front of the American Club building. It is surprising what talent there is in the Camp, and these entertainments are well received.\n\n14-Sunday. Masses change to 8:15 and 9:00. We learn from the Bamboo Wireless that Bishop O'Gara and three Maryknoll Sisters have left Hong Kong for Kwongchauwan for the interior.\n\nThe following days were quite uneventful. On the 17th, a meeting was held in which a little more information on repatriation was given out. The examination of baggage is to be very strict — no books, no diaries, no money, not even Bibles with notes scribbled on the margin to be allowed. The Hong Kong News says that several Maryknoll Fathers have been released from Camp. That's certainly news to us! Another report says that each repatriate is to receive one hundred yen for the trip, while another says that $250.00 U.S. currency will be allowed to be taken aboard the boat.\n\nOn the 19th, a dance was held in the Club from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., the curfew being extended half an hour by special permission.\n\nPage 135\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208679, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 136, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 \n\n109\n\n20- Another community meeting but no further developments on repatriation. At 11 o'clock this morning we were agreeably surprised to learn that Sister Paul and Sister Corazon were on \"The Hill\" and that we could go up and see them. Again Sister Paul moved the adamant hearts of the Japanese and secured permission to enter the Camp to say goodbye to her departing Sisters. We learn that our own names have been handed in to the Foreign Office in Hong Kong for release from the Camp, and our hopes are high. We also learn that Father Tennien is in Chungking, and that Father Briggs and Father Hater are both quite ill. Since Sister Paul and her Sisters have been in Hong Kong, we have been enabled to receive weekly parcels of foodstuffs, and this has helped a great deal. For some weeks a league of softball has been in progress, and today the last game of the season was played between the British and Americans, the score being 15 to 6 in favor of the latter. A Stanley Cup was fabricated by Camp artisans and presented to the winners.\n\n22-The first anniversary of our newly ordained Maryknollers, and they enjoy a Camp lunch at the Maryknoll Sisters' apartments at 7:00 p.m. The repatriation ship, the Asama Maru has been further delayed. Due to some circumstance or other, our rice ration on the 23rd and 24th was very meager, but Father Meyer came to the rescue with his toasted rice which he has been saving for such a rainy day.\n\n25-Rumor hath it that our papers or forms are now on “The Hill,” and that we may get final word any day now to pack up and leave for Hong Kong. Mr. Gunn, an American, and seven others, British and Portuguese, are advised they may leave Camp tomorrow.\n\n26-We were delighted today to receive a visit from His Excellency, Bishop Valtorta, who asked permission to come out and say goodbye to the repatriates. He could remain but a short time, and bade the rest of us to have hope, as he felt we would be released in due time. He is also trying to secure the release of the Canadian Sisters. The Asama Maru is now scheduled to leave on the 30th, the repatriates going on board the 29th. The British are still incredulous about repatriation of the Americans. There is now some talk about possible repatriation of British women and children and old men, but nothing definite.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208680, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 137, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "110\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n27-Medical inspection of repatriates at 2:00 p.m. and preliminary inspection of baggage in rooms at 11:00 a.m., so it is beginning to look as if the good ship Asama Maru does mean business, after all!\n\n28-Sunday. There were no public Masses this morning in the Club Chapel, as that public room was reserved by the authorities for inspection of the baggage of the repatriates. Some baggage was also inspected at the same time just in front of our American Blocks. All bags and suitcases and bundles had to be put in a line and opened for the inspecting gendarmes as they passed along the line. After all, the inspection was not very strict. The baggage was then taken away in trucks to the small pier jutting out into Stanley Bay where, evidently, embarkation will take place. Since we could not have our regular public Masses in the main chapel, we had to be content with three Masses said in the Maryknoll Sisters, Canadian Sisters and in the Dutch apartments. In the afternoon as well we had to have Benediction in another garage just behind the American Club. At Stanley pier, we notice three small launches and some lighters, which are no doubt awaiting the arrival of the Asama Maru. All the Americans on the qui vive these days, and wondering when and if the good repatriation ship will put in an appearance.\n\n29—Maryknoll Foundation Day for all and Departure Day for some. As we arose, we scanned the horizon for signs of the Asama Maru, but there was no sign of her. However, along towards noon, she hove in sight and proceeded to Stanley Bay, where she anchored off shore about a mile distant. It was a thrilling sight, especially for the departants, and they were all wondering what kind of accommodations they were going to get, and what kind of food. After the ship dropped anchor no time was lost, and early in the afternoon the repatriates, about three hundred from the Stanley Camp, and some sixty direct from the city, went aboard the ship by launch. These sixty Americans from the city were bankers and banks' other officials who were allowed to remain at their posts, but who were practically interned in their own quarters. Some forty Americans are remaining in Camp, some of whom, including us, hope to get out to Hong Kong one of these days. Of this number, half are Maryknollers, including 15 priests, one Brother and 4 Maryknoll Sisters. Since we again lose our cooking squad, Father Meyer jumps into the breach and takes over, preparing our supper, which", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208681, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 138, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n111\n\nall agreed was quite tasty. His helpers in the galley are Fathers Keelan, Downs and Madison.\n\nFather Toomey is named temporary head of the Red Cross in Hong Kong, by the repatriated manager, Mr. Fifer. The Red Cross, by the way, is on hand but not operative and the Japanese do not seem to take kindly to it.\n\nWhen the repatriates went on board the Asama Maru, no one was allowed anywhere near the pier, although we stood on the hill-top and watched them embark. No one was allowed to go on board either, from the Camp. We were anxious to learn if there were any other Maryknollers on board from the North, but could not secure the information. The Asama Maru remained at anchor that night and all the next day and night, when it left on its long voyage around the Cape.\n\n30-The Camp is extremely quiet after the departure of the Americans, and even the British remark on it. We are now awaiting orders to move into our new quarters. The father of Mr. Wong, our Chinese Superintendent, died in Hong Kong, and Father Toomey says a Mass for the repose of his soul. By the way, in the administration of the Camp, the Japanese early placed a Chinese superintendent in charge of each section of the Camp, as sort of liaison officer, and ordinarily we had to negotiate through him with the Japanese.\n\nJULY\n\n1-We are to move tomorrow into Block A-3. The Sisters keep one of their rooms on the third floor, and we 16 Maryknollers get three rooms on the same floor but in the other half of the flat. By arrangements with Mr. Wong, we are also allowed to retain our little chapel on the same floor. The other Americans take up quarters in the various small servants' rooms in this block, while the British take over the remaining larger room downstairs.\n\n2- Moving all day and getting settled, even though we have few possessions, leaves us pretty tired at night. We had to move our camp cots, as when the repatriates left, their rooms were almost completely denuded of their meager furnishings by those, of course, who had even less. We find that we will have the use of the two small kitchens on the top floor, one being for all the Americans and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208689, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 146, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n119\n\nwith a tie game between the Americans and the Police, with a score of 5 to 5. Darkness and the eight o'clock curfew prevented the game from being played out. Some of the British teams are beginning to get quite good and the Americans will have to look to their laurels! Before the Americans left on the Asama Maru, since they were not allowed to take much U.S. currency with them on the boat, Father Troesch very wisely arranged to take their cash and gave them a note to Maryknoll, New York. This gives us some ready cash for our living in Hong Kong, and for our travel expense to the interior if we shall be allowed to leave the Colony.\n\n22----Minstrel show on the Green—quite good. The evenings are beginning to get cool and blankets are brought out,\n\nSunday - uneventful.\n\n24 — Americans, 5; Police, 3. More packages from town, via \"The Hill\". This extra food, which Sister Paul is sending in for us and for the Sisters, is very much appreciated.\n\n25-Usually after signing one's papers for release, one is allowed to leave within four days, but to date we have received no further word, so we sit and wait until the Foreign Office gets good and ready to allow us to walk the streets of Hong Kong as free men again.\n\n26-29 Police, 34; College, 10; a very good crowd and lots of fun. Entertainment in the evening on the Green.\n\nSunday Weather cool. Swimming still popular, though the crowds are thinning out on the beach. From two to five hundred at one time.\n\n31-High wind and quite cool. Against the uncertainty of our departure, language school classes begin again. Our rations continue as hitherto, though our cooks are striving valiantly to dish it up in as appetizing a style as possible with the material to work with. Water spinach is still our standby, and has been dubbed by someone \"rubber plant.\"\n\nSEPTEMBER\n\n1-The wind and the rain continue, playing havoc with the soft-ball schedule. More speculation about British repatriation. The days continue to come and go, and yet we have no word about our departure.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208697, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 154, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n127\n\nhave been uniformly courteous to us, except under the eyes of their masters and I think they realize that their position is a precarious one. They are, however, pretty cruel at times to the Chinese.\n\nExcept army trucks, there is no transport in the city. On the Pokfulam Road, however, the Chinese have resurrected a few very small wooden carts with tiny iron wheels which they laboriously pull along up the grades of the winding Island Road. Only a few bus routes are in operation. The Aberdeen route is running; the University route via Caine Road is in operation, and the Stanley run, with a bus every two hours, completes the service. The trams, of course, are running and quite crowded. Ferry service has been resumed, but on a very limited scale. I speak only for Hong Kong, as I know little about conditions over in Kowloon. As for purely private cars, practically none are seen in the streets, all having been confiscated and shipped to Japan. A taxi service was attempted but the fares were prohibitive.\n\nThe Dairy Farm is functioning under, of course, Japanese management and control. However, over half the dairy herd has been shipped out of the Colony to Formosa and Japan. A few British overseers have been retained. The milk is being sold for thirty yen a small bottle, but it is of very watery consistency. No butter is available.\n\nAs for the once flourishing harbor, it is now bare of shipping, save for an occasional Japanese freighter. Occasionally, a destroyer or two or a small cruiser are seen in the harbor, but they come and go. As will be remembered, the regular east channel leading to the harbor has been blocked with scuttled and burned ships, so all vessels now enter Hong Kong by the west channel, which passes just beneath Bethany, so we have a splendid view of all incoming and outgoing ships. Now and then we will see a steamer limping into port, disabled and apparently sinking. Once a convoy of some seven or eight ships entered and left the harbor, and on two occasions we saw a very large trans-Pacific liner like the Asama or Chichibu Maru enter and leave. On another occasion, a small destroyer engaged in maneuvers ran aground just to the south of Bethany on a point near the Dairy Farm, but was later pulled off by tugs. Before the war, the British were assembling ten thousand ton fabricated ships in Kowloon, and apparently the Japanese found one of these under construction, as later on we saw it under-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208705, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 162, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n135\n\nmany of our friends were on the wharf to see us off, and promptly at twelve noon we pulled away from the bund. The day before, while at Bethany, we saw a large liner of the Asama Maru class, slowly enter the harbor, and wondered what it portended. The next day, as we left the harbor for Macao and Kwangchauwan, this majestic ship, painted a war-gray, was still in the harbor, but just as we started, it also got underway and our ship had to slow her engines so that the liner could pass us on her way to sea. Ranged on her decks we could see the familiar military uniform of the Canadian soldiers who were, no doubt, being taken to some other internment camp outside of Hong Kong.\n\nA few hours' run brought us to Macao where we met Sister Paul and made some visits, the first of which was to the Maryknoll Sisters' new orphanage for homeless and destitute children. It was quite a sight to see 400 little tots making away with bowl after bowl of rice, furnished by the kindness of the Portuguese Government. We then called on the Jesuits, formerly of Hong Kong, who had gone to Macao to open a school for boys, and at the Seminary, and the next day at noon pulled out of the Macao fairway for Kwangchauwan, a run of some twenty hours. By this time Bishop Paschang and the Kongmoon priests, Frs. Paulus, Smith and North, had already slipped back into \"Free China.\"\n\nTravelling on an enemy ship in wartime made us naturally a little apprehensive. Some of the passengers told us of the occasional presence of submarines in this area, and we hoped that we would not meet any, even if they were from our homeland. However, we reached Kwangchauwan the next morning safely at 10 o'clock, and went ashore to the French Procure where we met the Procurator, Father Lebas and Father Moran, a Jesuit from Hong Kong, assisting him. With their assistance, we arranged for our travel inland. At Kwangchauwan, we met some of our other Hong Kong friends, one of whom was the wife of Andrew Tse of the Clover Flower shop, and Father Downs baptized her baby, Teresa Elizabeth.\n\nAt Kwangchauwan, Father Toomey left us to proceed to Fachow in the Kongmoon Vicariate, and the rest of us engaged chairs for a six-day trip to Watlam, the first of our Wuchow stations. At Watlam, we again separated, Fathers Troesch, Moore and McKeirnan and Brother Thaddeus, and also one or two Sisters, going to Wuchow. The remainder of the group, consisting of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212217, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "136\n\nAmerican films were flown over quickly from Hollywood, and pictures would often be released earlier in Shanghai than in London. When the newsreels of the war began to come along, they led to disturbances; the Germans got nasty and wanted to break things up. Cinema owners did not wish to see their cinemas wrecked and in the end the showing of newsreels was discontinued. Unfortunately, they also did not dare show pictures, like \"The Great Dictator\", which were critical of Fascist methods. The French were, however, determined to see \"The Confessions of a Nazi Spy\", an anti-Nazi picture which was doing much in the States to open the eyes of the population to the methods of the German 'Bund'. They stationed two armoured cars outside the cinema, while inside armed police, with drawn automatics, stood along the gangways. The picture had a very popular run for two weeks, without incident.\n\nSince the disturbances of 1927 the leading Treaty Powers had maintained garrisons at Shanghai. The Japanese forces were quartered in the section of the International Settlement north of the Soochow creek, where the majority of the Japanese population lived; the British, American, and Italian contingents guarded sectors of the perimeter south of the creek; and the French garrisoned their own Concession. There was a local understanding of live and let live, and even after the Italians came into the war, the Grenadiers of Savoy, decked out in patches of red on collar and sleeve, and the baggiest of plus-fours, continued to man their sector: but to avoid argument with Thomas Atkins and Jack Tar they were confined to their own particular taverns. Blood Alley remained an Anglo-Saxon preserve, where Johnnie Doughboy sometimes threw his weight about.\n\nIt was in January, 1940, that the Royal Navy stopped the Asama Maru, within a few hours steaming of the Japanese Coast, and removed 21 Germans from on board. The Japanese, of course, went up in the air at this alleged insult to the Imperial flag, and the British community in Shanghai questioned the expediency of the action. The incident was settled by negotiation, 9 of the captives being returned, and the Japanese undertaking not to convey in their ships military personnel of the belligerents. It is interesting to remember that, when the S.S. \"President Hoover\" ran aground on the East Coast of Formosa, in Japanese territorial water, closed to foreign shipping, the Japanese refused to allow the Americans to salvage her, but insisted on the work being done by Japanese firms. Soon after, the Asama", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212225, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "Under police escort, the Japanese broke through the screens and dashed at the ambulance, which was being brought up behind. They rescued Mr. Hayashi and carried him off in triumph, whereafter the meeting was declared adjourned. Next day the Japanese Consul General called on the Municipal Council to express apologies for the incident. Mr. Hayashi, it was learnt, had been removed to Japan, where he presumably became a national hero. The adjourned meeting was reconvened for a later date, when the proposed motion was carried, under the covering protection of a strong contingent of Japanese Consular police.\n\nThe compromise arrangement, which was also put into effect, placed the affairs of the Municipal Council in the hands of a nominated commission, to be known as the Provisional Council. It consisted of 4 Chinese, 3 Japanese, 3 British, 3 American, 1 German, 1 Dutch, and 1 Swiss. That gave a proportion of 8 Axis versus 8 non-Axis votes. It will be seen the balance depended on the ability of the Dutch and Swiss members to hold out. The Chinese members would inevitably be puppets of the Wang Ching Wei regime, and therefore tools of the Japanese.\n\nWith this little flurry, the tempo of terrorism in the Settlement tended to increase. The British had already withdrawn their contingent of troops to Hongkong, where they were required to strengthen the garrison. There was an argument with the Japanese about whether their troops were to be brought south of the Soochow creek into the centre of the Settlement to man the British sector, or whether the Americans were to be allowed to take it over. In the end a compromise was arrived at and the Shanghai Volunteer Corps took over the sector.\n\nI had been for some time trying to persuade my wife that it was necessary to leave Shanghai; the optimistic atmosphere which the women found amongst their friends in the Clubs and at the bridge tables made the task anything but easy. I think, perhaps, the attack on the Chairman of the Council helped to decide the issue. It was impossible to obtain passages direct to England, but passages could still be obtained on Japanese liners for America, and so my wife, with several other wives, left for San Francisco in a sister ship of the \"Asama Maru\". Owing to blocked currencies, it was not everyone who could afford to send their wives to the U.S.A., but I was fortunate enough to be able to buy sufficient dollar exchange to tide...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 } ]