SK: The Occupation Years
Equal measures of strength & kindness in the midst of adversity
For Sai Kung people, the Japanese occupation began on December 10, 1044, according to the late Wong Chuk Shan resident, Mr. Chung Poon.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Chung and other SK residents recorded their memories of the war with the Oral History Project Team of Chinese University of HK.
While British soldiers were withdrawing from the New Territories to Hong Kong Island, the Japanese forces were advancing through Sha Tin and Tai Po to Kowloon. Through the darkness, some Imperial soldiers found their way over Shap Sz Heung, descending into Wong Chuk Shan. Realizing their mistake, they pounded on villagers’ doors, demanding guides to Kowloon. Mr. Chung accompanied the soldiers up Fei Ngo Shan, down to Ma Yau Tong and then to Lei Yu Mun where he escaped.
Another army unit looted Ho Chung on its way to Kowloon. Mr. Tse Ming told the CU researchers that they came in groups and took their food. David Faure, lead researcher of the CU Team wrote that Tseng Lan Shue and Pik Uk, the next stops en route to Kowloon, suffered more than other villages because troops stayed there for over 20 days. They “disturbed the women”, took most of their crops and burnt their doors and furniture for firewood.
Once the Japanese went through, since the Police had withdrawn, bandits brandishing guns then looted shops and homes, stole crops, livestock and provisions and demanded protection money. Mr. Chan Tai of Tseung Kwan O told of a gang who, armed with guns, forced the village elders to collect money from everyone in order to pay them. Mr. Lau Shang of Pak Lap told the researchers that the Tin Hau Temple at Tung A Village, Leung Shuen Wan (High Island) was the bandit headquarters.
Until the Japanese set up their own system of governance, the Sai Kung Market Chamber of Commerce (Wai Chi Wooi) was the governing body. In July 1942, Sai Kung became one of the 28 districts designated under Japanese rule. The Wai Chi Wooi was renamed the Kui Ching Shoh (District Administration Office) and its boundary extended over the entire peninsula east of Ma On Shan (including that which is currently in Tai Po District) down to Hang Hau and Shap Sz Heung. The Japanese established the Village Head system. These individuals were then used to gather rations for the villagers and to produce labour when required for Japanese construction projects (such as Hiram’s Highway which was built during that period).
In the first few months of the occupation, after bandits wiped out the market, Sai Kung town people were literally selling the wooden beams from their houses because there was nothing else to sell. Some villagers had nothing but roots and leaves to eat. Evidently a brushfire over Chinese New Year 1942 provided an unexpected food source; the hillside was overgrown with wild lilies that were then gathered for food. Conditions improved as the harvest came in (meager though it was) and rice rationing provided a staple, if not varied, source of food. Many villagers came up with ingenious ways to hide it (including one Mr. Lok Kau Kei who stored rice in coffins in Sai Kung market).
Smuggling of goods was rampant along the coast since rice was abundant across the border in China and trade was forbidden by the Japanese.
Some smugglers were dubbed “travelling merchants”. Mr. Chan Tin Po of Yim Tin Tsai bought secondhand clothes in SK Market and then carried them to To Kwa Ping. He hired a boat to take him to Sha Yue Chung where he sold his goods and brought back oil, rice or sugar. Mr. Ip of Pak Sha O told the Study Team that he was one of the boat operators – plying the sea between To Kwa Ping and Sha Yue Chung and often transporting passengers as well as goods. Neither Mr. Chan nor Mr. Ip was armed. However, another type of smuggler “maintained order” along the coast. These people were armed and they often accosted the “travelling merchants”, asking for ‘discounts’ on their goods.
Horror stories of torture during the occupation years abound and most revolve around the Japanese attempts to ferret out the Guerrillas amongst the general population.
The local contingent of the communist-led East River Guerillas from Guangdong had a noticeable impact upon the Japanese in the area and they had a Robin-Hood like celebrity attached to them.
Embedded in the hills of the rural N.T. as the Japanese advanced, Sai Kung became their base and they successfully recruited many local villagers (especially the younger generation). In February 1942 they formed a special unit called the Hong Kong & Kowloon Independent Brigade and they trained the villagers to defend themselves, to create systems to communicate danger, and even to farm more efficiently to preserve their meager rations.
Through a broad intelligence network they found, and took reprisals against collaborators with the Japanese and many stories surround incidents of heroics in the face of various Japanese soldiers.
They also played a major part in successful escapes of many prisoners-of-war, pilots who had been shot down and even prominent citizens. Escapees would be aided to SK by the British Army Aid Group (BAAG) and then the East-River Guerillas would guide them to Wai Chau through To Kwa Peng and Sha Yue Chung.
J.A.D. Morrison, a banker, whose escape could not have been possible without them, was quoted in the History of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation):
“I cannot speak too highly of these guerrillas. The care they took and their kindness will always be remembered by me with the deepest gratitude. As we proceeded on our journey we met people who disapproved of them because their politics … but I shall always remember them as hardy, brave and kind men.”
A memorial at Tsam Chuk Wan honours these resistance fighters. It is a fitting tribute to the major part that so many Sai Kungers played during the occupation of Hong Kong.
Further Reading:
Faure, David: Sai Kung: the making of hte district and its eperience during World War II. Journal of the HK Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 22:161-216, 1982 (HK Public Library)
Paul Tsui Memoirs Chapter XIII - on the British Army Aid Group
SKDC Account of the Dongjiang Guerrilla Force