The Japanese Internment of Allied Civilians in China
& Hong Kong, 1941-45
On the morning of December 8th, 1941, thousands of American, British, Dutch, and other civilians of the Allied nations living in China awoke to find their countries at war with Japan. A hemisphere away from their homelands, they were cut off, isolated, and faced an uncertain future. The Japanese advance created an empire from the Aleutian Islands in the far north to the southern regions of New Guinea, and from western Burma to the mid Pacific Ocean.
Japan soon held some 125,000 civilian prisoners, approximately ten percent of which were in China and Hong Kong. Their prisoners included the first American civilian to be captured on American soil since the War of 1812, and Britons in China became the single largest British contingent under enemy occupation outside of the Channel Islands. As the rigors of life under the occupation increased, they were eventually herded into internment camps known as Civil Assembly Centres. There, accommodation was overcrowded, frequently squalid, and with few amenities. Poor treatment and lack of food contributed to the death rate, and internees suffered many privations, as well as occasional cruelty, torture, and execution. Yet despite an absolute lack of many of the essentials of civilized life, the internees rose to meet the challenge of survival. They organized kitchens and hospitals, started libraries, engaged in subtle forms of resistance, educated their children, and placed their hope in the future. In internment, they were an example of the strength of human endeavor in the face of adversity.
Between 1941 and 1945, Japan held over 13,500 civilian men, women, and children as captives in China and Hong Kong. Each one has a story to tell. Captives of Empire is their story.
Captives of Empire: The Japanese Internment of Allied Civilians in China, 1941-1945 fills a major gap in the annals of World War II and that of prisoners of war. Here for the first time is a definitive history of the internment of Allied civilians in China. Private papers, diaries, letters, and official reports, many long hidden, were utilized to bring a complete picture of internment to light. In preparing to write this book, Greg Leck combed through thousands of pages of documents from archives located in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Japan. In personal interviews he listened to scores of internees describing their experiences. He researched, in depth, the histories of each camp, as well as the stories of many internees. Through first hand accounts and photographs, paintings, sketches, newspapers, cartoons, entertainment programs, maps, bulletins, posters, and other illustrative materials, a portrayal of what daily life was like for internees under the Japanese emerges. Common themes of the internees struggle are reviewed.
Together with Desmond Power, an Old China Hand and ex internee himself, information was organized and sorted to produce a database of the over 13,500 internees held in China and Hong Kong. An overview of each camp and a nominal roll completes the picture. The result is a revealing and immensely fascinating look at the world of the internees.
Captives of Empire gives you an inside look at the internment experience. From the idyllic life of the expatriate, to the shock and surprise of the Japanese victories and rule, to imprisonment and eventual liberation, it covers the panoply of this little known chapter of the Pacific war. Utilizing internees own voices, we see the food, the housing, the work, as well as the entertainments, games, escapes, births, lives, and deaths of the camp. Profusely illustrated with maps, photographs, drawings, and scarce and rare internment camp related ephemera, this is a monograph that will serve as the definitive reference work on the subject.
Greg Leck is one of the foremost experts on Japanese internment camps in China. The grandson of an Old China Hand who served in the Chinese Maritime Customs, and the son of a woman who was one of the last Britons to leave Shanghai, he grew up hearing stories of China and internment.
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xi
A Note on Transliteration xii
Glossary and Abbreviations xiii
A Note on Currency xiv
Introduction 19
1 Halcyon Days 27
2 While Storm Clouds Gather 37
The Shanghai Volunteer Corps 42
The Badlands 44
Showing the Flag for Empire 48
3 8 December 1941 55
Last Boat out of China 58
The SS President Harrison Crew 64
4 Under the Shadow 73
The Pao Chia 76
The BRA 82
Santo Tomas Transfers 87
Stranded in Shanghai 96
The Italians in China 98
5 Bridge House 105
6 The Best Possible Home 121
7 Housing 137
Pets in Camp 142
8 Food 153
The Food Queue 158
9 Work 177
10 Medical Care and Health 187
A Trip to the Dentist 194
Bedbugs, Mosquitoes, and Pests 201
11 The Authorities 205
Guards 209
Roll Call 224
12 The Red Cross 229
13 Law and Order 239
The Black Market 248
14 Sports and Activities 255
15 School and Education 261
16 Entertainment 273
17 Repatriation 283
From Within the Empire 296
The Amazing Saga of Edgar Whitcomb 301
18 Newspaper, Mail, and Communications 307
19 Religious Life 317
20 Escapes 323
21 Resistance and Collaborators 347
The Lunghwa Riot 350
22 Humor 367
23 Children 375
Families Divided 376
24 Liberation 385
25 Last Moments of a World 407
26 Epilogue 419
27 The Camps 427
Ash Camp 428
Canton Camp 434
Chapei Camp 438
Columbia Country Club 444
Haiphong Road Camp 448
Lincoln Avenue Camp 456
Lunghwa Camp 460
Pootung Camp 466
Shanghai Religious Centers 474
Stanley Camp 478
The Stanley Tiger 480
Weihsien and the North China 484
Yangchow A Camp 498
Yangchow B Camp 502
Yangchow C Camp 506
Yu Yuen Road Camp 512
28 Nominal Rolls 519
Ash Camp 521
Canton Camp 528
Chapei Camp 529
Columbia Country Club 549
Haiphong Road Camp 550
Lazarist Procuration 555
Lincoln Avenue Camp 561
Lunghwa Camp 567
Peking British Embassy 592
Pootung Camp 593
Sacred Heart 613
Senmouyeu Nuns’ Residence 614
Stanley Camp 615
Weihsien Camp 655
Yangchow A Camp 685
Yangchow B Camp 690
Yangchow C Camp 696
Yu Yuen Road Camp 705
Zikawei 718
Bibliography 721
Index 731
Credits 738
How to Order