Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0009
Kwong Chi Man
This chapter discusses the life of soldiering in Cold War Hong Kong, discussing issues such as the source of recruitment, training, and terms of service. In particular, the issue of loyalty among the Hong Kong servicemen and the ways employed by the British to maintain it are discussed in detail. It points out that while the Hong Kong servicemen gradually achieved equality with their British colleagues, the British had always been careful in preventing the ranks of the Hong Kong servicemen from the infiltration of the Chinese Communists, Nationalists, and the triads (Chinese organised criminal gangs). The chapter then describes the experiences of the Hong Kong servicemen from the Korean War to the peacekeeping mission to Cyprus in 1993.
{"title":"Life for Service Personnel in Cold War Hong Kong, 1946–1997","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the life of soldiering in Cold War Hong Kong, discussing issues such as the source of recruitment, training, and terms of service. In particular, the issue of loyalty among the Hong Kong servicemen and the ways employed by the British to maintain it are discussed in detail. It points out that while the Hong Kong servicemen gradually achieved equality with their British colleagues, the British had always been careful in preventing the ranks of the Hong Kong servicemen from the infiltration of the Chinese Communists, Nationalists, and the triads (Chinese organised criminal gangs). The chapter then describes the experiences of the Hong Kong servicemen from the Korean War to the peacekeeping mission to Cyprus in 1993.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126418055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0006
Kwong Chi Man
This chapter details the role played by the Hong Kong servicemen in the war against Japan after the fall of Hong Kong. It provides a brief discussion of the activities of the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), an underground resistance organisation that operated in Hong Kong and South China throughout the Pacific War. The BAAG helped communicate with the British Commonwealth prisoners of war in Hong Kong, and its intelligence allowed the Allied air forces in China to conduct a sustained air campaign against the Japanese in the area. The Hong Kong servicemen were of vital importance in the success of the BAAG, as they had the knowledge of the ground, the language, and the people in South China. The ex-servicemen were also essential in the running and administration of the organisation, as they were familiar with the British military organisational culture and were bilingual.
{"title":"Hong Kong Resistance, 1942–1945","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter details the role played by the Hong Kong servicemen in the war against Japan after the fall of Hong Kong. It provides a brief discussion of the activities of the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), an underground resistance organisation that operated in Hong Kong and South China throughout the Pacific War. The BAAG helped communicate with the British Commonwealth prisoners of war in Hong Kong, and its intelligence allowed the Allied air forces in China to conduct a sustained air campaign against the Japanese in the area. The Hong Kong servicemen were of vital importance in the success of the BAAG, as they had the knowledge of the ground, the language, and the people in South China. The ex-servicemen were also essential in the running and administration of the organisation, as they were familiar with the British military organisational culture and were bilingual.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130111624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0010
Kwong Chi Man
The last chapter concludes the book, summarises its content, and offers an overview of the role played by Hong Kong servicemen throughout colonial history, their historical experience, and the relationship between them and the colonial authorities and the British military. It suggests that the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen reveals that collaboration and cooperation existed between the British and the locals at different levels, and that the agency of the Hongkongers should not be overlooked. Hongkongers from a variety of ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds served in the British armed forces for various reasons, from seeking a secure career to earn respectability in the society. Tension existed among the Hong Kong servicemen as they were such a diverse group, but they operated effectively and were generally reliable throughout their service. This fact speaks volumes about the efficiency of the British military system and its ability to manage troops from very different backgrounds. The chapter also deals briefly with the relevance of the wartime history and the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen in post-1997 Hong Kong.
{"title":"Conclusions","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"The last chapter concludes the book, summarises its content, and offers an overview of the role played by Hong Kong servicemen throughout colonial history, their historical experience, and the relationship between them and the colonial authorities and the British military. It suggests that the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen reveals that collaboration and cooperation existed between the British and the locals at different levels, and that the agency of the Hongkongers should not be overlooked. Hongkongers from a variety of ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds served in the British armed forces for various reasons, from seeking a secure career to earn respectability in the society. Tension existed among the Hong Kong servicemen as they were such a diverse group, but they operated effectively and were generally reliable throughout their service. This fact speaks volumes about the efficiency of the British military system and its ability to manage troops from very different backgrounds. The chapter also deals briefly with the relevance of the wartime history and the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen in post-1997 Hong Kong.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"70 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126327918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0005
Kwong Chi Man
The chapter describes the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen during the battle of Hong Kong in detail, highlighting the diversity of such experience among the servicemen from different branches. For many of the Hong Kong service, especially those who only received partial training, the battle was a harrowing and confusing experience. Some had traumatising escapes, and their stories were not known until now, as narratives about the battle usually focus on the experience of the British personnel. The chapter also offers a statistical study of the Hongkongers’ participation of the battle.
{"title":"The Battle of Hong Kong, 1941","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter describes the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen during the battle of Hong Kong in detail, highlighting the diversity of such experience among the servicemen from different branches. For many of the Hong Kong service, especially those who only received partial training, the battle was a harrowing and confusing experience. Some had traumatising escapes, and their stories were not known until now, as narratives about the battle usually focus on the experience of the British personnel. The chapter also offers a statistical study of the Hongkongers’ participation of the battle.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"199 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123374905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0003
Kwong Chi Man
This chapter covers the lives of the Hongkongers who joined the British armed forces during this period, such as the Hong Kong ratings of the Royal Navy and the Hong Kong Submarine Miners. A close look at these experiences shows that at least among the British and Hong Kong Chinese servicemen, a cooperative, if not cordial, relationship existed, although the voice of the Hong Kong Chinese themselves was largely absent due to the scarcity of primary sources. At any rate, the British showed admiration and respect towards their Hong Kong Chinese servicemen. It then turns to the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen during the First World War, particularly the thousands of military labourers who were employed by the British Indian Army to work in Mesopotamia. While the Chinese Labour Corps (consisting mainly of Chinese from Shandong) is well known, the contribution of the Hong Kong labour corps in Mesopotamia has been largely forgotten.
{"title":"Pax Britannica to World War, 1878–1919","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter covers the lives of the Hongkongers who joined the British armed forces during this period, such as the Hong Kong ratings of the Royal Navy and the Hong Kong Submarine Miners. A close look at these experiences shows that at least among the British and Hong Kong Chinese servicemen, a cooperative, if not cordial, relationship existed, although the voice of the Hong Kong Chinese themselves was largely absent due to the scarcity of primary sources. At any rate, the British showed admiration and respect towards their Hong Kong Chinese servicemen. It then turns to the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen during the First World War, particularly the thousands of military labourers who were employed by the British Indian Army to work in Mesopotamia. While the Chinese Labour Corps (consisting mainly of Chinese from Shandong) is well known, the contribution of the Hong Kong labour corps in Mesopotamia has been largely forgotten.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123893264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0008
Kwong Chi Man
This chapter focuses on the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen between the end of the Second World War and the end of British rule in 1997. It examines the servicemen’s lives and actions during the Cold War, the changing status of the servicemen, and the attempt of the colonial elites to use military service to instil civic spirit among the locals. It first offers an overview of the strategic situation of Hong Kong and the post–Second World War garrison, and suggests that while Hong Kong became an outpost of the free world and an economic powerhouse, it faced a peculiar security problem that could not be solved by the garrison alone. Nevertheless, the garrison helped maintain the confidence of the population and supported the civil government during internal security situations. The issues arising out of the gradual British withdrawal from Hong Kong, especially the redundancy of Hong Kong servicemen, are also discussed. The last section of the chapter narrates the Hong Kong veterans’ fight for the right of abode in the United Kingdom and financial compensation during the 1980s and 1990s. To fight the bureaucrats in Hong Kong and London, the veterans formed a united front that was not bounded by class and ethnicity, and enlisted support from international civil society. These factors explained their eventual, albeit modest, success.
{"title":"Military Service in Cold War Hong Kong, 1946–1997","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the experience of the Hong Kong servicemen between the end of the Second World War and the end of British rule in 1997. It examines the servicemen’s lives and actions during the Cold War, the changing status of the servicemen, and the attempt of the colonial elites to use military service to instil civic spirit among the locals. It first offers an overview of the strategic situation of Hong Kong and the post–Second World War garrison, and suggests that while Hong Kong became an outpost of the free world and an economic powerhouse, it faced a peculiar security problem that could not be solved by the garrison alone. Nevertheless, the garrison helped maintain the confidence of the population and supported the civil government during internal security situations. The issues arising out of the gradual British withdrawal from Hong Kong, especially the redundancy of Hong Kong servicemen, are also discussed. The last section of the chapter narrates the Hong Kong veterans’ fight for the right of abode in the United Kingdom and financial compensation during the 1980s and 1990s. To fight the bureaucrats in Hong Kong and London, the veterans formed a united front that was not bounded by class and ethnicity, and enlisted support from international civil society. These factors explained their eventual, albeit modest, success.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123598079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0004
Kwong Chi Man
The fourth chapter focuses on the experience of the Hong Kong soldiers and ratings during the interwar period (1919–39) until the battle of Hong Kong in 1941. It starts with a discussion of the experience of Hong Kong servicemen during the interwar period when serving in the military was seen as a stable career that offered learning opportunities for the working-class Hongkongers. Meanwhile, volunteer military service in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps was seen as a means for middle-class Hongkongers to gain respectability, especially for the Portuguese and the Eurasians who were sometimes seen as outsiders in pre-war Hong Kong society. The chapter then covers the British attempt to recruit more locals for the defence of Hong Kong from 1936. The training and organisation of the various local units are discussed. It challenges the myth that the Chinese in Hong Kong were not mobilised because of the racist prejudices held by the British decision-makers. It suggests that Chinese propagandists first engineered the myth in 1942 in an attempt to undermine British prestige in China after the fall of Hong Kong, as the Nationalist government was planning to pressure the British to give up Hong Kong after the war. The myth found a second life after the signing of the Sino–British Joint Declaration in 1984 because of the changing political situation.
{"title":"The Interwar Period, 1919–1941","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"The fourth chapter focuses on the experience of the Hong Kong soldiers and ratings during the interwar period (1919–39) until the battle of Hong Kong in 1941. It starts with a discussion of the experience of Hong Kong servicemen during the interwar period when serving in the military was seen as a stable career that offered learning opportunities for the working-class Hongkongers. Meanwhile, volunteer military service in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps was seen as a means for middle-class Hongkongers to gain respectability, especially for the Portuguese and the Eurasians who were sometimes seen as outsiders in pre-war Hong Kong society. The chapter then covers the British attempt to recruit more locals for the defence of Hong Kong from 1936. The training and organisation of the various local units are discussed. It challenges the myth that the Chinese in Hong Kong were not mobilised because of the racist prejudices held by the British decision-makers. It suggests that Chinese propagandists first engineered the myth in 1942 in an attempt to undermine British prestige in China after the fall of Hong Kong, as the Nationalist government was planning to pressure the British to give up Hong Kong after the war. The myth found a second life after the signing of the Sino–British Joint Declaration in 1984 because of the changing political situation.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127453440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0002
Kwong Chi Man
The second chapter covers the period from the establishment of the Canton Coolie Corps during the Second Opium War to the 1880s. The Canton Coolie Corps was the first unit of the British Army to be composed mainly of ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong. The coolies received some military training and served as porters for the British forces during the last phase of the Second Opium War, when the British forces operated in North China and eventually captured Peking. The performance of the Coolie Corps led to a discussion among the Hong Kong government, the War Office, and the Foreign Office over the feasibility of recruiting Hong Kong Chinese for military service from the 1860s to the 1880s. The discussion illuminates the contemporary British understanding of ‘Chinese’ from physique to mentality and reveals that the so-called ‘Sickman’ rhetoric did not exist among the British decision-makers when they discussed whether Chinese in Hong Kong should be recruited as colonial troops.
{"title":"The Precursors, 1860–1880","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"The second chapter covers the period from the establishment of the Canton Coolie Corps during the Second Opium War to the 1880s. The Canton Coolie Corps was the first unit of the British Army to be composed mainly of ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong. The coolies received some military training and served as porters for the British forces during the last phase of the Second Opium War, when the British forces operated in North China and eventually captured Peking. The performance of the Coolie Corps led to a discussion among the Hong Kong government, the War Office, and the Foreign Office over the feasibility of recruiting Hong Kong Chinese for military service from the 1860s to the 1880s. The discussion illuminates the contemporary British understanding of ‘Chinese’ from physique to mentality and reveals that the so-called ‘Sickman’ rhetoric did not exist among the British decision-makers when they discussed whether Chinese in Hong Kong should be recruited as colonial troops.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"93-C 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133076515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-10DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0007
Kwong Chi Man
This chapter turns to the Hong Kong unit that fought in the Burma Campaign. After the fall of Hong Kong, around 700 Hong Kong Chinese servicemen reported to the BAAG, and 126 of them were organised as the China Unit and received additional military training. They were then flown to India and were renamed as the Hong Kong Volunteer Company, which became part of the Chindit Force that fought in Burma from March to July 1944. This chapter chronicles the experience of the unit using untapped Chinese, Japanese, and British archival sources. Also, it looks at the complex cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds of the members of the unit, and discusses the tension between the men from such diverse backgrounds and the difficulty of commanding them in war. This chapter then discusses the Volunteer Company’s experience during the war’s final stage, when the unit was almost disintegrated because of the politics between Britain, the United States, and China over the war in China and Southeast Asia, as well as bureaucracy within the British military. The last section of the chapter looks at some of the veterans’ post-war lives.
{"title":"The Hong Kong Volunteer Company, 1944–1945","authors":"Kwong Chi Man","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192845740.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter turns to the Hong Kong unit that fought in the Burma Campaign. After the fall of Hong Kong, around 700 Hong Kong Chinese servicemen reported to the BAAG, and 126 of them were organised as the China Unit and received additional military training. They were then flown to India and were renamed as the Hong Kong Volunteer Company, which became part of the Chindit Force that fought in Burma from March to July 1944. This chapter chronicles the experience of the unit using untapped Chinese, Japanese, and British archival sources. Also, it looks at the complex cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds of the members of the unit, and discusses the tension between the men from such diverse backgrounds and the difficulty of commanding them in war. This chapter then discusses the Volunteer Company’s experience during the war’s final stage, when the unit was almost disintegrated because of the politics between Britain, the United States, and China over the war in China and Southeast Asia, as well as bureaucracy within the British military. The last section of the chapter looks at some of the veterans’ post-war lives.","PeriodicalId":410694,"journal":{"name":"Hongkongers in the British Armed Forces, 1860-1997","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127442993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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