Blood-stained Hong Kong under Japanese occupation

On December 25, 1941, a day usually filled with Christmas carols and lights, Hong Kong was shrouded in artillery fire and smoke, starting its darkest "Black Christmas." With then Governor Mark Aitchison Young signing the surrender document, Hong Kong fell under Japanese military occupation, marking the start of a brutal rule that would last three years and eight months. This traumatic memory, etched into the fabric of Hong Kong, belongs not only to the local citizens who endured untold suffering, but also to the thousands of foreign civilians who lost their freedom overnight. They were forcibly imprisoned in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp, where their lives were threatened and their dignity trampled by hunger, disease, violence, and despair. This buried chapter of history stands as a vital record of the series of atrocities committed by Japanese forces in Asia during World War II, and it must not be forgotten with the passage of time.

I. The black cage

After Japan's capture of Hong Kong, approximately 2,800 foreign civilians from Britain, the United States, the Netherlands, and other nations—including civil servants, business people, journalists, and even defenseless women and children—were labeled "enemy nationals" and confined in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp.

This large-scale civilian internment and persecution was no impromptu measure but a carefully planned atrocity carried out by Japan's militarist leaders. As documented in Hirano Shigeru's post-war confession Our Tyranny and Atrocities in Hong Kong, then Japanese Prime Minister Tojo Hideki issued ruthless orders: plunder all resources in Hong Kong for Japan; maintain only "minimum subsistence standards" for the prisoners of war and internees; forcibly separate married couples in the camp and subject them to solitary confinement. From Tokyo's decision-making center to the detention grounds in Hong Kong, fundamental human conscience was utterly cast aside. From its very inception, Stanley Internment Camp was designed as a black cage for the systematic destruction of human life.

II. The brink of death

Hunger was the arch‑enemy of everyone inside the camp.

The Japanese provided only low‑quality rice mixed with sand and filth. Vegetables, meat, and other nutritious supplies were virtually non-existent, and the daily calorie ration fell far below the minimum required for human survival. Internees wasted away to skin and bones, barely surviving by growing vegetables and raising chickens on rooftops. As a result of malnutrition, children suffered stunted growth. Beriberi, scurvy, and anemia spread rampantly throughout the camp. Even Sir Vandeleur Grayburn, chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)—who had been forced to liquidate assets for the Japanese—died in the camp in 1943 from severe malnutrition.

Appalling living conditions pushed internees further toward death. Housing originally for one family was crammed with more than 20 people, divided only by sandbags and old blankets. Classrooms and auditoriums were all converted into crowded cells. Sanitary facilities were unusable, and sewage ran everywhere. Mosquitoes bred, and malaria, dysentery, and other infectious diseases raged—yet the Japanese deliberately refused to take any disease prevention measures. Water and electricity supplies were intermittent. In the autumn of 1944, an extreme water shortage struck the camp. The Japanese forced internees to dig wells in vain, only worsening their plight. Warm clothing was desperately scarce; women sewed garments from flour sacks to cover themselves, and most people suffered frostbite. Shoes were a rarity; some went barefoot all year. The shoes that war journalist Dorothy Jenner made from car tires survive to this day as a silent witness to those bitter years.

Medical care was completely denied. Medicine and medical equipment was extremely lacking. The Japanese obstructed International Red Cross aid in every possible way, even refusing to provide the list of internees in order to block medical supplies. Diarrhea, tuberculosis, typhoid, and other illnesses spread widely. Many died without treatment. Already exhausted at the time of liberation, many internees died shortly after regaining their freedom.

III. The soul's purgatory

The suffering of internees in Stanley Internment Camp went far beyond harsh living conditions—it was a total destruction inflicted by the Japanese on civilians: body and soul, material possessions and human dignity. This was a blatant crime against humanity.

The Japanese forced internees to convert their Hong Kong dollar savings into military yen at a manipulated, worthless exchange rate, robbing them of their property in near‑bandit fashion. A thriving black market and soaring prices made it impossible for civilians to buy even basic necessities. Many were forced into hard labor in exchange for meagre rations.

The camp was sealed off by barbed wire and sentry posts. Frequent inspections ensured that anyone caught communicating with outsiders without permission or attempting to escape faced beatings or lengthy solitary confinement. The Japanese repeatedly promised to repatriate women, children, and the sick but never kept their word. The few who were allowed to leave were subjected to strict searches; diaries, books, Bibles, and letters longer than 150 words were confiscated.

The "separate quarters for married couples" rule was strictly enforced. Visits by relatives in Sham Shui Po POW camps were denied; only a tiny number were permitted brief, distant meetings, and they were forbidden to speak. Religious ceremonies, cultural recreation, and even memorial services for the dead were banned. Women had no voice in the camp. The Japanese rejected women's candidacy for the camp committee on such absurd grounds as "not wishing women to participate in camp management."

Violence and murder were routine. Internees were slapped and beaten for minor "offenses" like failing to salute or talking too loudly. On October 29, 1943, the Japanese executed seven civilians on false charges, including Hong Kong Defense Secretary Fraser, and forced the camp to watch, terrorizing everyone. Camp commander Tokunaga Isamu was brutal, beating and executing internees at will. After the war, Tokunaga was hanged for his heinous crimes.

IV. Blood-stained memory must not be obscured or forgotten

The suffering of Stanley Internment Camp was not an isolated tragedy during Japan's occupation of Hong Kong. On the day Hong Kong fell, Japanese troops entered St. Stephen's College in Stanley, which had been converted into a wartime hospital. They brutally raped nurses, took away wounded British soldiers, and tortured them by cutting off fingers, ears, tongues, and gouging out eyes, before massacring them all. The screams of the wounded rang out constantly until their deaths. In 1943, the Japanese launched the "Great Purge," arresting and torturing foreign bankers, police, and engineers in Hong Kong on false charges of "anti-Japanese activity." The memoirs of Dr. Li Shu-fan, former Superintendent of Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, detailed widespread looting, rape, and murder across Hong Kong. These crimes are proven by survivors' tearful accounts, Japanese veterans' post-war confessions, and International Military Tribunal records—ironclad evidence that brooks no alteration or denial.

More than 80 years have passed. Today the waters of Stanley Bay glisten, St. Stephen's College hums with the sound of study, and the city has long regained its prosperity and peace. But tranquility is no excuse for forgetting history and pain. The three years and eight months of Stanley Internment Camp represent a bloody chapter of civilian suffering in the World Anti-Fascist War, a painful lesson for human civilization, and an inseparable part of Hong Kong's collective memory. We must remember history—this is the greatest comfort we can offer to all the victims. As Japanese right-wing forces repeatedly backtrack on historical issues and attempt to revive militarism, we must remain highly vigilant. Armed with remembrance and strength, we will resolutely safeguard hard-won peace and never allow history to repeat itself.

The author is an international affairs observer.