Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How long was the Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong?
The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (香港日據時期) began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce fighting against the overwhelming Japanese forces that had invaded the territory.[7][8] The occupation lasted for three years and eight months until Japan surrendered at the end of Second World War. The length of this period (三年零八個月) later became a metonym of the occupation.[8]
The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong ended in 1945, after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.[8][51] Another one was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, on the same day that the USSR began its Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, which crippled the last grand Japanese army in China.[51] Japan finally surrendered on 15 August 1945.[52] Hong Kong was handed over by the Imperial Japanese Army to the Royal Navy on 30 August 1945; British control over Hong Kong was thus restored. 30 August was declared as "Liberation Day" (Chinese: 重光紀念日), and was a public holiday in Hong Kong until 1997.
Economically, all trading activities were sternly guarded, and the majority of the factories were taken over by the Imperial Japanese. Having deprived the vendors and banks of their possessions, the occupying forces outlawed the Hong Kong Dollar and replaced it with the Japanese Military Yen.[24] The exchange rate was fixed at 2 Hong Kong dollars to one military yen in January 1942.[25] Later, the yen was re-valued at 4 Hong Kong dollars to a yen in July 1942, which meant local people could exchange fewer military notes than before.[25] While the citizens of Hong Kong became poor in forced exchanges, the Imperial Japanese government sold the Hong Kong Dollar to help finance their war-time economy. Later, the yen was made the sole legal tender for official purposes in June 1943. Prices of commodities for sale had to be marked in yen. Hyper-inflation then disrupted the economy, directly affecting Hong Kong citizens.[24] Enormous devaluation of the Imperial Japanese Military Yen after the war made it almost worthless.[17]
Its first generation commenced in 1935, but it was destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1942 during Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
After the war, he joined the Imperial Chemical Industries, a British chemicals company which he later became the Chairman, and served in several cities in China. He was interned in Hong Kong by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and was released in exchange for Japanese held by Canada in 1943. Gillespie then served in the British Raw Materials Mission in Washington until the war ended. 
On 25 December 1941, referred to as "Black Christmas" by locals, British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of the Peninsula Hotel. Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong.
During the Japanese occupation, hyper-inflation and food rationing became the norm of daily lives. It became unlawful to own Hong Kong Dollars, which were replaced by the Japanese Military Yen, a currency without reserves issued by the Imperial Japanese Army administration. Although there is a lack of testimonial evidence from the female victims of Hong Kong, according to some eyewitnesses thousands of females could have been raped.. During the three and half years of occupation by the Japanese. An estimated 10,000 Hong Kong civilians were executed, while many others were tortured, raped, or mutilated. Philip Snow, a prominent historian of the period, said that the Japanese cut rations for civilians to conserve food for soldiers, usually to starvation levels and deported many to famine- and disease-ridden areas of the mainland. Most of the repatriated had come to Hong Kong just a few years earlier to flee the terror of the Second Sino-Japanese War in mainland China.
With the intention of boosting the Imperial Japanese influence on Hong Kong, two Imperial Japanese banks, the Yokohama Specie Bank and the Bank of Taiwan, were re-opened.[7] These two banks replaced the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and two other British banks responsible for issuing the banknotes.[7] They then liquidated various Allied banks.[7] British, American and Dutch bankers were forced to live in a small hotel, while some bankers who were viewed as the enemy of the Imperial Japanese were executed. In May 1942, Imperial Japanese companies were encouraged to be set up. A Hong Kong trade syndicate consisting of Imperial Japanese firms was set up in October 1942 to manipulate overseas trade.[26]
During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945, the College was used as a clinical depot by the Imperial Japanese Army. Some Brothers fled to Vietnam and became guests of the Dominicans and the Jesuits, while others were kept as prisoners of war in the local concentration camps. The campus was kept in shape by a minor staffer called Ah Yiu, who would also smuggle essentials into the camps for the Brothers.
By August 1945, whilst Japan was undergoing negotiations of an official surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States of America, Lore was next loaned to the British Pacific Fleet. He was later a part of the British Fleet that sailed into Hong Kong Harbor, which had been under the Japanese Imperial Army's occupation since its takeover in 1941. There he became the first allied officer to land ashore to Hong Kong with a detachment of royal marines to liberate Hong Kong by taking over the facilities at the HMS Tamar, the British Navy's shore base prior to the Fall of Hong Kong. On August 30, Lore led a detachment of troops with interpreters to the Imperial Japanese Prisoner of War Camp located in Sham Shui Po, where many of the Canadian, British and Hong Kong prisoners of war were imprisoned and held under atrocious conditions by the Imperial Japanese military.
As part of a general Pacific campaign, the Imperial Japanese launched an assault on Hong Kong on the morning of 8 December 1941.[14] British, Canadian, and Indian forces, supported by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Forces attempted to resist the rapidly advancing Imperial Japanese but were heavily outnumbered. After racing down the New Territories and Kowloon, Imperial Japanese forces crossed Victoria Harbour on 18 December.[15] After fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island, the only reservoir was lost. Canadian Winnipeg Grenadiers fought at the crucial Wong Nai Chung Gap that secured the passage between Victoria, Hong Kong and secluded southern sections of the island. Finally defeated, on 25 December 1941, British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong Mark Aitchison Young surrendered at the Japanese headquarters.[2] To the local people, the day was known as "Black Christmas".[16]
The 5th Battalion of the 7th Rajput Regiment and 2nd Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment suffered the heaviest combat losses amongst all troop formations of the British Empire when the Imperial Japanese Army overran Hong Kong.
Imperial Japanese Army committed atrocities against Indian civilians and soldiers during the Battle of Hong Kong.
The Japanese population did not grow much in the following decade; though Japanese schools continued to operate in Wan Chai and Kennedy Town, by the time of the Japanese declaration of war against the British Empire and the start of the Battle of Hong Kong, the Japanese population of Hong Kong had dropped to 80. Japanese settlers often followed the Imperial Japanese Army, as in the case of Manchukuo in the aftermath of the Mukden Incident; however the 1941–1945 Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was not accompanied by an influx of Japanese civilians, with the exception of a few bureaucrats and administrators.
Hong Kong was surrendered on 25 December 1941, thereafter often called "Black Christmas" by locals. The Governor of Hong Kong, Mark Young, surrendered in person at the temporary Japanese headquarters, on the third floor of the Peninsula Hotel, thus beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong. Hyper-inflation and food rationing followed; and the Japanese declared Hong Kong Dollars illegal. The Japanese enforced a repatriation policy throughout the period of occupation because of the scarcity of food and the possible counter-attack of the Allies. As a result, the unemployed were deported to the Mainland, and the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945.
Before 1 July 1997, the British government had the political commitment to safeguard the territory against external and internal threats. The greatest test was in 1941, when Japanese forces invaded Hong Kong, leading to the 44-month-long Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
The existing institutions of the Japanese civilian population in Hong Kong were co-opted by the military for their own purposes; for example, the Hong Kong News, a Japanese language newspaper, ceased publication in Japanese, but continued operations in Chinese and English versions, printing officially-approved news of the occupation government. However, the Japanese civilians who remained in Hong Kong were not entirely unsympathetic to the plight of their Chinese neighbours; Patrick Yu, a celebrated trial lawyer, recalled in his memoirs the assistance his family received from the headmaster of the Japanese school in escaping from Hong Kong to Free China by way of Macau and Guangzhou Wan (then Portuguese and French colonies, respectively, and untouched by the Japanese military).
Hong Kong News-Expo held an exhibition and a seminar on Hong Kong newspapers during the Japanese Occupation at the G7 Centre, Wing Lee Street, in March 2016. Copies of newspapers published on December 25, 1941, when Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, and in 1945, when Japan surrendered, were displayed. Also on display were several copies of newspapers published during the occupation period, which were provided by Hong Kong resident Mr David Ma. A seminar on the press during the occupation was held after the exhibition’s opening ceremony. Speakers included Dr Joseph Ting Sun-pao, Mr Cheng Po-hung, Prof Clement So and Mr Cheng Ming-yan.
The capitulation of Hong Kong was signed on the 26th at The Peninsula Hotel.[17] On 20 February 1942 General Rensuke Isogai became the first Imperial Japanese governor of Hong Kong.[18] Just before the British surrendered, drunken Imperial Japanese soldiers entered St. Stephen's College, which was being used as a hospital.[19] The Imperial Japanese then confronted two volunteer doctors and shot both of them when entry was refused.[19] They then burst into the wards and attacked all of the wounded soldiers and medical staff who were incapable of hiding in what was known as the St. Stephen's College incident.[19] This ushered in almost four years of Imperial Japanese administration.
The Hong Kong News, a pre-war Japanese-owned English newspaper, was revived in January 1942 during the Japanese occupation.[41] The editor, E.G. Ogura, was Japanese and the staff members were mainly Chinese and Portuguese who previously worked for the South China Morning Post.[31][41] It became the mouthpiece of the Japanese propaganda.[41] Ten local Chinese newspapers had been reduced to five in May. These newspapers were under press censorship. Radio sets were used for Japanese propaganda. Amusements still existed, though only for those who could afford them. The cinemas only screened Japanese films, such as The Battle of Hong Kong, the only film made in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation.[42] Directed by Shigeo Tanaka (田中重雄 Tanaka Shigeo) and produced by the Dai Nippon Film Company, the film featured an all-Japanese cast but a few Hong Kong film personalities were also involved. This film appeared on the first anniversary of the attack.
Until during the Second World War when Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation, the collapse of the British imperial power in East Asia in the face of Japanese onslaught and also the emergence of a demand form the Chinese Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek for the retrocession of Hong Kong during the war, forced the British Government to seriously examine the possibility of constitutional reform in post-war Hong Kong. By the Young Plan, the Colonial Government meant to create a sense of belonging and loyalty to Hong Kong among all its inhabitants regardless of race in the shadow of increasing Chinese influence over the local population and also China's demand for the return of Hong Kong.
During the Imperial Japanese military's full-scale invasion of China in 1937, Hong Kong as part of the British empire was not under attack. Nevertheless, its situation was influenced by the war in China due to proximity to the mainland China. In early March 1939, during an Imperial Japanese bombing raid on Shenzhen, a few bombs fell accidentally on Hong Kong territory, destroying a bridge and a train station.[9]
Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong. This ushered in the three years and eight months of Imperial Japanese administration. During the three and half years of occupation by the Japanese, an estimated 10,000 Hong Kong civilians were executed, while many others were tortured, raped, or mutilated. The local population in the rural New Territories, a mix of Hakka, Cantonese and other Han Chinese groups, waged a guerrilla war with limited success. The resistance groups were known as the Gangjiu and Dongjiang forces. The Japanese razed several villages in reprisal; the guerillas fought until the end of the Japanese occupation. General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong and served as governor for some time, was tried as a war criminal and executed by a firing squad in 1946.The Cenotaph in Central commemorates the defence as well as war-dead from the First World War. The shield in the colonial Emblem of Hong Kong granted in 1959, featured the battlement design to commemorate the defence of Hong Kong during the Second World War. This Coat of Arms was in place until 1997, when it was replaced by the regional emblem. After the war, Lei Yue Mun Fort became a training ground for the British Forces until 1987, when it was vacated. In view of its historical significance and unique architectural features, the former Urban Council decided in 1993 to conserve and develop the fort into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence.
The memorial garden at Hong Kong City Hall commemorates those who died in Hong Kong during World War II.
Dr Geoffrey Alton Craig Herklots (1902 – 14 January 1986) was a British botanist and ornithologist. From 1928 he was a reader in biology at Hong Kong University until the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941, during which he was interned in Stanley, Hong Kong, until 1945. After the war was over he returned to London and joined the Colonial Service. From 1953 to 1960 he was Principal of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad.
Although the colonial Legislative Council and Executive Council ceased to operate during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Pollock was still nominally the Senior Member of the Legislative and Executive Council until the expiration of his terms in 1944 and on 8 March 1946. Pollock's final term as Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council traversed the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and ended after the Liberation of Hong Kong in 1945, but in reality, he never attended any meeting of the two councils after the fall of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Government later issued a notice in the "Hong Kong Gazette" in May 1946, thanking Pollock for his contribution to the colony.
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Kwangchow Wan was often used as a stopover on an escape route for civilians fleeing Hong Kong and trying to make their way to Free China; Patrick Yu, a prominent trial lawyer, recalled in his memoirs how a Japanese civilian in Hong Kong helped him to escape in this way. However, the escape route was closed when the Japanese occupied the area in February 1943.
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