Special issue to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of ...

In memory of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of
Hong Kong as an integral part of World War II, this
special issue gathers nine pieces of scholarly and
specialist work of different, but related, interest.
Frank Lorne’s paper on war and peace offers an
economist’s perspective of the value of heritage, a
tricky topic, which has no satisfactory solutions. For
further reading on the valuation of heritage buildings
using surveying techniques, see Yung (2007) and
Zheng (2011).
In a sense, World War II was the sequel to World War
I, which was punctuated by the unsatisfactory Treaty
of Versailles. Both China and Japan were Allies
during the earlier war. Ho-yin Lee’s work about the
impression of Chinese eyes on Allied tanks in France
has an interesting Hong Kong twist.
Two key fights during the Battle of Hong Kong were
the contests for the Shing Mun Redoubt along the Gin
Drinker’s Line and at Wong Nai Chung Gap, both of
which featured pillboxes. Two papers address several
tactical questions about these contests, manifesting
the indispensible value of surveying techniques and
archive research in heritage study. A broader context
of the Gin Drinker’s Line is provided by Bernard
Lowry, the specific locations of the pillboxes and
related structures of the Line are provided in a map in
a technical note that follows, and a detailed account
of a Gin Drinker’s Line pillbox (PB 419) before its
demolition for highway work is documented by Y.K.
Tan.
SBE
6
Figure 3: Pillboxes 408, 418, and 421, Gin Drinker’s Line, Kwai Chung, 1950s
Figure
3:
Pillboxes
408,
418,
and
421,
Gin
Drinker’s
Line,
Kwai
Chung,
1950s
The Battle of Hong Kong did not end the fighting, as
the Japanese occupation forces were harassed by Allied
air raids, the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), and
Chinese
guerrillas. Therefore, the Japanese carried
out a lot of military construction in Hong Kong until
the 
 end of war on 15 August 1945. Some of these
structures survive to this day, and a technical note gives
an account of several that were identified from aerial
photo
interpretation backed, where possible, by field
surveys.
How does an “expatriate” look at war relics? The
memoir of Dave Manning, who grew up in our
multicultural 
 and open society, has given us a glance of
one such view.
To a person who regards Hong Kong as his/her home,
4
Photo courtesy of Mr. Y.K. Tan.
a better knowledge of the signs and symbols found
in building heritage means a fuller picture of reality.
For those familiar with English place names inscribed
on the cement tunnels and bunkers in the Shing Mun
Redoubt, the scene of a street in London, as shown in
the photo below (Figure 4) 4 , taken during Summer
2008, should ring a bell.
The putting together of the papers and notes in this
special issue would have been impossible but for the
helpful advice of referees including Mr. Chohong Choi,
Mr. Bishop W.K. Chung, Dr. Peter Cunich, Dr. Stephen
Davies, Dr. Bruce Harvey, and Mr. Bernard Lowry.
Professor Lawrence WC Lai
24 October 2011