研究故事

Hong Kong helped to supply the anti-Japanese forces in China and also acted as a lure to keep Japan from attacking Russia.

On December 8, 1941, Hong Kong was invaded by Japan. The city was not the international financial centre that it is today, nor was it the only Asian city occupied by an Allied power. So why Hong Kong? And why, three weeks before the invasion, was a troop of Canadian soldiers sent to defend the place?

These questions are at the heart of research by Dr David Macri, who was named an Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student by HKU for his work. He has shown that contrary to military history books, Hong Kong was not a sleepy colonial backwater, but in fact played an important role in military terms.

Firstly, it was a major supplier to the anti-Japanese resistance. “The Hong Kong port was free from Japanese occupation for four years and it was connected by rail to the middle of China, which made it a great route to bring in military supplies,” Dr Macri says.

“Basically Hong Kong sustained the Chinese army for four years. You talk of the Burma road, but the route from Hong Kong was more important in tonnage terms. Without Hong Kong, China wouldn’t have been able to fight for as long as they did.”

"My work puts Hong Kong back where it belongs in World War II and that's in China, as opposed to being an imperial colonial outpost. It's a significant Chinese city in World War II."

Dr David Macri

The full version of this article was originally published in Bulletin. Please click here to view this HKU publication.