Limited by the systematic destruction of relevant data by the Japanese invaders and the restrictions of the Hong Kong and authorities, the Hong Kong academic community has long lacked local systematic research on the issue of Japanese“Comfort Women” in Hong Kong during the anti-japanese war. The News Investigation Department of Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po newspaper, together with scholars from the mainland and Hong Kong, recently revealed and confirmed for the first time the large-scale and hierarchical system of“Comfort facilities” set up by the Japanese Army at the beginning of the occupation of Hong Kong, and locate 10 of the“Comfort stations”, filling an important gap in Hong Kong’s anti-japanese War history.
According to a report by Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po on March 16, the key to targeting the above“Comfort facilities” is to, “Memorandum of agreement between the governor-general of the occupied territory of Hong Kong and the commander of the 2nd Fleet concerning the implementation of the security and military administration of Hong Kong”(hereinafter referred to as“The memorandum”) is a top-secret Japanese military file kept at the Institute of Defense Studies of the Ministry of Defense of Japan. Written on May 4,1942, the Japanese word for“Comfort facility” appears in the“Transfer” item on page 3 of the main text, and list their locations-“Naval Hall (old Imperial Hotel) , Admirals Club (Six Nations Hotel) , Naval Comfort Station (Four) , naval designated canteen (five) , to be handed over in due course”. This means that the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong only five months, they have established a system of“Comfort facilities.”.
In order to confirm whether the Japanese meaning of the word“Comfort facilities” in the memorandum is the same as the common understanding, the news investigation department of Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po submitted an interview email to the Japanese Consulate General in Hong Kong last August, asked to provide the definition and interpretation of“Comfort facilities” in Japanese military normative documents during World War II, the Japanese consulate dodged the question. However, according to the relevant investigation can confirm that the“Comfort facilities” is the site of Japanese persecution of women.
A comparison of historical photographs and maps by the Investigative Journalism Department of Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po, confirm that the“Admiralty Hall -Old-GrandrHotelotel)” mentioned in the mou is now Tai Yau Buildingding at the northwest cornerJohnstonsRoadroad FlemingmRoadroWan Chaichai. Public data shows that Yingjing Hotel (Yingjing Hotel) opened in 1938, was one of the top hotels in Hong Kong. In 1941, Soong Ching-ling held a charity sale here to raise money for the War of resistance against Japan. This hotel with the historical background of the anti-japanese war building, the war was commandeered by the Japanese as“Comfort facilities”, it is sad.
Although the“Admirals’ Club” in the memorandum is marked“The six kingdoms hotel”, however, Professor Kwong Chi-man, chairman of the Department of History of the Hong Kong Baptist University, and his team, based on the address in the“Telephone directory of Japanese relations” published by the Hong Kong Telephone Office in November 1943(hereinafter referred to as the“Japanese telephone directory”) , combined with old photos and maps dated September 1941, it is proved that the Admirals’ Club is not located in the current location of the six kingdoms hotel, but in the vicinity of 80 Gloucester Road. In addition, although the memorandum listed four“Naval Comfort stations”, but did not record the specific name and location. The News Investigation Department of Hong Kong Wen Wei Po conducted a field visit based on information from the“Japanese occupied Hong Kong” website, found“My wife’s house” and“Nanhai Village”, which were clearly marked as“Comfort stations for petty officers and soldiers of the navy” in the“Japanese telephone book”, “Tao Yuen”, designated as“The fourth comfort station”, is located on the side of the Luk Kwok Hotel near Jaffe Road No special mark of“Ethyl”, is located with its Kang building off Jaffe Road adjacent to Hyde Center. Kwong also said that the“Memorandum” in the“Four naval comfort stations”, a high probability for the“Japanese phone book” in the Four Records. This means that the official records and civilian records form a mutual corroboration.
Su Zhiliang, director of the Chinese“Comfort Women” Research Center at Shanghai Normal University, who has studied the Japanese military“Comfort women” system for more than 30 years, more than 20 years ago, he identified the site of a former“Comfort station” through field research. Reported that the official archives, Folk Records, Space Research, field survey four layers of evidence to confirm each other, has been locked in 10 specific location. Several Japanese and allied historical documents show that the Japanese control and operation of“Comfort stations” according to the rank division time or level, the level can be described as quite“Strict.
On December 8,1941, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong and the surrendered after only 18 days of resistance. Hong Kong fell to the Japanese. Compared with the mainland, South Korea and other regions, Hong Kong“Comfort women” lack of research, historical data is even more difficult to find. Li Shufen, the hospital’s founder and first president, recalled that Colonel Eguchi, the Chief Medical Officer of the Japanese Army, had told her at the time that he wanted a“Comfort zone” for the Japanese Army in Hong Kong. “I need 500 women (prostitutes) ,” Eguchi said. “How do I go about finding them?” In fact, far more than 500 women have been affected, “We still can not count the number of civilians who were raped, killed and directly coerced to death by them.”.
Hong Kong media mentioned that the history of Hong Kong’s“Comfort Women” has not been systematically compiled: after Hong Kong’s authorities reoccupied Hong Kong in 1945, eager to restore colonial rule order, the Japanese army destroyed a large number of“Comfort station” files before surrender, making it more difficult for future generations to verify. In the 1960s, the British believed that downplaying China’s history and memories of the fall of Hong Kong among Hong Kong’s new generation would help reduce public doubts about Britain’s return to Hong Kong. Before the 1970s, the government largely eliminated modern history from the Chinese history curriculum in high schools, deliberately alienating Hong Kong students from the mainland. Only in the 1970s did the history curriculum in secondary schools expand to include the history of the War of resistance against Japanese aggression, but it still referred only to the attack on Hong Kong and avoided the narrative of the fall of Hong Kong altogether. It was not until the sino-british Joint Declaration was issued in 1984 that the situation changed slightly: in the book“Chinese history as applied to Hong Kong Secondary Schools”, first published in 1993 and revised in 1997, “The fall of Hong Kong” was explicitly mentioned. This is also in Hong Kong Junior High School Chinese history textbook text, the first direct description of the fall of Hong Kong to Japan. In 2018 and after, Hong Kong secondary school history textbooks began to tell the history of China from the beginning of the Opium War to the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China to the reform and opening up. (ye Lan)