Fiction: Group 5
A Different Occupation
Korean International Springboard Programme, Mak, Arthur - 12, Fiction: Group 5
was born in 1925. I was 16 years old when Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, there had been 18 fierce
days of fighting and many people were killed during the invasion. The Japanese won and begun their
occupation of Hong Kong. There was not enough food to go round so there was starvation and great
suffering. My father died because he didn’t have enough food and lack of medical care. I was always in
hunger. I sometimes went to a relative's home for dinner. This relative worked for the Japanese and had
food. We had to walk 2 hours from Sai Ying Pun to Happy Valley and walk 2 hours back afterwards. It was
good to have food but it was also very horrible to eat there. This relative lived in the place where the
Japanese soldiers had their prison cells and I could hear prisoners screaming from beating and torture while I
ate my dinner. I was scared that they would get me. The Japanese wanted people to leave and the allowed
people to move out of H.K. I took this chance and went to the mainland to join up with the Chinese army.
I ended up working as a liaison officer helping with the American soldiers sent to fight in China. My
mother, five brothers and one sister all stayed behind in Hong Kong. They were always in my thoughts.
1329 days after Japan took over Hong Kong, they surrendered. I carried on working in the mainland for
three more months. Then I returned home to Hong Kong, except it wasn’t home anymore. Everything had
changed and it was not the same place as before the Japanese came. Slowly life got back to normal. Food
was scarce and we were very poor. My younger sister even had to be married off to a farmer to lessen the
family's burden. Hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again.
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