The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1966

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The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1966

Also by Cindy Yik-yi Chu Edited, Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Edited with Ricardo K. S. Mak, China Reconstructs (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2003). Edited with Lam Kai-yin, Yapian zhanzheng de zai renshi (A Reappraisal of the Opium War) (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2003).

The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1966

Edited by

Cindy Yik-yi Chu

THE DIARIES OF THE MARYKNOLL SISTERS IN HONG KONG, 1921–1966

© Cindy Yik–yi Chu, 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–7668–0 ISBN-10: 1–4039–7668–6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1966 / edited by Cindy Yik-yi Chu. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 1–4039–7668–6 (alk. paper) 1. Maryknoll Sisters—Biography. 2. Nuns—Diaries. 3. Missionaries—Diaries. 4. Maryknoll Sisters—Hong Kong. 5. Hong Kong (China)—Church history—20th century. 6. Catholic Church—History—20th century. 7. Catholic Church—China— Hong Kong. I. Chu, Cindy Yik-yi. II. Maryknoll Sisters. BV2300.M4D53 2007 271⬘.97—dc22 [B]

2006050977

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: May 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America.

To my parents

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C on t e n t s

Preface

ix

Chapter One

Introduction

Chapter Two

The 1920s, People and Weather

1 17

Chapter Three The 1930s, Schools, Visitors, and Visits

43

Chapter Four

Advent of Japanese, 1938–1941

69

Chapter Five

Japanese Occupation and Internment, 1941–1942

97

Chapter Six

In and Out of the Camp, Releases, and Repatriation, 1941–1942

Chapter Seven Postwar Years, the 1950s, the Early 1960s, and Refugees Chapter Eight Chapter Nine

121 143

Resettlement Areas in the 1950s and the 1960s

171

Conclusion

197

Notes

209

Bibliography

221

Index

233


Preface

My first book on the Maryknoll Sisters was released in November 2004, also by the same publisher, New York’s Palgrave Macmillan. The book is entitled The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese. I already decided on that subtitle when I was conducting research in the Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York in the summer of 2001. While working in the Archives and staying at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, I had the distinct impression that the Maryknoll Sisters there (most of them were Americans), who had served in Hong Kong for so many years, had developed the love, passion, concern for the Chinese people. They had learned about the Chinese language, culture, society, customs, and way of life. I returned to the Archives in the summers of 2003, 2004, and 2006; each time, I came away with the same impression. Indeed, many of these American Sisters, now at Maryknoll, consider Hong Kong their second home. Occasionally, they even feel “homesick” for Hong Kong. Their missionary experience in Hong Kong has shaped their thinking, their life, and identity. Their stories in Hong Kong have continued in the women themselves, in their service, and in their retirement in the United States. The history of these Maryknoll missioners has been that of crosscultural exchanges and mutual understanding between different peoples (mainly between Chinese and Americans) during different periods of time. Through their accounts, we know how various sectors of people in Hong Kong have fared throughout the decades; we also have concrete information about specific events and historical happenings. The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1966 is a documentary survey of Hong Kong history from the

x / preface

1920s to the mid-1960s, from the perspective of the Maryknoll Sisters, and through their association with the Chinese, Europeans, Japanese, and others. It should prove useful to researchers, students, and in fact anyone interested in mission history, cross-cultural relations, women’s history, Hong Kong history, and Chinese history. This book contains two types of materials. Five chapters include diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in their houses in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1966. Two chapters include the Sisters’ personal narratives of the Second World War, namely their recollections of events from December 1941 to January 1943. The diaries, and the personal narratives of the Second World War, are kept in the Maryknoll Mission Archives. I am grateful to the Maryknoll Sisters and the Maryknoll Mission Archives for permission to publish these materials. I would like to thank the director, Ms. Ellen Pierce, and the staff of the Maryknoll Mission Archives for their help. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Archives on the History of Christianity in China of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library, Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, Hong Kong Collection of the Main Library of the University of Hong Kong, Map Library of the Hong Kong Central Library, and Public Records Office of the Hong Kong Government Records Service. I am most appreciative of the continued support of the Maryknoll Sisters throughout the years. They have provided valuable comments, information, and feedback, without which my research project on the Maryknoll Sisters would simply have been impossible. I would like to thank in particular Sisters Rose Duchesne Debrecht, Betty Ann Maheu, Mary Lou Martin, Teresa Leung, and Martha Bourne, who have put their trust in my work. Sister Rose Duchesne has shared with me many of her mission stories and photos, for which I am truly grateful. The Sisters have lived a life of “simplicity, faith, and humility,” characteristic of the many stories in this book. I am also happy to have worked with Palgrave Macmillan’s editor Ms. Amanda Johnson Moon, for my first book on the Maryknoll Sisters and this second book as well. I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Moon in New York in the summer of 2004. She has shown much enthusiasm, interest, and professionalism in her work.

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Professors Stephen Uhalley, Yip Ka-che, Joseph Yick, Chan Hok-lam, Lam Kai-yin, and Reverend Louis Ha offered valuable advice. Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council and Hong Kong Baptist University funded my research trips to Maryknoll, and the work of research assistants Ms. Angela Choi and Ms. Lo Shuk-ying. CINDY YIK-YI CHU February 2007 Hong Kong


C h ap t e r On e Introduction

The Maryknoll Diaries The Congregation of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic (formerly known as the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic) was founded in 1912; it was the first community of American nuns founded for overseas missionary work. Its headquarters are situated in Ossining, New York. Before the founding of the Maryknoll Sisters, there were no Catholic congregations of women in the United States set up for the purpose of sending women missioners abroad. Individual nuns had headed for faraway lands before, but no communities of Catholic Sisters in the past had committed themselves to spreading the Christian mission outside the United States. Therefore, the Congregation of the Maryknoll Sisters is not only a surprisingly youthful organization, compared with other Catholic counterparts, but its creation and motives have been innovative and daring. Reflective of the tremendous interest in China among Christian groups in the United States in the early twentieth century, the Maryknoll Sisters sent their first group of missioners abroad in 1921, with the initial aim of settling down in South China to assist the Maryknoll Fathers, a separate organization. Nevertheless, this pioneering group ended up in the British colony of Hong Kong on the doorstep of China and established the first overseas mission house of the Maryknoll Sisters there. In the 1920s, Chinese and Portuguese women in Hong Kong joined the Maryknoll Congregation. Originally, the Maryknoll Sisters thought that their stay in Hong Kong would be transient; however, Hong Kong became and has remained up to the present a permanent part of the Sisters’ world mission.

2 / the diaries of the maryknoll sisters

Because of their history, mission, and vision, the Maryknoll Sisters emphasize cross-cultural life experience, and one-third of their members are non-Americans from Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Dedication to service for the poor, long stressed in Maryknoll history and further accentuated in Vatican Council II (1962–1965), explains Maryknoll’s mission for the oppressed and the less advantaged people in about thirty countries outside the United States. This book is a documentary survey of Hong Kong history, from the 1920s to the mid-1960s, from the perspective of the Maryknoll Sisters, as recorded in their diaries written during that period. The editor has taken the liberty of selecting and including quotations, which describe the people (local and foreign) in Hong Kong, their outlook, traditions, customs, festivals, on the one hand, and trace particular happenings, phenomena, on the other. The focus is on how people in Hong Kong lived during those years; the included diaries elaborate on the different people in society, on changes in these years, on diversities, and vulnerabilities. This book is a priceless collection of first-hand materials on the social history of Hong Kong, a fundamentally Chinese society but very much conditioned by external circumstances beyond its control. On a societal level, the diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters, who witnessed the events, are testimonies that contain very important information about very ordinary people in Hong Kong. The diaries mention the physical appearance of the local people, the means of earning a living, food, transportation, and other quotidian aspects. The 1920s through the 1960s were captivating, as Hong Kong developed its modern industries; survived the labor movements, economic depression, and Japanese aggression; endured postwar problems; and came out with expectations and hope for the future. In particular, the happenings in the 1950s and the 1960s were the roots of contemporary Hong Kong—an affluent, cosmopolitan, and world-class city. As a documentary history, this book also discloses the daily life of Catholic Sisters, not from an outsider’s point of view, but from written records of the women themselves. Contrary to stereotyped images of nuns as reserved, unseen, and secretive, the diaries reveal the women as sociable, full of pep, and actively engaged in social

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issues. The readers can track these women—every place they went, everything they saw, every piece of news they heard, everyone they met, and so on. This book should attract the attention of anyone interested in cross-cultural relations and foreign adventures, and of undergraduate students of Asian studies, religion, and women studies. More importantly, this book is of tremendous value to researchers, graduate students, and professors, who are digging into primary sources for topics on Chinese history, Hong Kong history, Christian mission history, women’s history, and Catholic history. Most, if not all, of the material in this book has never before been published. Only some sentences and a few paragraphs of the Sisters’ narratives, cited in chapters 5 and 6, have been mentioned in the editor’s earlier publication, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Although the present book is a separate work, it can also serve as supplementary reading to the above hardback. The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969 is an original, richly documented study of cross-cultural relations of American missionary women in a foreign land. The present edited volume, in turn, offers an even closer encounter with these women, thus enabling the readers to put themselves in the shoes of the nuns. Recently, there have been a few documentary surveys published on Hong Kong: publications such as Government and Politics edited by Steve Tsang, Society edited by David Faure, Economy edited by David Faure and Lee Pui-tak, and the second part of David Faure’s Colonialism and the Hong Kong Mentality.1 Nevertheless, the current edited volume is unique as the contents are from a single source—a group of Maryknoll Sisters staying in Hong Kong—and from a minority perspective in a predominantly Chinese society. (The Maryknoll Sisters accepted their first Chinese and Portuguese nuns in Hong Kong. Throughout their history in Hong Kong, most of the Maryknoll Sisters were Americans while some of them belonged to other ethnic groups.) Not only does this volume trace the growth and development of Hong Kong, but it also reveals the life mostly of the American women throughout the years. Reading the diaries is like living together with these women, sharing their thoughts, and


meeting their friends. What is offered here is the social history of Hong Kong, on a grassroots level and from a minority point of view. This book contains two types of subject matter: (1) quotations chosen from diaries from the Maryknoll Sisters’ houses in Hong Kong, written from 1921 to 1966—the material kept at the Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York—and (2) Sisters’ recollections of the Japanese occupation, internment, releases, repatriation, and departure from December 1941 to January 1943—personal narratives of the Second World War also kept at the same archives. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 include quotations from the diaries, while chapter 5 and 6 consist of complete texts or partial accounts of the Sisters’ narratives. The Sisters’ diaries were not personal diaries, but were house reports, which described daily happenings, work, and people whom the Sisters chanced to meet. Diaries (or house reports) were not only written in Hong Kong but were also kept in the Maryknoll Sisters’ houses everywhere they served until 1967. Since 1912, the women established the tradition of keeping a diary in their house—the first ones were written by Mary Louise Wholean, one of the first six women who came to Maryknoll. Until 1958, the diaries were written every day in every house by the Sister responsible; from around 1958 to 1967, diaries were lengthy reports summarizing events of the previous year. Since Maryknoll stresses cross-cultural exchanges and mission overseas, there have been concerted efforts to keep the Sisters (in the headquarters in the United States) informed of happenings elsewhere in the world. Until the mid-1960s, the diaries served as “newsletters from afar”; the diaries were read aloud to the Sisters during breakfast so that they knew what was going on with the others outside the United States. For the purpose of this volume, the editor has chosen diaries written up to 1966, which should prove of interest to readers. As for chapters 5 and 6, the editor has selected personal narratives, of five Maryknoll Sisters related to the Second World War. The narratives represent the opinions, feelings, and experience of each individual Sister. Most of the Sisters, who were in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, wrote up their memories of this period.

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Themes of this Book Missioners Transcended Barriers and Reached out to Different Sectors of Society This book expounds on five themes. The first theme is that as foreign missioners, the Maryknoll Sisters were in a more advantageous position than local Chinese, British officials, and foreign expatriates in reaching out to different classes and sectors of Hong Kong society. They were more ready to transcend the class barriers, to get involved with the poor, the working class, the needy, and the sick on the one hand; to have contacts with compradors, the educated, and the better-off on the other. As Catholic nuns, their mission was to seek out those who were oppressed, in poverty, and in need of attention. In turn, many people rang the bell of their convent, asking for assistance—poor children, the unemployed, refugees, desperate mothers, students, and such others in need. The diaries describe the Chinese people— amahs, workers, Christian converts, language teachers, women, children, seamen, priests, and nuns. There were accounts of wounded soldiers and refugees in hospital in the 1930s, the girl dying of tuberculosis, refugees in the 1950s and the 1960s, fire victims, street sleepers, and rioters. While the affluent Chinese might not bother to befriend the common people (the grassroots), the Maryknoll Sisters had come to serve the underprivileged, the deprived, and the destitute. The society accepted the idea that Christian missioners, foreign and Chinese alike, had their own responsibilities and sense of duty. Therefore, the unfortunate were ready to seek, and to receive help from foreign missioners, who were eager and had more access than other expatriates in approaching the local folks. At the same time, philanthropists and well-to-do families offered donations through the Maryknoll Sisters. Also, the Maryknoll Sisters made the acquaintance of both Chinese and non-Chinese, regardless of ethnic backgrounds. The diaries mention Italian priests, French nuns, British administrators, an English school inspector, an Indian visitor, American and Korean travelers, and many other non-Chinese people. After the Second World War, in the 1950s and the 1960s, when needs of society were overwhelming (especially those of refugee families and from resettlement areas), the Maryknoll


Sisters expanded their secular activities by providing welfare and social services to the people, and by serving as a bridge between the British colonial government and the Chinese. The Sisters opened schools, welfare centers, a hospital, and clinics for the poor; simultaneously, the Sisters needed the support of the authorities, permission, and grants. Of course, the government could not tackle the problems alone and was more than happy to have religious groups share the load. Sisters Lived a Life of Cross-Cultural Exchanges and Adapted to Local Circumstances and Changes The Maryknoll Sisters were ignorant of the Chinese language, culture, and society when they arrived in Hong Kong in 1921. The first thing they decided to do was to study the language, the Cantonese dialect to be exact. In those days without tape recorders, a language lesson meant repeating the tones again and again with the instructor. Every event, festival, and visit was an eye-opener for the American nuns. The women seemed to be reliving another life, or having a second chance in life to see the other side of the world—a “reincarnation” experience. Therefore, in the diaries, the Sisters talked about the Chinese way of life—celebrations during Chinese New Year, dragon dance, firecrackers, temples, offerings, festivals, funerals, padded coats, and so on. The Sisters were amazed that Chinese did even very little things differently, such as calculating the age of a person. In addition, the Sisters were impressed by how hard the students worked, how Chinese families treasured education for their children, especially the poor who considered it an antidote to poverty. The richness of the diaries—the many incidents, settings, and people—shows that the Maryknoll Sisters assumed an active role in society, trying to serve the needs of the local people. What is worthy of note was that others (Chinese and non-Chinese) also took an interest in these women—wondering whether the Sisters were like ordinary “rich Americans,” calling them “Sisters in uniform,” and asking when they could possibly go home. The diaries were histories of cross-cultural relations. Initially, the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong were Americans, but

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gradually they also included Chinese, Filipina, Portuguese, and Canadian members. Sisters Worked in Professional Capacities, as Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers, and Pastoral Workers The Maryknoll Sisters were professional women with a high level of education. Either they had finished college before entering Maryknoll, or they received undergraduate education during religious training. Most of them, after years in mission, took time out and entered graduate school for Master’s and/or Ph.D. degrees. The idea was that missioners should be of use to local people in mission fields; therefore, the Sisters were supposed to provide service and expertise in areas most needed. In Hong Kong, the Maryknoll Sisters first served as secondary school teachers when there was a great demand for education, especially quality education, and the Sisters had qualifications that were rare or regarded as exceptional even in the 1960s and the 1970s. Sisters usually obtained teacher training, and some even had teaching experience in the United States, before coming to Hong Kong. After the Second World War, English-language education was much valued, and the two Maryknoll Sisters’ grant-in-aid schools produced many distinguished graduates. In the resettlement areas, the Sisters also opened primary schools for children of poor families, equipping them with the means to earn a living or preparing them for further schooling. In the second half of the 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, the influx of refugees put much pressure on medical services, social services, and welfare facilities. The Sisters worked in various localities and were pioneers in remote places, serving as doctors, nurses, and social workers, and managing welfare centers, clinics, relief services, and other such facilities. Of course, the Sisters in resettlement areas were also busy with catechetical work, religious services, and home visiting. Throughout the decades, the Maryknoll Sisters worked as independent, professional women and were respected because of their dedication and vocation. In turn, they were liberated because they had the chance to see the rest of the world, and to find their value outside the realms of household tasks. As asserted in the previous


book, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, “mission provided Maryknollers what they had long desired—equal employment opportunities—which were only later emphasized in the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s.”2 Hong Kong’s Evolution through the Decades From the 1920s through the 1960s, Hong Kong witnessed many changes, brought about by China’s development that took place in the context of Asia’s larger political climate, international crises, the Communist revolution on the mainland, and uncertainties in the postcolonial era. As the diaries show, Hong Kong was vibrant, people always on the go, and the society was taking advantage of whatever opportunities were available. This book contains information about ordinary people, from the perspective of a group of foreign missioners, who were startled by the things they saw, and did not easily take things for granted. Therefore, they jotted down every detail that amused them, whereas similar expressions, behavior, and scenery might be overlooked by the locals and by people who had lived in Hong Kong for most of their life. The diaries describe the strikes in the 1920s when Hong Kong was developing its industries, the damp and cold weather, typhoons, Chinese weddings, banquets, epidemics, school days, villages in the 1930s, war preparations in the late 1930s, blackouts, Japanese occupation, devastation during the Second World War, refugees in the 1940s through the 1960s, wooden shacks on hillsides, abandoned children, relief services, women speaking different Chinese dialects, fire in resettlement areas, poor children in the 1950s and the 1960s, triads, riots in the 1950s, and many other such incidents and events. Reading the diaries is like reading Hong Kong history from the grassroots level, and from a team of new arrivals who tried to understand and to make sense of things they encountered. The Catholic Church’s Evolution through the Decades The Catholic Church established itself in Hong Kong in 1841. From that time on, it had been involved in evangelization, training of religious personnel, building churches, and providing catechetical

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services. Adapting to social demands, the church (its various communities of priests, brothers, and Sisters) also ventured into secular tasks such as running schools, hospitals, orphanages, homes for the elderly, and welfare centers. As a foreigners’ church, the Catholic missioners were aware that they had to be accepted by local Chinese; many Hong Kong Chinese were Buddhists or Daoists. The Maryknoll Sisters have been examples of such accommodation—the women are well known in Hong Kong because of the education they have provided, the medical service they have offered, and the social services they have made available to the unfortunate. The Maryknoll Sisters worked in parishes; many of them also moved over to secular fields. As this book shows—especially chapters 7 and 8—the Maryknoll Sisters were instrumental in providing schooling, basic facilities, food supplies, and material assistance to refugee families and the destitute in resettlement areas.

Chapters of this Book Growing with Hong Kong and Its People Chapter 1, “Introduction,” discusses the themes of this book, and the significance of the Maryknoll Sisters’ diaries. In the 1920s, Hong Kong was a rather urbanized, developing city; modern style buildings appeared on both sides of Victoria Harbor. Hong Kong had its own industries, which were hiring local people; a working-class community gradually developed. As described in chapter 2, “The 1920s, People and Weather,” the Maryknoll Sisters arrived in 1921, ignorant of the place, people, language, and culture; they were about to start out their “would-be long mission” in Hong Kong. Together with the local people, the nuns were learning and experiencing new ways of doing things. While Hong Kong was going through the process of modernization, easily affected by turbulences in China and the aftermath of the First World War, the nuns adapted to changing circumstances and planned for their future. Like most of the new arrivals from mainland China, the Maryknoll Sisters originally considered Hong Kong a “point of transit” but were soon to realize that they would stay a long time. Together with locals in Hong Kong, the nuns


grew and matured (as missioners), though they were also subject to external situations that were beyond their control. As would often be said, Hong Kong was a “borrowed place in a borrowed time”; it was on the doorstep of China, its majority population was Chinese, and yet it was under British rule. New arrivals, Chinese or non-Chinese, searched for their identity in the colony. The Maryknoll Sisters appeared as they were—the American Sisters—but they took time to correct the image that “all Americans were rich,” and they faced cultural misunderstandings. As noted in chapter 2, the nuns were pioneers in far-off areas, such as Kowloon Tong where hills were being partially removed for constructing roads. The nuns listed various people they met—Chinese converts, workers, helpers, and teachers; the elderly; foreign missioners; and the British. The diaries also record labor strikes, Chinese festivals, funerals, weddings, Christmas in a Chinese society, and other such events. Both Hong Kong and the Maryknoll Sisters embarked on a new journey (in the post–First World War era); the medleys (of people and events) in the diaries (quoted in chapter 2) were reflective of the challenges at the start of the twentieth century. By the beginning of the 1930s, the Maryknoll Sisters were well settled in Hong Kong and formed their mission plans for the future. Although the nuns were more confident of the future, Hong Kong faced many difficulties, rumors, and uncertainties, as elaborated in chapter 3 “The 1930s, Schools, Visitors, and Visits.” The 1929 Great Depression had a devastating impact on world economy, and in turn, Hong Kong was affected and many people had trouble simply to earn a living. Adding to the economic crisis was the turmoil in China, especially in the northeast; the threat of Japanese aggression loomed large, and the Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937. There was constant fear that Japanese would extend their military power across the border to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Hong Kong (with its close proximity to China) became an outpost for both the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party to stage anti-Japanese campaigns, and to solicit overseas support for war efforts on the mainland. On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, the Maryknoll Sisters opened their second house on Hong Kong Island (besides the one in Kowloon) and

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subsequently moved to the convent in the new Maryknoll Convent School building in Kowloon Tong. During this time, the two Maryknoll schools had won quite a good reputation and had more applicants than they could accommodate. In chapter 3, the Sisters’ diaries portray a vibrant picture—students in their schools, the huge demand for education, and the hard work of Chinese children; outside the school setting, the nuns came across different visitors—an American traveler, a Korean man, missioners stationed in Japan and Siam (Thailand), Indians, and others. Their encounters were reflective of the situation in Hong Kong, which has always been a port of transfer for international voyagers. The Maryknoll Sisters were also outgoing, as they wrote about these picnics and outings. Chapter 3 concludes with the move to the long-anticipated school building in Kowloon Tong, and the Sisters’ commitment to mission in Chinese society. Nevertheless, what was to beset them was nothing they (and the Hong Kong people) could have planned or prepared for. War Preparations, Japanese Invasion, and Internment With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese threat became increasingly imminent. Chapter 4, “Advent of Japanese, 1938–1941,” describes the influx of refugees from war-torn China, air-raid warnings, blackouts, and eruptions of epidemics. The diaries mention people from all walks of life—women workers, Catholic girls, schoolboys, patients, wounded soldiers, refugees from the mainland, and foreigners on the run. In addition, there were incidents of abandoned babies, a girl dying of tuberculosis, a girl sold when she was born, Chinese shot because of association with Japanese, and many more. These happenings seem far-flung in modern-day Hong Kong, possible material for novels and screenplays, but they were what the nuns encountered at the time, when people were suffering from rumors of war, chaos, and fear. Chapter 4 contains valuable first-hand observations on war preparations in the 1930s, for example the nuns and students participated in a demo of a Women’s Air-Raid Protection Association and learned to use


emergency equipment. The diaries record regular drills of the St. John’s ambulance brigade, lessons on home nursing and first aid, air-raid precautions courses, and gas protection courses. Moreover, the diaries provide a chronology of events leading up to the Japanese invasion—the war moved closer in October 1938 when the nuns were stocking up food supplies, then Guangzhou (Guangdong Province) surrendered (a student’s father was missing as a result), and soon, Yangjiang, another city, followed suit. As the Sisters noted, in November 1938, there were about 20,000 mainland refugees in made-to-order camps in Hong Kong. In February 1939, Hong Kong managed to celebrate Chinese New Year in the midst of war cry; a week later, the Japanese bombed the Hong Kong side of the border with mainland China (and such bombings would be repeated). In the latter part of 1939, the nuns heard of foreigners who were evacuated, medical personnel were assigned war duties, and there were rumors of war (or no war). In 1940, the Sisters agreed that their school would become a first-aid station once war broke out. Foreigners were leaving the colony and blackouts were frequent; step by step, as the diaries show, Hong Kong was moving toward war. The Japanese invaded Hong Kong on December 8, 1941; the British succumbed to aggression and surrendered on Christmas Day. For three years and eight months, Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation. Chapter 5, “Japanese Occupation and Internment, 1941–1942,” contains the complete accounts of two Maryknoll Sisters—one staying in the Kowloon convent and the other on the Hong Kong side—who witnessed the onslaught of attack and were subsequently interned. Both narratives were recollections of events from the start of the Japanese invasion in December 1941 to the internment of foreigners in Stanley, to the repatriation in June 1942 (most of the people repatriated were Americans, including the Maryknoll nuns). These personal narratives are priceless accounts of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Sister Santa Maria Manning recorded in detail events on the Kowloon side—Japanese air raids, Japanese troops in the school building, the move to Stanley, scenes of Hong Kong damaged by the war, and days in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp. What was described

introduction / 13

was from the perspective of an American woman who lived through the most difficult period in Hong Kong history—how frightened she and others were when the Japanese attacked, hearsays from local Chinese, the assistance of other foreign missioners, different groups of Japanese soldiers, and the days in internment. The accounts were the daily happenings as Sister Santa Maria so well remembered and told. The same can be said of Sister Mary Amata Brachtesende’s accounts. She recounted the happenings on Hong Kong Island: the traffic, situation in Queen Mary Hospital, the last resistance, the soldier with a huge white flag, and the food, the frisking, and religious service in the Stanley camp. Chapter 6, “In and Out of the Camp, Releases, and Repatriation, 1941–1942,” includes additional narratives from three Maryknoll Sisters; their accounts detail various aspects of the Japanese occupation. Sister Cecilia Marie Carvalho’s narrative (the second half of it quoted in the chapter) begins with Christmas Eve 1941 and ends in April 1942. Since she was not interned in Stanley (because she was third national), Sister Cecilia Marie provided a picture of the situation of Hong Kong society during the first few months of Japanese rule. She talked about regular interrogations by the Japanese, a Japanese sentry, the search of buildings, traffic, and release of some interned Sisters. Reading the narratives is like reliving this former part of Hong Kong history. Sister Mary Clement Quinn tells her story after having been released from Stanley in June 1942; chapter 6 includes her complete account, which ends with her departure from Hong Kong in January 1943. What Sister Mary Clement found out was that Hong Kong was not the Hong Kong she used to know. After her release, she stayed with other Maryknoll Sisters in the Caine Road convent. As she remarked—“I could hardly believe I was on Caine Road. . . . But then I found out that Caine Road was no longer Caine Road.” She heard rumors and stories, saw the plight of people and looting, and experienced huge inflation and Japanese surveillance. Excerpts of Sister Frances Marion Gardner’s narrative describe her internment from February 1942, to repatriation in June 1942, to her sailing on the ship Asama Maru to East Africa to exchange Americans (including the Maryknoll Sisters) with Japanese internees.


Postwar Years, Refugees, and Resettlement After the Second World War, Hong Kong experienced an unprecedented influx of refugees from mainland China. As a result, there were problems of food, housing, hygiene, education, and disease. By the end of 1945, thirteen Maryknoll Sisters had returned to Hong Kong from Macau and the interior; they occupied part of their school building in Kowloon Tong, which still accommodated (until May 1946) hundreds of Japanese soldiers. In chapter 7, “Postwar Years, the 1950s, the Early 1960s, and Refugees,” the Sisters talked about retaking school buildings and reopening their schools. The Maryknoll Sisters managed several houses in various localities in the 1950s, but chapter 7 contains diaries from two places—the convents in Kowloon Tong, and on Caine Road (later Blue Pool Road), Hong Kong Island. In December 1946, the first group of Maryknoll Sisters, sent abroad after the war, reached Hong Kong. Maryknoll Sisters also left China after the Communist revolution and arrived in the colony. Thus, in the 1950s, the Maryknoll community in Hong Kong expanded and assumed greater responsibilities. In the diaries, there are accounts of the Sisters being occupied with their schoolwork; there were always long lines of applicants on registration day, reflecting the eagerness of Chinese children to receive an education. With the influx of refugees from China, population in Hong Kong surpassed the two-million mark in 1950. The diaries record a phenomenon after the war—the frequent occurrence of fire in refugee settlements (made-to-order shacks clustered together on hillsides), leaving behind many homeless waiting for help. Many of the quoted paragraphs are about children of poor refugee families, the education offered to them, and ways to light up their days. Besides Chinese, non-Chinese were also among the refugees escaping to Hong Kong. Many times, the diaries describe White Russians coming from the northeast of China and from Shanghai; some of them obtained United Nations assistance and immigrated to other countries, while others stayed behind in Hong Kong. Indeed, the friends of the Sisters were of mixed ethnicities—Chinese, Japanese, White Russian, Polish, Greek, English, Danish, and other nationalities. Chapter 7 also elaborates on the Kowloon Riots of 1956, which were

introduction / 15

allegedly a result of clashes between opposing political forces in Hong Kong. The volatile circumstances in the colony, beset by refugee problems and political concerns, were well evident in the postwar decades. Chapter 8, “Resettlement Areas in the 1950s and the 1960s,” includes diaries of Maryknoll Sisters’ houses in the resettlement areas of Tung Tau Tsuen, King’s Park, Kowloon Tsai, Kwun Tong, and Wong Tai Sin on Kowloon side, and Chai Wan on Hong Kong side. The Maryknoll Sisters’ relief work started in Tung Tau Tsuen, which was within walking distance from the Kowloon Tong convent. As noted in the diaries, squatters (living in squatter huts and shacks) in Tung Tau Tsuen had recently fled from China, coming from a number of places and speaking different dialects. The diaries mention schooling for refugee children, religious work, relief supplies, medical service, gangsters, riots, and disturbances. Another resettlement area was King’s Park, where the Sisters arranged Christmas gifts for poor children, distributed clothes and rice, and gave out sewing jobs for women to earn some money. On Hong Kong Island, the Sisters’ work in Chai Wan was pioneering—initially, there were no roads, no electricity, no permanent housing, and no facilities. Relief services were necessary; the Sisters opened a school, visited the wooden huts on hillsides, and cared for the needy. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the government was building housing estates for people living in squatter huts, to provide better living conditions for the urban poor. Therefore, reclamation and construction work were often seen in resettlement areas—the diaries cite the public estates in Kwun Tong, multistory blocks in Chai Wan, the resettlement of people away from King’s Park (and the redevelopment of the area), Maryknoll hospital in Wong Tai Sin, and other such instances. The diaries register the tremendous changes in Hong Kong within a decade or more after the Second World War—the transformation of the physical appearance of many localities, improvement in services, the uplifting of the human spirit, the increase in opportunities, and greater hope in the future. The Maryknoll Sisters lived among the ordinary people, faced similar challenges, and engaged in the work needed, and so the Catholic mission grew along with the development of Hong Kong society. For many decades, the American Sisters


(and also their Canadian, Portuguese, and Filipina members) have enjoyed their days living with the Chinese people, and cherishing memories. Chapter 9, “Conclusion,” discusses the various stages of Hong Kong history, the cross-cultural experience of the nuns, and the contribution of this book.

A Note on Quotations, Ellipses, Punctuation, Titles, and Romanization An enclosed quotation can be the entire paragraph from the diary of a certain day, or the entire diary of the day (consisting of several paragraphs). A quotation might consist of sentences taken from a larger paragraph, or a few paragraphs selected from the diary of the day. For a quotation consisting of paragraphs or sentences selected from the diary (not the entire text of the diary), an ellipsis (period dots) before and/ or after the quotation is normally not included. Ellipses are included if omissions occur within the quotation; an ellipsis and a period are included at the end of the quotation if the last part of the concluding sentence (of the original paragraph) is omitted, or if the remaining part of the original paragraph is omitted. If the opening sentence(s) of the original paragraph is (are) included, the first sentence of the quoted paragraph is indented from the left; if the opening sentence(s) of the original paragraph is (are) omitted, the first sentence of the quoted paragraph is flush left instead. The editor inserts information into a quoted paragraph with the use of brackets—[ ]; whereas information within parentheses—( )— is material given in the original diary. The editor has also provided a title for each quotation, to facilitate reading. For names of people and places in Hong Kong, the editor spells them in the same way that they have been spelled officially in Hong Kong (close to Cantonese pronunciation). For names of people and places in China, the editor uses Pinyin instead.

Chapter Two Th e 1 9 2 0 s, Pe op l e an d We at h er

Arriving in Hong Kong The Maryknoll Sisters arrived in Hong Kong on November 3, 1921, and resided in a two-story house near the harbor front in Tsimshatsui at the tip of Kowloon Peninsula. A Crown colony, Hong Kong included the island that was ceded to the British in the Nanjing Treaty of 1842, Kowloon Peninsula ceded in the Beijing Convention of 1860, and New Territories leased for ninety-nine years in 1898. Situated in the tropics, Hong Kong Island then (before its subsequent reclamation) was approximately 11 miles long and 2 to 5 miles wide, with an area of 32 square miles.1 The island is separated from the peninsula by the Victoria Harbor, for which Hong Kong is famous and which allows Hong Kong to become a world-class trading port. On the other side of the harbor, residents in Kowloon Peninsula are separated from most of the New Territories by the Lion Rock; the New Territories stretches to the north until it reaches the border with mainland China. Hong Kong is hilly, and people usually settled along the waterfront of the island and the peninsula; so the Maryknoll Sisters’ house was within walking distance from Victoria Harbor. When the Sisters arrived, Kowloon Peninsula had been undergoing rapid development; new buildings replaced garden plots, leveling and reclamation were taking place to increase flat land for construction.2 Staying on the Kowloon side, the six pioneer Sisters were Mary Paul McKenna who was leader of the group, Mary Lawrence Foley, Mary Barbara Froehlich, Mary Rose Leifels, Mary Monica Moffat, and Mary Imelda Sheridan. They were the first American Catholic nuns to arrive and were among the more than 14,000 non-Chinese in


Hong Kong, out of a total population of slightly over 625,000.3 In 1921, the number of Catholics there was over 24,900.4 This chapter contains quotations from diaries written in the 1920s, kept at the Maryknoll Mission Archives.5 The Maryknoll Sisters stayed in a two-story house at 19 Chatham Road, next to Rosary Church, from November 1921 through December 1922. On New Year’s Day 1923, they moved to their new residence, not far away at 103 Austin Road; they remained there until May 1937.6 The diaries of the 1920s were written during their stay in these two houses. The number of Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong fluctuated from six in 1921 to twentyseven in 1928. In 1929, there were eighteen Sisters in the colony.7 On the first page of the diaries, the Maryknoll Sisters recorded their arrival in Hong Kong. The Maryknoll Fathers had been in the colony since 1918. One of the Maryknoll priests who met the nuns that day, November 3, was Francis X. Ford. Having been in Yangjiang, Ford would move to Jiaying (Meixian), also in Guangdong Province, in the mid-1920s. He died in a Communist prison in China in 1952, a few years after the Communist takeover.8 Initially, the nuns did not think they would stay in Hong Kong for long, as they had dreamed to go to mainland China, to work with Chinese women and for Chinese children. To the nuns, Hong Kong was a place to stop over before heading for China. Therefore, their house on Chatham Road—the first overseas mission house of the Maryknoll Sisters—would serve them as a place to rest while traveling to and from China, and as a distributing point for mail and supplies to the interior. That was the meaning of the French word “procure” within this context, a point of transit for Catholic missioners. In Hong Kong, the nuns recognized the need to learn the local dialect Cantonese (Guangdonghua) and took classes from Chinese tutors who knew very little English, considering this the most effective way to learn the dialect. The Maryknollers were the first group of American Sisters to arrive in Hong Kong and had a lot to learn. Indeed, the Sisters took an interest in everything they saw. On her first night in Hong Kong, Sister Mary Paul McKenna (the Sisters’ local superior) wrote to Mother Mary Joseph Rogers (mother general of the Maryknoll Sisters) in New York. This four-page letter is written in pencil. Sister Mary Paul described the first night in Hong Kong,

the 1920s, people and weather / 19

the Chinese amah working for the nuns, and “the funnies” in the house. On the last page of the letter, she drew a cockroach against the wallpaper. She wrote on the picture—“this is the species of bugs that travels around our Convent.”9 It was not unusual for foreigners to complain about cockroaches in Hong Kong; but given Mary Paul’s strict manner, it is hard to imagine her having spent time on the picture (see figure 2.1). November 3, 1921 “Arriving in Hong Kong” The six Sisters arrived in Hong Kong and were met by Fr. Francis Ford, and four other Maryknoll Fathers. The Sisters took up residence in a five-room cottage at 19 Chatham Road, Kowloon, setting it up as a Center House, and procure for the convents they planned to set up in the interior of China. The Sisters settled down to study and learn the Chinese language and Chinese customs. April 21 and 24, 1980 Interviews with Sister Mary Paul McKenna10 It was rumored around the parish and the neighborhood that we were six American Sisters. So we were just a curiosity, that was all. Of course, the Hong Kong people were more sophisticated. . . . They had seen British, French and Portuguese people. . . .

* * * We had very little contact with the British because we were not living in a British area. We were living in a largely Portuguese and Chinese area. And the Chinese? They looked at us as we were—“Six American Sisters,” and they let us go our way. That’s all they said “American Sisters.”

* * * We were Americans and you couldn’t say anything else. We would say to them [the Chinese], “We’re not rich Americans. We are Maryknoll Sisters—missionary Sisters.” But you can never convince them, that Americans are not rich. You can never convince them!

20

Figure 2.1 The last page of the letter, from Sister Mary Paul McKenna to Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, dated November 3, 1921. Source: Folder 1, Box 1, Regional Correspondence: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives.


Hong Kong and the Chinese People On the doorstep of mainland China, Hong Kong had benefited from Chinese foreign trade, and from trade in the region. Since the nineteenth century, Hong Kong had been a free port welcoming vessels, people, and goods from anywhere in the world. Victoria Harbor was a precious asset; with its spaciousness and depth, it had attracted oceangoing ships, river steamers, and steam launches. From South China and Indo-China, trading junks paid regular visits.11 When the Seamen’s Strike broke out the year following the Maryknoll Sisters’ arrival, in 1922, Hong Kong had been receiving more than 50,000 vessels (amounting to almost 30,000,000 tons) of foreign trade a year.12 Shipment of rice was particularly important for the colony, so was the trade of sugar, yarn, cotton, ginger, and preserves. Hong Kong was also involved in engineering, shipbuilding, the manufacture of cement, the business of tin, native tobacco, leather, and hides.13 Nevertheless, the conclusion of the First World War (1914–1918) had left a negative impact on world economy, as witnessed by the decline in quantities of commodities produced and traded, and Hong Kong had been affected.14 Complicating the situation was the occurrence of frequent strikes locally and in the interior; indeed, the 1920s marked an important decade in the history of the Chinese labor movement. With the unrest, trade remained low, and at the same time, it called for the need to protect the rights of workers and to handle carefully the labor problems. Therefore, in 1921 and 1922, the government held a special inquiry into the working conditions of women and children in the colony’s newly developing industries. There were concerns to promote industrial profits on the one hand, and to improve employees’ welfare on the other.15 In the diaries, the Maryknoll Sisters described the people they saw and their meetings with the Chinese. Local Chinese, men and women, struggled hard to earn a living; many were laborers who were employed to level hills, to cut back roads, and to engage in manual work. Chinese women wore large straw hats while working under the sun. A quotation mentions Kowloon Tong. The area was on the northern edge of Kowloon Peninsula right under the Lion Rock; Boundary Street ran across Kowloon Tong, which was not yet developed. Laborers there were “chopping off rocks,” cutting back


hills, and widening road and streets. In the 1920s, the government was planning to transform Kowloon Tong, then remote and decorated with paddy fields, into a residential area. The Maryknoll Sisters would eventually secure land in Kowloon Tong, erect their school buildings, and move Maryknoll Convent School (established in 1925) to the new location at the corner of Waterloo Road and Boundary Street in 1937. Since their first day in Hong Kong, the Sisters had a Chinese amah who worked for them; the amah’s name was Anna, possibly her Christian name. Occasionally, the nuns had a helper who did the shopping; Ah Cheung was an example. Her last name was Cheung, but Cantonese people liked to add “Ah” before a name when calling a person. Maryknoll Father Robert J. Cairns had a helper called Ah Kwei— Kwei was either the second or third character of the Chinese’s name, “Ah” was as usual added to the name. The nuns learned Cantonese from local Chinese, and in those days without recorders, they kept on repeating the words until they got the right tones. Besides helpers and teachers, the nuns also came across Chinese catechumens; in one of the paragraphs of the diaries, the catechumens were a group of old ladies. James Anthony Walsh, one of the Maryknoll Fathers’ two founders, and some Maryknoll priests had traveled with the Sisters to Hong Kong. Thomas Frederick Price, the other founder, died in Hong Kong in September 1919; he was initially buried in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley Cemetery, a final resting place for Catholic clergy and nuns. The Sisters also had contacts with priests of other groups; John Spada, a Milan priest, would become a staunch supporter of Maryknoll. For the nuns, their commitment to overseas mission was meant to be a life-long one, as the congregation did not have plans for missioners to return home, until after the Second World War (1939–1945). Therefore, the Englishman, whom the nuns met, was “speechless” when he heard the answer to his question of “the number of years before furlough.” On the occasion, the nuns told him that they could never return home. November 30, 1921 “Chinese converts and the Chinese amah” Sister [Mary] Barbara [Froehlich] stayed home because she wasn’t feeling well. Two Sisters walked and the others drove over in Mr. Alvez[‘s] car with Mr. Alvez and Father [John] Spada. After a run


of about twenty-five minutes away from the harbor-front and through the bare mountains which are being “hand-chopped” away by women as well as men, we sighted St. Joseph’s Home [for the Aged] which is built on a height overlooking the northern entrance to Hongkong harbor and a beautiful sight it is. The blue waters stretched along for miles and there was not a ripple to disturb the calm of its surface. Kowloon Tong is being developed by the government, which aims to make this a residential section. The clay taken from the mountain side in tiny baskets is used to fill up the swampy rice fields and gardens which are “wonderful” mosquito breeders. St. Joseph’s [Home] is in charge of the [Italian] Canossian Sisters and this day—the feast of St. Andrew—marks the end of its first year. All the old folks—men and women, Chinese and Eurasian[s]—were assembled in the very pretty chapel and were waiting for the event of the day—the solemnization of the Baptism of three women and one man—a Mohammedan. Sisters [Mary] Paul [McKenna], [Mary] Imelda [Sheridan] and [Mary] Monica [Moffat] were godmothers and their godchildren took the names of their godmothers. Brown and wrinkled and almost hairless, the sum of the ages of these “children” totalled almost three hundred but they were like children in the smiles that overspread the wrinkled faces when they expressed their gratitude in the language that all understand. An active little Chinese nun anticipated the needs of the neophytes and was here and there helping with this prayer and that. A tour of the house showed everything spotless for these old folks who have known so little of what we call “life’s necessaries.” And everywhere were busy fingers and happy faces but no faces were any happier than those of the Sisters who found evident joy in their apostolic labors. That afternoon Anna, our “ahmah” received a letter which told of her “brother’s illness at Canton [Guangzhou, Guangdong Province]” and she would have to go. We didn’t know much of the mysteries of letters and sudden illnesses, etc. which come always when an amah decides to change her position but we do now. All sympathy, we said “Goodbye” to Anna who indeed looked so doleful that you might think her brother wouldn’t live until she reached Canton. However, she assured us she’d return in four days and send a substitute in the meantime. And we needed one because all buying, etc. is done in Chinese and as yet we are helpless.


The first thought of suspicion came when I caught a glimpse of Anna, hair and face shining, sitting up high in a rickshaw with her worldly goods piled at her feet. But Ah Cheung was still with us. December 7, 1921 “The Chinese amah” Sister [Mary] Imelda [Sheridan] much improved but this too is one of the peculiarities of malaria, the fever of which recurs every second or third day. Sister [Mary] Monica [Moffat] and Sister [Mary] Lawrence [Foley] went over to Hongkong [Island] shopping. A “wash amah” came in. She’s a Catholic to whom Father [John] Spada is giving a home and she goes out by the day wherever she can find work. She’s deaf and knows not a word of English but she can skip up and down the steps barefooted at a rapid pace and she knows what she wants to do and she does it. She always has a smile and to look at her face you’d think hers was the happiest lot in creation. December 8, 1921 “Missioners died here” In the afternoon four of the Sisters went to Happy Valley Cemetery [near north side of Hong Kong Island] to give Father [Thomas Frederick] Price a share in his favorite feast, or rather to ask Father Price a share in his day. They left some white chrysanthemums on his grave. December 10, 1921 “The language teacher” There was the regular morning class in Chinese and arrangements were made to have Gertrude Leung, a Chinese virgin, come in every afternoon to give us tones for an hour and a half. Gertrude was here the day of our arrival but because she knows no English we hesitated to engage her. However, after being assured that it was better to get someone who was not trying to study English rather than teach Chinese we decided on Gertrude. She was to come Monday at “Saam tim pun”—three thirty.16 December 11, 1921 “Chinese converts” Father Superior [James Anthony Walsh] gave the meditation. St. John the Baptist was the central figure [of Walsh’s talk] and [Walsh] said Mass. Father was leaving that evening for Canton


[Guangzhou, Guangdong Province] to be gone three days and the end of the week was to bring his farewell to the missions for this time. That afternoon three of the Sisters—Sisters [Mary] Paul [McKenna], [Mary] Lawrence [Foley] and [Mary] Monica [Moffat]— went with the [Italian] Canossian Sisters to the Church of St. Francis Xavier on the outskirts of Kowloon City [east of Waterloo Road; north of Boundary Street and Prince Edward Road] for the celebration in honor of the octave of St. Francis Xavier. After the “main roads (?)” were left behind we crossed narrow paths which led between vegetable gardens and we went along “one man paths,” which wound their way past low matshed huts in which revelled pigs and chickens and Chinese, to the little walled Church whose cross stood up rather disconsolately and lonely. The Church of St. Francis [Xavier] is for the Chinese and there are about a handful of natives in the vicinity who attend the monthly Mass which is said usually by a priest from Holy Rosary Church [next to Sisters’ house in Tsimshatsui] in Kowloon. . . . The Chinese congregation grew larger when Father [John] Spada appeared with a huge bag of broken crackers. Even the old ones of more than three score held out their hands, brown and wrinkled, while the little ones opened wide their pockets on their topcoats—this is three coat weather—for this delicacy. “Tin shi po yow[,] [sic]”17 “God bless you” and a bow was the oft repeated expression of gratitude. It was with a feeling of sadness for these very poor people who know neither cleanliness nor comfort of any kind even according to the Chinese idea— that we moved away to visit a Chinese garden nearby. December 13, 1921 “The language teacher” Chinese lessons now take no little time. There is a study period of three quarters of an hour in preparation for class at ten which lasts until eleven fifteen. In the afternoon Miss [Gertrude] Leung comes at 3.30 and says a,—a—a, Che—che—che, etc. to the tune of re, do– ti– for an hour and a half. We chirp along after her trying to keep as near as possible to the tones but they whirl around in one’s brain like the snowflakes in a blizzard. December 21, 1921 “Chinese women” The first day of the winter solstice according to our previous location. Here the sun poured down on the bare roads and the


women going to work on the mountain side or on some building[s] wore their usual sunhats—a large flat straw bigger than any “Merry Widow” of happy memories with a four inch ruffle of dark blue hanging from the brim. These hats shelter many poor women who all day long do the work of beasts—pull heavy loads of stone, balance heavy baskets on bamboo poles, carry mortar up and down ladders, etc. December 22, 1921 “The Englishman who can return home” Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and Sister [Mary] Lawrence [Foley] went to Hongkong [Island] shopping and to see a doctor for Sr. [Mary] Lawrence’s throat and head which have been bothering her. We struck Dr. Allan, an Englishman, who was interested and commented that “we were the cheeriest lot of missioners he had ever seen.” He asked a few question[s] including the number of years before furlough. The answer to this left him speechless for awhile and when asked his charge he said “Nothing. I expect to go home some day and this is the least I can do for you who may never go home.” December 24, 1921 “The Chinese boy” The day before Christmas and it was a busy one. . . . The Christmas tree, a long-needled pine that filled the refectory with a breath of the old home “Switzerland” made us close our eyes and dream dreams as we hurried back and forth. A tray of nuts and candy and fruit topped with an American flag came from Mr. Noronha, a series of wee mince pies came from Mrs. Summers, several cans of fruit from home [and] from another friend who sees us at Mass each day. A rehearsal was in swing when the non-singer of the family opened the chapel doors and announced that an organ had come—the gift of Father [ James Edward] Walsh. The door had hardly closed when through the back entrance came the grocery boy with two live chickens which he lay pathetically on the hall rug with two tiny bamboo crates of oranges—the gift of Hop Ching, the compradore. Now, what we should do with two live chickens we hardly knew but, then, Ah Kwei, Father [Robert J.] Cairns’ boy appeared, and he was pressed into service. He knows the trick of wringing necks well for in a few moments our feathered gifts had wriggled their last.


December 25, 1921 “Christmas, the first in China” And it all seemed like a dream! The call to chapel was “Holy Night”—we had to sing our own carols this year—and there was the congregation—the six [Italian] Canossian Sisters and the six Maryknollers—the latter the choir for the High Mass. . . . It was almost four when we moved upstairs repeating again and again—“This is Christmas and we are in China!” . . . After the Solemn High Mass at 9.30, there was a breakfast for the poor Chinese in the yard of Holy Rosary Church [Tsimshatsui]. The faces of these old folks shone as they saw the bountiful supply of rice and other unnameables to us before them, but they were not any happier than Father [John] Spada who moved from one to the other with fatherly interest. January 13, 1922 “No water” There was rain this morning and it was rather a good feeling to let the drops tumble down on one’s face. Then, too, they came in handy because we had a Maryknoll surprise—no water. Even tho[ugh] the clouds gather and shadow the waters of the bay and hide the hills there is little rain as yet but the rainy season is close at hand.

The 1922 Seamen’s Strike and Labor Issues There was inflation in Hong Kong; the cost of daily necessities had risen remarkably by the beginning of 1922. The supply of rice became increasingly scarce and expensive, and the price rose so high that people began looting rice stores.18 It was a difficult time, and Chinese were not able to get a raise in salary, many of whom were frustrated with the situation. Chinese seamen were among the protesters, a large part of their earnings had ended up in the pockets of supervisors. In January, Chinese seamen staged a strike to protest against the differentiated treatment given to their European counterparts, whose pay was a few times theirs. They demanded a pay raise and the recognition of the status of their union.19 The strike lasted for about two months, from January to March, and had a paralyzing effect on the traffic in the harbor, the trade with the outside world,


and the movement of food and goods within the colony. Other sectors of society were sympathetic with the seamen, and people from different occupations later joined the protests. Starting from the initial number of 6,000, the strike eventually attracted a phenomenally large number of supporters. With the lack of food supplies, and the closing of shops, restaurants, banks, newspapers, and post office, the city came to a standstill.20 As recorded in the nuns’ diaries, workers, waiters, and cooks were on strike too. Finally, the seamen obtained improvements in their working conditions, and the strikers could then celebrate their success. The 1920s marked a start in legislation for workers. In 1923, a new ordinance came into effect, safeguarding the rights of child laborers. It was meant to be the first step toward the eventual elimination of child labor in factories. On the one hand, it forbade children under fifteen to engage in dangerous operations (e.g. the manufacture of fireworks), and those under ten to work in a factory. On the other hand, it regulated the working hours for children who were old enough to work. In doing so, the child labor ordinance set in motion the process of creating greater awareness of labor issues, resulting in further legislation in industrial undertakings.21 As events would further prove, Hong Kong was always under the influence of happenings in China, for example, the incidents in 1925. The tide of the labor movement swept through the latter half of the 1920s, when the killing of student protesters in Shanghai, in the May 30th incident of 1925, incited anti-British feelings and workers’ strikes in more than twenty Chinese cities. Demonstrations in the interior were supported by students, who refused to attend classes, and merchants, who closed their shops. For sixteen months, labor unions staged strikes in Hong Kong and the adjacent Guangdong Province. Within half a month, supporters of the labor movement rose to 200,000; seamen, printers, and tram drivers were quick to join the strikes.22 January 15, 1922 “Seamen’s strike” A wet Sunday and the ocean seemed to envelop us. The mists hung low over the water and hid the Hongkong hillside as well as the ships


in port. And there are many ships, because there is a strike among the Chinese sailors. The cry for wages is being taken up in the Orient. January 16, 1922 “The Chinese amah and the language teacher” More rain and the sea itself seemed to have turned into mist which enveloped everything and which made the atmosphere very heavy. Only the smoke stack of the little ferry was outlined in the distance— all else was lost. The fog horn of the incoming vessels cleaves the heavy air sharply and we know that even though the outgoing ships are tied up others keep coming in. Grass “raincoats” are out on the “rickie” drivers and one private “coolie” who has a “Yellow Kid” rubber coat is the envy of all as he trots the little girl of his master to school. Antonia [a Chinese] appeared for the wash and we let her go ahead because Gussie [Chinese helper] had laughed when we suggested waiting for clear weather. She said these days keep up for weeks. Antonia worked outdoors all day and the rain must have felt cold on her bare feet slipped into their wooden clogs, but the smile never left her face even when I told her she couldn’t hang the sheets, etc. in the reception room to dry. Fortunately she asks now. She didn’t [ask] one other rainy day and our visit to the chapel for spiritual reading revealed the white scapulars hanging over the back of the chairs. She could hardly be blamed because these were the only six chairs she could find on the second floor. And she gets $.60 H.K.—$.40 U.S.— for a day beginning at eight and running until after seven—as long as she can see—with about ten minutes at noon for “chow.” Anthony [also Chinese], our new teacher, appeared at ten in his outing flannel jacket and these have now lost their strange appearance to us. He nervously began work with what I am sure was to him a formidable group. The same process goes on—he doesn’t really teach, he’s like an automatic pronouncer from which you can get tones as you wish. But his ear is good and even in group work he can detect guilty ones whose tones are not true to pitch. We have tried hard to impress him that it is necessary for him to correct each mistake. January 17, 1922 “Damp weather, and the strike” Another “wintry” day when the heavy dampness enveloped everything. The wash went on but the drying didn’t. . . .


The strike in the harbor hasn’t lifted because the Chinese Sailors Union and the employees cannot reach an agreement. Ships are more numerous—there are already more than two hundred and twelve and many of these are trans-Pacific. We are wondering about the mail to the homeland. January 18, 1922 “It is cold and damp” In the refectory, reception room and chapel we started fires in the tiny fireplaces and we have resolved to insist that the second group [of Maryknoll Sisters who would arrive in October 1922] bring heavy clothes with them. The dampness here is hard to resist—it creeps in everywhere and makes even one’s clothes cold and clammy. The Chinese have no fires—so Gertrude [Leung, who teaches the Sisters Cantonese] says—but she wears extra jackets. The same blue one is on top but it is “elastic” because now she has three others underneath and one is very warm, padded silk and another is woolen. On top of the four “saams”—jackets—she wears a heavy winter coat but no hat. She has a little scarf for her shoulders and we suggested she put this over her head but she shook her head violently and said, “NoCoolie.” And we understood that the big work hat is a distinguishing mark of the coolie. January 20, 1922 “Seamen’s strike” The strike in the harbor is still on. Vessels come in and here they stay. The sun broke through the clouds and mist and made a golden path on the quiet waters but it was only for a moment and soon again there was rain—and much of it. The “firemen” were busy poking the coals in their tiny fireplaces but the poking was worth while. January 26, 1922 “Chinese converts” In the pouring rain we climbed the Hongkong hillside. It was a pretty sight to see the wet luxuriant greens of the ferns and palms and to catch glimpses of the coolie chair-bearers carrying their curtained passengers up the narrow, overarched path that leads to the Cathedral [of the Immaculate Conception on Caine Road, Hong Kong Island]. The Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres came along just then and with their quaint French habit all was like a picture.


The Cathedral was crowded—the Governor and members of the Consulate were there as well as soldiers and sailors representing many nationalities. The hundreds of children—orphans and boarders from the Italian Convent filed up one of the side aisles and there were few if any empty seats in the big church. It was a cosmopolitan gathering—even the priests in the sanctuary had come from many different lands. The afternoon was a busy one—the usual morning class was at 2.00 and the regular class followed at 3.45. The second class was disturbed by a caller at the back door—a woman with her little baby of about three. She wanted some bread for the baby—she was walking to Hokkai some miles from here.23 The baby played happily with a few pennies in its pocket and chewed at the dry crust of bread while the mother rested—her feet were tired, they were tiny stumps—and waited for the torrent of rain to let up a bit. Of course, we didn’t understand all this ourselves. We borrowed the teacher from class and, although she knows no English, she knows us and we can understand her. February 1, 1922 “Seamen’s strike” After the howling winds of last night, we found the morning gray and stifling. The “blizzard” had gone and had left not even a breath of air. The strike [is] still on in the harbor. The situation [is] getting serious because the cargo and sampan coolies are going out, too, and vessels coming into dock cannot even unload their supplies. Hongkong’s food supply comes from outside and a shortage is feared. Fire wood that usually sells 14 bundles for $1.00 has gone up to 3 for $1.00 and cannot be bought even at that price. February 2, 1922 “Sisters in uniform” The Star Ferry [the means of transportation between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula] secretary wrote in response to inquiry about monthly tickets, etc. that the Sisters could travel half rate “when in uniform” and the first tickets used show that this is allowed to soldiers, sailors, policemen, etc.24 The harbor is full of boats and everything is dead as a doornail because of the strike. The little sampans still show trace of their


New Year good luck cards pasted everywhere—on stern and bow, on inside and outside. The red strips with their black characters looked “raggy and washy” in the heavy mists and rough seas of these days. February 24, 1922 “Sisters travel” The train for Canton was to pull out at three and it was with every courtesy from ticket agent and conductor that we left joyously settled ourselves for a four hours’ ride into “China.” (Hongkong, you know, is a medley. It is not China unadulterated!) We traveled first class—we were alone and very ignorant—which means that we had a little compartment in which there are two long seats facing each other with a table between. We got out some magazines but they did not prove as attractive as the countryside. Great splashes of sunshine broken only here and there by the shadow of a passing cloud lay on the hillsides which are bare in places and again are covered by a growth of scrub pine. I was curious as to why any of these hillsides were bare of vegetation in a tropical country and learned that they were denuded years ago for firewood and the new growth which is being provided for by the government has not as yet reclaimed all the devastated country. There are tunnels through the mountains which border Kowloon and then we ran along more level land with rice fields in abundance on one side and a glimpse of blue waters on the other. And in the pretty streams which ran between rice fields were the water buffaloes, sometimes alone and sometimes with a boy perched on his back. Little houses clustered together in sheltered nooks and there was no doubt that this was a Chinese village because on the gray brick doorways were the striking reddish pink ancestry scrolls. On the hillsides, too, were graves—built into the side of the hill and beside many were jars . . . with the ashes of one’s long dead. March 1, 1922 “Ash Wednesday, everyone is on strike” Exciting rumours about the strike increase. Coolies, amahs and cooks are to go out today and if one knows how much Hongkong depends on those one can realize how much that announcement meant. Signs on shop doors and hotels were interesting—“No dinner served today. Cooks and waiters quit!” “No boy—no cook.” The army and navy have charge of the bakeries.


March 8, 1922 “Chinese celebrate” At noon the train from Canton [Guangzhou, Guangdong Province] brought back the strikers. There was a great celebration. Firecrackers—a sign of Chinese joy—were thrown out the car windows, white banners with Chinese figures waved gayly, and all spelled victory. . . . Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] with Sister [Mary] Monica [Moffat] went to Hongkong [Island] shopping and from the window of Sincere’s department store saw a Chinese parade—an after-strike demonstration of joy. Men and boys marched and carried banners and wreaths of flowers. Crowds stood around the office of the “Seamen’s Union” which had been closed by the government. March 12, 1922 “Chinese wedding” Evidences of a Chinese wedding—nice, fat, roasted pigs highly decorated with paper of delicate shades—passed the house all day. Towards noon a procession passed—many coolies carrying on their bamboo poles an endless variety of gifts all gayly decorated. March 26, 1922 “It is damp and wet here” A Hongkong rain—and such a day is in a class by itself. It is lovely to watch the mists on the mountain side and over the ocean—if it only didn’t make things so wet. The floors get a blue streak— mold—and the matting in the hall gets spots—more mold. Heels on your shoes get blue and the pictures on the wall are hidden by a veil of mist which hangs on the glass. The dampness gets under things and the sun doesn’t poke around long enough these days to dry anything. May 20, 1922 “Strike again” It was almost eight when the Sisters returned because there is a strike on again among the Chinese launch workers and the ferry to Hongkong [Island] is being run by British sailors. The trip across that should take about ten minutes took a good half hour and that half hour followed a period of waiting of three quarters of an hour for a ferry that ordinarily appears for passengers every five minutes.


The Weather Situated in the tropics, Hong Kong generally has very humid weather except for a month or so in autumn. Some people even commented that Hong Kong has roughly only two kinds of weather—“hot and humid” and “cold and humid.” Hong Kong experiences typhoons in the summer months of July and August, and sometimes even in September. Weather conditions vary, of course, in different years. Nevertheless, when the Sisters arrived in 1921, there were heavy rains from late April to early July, and drought from early September through December. The mean temperature that year was 72.2 ⬚F, the highest temperature 92.2 ⬚F, and the lowest 44 ⬚F.25 An overpowering typhoon hit Hong Kong on August 18, 1923, resulting in much damage with many vessels having been driven ashore and others sinking. Heavy rain could have devastating consequences, as it did in July 1925 when a retaining wall collapsed on some houses and seventy-five people died. With thunderstorms and torrential downpours on the nights of July 1926, lightning hit buildings, landslides and flooding caused disasters, and nullahs were bursting apart. In August 1927, a typhoon that lasted an exceptional twelve hours dealt a destructive blow to houses and vessels.26 Despite the above accounts, toward the end of the 1920s, Hong Kong suffered from extreme droughts. This was the situation from mid-July 1928 to the end of the year. Strangely enough, there was not even one typhoon that year.27 The problem continued into the following year, 1929, when a shortage of rainfall from late February to mid-June led to “a water famine.”28 In July 1929, there came heavy rains that resolved the water crisis. July 22, 1923 “The typhoon” Typhoon winds kept things moving all morning and at noon three cannon reports which told that the typhoon had arrived in Hongkong instead of circling close by as has been the custom. One lives in the “catacombs” shutters and windows closed—during such a period, but this gale was not so terrific in Kowloon. The Observatory reported a velocity of eighty eight miles an hour.


July 23, 1923 “No food coming in during typhoon” The typhoon winds had died down but the gale was still considerable. We slipped out to Holy Rosary [Tsimshatsui] to Mass and had the church almost to ourselves. Gussie [Chinese helper] still in bed and to add to the upset condition of things amah, too, failed to appear to do the wash. She too was sick. The ferry did not run so our food supply stayed on the Hongkong [Island] side while we were safely in Kowloon. July 27, 1923 “Busy during typhoon” Another typhoon session and once more we lived in the catacombs. Porch screens came down, little floods appeared here and there under windows and doors and we were kept busy. Once more ferries stopped and once more our food supply stayed on the Hongkong [Island] side, while we ransacked cupboards and boxes for possibilities. A new amah made her appearance and once more the “breaking in” process was begun. July 30, 1923 “Chinese funeral” Amah took her first lesson in ironing. Between her pipe and her tea she got along but slowly and to save our patience we kept at a safe distance. A real Chinese funeral across the way interested us. A temporary bamboo stairway had to be erected to the third floor because the corpse would bring bad luck to every door way that it passed. The family was in white sackcloth and followed the priests [Buddhist monks in fact] who with shaven heads and silken robes chanted their prayers that the evil spirit might be appeased. Theoretically one believes that she appreciates her faith but on occasions such as these, one knows that she is more thankful for it than for any other gift ever received. August 18, 1923 “Another typhoon” The sunshine of yesterday gave place to more clouds and a high wind—another typhoon on the way. But it came suddenly and


terrifically. The signal indicated a gale from the north but the cannon report of three distinct shots which came before eight indicated that the typhoon had struck. We would not have heeded the signal. Rain came in such torrents that our well-built house was like a sieve. Doors and windows proved that they were not watertight and drips from the ceiling kept everyone and every available mop in use. The north side was well provided for, when the wind took a rapid turn to the west and carried the rain with it. As we hurried from window to window we saw our last few trees go down, the garden wall came too, and our pretty arbor bowed its head to the ground. The wind whistled at a terrific velocity—130 miles an hour—and rolled our porch palms along like balls. The mat sheds at the Indian barracks went with the breeze and the goats followed suit—involuntarily. The Indians chased their pets and carried them back in their arms. Any unfortunates on the streets went at an unsteady pace but much beyond the speed limit. If we had not been so busy we might have been more worried about our travelers because they were to return immediately after the feast but at eleven, the wind died down and we viewed the house. Wires were down, windows were blown out or in, great big banyan trees with roots easily three feet in radius lay across the public road. The Field Afar, December 192529 “The 1925 strike” The strike was on in full blast in Hongkong. Shipping was practically tied up and the “President” boats were not calling here, but making directly for Manila from Shanghai. When the Empress of Asia docked,30 the entire crew went on strike, with the result that it was nearly two weeks late in leaving port, and found it necessary to secure a Russian crew from Shanghai, helped by Portuguese and others (non-Chinese from Hongkong). The first evidence of the strike was the cessation of the tram service from the Center [central district; Chung Wan] to North Point. February 7, 1926 “The funeral next door” Missa Cantata.31 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day at Rosary Church [Tsimshatsui] in preparation or in honor of our “Lady of Lourdes.” We went down for an hour or half hour adoration, as we wished. Dinner delayed 1 hour 30 minutes because of a funeral next door—something unusual and we did not want to miss it. A Chinese


man on the third floor had died and as body could not be carried through house, bamboo stairs were built from ground to a window on the third floor and the coffin bearers brought the casket down these stairs which were rather slippery and unsteady. Fr. [Francis X.] Ford came for a conference and Benediction at five. February 12, 1926 “Chinese New Year eve” New Year’s Eve in China. Firecrackers began early. Advanced class teacher started to celebrate the New Year this morning and was absent. Lo Sin Sheang [another language teacher] started this afternoon. Both will be back by Tuesday although the celebration lasts at least fifteen days. Sisters who have not been here for Chinese New Year before went to Hongkong [Island] to see how they do it. Flags for supper to celebrate Abe’s feast. One of the Sisters saw a sign while on her shopping trip that read “This shop open for business, doors closed to keep wind out only.” February 13, 1926 “Chinese New Year day” Chinese New Year. . . . Help[ers] have holiday. Study as usual—no classes. Teachers celebrating will return Tuesday. Custom in China [was] to add one year to their age today. If a child were born a week ago and today you asked the parent how old is the baby, the answer would be “two years,” as the child had been living a part of 1925 and also part of 1926. Three interesting callers [came] with their amahs this morning. . . . Two of the help[ers] also called with their presents to the Sisters. One was a toy dog with real fur but an unreal bark. Number two was a pagoda made of white, pink, and greenish cakes. Cakes were delicious to those who liked them. There were also flowers and an idol with a flag in his paw. . . . Confessions as usual. Mail arrived at post office. No delivery today. February 14, 1926 “Second day of Chinese New Year” Excellent weather. Missa Cantata by Fr. [Robert J.] Cairns.32 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day. Holy Hour from five to six. Usual half hour walk. Some walked on street in Chinese section. It was really like Sunday because all business was closed on account of the New Year. Everybody was dressed up and boys were shooting


firecrackers all over. The more firecrackers shot off today, [it was believed] the more money coming in this year. We met many people coming and going with presents [of ] all shapes and sizes. One which attracted our attention most was a little girl loaded down with two life sized sugar canes about four or five yards long, tied at each end with new red paper. Mail galore—two days late but more welcome. June 14, 1926 “Dragon Boat Festival” Today is the Dragon Boat Festival for Chinese and being a Chinese feast day and holiday, a free day was declared for our Chinese pupils. Reception at the Theatre Royal [City Hall, Queen’s Road Central], Hongkong [Island] in honor of the new Bishop [Henry Valtorta]. Some of the Sisters attended. Seventeen nationalities were represented and an address of welcome was tendered in each. The Bishop announced English-speaking Jesuits were coming to Hongkong. January 12, 1927 “Chinese banquet” . . . we were all invited to a Chinese banquet this afternoon. Forks as well as chopsticks were supplied, but we preferred the chopsticks and by the end of the seventeenth course we were quite proficient in handling them. April 26, 1927 “Baptism of Chinese” This afternoon we received a gift of mangos from the father of our pagan pupils. Both of the daughters want to become Catholics and while their parents are willing, the grandparents are not and they must wait. January 22, 1928 “Chinese New Year eve” Chinese New Year tomorrow but the celebration is in full swing already—firecrackers to the right and left of us. Many more Chinese lilies than could be artistically accommodated in our limited supply of vases, arrived as the expression of Oriental good wishes. Chinese twigs with tiny buds are also part of the decorations. To hasten the blooming process indoors the Chinese plaster wet cotton wherever twigs and branches join.


January 23, 1928 “Chinese New Year” Chinese New Year holidays begin. New Year celebration still in full force. Eleven of the Sisters took advantage of the holiday for a hike over the Hong Kong hillside. The trail led thru the high inaccessible parts of the peak along a drain or “catchment” as they call it here which surrounds Ty Tam Tak reservoir [Tytam Tuk Reservoir, Hong Kong Island]. Those who felt dizzy got down into the drain for safety but the hardy ones were thankful when it became necessary for the others to crawl out as best they could. The walk led us high over the harbor, safe from all motor roads which were thronged with Chinese celebrating the New Year. All along the route the Chinese were gorgeous in their best silk shaams [the Cantonese word for clothes], the women and little girls with flowered headdresses. From the houses came the sound of the strange Chinese music. March 14, 1928 “Chinese temple” Father could not come for Mass so we went to Holy Rosary [Tsimshatsui] at 6. In the afternoon walk some of the Sisters came across a pagan temple. It was an example of real Chinese architecture rare in this European colony. Huge Chinese lanterns hung from the porch and much odor of joss sticks burning before unseen gods, while men matched Chinese coins in the entrance made a typical Oriental picture. February 26, 1929 “Epidemic” The sun has gone again and we are once more closing all windows in an effort to keep warm. Colds are numerous. Flu has made its appearance among our students. We crawl back again into heavy clothing. The release from abstinence and fasting on the Wednesdays and Fridays of Lent has been withdrawn. No fasting or abstinence had been required—although we didn’t avail ourselves of the opportunity—because the fish could not be eaten. The small pox epidemic, strong particularly in Chinese quarters, had caused the Chinese, in an effort to hide the disease, to throw the dead bodies in the sea. There was no way of checking this and authorities blamed the spread of the epidemic on this practise. There is a decrease in the number of cases but the disease is not yet stamped out.


May 2, 1929 “No rain” Hot, humid, but alas, no rain. The water regulations are more and more severe—all shut off now after six in the evening till six A.M., and water meters inspected diligently. Baths must be indulged in with care and solicitude for each precious drop. Sisters who passed the city reservoir in their long walks report that there is only a little water in the bottom. Our rainy season is disagreeable, but we do have to have it. June 12, 1929 “Heat” Hot and bright. In the afternoon most of us went to the beach and had a dip or maybe two. Some of us were going to return home early and get some things done, but after waiting a considerable time on the highway two buses passed us up, being already full of passengers. So we became disgusted and went back to the matshed and took another dip. Coming home towards seven o’clock we noticed a weary string of men, women and children carrying buckets of water up the mountain paths. In the filthy ponds where the farmers grow various aquatic vegetables, hundreds of people were splashing and wallowing, trying to cool off a little after the burden of the day and the heat. We started saying the Miserere at night prayers, for rain.33 June 13, 1929 “Drought” Hot, bright and dry. The papers say that the Hongkong [Island] side particularly is in desperate straights for water, two of the three reservoirs being down to thick mud. Water is being brought in boats from Shanghai, and arrangements are being made for more extensive shipments of the precious stuff. August 22, 1929 “Later on, typhoon again” Rain, hot and close; the typhoon signal still up this morning, and towards noon the wind began to blow, gently at first. By two o’clock it was a hurricane. The trees and shrubs, wet and heavy with rain, bent and creaked and twisted, and some of them just laid themselves down and turned up their toes (roots). Five young girls from Holy Spirit School [Hong Kong Island] being here for special class were


caught and could not return home for dinner. As they were drenched, Mary Yeung outfitted the whole five with entire suits of clothes! We gave them some “chow” and they got home towards evening after the storm. We all went out to see the damage done to our trees and garden. Four goodsized trees down, and many more leaning over in a tired manner, and innumerable big branches broken off. All leaves and blossoms were blown off of plants and it looks like autumn. We have heard the saying “It looks like a cyclone had struck it”—now we see.

Remarks In the 1920s, the Maryknoll Sisters began their overseas mission in Hong Kong. Their story continues into the present. Ignorant of the Chinese language, and with very little understanding of Chinese culture and society, the nuns had much to learn. Every person they met and every scene in the colony was new to them. There was so much to see, and to think about. The Sisters used new vocabularies in their writings; for example, they wrote “saam(s)” or “shaam(s)” when they were referring to overcoats or jackets. In their diaries, they mentioned different Chinese people—their amahs, language teachers, laborers, coolies, wash-ladies, chair-bearers, Christian converts, and other people they interacted with. At the same time, they talked about a French priest, a Milan missioner, the Maryknoll Fathers, the French nuns, the churchgoers, and so forth. No doubt, Hong Kong, was as they described “a medley”; the colony, though a Chinese society, was different from the situation across the border in China. Hong Kong was full of activity; in the 1920s, the Maryknoll nuns witnessed the upsurge of labor movements in the colony and in South China. Hong Kong society was undergoing the process of modernization, and the working class was expanding and gaining greater political consciousness. “Everyone is on strike!”—that was the situation in 1922. On the one hand, the nuns described the festive atmosphere in the Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, the Chinese wedding, the Chinese banquet, and celebrations. On the other hand, they were interested in the traditional rituals practiced during Chinese funerals, and in the Chinese temple. Situated in the southern part of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong could experience


extremely humid and rainy weather. The humidity of the place was unfamiliar to the nuns and made the winter more unbearable. It seemed that the dampness never ended. When it came to summer, typhoons were another experience. In sum, to the Maryknoll nuns, the upheavals in the 1920s, the Chinese people, the European missioners, the local festivals, customs, and even the humid weather were all out of the ordinary. Their diaries were pages of travelers’ tales.

Chapter Three Th e 1 9 3 0 s , S c h ool s , Vi s i t o rs , and Visits

The 1930s The 1930s were not without tribulations, and there were reasons for anxiety in the atmosphere. Events occurring elsewhere were having devastating effects on other parts of the world; also, incidents of Japanese aggression in mainland China provoked strong nationalistic sentiments among the Chinese. These happenings unavoidably affected Hong Kong. In 1929, the Great Depression dealt a severe blow to the world economy, put millions of people out of work, and dashed any hopes for the future. Owing to the economic crisis and its lingering impact, the younger, radical, and confrontational military divisions of Japan, stationed in the northeast of China, advocated an expansionist policy toward China. These Japanese soldiers incited the September 18 incident in 1931, by exploding a bomb on the South Manchurian Railway; they manipulated the political situation again in 1932 and established a puppet regime in the northeast with the last Qing emperor Puyi as the nominal head. Repeatedly, there were rumors that Japan would extend its military control over other parts of China. Eventually the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) broke out on July 7, 1937, as a result of the Marco Polo Bridge incident, in which the Japanese on the pretext of looking for their lost soldier subsequently occupied a Chinese city. Once begun, the war would last for eight long years. In Hong Kong, people felt the impact of the economic depression; many struggled hard to support their families. The destitute lived on the very little they had, and whatever little more the grassroots managed


to get meant a whole lot. To workers, the “difference of a few dollars a month mattered.”1 With the Japanese aggression on the mainland, political activists from the interior entered Hong Kong. They aroused concern for the situation; in doing so, they solicited donations and funding for the Chinese war effort. Since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Crown colony “appeared as the outpost for anti-Japanese propaganda, to secure foreign aid and to boost overseas Chinese morale.”2 Both the Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party set up their offices in Hong Kong for such purposes. While the Nationalists financed the newspaper Guomin Ribao (The Nationalists) and its office there, the Communists established the Office of the Eighth Route Army to make use of the exceptional status of Hong Kong for their anti-Japanese maneuvers. From 1938 to 1941, the widow of the late Nationalist leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen—Madame Song Qingling—resided in the colony, consolidating a base there for her fund-raising activities.3 This chapter contains quotations from diaries from the early 1930s to 1937.4 Until March 1937, the Maryknoll Sisters had only one house in the colony, located at 103 Austin Road in Tsimshatsui. In March 1937, four of the nuns, who had been teaching at Holy Spirit School at 140 Caine Road, Hong Kong Island, moved to the convent in the school building and established a community there.5 After that, the Maryknoll Sisters managed two houses in the colony, one in Kowloon and the other on Hong Kong Island. In May 1937, the Sisters at 103 Austin Road moved to the convent in the new Maryknoll Convent School building, at the corner of Waterloo Road and Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong. At that time, there were twenty-eight Maryknoll Sisters in the colony.6

The Schools: Diaries from the Austin Road Convent In the 1930s, the Maryknoll Sisters had already committed themselves to a long-term mission plan, to concentrate on their two schools, Maryknoll Convent School and Holy Spirit School. Maryknoll Convent School—in 1925, originally a kindergarten for twelve Portuguese children in the convent on Austin Road—enjoyed rapid

the 1930s, schools, visitors, and visits / 45

development, adding a class each year and expanding its premises until it finally moved to the new building at the corner of Waterloo Road and Boundary Street in 1937.7 Maryknoll Convent School had already relocated to its fourth address—248 Prince Edward Road, also in Kowloon Tong—in 1932. Another school—Holy Spirit— came into being in 1927, its original address was 41 Robinson Road, Hong Kong Island; Holy Spirit moved to an old three-story building on Caine Road in 1930.8 According to the 1931 census, the number of children and young people aged 5 to 20 was around 253,000; and in 1933, about one-third of them were enrolled in registered schools in Hong Kong. Government schools, together with grant-in-aid schools (recognized for their high standards and receiving government grants), provided education for more than 1,300 students under the age of eleven. Over 23,000 students of the same age group, however, studied in private vernacular schools. Twelve government schools and thirteen grant-in-aid schools used English as the medium of instruction; students in these schools were mainly Chinese. In 1934, these “English schools” had about 9,000 students.9 Maryknoll Convent School became a grant-in-aid school in 1934, and Holy Spirit in 1948; both taught subjects, except Chinese language, in English. In Hong Kong, with “a large demand, from merchant firms, shipping offices, warehouses, and banks” for employees competent in English, some of the schools were “obliged not merely to teach English, but to try to make it a real second language” for students, demanding standards much higher than that demanded in other parts of the world.10 The Hong Kong education system has always been examinationoriented; this was very much the case in the 1930s. As noted in one of the following quotations, the Sisters commented that students took examinations seriously and studied hard to pass or to get better results. Nevertheless, the Maryknoll Sisters accepted students of different nationalities, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Many years later, Sister M. Rosalie Weber recounted, “It wasn’t long when the news spread abroad that we had opened a kindergarten in our Convent, . . . During the space of a few years, we could claim 12 nationalities among our members in the kindergarten: . . .”11 Hindu Indians were among these national groups. In the diaries, the Sisters


mentioned across a Hindu woman covering her entire body, only cutting out two holes in her face cover so she could see others and others could see her. As some Indians were becoming more relaxed in following traditional practices, the Sisters were surprised to see this Hindu woman in such an outfit. In the early 1930s, there were more than 7,000 Indians in Hong Kong.12 January 13, 1932 “Maryknoll Convent School” Maryknoll Convent School [Kimberly Road, Kowloon] in its fiveroom house, finds itself wondering how to tuck in new applicants. The local inspector of private schools, a Chinese, has registered his little girl this term. H.S. [Holy Spirit] School [Caine Road, Hong Kong Island] is happy to report on its six candidates who took the University examinations this year; three successes, one failure for Junior local; one pass for matriculation; one pass for Senior local. September 17, 1932 “No school because of a passing-by typhoon” Still windy and rainy. The Sisters went off to school, but no one appeared at the [Maryknoll] Convent school [Prince Edward Road] until 10.30 when two children came “to inquire” if the others had come to school. The Sisters were glad no one had come because there was a flood in the classrooms in spite of closed windows and typhoon bars that had been put up to make the doors more secure. In the afternoon some of the Sisters went back to finish up the mopping. Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna was] in bed with a very heavy cold. . . . June 24, 1933 “Holy Spirit School” Fr. [Horace] De Angelis gave his talk to the girls on the lawn this afternoon until a sudden shower chased all inside. One can get thoroughly soaked in two minutes during these tropical showers—and they come without warning. Preparations are being made for a smallscale bazaar for the pupils of H.S.S. [Holy Spirit School, Caine Road] The building is in great need of painting and repairs, so we’re trying to raise something towards the wherewithal to have it done this summer. All kinds of contributions are coming in, and all indications point to a successful party.


June 27, 1933 “School books from the United States” A shipment of textbooks from Mr. Reilly, Principal of a Brooklyn school, came the other day—and they were very much appreciated. The schoolteachers almost took a holiday to celebrate the event. July 11, 1933 “Going back home from school” Sudden showers made sorry looking spectacles of some of the community [the Sister teachers] on the way home [convent at 103 Austin Road, Kowloon] from school [Caine Road, Hong Kong Island]. At recreation we tried out some of the games that are to be played at the Holy Spirit School bazaar. If the children enjoy them as much as we did, it will be a success. . . . July 13, 1933 “A Hindu woman” “Nothing is unusual in Hong Kong” is something of an axiom, but we did see a novelty today—a Hindu woman wearing a sheet-like covering extending from her head to her feet, with two holes cut out for the eyes. Most of the Hindus here no longer keep this custom. July 15, 1933 “Donations from friends and a student’s family” Fr. [Joseph P.] Lavin here for Mass. St. Joseph is taking the H.S.S. [Holy Spirit School, Caine Road] bazaar under his protection. Through friends we are getting soft drinks, and donation of ten dozen fancy cakes from the mother of one of the students. September 5, 1933 “The first day of school” The first day of school found the [Maryknoll] Convent School [Prince Edward Road] almost filled to capacity. . . . September 11, 1933 “School closes because of typhoon” A typhoon visited us today and was responsible for several of our umbrellas being blown inside out. The waterfront was dotted with umbrellas which had been torn from the hands of their owners by the


high wind. The [Maryknoll] Convent School [Prince Edward Road] closed at noon on account of the storm. September 12, 1933 “The day after typhoon” The gale continued to blow, though not as much as yesterday. The storm seems to have broken the drought and we’re hoping our water supply hours will be increased. November 1, 1933 “Outing with students” All Saints’ Day, and a lovely fall holiday. Miss Campbell, Sisters Joseph Marie [Kane] and [M.] Cecilia [Cruickshank] took a trip out to Fanling [New Territories] with some of the school girls. November 8, 1933 “Recruit of cats” Fr. [Anthony] Riganti examined the children at the [Maryknoll] Convent School [Prince Edward Road] this morning. We broadcasted a “Want Ad.” for cats a few weeks ago.13 It is usually difficult to get cats here, and for a week or so, there were no cats forthcoming, but they recently began to arrive, and the cat census is now five, so we are refusing new recruits. November 16, 1933 “University entrance exams” A teachers’ meeting with Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] was held at Holy Spirit School [Caine Road]. The University examinations have continued all week, and the heaviest are over now. The results are not usually published until just before Christmas, so we will have to be patient until then. It is Chinese custom for the students to remain up until the wee hours studying, regardless of whether they know their matter or not. November 27, 1933 “A student died suddenly” The Sisters at Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] received a great shock when they arrived at school today to learn that one of their 14 year old girls had died suddenly last night. The girl had been at school Saturday, and had only taken sick at 9 o’clock Sunday evening: she died at


11 o’clock—evidently from ptomaine poisoning. We are hoping that she had the desire for baptism. She had been receiving religious instructions with the class. . . . November 30, 1933 “No holiday for Thanksgiving” Thanksgiving Day found us with much to be grateful for, and we were pleased with an ideal day. The holiday was spent as usual in the classrooms and workrooms, since we no longer live “in the land of the free and the home of the brave”—or any of its possessions.

Visitors (to the Austin Road Convent) Hong Kong was surely a point of transit for international as well as regional travelers. Situated on the southern edge of mainland China, Hong Kong witnessed steady and sizeable movements of people to and from the interior and had large numbers of visitors to and from other parts of the world. In 1934, the estimated population for Hong Kong was 944,492, out of which 20,908 were non-Chinese and 923,584 Chinese. Everyday, there were over 7,600 people entering the colony, and around 7,700 leaving.14 In the quotations listed below, the Maryknoll Sisters received guests, some of whom were on their “round-the-world” trips and were stopping over in Hong Kong. Also, nuns from an Irish congregation were in the colony, on their way back home to England from a mission in Japan. Two Ursuline Sisters had traveled from Siam (Thailand) to the northeast of China, to visit their missioners there. No matter where these people came from, and where they were going, Hong Kong was their place of transfer. Hong Kong was the meeting point for world travelers, and this was evident in the 1930s. Different ocean liners called in. A number of companies provided transport between the colony and Europe, for example, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and the Blue Funnel Line. For routes across the Pacific, the Canadian Pacific Steamship Limited and the Dollar Line were two of those offering service. As recorded, there were direct sailings from Hong Kong to New York. Travelers would


have no difficulties moving on to other ports in Asia as well, such as those in India, Indochina, Japan, and mainland China. On a smaller scale, people traveled by river steamers, junks, and sampans to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, and to other nearby provinces.15 For transportation between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, people could also choose to commute by rail; direct service to Guangzhou begun in 1911. In the 1930s, the Kowloon-Canton Railway connected Kowloon with Guangzhou—a transit of about three hours.16 Both sides planned to enhance the service by introducing modern, faster, and more comfortable trains. In 1936, the Hong Kong side launched the test drive of the Taipo Belle, which took 30 minutes less than normal trains and had more lavish facilities. It was expected that the flow of passengers would continue to increase in the ensuing years. Airplanes first landed in Hong Kong in 1924.17 In the 1930s, the Hong Kong government was also keen on promoting air transport from the colony to cities in mainland China, Asia, and even Europe. For the arrival of new flights, the governor would welcome crew and passengers at the airport. It was a big event for government officials, community leaders, and reporters. In 1936, the Imperial Airways started a regular weekly flight connecting Britain, Penang, and Hong Kong. The same year, the China National Aviation Corporation began air service, three times a week, between Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou. By the mid-1930s, Hong Kong was gradually becoming a hub for passengers and freight to and from China, Malaya, Siam (Thailand), Burma, India, the Philippines, Australia, and Europe.18 January 9, 1934 “An Indian visitor” Sr. [M.] Patricia [Coughlin] returned to Kongmoon [Jiangmen, Guangdong Province] on the evening boat. A young Indian man called to ask help in solving a mathematics problem on a Colonial Examination paper. This is most unusual. Just why he picked us out we don’t know. January 10, 1934 “The Indian again” Both schools reopened today. Several of the mission Sisters visited Carmel [Monastery, Stanley, Hong Kong Island] to solicit prayers for


their respective missions. The young Indian called again and seemed a bit disheartened as the examinations he had today were difficult. He has not mentioned religion, but we hope the contact will arouse his interest in it. February 12, 1934 “No school for Chinese New Year” Both schools closed at noon today for the Chinese New Year holidays. The [Maryknoll] Convent School [Prince Edward Road] will reopen on Friday, but the Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] girls will not return until Monday. February 13, 1934 “School outings” Srs. [M.] Dominic [Guidera] and [M.] St. Bernard [Donnelly] accompanied the [Maryknoll] Convent School Brownies on a “hike” today. The Brownies are the young sisters of the Girl Guides. Today the bulletin board carried an original invitation to a picnic and outing to be given in the evening by a mythical unit of Knights of Columbus. The only stipulation was that the “children” be in the costume of a nursery rhyme or “funny-sheet” character. . . . February 14, 1934 “Children celebrating Chinese New Year” Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year and Foundation Day. However, we are planning to celebrate Foundation Day tomorrow. We enjoyed late sleep this morning, rising in time for Mass. In order to give a Chinese help a holiday, the kitchen and regular house cleaning is being taken care of by the Sisters today and tomorrow. Young China was very much in evidence on the streets this afternoon. This is the day the children dress up in their best and go calling on family friends: they are then presented with money wrapped up in red paper. February 15, 1934 “Dragon dance in celebration of Chinese New Year” We began our celebration of Foundation Day with a Missa Cantata.19 The refectory was very attractively decorated—the principal feature being posters with red and white streamers hanging from them—each bearing the name of one of the buildings on the old compound with the year of its opening. Srs. [M.] Dominic


[Guidera], [M.] Clement [Quinn], [M.] Augustine [Kuper], [M.] Camillus [Reynolds] and Joseph Marie [Kane] accompanied Miss Campbell to a nearby Chinese village to take movies of Chinese homes, etc. They were fortunate in getting a picture of a Dragon dance: this is performed at the New Year by a few small boys wearing a dragon’s head, tail, etc. To the weird beating of drums, they dance to drive away the devil and bring good luck. They are given money as a reward for their services. . . . February 21, 1934 “American school teacher on round-the-world trip” We received word of the death of Sr. Candida Maria’s [Basto] father this morning. Srs. [Mary] Paul [McKenna], [M.] Clement [Quinn], [M.] Ruth [Riconda] and Cecilia Marie [Carvalho] attended the funeral this afternoon.20 Miss King, a Brooklyn school teacher, called this afternoon: she is on her way around the world. February 26, 1934 “A Korean on his around-the-world trip also” For some reason or other, there was an influx of beggars today. The Sisters at Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] also had a visitor—a young Korean man from Seoul who started out to see the world and discovered that he had to eat. He was well dressed, but had no money and was anxious to get any kind of work. They were sorry they could not assist him. April 2, 1934 “Visitors for Easter” Nine of Sr. Ann Mary’s [Farrell] Maryknoll Convent School Christian Doctrine Class received their first Holy Communion at Rosary Church [Tsimshatsui], and were confirmed by Bishop [Henry] Valtorta. Sr. Cecilia Marie’s [Carvalho] little niece, Cecilia, who was one of the group, paid us a short visit during the morning. Bishop Valtorta called to wish us a happy Eastertide. . . . April 3, 1934 “The gift of the married couple” Fa Wong, [the Cantonese word for] our gardener, and A[h] Cheung, now Monica, were re-married as Catholics today. A nice Chinese


supper was their gift to the Community [the Sisters]. This is in accordance with the Chinese custom of making gifts at times when Occidentals are accustomed to receive them. They both came in to greet us after supper. April 5, 1934 “The visit of the ‘shades’ “ Today is a great Chinese pagan festival day, called Ts’ing Ming [Qingming]. The gates of Hades are supposed to be thrown open, and the shades permitted to go abroad for about a month when they are again imprisoned. During this time the graves must be worshipped. Today is the most important. . . . April 6, 1934 “Visitors from Japan” We had visitors from Japan today, three Sisters of St. Maur. One, who is returning to England on sick leave, has been in Japan for 37 years. The other two Sisters are returning for the Silver Jubilee of their Irish Foundation, where they made their novitiate. June 1, 1934 “Students of Maryknoll schools taking exam” First Friday with its privilege of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day and Benediction at 5:30. Two pupils from each of the three upper classes in both schools took the examination at the Cathedral [of the Immaculate Conception on Caine Road], given by the Diocesan Catechetical Commission. Although the six Holy Spirit girls are pagans, they have been receiving the regular instructions. All the Catholic schools in the Colony were invited to compete, and five girls’ and three boys’ schools took part. Twelve prizes will be awarded the winners. . . . June 2, 1934 “Sailing off ” At six o’clock Sister [M.] Camillus [Reynolds] sailed on the Pres. Jefferson,21 several of the Sisters seeing her off. Many of the Maryknoll Convent School girls, and a few of their mothers, were also at the boat to wish her Godspeed. Earlier in the day the school children had surprised Sister with beautiful spiritual bouquets and several very nice gifts. Sister had for travelling companions two Franciscan Sisters of


Mary, who were en route from Rome to Manila, one of whom was Brother Henry’s niece, formerly Dorothy Wilman. June 3, 1934 “The King’s birthday” The King’s birthday, which, however, will be celebrated tomorrow. Heavy rains throughout the day. June 4, 1934 “Indian parade; outing to the beach” A public holiday. Several companies of Indian soldiers, dressed for parade, headed by a splendid band, passed the Convent [Austin Road] this morning. There was a parade in Hong Kong in honor of His Majesty, in which they were to march. Several of the Sisters enjoyed a swim at our new beach shed this morning. With its strong rock base, it should weather many a typhoon. . . . June 5, 1934 “A host of white ants” Sister [M.] St. Bernard [Donnelly] took Sister [M.] Camillus’ [Reynolds] place in the class room today. While at recreation this evening a host of white ants flying around our hall and refectory lights were conquered by placing pans of water under the lights. As water attracts them, by the close of recreation practically all had met an untimely end by drowning, for which we were grateful. June 14, 1934 “The gift of the Buddhist brush” Sisters [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and [M.] Ruth [Riconda] went to the beach early this morning to give Sister [M.] Ruth her farewell dip in the Pacific. This evening at recreation a pretty little play “Twilight at Bethany” was given. Later “A Piece of Red Calico” brought forth much laughter. A number of unusual gifts, which had been given to Sister [M.] Ruth were then placed on exhibition. A particularly interesting one is called the “saint’s brush.” Its possessor is supposed to have all the virtues. It is somewhat like a wand, with a generous bunch of very long white horsehair on one end. It is used in Buddhist monasteries.


June 15, 1934 “Two Ursuline nuns from Siam” Two Ursuline Sisters from Siam, Mother M. de Lourdes and Mother Raphael, came today to remain until their boat leaves on Sunday. They had visited their Sisters in Harbin [Northeast China] and spoke of their pleasant stay with our Dairen [Dalian, Northeast China] Sisters. . . .

Visits and Outings (from the Austin Road Convent) This section includes chronicles of the Sisters’ outings to other parts of the colony. In a school picnic, the Sisters, lay teachers, and students headed off for Castle Peak, which was toward the far western end of the Kowloon Peninsula. The group took a ferry from Yaumati, where there was also a shelter for junks,22 near the tip of the peninsula and convenient to the Sisters, whose convent was on Austin Road, and to students of Maryknoll Convent School, then located on Prince Edward Road in Kowloon Tong. On other occasions, the nuns went to visit villages themselves, went swimming in the beach, and had an outing to Dairy Farm. Since their arrival in Hong Kong in the early 1920s, the Maryknoll Sisters had set up mission houses in mainland China as well—in 1934, they were in Yangjiang, Jiangmen, and Luoding in Guangdong Province; and in Dalian and Fushun in the northeast. Sister Mary Lawrence Foley, among the pioneering group to Hong Kong in 1921, was serving in Jiangmen in 1934, when she fell sick and was subsequently taken to Hong Kong to receive treatment.23 In 1935, the Sisters also established mission in Jiaying (Meixian), northeast of Guangdong Province, and in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province; they could commute to Hong Kong via the coastal port of Shantou.24 June 18, 1934 “Picnic at Castle Peak” At 11 o’clock the Maryknoll Convent School upper classes, accompanied by Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and the teachers,


went to Castle Peak [west end of New Territories] for a picnic, going via the old Yaumati Ferry [west side of Kowloon Peninsula], which had been chartered. Although gloriously bright and sunny, high winds and a choppy sea delayed their arrival at the Peak considerably. After tiffin [a light meal], swimming and games were enjoyed. The return trip was made by buses, an S.O.S. having been received earlier in the afternoon at the Convent [Austin Road] to hire buses and send them to Castle Peak, the ferry having been sent back. September 12, 1934 “Typhoid” As there seemed indications of typhoid, Sr. [M.] Lawrence [Foley, from Jiangmen, Guangdong Province] came to the French Hospital [St. Teresa’s Hospital, Prince Edward Road] in [Kowloon] Hong Kong, Sisters [M.] Patricia [Coughlin] and [M.] Augusta [Hock] bringing her down. Sister stood the trip very well. Srs. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and [M.] Reginald [Silva] went to the boat to meet them, Sr. [M.] Reginald returning with Sr. [M.] Augusta while Sr. [Mary] Paul went to the hospital with Srs. [M.] Lawrence and [M.] Patricia. Srs. [Mary] Paul and [M.] Patricia returned to the Convent [Austin Road] after they had seen Sr. [M.] Lawrence comfortably established in the hospital. September 13, 1934 “Dengue fever” Srs. [M.] Patricia [Coughlin] and [M.] Augusta [Hock] called on Sr. [M.] Lawrence [Foley] at the hospital and found her feeling fairly well. The doctor finds the results of dengue—a common fever in this section. Sr. [M.] Patricia returned to Kongmoon [Jiangmen, Guangdong Province] this evening. September 23, 1934 “Moon Festival” The regular catechism pupils came for instruction today, together with a number of boys and girls from some English and Irish army families, the youngest a dear little lad of three, who is very anxious to learn his catechism. Tonight is the feast of the moon. Round moon cakes, round fruits like pomelos—a Chinese grape fruit—in fact anything that is round in shape are the gifts


exchanged today. The HSS [Holy Spirit School, Caine Road] teachers were the recipients of a number of moon cakes and pomelos, the cakes being given to the Chinese on the compound to add to their celebration. With us a little goes a long way. It is customary on this feast for the pagans to offer in the evening, either in windows facing the moon, or on the house roofs, various articles of food. The moon is then worshipped and later they consume the offerings themselves. The moon was glorious tonight and one could understand in a measure how they might think it worthy of worship. The Christians also observe this feast, without making any offerings to the goddess of the moon, it simply taking the form of a festivity. At the close of recreation the Sisters went to the roof and saw a few of the offerings at the windows of neighboring houses. Many firecrackers broke the stillness of the night. In reparation, we sang “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.” September 26, 1934 “Bazaar at Holy Spirit School” We are having typhoon weather, high winds and heavy rains. Last minute preparations are being made for the HSS [Holy Spirit School] bazaar to be held Saturday afternoon. A number of the business houses with whom we deal in Hong Kong have contributed quite generously, sending toys, linens, soft drinks, candies, ice cream, etc., for which all are grateful. The girls are getting quite enthusiastic over it. This year they are inviting their friends. A young Chinese girl from St. John’s, Mich., a friend of the Li’s, has registered at HSS. She speaks English, but knows practically no Chinese. September 29, 1934 “Bazaar” HSS [Holy Spirit School] was not in session this morning, but it was a busy spot preparing for the bazaar this afternoon. The entrance was very attractive with many flags, which had been loaned for the occasion. The many booths were gay with bright colors and attractive articles of all kinds, and all was in readiness at 12 o’clock when the bazaar opened. Over 300 came to the bazaar and over $600 was cleared. At 4:30 all was over and then began the cleaning-up process. The Sisters returned shortly after 7:00 tired but quite satisfied with what had been accomplished.


September 30, 1934 “Baptism of catechumens” Another of our catechumens, Rosalind Li, was baptized at St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road] this morning by Father [Andrew] Granelli, just before the Pontifical High Mass at 9:00. Two other young Chinese girls and a boy were baptized. The girls received “Teresa” for their middle name, in honor of St.Teresa. The feast of the Little Flower was celebrated today instead of on the 3d. February 1, 1935 “Visit to Dairy Farm” First Friday. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day. After the afternoon session Sisters Ann Mary [Farrell] and [M.] Cecilia [Cruickshank] took the domestic science pupils from both schools to inspect the Dairy Farm [town office on Lower Albert Road, near central district]. A pretty little tangerine tree, laden with fruit, adorned our refectory, the gift of Bishop [James Edward] Walsh who had received it from some one in one of his Chinese villages. . . . February 3, 1935 “Home visits for Chinese New Year” Feast of St. Blaise. Mass at 6:30 to enable Sisters [M.] Dominic [Guidera] and Candida Maria [Basto] to go to St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road] for the Children of Mary’s monthly meeting. Blessing of the throats after Mass. Sr. Maria Teresa [Yeung] left immediately after breakfast for Canton [Guangzhou, Guangdong Province] with her niece and Elsa Carvalho, Sister Cecilia Marie’s [Carvalho] sister. They will visit Sr. Maria Teresa’s Auntie and family for the Chinese New Year. The banging of many firecrackers tells us that the Chinese old year is ending. As our Chinese help started on their New Year holiday this afternoon, the Sisters are taking care of the meals and charges until their return on Wednesday. February 4, 1935 “Visiting Chinese villages” Chinese New Year gives holidays to the schools and industrial rooms. All are dressed in their best, even the poorest trying to have something new for the celebration. Shrines, incense and firecrackers, new bright red papers with black characters, expressing various sentiments, around the doors, are all part of the New Year.


The kitchen-god of the old year having been ejected a few days previous, the kitchen god for the New Year is installed New Year’s eve. The worship of the ancestral tablets is one of the chief features of the pagan celebration. Feasting is another, and everyone is eating watermelon seeds wherever you may see them. Long walks were in order this afternoon, the destination in most cases being the small Chinese villages in our section. February 5, 1935 “Visits” School work and charges kept the Sisters busy in the morning, and the afternoon found many of the Sisters visiting the villages. February 6, 1935 “Water restrictions, outing to the beach” Water restrictions started again in Kowloon. A number of the Holy Spirit School girls with two of the teachers visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and their old folks in Kowloon City [east of Waterloo Road] today. Upon going to the beach shed, the Sisters found that someone had gotten in and taken several stools and chairs and had ripped off two of the seats on the verandah. It was reported to the police station, but they will probably remain among the missing. Sr. [Mary] Dorothy’s [Walsh] feast day was celebrated at recreation. February 21, 1935 “The visiting inspector from England” Four of the Sisters attended a lecture this afternoon on “Some Developments in English Education” given by Mr. [E.] Burney, visiting inspector of schools from England. March 3, 1935 “The Sister from mission in China” Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] arrived from Kongmoon [Jiangmen, Guangdong Province] in time for Mass, which was at 6:30 to enable Srs. [M.] Dominic [Guidera] and Candida Maria [Basto] to attend the Mass at St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road] at which the Children of Mary were present. Our new Stations, which came from [Jesuit] Father [Patrick] Joy, and which formerly hung in the chapel of the Governor’s Palace in Dublin are up in the chapel. The former crosses were used so as to avoid re-erection of the Stations. At 11:30 Sr. Joan Miriam


[Beauvais, serving in eastern Guangdong Province] surprised us by arriving unannounced. The river having been very low, her trip was a slow one, and she had to wait in Swatow [Shantou, Guangdong Province] for a boat for Hong Kong. . . . March 14, 1935 “Burial of the mission Sister in Happy Valley” At 9:30 we received word that the Pres. Hoover was in,25 and Srs. [Mary] Paul [McKenna], Maria Teresa [Yeung] and several of the Sisters went to the dock. The Sisters were not on board, but Mrs. Wong was quickly found. She went to the Convent [Austin Road] before the casket was lowered from the boat. Sister’s [Teresita Wong-Quincey] body arrived at the Convent at 10:30, the Wong Boys carrying the casket from the gate to the chapel, the Sisters with lighted candles, singing the Miserere, preceding them.26 Solemn High Mass was immediately sung by Father [Thomas F.] Gilleran, assisted by Father [George M.] Daly and Father [Patrick C.] Toomey. Later the casket was opened for the boys and so that pictures might be taken for the father, who was unable to be present. Sister looked lovely, much better than in her last months, we’re sure. At 3:00 Office of the Dead was said. Shortly after 4:30 the funeral left for Happy Valley Cemetery, the Sisters walking behind the man-drawn hearse. At the Cemetery chapel at 5:45, Bishop [Henry] Valtorta officiated at the services. A number of priests, including the Maryknoll Fathers, Spanish Dominicans, Jesuits, and Italian and French Sisters, as well as many relatives and friends were present. Sister was buried next to Sr. M. Bernadette [Tam]. May 5, 1935 “Families of the British Army” Our Mass was at 6:30 this morning. Sister [M.] Dominic [Guidera] and Sister Candida Maria [Basto] attended the 7:30 Mass at St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road] for the monthly meeting of the Children of Mary and Sister Santa Maria [Manning] and Sister [M.] Chanel [Xavier] the 7:30 Mass at the Cathedral [of the Immaculate Conception, Caine Road] for the First Communion of Alexander Chun, one of the boys in Holy Spirit School kindergarten [Caine Road]. Father [Mark A.] Tennien called this morning and showed many interesting snapshots taken on his trip through Europe and along the way. At 5:00 Father O’Carroll, Army Chaplain, and eighteen women, wives of English army men stationed in Hong Kong


were entertained. The Sisters had previously called on all these families. Father O’Carroll’s purpose in these meetings is to give religious instructions to the women, as in almost every case the husband or wife is not a Catholic, and to have them under the influence of the Sisters. This will give them also a little Catholic social life. After refreshments, the guests went to the chapel, where Father gave a little talk on Blessed Mother, followed by Rosary and Benediction. About 25 army children come regularly each Sunday for catechism instruction. May 6, 1935 “Chinese parade on King’s Jubilee” The King’s Jubilee and a glorious day. English flags were waving everywhere, and the Colony was resplendent with decorations. The schools assembled today for a short period, at which a short talk was given, Jubilee medals distributed, and after singing “God Save the King” school was dismissed until Wednesday the 8th. A Chinese procession was the main feature of the afternoon. A silver plated dragon, about two blocks long, played by about 300 men, was the great attraction. The parade lasted several hours and was quite pagan. Recreation was enjoyed on the roof this evening, so that all might see Hong Kong with its half million lights for the occasions. Illuminated airplanes maneuvered during the evening. October 23, 1936 “The first Chinese passenger clipper” A history making day for Hong Kong—one of the big China clippers—the first carrying passengers—arrived. No missioners on board, however.

Moving to the Hong Kong Side: Diaries from the Caine Road Convent In March 1937, four Sisters teaching at Holy Spirit School on Caine Road, Hong Kong Island, moved to the convent in the school building. They were Mary de Ricci Cain (superior of the new house), Mary Augustine Kuper (assistant superior), Mary Eucharista Coupe, and Joseph Marie Kane.27 Before establishing a second community on Caine Road, these Sisters had been commuting back and


forth from Holy Spirit to the Austin Road convent in Kowloon. Now their new residence offered much convenience. The following quotations are from diaries of the Caine Road convent. March 29, 1937 “Some Sisters move to the Caine Road convent” Easter Monday. At long last, the Holy Spirit School Sisters moved to their new quarters, the third floor of their old school building, 140 Caine Road, Hong Kong. It was an oft deferred event, prepared for since Christmas, and expected at Chinese New Year, at Eucharist Congress time, and again at Holy Week,—the major blame for each delay being put to the failure of several boats from Manila to deliver the ordered beds. But, at last, the dire need of 103 [Austin Road] for “our” beds to be offered to the Mission Sisters due for Retreat and Regional Chapter sent us on our way. We tried to leave our Austin Road home just as we had done during the many past years,—quietly, quickly, and without any one noticing us; but a departure bell was rung, and we had to say “Goodbye” as if we really starting out on a long new trail. The day was a busy one, placing our auction-bought furniture, unpacking our cartons, and milk boxes, and suitcases. In the afternoon, a truck brought our borrowed cots, min-t’ois [the Cantonese word for thick cotton blankets], and blankets and we fixed up for the night. The one luxurious experience of our first evening at 140 was the fine hot bath provided for each of us by our geyser. To be sure, one Sister who did not have spectacles on to read the directions and did not remember the exact mode of procedure to light the apparatus, gave the rest of the Sisters a scare by staging an explosion; but, as nothing more than a big noise happened, the great silence was hardly broken and they turned over to listen to the unfamiliar chant-like call of a hawker who interrupted his raucous notes with a few strokes on his tuneless fiddle, as he wended his way down Caine Road. September 1, 1937 “The typhoon” The triduum given by Father [Thomas] Byrne, S.J. at the Maryknoll convent [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street] closed with Benediction after Mass.28 We immediately set out for home, 140 Caine Road [Hong Kong Island] and when we arrived at our front door at


10 o’clock, we found a number of new pupils waiting to interview us. One class room was gotten into shape for the school had been dismantled for the month’s vacation. Sister [M.] Camillus [Reynolds] came over to stay with us for a while for she will help care for the cholera patients at the Government Civil Hospital [Hospital Road, Hong Kong Island]. This institution is within walking distance of our school and Sister will find it much more convenient to be on this side. She commented upon the compact comfort of our little third floor convent and on its nice appearance; but the latter was sadly changed before the night was over because at 11 o’clock, the typhoon was upon us and we spent the rest of the night trying to fasten shutters and doors and transoms and trying to catch the many different leaks. The noise of the window panes (of our closed-in verandah) breaking and the blowing in of the window sashes was terrific. The tin roofs over the windows were ripped off and the iron frames dangled and banged against the walls. With a terrific crash, one of the latter hit the window in Sister [M.] Eucharista’s [Coupe] cell just after she had gotten out of bed and the wind and rain gushed into the house with all its 164 mile[s] per hour force. The climax came when the whole side of the kitchen blew in. This was at 3 A.M. Thereafter, we sat in the central hall behind closed doors, saying rosary after rosary, and hoping that the house would not tumble down upon us or with us in it. At dawn, the wind grew less and at 6.30 we ventured forth to Mass at the [Spanish] Dominican procuration [Seymour Road; above Caine Road]. The rain poured down their steps just like a cascade and we were drenched. We moved the refectory furniture into the community room and got the soaked things from the kitchen into the refectory. Water was coming down from the attic in torrents and, after we succeeded in getting the trap door open, we found that a water pipe had burst and the drain was stopped up. We also discovered that part of the roof over the reception room had been blown off. Looking out of the windows we were able to estimate the completeness of the damage done. Our three trees were broken off at the roots. Across the road, a large banyan tree had fallen right on top of an auto and the latter’s engine was flattened to the ground. A corps of coolies had to saw down the tree to release the wreck. Our verandah was a mass of debris, the grounds were littered with glass and broken shutters and window frames, and the coolie women were in from the street trying to get away from it as much as possible. The wind was still strong and


as soon as we opened a shutter, a holy picture on the wall blew down and added more broken glass to the collection. Sister [M.] Camillus managed to get to the hospital at about noon. The day was spent trying to get things looking a bit tidy. September 15, 1937 “Two amahs” There was much moving of desks to accommodate the new girls who are coming into one class or another each day. In the afternoon two new amahs began service with us. It is our first experience with any one using pidgin English. . . . We find ourselves saying etchie and finishie when we want to say “get” and “finish.” September 16, 1937 “Large number of enrollment” And still they come and take examinations for Classes 4, 3, and 2. All the kindergarten chairs that have been stowed away since the last Sino-Japanese altercations (when we had a large enrollment in the baby class) have been put into use. Classes 9 and 8 have had to give up their desks with drawers and many of the girls in Classes 6 and 5 are sitting in rather low-seated desks. The enrollment has mounted up to 135. October 5, 1937 “The answer to question of the Holy Trinity” The teacher of Religion in Class Seven was considerably enlightened this morning when a tall and lanky member unfolded herself from her seat and, in answer to the question “How many persons are there in the Blessed Trinity?” told Sister that there were three, the present, past, and future. . . . November 30, 1937 “Visit to Maryknoll Father’s house in Stanley” Feast of St. Andrew and the occasion for the consecration of Bishop [Adolph J.] Paschang, M.M., at Stanley.29 So that the entire Maryknoll Community of Sisters might attend the ceremony, there was no morning session for either school. We were conveyed to Stanley [south side of Hong Kong Island] in specially hired buses and enjoyed a beautiful ride over the hills to the Rest House on the sea-side. The service was a


short one, but beautiful in its Maryknoll simplicity. Tiffin [light meal] was served to all the guests at 11 o’clock and everyone was home on time for regular work in the afternoon. The H.S.S. [Holy Spirit School, Caine Road] girls taking part in Hansel and Gretel went over to M.C.S. [Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street] for practice with Mrs. Marah who is coaching the operetta. December 13, 1937 “Competing to sell the most roses” This was ROSE DAY and the girls of Classes 1, 2, 3, and 4 sold roses for the benefit of St. Vincent De Paul Society from 7 A.M. until 11 o’clock. At noon, one of the Class 3 girls telephoned to let us know that she and her companion had brought in the greatest amount of money of any selling roses in Hong Kong. Their total amounted to $138.50. This is the second time that Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] has won the prize for the greatest single amount turned in. There was no school in the afternoon because of a dress rehearsal of Hansel and Gretel over at M.C.S. [Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street] December 15, 1937 “A former student calls” To-day was a holiday because yesterday was Prize Giving Day. Sister [M.] de Ricci [Cain] and Sr. [M.] Augustine [Kuper] went over to Kowloon Tong to practice. Sisters [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and [M.] Regina [Reardon] came over to visit us and stay for supper. At about nine o’clock, Jennie Wong one of our 1933 graduates, called up to tell us the glad news that she had passed her final exams at the University [of Hong Kong] and that as a reward, her parents had given her and Annie her sister permission to be baptized. Both girls were looking forward to receiving their First Holy Communion at Christmas. December 25, 1937 “Christmas” Christmas Day. Four candle lanterns at windows made of gold paper and red and green cellophane bade twenty girls welcome to our Midnight Mass which was said by the Very Rev. Dominican Provincial of Amoy [Xiamen, Fujian Province]. Jennie and Annie


Wong received their first Holy Communion at this Mass. All the girls present were pagans for the Catholics preferred to go to their parish church for Midnight Mass rather than have to attend another Mass later on Christmas morning. Two low Masses followed the first and then we visited the several tiny cribs in the convent praying in union with all other Maryknollers for the intentions so dear to us all. Cocoa and doughnuts were served to our student guests in the library and they were loth to go home. However, at about three o’clock, we could celebrate our own first happy Christmas at 140 Caine Road. There were very few packages from the States but there was enough mail to make us feel near to all for whom we had prayed at the Crib. We went over to Kowloon Tong to assist at the Solemn High Mass celebrated by Bishop [Francis X.] Ford and other Maryknollers. We enjoyed dinner with the Family. Then we came home to indulge in a much needed sleep. December 26, 1937 “Day after Christmas” Our quiet day-after was delightfully interrupted by the coming of Sisters [M.] Liguori [Quinlan] and Henrietta Marie [Cunningham] to visit us. Permission was obtained over the phone for them to share dinner with us and our little refectory rejoiced in having guests. Sisters Santa Maria [Manning] and [M.] St. Bernard [Donnelly] came to see us in the afternoon. Father [Thomas A.] O’Melia called to wish us Merry Christmas in the late afternoon. December 27, 1937 “Performance for war relief ” The play, Hansel and Gretel, which won so much applause on Prize Giving Day, was repeated to-day for the benefit of War Relief and other charities. Although the auditorium was not filled still all the tickets were sold, and over $200 were taken in.

The Kowloon Convent Relocated to Boundary Street at Waterloo Road In May 1937, the Maryknoll Sisters of the Austin Road convent moved to the newly erected Maryknoll Convent School building on Waterloo Road at Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong. There were altogether twenty-four of them—among the group, Mary Paul


McKenna was regional superior, M. Regina Reardon was house superior, and Ann Mary Farrell was assistant house superior. Mary Paul was superior for Maryknoll women in mission fields in the south China region, which they defined as including Hong Kong, Guangdong Province, and also, by that time, Guangxi Province. May 17, 1937 “The new Maryknoll Convent School building” At 7:15 all the lorries were lined up ready to move us to our new home. A group of Sisters remained to dispatch the furniture, while the others hurried off to Waterloo Road to receive it when it arrived. The rainy season which was prophesied to start today is evidently with us for it rained intermittently all day. Heavy loads with endless walking up and down, in and out, found our coolies still willing and pleasant at 6:30, when the last load left Austin Road. Between receiving the loads, the Sisters settled the dormitories, refectory and kitchen, so that we are quite comfortable. At 7:30 all were present for supper in our fine, commodious refectory—a section of the vestment room partitioned off by roomy dish cupboards. We are sure you would like our new building. It is Tudor Gothic in style, of tan and brown face tiling, granite trimmed, with an inner court. It reminds some of the Sisters of the Motherhouse. St. Joseph’s two story Industrial Room is separate, but connected by the present kitchen. May 18, 1937 “Relocating the school to the new building” To Mass at St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road], just at the corner. At 8:00 moving from the old school on Prince Edward Road began. Heavy rains helped to make things a bit harder, but by tiffin time all the moving had been done. Then came settling of the school rooms and further settling in the convent [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street]. No idle moments. As there is still considerable finishing to be done on the building, many of the workmen and coolies are still around. September 13, 1937 “A graduate of the school enters university” Patricia Ablong, one of our students, began her studies at the University [of Hong Kong] today, having received an excellent Government scholarship which entitles her to board and lodging at


one of the hostels, school books and at the end of the four year course, a position as teacher in one of the Government schools. . . . September 17, 1937 “The Indian kid” Sr. Matthew Marie [Stapleton] is very proud of her class of bright children. Today she told them about the Creation, and then asked: “What did God put into the sea”? One little turbaned Indian lad, who has not said a word since he has come to school, replied: “Jelly fish!” . . .

Remarks In 1937, while Hong Kong was haunted by the news of the Japanese invasion in the northeast of China, the Maryknoll Sisters had moved on to another stage in their mission history. Their school building in Kowloon Tong was a look-alike of the Maryknoll Motherhouse (Ossining, New York) that was built only a few years earlier. The investment and the endeavor signaled a commitment to the field of education, and to the mission in Hong Kong. Indeed, their students had been obtaining good scores, some even going on to university; the Maryknoll Sisters successfully adapted to the British education system and assimilated into the local society. Nevertheless, what lay ahead for them was something they could not have prepared for—the Japanese occupation of the colony in December 1941, and the Sisters’ subsequent internment in the Stanley Civilian Interment Camp.

Chapter Four Adv e n t of J apan e s e , 1 9 3 8 – 1 9 41

The Japanese Threat, 1938 After the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) broke out in the northeast in July 1937, refugees began flooding into Hong Kong, a British colony, to escape from Japanese aggression. Around 100,000 refugees came to Hong Kong in 1937, about 500,000 entered in 1938, and about 150,000 in 1939. Many of them became street sleepers. By 1941, the population increased to about 1,639,000. This aroused much anxiety over issues of hygiene, health, disease, water supply, and housing.1 Voluntary agencies had organized an emergency relief council to cater to the rising demands of refugees.2 The Hong Kong government assembled refugees in camps, broadcasted air-raid warnings, and announced blackouts for some of the nights. Occasionally, there were incidents of hostility from Japanese gunboats in Hong Kong waters.3 With the unsettling situation in South China, the British mobilized their vessels from Weihaiwei, a seaport of Shandong Province, to fortify the defenses of Hong Kong. The British armed forces were also planning for large-scale drills, to boost their morale and to demonstrate their skills at least of selfdefense.4 In December 1937, Japanese forces landed in Daya Bay, northeast of the New Territories and in close proximity to the colony. Possibilities of impending invasion further provoked nationalistic sentiments, local seamen boycotted Japanese goods, and students organized fund- raising activities to support the Chinese on the mainland.5 Many voluntary groups sprang up in Hong Kong (those of writers, intellectuals, artists, women, students, and others), to help promote resistance against the Japanese.6


In 1937, twenty-eight Maryknoll Sisters were stationed in Hong Kong; in 1938, twenty-five; in 1939, twenty-four; from 1940 through 1941, their number remained twenty-eight.7 The Maryknoll nuns stayed in their two houses—the convent in Maryknoll Convent School (M.C.S) on Waterloo Road at Boundary Street in Kowloon Tong, and the convent in Holy Spirit School (H.S.S.) on Caine Road on Hong Kong Island. Unless otherwise stated, this chapter contains quotations from the Sisters at the M.C.S. convent from 1938 to 1941 (a few quotations are from the Sisters in the Caine Road convent).8 In the year after the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, as the following section shows, the atmosphere was still tolerable, and life continued—students attended school, women worked in the industrial department, people were baptized, Catholics volunteered their time, nuns had fun (by, for example, going for a swim, or to gym classes), people celebrated festivals, and so forth. The Maryknoll diaries record activities of various sorts, people from different walks of life, common problems, not-that-common problems, and incidents of war preparations. As foreign missioners, Maryknoll Sisters came across a wide range of people—Chinese children, families, and converts; laborers, the abandoned, the sick, and the dying; foreign residents and visitors. The quotations in this chapter provide vivid accounts of the vigor as well as diversity of Hong Kong society. The foreign, plus religious, background of the nuns permitted them to see more, to experience more, and to hear more. The Maryknoll industrial department, created in 1924, employed Chinese women to produce hand-embroidered vestments, for sale to priests in the United States. Besides being a source of revenue (for the nuns and the Chinese women), the endeavor was also a means for the nuns to reach out to local people. Reading the diaries is a way to study Hong Kong history—the smallpox epidemic in 1938, dreadful illnesses (such as tuberculosis), air-raid precautions, blackouts, and refugees. With the influx of refugees in 1938, there were eruptions of epidemics, and more than 1,800 people died as a result.9 Of course, there were always things in Hong Kong that foreign visitors complained about—the rainy weather, mosquitoes, and hygiene.

advent of japanese, 1938–1941 / 71

January 10, 1938 “School enrollment” The opening of school [Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong] after the Christmas holidays brought more than enough new pupils to take the places of the little refugees most of whom ventured back into Shanghai on Christmas day. The most noteworthy addition to our student body is a little six-year old boy who is one boy high and two boys wide. Whenever he appears the other children cluster around to look at him. . . . February 1, 1938 “Chinese New Year” The bursting and cracking of firecrackers kept us mindful that the New Year hasn’t finished arriving yet. Today we had breakfast in a series of leisurely, unrelated courses. A group of Sisters with Sister Maria Teresa [ Yeung] as guide visited a pagan temple about half an hour’s walk from the convent [ Waterloo Road at Boundary Street]. Due to the season they were able to see some of the New Year customs and costumes. February 4, 1938 “Industrial Department” The vestment and cassock departments are unusually busy on account of the Easter rush orders. Half of their staff are making the parish retreat this week. Our house help attend the evening conferences. They are keeping silence in the kitchen perfectly all day. February 5, 1938 “The Catholic Action” A meeting of the Catholic Action group was held here today. A large number of girls came. Father [Carmelo] Orlando gave a talk after which there were games and tea and further talks, planning future developments. February 8, 1938 “Mosquitoes!” Sister [M.] Regina [Reardon] has set herself against our being borne too speedily away to heaven by little things with little wings. War to the death has been declared on the mosquitoes. The house is


being fumigated and the drains all cleaned out. Kowloon Tong is noted for its bigger and better mosquitoes. We think we have more than our share of them and so at last we are taking drastic measures to get rid of them. February 9, 1938 “Rainy days” The rainy season has begun. We are learning greater appreciation of our covered playground these days as we can get fresh air and exercise without getting wet. February 14, 1938 “Nostalgia” Foundation Day opened with a Missa Cantata.10 It was “Recollections Day.” Each of us received a heart on which we were told to recollect some past Maryknoll experience. The Holy Spirit Sisters [teaching at the school on Caine Road, Hong Kong Island] were with us at recreation when we began our recollections. We laughed so much at past tragedies that were related that we had to postpone the telling of half of them to another time, as it began to get late. February 15, 1938 “Air-raid precautions” A series of talks on air-raid precautions is being given over the radio. We listened in tonight. Plans for the dreamed-of new convent were discussed tonight.11 February 16, 1938 “Go swimming!” Several of the Sisters went out to Stella Maris for a swim today.12 As all homebound vehicles were crowded, there was much more walking than had been planned. We had to walk to a village half-way home before we could get a bus. February 17, 1938 “Smallpox” There’s a smallpox epidemic, forty new cases are reported daily. The girls in the embroidery department who were vaccinated by Sisters [M.] Camillus [Reynolds] and Monica Marie [Boyle] are finding their work rather painful these days.


February 18, 1938 “Letter from Japan” A photographer came to take pictures of the school and the children. A letter from Japan telling about the burning of our convent there came today. February 20, 1938 “Abandoned babies” Sister Matthew Marie [Stapleton] went with Sister Maria Teresa [Yeung] and some of the Catholic Action girls to visit the poor hospital. Sister Matthew Marie was appalled at the great poverty but was somewhat consoled when she was allowed to baptize little “Thomas Francis.” Pitiful little abandoned babies are brought to that hospital to die. The Catholic Action girls go there regularly to baptize. February 21, 1938 “Sister’s gym class” Gymnastic classes, under the direction of Sister Matthew Marie [Stapleton], began tonight after recreation. The class is to be held three times a week for those who wish to attend. February 22, 1938 “Maryknoll Convent School building” As we went in to dinner today we noticed two artists on the opposite side of the street sketching our convent [Maryknoll Convent School building, Boundary Street]. Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] left for Shanghai tonight on the Empress of Asia.13 Several of the Sisters went to the boat to see Sister off. February 28, 1938 “Blackout” Mass this morning was for the repose of the soul of Sister Maria Jose [Archer]. The children and the Sisters went to the Alhambra Theatre [Nathan Road] to see the movie “Victoria Regina,” called “Victoria the Great” here. Tonight was “blackout” night. All visible lights had to be shut off or concealed by seven o’clock. We had recreation on the stage behind heavy black curtains. After recreation there were many funny awkward happenings before we finally got to sleep.


April 10, 1938 “Baptism and Holy Communion” The three girls who were baptized yesterday received their First Holy Communion today. Sr. Maria Teresa [Yeung] baptized two babies at the hospital. There was departure supper for Sr. [M.] Chanel [Xavier]. Sr. [M.] Reginald [Silva] and Sr. Matthew Marie [Stapleton] witnessed the baptism of one of Sr. [M.] Reginald’s girls at Rosary Church [Tsimshatsui]. April 12, 1938 “La Salle boys” Two Christian Brothers—one the Provincial [Superior] and one the [Local] Superior of La Salle, the school for boys next door to us [about 10 minutes’ walk to La Salle College], came to visit the school today. Our little boys, after staying through kindergarten and the next two classes with us, usually go to La Salle. As we don’t accept boys beyond the class—and the Brothers don’t accept them below it—the arrangement works out well. April 18, 1938 “The baptized girl” Sr. [M.] Reginald’s [Silva] Mary Josephine, baptized last week, made her First Holy Communion today. Sister, with the help of a number of her girls, made the workroom festive and there was a party in the afternoon for Mary Josephine. Her mother came with her and was so overwhelmed at the love and attention lavished on her unwanted hunchback daughter, that she was on the verge of tears all afternoon. They are the ones that live five floors up in a narrow passage-way of a very poor tenement. . . . April 20, 1938 “Sisters from mission in China” Srs. [Mary] Rose [Leifels] and [M.] Beatrice [Meyer] arrived en route to the “old country” in the afternoon. Sr. [M.] Beatrice effectually extinguished our flaming tendency to boast about the number, variety and viciousness of Kowloon mosquitoes when those of Yeungkong [Yangjiang, Guangdong Province] were referred to as “sounding like frogs.”


July 3, 1938 “Inside the hospital” Hongkong is one vast sponge of dripping hotness today. Sr. Maria Teresa [Yeung] came home from the hospital more overcome with what she saw there than with the terrific heat. In small beds, four full sized women are compelled to lie—due to lack of space and the prevalence of illness. Many of the women will not put up with the tight quarters, and are therefore tied in the beds. Sister found one old lady bound and tied under the bed, to prevent her moving about. Sister insisted on having her moved—and won her point. Such conditions sound distressing to us, but they are the result of a good pagan attempt at beneficence. The hospital was founded and is maintained through donations from wealthy pagans. And, though our ideas of hygiene and sanitation are greatly outraged, the poor people who are brought there would otherwise get no care, and would probably die on the streets, as they are of the poorest. Every week Sr. Maria Teresa with Catholic Action girls, visits the hospital bringing food and cheer to the patients and she is usually able to baptize two or three patients at each visit. . . . July 4, 1938 “A girl dying of tuberculosis” Sr. [M.] Magdalena [Urlacher] went with Sr. Maria Teresa [Yeung] to visit a girl who is dying of T.B. Sister has been keeping the girl supplied with little extras—some of which came in the last mission shipment from Maryknoll, cans of condensed foods, etc. The girl is destitute, and is very grateful for a chair that Sister gave her to enable her to sit outside. July 15, 1938 “Amahs with their little charges” Again the phone rang during meditation and again we went out to Mass. The convent is situated on a rather high knoll [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street], and as the building itself is quite large, the sidewalk in front is well protected from the morning sun. We are amused to see that from early morning the neighborhood amahs bring their little charges to our front sidewalk for a cool breeze. It looked like a nursery as we came home from church [St. Teresa’s, Prince Edward Road] this morning. . . .


July 16, 1938 “A dip in Clearwater Bay” Today the children came for their final report cards. School [Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street] closed for the year with Benediction on the covered playground. With that as an excuse, and the feastdays of three of our family falling within the week, and Sr. [M.] Catherine’s [Dillon] very recent arrival, it was deemed fitting to celebrate with a picnic.14 So we had a swim and supper at Clearwater Bay [east side of New Territories], and assured Sr. [M.] Catherine that her mission career had begun. July 29, 1938 “Bathing suits recovered” Today, two police officers came with twelve bathing suits for us to identify. A short time ago our matshed was broken into and all the bathing suits stolen. We reported it to the police. Result is, that they were recovered from a pawnshop where they had been sold for the munificent sum of $5.00. . . . August 9, 1938 “The girl dying of TB” When the Sisters went to call on the tubercular young girl who has been expected to die any day this last month they found her suffering intensely. Her throat is badly affected now but to Sister’s words of sympathy she managed to gasp out painfully, “I unite my sufferings with those of Jesus. I am glad to bear them as long as He shall please.”

The War Getting Closer, August 1938–August 1939 By August 1938, China’s war with Japan seemed to be getting close; people were familiarizing themselves with the emergency measures, accepting the necessary hassles, and in some ways trying to prepare for what would befall them. Like others, the Maryknoll nuns attended air-raid precaution classes, learning what to do in case Japanese planes bombed and in case the M.C.S. building on Boundary Street served as a war hospital. In October 1938, Guangzhou city (of the neighboring Guangdong Province) surrendered to the Japanese. Because of that, the atmosphere became even more tense, and people


became cranky. In their diaries, the Sisters noted the emotional problems of a girl student, whose father was missing in Guangzhou after the surrender. A month later, in November, another city in Guangdong Province, Yangjiang, where the Maryknoll Sisters had established their mission house, fell to Japanese aggression. Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, also succumbed. As a result, local hospitals were overloaded with refugees, wounded soldiers, and dying patients from China; the saddest stories were told, and nothing seemed to be too surprising in those days. One of the incidents reported was that a man carried his injured mother-in-law on his back for three days, escaping to Hong Kong; when they finally reached the hospital, she took her last breath. People came to report mishaps; the nuns received a message that one of their students and her husband were shot by angry Chinese, who accused them of collaborating with the Japanese. Occasionally, Japanese bombs were dropped on the Hong Kong side of the border with the mainland. Some foreigners were packing, getting ready for evacuation! At that time, transportation to foreign places was still possible; ocean liners visited the port regularly, providing convenient services to travelers. A number of shipping companies were in business—the P. & O. Steam Navigation Co., Norddeutscher Lloyd, and others to Europe and Britain; the American President Lines and others to the United States; the Canadian Pacific S. S. and the Blue Funnel Line to Canada; the Eastern and Australian Line and others to Australia; and the Java-China-Japan Line and others to Java.15 As the following quotations show, the British and the Americans were ready to leave anytime. August 12, 1938 “War preparations” Four Sisters with some of the school girls attended a demonstration given by the Women’s Air-raid Protection Association and saw a model gas-proof room with all the window cracks and other openings sealed with cellophane and the room well-provisioned against the unpleasant imprisonment; a model hospital; respirators, and emergency remedies brought the war a little closer. There was further a


demonstration of bandaging and improvising stretchers by a St. John’s Ambulance group. Preparedness is the word! Carry your umbrella and it won’t rain. October 18, 1938 “The war gets closer” The war gets nearer. We get in a stock of food in case of emergency. Supplies to Hong Kong are being cut off. October 22, 1938 “Guangzhou surrenders” Canton [Guangzhou, Guangdong Province], our next door neighbor, surrendered today. In the afternoon one of the school children (whose father is a customs’ official in Canton) came to see her teacher and went suddenly insane in the parlor. The family felt that the child had worried so [much] about her father’s safety that she became unbalanced. November 18, 1938 “Ah Yan—the girl being sold” There is a very small girl working in the industrial room. She is being prepared for baptism and today some interesting facts about her were brought to light. A coolie woman came today seeking instruction and baptism. Enquiries brought the information that unknown to little Ah Yan she is Ah Yan’s real mother. When Ah Yan was born the mother was so poor that there was no hope of keeping the child alive—she sold her to a kind neighbor woman, signing away all claim to the child. The neighbor has brought up Ah Yan as her own. When she came to work here as she had no place to leave the child Ah Yan was brought along. Now, she too does a little work in the embroidery room. The mother has kept in close contact with the neighbor and as soon as she learned from Ah Yan about the Catholic faith she too wished to be baptized. November 19, 1938 “Bombing of Yangjiang” Father [James E.] Fitzgerald from Yeungkong [ Yangjiang, Guangdong Province] came to call. He told us about the bombing of Yeungkong and the courage of our Sisters there.


November 20, 1938 “Influx of refugees” Because of war conditions and the constant anxiety about our Sisters, Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] asked and obtained permission of the bishop [Henry Valtorta] to have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for two hours each Sunday. Today from 3:00 to 5:00 we made our adorations. Sister Anthony Marie [Unitas] went with the Catholic Action girls to Kwong Wah Hospital [close by in Yaumati] where conditions are more crowded than they have ever been. Nearly all of the beds have at least two occupants. In some beds one of the patients is dying. Besides the crowded beds, the floor, too, is crowded with the not dangerously ill patients. The extreme crowding is due to the refugees who have continued to pour into Hong Kong. One old woman, dying of gangrene poisoning was carried on the back of her sonin-law for three days. She has three bullets in her arm. She suffered so that she implored the man to let her die and to go on and save himself, but he would not abandon her until they both arrived at the hospital. November 26, 1938 “Wounded soldiers and refugees” Sister Maria Teresa [Yeung] with her Catholic Action group had three baptisms at the hospital today. Last week we spoke of two, three and four in a bed. This week they found all of the beds pushed together, to make one long bed! Wounded soldiers and refugees are crowded into the most inconceivable places. Among the refugees was a woman anxious to go to confession. Arrangements were made to have her taken to a slightly more private place when Father comes tomorrow. November 28, 1938 “20,000 refugees in Hong Kong” We learned today of the fall of Shumchum [Shenzhen, Guangdong Province] which is just across the border. Some shells fell on British ground, but no damage was done. Refugees are coming in thousands into the New Territories and the Government is increasing its appeal for help, especially for warm clothing in view of the coming cold months. There are now 20,000 refugees in Hong Kong camps. February 18, 1939 “Fire in an army truck factory” Sister Maria Teresa [Yeung] has added another task to her already full schedule. She has been named Moderator of the new


Children of Mary Sodality organized at St. Teresa’s [Prince Edward Road] today. Her workroom Catholic girls received their medals today. During supper smoke and blazes were seen from the refectory window. It seemed to be a great fire and we feared it was the refugee camp not far from us. As soon as supper was over a number of us hastened over to the fire. Disastrous as the financial loss is to the Chinese government, we were relieved to find that it was an army truck manufacturing center that was ablaze and not dwelling places. February 19, 1939 “Chinese New Year in the midst of war cry” The New Year was shot in to the bursting of myriads of firecrackers from twelve o’clock onward. Today the world seems bent on going someplace. Our street is usually rather deserted, but today there is continuous passing of hundreds of walkers—everybody in his newest gown; boys shooting off torpedoes and firecrackers from every conceivable point; little children holding their multiple windmills; coolies and amahs bearing gifts of sugar cane and oranges for which they will receive something in return. Sister Matthew Marie [Stapleton] received a stick of sugar cane twelve feet long. She found it tied to her chair in the refectory. We had Mass in our chapel and our usual two hours of Exposition. The Sisters are doing all the housework because no Chinese works at New Year’s. Sisters Frances Marion [Gardner] and Rose Victor [Mersinger] each baptized a baby at the poor hospital today. The poor people were more than usually touched today at the idea of the Sisters coming, even on New Year’s Day. It is bad luck to visit hospitals the first day of the year. A celebration had been planned for the old folks’ home, but on learning that more could be got by begging on the streets today, the party was postponed till a later date. February 26, 1939 “Japanese bombing” The Japanese accidentally dropped some bombs on the British side of the border, and Hong Kong hospitals are filled beyond capacity as a result. . . .


March 1, 1939 “Parents’ Day” Parents’ Day. Demonstration lessons were given in the auditorium throughout the day. About 100 parents were present. After the lessons the guests visited the classroom displays of work. . . . March 3, 1939 “Here comes the clipper!” Dinner was postponed that we might witness the arrival of the new 72 passenger Clipper. We are quite near the airport so the planes fly very low over our convent [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street]. We broke into applause when we saw the American flags flying over us, to the amazement of some of the children who were on the street in front of the house. March 9, 1939 “The eulogy” The Vestment Department is separated from the convent refectory only by cupboards that do not by any means reach the ceiling and are not at all sound proof. Today, during dinner, [we] were very much amused to hear the priest who called yesterday deliver himself in English of a stirring eulogy of Maryknoll Sisters to the workroom girls. He talked as loudly and as clearly as he could in the hope that the Chinese girls would understand through force, if not by education. Of course, they didn’t but the heroines of charity on the other side of the wall did. March 23, 1939 “First aid courses” The Government is offering concentrated courses in home nursing and first aid to be given in Kowloon and Hong Kong. Sixteen of us registered for the Course in Kowloon. The first class was held tonight. April 3, 1939 “Shot because of negotiation with Japanese” A private pupil of Sister Rose Olive’s [Skehan], whose husband has been one of a group of Chinese trying to make peace terms with the Japanese, sent word that her husband had been killed and she herself shot through the breast by indignant Chinese.


June 7, 1939 “Air raid precautions course” The Sisters taking the Air Raid Precautions Course were graduated today without the formality of exams. July 12, 1939 “Hottest in 47 years” The last day of school exams. Hong Kong is now existing through the hottest heat wave in 47 years. Father [Albert] Cooney, S.J. [Society of Jesus], came to arrange with Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] about a chaplain for us for the summer. The Jesuits were very kind last summer—driving over every morning to our vacation house so that we might have the privilege of daily Mass and reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. They promise the same kind courtesy this year. July 28, 1939 “School building to be used as wartime hospital” Sometime ago word came from the Government to the effect that our house would be commandeered for the housing of troops in wartime. We placed the house under the further protection of St. Joseph and Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] wrote to the Governor offering it as a hospital and us as the staff, mentioning the fact that we include a doctor and a nurse in our family. An acknowledgement of the offer was received today. . . . July 31, 1939 “Bombing on the other side of the border” Our Sisters at Fanling [New Territories] heard and saw the bombing that took place just beyond where they are. Fanling is quite near the border of the English territory. In order to tease the British or to enforce an embargo on food brought into the territory, the people going to market were bombed. August 23, 1939 “Radio broadcast” 9:30 P.M. Radio news, not too assuring. All British born subjects requested to register and to secure vaccinations and injections and be ready for evacuation at a moment’s notice.


August 24, 1939 “Evacuation of foreigners; war duty” Papers and radio state that outgoing boats are booked to capacity by evacuating foreign women and children. A badly sunburned set of vacationists returned at 4:00 o’clock for Confession. They have heard bamboo rumours of skirmishing on the border with thirty-five Indians and two Englishmen killed. Sister Rose Victor [Mersinger] reports that all convalescing patients have been ordered home from Queen Mary hospital [Pokfulam, west side of Hong Kong Island] and they are refusing admission to all but very serious cases to keep beds free for emergency. All hospital Sisters and Chinese nurses have been assigned war duty. . . . August 26, 1939 “War preparations” Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] seems definitely assured of an attack on Hong Kong providing the blaze starts in Europe. She informs us that she has offered the [Maryknoll Convent School] building as a hospital and the services of the community. She checked up on those prepared with First Aid, Home Nursing and Gas Protection Courses and found all but six of those at home prepared with one or the other. She has ordered nurses aprons and veils made, and cells arranged and suitcases packed, ready for any emergency. Border skirmishes were denied. There have been no killings as yet. August 29, 1939 “Anticipation” The suspense is lifted somewhat. Things are perfectly normal on the surface, all, even to the vacationists are carrying on as if, indeed, the King of Peace reigned over the still fair earth. Today should tell the tale. God is in His Heaven, but are we going to be able to say, “All is at least nearly right with the world”? August 30, 1939 “War, no war?” Germany has allied herself with Russia! It is the unexpected that always happens. This lifts local tension very greatly. It looks definitely as though Hong Kong would not be attacked by Japan. Vacationists off for breakfast at the beach. Students in to take conditioned exams. The community enjoyed an al fresco dinner on the covered playground


in honor of St. Rose of Lima and to celebrate the feastday of our Sisters [Mary] Rose [Leifels] and Rosemary [de Felice]. The dinner was campfire style where charcoal stoves grilled steak to a nicety and cool breezes made the repast doubly refreshing. August 31, 1939 “False hopes” Rumor has it that La Salle College [Kowloon Tong] and Central British School [close by on Argyle Street] are to be used as intern camps for unfriendly aliens. The Dominican House at Rosary Hill [Stubbs Road, Hong Kong Island] has had a thousand beds installed. French Hospital [St. Teresa’s Hospital, Prince Edward Road, Kowloon Tong] beds have been augmented by 500. Nevertheless, local tension is practically nullified. Vacationists off to Fanling [New Territories] to a stripped and bare house. Students come again today for their second day of conditioned exams. After an early dinner, the united community, including the Holy Spirit Sisters, dismissed from their minds beef-steak dinners, and Kadoorie breakfasts, wars and rumors of war, and entered into Retreat for two days of refreshment with the Lord, before embarking on the year’s work— ad majorem Dei gloriam.16

The Second World War Began; the Last Few Months of 1939 The Second World War (1939–1945) began in September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland and forced other Western powers to act. Britain proclaimed that it would stand by the Polish people. With the onslaught of Nazis and the expansion of conflicts, Hong Kong was shadowed by the happenings in Europe. Since Britain became the enemy of Germany, which was an ally of Japan, there were rumors that war would soon spread to Hong Kong. Some of the refugees, who had come from the mainland, now fled for fear that the Japanese would attack the colony.17 Despite uncertainties, the Maryknoll Sisters still maintained their missions in China and Hong Kong. In 1939, the nuns were in different parts of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and were also posted in the Japanese-controlled Manzhouguo (Manchukuo) in northeast China.


Daily routines had already been disrupted. Besides blackouts, there were also emergency drills, in which the nuns took part as it was know that the school (M.C.S.) and convent on Boundary Street would be turned into a first-aid post once the war started in Hong Kong. Rumors ran rampant; news came from everywhere. Indeed, the war in China had impacted every sector of society— voluntary groups tried to help, and the government set up special positions to handle problems of food, housing, labor, medical service, and infectious diseases. For example, a new post of labor officer had come into being.18 By 1939, the authorities had taken more serious responsibilities in taking care of the grassroots and had been more aware of the people’s poor living conditions. In a 1938–1939 annual report, the government claimed to have built large-scale temporary housing in the city, and twice that amount in the New Territories, for the homeless refugees.19 Although population continued to concentrate on both sides of the Victoria Harbor—the central district and the western harbor-front of Hong Kong Island, Tsimshatsui and the western part of Kowloon Peninsula—other parts of the colony had also become increasingly populated. By 1939 (especially in the 1930s), the outskirts of the colony—the neighborhood of Prince Edward Road (where St. Teresa’s Church is located), and areas north of Boundary Street (where M.C.S. is)—had experienced an upsurge of population density.20 September 2, 1939 “The German offensive” At noon it was announced that Germany will march through the Polish corridor. The Colony is concerned because England has declared that she will stand by Poland in such a case. September 4, 1939 “Incarceration of Germans” Legal holiday. Despite the war scare and the flights of thousands from Hong Kong there was a continuous stream of new registrations for the school [Maryknoll Convent School]. Next door to us the Christian Brothers conduct a school for 900 boys [La Salle College]. It has been our custom to ask hospitality of them for any priest guest.


Our Retreat Master cut his stay one night short and explained to us that the Brothers had all gone. Today we learned the reason. The College grounds have been wired off and fortified as a concentration camp. Today the Germans in Hong Kong were incarcerated there for the duration of the war. September 5, 1939 “Emergency drills” Dr. [J. E.] Dovey of the British Army, came today with members of the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade (English Red Cross) to arrange about taking over our house and school as a First Aid Station. They took away the plans of the place in order to make their own assignments at leisure. However, Dr. Dovey assured Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] that our sleeping quarters will be left to us as also our kitchen, refectory and chapel. All the rest of the building has been commandeered by Government. On Sunday there will be a trial bombing in the district in order to practice emergency measures and to get the Red Cross Corps assigned to this house acquainted with it. We are planning on opening school on Monday but are expecting to be told that we can’t. Father [Joseph P.] McGinn brought one of the new missioners to see us. We hoped his glowing accounts of Mother’s improved health were not too much exaggerated. September 6, 1939 “Rumor” Sisters [M.] Reginald [Silva] and [Mary] Liguori [Quinlan] arrived home from Manila. Just as they arrived, word was received that Sisters Anthony Marie [Unitas] and Joseph Marian [Mahoney], bound for America had been forced to disembark at Shanghai on account of the war. However, Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] hurried over to Hong Kong [Island] to investigate the story and was greatly relieved to find it a false report. The boat and its passengers had left Shanghai about one day late. September 10, 1939 “Maryknoll Sisters everywhere!” The St. John’s Ambulance Brigade turned our playground into a Military Base this morning. We (despite our recently acquired certificates) weren’t invited to help but we watched the practice from various points of vantage. The stretcher bearers went out into the


lanes and byways and bound up some of their number (imaginary bombing victims) bearing them back to the playground for treatment by doctors and nurses. It was quite realistic but rather too well planned to be real. A group of Maryknoll priests, among whom were three Koreans, one Japanese and two Manchu knollers came for a flying visit this morning. They had just arrived from Rome on their way north and had time in port just for a few hours. A pupil of Sister Miriam Thomas [Thornton], Manila, on her way to school in St. Louis, Mo., was met and entertained by Sisters Cecilia Marie [Carvalho] and Rose Victor [Mersinger]. A friend of a friend of ours wrote back from his tour of part of the world that “no matter where I go I see Maryknoll Sisters. I met them in Japan. I saw them way up north in Fushun [Northeast China]. In Mukden [Shenyang, Northeast China] I met more of them on the street. They seem to be everywhere.” . . . September 11, 1939 “Uncertainties” School opened today. There was a small decrease in numbers of students due to the war scare but many will be coming back now that Europe has taken the center of the stage. September 21, 1939 “Another drill” Five of the Sisters received a summons to appear in uniform and badges at the First Aid rehearsal to be held at the Maryknoll Convent First Aid Post tomorrow night. Later in the day other notifications marked “Urgent” informed the Sisters that First Aid proceedings would begin at 9:00 and not 7:30 P.M. as stated in the previous letter. September 22, 1939 “Blackout preparations; the ‘victim’ ” Sister [M.] Christella [Furey] arrived home from Manila. Many Sisters busied themselves with blackout preparations. In the evening Hong Kong went into total darkness. A group of First Aiders, equipped with stretchers, medicines, and supplies came to our playground. There was a practice air raid with bombs. Phone calls telling of casualties sent the stretcher bearers scurrying off in the darkness to various parts of the city where boy scouts offered themselves as victims. After some time the stretcher bearers came back with their patients. Each patient held in his


hand a paper saying what casualty he had suffered—such as a bad burn, shrapnel wound, fractured skull, etc. The first aid nurses took the paper and prescribed treatment. The purpose of the rehearsal was to test out the workers. One victim labelled “burns over the whole body” lay on the ground where the stretcher bearers had deposited him. He evidently felt the nurses delayed too long in treating him, for when they came to the place where he had been they found his slip of paper with the addition, “Patient dead from neglect. Went home to give himself decent burial.” September 26, 1939 “Via Indochina” Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] went with Sisters Rose Victor [Mersinger] and [M.] Cornelia [Collins] to call on Bishop [Ronald Owen] Hall. He is the Anglican Bishop of this district and has been very kind and helpful to our travelers. It is much safer to travel in groups now, so the Sisters went to inquire if any of his missioners were going into the country [China] now. Later they learned no alien (that is anyone who isn’t French or English) may travel through Indo China—the only possible route at present. September 27, 1939 “The ban lifted” One obstacle has been removed. The ban against aliens travelling through Indo-China has been lifted, provided they are transients. September 28, 1939 “School fees” There have been so many requests for free or part tuition this year, because of the exchange, the war, etc., that a plan has been thought out to meet the emergency. We have asked some of our wealthy girls to adopt some of our needy ones—that is, from their pocket money to pay the school fees (which we will reduce) of the child whom they adopt. There has been a very generous response and a number of children who would otherwise have to quit school this year have been able to continue. October 16, 1939 “The old lady” Some time ago an old woman came here seeking food and lodging. She was a bit insistent about the lodging so Sister [M.] Reginald


[Silva] tried to get her in the Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor. They were filled but sent a letter today asking us to bring the old lady as they now have a place for her. She is only 74 years old and earns her living by the gentle task of breaking stones. Stone-breaking, whatever advantages it holds for ladies of 74 in the way of providing exercise, leaves somewhat to be desired in the providing of the luxuries of life. So our old lady begs for food in her leisure moments. However, she was reluctant to relinquish her known freedom for the unknown restrictions of the Poor Home. It took the assembled stonebreakers plus a few passers-by to persuade her to sacrifice her hammer and to go along to the Little Sisters. But once arrived, one look was enough. Sister left her deeply engrossed in a bowl of rice and perfectly happy to stay. The school teachers have taken up home visiting in earnest. Eight homes were visited after school today and there are many stories that could be written were there time. One child visited lives in a Socony Oil Can village—all the houses are compounded together of Socony Oil cans. The tin must be a remarkable heat conductor in summer and no deterrent to the cold in winter.

The Blackest Blackouts: To Stay or Not to Stay, 1940–1941 The nuns were preparing for any moment when M.C.S. on Boundary Street would be converted into a first-aid station. They attended first-aid courses and received notifications on the need to be ready when necessary. As the following quotations show, the Sisters adapted quite well to the requirements of the time—they finished their business for the day, said their prayers in the evening, and waited for the blackout sirens. Situated on a higher slope, their convent provided a perfect view of the neighborhood, as the Sisters watched the lights of the cottages go out after the sirens blew. The nuns also saw foreigners leaving the colony. Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940; the same month, ships were taking British women and children away, en route to Manila and then eventually to Australia. The S. S. President Coolidge returned to Hong Kong, to take Americans who wished to leave; the Americans also headed for Manila, where they would stay temporarily and probably go home when possible. As Maryknoll had no plans to desert its mission houses


in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, the Sisters joined the small group of foreigners who remained in the colony. It is recorded in the diaries that refugees and poor people came to the convent to ask for accommodations, as they believed it would be safer for them to stay with foreigners than with their own people. In late 1940, Mother Mary Joseph Rogers (mother general of the Maryknoll Sisters) was on hervisitation to Hong Kong, China, and Japan. Rogers had to make the difficult decision of asking the Sisters to remain in their mission fields. While the American government had advised its nationals to leave Asia, the Roman Catholic Church suggested otherwise, and encouraged pastors to stay in mission areas.21 By late 1940, people were pessimistic about the future of Hong Kong. The British government in London shared even more negative views, not having the slightest hope that its forces could defend Hong Kong in the face of a Japanese attack. For the moment, the British continued to hold the colony because there were no better choices, even though they were not sure how long this situation could last.22 British prime minister Winston Churchill expected, or even waited for, the fall of Hong Kong. February 10, 1940 “School to become a first-aid station” Dr. [ J. E.] Dovey, of the St. John’s Ambulance Corps, came for a conference with Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] about the quick conversion of the school into a First Aid Station, if needed. Cards were received inviting us to take one of the Air-Raid-Precaution Courses being given in the Colony. February 21, 1940 “Seeking refuge” A group of Sisters was accosted on the street by a weeping woman who begged them to take her baby as she could not feed or clothe it, having recently lost her employment. As we have no facilities for taking care of babies, the Sisters were turning sadly away when the woman insistently thrust the child at them crying that she had no money and both would die. Then the Sisters offered to bring the woman and her child to the Precious Blood Hospital [Shamshuipo, Kowloon] where the baby could be left till wanted.


To their surprise, the woman said, “I must consult my relatives” and hurried away. . . . March 5, 1940, Caine Road “Blackout” This evening Sisters [M.] Augustine [Kuper] and [M.] Eucharista [Coupe] attended a very interesting lantern slide lecture on the life and work of Hellen Keller. The lecture was given by one of the professors of the English Department of the Hong Kong University, and was sponsored by the local Teachers’ Association. On their return they had to eat a hasty supper in order to join the other two members of the community on a trip to the Alice Memorial Hospital [Bonham Road, Hong Kong Island], a few minutes’ away, to report for service during the Black-Out scheduled for this evening. We were all glad to be told that there was no need to remain on duty, so after a short tour of the hospital to get some idea of the preparations that had been made in case of an emergency, we returned home to get our prayers said before the Black Out began. Just after the eight o’clock time signal we heard the dismal sound of the sirens and went out to our verandah to watch the city extinguish its lights. In a few minutes all lights were out, and here and there we could spot the flash of an electric torch as the wardens made their rounds to see that all were obeying the regulations. We were all prepared to go to bed in the dark, when to our great surprise, after about half an hour, the All Clear sounded. June 11, 1940 “Italy enters war” Italy entered the war—and some faint repercussions were felt at our convent when word came that our Italian chaplain could no longer come to our chapel for Mass, as we live on Boundary Street. June 28, 1940, Caine Road “The British leave” Today we were rather surprised to learn that all British women and have been ordered to leave the Colony. Ships will be provided to take them first to Manila, where they will remain until such time as arrangements can be made to take them on to Australia. We are beginning to wonder what will happen to us.


June 30, 1940, Caine Road “Americans to go as well” We sent greetings to Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and a Spiritual Bouquet from the school children, and later in the day went over to Kowloon ourselves to be with the rest of our Maryknoll family for dinner and supper. All day there were rumours of Americans being ordered to leave, and when during supper we received word that the President Coolidge had been ordered back to Hong Kong to pick up any Americans who wished to go,23 Sister [Mary] Paul decided that Sisters Rosemary [de Felice] and [M.] Augustine [Kuper] had better take the boat down to Manila, as there was a possibility of its not returning here in case of trouble in Hong Kong. We were not quite prepared for this and so we had a few busy hours when we reached home, helping Sister [M.] Augustine to pack. July 1, 1940 “Americans to go” The following notice was received today from the U.S. Consul: “The United States Government is holding in Hong Kong all day today and until midnight the S.S. PRESIDENT COOLIDGE for the convenience of American nationals who may wish to take passage on her to Manila. First, second and third class passages will be available and tickets should be purchased in the usual way at the PRESIDENT LINE offices in Hong Kong. Reservations should be made before noon today if convenient. American nationals are not yet being ordered to evacuate Hong Kong but are being advised to make use of the S.S. PRESIDENT COOLIDGE for the journey to Manila, where they may prefer to sojourn until the present situation in Hong Kong becomes better or until evacuation to the United States can be arranged. The situation in Hong Kong is understood to involve possibilities of disturbance which might require the evacuation at an early date of American women and children, although the Hong Kong Government has not yet ordered the evacuations of Americans.” July 10, 1940, Caine Road “Seeking shelter” We had our last examinations today, and school [Holy Spirit, Caine Road] was declared closed, with reports and marks to be given out next September. However, we told the children that we shall open up every Saturday from nine to eleven for those who wish to take


books from the library. We have had many requests for shelter in case of trouble in the Colony. The poor people think that they will be better protected if they are with foreigners. October 29, 1940 “Mother watching the blackout” Three adult baptisms at Kwong Wah Hospital [Yaumati] today and one baby. Mother [Mary Joseph Rogers, from the Maryknoll Sisters in New York State, on her trip to Hong Kong] visited the classes at Maryknoll Convent School [Boundary Street] this morning. In the afternoon she visited Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] and made a short call on the Sisters. They had to hurry home as the ferries stopped running at five o’clock tonight, due to the blackout. The community sat with Mother on the roof to watch the blackout maneuvers. Tremendous searchlights play across the sky till they find the airplane and then the lights of them all follow the airplane. Someone said it’s a victory for the British anyway—if the searchlights find the plane Britain’s vigilance triumphs; if the plane eludes the lights her military shrewdness conquers! About twelve P.M. there were mock battles and the roar of the cannons was terrific to all but the very few with deadened consciences who were surprised in the morning to hear that most of the family had been kept awake. February 26, 1941 “The blackest blackout ever” Tonight’s blackout was the blackest ever. About 12 P.M. the street in front of our convent [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street] was chosen for a mock fire. Six hose played on flares lighted there. Three of our family watched the show while the rest of us slept the sleep of the just. An Indian father whose nine-year old son has been naughty in school came to call on Sister Matthew Marie [Stapleton] today. Sister said she was trembling when she met the ferocious looking man, but when he suddenly switched his attention to his son she saw her fears were groundless. Part of the paternal admonition was, “You hear. You be a good boy. If you don’t she’ll kill you. She’ll eat you.” February 27, 1941 “Second blackout” Blackout again tonight. We are already used to it and made our way about the place with very little inconvenience.


February 28, 1941 “Third blackout canceled” Third blackout night cancelled on account of the weather, too cloudy to admit of observations from the air.

Remarks In 1941, the Maryknoll Sisters could only wait for the inevitable to happen. Refugees, the destitute, and the miserable were everywhere; rumors were rampant, and the atmosphere was nerve-racking. What happened after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in December 1941 would prove to be a test of the faith, courage, tolerance (mental and physical), ability, and unity of the Maryknoll Sisters. Nothing could better describe the disposition of the missioners, than an earlier message from Bishop Henry Valtorta, vicar apostolic of Hong Kong, to the Catholics. Selected parts of the message are quoted below:24 On the lamentable occasion of the war, which the Japanese Empire is waving [warring] against the Republic of China, many and great are the calamities that have befallen and still may fall upon many innocent people. There are terrible losses of life and property, there are destructions and hardships of all kinds. . . . . . . we wish to exhort you, as Christians, to make good use of your Christian faith in order to render to China and to the cause of peace in general a most special and most important service, such as our Christian Religion must inspire us to give. We read in the history of the Catholic Church and in the history of all Catholic countries that, in time of public calamities like war and pestilence and famine, it was a common general custom for the Christians to practice works of supplication and penance in order to appease the justice of God, . . . Let us therefore, according to the pious custom of our Mother the Church and according to the example given us by so many Christians in former ages during similar occasions of public distresses and calamities, try to placate the justice of God and obtain His mercy on us and our country by the practice of prayer, mortification and alms.


Let us pray humbly and confidently, . . . Especially let us pray in common with a union of hearts and purposes, because Jesus has promised that when we are united in His name He is in our midst. . . . Lastly, let us give alms, according to our capabilities and in proportion of our means, for the relief of those who are made homeless or destitute or are wounded in the course of war. . . . . . . let us always have confidence and never lose courage. We are all in the hands of the Providence of God, Who rules all nations and peoples and all events: He will not fail to reward us for what we will do for the cause of peace in our country and in the world in general and for the relief of our suffering brethren. Whatever we shall do, Jesus will consider it as done to Himself. And in addition, let us remember that by our doing so we shall also contribute to give good example to our non-Christian brethren. . . .

The Maryknoll Sisters tried to continue following their daily schedules, work, and religious duties until they were disrupted by the advent of the Japanese. What had been discussed, considered, and speculated about all materialized on August 8, 1941, when Japanese planes flew over Hong Kong, over their school and convent building on Boundary Street. Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941, and the Japanese began the occupation of the colony (the occupation would last till August 1945). From then on, life in Hong Kong was another story.


Chapter Five Japanese Occupation and Internment, 1941–1942

Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, December 1941 A few days before December 8, 1941, the Japanese had already assembled about 60,000 soldiers close to the Shenzhen River, which separated Hong Kong from mainland China, and were on the verge of commencing a major combat.1 At 4:45 a.m. (Hong Kong time) on December 8, the Japanese broadcasted, over the radio, a warning that Japan would soon be at war with the United States and its allies. When the Japanese bombed the Kowloon Peninsula that morning, Japan was staging hostilities simultaneously against Pearl Harbor and other parts of Southeast Asia.2 Around 8 a.m., Japanese bombers were heading toward Kai Tak Airport, which was east of Maryknoll Convent School and was about half-an-hour drive away. In one of the accounts, the Sisters saw Japanese planes flying overhead when they rushed out of St. Teresa’s Church on Prince Edward Road, Kowloon Tong, in the midst of Mass. Almost at once after the Japanese invasion, Kowloon Peninsula suffered from large-scale looting by local Chinese, mainly organized by triad groups. Killings, rapes, and looting took place before Japanese troops marched into Kowloon on December 12, 1941. Atrocities were witnessed for three or four days in districts of Mongkok (extending north up to Boundary Street), Yaumati, Shamshuipo, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon Wharf, and H.K. & Whampoa Docks.3 The surrender of the British on December 25, 1941 ushered in the Japanese occupation that lasted for three years and eight months. To consolidate control, the Japanese staged a number of celebrations,


parades, and gatherings and hoped to project an image that the former British colony was now much better under Japanese rule.4 On January 5, 1942, about 1,000 non-Chinese civilians of Allied Powers gathered at Murray Parade Ground. These people stayed temporarily in hotels and brothels on the harbor-front and were later interned in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp.5 In early February 1942 when Maryknoll Sisters, on the Kowloon side, united with their counterparts on the Hong Kong side, in Stanley, there were about 2,400 British, 300 Americans, and 60 Dutch in the camp.6 On the southern side of Hong Kong Island, Stanley, a small strip of land with spectacular scenery, was faraway from the city, therefore, diseases and epidemics were not likely to spread there easily.7 The camp, half a square mile in size, included quarters of prison warders and guards, and buildings of St. Stephen’s College.8 A cemetery and a beach were adjacent to the site. However, prisoners of war were locked up on the Kowloon side, in Shamshuipo. This chapter contains two accounts of the Sisters, detailing the Japanese invasion, occupation, and internment. The narratives look at the history (at least the earlier part) from different perspectives (and at different localities): one essay was written by a nun at the convent in Maryknoll Convent School on Waterloo Road at Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong, and another essay by a nun at the convent in Holy Spirit School on Caine Road on the Hong Kong side. Many of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation wrote up their stories; their “Personal Narratives of WWII: South China” are now kept at the Maryknoll Mission Archives and are priceless records of an important part of Hong Kong history.9 On the eve of the Japanese occupation, there were twenty-eight Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong. At the convent in Maryknoll Convent School, eighteen of them were American, one was Portuguese, one was Chinese, and one was Filipina. In the Caine Road convent, three Sisters were American, one was Canadian, and one was Portuguese (Mary Chanel Xavier, who subsequently went over to the Kowloon side and accompanied the “Kowloon Sisters” until they were taken to Stanley). Out of these twenty-eight Maryknoll Sisters, two Sisters had come to Hong Kong from China, prior to the Japanese attack, for medical care: one was Portuguese and one was American.10

japanese occupation and internment / 99

“Hong Kong Happenings”—Sister Santa Maria Manning, Maryknoll Convent School, Waterloo Road at Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon On December 8, the Japanese invaded and began bombing Hong Kong. As agreed and prepared for, Maryknoll Convent School (M.C.S.) on Boundary Street became a first-aid post for the injured. Carefully described by Sister Santa Maria Manning in one of the following narratives (“Hong Kong Happenings”), Japanese planes were like silver birds flying over the houses, with the blue sky as the background. For a number of days, the Sisters paid attention to the sirens and were haunted by the noise of machine guns. On December 12, the Japanese took the M.C.S. building and transformed it into a hospital for their sick soldiers. There was looting of the place. For almost two months, the Maryknoll Sisters stayed with hundreds of Japanese in the M.C.S. compound. Most of the Sisters were Americans and were subsequently interned in Stanley. Sister Santa Maria was meticulous in tracing events of the invasion and the Japanese occupation of M.C.S. She was among the nuns residing in the convent at M.C.S.; her account provides valuable insight into the happenings in Kowloon. As noted below, one of the nuns, Mary Famula Clements, was indispensable in communicating with the Japanese soldiers, when many of them settled in the school building. Sister Mary Famula was fluent in the Japanese language because she had formerly been missioned to northeast China. Sister Santa Maria’s essay concludes with the first repatriation in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp on June 29, 1942. At that time, most of the people who were repatriated were Americans. The following is her complete account as written, beginning Sunday, December 7, 1941: Sunday, December 7th [1941] First shadows fell when we heard the radio announcement: “The Jap fleet is reported moving south”—followed by: “The Governor of HongKong has ordered all volunteers to report for active duty for at least 3 months.” However, this did not mean anything immediate.


[Monday] December 8th Mass as usual in our Chapel. As it was a feast of Blessed Mother, we had planned to open school one half hour later, so the children might attend Mass. Many of us attended the 7:30 Mass at [St. Teresa’s] Church [across Waterloo Road; on Prince Edward Road].11 Just as we were leaving, Mrs. Larsen, mother of one of our two Americans, called by phone and reported: “Japan had declared war on America and Britain.” Just at the last Gospel, the air raid siren blew. We pricked up our ears but, as the buses still ran, we thought it was a “rehearsal” as we have had a few recently. On leaving the Church [St. Teresa’s], we saw about 30 planes circling about like beautiful silver birds against a deep blue sky. The crack of anti-aircraft guns and machine gun fire, told us it was no display. Men were flat against walls and we rushed for the convent with the now scattered planes nearly overhead. Somehow, we got across the street and gathered together many frightened children standing by the gate and under the archway [near M.C.S. side entrance on Boundary Street]. We took them quickly to the laundry, until some one from inside opened the “tiffin room,” a partly underground room, a made-to-order shelter. The children were frightened, but very good, not all realizing what was going on, but from where we were, we could see bombs being dropped on their homes. We tried to pray with them and sing hymns, but our voices sounded strange and “trembly.” After an hour or so, when the planes left, we took the children to the auditorium, where we kept them, until amahs or parents came to claim. No one could leave without a grown person. Meanwhile the First Aid equipment was taken out and set up; desks and chairs were moved from all the lower floor classrooms by teachers and older pupils; a school help had gone to look after families. The auxiliary nurses (about 20) began to arrive and by noon, we were a First Aid Post ready for patients. One squad moved beds to the two rooms on the first floor with wooden doors for Sisters’ dormitories, while the other 1st floor rooms were assigned to the Auxiliary (A.N.) Nurses, St. John’s Ambulance Brigade (men) doctors, etc. Each Sister packed a suit case with necessaries for quick leaving, donned grey cotton habits, when not wearing the uniform and white veil. We took eight hour shifts, but only had two patients, as no ambulance was provided for bringing in wounded.


We sent for Father [Andrew] Granelli [rector of St. Teresa’s Church] during the morning about removing the Blessed Sacrament. He did not think it necessary yet. While at the Convent, word came that he was wanted by the police and soon, he and Father [Carmelo] Orlando were on their way to be interned at Stanley Prison with all the other Italian Fathers, except the Bishop [Henry Valtorta]. Father [Edmund] Sullivan, S.J. [Society of Jesus] came in during the afternoon to tell us that he was the pastor “pro tem” and put the Blessed Sacrament in a steel file case and placed it in a cupboard in the tiffin room. There were no more raids after four in the morning, until 11:30 at night, when the wail of the siren brought all who were not on duty, from their beds to the shelter, in darkness, as a permanent blackout was declared. The raid did not last long and we returned to bed after about a half hour, but few slept, even though it had been a most exhausting day. The Holy Spirit School Sisters [Caine Road, Hong Kong Island] called in the morning to say that they were all reporting to the Queen Mary Hospital [Pokfulam, west side of Hong Kong Island] for duty and were removing some of their belongings to the Spanish Procuration [Dominican; Seymour Road] across the street. Tuesday, December 9th No Mass at the convent, so we went to the Church [St. Teresa’s] at 7:00 and found the Mass just finishing, but we were able to receive Holy Communion. Little did we think on returning, that we would not leave the building again for two months. About 9:00, the “birds” came back and returned at intervals all morning. We would rush to the shelter, say a complete rosary and a few extra prayers, and the “all clear” signal would blow. Then, after just settling down to work, the same thing would happen over again. By noon, nothing was accomplished, but “nerves” were jumpy. We knew that there was fighting in the hills, but no one knew where or what was happening, although there were many rumors. We decided that it would be well to remove valuables to the attic, so when there was a chance, things were carried up there and stowed away. There were more raids in the afternoon, but not so near in the Stonecutter’s [Stonecutters] Island section and near Lai Chi Hok [Lai Chi Kok] [both on the west side of Kowloon Peninsula] where


the oil tanks were. No patients were brought in, as the means of conveyance were still missing in spite of constant appeals. However, we knew that LaSalle College [nearby within walking distance] and some other stations were able to care for the wounded in our vicinity. Many of the girls came in between raids to tell us of damage done and casualties. The air port was badly damaged with planes and the American Clipper, which was to leave on Monday, completely wrecked. The docks on both the Kowloon and Hong Kong side[s] were heavily bombed on Monday, also. On Tuesday, the objectives were Stonecutter’s [Stonecutters] Island, the oil tanks and boats and the aim was much too good. Late in the afternoon, Father [Maurice A.] Feeney came from Stanley [where the Maryknoll House, of the Maryknoll Fathers, is] at a request by Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] for a chaplain. It was a great feeling of relief to have him with us and each day we appreciated him more. That evening, nearly all, including the Doctor in charge and A.N.’s [auxiliary nurses] went to confession, just in case— During the night, the gun firing in the Kowloon Hills was much nearer, answered by a gun hidden not far from the convent. Again, sleep was nearly impossible, except at short intervals but, with the excitement, no one seemed to notice the lack of it. Only a few stayed on night duty and, as we stayed in the room with the Blessed Sacrament, it was more like a night vigil. Some of the workroom girls wanted to stay. It was hard to refuse, but as a F.A.P. [First Aid Post] we could not take refugees, but as things turned out, it was the best thing. Wednesday, December 10th The usual visitors started at about the same time, 9 o’clock, but the raids were not so continuous, but the anti-aircraft gun right near St. Teresa’s Church [Prince Edward Road] made the noise more intense. As rumors of the enemy drawing nearer continued, we decided to burn all K. of C. [Knights of Columbus] paper—at least the headings. For the first time, we realized how much we have depended on this supply. Records of years were destroyed and basket after basket of it was fed to the laundry fire—but still there was more. All but essential records were destroyed, and anything which might be misinterpreted by even the most stupid person was done away with. Most of us got rid of old letters, pictures, etc. and had a grand clearance.


During the afternoon, when the planes were directly overhead, Father [Maurice A. Feeney] gave us general absolution, but in a few minutes, they departed, dropping no bombs within the property. Thursday, December 11th We continued putting away things in the attic and collecting K. of C. [Knights of Columbus] paper between raids and dashes to the shelter room. About 10 o’clock we heard a different sort of fire, more or less overhead, but strange there was no danger signal blown. After staying a while down below, we finally came up and started about our duties. Suddenly, there was a terrific explosion and the court was filled with smoke, glass and flying tiles. A Japanese shell had struck the north side of the building, penetrating the wall of the middle classroom on the second floor. Again we dove below, thoroughly shaken. Mr. Gehring later brought in part of the shell which was still hot. It had burst, but had fallen out, speaking well for the construction of the building. A representative of the A.R.P. [Air Raid Precautions] took it to the headquarters to be examined, as it was the first Japanese shell to reach Kowloon. The position of the gun near St. Teresa’s Church had been found and they were trying to silence it. Meanwhile the gun was removed, but shells fell nearby for some time, but no more within our property. All morning we had heard that the Japanese were near and had seen the lorries with English soldiers and guns withdrawing from the Kowloon Hills. About 2:30, Dr. [Percy Selwyn] Selwyn-Clarke, who was [director of Medical Services of the government] in charge of First Aid Posts, came in with his staff to disband the post, telling us that Kowloon was being abandoned, troops were going to HongKong [Island]. LaSalle College [Kowloon Tong], close to us, would be under the Red Cross flag and would be a refuge for wounded and Auxiliary Nurses and us if we wished to go. The police were leaving and looting by the Chinese was certain. The nurses and some of the Sisters left for LaSalle and the rest of us stayed to hold on, if possible. We decided to spend the night in the Procure, being a ground room rather well protected and with a separate entrance. While some blackened the windows of this room, others put away all First Aid equipment and any signs of British occupation. Mr. Gehring came with Susie, his fourteen year old daughter, to stay with us for protection, while he would stay to help us.


About 5 o’clock, Fr. [Francis T. or Patrick J.] Donnelly and Fr. [Edmund] Sullivan, S.J.’s, came from the church with the altar vessels and clothes, and all the servants and their relatives and friends with bedding, clothing and all their possessions. They piled into the tiffin room while we spread mattresses on the floor of the Procure, then picked up a sort of supper and lay in darkness, locked in, but for little sleep. Mr. Gehring stayed outside and diverted a gang of looters who tried to get in. All night we could hear the cars of looters and later the steady tread of the Japanese troops with the roll of tanks and motor lorries, but not a voice. It was uncanny and nerve racking. On withdrawing, the English wrecked the telephone connections, electric light plant and cut off water supplies, as well as sinking all the ferries and boats in the harbour. It was at least 2 weeks before we could get any water except from an outside well. Lights came on one night around New Year’s, the glare waking us from a sound sleep. Friday, December 12th In the early morning, we had three Masses in the tiffin room. It reminded one of the catacombs; the altar candles being the only light and the murmured prayers in Chinese of the people, and the crying of babies in the darkness, seeming like the early Christians gathered around the same Eternal God, praying for assistance. There were probably fifty or more, some of whom were young girls who came in for protection in the evening. Some went home in the morning, but many stayed for a few days. Many stories of looting came in to us during the morning, but we were not molested. Gangs rode by in cars waving Japanese flags, but we kept out of sight as much as we could. Late in the afternoon 3 Japanese soldiers came in with a Christian Brother and a Doctor from LaSalle [college nearby in Kowloon Tong]. They wanted to billet troops in the school. They also demanded sheets, bedding, towels and face cloths for 400. Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] said we could only give about 6. However, we had to give the space, so he selected 2 classrooms on the south side 1st floor and the auditorium for about 300, with advice that all women keep on the other side, to which we gladly agreed. This was done through Chinese characters and not very clear, so Sister [Mary] Famula [Clements] was sent for to interpret, which she did most satisfactorily for the next two months, which went far toward friendly relations. In spite of fervent prayers, the troops marched in at dusk


and we retired to the north-west room. The three Fathers and Mr. Gehring sat outside of our room or slept in the reception room directly across from us, giving at least a feeling of protection. Saturday, December 13th After a most restless night, we crept out in groups to wash and then downstairs to Mass, most grateful for being protected overnight. Our next thought was food. We had collected a quantity of canned goods, dried fruits, etc. for just such an emergency, and it was stored in an upstairs cupboard. The problem was to move this across the building and downstairs, without being detected, by the “guests.” We first moved it to the tribune of the chapel, locking it in over noon. Although at this time, the Quartermaster went around examining rooms, he did not ask to have the Chapel opened—again God’s Providence. In the afternoon we packed the provisions in baskets and lowered them by ropes over the tribune to the main Chapel below, then carried it into our dormitory and stowed it under the beds. By nightfall we were glad to get into bed and Japs or not, we all slept, even though artillery fire was more or less continuous from guns set up in the hills just behind us and being answered from HongKong. The next morning, we decided to move our beds to the tiffin room, so it was moving day, as we took down all that was necessary, including food and dishes. The soldiers were on the other side of the court and must have wondered at the endless line of trips, but said nothing. The northwest corner of the building could be locked and cut off from the rest of the building with an entrance through the music room, where Father [Maurice A.] Feeney stayed, and, as we were permitted to hold the pass keys, was fairly secure. Cooking was still done in the convent kitchen and carried over. We ate twice a day, at about 9:30 and 4:30. The next two months were spent here. The Japanese troops came and went, each group being a little lower in type than the other, until the last, those whom we called the “Ali Babas” who were the official thieves. Their work was to collect furniture, clothing, machinery, or anything else from the houses around about, crate them and send them back to Japan. One group, Chinese house coolies, spent a week in our laundry, separated from our room by windows with only an iron grating curtained with black shawls, while the dozens of horses roamed about eating our grass, shrubbery and vegetables. It is impossible to describe the dirt that these soldiers left behind them.


One very pathetic happening was on Sunday evening, December 21, when a group of 700 English prisoners—Canadians, Regulars, H.K. [Hong Kong] Volunteers and Indians, were brought in. They were starving and begged for water. The Japanese would not allow us to give them anything, saying that they would take care of them. They did nothing until after nine the next morning. They were in a most desperate condition, many wounded and uncared for for days; almost all had dysentery and none had food or water for at least three days. Fr. [Maurice A.] Feeney was able to hear confessions and bring Holy Communion to about thirty and Sr. [Maria] Corazon [Jaramillo] and the Sister nurses helped care for the wounded, but that was all we could do. They were taken along to a camp at San Shui Po [Shamshuipo, west side of Kowloon Peninsula] in the afternoon, leaving the building in a most undescribable condition. A rumor got about that some Japanese women and children were hidden in our building so Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna], Sr. [Mary] Regina [Reardon] and Sr. [Mary] Clement [Quinn] had to open every room in the building, from attic to basement, accompanied by soldiers with bayonets much in evidence. The same day the Sisters at LaSalle [college nearby in Kowloon Tong] came home and it seemed good to have the family together again. Christmas was spent quietly, but we had Midnight Mass and little cribs about. There was constant artillery fire all day from both sides and a huge fire at the Kowloon godowns [at the tip of Kowloon Peninsula, facing the west] lighted the southern sky so there was little of the Christmas Peace about. Sometimes the soldiers came in to talk to Sister [Mary] Famula [Clements], either a social call, or to tell of their victories, or to discuss religion. As individuals they were simple, friendly and showing no animosity for the most part. Usually, we kept out of sight, only going to the covered playground for air and very occasionally as far as the pool. The Portuguese and Chinese Sisters [i.e. Cecilia Marie Carvalho, Candida Maria Basto, Mary Chanel Xavier, and Maria Teresa Yeung] could go out, and the one amah and the faithful Fah Wong [Cantonese word for gardener] bought our food. Sr. [Mary] St. Dominic [Kelly] had come for an operation and would have been in the hospital on December 8, but for the doctor’s illness. When things quieted after Christmas, she got permission to go to Queen Mary Hospital [Pokfulam], where the Holy Spirit Sisters still were. After two days, before anything was done, she was


sent to Stanley Internment Camp, with the nurses and staff of the hospital. Although the Gendarme had assured us that we would be allowed to stay, on Sunday morning, February 8, at 9:30 A.M. we were told that we were to leave the building by 11 [A.M.], as it was to be used for hospital purposes. Half suspecting this, we had put what we could of clothes and food in cloth bags and had suit cases packed, but began to get our bedding together. Sr. [Mary] Famula [Clements] went over to the Military Headquarters [Peninsula Hotel, Tsimshatsui] for more time. They had been very kind to us and said they could do little, as the order came from the police, but finally got an extension of two hours. Just as we were leaving, Father [Andrew] Granelli and Bishop [Henry] Valtorta came in. They felt badly to see us go. The Bishop had begged for Religious not to be interned, at least in their own buildings, but nothing could be done. He gave us his blessing with tears in his eyes and we left with heavy hearts, but resigned to accept whatever God had in store for us, having had numerous proofs of His Divine Providence during the past two months. [Sunday] February 8—As soon as possible, we packed all our bags and said good-bye to the five third nationalists Sisters who were remaining for the time being, which turned out to be about two weeks. A large hotel lorry (English name on it blacked out) was put at our service. Besides the baggage, it was to carry us, so it had to make two trips. At the ferry we had to be put on a small launch to go to HongKong [Island]. Barring one piece falling over, all went well. The Christian Brothers from LaSalle College were most helpful and without their assistance, we would never have gotten off. It was four o’clock before we finally got everything on a lorry and started on a bus with a guard—Chinese—for Stanley Internment Camp. Our first glimpse of HongKong was most depressing. Most of the buildings had large shell holes, or were badly smashed, and windows broken from shrapnel. The trees were leafless or burned from fire or the whiz of flying shells. It all had a barren and deserted look. None of our things were inspected, although we were stopped three times. The words “Catholic Missioners” seemed to call for respect even from the Indian troops who were in Japanese service. At about five, we arrived at Stanley and were greeted by the Holy Spirit School Sisters, who had been interned from


Queen Mary Hospital on January 21. The Maryknoll Fathers immediately started removing our belongings and we prepared for the night as quickly as possible, as blackout was still on. We were temporarily in the British quarters and spread our mintors on the floor—ten in one room and eight in the other.12 It had not occurred to us to bring dishes, so we learned how useful tin cans may be for table service. The food was cooked in a central kitchen and at a signal from a bugle at ten and five o’clock, each appeared with whatever he could get to hold his day’s ration of rice and anything else what might be added. Large groups as us and the priests could get it collectively in a large vessel and we were glad that we had remembered to bring a couple of large pots. The staple diet was rice. In the morning, there was a sauce served with it, mostly flour and water, but sometimes with a little meat or fish in it. In the evening, rice again with a sort of stew and usually greens, boiled lettuce, Chinese spinach or sometimes alfalfa, which was grown on the farm. We tried carrot tops but they were not so good. After eating sweet potato peelings a few times we had to give it up. Sometimes soy beans, carrots or boiled cucumbers were added to the stew and occasionally, dumplings if there was flour. What we missed most was bread and, of course, sugar, which was rationed in small quantities. We had first, second and third day coffee, all used from the same grounds. While our small store of prunes lasted, we had three each in the morning and the next day, a little prune juice. We used our can goods sparingly, not knowing how long they would have to last. In April, Father [Bernard F.] Meyer got a yeast cake, from which Sr. [Mary] Gonzaga [Rizzardi] made yeast from sweet potato peelings and we had our first bread. Nothing ever tasted so good or was so good. With this as a “Starter,” soon all the kitchens were making bread and from then on there was a decided improvement in the health of the camp, as there had been countless cases of malnutrition, beri-beri and beginnings of pellagra. We lived in the apartments of the Stanley Prison Wardens and were fairly comfortable, though crowded. We had a three room apartment and an extra room, so were able to have a small chapel with the Blessed Sacrament all the time. It was open to the public during the afternoon and it meant much to the Catholics and some nonCatholics also, to have a place to pray in peace and quiet and gather spiritual strength to “carry on.” Sister [Mary] St. Bernard [Donnelly], Sister [Mary] Dorothy [Walsh] and Sister Santa Maria [Manning] gave instructions in


Christian Doctrine to the Catholic children in the school which had been opened for the camp children. Many non-Catholics became interested in the faith, so several of the Sisters were busy giving instruction to some of the women. As we were living right in with the Protestant missionaries, it was a fine opportunity to remove prejudices and clear misunderstandings. It was the first time many of them had had any opportunity to meet religious and they told us how glad they were to know the truth about the Church from within. One minister told me that some of the Protestants and even ministers were attending Bishop [Cuthbert] O’Gara’s sermons on Sunday afternoon, and they were superior to any of the Protestant sermons. They were getting good solid doctrine more or less based on [Columba] Marmion’s “Christ the Life of the Soul” and the Mystical Body. It made us feel also what a real sincerity and desire to know the truth that there are in our “separated brethren.” When the question of repatriation came up, of course we were willing to do whatever was asked of us. When the decision was made for us to go, we realized the wisdom of it, as with the present conditions, there was little or no work to do in Hong Kong and as we were all losing weight, a summer at the Camp would be dangerous to our health. We were vaccinated, and each was given a loan from the U.S.A. of first about fifteen yen, then just before leaving, one hundred yen for travelling expenses. Also, two weeks before leaving each was given $75.[00] worth of extra provisions, such as jam, dried fruits and a little powdered milk and tinned butter. Some of the Sisters had been released because of Irish parentage, but Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna] got permission to visit us under supervision for an hour or so. On June 29 [1942] we boarded the “Asama” [Asama Maru] and the next day sailed from Hong Kong, not exactly free yet, but with a feeling of being well towards it.

“Thoughts—As They Come”—Sister Mary Amata Brachtesende, Holy Spirit School, Caine Road, Hong Kong Island The account of Sister Mary Amata Brachtesende, “Thoughts—As They Come,” records events on Hong Kong Island from December 8, 1941 to the first repatriation on June 29 of the following year. Sister Mary Amata offered another perspective of the history (apart from


Sister Santa Maria’s narrative) before she and the Sisters of the Hong Kong side were joined by the Sisters of the Kowloon side, in February 1942 in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp. After the Japanese struck on December 8, 1941, the Maryknoll Sisters in the convent of Holy Spirit School, Caine Road, assumed duties in Queen Mary Hospital in Pokfulam, in accordance with a prior arrangement. On December 11, British troops withdrew from Kowloon Peninsula. At night, the Japanese marched into Kowloon (M.C.S., Boundary Street, was in the northern section of the peninsula), and by the morning of December 12, the Japanese main forces reached the southern tip of the peninsula.13 After the fall of Kowloon, the “Hong Kong Sisters” lost contact with those in Kowloon. From then on, fighting concentrated on Hong Kong Island; the nuns witnessed the combat and ministered to wounded soldiers from neighboring forts, such as Mt. Davis that was close to Queen Mary Hospital. As Sister Mary Amata recollected, the following weeks were “like a continual shrieking of air-raid signals, of barking guns, of whistling shells, of spitting machine guns, of diving planes, and endless streams of blood.” Eventually, Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day. When Sister Mary Amata saw the English soldier raising a white flag, it felt “like a cold fist in the pit of the stomach.” On January 20, 1942, the Japanese evacuated Queen Mary Hospital, where they in turn billeted their sick soldiers. The next day, the Maryknoll Sisters there were sent to Stanley. During internment, Sister Mary Amata took up responsibilities in the library and made some friends. The following is her entire text on the Japanese occupation and the subsequent internment. She used present tense in describing some of the events: December 8, 1941. 7:00 A.M. The Sodalists are quietly gathering in Chapel. It is the first anniversary of the Sodality, and the first seven members are to receive the blue ribbon, while ten others are to receive the green. About thirty members are present, all dressed in long white shaams [Cantonese word for clothes], short Blessed Mother blue coats and white veils. For weeks they have been planning and preparing and now they are radiantly happy. One of them, Teresa, whispers in an excited voice: “Sister, I got permission last night to be baptized.


May I be baptized for Christmas? I haven’t slept all night, I’m so happy, I can’t even pray.” Mass starts and all is prayerfully quiet. At the Offertory the telephone rings and jars the silence. The message is curt: “Sisters [M.] de Ricci [Cain], [M.] Eucharista [Coupe] and [M.] Amata [Brachtesende], stand by. We are expecting an attack.” News of Hawaii [Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941] had not yet reached us. The Mass continues—I try to think and pray—but the whole world seems to have stopped in breathless expectation. The consecration and Elevation become suddenly so real. But with the Sacrifice of Calvary comes the picture of other sacrifices that must now be made. Thank God we cannot see the future or we could not make acts of resignation so readily. “Domine non sum dignus.” 14 A raucous hawker breaks the silence again selling her wares—“min paau”—bread—bread. And then, from the depths of nowhere comes the moan of the air raid siren. I turn cold and stiff—the children stir and look around questioningly, but I manage a smile and a shrug to let them think it is only another rehearsal. But again the telephone shrieks. “Report immediately to Queen Mary Hospital for duty. Bring an over-night bag.” We slip from chapel and get into our uniforms. After Communion Sister Maria Regis [Murphy] takes the children to Father [F. R.] Noval’s, O.P., the Spanish Dominican, whose basement is an ideal air-raid shelter. The planes are droning over Kowloon as the dull thuds from the bombs on the Kowloon Air Field punctuate the challenge. In a few minutes we are ready and return to chapel. It is empty—Father [N.] Maestrini turns and says: “Dominus vobiscum” 15 to a congregation of one. For the first time he realizes what has happened and his face is one big question mark. Mass is quickly finished and Father [Maestrini] takes the Blessed Sacrament to Fr. Noval’s for safety. Our building is so white-ant eaten and we do not want to take a chance if the planes get nearer. Over at Father Noval’s the children are saying the Rosary, a few quietly crying. We say a sad good-bye and promise to pray for one another never dreaming that we would not see one another again. On the street all traffic is stopped. Air raid wardens are keeping the streets clear but upon seeing our First Aid badges we are put in a private car and sent to the hospital [Queen Mary]. Only a few planes are over-head—scouters and fighters—so we travel on. We are the first to arrive at the hospital and report to our assigned posts.


Forgot to say that on November 23 a complete dress rehearsal was held. Instead of victims, children from various schools and homes were brought into the hospitals with their imaginary injuries all wrapped up in first aid fashion. At the various hospitals we then continued the make-believe game by taking them to the Operating Theatre and back again to bed where each youngster was given some small change and a bowl of congee before he was dismissed. The regular patients in the hospital had been taken to convalescing hospitals— converted schools, etc. And so it was that each one knew where to go and what to do. Sister [M.] de Ricci [Cain] was assigned to the receiving room; Sister [M.] Eucharista [Coupe] was on the fourth floor with male patients in casts; and I was sent to the casualty (male) ward on the fifth floor. In the meantime Sisters Maria Regis [Murphy] and [M.] Chanel [Xavier] were busy taking most of our food supplies and valuables to Father [F. R.] Noval’s house for safety. In the evening they also reported to the hospital although they had not previously planned on leaving the house. However, as the priests and members of the Community at Rosary Hill (Spanish Dominicans) on Stubbs Road had been taken by the British Military they had to look for new quarters and were glad to be able to occupy our house while we were away. At the hospital things went slowly for a few days. The Japanese were concentrating upon Kowloon which fell on the following Thursday [December 11]. Thus we were cut off from all communication from our Kowloon Sisters until almost the middle of January. From December 8th Sister M. Regis [Murphy] was able to visit Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] only two or three times. With the fall of Kowloon, we on the island were in for a lot of attention from the Japanese. The Chinese were careful and for the first two weeks the casualties were still “light.” At least so the newspaper said. Although there were comments to the contrary, those at the hospital [Queen Mary] seemed to agree. We were on 8-hour shifts. The hospital is for the Government officials and employees and for Chinese patients. Military cases were not supposed to come to us, but as communications were so difficult some of the soldiers from nearby forts were brought to us. Some of the volunteers were Portuguese boys and Sister [M.] Chanel [Xavier, Portuguese from Hong Kong] was a great help to them and their families.


Queen Mary Hospital [Pokfulam] is just a short distance from Mt. Davis [west side of Hong Kong Island], one of the forts guarding the entrance to the harbour. From our ward—(30 patients to a ward) we could watch the men operate the guns, but we could also watch the bombs and shells explode on the fort and the hill. The next few weeks are blurred in my memory. It now seems like a continual shrieking of air-raid signals, of barking guns, of whistling shells, of spitting machine guns, of diving planes, and endless streams of blood. Patients came in six or twelve at a time,— usually unconscious, but quiet, determined, self-controlled when they were conscious. The Chinese nurses were grand and worked well. The English nurses—“Sisters” were a disappointment to me. About 12 of the group measured up to what I am accustomed to expect of a nurse. The cooperation was nil between the “uppers” and the “unders.” The condition was such that after a few days the Doctor in charge sent to the Jesuits for 6 to “buck up the morale.” Four came, and eventually three remained.16 One was a Chinese scholastic. All during our stay at the hospital we had two Masses each morning in a doctor’s office. It was gratifying to see how many took advantage to attend. Masses were so arranged that the A.M. group could attend the first Mass while the night group could attend the second Mass. Christmas day dawned bright and clear. Everyone tried to be cheerful. Food was so scarce—work was so heavy—nerves were all on edge. Lane Crawford’s [a department store] had sent up a Christmas pudding with their compliments. All night long we heard the distant rumble of guns from the other side of the mountain. We later learned they were concentrating on Stanley. But life seemed such a mockery. Here God had made it all so naturally beautiful but it was all marred by man’s fury. Bursting bombs and shells were throwing rocks and debris high, oil dumps were burning, the big drums often going [a] hundred feet into the air after each explosion. Clouds of black smoke billowed up and out, pushed on by huge arms of flame. I tried to close my eyes to what was near and to look beyond at the cool water in the little bay, and the small islands anchored there. Even the airplanes seemed like silver birds gracefully swooping down and in and out. Christmas Masses were crowded. Almost everyone received Holy Communion. The newspapers were most optimistic and cheerful. Father [F. R. Noval] tried to give us a few words of encouragement, but he


didn’t sound as though he were convinced himself. The only peace was the peace within—outside of that— About 10 o’clock things became quiet around our little corner. The Japanese had not succeeded in making a landing and the Fort was still intact. Sister M. Regis [Murphy] suggested we make a trip home for a few things to help make Christmas cheer. A police officer who had not slept for weeks offered to take us in his open roadster. As we neared the foot of Mt. Davis we sighted three more planes heading toward us. We had time to pull up under a tree, duck down in the car and pull on our helmets tight. They dipped simultaneously and dropped their bombs on the side of the hill. The concussion moved the car a bit but we escaped all the shrapnel. We decided to go on even though the officer could not take us all the way. As we walked through the streets the city seemed so dirty, desolate and forsaken. The shortage of water forced many people to do their laundry in the gutter while long lines stood at the corners where water was given out. We reached the house safely after meeting Dr. [Percy Selwyn] Selwyn-Clarke on the way. He promised to take us back if we were on a certain corner in an hour. We hurriedly gathered a few necessities, some Christmas packages that Sister [M.] Augustine [Kuper] had sent, and some fruit that was still there from December 8. We visited Fr. [F. R.] Noval. A shell had hit his house but it did not explode passing through a window and a wall. It hit the wall beneath the arm of a Crucifix and fell on the floor. Many of the enemy shells and bombs were duds. We saw a few people we knew who took refuge in his basement. As we were leaving our house for the last time—for some unexplainable reason I turned back and going to my dresser took a silver thimble my Mother had given me when I was Received and my Dad’s pen knife, the only souvenir I have of him. At the time I had no idea I should never get back again. We hurried down the street keeping under trees when any planes came along. Dr. [Percy Selwyn] Selwyn-Clarke was late so we stopped a lorry of Canadian Soldiers. They had just come from Repulse [Bay] [south side of Hong Kong Island] and must have known then of the surrender [of Hong Kong to the Japanese, December 25], but they said never a word. Instead, they were bright and cheerful, and went out of their way to get us to the hospital. They put us between all of them and sat with their guns in their hands. We later learned how fifth columnists had wiped out whole lorries of soldiers with hand grenades. We got back to the hospital in time to go on duty and as I walked down the ward to “scrub up” I glanced out of the window. Slowly, very slowly


the white flag was going up on the fort across the street. A soldier stood in the road with a huge white flag. The others were bringing out guns and ammunition and placing them on the lawn. It is impossible to express our feelings. It was like a cold fist in the pit of the stomach. I went out on the verandah for some fresh air. Above me a Royal Scot was softly whistling “God save the King.” Down in the next ward a little Cockney was humming, “There’ll always be an England.” The Japanese did not take over our part of the island for another day or two. They made a thorough going over of the hospital, ordered that no patient or employee leave without a pass, put up a few sentries and let us alone. In a few days the British received permission to send their wounded from Stanley and Aberdeen [southwest side of Hong Kong Island] to us as the emergency hospitals were inadequate to take care of their wounds. There were several wards of soldiers—I should say about two or three hundred in the hospital. Most of them were Canadians, but there were also Indians, Scots, and English and a few of the volunteers. We still had to keep the black-out regulations. At this time I was transferred to night duty, more or less to keep up the courage of the Chinese nurses. There was little to be done at night on my floor as the patients were almost all ready to be discharged and slept throughout the night. Two amahs and two Chinese nurses were also on duty. More than the usual staff was on as the Chinese were afraid of the Japanese sentries who sometimes got curious and went poking about the hospital. So I spent the greater part of the night walking around all the wards and talking to the soldiers. Or I should say, for a change I listened. Almost each one had a story to tell and [they] were not content until they had someone to whom they could give it all out. They were like little children and in the dark they would hold your hand or your medal or Rosary and tell you of the nights in the hills, of the hunger, of seeing their best pal bayoneted, of lying injured all night in the rain, of crawling days and nights on the hills until they could get back, of being shot off their bicycles or motorcycles, rolling down hills, swimming across harbours, playing possum. They were a homesick crowd. Most of the Catholics were daily Communicants. But before they left I think all but one received the Sacraments. One chap told me it had been seven years for him. We were only allowed two weeks night duty because of the strain on our eyes. I was then put on special duty with Major [G.] Neve of the Royal Army. I believe he was second in command. Major Neve was


very badly hit with shrapnel and though no vital organs were touched, his wounds were so large and septic that he died on January 20. He was a real English gentleman and soldier. With Major Neve was a fine Catholic, Captain [G. V.] Bird, related to our famous Commander Byrd and Governor Byrd of Virginia or some southern state. While nursing we became good friends with the Canadian Major, [T. G.] MacAulay, Lt. [F. G.] Power, son of the Minister of Air of Canada and Lt. [D. B.] Languedoc. Quite a few humorous incidents occurred during our stay at Queen Mary [Hospital], but I think they would be flat on paper. About January 15th the Japanese doctors came through the [Queen Mary] Hospital to inspect each patient. It was evident that they would evacuate the entire place as they needed it for their own wounded. The Chinese patients were sent to Chinese Hospital and the soldiers to the Bowen Road Military Hospital or the Rosary Hill Hospital on Stubbs Road. On January 20 the evacuation of the patients took place. Large open trucks were brought in front of the hospital and the patients were loaded on. Regardless of their condition they were taken—splints, casts,—nothing mattered. One poor fellow had just had his eye removed and while still under ether I took him down to the truck. He had false teeth and we were afraid the Japanese would think he had money pinned on him in the little bag, so I had to go down and display to those around what it was we were pinning on him. After putting him on the truck the blankets had come undone and I knew it would be dangerous for him to get a chill. I was in a quandary but not for long. My main difficulty was that I had “scrounged” a lot of supplies from the hospital to take with us when we were interned. They were all wrapped up in my mantle. If I put it down the curious Japs would be sure to inspect it. So I walked up to the sentry, pushed aside his bayonet and put the mantle in his hands, motioning for him to watch it. An officer came up to intervene, but I took him by the hand to the lorry and used his shoulder as a prop to get up and cover up the soldier. The Japanese officer waited until I had finished and kindly let me use his shoulder again. I bowed to him, took my mantle and loot from the sentry and bowed again and disappeared. I didn’t realize how funny it was until the English nurses, who had watched the procedure, told me they had almost fainted when they watched the performance. On January 21st we went to “camp.” The Matron told us to take whatever we needed from the [Queen Mary] Hospital or Sisters


quarters, blankets, dishes, towels, etc. We helped ourselves and had quite a bit. The lorry was piled high with our things and those of some of the English Sisters. We climbed up on top and were tied on with the baggage. When we arrived at Stanley we were greeted by the [Maryknoll] Fathers with a rousing cheer. The five of us were shown a room, given cots and told to make ourselves at home. A committee of Americans had come out the day or two before and gotten the place cleaned up. It had been the scene of fierce fighting so there were some bodies still to be buried or reburied and the buildings to be cleaned up. Father [Bernard F.] Meyer was soon knocking at our door with a basket of food—rice, a little meat and vegetables. Among those interned were a few of the crew of a merchant marine that was caught in HongKong for repairs. They volunteered to do the cooking for the whole American Community. It was a big order as they had to cook for 250 and that under very hard conditions. The [Maryknoll] Fathers were already busy making an outdoor stove in one of the garages and everyone was busy trying to get comfortable— if it were possible, or to get ready for others coming out. The five of us were Sisters Maria Regis [Murphy], [M.] de Ricci [Cain], [M.] Eucharista [Coupe], [M.] Amata [Brachtesende] and [M.] St. Dominic [Kelly]. Sr. [M.] St. Dominic had gotten permission to come across to have an operation performed, but we were evacuated instead. Sister [M.] Chanel [Xavier] was allowed to go to Holy Spirit School [Caine Road] and got a few things straightened out and then go to Kowloontong and join the Sisters there. After the fall of Hong Kong the Japanese soldiers were billeted in Holy Spirit School. While they were coming in the front door Fr. [F. R.] Noval and his men dragged out everything possible through the back door. They managed to save quite a bit. During the time the soldiers occupied the house they did not do much malicious damage. A blackboard was ripped down to make fire wood, some desks destroyed, the trunks in the attics used for W.C.’s and a fire built under our beautiful ??? [so typed in original document] orchid bathtub. The Domestic Science kitchen was stripped. But they did not destroy books, etc. At the camp we were billeted in the rooms formerly occupied by the prison wardens. There were six apartments to a block, each apartment consisting of three rooms, a kitchenette and pantry, bath, two servants rooms, and a small laundry. Sixteen persons were put in each three rooms. Two people in each servants room or in some of the


kitchenettes. As time went on the camp became more and more organized. On February 8, a rainy, drizzly Sunday, we were greeted with the news that our Kowloon Sisters had come. When we looked down and saw a huge lorry piled sky high and a bus full of Sisters, we knew it was true. The memory of Stanley is also blurred. The most predominant feature was the rice—gooey, gummy, dirty, wormy rice with goo.17 Goo was a cross between heavy gravy and stew. On some days, especially toward the end we began to get vegetables,—sweet potatoes, carrots, carrot tops, alfalfa, cooked lettuce, beets, popcorn soup. But they were in small quantities. Sister [M.] Gonzaga [Rizzardi] discovered how to use sweet potato for yeast culture and by degrees we got bread. So many things happened at camp, but yet food was always the main topic of conversation.18 Despite all resolutions to the contrary one would eventually drift back to it. People stood for hours and hours in all kind of weather to get to the canteen. On February 14, everyone was suddenly told to assemble on the athletic field as a search was being made of all persons and property. Too much news was getting in and out and they suspected radios. For hours we stood in drizzly rain. Many had no umbrellas or rain-coats. Almost everyone’s shoes leaked. Each one was then given a frisking and we were permitted to return to our quarters. While at camp we were given quite a bit of freedom for religious worship. Mass was said publicly on Sunday and in the priests’ and Sisters’ quarters during the week. We got permission from Bishop [Cuthbert] O’Gara to keep the Blessed Sacrament. With Fr. [William J.] Downs’ aid an altar was made. Four of us slept in the room after drawing a large curtain across the room in front of the altar. It wasn’t so hard to be cold and hungry there. During the day we folded up our camp beds. Almost every Saturday or Sunday note there was an entertainment or dance to which the talented generously responded. Members of the American Club managed to rescue about 1200 books, novels, mystery stories, biographies, etc. Americans and British members of the Club were allowed to take out books. Three afternoons a week Sister [M.] Eucharista [Coupe] and I worked in the library. I think we made many friends there. Sisters Henrietta Marie [Cunningham] and [M.] Christella [Furey] worked as secretaries in the diet kitchen. Sister Joseph Marie [Kane] was a social worker. Sisters [M.] Camillus [Reynolds] and [M.] St. Dominic [Kelly] served in the clinic.


A make-shift hospital was managed by the Doctors and nurses for the internees. The wards were always full. (I may as well tell this one on myself ). During our internment I lost my soles and wore sandals made of gunny sack. It was hard on the feet and an ingrown toe nail rebelled. I went down to have it fixed and was advised to have it removed. When Professor [K. H.] Digby, A-1 surgeon of Hong Kong recognized me from Queen Mary [Hospital] he insisted upon doing the job himself. For two weeks he kept me off my feet, and the care and attention he gave me—!!! I may live it down yet. And then, all I can remember is REPATRIATION. What a question and what anxiety it was. Each morning it was the same story— Is we, or is we ain’t. And when we finally embarked on June 29 [1942] we found out “we is,” but not until we saw our Lady of Bedloe’s Island were we sure of it.


Chapter Six In and Out of the Camp, Releases, and Repatriation, 1941–1942

Hong Kong under Japanese Rule Hong Kong was under the impact of Japan’s worldwide expansion, the so-called Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which had been formally announced by the Japanese foreign minister in August 1940, included not only Japan, China, and Manzhouguo (Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in the Northeast of China), but former colonies of the British, Dutch, and French as well.1 After Pearl Harbor (December 1941), the Japanese invaded and assumed control of countries in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong was just one of the dominoes that had fallen prey to Japanese militarism. According to the Japanese propaganda, countries in east Asia and Southeast Asia cooperated economically and culturally to ensure the uplifting and prosperity of the Asian races, to resist the domination of Western colonialists. In Southeast Asia, Japan established puppet governments in occupied territories, in order to have the locals believe that these were ruled by the local people, and not by the former colonial masters. There were staged acts of loyalty to the Japanese empire, celebrations, festivity, but very soon, all would come crumbling down. In February 1942, Japan formally announced that Hong Kong was its occupied territory. The Japanese moved ahead to set up their headquarters (including the Foreign Affairs Department) in the Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank Building in the central district of Hong Kong Island. Under the Japanese governance, there were bureaus managing various aspects of work, and Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories were further subdivided into different districts,


with Japanese penetrating into the localities and shouldering administrative tasks. The Chinese of certain sectors were assimilated into the system as consultants.2 Nevertheless, terror, fear, and the arbitrariness of Japanese rule were what most Chinese remembered. Beginning January 1942, as a measure to ensure adequate food supply, the Japanese forcibly expelled from Hong Kong anyone without work and residence permits, leading to a dramatic reduction of population from more than 1.6 million to 0.6 million.3 As described in a local Hong Kong history book, the Japanese arrested people on the streets and shipped them away like cargo to some other place along the south China coast.4 In worst cases, these boats with Chinese people were sunk in the middle of the sea, and dead bodies could be seen floating in Hong Kong waters. These scenarios were mentioned in Sister Mary Clement Quinn’s “Co-Prosperity and the New Order Comes to Hongkong,” as she heard such rumors, though she could not prove their authenticity—“One day on our walk to town we noticed the streets were cleared of all these unfortunates, and we learned that the officials had gathered them up the day before and had taken them off in a sampan. The supposition was that the sampan with its human cargo had been taken outside the harbor limits and sunk.”5 This chapter contains narratives from three Maryknoll Sisters, whose experiences during Japanese occupation were dissimilar. These essays are from the collection of “Personal Narratives of WWII: South China” from the Maryknoll Mission Archives.6 The first account was written by Sister Cecilia Marie Carvalho. During the war, Sister Cecilia Marie was not interned; her account gives us a depiction of how Hong Kong was under Japanese rule—the anxiety, searches, and dictatorial manners—as she explains how traffic was simply stopped on the streets to enable Japanese soldiers to move unhindered and search buildings. The second account was written by Mary Clement Quinn, who was interned in the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp from early February until her release in early June 1942 and remained in Hong Kong until January 1943. In those months outside the camp, Sister Mary Clement witnessed the state of draconian control in an occupied society, the loss of lives, distressing poverty, abhorrent rule, and how ordinary people struggled to live.

releases and repatriation / 123

In her own words, she described incidents of capital punishment, looting, Japanese propaganda, and severe inflation. The last narrative of this chapter was written by Sister Frances Marion Gardner, who was also interned in Stanley but was repatriated in June 1942. Sister Frances Marion sailed on the Japanese ship Asama Maru together with others; she was exchanged for Japanese repatriates in an East African port, and boarded another ship back home to the United States. “Conditions in HongKong after the Outbreak of the War”—Sister Cecilia Marie Carvalho, Maryknoll Convent School, Waterloo Road at Boundary Street, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon The following is the second half of Sister Cecilia Marie Carvalho’s account of the Japanese occupation. A Portuguese from Hong Kong, Sister Cecilia Marie was one of the first locals who joined Maryknoll; Sister Maria Teresa Yeung, a Hong Kong Chinese, also entered Maryknoll. Since Sister Cecilia Marie was a third national, she was not interned. But she had to move out of the convent of Maryknoll Convent School (M.C.S.) on Waterloo Road at Boundary Street in February 1942 and had to secure residence, along with four Maryknoll Sisters, someplace else in the neighborhood.7 Here, her story began on Christmas Eve 1941; Hong Kong fell under Japanese rule on Christmas Day. Sister Cecilia Marie’s narrative consists of reminiscences of life under Japanese occupation. It was during these trying times that nobility was most seen among the often neglected people of society, and the nuns had such experiences—“The poor Chinese were the ones who showed us the most kindness, bringing in little gifts of bread or cake, eager to do us any service that they possibly could.”8 When the American Sisters (eighteen of them) left the M.C.S. convent for Stanley on February 8, 1942, five other Maryknoll Sisters (three Portuguese, one Filipina, and one Chinese) did not because they were either Asians or third nationals. However, the five Sisters could not stay much longer and so left the school compound on February 20, when the Japanese commandeered the building and


used it as a hospital for sick soldiers. They moved to an apartment close by. In the ensuing months, they were relentless in their efforts in seeking releases of those Sisters interned in Stanley, their rationale being that the interned were of Irish descent. What follows is a recollection of events up to April 1942, when the first group of Maryknoll Sisters, including their superior Mary Paul McKenna, was released from the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp: Christmas eve [1941] we had the gardener pick some poinsettias for the altar, and at midnight Father [Maurice A.] Feeney said two Masses very quietly, with only the candles on the altar for light. Despite the necessity for quiet, we recreated awhile after the Masses and had some lunch. The next morning Father [Feeney] said a third Mass. All this time shelling continued and we knew that the Japanese had landed at HongKong but fighting was still going on. All day shells burst close to us and there was no incentive to do anything. Heavy clouds of smoke told us of fires raging. The next day a soldier told one of the Sisters that HongKong had fallen. It was a relief to know that there would be no more shelling. After this friends and students visited us to tell us their experiences. It was good to see them, particularly as we could not leave the building [Waterloo Road at Boundary Street]. One day the Japanese came to tell us that they were bringing 700 prisoners into our building, but only for one night, until other quarters could be arranged. These prisoners were mostly volunteers—Canadian, English, Indian, Portuguese, Chinese. We saw them lined up in the garden, waiting to come in. Our hearts ached for these poor men, all of them exhausted, hungry and thirsty; many of them wounded and some suffering from dysentery. They were brought into the court and their pictures taken. We knew some of the Englishmen in this group—in particular the Captain, who was anxiously trying to get relief for the sick and wounded. At first we were not permitted to do anything for them but later we obtained permission for our Sister nurse and Sister doctor to take care of the sick. The prisoners filled every room, lying on the bare floor. One of the prisoners was an old man of 70, riddled with bullets. The prisoners begged for food and the Japanese promised to bring it soon, and asked us for 700 bowls and 700 pairs of chopsticks! Finally,


instead of appearing with dinner, they brought some cans of dog biscuits which they had taken from go-downs at the wharves, and this the prisoners had to be satisfied with. While we were taking care of the sick, we remembered a bottle of brandy which we had and which we wanted to give to the prisoners. However, we were afraid to let the Japanese see the brandy bottle. So we put the brandy into medicine bottle and the doctor gave each man a tablespoonful, and in the end, he helped himself. This aroused the suspicion of the Japanese sentry who came over and smelt the bottle but did nothing about it. Later in the day, some Englishmen went to our library and asked permission to read some of the books. We told them it would be quite all right. Unfortunately, a Japanese sentry came along and said it wouldn’t be good for them to read, so he himself, pushed all the bookcases, books and all, into an office adjoining, and closed the door. Father [Maurice A.] Feeney, fortunately, was also allowed to visit the prisoners, bring comfort to all and hear the confessions of the Catholics. Early next morning Father [Feeney] brought Holy Communion to the Catholics. Later, in the day, the prisoners were all removed to another building. After they left, we discovered that all the goldfish were gone, so we presumed that in their hunger they had eaten them. After the fall of Hong Kong, our building was occupied by various Japanese regiments. There were days when the building was crowded, and the grounds full of horses. A General living across the street, visited us several times and was kind and friendly. Before leaving, one group gave us some food,—a sack of flour, half a sack of rice, a case of soya sauce. Another day the Japanese came to tell us that they had decided to use our building for internment of British, Dutch and American women and children. They put a notice at the gate to this effect, but nothing further happened. Later on, some officers from another regiment visited our building and said they were going to occupy it. We pointed to the sign at the gate but they tore it down and said it meant nothing. Some Japanese officers came in one day, putting some questions which Sister [Mary] Famula [Clements], our interpreter, could not understand. It was something in regard to Japanese people but when they left Sister [M. Famula] still did not know what they wanted. Sister [M. Famula] then went across the street to the general headquarters and


told the Japanese there that we didn’t know what the Japanese officers had questioned us about. The answer was that they had heard that the Japanese people of Hong Kong had been interned in our building. Sister [M. Famula] assured them that this was not true and they seemed to accept her word. A few minutes later, however, a group of soldiers all heavily armed, under a petty officer, came and explained that they wanted to see every nook and corner of the building. Three of the Sisters went with them to show them through the building but they separated the Sisters, each Sister with a few guards. They went everywhere; insisted that every door be opened; in the auditorium they crawled into the corners behind the stage curtains. When one door could not be opened and a Sister had to go around to open it, she was not allowed to take a Sister with her, but was escorted by a guard; the two other Sisters had to remain outside and wait. Every corner of the basement was also searched. Then at the end, the officer in charge who was very courteous and knew a few words of English, made a bow and said, “Thank you. I understand now,” and took his company of armed guards away. In the meantime, food was getting scarce and prices were mounting. Fortunately, we had stored provisions which now “saved the day” for us, but we needed fresh meat and vegetables and the price was so high on meat that we seldom bought it. Potatoes and butter, eggs, fresh milk, were things of the past; there was very little variety in vegetables. One day a poor Chinese woman whom we had helped came in with a gift of fresh tomatoes—the first gift that we received. We were touched to the heart by this generous thoughtful act, coming as it did from the very poor. We never enjoyed tomatoes as much as we did that day! The poor Chinese were the ones who showed us the most kindness, bringing in little gifts of bread or cake, eager to do us any service that they possibly could. These proofs of their loyalty touched us very much. One day we were told to fill out a form for the Gendarme giving the names, ages, occupation and nationality of each of the Sisters. Later there was a notice that all Third Nationals (i.e. neutrals) should register with the new Government and obtain a pass. Our five Oriental Sisters registered and obtained passes. On January 21st [1942] we received word that our Sisters on the Hong Kong side, who had been serving at Queen Mary Hospital [Pokfulam, Hong Kong Island], were now interned at Stanley [south side of Hong Kong Island]. We also heard rumors that in all probability


the American Sisters in Kowloon would also be interned. We hoped and prayed that this would not happen but nevertheless began packing again. On February 8th at 10:00 A.M. the Japanese came to tell us the American Sisters were to be interned and that they must be ready by 11:00 [A.M.]. We had not even had our breakfast so the rush can be imagined. The [La Salle] Christian Brothers, who had lost their College [nearby in Kowloon Tong] and practically all their belongings, came to help us. The Japanese provided a truck which was filled to capacity with suitcases, mattresses, etc. By noon 18 American Sisters had left the Convent for internment, leaving 5 Oriental Sisters [three Portuguese Sisters, one Filipino Sister, and one Chinese Sister] and Father [Maurice A.] Feeney in the building. Fortunately, Fr. Feeney was not taken that day and within the next three days he was able to obtain a Third National Pass because of his Irish origin. As soon as the American Sisters were interned, the five Sisters left, began moving as much furniture as they could out of the building to St.Teresa’s Church compound [Prince Edward Road] across the street. We knew that it would not be long before our building would be used as a hospital. From February 8th to 11th we moved things across the street constantly; on the 12th, we found sentries posted at all the entrances and we knew that we could not save anything further. A visit from a Japanese M.D. confirmed our opinion. Every day soldiers and officers visited the building and the same questions were put to us—what was our nationality? Our age? Where were our passes? It was very cold these days and in the evening the sentries would come in and chat with Fr. [Maurice A.] Feeney and take a cup of tea. Some were very friendly, one in particular being very kind to Father. On February 14th two officers came to tell us to evacuate as the building was needed for a hospital. We spent days looking for a house without success. Finally on the night before we moved, a Chinese gentleman in one of the apartments across the street told us we could have his apartment. That evening the sentry who was so kind to Father [Feeney] took a Japanese-English dictionary and found the following words: Sentence — (judgment)— remove — heart — wail — suffering — worrow [worry] — sorry — sorrow— like — lightning — peace. This touched us very much. February 20th we left our Convent. The Japanese sent two trucks for the removal of baggage and we tried to save as much as we could. However towards 1:00 o’clock a petty officer came in and refused to allow us to move


any more furniture. Many friends came to help us with our moving, the [La Salle] Christian Brothers again doing the greatest share. In the midst of all the confusion, bread was baking in the oven and the dinner was being cooked. Our last acts were to pick up the dinner and walk off leading our two dogs! In our new home across the street we began to settle down to some kind of routine but it was difficult because of the many business trips that had to be made to HongKong [Island]. Buses were few and so crowded that we invariably had to walk to town; then almost every day all traffic was stopped on the main streets while soldiers searched whole blocks. No one could proceed until the searching was over and this often took two hours. Thus no matter how early we started for town, we were never sure what time we would be home. One reason for our frequent trips to town was to try to obtain the release of Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna]. We had received a message from Sister [Mary Paul] asking us to request her release on the grounds of Irish origin, as well as the release of Sisters Ann Mary [Farrell], [Mary] Famula [Clements] and Maria Regis [Murphy]. Early in March we made this request to the authorities but for over a month we heard nothing. About April 12th we were given forms to fill in for the release of these four Sisters. Our hopes ran high and our prayers were many. On April 21st we received a telephone message asking us to be at the Foreign [Affairs] Department at 4:00 that afternoon, as our four Sisters were being released. What joy! We could hardly believe it and when 4:00 o’clock came and we welcomed our Sisters, it was with hearts full of gratitude to God.

“Co-Prosperity and the New Order Comes to Hongkong”—Sister Mary Clement Quinn, Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street Sister Mary Clement Quinn left Stanley in June 1942, after having spent almost four months in internment. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, she was among the second group of Maryknoll Sisters released from the internment camp, and like the first group, she and others took residence for a few months in their convent in Holy Spirit School on Caine Road, Hong Kong Island. The first group, as mentioned in the above account, included Mary Paul McKenna, Ann Mary Farrell, Mary Famula Clements, and Maria Regis Murphy


and was released two months earlier in April. This second group, as recounted in the following quotation, was comprised of Mary Clement Quinn, Mary de Ricci Cain, and Mary St. Dominic Kelly. In September 1942, the third group was released—Mary Dorothy Walsh and Henrietta Marie Cunningham. Those who were released subsequently left in groups for China, to places in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces not under Japanese rule. (Others were directly repatriated from the Stanley Internment Camp in June 1942, and sent back to the United States.) In January 1943, Sister Mary Clement and other Maryknoll nuns headed for Guilin, Guangxi Province.9 By this time, all Maryknoll Sisters had left Hong Kong and would return only after the Second World War in 1945. Back at the Holy Spirit School convent on Caine Road, the Sisters refused to accept what had befallen Hong Kong even though they saw and experienced everything. Like other roads and streets, Caine Road had become a Japanese toori and lost its previous glamor and allure. The neighborhood was simply like any other place in Japanese-controlled Hong Kong. On the one hand, as noted by Sister Mary Clement, the poor and the oppressed “had increased and multiplied to an alarming extent”;10 on the other hand, she saw in her former students that the “war and its consequences had brought out in many the best side of their characters, giving them the realization of Spiritual Values and Christian Principles that we [the Sisters] had been inculcating throughout their school days.”11 The following is Sister Mary Clement’s complete account: The morning of June 4th [actually June 5, 1942] was a Red Letter day for three of us at Stanley Internment Camp—Sister [Mary] de Ricci [Cain], Sister [Mary] St. Dominic [Kelly], and myself. About 9 a.m. we were told that we were to be released and to be “on the Hill” with our baggage at 10 o’clock. We reported in due time and about 11:15 Mr. Yamashita, who was in charge of the Camp appeared, and through an interpreter told us that we were being released, and that he was happy for us to go, but that we must not think we had been interned by mistake.12 The Japanese Government knew what they were doing when they interned us and we must not be under any misapprehension. He said that we were being taken to Foreign Affairs [Department] in Hong Kong and that we would be given more


detailed instructions, which instructions were to be strictly adhered to. He told us that we were not to take with us letters, papers or documents of any kind and warned us that the consequences would be serious if we did. He added that he had more to say to us and that he would return in ten minutes, but that was the last we saw of him. About 12 o’clock the lorry which was to take us to Hong Kong arrived, and we piled ourselves and our baggage on and drove off. A Salesian Father and [a] Brother and about five lay people were released along with us. We were all too excited to pay attention in detail to changes along the road except that there seemed to be no movement of any kind. As we passed Repulse Bay [south side of Hong Kong Island] we noticed that it was completely deserted except for a military guard stationed at the [Repulse Bay] Hotel. The beautiful lawns and gardens were in a deplorable stage of neglect, and the Beach, once covered with bright attractive bathing sheds, and overrun with gay fun-loving crowds, was nothing but a desolate waste of sand covered with the wreckage of destroyed matsheds. A half hour’s ride brought us to Foreign Affairs [Department], where we were met by Sister [Mary] Paul [McKenna], and we took care of our temporary passes and baggage. Another twenty minutes brought us to Holy Spirit School [Caine Road], which fortunately for us had not been “taken over,” and where we were now making our home. What a thrill it was to be once more in our own Convent! We went to the Chapel immediately for a short visit, and then joined the family for a chat and dinner. How good it was to sit at and eat from a table. We had not been able to do this for four months as our accommodations in Camp were far too inadequate. The following morning we started to town to see about passes, ration cards, etc., and I could hardly believe I was on Caine Road. In pre-war days it had been alive with activity. With crowded passenger buses, smart looking motor cars, heavily laden lorries, coolies jogging gracefully along under what would be to us back-breaking loads, and groups of bright looking school children skipping happily along arm in arm. None of these were in evidence. But then I found out that Caine Road was no longer Caine Road. It, like all other roads in Hong Kong and Kowloon, had become a something or other “Dori” [the Japanese word toori, for street or road]. Its new name I never bothered to learn.


I had always thought that for a town of its size Hong Kong had a goodly proportion of that pathetic class of people to whom one’s heart goes out in deepest sympathy, the poor and destitute, but now they had increased and multiplied to an alarming extent. One could not walk a block without being approached four or five times for alms. We saw, on one street corner, a poor woman crying with hunger and eating some scraps she had salvaged from a garbage pile. Another block or so along the way two men, too weak to stand, were lying in the street crying piteously to the passers-by for help. So it was all the way down town and as the days went on could notice these poor outcasts getting weaker and weaker. One day on our walk to town we noticed the streets were cleared of all these unfortunates, and we learned that the officials had gathered them up the day before and had taken them off in a sampan. The supposition was that the sampan with its human cargo had been taken outside the harbor limits and sunk. We have no proof that this is what happened, but we do know that it is extremely unlikely that any material help had been given them by the officials as these same officials had expressed on more than one occasion, the uselessness of such people. The Sisters warned us that we had to be careful of our purses and any packages that we might have to carry, as they were likely to be snatched from our hands. People were hungry and snatching had become a necessity with them. A relative of one of our Sisters had bought a dozen or so of buns and she had just stepped out of the shop when they were snatched from her hand. Before she realized what had happened the culprit had devoured all but one of the buns. This was proof-positive that hunger had been the motive, and who could find it in their heart to censure it. Another friend of ours, while waiting for a tram-car, had his hat snatched from his head. Sometimes the snatchers met with a sad fate. If they happened to be caught, and on occasion they were, they might have any punishment meted out to them from a severe beating to being beheaded. One snatcher I know of was tied up and bitten repeatedly by a police dog that was set on him. This last punishment was quite a favorite one. It was also used on poor people who were caught gathering wood from the hillside. On a trip to Happy Valley [near the north side of Hong Kong Island] we saw a man tied up in a cage. The cage was about three feet high and not more than three feet square. He was kneeling in the cage and appeared to be begging for mercy from a Japanese soldier who was on guard, and who was amusing himself by poking a stick through the


bars of the cage. We were told that the man was going to have his head cut off. Systematic looting of bombed and unoccupied houses was another result of post-war conditions. This work was carried out under cover of night, and as the steps leading from Caine Road to Seymour Road [a level above] were alongside of our house and formed a convenient means of access to the lower levels, our slumbers were disturbed many a night by the traffic over these steps. All windows and door frames, pipings, fixtures, staircases and floor boards were removed, and when the inside was stripped bare, work was started on the outside. All iron gratings and bars were removed. The roof tiles went next, and when the walls, brick by brick were taken down and carried off. All English signs and letterings were removed from streets and shops, and those that were irremovable were painted over. Late in the Spring of 1942 some schools were permitted to open, but it was forbidden to teach English. Only Chinese and Japanese were allowed. For awhile it puzzled us why the daily paper and news bulletins were published in English, but then we realized that it was the only means of letting Third Nationals know of the successes the Axis powers were achieving. In December there was talk of opening schools for Third Nationals, and the arrangement, so far as we understood, was to teach Chinese and Japanese through the medium of English. At the time we left Hong Kong this hadn’t materialized. Food was the biggest problem of all. Prices were exorbitant. Flour that had cost $6.00 per bag before the war was now, when sold under government control, $70.00 per bag, and in the black market it cost $200. Carnation milk was $10.00 per tin, and beef $14.00 per pound. Flour, rice and sugar were rationed by the government, and each person was allowed six ounces of flour per day. The sugar ration amounted to about one pound per month per person. How people managed to live we do not know. Many didn’t, we feel sure. Enemy national banks were allowed to pay $500.00 against each deposit. Twenty percent of the balance was allowed to be drawn later, but this did not go very far with prices at so high a level. In the early days of the occupation the military yen was put in circulation and an exchange of $2.00 H.K. [Hong Kong dollars] to M.Y. 1.00 [military yen]. In July the rate was fixed at $4.00 H.K. to M.Y. 4.00 and all government bills, taxes, light, gas and water, had to be paid in yen. Only $100.00 H.K. could be changed at a time, and as there were thousands of people trying to get money changed, it meant standing


in line for hours day after day in order to get a sufficient amount to pay the ordinary bills. Gas and light, by the way, had gone up five times their former price, and there was a fixed minimum fee for light regardless of the amount consumed. Shops that were formerly open from early morning until late at night doing thriving business now opened their doors at 10 a.m. and closed at 4.00 p.m., and some of them claimed to have opened only under compulsion. The late opening and early closing was an effort to forestall looting. Foreign business firms who did manage to open up had to submit statements of their accounts monthly and were allowed to draw only their running expenses. No one was anxious to do business feeling that to hold on to their merchandise was the better thing, not knowing the future of the Hong Kong dollar, and not wanting, either, to be caught with a lot of military yen which, after the war, would be of no value. It was forbidden to buy or sell U.S. dollars. It was also forbidden to bring H.K. dollars into the Colony, although it was not forbidden to take them out. Dealings in Fapi [in Pinyin—fabi, the currency used in Nationalist China] was also prohibited. Property owners, too, had to help out the New Order. Rents were fixed by government at a very low level and taxes at a very high one, so that most owners found it impossible to cover the expenses of the upkeep of the property. We know of one man who had an entire block of houses confiscated without any compensation. At all public buildings a military guard was stationed, and all who passed by had to bow ceremoniously to the guard. On entering a building of this kind, hands had to be washed in a basin of antiseptic and feet wiped on a mat saturated with the same solution. For us, except in one instance, the hand washing and feet wiping were not required. The bow was the only formality we had to observe. In crossing the ferry, and at established stations along the bus route, persons and baggage had to be searched. We, as Sisters, were usually exempted from the ordeal of personal search, but occasionally our bags were looked into. Shortly before we left Hong Kong the Government took over the Procure on Battery Path belonging to the French Mission, Canossa Hospital, the property of the Italian Sisters, St. John’s (Anglican) Cathedral, Government House, and all of the Botanical Gardens. The buildings [above central district, on Hong Kong Island], we understood were to be demolished and the whole site made into a Memorial Shrine in honor of the soldiers who took Hong Kong.


Canossa Hospital [Peak Road] which had been partly destroyed by bombs and shell fire during the war was completely torn down, but up to the time we left work had not started on the other buildings. A later report was that the French Procure would not be torn down but would be used as a club for Japanese officers. St. Joseph’s College [Kennedy Road] in Hong Kong and LaSalle College [Prince Edward Road] in Kowloon had previously been taken over for other purposes, and in order to make room for the new airport at Kowloon City all privately owned property for blocks was torn down, and with it went Holy Family Convent and Dispensary, a flourishing little mission outstation of St. Teresa’s Church [Prince Edward Road]. St. Francis’ Church [St. Francis of Assisi Church, Kowloon City], too, was taken for office headquarters, and as far as we know the owners were not reimbursed for their losses. The construction work on the airport was being done by the former Hong Kong Volunteers, internees at Sham Sui Po Camp [Shamshuipo, Kowloon; adjacent to districts of Yaumati and Mongkok]. The population of Hong Kong was rapidly decreasing. Every day brought more of our friends and students, old as well as recent ones, to say goodbye. All felt that it was useless to remain and were seeking their livelihood elsewhere. It grieved us very much to see so many of our girls in such reduced circumstances, but there was a gratifying side to it all, too. The war and its consequences had brought out in many the best side of their characters, giving them the realization of Spiritual Values and Christian Principles that we had been inculcating throughout their school days, and we had the consolation of reaping somewhat of the harvest we had sown in former years. In some cases the seed had taken long years to fructify, but the results were well worth waiting for. Hong Kong in 1943 was a very different Hong Kong from the one I had known for seventeen years. Co-prosperity and the New Order had come, and with the Old Order, we, being enemy nationals, were leaving. Under existing circumstances I was glad to go, but it was not without a pang of regret that I watched the shore recede from view as our boat pulled out on this morning of January 19, 1943 on its way to Kwanchowwan [Guangzhouwan, Guangdong Province], the Gateway to Free China. There was also a hope that it would not be long before we could return to our home and our people. As we slipped out of the harbor we passed another boat. It was the Asama Maru,13 now being used as a troop ship and it was taking the


Canadian Volunteers from the Internment Camp at Sam Shui Po [Shamshuipo] to an unknown destination. As we stood on the deck our last wave of farewell was to those brave boys to whom Hong Kong had given such an unfriendly welcome.

“HongKong War Experience”—Sister Frances Marion Gardner, Maryknoll Convent School, Boundary Street Sister Frances Marion Gardner wrote about her experiences inside the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp, during repatriation, and on her trip back home in the United States. Originally from Seattle, Washington State, Sister Frances Marion was at the M.C.S. convent on Boundary Street during the Japanese invasion. Together with others, she was among the eighteen Maryknoll Sisters sent to Stanley on February 8, 1942. In her essay, Sister Frances Marion describes her ride to Stanley, by boat and then by vehicle. Inside the camp, malnutrition and diseases were always a problem; so food and sickness constantly occupied their thoughts and daily conversation. Sister Frances Marion stayed in the camp for almost five months until the first repatriation in June 1942, when she boarded the Asama Maru. The last part of her account is most absorbing—she talked about the people on the Asama Maru, the ports of Saigon and Singapore in Southeast Asia, and of Lourenco Marques in East Africa. Inside the camp, internees stayed in the British quarters, American quarters, and Dutch quarters. The Maryknoll Sisters of course stayed in the American blocks. Gradually, internees were given their daily routines; they were responsible for a number of tasks, such as washing, mending, and repairing.14 To combat the spread of infectious diseases, people even formed into “anti-malaria squads” and inspected sewage and drainage conditions. They also tried their best to take care of themselves. Internees craved for more to eat, to have a bit more than the filthy “rice and stew” that was the only item on their daily menu. Outside the camp canteen, people stood in long lines waiting for additional food, any extra varieties, and may be even some surprises.15 Infectious and insect-borne diseases brought other concerns—these could be typhoid, tuberculosis,


typhus, malaria, diarrhea, and dysentery.16 In addition, overcrowding, tensions, disputes, and mental breakdowns constituted a significant part of the story in the camp. Sister Frances Marion’s narrative provides genuine insight into those long days of internment and repatriation. Excerpts from her account are as follows: Finally on February 8th [1942], at 10 a.m. a lady and a French boy about nineteen who was with us at La Salle [College] brought us notice that we were to be out of M.C.S. [Maryknoll Convent School] by eleven. This gave us an hour. Srs. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] and [Mary] Famula [Clements] went over directly to plead for at least until one p.m. This they acquiesced. We brought down our mattresses, bedding, and packed our suitcases. When we had finished our personal stuff we hunted for house stock and ended by leaving the Five Third Nationals, Sr. Maria Teresa [ Yeung], Sr. [Mary] Chanel [Xavier], Sr. Candida [Maria Basto], Sr. [Maria] Corazon [Jaramillo], and Sr.Cecilia Marie [Carvalho], practically nothing. They couldn’t even find scrapers as we wanted to be sure we had one or two, so each had been sure to get one. However we left all dishes and enjoyed drinking out of tin cans for some time at camp. We were piled with our large and small bundles and suitcases into closed trucks, two of them, to go to a launch in the [Victoria] harbour. We carried most of our bundles from the truck to the launch, about a block away when a Japanese soldier got us coolies for very heavy ones. The [La Salle] Christian Brothers helped, but they weren’t as strong as we were. But every extra man counted. They weren’t getting enough to eat. The launch was full with the first truck load and made a return trip for the second. On the other side a large open truck took care of most of the baggage and we took some small pieces in the gray bus in which we rode out to the camp. A Mr. Cheng sat with us and calling out the names of each sister required her age. If he had it he yelled it out and we confirmed it. This being our first experience yelling out our interior private life we were a little red. But for Mr. Cheng we would have had our baggage searched. As it was he flourished a graceful hand and we twirled past Indian inspectors. We saw the debris of Hong Kong, nice horses all smashed [sic] and the race track just packed with motor cars—ones commandeered


by the Japs with their insides and outsides sent back to Japan by this time. When we arrived at the Camp there was no place for us and Mr. [Bill] Hunt, the Chairman of the Americans, said he wouldn’t put any of his Americans in the Indian quarters (quarters with cement floors). He demanded the British Administration wing for us. We were eleven in one room and seven in another. The baggage was packed in the seven Sister room so we had aisles between the mattresses in one room but in the other we just stepped on one another in passing. Very few people in the camp had beds. We rolled the mattresses up into little settees around the room during the day and could not have looked more like refugees sitting shivering on our rolls. The first meals were quite good of rice and eel stew. . . . The men especially suffered from hunger. At 10:30 a bugle blew and the Americans lined up in a long queue to get cooked rice and some kind of stew to go with it. A group of American sailors had volunteered to cook for the Americans, and grumbled as the Americans did, they were lucky to have them, because with what they had they did very well. In our quarters we lined up and Sr. [Mary] Regina [Reardon] served us rice and some other Sisters the stew, or rather soup. As nineteen could not fit properly at the large table we had put bed boards across the seven chairs we had and put our plates on our laps. To balance a cup in this position became quite a feat and we entirely forgot the use of knives and forks, there being nothing to cut with a knife and no place to store the fork while balancing the cup. After a week or so we firmly decided that if it were ever possible to eat at a table again we would make complete use of it even with our elbows. For quite a while the eating process involved much of the day. It did not take long to finish each collation but about an hour after we became interested in the time for another meal. At recreation the subject of conversation invariably turned to food. If the [Maryknoll] Fathers came over, they would mention some dinner party that the Sisters had given them in Manila, Hawaii or the Coast, or the [Mary]Knoll and each was described in perfect detail. Sr. Rose Olive [Skehan] began writing out recipes for chocolate pies, cakes, and candy, saying that if she ever got near sugar and chocolate again she was going to be able to cook it into something palatable. Even the Bishop [Cuthbert O’Gara] talked food. The Fathers began getting an epidemic of dysentery and going to the hospital six or seven at a time. We got worried and so began washing


their dishes. The dysentery cleared up but began again later. Father Boughers was sick with dysentery and intestinal abscesses most of the time he was in camp. We were sure he was going to die. Fr. Arthur Benson, a Passionist from the Interior, went into Hong Kong to see the Bishop [O’Gara] on business [and] developed terrible carbuncles. He was thought to have diabetes and there was no insulin to be procured as great quantities of it had been destroyed during hostilities. After Sr. [Mary] Paul [McKenna] left camp she managed to get some in and after one injection Fr. Benson had no further sugar positive reactions and he began to improve. But in the interim, of about four months, the Bishop [O’Gara] was distracted as his condition was extremely serious with his not being able to get the proper medicines, or food. The doctors were desperate with cases like this and going up the hill to the Japanese representatives [where the Japanese headquarters was] threatened to make demonstrations if something wasn’t done, saying they didn’t care if they were shot. They might as well be as [to] have such terrible conditions in camp, not even being able to get people out of Hong Kong and up to Shanghai where they could get something like proper treatment. We soon moved over to the American quarters, being allowed four rooms for the twenty three of us. One was converted into a chapel and used at night as a dormitory. A curtain being drawn before the Blessed Sacrament. Bishop O’Gara, a Passionist, was delightful. He won the heart of the entire camp, Catholics and Protestants. He was interested in everyone and knew most of the 3000 people. He was quite a picture, not having any clothes, and taking what was given to him, namely a shaam [the Cantonese word for coat], an overcoat, and cap that emphasized his ungainly swayback figure, which reduced in breadth with every day of the confinement. . . . During our entire stay the political life of the American Camp was intense. We do not know much about the British side, as we did not attend any of their meetings but we do know that no one who held office in Hong Kong at the time of the war was chosen to hold any office in the camp. The Americans’ bimonthly meetings, had the reading of the report of the Chairman, whose duty was to negotiate for better living conditions with the men on the hill. Mr [Bill] Hunt, a very wealthy business man who built the Roosevelt Docks in Shanghai, was chosen Chairman, and dealt very skillfully with the Japanese. At first it was not Japanese but Chinese in-between men with whom we had to deal and


they were not at all a good type. In camp meetings there were squabbles that rose to high heat about furniture, cooking food and its disposition and all manner of things. Being good Americans everyone got up at a meeting and said exactly what he wished. The meetings were especially spicy when someone had taken a few cans from the American supply or someone had gotten ahead in the canteen line. People queued up in lines 2,000 long and waited from six in the morning until their turn came about three in the afternoon when they were able to draw a can of jam and maybe a can of bean sprouts, depending upon what was left. When the rumour of repatriation came we packed and unpacked. We packed about seven times due to an exchange of ideas regarding food. First we decided that there wouldn’t be any food aboard, later we decided that there would be plenty. Someone then advised that there would be food but very little so we should take a few extras. We packed. The final decision was not to take much food. Up until the date of examination of baggage we were advised to be particularly careful to take any printed, written, or typed matter out of our baggage. This sign was posted with a list of things that were not allowed, including notes, maps, books, magazines, typed matters, etc. A meeting, in fact two meetings, were called to emphasize this. The day before sailing a group of Chinese came over and advised us to destroy all written matter again, and some of us still held back on typed Chinese, and marked prayer-books. The day of sailing our baggage was taken over to be looked over by the gendarmes. At first they were very particular but towards the end they became quite tired and so didn’t look at much of anything. It’s better to get at the end of a line in inspection as the police are not tired enough to be cross but just tired enough not to want to bother about much of anything. After inspection our baggage was tied and carried down to the pier to be loaded on the Asama Maru. That afternoon at about four the bugle blew and we lined up alphabetically and boarded a tender to take up to the Asama Maru. The diplomats had boarded in the morning and any Americans who had not been interned in Stanley, also boarded in the morning. The Asama Maru was anchored outside of Stanley, which gave us a slight disappointment in that we did not see Hong Kong before leaving.17 As we approached the Asama Maru in a tender we saw someone who looked like a Sister, then like a Maryknoll Sister, but we decided against it as the gray was too light. As we sailed nearer we saw two Maryknoll Sisters on a lower deck; later two stuck their heads out of


different port holes; the two that stuck out were exchanged for different Sisters and another appeared on deck and others from still different portholes. Finally we heard that there were sixty Fathers on board and nineteen Sisters. The passengers were not allowed to come down to meet us until we were settled on board. We went immediately into a long queue with our baggage slips and cabin numbers. Aboard the Asama Maru the people learned South American culture from the various diplomats of that continent. A particularly energetic and charming gentleman of Chile named Senor Iglesias taught Spanish to whoever was interested, giving an hour at 9:15 a.m. and teaching Spanish songs for an hour in the evening beginning at 7:30. Quite a number of the people were quite enthusiastic. He gave us in his charming broken English a resume of the history of Chile with her political difficulties and the temperament of the people. The most interesting item from a Catholic point of view was the fact that in the beginning of the South American revolution to democratic ideas the new leaders tried, being forced by the example of North American diplomats, to efface all religion from the people. Said Senor Iglesias, “This is impossible. All Spanish people, all Latin American people are Roman Catholic, even the atheist, he is a Roman Catholic.” All the diplomats of South America could speak English and most of them without any accent, having had part of their education in the States. Certainly the result of contact was an understanding of their culture, point of view in regard to the merchants from North America who, as Mr. Iglesias said, “held their noses in the air,” and the cementing of real friendships with, not only individuals but with nations. As to Catholicism, a less Puritanical attitude toward religion was understood in regard to these Americans who have a real live faith without the tenacity to outward prescriptions. (This is not meant to be heretical.) The boarding of the passengers on the Asama Maru reduced the deck space decidedly and deck chairs, shared by all passengers were at a premium. Privacy could be obtained by going to some particularly blowy part of the boat where no one else wanted to be. Upon arriving at Saigon, in Indo-China we were piloted up the winding river by a Special pilot who knew the narrow turning ways. It seemed strange to see such a large boat coming up such a narrow river, and even in places churning up the mud. From the shore of the river as far as we could see, in most places, the vegetation, trees, were dense, and grew


right to the water’s edge, dipping their branches. To the boat anchored out in mid-stream the natives of Saigon brought fresh fruits, . . . papayas, and pineapples. The passengers let down baskets over the sides to draw up on ropes their purchases. On the other side of the boat people were being boarded from Saigon and Bangkok. At Singapore or thereabouts we crossed the Equator and were quite aware that it was an equatorial zone. We anchored about forty miles from Singapore, amidst mine areas being carefully guided past the mines by some Singapore pilots. Flags were posted near key mines. No boats came out to sell fruit or oriental varieties as they had at Saigon, which gave the place a real atmosphere of war. A few tankers passed us with straw covered packages of dynamite. We passed quite near a tilted sunken vessel which would have been dangerous at night. The next anticipated break in the trip was Lourenco Marques [East Africa] but we first rocked over the Indian Ocean for over a week hoping to see Madagascar but being disappointed. At Lourenco Marques we pulled up along side the Gripsholm,18 and stared at the Japanese passengers aboard who were to be exchanged with us. They stared back. The Japanese crew on our boat cheered them. The Swedish crew on their boat cheered us, but all aboard either ship did not cheer together. The Portuguese policemen were particularly polite to the Sisters and scarcely ever looked at our cards. We walked about the quiet little city the first day, covering as many churches as possible. Some of the Sisters went shopping and some to places of interest as the museum, the zoo, and the beaches. The third day in Lourenco Marques we approached a grey clad soldier to get directions to go to the museum. In the middle of our trying to make him understand he stood up very straight and with his buddies saluted toward a car containing a white uniformed man with a monocle. The man asked us what we were looking for, and said that he would take us there. We protested but finally got in. The thought came to him that the museum would be closed that day. He insisted in driving us about to see the places of interest in the city, and his friend, a passenger on the Gripsholm, whom we knew, also insisted.19 We protested again. The situation began looking decidedly difficult as we certainly felt as if we were intruding, but couldn’t get out of the car without being actually rude. He took us to his home, called out his wife, and children, and introduced us. As his wife was ill, his two children about seventeen years, and five years came along in the car


for the rest of the drive. He took us all about the city to the beach, to a mission church, and finally to the zoo where we escaped as there were some Sisters there and we suggested that it would be nice if we joined them. This gentleman was Colonel Pintos, head of all the army in Portuguese East Africa.

C h ap t e r S e v e n Post war Ye ar s , t h e 1 9 5 0 s , the Early 1960s, and Refugees

Getting on Their Feet The last Maryknoll Sisters left Japanese-occupied Hong Kong in January 1943; these women, unlike their counterparts who had sailed on the Asama Maru off the Stanley Civilian Internment Camp and returned home, had not been part of the repatriation program. They had stayed in Hong Kong after they had been released from the camp; in January 1943 the ten remaining Maryknoll Sisters embarked on their journey to China (Luoding in Guangdong Province, Wuzhou and Guilin in Guangxi Province) and to Macau, to escape from the Japanese.1 It would be almost three years before the Maryknoll Sisters returned to Hong Kong, from Macau and interior mainland. They traveled by all possible means, by boat, by train, and by plane.2 By the end of 1945, their convent in the Maryknoll Convent School (M.C.S.) building, at the corner of Boundary Street and Waterloo Road, had a total of thirteen Sisters, the superior Mary Paul McKenna was one of them.3 Initially, the Maryknoll Sisters occupied only part of the M.C.S. building and thus had to stay with 600 Japanese soldiers who were also in the building until May 1946, when the nuns recovered the whole compound. In January 1946, the Maryknoll Sisters reopened M.C.S. in Kowloon Tong; as one of the following quotations shows, the Sisters reopened Holy Spirit School on Caine Road on Hong Kong Island much later. It was not until September 1948 that the Holy Spirit School accepted students, and it then changed its name to Maryknoll School.4 This chapter contains quotations from diaries written from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. The diaries are from two main


sources: (1) the Maryknoll School, Caine Road diaries that began in 1948 and lasted until 1957, when the secondary section of the school moved to Blue Pool Road (from then on, the diaries were called the Blue Pool Road diaries; the school was renamed for the second time and became Maryknoll Sisters School); and (2) the Kowloon Tong convent and school diaries, of the 1950s and the 1960s (the Maryknoll Convent was completed in 1953 and was situated right next to the M.C.S. building on Waterloo Road;5 the Sisters then moved their residence from the school building to the new convent). Some quotations are drawn from the Blue Pool Road diaries, and a few are from the St. Teresa’s Parish diaries. In 1951, two Maryknoll Sisters (of the Kowloon Tong community) began work at St. Teresa’s Church and were the first nuns in Hong Kong committed to full-time parish work.6 Thus, this chapter keeps an account of the two Maryknoll communities (the Sisters who established residence in two houses), one in Kowloon Tong and the other on Hong Kong Island (from its address on Caine Road to that on Blue Pool Road).7 Besides the returning Sisters, who had been in Hong Kong before the Japanese occupation, Maryknoll sent additional Sisters after the war. The first group arrived in the colony in 1946 (among the newcomers were Rose Duchesne Debrecht, M. Margaret Veronica Evans, Marie Corinne Rost, and Miriam Xavier Mug).8 From late 1945 to mid-August 1948, the Maryknoll Sisters maintained only one house in Hong Kong, namely the convent located in the M.C.S. building. From mid-August 1948 onward, Maryknoll School on Caine Road served as the second convent of the Sisters. While the Maryknoll Sisters went back to their prior schoolwork and were fixing things up, the postwar years witnessed tremendous changes in Hong Kong society. After the end of the world war in August 1945, Hong Kong came under the military administration of its former colonial ruler, the British. When the Japanese surrendered, the local inhabitants were about half a million.9 Thousands of people had fled to the mainland during the Japanese occupation, resulting in a dramatic drop in population to less than one-third of the pre-occupation number. Once the war came to a close, the tide reversed, and in a year, the population surged. In 1946, when the first group of postwar Maryknoll missioners came to Hong Kong, the population had

postwar years and refugees / 145

reached about 1.55 million.10 The influx of people was instantaneous and enormous. When the Maryknoll Sisters reopened Holy Spirit School (or Maryknoll School) in 1948, the population was already 1.8 million.11 Between 1948 and 1950, the civil war in China and the eventual Communist victory provoked an exodus of people, especially from the adjoining Guangdong Province. When the Communists were about to take Guangzhou city in 1949, Hong Kong witnessed a flood of 10,000 people per week.12 In May 1950, the local population was around 2.36 million.13 The following quotations describe how the Sisters retook and renovated the school building on Caine Road, how difficult it was to regain the property in postwar times when housing was an acute problem, and how education opportunities were limited in the colony, explaining the long line of applicants once the school announced registration. As in the past before the war, the Chinese clung on to their old traditions; the Sisters mention offerings to the spirits. While the spirits had to be pacified, the living rejoiced and celebrated the Chinese New Year. Some quotations record fire in the impoverished settlements, as refugees who had come from China had no money, no belongings, no place to stay, and lived in shacks on hillsides (or simply anywhere), which easily led to all kinds of disasters. August 1948, Caine Road “School building retaken” Since the close of the war, plans have been spoken for the re-opening of Holy Spirit School under the new name of Maryknoll School [Caine Road], Hong Kong. The plans could only be verbal for the three families renting the building were unwilling to leave. Because of the great house shortage it was impossible to legally evict them, despite the fact that the tenants were illegally sub-letting to their “relatives.” Late in May, our hopes of re-occupying the building rose. Mr. Lau, renter of the first floor, vacated the two west rooms and departed for Chungking [Chongqing, Sichuan Province]. Although the subtenants continued to live on the remainder of the first floor, we planned to use the two empty rooms for registration of the girls who would like to enter our school September 6th. On the last day of school at


Maryknoll Convent School [Boundary Street], and in the newspapers we gave notice of registration days [for Holy Spirit/Maryknoll School] from Monday, July 19th to Friday, July 23rd. Approximately seven hundred girls and even a few boys, applied for admission. We had a problem controlling the crowds in our cramped quarters. Everyone had to stand on Seymour Road [a level above Caine Road]. Some waited an entire morning only to be told to return in the afternoon. Umbrellas took up extra space shielding the girls from sun and rain. August 17, 1948, Caine Road “Fixing the school building” Mei On Company began tearing down the ceilings on the second floor. Dust from the falling plaster permeates the entire house. Coolie women carrying out the broken pieces of ceiling have holes in their baskets so that chunks of plaster and splinters of wood dot the stairs. On the verandahs carpenters, more than ankle deep in the wood shavings are busily making and mending shutters. Plumbers are taking out rotted drains and digging to the pipes in the yard trying to locate the reason for one flooded room in the basement. The retaining wall, also at Caine Road entrance has so much water seeping through that we have received a public nuisance notice. August 18, 1948, Caine Road “Offerings” One of the most pleasant parts of each day is our evening walk. This evening we noticed people of nearly every house outside their doors burning joss sticks beside tiny tables set with bowls of rice and chopsticks. Heaps of varied colored papers, shaped somewhat like New Year favors for table decorations, were also burned. Mary Ann, a portress at M.C.S. [Maryknoll Convent School, Kowloon] came later in the evening and told us that these were offerings to the devil. The festival in his honor had begun a week before on the seventh day of the seventh month and these offerings marked the end of the festival. . . . August 21, 1948, Caine Road “Sister’s former roommate” Sr. [M.] Margaret Veronica [Evans] had the happiness of seeing her Yen Ching University [Yanjing University, Beijing] room mate Lau


Shaan. It had been nine years since they had seen one another. During this time Lau Shaan obtained her M.A. in Education and married a student of Yen Ching, Dr. Lesley Lei. . . . It was agreed that we should wait for the Leis at the bus terminal in Star Ferry [southern tip of Kowloon Peninsula; Tsimshatsui]. Sister [M. Margaret Veronica] had a very brief visit but was radiant with the pleasure of the few moments and the thought that Mr. and Mrs. Lei will visit her mother in New Jersey. The Meigs sailed at midnight and will take Mr. and Mrs. Lei to Montreal. . . .14 January 16, 1949, Caine Road “Fire in resettlements” About a thousand people were rendered homeless last night by a fire. Over 100 huts and two blocks of four storeyed buildings were destroyed. The two streets, Po Hing Fong [below Caine Road] and Tai Ping Shan [Street] [below Po Hing Fong] are very near to us, so we stood on the verandah more than an hour shivering and saying the rosary for the poor people. It is believed that the fire began in one of the huts where pork sausages were being fried. When we came from Mass this morning, hoses were still sending streams of water into the large buildings but the squatters’ quarters were just one charred surface. The morning paper said that about 100 shacks were razed even before the Fire Brigade arrived. If the government does not prevent them, the squatters will start immediately to erect other lean-to’s. Actually, all they use is a bit of wood from packing cases or wood from any other source that they can get it. The cracks are covered with gunny sacks or palm leaves. As far as clothes are concerned they seem to have no more than what is on their backs. If anyone visits them with a basket of old clothes, in the twinkling of an eye they have taken each piece wearing the article immediately. One coolie woman received a plaid scarf which she tied over the very dirty rag she already had on her head. January 18, 1949, Caine Road “Fire victims” After the Oral English exam today, Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] took Classes 3 and 4 to Tung Wah Hospital [Po Yan Street; below Caine Road, close to Po Hing Fong]. There they were threatened with being mobbed by those people whose homes were burned on


Saturday. The people saw that the girls had bundles of clothing. This clothing the girls had brought to school from their own homes and we added more from our poor supplies. . . . January 19, 1949, Caine Road “After the fire” Sister [M.] Chanel [Xavier] and Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] took a walk down to the Po Hing Fong section to look at the section destroyed by fire. While there they saw three policemen—two Chinese and one foreign, chasing another man. Seeing that he would be caught, the man threw a sack over a retaining wall near him. The sack was retrieved and the man was arrested as an opium seller. January 27, 1949, Caine Road “Chinese New Year” Since one o’clock this afternoon there has been an uninterrupted shooting of firecrackers for tonight is the eve of Chinese New Year. The streets are packed with shoppers and the stores have a multiplicity of edibles to sell. Particularly plentiful are the pressed ducks and laap cheung [Cantonese word for preserved meat sausages]. Many shops have the front wall on the outside lined with these ducks and sausages. The ducks are particularly interesting to look at. They hang from their heads. Of course, the necks stretch so that they are nearly as long as the rest of the body. It is the custom for the children to stay up until midnight when they will wish their parents a happy new year. Then tomorrow is a day of fasting—so called. It is a fast in the sense that no rice is cooked and eaten but many other delicacies are consumed instead. It is the belief that if the family fasts on the first day of the year, then they will have prosperity for the remainder of the year. Also, tomorrow all the brooms are hidden for it is bad luck to sweep on New Year’s Day.

The Poor and the Refugees Besides reopening schools on Boundary Street and on Caine Road, the Maryknoll Sisters also organized Boys and Girls Clubs (an original endeavor) in their schools, for poor children without regular schooling. The clubs met for about two hours each day, to give children some basic knowledge and to teach them ethics, and to arrange for them group activities such as picnics and outings. Free of charge, the clubs


catered to children of refugee families that had just escaped from turmoil in the mainland and ended up in Hong Kong without the means of earning a living or even proper shelter. These children (aged six to sixteen) would otherwise have wasted their time on streets had they not participated in club activities.15 The year 1950 witnessed the “panic flight” of refugees from China.16 The year that followed marked a slight decrease in population because some people had returned to the mainland. It was estimated that a population of slightly over two million people lived in Hong Kong by the end of 1951.17 Nonetheless, the flood of refugees continued. At the beginning of 1954, the population was around 2.25 million, and at the end of 1955, the figure was about 2.4 million.18 Some refugees were former military personnel, policemen, teachers, writers, engineers, administrators, government officials, and so forth.19 What refugees had, no matter where they came from or what professions they had previously engaged in, was no more than bundles of clothes; that was all they had. Refugees either slept on streets or clustered together in squatter areas on hillsides, dotted with hundreds of temporary shacks, which were “of a few square feet, made of beaten-out kerosene tins, old pieces of discarded match-boarding or old sacking.”20 Even Sir Alexander Grantham (governor, 1947–1957) remarked some years later: “How they managed to survive, I do not know, but somehow or other they did.”21 May 15, 1949, Caine Road “Poor children of Boys and Girls Clubs” Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] and Sister Rose Duchesne [Debrecht] visited some of the families of the poor children of our Girls Club. They found them poor enough. One home was so dark that it was almost impossible to see. It consisted of a little alcove in the corner of a room. Here the father, mother and five children lived. Two other children from the club came and brought the Sisters to their home. The Sisters were pleased to find a Catholic family here. December 17, 1949, Caine Road “Poor children” Five of the poor school children were taken by Miss Poon to an American ship for a Christmas party. Miss Poon was just late enough to see the launch with the other poor children leave the dock. Seeing


her distress an officer kindly volunteered to see that she and the children would be taken on another launch. Each child was given a royal feast and was sent back to shore with a jumping rope. The whole club of thirty girls also received a set of darts. December 22, 1949, Caine Road “Poor children receive gifts” The poor school children will look back on this day with many happy memories. First of all they presented their play before Bishop [Henry] Valtorta, . . . and several other well known social workers in the colony. After the play each child received a new shaam and foo [Cantonese words for a coat and a pair of trousers] made by one of the teachers, three yards of woolen cloth, a toy doll made by girls in the school, candy, fruit and other toy trinkets. . . . December 17, 1950, Caine Road “Poor school” Our Poor School had their Christmas party this afternoon. The youngest guest was a five day old baby, strapped to her sister’s back. She slept peacefully through the play given to the relatives of the children. Warm clothes, so generously donated by our school girls, were distributed after the play. The poor fund money was used to buy a Christmas dinner for the families. March 28, 1951, Kowloon Tong “Back to school” Back to school for the Sister teachers, and a stiff three days’ work ahead, as we remember with some trepidation that the [St. Teresa’s] parish Bazaar will be held next Sunday and we have done almost nothing in preparation. Sister Santa Maria [Manning] gave the girls a pep talk before class and by afternoon gifts for our stall[s] began to accumulate. Sister Mary Dorothy [Walsh], returned from Hong Kong, but not yet back in the classroom, will be in charge of the sorting and wrapping of the gifts, as they are brought in. She retired to the Club Room behind the stage, and by evening things had begun to look promising with an array of lovely prizes stacked on the tables. . . . During the past few days, Sisters, lay teachers, and pupils have all given much time and energy to Bazaar preparations. The weather still continues cold and threatening, so it was deemed inadvisable to decorate our stalls this afternoon, as in case of rain all


would be ruined. Instead everything was prepared and all plans made for an early start immediately after Mass tomorrow morning. . . . September 15, 1951, Caine Road “Moon Festival” Today was also the Chinese Moon Festival. It occurs on the 15th of the 8th moon [month; same Chinese character] in the Lunar Calendar. From the first day of the 8th moon tea houses are decorated with lanterns and scenes from ancient Chinese history. The shops sell moon cakes which contain sweet bean paste, ground lotus seeds, salted egg yolks and slices of ham or pork. Children particularly enjoy the day because friends present them with colored paper objects such as fish, fruits and airplanes. At night they put lighted candles inside the objects and parade on the streets. November 16, 1951, Caine Road “Gets into trouble” One of our poor children got into trouble with the police. During these days of water restriction, the poor who live in huts without any running water have to queue up and take their turn at a public water supply. So anxious are they to get the precious water for the day’s needs, that the least evidence of someone trying to get ahead will start a fight. That is what happened when this little child was thrust aside by an older woman. First, there were angry words, then a bit of shoving and pulling and a grand climax when the girl hit the woman over the head with her bucket. Both were immediately arrested by the policeman. The first thought of the child’s mother was to get the help of the Sisters to affect the child’s release. Sisters M. de Ricci [Cain] and [M.] Famula [Clements] went to the police station and the police officer said that both were at fault and the case would be tried the next day. March 13, 1952, Kowloon Tong “Relief to the poor” Long before the close of school [Maryknoll Convent School] today the poor people were milling around our gate hoping to get a bundle of old clothes. With the help of the police (twenty of them) and a goodly number of Sisters, the people with tickets were finally lined up and filed past the Procure door where each was handed a bundle of clothing. We wish the good donors in America could have seen the joy with which


their gifts were received and carried off by these poor ones who have almost nothing in the way of this world’s goods. December 20, 1952, Caine Road “Poor children celebrate” Five of the children in our Girls Club for poor children cried today when they heard they had been selected to go to a dinner with the Governor [Sir Alexander Grantham] on the occasion of the formal opening of the Club Camp at Silver Mine Bay [Lantao Island]. The reason was that they would miss the Christmas party being given here this afternoon. The Past Students gave a party today and the poor children entertained with a nativity play, songs and recitation. Afterwards they were treated by the Past Students to a meal, five pounds of rice and many little useful things as a toothbrush, soap, a wash cloth and candy. The children were thrilled. Sister M. Imelda [Sheridan] came for dinner and stayed for the entertainment. February 9, 1953, Caine Road “Robberies” Careful checking of all locks has been in order since the removal of a few bars from our first floor windows a few days ago. On Saturday we were aroused by the sound of police whistle and running feet. Since then more party robberies have occurred in the vicinity. Chinese New Year seems to be the thieves’ season for renewed activity.

Sisters’ Friends Sister Mary Famula Clements, who returned to Hong Kong in late 1945, had served in the Northeast of China before (or as called in those days, Manchuria) in the 1930s. The personnel lists show that Sister Mary Famula was assigned to Dalian (Dairen) in 1932, when Maryknoll founded its mission house there with a community of eight nuns. (Another house was opened in Fushun, with four Sisters.) In March 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manzhouguo (or Manchukuo) in the Northeast. In 1934, Sister Mary Famula moved to Fushun; the next two years, she was in Dalian. From 1937 onward, she was in Hong Kong.22 Owing to her missionary experience, Sister Mary Famula could speak and write Japanese, and


had Japanese as well as Russian friends, whom she had known in the Northeast. She managed to see some of them in Hong Kong. As the following quotations reveal, White Russians were among the refugees who fled to Hong Kong in the 1950s—they had left Russia, when the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution unfolded, and stayed in the Northeast of China, some moved to Shanghai; but with the Chinese Communist takeover after 1949, they were again on the run. White Russians were so called as they were against the Red Soviet regime; they congregated in communities in China, and were not entitled to Soviet nationality or Soviet passports.23 Although they also acquired a refugee status, White Russians fared much better than most of the Chinese from the mainland; the former continued their life as the urban middle class.24 (Chinese refugees from the countryside strived to adapt to city life in Hong Kong.) Some of the White Russians subsequently settled in Hong Kong; some traveled elsewhere. Occasionally, in the 1950s, London communicated with Hong Kong government, indicating that Hong Kong transit visas and United Kingdom entry visas could be granted to White Russian refugees. At the same time, the United Nations office was responsible for issuing traveling certificates to those without valid documents, and for ensuring White Russian refugees attained standards of medical examination. Upon failing to meet the second requirement, the United Nations would have to send them to other countries (other than England).25 Newspapers such as the China Mail and the pro-Taiwan Gongshang Ribao reported on the White Russian refugees.26 February 19, 1953, Caine Road “Friends of Sister Mary Famula” Two Japanese ladies brought the newly arrived wife and children of the recently appointed Japanese consul to call. One of the four lovely little girls is named Izumi, which means Hot Springs. She was born in Hot Springs, Virginia during the Japanese internment there in the last war. As they wanted the children to attend M.C.S. [Maryknoll Convent School], Sister [Mary] Famula [Clements] called at the school with them, but there was no room. Sister [M.] Rosalia [Kettl], however, promised to help to place them in a neighbouring school.


Mrs. Shulkevich, a friend of Sister [M.] Famula’s called to ask help for a young Russian girl married to a Swede. She is having a hard time. . . . February 26, 1953, Caine Road “A Japanese friend” Mrs. Sun, a Japanese married to a Chinese, has been taking religious instructions with Sister [M.] Famula [Clements]. Her husband, a former Headmaster of a school for deafmutes in Mukden [present-day Shenyang, Liaoning Province], kept sending questions of doctrine to Sister [M.] Famula until he finally consented to be instructed by Father [John] Campos of the Spanish Redemptorist Mission. February 27, 1953, Caine Road “White Russians” At recreation we enjoyed looking over pictures of Russian refugees now in Tientsin [Tianjin]—hoping that some country will admit them to their shores. Among these “white Russians” are some old friends of Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] who is working hard at the various consulates here in Hong Kong to get visas for them. April 7, 1953, Caine Road “Polish friends” Mrs. Yaholkovsky brought in Mrs. Solovievna from Dairen [Dalian]. Quite a group of Polish people from Dairen are here and they want to see a Polish priest. They also had messages from other Dairen people. June 28, 1953, Caine Road “The Russian in Dalian” Mrs. Yaholkovsky called on Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] this afternoon. A Russian friend of hers in Dairen [Dalian] is paralyzed and the husband is unable to support her. A friend in France has sent money to Sister [M.] Famula for the unfortunate woman. June 30, 1953, Caine Road “Mrs. Yaholkovsky” Mrs. Yaholkovsky called in the afternoon to say good-bye to Sister [M.] Famula [Clements]. They are leaving on Thursday for the States. They will join one of their sons there.


August 21, 1953, Caine Road “A poor woman” During our evening walk we were accosted by a poor woman with five children—all garbed in rags and suffering visibly from malnutrition. We gave her enough money to take care of her needs for the following day and also gave her a letter to the Family Welfare Centre which she requested. September 12, 1953, St. Teresa’s Parish “Refugee women baptized” Six refugee women together with their families were baptized today and we could not help but admire this group, who for the past six months, have made many sacrifices to come for doctrine instructions. Some of them live on the street, others victims of a recent fire are living in a temporary shelter put up by the government. We see poverty here to a pathetic degree, but at the same time a spirit that will not say die. The women, some in borrowed dresses and with a special hair-do, were nevertheless radiant in their joy as Father poured the waters and they knew themselves to belong now to the King of Kings. September 26, 1953, Caine Road “The new school building” Meeting of Past Pupils’ Association today, at which the announcement that a site on Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley [toward the north side of Hong Kong Island] has been chosen for our new [Holy Spirit] school building. If all goes well the building will be begun in the spring of 1954. The Blue Pool Road site overlooks the harbour and Happy Valley and is accessible to the Upper Peak Road. It promises a wonderful centre for Wednesday afternoon hikes. November 4, 1953, St. Teresa’s Parish “The girl detained” A very sad Catholic came to us today with a story that well illustrates the dire circumstances of some of the refugees here. Her little seven year old girl had been taken by the police for selling magazines on the street, and was now at the children’s detention home. She came asking us to guarantee them so that the child would be permitted to return home. When we reprimanded her for allowing such a small child to sell on the street, she answered that she was the oldest of five children, and as the oldest, had to help make a living, as the


father and mother together make too little money to support the family. There was no one else to help feed the family, so it had fallen to the lot of the seven year old child to go out and sell magazines and make a little money that way. In the end, Father [Carmelo] Orlando accompanied the father over to Hong Kong, and after visiting several departments, finally succeeded in getting permission for the child to see her father. . . . November 5, 1953, Caine Road “Milk for the poor children” Several 250 gallon containers of powdered milk (just arrived from the States) were delivered. Some of it is being stored in our formerly vacant garage. Some of it we will distribute among our children who are in need. Many of the 70 poor children who attend evening classes, taught by Chinese girls, are badly undernourished. We hope to prepare the milk and have them drink it here at school in order that they will make fullest possible use of it. Many of them will need to acquire a taste for it. January 23, 1954, Caine Road “Friends of different ethnicities” In the afternoon Mrs. Kovregina, a Russian woman from Dairen [Dalian], [and] a friend of Sister [M.] Famula [Clements], came to say good-bye. She is leaving for Brazil with her 80 year old mother tomorrow. Mahi Doucakis, a Greek student of Maryknoll in Dairen, came with her Danish husband from Okinawa to call. Mahi’s sister Trula is married to an English man now with the British Embassy in Oslo, Norway. Her other sister, Hikki, is in Australia, married to an Irishman—both working for an American oil company! The newly formed Japanese catechetical group—Uni No Hoshi Kai27—met here for an old-fashioned sewing-bee. They are making quilts (from samples of cloth sent us by a Dutch Firm) as their contribution to the Bishop’s [Lawrence Bianchi] drive to help the victims of the Christmas fire. February 22, 1954, Caine Road “White Russian refugees” Mr. Summers, the U.N. representative here, phoned with an unusual request. A plane, carrying 18 White Russian refugees, is due to arrive in Hong Kong. Mr. Summers wanted help on housing the


refugees for 4 days. Holland and Denmark have arranged to extend hospitality to the group, but as there will be four days between planes, their disposal in the meantime is a problem—the problem is complicated by the fact that of the 18—three are violently insane; twelve less violently insane; two tubercular, and one paralytic. Mr. Summers has been so good to us, and to anyone we recommended to the U.N.I.R.O. [United Nations International Refugee Organization] that we were glad to help him find a place that would accept his charges. We succeeded in getting two half-promises. April 29, 1954, Caine Road “The Japanese whose husband is American” Mrs. Sun and Mrs. Vance, both Japanese, visited Sister [M.] Famula [Clements], hoping to get some help in getting Mrs. Vance to America where her American husband is, although married again. She carried a letter from her son in the American Navy. But, it did not help, for the quota for this year is already full up. January 15, 1955, Caine Road “Street-sleepers” Sisters Rose Thomas [Doherty], [M.] Ann Carol [Brielmaier] and [M.] Patricia Francis [Jacobsen] visited the “street sleepers” settlement along Ladder Street. Ladder Street is really a stairway from Caine Road down toward the harbour. The first “home” visited was against an apartment building. Two bamboo poles supported the “roof,” a straw mat. The dimensions were approximately 4 feet x 6 feet and perhaps two feet high. Inside was a blanket given them from the latest U.S. shipment and one other blanket, a few stones to make a stove and a pan were outside. To enter the “house” one had to stoop low and step over an open drain. The other families visited live against a retaining wall. Some have a straw mat or rough boards for shelter; others nothing. These shelters, when such there were, were just high enough for the occupants to sleep under them. All were preparing sweet potatoes for supper as they cannot afford rice.

Life Continues The Sisters had a hectic schedule at school, with long hours and large classes, especially after war when many school-age or over school-age


youth were eager for an education. One of the quotations mentions that Chinese have a way of calculating their age, adding a year after the first Chinese New Year of the newborn. Therefore, Chinese might say they are a year older than what they really are. This contributed to confusion at school, when the age of students mattered; further confusing the situation, not described below, was that students registered younger so as to be admitted (because the war denied many the opportunity to get schooled) and they lied about their real age. Adhering to traditions and social values, Chinese cherished the education they had; this was more so for the poor, as education was the only means for their children to have a better life in the future. The diaries describe Sister M. Patricia Francis Jacobsen visiting a student of hers, whose family lived in a square cubicle of only twelve feet by twelve feet. With a large family—many siblings—but inadequate living space, the girl had failed in a number of subjects, and that was possibly why Sister decided to make a home visit. Since most of the newcomers lived in made-to-order shelters, made of paper boards, tin plates, or wooden boards, they were subject to natural disasters—typhoons, mudslides, and storms. In the 1950 and 1960s, fire in squatter areas (people lived together in shacks practically anywhere or on hillsides) was not uncommon. On Christmas Day 1953, the worst fire as yet in Hong Kong’s history broke out in Shek Kip Mei (north side of Kowloon Peninsula), spreading over three square miles and leaving behind tens of thousands of homeless people. A relief committee was immediately organized by local leaders and concerned philanthropists, who raised more than two million dollars and distributed aid to the needy.28 Long-term implications were that authorities should formulate policies for resettlement areas, draw up plans for housing, and recognize the problems of refugees. As noted below, the Sisters recorded incidents of fire in poor settlements. April 1, 1955, Kowloon Tong “Ages of students” Computing the ages of the Maryknoll Convent School students is a problem in higher mathematics, for just as they have two names, Chinese and English, so they have two birthdays, one according to the


lunar and one according to the western calendar. They seem to have no qualms about changing dates and this brings about complications. Finally when they are in the top classes they are given an ultimatum— after a certain time they must decide just which birthday they want and keep to it! . . . Checking on ages in Primary 5 today, Mrs. Vant, one of our English teachers, was mystified when one of a pair of twins told her she was 13 and the other twin held out for 14. In desperation, the teacher told the twins to get together on it and then let her know. May 21, 1955, Caine Road “Poor boys” Three little boys of a very poor family in the neighbourhood came in begging for food. They come ever so often for some other type of help but this is the first time they have asked for food. The baby was crying, for as the oldest one explained he had not had any food all day. It was already late afternoon. We gave them some powdered milk and other dry rations, along with some money to help out at home. June 6, 1955, Caine Road “A student’s home” Sister [M.] Patricia Francis [Jacobsen] visited a number of homes of her students who live in Wanchai [north side of Hong Kong Island], two of which were merely cubicles. The upper floors of these houses are reached by means of long, narrow, unlighted stairways, and the aisles between the cubicles are just as dark. The home of one Form I child who is failing several subjects is about 12 x 12. The girl has ten little brothers who not only interrupt her studying but demand more attention than the mother alone can give. There was a long Chinese bed of boards on which and under which three of the boys slumbered during the visit. The only light and ventilation came through one small, high window. October 10, 1955, Caine Road “News” Although this is the official date of celebration of the 1912 Chinese Republic, the British Government, to avoid offence to the Communist Regime, has deferred the holiday until October 17th. Word of our dear Mother Mary Joseph’s [Rogers, Foundress of Maryknoll Sisters] death came through a telephone call from Sister


Rose Victor [Mersinger] informing Sister Mary Imelda [Sheridan] that the China Mail carried the United Press report.29 October 22, 1955, Caine Road “Fire” About 3:45 p.m. one of the Sisters reported that consuming flames were evidently making rapid headway on two four-storey tenement buildings in Wah Ling Lane just below us—off Hospital Road [that branches out from Caine Road]. Sister Miriam Xavier [Mug], accompanied by Sisters Rose Thomas [Doherty], [M.] Famula [Clements] and Rose Olive [Skehan] went immediately to the scene of the disaster. Three Chinese women and one man were injured when escaping from the fire. A total of 395 people were made homeless. When the alarm sounded, frightened tenants of the whole block of buildings rushed out of their homes, carrying whatever belongings they could. While we stood in the road above the gutted buildings, the hospital attendants came to carry an injured woman away in a stretcher. As we moved among the people trying to discover which ones were “burned out”—a defective piece of hose suddenly burst and two of us narrowly escaped complete immersion. People rushed in a panic, trying to save their bundles of blankets, tools, etc., rescued from the fire, from this new threat of water. It was touching to see the tears in the eyes of these long-suffering men and women who stood bewildered—watching their few possessions go up in flames. On returning home, Sister Miriam Xavier made plans to feed and house a number of victims we had offered to help as the school children would not return to the building until Monday. Upon returning to the scene to see how things were we found all had gone to Tung Wah Hospital [within walking distance] to stay until they could make permanent arrangements for shelter. November 1, 1955, St. Teresa’s Parish “Catechumens at St. Teresa’s Church” A group of catechumens was baptized this afternoon, shortly before the evening Mass. They were all catechumens who studied on Sunday morning, which latter groups have more difficulties than the ordinary groups. Classes only once a week make the course last ten or eleven months, during which time so many changes occur in the lives of some, as moving, finding work, sickness, and so many others grow weary of the drawn-out course, that we suffer a great loss of these catechumens.


They have other drawbacks, as finding it difficult to give up two hours on Sunday morning, and thereby missing Mass frequently, not being able to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament and thus being less familiar than most with the ceremonies and behavior in church, and too, most work all week and have little time for home or entertainment save on Sunday, so that they frequently miss classes. So we were very happy when one of these groups, forty were baptized today, and we feel that makes it well worth the effort and time that is put into these Sunday morning catechumenates. November 2, 1955, St. Teresa’s Parish “Fire in nearby squatter area” A big fire in a nearby squatter area yesterday afternoon left six thousand people homeless. Many of our Catholics and catechumens live in this wooden hut district, and many were in throughout the day to tell us of the tragic loss of all their possessions. A big shipment of clothing from NCWC [National Catholic Welfare Conference] just arrived a few weeks ago, so we opened some of the bags and gave out clothing to all those who came. Most of the clothing in these shipments is very good, and also warm, so the people are very happy to receive it. November 15, 1955, Caine Road “An old woman” When Sister Rose Thomas [Doherty] was house visiting this afternoon she saw an old woman sitting on some steps by the side of the road. When Sister asked her where she lived the woman answered that the steps were her home. Sister told her to send her son up to the convent [in Maryknoll School] in the evening for one of the family food parcels which we received a few days ago from Catholic Welfare. November 17, 1955, St. Teresa’s Parish “The poor family” One of the poor school children was found crying this evening, and no persuasion would induce her to enter the classroom. We finally learned from her mother that the reason for the child’s tears was that she had had nothing to eat that day, as there was no rice in the house, only milk that we had given her several weeks ago. Further questioning revealed that this is the third time in a week that the family of father, mother, aunt, and seven children, have


missed a meal, subsisting in the meantime on milk. Father [possibly Carmelo Orlando, the parish priest] gave her money to buy rice for this evening, and we told her to come back tomorrow morning and we would get further help for her. This family was formerly very wealthy, with a large house, many servants, and several cars, but their life in Hong Kong has been extremely difficult, and we marvel most at the mother’s lack of complaining and the children’s refined behavior. One of the latter, an eleven year old girl, was told by her aunt to go to her uncle’s house: perhaps he would give her a meal, but she refused, and said she would rather stay home: she didn’t wish anyone to know they were so poor. The mother, unused to begging for help, was extremely embarrassed to accept money, but we convinced her that food for the children was more important than keeping up appearances. January 29, 1956, Caine Road “Out of China” A letter came to Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] from a Mr. Dainonoff, a 75 year old Russian refugee, asking her to come to the Shamrock Hotel [Nathan Road] to see him. She and Sister Rose Thomas [Doherty] went today. When they entered the lobby, an elderly couple came forward, so happy to see them. All they could say was “Da, da, Catholics.” They were Polish and could not speak English. Mr. Dainonoff with a Jewish man acting as interpreter came along and told them who they were. The young Jewish man is travelling under the UN but with the Jewish Association. He is on his way to Israel. After questioning him they learned that he had to abandon his wife and two children to come out while there was a chance, with the hope of getting them out later. The system is to separate families. The husband may be allowed out, or the dependents. As the Sisters left the old Polish man was sitting there with his eyes glued on the stairway waiting their reappearance. They gave him a Rosary they had with them, and he kissed their hands in European fashion. The other two men came to the doorway and waited till they were out of sight. Mr. Dainonoff will leave for Belgium where he will go to an Old Folks’ Home. Belgium and Denmark are receiving the aged and incapacitated exiles. On the way home two German Red Cross nurses passed the Sisters, then came back and said, “Pusan? Maryknoll?” They had been in Pusan [South Korea] three years and are now on the way home to Germany.


February 1, 1956, Caine Road “Russians” Sister Miriam Xavier [Mug] and Sister Rose Thomas [Doherty] went to the American Library to select more of the books and magazines being given away while Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] and Sister [M.] Patricia Francis [Jacobsen] went to the American Consulate to inquire about a stateless family of Russian descent who are trying to get an exit permit from the authorities in Dairen [Dalian]. They have a sponsor but the Consulate here must be notified of all assurances from Washington before any action can be taken. . . . February 18, 1956, Caine Road “The seventh day of Chinese New Year” This, the seventh day of the New Year, is everybody’s birthday, and though we would choose silent little candles to celebrate, our neighbours use fire-crackers. Grandma [the old woman] brought in some lai-chees with fifty cents enclosed. She also brought some fruit which she needs much more than we, but she is happy in making a gift to us. Many of the poor who come regularly for milk powder have been in with some little package of food to say “thank you” for the help. March 16, 1956, Caine Road “Russians out of Manchuria” Sister [M.] Famula [Clements] had two guests, Russian women just out of Manchuria [Northeast China]. They have visas for Brazil but one was heart-broken because her brother’s visa was withdrawn when he arrived here and was found to be underweight. Sister contacted Mr. Summers. . . . He promised to help this man and also to cable Geneva about a Russian couple still in Manchuria. They were formerly well known as a dancer and singer, both are now over sixty. They are starving and the Communists have told them they must get out, but they cannot get visas.

Kowloon Riots The Kowloon riots broke out on October 10, 1956, and continued through the 12th. Every year, Nationalist followers, who were pro-Jiang Jieshi (or Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Nationalist Party


in Taiwan), celebrated “Double Ten,” the anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which led to the founding of the Chinese Republic. Afterward, rumors spread that the riots were premeditated and were engineered by Nationalist agents in Hong Kong.30 Most of the buildings that had been under attack were owned by pro-China groups, especially those that hoisted the Communist flag on October 1, China’s National Day. In a subsequent report, the then governor Grantham denied such speculations, saying that even if rioters were Nationalist supporters, they manipulated events for their own interests rather than for any political parties. The diaries register the riots and aftermath from October 10 through October 14. Kowloon was under curfew, which was not lifted until the 14th. As noted below, the Sisters could not travel between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island; the school was closed to avoid trouble. October 11, 1956, Caine Road “Kowloon riots” Kowloon-side pupils came late. Today’s papers carried news of the riots in Kowloon all through yesterday and last night. At the end of the day news was not good and it seemed as though all Kowloon children would have to stay on this side over night, but eventually they all left. However, there is rioting still in Kowloon, and Sisters [M.] Lelia [Makra] and Marie James [Miller] who were on the Island for business were told not to return to Kowloon but to spend the night with us. All ferries have stopped running and Kowloon is under Curfew till 10 a.m. tomorrow. October 12, 1956, Caine Road “Third day of riots” Several of our teachers live on the Kowloon side and were unable to cross over. As early as breakfast time anxious mothers began phoning in to inquire about school [Maryknoll School]. Sister Miriam Xavier [Mug] phoned Mr. Yuen of Education Department to ask if we could declare a holiday. He advised no school. Our two guests had to remain with us as the Kowloon side is under curfew until further notice. They were able to keep busy as both had gone to the doctor’s office prepared to occupy themselves during a long wait.


October 13, 1956, Caine Road “No school” The Director of Education announced over the radio that there would be no school. While all is quiet in Hong Kong the troubles in Kowloon have kept many indoors and there is a noticeable absence of street noises and clutter. October 14, 1956, Caine Road “Curfew in Kowloon lifted” At 10 a.m. the curfew was lifted in Kowloon and Sister Mary Lelia [Makra] and Sister Marie James [Miller] were sent for. At the same time we were told that our planned reunion with Mother [Mary Columba Tarpey] would have to be cancelled. Instead, the Chaiwan Sisters will join us on Caine Road, and the Kowloon Sisters will get together at the Center [new convent on Waterloo Road; next to M.C.S. building]. January 1, 1958, Blue Pool Road “Catholic population” The 1958 Hong Kong Catholic Directory has some interesting numbers for the statistics-minded. Of the 2,500,000 persons in the Diocese of Hong Kong 108,587 are Catholics, with 12,119 more under instruction. The percentage of Catholics is 4.3%, a higher number than in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. There are 135 Catholic schools and colleges in the Colony with a total of 54,723 students. Of this total 26,336 are boys (8,151 Catholic; 18,185 non-Catholics). With a Faculty of 11 Sisters and 21 lay teachers-men and women, our school has an enrollment of 866 (220 Catholics; 646 non-Catholics). January 27, 1958, Blue Pool Road “Abandoned babies” The South China Morning Post carried an article stating that many more abandoned babies are being found in Hong Kong than ever before.31 These babies have been picked up from doorways and roadways, many of them suffering from malnutrition that required hospitalization. For the past few years baby boys have been found, too, a thing that had never happened before. In fact, 20% of last year’s abandoned babies were boys. In the past two years 142 babies have


been sent to America through an adoption agency; 30 babies were adopted locally and 1,835 made wards of the Government. March 9, 1958, Blue Pool Road “Sister’s friend leaving China” Mr. and Mrs. Gorman, non-Catholic friends of Sister [M.] Margaret Veronica’s [Evans] family when they all lived in Peking [Beijing] and Tientsin [Tianjin], visited Sister today. After many, many years of living in China, Mrs. Gorman is giving up his business and he and his wife will leave shortly to live in the United States. . . . April 21, 1958, Blue Pool Road “Queen’s birthday” Today, the 32nd birthday of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, was a civic and school holiday in this British Crown Colony. Sisters [M.] Ann Carol [Brielmaier] and Maryam [Teufel] went with 83 of our school girls to Kowloon to see the big parade staged in honor of the Queen. All the British, Australian and American naval units in the harbor were gaily decked in flags and at noon a 21 gun salute was fired for the Queen. Sisters [M.] Imelda [Sheridan] and Cecilia Marie [Carvalho] again joined our family. They will remain with us till after the formal dedication. September 1, 1958, Blue Pool Road “United Nations in Happy Valley!” School reopened with an enrolment of 1005 pupils, including a number of “foreigners”—that is, Americans, English, Dutch, Japanese, Vietnamese, Siamese and Indians, Indonesians, Koreans, Brazilians, French and Portuguese—United Nations in Happy Valley! [Maryknoll School had moved to Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley, and was renamed Maryknoll Sisters School.] October 10, 1958, Blue Pool Road “October 10—Double Ten” Our nearest neighbours on the right [are] employees of the big Communist Bank which is the focal point of Communism in Hong Kong. Directly opposite us and facing the Communist apartment house, a new apartment is being built. Until late last night the workmen in great glee worked on the roof of the unfinished building to prepare a Nationalist Display. This morning small flags were waving from the ends of the bamboo scaffolding all round the structure.


A huge paper flag and the Nationalist Double ten sign adorned the front of the roof. About three years ago a somewhat similar demonstration brought about a riot, but Hong Kong Government’s stitch in time seems to have been very effectual in preventing any outbreaks this year. Everyone was prepared for anything but Oct. 1 and Double Ten were alike without untoward incidents. January–December 1962, Kowloon Tong “Refugees from China” May was unique. We still do not understand what happened, and we were here to watch it. One bright morning early in the month, there arrived at our border a vast number of refugees from China. For the most part they all had Exit Permits from the Communist authorities and had been directed to come to Hong Kong. Some were old and crippled, so their being sent could be understood. They were a burden. But some were fine strapping young men, soldiers perhaps. Why had they come? Interpretations varied. Some said that because of the food shortage in China, 700 thousand had been told to come to Hong Kong. Some said the Communists had decided to take over Hong Kong, now, and in this way. Some said China wished to embarrass Hong Kong by forcing an economic problem on her [Hong Kong] which she could not handle, or alternatively, forcing her to refuse entrance to the refugees and thus show her [China’s] restless population that the door to escape was closed—and not by the Communists either. Communist border officials rigged up spotlights so that the people could negotiate the escape route safely. Obviously, a new policy was being put into effect. But Hong Kong was not warned of the change, nor could it comprehend what was behind it, nor could it afford to go along with it. Every night for about 15 nights thousands would sneak in, be rounded up by the Hong Kong Police, be given a hot meal and then sent back. Many thousands, of course, made it into the crowded areas of Hong Kong and were simply absorbed. We heard that some priests were among them, but we did not hear of any Sisters making it to safety. Families from Hong Kong went out every day to see if they could find relatives and at least give them food and clothing if they could not smuggle them back into town. January–December 1962, Kowloon Tong “Flood of refugees” There were many heartbreaking meetings during these strange 15 days. One story was told by Sister Maria Crucis [Heath] who visited


Kowloon Hospital [between Prince Edward Road and Argyle Street]. The Prison Ward was filled with [people who] attempted suicides [and they were those] who had been caught by the Police at the border. One woman, who had cut her throat when she knew she could not cross over safely, cried when she saw Sister [Maria Crucis] and would not release Sister’s hand. But no one could make out her Fukien [Fujian] dialect other than to understand that somewhere in her past she knew Sisters and knew that they were good. She was confident that Sister would help her somehow. . . . Eventually the Hong Kong authorities threw up a high barbed wire fence so that entry was made almost impossible and immediately the Communist authorities reverted to their old policy of shooting anyone trying to escape into Hong Kong. The drama was ended—temporarily, everyone prophesied, and to a certain extent they were right. It then moved to the sea. Small junks and sampans cannot carry thousands but night by night they put in at our borders and dislodged their human cargo. Some floundered on the rocks and all aboard were drowned— 30, 40. This was not for fun. They were risking their lives and knew it. But it was worth it if they could only make it. Then the boom was lowered on the sea, a special police force was established to protect us against illegal entrants and by month’s end all was quiet again. We heard that all who tried to escape and failed were punished (for trying or for failing?) that after their release from prison their ration card was confiscated so that they simply do not exist as far as food distribution is concerned. We heard that many have died on the ground near the Hong Kong border. One reliable source (China News Analysis for August 10, 1962, edited by a Jesuit Father in Hong Kong) estimated that perhaps 50 million more would have to die of starvation before China can fight her way out of the terrible collapse of her economy brought on by mistakes made in planning by the Communist government . . . .

Remarks In postwar years, the Maryknoll Sisters were gradually reestablishing themselves in Hong Kong after a period of absence of almost three years. They reopened their two schools on Boundary Street and Caine Road; the intake of students reflected the yearning for education and the quality teaching of the Sisters. In the late 1940s, Maryknoll sent missioners again to overseas missions; some were


stationed in Hong Kong while others headed for Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces. Until 1952, when Maryknoll Sisters left the new China, under Communist control, they still had dreams for missions in the mainland; after all, China was the center of attention of Maryknoll since it was established early in the twentieth century. However, with their departure from China in the early 1950s, Maryknoll Sisters who had served in China and learned the dialects, arrived in Hong Kong together with hundreds of thousands of newcomers and refugees from the mainland. The previous missionary experience of Maryknoll Sisters (in villages in China) could be of use, but now in a different setting. In fact, the needs of the poor and refugees in Hong Kong were more urgent and were countless, as these people had no jobs, no money, no food, no shelter, and lost all they had in China. In the 1950s and 1960s, Maryknoll Sisters, like other religious groups in Hong Kong, played an important role in providing education, relief, social services, and welfare to what was then a fundamentally immigrant society. The Maryknoll Sisters, whether they were originally assigned to Hong Kong or had left mission in China for the colony, were expanding services to the local community, not only concentrating on religious services, but expanding significantly on secular activities as well. Walking every step with the people they served, the Maryknoll Sisters were responding to the needs of society, adapting to changing circumstances, and offering whatever assistance was required along the way. Because of their background as foreign missioners, the Sisters had contacts with people of different classes, nationalities, and sectors (government, church, schools, and poor settlements). As the diaries in this chapter demonstrate, the Sisters responded to problems of Chinese refugees, White Russians, Europeans, Japanese, fire victims, poor children, and families of students, and such others. Their diaries were accounts of an assortment of different people and their life; indeed, their records were indicative of the multifacetedness of Hong Kong society.


Chapter Eight Re se t t l e me n t Ar e as i n t h e 1 9 5 0 s an d t h e 1 9 6 0 s

Resettlement Areas By the end of 1955, a decade after the Second World War, Hong Kong had a population of about 2.4 million.1 As elaborated in the Hong Kong Annual Report 1955, most of the residents (99 percent) were Chinese, the majority from neighboring Guangdong Province; Hong Kong was a youthful society, as a good number of refugees were young people seeking new opportunities in the colony. The British (excluding servicemen and families, about 13,000) constituted the majority of the 1 percent of foreign population; others included Americans (about 1,800), Europeans, and Asians. The Maryknoll Sisters, forty-four of them in 1955, made up 2.4 percent of the American population in Hong Kong. Like newcomers from mainland China, the Maryknoll Sisters (whether they had been in Hong Kong before the war or were just starting out) found themselves in a bustling urban life, full of different daily challenges and with multiple problems, yet offering fresh opportunities for those who dared to try and to succeed. As described in the Hong Kong Annual Report 1955—“Hong Kong residents, as they saw 1955 out, called it an ordinary year. Hong Kong’s definition of the word ‘ordinary’, however, needs examination. . . . Development and change, on a scale which visitors usually consider remarkable, tend to be regarded in the Colony itself as commonplace.”2 It was commonly said that if one left Hong Kong even for a short while, the place would have already changed beyond recognition on his or her return. New resettlement areas were opening up, new housing estates were erected, new facilities were created, the economy was expanding, the construction of


the Kai Tak Airport runway (into Kowloon Bay) was underway, and Hong Kong was face-lifted now and then. The government administered the first census after the Second World War in 1961 and recorded a population of more than 3.1 million.3 Within just a few years, the Hong Kong population had passed beyond the 3 million mark. The government felt the population pressure, which became a constant factor affecting its policies and spending. Since the early 1950s, the government set up rules governing the resettlement areas, attempting to put them under proper management, and to ensure stability and order in the localities. In the resettlement areas, the poor lived in wooden shacks, luckier ones were put in stone cottages (Maryknoll Sisters were instrumental in starting the scheme in Tung Tau Tsuen and King’s Park), and subsequently, some people could move into the seven-story blocks built by the government. In 1952, the Urban Council of the Hong Kong government outlined The Emergency (Resettlement Areas) Regulations, stating that people required a permit before erecting any structures in the areas.4 Gradually, resettlement areas developed into small communities, self-sufficient in providing basic daily needs, as the government could allocate land “for use as a fire lane, open space, domestic structure, school, clinic, community centre, shop, workshop or factory or for any other purpose which it may consider necessary.”5 The chief resettlement officer was responsible for keeping a record of residents in the resettlement areas. The Shek Kip Mei fire on Christmas Day 1953 and the fires in 1954 provoked the government into establishing the Department of Resettlement and the post of commissioner for resettlement. In 1954, the government constructed permanent six-story blocks for rehousing squatters and fire victims.6 This chapter contains quotations from diaries written by Sisters serving in Tung Tau Tsuen, King’s Park, Kowloon Tsai, Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin (on Kowloon side), and Chai Wan (on Hong Kong side). The diaries were written in the 1950s and 1960s;7 the Sisters set up convents (or houses) in these areas at different times.

Tung Tau Tsuen Tung Tau Tsuen (or Tung Tau Village, tsuen is the Cantonese word for village) had about 78,000 people in 1950; a devastating fire there in

resettlement areas / 173

November 1951 left about 1,700 people homeless.8 Tung Tau Tsuen literally means the village on the eastern side, and in those days, it was about a twenty-minute walk from the Maryknoll convent in Kowloon Tong. As shown in a 1947 map, Tung Tau Tsuen was north of the Kowloon City area (which lay north of the converging point of Boundary Street and Prince Edward Road) and was close to the New Kowloon Cemetery.9 In a 1966 map, Tung Tau Tsuen was bounded on the eastern side by a nullah, and by Choi Hung Road running north to the nearby Wong Tai Sin resettlement area.10 When the fire broke out in November 1951, Tung Tau Tsuen was a squatter area where its residents (the squatters) lived in huts (clustered together) on the hillsides. The immediate task was the resettlement of fire victims in Tung Tau Tsuen and in other places. The Social Welfare Officer was in charge of registering fire victims, and a solution to the tragedy was to allow the squatters to “re-squat” in the area.11 Subsequently, Maryknoll Sisters erected stone cottages in Tung Tau Tsuen for some of the families. As recorded in the diaries, squatters came from different parts of China, some speaking Guoyu (or contemporary usage, Putonghua), and some from the Guangdong Province, speaking the dialects Cantonese (Guangdonghua), Kejiahua (Hakka), and Shantouhua (Swatonese). The Sisters also provided accounts of the Kowloon Riots of October 10–12, 1956 (discussed in chapter 7), and of the conflicts between Nationalist (Taiwan) and Communist sympathizers in the colony. Another area of contention, mentioned in the diaries, was the Kowloon Walled City, south of Tung Tau Tsuen, regarded by the British as their territory but claimed by the Chinese government (since the Qing period) as under Chinese jurisdiction. For long, the Hong Kong government assumed negligible responsibilities in order to avoid diplomatic troubles, while Chinese authorities (the Beijing government and the Taiwan government) did nothing about the area except proclaiming their rights when necessary.12 December 18, 1952 “Tung Tau Tsuen” Sister Mary Imelda [Sheridan] and Sister [M.] Joan Catherine [O’Hagan] went to consult with Mr. [ James Tinker] Wakefield, in charge of refugee resettlement areas, about the possibility of obtaining


ground to build a residence for the two Sisters working with the refugee women in ToungT’eou [Tung Tau]. Mr. Wakefield was very kind and said that when the school Father [Howard D.] Trube is building in the village is almost completed he will do his best to give us a piece of land for a convent. We may see him again regarding this in about six weeks. December 21, 1952 “School for refugee children” Sisters attended Sunday Masses at the village and returned again to the village after breakfast in company with Sisters [M.] Imelda [Sheridan], [M.] Christella [Furey] and [M.] Edward Marmion [Wilson] to witness the laying of the cornerstone for the school being erected in Toung T’eou [Tung Tau]. The school is being named in memory of Bishop [Francis X.] Ford and the cornerstone bears his name in Chinese and English and the quotation “Greater love than this no man hath, etc.” in Chinese characters. Father [Thomas J.] Malone, M.M. officiated at the ceremony and gave a short talk in Cantonese after the stone was put in place. February 7, 1953 “Children catechumens” Sister M. Doretta [Leonard] is busily preparing her small school children for First Holy Communion. By the use of charts, holy pictures and other visual aids Sister keeps the little ones’ interest in the doctrine class. Earnest faces follow her as she brings the mysteries of the faith to them in the language that they know. A short talk was given the children the other day on how to examine their conscience and a few practical ways were suggested to them on how to improve their conduct for the next day. As Sister was giving her lesson she noticed one little fellow with chin in hands busy with his own thought, she asked him what he was thinking of. “I am revising my conscience,” said he! July 27, 1953 “The Mandarin (Guoyu) speaking woman” A mandarin [Guoyu] speaking woman came to our mission room today to arrange for religious instruction for several of her children. A little chat with her brought out the fact that she is a Catholic married outside the church and that none of her six children are baptized.


She is anxious to have the children baptized and asked when she and her husband could go to see Father about having their marriage rectified. . . . We signed the older children up for First Communion Class to start on August 3rd and told the woman to come to Mass on Sunday and meet the Mandarin speaking priest—Father Tu, newly ordained Fushun [Northeast China] priest who is helping out at Toung T’eou [Tung Tau] until he can get entrance into Formosa [Taiwan]. March 13, 1954 “The Cantonese woman” A Cantonese woman [from Guangdong Province] with six children registered. She has long wanted to study the doctrine and so today was blessed with the courage to register. Vong Siet Yn visited. She has been dangerously ill from hemorrhaging and spent seven weeks in the hospital. She had a two weeks[’] stay in a hospital in Hong Kong, but no help was given her and she was sent home to die. We heard about her condition and could not obtain help from the Mission as the charity fund was extinct, so Sister [M.] Rosalia [Kettl] helped us get her into St. Teresa’s hospital [Prince Edward Road] where she was operated on and is now in very good condition. We gave her some vitamins and blood tonic to build up some of what she lost in the past months. Siet Yn and her family are very grateful, but we think the two small children are the most grateful of all as they clung to their mother all the while she was visiting. March, 14, 1954 “The Hakka (Kejia) women” After Hakka [Kejia] women’s Sunday school the people stayed and visited. They have many questions to ask as they do not understand the Sunday announcements. There are two Mandarin [Guoyu] speaking sermons and one in Cantonese. They were happy to know that there will be Stations of the Cross each Friday evening. August 30, 1954 “Typhoon” Many of the surrounding houses had their roofs blown off in the recent typhoon. Some of the wooden huts are completely demolished, and most of the people who live in wooden huts have everything they own wet and dirty from the heavy rains and winds.


However, all are cheerful and did not about their misery. They brought in little gifts to Sr. [M.] Ignatia [McNally], a few oranges, a few crackers, etc. Mrs. Ma brought in her new born baby to show Sister. It is only four days old and Sister seemed to detect oncoming Jaundice, although the mother did not seem to be aware of it. Sister asked the mother to bring the baby in again tomorrow, and gave the mother some vitamins, proteins and iron to see if the nourishment would go to the infant. December 4, 1954 “A one-room shack” Kong Soo, a poor refugee, lost all her possessions in a fire two years ago. She has been living in one of the government cottages but has been unable to pay the monthly rent. Finally the government gave her four small wooden beams and land in “bamboo gardens” to put up a wooden shack. The husband has been unable to get together enough money to buy the necessary boards and roofing. Since they were given only two weeks to build or else leave they asked Sister [M. Ignatia McNally] for help. Sister was able to help them with charity money enough to buy the necessary materials to build a one room shack. So this poor family will not have to live on the street. December 16, 1954 “The convent in Tung Tau Tsuen” The long awaited day has arrived and we moved over bag and baggage into the new Convent here [Tung Tau Tsuen] near our work. Sisters have been commuting for two long years from the Kowloon Tong Convent [Waterloo Road] to our refugee center each day and now at long last the convent is a reality. However, the water supply which delayed our moving for such a long time awaiting P.W.D. [Public Works Department] approval, gives us no water. The water mains are too narrow and pressure is lacking to send water up the hill. The water supply is on from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. during which time the entire village is drawing from the public faucets on the street that when it is 8:00 and the water supply is closed we get the few remaining drops left in the pipes, amounting to about one bucket full. . . . January 19–22, 1955 “Relief supplies” The distribution of 25,000 packages began today and continued for four days. Sister [M.] Ignatia [McNally] collected the tickets which


were a different color for each day and Sister Maria Petra [Cazale] handed out the bags to contain the food. It was the happiest queue we had ever seen and although it was miles long each day, no one seemed to mind waiting their turn. Sister [M.] Ignatia took the tickets from poor, poor, poor all day long, beggars, street sleepers, lepers and all our ordinary people who live in the area. . . . March 14, 1955 “Mobile clinic” The Government mobile clinic entered Tung Tau this morning and is parked on the main road where everyone may go for injections against typhoid, cholera, diphtheria, etc. Several nurses give the injections while a gentleman instructs the people through a loud speaker, how to take care of reactions. All injections are given free. With no rain for months and the hot weather coming we are glad to see the precautions being taken, although many people already have typhoid. June 24, 1955 “The missing child” Today while Mrs. Chai was at the market for twenty minutes she returned to find her two year old son missing. . . . Some children are carried into Macao on the backs of passengers with gold or other illegal articles bandaged onto their little bodies, for the interior of China. Everyone prayed while searching, but the child could not be found. While Mrs. Chai was at the police station late in the P.M. the little boy was carried in by a policeman. He had come out of a theatre in the arms of a man and when the man discovered that the child was recognized he dropped the little fellow and ran in the midst of the crowd, so that he was not traced. Mrs.Chai had a very good recent picture of her little son and all the police on their beats had a picture of the child in their pockets. Mrs. Chai took a resolution that her son goes piggy-back to market with her from now on. November 18, 1955 “Fire victims” Right after dinner we started out with a group of Catholics to the Kowloon Mortuary [Waterloo Road] to pray for the soul of Ng Kwan Tai. . . . The skeleton was burnt black and we could not recognize our dear little lady. . . . One look at the crisp black skeleton was enough proof for us, but custom is custom, we guess.


Sister [M.] Ignatia [McNally] tried to put a rosary on the hand, but the hand had fallen off so Sister entwined it around the skeleton arm. . . . Ng Kwan Tai was a healthy woman up until the hour of the fire. She had gotten out of the house and fell in the path outside, overcome by smoke and the heat. She could not hear the noise as she was so deaf. Her sudden death left an impression on everyone and the black skeleton left even a deeper one. Sister Rose Victor [Mersinger] sent over some mattresses for the fire victims which they were very happy to receive. December 1, 1955 “The gang” The Resettlement Officer in charge of this district along with his two assistants were replaced today. The water situation here has been a problem and it seems that the officers in charge permitted the main water outlets to be supervised by secret societies who demanded pay for each bucket of water. Those who could pay were able to get city water, but those who were poorer had to get their water quite far away from the mountain streams. There were two policemen at each public faucet this evening and the officers used the loud speaking system at the Church to announce the great change in four different dialects. We are afraid for Mr. Sit our new officer, as the “Black Society” who go around the village beating up and killing people have threatened his life. No one dares to report the members as they are the revengeful kind. . . . January 1, 1956 “Murder” In this area there was very little celebration of the New Year as the people still hold to the Lunar New Year. In the evening a man was killed and lay in a pool of blood on the main road. No one dared to tell the police who committed the murder as this section is controlled by the Black Society who get even with any who report on them. Traffic was held up for several hours until the police and ambulance came to manage the situation. . . . March 1, 1956 “The abandoned child” Ng Fung Kiu brought in her one week old baby and asked Sister [M. Ignatia McNally] to help her put it in an orphanage. The father is


an opium smoker and only comes home occasionally. Ng Fung Kiu has to work in order to support herself and her other three children. Fr. [Howard D.] Trube wrote a letter to Precious Blood Orphanage asking the Sisters there to take the baby because of the mother’s circumstances. Sister [at the Orphanage] could not accept the baby without the father’s signature as many times when a husband and wife have had a quarrel and the father won’t help support the family for a few days, the mother takes the child to the orphanage because she wants to go out and work. A week or two later the quarrel is forgotten and the father wants the child so returns to the orphanage and demands the baby back. Sister said that because this has happened so often in the past and has caused them so much trouble that they have made a ruling that before any baby is accepted both parents must sign their approval and that they will not return for the baby. Since the husband has not been home for over a month Sister promised the mother that as soon as he did return and was willing to thumb print the signature she would then take the baby in. April 26, 1956 “Drought” We distributed powdered milk to non-Catholics today. Because of the lack of rain there is a scarcity of water and since the reservoirs have not been as low from 1929 until this month water will be rationed for three hours every other day. We thank God for the few mountain streams around us so that the people can get their laundry done. There is a strong prayer campaign for rain, and everyone feels it will come soon. October 10, 1956 “Double Ten” Double Ten and 45[th] anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Republic. The village was lavishly decorated with Chinese Nationalist flags and bamboo constructions colorfully decorated with paper flowers, lights, flags, etc. October 11–15, 1956 “Riots” We [M. Ignatia McNally and Maria Petra Cazale] heard of the riots that took place in Kowloon yesterday but did not think much of them as everything was calm and peaceful in our area. By 4:00 P.M.


Sister Mary Imelda [Sheridan] sent word with Sisters Rose Victor [Mersinger] and [M.] Dorothy [Walsh] that we should return with them to the Center House [new convent on Waterloo Road, completed in 1953, adjacent to Maryknoll Convent School] for the night as the riots were spreading. We remained at the Center House for four days, during which time curfew was imposed. We celebrated St. Teresa’s day at the Center House. October 16, 1956 “Intruders” We returned to our Convent [Tung Tau Tsuen] this morning since all is peaceful again. We found the government office next door to the Catechumenate quarters with broken windows, and the furniture and records thrown all over the place. Several Communist factories were attacked and two people were killed in the vicinity. Our cook told us that the night we left for Kowloontong a gang of eight men came knocking at the Convent gate. When they found it locked they began to take the fence apart with pliers. Our newly installed emergency bell saved the cook and the whole Convent from being looted. A few minutes after the cook rang the bell, which is connected with the rectory, several Catholic men came down to find the group of well dressed men busily preparing a place in the fence to enter and exit. They were able to disperse the young men without any force, but a half hour later they returned and the cook pressed the bell once more. The Catholic men came to find out the trouble. The group wanted to know why the convent wasn’t flying a Nationalist flag. The men told them that this was a Convent for Catholic Sisters, at which time one of the men showed his Nationalist identity card and the group were satisfied, saying that in that case they were all friends. The group were strangers in this area and they perhaps thought our convent to be a factory hostel and since there are several Communist factories here, they may have thought the place to be connected with them. Night classes were discontinued for the week as the streets are lonesome for our catechumens returning home at 9:00 P.M. March 31, 1958 “The ‘walled city’ ” Chan Yeung Shing who owns a house in Sai Tau Village within the “walled city” [south of Tung Tau Tsuen] came to tell us that she is


moving to Kowloon City Road with her son. She has been threatened by the “Black Society” because she will not give them the amount of money they wish each month. These bad people pretend to protect residents of these small villages within the “walled city” which does not belong to H.K. and where the H.K. police do not go. Because of this, this section is full of opium dens, heroin dens, and dope traffic of all kinds, also full of other bad houses, but still there are quite a few old houses in among the bad ones where good people live. When the lease was given on H.K. to the British Government, this small section of Kowloon was held for China and neither the Reds nor the Nationalists do anything about it now. The Nationalists wanted to tear down all the old dirty buildings and make a public park, but the Red Regime says—“keep hands off ” as there is much money going through these tiny black alleys in the opium, gold, etc. traffic from inland China to other parts of the world. We are glad another of our Catholics is out of this section, but we still have many more there. . . .

King’s Park King’s Park underwent considerable changes after the war. In response to the question regarding development of King’s Park, the Chairman of the Urban Council said (in 1964), “For the purposes of this question, I would propose to define King’s Park as that area bounded by Waterloo Road, Nathan Road, Gascoigne Road and the [Kowloon-Canton] Railway Track, although I have noticed that in the report of the 1950 Advisory Committee on Recreation Grounds, the definition included the area south of this, down to Austin Road.”13 Thus, King’s Park was redefined, in the early 1960s, to include an area smaller than what it was in the 1950s. While working in King’s Park, the Maryknoll Sisters also served people in the adjacent Homantin resettlement area. In the early 1960s, Nairn Road, which stretched northward (in the middle of King’s Park and Homantin resettlement areas) to the intersection of Waterloo Road and Argyle Street, was widened to become a major route, connecting Chatham Road to areas north of King’s Park and Homantin, and to Kowloon Tong. By the second half of the 1960s, Nairn Road was renamed Princess Margaret Road, and residents in the area settled in public housing elsewhere. The headline of the South China Morning


Post (October 23, 1964) reads, “Homantin Squatters Start Move to New Homes.” According to the article, “mass resettlement of 10,000 squatter and cottage dwellers in Homantin” took place the day before when 2,500 residents moved into the resettlement blocks near Wong Tai Sin.14 In this section, quotations are mainly about distribution of relief supplies in King’s Park and Homantin. Relief work was a priority and the most important item on the Maryknoll Sisters’ agenda in the 1950s, to respond to the immediate needs of the refugees. Some of the donations were from the National Catholic Welfare Conference, which was established by the bishops in the United States.15 The Maryknoll Sisters also organized cottage industries on the first floor of their King’s Park Social Welfare Center, to help women of neighboring families earn a living through embroidery work and the making of handicrafts.16 December 20, 1952 “ ‘Adopt a Family’ plan” We received ten “packages” from Catholic Welfare [National Catholic Welfare Conference, founded by bishops in the United States] this afternoon for distribution. They are the donations of folks in America under the “Adopt a Family” plan. They are substantial in size and contain rice, beans, oil and salted duck eggs. We were requested to dispose of them quickly to our most deserving families— with so many needy families this will present no problem! December 23, 1952 “Christmas for poor children” Today was busy buying rice, dried pork, salted duck eggs, cookies and candy for the Christmas distribution. In the evening the girls gave a very nice Christmas play which ended with a very effective Nativity scene. With no advertising at all, the hall was nicely filled and every one seemed to enter right into the spirit of the play. Our call at the Catholic Welfare office today was providential as it coincided with the visit of an American Naval Officer who was asking for some poor children to be taken out to his ship for a Christmas party. We were happy to promise the 25 children he could accommodate. We had just completed these arrangements when Father [A.] O’Hara S.J. asked if we could provide forty more for another ship. Again we


were happy to have this opportunity for the poor children of our “parish.” December 25, 1952 “Christmas” Two Masses at 7:30 and 8:30 began the day. Then Sister [M.] Madeleine Sophie [Karlon] and Sister Margaret Marie [Jung] chaperoned one group of children to the American Navy boat and the other group went with lay chaperones. As soon as the two groups of children were on their way the distribution of food and clothes parcels was begun. Several men, . . . supervised the distribution and in spite of the numbers everything was very orderly. About two hundred adults received parcels and the children received candy. In the afternoon the children returned from the American boats, loaded down with fruit, candy and toys and thrilled with their experiences. We had Christmas dinner with our Kowloontong Sisters. February 2, 1953 “Clothes for the poor” Later in the morning, the long awaited consignment of old clothing from N.C.W.C. [National Catholic Welfare Conference] arrived, but the men were hard put to it to carry the 95 bales into our hall, as it was raining heavily and the road outside was a hill of slippery mud. In the afternoon, Sister Antonia Maria [Guerrieri] started a squad of workers sorting it into bundles. We will probably have enough to supply over a thousand people. Sister contacted the Social Welfare Office to ask if the recent fire victims would need any of these clothes, but the answer was that their needs were all supplied. The poor will be delighted to get the clothing at this time as the weather is cold and since it is close to Chinese New Year, they will have some good clothes to wear. February 4, 1953 “Distribution of clothes” After breakfast, we were out in the village, going from house to house giving out the tickets for the clothes distribution. We had entrance into many homes that we had not visited before, about 250 of them. Rita, one of our helpers, took the upper section of the village of about 100 homes and distributed tickets there. It was the first day of the Chinese Spring season and in many of the houses, they were lighting joss and candles before the spirit shrines. We now have


an opening wedge in these homes for further contact for conversion. At the distribution at 11 o’clock, everything went very orderly except for some friendly pushing and shoving in their eagerness to get their bundles. We gave out the clothes according to the number on each ticket, which was a considerable help. February 5, 1953 “Another day of distribution” Another day of bundling the used clothing from America for distribution to the poor. If folks in America could see the eagerness with which these people receive a bundle of clothes and put it to use, they would feel well repaid for the sacrifices they have made in giving them and sending them to us. By the time we had the 30 odd bales opened and packaged, we noticed groups of people gathering in front of the [King’s Park Social Welfare] Center. Originally, we had planned the distribution for tomorrow, but we feared there might be some trouble and disturbance, so we sent the girls out with tickets to distribute in Homantin Village, fixing the distribution for 5 o’clock. By 3 o’clock, they were already gathering in big numbers and were getting noisy. With the aid of several of our Catholic men, we got the people to form in line and the distribution was over in 45 minutes. Some 400 packages were given out this time. . . . February 6, 1953 “Distribution continues” The distribution of clothes still continues. Mr. Liu gave out 370 tickets in another section of Homantin Village. Promptly at 10 o’clock, we began to give out the bundles and continued on until 11:15. Many had no tickets and they added to the noise and confusion by clamoring for one. . . . The 95 bales of clothing supplied over a thousand families, or roughly about 3,000 people. The area covered was only a few city blocks in width—a very small part of Homantin Village which has some 30,000 people living in that one district alone. Distribution was made, of course, in other big parishes and refugee centers of Hong Kong. The clothes that folks in America consider worn or used, are like brand new clothing to these poor people, and there were many happy faces when they saw the big bundles of warm, well-made clothing. These were 45 distribution centers, mostly in the refugee areas, so it looks as though the refugees will be among the best dressed people of Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.


February 18, 1956 “Cottage industry” A high-power electric sewing machine was installed today. It boasts of 5,500 stitches per minute! The other power machines we have here can do about 2,400 only. No one is yet assigned to the high power machine; not until they have learned to run the slower one. . . . March 13, 1956 “The sewing group” The sewing group was divided into four parts. The best sewers will work for Dynasty Company. 20 foot pedal machines arrived, making a total of 40 machines altogether in our hall. . . . March 14, 1956 “Rice donations” Twenty bags of rice were donated by the Burmese Gov’t [Government] and arrived today for distribution. Each bag contains about 160 pounds each. . . . July 10, 1956 “Rice delivered” A phone call told us that the rice would be delivered today! The rice! All in the area knew we were to receive this rice—2000 bags of 100 lbs. each—through NCWC [National Catholic Welfare Conference]. We began moving things to make room for storage and no one needed to be asked twice to help. Sister Moira [Riehl] came home from the vacation house as Sister and her helpers had all plans made for a swift and orderly distribution. As truck after truck unloaded, our other various works shifted from their places. The foot-pedal sewing machines and the embroidery department moved upstairs to a temporarily unused catechumenate room. The Welfare Office just cleared itself out leaving a small file case in the corner for reference. In each of the rooms 100 lbs on 100 lbs were piled from floor to ceiling. We admired the strength, the patience and the good humour of the men unloading these bags from the trucks. July 11, 1956 “Rice distribution” With the cooperation of District Officers, notices were posted at strategic points throughout the area, telling all the method of


distribution and the day on which each district should come for rice. Sister’s [Moira Riehl] list of needy covered 5,143 families. Each bag would be given to three of these families, leaving enough over for others who had not yet registered but were in need of help. They would be taken care of later. Distribution began and the order and smoothness of the work promised well for the days to follow. In school, 300 little children were examined for First grade and another group for middle grades.

Chai Wan Chai Wan is on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island. At the beginning of the 1950s, it was a remote and undeveloped area, where there were no basic facilities such as electricity and water, and not even

Figure 8.1 Sister Mary Diggins (M. John Karen) in Chai Wan c. 1958. Source: Sisters Photo Collection, Maryknoll Mission Archives.


roads. Chai Wan literally means firewood bay; since refugees lived in shacks on the hillsides (see figure 8.1), Chai Wan referred to the area enclosing the bay and the settlements on hills running toward the waters and overlooking the sea traffic. When the Maryknoll Sisters, together with the refugees, moved into Chai Wan, they were the earliest settlers there after the war. Nevertheless, like the rest of Hong Kong, Chai Wan was swiftly changing its image, resettlement blocks were built, transportation to adjacent areas was improved, and land was reclaimed for development. Chai Wan had been a young community, and as time passed, with chiefly working-class families. As the following quotations illustrate, typical of a resettlement area, people living in huts there were subject to tragedies (e.g. typhoon) and were in need of relief supplies and welfare services. September 19, 1953 “Typhoon” Lots of mopping up to do this morning due to the typhoon which has just about blown itself out. Windows, doors and roofs let in an abundance of rain into all of the classrooms and the auditorium. The final reports on the refugees’ huts were that twenty were completely demolished and two hundred were damaged in one way or another. The government sent out hot food to the families that are living in the former school property. September 20, 1953 “Aftermath” In spite of the damaged inflicted on the people by the typhoon Friday evening we were pleasantly surprised by the goodly attendance at both Masses this morning. Father [Stephen B.] Edmonds is helping the people as best he can with buying paper and boards they need to start repair work on their homes. They wish to get started quickly in case another one comes. September 21, 1953 “Damage done” In visiting some of the damaged areas this morning the Sisters were surprised to note that it was not the old huts that fell beneath the onslaught, but that many of the new homes fell, due it seems, to the masons having mixed more sand than concrete in making the cement mixture.


September 23, 1953 “Miracle” In the course of the mornings visiting Sister [M.] John Karen [Diggins] came across a mother with her new baby living in a tumbled-down shack from Friday’s typhoon. The baby was born during the typhoon and if it survives it will be a miracle. This family and the neighboring one were promised that the assistance of Father [Stephen B.] Edmonds in re-building their homes would be sought. October 1, 1953 “Communist flags” Flags flying for the Communists were not in evidence here in this settlement where many of the people have suffered at the hands of the Communists, but when Sister [M.] John Karen [Diggins] was in the center of town this morning she noted many of the business places flying them. October 16, 1953 “Parachute” Having been discussing the Communists last evening the Sisters enjoyed a bit of excitement today when it was discovered that a parachute had appeared on the convent roof. The resettlement officer and the police were notified while one of the Sisters kept a sharp lookout that no one made off with the material. Crowds gathered to observe from a safe distance and we were finally relieved when the police arrived. It seems that the royal observatory drops these parachutes . . . to register the weather and ours arrived without anyone noticing it. By returning it to the observatory we are to be the recipients of ten Hong Kong dollars. November 7, 1953 “Mrs. Nixon” The big event of the day was the visit of Mrs. [Richard] Nixon, wife of the Vice-president to Chai Wan school. It had been Mr. Nixon’s plan to come but due to something unforeseen Mrs. Nixon came instead. Only twelve minutes were allotted to Chai Wan but during that time each child received a piece of hard candy from either Mrs. Nixon or the wife of the Vice-consul here, Mrs. [Julian] Harrington.


April 26, 1954 “Resettlement” Thirty families who have been living in tunnels and caves for the past four years were the recipients of lovely new homes put up by the Catholic Relief organization under Father [Paul J.] Duchesne[’s] guidance. Many reporters and photographers were around taking pictures while the people moved their meager possessions from the temporary wooden hut they have been living in to the new home. Each house is by itself and all painted various hues of pastel colors so that they look like doll houses dotting the hillside. January 4, 1956 “Butter distributed” Butter was distributed to all the people in Chai Wan today, each person receiving a quarter of a pound. The Legion of Mary men kindly offered their services, and with the help of a few policemen good order was kept. The people are very happy to receive this as it makes up for so much that is lacking in their own diet. March 1, 1956 “Colgate” The Colgate Toothpaste Company came out today and distributed to each of the school children a sample tube of their product; pictures were taken of the children at play and at study. In conclusion the students were asked to take part in a drawing contest, the winner to receive a grand prize—needless to say this last attraction drew from the little ones many oh’s and ah’s. June 15, 1956 “Rice distributed” Word came through from Catholic Welfare Office that 45,000 bags of rice will be shipped to HongKong during July for distribution. It was suggested that fifteen pounds be distributed to the poorer families in each area over a period of time. Lists are being prepared of the most desperate cases so that the people will receive this help as soon as it arrives.


September 6, 1956 “Flour distributed” Flour was distributed to the families in the first section today, and will continue here until Saturday. The amount given to each family varies in proportion to the size and numbers in each. . . . September 2, 1958 “Clothing” Fourteen boxes of clothing have arrived from America, donated by friends. We called some of our Catholic women in to help sort the articles in preparation for distributing them to the needy. October 30, 1958 “Clothing and blankets” We received ten bales of clothing from CRS [Catholic Relief Services], so two of our women sorted the clothing and bundled it then at both dismissals, A.M. & P.M. We gave a bundle to each child in our school. Some blankets were tucked into the bales, these were given to the very poor and needy families.

The 1960s: King’s Park, Kowloon Tsai, Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin, and Chai Wan Looking at a map of Kowloon (e.g. a 1964 map), one tries to locate Maryknoll Convent School at the corner of Waterloo Road and Boundary Street (and the adjacent convent on Waterloo Road) in Kowloon Tong.17 Walking a few blocks along Boundary Street to the east, and then walking north for five to ten minutes, one reaches Kowloon Tsai. Tung Tau Tsuen and Kowloon City are east of Kowloon Tsai, and from Tung Tau Tsuen, Choi Hung Road leads in a northeast direction to Wong Tai Sin. Maryknoll mission activities stretched from Kowloon Tong to nearby areas in the eastern and northeastern directions. These areas were on the eastern flank of Kowloon Peninsula, edging the grounds of Kai Tak Airport. As the airport runway extends into the waters of Kowloon Bay, it points toward Kwun Tong (a working-class district) on the eastern side of the bay. At the turn of the 1960s, Maryknoll Sisters began work in Wong Tai Sin (setting up a


hospital there) and Kwun Tong (running two schools for children in resettlement estates). March 1961 to March 1962, Chai Wan “Uplift in spirit” Chai Wan, a resettlement area on Hongkong island has seen many changes over the years. Even its physical appearance has changed as giant government projects have reclaimed land from the sea on which to resettle the teeming crowds of Chinese refugees still pouring out of China. So large areas, which were formerly ocean now house a little city in itself of some 25,000 people settled in what are known as Multi-story estates, consisting of seven stories high, which in mission jargon have become known to us as “Seven Story Mountains.” This little city seems to have almost everything needed for the daily living of its people such as shops, schools, restaurants, barber shops, etc. etc. and even a bus terminus from which buses leave every ten minutes for points over our hillside. However, the people must still find work outside of Chai Wan, as the few factories in the area employ very few, and the majority must seek their livelihood elsewhere. Currently, a new government project is building a road along the sea coast as far as Shaukiwan [Shau Kei Wan, toward east side of Hong Kong Island], to relieve the congestion of cars and traffic on the one and only road entrance to Chai Wan. In addition to the Multi-story estates is the cottage area housing another 13,000 refugees. This section comprises one or two room houses fitted into neat rows on the hillsides. Many are now stone cottages replacing the former wooden huts which were the first homes the refugees knew after leaving China, most of which were constructed by themselves from pieces of tin and board, and leaned precariously over stony crags, subject to every hazard of fire, typhoon and flood. The first stone cottages were built by the church, and were followed by other charitable organizations so that now more than half of the area now boasts these stronger and serviceable little cottages. The greatest change, however, is in the people themselves. They have come through a period of great poverty, stress and mental adjustment to a precarious and fitful existence. Although there is still unemployment or periods of temporary employment for many, and long factory hours with poor pay, on the whole, there is a feeling that


they have successfully integrated themselves into the life of Hongkong, and with every member working on the problem of livelihood, there is a feeling of hope and of vigor. With their children being educated albeit with much stress and strain on the purse of struggling families, there is confidence in the future or at least an attempt along these lines. . . . March 1961–March 1962, Kwun Tong “Resettlement” There are several types of refugee settlements in Hong Kong—the picturesque squalid huts, made of scrounged wood, oil cans flattened out, bits of cloth etc.—whatever can be found that will hold together. Many are mere lean-to’s, but wherever the eye lights in Hong Kong these huts are to be seen nestling in groups in hollows of the mountainsides. The Chinese are perhaps the world’s most gregarious people and where two or three are gathered together they will in no time grow to several thousand. And when fires break out in these crowded, unsanitary settlements, there is always tragedy. There is no possibility of salvaging anything or of fighting the fires. So Government has tried many means of coping with the situation. Kwun Tong is one of these means. The greater part of Hong Kong’s territory is rugged hillsides, precipitous mountains and small barren islands. Reclaiming the land from the sea has proved to be the best answer to the lack of space for the 3,000,000 refugees that have poured into Hong Kong from the People’s Paradise. Kwun Tong, as late as 1961 was the official dump. Modern flushing conveniences are comparatively new to most of Hong Kong, and this part of the colony seemed far removed from living people, and for years was used as the dumping ground for the city’s refuse. To meet the need for living space, Government decided that ninety acres would be prepared for 500,000 people and for an industrial area. Site formation was carried out, and is being carried out by the simple expedient of excavating the hillsides and dumping the spoil into the seas. When completed there will be a series of Estates. Two are already completed. One called the Garden Estates—because each of the seven storey blocks in it bears the name of a flower—Peony, Violet, Pansy, Orchid, Lily etc. The other is simply “Resettlement Estates”—24 huge blocks of concrete tenements, grey inside and out with no gilding of the lily. . . .


April 1, 1962–March 31, 1963, King’s Park “Early 1960s” The people here are gradually being resettled to other areas, and in two moves this year we have lost some 13,000 people. Added to last year’s moves, so far 20,000 have been resettled, however, we still have 30,000 to serve. When we moved here ten years ago, there was but a narrow muddy hillside path leading to Church. A few years later it was widened into a narrow automobile road, and now because of the automobile age, and Hong Kong boasts of 65,000 different types of vehicles, the once mountain path is being constructed into a dual carriageway (four lanes). Besides, new roads are being opened through four hills around us, anything and everything in the way must be demolished. This section which has housed refugees for more than ten years is very convenient as it is very near the business and shopping districts, so all refugees are being moved to the resettlement estates. . . . It is said that this area will be converted into a fashionable residential area, which means that in three years all the poor people will have been resettled to government built flats. Our noodle factory was one of the buildings that was in the way so [it] was demolished, but government rebuilt it nearer to our school. . . . In May hundreds of refugees crossed the hills from Communist China to Hong Kong into freedom. When the influx couldn’t be handled, tighter restrictions were enforced and many of those caught were accompanied back across the border. To be asked for a glass of water is a very uncommon thing. But twice in one week Sister Maria Petra [Cazale] was approached by young men passing by. The first time Sister was rather suspicious since it was in the evening. When Sister asked why he was thirsty, the nineteen year old boy answered that he had been walking for eight days. He and his sister had travelled at night, as not to be detected, over the mountains of China from their village to win freedom. When they finally arrived in Kowloon [and] New Territories the girl fell and hurt her leg, was befriended, while the brother continued to Kowloon by foot, six to eight hours, and wanted to continue on to find his uncle who lived another two hours away by bus. When the young man asked how long it would take him to walk Sister gave him travel money and food since he hadn’t eaten in days. He was afraid his tattered clothes would give him away, so he travelled by way of the Kowloon hills and back streets.


April 1, 1962–April 1, 1963, Wong Tai Sin “Typhoon Wanda” We had great plans for Opening Day at Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital’s In-patient section [September 1, 1962], but these plans did not include Typhoon Wanda that struck in the wee hours and brought us hundreds of startled, injured, rain-soaked and homeless victims of its ravages in the Shatin [Pass Road] and Wong Tai Sin area. With the help of two lay nurses, one amah and one orderly we mopped up typhoon waters throughout the building. . . . The people [some of the homeless] remained with us only two nights, then all found a place to stay, either going back to their homes or getting hospitality from a friend or relative, if their huts were completely demolished. We were able to resume the out-patient clinic again and many of the nearby people came for dressings, fevers, etc. Our first In-patient arrived September 3rd, one of Wanda’s victims, whose deep head laceration had become infected. . . . Thus began the constant flow of hospital patients which has grown to include almost every named disease, or at least so it seems. In the true spirit of the Orient which gives priority to the boys, we had the delivery of our first baby—a boy, named Peaceful Cloud. He was quickly joined by other newborn companions, again mostly boys. Of the first eight deliveries, seven were boy babies; only one girl. This is supposed to be a good omen for the girl represents the moon with seven stars about her! . . . February 1964–March 1965, Kowloon Tsai “Hope amid problems” Despite the difficulties and problems facing us all, as the year 1964 ends families on a whole have had much good fortune, looking at the material side of life. Salaries have increased, work is not as difficult to find, and there are more places in schools and more hospital beds for acute cases compared to the shortage a few years ago. But there are still real problems. For the young, life is nothing but noise and confusion. For the teen-ager, life is study but only for material gain. For the parents, life is still the endless struggle. . . . In America, civilization is aimed at making life easier; in Kowloontsai and we can say the whole of Hong Kong, it is aimed at making life possible. . . . March 1965–June 1966, Kwun Tong “The working class” Kwun Tong is a factory or workshop district outskirting Kowloontong. It is quite a little world of its own. We have our own


shopping district, markets, and all the conveniences one could possibly want. One could spend their life here without any actual need outside the compounds of Kwun Tong. We even have our own entertainment world. Each night around 7:30 p.m. a group arrives and sets up their lanterns for the coming entertainment of music, play acting and feats of strength. We have box seats from our apartment. In actual area, Kwun Tong is one quarter by one half square miles. It is made up of various strata of society, from the poorest who live in the squatter area villages to the higher middle class who live in the Yuet Wa Gaai [Yuet Wah Street] area. In between are all the variety of wealth and class that one can imagine. April 1, 1965–March 31, 1966, Wong Tai Sin “Hong Kong hospitals” Until the refugees came in large numbers to Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital [Pokfulam] stood as the one large hospital in the Colony, operated by the Government. Another smaller government hospital was located on this side of the harbor, and three or four other privately owned hospitals were scattered throughout the city. Since our hospital was completed in 1961 about eight more privately owned hospitals have sprung up, some of them to care for the refugees, as we are. Periodically the administrators of some of these hospitals used to meet casually, but not until May, 1965 did they get together as an organized group to discuss mutual plans for care of the sick, share problems, ideas and methods. From the first, Government has shown a keen interest in these meetings as well as voluntary groups, both Protestant and Catholic. On October 7th [1965] the third meeting of the group was held here at [Our Lady of ] Maryknoll Hospital, and it proved to be a very ecumenical affair indeed. . . .

Remarks After the Second World War, the Hong Kong population quickly increased to millions; within twenty years, Hong Kong grew from a refugee society in need of various types of relief, to a burgeoning working-class economy, with factories opening up, people (both men and women) having better opportunities for employment, children receiving education, and gradually, the society being more hopeful of its future. Nevertheless, Hong Kong was always affected by happenings in mainland China; this was particularly true in 1962 when for


a few weeks, Chinese Communist authorities relaxed border control, and tens of thousands of refugees flooded into Hong Kong from Guangdong Province. Those who were critical of the Chinese Communist regime suspected that the sudden change of policy resulted from food shortages and social unrest in the interior.18 The influx of people came to a halt when the China side re-exerted controls along the border.19 By the end of 1962, the Hong Kong population exceeded 3.5 million.20 When the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution broke out in China in 1966, Hong Kong fell under the influence of the revolutionary tide. Riots broke out, the society was burdened with the chaotic situation, disturbances were seen in the streets, incidents of suspected bombs were reported, and subsequently, former Red Guards (teenagers) began fleeing to Hong Kong. As in the past, Hong Kong had survived many challenges—the strikes in the 1920s, economic depressions, the disquiet atmosphere in China in the 1930s, Japanese invasion in the 1940s, the pressure of refugees after the Second World War, the demands of resettlement areas in the 1950s and 1960s, and the unstable political climate in China beginning in the early 1960s. Hong Kong would endure the difficult and trying times of the 1960s and 1970s and would advance toward becoming a world class city. Together with the local people, the Maryknoll Sisters faced unusual circumstances in the different periods of Hong Kong history; in the process, the nuns learned to be useful to and supportive of the Chinese, whom these women had come to serve since the 1920s.

Chapter Nine Conclusion

The Diaries From the time of their arrival in 1921, the Maryknoll Sisters were dependable and diligent in keeping their records; they kept diaries in every house in Hong Kong. The diaries detail the progression of Hong Kong society from the 1920s through the mid-1960s and are exceptional in portraying the people, street scenes, some of the local customs, problems, events, and historical happenings. From the Sisters’ accounts, readers will recognize the various stages of Hong Kong’s development: the growth of its economy, the formation of the labor movement, the influence of international circumstances, Hong Kong’s advances in education, social facilities, and public housing after the Second World War. At the same time, the diaries are extremely rare in that they provide insights into the adaptation of an American missionary community in a foreign land (most of the Maryknoll Sisters who have come to Hong Kong have been Americans). What should be noted is that the Maryknoll Congregation was young (established in the United States in 1912; received Rome’s approval as a religious congregation in 1920) when it sent its first missioners abroad in 1921. This pioneering group of six nuns reached Hong Kong and set up the first overseas house of the Maryknoll Sisters there in November 1921. So, not only do the diaries reveal the evolution of Hong Kong, as a modern Chinese city mostly in the first half of the twentieth century, the writings also chronicle the trials and experience of a Catholic Sisters’ mission, from its early years to its maturity. The diaries should prove to be sought-after materials for those studying modern Hong Kong


history, and for those interested in the development of a new mission, and in the fundamentals of missionary life in a faraway land. The Maryknoll Sisters’ diaries have not been released in any form before—this fact alone gives tremendous value to this book. It is quite unique that the Maryknoll Congregation continued the practice of writing diaries in foreign fields, for such a long period of time, and that the diaries are still so well preserved in the Maryknoll Mission Archives. Researchers are eager to find such information and to publish it as soon as possible, because of its rarity and its historical significance. The publication of this book is like showing priceless antiques to the public, for the very first time, in an exhibit in the museum. The diaries are from a single source—the Maryknoll Sisters. At present, two-thirds of the Maryknoll Sisters come from the United States, while one-third of them are from other countries. In Hong Kong, they accepted their first non-American members— Chinese and Portuguese. Most of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong have been Americans, while some of them have also been Canadians, Portuguese, Chinese, and Filipinas. The Maryknoll Sisters embrace many distinct characteristics, which are seldom found (coexisting) in any other groups—Americans but Catholics, mainly Americans but living in a predominantly Chinese society, women but not housewives, mainly Americans but speaking another foreign language, and so forth. The diaries represent their mixed identities and speak from their perspectives as Americans (most of them), missioners, women, and professionals. Although the Sisters belonged to one congregation, they had diverse concerns that are reflected in their accounts. This concluding chapter attempts to sum up three issues. Firstly, it highlights the various stages of Hong Kong history, as revealed in the diaries. It offers an analysis of Hong Kong society (throughout the decades), its development, and its changes. Secondly, this chapter discusses the experience of cross-cultural relations, as illuminated by the stories of these women missioners. It mentions the problems that the women faced (as missioners and professionals), their difficulties, and how they adapted to the changing situations. Thirdly, it points out the significance, the academic value of the diaries, as well as the contribution of this book.

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Different Stages of Hong Kong History The Maryknoll Sisters arrived in Hong Kong in November 1921, three years after the conclusion of the First World War. The aftermath of the war was the decline in world trade, unavoidably affecting the colony. As the 1920s unfolded, Hong Kong was in a stage of seeming contradictions, that of “depression amid development.” On the one hand, Hong Kong was dependent on its trade in rice, cotton, other foods, and raw materials; on the other, it was developing its industries and manufacturing enterprises. As the diaries describe, remote areas were opening up, hills were being cut down, and roads were being widened and extended. All these relied on hard manual labor—poor laborers “chopped away” the hills, removed the soil in tiny baskets, and dumped the clay into ponds and gardens. In the 1920s, the government was going to develop Kowloon Tong, at the far end of the Kowloon Peninsula, into a new residential area. To profit from industrialization while at the same time to forestall malpractices, the Hong Kong government investigated the labor situation, especially with regard to women and children, in the early 1920s. The 1920s witnessed rising labor consciousness, social unrest, strikes, and labor movements across China and in Hong Kong. As a trading port, visited by ocean liners and vessels, Hong Kong experienced its first major strike in 1922, and local seamen were staging protests and receiving support from the mainland, the neighboring Guangdong Province to be exact. Hong Kong had been under the impact of modern industrialization, and the working class was the first to react. The colony was not alone; China was under the same fate. As the diaries record, the strike quickly spread from seamen, to coolies, amahs, cooks, waiters, and such others. Things did not fare better in the 1930s, which were under the gloom of the 1929 Great Depression. Hong Kong people struggled hard to earn a living; every bit of income counted. Adding to the economic problems was the Japanese aggression on the mainland—the incident on September 18, 1931, in the northeast of China, led to the subsequent establishment of a Japanese puppet government there. Rumors were that the Japanese forces would soon take over other parts of China as well. In the 1930s, “internal problems and external threats” beset


Hong Kong, which was under the influence of world events beyond the control of the local people. Nevertheless, as the diaries show, life still went on—Hong Kong was the hub for travelers, who traveled to and from Guangdong Province by the Kowloon-Canton Railway, the nearby Chinese provinces by steamers, across the Pacific by ocean liners, and even to other parts of Asia and Europe by air. On July 7, 1937, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. The worst fears had come true; Japan began its massive invasion of the Chinese mainland. The Japanese forces invaded cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing: the Rape of Nanjing remains the most notorious incident of the entire war. In China, there were hundreds of thousands of refugees; Hong Kong also experienced an exodus of people from the interior. In 1937, Hong Kong’s population was slightly over 1 million. By 1941, the number had increased dramatically to that of more than 1.6 million. Although the colony remained “free” until December 1941, it was already suffering from the impact of the continuing hostilities on the mainland. Problems such as the lack of accommodation for the refugees, the spread of diseases, and the shortage of facilities emerged. From the outbreak of the war to the eve of the Japanese invasion of the colony in December 1941, Hong Kong was in a stage of “war preparations”—emergency drills, blackouts, and evacuations. The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began on Christmas Day 1941 when the British surrendered. This period of military rule, terror, and subjugation lasted until August 1945. In the diaries, the Sisters traced the events from the onslaught of the Japanese invasion on December 8, 1941 to the departure of their last remaining nuns in January 1943. During the first few days of attack, Hong Kong suffered exceedingly from air raids, and people rushed to shelter once the siren blew. The docks, boats, and oil tanks were targets of bombing. With the noise of gunfire and explosions, the atmosphere was daunting. Local Chinese were involved in looting in various localities; chaos was everywhere. Those were the depressing scenes as British forces withdrew from the Kowloon Peninsula. The enemy was getting nearer and nearer. By December 12, the Japanese ruled over Kowloon; it did not take long for them to seize Hong Kong Island as well.

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The Japanese were searching places, interrogating suspects, and maintaining strict control over Hong Kong. The colony had lost its past excitement and glamor. Even during the early months of occupation, it was in ruins. As the diaries describe, buildings were gutted by flames, trees were burnt, and people had abandoned their homes. The Japanese interned the foreigners, imprisoned the British soldiers, and left the sick and the wounded without adequate medical care. In order to consolidate their control, the Japanese removed and painted over English signs and renamed the streets and shops. They taught Japanese in schools and spread propaganda about the benevolence of their rule. In those days, scarcity was the norm and inflation was high. As the Sisters remarked, the population was quickly declining— people left or were expelled; those who remained lost precious time, children were without education, and people were without a sense of direction. Those under Japanese occupation lived in fear, anxiety, and experienced psychological breakdown. After the end of the Second World War, Hong Kong was under the military administration of the British. Instantaneously, Hong Kong was receiving floods of refugees from China—from about half a million people at the time of the Japanese surrender, the population tripled to 1.55 million in 1946 and expanded further to 2.36 million in 1950. In the decade after the war, Hong Kong seemed to have entered a stage of “re-creation,” the majority of its people were newcomers with no roots and no knowledge of the place; they came to settle, and had no idea what would befall them. These new arrivals had not yet considered Hong Kong their home; most of them could only care about their immediate problems—finding somewhere to stay, food, and means of surviving. Nevertheless, they would set up their families in Hong Kong; they tried every means to earn money and contributed to the new industries. The newcomers and their offspring would rebuild and develop Hong Kong; together, they formed the core of the postwar colonial society and remade its culture. Many people erected temporary wooden shacks on any available land. Soon, Hong Kong’s hillsides were decorated with hundreds and thousands of squatter huts; these people were pioneers in areas where there were initially no roads, no electricity, and very few inhabitants. The squatter areas were prone to fire (as the shacks were made of tin


plates and boarding), typhoons, and rain storms. During this period, fires frequently broke out in the poor areas. The people were victims of mishaps and poverty. As the diaries record, in 1956, the Kowloon Riots broke out, indicative of the political discord and social tensions of the time. By the mid-1950s, Hong Kong had a population of about 2.4 million; development was everywhere. In 1961, the population was over 3.1 million. Hong Kong was in a stage of “growth, development, and change,” as public housing expanded, new resettlement areas came into existence, and people had adapted to the hustle and bustle of the city. In the areas they served, the Sisters noted down the opening of schools for refugee children, church activities, cottage industries, and welfare services. All members of the household worked (both parents had full-time or part-time jobs), the Sisters organized women into sewing groups to earn extra income, and even children helped with take-home tasks. Within a short time, the areas were rapidly changing. Rather barren and remote in the early 1950s, Chai Wan, for example, was remarkably different a decade later in the early 1960s. Chai Wan benefited from reclamation, opening up of new roads, bus routes, public housing policies and became a well-supported community. Working-class communities were blossoming in the resettlement areas; Kwun Tong (an industrial area and a working-class neighborhood) was an example. Experience of Cross-Cultural Relations When the Maryknoll Sisters arrived in Hong Kong in 1921, they belonged to the minority of foreigners in the basically Chinese society. Chinese have made up over 90 percent of the local population; other groups, for example, the British, Europeans, Americans, Japanese, and Indians, have been minorities throughout Hong Kong’s history. As Sister Mary Paul McKenna, leader of the pioneer group, recalled almost sixty years later, the Chinese in the neighborhood referred to them as the “six American Sisters” (when they settled near Rosary Church in Tsimshatsui) and considered them “curiosities.” Having seen and worked with foreigners before, Hong Kong Chinese were rather “sophisticated” as Mary Paul described, but still needed time to

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realize the facts that “Americans might not be rich,” Americans “were also Catholics,” and were then sending their “missionary Sisters” to China. Of course, local Chinese “let the nuns go their own way”; to gain recognition and trust in society, the Maryknoll Sisters surely had a long way to go. Before their arrival, the Maryknoll Sisters had not thought of starting a mission in Hong Kong. China was the dream of foreign missioners, Catholics and Protestants alike, at that time. Although the nuns had planned to join the Maryknoll Fathers in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province, they ended up in the British colony. A year later, the Maryknoll Sisters began their work inYangjiang; nevertheless, the need to study the Chinese language and culture before heading to China was so great that a permanent house in Hong Kong, on the doorstep of the interior, was necessary. Besides, the house in Hong Kong would serve as a “procure” for missioners in China. Having established themselves as a community in Hong Kong, their next step was to decide on the mission plans for the future. As a minority in society, and with their small numbers in the early years, the Maryknoll Sisters took time to find the right way. They had to make themselves useful to the place and to prove their value. By the end of the 1920s, they had drawn up a long-term plan, namely to focus on their secondary schools and to make a name in education. Adaptation was the key word, in describing their long history in Hong Kong. The nuns have become part of the local society. Since the very beginning, the Sisters admitted their ignorance of the local situations, and that they had a great deal to learn. This proved the right attitude and was essential, as they had already embarked on their lifelong journey overseas. The congregation had no plans for the American Sisters to return home (until 1946). Shortly after they arrived in Hong Kong, the Sisters met an Englishman, who asked them “the number of years before furlough.” He was “speechless” when he heard that they could never go back and was so much overcome by the answer that he offered them free medical service. In the diaries, the Sisters mention a train-ride to Guangzhou city and remark that they felt “alone and very ignorant.” While the Sisters were talking about their trip to the mainland, the phrase was an apt description of their early mission years in Hong Kong. As they


would agree, humility was a “must” in cross-cultural relations, especially in a faraway land that stood in stark contrast to their own country. In a foreign place, every event, every person, and every scene seems special and memorable. And unlike one’s hometown, it is not so easy to take things for granted. Any happening that seemed to be ordinary now became a significant occasion to the nuns. In the diaries, the Sisters described their first Christmas on Chinese soil, the High Mass, the singing, and the faces of the local people. As they stressed—“all seemed like a dream!” The nuns had had so many Christmases and Masses before, but this very first one in Hong Kong was the most cherished. To the missioners, the mission field had become their second home. They lived there, studied there, preached there, and died there. In December 1921, only one month after they settled in Hong Kong, the Sisters paid tribute to the late cofounder of Maryknoll Fathers, Thomas Frederick Price. Happy Valley Cemetery, where they went, was also the final resting place for Catholic priests and nuns. The Maryknoll Sisters came across different people in different settings. Many of the Sisters were teachers, and the Sisters remembered how Chinese parents treasured education for their children. In those early days, with very few chances of tertiary education, students studied extremely hard for university entrance exams. According to the nuns, it was a “Chinese custom” for students to stay up late studying, whether they knew their subject matter or not. In Hong Kong, the American Sisters spent their Thanksgiving in classrooms; it was not a holiday. Instead, in the diaries, the Sisters mentioned the Chinese people wearing new clothes during the Chinese New Year—children were in their best outfits and collected red packets in visits to relatives and friends of the family. To be part of the festive occasion, the Sisters went to the village, watched a dragon dance, and shared the fun. Living with the Chinese, the nuns had come to identify with the Chinese way of life, festivals, and customs. Even today, the Maryknoll Sisters—(most of them are Americans; some are Filipinas and Chinese) after their long service in Hong Kong, returned to their center in Ossining, New York—celebrate the Chinese New Year, cook Chinese food, and enjoy the company of Chinese visitors. Their stories and experience in

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Hong Kong continue in the missioners themselves, in their subsequent missions elsewhere, in their service back home, and in retirement. The Sisters who worked in the poor neighborhoods recorded the many fires that broke out. Some of the fire victims were their catechumens, who had had very little to start with; they were then left with nothing and were eager to grab any old clothing that people were kind enough to give them. The Sisters visited poor families on hillsides, squatters living in made-to-order shelters, street-sleepers, and the elderly in old folks’ homes. In the 1950s, refugees from the mainland were not only Chinese but belonged to other ethnic groups as well. As elaborated in the diaries, White Russians and the Polish were among those who fled from China. The nuns also mentioned the British officials, the European clergy, the United Nations representative, American servicemen, and others. Indeed, their days in Hong Kong were full of cross-cultural experience and exchanges. Contribution of this Book The materials in this book are from a single source, from a group of women missioners in Hong Kong (most of them Americans). Being American and nuns at the same time, the Maryknoll Sisters were a minority group in the Chinese society. This has always been the case; there are some statistics to illustrate the situation by the end of the 1960s. In 1969, Hong Kong had 4 million people, but there were only about 4,800 Americans above the age of sixteen (0.12 percent of the population).1 That year, there were 761 Sisters, belonging to 22 congregations, in Hong Kong; Chinese took up over one-half of that total number of nuns. Other communities were (in a descending order of their sizes) the Italians, Americans, French, Canadians, Irish, Filipinas, Portuguese, and Belgians.2 In 1969, there were seventy-two Maryknoll Sisters in the place—most of them were Americans; several were non-Americans, namely Canadians, Portuguese, Chinese, and Filipinas.3 However, the Maryknoll Sisters have been a significant minority. The Sisters have become a household name in Hong Kong; the public have recognized their contribution in education, social services, and medical work. People who read my book The Maryknoll Sisters in


Hong Kong, 1921–1969 (published in 2004) found it amazing that the nuns had achieved so much, and that their number in Hong Kong was at most eighty-six in 1965.4 There have been many studies on the Hong Kong Chinese society, but there is still much demand for research and publications on foreign minorities in the place. My edited volume, Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s (published in 2005), is a collection of essays on different foreign groups—the British, Europeans, Americans, Germans, Japanese, and Indians. In the above volume, I write about the Catholic community in Hong Kong, and another contributor discusses the American “China hands” (the U.S. consulate establishment) after the Second World War.5 The present book on the Maryknoll diaries should prove a further contribution to the study of ethnic minorities. It will further enrich our understanding of the minority Catholics in a predominantly Chinese society, and of the American community in Hong Kong. This book also contributes to the history of cross-cultural relations. The materials describe the adaptation mostly of the American women to an exotic society, and to a foreign culture. At the beginning, the Sisters were ignorant of the place, the people, the language, customs, and most of the things. Gradually, they learned the traditional practices, spoke the Cantonese dialect, read Chinese books, and became members of the Hong Kong community. Studies on Christian missioners have stressed their adaptation to foreign fields; this book fits very well with the current research interest. The Maryknoll Sisters were not the only ones who were adaptable and versatile, but the Catholic Church had also been responsive to local situations, needs, and changes. As a foreigners’ church, the Catholic Church had to be adaptable to circumstances, to be useful to the Hong Kong society, and thus to win the acceptance of the local people. In my essay (on the Catholic Church in Hong Kong) mentioned above, I write: “Recent scholarship stresses the evolution of missionary work, Catholic and Protestant alike, in foreign fields. In the process of adaptation and adjustment, missionaries put growing emphasis on secular activities, such as education, medical care, and social welfare, as a means to create contact and to make an impact on society.”6 This had been the case of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong

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since the second half of the nineteenth century and was particularly so in the post–Second World War decades, when demands in society were overwhelming. What the Maryknoll Sisters had achieved—in education, welfare, social services, medical service—was also reflective of the work of the Catholic Church of the time, and of the importance of secular activities in the Church’s history. Typical of the Hong Kong situation, “secular activities, rather than religious teachings, were the missionaries’ most useful tool in establishing themselves in local communities.”7 This book would further contribute to our knowledge of the Catholic Church in a foreign setting. This book also contributes to women’s studies. The diaries reveal the life, emotions, problems, and difficulties mostly of the American Sisters. Moreover, the Sisters were exceptional as they were professionals (teachers, doctors, nurses, and social workers) and had received a high level of education (at least a college degree). Even at the end of the 1960s, it was not easy for a person to go to university in Hong Kong, not to mention that Chinese families believed that boys rather than girls should receive more education! The Maryknoll Sisters were truly forerunners in twentieth-century Hong Kong women’s history. The diaries have not been published before; it is absolutely rare to have this kind of material available. This book is a precious collection of primary sources. As I have mentioned in chapter 1 (“Introduction”), the Maryknoll Sisters reached out to different sectors in society. The Sisters secured help for the poor; increasingly, the less unfortunate were ready to approach the nuns because of their “missionary” status (despite the fact they were foreigners). Local people came to realize that it was the responsibility of the Catholic Sisters to offer assistance to the needy. While an ordinary Chinese would not come up to a foreigner on the street, s/he might do so if it was a priest, a Sister, or a Brother. At the same time, the Maryknoll Sisters had contacts with the well-to-do in Hong Kong society because of the Church connection. The better-off often chose to donate money or material goods through the Sisters or the Church. Therefore, the diaries record the Sisters’ impression of the different people they met; the Sisters were truly able to transcend the class barriers and provided a dynamic picture of


Hong Kong society, which consisted of people speaking different dialects and languages, from various backgrounds, and of different occupations. In the diaries, the Sisters talked about the women laborers, the working class, children, government officials, soldiers, foreign friends, and so forth. The contents of the diaries reveal the progress and evolution of Hong Kong society.

Notes

Chapter One

Introduction

1. Steve Tsang, ed., Government and Politics (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1995); David Faure, ed., Society (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1997); David Faure and Lee Pui-tak, eds., Economy (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004); and David Faure, Colonialism and the Hong Kong Mentality (Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 2003). 2. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), book jacket.

Chapter Two

The 1920s, People and Weather

1. R. L. Jarman, ed., Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports 1841–1941, Archive ed., Vol. 4: 1920–1930 (Farnham Common, 1996), p. 26. 2. Ibid., p. 27. 3. S. G. Davis, Hong Kong in Its Geographical Setting (London: Collins, 1949), p. 215. 4. Vicariatus Apostolicus Hongkong, Prospectus Generalis Operis Missionalis; Status Animarum, Folder 2, Box 10: Reports, Statistics and Related Correspondence (1969), Accumulative and Comparative Statistics (1842–1963), Section I, Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, Hong Kong. 5. Unless otherwise stated, quotations in this chapter are from Folders 1–5, Box 32 (Kowloon Diaries), Diaries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 6. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 21, 28, 48 (Table 3.2).

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7. Ibid., p. 163 (Appendix I: Statistics on Maryknoll Sisters Who Were in Hong Kong from 1921 to 2004). 8. Jean-Paul Wiest, Maryknoll in China: A History, 1918–1955 (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1988), p. 400. 9. Sister Mary Paul McKenna (Hong Kong) to Mother Mary Joseph Rogers (Maryknoll Sisters’ Motherhouse, New York), November 3, 1921, 4 pages, Folder 1, Box 1, Regional Correspondence: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives. Also read Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 21–23. 10. Sister Mary Paul McKenna, interview by Sister Joanna Chan, April 21, 1980, p. 10; and April 24, 1980, pp. 13, 14, Maryknoll China History Project, Oral Histories-Typed Transcripts, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 11. Winifred A. Wood, A Brief History of Hongkong (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1940), p. 264. 12. Jarman, ed., Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports 1841–1941, Vol. 4, p. 57. 13. Ibid., pp. 60–62. 14. G. B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, rev. ed. (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 285–86. 15. Wood, A Brief History of Hongkong, pp. 275–76. 16. The words “tones” and “teach” are underlined in the original text. “Saam tim pun” is “san dian ban” in Pinyin. 17. “Tin shi po yow” is “Tian zhu bao you” in Pinyin. The Sisters were inaccurate in using “shi,” which does not correspond with the Cantonese pronunciation (“ju” might be a better choice). 18. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, p. 285. 19. Chen Yongfa, Zhongguo Gongchan geming qishinian (The Seventy Years of the Chinese Communist Revolution), rev. ed., Vol. 1 (Taibei [Taipei]: Lianjing chubanshiye gongsi, 2001), pp. 173–74. 20. Chen Xin and Guo Zhikun, eds., Xianggang quanjilu (Illustrated Chronicle of Hong Kong), Vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1997–1998), p. 168. 21. Carl T. Smith, “The First Child Labour Law in Hong Kong,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 28 (1988), pp. 65–68; Wood, A Brief History of Hongkong, pp. 275–76; Chen and Guo, eds., Xianggang quanjilu, Vol. 1, p. 166. 22. Chen, Zhongguo Gongzhan geming qishinian, rev. ed., Vol. 1, pp. 177, 179–80. 23. The Sisters might be referring to Hok Un on the eastern side of Kowloon Peninsula, the area where the present-day Hok Yuen Street is.

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24. The phrase “in uniform” is underlined in the original text. 25. Jarman, ed., Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports 1841–1941, Vol. 4, p. 51. 26. Ibid., pp. 87, 171, 210, 250. 27. Ibid., p. 284. 28. Ibid., p. 320. 29. The Field Afar, December 1925, p. 337, Folder 2, Box 2, South China Region: Hong Kong/Macau Region, 1921–, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 30. “Empress of Asia” are printed in italics in the original text. 31. Italics added. Missa Cantata is the Latin term for a “sung Mass.” 32. Italics added. 33. Italics added.

Chapter Three The 1930s, Schools, Visitors, and Visits 1. David Faure, ed., Society (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1997), p. 181. 2. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, “The Chinese Communists, Hong Kong, and the Sino-Japanese War,”American Journal of Chinese Studies Vol. 7, No. 2 (October 2000), p. 140. 3. Ibid., pp. 133–35, 140. 4. Quotations in this chapter are from: Folder 1, Box 31 (Hong Kong Diaries); Folders 7–9, Box 32 (Kowloon Diaries), Diaries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 5. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 48 (Table 3.2); Personnel, 1937, p. 6, Folder 2, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 6. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, p. 163 (Appendix I: Statistics on Maryknoll Sisters Who Were in Hong Kong from 1921 to 2004). 7. Sister Mary Paul McKenna, Interview by Sister Joanna Chan, April 24, 1980, pp. 16, 17, Maryknoll China History Project, Oral HistoriesTyped Transcripts, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 8. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 36, 37, 39. 9. E. Burney, M.C., Report on Education in Hong Kong (London: Crown Agents for the Colonies for Government of Hong Kong, 1935), pp. 8–9. 10. Ibid., p. 10.

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11. Sister M. Rosalie Weber, Interview by Sister Joanna Chan, July 31, 1981, p. 3, Maryknoll China History Project, Oral Histories-Typed Transcripts, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 12. Caroline Plüss, “Migrants from India and Their Relations with British and Chinese Residents,” in Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s, Cindy Yik-yi Chu, ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 156. 13. The cats were “recruited” for catching rats. 14. R. L. Jarman, ed., Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports 1841–1941, Archive ed., Vol. 5: 1931–1939 (Farnham Common, 1996), pp. 138–39. 15. Ibid., p. 164. 16. Chen Xin and Guo Zhikun, eds., Xianggang quanjilu (Illustrated Chronicle of Hong Kong), Vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1997–1998), p. 210. 17. G. B. Endacott and A. Hinton, Fragrant Harbour: A Short History of Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1962; reprint, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977), p. 123. 18. Ibid., p. 124; Chen and Guo, eds., Xianggang quanjilu, Vol. 1, pp. 207, 209. 19. Italics added. Missa Cantata is the Latin term for a “sung Mass.” 20. Sister Candida Maria Basto was Portuguese from Macau. 21. Italics added. 22. Hal Empson, Mapping Hong Kong: A Historical Atlas (Hong Kong: Government Information Services, 1992), p. 183, Plates 4–6 (1937). 23. Personnel, 1934, p. 6, Folder 2, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 24. Personnel, 1935, pp. 6–7, Folder 2, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 25. Italics added. 26. Italics added. 27. Personnel, 1937, p. 6, Folder 2, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 28. S.J. stands for Societas Iesu/Jesu (Latin for the Society of Jesus). 29. M.M. stands for “Maryknoll Missioner.”

Chapter Four

Advent of Japanese, 1938–1941

1. G. B. Endacott and A. Hinton, Fragrant Harbour: A Short History of Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1962; reprint, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977), p. 94; Sir Charles Collins, Public Administration

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2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

9. 10. 11.

12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18.

in Hong Kong (London and New York: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1952; reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1975), pp. 141–42; Luke S. K. Wong, “Squatters in Pre-War Hong Kong,” Journal of Oriental Studies Vol. 8, No. 1 ( January 1970), pp. 203–04. Endacott and Hinton, Fragrant Harbour, p. 176. Chen Xin and Guo Zhikun, eds., Xianggang quanjilu (Illustrated Chronicle of Hong Kong), Vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1997–1998), pp. 211, 214. Ibid., pp. 211–12. Ibid., p. 211. Chan Lau Kit-ching, China, Britain and Hong Kong 1895–1945 (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1990), pp. 267–68. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 163 (Appendix I: Statistics on Maryknoll Sisters Who Were in Hong Kong from 1921 to 2004). Almost all quotations in this chapter are from: Folders 10–11, Box 32 (Kowloon Diaries); only a few quotations are from Folders 2–5, Box 31 (Hong Kong Diaries), Diaries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. Chen and Guo, eds., Xianggang quanjilu, Vol. 1, p. 215. Italics added. Missa Cantata is the Latin term for a “sung Mass.” The Maryknoll Sisters moved to the new Maryknoll Convent School (M.C.S.) building on Waterloo Road at Boundary Street in May 1937. They occupied the upper floor of the M.C.S. building. They had plans to erect a permanent convent next to M.C.S.—the “dreamed-of new convent.” Read Chu,The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, p. 45. Italics added. Italics added. Sr. M. Catherine Dillon was on her way to the Philippines. R. L. Jarman, ed., Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports 1841–1941, Archive ed., Vol. 5: 1931–1939 (Farnham Common, 1996), p. 477. Italics added. Latin, the phrase means “for the greater glory of God.” Collins, Public Administration in Hong Kong, pp. 141–42. Ibid., p. 154; Wang Zhangwei and Luo Jinyi, “Cong ‘bumen baogao’ kanzhaqian Gang Ying zhengfu de shehui fuli shiye” (The Prewar Social Welfare Programs of the British Hong Kong Government in the Angle of Departmental Report), Shixue yuekan (Historical Studies Monthly) No. 2 (2000), p. 106.

214 / notes

19. Wang and Luo, “Cong ‘bumen baogao’ kan zhanqian Gang Ying zhengfu de shehui fuli shiye,” p. 108. 20. R. H. Hughes, “Hong Kong: An Urban Study,” Geographical Journal Vol. 117, No. 1 (March 1951), pp. 11–12. 21. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, p. 48. 22. Christopher M. Bell, “ ‘Our Most Exposed Outpost’: Hong Kong and British Far Eastern Strategy, 1921–1941,” Journal of Military History Vol. 60, No. 1 ( January 1996), pp. 75–76. 23. Italics added. 24. Sergio Ticozzi, Historical Documents of the Hong Kong Catholic Church (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, 1997), pp. 156–57.

Chapter Five Japanese Occupation and Internment, 1941–1942 1. Chen Xin and Guo Zhikun, eds., Xianggang quanjilu (Illustrated Chronicle of Hong Kong), Vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1997–1998), p. 228; Tony Banham, Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003), p. 13. 2. Banham, Not the Slightest Chance, pp. 23, 27. 3. Chen and Guo, eds., Xianggang quanjilu, p. 231. 4. Guan Lixiong, Rizhan shiqi de Xianggang (Hong Kong under Japanese Occupation) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co., 1993), p. 72. 5. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, “Stanley Civilian Internment Camp during Japanese Occupation,” in Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s, Cindy Yik-yi Chu, ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pp. 135–36. 6. Ibid., p. 139. 7. Ibid., pp. 137, 139. 8. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 53; Jean Gittins, I Was at Stanley (Hong Kong: n.p., 1946), p. 8. 9. The two accounts in this chapter are from: Folder 9, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 10. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 51–52. 11. If one walks along Waterloo Road in a southward direction from Maryknoll Convent School (at the corner of Waterloo Road and

notes / 215

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Boundary Street), the first road that one comes across is Prince Edward Road, which also runs across Waterloo Road. “Mintors” stands for the Cantonese word that means thick cotton blankets. In chapter 3, the Sisters spelled the word “min-t’ois.” Banham, Not the Slightest Chance, p. 60. Latin, the phrase means “Lord, I am not worthy.” Italics added. Latin, the phrase means “The Lord is with you.” Italics added. The letter “6” is underlined in the original text. The word “goo” is underlined in the original text. The word “food” is underlined in the original text.

Chapter 6 In and Out of the Camp, Releases, and Repatriation, 1941–1942 1. Janet E. Hunter, comp., Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), p. 52. 2. Chen Xin and Guo Zhikun, eds., Xianggang quanjilu (Illustrated Chronicle of Hong Kong), Vol. 1 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua shuju, 1997–1998), p. 236. 3. Ibid.; Guan Lixiong, Rizhan shiqi de Xianggang (Hong Kong under Japanese Occupation) (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co., 1993), pp. 78–79. 4. Chen and Guo, eds., Xianggang quanjilu, Vol. 1, p. 236. 5. Sister Mary Clement Quinn, “Co-Prosperity and the New Order Comes to Hongkong,” p. 2, Folder 9, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 6. The essays in this chapter are from: Folder 9, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 7. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 52, 56. 8. Sister Cecilia Marie Carvalho, “Conditions in HongKong after the Outbreak of the War,” p. 5, Folder 9, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 9. List of “Sisters Who Were Stationed in Hong Kong at the Beginning of World War II—Dec. 1942,” n.d., Folder 1, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives; Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 56–59. 10. Sister Mary Clement, “Co-Prosperity and the New Order Comes to Hongkong,” p. 2.

216 / notes

11. Ibid., p. 6. 12. Philip Snow mentions that a Mr. Yamashita (who had been a barber before) assumed the tasks of supervising camp matters. Read Snow’s The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003), pp. 133, 202. 13. Italics added. 14. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, “Stanley Civilian Internment Camp during Japanese Occupation,” in Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s, Cindy Yik-yi Chu, ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pp. 139, 141. 15. Ibid., pp. 139–40. 16. Ibid., pp. 141–42. 17. “Asama Maru” is underlined in the original text, in this paragraph and in the following ones. 18. Italics added. 19. “Gripsholm” is underlined in the original text.

Chapter Seven Postwar Years, the 1950s, the Early 1960s, and Refugees 1. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 59; List of “Sisters Who Were Stationed in Hong Kong at the Beginning of World War II—Dec. 1942,” n.d., Folder 1, Box 1, Personal Narratives of WWII: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 2. Sister Mary Paul McKenna to Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, October 25, 1945, p. 1, Folder 9, Box 2, Regional Correspondence: South China, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 3. Personnel List, 1945, p. 12, Folder 3, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 4. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 60–62, 64–65. 5. Ibid., p. 86. 6. Ibid.; Cindy Chu Yik-yi, “Veteran Maryknoll Sister Looks Back at a Life of Growing Together,” Sunday Examiner, June 26, 2005, p. 11. 7. Quotations in this chapter are from: Folders 6–17, Box 31 (Hong Kong Diaries); Folders 1–8, Box 33 (Kowloon Diaries), Diaries, Maryknoll Mission Archives.

notes / 217

8. Personnel List, 1946, p. 11, Folder 3, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 9. T. D. Vaughan and D. J. Dwyer, “Some Aspects of Postwar Population Growth in Hong Kong,” Economic Geography Vol. 42, No. 1 (January 1966), p. 38; United Nations, General Assembly, Higher Commissioner’s Advisory Committee on Refugees, “Report by the High Commissioner Concerning the Question of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong,” March 19, 1953, p. 1; Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, p. 68. 10. United Nations, General Assembly, “Report by the High Commissioner Concerning the Question of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong,” p. 2. 11. Vaughan and Dwyer, “Some Aspects of Postwar Population Growth in Hong Kong,” p. 38. 12. Ibid., pp. 38–39. 13. Ibid., p. 39; United Nations, General Assembly, “Report by the High Commissioner Concerning the Question of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong,” p. 2. 14. Italics added. 15. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 63, 88, 104. 16. Vaughan and Dwyer, “Some Aspects of Postwar Population Growth in Hong Kong,” p. 39. 17. Ibid.; United Nations, General Assembly, “Report by the High Commissioner concerning the Question of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong,” p. 2. 18. Hong Kong Annual Report 1955 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, Government Press, February 1956), p. 20. 19. United Nations, General Assembly, “Report by the High Commissioner concerning the Question of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong,” p. 3. 20. Alexander Grantham, Via Ports: From Hong Kong to Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1965), p. 155. 21. Ibid., pp. 154–55. 22. Personnel, 1932, p. 6; Personnel, 1933, p. 7; Personnel, 1934, p. 7; Personnel, 1935, p. 7; Personnel, 1936, p. 9; Personnel, 1937, p. 6; Folder 2, Box 2, Lists: Sisters Personnel, Maryknoll Mission Archives. 23. Xu Youwei, “Bai’E: Youdang zai Xiafeilu shang de yibang guhun” (White Russians: The Lonely Foreign Spirits Wandering on Xiafei Road), Shanghai dang’an (Shanghai Archives) No. 5 (2002), pp. 52–54; Fang Jianchang, “Weimanzhouguo shiqi de Bai’E” (White Russians in

218 / notes

24. 25.

26.

27. 28.

29. 30.

31.

the Era of Manzhouguo), Heilongjiang shehui kexue (Heilongjiang Social Sciences) No. 6 (1997), pp. 66–70. For the White Russian community in Shanghai, read Wang Zhicheng, Shanghai E’qiaoshi (A History of the Russian Émigré Community in Shanghai) (Shanghai: Joint Publishing Co, 1993). Hu Yueh, “The Problem of the Hong Kong Refugees,” Asian Survey Vol. 2, No. 1 (March 1962), p. 36. CO 1030/786 “Admission of White Russian Refugees into the United Kingdom,” 1957–1959, Far Eastern Department file of correspondence, Public Records Office, Hong Kong. For example, “Hongkong Refugee Problem to be Discussed,” China Mail, September 18, 1957; “HK’s White Russian Refugees: US Church Body Advances Funds to the UN,” China Mail, January 18, 1958; and “Wuguojie Bai’E nanmin di Gang shi xiji er qi” (White Russian Refugees, without National Status, Cried Upon Entering Hong Kong), Gongshang Ribao, December 28, 1962. The correct Romanization might be “Umi No Hoshi Kai,” which means the Star of the Sea Group. Read Report of Sham Shui Po[,] Shek Kip Mei[,] Six Villages Fire Relief Committee (Hong Kong: Sham Shui Po[,] Shek Kip Mei[,] Six Villages Fire Relief Committee, 1954). Italics added. Report on the Riots in Kowloon and Tsuen Wan, October 10th to 12th, 1956, Together with Covering Despatch Dated the 23rd December, 1956, from the Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1956), p. ii. Italics added.

Chapter Eight

Resettlement Areas in the 1950s and the 1960s

1. Hong Kong Annual Report 1955 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, Government Press, February 1956), p. 20. 2. Ibid., p. 1. 3. T. D. Vaughan and D. J. Dwyer, “Some Aspects of Postwar Population Growth in Hong Kong,” Economic Geography Vol. 42, No. 1 ( January 1966), p. 40.

notes / 219

4. “The Emergency (Resettlement Areas) Regulations, 1952,” approved by the Legislative Council on June 11, 1952, pp. 1–3, Folder 2, Box 12: Assistance to Refugees, Section VI: Catholic Social Commitments, Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, Hong Kong. 5. Ibid., p. 3. 6. Hong Kong Annual Report 1954 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, March 1955), pp. 131–33; James Hayes, Friends & Teachers: Hong Kong and Its People 1953–87 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1996), pp. 57–58. 7. Quotations in this chapter are from: Folders 18–27, Box 31 (Hong Kong Diaries); Folders 1–14, Box 34 (Hong Kong Diaries), Diaries, Maryknoll Mission Archives, Maryknoll, New York. 8. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 69. 9. Hal Empson, Mapping Hong Kong: A Historical Atlas (Hong Kong: Government Information Services, 1992), pp. 184–85. 10. Sun Sun Map of Kowloon (Hong Kong: Sun Sun Co., 1966), Map Library, Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong. 11. Alan Smart, “From Tung Tau to Shek Kip Mei: Squatter Fires, Geopolitics and Housing Interventions in Hong Kong in the 1950s,” Occasional Paper No. 44, Centre for China Urban and Regional Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University (March 2004), p. 10. 12. For the origin and history of Kowloon Walled City, read Elizabeth Sinn, “Kowloon Walled City: Its Origin and Early History,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 27 (1987), pp. 30–45. 13. The Chairman of Urban Council then was K. S. Kinghorn. “Extract from Urban Council Meeting,” August 4, 1964, HKRS 70–6–927 “King’s Park Development,” Public Records Office, Hong Kong. 14. “Homantin Squatters Start Move to New Homes,” South China Morning Post, October 23, 1964. 15. Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969, pp. 69–70. 16. Ibid., p. 79. 17. Empson, Mapping Hong Kong, pp. 186–87. 18. Arturo F. Gonzalez, Jr., The Dividing Line (Hong Kong: Dragonfly Books, 1962), p. 7. 19. John P. Burns, “Immigration from China and the Future of Hong Kong,” Asian Survey Vol. 27, No. 6 ( June 1987), p. 663. 20. Hong Kong: Report for the Year 1962 (Hong Kong: Government Press, 1963), p. 35.

220 / notes

Chapter Nine

Conclusion

1. Hong Kong: Report for the Year 1969 (Hong Kong: Government Press, 1970), p. 214. 2. Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Catholic Directory and Year Book for the Year of Our Lord 1970 (Hong Kong: Catholic Truth Society, 1970), p. 29. 3. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921–1969: In Love with the Chinese (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 163 (Appendix I: Statistics on Maryknoll Sisters Who Were in Hong Kong from 1921 to 2004). 4. Ibid. 5. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, “Catholic Church between Two World Wars,” in Foreign Communities in Hong Kong, 1840s–1950s, Cindy Yik-yi Chu, ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), pp. 85–109; Chi-kwan Mark, “American ‘China Hands’ in the 1950s,” ibid., pp. 171–93. 6. Chu, “Catholic Church between Two World Wars,” p. 86. 7. Ibid.

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Newspapers and Periodicals China Mail Dagongbao (Hong Kong) Gongshang Ribao (Kung Sheung Daily News) Kung Kao Po Maryknoll magazine South China Morning Post Sunday Examiner The Field A far The Rock

Index

Africa, 2, 13, 123, 135, 141–2 East Africa, 13, 123, 135, 141–2 air raids, 11–12, 69–70, 72, 76–77, 82, 87, 90, 100–3, 110–11, 113, 200 Women’s Air-raid Protection Association, 11–12, 77 amahs, 5, 18–19, 22–4, 29, 32, 35, 37, 41, 64, 75, 80, 100, 106, 115, 194, 199 American Club, 118 Americans, 1, 3–7, 10–13, 15–19, 52, 77, 89–90, 92, 98–100, 117–18, 123, 125–7, 135, 137–40, 157, 163, 166, 171, 182, 197–8, 202–7 Asama Maru, 13, 109, 123, 134–5, 139–40, 143 Asia, 2–3, 8, 49–50, 89–90, 97, 121, 135, 200 Australia, 50, 77, 89, 91, 156, 166 auxiliary nurses, 100, 102–3 Baptism, 23, 38, 49, 58, 74, 78–9, 93 Beijing Convention (1860), 17 Bishops, 38, 52, 58, 60, 64, 66, 79, 88, 94, 101, 107, 109, 118, 137–8, 150, 156, 174, 182 Anglican; Hall, Ronald Owen, 88 Catholic; Ford, Francis X., 18–19, 37, 66, 174, see also Maryknoll Fathers; O’Gara, Cuthbert, 109, 118, 137–8; Paschang, Adolph J., 64, see also Maryknoll Fathers;Valtorta, Henry, 38, 52, 60, 79, 94, 101,

107, 150, see also Milan priests; Walsh, James Anthony, 22, 24–5, see also Maryknoll Fathers;Walsh, James Edward, 26, 58, see also Maryknoll Fathers “Black Society,” see triads Boys and Girls Clubs, 148–50, 152 Brazil, 156, 163, 166 British, 1, 5–6, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 22, 26, 28, 33, 60–1, 68–9, 77, 79–80, 82–4, 86, 89–91, 93, 97–8, 103–4, 106–8, 110, 112–13, 115–18, 121, 124–5, 135, 137–8, 144, 156, 159, 166, 171, 173, 181, 200–3, 205–6 Canada, 2, 49, 77, 116 Canadians, 6–7, 15–16, 98, 106, 114–16, 124, 134–5, 198, 205 Canossian Sisters, 23, 25, 27 Carmel Monastery, 50–51 Catholic Action, 71, 73, 75, 79 Catholic Relief Services (C.R.S.), 190 Catholics, 1–3, 5, 8–9, 11, 15, 17–18, 22, 24, 38, 45, 52–3, 61, 66, 70, 80, 90, 94, 107–9, 115–16, 125, 138, 140, 149, 155, 161–2, 165, 174, 177, 180–1, 184, 190, 195, 197–8, 202–4, 206–7 children, 5–8, 11, 14–15, 18, 21, 28, 31, 40, 44–8, 51, 53, 61, 68, 70–1, 73, 76, 78, 80–1, 83, 88–92, 100, 106, 108–9, 111–12, 115, 125, 130, 141–2, 148–53, 155–6,

234 / index children—Continued 158–62, 164, 169, 174–5, 177–9, 182–3, 186, 188–92, 195, 199, 201–2, 204, 208 China, 1, 8–12, 14–15, 17–19, 21, 27–8, 32, 37, 41, 43, 49–51, 55, 59, 61, 67–9, 74, 76–7, 84–5, 87–8, 90, 94, 97–9, 121–2, 129, 133–4, 143, 145, 149, 152–3, 162–9, 171, 173, 175, 177, 181, 191, 193, 195–6, 199–201, 203, 205 Fujian Province, 65–66, 168;Amoy (Xiamen), 65–66 Guangdong Province, 12, 18, 23–5, 28, 33, 50, 55–6, 58–60, 67, 74, 76–9, 84, 129, 134, 143, 145, 168–9, 171, 173, 175, 195–6, 199–200, 203; Canton (Guangzhou), 6, 12, 18, 22–5, 32–3, 50, 58, 76–8, 145, 173–5, 181, 200, 203, 206; Jiaying (Meixian), 18, 55; Kongmoon (Jiangmen), 50, 55–6, 59; Luoding, 55, 143; Shenzhen River, 97; Shumchum (Shenzhen), 77, 79, 97; Swatow (Shantou), 55, 60, 173; Yeungkong (Yangjiang), 12, 18, 55, 74, 77, 78, 203 Guangxi Province, 67, 84, 129, 143, 168–9; Guilin, 129, 143; Wuzhou, 143 Jiangsu Province, 55; Shanghai, 14, 28, 36, 40, 50, 55, 71, 73, 86, 121, 138, 153, 200 Nanjing, 17, 200 Northeast of, 10, 14, 43, 49, 55, 68–9, 84, 87, 99, 121, 152–3, 163, 175, 199; Dairen (Dalian), 55, 152, 154, 156, 163; Fushun, 55, 87, 152, 175; Harbin, 55;

Manzhouguo (Manchukuo), 84, 121, 152; Mukden (Shenyang), 87, 154 Peking (Beijing), 166 Shandong Province, 69;Weihaiwei, 69 Sichuan Province, 145; Chungking (Chongqing), 145 Tientsin (Tianjin), 154, 166 Chinese Communists, 8, 10, 14, 18, 44, 145, 153, 159, 163–4, 166–9, 173, 180, 188, 193, 196 dialects, 6, 8, 15, 18, 168–9, 173, 178, 206, 208; Cantonese (Guangdonghua), 6, 18, 22, 30, 39, 52, 62, 106, 110, 138, 148, 150, 172–5, 206, 210n17, 215n12; Fukien (Fujian) dialect, 168; Hakka dialect (Kejiahua), 173; Mandarin (Guoyu), 173–5; Swatonese (Shantouhua), 173 Dragon Boat Festival, 38, 41 funerals, 6, 10, 35–7, 41 Hakka (Kejia), 175 laborers, 5, 10–11, 21–2, 28, 33, 41, 44, 70, 88, 199, 208 Moon Festival, 56–7, 151 National Day, 164 Nationalists, 10, 44, 163–4, 166–7, 173, 179–81 New Year (Lunar New Year), 6, 12, 31–2, 37–9, 41, 51–2, 58–9, 62, 71, 80, 145, 148, 152, 158, 163, 178, 183–4, 204 temples, 6, 39, 41–2, 71 Ts’ing Ming (Qingming), 53 wedding, 8, 10, 33, 41 Christian Brothers, see La Salle Christian Brothers

index / 235 Christmas, 10, 12–13, 15, 26–7, 48, 62, 65–6, 71, 95, 106, 110–11, 113–14, 123–4, 149–50, 152, 156, 158, 172, 182–3, 200, 204 church buildings, 8–9, 18, 25, 27, 30–1, 35–6, 39, 52–3, 58, 60, 67, 74–5, 80, 85, 97, 100–3, 127, 133–4, 141–2, 193, 202 Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 30–1, 53, 60 Church of St. Francis Xavier, 25 Rosary Church, 18, 25, 27, 35–6, 39, 52, 74, 202 St. Francis’ Church (St. Francis of Assisi Church), 134 St. John’s (Anglican) Cathedral, 133 St.Teresa’s Church, 58, 60, 67, 75, 80, 85, 97, 100–3, 127, 134 City Hall, 38 clinics, 6–7, 118, 172, 177, 194 Colgate Toothpaste Company, 189 convents, 5, 11–15, 19, 31, 44–5, 47, 49, 54–6, 60–3, 66–7, 70–3, 75, 81, 85, 87, 89–91, 93, 95, 98–102, 105, 110, 123, 127–30, 134–5, 143–4, 161, 165, 172–4, 176, 180, 188, 190, 213n11 converts, 5, 10, 22–5, 30–1, 41, 70

England, 49, 53, 59, 85, 115, 153 English, see British Europe, 2, 49–50, 60, 77, 83–4, 87, 200 evacuations, 12, 77, 82–3, 92, 110, 116–17, 127, 200

Dairy Farm, 55, 58 Danish, 14, 156 Denmark, 157, 162 diseases, 14, 39, 69, 85, 98, 135–6, 194, 200 “Dori” (toori ), 129–30 Double Ten, 163–4, 166–7, 179 Dutch, 98, 121, 125, 135, 156, 166

Happy Valley Cemetery, 22, 24, 60, 204 H.K. & Whampoa Docks, 97 Holland, 157 Holy Communion, 52, 60, 65–6, 74, 101, 106, 111, 113, 125, 174–5 Holy Family Convent and Dispensary, 134 homes for the elderly, 9, 23, 80, 88–9, 162, 205 St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, 23

education, 6–7, 9, 11, 14, 45, 59, 68, 81, 140, 145, 147, 157–8, 164–5, 168–9, 195, 197, 201, 203–7 see also schools

Field Afar,The, 36 Filipinas, 6–7, 15–16, 98, 123, 198, 204–5 firecrackers, 6, 33, 37–8, 57–8, 71, 80, 148 fires, 5, 8, 14, 79–80, 93, 106–7, 133–4, 145, 147–8, 155–6, 158, 160–1, 169, 172–3, 176–8, 183, 191–2, 201–2, 205 first aid posts, 12, 85–7, 89–90, 99–100, 102–3, 111 First World War (1914–1918), 9–10, 21, 199 Germans, 85–6, 162, 206 Great Depression (1929), 10, 43, 199 “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” 121 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 196 Greeks, 14, 156

236 / index Hong Kong Department of Resettlement, 172, 178, 188 Government of, 5–6, 15, 21–3, 32–3, 45, 50, 69, 79–82, 85–6, 92, 103, 112, 147, 149, 153, 155, 159, 167, 169, 172–3, 176–7, 180, 187, 191–3, 195, 199, 208 Governors of, 31, 50, 82, 99, 149, 152, 164 industries, 2, 8–9, 21, 28, 182, 185, 199, 201–2 police, 31, 59, 76, 101, 103, 107, 114, 139, 141, 148–9, 151–2, 155, 167–8, 177–8, 181, 188–9 population, 10, 14, 17–18, 49, 69, 85, 122, 134, 144–5, 149, 165, 171–2, 195–6, 200–2, 205 Urban Council, 172, 181, 219n13 Hong Kong Island, 10, 13–15, 17, 24, 26, 30–1, 33, 35, 37–41, 44–7, 50–1, 61–4, 70, 72, 83–6, 91, 98, 101, 103, 107, 109–110, 112–15, 121–2, 126–8, 130–1, 133, 143–4, 155, 159, 164, 186, 191, 200 Aberdeen, 115 Blue Pool Road, 14, 143–4, 155, 165–6 Bonham Road, 91 Caine Road, 13–14, 30, 44–8, 51–3, 57, 60–3, 65–6, 70, 72, 91–3, 98, 101, 109–10, 112, 117, 128–30, 132, 143–57, 159–65, 168 central district, 36, 38, 58, 85, 121, 133 Happy Valley, 22, 24, 60, 131, 155, 166, 204 Hospital Road, 63, 160 Ladder Street, 157 Kennedy Road, 134 Mt. Davis, 110, 113–14

North Point, 36 Peak Road, 133–4, 155 Po Hing Fong, 147–8 Pokfulam, 83, 101, 106, 110, 113, 126, 195 Po Yan Street, 147 Queen’s Road Central, 38 Repulse Bay, 114, 130 Rosary Hill, 84, 112, 116 Seymour Road, 63, 101, 132, 146 Stanley, 12–13, 50–1, 64–5, 68, 98–9, 101–2, 106–10, 113, 115, 117–18, 122–4, 126, 128–9, 135, 139, 143 Stubbs Road, 84, 112, 116 Tai Ping Shan Street, 147 Upper Peak Road, 155 Wah Ling Lane, 160 Wanchai, 159 Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank, 121 hospitals, 5–6, 9, 13, 15, 56, 63–4, 73–7, 79–80, 82–4, 90–1, 93, 99, 101, 106–8, 110–17, 119, 123–4, 126–7, 133–4, 137–8, 147–8, 156–7, 160, 167–8, 175, 190–1, 194–5 Alice Memorial Hospital, 91 Bowen Road Military Hospital, 116 Canossa Hospital, 133–4 Government Civil Hospital, 63 Kowloon Hospital, 167–8 Kwong Wah Hospital, 79, 93 Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, 15, 194–5 Precious Blood Hospital, 90 Queen Mary Hospital, 13, 83, 101, 106–8, 110–13, 116–17, 119, 126–7, 195 Rosary Hill Hospital, 116 St.Teresa’s Hospital (French Hospital), 56, 84, 175 Tung Wah Hospital, 147–8, 160

index / 237 Indians, 5, 11, 36, 45–6, 50–1, 54, 68, 83, 93, 106–7, 115, 124, 136, 166, 202, 206 Hindus, 45–7 Indochina (Indo-China), 21, 49–50, 88, 140 Italy, 89, 91 Japan, 2, 4, 8, 10–14, 43–4, 49–50, 53, 64, 68–70, 73, 76–7, 80–1, 83–4, 87, 90, 94–5, 97–100, 103–7, 110, 112, 114–17, 121–9, 135–8, 141, 143–4, 152–4, 156–7, 165, 196, 199–202, 206 Japanese occupation (1941–1945), 4, 8, 12–13, 68, 94–5, 97–9, 110, 122–3, 132, 144, 200–1 Foreign Affairs Department, 121, 129–30 Japanese government, 129 Japanese soldiers, 13–14, 43, 97, 99, 104–6, 110, 116–17, 122, 123–8, 131, 133–4, 136, 143 repatriations, 4, 12–13, 99, 109, 119, 123, 129, 135–6, 139, 143 Shamshuipo Camp, 98, 106, 134–5 Stanley Civilian Internment Camp, 12–13, 98–99, 106–7, 109–10, 122, 124, 128–9, 134–5, 143 Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), 163–4 Kai Tak Airport, 81, 97, 171–2, 190 Kowloon, 10–12, 14–15, 17, 19, 21, 25, 31–2, 34–5, 44, 46–7, 50, 55–6, 59, 61–2, 81, 85, 90, 92, 97–9, 101–3, 106, 109–12, 121, 130, 134, 147, 158, 163–6, 172–3, 179–81, 190, 193, 199–200, 202, 210n23 Argyle Street, 84, 167–8, 181

Austin Road, 18, 44–5, 47, 49, 54–6, 60–2, 66–7, 181 Boundary Street, 21–2, 25, 44–5, 62, 65–7, 70–1, 73, 75–6, 81, 85, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97–100, 110, 123–4, 128, 135, 143, 145–6, 148, 168, 173, 190, 213n11, 214–15n11 Chatham Road, 18–19, 181 Choi Hung Road, 173, 190 Gascoigne Road, 181 Kimberly Road, 46 Kowloon City, 25, 59, 134, 173, 180–1, 190 Kowloon City Road, 180–1 Kowloon Tong, 10–11, 14–15, 21–3, 44–5, 55, 65–6, 68, 70–2, 84, 97–9, 103–4, 106, 123, 127, 143–4, 150–1, 158, 167, 173, 176, 181, 190, 199 Kowloon Walled City, 173, 180–1 Lai Chi Kok, 101–2 Lion Rock, 17, 21 Mongkok, 97, 134 Nairn Road, 181 Nathan Road, 73, 162, 181 Prince Edward Road, 25, 45–8, 51, 55–6, 58–60, 67, 75, 79–80, 84–5, 97, 100, 102, 127, 134, 167–8, 173, 175, 214–15n11 Princess Margaret Road, 181 Shamshuipo, 90, 97–8, 106, 134–5 Shatin Pass Road, 194 Shek Kip Mei, 158, 172 Stonecutters Island, 101–2 Tsimshatsui, 17, 25, 27, 35–6, 39, 44, 52, 74, 85, 97, 107, 147, 202 Waterloo Road, 22, 25, 44–5, 59, 62, 66–7, 70–1, 75, 81, 93, 98–100, 123–4, 143–4, 165, 176–7, 180–1, 190, 213n11, 214–15n11

238 / index Kowloon—Continued Yaumati, 55–6, 79, 93, 97, 134 Yuet Wa Gaai (Yuet Wah Street), 195 Kowloon-Canton Railway, 50, 181, 200 Kowloon Wharf, 97 Lane Crawford, 113 language teachers, 5, 10, 22, 24–5, 29, 37, 41 La Salle Christian Brothers, 74, 85, 127–8, 136 Latin America, 2, 140 Little Sisters of the Poor, 59, 89 Lunar Calendar, 151, 159, 178 Macau, 14, 143, 177 Manila, 36, 53–4, 62, 86–7, 89, 91–2, 137 Maryknoll Fathers, 1, 18–19, 22, 41, 60, 64, 102, 108, 117, 137, 203–4 Cairns, Robert J., 22, 26, 37 Daly, George M., 60 Donnelly, Francis T., 104 Donnelly, Patrick J., 104 Downs,William J., 118 Duchesne, Paul J., 189 Edmonds, Stephen B., 187–8 Feeney, Maurice A., 102–3, 105–6, 124–5, 127 Ford, Francis X., 18–19, 37, 66, 174; see also Bishops Gilleran,Thomas F., 60 Lavin, Joseph P., 47 Malone,Thomas J., 174 Meyer, Bernard F., 108, 117 O’Melia,Thomas A., 66 Paschang,Adolph J., 64; see also Bishops Price,Thomas Frederick, 22, 24, 204 Tennien, Mark A., 60 Toomey, Patrick C., 60

Trube, Howard D., 174, 179 Walsh, James Anthony, 22, 24–5; see also Bishops Walsh, James Edward, 26, 58; see also Bishops Maryknoll Sisters Basto, Candida Maria, 52, 58–60, 106, 136, 212n20 Beauvais, Joan Miriam, 59–60 Boyle, Monica Marie, 72 Brachtesende, Mary Amata, 13, 109–11, 117 Brielmaier, M.Ann Carol, 157, 166 Cain, Mary de Ricci, 61, 65, 111–12, 117, 129, 151 Carvalho, Cecilia Marie, 13, 52, 58, 87, 106, 122–3, 136, 166 Cazale, Maria Petra, 176–7, 179, 193 Clements, Mary Famula, 99, 104, 106–7, 125–6, 128–9, 136, 147–9, 151–4, 156–7, 160, 162–3 Collins, M. Cornelia, 88 Coughlin, M. Patricia, 50, 56 Coupe, Mary Eucharista, 61, 63, 91, 111–12, 117–18 Cruickshank, Mary Cecilia, 48, 58 Cunningham, Henrietta Marie, 66, 118, 129 Debrecht, Rose Duchesne, 144, 149 de Felice, Rosemary, 84, 92 Diggins, M. John Karen (also Mary Diggins), 186, 188 Dillon, Mary Catherine, 76, 213n14 Doherty, Rose Thomas, 157, 160–3 Donnelly, M. St. Bernard, 51, 54, 66, 108–9 Evans, M. Margaret Veronica, 144, 146–7, 166 Farrell,Ann Mary, 52, 58, 66–7, 128–9 Foley, Mary Lawrence, 17, 24–6, 55–6 Froehlich, Mary Barbara, 17, 22

index / 239 Furey, M. Christella, 87, 118, 174 Gardner, Frances Marion, 13, 80, 123, 135–6 Guerrieri,Antonia Maria, 183 Guidera, M. Dominic, 51–2, 58–60 Heath, Maria Crucis, 167–8 Hock, Mary Augusta, 56 Jacobsen, M. Patricia Francis, 157–9, 163 Jaramillo, Maria Corazon, 106, 136 Jung, Margaret Marie, 183 Kane, Joseph Marie, 48, 51–52, 61, 118 Karlon, M. Madeleine Sophie, 183 Kelly, Mary St. Dominic, 106, 117–18, 129 Kettl, M. Rosalia, 153, 175 Kuper, Mary Augustine, 51–2, 61, 65, 91–2, 114 Leifels, Mary Rose, 17, 74, 83–4 Leonard, M. Doretta, 174 Mahoney, Joseph Marian, 86 Makra, Mary Lelia, 164–5 Manning, Santa Maria, 12–13, 60, 66, 99, 108–10, 150 McKenna, Mary Paul, 17–20, 23, 25–6, 33, 46, 48, 52, 54–6, 59–60, 65–7, 73, 79, 82–3, 86, 88, 90, 92, 102, 104, 106, 109, 124, 128–30, 136, 138, 143, 202–3 McNally, M. Ignatia, 176–9 Mersinger, Rose Victor, 80, 83, 87–8, 159–60, 178–80 Meyer, M. Beatrice, 74 Miller, Marie James, 164–5 Moffat, Mary Monica, 17, 23–5, 33 Mug, Miriam Xavier, 144, 160, 163–4 Murphy, Maria Regis, 111–12, 114, 117, 128–9 O’Hagan, M. Joan Catherine, 173–4 Quinlan, M. Liguori, 66, 86 Quinn, Mary Clement, 13, 51–2, 106, 122, 128–9

Reardon, M. Regina, 65–7, 71, 106, 137 Reynolds, M. Camillus, 51–4, 63–4, 72, 118 Riconda, M. Ruth, 52, 54 Riehl, Moira, 185–6 Rizzardi, Mary Gonzaga, 108, 118 Rogers, Mother Mary Joseph, 18, 20, 90, 93, 159–60 Rost, Marie Corinne, 144 Sheridan, Mary Imelda, 17, 23–4, 152, 159–60, 166, 173–4, 179–80 Silva, M. Reginald, 56, 74, 86, 88–9 Skehan, Rose Olive, 81, 137, 160 Stapleton, Matthew Marie, 68, 73–4, 80, 93 Tam, M. Bernadette, 60 Tarpey, Mother Mary Columba, 165 Teufel, Maryam, 166 Thornton, Miriam Thomas, 87 Unitas,Anthony Marie, 79, 86 Urlacher, M. Magdalena, 75 Walsh, Mary Dorothy, 59, 108–9, 129, 150, 180 Weber, M. Rosalie, 45 Wilson, M. Edward Marmion, 174 Xavier, M. Chanel, 60, 74, 98, 106, 112, 117, 136, 148 Yeung, Maria Teresa, 58, 60, 71, 73–5, 79–80, 106, 123, 136 May 30th Incident (1925), 28 Milan priests, 22, 41 De Angelis, Horace, 46 Granelli,Andrew, 58, 101, 107 Orlando, Carmelo, 71, 101, 156, 161–2 Riganti,Anthony, 48 Spada, John, 22–5, 27 Valtorta, Henry, 38, 52, 60, 79, 94, 101, 107, 150; see also Bishops

240 / index military yen, 109, 132–3 Murray Parade Ground, 98 Nanjing Treaty (1842), 17 National Catholic Welfare Conference (N.C.W.C.), 161, 182–3, 185, 189 New Territories, 17, 48, 55–6, 69, 76, 79, 82, 84–5, 121–2, 193 Castle Peak, 55–6 Clearwater Bay, 76 Fanling, 48, 82, 84 Lantao Island, 152 orphanages, 9, 178–9 Precious Blood Orphanage, 179 Pearl Harbor, 97, 111, 121 Peninsula Hotel, 107 Polish, 14, 84, 154, 162, 205 Portuguese, 1, 3, 6–7, 15–16, 19, 36, 44–5, 98, 106, 112, 123–4, 127, 141–2, 166, 198, 205, 212n20 Protestants, 109, 138, 195, 203, 206 Red Cross, 86, 103, 162 refugees, 5–9, 11–12, 14–15, 69–71, 77, 79–80, 84–5, 90, 94, 102, 137, 145, 148–9, 153–8, 162, 167–9, 171, 173–4, 176, 182, 184, 186–7, 191–3, 195–6, 200–2, 205 relief services, 7–8, 15, 66, 69, 95, 151–2, 158, 169, 176–7, 182, 187, 189, 190, 195 clothes distribution, 15, 150–2, 183–4 food distribution, 9, 75, 124–5, 135, 161, 163, 168, 176–7, 183, 187 rations, 108, 130, 132, 159, 168, 179 resettlement areas, 5–9, 15, 147, 158, 171–4, 181–2, 187, 191–3, 196, 202 Chai Wan, 15, 172, 186–91, 202 cottages, 172–3, 176, 181–2, 191 estates, 15, 171–2, 190–3

Homantin, 181–2, 184 King’s Park, 15, 172, 181–2, 184, 190, 193 Kowloon Tsai, 15, 172, 190, 194 Kwun Tong, 15, 172, 190–2, 194–5, 202 Tung Tau Tsuen, 15, 172–4, 176, 180–1, 190 Wong Tai Sin, 15, 172–3, 182, 190–1, 194–5 riots, 5, 8, 14–15, 163–4, 166–7, 173, 179–80, 196, 202 Kowloon Riots (1956), 14–15, 163–4, 173, 179–80, 202 Rome, 53–4, 87, 197 Saigon, 135, 140–1 schools, 6–7, 9–11, 14, 44–6, 53, 58–9, 61, 67–8, 112, 132, 165, 168–9, 190–1, 194, 201–3 Central British School, 84 Holy Spirit School (Maryknoll School/Maryknoll Sisters School), 40, 44, 46–8, 51–2, 56–7, 59–62, 65, 70, 93, 98, 101, 107–10, 112, 117, 128–30, 143–6, 155, 161, 164, 166 La Salle College, 74, 84–5, 102–4, 106–7, 127, 134, 136 Maryknoll Convent School, 10–11, 22, 44–8, 51–3, 55–6, 65–7, 70–1, 73, 76, 83, 85, 93, 97–9, 123, 128, 135–6, 143, 145–6, 151, 153, 158–9, 179–80, 190, 213n11, 214–15n11 St. Joseph’s College, 134 St. Stephen’s College, 98 Seamen’s Strike (1922), 21, 27–33, 41, 199 Second World War (1939–1945), 4–5, 7–8, 14–15, 22, 84, 89, 129, 144, 171–2, 195–7, 201, 206–7 Selwyn-Clarke, Percy Selwyn, 103, 114

index / 241 Siam (Thailand), 11, 49–50, 55 Singapore, 135, 141 Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), 10–11, 43–4, 69–70, 200 social services, 5–7, 9, 169, 205, 207 Society of Jesus (S.J.), 38, 59–60, 62, 82, 101, 104, 113, 168, 182, 212n28 Byrne,Thomas, 62 Cooney,Albert, 82 Joy, Patrick, 59 O’Hara,A., 182 Sullivan, Edmund, 101, 104 Spanish Dominican Procuration, 63, 101 Spanish Redemptorist Mission, 154 squatters, 15, 147, 149, 158, 161, 172–3, 181–2, 195, 201–2, 205 Star Ferry, 31, 35, 107, 133, 147 St. John’s ambulance brigade, 12, 77–8, 86–7, 90, 100 St. Paul de Chartres Sisters, 30 strikes (1925), 28, 36 triads, 8, 97, 178, 180–1 United Nations (U.N.), 14, 153, 156–7, 162, 205 United Nations International Refugee Organization (U.N.I.R.O.), 157

United States, 1–2, 4, 7, 47, 70, 77, 90, 92, 97, 109, 123, 129, 135, 157, 166, 182, 197–8, 206 Government of, 90, 92, 206 navy of, 157, 183 New York, 1, 4, 18, 49, 68, 93, 128, 204 Vatican Council II (1962–1965), 2 Victoria Harbor, 9, 17, 21–3, 27–8, 30–2, 39, 85, 97–8, 111, 121–2, 131, 134–5, 166, 195 weather, 8, 9, 25, 29, 34, 37, 42, 54, 57, 70, 94, 118, 150, 177, 183, 188 welfare centers, 6–7, 9, 155, 176, 182, 184 White Russians, 14, 152–4, 156–7, 162–3, 169, 205 women, 1–9, 11–13, 15, 18, 21–3, 25–6, 31, 39–40, 45–7, 60–1, 63, 67, 69–70, 75, 77–9, 83, 88–92, 104, 106, 109, 125–6, 131, 143, 146–7, 151, 154–6, 160–1, 163, 165, 168, 173–5, 178, 182, 190, 195–6, 198–9, 202, 205–8 Yen Ching University (Yanjing University), 146–7

The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1966

The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1966

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The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1969: In Love with the Chinese

The Archaeology of Hong Kong

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Sunrise in Hong Kong

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Hong Kong in Transition: The Handover Years

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World of Darkness: Hong Kong

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Reef Fishes of Hong Kong

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The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism (Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies)

Hong Kong: The Road to 1997

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Building Hong Kong: Environmental Considerations

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Another Disaster: Hong Kong Sketches

The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1966