THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF SURVEYORS Special issue to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong, 8 December to 25 December 1941 InformatIon All rights reserved. No part of this Journal may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors. Contents of the Journal do not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of the Institute and no liability is accepted in relation thereto. Copyright © 2011 The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors ISSN 1816-9554 Suite 801, 8/F, Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong Telephone 電話：(852) 2526 3679 Fax 傳真：(852) 2868 4612 Website 網址：www.hkis.org.hk Email 電郵：[email protected] EdItorIal Board Honorary Editor Dr K K Lo Gilbert Kwok Department of Building and Real Estate The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Dr King-fai Man Professor Kwong-wing Chau Department of Building and Real Estate Department of Real Estate and Construction The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Professor Esmond Mok Editor Vol 21 Issue 2 Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics Professor Lawrence Lai The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Department of Real Estate and Construction Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Professor Graeme Newell School of Economics and Finance members University of Western Sydney Dr Man-wai Chan Australia Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Professor Li-yin Shen Department of Building and Real Estate Dr Sai-on Cheung The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Department of Building and Construction Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Dr Conrad Tang Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics Dr Cecilia Chu The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Department of Architecture Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China University of California, Berkeley USA Professor Chris Webster Department of City and Regional Planning Dr Daniel Ho Cardiff University Department of Real Estate and Construction United Kingdom The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China Professor Cecilia Wong School of Environment and Development Dr John Lea University of Manchester Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning United Kingdom University of Sydney Australia Dr Kenneth Yiu Department of Building and Construction Professor Andrew Leung City University of Hong Kong Department of Building and Construction Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China ContEnts Editorial 5-7 Articles War and Peace: Economic Rationales for Preserving War Relics 8-11 by Frank T. Lorne Chinese Eyes on British Tanks: Historical Verification of a War Heritage 12-20 by Ho-yin Lee Decoding the Enigma of the Fall of the Shing Mun Redoubt Using Line of 21-42 Sight Analysis by Lawrence W.C. Lai, Stephen N.G. Davies, Ken S.T. Ching and Castor T.C. Wong “Pillbox 3 did not open fire!” Mapping the Arcs of Fire of Pillboxes 43-57 at Jardine’s Lookout and Wong Nai Chung Gap by Lawrence W.C. Lai, Ken S.T. Ching, Tim Ko and Y.K. Tan The Gin Drinkers Line: Its Place in the History of Twentieth Century Fortifications 58-68 by Bernard Lowry Location of Pillboxes and Other Structures of the Gin Drinker’s Line 69-70 Based on Aerial Photo Evidence by Lawrence W.C. Lai, Y.K. Tan, Ken S.T. Ching and Stephen N.G. Davies Pillbox above Shing Mun Road 71-77 by Y.K. Tan Survey Findings on Japanese World War II Military Installations in Hong Kong 78-94 by Lawrence W.C. Lai, Ken S.T. Ching and Y.K. Tan Australian, Canadian and Hong Kong Connections: Memoir of a Hong Kong Person 95-108 by David K. Manning EdItorIal These three post-war photos of scenes in the New powered by diesel, crossing Tai Wai railway bridge, Territories, which form part of the collective memory which was under repair after a heavy rainstorm. It of many Hong Kong people, illustrate the ease with also reveals the rear entrance of PB 304 behind a small which historical heritage can be glossed over or bulldozer. identified. The third photo(figure 3)3, taken from Castle Peak The first photo (figure 1), taken during the 1960s, Road looking towards Tai Mo Shan during the 1950s, shows the misty scene of Shatin Cove, now reduced to shows three pillboxes built as if they were Chinese the “Shing Mun River”. The big house in the upper left farmhouses. hand portion across Tai Chung Kiu (the bridge) was not a Chinese farmhouse, but Pillbox (PB) 213.1 It was through mapping and surveying information on the locations of several pillboxes along the Gin The second photo (figure 2)2, taken in 1976 and Drinker’s Line, first mapped by Lai, Tan, Davies, appearing in Chan’s work (2011: p.119), is dominated and Yung (2009), that these “out of focus” relics so by the image of a Kowloon Canton Railway train, then commonly found in daily scenes can be rediscovered one by one. Figure 1: PB 213, Gin Drinker’s Line, Shatin Cove, 1960sfigure 1: PB 213, Gin Drinker’s Line, Shatin Cove, 1960s 6 figureFigure 2: PB304, Gin Drinker’s Line, Tai Wai Railway Bridge, 1976 2: PB 304, Gin Drinker’s Line, Tai Wai Railway Bridge, 1976 1 For an aerial view of the pillbox and its searchlight shelter, see Plate 6 in Lai et al. (2009: p.28). 2 Photo courtesy of Mr. Danny C.Y. Chan. For aerial photo corroboration, see Hong Kong Government photo 16106 of 4 November 1976. 3 Photo courtesy of Mr. Tim Ko. This photo appeared first in Cheng (2002: p.29). SBE 5 7 In memory of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of has an interesting Hong Kong twist. Hong Kong as an integral part of World War II, this special issue gathers nine pieces of scholarly and Two key fights during the Battle of Hong Kong were specialist work of different, but related, interest. the contests for the Shing Mun Redoubt along the Gin Drinker’s Line and at Wong Nai Chung Gap, both of Frank Lorne’s paper on war and peace offers an which featured pillboxes. Two papers address several economist’s perspective of the value of heritage, a tactical questions about these contests, manifesting tricky topic, which has no satisfactory solutions. For the indispensible value of surveying techniques and further reading on the valuation of heritage buildings archive research in heritage study. A broader context using surveying techniques, see Yung (2007) and of the Gin Drinker’s Line is provided by Bernard Zheng (2011). Lowry, the specific locations of the pillboxes and related structures of the Line are provided in a map in In a sense, World War II was the sequel to World War a technical note that follows, and a detailed account I, which was punctuated by the unsatisfactory Treaty of a Gin Drinker’s Line pillbox (PB 419) before its of Versailles. Both China and Japan were Allies demolition for highway work is documented by Y.K. during the earlier war. Ho-yin Lee’s work about the Tan. impression of Chinese eyes on Allied tanks in France figure 3: Pillboxes 408, 418, and 421, Gin Drinker’s Line, Kwai Chung, 1950s TheFigure 3: Pillboxes 408, 418, and 421, Gin Drinker’s Line, Kwai Chung, 1950s Battle of Hong Kong did not end the fighting, as a better knowledge of the signs and symbols found the Japanese occupation forces were harassed by Allied in building heritage means a fuller picture of reality. air raids, the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), and For those familiar with English place names inscribed Chinese guerrillas. Therefore, the Japanese carried on the cement tunnels and bunkers in the Shing Mun out a lot of military construction in Hong Kong until Redoubt, the scene of a street in London, as shown in the end of war on 15 August 1945. Some of these the photo below (figure 4)4, taken during Summer structures survive to this day, and a technical note gives 2008, should ring a bell. an account of several that were identified from aerial photo interpretation backed, where possible, by field The putting together of the papers and notes in this surveys. special issue would have been impossible but for the helpful advice of referees including Mr. Chohong Choi, How does an “expatriate” look at war relics? The Mr. Bishop W.K. Chung, Dr. Peter Cunich, Dr. Stephen memoir of Dave Manning, who grew up in our Davies, Dr. Bruce Harvey, and Mr. Bernard Lowry. multicultural and open society, has given us a glance of one such view. Professor Lawrence WC Lai 24 October 2011 To a person who regards Hong Kong as his/her home, 4 Photo courtesy of Mr. Y.K. Tan. SBE 6 8 Figure 4: Strand Palace Hotel, London figure 4: Strand Palace Hotel, London rEfErEnCEs Chan DCY (2011), “One hundred years of railway operations in Hong Kong,” in Danny C.Y. Chan ed. (2011), Hong Kong Buses Yearbook 2011. Northcord Transport, Hong Kong, 118-123.