Epilogue: A Place in the Sun

Summary

Abstract

As the Second World War unfolded in Hong Kong, it created various crises that intensified pre-existing racial tensions in the colony. In exchange for the liberties and safety of being ‘neutral’ or third nationals, Anglicized Macanese rushed to revoke their British status in favor of Portuguese certificates. Some sought refuge in Macau, where they would live, perhaps for the first time ever, side-by-side with Macanese subjects who were different in terms of cultural and political orientation. Despite acquiring Portuguese status, three Anglophile Macanese—Eddie Gosano, Leo d’Almada e Castro and Clotilde Barretto—continued to work for the British government, risking their lives for the BAAG. The Epilogue ends with the aftermath of the war and a reappraisal of the resilience of identity.

Keywords: Second World War, war evacuation, Japanese occupation, BAAG, second diaspora, identity

In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale war on China, sending thousands of refugees fleeing to Hong Kong and Macau. The consequences of a sudden increase in population reverberated across the British colony, putting enormous pressure on the government's housing and welfare provisions. By the late 1930s, the competition for resources between Hong Kong's diverse communities became apparent, causing new lines of social and racial disparity to surface. This was marked by emerging discussions on social injustice, directed at the government's treatment of ‘Hongkong citizens,’ who were then composed of 1,500 British subjects of Chinese, Portuguese, Indian and Eurasian ethnicity. In 1939, the colonial government's proposal of an income tax to finance war gifts to Britain met objections from the business community and local residents. The editor of the South China Morning Post protested, writing, ‘The upper ranks of the Government Service are not open to the Hongkong citizen: he has no vote nor does he enjoy the full privileges of a British subject—his nationality is only stressed for taxation purposes.’ The editor stressed that the dominant Chinese population had dual alliance and dual commitment to China's cries for aid, urging the colonial government not to regard Hong Kong ‘as an everlasting orange, to be squeezed as required.’ In issues that required the allocation of resources, the colonial government’s obvious prioritization of the European population left local-born British subjects questioning the meaning of their status.