Hong Kong during World War I

[penguinsix]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a book or other website that talks a bit about Hong Kong during the First World War? Most sites talk about WWII and the Battle of Hong Kong but I was curious if there was anything from the Great War involving Hong Kong. I've read that the military garrison here was removed and sent to Europe (and the Hong Kong Volunteers activated to take their place) but there isn't much out there. While there doesn't seem to have been any battles here I was curious if there were any naval actions in this part of the world during the first war that might of touched on Hong Kong in some way.

Just kind of curious. I'm gathering some of the troops that were from Hong Kong (or based here) died in battle, hence the Cenotaph and a memorial in Stanley Cemetery to a few Hong Kong personnel who died in the war.

[dipper]

There were a significant number of men living in Hong Kong who volunteered and went to fight in Europe but no real involvement of Hong Kong itself as far as I know.

Some German residents were interned and German businesses closed down and there was apparently some concern about the HK & Shanghai Bank as it had a strong German connection.

[Renotommy]

OP, have you tried Gwulo.com? That forum may be able to provide you with the WWI info.

[dipper]

While there doesn't seem to have been any battles here I was curious if there were any naval actions in this part of the world during the first war that might of touched on Hong Kong in some way.

Apparently the German Navy China Squadron was at the German treaty port of Jiaozhu at the start of the war but it sailed off and was sunk in the First Battle of the Falklands. In November 1914 a joint Anglo-Japanese force, including HMS Triumph which sailed from Hong Kong, captured Jiaozhou, eliminating Germany's base in China.

Source: A Modern History of Hong Kong by Steve Tsang

China entered the war in 1917 on the side of the allies and provided 200,000 labourers for the battlefield, of whom around 2,000 died. Tsang argues that dissatisfaction with the Versaille treaty which gave the German privileges in Jiaozhou to the Japanese instead of returning sovereignty to China after China had helped the allied war effort was one of the factors in the rise of nationalism in China that eventually partly inspired the strike and boycott in Hong Kong in 1925.

[Morrison]

It's Versailles !

[mr nobody]

A Modern History of Hong Kong by Steve Tsang...that's a pretty good book.