The Chinese Representative Council was a council consisting of leading local Chinese and Eurasian community leaders established by Japan during the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. His surrender occurred after Batt ...

Background

After British Governor of Hong Kong

Mark Aitchison Young Sir Mark Aitchison Young ( zh, t=楊慕琦; 30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974) was a British colonial administrator, who is best remembered for his service as the Governor of Hong Kong at the time of the Battle of Hong Kong, Japanese invasion of t ...

surrendered to Japan after the

Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...

on 25 December 1941, Hong Kong fell under the Japanese military occupation for 3 years and 8 months. To consolidate their rule, the Japanese military tried to recruit the same local community leaders who had worked for the British. In January 1942, two weeks after the British surrender, Lieutenant General

Takashi Sakai was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, known for his role as Governor of Hong Kong under Japanese occupation. Biography Sakai was born in Kamo District, Hiroshima, now part of Hiroshima city. He was ed ...

invited some 130 leading Chinese and Eurasian leaders to a formal luncheon at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon. In the meeting, Saikai stressed that the Chinese and Japanese should work together for the

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere The , also known as the GEACPS, was a Pan-Asianism, pan-Asian union that the Empire of Japan tried to establish. Initially, it covered Japan (including Korea under Japanese rule, annexed Korea), Manchukuo, and Wang Jingwei regime, China, but as ...

. In late January 1942, Lieutenant General

Isogai Rensuke was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Governor of Hong Kong under Japanese occupation from February 20, 1942, to December 24, 1944. Biography Early career A native of Hyōgo Prefecture, Isogai graduated from the 16th class of the Imp ...

became the governor of the occupied territory. He established two councils for managing the local Chinese population, the Chinese Representative Council and

Chinese Cooperative Council The Chinese Cooperative Council was a civilian council consisting of leading local Chinese and Eurasians leaders during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. History After the British surrender, the Japanese tried to consolidate their power by ...

Composition

The Chinese Representative Council and the Chinese Cooperative Council were established on 30 March, replacing the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee (). The Japanese appointed

Robert Kotewall Sir Robert Hormus Kotewall (; 1880–1949) was a British Hong Kong businessman, civil servant and legislator. Early life Kotewall was born in 1880. He was the son of Hormusjee Rustomjee Kotewall, an Indian Parsi, and Cheung A-cheung. He obta ...

, former member of the Executive Council and the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in the pre-war period, to be the chairman of the Chinese Representative Council, which consisted of three and from April 1942 four members when Chan Lim-pak was added. The other members included: * Chairman:

(Lo Kuk-wo) * Lau Tin-shing, manager of the Communications Bank and chairman of the Chinese Bankers' Association *

Li Tse-fong Li Tse-fong (; 21 September 1891 – 5 September 1953) was a Hong Kong entrepreneur and politician. He was a founder of the Bank of East Asia and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Education and business career Born in Hong Kong o ...

, manager of the

Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong public banking and financial services company headquartered in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and o ...

and former unofficial member of the Legislative Council * Chan Lim-pak, former comprador of the

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

in Canton The members of the Council included Lau Tin-shing, manager of the Communications Bank and chairman of the Chinese Bankers' Association. Lau was the president of the Chinese-Japanese Returned-Students Associations and was very pro-Japanese. When he died in April 1945, he was honoured by the Japanese governor. Chan Lim-pak, former comprador of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Canton, had been arrested by the British during the Japanese invasion on charges of defeatist talk and aiding the enemy. However, the other leaders collaborated with the Japanese mostly with reluctance and misgiving as a matter of physical survival. The Chinese Representative Council also selected 22 members from the leading professionals to the Chinese Cooperative Council.

History

The Chinese Representative Council met daily to discuss issues but was not entrusted with any real power. All the council could do was to make suggestions and try to persuade the government to accept it. It was also responsible for raising the East Asia Construction Fund for the relief of the starving. In November 1942, Chan Lim-pak announced on behalf of the council that the Japanese were considering allowing a business syndicate to run a "pleasure resort" centre, which meant brothels, in Shamshuipo. In January 1943, Chan Lim-pak, Lau Tin-shing and Robert Kotewall made explicit public statements in support of the declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom by the

Reorganized National Government of China The Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, commonly described as the Wang Jingwei regime, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in eastern China. It existed coterminous with the Nationalist government of the Republic of ...

, the puppet regime presided over by

Wang Jingwei Wang Zhaoming (4 May 188310 November 1944), widely known by his pen name Wang Jingwei, was a Chinese politician who was president of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan. He was in ...

. By 1944, when the Japanese was losing the war, the local leaders began to avoid their duties on the council. Kotewall and Li Tse-fong also withdrew from public life for health reasons.

Aftermath

After the surrender of Japan, Robert Kotewell, chairman of the Chinese Representative Council testified in the war crimes trials. Although he was not seen as a traitor, as he was advised by three of the senior members of the Hong Kong British government, R. A. C. North,

Grenville Alabaster Grenville David "Gren" Alabaster (born 10 December 1933) is a New Zealand former first-class cricketer who played for Otago, Canterbury and Northern Districts between 1955 and 1976. A winner of the ''New Zealand Cricket Almanack'' Player of th ...

and

J. A. Fraser Major John Alexander Fraser, (, 12 February 1896 – 29 October 1943) was a British colonial officer who was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest British Commonwealth award for bravery out of combat, for his "magnificent condu ...

to cooperate with the Japanese to the extent that the interest of the local Chinese might be safeguarded before the occupation, Kotewell and Li Tse-fong, who held many posts before the war including the Legislative Council never won reappointment of any public positions after the war.

References

{{reflist 1942 establishments in the Japanese colonial empire 1945 disestablishments in China Japanese occupation of Hong Kong Organisations based in Hong Kong