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Past stirs imagination

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP

Narratives can take many forms. Historical narratives are stories based on facts from the past. In many cases, the characters are fictional, but the events can be based on historical evidence. Even if the characters are real-life people from the past, this type of narrative can still be written using your imagination.

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These narratives are fun. They can also be very educational if you include details and information that are real. Sometimes this means doing some research. If you go to a library or a museum, not only can you find out things to put in your narrative, you might even get some ideas.

The Hong Kong Messenger

Man Yee was playing a dangerous game. Although he was only 13 years old, he was mature beyond his years. The Japanese soldiers had occupied Hong Kong and some were staying at The Peninsula hotel. They were busy rushing around Kowloon trying to find people who were their enemies. When they found them, they put them in a special camp that was just like a prison.

Many people in Hong Kong were afraid, but Man Yee was brave. He had volunteered to be a messenger for a Japanese colonel. This was daring because he was only pretending to be helpful to the soldiers. Instead of taking the messages straight to the place he was told, he went to the walled city and gave them first to his Chinese friends.

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The colonel began to suspect. His messages seemed to be taking a long time. He decided to set a trap. The next day, the colonel wrote a fake message to some soldiers in Kwun Tong. He warned his soldiers that the message would be coming. He instructed his assistant to follow Man Yee. His assistant was disguised as a rickshaw driver.

But Man Yee and his friends were cleverer than the colonel thought. They had a feeling something like this might happen. So they decided on a cunning plan. They wrote another message.

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