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War veterans and uniformed groups attend a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the liberation of Hong Kong from Japanese occupation in 1945, at City Hall Memorial Garden in Central in August 2018. Photo: Edmond So
OpinionLetters

Letters | To preserve Hong Kong’s World War II history, digitise wartime materials in public libraries

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As a student who loves history, I am writing to suggest that Hong Kong public libraries digitise more wartime periodicals and expand their collection.

Recently, I was preparing for a project related to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and wished to get some copies of newspapers published in the period. However, I encountered some problems when accessing the documents.

Because of the outbreak of Covid-19, all public libraries were closed for months and later opened again with precautionary measures. The measures, such as regular cleaning sessions, reduced the time I had in the Central Library to read the microfilm.

I asked the staff for copies of the Chinese version of the Hong Kong News, the mouthpiece of the Japanese military during the occupation. However, the library did not have any.

Fortunately, the library had microfilm of Wah Kiu Yat Po, which was enough for the project. However, when using the machine to read the newspaper, I found it took time to search for a newspaper published on a particular date.

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The fight against Japan: China’s role in the second world war

The fight against Japan: China’s role in the second world war

After this experience, I wish to put forward the following suggestions to the public libraries.

They should digitise more historical copies of periodicals and upload them to the library’s website. Currently, most of the microfilm is only available at the Central Library, which is inconvenient for people like me who live a long way from there. Uploading digital copies of historical periodicals allows people to access the documents from home at all times. Also, the library need not worry about the storage of those materials afterwards.

Also, wartime newspapers such as the Chinese and Japanese versions of the Hong Kong News and Heung Tao Daily should be included in the library’s collection. Wartime newspapers provide us insight into the period, such as the policies of the occupiers. I believe the library would be willing to purchase copies from people.

To benefit the study of history, I hope the library can address my suggestions.

Vivian Kwok, Tsing Yi

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