Sunday 3 January 2010

Huizhou to Hong Kong, December 29



Tuesday 29th
One important task remains: the recreation of the iconic Waichow photo, which captured the bedraggled but triumphant men of the escape on the morning of December 29th. The photographer used his last plate to take the shot, and it's been a key clue in identifying the members of the original party and tracing their descendants. This was the 1941 photo, and this is how we looked on the same date in 2009 outside what is now the People's Hospital.

Next it's on to look at a lovely old Catholic Mission, where our fathers received food and solace, and to walk around downtown Huizhou, both old and new quarters. Most of us resort to MacDonald's (even in Huizhou!) for a quick lunch before saying farewell to our Guangdong hosts and re-boarding the buses for the drive back to the Hong Kong border. Here we're unceremoniously dropped off to trudge across the border and take the metro back to central Hong Kong, which we reach with some relief despite the many high points of our mainland adventure.

Mike and I organize dinner for everyone's who's around at a favorite Italian restaurant, Cine Citta - a wonderful way to finish up an amazing week.

The HERO Committee, 'weary but relieved': Emma, Alison, Russ, Richard, Donald, Sheena and David.





3 comments:

Tim and Alison said...

Well done you, having strength left after all that to write it up, and so well too. Having just got back after running into more of the snow events that held up so many people on their way out, we're contenting ourselves with putting up the barest of essentials on our blog, for now at least. So hope it's OK to direct our millions of readers to your site if they want more.

But whether we are able to publish a Comment on your blog, after many attempts, is another question...

Unknown said...

I was at the Museum today to visit the HERO exhibition. It was very interesting and led me to google more about HERO upon my return home. Your notes on the re-enactment was so well written, it gave me a vivid picture of what took place during those days which must have meant a lot to you guys.
I would like to read more about the escape, so I would appreciate it if you could provide me with some sources - books written about it that could be obtained (I wonder if the HK Central Library carries any of them).

Emma Oxford said...

For Dorothy: I'm glad you enjoyed the HERO exhibition. A couple of books about the escape are in the works now, but a good published account is in "The Fall of Hong Kong" by Philip Snow. He has references to other accounts. Please also visit HERO's website: www.hongkongescape.org.