5.10 Japanese style Education

Local and Japanese women at the Peak tramway.

During the Japanese occupation, education in Hong Kong atrophied as there were no school places for many school-age children.

The number of students shrank sharply from 118,000 in 1941 to 4,000 in 1945.

The policy was to instill Japanese culture by presenting Japan in a favourable light. In middle and primary schools there was compulsory teaching of the Japanese language for four hours a week, and Japanese culture and etiquette were taught as major subjects in government schools.

These measures were designed to exercise more effective control over Hong Kong citizens, and to realise Japan's long-term goal of creating the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere".

Credit : History Museum of HK.