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SCMP

This article was first published on August 30, 1945
Fleet entering
The first communique from the Hongkong Government to the people of Hongkong since December 1941 was issued this morning at 11 o’clock as follows:
“Rear Admiral Harcourt is lying outside Hongkong with a very strong fleet. The Naval Dockyard is to be ready for his arrival by noon to-day.
“Admiral Harcourt will enter the harbour having transferred his flag to the cruiser Swiftsure which will be accompanied by destroyers and submarines.
“The capital ships will follow as soon as a passage has been swept.
“The fleet includes two aircraft carriers Indomitable of 23,000 tons, and the Venerable; the battleship Anson of 35,000 tons and carrying 10 14-inch guns, the Euryalus and the Swiftsure carrying 10 5.2-inch guns; the merchant ship Maidstone of 8,500 tons, the merchant cruiser Prince Rupert, Canadian registry, and the Hospital ship Oxfordshire.
“A considerable number of other ships will follow in a day or two.
“The formal surrender is likely to follow the proceedings at Tokyo.”

Champion of the press
This account of how the SCMP published its first post-war edition first appeared in journalist George Giffen’s obituary on January 4, 2007.
by Kevin Sinclair
On August 30, 1945, the atmosphere in Hong Kong was tense and uncertain. Two weeks earlier, Emperor Hirohito had announced the surrender of his forces but Hong Kong was still under Japanese military occupation.
In the Wyndham Street offices of the South China Morning Post, the Japanese executives who had put out the English-language occupation newspaper, Hong Kong News, refused to accept reality.
Three Post staff had bravely gone to the office, demanding space to put out the first edition of their newspaper since the surrender of British forces three years and eight months earlier.
They were the editor, Australian-Chinese Henry Ching, who had spent the desperate war years in the city, the general manager Benjamin Wylie, and journalist George Giffen – both recently released from internment at Stanley.
Despite the refusal of the Japanese occupants to cooperate, Ching and Giffen set about preparing to publish. Ching was in the office and Giffen went out into the streets to gauge the mood of the public.

Then he came running back: “The British fleet is coming in!” Giffen grabbed a chair and a typewriter and pounded out the news, while Ching edited it.
Veteran employee Lam Yung-fai got the paper set in type and printed. Soon after, the first post-war edition of the Post was being handed out free on the streets.
The issue was a humble single sheet printed on one side, 13cm wide and 28cm deep. “EXTRA,” it was headed, “Fleet entering.”
The news was momentous. The British fleet was coming into the harbour, ending not only the grim occupation but also uncertainty about the immediate future. The city was seething with rumours about an approaching Nationalist army advancing to liberate Hong Kong.

There was also talk of an American fleet about to arrive and worry among the survivors of the pre-war government that their US allies might hand the city over to the Kuomintang.
The next day, a single-sheet newspaper of normal format appeared under the joint masthead of the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Telegraph. On the back page there was a small panel announcing that the paper had been printed and published by George Wood Giffen for the South China Morning Post.


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On this day 80 years ago, the Post’s first issue after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was published, ending a nearly four-year hiatus


On this day 80 years ago, the Post’s first issue after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was published, ending a nearly four-year hiatus.


History

Hong Kong's second world war history

Britain

China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}On this day 80 years ago, the Post’s first issue after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was published, ending a nearly four-year hiatus

Fleet entering

On this day 80 years ago, the Post’s first issue after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was published, ending a nearly four-year hiatus