War memorial, Botanical Gardens, Hong Kong
Collection
Identifier
JC-s413
Notes
University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: JC-s413. This granite war memorial ‘pailou’ was erected at the main entrance to the Botanical Gardens on the east side of Victoria, Hong Kong in 1928. ‘It was designed after the First World War as a general memorial to all Chinese who served and died with the Commonwealth forces. More than half served with the Chinese Labour Corps, which served in France and Belgium and are buried or commemorated there. Others, who served with the Commonwealth navies, merchant services and various military works units (in particular the Royal Engineers, Inland Water Transport) often had no known grave because they died at sea or on the waterways of Iraq’. (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission). The inscription (which was changed after damage sustained during the Second World War) reads as follows: ‘ERECTED BY THE IMPERIAL WAR GRAVES COMMISSION IN MEMORY OF THE CHINESE IN THE SERVICE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WHO DIED THROUGH ENEMY ACTION DURING THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918’.