document_title: Battle of Hong Kong

question_text: when did the battle of hong kong start

question_tokens: when did the battle of hong kong start

text: Battle of Hong Kong

text: Background[edit]

text: Britain first thought of Japan as a threat with the ending of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in the early 1920s, a threat that increased with the escalation of the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 21 October 1938 the Japanese occupied Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong was surrounded.[9] British defence studies concluded that Hong Kong would be extremely hard to defend in the event of a Japanese attack, but in the mid-1930s work began on improvements to defences including along the Gin Drinkers' Line. By 1940, the British determined to reduce the Hong Kong Garrison to only a symbolic size. Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command argued that limited reinforcements could allow the garrison to delay a Japanese attack, gaining time elsewhere.[10] Winston Churchill and the general staff named Hong Kong as an outpost and decided against sending more troops. In September 1941, they reversed their decision and argued that additional reinforcements would provide a military deterrent against the Japanese and reassure Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek that Britain was serious about defending the colony.[10]

text:
Strengths of all personnel mobilised at Hong Kong Garrison on 8 December 1941
14564

British
3652

Local Colonial
2428

Indian
2254

Auxiliary Defence Units
2112

Hong Kong Voluntary Defence Corps
2000

Canadian
1982

Nursing Detachment
136

text: Source:London Gazette No.38183 (Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham despatch)[11]

text: Contemporary research and literature about the Battle of Hong Kong is overbearingly focused on the British and Canadian military, leaving the Chinese and Indian war narratives almost entirely untold.

text: According to the history manual of the United States Military Academy: "Japanese control of Canton, Hainan Island, French Indo-China, and Formosa virtually sealed the fate of Hong Kong well before the firing of the first shot".[12][13] British military in Hong Kong grossly underestimated the capabilities of the Japanese forces and downplayed the Japanese threat as 'unpatriotic' and 'insubordinate'.[14] US Consul Robert Ward, the highest ranking US official posted to Hong Kong in the period preceding the outbreak of hostilities, offered a first-hand explanation for the rapid collapse of defenses in Hong Kong by saying that the local British community had insufficiently prepared itself or the Chinese populace for war [15] besides highlighting the prejudiced attitudes held by those governing the Crown Colony of Hong Kong:"several of them (the British rulers) said frankly that they would rather turn the island over to the Japanese rather than to turn it over to the Chinese, by which they meant rather than employ Chinese to defend the colony they would surrender it to the Japanese".[16] According to US Consul Robert Ward, "when the real fighting came it was the British soldiery that broke and ran. The Eurasians fought well and so did the Indians but the Kowloon line broke when the Royal Scots gave way. The same thing happened on the mainland."[17] Colonel Reynolds Condon, a US Army assistant military attaché who witnessed the battle and was taken prisoner by the Japanese wrote up his observations on military prepardness before the commencement of hostilities and also the execution of operations thereafter.[18]

text: Indian Army[edit]

text: During World War II, soldiers of the Indian Army were involved in the Battle of Hong Kong.[19][20] The 5/7 Rajput Regiment[21] took up garrison at Hong Kong in June 1937 followed by the 2/14 Punjab in November 1940. Indian troops were also incorporated within several overseas regiments as for example the Hong Kong Singapore Royal Artillery Regiment which had Indian (Sikh) gunners.[22][23] Hong Kong Mule Corps was almost entirely staffed by Dogras and Punjabi Mussulmans.[24] Medical personnel from the Indian Medical Service tended to those injured in combat. Ex-servicemen from India serving as security guards in Hong Kong also suffered "appallingly huge" casualties.[25]

text: Two of the three battalions stationed at the Gin Drinkers Line were from the Indian Army: the 2/14th Battalion, Punjab Regiment in the centre section and the 5/7th Battalion, Rajput Regiment in the eastern sector. The 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots were assigned to the western sector.[26] When Mainland Infantry Brigade was ordered to retreat to Hong Kong Island, the Rajputs were tasked with defending the North East sector and Punjab to the North West sector including Victoria City (Hong Kong city). Royal Scots were reassigned to the Wanchai Filter Beds.

text: Details regarding the involvement of military personnel from the Indian subcontinent in the Battle of Hong Kong has been published in "Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War, 1939-45. Campaigns in South-East Asia, 1941-42. Hong Kong, Malaya and Sarawak & Borneo."[27][28][29][30] which draws significantly from the UK War Office reports which appeared in London Gazette No.38183 "Operations in the Far East, from 17th October 1940 to 27th December 1941"[31] (Despatch by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, Commander-in-Chief, Far East) and London Gazette No.38190 "Operations in Hong Kong from 8th to 25th December 1941"[32] (Despatch by Major-General C.M.Maltby, General Officer Commanding British Troops in China).

text: Battalions from both Indian Army regiments from the British Raj earned Battle Honours[33][34] for the defence of Hong Kong: 5th Battalion of 7th Rajput Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of 14th Punjab Regiment saw combat during the Japanese assault on Kowloon peninsula (TaiPo Road, Shing Mun Redoubt, Ma Lau Tong and Devil's Peak) and Hong Kong Island (Lyemun, North Point, Quarry Bay, Sai Wan, Leighton Hill, Shouson Hill, Brick Hill, Wan Chai, Happy Valley, Wong Nei Chong Gap, Mount Parish).[35]

text: First significant exchanges of fire with troops of the Imperial Japanese Army was through 2/14 Punjab at 1500 hours after the invadors had crossed into Laffan's Plain. On 8 December 1941, Forward Troops of 2/14 Punjab drew first blood by eliminating a detachment at 1830 hours and virtually wiped out a Japanese platoon on Taipo Road at 1930 hours.

text: During the Battle of Hong Kong, the 5/7 Rajputs faced the onslaught of Imperial Japanese Army troops very early-on[36][37] and were the last soldiers to depart from the mainland when Kowloon was evacuated on 13 December 1941.[38][39][40][41] At the beginning of the Pacific War, 5/7 Rajput was tasked with front-line defence of the Eastern section of the Gin Drinkers Line on mainland Kowloon Peninsula. Despite being subjected to dive bombing and heavy mortar fire, the Rajputs succeeded in holding Devil's Peak on the mainland until ordered to retreat across Lyemun Strait to Hong Kong island. On Hong Kong Island they were assigned to defences located all along the North Shoreline. On 18 December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army launched the invasion of Hong Kong Island by landing first at North Point. The first troops to engage them were the Rajputs who continued to offer resistance until the regiment virtually ceased to exist.[42][43][44] In his despatch, Major-General C.M.Maltby, wrote about the conduct of troops under his command in Hong Kong and mentions the 5/7 Rajput Regiment: "This battalion fought well on the mainland and their repulse of the enemy attack on Devil's Peak was entirely successful. The full force of the enemy's initial attack on the island fell on this battalion and they fought gallantly until they had suffered heavy casualties (100% of British Officers and most senior Indian Officers being lost) and were run over".

text: The numerical composition and outcome of the two Indian Army regiments (5/7 Rajput & 2/14 Punjab) involved in the defence of Hong Kong are published in Major-General C.M.Maltby's war despatch (London Gazette No.38190) which also notes that "many of the wounded of 5/7 Rajput Regt. fell into Japanese hands and have not been recorded". Total battle casualties of "Indian Other Ranks" is given to be 1164 out of a total of 3893 military personnel from India who were garrisoned in Hong Kong.

text:
Unit or Formation
Total Strength
Killed or Died of Wounds
Missing
Wounded

5/7 Rajput Regt. (Officers)
17
6
4
7

5/7 Rajput Regt. (Indian Other Ranks)
875
150
109
186

2/14 Punjab Regt. (Officers)
15
NA
3
5

2/14 Punjab Regt. (Indian Other Ranks)
932
52
69
156

text: The 5/7 Rajput bore the heaviest casualty losses[45][46] recorded amongst the 6 combat regiments during the battle of Hong Kong: 156 killed in action or died from wounds, 113 missing, and 193 wounded.[47] The 2/14 Punjab of the Indian Army also bore heavy losses: 55 killed in action or died from wounds, 69 missing, and 161 wounded.[48]

text: Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery[edit]

text: Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, which was raised with troops recruited from Undivided India, also suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of Hong Kong and are commemorated with names inscribed on panels at the entrance to Sai Wan War Cemetery: 144 killed, 45 missing and 103 wounded.[49]

text: C Force[edit]

text: In late 1941, the British government accepted an offer by the Canadian Government to send a battalion of the Royal Rifles of Canada (from Quebec) and one of the Winnipeg Grenadiers (from Manitoba) and a brigade headquarters (1,975 personnel) to reinforce the Hong Kong garrison. "C Force", as it was known, arrived on 16 November on board the troopship Awatea and the armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince David. A total of 96 officers, two Auxiliary Services supervisors and 1,877 other ranks disembarked. Included were two medical officers and two nurses (supernumerary to the regimental medical officers), two Canadian Dental Corps officers with assistants, three chaplains and a detachment of the Canadian Postal Corps. A soldier of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), had stowed away and was sent back to Canada.[50]

text: C Force never received its vehicles as the US merchant ship San Jose carrying them was, at the outbreak of the Pacific War, diverted to Manila, in the Philippine Islands, at the request of the US Government.[51] The Royal Rifles had served only in the Dominion of Newfoundland and Saint John, New Brunswick, prior to posting to Hong Kong and the Winnipeg Grenadiers had been deployed to Jamaica. Few Canadian soldiers had field experience, but were near fully equipped, except for having only two anti-tank rifles and no ammunition for 2-inch and 3-inch mortars or for signal pistols, deficiencies which the British undertook to remedy in Hong Kong, although not at once.[52]

text: Battle[edit]

text: 8 December 1941[edit]

text: The Japanese attack began shortly after 08:00 on 8 December 1941 (Hong Kong Time), four hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor (difference in time and date is due to the day shift that occurs because of the International date line). Commanded by Major-General Christopher Maltby, British, Canadian, Indian, as well as the local Hong Kong Chinese Regiment, and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, resisted the Japanese attack by the Japanese 21st, 23rd and the 38th Regiments (Lieutenant General Takashi Sakai) but were outnumbered nearly four to one (Japanese, 52,000; Allied, 14,000) and lacked their opponents' recent combat experience. The colony had no significant air defence. The RAF station at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport (RAF Kai Tak) had only five aeroplanes: two Supermarine Walrus amphibious aircraft and three Vickers Vildebeest torpedo-reconnaissance bombers, flown and serviced by seven officers and 108 airmen. An earlier request for a fighter squadron had been rejected and the nearest fully operational RAF base was in Kota Bharu, Malaya, nearly 2,250 km (1,400 mi) away. Hong Kong also lacked adequate naval defences. Three destroyers were to withdraw to Singapore Naval Base.[53]

text: Kowloon and New Territories[edit]

text: The Japanese bombed Kai Tak Airport on 8 December.[54] Two of the three Wildebeest and the two Walruses were destroyed by 12 Japanese bombers. The attack also destroyed several civil aircraft including all but two of the aircraft used by the air unit of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp. The RAF and air unit personnel from then on fought as ground troops. Two of the Royal Navy's three remaining destroyers were ordered to leave Hong Kong for Singapore. Only one destroyer, HMS Thracian, several gunboats and a flotilla of motor torpedo boats remained. On 8, 9, and 10 December, eight American pilots of the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) and their crews flew 16 sorties between Kai Tak Airport and landing fields in Namyung and Chongqing (Chungking), the wartime capital of the Republic of China.[c] The crews evacuated 275 persons including Mme Sun Yat-Sen, the widow of Sun Yat-sen and the Chinese Finance Minister Kung Hsiang-hsi.

text: The Commonwealth forces decided against holding the Sham Chun River and instead established three battalions on the Gin Drinkers' Line across the hills. The Japanese 38th Infantry Division under the command of Major General Takaishi Sakai quickly forded the Sham Chun River over temporary bridges.[54] Early on 10 December, the 228th Infantry Regiment (Colonel Teihichi) of the 38th Division attacked the Commonwealth defences at the Shing Mun Redoubt defended by the A Company of 2nd Battalion Royal Scots (Lieutenant Colonel S. White).[54] The line was breached in five hours and later that day the Royal Scots also withdrew from Golden Hill until D company of the Royal Scots counter-attacked and re-captured the hill.[54] By 10:00 the hill was again taken by the Japanese.[54] This made the situation on the New Territories and Kowloon untenable and the evacuation to Hong Kong Island started on 11 December, under aerial bombardment and artillery fire. As much as possible, military and harbour facilities were demolished before the withdrawal. By 13 December, the 5/7 Rajputs of the Indian Army (Lieutenant Colonel R. Cadogan-Rawlinson), the last Commonwealth troops on the mainland, had retreated to Hong Kong Island.[64]

text: Hong Kong Island[edit]

text: Maltby organised the defence of the island, splitting it between an East Brigade and a West Brigade. On 15 December, the Japanese began systematic bombardment of the island's North Shore.[64] Two demands for surrender were made on 13 and 17 December. When these were rejected, Japanese forces crossed the harbour on the evening of 18 December and landed on the island's north-east.[64] They suffered only light casualties, although no effective command could be maintained until the dawn came. That night, approximately 20 Commonwealth gunners were executed at the Sai Wan Battery despite having surrendered.[citation needed] There was a further massacre of prisoners, this time of medical staff,[65] in the Salesian Mission on Chai Wan Road.[66][67] In both cases, a few men survived.

text: On the morning of 19 December fierce fighting continued on Hong Kong Island but the Japanese annihilated the headquarters of West Brigade, causing the death of Brigadier John Lawson, the commander of the West Brigade.[65] A British counter-attack could not force them from the Wong Nai Chung Gap[65] that secured the passage between the north coast at Causeway Bay and the secluded southern parts of the island. From 20 December, the island became split in two with the British Commonwealth forces still holding out around the Stanley peninsula and in the west of the island. At the same time, water supplies started to run short as the Japanese captured the island's reservoirs. On the morning of 25 December, Japanese soldiers entered the British field hospital at St. Stephen's College and in the St. Stephen's college incident tortured and killed a large number of injured soldiers, along with the medical staff.[68]

text: By the afternoon of 25 December 1941, it was clear that further resistance would be futile and British colonial officials headed by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person[69] at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of the Peninsula Hong Kong Hotel. This was the first occasion on which a British Crown Colony had surrendered to an invading force.[citation needed] (British Somaliland fell to the Italians in August 1940 but this was a protectorate.) The garrison had held out for 17 days. This day is known in Hong Kong as "Black Christmas".[70]

text: Massacres[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Sai Wan Hill[edit]

text: Perhaps as many as 28 people were massacred after the fight for Sai Wan Hill.[citation needed] These men were members of the 5th Anti-Aircraft Battery of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC).[71]

text: Salesian Mission[edit]

text: At Shau Kei Wan there was a Salesian mission being used as an Advanced Dressing Station. On the night of 18 December it was surrounded by troops of the 229th Infantry Regiment. At 07:00 on 19 December, Captain Martin Banfill of the Canadian Medical Corps surrendered the station. Two injured officers of the 7th Rajput Regiment were murdered upon arrival in an ambulance. The Japanese separated the male medical staff from the female (two nurses, whose lives were spared). All but three of the men were killed, most of the victims were of the Royal Army Medical Corps but also at least two men of the Royal Rifles of Canada and two civilians.[72]

text: Causeway Bay[edit]

text: Three captured persons were executed at Causeway Bay, including a female air raid warden with the local Air Raid Precautions (ARP).

text: Wong Nai Chung Gap[edit]

text: At Wong Nai Chung Gap, ten men of the St. John Ambulance were killed, as well as a policeman and a medic.

text: Jardine's Lookout[edit]

text: Four men each of the 3rd Company HKVDC and the Winnipeg Grenadiers were massacred after battle at Jardine's Lookout. One grenadier, a Private Kilfoyle, was killed on the forced march to North Point, according to witnesses.

text: Black Hole of Hong Kong[edit]

text: Four men were killed in the so-called "Black Hole of Hong Kong", including two Canadian officers.

text: Blue Pool Road[edit]

text: Around thirty civilians of different ethnicities were massacred at Blue Pool Road.[citation needed]

text: The Ridge, Overbays and Eucliffe[edit]

text: In the worst massacre of POWs of the battle, the Japanese killed at least 47 after taking The Ridge. Among the dead was Major Charles Sydney Clarke of China Command HQ, two men of the 12th and 20th Coastal Regiments of the Royal Artillery (RA), six men of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and two of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC), nineteen men of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and three of the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC) and fourteen men of the RASC Company of the HKVDC.

text: The Japanese also executed at least fourteen captives at Overbays, men of the same units as at The Ridge but also including three Royal Rifles of Canada and an officer of the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. A further seven were killed at Eucliffe and another 36 known victims cannot be placed precisely at one of the three locations (Ridge, Overbays, Eucliffe). Ride, who was present at the surrender, stated later that he saw fifty bodies lying by the road, including six Middlesex men among them. These men may have been some of those attached to the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission report also states that five men of the Royal Air Force went missing near The Ridge on 20 December, perhaps captured and killed.

text: Deepwater Bay Ride[edit]

text: Six men of the Middlesex were killed defending PB 14 at Deepwater Bay Ride (Lyon Light). It is uncertain whether they were killed in action, or murdered after capture.

text: St Stephen's College[edit]

text: The massacre perpetrated at St Stephen's College is the least well known. Only thirteen victims can be confirmed at the location but reports and estimates put the real number as high as 99. The names of all the reported victims may never be known. Between 75 and 150 bodies were cremated by the victors in the aftermath of the battle but this total includes the victims of the fighting around Stanley Fort, such as the men of 965 Defence Battery. Although it is the "most infamous massacre", it "has been the hardest to match with records". Three British and four Chinese nurses were said to have been raped and murdered and one Canadian, Captain Overton Stark Hickey of the RCASC, murdered trying to stop the rapes. Besides the raped nurses, the medical staff suffered two deaths, a doctor shot in the head whilst attempting escape and 25 orderlies of the Indian Hospital Corps (IHC) and St John Ambulance personnel.[citation needed] The 55 St John victims of the battle of Hong Kong are memorialised at the present headquarters in Hong Kong but since no dates are given on the memorial it is impossible to identify those killed at St Stephen's. Four Chinese servants and one civilian, Tam Cheung Huen, were killed. Tam is the only Chinese victim of this massacre known by name. Among the soldiers receiving treatment at the college, two riflemen were mutilated and murdered and a further 56 men were reportedly bayoneted in their beds. Some of these men may have been Royal Rifles whose deaths are incorrectly reported as occurring elsewhere on 26 December.

text: Maryknoll Mission[edit]

text: At least eight men—six of the Middlesex and two Royal Engineers—were killed after capture at Maryknoll Mission. Four members of the 8th Coastal Regiment RA may have been killed here as well; estimates of the number of men murdered vary from 11 to 16.

text: Brick Hill[edit]

text: Twenty-six prisoners are believed to have been killed after the fighting for Brick Hill but some of these may have died in the fight, including some of the seventeen men of the Heavy Anti-Aircraft, Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery (HKSRA) known to have died there. Most of the soldiers here murdered were Muslims, including one religious teacher.

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: Casualties[edit]

text: The Japanese lost at least 1,895 men killed of an estimated 6,000 casualties. Allied casualties were 1,111 men killed, 1,167 missing and 1,362 wounded.[73] Allied dead, including British, Canadian and Indian soldiers, were eventually interred at Sai Wan Military Cemetery and the Stanley Military Cemetery. C Force casualties in the battle were 23 officers and 267 other ranks killed or died of wounds, including five officers and 16 other ranks of the brigade headquarters, seven officers and 123 men of the Royal Rifles and 11 officers and 128 men of the Winnipeg Grenadiers. C Force also had 28 officers and 465 men wounded. Some of the dead were murdered by Japanese soldiers during or after surrender. Japanese soldiers committed a number of atrocities on 19 December, when the aid post at the Salesian Mission near Sau Ki Wan was overrun.[74] A total of 1,528 soldiers, mainly Commonwealth (predominantly Indians and Canadians), are either buried or commemorated there. There are also graves of other Allied combatants who died in the region during the war, including some Dutch sailors who were re-interred in Hong Kong after the war.

text: The nearby Sai Wan Battery, with buildings constructed as far back as 1890, housed the Depot and Record Office of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps for nearly four decades after the war. The barracks were handed over to the government in 1985 and were subsequently converted into Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village.

text: At the end of February 1942, The Japanese government stated that numbers of prisoners of war in Hong Kong were: British 5,072, Canadian 1,689, Indian 3,829, others 357, a total of 10,947.[75] They were sent to:

text:
Sham Shui Po POW Camp
Argyle Street Camp for officers
North Point Camp primarily for Canadians and Royal Navy
Ma Tau Chung Camp for Indian soldiers
Yokohama Camp in Japan
Fukuoka Camp in Japan
Osaka Camp in Japan

text: Of the Canadians captured during the battle, 267 subsequently perished in Japanese prisoner of war camps, mainly due to neglect and abuse. In December 2011, Toshiyuki Kato, Japan's parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs, apologised for the mistreatment to a group of Canadian veterans of the Battle of Hong Kong.[76]

text: Enemy civilians (meaning Allied nationals) were interned at the Stanley Internment Camp. Initially, there were 2,400 internees although this number was reduced, by repatriations during the war. Interned persons who died and prisoners executed by the Japanese are buried in Stanley Military Cemetery.

text: Subsequent operations[edit]

text: Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong. This ushered in the three years and eight months of Imperial Japanese administration. During the three and half years of occupation by the Japanese, an estimated 10,000 Hong Kong civilians were executed, while many others were tortured, raped, or mutilated.[77] The local population in the rural New Territories, a mix of Hakka, Cantonese and other Han Chinese groups, waged a guerrilla war with limited success. The resistance groups were known as the Gangjiu and Dongjiang forces. The Japanese razed several villages in reprisal; the guerillas fought until the end of the Japanese occupation. General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong and served as governor for some time, was tried as a war criminal and executed by a firing squad in 1946.[citation needed]

text: Awards[edit]

text:
John Robert Osborn (2 January 1899 – 19 December 1941) was awarded the Victoria Cross. After seeing a Japanese grenade roll in through the doorway of the building Osborn and his fellow Canadian Winnipeg Grenadiers had been garrisoning, he took off his helmet and threw himself on the grenade, saving the lives of over 10 other Canadian soldiers. He was born in Norfolk, England.[65]
Gander was a Newfoundland dog posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal, the "animals' Victoria Cross", in 2000 for his deeds in World War II, the first such award in over 50 years. He picked up a thrown Japanese hand grenade and rushed with it toward the enemy, dying in the ensuing explosion but saving the lives of several wounded Canadian soldiers.
Colonel Lance Newnham, Captain Douglas Ford and Flight Lieutenant Hector Bertram Gray were awarded the George Cross for the gallantry they showed in resisting Japanese torture in the immediate aftermath of the battle. The men had been captured and were in the process of planning a mass escape by British forces. Their plan was discovered but they refused to disclose information under torture and were shot by firing squad.[78]

text: Commemoration[edit]

text: The Cenotaph in Central commemorates the defence as well as war-dead from the First World War. The shield in the colonial Emblem of Hong Kong granted in 1959, featured the battlement design to commemorate the defence of Hong Kong during the Second World War. This Coat of Arms was in place until 1997, when it was replaced by the regional emblem. After the war, Lei Yue Mun Fort became a training ground for the British Forces until 1987, when it was vacated. In view of its historical significance and unique architectural features, the former Urban Council decided in 1993 to conserve and develop the fort into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence.

text: The memorial garden at Hong Kong City Hall commemorates those who died in Hong Kong during World War II.

text: Orders of battle[edit]

text:
Imperial Japanese Army

Twenty-Third Army (Japan) (Lieutenant-General T. Sakai)

38th Division (Lieutenant-General T. Ito): 228th, 229th and 230th Infantry Regiments[79]
Araki Detachment (66th infantry regiment): rearguard
2nd Independent Antitank Gun Battalion
5th Independent Antitank Gun Battalion
10th Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment
20th Independent Mountain Artillery Battalion
21st Mortar Battalion
20th Independent Engineer Regiment
One radio signal platoon
One third of medical unit, 51st Division
1st&2nd River Crossing Material Company, 9th Division
Three companies of 3rd Independent Transportation Regiment
19th Independent Transport Company
20th Independent Transport Company
21st Independent Transport Company
17th Field Water Purification and Supply Unit

Twenty-Third Army Air Unit

45th Air Regiment
Element of 44th Independent Air Unit
Two formations of 10th Independent Air Squad
47th Air Field Battalion
Elements of 67th Air Field Battalion
67th Air Field Company

 Imperial Japanese Navy

2nd China Expeditionary Fleet

text: British Army

text:
Infantry

2nd Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment (Machine gun battalion)
5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment
2nd Battalion, 14th Punjab Regiment
1st Battalion, The Winnipeg Grenadiers
The Royal Rifles of Canada (Rifle battalion)
Hong Kong Chinese Regiment (Infantry battalion)
Infantry Companies, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC)

 Artillery

8th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery
12th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery
5th Anti-Air Regiment, Royal Artillery
956th Defence Battery, Royal Artillery
1st Hong Kong Regiment, Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery  /
Artillery Batteries, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC)

 Supporting Units

Royal Engineers, RE
Royal Army Service Corps, RASC
Royal Army Medical Corps, RAMC
Royal Signals, RS
Royal Army Ordnance Corps, RAOC
Royal Army Dental Corps, RADC
Royal Army Pay Corps, RAPC
Military Provost Staff Corps
Indian Hospital Corps, IHC
Indian Medical Service, IMS
Royal Indian Army Service Corps, RIASC
Hong Kong Mule Corps
Corps of Military Staff Clerks
Canadian Provost Corps
Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, RCAMC
Canadian Army Dental Corps
Canadian Service
Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, RCCS
Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, RCASC
Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps, RCAPC
Canadian Postal Corps
Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, RCOC
Canadian Chaplains Service
Canadian Auxiliary Services
Supporting Units, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC)

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Figures taken from Christopher Maltby, the Commander British Forces in Hong Kong[4]
Jump up ^ Figures taken from Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, the Director of Medical Services in Hong Kong.[6]
Jump up ^ Articles in the New York Times and the Chicago Daily of 15 December 1941,[55] the pilots were Charles L. Sharp,[56] Hugh L. Woods,[57] Harold A. Sweet,[58] William McDonald,[59] Frank L. Higgs,[60] Robert S. Angle,[61] P. W. Kessler[62] and S. E. Scott.[63]

tag: ol

text: Footnotes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Lai & Rava 2014, pp. 12, 48, 79.
Jump up ^ Lai & Rava 2014, pp. 29, 48, 79.
Jump up ^ Lai & Rava 2014, pp. 12, 79.
Jump up ^ Banham 2005, p. 317.
Jump up ^ Ishiwari 1956, pp. 47–48.
Jump up ^ Banham 2005, p. 318.
Jump up ^ Nicholson, K. W. Maurice-Jones ; with a foreword by Cameron (1957). The history of coast artillery in the British Army. Uckfield: Naval and Military Press in association with Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum. pp. 258, 259, 261. ISBN 978-1845740313.
Jump up ^ G.D.Johnson (1984). "The Battle of Hong Kong". After the Battle. Battle of Briton Prints (46): 2, 3, 19, 20. ISSN 0306-154X.
Jump up ^ Fung 2005, p. 129.
^ Jump up to: a b Harris 2005.
Jump up ^ "Operations in the Far East, From 17th December 1940 to 27th December 1941" (PDF). London Gazette. 38183 (20 January 1948): 535. 22 January 1948. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
Jump up ^ The War With Japan, Parts 1, 2, And 3 (December 1941 To August 1945). United States Military Academy. 1951. p. 31.
Jump up ^ Stobie, James R. (13 September 2012). More to the Story: A Reappraisal of U.S. Intelligence Prior to the Pacific War. BiblioScholar. ISBN 978-1249373070.
Jump up ^ Terry, Copp (2001). "The Defence of Hong Kong: December 1941". Canadian Military History. 10 (4): 3–5, 7. ISSN 1195-8472.
Jump up ^ "Defeat still cries aloud for explanation: Explaining C Force dispatch to Hong Kong" (PDF). Canadian Military Journal. 11 number 4 (Autumn 2011): 46. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Horne, Gerald (2004). Race war : white supremacy and the Japanese attack on the British Empire. New York: New York University Press. pp. 75, 76. ISBN 978-0814736418.
Jump up ^ Horne, Gerald (2004). Race war : white supremacy and the Japanese attack on the British Empire. New York: New York University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0814736418.
Jump up ^ David, Macri (2011). "The Fall of Hong Kong: The Condon Report". Canadian Military History. 20 (2): 65–80. ISSN 1195-8472.
Jump up ^ Kwong Chi Man, Tsoi Yiu Lun. Eastern Fortress: A Military History of Hong Kong, 1840–1970. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 165–219. ISBN 978-988-8208-71-5.
Jump up ^ Scudieri, James D. "The Indian Army in Africa and Asia, 1940-42: Implications for the Planning and Execution of Two Nearly-Simultaneous Campaigns". Department of Defence. School of Advanced Military Studies, US Army Command and General Staff College, FORT LEAVENWORTH. Archived from the original on 5 May 1995. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Roland, Charles G. (2001). Long Night's Journey into Day: Prisoners of War in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941–1945 (online ed.). Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-88920-362-4.
Jump up ^ Kwong Chi Man, Tsoi Yiu Lun. Eastern Fortress: A Military History of Hong Kong, 1840–1970. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 144, 145. ISBN 978-988-8208-71-5.
Jump up ^ David, Macri (2011). "The Fall of Hong Kong: The Condon Report". Canadian Military History. 20 (2): 67. ISSN 1195-8472.
Jump up ^ White, Barbara-Sue (1994). Turbans and Traders : Hong Kong's Indian Communities. [S.l.]: Oxf. U.P. (E. Asia). p. 32. ISBN 9780195852875.
Jump up ^ White, Barbara-Sue (1994). Turbans and Traders : Hong Kong's Indian Communities. [S.l.]: Oxf. U.P. (E. Asia). p. 41. ISBN 9780195852875.
Jump up ^ Lindsay, Oliver; Harris, John R. (2005). The battle for Hong Kong 1941–1945: Hostage to Fortune. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 65, 75, 80, 81, 137. ISBN 978-962-209-779-7.
Jump up ^ "Contribution of the Indian Armed Forces to the Second World War" (PDF). IDSA Special Feature (January 2013). Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA): 1–22. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Prasad, Bisheshwar (1962). "Hong Kong, Malaya and Sarawak & Borneo". Campaigns In South East Asia 1941-42 (Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War 1939-45. ed.). New Delhi: Orient Longmans. pp. 1–69.
Jump up ^ "HyperWar: India-Pakistan in World War II". www.ibiblio.org. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Douds, G.J. (August 2004). "The men who never were: Indian POWs in the Second World War1". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 27 (2): 183–216. doi:10.1080/1479027042000236634.
Jump up ^ "Operations in the Far East, From 17th December 1940 to 27th December 1941" (PDF). London Gazette. 38183 (20 January 1948): 535. 22 January 1948. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
Jump up ^ "Operations in Hong Kong" (PDF). London Gazette. 38190 (27 January 1948): 699. 29 January 1948. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
Jump up ^ "The Rajput Regiment". Indian Army NIC. Official Indian Army Web Portal.
Jump up ^ "14th PUNJAB REGIMENT". www.defencejournal.com.
Jump up ^ Cheung, Oswald (1998). Matthews, Clifford, ed. Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong University during the War Years. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 195, 231, 314. ISBN 978-962-209-472-7.
Jump up ^ "The Battle of Hong Kong: Eyewitness Accounts". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
Jump up ^ Lai & Rava 2014, pp. 22, 42.
Jump up ^ Stanford, David (2006). Roses in December (1st ed.). UK: Lulu.com. pp. 127, 128. ISBN 978-1-84753-966-3.
Jump up ^ Raghavan, Srinath (2016). India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia. New York: Basic Books. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-465-03022-4.
Jump up ^ "The Fall of Hong Kong". Hong Kong Society of Wargamers. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
Jump up ^ Luff, John (1967). The Hidden Years. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post. pp. 7, 25, 27, 28, 33, 36, 83. OCLC 205901.
Jump up ^ Ferguson, Ted (1980). Desperate Siege: The Battle of Hong Kong. Scarborough, Ont: Doubleday Canada. pp. 99, 151, 152, 168. ISBN 978-0-17-601524-4.
Jump up ^ Lindsay, Oliver; Harris, John R. (2005). The Battle for Hong Kong 1941–1945: Hostage to Fortune. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 88, 100, 105, 114. ISBN 978-962-209-779-7.
Jump up ^ "Hong Kong War Diary". hongkongwardiary.com. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
Jump up ^ "Recollections of the Battle of Hong Kong". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 48: 41. 2008. ISSN 1991-7295.
Jump up ^ Horne, Gerald (2004). Race War: White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire. New York: New York University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8147-3641-8.
Jump up ^ "A Scarce Far East "Prisoner-of-War" B. E. M. Group of Five Awarded to Company Havildar-Major Amir A." the-saleroom.com. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
Jump up ^ Banham, Tony (2005). Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941 (pbk. ed.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-962-209-780-3.
Jump up ^ Banham, Tony (2005). Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941 (pbk. ed.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 315. ISBN 978-962-209-780-3.
Jump up ^ Stacey 1956, p. 448.
Jump up ^ Stacey 1956, p. 449.
Jump up ^ Stacey 1956, pp. 448–449.
Jump up ^ L., Klemen (1999–2000). "Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 1 December 1941 – 6 December 1941". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e L., Klemen (1999–2000). "Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 7 December 1941 – 11 December 1941". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015.
Jump up ^ http://www.cnac.org[permanent dead link]
Jump up ^ Charles L. Sharp
Jump up ^ Hugh L. Woods
Jump up ^ Harold A. Sweet
Jump up ^ William McDonald
Jump up ^ Frank L. Higgs
Jump up ^ Robert S. Angle
Jump up ^ P.W. Kessler
Jump up ^ S.E. Scott
^ Jump up to: a b c L., Klemen (1999–2000). "Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 12 December 1941 – 18 December 1941". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
^ Jump up to: a b c d L., Klemen (1999–2000). "Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 19 December 1941 – 24 December 1941". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
Jump up ^ Nicholson 2010, p. xv.
Jump up ^ "Battle of Hong Kong 8 Dec 1941 – 25 Dec 1941". World war II Database.
Jump up ^ Roland 2016, pp. 43-61.
Jump up ^ L., Klemen (1999–2000). "Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 25 December 1941 – 31 December 1941". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012.
Jump up ^ "Hong Kong's "Black Christmas"". China Daily. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
Jump up ^ Linton 2017.
Jump up ^ Banham 2005, p. 129.
Jump up ^ Mackenzie 1951, p. 214.
Jump up ^ Stacey 1956, p. 488.
Jump up ^ Official Report of the Debates of The House of Commons of The Dominion Of Canada (Volume 2) 1942 (page 1168)
Jump up ^ AP 2011, p. 2.
Jump up ^ Carroll 2007, p. 123.
Jump up ^ Turner 2010, p. 85.
Jump up ^ Woodburn Kirby 2004, p. 498.

text: Bibliography[edit]

text: Books

text:
Banham, Tony (2005). Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9622097804.
Carroll, J. M. A Concise History of Hong Kong. Critical Issues in History. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-74253-421-9.
Fung, Chi Ming (2005). Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874–1954 (illus. ed.). Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-734-6.
Harris, John R. (2005). The Battle for Hong Kong 1941–1945. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-779-7.
Ishiwari, Heizō (31 May 1956). Army Operations in China, December 1941 – December 1943 (PDF). Japanese Monograph. IV 17807.71-2. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army. OCLC 938077822. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
Lai, Benjamin; Rava, Giuseppe (2014). Hong Kong 1941–45: First Strike in the Pacific War. Campaign. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-78200-268-0.
Mackenzie, Compton (1951). Eastern Epic: September 1939 – March 1943, Defence. I. London: Chatto & Windus. OCLC 59637091.
Nicholson, Brian (2010). Traitor. Bloomington, IN: Trafford. ISBN 978-1-4269-4604-2.
Stacey, C. P. (1956) [1955]. Six Year of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific (PDF). Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. I (2nd rev. online ed.). Ottawa: By Authority of the Minister of National Defence. OCLC 917731527. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
Turner, John Frayn (2010) [2006]. Awards of the George Cross 1940–2009 (online, Pen & Sword, Barnsley ed.). Havertown, PA: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-78340-981-5.
Woodburn Kirby, S.; et al. (2004) [1957]. Butler, J. R. M., ed. The War Against Japan: The Loss of Singapore. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. I (Naval & Military Press ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 1-84574-060-2.

text: Journals

text: Roland, Charles G. (26 July 2016). "Massacre and Rape in Hong Kong: Two Case Studies Involving Medical Personnel and Patients". Journal of Contemporary History. 32 (1): 43–61. ISSN 0022-0094. (Subscription required (help)).

text: Newspapers

text: "(Associated Press) Japan Apologizes to Canadian POWs from H. K. Battle". Japan Times. 10 December 2011. p. 2. ISSN 0289-1956.

text: Websites

text: Linton, Suzannah. "Hong Kong's War Crimes Trials Collection: Libraries". The University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 4 April 2017.

text: Further reading[edit]

text:
Banham, Tony (2009). We Shall Suffer There: Hong Kong's Defenders Imprisoned, 1942–1945. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-960-9.
Burton, John (2006). Fortnight of Infamy: The Collapse of Allied Airpower West of Pearl Harbor. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-096-X.
Roland, Charles G. (2001). Long Night's Journey into Day: Prisoners of War in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941–1945. Waterloo, OT: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-88920-362-8.
Snow, Philip (2003). The Fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10373-5.


document_title: Party leaders of the United States Senate

question_text: which party is the majority party in the senate

root

text: Current floor leaders[edit]

text: The Senate is currently composed of 51 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 2 independents, both of whom caucus with the Democrats.

tag: p

text: The current leaders are long-time Senators Mitch McConnell (R) from Kentucky and Chuck Schumer (D) from New York. The current Assistant Leaders/Whips are long-time Senators John Cornyn (R) from Texas and Dick Durbin (D) from Illinois.

text: History[edit]

text: The Democrats began the practice of electing floor leaders in 1920 while they were in the minority. John W. Kern was a Democratic Senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, he is considered[by whom?] to be the first Senate party leader from 1913 through 1917 (and in turn, the first Senate Democratic Leader), while serving concurrently as Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. In 1925 the majority (at the time) Republicans also adopted this language when Charles Curtis became the first (official) Majority Leader[citation needed], although his immediate predecessor Henry Cabot Lodge is considered the first (unofficial) Senate Majority Leader.

text: The Constitution designates the Vice President of the United States as President of the United States Senate. The Constitution also calls for a President pro tempore to serve as the leader of the body when the President of the Senate (the Vice President) is absent. In practice, neither the Vice President nor the President pro tempore—customarily the most senior (longest-serving) Senator in the majority party—actually presides over the Senate on a daily basis; that task is given to junior Senators of the majority party.  Since the Vice President may be of a different party than the majority and is not a member subject to discipline, the rules of procedure of the Senate give the presiding officer very little power and none beyond the presiding role.  For these reasons, it is the Majority Leader who, in practice, manages the Senate.  This is in contrast to the House of Representatives where the elected Speaker of the House has a great deal of discretionary power and generally presides over votes on bills.[citation needed]

text: List of party leaders[edit]

text: The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.

text:
Cong-ress

Dates

Democratic Whip

Democratic Leader

Majority

Republican Leader

Republican Whip

63rd

May 28, 1913 –March 4, 1915

J. Hamilton Lewis

None

Democratic← majority

None

None

64th

March 4, 1915 –December 6, 1915

December 6, 1915 –December 13, 1915

James Wadsworth

December 13, 1915 –March 4, 1917

Charles Curtis

65th

March 4, 1917 –March 4, 1919

66th

March 4, 1919 –April 27, 1920

Peter Gerry

Republicanmajority →

Henry Cabot LodgeUnofficial

April 27, 1920 –March 4, 1921

Oscar Underwood

67th

March 4, 1921 –March 4, 1923

68th

March 4, 1923 –December 3, 1923

December 3, 1923 –November 9, 1924

Joseph Taylor Robinson

November 9, 1924 –March 4, 1925

Charles CurtisActing

Wesley JonesActing

69th

March 4, 1925 –March 4, 1927

Charles Curtis

Wesley Jones

70th

March 4, 1927 –March 4, 1929

71st

March 4, 1929 –March 4, 1931

Morris Sheppard

James E. Watson

Simeon Fess

72nd

March 4, 1931 –March 4, 1933

73rd

March 4, 1933 –January 3, 1935

J. Hamilton Lewis

Democratic← majority

Charles L. McNary

Felix Hebert

74th

January 3, 1935 –January 3, 1937

None[Note 1]

75th

January 3, 1937 –July 14, 1937

July 22, 1937 –January 3, 1939

Alben W. Barkley

76th

January 3, 1939 –April 9, 1939

April 9, 1939 –January 3, 1940

Sherman Minton

January 3, 1940 –January 3, 1941

Warren AustinActing

77th

January 3, 1941 –January 3, 1943

J. Lister Hill

Charles L. McNary

78th

January 3, 1943 –February 25, 1944

Kenneth Wherry

February 25, 1944 –January 3, 1945

Wallace H. White Jr.Acting

79th

January 3, 1945 –January 3, 1947

Wallace H. White Jr.

80th

January 3, 1947 –January 3, 1949

Scott W. Lucas

Republicanmajority →

81st

January 3, 1949 –January 3, 1951

Francis Myers

Scott W. Lucas

Democratic← majority

Kenneth S. Wherry

Leverett Saltonstall

82nd

January 3, 1951 –January 3, 1952

Lyndon B. Johnson

Ernest McFarland

January 3, 1952 –January 3, 1953

Styles Bridges

83rd

January 3, 1953 –July 31, 1953

Earle Clements

Lyndon B. Johnson

Republicanmajority →

Robert A. Taft

August 3, 1953 –January 3, 1955

William F. Knowland

84th

January 3, 1955 –January 3, 1957

Democratic← majority

85th

January 3, 1957 –January 3, 1959

Mike Mansfield

Everett Dirksen

86th

January 3, 1959 –January 3, 1961

Everett Dirksen

Thomas Kuchel

87th

January 3, 1961 –January 3, 1963

Hubert Humphrey

Mike Mansfield

88th

January 3, 1963 –January 3, 1965

89th

January 3, 1965 –January 3, 1967

Russell B. Long

90th

January 3, 1967 –January 3, 1969

91st

January 3, 1969 –September 7, 1969

Ted Kennedy

Hugh Scott

September 24, 1969 –January 3, 1971

Hugh Scott

Robert Griffin

92nd

January 3, 1971 –January 3, 1973

Robert Byrd

93rd

January 3, 1973 –January 3, 1975

94th

January 3, 1975 –January 3, 1977

95th

January 3, 1977 –January 3, 1979

Alan Cranston

Robert Byrd

Howard Baker

Ted Stevens

96th

January 3, 1979 –November 1, 1979

November 1, 1979 –March 5, 1980

Ted StevensActing

March 5, 1980 –January 3, 1981

Howard Baker

97th

January 3, 1981 –January 3, 1983

Republicanmajority →

98th

January 3, 1983 –January 3, 1985

99th

January 3, 1985 –January 3, 1987

Bob Dole

Alan Simpson

100th

January 3, 1987 –January 3, 1989

Democratic← majority

101st

January 3, 1989 –January 3, 1991

George Mitchell

102nd

January 3, 1991 –January 3, 1993

Wendell H. Ford

103rd

January 3, 1993 –January 3, 1995

104th

January 3, 1995 –June 12, 1996

Tom Daschle

Republicanmajority →

Trent Lott

June 12, 1996 –January 3, 1997

Trent Lott

Don Nickles

105th

January 3, 1997 –January 3, 1999

106th

January 3, 1999 –January 3, 2001

Harry Reid

107th

January 3, 2001 –January 20, 2001

Democratic← majority

January 20, 2001 –June 6, 2001

Republicanmajority →

June 6, 2001 –November 12, 2002

Democratic← majority

November 12, 2002 –January 2, 2003

Republicanmajority[Note 2] →

108th

January 3, 2003 –January 3, 2005

Republicanmajority →

Bill Frist

Mitch McConnell

109th

January 3, 2005 –January 3, 2007

Dick Durbin

Harry Reid

110th

January 3, 2007 –December 18, 2007

Democratic← majority

Mitch McConnell

Trent Lott

December 19, 2007 –January 3, 2009

Jon Kyl

111th

January 3, 2009 –January 3, 2011

112th

January 3, 2011 –January 3, 2013

113th

January 3, 2013 –January 3, 2015

John Cornyn

114th

January 3, 2015 –January 3, 2017

Republicanmajority →

115th

January 3, 2017 –January 3, 2019

Chuck Schumer

Cong-ress

Dates

Democratic Whip

Democratic Leader

Majority

Republican Leader

Republican Whip

tag: table


document_title: Printing in Goa

question_text: where was the first printing press established in india

text: Printing in Goa

text: The arrival of the first press[edit]

text: There is evidence that the use of the concept of mass duplication in India dates back to the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. Grants of land were originally recorded by engraving the information on copper plates and etchings on different surfaces like wood, bone, ivory and shells. However, printing arrived about a hundred years after the Gutenberg Bible was first printed.

text: Many factors contributed to the necessity of the initiation of printing in the subcontinent, the primary being evangelization and the Jesuits were solely responsible for this. Francis Xavier is known to have been teaching the Bible in Tharangambadi (Tranquebar), Tamil Nadu around 1542. Also, when the Viceroy of Goa, on behalf of King Joao III of Portugal, opened schools for Indians, Francis Xavier pressured Portugal to make printing presses available to India, Ethiopia and Japan. Meanwhile, the Emperor of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) also requested Portugal to send a press along with missionaries. Consequently, the first batch of Jesuit missionaries, along with the printing press, left for Ethiopia on March 29, 1556, on a Spanish ship. The Patriarch designate of Abyssinia, Joao Nunes Barreto, as well as a team of technicians accompanied the press.

text: The prevalent route from Portugal to Abyssinia then required ships to round the Cape of Good Hope, touch Goa and reach Abyssinia. The press thus reached Goa, but soon after, news reached Goa that the Abyssinian Emperor was not keen on receiving the missionaries. Around the same time, the clergy in Goa felt the need for a printing press and on their request to the then Governor-General the press was made available to them. Thus, the press stayed in Goa. This was after Mexico had seen its first printing press, but preceded the press in Lima. The Patriarch designate Barreto was detained in Goa and it appears he never left India, but died in Goa on December 22, 1562.

text: Saint Paul's College and the first works printed[edit]

text: Printing operations began in Goa in 1556 (with the first printing press being established at the Jesuit Saint Paul's College in Old Goa), resulting in the publication of Conclusiones Philosophicas. 1557 saw the posthumous printing of St. Francis Xavier’s Catecismo da Doutrina Christa five years after the death of its author. No extant copy of this work is however, available.

text: Juan Bustamante and the early days of printing in India[edit]

text: The individual responsible for the initiation of printing in India was one Joao De Bustamante (rechristened Joao Rodrigues in 1563), a Spaniard who joined the Society of Jesus in 1556. Bustamante, who was an expert printer, along with his Indian assistant set up the new press and began to operate it. Among others, four books are known to have been printed by Bustamante:

text:
Conclusões e outras coisas (Theses and other things) in 1556.
Confecionarios in 1557.
Doutrina Christa by St. Francis Xavier in 1557.
Tratado contra os erros scismaticos dos Abexins (A Tract against the Schismatic Errors of the Abyssinians) by Gonçalo Rodrigues in 1560.

tag: ul

text: The earliest, surviving printed book in India is the Compendio Spiritual Da Vide Christaa (Spiritual Compendium of the Christian life) of Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa. It was printed by Joao Quinquencio in 1561 and re-edited by Manuel de Araujo in 1600, and was embellished with ornate woodcut initials on each opening chapter. This was followed by the printing of Garcia da Orta’s Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia on 10 April 1563 by Joao de Endem. In 1568, the first illustrated cover page (the illustration being done with the relief technique of woodblock) was printed in Goa for the book Constituciones Do Arcebispado De Goa.

text: Printing in the vernacular[edit]

text: Another Spaniard to play a major role in the history of printing in India was Joao Gonsalves, who is credited with preparing the first printing types of an Indian script- Tamil. However, since they were not satisfactory, new casts were made in Quilon(Kollam) by Father Joao da Faria. On 20 October 1578, these types were used to print the first book in an Indian language in India (the first Tamil book was printed in Lisbon in 1554 in Romanized Tamil script.)- Henrique Henriques’s Doctrina Christam en Lingua Malauar Tamul – Tampiran Vanakam, a Tamil translation of St Francis Xavier’s Doutrina Christa. This 16 page book of prayers and catechetical instructions was printed in Quilon. Though no extant copies of the first edition are available, MSS copies dating 1548-1614 are preserved in Lisbon and Rome. It should be mentioned here that Henriques was inducted into the Society of Jesus with the express intention of sending him to India to assist Francis Xavier. After the first press, a second press was set up. Not much is known about it save that it belonged to John Quinquencio and John Endem. The third press was set up in the St. Ignatius College, Rachol. Though Devanagari types were cast in 1577, the Christa Purana - an epic poem on the life of Jesus Christ written in the literary form of the Hindu puranas - was published not in Devanagari, but in the Roman script in the College of Rachol (1616 and 1649) and the College of St Paul (1654). This was primarily because of the clumsy shapes of the Devanagari types. In 1626, Diogo Reberio compiled the Vocabulario da lingoa Canarim (A Vocabulary of Konkani language) a Konkani-Portuguese and Portuguese-Konkani dictionary.

text: The 17th century saw the beginning of a large-scale book-printing in Goa, egged on massively by the need to print Christian texts for the benefit of the newly converted Christians. This time also saw a shift from the use of coercion to that of religious education for conversions. Thus, a number of books were printed in Konkani and Marathi due to the initiative of, among others, Father Thomas Stephens (who, in 1640, produced the first Konkani Grammar- the Arte de Lingua Canarin and in 1622, published Doutrina Christam em lingoa Bramana Canarim, ordenada a maneira de dialogo, pera ensinar os mininos, por Thomas Estevao, Collegio de Rachol or Christian Doctrines in the Canarese Brahmin Language, arranged in dialogue to teach children, which was the first book in Konkani and any Indian language), Father Antonio Saldanha, Father Etienne do la Croix, Father Miguel do Almeida and Father Diogo Ribeiro (whose Declaraçam da Doutrina Christam, or Exposition of Christian Doctrine in Konkani was printed in 1632). Despite the efforts of Father Stephens and the general familiarity of the Devanagari script, it was found easier to cast not Devanagari, but Roman types for Konkani. This was one of the major factors that alienated Konkani from other Indian languages, since the Roman script failed to fix a number of Konkani sounds that the Europeans faced difficulty in pronouncing. It was, however, this adoption of the Roman script for printing in the vernacular helped printing to flourish in Goa till 1684, when the official decree suppressed the vernacular languages and printing suffered a setback. Printing in Tamil stopped after 1612, and the last books printed in Latin and Portuguese before printing fairly died were published in 1674.

text: Ziegenbalg and the revival of printing[edit]

text: It was not till 1706 when Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, a Danish missionary, arrived at Tharangambadi that printing in India could flourish again. A printing press arrived around 1712-13 and the Tranquebar Press produced its first publications. On Ziegenbalg’s insistence, the first Tamil publication from the press reached the mass in 1713, followed by the New Testament in 1714.[1] It was as late as 1821 that printing was revived in Goa with the starting of a weekly called Gazeta de Goa, later known as the Chronista Constitucional de Goa (1835) and still later, the Boletim de Governo do Estado da India (1837).

text: Later years[edit]

text: From 1940 to 1960 there were four to six printers in Goa, of which the prominent ones were JD Fernandes, Gomantak Printers and Borkar Printers. Smaller entrepreneurs also joined the fray. One of these was a teacher in a local school in Churchorem. Rohidas Bandekar quit his profession to start a press—Bandekar Offset—with a meagre investment of Rs 24,000.


document_title: National People's Congress

question_text: who elects the national people's congress in china

question_tokens: who elects the national people 's congress in china

text: National People's Congress

text: Powers and duties[edit]

text: There are mainly four functions and powers of the NPC:[8]

text: 1. To amend the Constitution and oversee its enforcement

text: Only the NPC has the power to amend the Constitution. Amendments to the Constitution must be proposed by the NPC Standing Committee or 1/5 or more of the NPC deputies. In order for the Amendments to become effective, they must be passed by 2/3 majority vote of all deputies.

text: 2. To enact and amend basic law governing criminal offences, civil affairs, state organs and other matters

text: 3. To elect and appoint members to the central state organs

text: The NPC elects the Chairman, Vice Chairmen, Secretary-General and other members of its Standing Committee. It also elects the President of the People's Republic of China and the Vice President of the People's Republic of China. NPC also appoints the Premier of the State Council and many other crucial officials to the central state organs. The NPC also has the power to remove the above-mentioned officials from the office.

text: 4. To determine major state issues

text: This includes examining and approving the report on the plan for national economic and social development and on its implementation, report and central budget, and more. The establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, Hainan Province and Chongqing Municipality and the building of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River were all decided by the NPC.

text: The drafting process of NPC legislation is governed by the Organic Law of the NPC (1982) and the NPC Procedural Rules (1989). It begins with a small group, often of outside experts, who begin a draft.[citation needed] Over time, this draft is considered by larger and larger groups, with an attempt made to maintain consensus at each step of the process.[citation needed] By the time the full NPC or NPCSC meets to consider the legislation, the major substantive elements of the draft legislation have largely been agreed to.[citation needed] However, minor wording changes to the draft are often made at this stage. The process ends with a formal vote by the Standing Committee of the NPC or by the NPC in a plenary session.[citation needed]

text: The NPC mainly exists to give legal sanction to decisions already made at the highest levels of the government. However, it is not completely without influence. It functions as a forum in which legislative proposals are drafted and debated with input from different parts of the government and outside technical experts. However, there are a wide range of issues for which there is no consensus within the Party and over which different parts of the party or government have different opinions. Over these issues the NPC has often become a forum for debating ideas and for achieving consensus.[citation needed]

text: In practice, although the final votes on laws of the NPC often return a high affirmative vote, a great deal of legislative activity occurs in determining the content of the legislation to be voted on. A major bill such as the Securities Law can take years to draft, and a bill sometimes will not be put before a final vote if there is significant opposition to the measure.[9]

text: One important constitutional principle which is stated in Article 8 of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China is that an action can become a crime only as a consequence of a law passed by the full NPC and that other organs of the Chinese government do not have the power to criminalize activity. This principle was used to overturn police regulations on custody and repatriation[citation needed] and has been used to call into question the legality of re-education through labor.[citation needed]In practice, there is no mechanism to verify constitutionality of statute laws, meaning that local administrations could bypass the constitution through Administrative laws.[citation needed]

text: Proceedings[edit]

text: The NPC meets for about two weeks each year at the same time as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, usually in the Spring. The combined sessions have been known as the two meetings. Between these sessions, power is exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress which contains about 150 members.

text: The sessions have become media events because it is at the plenary sessions that the Chinese leadership produces work reports. Although the NPC has thus far never failed to approve a work report or candidate nominated by the Party, these votes are no longer unanimous. It is considered extremely embarrassing for the approval vote to fall below 70%, which occurred several times in the mid-1990s. More recently, work reports have been vetted with NPC delegates beforehand to avoid this embarrassment.

text: In addition, during NPC sessions the Chinese leadership holds press conferences with foreign reporters, and this is one of the few opportunities Western reporters have of asking unscripted questions of the Chinese leadership.

text: A major bill often takes years to draft, and a bill sometimes will not be put before a final vote if there is significant opposition to the measure. An example of this is the Property Law of the People's Republic of China which was withdrawn from the 2006 legislative agenda after objections that the law did not do enough to protect state property. China's laws are usually submitted for approval after at most three reviews at the NPC Standing Committee. However, the debate of the Property Law has spanned nine years, receiving a record seven reviews at the NPC Standing Committee and stirring hot debates across the country. The long-awaited and highly contested Property Law was finally approved at the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) on March 16. Among the 2,889 deputies attending the closing session, 2,799 voted for it, 52 against it, 37 abstained and one didn't vote.

text: Election and membership[edit]

text: The NPC consists of about 3,000 delegates. Delegates to the National People's Congress are elected for five-year terms via a multi-tiered representative electoral system. Delegates are elected by the provincial people's assemblies, who in turn are elected by lower level assemblies, and so on through a series of tiers to the local people's assemblies which are directly elected by the electorate.

text: There is a limit on the number of candidates in proportion to the number of seats available. At the national level, for example, a maximum of 110 candidates are allowed per 100 seats; at the provincial level, this ratio is 120 candidates per 100 seats. This ratio increases for each lower level of people's assemblies, until the lowest level, the village level, has no limit on the number of candidates for each seat. However, the Congress website says "In an indirect election, the number of candidates should exceed the number to be elected by 20% to 50%."

text: In theory, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China, and all four PRC constitutions have vested it with great lawmaking powers. However, in practice it usually acts as a rubber stamp for decisions already made by the state's executive organs and the Communist Party of China.[10] One of its members, Hu Xiaoyan, told the BBC in 2009 that she has no power to help her constituents. She was quoted as saying, "As a parliamentary representative, I don't have any real power."[11] In 2014, the participating party pledged to "unswervingly adhere to the leadership of Chinese Communist Party."[12] Since the 1990s, the NPC has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party, the government, and groups of society.

text: Membership of previous National People's Congresses[edit]

text:
Congress
Year
Total deputies
Female deputies
Female %
Minority deputies
Minority %

First
1954
1226
147
12
178
14.5

Second
1959
1226
150
12.2
179
14.6

Third
1964
3040
542
17.8
372
12.2

Fourth
1975
2885
653
22.6
270
9.4

Fifth
1978
3497
742
21.2
381
10.9

Sixth
1983
2978
632
21.2
403
13.5

Seventh
1988
2978
634
21.3
445
14.9

Eighth
1993
2978
626
21
439
14.8

Ninth
1998
2979
650
21.8
428
14.4

Tenth
2003
2985
604
20.2
414
13.9

Eleventh
2008
2987
637
21.3
411
13.8

Twelfth
2013
2987
699
23.4
409
13.7

text: Hong Kong and Macau delegations[edit]

text: Hong Kong has had a separate delegation since the 9th NPC in 1998, and Macau since the 10th NPC in 2003. The delegates from Hong Kong and Macau are elected via an electoral college rather than by popular vote, but do include significant political figures who are residing in the regions.[17] The electoral colleges which elect Hong Kong and Macau NPC members are largely similar in composition to the bodies which elect the chief executives of those regions. The current method of electing SAR delegations began after the handovers of sovereignty to the PRC. Between 1975 and the handovers, both Hong Kong and Macau were represented by delegations elected by the Guangdong Provincial Congress.

text: Taiwan delegation[edit]

text: The NPC has included a "Taiwan" delegation since the 4th NPC in 1975, in line with the PRC's position that Taiwan is a province of China. Prior to the 2000s, the Taiwan delegates in the NPC were mostly Taiwanese members of the Chinese Communist Party who fled Taiwan after 1947. They are now either deceased or extremely old, and in the last three Congresses, only one of the "Taiwan" delegates was actually born in Taiwan (Chen Yunying, wife of economist Justin Yifu Lin); the remainder are "second-generation Taiwan compatriots", whose parents or grandparents came from Taiwan.[18] The current NPC Taiwan delegation was elected by a "Consultative Electoral Conference" (协商选举会议) chosen at the last session of the 11th NPC.[19]

text: PLA delegation[edit]

text: The People's Liberation Army has had a large delegation since the founding of the NPC, making up anywhere from 4 percent of the total delegates (3rd NPC), to 17 percent (4th NPC). Since the 5th NPC, it has usually held about 9 percent of the total delegate seats, and is consistently the largest delegation in the NPC. In the 12th NPC, for example, the PLA delegation has 268 members; the next largest delegation is Shandong, with 175 members.[20]

text: Ethnic Minorities and Overseas Chinese delegates[edit]

text: For the first three NPCs, there was a special delegation for returned overseas Chinese, but this was eliminated starting in the 4th NPC, and although overseas Chinese remain a recognized group in the NPC, they are now scattered among the various delegations. The PRC also recognizes 55 minority ethnic groups in China, and there is at least one delegate belonging to each of these groups in the current (12th) NPC.[21][22] These delegates frequently belong to delegations from China's autonomous regions, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, but delegates from some groups, such as the Hui people (Chinese Muslims) belong to many different delegations.

text: Standing Committee[edit]

text: A permanent organ of the NPC and elected by the NPC deputies consisting of:[23]

text:
Chairman
Vice Chairpersons
Secretary-General

text: Structure[edit]

text: Special committees[edit]

text: In addition to the Standing Committee, nine special committees have been established under the NPC to study issues related to specific fields. These committees include:

text:
Ethnic Affairs Committee
Law Committee
Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee
Financial and Economic Affairs Committee
Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee
Foreign Affairs Committee
Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee
Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee
Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee

text: Administrative bodies[edit]

text: A number of administrative bodies have also been established to provide support for the work of the NPC. These include:

text:
General Office
Legislative Affairs Commission
Budgetary Affairs Commission
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee
Macao Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee

text: Presidium[edit]

text: The Presidium of the NPC is a 178-member body of the NPC.[24] It is composed of senior officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the state, non-Communist parties and All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, those without party affiliation, heads of central government agencies and people's organizations, leading members of all the 35 delegations to the NPC session including those from Hong Kong and Macao and the People's Liberation Army.[24] It nominates the President and Vice President of China, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and the President of the Supreme People's Court for election by the NPC.[25] Its functions are defined in the Organic Law of the NPC, but not how it is composed.[25]

text: Relationship with the Communist Party[edit]

text: The ruling Communist Party of China maintains effective control over the composition of people's congresses at various levels, especially the National People's Congress, through this system. At the local level, there is a considerable amount of decentralization in the candidate preselection process, with room for local in-party politics and for participation by non-Communist candidates. The structure of the tiered electoral system makes it difficult for a candidate to become a member of the higher level people's assemblies without the support from politicians in the lower tier, while at the same time making it impossible for the party bureaucracy to completely control the election process.

text: One such mechanism is the limit on the number of candidates in proportion to the number of seats available. At the national level, for example, a maximum of 110 candidates are allowed per 100 seats; at the provincial level, this ratio is 120 candidates per 100 seats. This ratio increases for each lower level of people's congresses, until the lowest level, the village level, has no limit on the number of candidates for each seat. However, the Congress website says "In an indirect election, the number of candidates should exceed the number to be elected by 20% to 50%." The practice of having more candidates than seats for NPC delegate positions has become standard, and it is different from Soviet practice in which all delegates positions were selected by the Party center. Although the limits on member selection allows the Party leadership to block unacceptable candidates, it also causes unpopular candidates to be removed in the electoral process. Direct and explicit challenges to the rule of the Communist Party are not tolerated, but are unlikely in any event due to the control the party center has on delegate selection.

text: Furthermore, the constitution of the National People's Congress provides for most of its power to be exercised on a day-to-day basis by its Standing Committee. Due to its overwhelming majority in the Congress, the Communist Party has total control over the composition of the Standing Committee, thereby controlling the actions of the National People's Congress.

text: Although Party approval is in effect essential for membership in the NPC, approximately a third of the seats are by convention reserved for non-Communist Party members. This includes technical experts and members of the smaller allied parties. While these members do provide technical expertise and a somewhat greater diversity of views, they do not function as a political opposition.