Lunghua Civil Assembly Camp

Lunghua Civil Assembly Centre was one of the internment camps established by the Japanese in Shanghai for Europeans and Americans after the Japanese took over Shanghai in December 1942. The camp was the location for James Graham Ballard's book Empire Of The Sun. Although it should be pointed out that Empire Of The Sun is a fiction book, not a memoir, it contains many elements that allow readers to get a vivid picture of what life in the camp was like. Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Shanghainese: ), stuated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... This article is about the 1984 novel and its 1987 film adaptation. ...

Description Of The Camp

Lunghua CAC was the former Kiansu Middle School on Minghong Road, it is about three miles, as the crow flies, from Lunghua airport. (Pre-WWII documents use the alternate spellings of Lunghua and Lunghwa, the modern anglecised spelling of the town is Longhua.) The school was damaged in the Second Sino-Japanese War and was empty until it was designated as a Civil Assembly Centre. It was used to intern 1988 people. Combatants Republic of China Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse-Tung, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Zhu De, He Yingqin Hideki Tojo, Matsui Iwane, Jiro Minami, Kesago Nakajima, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura. ...

Greg Leck [1], author of Captives of Empire says that:

"The camp was large, containing seven concrete buildings, three large wooden barracks (originally built as stables by the Japanese), and numerous outbuildings. There were fifty nine dorms and 127 rooms for families."

The following description was written using a map drawn by BJW Grimes on 3 April 1943 as a proposed system of fire hydrants for the camp, and from Details of Water Fittings, Wash Rooms etc, At Lunghwa C.A.C dated 2 May 1943. Additional information was taken from Enemy Subject:Life In a Japanese Internment Camp 1943-1945 by Peggy Abkhazi (1981, Sono Nis Press, Canada ISBN 0750909587)

The buildings on the site are built orthogonal to each other. However, the overall site is aligned slightly NE of North so, in the description below, when a building is described as being built East-West it is more accurately ENE-WSW and when it says a building is build North-South, it is more accurately described as NNE-SSW.

The Assembly Hall was the central building. North of it were the single storey wooden buildings A, B and C (these were build parallel to each other, each was build East-West and Building A was the most Northernly). South of the Assembly Hall was the three storey Building F (again, built East-West), which was the administration block. South of Building F was the entrance and South East was Building E (a three storey building, built North-South). East of the Assembly Hall was Building D (three floors, build North-South). West of the Assembly Hall and the wooden buildings were two ruined buildings (build North-South) and West of the ruins was Building G (two floors, built East-West). North West of Building G, in the North West corner of the site, was the single storey hospital (built East-West). Between Building G and the hospital were the five Commandant's Staff Residences arranged around a square with three on the Northern edge and two on the Western edge (Building G was on the Southern edge).

North of the wooden buildings were the two single storey dining rooms (build East-West), and North of each of those was a single storey kitchen. In the North East corner of the site, North of Building D, were two parallel, single storey buildings built North-South. These were Building H and Building I (or J, the documents differ as to the name of this blok). North of these were the single storey shower block (build East-West) and East of the shower block was another single storey building built North-South, Building J (or K, the documents differ as to the name of this block).

The recreation ground with a football pitch was in the area of ground between the Assembly Hall and Building D.

Current Site

The site of the camp is South East of Shanghai Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is South East of Longhua Airport; both of these are clearly identified on satellite images. Google Maps satellite images[2] show that there are buildings on the site in the same location as the CAC camp buildings. On the satellite image the site of the camp is enclosed by housing; the site is identified by the rectangular area (once Buildings A, B and C) and trees. The turning circle in the drive which is South of Building F, can also be seen. Screenshot of Google Maps showing a route from Toronto to Ottawa on the 400-Series highways. ...

Buildings A, B and C are no longer there, one of the Staff Residences has been demolished and one of kitchens no longer exists. The ruined building adjacent to the Assembly Hall appears to have been rebuilt the same shape and there are several new buildings built on the site of the other ruined building. There are several new buildings between Building G and the Staff Residences. In addition, there is a road now between Building H and the rest of the site.

Sources

These descriptions were written by Richard Grimes from maps and documents produced by his grandfather Bertram John William Grimes who was interned in the camp from 17 March 1943 and was released on the 20 October 1945. Richard's grandmother, Ethel Mary Grimes, and his father, Norman William Grimes, were also interned at Lunghua on the 17 March 1943 and were released on the 31 August 1945.