75 years ago, the Japanese ravaged Hong Kong during World War II. For three years and eight months, from December 1941 to August 1945, the Imperial Army occupied the city and ruled with martial law, upending lives and destroying over a quarter of the city’s dwellings.
![HKU General view from the Vice Chancellor's Lodge to West](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/General-view-from-the-Vice-Chancellors-Lodge-to-West.jpg)
Hong Kong’s population dropped drastically, from 1.6 million to 600,000. Meanwhile, the city’s oldest university, the University of Hong Kong, was left in desperate need of reconstruction.
![HKU Main University Building - showing damage to roof of Great Hall](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Main-University-Building-showing-damage-to-roof-of-Great-Hall.jpg)
Photos from the Public Records Office from November 1945 show the extent of the war’s destruction, and of a world long gone.
![HKU Main Building Quadrangle](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Main-Building-Quadrangle.jpg)
Back then, the university had four faculties — Arts, Engineering, Medicine and Science — and three student hostels — May Hall, Eliot Hall and Lugard Hall.
![HKU Interior of Great Hall – half right view](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Interior-of-Great-Hall-–-half-right-view.jpg)
![HKU Interior of Great Hall – Central view](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Interior-of-Great-Hall-–-Central-view.jpg)
![HKU Fung Ping Shan Library (2)](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Fung-Ping-Shan-Library-2.jpg)
![HKU Fung Ping Shan LibraryHKU Fung Ping Shan Library](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Fung-Ping-Shan-Library.jpg)
![HKU General University Library](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/General-University-Library.jpg)
![HKU Students' Hostels from the East – giving a general view of the exterior of the three hostels (May Hall, Elliot Hall and Lugard Hall)](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Students-Hostels-from-the-East-–-giving-a-general-view-of-the-exterior-of-the-three-hostels-May-Hall-Elliot-Hall-and-Lugard-Hall.jpg)
![HKu May Hall – showing ground floor with demolished staircase](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/May-Hall-–-showing-ground-floor-with-demolished-staircase.jpg)
![HKU School of Engineering – Ho-Tung Engineering Workshop](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/School-of-Engineering-–-Ho-Tung-Engineering-Workshop.jpg)
![HKU School of Engineering – interior of Peel Laboratory](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/School-of-Engineering-–-interior-of-Peel-Laboratory.jpg)
![HKu School of Pathology and Tropical Medicine](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/School-of-Pathology-and-Tropical-Medicine.jpg)
![HKU Interior view of Physiology Laboratory](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Interior-view-of-Physiology-Laboratory.jpg)
![HKU General view of University site from the roof of the Northcote Science Block](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/General-view-of-University-site-from-the-roof-of-the-Northcote-Science-Block.jpg)
![HKU Northcote Science Block – Herbarium on roof](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Northcote-Science-Block-–-Herbarium-on-roof.jpg)
![HKU Vice Chancellor's Residence](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Vice-Chancellors-Residence.jpg)
![HKU Vice Chancellor's Residence – Dining Room](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Vice-Chancellors-Residence-–-Dining-Room.jpg)
![HKU Student's Union](https://hongkongfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Students-Union.jpg)
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