It imposed an embargo on the sale of oil to Japan after less aggressive forms of economic sanctions failed to halt Japanese advances.

[18] Led by General Rensuke Isogai, the Japanese established their administrative centre and military headquarters at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon.

The military government; comprising administrative, civilian affairs, economic, judicial, and naval departments; enacted stringent regulations and, through executive bureaux, exercised power over all residents of Hong Kong.

Having deprived vendors and banks of their possessions, the occupying forces outlawed the Hong Kong Dollar and replaced it with the Japanese Military Yen.

[15] Public transportation and utilities unavoidably failed, owing to the shortage of fuel and the aerial bombardment of Hong Kong by the Americans.

In the agricultural field, the Imperial Japanese took over the race track at Fanling and the air strip at Kam Tin for their rice-growing experiments.

For example, to expand the Kai Tak Airport, the Japanese demolished the Sung Wong Toi Monument in today's Kowloon City.

[26] Between the Surrender of Japan (15 August 1945) and formal surrender of Hong Kong to Rear Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt (16 September 1945), fifteen Japanese soldiers arrested, tortured, and executed around three hundred villagers of Silver Mine District of Lantau Island in retaliation for being ambushed by Chinese guerrillas.

Failure to collect rents and the high reparation costs forced them to promote fundraising activities like musical performances and dramas.

[citation needed] Tung Wah Hospital and the charitable organisation Po Leung Kuk continued to provide charity relief, while substantial donations were given by members of the Chinese elite.

[29] Po Leung Kuk also took in orphans, but were faced with financial problems during the occupation, as their bank deposits could not be withdrawn under Japanese control.

[5][page needed] Through schooling, mass media and other means of propaganda, the Japanese tried to foster favourable view amongst residents of the occupation.

Famous historical stories such as Mōri Motonari's "Sanbon no ya (Three Arrows)" and Xufu's (徐福) voyage to Japan were introduced in Japanese language textbooks.

[31] The primary aim of the Japanisation of the education system was to facilitate Japanese control over the territory's populace in furtherence of the establishment of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.

During the occupation, the buildings were largely reconstructed in 1944 following designs by Japanese engineer Siechi Fujimura, including the addition of a Japanese-style tower which remains to this day.

[24][page needed] The Hong Kong News, a pre-war Japanese-owned English newspaper, was revived in January 1942 during the Japanese occupation.

[40] The editor, E.G. Ogura, was Japanese and the staff members were mainly Chinese and Portuguese who previously worked for the South China Morning Post.

When they boarded the ship, each was given a jar of rice weighing about two kilograms, two pieces of bread, and ten Hong Kong dollars.

[46] In March 1942, 484 civilians who had been imprisoned at the Hop Kee Company on Gloucester Road, Wanchai, were deported to Hainan Island via the Japanese cargo ship Yuen Lam for forced labour.

[50] Originally formed by Zeng Sheng (曾生) in Guangdong in 1939, this group mainly comprised peasants, students, and seamen, including Yuan Geng.

[51] The guerrillas' most significant contribution to the Allies, in particular, was their rescue of twenty American pilots who parachuted into Kowloon when their planes were shot down by the Japanese.

[2] They protected traders in Kowloon and Guangzhou, attacked the police station at Tai Po, and bombed Kai Tak Airport.

[52][page needed] In February 1942, with local residents Choi Kwok-Leung (蔡國梁) as commander and Chan Tat-Ming (陳達明) as political commissar, they were armed with 30 machine guns and several hundred rifles left by defeated British forces.

Most of these raids involved a small number of aircraft, and typically targeted Japanese cargo ships which had been reported by Chinese guerrillas.

General Takashi Sakai, who led the invasion of Hong Kong and subsequently served as governor-general during the Japanese occupation, was tried as a war criminal, convicted and executed on 30 September 1946.

The Kuomintang's Chiang Kai-shek assumed that China, including formerly European-occupied territories such as Hong Kong and Macau, would be re-unified under his rule.

[18] Several years earlier, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt insisted that colonialism would have to end, and promised Soong Mei-ling that Hong Kong would be restored to Chinese control.

As soon as he heard word of the Japanese surrender, Franklin Gimson, Hong Kong's colonial secretary, left his prison camp and declared himself the territory's acting governor.

[60] On 16 September 1945, Harcourt formally accepted the Japanese surrender[18] from Maj.-Gen. Umekichi Okada and Vice Admiral Ruitaro Fujita at Government House.

The Republic of China government is now based in Taipei, having lost the mainland in the Chinese Civil War shortly after the Japanese surrender.