Looting and the Black Market
The black market was a hugely important aspect of life in the camps, both Stanley and Sham Shui Po, as it prevented many, many deaths. There was trading between people in the camp and outside the camp (across the wire), trading between prisoners, and even trading between prisoners and Japanese guards. Basic necessities like eggs and sugar were soon traded at exorbitant prices. For example, sugar costing 32 yen at the canteen could be sold for 120 yen in the black market. Most black market activity concerned food, understandably, but people also traded looted items such as jewellery or cigarettes.
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There was a great deal of money circulating around Stanley- between Oct 1944 to Mar 1945, over 1.4 million yen was spent in the canteen, while around 6 million yen left the camp illegally. All this money came about from internees' valuables- many of the prisoners were quite rich.
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Getting caught partaking in the illicit trade meant harsh punishment- whippings and beatings. But this did not deter people as the black market was so essential to the survival of so many.
Looting inevitably became a major problem in the camps as desperation and a 'survival of the fittest' mentality set into the prisoners. Prisoners usually looted in order to make whatever money they could. The Sham Shui Po camp was even looted by local Chinese who were not interned- they took doors, taps, windows, and furniture, essentially leaving a bare hut! To add insult to the prisoners' injury, the Chinese then sold these goods back across the wire.
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Despite the extensive looting, there was very little crime in general in the camp- there were no murders in the camp.
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From an address by Mrs Leslie Puckle, an internee at Stanley: 'You can imagine how greatly it went against the grain to sell our cherished possessions to the detested Japanese, but much as one must condemn the black market and those who operated it, I can only say that bad as it was, the extra food which it provided helped to keep many of us alive who would not otherwise be here today.'
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We can see that although the prisoners were proud people, they were forced to become dishonest because of their situation, in order to survive. Food was running so low in the later years of the war that the black market in Stanley and Sham Shui Po was likely the only reason why deaths due to malnutrition were not much higher than they were.
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