《孤独的旗帜：二战期间英国驻澳门领事回忆录》出版

1941年圣诞节那天，香港被日军攻占，澳门这个弹丸之地也随之变成了一个孤岛。是时，作为葡萄牙殖民地的澳门名义上保持中立，故驻澳门的英国领事John Reeves得以继续在澳门居留。在此期间，英国驻澳门领事John Pownall Reeves克服了日军封锁、食物不足、物价飞涨等种种困难，为9000多个从香港逃亡到澳门的难民提供食物、居所和医疗等的救援，帮助他们渡过了那段艰难的岁月。

二战期间的澳门史，牵涉到中、葡、日、英、美、德等多国的利益角逐，有着无数的谜团，相关研究其实尚未起步。这段历史，同时也牵涉到了仍然存活于世且在澳门有着重大影响的不少人，故而研究起来也颇多禁忌。他们如何周旋于各国之间，如何将黄金、鸦片、武器、大米、煤炭等运进运出，如何大发战争财，如何在战争中掘得第一桶金……目前都是以一个又一个的“传奇”或“传说”的形式流行于坊间街头。

The Lone Flag: Memoir of the British Consul in Macao during World War II（《孤独的旗帜：二战期间英国驻澳门领事回忆录》），这本书是John 写的有关其在1941–1946年间任英国驻澳门领事的回忆录，为我们了解当时风云变幻澳门史提供了珍贵的史料。

有关1949年前后澳门的黄金走私，可参考《史料四：澳門——最繁榮的黃金走私中心》。

附图书相关信息：

书名：The Lone Flag: Memoir of the British Consul in Macao during World War II

作者：John Pownall Reeves

编者：Colin Day and Richard Garrett with a biographical essay by David Calthorpe

出版社：香港大学出版社2014年4月

Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series

Description and Author

When Hong Kong fell to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941, Macao was left as a tiny isolated enclave on the China coast surrounded by Japanese-held territory. As a Portuguese colony, Macao was neutral, and John Reeves, the British Consul, could remain there and continue his work despite being surrounded in all directions by his country’s enemy. His main task was to provide relief to the 9,000 or more people who crossed the Pearl River from Hong Kong to take refuge in Macao and who had a claim for support from the British Consul.

The core of this book is John Reeves’ memoir of those extraordinary years and of his tireless efforts to provide food, shelter and medical care for the refugees. He coped with these challenges as Macao’s own people faced starvation. Despite Macao’s neutrality, it was thoroughly infiltrated by Japanese agents and, marked for assassination, he had to have armed guards as he went about his business. He also had to navigate the complexities of multiple intelligence agencies—British, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese Nationalist—in a place that was described as the Casablanca of the Far East.

Despite Macao’s exceptional position during World War II, its history during those years has been little studied. Accompanied by substantial introductory and explanatory material, John Reeves’ memoir is an important contribution to our knowledge of that unique place and time.

John Pownall Reeves (1909–1978) was British Consul in Macao from 1941 to 1946. He read modern languages at Cambridge before joining the British foreign service. He spent two years in Beijing studying Chinese and then served in Hankow, Mukden and Macao. After the war he was posted first to Rome and following that to Surabaya in Indonesia. Leaving the consular service he moved to South Africa and worked as broadcaster on South African radio.

“One great untold story of south China in World War II has been the Allied resistance conducted from neutral Macao, a precarious, intrigue-ridden enclave in the heart of Japanese-occupied territory. Published now after 65 years is a memoir composed in a lively, even dashing style by the British Consul, John Reeves, who was the central figure in that resistance. A book well worth the wait.” —Philip Snow, author of The Fall of Hong Kong

“The Lone Flag provides important new perspectives on wartime Macao. Reeves’ work as Consul there, while under constant threat of assassination throughout the entire war, covered every aspect of diplomatic life from espionage to welfare. His memoir, written with humour and grace, tells a very readable and understated story.” —Tony Banham, author of Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941