World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Kiansu Middle School was heavily damaged during the Second Battle of Shanghai in 1937 and remained semi-abandoned for the subsequent years. In Mar 1943, the Japanese occupation administration used the school buildings to form the Longhua Civil Assembly Center (alternate spellings: Lunghua, Lunghwa) for the internment citizens of various European nations and citizens of the United States. Most, but not all, of the internees were residents of the former international concession zone in Shanghai. Five wooden buildings, originally built as stables, augmented the seven concrete buildings, increasing the capacity of prisoners to 1,988. One notable internee was the author James Graham "J. G." Ballard, whose childhood experience at Longhua inspired the semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, which was later made into a film. The camp closed as the war ended in 1945. Today the 42-acre site of the former internment camp is occupied by a variety of buildings, including those belonging to the Shanghai High School and the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School.