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19-520: British author J. G. Ballard was interned in the camp as an adolescent. His experiences there inspired the semi-auto biographical novel Empire of the Sun , which inspired the 1987 motion picture . Lunghua Civil Assembly Centre was originally the Jiangsu Shanghai High School . It was located on Minghong Road about three miles (5 km) from Shanghai Longhua Airport . (Pre-WWII documents use

38-704: A boy and the making of the film of the same name in his autobiography Miracles of Life . The novel recounts the story of a young English boy, Jamie ("Jim") Graham (named after Ballard's two first names, "James Graham"), who lives with his parents in Shanghai . After the Pearl Harbor attack , Japan occupies the Shanghai International Settlement , and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents. He spends some time in abandoned mansions, living on remnants of packaged food. Having exhausted

57-466: A threat to public health. Although the camp's commandant was Japanese, the guards were Korean. Children interned in the camp attended classes at a school on the site which was called Lunhgwa Academy. The adults had jobs and a self-elected council. There were also various social activities such as parties and lectures. The site of the camp is southwest of the Shanghai Botanical Garden . It

76-481: Is more accurately described as SSW–NNE. The Assembly Hall was the central building. North of it were the single storey wooden buildings A , B and C . These were built parallel to each other, with each having been built east–west and with Building A as the furthest north. South of the Assembly Hall , also built east–west, was the three storey Building F , which was the administration block. South of Building F

95-481: Is now enclosed by housing, but can be identified by the rectangular area (once Buildings A , B and C ) and trees. The turning circle in the drive which is south of Building F , can also be seen. Buildings A , B and C are no longer there, one of the Staff Residences has been demolished and one of the kitchens no longer exists. The ruined building adjacent to the Assembly Hall appears to have been rebuilt

114-467: Is on the corner of Baise Road (百色路) and North Longchuan Road (龙川北路), currently the site of Shanghai High School and its international division . The Botanical Garden is southwest of Longhua Airport; both of these are clearly identified on satellite images. Satellite images show that there are buildings on the site in the "same" location as the Civil Assembly Centre buildings. The site of the camp

133-631: The Guardian 's Literary Editor, W.L. Webb, and chaired by him until 1987, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom . The award ran for 33 years before being terminated. In 1999, the Guardian replaced the Fiction Prize with the Guardian First Book Award , for début works of both fiction and non-fiction, which

152-699: The James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize . Like Ballard's earlier short story "The Dead Time" (published in the anthology Myths of the Near Future ), it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II . The name of the novel is derived from the etymology of the name for Japan . Ballard later wrote of his experiences in China as

171-483: The Japanese), and numerous outbuildings. There were fifty nine dorms and 127 rooms for families." The buildings on the site were built orthogonal to each other on a 42-acre site. The overall site was aligned slightly east of north. Therefore, in the description below, when a building is described as being built east–west it is more accurately described as ENE–WSW, and when a building is described as being built north–south, it

190-470: The alternate spellings of Lunghua and Lunghwa ; the modern anglicized spelling of the town is Longhua .) The school was damaged in the Second Sino-Japanese War and was empty until it was designated as a Civil Assembly Centre . It was then used from 1943 to intern 1,988 people. "The camp was large, containing seven concrete buildings, five large wooden barracks (originally built as stables by

209-528: The documents differ as to the name of this building). North of these were the single-storey shower block (built east–west) and east of the shower block was another single-storey building built north–south, Building J (or K , the documents differ as to the name of this building). The recreation ground contained a football pitch and was in the area of ground between the Assembly Hall and Building D . There were persistent issues with water supply and drainage. The presence of malaria and typhoid were also

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228-472: The end of the war, with the Japanese army collapsing, the food supply runs short. Jim barely survives, with people around him starving to death. The camp prisoners are forced upon a march to Nantao, with many dying along the route. Jim then leaves the march and is saved from starvation by air drops from American bombers. Jim returns to Lunghua camp, soon returning to his pre-war residence with his parents. The book

247-560: The food supplies, he decides to try to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army . After many attempts, he finally succeeds and is interned in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre . Although the Japanese are "officially" the enemies, Jim identifies partly with them, both because he adores the pilots with their splendid machines and because he feels that Lunghua is still a comparatively safer place for him. Towards

266-508: The northwest corner of the site, was the single storey Hospital which was built east–west. The hospital dealt with malaria sufferers. Women who became pregnant were sent to a hospital in Shanghai then moved on to another camp for women and babies. Between Building G and the Hospital were the five Commandant's Staff Residences arranged around a square with three on the northern edge and two on

285-429: The same shape and there are several new buildings built on the site of the other ruined building. There are several new buildings between Building G and the Staff Residences . In addition, there is a road now between Building H and the rest of the site. G Block was demolished in 2009. These descriptions were written by Richard Grimes from maps and documents produced by his grandfather Bertram John William Grimes who

304-425: The western edge. Building G was on the southern edge. North of the wooden buildings were the two single-storey dining rooms (built east–west), and north of each of those was a single-storey kitchen . In the northeast corner of the site, north of Building D , were two parallel, single-storey buildings built north–south. These were Building H , which was used to accommodate single people, and Building I (or J ,

323-465: Was adapted by Tom Stoppard in 1987. The screenplay was filmed by Steven Spielberg , to critical acclaim, being nominated for six Oscars and winning three BAFTA awards (for cinematography, music and sound). It starred a then 13-year-old Christian Bale , as well as John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson ; Guardian Fiction Prize The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by The Guardian newspaper. Founded in 1965 by

342-468: Was interned in the camp from 17 March 1943 and was released on 20 October 1945. Richard's grandmother, Ethel Mary Grimes, and his father, Norman William Grimes, were also interned at Lunghua on 17 March 1943 and were released on 31 August 1945. Empire of the Sun (novel) Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by English writer J. G. Ballard ; it was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize ,

361-430: Was the entrance and southeast was the three storey Building E built north–south. East of the Assembly Hall was the three storey Building D which was an accommodation block for families, built north–south. West of the Assembly Hall and the wooden buildings were two ruined buildings built north–south and further west of the ruined buildings was the two storey Building G built east–west. Northwest of Building G , in

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