Weekend Long Read: A Wartime Escape — Retracing the Footprints of My Granduncle in Sumatra

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, marking the beginning of World War II in the Pacific.

Amidst the chaos of war, my grandfather, Hu Zhongchi, and his elder brother, Hu Yuzhi, found themselves separated. Yuzhi was in Singapore serving as the Chief Editor of Nanyang Siang Pau, an influential Chinese-language newspaper in Southeast Asia, while Zhongchi resided in Hong Kong overseeing editorial affairs at Hua Shang Bao, a newspaper based in the city.