PeakVibe

The daughter of the Hong Kong leader of a resistance group in China during the second world war has called for people to remember that the Flanders poppy, worn as a symbol of soldiers who have lost their lives in conflict, has nothing to do with the opium wars.

Elizabeth Ride spoke of her concern at yesterday's Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in Central, prompted by a controversial incident last week in Beijing involving British Prime Minister David Cameron.

She is the daughter of Sir Lindsay Ride, who was a vice-chancellor at the University of Hong Kong but also led the British Army Aid Group out of Huizhou , which helped escapees from Hong Kong and downed US pilots during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941-45.

'The poppy symbol has nothing to do with the opium wars,' said Ride, referring to the two wars in the mid-19th century between Britain and China, partly over the selling of opium to China by Britain. The British victory is still a sensitive issue more than 150 years on. Cameron and cabinet members were asked to remove the poppies they were wearing last week as they visited China, because of Beijing officials' view that it was an insensitive reminder of the opium wars. They refused to do so.

'The symbol is a Flanders poppy,' said Ride. 'It's completely different from an opium poppy.'

The Royal British Legion poppy symbol harks back to the battle of Ypres in Belgium in 1915 during the first world war, when amid tens of thousands of deaths in terrible conditions, the poppy was the only plant that grew, giving the soldiers hope. It led to the In Flanders Field by a Canadian military doctor. The poppies in Hong Kong are sold by the Royal British Legion (Hong Kong and China branch) to raise money for welfare for former soldiers and their families, all of whom are Hong Kong residents.

Second world war veteran Peter Choi, president of the Hong Kong Ex-Servicemen's Association, reiterated that the Royal British Legion poppy was not an opium poppy. Choi, 88, fought with The Royal Engineers near Aberdeen in December 1941, and was told by his superior officer to leave when it was clear the Japanese army had won Hong Kong. 'I was told to escape, so I went to China. I ended up fighting for the commandant [Chiang Kai-shek] - for the Kuomintang.'

Albert Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Ex-servicemen's Association, said the government did not contribute to the legion through its wreaths at the cenotaph. 'They use a private contractor to provide wreaths of white flowers, which aren't poppies,' he said.

'They have done this since the handover. It would be better if they bought the ones provided by the Royal British Legion. Soldiers with disabilities are paid to make the poppies and wreaths, so it would help them. Also, any money made here stays in Hong Kong to help' former soldiers and their families.'

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