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44-537: The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) ( Traditional Chinese : 香港軍事服務團) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong (see British Forces Overseas Hong Kong ). Throughout the history of Hong Kong , it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP). The history of Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers serving in

88-588: A retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to

132-1128: A 'points system of criteria'. Some ex-Hong Kong servicemen who were resident in the United Kingdom re-enlisted in the British Army on a Military Local Service Engagement (MLSE), with the Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS), and others joined the British Territorial Army (TA). In March 2012, Peter Vorberg and Russell Banks RMP Veterans started the Right of Abode Campaign for all former British Hong Kong military servicemen supported by Roger Ching HKMSC RMP HK veteran, Huw Matthews RMP Veteran, Jo Lee HKMSC - RMP HK Veteran, Alain Lau HKMSC - HK RAVC Veteran, Victor Ho RHKR (Volunteers) Veteran, Set Yuen RMP HKSMC - RMP HK Veteran and later in 2019 by Stella Thornton WRAC Provost RMP Veteran. In 2019 Roger Ching left

176-689: A British Army Major, adopting the British Regular Army Recruit Training Syllabus. The HKMSC recruit training instructors were all initially trained in Hong Kong by the KHMSC, then in the UK. Training Company were also responsible for training the Ammunition Sub-Depot guards, made up of Hong Kong Sikhs (recruited as their religion barred them from smoking). The Deputy Commander British Forces (a Brigadier),

220-410: A British Lieutenant Colonel, as Commandant, with a British Depot Adjutant and a Hong Kong Chinese Corps Adjutant (both Majors), a British Depot Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) and a Hong Kong Chinese Corps RSM (both WO1s) and a British Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) and Superintendent Clerk (ORQMS), (both WO2s). Recruitment, selection and training was carried out by Training Company, commanded by

264-730: A Training Company team representing the HQ and Depot HKMSC won the Dragon Cup for military skills (outperforming the Queen's Gurkha Signals in signalling and the British Military Hospital team in first aid); the competition was not held again. The HKMSC reached a peak strength of 1,200 men, providing the British garrison in Hong Kong with support personnel. All HKMSC soldiers did their basic training in Hong Kong and afterwards from time to time attended upgrading and trade courses in

308-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from

352-549: A former Hong Kong Garrison Local Employed Personnel LEP unit. *This recognition came about as it was one of the discussion areas brought forward by the RoA Campaign / evidence brought forward. On 29 Mar 2023, it was agreed by the British Government and announced this day that RoA in the United Kingdom will be sanctioned to those ex-Hong Kong Servicemen not given RoA on or the handover to PRC China in 1997 under

396-733: A part of the General Service Corps of the British Army . The HKMSC offered locally recruited and trained Hong Kong Chinese soldiers the opportunity to pursue a full career in the British Regular Army up to and including Queen's Commissioned Officer rank in the General List (HKMSC). As all members of the HKMSC were British Regular Army soldiers, they received a Regular Army Service Record Book when they left

440-812: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;

484-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to

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528-865: The Army Physical Training Corps (APTC), as medics in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) based in the British Military Hospital (BMH), military police in the Royal Military Police (RMP), helicopter support crews in No. 660 Squadron AAC , Army Air Corps (AAC) based at Sek Kong Airfield, cooks in the Army Catering Corps (ACC), Weapons and Supplies Storekeepers in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and intelligence staff in

572-718: The Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force . A large number of ethnic Hong Kong Chinese were killed or became prisoners of war. Ethnic Hong Kong Chinese also saw active service outside Hong Kong in Burma in 1942 against the Japanese forces, where they fought alongside the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. In January 1948, the Hong Kong Chinese Training Unit (HKCTU) was formed by the Hong Kong ethnic Chinese who had served in

616-675: The Intelligence Corps . During the Gulf War and in the early 1990s, the HKMSC provided officers and soldiers, primarily drivers and ambulance crews, to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) on peacekeeping operations. In 1996, the unit was disbanded prior to the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China in 1997. Just before the handover, the Hong Kong ex-servicemen Association

660-642: The Kensiu language . Ngong Shuen Chau Naval Base The naval base was built by the contractors during the handover period in 1996–1997 and one of a few military installations that was not transferred from the British . The naval base is located on the South Shore of the former Stonecutter's Island and located south of the former HMS  Tamar (now the Government Dockyard ). Most of

704-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝   'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for

748-701: The British Army can be traced back to the 1880s when Hong Kong locals were employed by the Royal Engineers in the building of barracks and defence works. Many ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong fought alongside the British troops in the defence of Hong Kong in World War II . The British Battle Group consisted of 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion Royal Scots and the Hong Kong Chinese Regiment . Other Battle Groups were Royal Artillery , Canadian Battalions, Indian Forces and

792-575: The Campaign team. In late 2012/2013, The Honorable Mr Andrew Rosindell MP (for Romford) United Kingdom (Conservative) took and led this RoA Campaign into the British parliament establishing a 'Parliamentary Support Group' in April 2013. Rosindell summoned strong support within Government over the following 10 years of parliamentary work, some 350 voices, votes for the ex-Hong Kong servicemen. Rosindell

836-1010: The Defence Animal Support Unit (DASU) of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps (RAVC) based in Sek Kong; officer instructors in the Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC); officers and clerks in the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC); technicians in the Royal Signals (R Sigs) of the Queen's Gurkha Signals (QGS) and engineers and armourers in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). HKMSC trained physical training instructors (PTI) also served in

880-765: The General Service Corps (GSC) of the British Regular Army and they wore the GSC capbadge. Members of the HKCTU were later frequently nicknamed, locally, in Cantonese Chinese , as sui lui pao bing ( Chinese : 水雷炮兵 ; lit. 'water mine and coastal artillery soldiers') or sui ngau ( Chinese : 水牛 ; lit. 'buffalo') in memory of their predecessors. Those enlisted before World War II were numbered HK1802xxx; those who joined after World War II, HK1826XXXX and HK1827xxxx. In 1962,

924-637: The HKCTU became the Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) and consequently the GSC capbadge was replaced by a Dragon emblem. Initially the Dragon insignia, which was a Division Sign, had represented the Hong Kong Garrison and all British army soldiers serving in Hong Kong wore a Dragon cloth-badge on their uniform. The Dragon logo was officially adopted by the HKMSC as their Corps Badge and Corps Flag. The HKMSC became

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968-719: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) status. HKMSC soldiers paid United Kingdom income tax (at a 'Hong Kong' rate), via the MoD, like their British counterparts. The unit's Headquarters and Training Depot were originally located in Lyemun Barracks in 1948, between Shau Kei Wan and Chai Wan. It then moved to the Stonecutters Island in 1985. The HQ and Depot was commanded by

1012-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China

1056-702: The United Kingdom. HKMSC soldiers who were posted to and served with other non-HKMSC units wore the other units' cap badges. Unit personnel were enlisted as light-infantry, Regimental Police, interpreters and clerks in Dragon Company of the General Service Corps (GSC) headquartered in Osborn Barracks, Kowloon Tong; officers and drivers in 29 Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) based in Gun Club Hill Barracks; crews for 415 Maritime Troop based on Stonecutters' Island; dog handlers in

1100-587: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,

1144-575: The army. Many of them were also awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GC) after 15 years of good and loyal service. British gallantry awards, membership of orders of chivalry, decorations and medals were also presented /granted to some HKMSC soldiers; these include the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), the British Empire Medal (BEM), Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) status and Officer of

1188-497: The base was Hu Jintao in 2007. Various ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy visit the base, but only a few ships remain on semi-permanent basis. 597 钦州 / Qinzhou Two 25 mm guns Like the last HMS Tamar , Ngong Shuen Chau is a low-frills and low key naval facility. Access to the base is made via Chi Ngong Road, but access into the naval yard is restricted and surrounding areas fenced off. A heavily wooded area to

1232-496: The facility was created from dredging and in-fill project in the early 1990s in anticipation of the move of Tamar and the handover. The older buildings and recreation facilities were inherited from the Hong Kong Military Service Corps . Many buildings in the base date to the 1930s, but some are as far back as the 1870s. A list of historic buildings at the naval facility: Roads within the base once had British names, but they have since been dropped: The most high-profile visitor to

1276-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from

1320-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as

1364-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In

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1408-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often

1452-400: The middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is

1496-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as

1540-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as

1584-585: The title, 'New Settlement Route for former Hong Kong Servicemen. *See the British Government statement below. Traditional Chinese Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until

1628-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with

1672-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write

1716-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being

1760-635: The various artillery and coastal defence units during the Battle of Hong Kong in World War II, with the aim of recruiting and training Hong Kong ethnic Chinese soldiers to assist and support the British Garrison in Hong Kong. Hong Kong-born ethnic Chinese soldiers (British Dependent Territories Citizens) of the HKCTU pledged allegiance to the Monarch of the United Kingdom and were enlisted into

1804-418: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c.  200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c.  the 5th century . Although

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1848-421: Was formed by some of the local ex-servicemen; the association has branches in the UK and Canada. In July 2006, Britain granted full British citizenship to all Gurkha soldiers and their dependants who had served in Hong Kong. Only 159 Hong Kong servicemen were granted British citizenship under the British Nationality Selection Scheme (BNSS) on handover of Kong Kong in 1997 for their Armed Forces service based upon

1892-424: Was supported by Russell Banks and Peter Vorberg throughout the Campaign. Vorberg took over team leadership from Banks Veteran on 31 January 2019. Veteran Banks continued as a RoA advisor to the Campaign until its end on 29 Mar 2023. In 2019 both the British Ministry of Defence MOD and the British Government formerly recognised the Hong Kong Military Service Corps HKMSC as a regular British Army Corps and not as only

1936-409: Was the Brigadier HKMSC (a largely honorary title). The Hong Kong Military Service Corps maintained its reputation for loyalty and military skills at the highest level, often outshining British and Gurkha troops based in Hong Kong. The HKMSC Shooting Team won the Team and Individual champion pistol shot a number of times at RASAAM (the Regular Army Skill at Arms Meeting) at Bisley, in the UK, and in 1992

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