The next three years spent in south-west China were a world away from the affluent Hong Kong life that Robert Hung Ngai had previously enjoyed. Food was a perennial problem. He suffered from malaria. All the inevitability of life was taken away. There was no telling how long the war would last and whether it would reach that part of China.

One pair of trousers and no shoes

“During the war, we were all poor. You have no idea how poor we were. But we just had to man up to this. I had one pair of trousers and no shoes, except for grass sandals similar to those that the Chinese soldiers wore. We shaved our heads because it took longer to grow back this way - and a hair cut cost money.

“For food, we grew our own vegetables - we were successful in doing that. In Liuchow, we kept ducks and chickens for eggs and there were goats for milk. But we very seldom ate pork or beef. As we needed to eat some fat, we bought lard to mix with the rice. Yes, we were very skinny then.

“Later, in Kunming, the US 14th Air Force would often give cans of chocolate milk to children. When I drank that milk, my system couldn’t cope with it any more. It gave me diarrhoea.

“Such a time influenced me very much. I always say to my children, in the flick of a hand, the world can turn upside down and you can be poor. You never can tell."