Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 165

Eric, knew something was wrong. He rushed back to the portal and clicked the necessary buttons to recall him
back through the box to the present.
“What happened to you, Eric? Why are you back so soon?” asked a surprised Collins.
“I was at the wrong place. I wanted to go to the Old Shanghai French Concession District …” started Eric.
“Yes, I did put that information into the time machine,” answered Collins. So, what did you see?”
“I saw Russians, British, Americans, Japanese and French … but the area was very peaceful.”
“That is correct. Were you expecting a war zone? Didn’t you know? There was no hard fighting in the French
Concession. In 1943, during World War II, the government of France announced that it would give up its
concessions in Tianjin, Hankou and Guangzhou. These were handed over to the Wang Jingwei Government on
June 5, 1943 but the Shanghai Concession didn’t follow until July 30,” explained Collins.
“I think I should have had a Shanghai history lesson instead of going back in time!” cried Eric.