A 'Shanghainese' Briton recounts 50 years in city

The 50th episode of "Shanghai Through Our Eyes" features 88-year-old British expat Betty Barr. Born in the city in 1933, she calls herself a Shanghainese.

"Shanghai was the place where my parents met and got married," Barr said. "I have spent 50 years, over half of my life, in the city."

She recalled the Longhua Civil Assembly Center where she was interned for two and a half years from the age of 10 to 12 during the Pacific War.

"1800 people were kept in the internment camp, which is the site of Shanghai High School (International Division)," Barr said.

She witnessed the end of the war in the summer of 1949.

"We had no idea what to expect before the PLA (People's Liberation Army) came to Shanghai," she said.

Barr recorded her childhood in the book "Shanghai Boy, Shanghai Girl" with her Chinese husband George Wang, in which the two unfolded their childhood stories in China during the 1930s and 1940s.