On May 18, 2013, led by our History faculty instructor Sven A. Serrano and Vice CPC Secretary of SHS, Mr. Xue, the Shanghai branch of the Royal Asiatic Society took a tour of the SHSID campus buildings associated with the WWII Japanese internment camp for Allied civilians. The tour was greeted by Principal Feng, Vice Principal, Ms. Li and Vice CPC Secretary of SHS, Mr. Wang Hui. Tour participants included Ms.Betty Barr, a former camp resident (age 12-14), United States Consul-General Robert Griffiths and his wife Jeannie Griffiths, and Katy Gow of the Royal Asiatic Society, Shanghai Branch.

Then known as "Lunghwa Civil Assembly Center," our school was home for nearly 2,000 mostly British and American men, women, and children who lived on the grounds from April 1943-1945. The experiences of the Lunghwa C.A.C. internees have been the subject of several books by internee survivors, including Ms. Barr's Shanghai Boy Shanghai Girl, and notably J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun.

Accordingly, SHSID has made efforts to maintain and preserve the history of our school from this period. The tour highlighted the Art Building (former Dining Hall A), the former guards barracks, the Long Men Building (former F Block), Xian Mian Building (former E Block), the Theatre (former Assembly Center) and Admissions Office (former D Block).

After the tour, Sven and Betty answered participants' questions while recalling details of the internees daily lives in Lunghwa. It is hoped that a regular tour schedule of SHSID may be organized in the future.