Changi Prisoner-of-War Camp

After Singapore’s surrender, Japanese forces confined British, Australian and other Allied prisoners in barracks and prison facilities around Changi. Overcrowding, poor nutrition, disease and uncertainty shaped daily life, although conditions varied across the large complex and over time.

Many prisoners were later sent from Changi to forced-labour projects, including the Burma–Thailand Railway. Those who remained developed informal economies and systems of exchange alongside the official military hierarchy.

King Rat draws on James Clavell’s own wartime imprisonment and concentrates on the camp economy. Its fictional King survives through trade and manipulation while other officers attempt to preserve rules created for a world that has collapsed.