Though apparently he may not have purchased it in Hong Kong. Below a quote from his memoir (though he had quite a few chests, so I'm not sure which one he refers to here). The date for the text in question is shortly after the Japanese invasion of Nanjing (which he had fled).
"On the way back from Nanchang I took a train around the mountains of Guling to the Yangtze River port in Jiujiang where, while waiting for the ship, I used my spare time to buy the carved camphor chest which we protected and saved through all the tumultuous years in China and final travel to America where it landed in our home in Bethesda. "
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source of camphorwood chest
Though apparently he may not have purchased it in Hong Kong. Below a quote from his memoir (though he had quite a few chests, so I'm not sure which one he refers to here). The date for the text in question is shortly after the Japanese invasion of Nanjing (which he had fled).
"On the way back from Nanchang I took a train around the mountains of Guling to the Yangtze River port in Jiujiang where, while waiting for the ship, I used my spare time to buy the carved camphor chest which we protected and saved through all the tumultuous years in China and final travel to America where it landed in our home in Bethesda. "
Inscription
Right below the keyhole, there's an inscription 狸貓換太子, an old folklore referring to the scene below.
狸貓 is something like a civet cat, not a domestic one.
The phrase 狸貓換太子 is used as an idiom nowadays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crown_Prince_Replaced_by_a_Cat_(Chine…