206
CARL SMITH
When the London Mission closed its work in Malacca and moved to Hongkong in 1843, Ho A-sun came with it. He wanted his children to have the advantage of education under the direction of Dr. Legge. His eldest child, a daughter, had already been under instruction of Mrs. Legge. She was the one who later married Ng Mun-sow. Two sons were of an age to be in the first small class in Hongkong of the transplanted Anglo-Chinese College.
Ho A-sun set himself up in the Lower Bazaar at Hongkong as a block-cutter and printer. His shop was next to the London Mission Chapel on Jervois Street. He had been baptised in Malacca and was an ardent propagandist for his new faith. When customers came to his printing-stationery store he gave them Christian tracts.
He was always ready to discuss religion with those who showed any interest. After shop hours he would go about the streets distributing literature and explaining the religion the foreigners had brought to China.
While he had not the skill at preaching or the education or scholarship of one like Ho Fuk-tong, he had devotion and earnestness which in their own way were impressive. The mission called him “a humble, unobtrusive Christian.”
Through hard work he was able to acquire sufficient real estate in Hongkong to leave valuable properties at his death in 1869 to each of his six sons. He also provided that the family house on Hollywood Road west of Aberdeen Street be retained as a residence for his widow, sons and grandsons. This property was resumed by Government in 1883 for the purpose of acquiring ground for the erection of a new Central School.
His older children attended Dr. Legge's school. The younger ones were students at Central School after it was opened in 1862.
The eldest was Ho A-lloy. He became the most prominent of the family. Dr. Legge characterised him in 1852 as a very promising lad. He was disappointed later, however, when A-lloy had to be excluded from church fellowship for taking on a secondary