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master (more often than not a mistress) of ceremonies. There was, too, a high cultural content to their framework and its component parts, as will become evident in the course of this paper.
Hardly surprisingly, what may be styled this framework of formality with cultural overtones had to be underpinned by a support mechanism. The organizers needed to, and fortunately were able to, draw upon the calligraphic, literary, and other skills needed to supply the time-honoured invitation cards, scrolls, banners, and presentation items customarily in use on their ceremonial occasions. By listing the main features of this formality, its content, and back-up, this article aims to bring a rather neglected subject to wider notice, and to encourage more detailed study before it is too late.
My initial intention was also to examine in detail the literary content of the invitation cards and presentation items, and to include them in this paper. Phraseology and meaning, together with origins, must be traced back in guides to protocol and forms of address. These are intriguing topics, grounded in Chinese culture, and are well worth study for their own sake. However, this hope has not been realized. It is a considerable undertaking in itself, and will have to be the subject of a second paper, from my own or another's pen.
The need for experts
Associations which had frequent contact with government, like the rural committees and the kaifong welfare associations, all engaged paid secretaries. These were usually middle-aged or elderly men who had received an old-style Chinese education. Most of them were without an English language capability, for which reason they were precluded from entering government service, or from taking employment with the larger firms in Hong Kong's export-led commercial sector. However, such persons were very suitable for the secretaries' posts in the associations, where besides the skills needed for coping with ceremonial occasions, their knowledge of the correct epistolary forms of written Chinese enabled them to conduct their employers' correspondence with government offices and other agencies in a manner commensurate with the dignity of the association and its leaders - since, in this particular, the latter's prestige, too, was at stake.