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In Hase's opinion, it would be great to have Sinn as president - the first Chinese president and perhaps help in attracting more Chinese members.
"I am not sure if a Chinese president would attract more Chinese members. In any case, for me, it doesn't make that much difference whether our members are Chinese or not," said Sinn. "We have four Chinese on the Council. It's hard to find Chinese to serve on the Council. In Hong Kong, getting people to do things that don't pay is very difficult. It takes a lot of dedication."
The RAS is now on-line - www.royalasiaticsociety.org.hk thanks to one of the new young Chinese recruits, Moody Tang, a student in applied Chinese studies majoring in Chinese for mass media at the City University of Hong Kong. You can read about the history of the RAS, get information on upcoming events and read the latest President's Report on-line. Discussions are in place about putting the journals on-line.
In the next few months, selected articles will be published on-line as part of a joint project with the University of Hong Kong Libraries. A list of all the volumes of the Journal and their contents will also be available.
Unlike Smith and Hase, Sinn does not feel there is any problem with having the Royal in the name. It is part of the tradition. Sinn says the Royal doesn't mean an allegiance to the crown, as the Hong Kong branch is independent of the mother society in England.
"We are not a snobbish society, so people don't have to join 'to be seen' as members. The intellectual curiosity of members is a great attraction for me. Some of the Council members have become best friends.
"Dan Waters is really more of a Hong Kong person than lots of local people. I think this is where the word 'expatriate' gets ambiguous. The average RAS member knows more about Hong Kong than other Hong Kong people."
I reflect on this for a moment, and realise I have to agree. Much to