February 24, 1906.j
ODD VOLUMES' SOCIETY.
XON, ME. A. W. BEEWIN ON t FUNGSHUI,"
In the City Hall on Feb. 30th before members of the Odd Volumes' Society, the Hon. Mr. A. W. Browin, Registrar General, delivered an interesting and instructive lecture on Fung ahui..
Hon. Mr. H. E. Pollock, K.C., who presided, introduced the speaker.
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energy and care of the secretsry and manager stets and was considered eminently satisfactory,
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. matters forward in the least to tell them that neither he (the speaker) nor the Govern ment believed in it, so he now told his friends Mr. W. T. Richardson, R. N. R., was elected, from the New Territory what was quite as president for the ensuing year, Mr. J. Lambert, true, and must seem more reasonable to them, R. N. R., and Mr. EO. Murphy vice-presidents, that we had a Faugshai of our own, and that it and Mr. V. Watson hou. treasurer. As a was unlikely, as matters stood at present, that result of the ballot the following were elected alt they would be able to persuade us to follow members of the committee of management arată their rules instead of ours. The Public Messrs. W. A. Crake, W. Ramsay, J. F. Millér, Works and Sanitary Departments attended to E. C. Wilks, W. C. Jack, T. W. Robertson, our Fungsbul, and our rules were to be found A. Ritchie, J. D. Morrison, T. Skinner, J. D. principally in the Public Health and Building Logan, C. F. Fooken, and J. McCubbin, Ordinance. The lecturer then described how A lengthy discussior. took place regarding scenery near Hongkong was affected by Fung-the difficulty European deck and engineer offi shui, and how the city of Victoria was favour.cors had in getting off at night to their ships at West Point. Arrangements had been made twelve months ago to overcome the difficulty, but they had apparently been discontinued; and the old order of things again prevailed. It was resolved that the Institution should petition those in authority to devise some system, by means of which easy access at night from the shore at West Point to the shipping in the vicinity could be obtained. The only means at present, it was stated, of getting on board at night a vessel lying at the west end of the har- bour was by hiring a sampan at Blake Pier.
INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS AND
SHIPBUILDERS.
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The usual vote of thanks to the chairman and the outgoing office-bearers for their services brought the meeting to a close.—[Contributed.]·· HONGKONG CHURCH MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
The annual meeting of the Hongkong Church Missionary Association, hold in St. Paul's College on Feb. 19th, was well attended. The The annual general mesting of the members Hon. Captain L. Barnes-Lawrence, R. N. of the Institution of Engineers and Ship-presided. There were also present-Rev. F. T. builders, of Hongkong was held on Februrry Johnson, Rev. G. Searle (Chaplain to the 19th in the rooms of the Institution. Des Forces), Rev. A. D. Stewart, Rev. P. Jenkins, Voeux Road. Mr. H. T. Richardson, in the Messrs. Dyer Ball, P. J. Laird, G. E. Wood. absence of Mr. N. Mumford, presided over a
ward, E. C. Lewis Mrs. Barnes-Lawrence, Mrs. large and representative attendance, and was Woodward, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Hipwell, Mrs. supported by Mr. J. Lambert, vice-president, Genaba, Misses Johnstone, Carden, Houlder, and Messrs. E. O. Murphy, W. A, Crake, E. C. Skipton, Hawker, Pitts, Stewart and others. Wilks, J. W. Auderson, J. D. Morrison, mein. bars of the committee; T. W. Robertson, hon. treasurer, and D. J. Lennox, secretar y and manager.
In the course of his remarks the lecturer said it would be as well at the outset to explain to his hearers that he was not going to give them the result of deep research, but simply notes of what he had learnt about Fangshui inebly situated from a Fungshai point of view | casual conversation or in the course of his work. He said the projected railway from Kowloon to Fangshui meant literally "Wind Water." and Canton naturally turned one's thoughts to Fung: had been defined by a learned authority as shui. When the telegraph line was first laid a quasi-scientific system supposed to teach between these two cities, Fungshni professors men where and how to build graves, temples prophesied terrible calamities, and there was a and dwellings, in order that the dead, the gods good deal of opposition. This seemed very and the living might be located exclusively, or natural when we remembered that the line was as far as possible under the auspicious influences bringing Kowloon with its nine dragons in close of nature." The Chinese believe that certain connection with Canton or the city of sheep. situations and surroundings brought good The spread of knowledge soon conquered luck and well-being to the inhabitants, such Fungshui, which was simply an attempt good luck coming from the earth. Fung- to explain events in nature by natural shui was the science which taught the causes, and the only relio of it to be found in a Chinese where and how to build their houses century or so would be in the shape of a grave and temples, and bow and where to bury their or some quaint funeral ceremony (applause). dead; therefore, it was not a religion. It was A hearty vote of thanks was awarded the a science, but differed from the soiences his lecturer at the close. hearers were familiar with in that it dealt not only with the material world, but with the world of spirits. They often heard the Chinese described ca. materialistic, and certainly natives of China had materialised their views of the future life, and lived much more really; in the spiritual world than Europeans did there did not seem any fixed barrier between the living and the dead, the welfare of each being affected by the action of the other. If Fangshui confined itself merely to tracing out the influences of Dature of water, bills and wood on the bodily and spiritual health of the living and the dead, the worst that could happen to believers would be to be reduced to a state of hypochondria; but its professors claim that not only is health affected by the situation of a house or a father's grave, but also material position, wealth and advancement, and the rules of Fungshui could not be disregarded without interfering with other people. The Fungshui professors were deserving of a little attention, There were no colleges to train students or to grant degrees; each student qualified by attach- ing himself as an apprentice to a professor in practice, but even an apprenticeship was not indispensable, as anyone desiring to do so could The loss by death during the past year of set up with or without practice. The speaker Messrs. A. Campbell, J. Kirkwood, J. could not tell the main principles of Fung- McLach'an, F. J. Price, and H. W. Soppet shui, although he had endeavoured to find out. Was recorded with regret. Twenty-three Dragons and tigers, especially dragons, played members had resigned from the Institution, and a large part in it. The ridges of the hills fifty-three candidates had been admitted during were all parts of dragons, and from such the year, while sixty members through loug dragons emanated favourable influences which absence from the Colony, and their whereabouts affected houses or graves in their neighbourhood. not being known, were struck off the regular Mr. Brewin then discoursed on the rules of list. The circulating library formed at the Fungshui, telling stories by way of illustration. end of 1904 was well patronised by several He said if his hearers thought it over they members. The response made to the circulars would find there were professionals in Europe inviting the members to write essays on the corresponding very closely to the Fangshui" Management of Compound and Triple Expan. man, and they might take it that all over the world, including China, all but a few cranks believed in him. In old days in Hongkong, coffins used to be stored as they are iu Chinese cities now, as at Canton for instance, in the city of the dead outside the north gue. The Tungwah Hospital had a mortuary, and coffins remained there for years, but that was in the bad old days, and a vigilant Sanitary Department now prevented the infring- ement of the rules of ancestor worship. The attitude arsumed by the Colonial Government towards Fungshui had been much the same as that taken up by the Government of China; neither Government recognised it except where there was a likelihood of a breach of the peace. Fungshui bad naturally come more into pro- minence since we took over the administration of the New Territory, where the Registrar General and Assistant Superintendent of profit and loss account a balance of $659.47, Police had cases occasionally submitted to to be transferred to the reserve account. them for arbitration. The belief of the This result is due, as was stated by the chairman
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The notice convening the meeting and the minutes of the last annual meeting were read, after which the annual report of the committoo of management and the statement of accounts for the past year were presented. The report stated that the membership was now made tp as follows:-Ordinary members, 183; associate, 30; visiting A, 61; visiting B, 16 ; honorary, 1– total, 291.
sion Engines and Boilers," for which a gold and a silver medal were offered as first and second prizes, had been disappointing. Another com petition for these prizes would be organized, about which circulars would be issued in due foourse. The British Engineering Standards Committee, through the courtesy of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, presented to the Institution, to be placed in the library, a set of its valuable publications. The lease of the rooms for a further period of three years was rene...ed in July.
The statement of accounts showed that the financial position of the Institution had improved during the period over which the statement dealt. Although an increase on nearly all the items of expenditure had taken place, compared with those of the preced ing year, there
the was at
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The secretary, the Rev. F. T. Johnson, having ́ read the minutes of the previous meeting, the financial statement was submitted by the
Mr. treasurer,
Gi E. Woodward, who pointed out that the funds for the support of the catechists in the New Territory had decreased, and that the general funds showed a falling off in the amount of subscriptious, the last year being closed with a balance of $26 as compared with the previous year.
On the motion of the Rev. F. T. Johnson, the committee was re-elected.
The Chairman then addressed the meeting. He read the resolution passed at the inaugura- tion of the society, and remarked that it was befitting that on that, the seventh bir hday of their association, they should be reminded of that baptisms pledge as it were, to spread missionary work, and stimulate interest in the work. Alluding to the criticism directed at missionary work, he said they could point to the fast that those churches imbued with the missionary spirit were the most vigorons, and they could also point to the fact that mission- aries had been pioneers of civilisation through- out the world. They had spread knowledge and had introduced the benefits of mediosiscience, and they had shown that it was possible for cultured men and women to reside in heathen lands for other than money-making purposes. Behind all that argument they must never forget that if they were to be Christians in more than name they must obey the commands of Jesus Christ on the subject of evangelisation. No matter what failures they experienced, they must realise the bounden duty to hasten the time when the darks ness of heathen superstition would be dispelled. by the glorious light of the gospel. Personally he had had many opportunities of seeing the result of missionary work in all parts of the globe and had been privileged to know the inner lives of the missionaries, aud he only wished that those who carped at missionary work had had the same opportunities. It could not be asserted that all missionary. work was conducted on ideal lines, or that mistakes were not made. They could not expect anything else from
of Christianity.
Chinese country folk in Fangshui was so deep | and endorsed by the hon, treasurer and members much of the diverse orituman beings; but
rooted and sincere that it did not seem to help of the committee, in a great measure to the
was founded on hearsay evidence that would
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