that a copy of the Journal is given, free, to all fully-paid-up members. Also, while our lectures are free, our visits provide leadership and quality that one is unlikely to find elsewhere, at a similar cost in the private sector for example. It should be noted that, to encourage students to join, their annual subscription remains at only HK$50.
Although there has not been a mass exodus of expatriates from Hong Kong, many have left, and, in turn, new people have arrived, often short-term stayers. Our Branch is becoming less British in composition. With the RAS in some ways an international institution, with branches or affiliated organisations in places like Japan and Korea which never formed part of the old British Empire, for our Branch to become more cosmopolitan is not a bad thing. However, although we have tried to recruit more Chinese members over recent years, we have had limited success with numbers varying from 15 to 20 per cent of total membership. Nevertheless, although we have organised a few lectures in Cantonese, we are basically an English-speaking society in what has become, since the Handover, a more Cantonese-speaking community. But, in spite of this change, the RAS still fills a need in Hong Kong in its present form. Having said that, if our Branch wishes to increase considerably its number of Chinese members, then it will have to organise many more functions in the local language.
We are a society catering partly to scholars, and some of the quality research on Hong Kong has been undertaken by RAS members who have endeavoured to place their findings on record, in some cases before the old ways of life disappear forever. But, at the same time, the RAS is popular with newcomers to Hong Kong who wish to learn something of local history and about Chinese culture, one of the most important cultures in the world.
Here it should be said that many of our members contribute a great deal to the Hong Kong community, and, as a result, five were named in the June 1997 Queen's Birthday Honour's List. They included Dr Michael Lau, Professor I.J. Hodgkiss, Mr Randolf O'Hara, and Ms Caroline Courtauld, who each received an MBE, and Mr Peter Halliday, who was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.
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that a copy of the Journal is given, free, to all fully-paid-up members. Also, while our lectures are free, our visits provide leadership and quality that one is unlikely to find elsewhere, at a similar cost in the private sector for example, It should be noted that, to encourage students to join, their annual subscription remains at only HK50.
Although there has not been a mass exodus of expatriates from Hong Kong many have left, and, in turn, new people have arrived, often short-term stayers. Our Branch is becoming less British in composition. With the RAS in some ways an international institution, with branches or affiliated organisations in places like Japan and Korea which never formed part of the old British Empire, for our Branch to become more cosmopolitan is not a bad thing. However, although we have tried to recruit more Chinese members over recent years we have had limited success with numbers varying from 15 to 20 per cent of total membership. Nevertheless, although we have organised a few lectures in Cantonese, we are basically an English speaking society in what has become, since the Handover, a more Cantonese speaking community. But, in spite of this change, the RAS still fills a need in Hong Kong in its present form. Having said that, if our Branch wishes to increase considerably its number of Chinese members, then it will have to organise many more functions in the local language.
We are a society catering partly to scholars, and some of the quality research on Hong Kong has been undertaken by RAS members who have endeavoured to place their findings on record, in some cases before the old ways of life disappear forever. But, at the same time, the RAS is popular with newcomers to Hong Kong who wish to learn something of local history and about Chinese culture one of the most important cultures in the world.
Here it should be said that many of our members contribute a great deal to the Hong Kong community, and, as a result, five were named in the June 1997 Queen's Birthday Honour's List. They included Dr Michael Lau, Professor 1.J Hodgkiss, Mr Randolf O'Hara and Ms Caroline Courtauld who each received an MBE, and Mr Peter Halliday who was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.
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