[
    {
        "id": 206396,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1971",
        "page_number": 213,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "# THE COLONY OF HONG KONG\n\n# 187\n\nAs I walked out, after the service, round the wall of the city, I had a singular and pleasing rencontre with a countryman and fellow-townsman of my own. Passing the quarters of the English troops, near the Five-storied Pagoda, a fine-looking fellow of the Engineers came panting up the hill, and addressing me, said, “Are you Mr. Legge of Hongkong?” \"Yes, but I do not know that ever I saw you before.\" \"But you have,\" said he, bursting into the sweet Aberdeenshire Doric; \"I cam oot for the wark here, and we hadna time to land at Hongkong, or I would hae come to see ye. Dinna ye ken the sma toon o' Huntly in Aberdeenshire?\" \"I know Huntly well, and so, I suppose, do you. Are you from Huntly?\" \"Eh! aye. D'ye mind the Piries at the brig-fitt?\" All I could do, I could not bring the Piries to my recollection; but this was one of them, John Pirie; and seeing that he had the Victoria Cross on his breast, I touched it, and said, \"Weel, I see you hae na been disgracing oor sma toon; what did ye get this for?\" \"It was a sma matter, and nae worth speaking about.\" \"But tell me what ye got it for.\" \"Weel, ye see, I was in the Crimea in the attack on the Redan. You ken it was a failure, an' we had to retreat, and many o' oor men were i' the open exposed to the fire o' the Russians. I was wounded mysel', but nae sae sair that I couldna keep the field, and I thought I would try and bring aff some o' these men. An' I did sae, an' they thought it was a brave thing, and gied me this cross for it. But it was a sma matter; I couldna but dee't.”\n\nOn returning from Canton, I started for a short visit to England by way of Calcutta. I reached that city on the day that news came down to it of the taking of Lucknow; and a few weeks after I sailed for home in the same steamer with Sir John Inglis, and many officers of the garrison of Lucknow, and many widows also whose husbands had died there. You may be sure the passage was not tedious with such companions, but I have not time to dwell on my intercourse with them, and many of the thrilling narratives about the siege which I received from their lips.\n\nIn September, 1859, I was back here again, and found that Sir Hercules Robinson had arrived a little before me as our new Governor. The news also greeted me of the violation of the T'ëentsin treaty by the Chinese, and of the defeat of our fleet at",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214584,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1998",
        "page_number": 442,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "411\n\nTHE GOLDEN NEEDLE\n\nTHE BIOGRAPHY OF FREDERICK STEWART\n\nDE83-1389)\n\nby Gillian Bickley\n\nBOOK REVIEW\n\nGillian Bickley (1997), The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889), with a foreword by Lady Saltoun, Hong Kong: David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies.\n\nFrederick Stewart, born in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was known by his contemporaries as the “founder of Hong Kong Government education.” He was the first headmaster of the Central School, now Queen's College, which led Hong Kong English education from 1862 until 1911 when the first university in Hong Kong was established.\n\nStewart became Registrar General, then Colonial Secretary, acting as Governor of Hong Kong on several occasions. He was keenly aware of his historical context at the meeting of the two cultures of East and West, and of his role as a facilitator in the modernisation of Chinese thought. His consistent policy was to educate pupils in Western knowledge, while preserving their Chinese identity, and he insisted on equal time for Chinese and English studies. Although retiring, unassuming and modest, Stewart was highly popular among the Chinese, foreign and Portuguese communities. By the end of his life, Stewart's intimate knowledge of Hong Kong was considered unequalled among non-Chinese in Hong Kong at the time. Never married or in particularly good health, he died at the early age of 52 of double pneumonia and is buried at Happy Valley.\n\n“Unassuming and modest,” in the nicest possible way, might be a good description of the book and its author. Although the book is printed using an unusually small font, it still manages to be 308 pages long, which gives you an idea of the amount of content. As regards the author, who is an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    }
]