[ { "id": 212020, "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-1989", "page_number": 435, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "410\n\nenhances our understanding of Chinese rural society. The Chapter on 'Landlords and Tenants' provides a fresh look at the complex social structure and pattern of power distribution in the villages. The Chapters on 'Inflation' and 'Rural Marketing' contain useful information and provide food for thought. One issue that is central to the study of peasant livelihood in South China is that of overseas remittances. This is mentioned in passing and should be given more attention. The important question is: what purposes did overseas remittances serve and did they increase the peasants' ability to maximize opportunities in trade? On the question of rural indebtedness, Faure refers to a 1930 study conducted by the Shanghai Social Affairs Bureau which revealed that ‘although a substantial proportion of the poor, in this case, the tenants, were in debt, they owed considerably less than the better-off, the owner-cultivators and half-owners', (p. 146). This is not surprising because the poor lacked collaterals and were therefore unable to contract substantial loans. I find it difficult to accept Faure's bold conclusion that ‘the extension of credit was a sign not of impoverishment but of growing opportunities', (p. 148). This statement is definitely too absolute and not sufficiently substantiated.\n\nOn the whole, it is obvious that a lot of research effort has been put into this work. While one should give Faure the credit for amassing a wealth of evidence in support of his case, it does not necessarily follow that one needs to subscribe to his views in an unreserved manner. As mentioned, the 'optimists' will welcome this piece of work for the fresh evidence it presents. The inadequacy of some of the arguments, on the other hand, will provide the 'pessimists' with a chance to fire back and reinforce their stand. All in all, this book will certainly serve to elevate the unending debate on China's rural economy to a higher level of intensity and refinement.\n\nALFRED H.Y. LIN\n\nNOTES\n\nE.H. Carr, What is History? (Pelican Books, Great Britain: Cox & Wyman Ltd., 1964), P. 23.\n\n2 Chen Qihui, Guangdong tudi liyong yu liangshi zhanxiao (Land Use and the Production and Distribution of Food in Guangdong) in Xiao Zheng, Mingguo ershi niandai Zhongguo dalu tudi wenti zilliao (Source Materials on Land Problems in Mainland China in the 1930s) (Taibei, 1977), Vol. 50, pp. 25705-10, 25715-17. Guangdong jingji nianjian bianzhuan weiyuanhui, Guangdong jingji nianjian [Guangdong Economic Yearbook for 1940] (Guangzhou, 1941), 1:(K)42-49.\n\nPage 435\n\nPage 436", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215238, "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-2001", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "Police Force and was its chief information officer for the last seven years of his service. He is now the managing director of an IT services company. He is the Hon. Editor of JHKBRAS (peterhalliday@netvigator.com).\n\nPatrick Hase, B.A. Ph.D., is the current president of HKBRAS. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian, and has written prolifically on the culture and history of Hong Kong (phhase@hkusua.hku.hk).\n\nJames Hayes, Ph.D., D.Litt.(Hon.), is a past-president of HKBRAS. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian and has written several books, the most recent having been Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People, 1953-87. He has contributed prolifically to JHKBRAS (mouse1@bigpond.com).\n\nProfessor Anthony Headley, B.B.S., J.P., M.D., F.R.C.P. (Lond., Edin., Glas.), F.F.P.H.M., F.H.K.C.C.M., F.H.K.A.M., F.A.C.E., D. Soc. Med., was trained in the medical schools of Aberdeen and Edinburgh and formerly worked in endocrinology and internal medicine before moving to the field of public health medicine. In 1983 he was appointed to the chair of public health in the University of Glasgow and since 1988 has been Professor of Community Medicine in Hong Kong and honorary consultant to the Hong Kong Department of Health and to the Hospital Authority. The involvement of four graduates of his alma mater, Aberdeen University, including Kai Ho Kai, in the founding of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1888, has stimulated his interest in their many contributions to several aspects of educational, social, and political developments in Hong Kong in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (commed@hkucc.hku.hk)\n\nKo Tim-keung is a council member of HKBRAS and a keen researcher into Hong Kong history.\n\nRosemary Lee spent thirty years abroad in Pakistan, Switzerland, Iran, and Hong Kong. During this time she was able to indulge her interest in archaeology and in Hong Kong was one of a team of Antiquities and Monuments Office volunteers. She was a member of the Archaeological and Palaeontological Committee and Programme and Events Organiser of the Council of the HK Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. On returning to England, she became Co-Events Organiser of the Friends of HKBRAS, as well as becoming actively involved with the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (rosemary.lee@talk21.com).\n\nDr. Alfred H.Y. Lin, B.A., M.Phil. (Hong Kong), Ph.D. (London), was trained as an historian at the University of Hong Kong and the School of Oriental and African Studies (London). He is currently an associate professor of modern Chinese history at HKU. His research focuses on the history of South China, particularly Guangzhou politics and society in the 1920s and 1930s. He recently published an article entitled The Founding of the University of Hong Kong: British\n\nPage 15\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]