[ { "id": 204849, "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-1964", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "LUN HENG\n\n127\n\nWang Ch'ung and of his predecessors\", Archiv Orientalní 30, 1962, pp. 231-257. Useful studies of Wang Ch'ung's materialism, more or less Marxist in orientation, have been written by A. A. Petrov (1954 in Russian, translated into Chinese in 1956), Hou Wai-lu and others (1957), Yang Ch'ao Kuan Feng (1957), Cheng Wen (1958), and T'ien Chang-wu (1958).\n\nThere are a large number of articles on Wang Ch'ung in Japanese by Kimura Ikusaburo, Shigezawa Toshio, and others. But I only know of one book in Japanese, the Ronko no Kenkyu 論衡之研究 by Sato Kyogen 佐藤匡玄 (1956, self-published).\n\nGrammatical study of the Lun Heng, commenced by Karlgren and extended by myself, must await a full concordance. Besides the 1943 Index du Louen Heng by the Centre franco-chinois d'études sinologiques, there are now two Japanese indices by Kato Joken, Shigezawa Toshio, and others, both produced in 1961.\n\n(a) Ronko Koyu-Meishi Sakuin 論衡固有名詞索引\n\nThis, similar in size and scope to the French index, which gave an index of names and topics with a paraphrase of the immediate text, gives a full concordance of names only, subdivided into names of people, of places, of books, titles and reign periods. It also adds a valuable appendix of textual corrections.\n\n(b) Ronko Jirui Sakuin 論衡事類索引\n\nThis is a massive work, over twice the size of the Lun Heng itself, which collects together, under topic headings, all the passages from the various chapters concerning that topic. The main topics covered are philosophy (and religion), science, ancient books, history, government, and sociology.\n\nVery valuable for certain kinds of research, these three works still do not fulfil the function of a complete word-by-word concordance.\n\nThe republication of Forke's monumental work (at almost the same time as these new indices) will be of double value if it encourages other western scholars to go ahead and work on Wang Ch'ung and his Lun Heng, a key work for our understanding of ancient China.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206805, "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-1973", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "76\n\nHELGA WERLE\n\nThe hands are made of wire (Plate VII) which facilitates the fastening of the sticks or arms, but their appearance is ugly.\n\nThe sticks have the length of chopsticks. Made of iron, they form a small ring at one end and have a wooden handle on the other, to prevent the sticks from slipping out of the hands. The third stick is thicker and is hooked into a hole at the puppet's back from below. The puppeteers tell that in Ch'aochow some puppets were considered so precious that they were handled with sticks made of pure gold.\n\nNeither the waist nor the stick is movable.\n\nThe Historical Background in Ch'aochow\n\nAlthough well proportioned and even beautiful, this puppet has many technical disadvantages compared to the Cantonese rod-puppet or the Fukienese string or glove-puppet. The reason for this incongruousness can be found in the dominance of Ch'aochow's ancient leather shadow-puppet tradition, which was definitely well established in the Ming dynasty in that area. One can assume that it existed earlier but any proof is lacking so far.\n\nIn Ch'aochow these shadow-puppets were cut out of cowhide (which is very rough when compared to the donkey-hide used in North China or Szechuan) which was coloured. They have two-jointed arms and legs and are handled with three sticks attached to the hands and the back of the two-dimensional puppet. The author has seen such Min-nan shadow-puppets in Taiwan, and some old Ch'aochowese confirmed that the Ch'aochow ones had exactly these features. By the end of the last century, supposedly under the strong influence of the extraordinary perfection of the string and glove puppets of Ch'uan-chou, Fukien, a new type of puppet evolved, a hybrid with the beauty of a Ch'uan-chou puppet, but handicapped in movement by the technique of a two-dimensional puppet. The name paper-shadow-theatre chih-ying-hsi was also applied to the new puppet. These two kinds of puppets existed side by side for one generation, and according to witnesses the leather shadow-puppets disappeared in the 1920s.\n\nIt is yet possible to receive first-hand accounts of the time when puppets were much used. An educated elderly Ch'aochow gentleman, Mr. Su related that in his childhood, at the beginning of the Republic, there were still 3 different kinds of puppets: shadow, horizontal stick-puppets and a third kind which he describes as...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207136, "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-1974", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n201\n\nLU PAN―The God of Carpenters. President of the Celestial Ministry of Public Works. Family name Kung-shu, personal names Pan and I-chih. Born at Yen-chou Fu, Shantung, the ancient feudal kingdom of Lu, whence his name Lu-Pan, i.e. Pan of Lu. His father was Kung-shu Hsien, his mother being of the Wu family. He was born in 506 B.C. As a youth he practised and became skilled in all kinds of metal, stone and wood work. At 40 years of age he retired to live the life of a hermit on Li Shan, Mount Li, in Shantung, and was initiated into miracle-working, being able to rise into the air and ride on the clouds. In the reign of Yung Lo (A.D. 1403-25) of the Ming dynasty he received the title of Grand Master, Sustainer of the Empire. Artisans who pray to him have their requests granted immediately.\n\nC\n\nAnother biography gives his name as Kung-shu Tzu, adds that he was called Pan and describes him as a clever man of Lu. Some say he was the son of Mu, duke of Lu. He carved wooden magpies which could float in the air for three days, and constructed a wooden coachman which drove an automobile, as well as engines of war for battering down the walls of cities.\n\nStill another account of his life states that Lu Pan belonged to Tung-huang Hsien, Kansu. He made a wooden kite, on which his father could fly long distances in the air. When he flew to Wu-hui, Kiangsu, the people mistook him for a devil and killed him. Angered at this, Pan constructed an Immortal in wood which, on pointing its finger in the direction of the town, caused a drought which lasted three years. When the inhabitants ascertained the cause, they sent him presents to appease him and he cut off the image's hand, whereupon copious rain fell in Wu.\n\n44\n\n+\n\nThese differences can only be reconciled by concluding that Lu Pan and Kung-shu Tzu were two different persons, the one having lived in Shantung in the time of the Six Kingdoms (3rd cent. B.C.), and the other in Kansu after the time of the Emperor Ming-ti (A.D. 58-76) of the Han dynasty, when Buddhism was officially recognised in China. At the present day, Lu Pan is worshipped, without regard to the question whether the name belongs to one man or to two. Temples dedicated to Lu Pan are still maintained. He is especially worshipped (on the thirteenth day of the fifth and on the twenty-first day of the seventh", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207259, "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-1975", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "A HONG KONG SPIRIT-MEDIUM TEMPLE\n\n19\n\npremises of a specific temple rather than conducting them in his own or a client's home.\n\nThe Hong Kong spirit-medium temple may be either a humble structure of makeshift materials, akin to a squatter hut, or an ornate edifice constructed and maintained at considerable expense. Our study concerns a cult whose temple falls into the last-mentioned category. Completed in early 1975 and constructed at a cost of over HK$200,000, the temple is itself a major indicator of the cult's current prosperity. Below we discuss that temple and its cult, with particular attention to spatio-temporal setting, personnel, and ritual.\n\nThe Spirit-Medium Temple: Spatio-Temporal Setting\n\nThe temple is situated on a small hill immediately behind several residential blocks of the Tsui Ping Road Resettlement Estate in the urban-industrial district of Kwun Tong. The temple structure itself is, in fact, only a part of a larger complex which includes a small, one-storey office building, a partially enclosed stage, several outdoor shrines, and a paak ka chi “or Hall of One Hundred Sur-names”. The last-mentioned structure was under construction at the time this paper was written. In marked contrast to the crowded conditions that prevail in the adjacent Mark I estate, the temple complex occupies over 4,000 square feet of land.\n\nThe temple bears the horrific title of its patron deity Tai Wong Ye, which translates into English as \"The Great Ancient King\". It is a common title bestowed on deified mortals who were seldom in the literal sense \"Kings\" but were more often officials of various grades in Imperial China. To better understand the origin and present circumstances of the spirit-medium cult, it is necessary that we briefly trace the history of the Tai Wong Ye and his temple.\n\nThe patron deity of the present-day cult is reported to have been, during his mortal life, an official of the Tang Dynasty surnamed Lei. After his death, he was awarded the honorary title of Man Chung Kung. Temple personnel usually refer to him as \"Lei Man Chung Kung\". The Old Tang History contains the biography of a stateman bearing the surname Lei and the given name Uen-yuen. After death, he was given the title Man Chung Kung by the emperor in recognition of his outstanding loyalty to the emperor, his filiality towards parents and kinsmen, and frugality", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207806, "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-1976", "page_number": 194, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "IN THE PATH OF THE ANCIENT MON --PAGAN, PEGU and NAKORN PATHOM\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\nThe fourth overseas tour of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society and the third led by the author of this article, went to Burma from 26 December 1975 to 2 January 1976. Forty-two members and guests went on the tour, and most stayed on for a two-day extension in Bangkok.\n\nMount Popa, the extinct volcano which is the home of the 37 nat or spirits worshipped by the originally animistic Burmese, can be clearly seen on fine days as the plane comes to land at Nyaung-U. But the short drive from there to Pagan past an incredible number of vast ruined brown brick temples (whitewashed where they are still in use), soon gives an idea of the Kings' and peoples' devotion to Buddhism and the splendid ensemble Pagan must have been at the time of its greatness. This lasted from 1057, the date of the conquest of Thaton by the Burmese king Anawratha, to 1287 when the grandson of Kublai Khan, Prince Ye-su Timur, occupied the city and overthrew the dynasty. Some 5,000 temples still remain in part but virtually no lay buildings, with the exception of the traces of the city wall of Pagan and the Sarabha gate to the old city dating from the 9th century. Both are probably relics of the period of the Pyu, about whom little is known after 832 since they became totally absorbed by the incoming Burmese quite early.\n\nAnawratha brought from Thaton to Pagan thirty elephant loads of sacred texts, many monks, innumerable craftsmen as well as the conquered Mon royal family, and Mon culture was dominant in the early period of Pagan, to the extent that the Burmese adopted and still use the Mon script. Mon buildings were characterised by narrow blocked windows and a certain functional squatness. The materials used were brick, with a true arch, which was covered with stucco into which were sometimes inserted green glazed terracotta plaques. The inside of the buildings was nearly always covered in paintings applied to a dry surface and so not correctly frescoes. The buildings essentially form two different types. The first is the solid stupa, often raised on receding terraces, and the second a...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208478, "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-1978", "page_number": 202, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "186\n\nDAVID H. S. CHAU\n\nof different sizes had then to be made in order to produce different colours in colour picture printing. Whether the final picture came to life or not depended upon the right colour separation. The original painter could use colours quite freely, but the carvers must analyse them carefully and separate them by making any number of blocks each of which would provide only one colour or shade. It can be said that it was the carver who really determined the quality of the reproduction of the artist's picture.\n\nFor this reason it is appropriate to place the names of the carvers side by side with the painters. But in Chinese society the carvers were treated not as artists, but only as artisans. In very few cases does the carver's name appear in the picture: it usually carries only the name of the painter or calligrapher.\n\nWoodblock printing is a kind of relief printing, but there are two kinds of carving. When a block is printed, the areas which appear as white will be those that have been carved out of the face of the block with a chisel or knife. This is called positive carving. Almost all Chinese block printing used positive carving. If the process of carving is reversed and only the lines are carved out, they will appear white, when such a block is printed. When the black and white are reversed, this is called negative carving. Few Chinese works or prints used negative carving although sometimes we can find both positive and negative carving together in one picture in some of the fiction books printed in the mid Ch'ing period.\n\nChinese characters changed their style through centuries whenever new carving material was introduced. The shape of the scripts was strongly affected by the physical condition of the material being used for carving. The present style of Chinese characters belongs to the Formal Script (##) which was developed when woodblock printing was first introduced. Every stroke of the character is sharply formed and looks as though it has been cut by a knife. We do not see any sharp strokes from ancient classical scripts as sharp strokes could hardly be engraved on stones. The Drafting Script (*) and the Running Script (*) are simplified forms of the Classical Scripts and the Formal Script, and were developed for quick writing purposes.\n\nWoodblocks are of two types. Those cut with the grain are called plank blocks; and those cut across the grain are called end-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210090, "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-1984", "page_number": 61, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "JULIAN PAS\n\nAPPENDIX II: CHINESE DIVINATION TERMINOLOGY\n\nThe terminology used in the context of ancient Chinese divination practices is often conflicting and confusing. It is therefore appropriate to define the terms, both in English and in Chinese.\n\nA. English Terminology\n\nThe two basic types relate to bone divination and to plant (stalk) divination.\n\n1. OSTEOMANCY, general term for Bone Divination\n\nDates from the Shang period or even from earlier times, and includes divination types using a variety of animal bones, especially bovines, sheep or pigs, later also tortoises. Subdivisions, using specific kinds of animal bones:\n\n(a) SCAPULIMANCY or SCAPULOMANCY: using the shoulder blades of sheep, oxen, etc. This term is often inaccurately used for bone divinations in general,\n\n(b) CHELONIOMANCY: using the carapace of tortoise or turtle;\n\n(c) PLASTROMANCY: using the 'plastron' (lower bone) of tortoise.\n\n2. ACHILLEOMANCY: divination of Chou origin (probably) using a number of stalks derived from the milfoil plant, also called yarrow. One of the methods using stalks is the ICHING consultation, which is perhaps an early ancestor of the popularized temple oracles.\n\nB. Chinese Terminology\n\n卜 pu (Karlgren or K. no. 757) to divine by tortoise shell; to divine (shows fissures in heated shell).\n\n兆 (K. no. 1182; Mathews or M. 247) prognostic, omen (cracks in burnt tortoise shell, read as prognostics) a sign, omen.\n\n爻 (K. no. 217; M. 2583) Yao— intertwine; change; lines in the hexagrams of I-ching.\n\nMiyazaki (p. 162); this character yao \"is nothing else but the figure of two of those crosses\", obtained by counting divination sticks, to see whether their number was odd or even.\n\n夬 (K. 161) (accident), calamitous, unfortunate, sad; of bad omen; cruel [a man falling with legs upwards into a pit]\n\nMiyazaki: (p. 162); two sticks remaining in a box or container: means \"bad omen, unlucky”, since representing an even number.\n\n吉 (K. 325) auspicious, lucky, good, (an affair: which may be spoken of, not taboo).\n\nMiyazaki: three sticks (odd number) remaining in divination: therefore 'good omen, lucky'. For unknown reason, \"container' replaced by 'mouth'; perhaps pronounced aloud.\n\n卦 (K. 433): 8 trigrams, basis of I ching (from 2 x three yao plus 'divination')\n\n占 (K. 1162; M. 125) to discern omens, inquire into prognostics, prognosticate, to divine; a lot (to interpret prognostics); to divine by casting lots; to observe signs, to foretell", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211996, "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": 411, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "386\n\n人逗生入熟,串會外匪,入室搶劫,一經拿獲查出,張排號褂。巡緝匪類,送官究治,決不狗情。嗣後外匪不敢滋擾,內約有釀其祥和。將見俗美,風行處處。同歌舞,日昇平,坐享家家共樂堯天。是爲序。\n\n光緒年月日\n\n約衆公啟\n\nA Mutual Alliance for Capturing Bandits\n\nIt has always been the case that to show respect for the upright and to drive out evil, the Imperial Court has made clear the system of rewards and punishments; while to extirpate the malignant and cut off the violent, the rural communities have similarly issued rules and regulations. Under this matchless and magnificent way, marvellous good government, and joyful prosperity with polite consideration for others these have been the lot of the common people. As public morals deteriorated however, by misfortune vicious robbers sprang up, and thieves appeared throughout the rural districts. Banditry becomes more extensive every day, disturbances are everywhere. The eye is pierced and the heart is wounded who can bear to endure it?\n\nYeuk remember fondly for more\n\nWe the people of this our than a hundred years we lived in peace and security, we went about our business in amity, and helped each other in guarding against enemies. We followed the way of the Ancient Kings in undisturbed peace. The track of the robber's way ended at our doors, the people were happy to cherish their neighbours, no huge dogs snarled in the lanes.\n\nHow could it have happened! Today virtuous people are forced to sigh, \"Alas, today's ways are not virtuous like those of Antiquity! Men's hearts have changed! Thieves and robbers are extremely numerous. During the day it might happen that they go up to the mountains and drag off your cow: during the night it might happen that they cut your beams and break through your walls. In the future it will become an everyday occurrence that there will be open robberies at night, and every sort of dishonesty it will be difficult to overcome it! If when you plant you do not hoe, who knows what disasters will be the result, who knows how far things will sink?''", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212012, "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": 427, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "402\n\ncivilization occurred during the time of Confucius and not, as Schwartz argued in his latest book, The World Of Thought In Ancient China (1985), half a millennium earlier in the Western Zhou. Metzger underlines foundations for individual moral autonomy in traditional Chinese thought, a position contradicting the general evaluation (supported by Schwartz) that 'Confucian norms emphasized the importance of the group at the expense of the individual's freedom, spontaneity, creativity and moral autonomy', (p. 263). The fact that Chang's analysis uncovers no decisive break with tradition, but only a 'counter-tendency' to the cosmological myth which legitimated imperial rule (pp. 30-31), manifests the need to question the usefulness of positing an axial age when applied to pre-Qin cultures. Studies edited by Eisenstadt have recognized this methodological dilemma, noting the difficulty of identifying a period of radical metaphysical construction and social repositioning during Confucius' era. This leaves open the possibility that Schwartz's location of the major shift in the earlier period of the sage kings, in spite of oracular bone evidence to the contrary (pp. 18-19), may yet identify an important option. Metzger's challenge, on the other hand, unveils a leitmotif which weaves the polychronic essays into a single tapestry: the question of the relationship between modernity and China.\n\nThese essays being divided into four general sections entitled 'Thought', 'Literature and Culture', 'Political Theory', and 'Culture and Methodology' — tend to converge on either characterizing the process of modernization in some dimension of Chinese societies or evaluating the methods scholars have employed to illuminate China's status in the modern world. These convergences are imbedded in comparative discussions of intriguing complexity, making this thread less easy to identify at times. Nevertheless, recourse to the touchstone of modernity is a central feature of the volume. In fact, the discussion regarding it is not always complementary.\n\nDon Wyatt, like Metzger, locates a singular continuity in Confucianism: Confucian language is \"this-worldly\", especially in its use of analogical arguments, (pp. 42-57). Surprisingly, perhaps, this does not mean that Confucianists (especially in the Song) did not address metaphysical, even other-worldly, ideas. Emphasizing this kind of 'language consensus' which sinologists have regularly typified as this-worldly, Wyatt goes so far as to claim that, although Confucian society was clearly stratified, no class-bound structures are evident in Confucian language, (p. 61). Whether or not this is still the case, this assertion", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213263, "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-1994", "page_number": 85, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "65\n\nan extra $4 million because of an extension of time granted to a contractor when residents complained the district's fung shui was being disturbed. During the 1980s, amounts paid out annually by the Government varied between $500,000 and $950,000. From 1989 to 1991, ex-gratia payouts of nearly $2 million were made. The dilemma is always that if the Administration pays out on unproven claims, it will be accused of wasting taxpayers' money, and, if it does not pay, others will say the Government does not respect Chinese culture,\n\nBut as one retired Scottish civil servant explained, there are two kinds of fung shui. There is the one that villagers will accept money for to have it overridden. But nothing will compensate for actually severing the main \"dragon's vein\".\n\n'Money cannot buy good fung shui,' Tang clansmen told the Government when they turned down an offer of $1.7 million for agreeing to a 200-year-old ancestral grave being removed at Nim Wan, in the Deep Bay area, so that a landfill project could proceed. The Clan did, however, say that it would consider allowing the grave to be moved for a fung shui 'swap' scheme, and if Government demolished a police station at Ping Shan. They claim the station has for years 'crushed' good fung shui. In retaliation, the Tang Clan closed an ancient study hall and an ancestral hall along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail. At the time of writing, the dispute had still not been settled.\n\nThe Hong Kong Government has also tacitly accepted certain aspects of Chinese folk religion. Some Government offices have had Earth God shrines (82) erected outside them. An example was Murray House (near where the new Bank of China now stands), which was demolished in 1982. It had a reputation among Rating and Valuation Department staff, who worked there, of being haunted. Other Government offices which have had shrines outside them include the office of the project manager at Empire House, while it was being built in 1991, in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Also, various government project managers' offices in the New Territories have had small shrines erected outside them. Who actually paid to have these shrines set up is not clear. Again, on countless occasions, the ceremonial carving of a suckling pig, on an appropriate day, has appeared to civil servants to be well worth the expense in that it allayed concerns of staff and, afterwards, members worked better.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214312, "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": 170, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "134\n\nhave therefore added it here for the record.\n\nThe Sowerbys were an old family of Saxon stock that can be traced back to the time of Edward the Confessor, and possibly earlier to the first kings of Kent in the fifth century AD.\n\nArthur de Carle Sowerby was the great grandson of James Sowerby, who died in 1822, the botanist who wrote English Botany and was one of the founder members of the Geological Society. His son in turn continued his work and helped organise the Royal Botanic Society and Gardens in Regent's Park.\n\nOn his mother's side Arthur was descended from Pierre Séguier, the Chancellor of France in the reign of Louis XIII; he was also the great grandson of Anthony Stuart, the miniature and portrait painter of the early Victorian period. Arthur's uncle was part-founder and first Keeper of the National Gallery of Portraits in Trafalgar Square.\n\nAt the end of his schooling he began his training to be an artist but soon left it for that of a scientist, working for his BSc. at Bristol. He returned to China having dropped out of College and after his arrival back in China he was appointed in 1906 in the double capacity of lecturer and curator on the staff of the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsin.\n\nHe served in France during World War 1 as Technical Officer in the Chinese Labour Corps, and on his return to China made his headquarters in Shanghai where he remained until the end of the Second World War.\n\nHe developed an interest in Chinese Art and was impressed by the accuracy of ancient Chinese craftsmen in modelling pottery animals for the tomb, an accuracy that enabled him as a naturalist to identify the breeds of various domestic animals in use in ancient China. He wrote a series of articles for the China Journal on Birds in Chinese Art; the Owl in Chinese Art; The Flora in Chinese Art; Rocks, Mountains and Water in Chinese Art; Animals in Chinese Art; as well as Animals in the Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales of China. His interest in craftsmanship also led him to write a series of articles on Chinese arts and crafts, including four papers on the Chinese ivory industry.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214899, "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-1999", "page_number": 314, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "288\n\nfront onto one street and back on to the street behind, thus, in a way linking two streets. All the houses are built of durable timber in a refined two-storey style. The front portion often serves as a boutique and the area behind is generally used as storage space. The interior living space has split levels with an inner courtyard open to the sky and a veranda linking several living quarters. One of the most remarkable features of these old homes is the diversity of their architecture. This varies greatly from one house to another in terms of space distribution, sculptural art, decoration and inner courtyard gardens. Space is utilized to the utmost. Walking in the streets of this beautiful and charming ancient town, a living vestige of the past, one can observe the influence of the architecture, sculpture and decorative Chinese and Japanese styles and the skills of the Vietnamese architects who have absorbed various influences and created something similar, yet somehow uniquely different.\n\nOur sixth day was spent in My Son Valley, 43 miles southwest of Danang. My Son was chosen as a religious sanctuary from the fourth century onwards. Many temples and towers were built here. Most were dedicated to kings and Brahman divinities, including the god Shiva who was considered the creator, founder and defender of the Champa Kingdom and the Cham royal dynasties.\n\nMore than 70 architectural works of different styles and eras once stood in this ancient valley but today less than 20 remain. Tragically, My Son fell within a “free-fire zone” during the American War and was almost completely destroyed by bombs. The French did the present restoration work. The Cham towers were ingeniously constructed of dried bricks stuck together with resin from the cau day tree. Once the tower was completed it was encircled by fires, which were kept well stoked for several days. The intense heat fired the whole structure completely melting and sealing the bricks and resin together to form a structure well able to withstand the combined onslaught of time and the elements - but unfortunately not 20th century bombs.\n\nOur tour ended in My Son and the next morning we left Danang for Hanoi and flew back to Hong Kong. I returned to Hong Kong with many emotions about Vietnam. It was once a tribal neighbour of China and the Chinese influence there was strong. I felt much affinity with the place and its people when I saw the tombs and I tried to interpret", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215968, "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-2002", "page_number": 267, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "201\n\nMore fundamental to Ch'ea's self-defence was a claim inherent in those translations of the Shengjing, the Chinese Christian Bible, which employed shàngdì as the key term for the Christian God. When Jesus spoke about \"conversion,\" the Chinese phrase suggested a “return” (gūixiàng) rather than a \"turning.\" One who \"turned\" to the Christian God through the sacrifice of Christ was \"returning\" to the Lord on High (shàngdì) worshipped by the ancient sages as mentioned in the Book of Historical Documents and Book of Poetry. For a Chinese to become a Christian was, in the final analysis, to return to the religious worldview of the sage kings and to experience a new fulfilment of their own Ruist cultural heritage.49\n\nPerhaps it was this strain of Chinese Christian theology which was partially influential, though never stated explicitly, in sparing Ch'ea from civil punishment. Probably some months after he had left his post at the local temple, Ch'ea was arrested by government officials and his Christian books were seized. Ostensibly the charge was that he had \"been deceiving the people with heretical doctrines,\" but there were probably other concerns also motivating the officials' harshness. After the initial battles of the new Sino-British war, issues probably not fully known by Ch'ea, all suspicious citizens with obvious foreign connections were being questioned. The threat of foreign invasion determined by the outcome of war and not restrained by any other known international legal institution greatly threatened the Qing hierarchy and Chinese citizens in the Manchurian empire. As a consequence, Ch'ea had this additional complication to face in addition to other, probably more expected, cultural oppositions. After \"squabbling for about three hours\" and trying to \"practice extortion\" on Ch’ëa, who “fearlessly” did not “answer them a word,” nothing could be found as evidence to place him in either a cangue or chains. Did the officials peruse the books and come up with other conclusions? Or was it merely that they found Ch'ea was a poor man without money, and so \"they pretended to be in a great rage\" and let him go?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]