[ { "id": 206264, "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": 81, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n75\n\nBy the 1860s a clearly defined élite group had established itself, providing leadership for the Chinese community.\n\nThe purpose of this paper is to document the conditions from which an identifiable élite group arose in Hong Kong and to illustrate this emergence by biographies of some of its members.\n\nSOURCES FOR THE STUDY\n\nWhat sources were used to determine the Chinese élite for the period covered by this study? The most important are the names given on memorials, petitions, and subscription lists. The repetition of a name on subsequent lists, the amount of the contributions, and the position of the name on the document serve to suggest the relative status of an individual. Proprietorship of land also suggests potential élite status.\n\n(1) The earliest such document used is a list of land owners dated 19 February, 1848, in which they petition for the remission of what they considered excessive crown rent charges. There are twenty-seven signatures of the principal Chinese landowners. This document is in the Colonial Office Records, Series CO129/23.\n\n(2) In September 1852, The China Mail published the subscription list for the Chinese Hospital proposed by Dr. Hirschberg of the London Missionary Society. This also contains twenty-seven names. Of these, ten were compradores, seven shopkeepers, three merchants, three contractors, and one \"gentleman\". Only three names that were on the 1848 list appear on this list: Loo Aqui, gentleman, Tam Achoy, building contractor, and Chow Aqui, merchant.\n\n(3) On 4 November 1856, a memorial concerning a recent piece of legislation was presented to Government. It contained both European and Chinese names. Nineteen Chinese signed. It is in the Colonial Office Records, Series CO131/3.\n\n(4) In 1859 the Government Gazette published a \"List of Chinese Voluntary Contributions to a Fund for purchasing books, etc., for the Government Schools in the Colony\". Most of the contributions were made in the name of business firms, but all of the largest amounts were contributed by individuals. The two largest contributors were both contractors; Tang Luk gave $60,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206269, "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": 86, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "80\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nto the preservation of the national integrity; uneasy under the restraint of law and unscrupulous of the means by which they live, they abandon without hesitation their hearths and household gods, their birthright and their father's tombs, to wander, unrespected, whither gain may call them. The unsettled state of the Colony, and the vast amount of crime during its infancy afford abundant proof of the demoralizing effects of their presence... (More recently) Hong Kong has been invested by numbers of the Triad Society, the members of which under shelter of a political maxim ‘overturn the Tsing... and restore the Ming' perpetuate the grossest enormities. I have satisfied myself that most of the burglaries have been planned and attempted by members of this dangerous association.3\n\nFearon mentions in his report a person named Aqui as the most influential and wealthy of the native residents. He had rapidly risen from the lowly status of a bum-boatman. William Tarrant, an early historian of Hong Kong who was well acquainted with the early days, writing in 1861 comments that\n\n— there were some curious fish among the earlier native settlers; the leader of them is still living in Victoria, Loo Aqui, alias See Mun King. If all reports be true, Aqui was monarch of all he surveyed on the water about Hong Kong prior to our taking possession — that is to say, he was the Sea King who took toll from all that passed his squadron. This is of course rumour only; and we but mention it to say that the presence of Aqui on the island had much to do in keeping people of better character from settling, or even visiting the place.+\n\nGeorge Smith, the future Bishop of Victoria, visited Hong Kong in 1844 and gives an equally critical description of Aqui's activities.\n\nHe possesses about fifty houses in the bazaar, and lives on the rent, in a style much above the generality of the Chinese settlers, who are commonly composed of the refuse of the neighbouring mainland. During the war, Aqui acted as purveyor of provisions to the British armament and acquired some wealth. After the peace, he was at first afraid to return to the mainland, lest he", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206270, "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": 87, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n81\n\nshould be seized as a traitor by the Mandarins. In the end he settled at Hong Kong, where he is said to encourage disreputable characters by the loan of money, and in various ways to reap the proceeds of profligacy and crime.5\n\nLoo Aqui also appears in the records as Lo Aking 盧亞 or Sze Mun King [Lo] (King, the Gentleman). At the time of the Sino-British war he seems to have played both sides of the game. The Chinese government lured him back to Canton by offering him an official degree of the sixth rank. He accepted but did not stay long with the Chinese, as he was soon back in Hong Kong enjoying the rewards of his services as provisioner for the British forces. He seems to have had supporters in Hong Kong Government circles for he secured the grant of a large and valuable section of land behind the Marine Lots of the Lower Bazaar. This was the area between Queen's Road and Jervois Street extending from near its junction westward to Cleverly Street. He and his family also acquired a number of Marine Lots by grant or purchase. Of the twenty-seven signers of the petition of land owners in 1848, about one-fifth of them were members of the Loo clan. Soon after the settlement of Hong Kong Loo Aqui was operating a gambling establishment and brothels. In 1845 he built a theatre. For a time he held the opium monopoly, and when the residents of the Middle Bazaar were removed to the Tai Ping Shan area in 1844, he petitioned the Government for the privilege of operating a market for the inhabitants, agreeing to build a substantial market house at a cost of $2,500 and to pay a monthly rental to Government of $200 for a period of five years. Loo Aqui and Tam Achoy were recognized as the leaders of the Chinese community, for according to a Chinese account entitled \"Information as to the period of the formations of Districts in Hongkong and the alteration of the Character Wan—a bay to Wan—a circuit”, in 1847 they built the Man-Mo Temple on Hollywood Road and here \"they judged the people in public assembly\" until 1851 when the shopkeepers of the Lower Bazaar \"repaired to Man-Mo Temple, elected a Committee, and therein decided all cases of any public interest\".\n\nAside from Aqui's income from various business ventures, he had a steady income from his properties. In 1850 he was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206271, "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": 88, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "82 \n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\ncollecting rent on over a hundred shops and houses. But in 1855, he was declared bankrupt. He had stood security for the administration of the estate of the Chinese merchant Chinam; the administrator had misused the property of the estate, and Loo Aqui had to pay up, throwing him into insolvency. However, anticipating this, he had previously transferred most of his property to his relatives. After his bankruptcy, he no longer appears as a public figure, although two near relatives, perhaps his sons, Loo Shing and Loo Chew (or as he is sometimes called \"Young Qui\") are on several of the later lists we have used to determine elite status. One of Loo Chew's sons was compradore for David Sassoon, Sons and Company in the 1870s; another son, Loo Kum Chun, in 1872 was Secretary to the Tung Wah Hospital.\n\nThe family of Loo Aqui was from Whampoa, and they were most likely Tanka or boat people. The Rev. Karl Gutzlaff, Chinese Secretary to the Superintendent of Trade, reports that \"the most numerous class who have, since our arrival, fixed themselves on the island, are from Whampoa; many of them are of the worst characters, and ready to commit any atrocity\".9 They had defied the Mandarins' edicts prohibiting Chinese citizens from supplying provisions or other services to the British forces. However, it is not surprising they seized the opportunity to make a quick profit by collaborating with the enemy. They were a secondary caste within the Chinese social structure and were deprived of certain rights. As boat people, they had had a long association with foreign shipping. In recognition of their valuable services to the British, they, along with others, were allotted land in the new town. The Tanka, on leaving their boats for land, soon put aside their distinctiveness and merged with the general population, though they long maintained control of trade in cattle, fish, and prostitutes.10\n\nHong Kong government authorities were much concerned in the first ten years of the Colony's existence about the type of Chinese who came here. Conditions were not conducive to attract substantial Chinese of respectable background, who could strengthen Hong Kong's economy by promoting local and south-east Asian trade in Chinese products. There had been some optimists who believed that the Chinese would welcome the opportunity to live and trade under an \"enlightened, benevolent government\", but they had underestimated traditional Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206276, "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": 93, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n87\n\nOnly a few were able to survive the perils of the business. They were not accustomed to building in the Western style and therefore often underestimated on contracts, resulting in their bankruptcy. In 1844 the Land Officer comments that \"almost all contracts hitherto entered into with Chinamen have been obliged to be finished by Government, for the works were taken at far too low an estimate, and the consequence was, when the parties found they would become losers, both contractor and security decamped, and in some instances they were imprisoned.\"16\n\nOne of the few contractors who did survive in this early period of Hong Kong's history was Tam Achoy †, alias Tam Sam Tshoy, alias Tam Shek Tsun, although he too almost went into prison for debt, escaping only through the generosity of his creditor. Achoy was generally recognized as the most prominent leader of the Chinese community when an élite was first beginning to emerge out of the hodgepodge of shopkeepers, craftsmen and traders. We have noted that he and Loo Aqui built the Man-Mo Temple where they performed in part the traditional role of village elder. He was also Trustee for the I Ts'z Temple in Taipingshan (1851) and the Temple in Queen's Road East at Wanchai (1869). In 1847 the Colonial Treasury had on deposit £185.16.8 from Tam Achoy for erecting a Chinese School in the Sheung Wan (Lower Bazaar).\n\nAchoy had come to Hong Kong at its foundation in 1841, having been formerly a foreman in the Government Dockyard at Singapore. He was granted a certificate for the easternmost of the lots in the Lower Bazaar, and soon began to buy up the interests of the adjacent property owners until he had acquired an extensive sea frontage. He built some of Hong Kong's most prestigious early buildings such as the P. and O. Building and the Exchange Building, which was bought by Government and used for many years as the Supreme Court Building. With the accumulation of increasing capital he began to broaden his interests and secured permission from Government to build and operate a market. This was a most profitable venture and when the Lower Bazaar was destroyed in the Christmas fire of 1852, he soon rebuilt it, operating it under his firm's name, Kwong Yuen. During the period after 1848, when Hong Kong became a port of embarkation for thousands of emigrants, Achoy was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206281, "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": 98, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "92\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nwhen tensions developed between the western powers and the Imperial Government of China. If they had not cut themselves off entirely from their place of origin but tried to keep up their relations with clan and family, they exposed themselves and their family to the charge of playing traitor to Chinese interests. However, their financial connections with foreigners pulled them to identify with the foreign cause. They usually tried to have it both ways, walking the thin line, but in periods of crisis they were forced into accommodation with the foreigners if they were to protect their financial investments.\n\nLi Leong, one of the brothers, died in 1864, leaving his property in a family trust, which was later divided into five shares. The leadership of the clan then devolved upon Li Sing, although many other members of the family are in the Hong Kong records — so many, in fact, that it is a difficult task to establish exact relationships. But it is the name of Li Sing which appears in the various lists until his death in 1900. He was one of three trustees who held title to the Queen's Road Temple in Wanchai in 1869. The same year he was one of the organizing members of the Tung Wah Hospital. Other members of the family have continued the tradition of Li Sing as community leader down to the present day.\n\nOne of the organizing directors of Tung Wah Hospital was Ng Yik Wan alias Ng Chan Yeung of the Fuk Lung opium firm. The founder of the family in Hong Kong was Ng Yü who first appears on the records in 1858 when the Fuk Lung opium shop was the successful bidder for the opium monopoly. He was secured by Loo Aqui who had held the monopoly in an earlier period. The Fuk Lung firm was made up of five members, all from the Tung Kwun District of Kwangtung. One of them was Shi Sing Kai, one of four named in a petition to Government in 1878 which resulted in the organization of the Po Leung Kuk. Ng Yü, the head of the Fuk Lung firm, died in 1870 leaving his property under the management of his son Ng Kai Kwong alias Ng Pat Shan alias Ng Po Leung who was the sole beneficiary of his father's estate. Ng Kai Kwong died in 1884 leaving three minor sons to inherit his property.\n\nAnother of the founding Directors of Tung Wah was the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206286, "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": 103, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n97\n\nof attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.\n\nWe have mentioned Dent and Company (it failed in 1867) and Jardine, Matheson and Company as the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside Jardines. The Bank was organized in 1865, and as we might expect its first compradore, Lo Pak Sheung alias Lo Chung Kong, was on Tung Wah's organizing committee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son Lo Hok Pung (alias Lo Sau Ko)(44). Unfortunately, the son overcommitted himself in several speculative ventures, and not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a million dollars of the Bank's assets; at least that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for unwise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the _Uet Po_ newspaper in 1885. Within a year, this had been spent, and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping Chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.33\n\nIn the field of shipping, the P. and O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. They established a branch here in 1845. Their compradore was Kwok Acheong# alias Kwok Kam Cheung. The newspaper notice of his death states that he \"originally belonged to... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti....\"34 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers of Hong Kong, having organized a provisioning system for the Army and Navy at the time of the first Sino-British War. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. and O. Company disposed of their shipwright and engineering department in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s, which provided keen competition to the European-controlled", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206302, "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": 119, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n113\n\ncorporated as a more integral part of government, and its members may be regarded in many ways as the élite of the élite. But these developments are beyond the time limit set for this particular study.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 See the studies by Chung-li Chang, The Income of the Chinese Gentry (Seattle, 1926) and The Chinese Gentry: Studies in their Role in Nineteenth Century Chinese Society (Seattle, 1955) and by Ping-ti Ho, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China (New York, 1964).\n\n2 The South China Morning Post, 12 July 1933, in column \"Old Hong Kong\".\n\n3 Colonial Office Records (hereafter given as C.O.), Series 129-12.\n\n4 The Friend of China, 6 Nov. 1861.\n\n5 George Smith, The Consular Cities of China (London, 1847), p. 82.\n\n6 Yen-p'ing Hao, The Compradore in Nineteenth Century China (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), p. 195. I have not been able to check the sources he cites.\n\n7 These were Loo King A owner of I.L. 99, LL.102, I.L. 103; Lo Lye or Alloy A owner of M.L. 16 C., M.L. 19; Loo Foon owner of M.L. 16 D.; Loo Sing A owner of M.L. 17 C.; Loo Chuen alias Loo Chew alias Young Aqui alias Loo Choo Tung owner of M.L. 16 A., M.L. 28 A., M.L. 35 A. The family lived in Aqui's Lane, or as it is now known Kwai Wa Lane† running from Hillier to Cleverly Street and lying between Queens Road and Jervois Street. Here in 1872 lived Loo Wan Kew, Loo Yum Shing, compradore of D. Sassoon, Sons and Co., and Loo Achew.\n\n8 The China Review, Vol. 1 (1872), p. 333, \"The Districts of Hong Kong and the Name Kwan-Tai-Lo\". This source also confirms the deleterious effect of Aqui's activities in Hong Kong: \"In 1843, when there were but few merchants or shop keepers, one Sz-man-king, unto whom those who were in distress, in debt, or discontented, resorted, opened a place for gambling along Chung Wan to which all among the fishing-boat people, who loved gambling, came.\"\n\n9 Quoted by R. M. Martin in his report, 24 July 1844, in G. B. Endacott, An Eastern Entrepot (London, 1964), p. 97.\n\n10 E. J. Eitel, Europe in China (Hong Kong, 1895), pp. 168-169.\n\n11 Endacott, op. cit., pp. 96-98.\n\n12 Ibid., p. 107.\n\n13 Ibid., p. 96.\n\n14 A Singapore house was a pre-cut timber house ready for assembling imported from Singapore. At the time of the gold-rush in California, a similar type house was shipped from Hong Kong to San Francisco in large numbers. The trade enriched a number of Hong Kong carpenters.\n\n15 C.O. Series 129-12, No. 97, 10 July, 1845.\n\n16 C.O. Series 129-7, 23 July, 1844.\n\n17 C.O. Series 129-3, Treasurer's Report 1847.\n\n18 The Friend of China, 5 Jan., 1856.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206608, "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-1972", "page_number": 156, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "The Origins of Hong Kong's Central Market and the Tarrant Affair\n\nDafydd Emrys Evans*\n\nThe public market which at present stands in Queen's Road Central in Hong Kong occupies the site of a succession of older buildings of which the earliest was built as a market in 1842. The early history of this market amply demonstrates the too-seldom revealed complexity of Chinese merchants' commercial transactions at the time of the founding of the Colony of Hong Kong.\n\nHong Kong's first public market opened on the site in May, 1842.1 At the first sale of crown land in the new Colony in June, 1841, the westernmost lots were put up to auction first and the first four, designated at the sale numbers 19 to 16, were not sold but reserved for Government purposes. It was on the lot numbered 16 that the market opened, lying as it did conveniently near to the Upper and Lower Bazaars.2 The Market was, apparently, the brain-child of the Colonial Secretary of the time, Colonel George Malcolm who secured the erection of buildings at a cost of some $3,500.3 He appointed a Chinese named Hwei Aqui as Superintendent and established a fixed list of prices to be charged by the individuals to whom the stalls were let by Government.4\n\nWhen Sir John Davis succeeded Sir Henry Pottinger as Governor of the Colony in 1844, he decided that the Market could operate as a useful source of revenue for the Government and sold the market franchise to the highest bidder who was then free to charge what he could to the stallholders. The successful bidder was, in fact, Hwei Aqui and, though he had apparently given satisfaction formerly when simply in the employ of Government, caused grave dissatisfaction once he was operating the market on his own account, with prices rising far faster than they had previously and without the benefit of Government control over the state of the market.\n\nIt is the few years after the market passed into private hands that it makes its contribution to Hong Kong's history, not only on\n\n* Mr. Evans is Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. See Journal vol. 10, 1970, for his earlier article \"Chinatown in Hong Kong: The Beginnings of Taipingshan\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206609, "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-1972", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR\n\n151\n\nthe level of the commercial interests of Chinese merchants of the time but also because of the extent to which it figured in a scandal over bribery by Government officials and the victimisation of a Government servant who later became the embittered editor of one of the Colony's newspapers, the Friend of China.\n\nThough, from an historical point of view, the former matters are far more important, the two are not wholly distinct for the Government servant in question acquired property interests in the market.\n\nAfter Sir John Davis let the market franchise go to the highest bidder, he granted the franchise holder a short lease on the premises, thereby effectively changing the relationship of the market operator to the Government. Accordingly, the lot on which the market stood, an area of 37,800 square feet, was leased on 1 July 1845 to Hwei Aqui at a rent of $4,800 per annum (about £1,000). This area, comprising the whole of the land between the shore-line and the Queen's Road, was larger than that of the original market and allowed for the houses and shops which had been built between the market buildings and the road.\n\nIt is at this point that the scene becomes confused for Hwei decided to develop the property further and had to borrow money to do so. Between the date of the lease and mid-1847 when Hwei died, he executed several transactions, some of which are recorded in the records of the Government Land Office as Mortgages, some of which are not. The earliest was on 6 August 1845 when he borrowed $1,500 for one month from the estate of a Chinese, Tong Kim-sing who had been in business as a ‘contractor' until his death in 1844, at the staggering rate of interest of 10% per month. The satisfaction of this mortgage is not recorded in the Land Office but it is known that the administrator of the deceased's estate left the colony about this time and the defect might have been one of form only. About two months later, on 12 October 1845, Hwei borrowed from Ying Wing-kee, described as a ‘compradore' and one of the only two Chinese to have bought land at the sale of Crown Land on 22 January 1844, $2,800 for a period of 18 months and at a rate of repayment which worked out at an interest rate of almost 6% per month. Hwei was, therefore, deeply in debt before the year was out. Before his death in 1847, there follows one further transaction which was imperfectly recorded at the time. On 13", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206611, "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-1972", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR\n\n153\n\nto themselves, in the case of Le, interest at 4% on the principal sum of $2,400 (the figure given in the deal between Ying and Le) and, in the case of Chow, at 4% on the sum of $1,000. All disbursements were to be met by them and any balance after all these purposes had been satisfied was to be put to reducing the principal outstanding to them. Once the capital sums were repaid, then the property was to be reconveyed to Hwei Afoon for a nominal $5.\n\nThus, by mid-1847, four different people had different interests in the market. There remains one other who so far has not yet appeared on the scene.\n\nHwei Afoon was a builder and contracted with the Government for some work on Government property at Stanley (Chek Chu). He completed the work and received an order for payment drawn on the Treasury. When he went to the Treasury to collect his money, the Treasury Compradore (Chow Aoan) told him that he would deduct $750 which was owing to Colonel Caine's Compradore (named Lo Een-teen) in respect of the Market. Afoon knew that his brother, Hwei Aqui, had agreed, in consideration of influence being exerted on his behalf to secure the lease of the Market, to make a payment of $150 per month to Lo Een-teen and also to allow him to select meat and produce in the Market without payment. The point was that Lo represented that he could persuade his master, Caine, then the Colonial Secretary, to give the lease to Hwei; apparently made these payments and after his death Afoon paid $400 to have the lease transferred to him but demurred at the payment of $150 per month, considering no doubt that there was little that Lo could do about it if he did not pay. But he was reckoning without Chow Aoan who attempted to dock the arrears of 'squeeze' unpaid by Afoon.\n\nThe arrangement of 28 June 1847 may have been an attempt by the parties to reach an 'honourable' solution. But matters did not stop there for Afoon unadvisedly went to the Surveyor General's Office to complain that he was not receiving all the money due to him under his Government contract and, no doubt, explained why. He told his story to William Tarrant, the Clerk of Deeds and general factotum in the office of the Surveyor General.\n\nTarrant had had a mixed career since arriving in China a few years previously. He had first come as a steward on board ship and, on the establishment of the colony, was able to secure the position of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206615, "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-1972", "page_number": 163, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR\n\n157\n\npay during his suspension to the date at which his post was abolished, but he could do no more. The injustice was acknowledged but, as the Friend of China put it, it was \"but miserable redress in a pecuniary light.\"32\n\nTarrant's connection with the Central Market ceased on 28 December 1849 when he assigned his quarter share of the profits to Chow Aqui, one of Hong Kong's biggest Chinese businessmen at that time.33 Chow had extensive property interests in the Lower Bazaar area, had run Hong Kong's first theatre and had had the opium monopoly for a few years. Curiously enough, allegations had been made a few years previously that he was able to use Government police officers to protect his monopoly and Caine was inevitably linked with the allegation. The lease of the Market came to an end in 1850, the term being expired but Chow was given a renewal for two years from 10 March 1851 at the same rent and the lease was further renewed on two subsequent occasions.35\n\n16\n\nThis account illustrates two quite diverse matters. First, it shows the extent to which Chinese in Hong Kong adapted themselves to the institutional demands of a British colony. Although the whole system of law was alien to them, the transactions memorialised in the Land Office show the extent to which the possibilities of English Law were utilised to their commercial advantage, even though on some occasions it is difficult to follow at this remove the complexity of their dealings. If they did sometimes find themselves on the losing side in the Supreme Court, there were a significant number of Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong itself whose names recur over the years and who were, presumably, successful. Several have been named in this article but there were perhaps about a dozen or so in this category.* They, in addition to the Europeans, learnt to take advantage of the British system.\n\n37\n\nThis account also touches on the problem of the integrity of the colonial Government of the time. While it is true that the Chinese who came to the island may not have expected what the European would have regarded as an incorrupt government, it is also true that the circumstances of the colony in its early days gave opportunities for corruption which some were not slow to use. Though there was little at this time or later that could definitely be proved against\n\n* On this subject see Rev. Carl T. Smith's article \"The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong\" at pp. 74-115 of the 1971 Journal. (Ed).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209584, "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-1982", "page_number": 241, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "219\n\nby their spotless virtues\". A claim that must have raised a few eyebrows.\n\nWhile the actresses were available, there seemed some doubt about the actors. Lord Saltoun, Commander of the Forces, noted on the 25 November 1842 that the Theatre was to open on Wednesday, \"But who are to be the actors, I have no idea. I believe some amateurs from the navy”.\n\nOnce opened, the life of the Theatre was short. Mr. Dutronquoy departed from Hong Kong quite suddenly on the 17th of December. It was alleged that he had to close his Hotel and Theatre under orders from the authorities and pay a fine of $500. This was denied by his agent who stated that the reason for the closure was because Mr. Dutronquoy had “received personal violence added to insult and abuse the preceding evening\". One wonders if the \"spotless virtues\" of the actresses may have been the cause of his troubles.\n\nThe next notice of dramatics is in December 1844 when a proposal to form a company of amateurs under the patronage of the Governor was announced. It was expressly stated that the authorities regarded the project as a \"protection against vice”. Little action took place, however, until the winter of 1845-46 when a group had been organized, a venue secured, and five bills put on between December and June at Aqui's Theatre in the Lower Bazaar.\n\nThis theatre had been erected some few months previous to the amateurs' first performance there. It was intended for Chinese entertainment, but, being available, it was used by the Hong Kong Amateurs even though it was in the heart of the Chinese section of the city, an area which was usually avoided by the European population of the day.\n\nLoo Aqui, the owner of the Theatre, was a leader of the Chinese community. It was alleged that he was allied with pirates but during the recent British-Chinese hostilities he had been very useful in securing provisions for the British forces. As a reward for these services he had been permitted to take up a number of lots in the Lower Bazaar, the area which was allotted to Chinese who had aided the British. On his property, Loo Aqui", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209585, "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-1982", "page_number": 242, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "220 \n\nCARL T. SMITH \n\nestablished brothels, a gambling hall, opium divans, a temple, his family house and the Theatre. \n\nAs the location and arrangements of Acqui's Theatre were not very satisfactory, there was a movement to build something more suitable. Immediately after the first performance of the Amateurs, it was announced that plans for a new theatre were under consideration. The China Mail, 8 January 1846, gave its full support: \n\nWe are glad to learn there is at length a fair prospect of a Theatre being erected in Hong Kong. The project was suggested last year, and as it not only met with general approbation from the public, but received the sanction of His Excellency and the support of the civil and military servants of the Government, it is rather inexplicable how it was suffered to drop. We are indebted, we believe, to the same parties who lately favoured the public with an amateur performance in the Lower Bazaar, for taking the matter up again, and they seem now to have begun very properly by first testing the feelings of the middle classes upon the very important point of subscriptions. We are assured that the amount already subscribed for is more than half what will be required to erect a spacious building, adapted alike for the purposes of a Theatre and a Ballroom, or a hall for public meetings. With some proofs of support from the community at large, we trust the Governor's patronage will be continued, and the merchants and official gentlemen will take the matter up in good earnest, and complete what has already been auspiciously begun. When the plans are sufficiently matured we would suggest the propriety of bringing them before the public in a well-defined shape, by circular, or advertisement in the public papers. For this purpose our columns will be at the service of the committee gratuitously. \n\nA meeting to enlist shareholders was held at the house of Leonard Just, a watchmaker, in February 1846. The eventual outcome of the meeting was the erection of the Victoria Theatre on the hill behind the Hong Kong Club. The lot was up Wyndham Street somewhat to the south of Wellington Street.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209606, "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-1982", "page_number": 263, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "241\n\n# APPENDIX\n\n## THE HONG KONG AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB AND ITS PREDECESSORS Significant Dates and Performances.\n\n(Authors and dates of first publication or production from A. Nicoll, A History of English Drama, \"Handlist of Plays\".)\n\n(Note: only ADC productions are noted here: professional performances, and performances by Garrison groups or other amateur groups not detailed here).\n\n### 1844/45\n\n18 Dec. 1844 proposed to form a dramatic company of amateurs under patronage of H. E. Governor Davis.\n\n### 1845/46\n\n3 Jan. 1846 Tues. last performance given by \"Corps Dramatique\" at Aqui's Theatre in the Lower Bazaar.\n\n27 Jan. 1846 party of Amateur Performers presented \"The Lady and the Devil\" followed by \"Fortune's Frolic\" Aqui's Theatre.\n\n24 Mar. 1846 Amateur Performers Wed. last, \"The Midnight Hour\" and \"The Sleep Walkers\" Theatre.\n\n28 Apr. 1846 Amateur performance Mon. evening at Aqui's.\n\n27 June 1846 - Amateur Performers fifth and last performance at Aqui's Theatre.\n\n8 Jan. 1846 at length a fair prospect of a Theatre being erected in Hong Kong. Idea suggested last year. Half of funds needed already subscribed.\n\n9 Feb. 1846 Meeting of shareholders of proposed Theatre at house of Mr. Just, corner Queen's Road and Pottinger Street.\n\n### 1848/49\n\n1 Nov. 1848 first public performance by amateurs in new theatre (the Victoria) erected by Mr. Duddell. \"The Weathercock” (J. T. Allingham, 1805) followed by a comic song, concluded with farce \"Rival Valets\" (J. Ebsworth, 1805).\n\n1 Dec. 1848 - Amateurs second performance. \"Fortune's Frolic\" farce (J. T. Allingham, 1799) \"Bambastes Furioso\" burlesque tragic operetta (W. B. Rhodes, 1810) \"The Weathered\" farce\n\n### 1852/53\n\n8 Nov. 1852 meeting at City Hall of persons interested in the revival of drama in Hong Kong. To take measures for preserving the Victoria Theatre to the community for purpose it was originally erected. Committee of four to organize Theatrical Company.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213918, "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-1996", "page_number": 270, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "248\n\nIndia in 1521 preparatory to a voyage to China. Fernão Lopes de Castanheda notes that he was from Santarém and João de Barros notes that he was the son of Jorge de Melo Lageo dalcunha. Now in various nobiliários Martim Afonso de Melo is said to be the son of Jorge de Melo O Lageo and of D. Branca Coutinho and that he returned very rich from China. In 1522 he sailed to China.\" According to João de Barros, Da Asia (Decade III Livro VIII Capitulo V, 1563 ed.) he returned safely to Portugal in 1525. In April 1526 he is already dead (cf. Chancelaria of D. João III, Doaões, Livro 11, folio 84v).\n\nA humble Portuguese Jorge Alvares was the first Portuguese to sail to China in 1513-1514 as is well known. His voyage was succeeded by the more principal voyages of Fernão Peres de Andrade in 1517-1518, Simão de Andrade in 1519-1520 and Martim Afonso de Melo in 1522, in which each of these captains sailed as captain-major of a Portuguese fleet, after which official contacts of Portugal with China ceased for many years. The voyage of Martim Afonso de Melo brought to a conclusion the epochal period of first Western contacts with China during the era of trans-oceanic navigation, of which he was one of the principal figures.\n\nI take the present opportunity to republish the inscription of Martim Afonso de Melo which appears on his sepulchral urn according to the version of Ignacio da Piedade e Vasconcelos in his Historia de Santarem Edificada, Parte II, Lisbon, 1740, p. 202 and add to it my version so much as the damaged state of the urn allows.' It does not appear to have been dated.\n\nINSCRIPTION NUMBER 1\n\nTHE INSCRIPTION OF MARTIM AFONSO DE MELO ON HIS\n\nSEPULCHRAL URN ACCORDING TO PIEDADE\n\nE VASCONCELOS\n\nAqui jaz Martim Affonso de Mello filho de George de Mello, e de Dona Branca Coutinho, e sua nora Dona Maria Henriques\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216204, "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": 503, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "437\n\nAssociation on 3 December 1999. Behind the church over 100 steps led up to a tall statue of St Francis Xavier. Beside the steps were 14 stone posts bearing Chinese numbering and inscription. The pedestal of the statue bears worn inscriptions in Chinese and Portuguese - ‘Aqui foi sepultado S. Fran.co Xavier da Comp.a de Jesus, Alpo do Oriente. Este Padrao se levantou no anno de 1639.'\n\nThe current caretaker, Mr Lam, took over in 1996 from a Christian caretaker aged 86, who had cared for the church since 1984. We had the pleasure of meeting this delightful old man in the village beside the church. The current caretaker suggested that for further information we could contact the Religious Affairs Dept. of Tai Shan Municipal Government on Tel 075 552 5980.\n\nWe returned to the port for a good seafood lunch. The ferry arrived a little late but took us safely back to Shen Ju in good time for us to hire a taxi to Zhuhai. There we crossed the border to Macau and enjoyed our dinner accompanied by a bottle of good Portuguese wine, and a toast to the memory of St Francis.\n\nA visit assisted by China Travel Service\n\nBy chance, in June 2001, I (Chris Bailey) had read an article in HK Magazine about the Jesuit-run Xavier Retreat House on Cheung Chau - dedicated to the missionary Saint Francis-Xavier. The article quoted the resident priest, Father Kane, as follows: \"Xavier was one of the founding members of the Jesuits, and came to Asia in 1542. He was a tough guy, a trailblazer and died very near to Hong Kong, on an island about 60 miles west of Macau. His letters describe travelling from Japan and trying to get to Guangzhou, and stopping somewhere nearby to get fresh vegetables and water. There is one historian who theorizes that he stopped at the Old Port in Hong Kong. In any case, he must have passed through Hong Kong waters and seen the islands here. So I stand here (in the Xavier Retreat House) and see what he saw over 400 years ago It's very private, on top of a hill and overlooking the sea. It's a very beautiful sight.”\n\nThis information inspired me to speak to Father Kane who said he knew the island well, had been there several times via Macau and that there was a non-active church dedicated to Francis Xavier, built close", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]