[ { "id": 208560, "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-1979", "page_number": 17, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1978\n\n(Covering the period March 21, 1978 — March 26, 1979)\n\nDuring the just completed, nineteenth, year of the resuscitated Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, your Council continued to organise a regular programme of lectures, local and overseas excursions; to publish a Journal; to continue with its work on our project for photographing and cataloguing old buildings in the urban area, expand our library collection, and to endeavour to expand membership. I have pleasure in reporting on these various activities and related matters tonight.\n\nLecture Programme\n\nLectures during the year have been given by a number of different specialists working both in Hong Kong and overseas, and we were fortunate in hearing from many of them on the most recent results of their research. The programme opened on April 11 with a talk by Miss Barbara Ward, an anthropologist who has made several field trips to Hong Kong and who spoke on social and cultural aspects of traditional Cantonese opera with special reference to the importance of opera to the fisherfolk of Hong Kong. Miss Ward is currently Reader in Sociology at the Chinese University and a long-standing member of this Society. We wish her luck with her future work and hope to hear more of her field work in the future.\n\nAlso in April we heard from Professor Peter Hodge, an active member of the Heritage Society, about the aims of that Society, and the problems surrounding conservation of buildings in Hong Kong; and in May we had two talks by anthropologists—the anthropologists were well represented this last year—the first by Dr. Hugh Baker, and the second Dr. James Watson. Dr. Baker is an old friend and addresser of our Society and was visiting from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He talked about problems of conflict and intermarriage in lineage villages of the New Territories, a subject on which he is currently working. Dr. James Watson, also of the School of Oriental and African Studies and again no stranger to the Society, talked about long-term effects of emigration on the Chinese lineage community of San Tin—the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209350, "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": 8, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT: 1982-83\n\nTonight I have pleasure in reporting on the Society's activities during the year. I will also comment on some other events of the period which will be of interest to you as members.\n\nLectures, Film Shows, and Tours\n\nDuring the year our lectures as usual covered a wide range of topics relating to our area, and were delivered by specialists based in Hong Kong and visiting from overseas. There were two film shows, and one local and one overseas tour.\n\nOur programme opened in March with a slide presentation of early photographs of Hong Kong with commentary given by Mr. Ian Diamond, Government Archivist, and entitled \"Hong Kong in Victoria's time.\" In April Mrs. Rajeshwari Ghose, a specialist in the history and sociology of religion in India, spoke on the functions of the Hindu temple. We also showed two films made by Mr. Hugh Gibb, the well-known local film maker. The films, both made in collaboration with social anthropologists, were \"Dragons on the Sea\" which depicted the life of the traditional floating population of Hong Kong; and “Dajiu” which showed the Taoist rites of renewal of this name, that take place every ten years in the New Territories village of Ha Tsuen and its dependent group of hamlets. The first film was made with Miss Barbara Ward, and the second with Dr. Hugh Baker. We were pleased to welcome many members of the public to these films which were very well received and gained us some new members.\n\nIn May Dr. Peter Wesley-Smith of Hong Kong University's Law Department spoke on Francis Taylor Pigot, Chief Justice in the early part of this century; Mrs. Peggy Craig, a well-known organizer of highly original tours of India showed films she had taken on two tours in which members participated: the Pushkar Camel safari and \"Meet the Maharajas\"; and Frank Iklé Professor of History at the University of New Mexico spoke on the role of women in Japan.\n\nIn June Mr. Melvin Thatcher of the Genealogical Society of Utah spoke on the Chinese genealogies his society had acquired from public collections, and in July Dr. David Faure of the\n\nVill", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209714, "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": 371, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n349\n\nit is necessary to emphasize this point anew. Secondly, with their likely (outward) bias against it, they did not bring out the importance of the popular religion for its own sake. They also missed its importance as a factor shaping local management. The popular religion emphasized the protection of the people against disease and harmful influences of all kinds, not only as individuals but as families and communities. Hugh Baker's own series Ancestral Images (SCMP Ltd. 1979, 1980 and 1981) and Joan Law and Barbara Ward's recent book on Chinese Festivals (South China Morning Post 1982) help to fill this gap. Thirdly, the daily life of ordinary people and its strong cultural base need to be added to the record. Fortunately, detail on these areas is now being recovered through recent field research conducted mainly from the Chinese University.\n\nThe interested reader could expand his studies beyond the gazetteer, with the help both of Dr. Baker's complementary text and the notes, and the additional material research workers continue to provide for later synthesis. Dr. Baker has touched on land (pp 44-45) and has filled out the account provided in the gazetteer about settlement, especially after the \"Evacuation of the Coast 1662-69\" (pp 26-28) but more information is now becoming available. On land and land-related matters, Edgar Wickberg, David Faure and Michael Palmer have work published or in preparation. For settlement details, the collected genealogies of the long settled families of the New Territories, large and small, are producing a wealth of new material. A new listing of local genealogies, mostly held in manuscript, with an explanation of their contribution to local history, is given in Anthony K. K. Siu's recent book Genealogies and Hong Kong's Local History (in Chinese) published privately by the Hin Chiu Institute in 1983. Mr. Siu has also pointed to the use that can be made of the other and older Chinese sources for the region. This kind of documentary research would greatly assist with identifying more of the (too large) number of village names which remain unidentified on maps 7 and 8 referred to above. The gazetteer's listing of temples can also be extended. It is certain from my field research and enquiries that more existed than are stated in the 1819 edition, and many more were added after that time.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211218, "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-1987", "page_number": 279, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "254\n\nTHE HONG KONG HISTORY PROJECT\n\nThis note is based on a taped recording of the meeting of the Society, 22 May 1984, when this subject was discussed by James Hayes, David Faure, and Patrick Hase, with questions and comments from the speakers and the floor.\n\nJames Hayes\n\nThis evening, we are going to hear about the \"Hong Kong History Project\". This aims at rescuing something of the social, economic, and political history of the communities of this area before 1841, and indeed right up to the eve of the modernization of the New Territories in the 1970s.\n\nThe late Maurice Freedman, who was Professor of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, and then at Oxford University before his death in 1975, said that until the 1950s, Hong Kong was almost totally neglected by all manner of social scientists. It was regarded as of no importance to scholarship, being viewed as \"no more than the railway route into Guangdong\". Thereafter, a few mainly overseas scholars, people who were mostly anthropologists engaged on researching doctoral dissertations, came now and then to Hong Kong. This continued, and is going on at the present time. Among the first of them was our member Barbara Ward — unfortunately for us, she died at the beginning of this year — who went to study the boat people of Kau Sai in 1952. She was followed by Hugh Baker and Bob Groves, who came in the early 1960s to work in Sheung Shui and Tai Po Market, and there were one or two others before that. They were the pioneers of the anthropological study of Hong Kong's past and present, and its social history, too. You will note that the researchers mainly came from outside. Neither Chinese nor European staff of the University of Hong Kong were interested in the subject, and it also took some time for people at the Chinese University established in the 1960s to become aware of local history.\n\nI want now to say something about my own interest in the subject, how it began, and its relevance for the efforts made later", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212703, "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-1992", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "Chinese Painting & Caligraphy\n\nArmoured Cars in the Battle of Hong Kong\n\nTC Lại\n\nArren Leung\n\nInheritance and the Chinese Lineage\n\nHugh Baker\n\nFrom the Common Por\n\nJames Watson\n\nNo Environmental Myopia at Mai Po\n\nDick Irving &\n\nDavid Melville\n\nFeng Shut\n\nDavid Shru\n\nThe Woman as a Symbol in Judaeo-Christian\n\n& Hindu Buddhist Traditions\n\nCaroline Muar &\n\nRajeshwari Ghose\n\nGood lectures however can rarely be carried out unless there is a reasonable venue and the technical aspects are in place. Fortunately, as members will know we have an excellent relationship with the Urban Council which not only sponsors our talks, but provides us with a very well fitted out room, and I would like to record our sincere thanks for the council's unstinting co-operation.\n\nI would now like to turn to the second of our area of activities; the Journal and the Library. To produce an annual journal as we do is a very time-consuming business and throughout the history of the Society we have been particularly fortunate to have had a line of very distinguished editors, Professor Crammer-Byng, Professor James Lui, Dr. James Hayes, our immediate past president, Dr. David Faure, and one who has done it since 1982, Dr. Patrick Hase. We do owe a great deal to Patrick who assures me that the 1990 Journal will be out very shortly, (we are waiting for the final version of the 30th anniversary lecture given by Dr. Wang Gungwu) and the 1991 Journal will, it is hoped be out by the end of the year.\n\nLast year I reported to you that I hoped to be able to report more encouragingly on the move of the Library from its present location in the rather inaccessible Kowloon Central Library, to a special collection room in the reorganised City Hall Central Library. I am pleased to say that this is now likely to happen in the foreseeable future probably by the end of the year. This is something we have been working on for sometime and it is particularly gratifying that it is now becoming a reality: our thanks go to Mrs. Barbara Luk, Assistant Director Museums and\n\nX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213344, "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "149\n\nSong dynasty were said to have set up a travelling palace in the vicinity as they passed through the Hong Kong region fleeing the Mongols.\n\nAnother characteristic of this group is that they relied on documentary sources such as dynastic histories, genealogies, local gazetteers and stone inscriptions, but had little use of non-text materials. They did, however, discover an enormous amount of valuable local historical material. In particular, Lo and Lin made important contributions through their systematic collection of genealogies and by expounding on their value in the study of local history. Equally significantly, as renowned mainstream historians, they played an important role in giving Hong Kong history a legitimate place in the wider field of Chinese historiography.\n\nSocial Scientists from the West and Japan\n\nAnother group of scholars working on Hong Kong, anthropologists and sociologists from the West and Japan, not only came from different parts of the world but very different intellectual traditions. Interested in Chinese society and yet no longer able to carry out in Mainland China the kind of prolonged, detailed and intimate field study they required, these scholars opted for Hong Kong's New Territories where much of traditional China still survived. The pioneer was Barbara Ward, an English social anthropologist trained at the London School of Economics, who arrived in 1950, much earlier than anyone else. Then in 1961 came Jack Potter from Berkeley to study economic developments in the village of Ping Shan. Two years later came Hugh Baker from London University to write his Ph.D. thesis, thus becoming the first of a long line of scholars to conduct extensive field work in Hong Kong addressing the issue of lineage which was seen as a key to understanding Chinese society. To carry out his research, Baker lived in the village of Sheung Shui, learnt the Cantonese dialect and generally immersed himself in the local community. The major outcome of his research is A Chinese Lineage Village: Sheung Shui. (London: Frank Cass & Co., Ltd., 1968).\n\nOthers to follow were E.N. Anderson, R.L. Moench, John Brim, and Graham and Elizabeth Johnson from the United States, L.G. Aymer from Sweden, Hiroaki Kani from Japan, Marjorie Topley, H. Nelson and R.G. Groves from the UK. In the 1970s they were joined by James Watson and later, Rubie Watson. Each focused on a particular village or group of people—staking out his or her turf, so to speak. Through their in-depth", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213355, "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": 177, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "160\n\nPopularization of Local History: Publications for the General Reader\n\nBooks on local history for the general reader were rare before the 1970s. Of course, there had always been the popular histories, especially those in the forms of anecdotes. But these, appearing mainly in newspaper columns rather than in book form, were ephemeral and hard to come by. Then, the market saw a change; once a few books on local history sold well, others were quick to follow. The Chinese series known as Hong Kong Stories edited by a well-known journalist, Lu Yan, became particularly popular, with a total of 13 volumes appearing between 1979 and 1991. For a journalist, Lu Yan's work was well-researched and he contributed to the study by covering many new topics. His wide knowledge and serious approach must have partly accounted for the success of the series and his other books. Another non-academic writer of local history is Tim Ko, whose recent works on battle sites during the Battle of Hong Kong (written in Chinese but soon to appear in an enlarged, English version) and the Japanese occupation are based on solid research and, not surprisingly, are very well received.\n\nThe wide gap between the academic and the general reader was also bridged from the other end at about this time. In 1980, Barbara Ward lamented that the published works by academics were simply unavailable to the people who ought to read. \"What is the use,\" she asked, \"of discovering our cultural heritage without also making it available to its true heirs - the present and future generations of Hong Kong, and (dare I say it?) China and the world?\" Very perceptive indeed, and other academics were obviously thinking along the same lines, and redirecting their publishing strategies. Practising what she preached, she published Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong3 for the general reader in 1982. Hugh Baker seems to have shared her thoughts and his series Ancestral Images published in three volumes between 1979 and 1981 proved just as successful; another volume appeared in 1990.\n\nWhile Ward and Baker write in English, and cater to some extent mainly to the expatriates living in Hong Kong, or even for visitors, in the last few years, Chinese academics have also published their works in more popular forms. An excellent example is K.K. Siu. One of Hong Kong's most knowledgeable and prolific local historians, he used to publish his own very scholarly books himself, with no obvious attempt to market them. Then his strategy changed, and many of his previous works were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213363, "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": 185, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "168\n\n23\n\nNg Lun Ngai-ha, Village Education in Transition, JHKBRAS, vol 22 (1982) pp 252-70. David Faure, Sai Kung. The Making of the District and its Experience during World War II\", Ibid, pp 161-216\n\n26 David Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society. Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1986)\n\n27\n\nThis is most clearly expressed in Faure's latest work, Unity and Diversity Local Cultures and Identities in China, edited by Tao Tao Liu and David Faure, (Hong Kong University Press, 1996)\n\n28\n\nAmong these histories are Nigel Cameron, Power the Story of China Light (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1982), Austin Coates, A Mountain of Light the Story of the Hong Kong Electric Company (London Heinemann, 1977), Robin Hutcheon, Wharf the First Hundred Years (Hong Kong Wharf (Holding, 1986), Katherine Mattock, Hong Kong Practice Dr Anderson and Partners, the First Hundred Years (Hong Kong Dr Anderson and Partners, 1984), and of course Frank HH King's monumental history of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 4 volumes published by the Cambridge University Press\n\n29 It would be useful to examine the policies and thinking behind the establishment and expansion of these bodies but it is beyond the brief of this paper to do so. But the economic power which makes these possible is very obvious\n\n30\n\nFor a brief introduction to its work, see The Heritage of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Antiquities and Monuments Office, Recreation and Culture Branch, 1992), for an account of how the AMO was founded, see Elizabeth Sinn. Modernization without Tears Attempts at Cultural Conservation in Hong Kong, Seminar paper presented at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage and Modernization, Hong Kong Institution of the Promotion of Chinese Culture and Goethe Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 29 September - 2 October, 1987\n\nWhen Mr Lu Yan (real name, Liang Tao, died, the author went to see his collection of materials which literally jammed his small flat, and was impressed by the rarity of some of the items Obviously an avid and passionate collector, his willingness to sacrifice the physical comfort of home for the love of research, is much to be admired\n\n32 Barbara E Ward, Social and Cultural Heritage in the New Territories, p 123\n\n11\n\nJoan Law and Barbara E Ward Festivals in Hong Kong (Hong Kong South China Morning Post, 1982, republished by Hong Kong Guidebook Company Ltd, 1993)\n\n14\n\nHugh DR Baker, Ancestral Images 3 volumes (Hong Kong South China Morning Post 1979-81) and Hong Kong Images. People and Animals (Hong Kong University Press 1990)\n\n15\n\nThese include Chen Qian, A Record of Things Seen and Heard in Hong Kong (in Chinese) (Hong Kong Zhongyuan, 1987); Liu Zesheng, Hong Kong Past and Present (in Chinese) (Guangzhou, 1988). He Hongching (ed) Hong Kong Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (in Chinese) (Beijing, 1994)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214158, "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": 16, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "Sidney Cowell who, separately, and of their own volition, circulated details of the RASHKB by mail. As a result, more new members were recruited.\n\nPublications\n\nWith the publishing of RASHKB Journal Volume 37 recently, we have now caught up after, not so long ago, being several volumes in arrears. Work continues on the new index. We are also grateful to Agnes Lee and Joseph Chan, at the City Hall, where our RAS Library is on permanent loan to the Urban Council,\n\nFor an organisation like ours, communications are obviously important, and some members have informed us that they look forward regularly to the arrival of our bi-monthly Newsletter. For the drafting and circulation of this we are largely indebted to Sarah Parnell, our capable Assistant Secretary, who is also making noteworthy efforts to sell more of our Journals and other publications, both in Hong Kong and overseas.\n\nMeanwhile the publication of In the Heart of the Metropolis, about Yau Ma Tei, edited by Dr Patrick Hase, to which several of our Branch members have contributed, has been delayed by the publisher. We are hoping it will be out before too many months. We are grateful to Patrick and to everyone who has helped, and to members of the Cathay Camera Club, and especially to Ian Masterton the photography co-ordinator.\n\nWhile on the subject of publications a number of our members have published books, papers or articles, in their own capacity, during the past year on subjects related to the work of the RAS. We congratulate them all. They include Valery Garrett, Edward Stokes, Jason Wordie, May Holdsworth and Barbara Baker. There could be others.\n\nActivities\n\nDuring the year under review 14 lectures, 6 Hong Kong visits, and two excursions to the China Mainland and one to Macau were conducted. A wide range of topics was covered as may be seen from Appendices A and B of this Report. In it lecturers are named and I take this opportunity to thank them here, together with group leaders of\n\nXV.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214178, "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": 36, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1998/1999\n\nAs of 1 March 1999, the library collection had increased to 3,704 volumes. A total of 275 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mrs. Barbara Baker, the estate of the late Mr. Christopher D'Almada, Mrs. Valery Garrett, Dr. James Hayes, Peter and Rosemary Lee, Mr. John MacKenzie, and Ms. Margaret Moore.\n\nThe addition of several collections to the RAS Library is worth mentioning. Mrs. Valery Garrett managed to obtain some nineteen old and valuable books from the Hong Kong Club, with the help of Mr. John MacKenzie, for HK$20 each. Two big boxes of Arts of Asia magazines dating from 1972 - 1993 were donated from the estate of the late Mr. Christopher D'Almada. Mr. Geoffrey Roper recommended three fascinating books relating to the Ningbo visit: The Five Sacred Mountains and Sacred Buddhist Lands compiled by the Hong Kong China Tourism Press, and Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China edited by Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu. Peter and Rosemary Lee also donated four videos: Minorities of Guizhou and To the Roof of the World via the Backdoor, to the RAS Library.\n\nThe digital project of mounting RAS journal content pages and full-text articles on the HKU Libraries Web server for wider access was discussed and decided not to be feasible. There was major concern on copyright. Consent of each author in writing is required prior to mounting his/her article on the Web and it is difficult to trace them all. Easy access to full-text articles on the Web may also result in the reduction of sales and a subsequent decrease in revenue from sales of the Journal.\n\nThe latest news on the opening of the new Hong Kong Central Library at Moreton Terrace in Causeway Bay is that the City Hall Reference Library will be relocated to the Central Reference Library around the end of 2000. To provide more convenient access to the RAS Collection, there is consideration that the Collection, as with other special collections, will be searchable via the on-line catalogue as a separate subset.\n\nXXXV", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]