[ { "id": 204258, "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-1961", "page_number": 26, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n23\n\nrelative, the Black-throated Laughing-thrush, which is confined to Hong Kong Island and is a handsome bird of black and grey with white cheeks. Not so rare but still uncommon is another relative, the Hwamei. This name means 'Painted Eyebrows', a tribute to the most distinctive part of its plumage, but more than anything the Hwamei is famed for its voice. To hear a chorus of these birds almost any evening of the year, their song rather like that of the European Song Thrush, is an unforgettable experience, and the pity is that this species is only really well known on Hong Kong Island, being very local elsewhere.\n\nOne of the most charming families of birds to be seen in the Colony is that of the flycatchers, none of which actually breed here, but either pass through on migration or spend the winter. The variety of plumage is quite bewildering and some of the more exotic species, like the Paradise Flycatcher with its eight inches of tail, the black-and-lemon coloured Narcissus and Tricolour Flycatchers, the malachite-green Verditer Flycatcher, the Blue-and-White Flycatcher, and the Robin and Red-breasted Flycatchers are quite eye-catching and endearing to watch as they fly out from a favourite perch to snap at a passing insect.\n\nSimilarly, the great family of warblers is poorly represented by resident species, although many hundreds of migrants pass through or perhaps stay for the winter. The Deep Bay marshes provide nesting cover for the Fantail Warbler, Yellow-bellied and Brown Wren-warblers, whilst the Tailor-bird, with its neatly-sewn leaf house, breeds commonly all over the Colony. Probably no more than one or two pairs of David's Hill-warbler may nest near the top of Tai Mo Shan. Such permanent residents are far outnumbered by the winter visitors, like the Dusky, Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers, and the migrants, like the Arctic Warbler and Great Reed-warbler.\n\nOf the smaller thrushes, the Magpie-robin is the only resident, and is common all over the Colony. It is the third of our trio of fine songsters and with its smart pied plumage is an attractive addition to the list. But there are several more chats which are quite common in winter; the Rubythroat, Red-flanked Bluetail, and Daurian Redstart (all described by their names), the Stonechat all over the marshes and paddy-fields, and the Bluethroat on passage near Deep Bay. Among the larger thrushes the Violet Whistling Thrush is the only resident and may be found near most of the watercourses throughout the Colony, from The Peak and Tai Mo Shan down to sea-level. It has a very pretty habit of fanning its tail at rest. Many other thrushes come to the woods of Hong Kong in winter, but are usually shy and difficult to see. The Blackbird is quite common as are the Grey-backed and Grey Thrushes. On the rocky coastline both the Blue and the Red-bellied Rock-thrushes may frequently be seen.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207014, "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": 85, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG\n\n79\n\nThe obvious solution would have been to obtain leave home, but, as Orlando explained to Selina, this was not easily achieved.\n\nMy mother in her last letter says to me \"get leave and join us there (on the continent) this winter.\" She little knows the difficulty of getting leave in India.* It will be given first to the senior subalterns for a couple of years, or perhaps three and when they return then as many more as can be spared, always in rotation. It will be therefore several years before it comes to my regular turn for leave. No dear pussy, the only way that I can get home is by exchanging, and the sooner you can manage it for me, the better.8**\n\nBridgeman's immediate future was to be spent in Hong Kong, where he arrived in November 1842 and was to remain until he left for the voyage home in late 1843. His first letter from Hong Kong recorded a visit to Macao, a place which he seems to have found pleasant and enjoyable. He was very impressed by the \"continental\" character the homes and gardens of the merchants gave to Macao. And, like so many visitors to Macao at that time, he was most impressed with the famous \"living\" bird of paradise kept in an aviary there.\n\nHong Kong, though, he did not find so pleasant or interesting, nor did he find the activities of his fellow officers compatible with his own concepts of recreation:\n\nI am going this afternoon to see the thoughtless part of the garrison play cricket. I call them thoughtless because I conceive it to be perfect madness on the part of any man to play cricket under a vertical sun. For my own part I never join in sports that require such strong exercise, for more reasons than one. In the first place I dislike exerting myself and putting myself into a profuse perspiration when perfectly unnecessary, and in the next place so much exposure to the sun is most likely to bring on fever and ague to a ten times worse degree than I at present have it, and I have no great desire to leave my bones\n\n* Hong Kong and China in military parlance of the period were considered extensions of India. This probably came about because many of the troops sent out to China were on Indian service and/or Indian service conditions.\n\n\"Exchanging\" meant that Bridgeman would trade places with another officer of similar rank in another regiment.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211523, "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-1988", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "216\n\nwelcomed Greeks as government servants, mercenaries and artisans. Among many mutual influences between the two cultures one of them was that the Eastern countries imitated Greek coinage and did so even before Alexander. For example, under the occupation of the Persians in Judaea, imitations of Attic coins were minted, adding on them the word “Yahud\" i.e. \"Jewish\". Our coin is a good instance of the use of Greek currency, either genuine or imitated.\n\nThere is evidence of relations between Greece and India, as early as the 10th century B.C., in the Epic of Ramayana, where we find the counterpart of the Greek Centaur, Kinnara of the Sanskrit, and in that of the Bharatas (Mahabaratas) in the similarity between Arjun and Karna and Achilles and Hector of the Illiad of Homer. In philosophy the cynicism of Diogenes of Sinope pervaded the system of the Pasupatas of India. And we find the name of the Indian hero Lakulisa borrowed from that of the Greek hero Heracles (semantically Laku means club; Lakulisa is the cognate of (H)erakle).\n\nThis present coin was found in Papua New Guinea. It must have been brought there by some one from Asia, i.e. India, Malay or other Asian countries. This, in fact, is not only possible but even probable because of the extent of the Greek connections with all these countries in ancient times.\n\nIt would be impossible to know who owned this bracelet with the coin. A probable owner would have been an Indonesian, as these neighbouring Malays used to organize frequent expeditions into New Guinea, looking for gold, paradise-bird feathers and slaves. In that case, we may be allowed to speculate that the coin could have been a significant symbol to the owner.\n\nThe Greek figure could have represented for him Iskandar i.e. Alexander the Great, the alleged ancestor of the Malay race. The word TAPA could have been taken for a Malay word denoting asceticism in the sense of body training, yoga, endurance, etc. On the other hand, the dolphin or porpoise, “lumba\" in Malay, is synonymous with, and a symbol of, play, competition, contest. So, if my speculation is correct, this object would have been a sportsman's token, an emblem of effort in sportsmanship, or ... a simple commercial ornament. In any event,\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215883, "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": 182, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "115\n\nfor the surveying and associated film shooting exercises.\n\nREFERENCES\n\nBooks and journal articles\n\nBard, Solomon 1988 In Search of the Past: a Guide to the Antiquities of Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Urban Council.\n\nEather, Charles Chic 1996 Airport of the Nine Dragons: Kai Tak Kowloon. Surfers Paradise, Australia, ChingChic Publishers.\n\nEmpson, Hal 1992 Mapping Hong Kong: a Historical Atlas. Hong Kong, Government Printer (Bilingual: English and Chinese).\n\nHorsnell, R.G. 2000 \"The Story of Stanley Fort,” The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 38, 1998/1999, pp. 247-263.\n\nHorsnell, R.G. 2000 \"The Story of Gun Club Hill Barracks,” The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 38, 1998/1999, pp. 265-280.\n\nKo, Tim Keung and Wordie, Jason 1996 Ruins of War: A Guide to Hong Kong's Battlefields and Wartime Sites. Hong Kong, Joint Publishing (Hong Kong).\n\nKo, Tim Keung 2001 War Relics in the Green. Hong Kong, Cosmos Books.\n\nLai, Lawrence Wai Chung; Ho, Daniel Chi Wing and Lung, Ping Yee 'Disused Military Structures on Devil's Peak: a Post-Colonial Planning and Building Analysis on Pre-war British Coastal Defence Structures in Hong Kong', EKISTICS, forthcoming.\n\nLee, Klaudia 2002 \"War Relics Disappearing Under the Weight of Neglect, Historians Warn,\" South China Morning Post, 17 November 2002, p. 2.\n\nRollo, Denis 1992 The Guns and Gunners of Hong Kong. Hong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216202, "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": 501, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "435\n\nVISITING ST JOHN'S ISLAND\n\nPETER STUCKEY AND CHRIS BAILEY\n\nIntroduction\n\nSt John's Island is about 160 kms WSW of Hong Kong. It is about the size of Lantau Island and is the largest of the Chuan Shan Islands which form part of Tai Shan County. The adoption of the name St John's Island appears to be through anglicisation of the Chinese name for the island, variously spelt as \"Shang Chuan Island\" on current Chinese maps, or as \"Sancian\". \"Ilhas de San Joao\" or \"St Jean\" Island on older western maps. Our interest in visiting the island was aroused by the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society's visit to Goa in January 2001. There, in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, in Old Goa, we had seen the preserved remains of St Francis Xavier. His corpse is displayed in an elaborate glass-sided, silver ornamented casket that rests high up on a Florentine marble mausoleum. St Francis, we learnt, had died on St John's Island on the night of 2/3 December 1552, aged 46.\n\nIn view of the local interest two visits were made by members of the HK Branch, one travelling “independently\" and the other through an organised China Travel Services guided tour. Here follow their accounts of the visits.\n\nIndependent travel\n\nTwo Branch members, Rocky Dang and myself, Peter Stuckey, went to the Island on 20th and 21st October 2001. We took a Chu Kong Shipping (CKS) ferry from the China Hong Kong ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui, to Xin Hui, leaving at 8:45 a.m. The ferry passes between Macau and Taipa and then follows up the river system past the Yamen Fort to Xin Hui for a fare of HKD 188. At Xin Hui we took a short taxi ride to visit the \"Bird's Paradise.\" Here egrets fly over a huge banyan tree. The tree is reputed to be 500 years old. It extends to cover over a hectare with many trunks formed from the aerial roots descending from the branches of the single organism. Similar trees exist in the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta and in Phimai in NE Thailand.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]