[ { "id": 210523, "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-1985", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "111\n\nwere currently married, but 16 were under 30 years of age and can be assumed to have been still marriageable. Of the family circumstances of 4 of these I unfortunately have no information. Five were recorded as being fatherless. Only the 7 whose fathers were still alive as heads of undivided families could have had a reasonable expectation of matrimony. I have already mentioned Ma Fung Shan, the foki who was still a bachelor at 43 and expected to remain so. Three of his agnatic first cousins were Kau Sai residents, but family division had taken place some twenty or more years previously and none had any responsibility for him, though most admitted to a moral obligation to offer him employment. The fatherless unmarried men and those for whom I have no information, if not like Leung Shui Hei entirely cut off from all their kinsmen, were likely in due course to find themselves in much the same situation as Ma Fung Shan.\n\nOccasionally an employer might be willing to put up the bridewealth for a good foki whom he wanted to keep. Chung Fuk Hei was said to have done this in the mid-forties, just after the Japanese occupation, when he had recently decided to work his own boat separately from his brothers' and while his one son was still too young to be fully a crew member. But the moral of the tale of this act of generosity, which I was told more than once, was always the same; namely, one should never put one's trust in strangers, especially if they are hired men. Within a year of his marriage the favoured foki went off with his bride to one of the bigger fishing centres where he got a better paid job for himself and a sampan with which to run a water-taxi service for her. Fuk Hei was an irascible man, as most informants were willing to agree, and by no means an easy master to work for; moreover, he paid low wages. Nevertheless the foki's behaviour was universally condemned, and Fuk Hei derided for a fool. What else could be expected from a mere hired man?\n\nExcept among the fokis themselves attitudes of this kind were universal. Fokis were considered untrustworthy, lazy, usually incompetent, cheeky, unreliable, greedy, extravagant. Few employers, or even their sons who worked side by side with them, knew much about their hired men. Several times, on asking the name of a particular individual I was answered, with a disinter-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211080, "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": 141, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "116\n\nThe dragon boat procession reformed and set off in the direction of the groom's home where the newly weds would live. Two women in front were wearing funny hats: one banging the gong while the other thumped a plastic oil drum. They were followed by eight pairs of women rowing in formation, while at the back were the two women with the rudder of tin cans and the woman representing the dragon's tail. Above the bride's head was held the sieve of pomelo leaves and ginger root, carried by the 'fortunate' woman. One attendant, wearing a Western style short evening dress, was carrying a pink umbrella held over the bride, to which was tied a sprig of cypress and pomelo leaves with red cord. A second attendant carried the red and gold patterned tin suitcase known as gar chong (#), containing the jewellery the bride had been given, while a further attendant brought a large suitcase with the bride's belongings. Another woman carried a white enamel basin decorated with red characters for double happiness and flower motifs. In the basin food and other items were wrapped in red cellophane paper, and decorated with cypress leaves.\n\nThe procession stopped briefly in front of the earth god and again firecrackers were set off. At the Ma Jo temple the young couple paused and bowed three times before continuing to their new home. Cymbals rose to a crescendo; the couple, followed by other relatives and the Chilin, went into the house, and a long string of firecrackers was set off.\n\nThe rest of the procession now dispersed as those inside the house settled down for a cool soft drink. It was now 2.15 pm and in the street women were feasting on food prepared that morning, especially on a salty vegetable soup known as ham choy cha (**), chicken, and for dessert, sweet dumplings which are only served at Lunar New Year and special occasions such as wedding ceremonies. These are considered a lucky symbol of getting together. Later that afternoon the newly weds would offer tea to the groom's parents, and then at 6.00 pm all who had taken part in the ceremony were invited to a restaurant in the village of Sha Tau Kok for a large feast to round off the day's festivities.\n\nPlates 19-23 illustrate this article. They were taken by the author.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211851, "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": 266, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "241\n\nAurora Floyd Burlesqued: W.B. Gill; 19.4.1865.\n\nThe Babes in the Wood: J.H. Byron; 17.4.1865.\n\nA Bachelor of Arts: P. Hardwicke; 10.2.1858, 8.5.1865. Betsey Baker; J.M. Morton; 23.3.1853.\n\nBinks the Bagman: J.S. Coyne; 8.10.1857.\n\nThe Birthday: T.J. Dibdin; 9.2.1858.\n\nBlack-eyed Susan: D.W. Jerrold; 28.3-5.4.1865.\n\nBombastes Furioso: W.B. Rhodes; 28.1.1851, 5.5.1858.\n\nThe Boots at the Swan: C. Selby; 14.12.1865.\n\nBox and Cox: J.M. Morton; 15.5.1854, 18.2.1857.\n\nThe Bride of Abydos: H.J. Byron; 22.10.-28.10.1864.\n\nBullrick at Kroll: N.N.; 28.3.1864.\n\nCamille: A. Dumas Jr; 27.3.1865.\n\nA Capital Match: J.M. Morton; 23.4.1857, 3.12.1864.\n\nCharles the Second: J.H. Payne; 16.3.1858.\n\nCinderella: H.J. Byron? T. Taylor?; 12.11.-18.11.1864, 28.4.1865. The Colleen Bawn: D. Boucicault; 25.4.1865.\n\nA Conjugal Lesson: H. Danvers; 26.3.1857.\n\nConrad and Medora: W. Brough; 12.E.-18.E.1864.\n\nCool as a Cucumber: M.W.B. Jerrold; 26.3.1857, 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864. Crinoline: R.B. Brough; March 1863; 16.3.1863, 1.4.1864.\n\nThe Daughter of the Regiment: E. Fitzball? 15.4.1865.\n\nA Dead Shot: J.B. Buckstone; 11.4.1865.\n\nThe Debut: N.N.; 1.4.1864.\n\nDelicate Ground: C. Dance; 13.2.1864.\n\nDiamond cut Diamond: W.H. Murray; 12.12.1850.\n\nDone on both sides: J.M. Morton; 10.2.1858.\n\nThe Dragon of Wantley: H. Carey & J.F. Lampe; 26.1.1852.\n\nDuck Hunting: J.S. Coyne; 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864,\n\nThe Dustman's Belle: C. Dance; 9.2.1858.\n\nFaint Heart never won Fair Lady: J.R. Planché; 8.10.-14.10.1864, 14.12.1865.\n\nA Fast Train! High Pressure!! Express!!!: J.M. Maddox; 8.3.1854.\n\nA Fearful Tragedy in the Seven Dials: C. Selby; 15.2.1860.\n\nFitzsmythe of Fitzsmythe Hall: J.M. Morton; 26.3.1863.\n\nThe Flowers of the Forest: J.B. Buckstone; 28.3.-5.4.1865. Fra Diavolo: H.J. Byron; 15.10.-21.10.1864.\n\nThe Frantic Husband: N.N.; 26.4.1865.\n\nThe Golden Farmer: J.C. Cross? B. Webster? 8.10.1857,\n\nA Good Night's Rest: C.G.F. Gore; 21.2.1856.\n\nThe Goose with the Golden Eggs: A. Mayhew & H. Sutherland; 13.2.1863, 17.2.1863, 26.4.1865\n\nThe Governess (Die Gouvernante): T. Körner; 28.3.1864.\n\nGrimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw: J.M. Morton: 2.6.1859.\n\nThe 'Green' Bushes: H.J Byron: 30.9.1865.\n\nA Hard Struggle: J.W. Marston; 12.11.-18.11.1864.\n\nThe Harvest Home: A.F.F. von Kotzebue; 28.3.1864.\n\nThe Haunted Inn: R.B. Peake; 6.5.1852.\n\nThe Heir at Law: G. Colman the Younger; 21.4.1851.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213114, "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-1993", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "164\n\nits foundation. There important roads used to meet near here. The most important was the main east-west road in the county, which connected the county city, Nam Tau (Nantou, ), with the Deputy Magistrate's city of Tai Pang (Dapeng, ), via the important market of Sham Chun. * Because of the greater desirability and comfort of water-borne traffic, the section of this road along the north shore of Mirs Bay was not much used. Instead, much of the traffic went by a ferry that ran parallel with the shore, from Sha Tau Kok to Sha Yue Chung.\n\nAt Wo Hang Au, a few miles west of Sha Tau Kok, the road was joined by another important east-west route. This was the road from Yuen Long to Sha Tau Kok via Tai Po.\n\nThe third route was the main road from Kowloon to the north-east. This road carried the traffic from Kowloon to Wai Chau. This road crossed Sha Tin Pass to reach the coast of Tolo Harbour at Yuen Chau Tsai. A ferry carried the traffic from Yuen Chau Tsai across Tolo Harbour to Ang Chung (Chung Mei, near Bride's Pool). From Ang Chung, the road climbed steeply past Bride's Pool and Ah Ma Wat, and then down to the shores of Starling Inlet at Kuk Po. Another ferry then took the traffic across Starling Inlet to Sha Tau Kok. There was also a road which ran from Ang Chung through Luk Keng and Nam Chung, to join the Nam Tau and Yuen Long roads at Shek Chung Au, thus avoiding the second ferry. From Sha Tau Kok the Wai Chau road crossed the shoulders of Ng Tung Shan, and so down to Wang Kong (Henggang, ), and thence to Wai Chau. A branch of this road ran from Sha Tau Kok to Po Kat (Buji, ). This Kowloon to Wai Chau road was more important than might be expected - the long ferry sectors made it more comfortable than the land-based alternatives. The Basel missionaries regularly used it when travelling between Hong Kong and Po Kat, for instance. 50\n\nThis system of roads and ferries was in existence from the Ming at the latest. It will be noticed that the roads do not cross at Sha Tau Kok. Sha Tau Kok stands, however, in the centre of the few miles of road where all the roads run together for a short distance. The site of the market, therefore, was a good one commercially.\n\n* See Map 3.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213126, "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-1993", "page_number": 194, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "176\n\n'From Fanling also, there runs a narrow gauge line down the other coast at Sha Tau Kok. Sha Tau Kok itself is a fishing town, walled, and of a type, with two loopholed buildings [the gun towers] sticking up out of it. These serve as watch-towers and are common to all Chinese towns. Usually they are the pawnshops or safe deposits. Doubtless they were necessary and useful enough in unsettled times, before modern rifles and artillery were added to China's domestic problems. Narrow dirty streets shorten the foreigner's stay in Sha Tau Kok, and he is content to leave the place to its poi-bellied pigs and contented citizens.' \n\n67\n\nSocial and Economic Life\n\nThere are three tablets which include lists of shops in Sha Tau Kok: the 1894 tablet recording donations to the rebuilding of the temple at Shan Tsui; the 1906 tablet recording donations to the building of a bridge at Bride's Pool, and the 1920 wooden tablet recording donations to the repairs of the monastery at Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz. 68 Of these, the last is the fullest and most significant, listing 39 shops specifically as being from Sha Tau Kok. These lists have been discussed with elders of surrounding villages, and, as a result, some 84 shops or workshops have been recorded as operating in the market before 1925. Some of these 84 are somewhat doubtful. At the same time, the elders say that there were more shops than they can now remember anything of - numbers of very small shops, selling sweets and such like, existed which the elders cannot now remember in any detail. It seems likely that there were about 90-100 shops in operation in the market during this period. In addition to these 90-100 shops, there were 18 functioning saltworks, between 10 and 12 prostitutes, and a number of full-time hawkers working both in the market, and from the market through the surrounding district. Many of the shops employed one or two people as well as family of the owner. The market may have been responsible for providing work for 400-500 people.\n\nOf the shops remembered by the elders, five were general household stores. Two rattan dealers made and dealt in sieves and baskets. A silversmith provided for the finger-rings, ear-rings, and bracelets so important in Hakka culture. Eight were general groceries, some of which were, in addition, grain wholesalers, pig slaughterers, or winemakers. There were nine fishmongers - five were fish wholesalers only, while four had a retail business as well. Other food dealers included three bakers,\n\n* See Appendix 2", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213129, "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-1993", "page_number": 197, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "179\n\nIt seems that the shops were not very long-lived; most must have existed only for the period of the founder's life. Where shops were succeeded to by a son on his father's death, it seems to have been common for the shop name to be changed. The coming of the new frontier seems to have led to a particularly thorough shake-out of shops. Of the 42 shops mentioned in the 1894 Shan Tsui tablet, only eight appear among the 19 mentioned on the 1906 Bride's Pool tablet, and only seven among the 39 on the 1920 tablet, including five of the eight which are mentioned on the 1906 tablet. Furthermore, the elders do not remember any shops with names corresponding to the majority of the donating shops in 1894 (only about 13 of the 42 shops donating in 1894 were remembered - about 31% - and two or three of these are doubtful): clearly many of these premises had gone out of business before the 1920s. At the same time, 10 of the 19 shops on the 1906 Bride's Pool tablet also appear on the 1920 Cheung Sha Kwu Tze tablet. Five of the 1906 donors appear on neither the 1894 tablet nor the 1920 tablet. This all suggests that more than half of the shops changed name between 1894 and 1906, but less than half between 1906 and 1920. It would seem that, on average, perhaps a quarter or a third of the shops changed names each decade.\n\nAll the elders contacted were land-people, and they knew little of the economic and social lifestyles of the boat-people. It seems that, while to the foreign visitor of 1925 mentioned above Sha Tau Kok was \"a fishing town\", Sha Tau Kok, while it had the essential structure of a wholesale fish market and a boatyard, was less dominated by the need to service the fishing fleet than towns such as Sai Kung, to say nothing of places like Cheung Chau or Tai O. The Sha Tau Kok area fishermen fished mostly within Mirs Bay - they did not, it would appear, normally join the fleets of better-located ports in exploiting the deep sea Wong Fa fisheries. Sha Tau Kok was a fishing port, but it was more of a land market than a sea market.\n\nAll the markets in the area required hawkers and coolies as well as shops, and Sha Tau Kok was no exception - indeed, given the importance of its carrying trade with Sham Chun, Sha Tau Kok may well have been more dependent on coolies than elsewhere. The hawkers were of two types: those who traded as a part-time occupation, and those who made their living by it. The villagers of the surrounding villages regularly supplemented their income by casual hawking in the town. Each village seems to have specialised in what it sold. Women from the villages near", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 } ]