[ { "id": 206387, "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": 204, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "178\n\nREV. JAMES LEGGE\n\nI once witnessed from my house in D'Aguilar Street an engagement between nearly a hundred Chinese coolies on each side, on the ground now occupied by the Club-house. Bamboo on bamboo, and bamboo on skull, resounded pretty equally, until the parties were obliged to give up from exhaustion. I thought that nothing wilder or better-sustained had ever been seen at Donnybrook Fair.\n\nTaking occasion to speak here on the subject of violent crime in the Colony, and affecting it, I would distinguish two eras;— that of violent burglary, and that of piracy. Not that there were not piracies in the earlier time, and burglaries in the later; but the one and the other preponderated in the two eras, and may be considered to characterize them. The former may be said to have continued down to the beginning of 1856, when a daring attack was made on several native shops at East Point. For several years, however, before that, it had been declining, owing mainly to the increasing numbers and greater vigour of the police force.\n\nThese robberies were at first conducted with an astonishing audacity. In January, 1844, to give only one instance, what is now Mr. De Souza's printing office was occupied by Mrs. White, the wife of one of the present members for Brighton, who was himself in Shanghai at the time. He was one of the early notabilities of the Colony, and founded the Friend of China, which was published here and in Shanghai for many years by very different hands. Well on the night of the 23rd January, the bungalow was attacked by an armed band of about 30 individuals. Their object was plunder; and without attempting any violence to Mrs. White or a young lady who was staying with her, they proceeded systematically to accomplish their purpose.\n\nA little down the hill were the head-quarters of a Madras regiment of which I have spoken. The young lady tripped down, and gave the alarm there, and soon a party of sepoys was led up to the scene by an officer; but the brigands stood one discharge of their muskets, and, it was said, did not flee till the ramrods were ringing in the barrels for a second, one of their number being left bleeding to death on the floor.\n\nWhen burglary on this scale could no longer be attempted with success or safety, bands of robbers attempted to carry out their attempts by tunneling from the large drains under the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214509, "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": 367, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "336\n\nI do not know if a couple of bus-loads of \"extras\" were sent on in advance of our arrival at the beach, but we were greeted again by the sight of bridal couples - a beachful of them! I have a photograph that clearly shows more than 30 couples, the brides for the most part in western white gowns and the grooms in black suits. The heavily decorated taxis were present here too, but so was a totally different kind of conveyance, one that is rather hard to describe. Bright red in colour, it appeared to be the sort of car that might have been designed by Walt Disney - long and open with running boards and big frog-eye headlights. Our guide explained that the city had commissioned 20 of these wonderful creations. One of our number (the dashing and debonair Philip Bruce) found out that such cars were available for hire (with driver) during the evenings when not being used for weddings - and so off he went later that night for a very special city tour.\n\nAt the eastern end of the beach is the commanding building that was once the governor's seaside retreat and hunting lodge. Fully open to the public, and containing a souvenir and trinkets shop, it affords a wonderful panorama back across the city and the beach full of brides.\n\nThe day finished with dinner in a nearby restaurant, where our enthusiasm to support the local beer-making industry easily broke the budget of our unfortunate China Qingdao Overseas Tourist Company guide.\n\nDespite the preponderance of good beer in all the places we visited, some of our number preferred to sample the local wine. Chinese wine has been around for some time, during which it has steadily been getting better. A local find worth noting was the excellent Hua Dong, which really took by surprise those who sampled it. Comments were heard such as: \"I have never tasted a good Chinese-made wine before.\" In fact the Hua Dong winery has been made famous by none other than the globe-trotting Michael Palin, who went there in his TV series as well as managing to stay at the German Governor's residence in Qingdao.\n\nChefoo - The Brighton of China\n\nThe road from Qingdao to Chefoo (or Yantai as it is now known)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214511, "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": 369, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "338\n\nthere does not seem to be much more of interest in that direction. On the seafront at the foot of the hill to the east is the former Chefoo Club building. Now a restaurant, but with apparently some residential facilities, the main structure has been well preserved. I think I have seen a similar building at the bottom of Quay Hill in Lymington in Hampshire - at least, this one would be very much at home there.\n\nFurther along the seafront to the west, and just inland from the front, is the site of the main former British residential and business area. A number of solid Brighton-like houses still stand along the front, where waves crashing over the sea wall complete the British picture. Inland for a block or two are many buildings that would have housed businesses as well as the houses of the less well-to-do. These buildings are very suggestive of the bustle that once took place in this small outpost. One was dated 1930, according to a carved stone plaque on its wall.\n\nIn Chefoo as well as Tsingtao (and later in Dalian) it was a great help to have Tess Johnston and Deke Erh's wonderful book \"Far from Home”, and to try to spot as many as possible of those buildings that feature in its beautiful photographs.\n\nTowards the eastern end of the long beach is a group of buildings that once housed the famous Chefoo School, a boarding school for English boys from all over North China. Next to this, rather incongruously, is a small military establishment that houses a 1950s-looking bomber and a motor torpedo boat in its front yard. Nearby, a number of other well-preserved and very English buildings could have housed the more wealthy and influential residents and their families and servants.\n\nDinner that night was in the splendid and luxurious Government Guest House, a modern complex standing in its own spacious grounds at the far eastern end of the city. The service here was the best we experienced on the whole trip - as one might expect of people trained to look after visiting dignitaries from the capital. The food, also, was what one would expect from such an establishment - and not to my somewhat unadventurous taste at all. We were treated to such delights as braised crunchy silk worms, boiled fish stomachs and wobbly sea", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]