[ { "id": 204651, "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-1963", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "118\n\nA. D. BLUE\n\nthe Yangtse was now open to foreign trade and navigation for almost 1,400 miles from the sea, and access had been gained to the rich and populous province of Szechuen, of which Chungking was the chief port.\n\nThe section of the river between Ichang and Chungking was known as the Upper River, and the first steamer to navigate this section belonged to Archibald Little, whose Y-Ling had been the first steamer to navigate the Middle River. Little was a member of a well-known Shanghai family, and he was the real pioneer of steam navigation on the Upper Yangtse. He had commenced his career as a tea taster for a German firm in Kiukiang in 1859, but soon went into business on his own and was one of the first to appreciate the possibility of trade in Szechuen Province and beyond in Tibet. He settled in Chungking soon after it became a treaty port, and started up several industries connected with wool, bristles, and coal—to mention some of the more prominent, and also engaged in marine insurance, specialising in covering cargoes on the Upper Yangtse.1 The Shanghai Chamber of Commerce had sent two prominent British merchants—Alexander Michie and Robert Francis—up the Yangtse to Chungking as early as 1869, to investigate trade prospects there, but no important developments followed. In 1887 Little made a much more intensive trip from Ichang to Chungking by junk, and formed the opinion that there were great possibilities for trade in Szechuen Province and beyond. The following year he attempted to run a steamer service between Ichang and Chungking with a stern wheeler specially built on the Clyde called the Kuling. Because of a clause in the Chefoo Convention stipulating that foreign steamers could only go to Chungking after Chinese steamers had gone there, the Kuling was not allowed to go beyond Ichang. Little then sold her to the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, who employed her on the Hankow-Ichang service.\n\nOne of his brothers was a famous editor of the North China Daily News, and another a well-known doctor in Shanghai.\n\n[Robert Swinhoe, British Consul at Amoy was sent up the Yangtse by Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Minister at Peking, in March 1869 to enquire into the trade of the Upper River. He reached Chungking in May of the same year. His account of this journey was published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Vol. XL (1870), pp. 268-85. It is accompanied by a folding map of the Upper River from the Tungting Lake to Chungking compiled from the charts made by two survey officers specially sent up the Yangtse for this purpose. Ed.]", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204747, "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-1964", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n39\n\nwas persuaded to join the firm of Baring Brothers & Co. In 1873 he became senior partner of the house, finally retiring in 1882. (L.T.R.)\n\n24 Lin Tse-hsü's fate. Hunter long survived Commissioner Lin. Lin Tse-hsü was dismissed from office in 1840 and later sentenced to exile in Ili in Chinese Turkistan, where he remained for three years. He was allowed to return to Peking in 1845. He later served as Governor-General of Yunnan and Kweichow, and retired from office in 1849. He died in 1850 at the age of sixty-seven. (J.L.C.B.)\n\n25 Heang-shan (Heungshan). Former name of the District in which Macao lies. Re-named Chung-shan in honour of Sun Yat-sen. (J.L.C-B.)\n\n26 Morrison. John Robert Morrison (1814-1843) was born in Macao, the second son of Dr. Robert Morrison and his first wife Mary (née Morton). He had some schooling in England but at the age of twelve he came back to Canton with his father in 1826. He became a fluent Cantonese speaker as well as a Chinese scholar, and on the death of his father in 1834 was appointed Chinese Secretary to H.M.'s Commission in China. In 1838 he became, in addition, Interpreter, and in 1841 succeeded Elmslie as Secretary and Treasurer to the Superintendent of British Trade in China. In 1843 he was appointed Chinese Secretary and member of the Executive Council of the newly founded Colony of Hong Kong and was recommended for appointment, by the Governor, as Colonial Secretary. Before the appointment was approved, however, he died in Macao in August 1843, and was buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery there. (L.T.R.)\n\n27 Kwang Chow Foo. Kuang-chou fu The Prefect of the Prefecture of which Canton was the chief city. (J.L.C-B.)\n\n28 Kam Hay Hue. No such title. But I suspect Hunter intended to indicate the Namhoi Hien which title was sometimes written Nam Hoy Hien. See note 14. (J.L.C-B.)\n\n29 Pwan Yu Hue. Also written Punyu Hien. The magistrate having jurisdiction over the eastern part of Canton city and the District lying to the westward of the walls which included Whampoa and the foreign shipping there. (J.L.C-B.)\n\n30 Fearon, Samuel Turner Fearon was the second son of Christopher Fearon and Elizabeth Noad who were married on 14 May 1818 at the Streatham Parish Church. His father served as a midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar and after being discharged from the Royal Navy he joined the Honourable East India Company's marine service. In this service he made a number of voyages to Canton and when he decided to take a shore posting there he brought his wife and family out with him. Samuel became a fluent Cantonese speaker and in 1838 was appointed Interpreter to the Canton General Chamber of Commerce. After the cession of Hong Kong he was appointed interpreter and clerk of the Chief Magistrate's Court and a couple of months later were added the duties of Notary Public and Coroner. Three years later he was appointed Assistant Magistrate of Police and on 1st January 1845 he became Registrar General and Collector of Revenue. In July 1845 he was granted a year's sick leave and while in England he was appointed Professor of Chinese at King's College, London, an appointment which he held from December 1846 until December 1852. (L.T.R.)\n\n31 Van Basel. Magdalenus Jacobus Senn van Basel, born in Groningen, Holland on 27 September 1808, was appointed clerk in the Dutch Consulate at Canton in 1826, and Vice-Consul in November 1831. He was later in partnership with G. M. Toe Laer and P. Tiedenan in the firm of Senn van Basel & Toe Laer & Co. In 1848 he became Collector General of Taxes", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205628, "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-1968", "page_number": 170, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n165\n\nhe charged two or three cash a chih, with food and a place to sleep as was the custom. That was a lot of money for a man to earn; he could live for a week on one day's labor.\n\nAt page 53 it is mentioned that a few years later, at or about the Boxer time, the Old Weaver no longer came to the Chu home to weave cloth each winter, and that no one took his place, it being then cheaper to buy British or foreign cloth in the market.\n\n1. For descriptions of hemp spinning wheels from Chekiang see pp. 167-169 of Rudolf P. Hommel's China at Work... (New York, The John Day Company, 1937). Photographs of two such wheels are at pp. 170 and 171. I have not yet come across any such relics from the Hong Kong region.\n\n2. The Hakkas of Hing Ning district, mentioned above, appear also to have played a large part in weaving foreign cotton yarn imported via Swatow. Consul F.S.A. Bourne in his section of the Report of the Mission to China of the Blackburn Chamber of Commerce 1896-7 (Blackburn, The North-east Lancashire Press Company, 1898) at pp. 153-4 mentions them as using foreign yarn for weaving cotton cloth \"sent down the Canton East River past Hui-chow Fu to Fatshan where it is dyed black and called ch'ung-ch'ang-ch'ing i.e. imitation long black. This cloth, like that of which it is a copy, is very largely exported to Singapore.\"\n\n3. For local, i.e. Hong Kong, place names see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960).\n\nHong Kong, 1968.\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nTHE TUNG CHUNG FORT (LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG)\n\nFor earlier references in NOTES AND QUERIES see Vols. 3 (1963) and 4 (1964) of this Journal at pp. 144-145 and 146-152 respectively.\n\nIn late January 1966, I heard of, and spoke with, an old lady aged 90 sui (歲) born on 2nd October 1877. She had spent all her days in the Tung Chung valley, having been born in Wong Ka Wai and married into Sheung Ling Pei village. A series of questions...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205710, "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-1969", "page_number": 16, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "10\n\nT. C. CHENG\n\nWhile he was Legislative Councillor in Hong Kong, Ng Choy was known to oppose the office of the Registrar-General (established 1844), also known as Protector of Chinese and later renamed in 1913 Secretary for Chinese Affairs, on the ground that it was race discrimination to force Chinese and Europeans to deal with the Government through different departments.8 During his term of office, he was a member of a very important Education Commission, appointed by the Governor Sir John Hennessy in August 1880, to study the question of raising the Government Central School into a collegiate institution, giving a higher education in English and Science. What Sir John had in mind was that Hong Kong would render a great service to China by starting a collegiate institution so that young Chinese boys could come to Hong Kong for a higher western education instead of going to distant countries like America and England. However, the Commission as a whole disagreed with the Governor. It dismissed the idea of a Collegiate Institution on the ground of cost, and pointed out that the great need of the majority of the local population was a sound elementary education. Thus it was not the province of the Government to establish, at the cost of the ratepayers, an institution that would be mainly for the advantage of a small number of wealthy members of the community.\n\nNg Choy's achievements as a Legislative Councillor in Hong Kong were by no means great as compared with some of his successors, as he held office for less than three years; but he had the distinction of being the first Chinese to serve on that Council, and since his time both the Colonial Office and the Governors of Hong Kong have agreed on the principle of Chinese membership of the Legislative Council.\n\nWhen Sir George Bowen arrived in April 1883 as Governor, he was in favour of having a Chinese member on the Legislative Council but realized that it would not be easy to find a successor to Ng Choy from \"among those qualified as British subjects, a native gentleman combining in his own person the proper social position, independent means and education\". In conjunction with the question of a permanent Chinese member on the Legislative Council, Sir George Bowen also took the opportunity of re-constituting the Council. The main differences between the old and the new Council were that a Chinese member was appointed and that the Chamber of Commerce was invited to elect a member.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206321, "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": 138, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "132 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nand workers. In one case, a District Watch Inspector arrested a member of the Secret Strike Party (the so-called Labour Commission) carrying illegal dispatches to union members, a fact duly noted in the Secretary for Chinese Affairs' report for 1925. \n\nIt is difficult to see how the Hong Kong government could have coped as well as it did with periods of economic recession after 1918, with years of labour unrest, with the rising tide of nationalism emanating from Nationalist China, without the strong support of the Committee, whose members between them sat on most of the ten other official Chinese committees and boards. The members of the District Watch Committee were strongly entrenched in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Chinese Clubs and they played a significant role in the Chinese Manufacturers' Association. They also occupied important positions in district associations, benevolent societies, guilds of employers and business associations. The power and influence of the Committee ramified down through such associations, so that the few were able to exercise political control over the many62. Thus the power of the Committee was diffused through many associations, helping to maintain what no doubt the government would call 'sensible attitudes' among the Hong Kong-born Chinese, the group that formed the vertebra of the Colony. \n\nThe District Watch Committee was re-established after the return of the British administration in 1945, the Committee containing the same names as in 1941. No further nominations were ever made. A hundred and one District Watchmen reported for duty in 1945-6 and carried on with their normal duties: patrolling streets, conducting enquiries in connection with boarding houses, guilds, and the protection of women and girls, and making general investigations on behalf of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. In addition, the force assisted the rice controller in checking black marketing in government supplies; they were also put on static guard duties at various premises requisitioned by government. But the pre-war system of soliciting private subscriptions for the upkeep of the force was abandoned in 1945: henceforth it was financed entirely by the government; and government soon decided that the strength of the force should gradually be reduced to about fifty men, which would be sufficient to deal with the special requirements of the Secretariat for Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206329, "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": 146, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "140\n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE\n\n44 Sir Robert Ho Tung was never a member of the District Watch Committee although he was at one time chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee. Sir Robert's brothers—Ho Fook and Ho Kom Tong—and other relatives became members of the Committee.\n\n45 Sir Chau Tsun-nin, who served on the Committee, was the son of Chau Siu-ki, a prominent financier and member of the Committee until his death. Chau Siu-ki (1863-1925) was killed in the collapse of a house during an abnormally heavy rainstorm.\n\n46 I think one may conclude that by the time the Committee met the Registrar General most of the problems to be discussed had been thrashed over previously, most likely at the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce or at the Chinese Club, both located in Connaught Road. There was also a Compradores' Club.\n\n47 For an account of Ho Kai's involvement in Chinese politics see Harold Z. Schiffrin, \"The Enigma of Sun Yat-sen\", in M. C. Wright, ed., op. cit., pp. 246 ff.\n\n48 The Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce was in close touch with the Canton Chamber of Commerce and members flitted between one and the other. Many members of the District Watch Committee had offices and businesses in Canton and invested heavily in Kwangtung enterprises. Many bought land.\n\n49 Ho Kai, however, believed in the 'Open Door' policy in China, which he thought would be beneficial to both China, Hong Kong and the West. See the letter sent to Lord Charles Beresford in Beresford's book, The Break-up of China, London, Harper and Brothers, 1899, pp. 216-233.\n\n50 This is made clear, I feel, by a perusal of the commissions of enquiry into the workings of the Po Leung Kuk and the Tung Wah Hospital. In both cases Ho Kai worked in concert with Lockhart to protect the interests of the Chinese community. Ho Kai was no yes-man. On the other hand, he did use his inside knowledge of government activities to line his own pockets. Endacott states that Ho Kai and his cronies were suspected of spreading rumours about British intentions in the New Territories before the takeover in order to reduce land prices. Endacott, op. cit., p. 263. See also Despatches and other papers relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, Sessional Papers, No. 32 of 1899, p. 20.\n\n51 For example, Ho Fook, Chau Siu-ki and Wei Yuk all died in office.\n\n52 This board was set up to oversee the working of the managing committee and to see that continuity in policy was maintained.\n\n53 See note 52. An important function of the Advisory Board was to see that money was spent wisely.\n\n54 The Committee controlled fee-paying cemeteries at Aberdeen and Tsun Wan. Burial was reserved for Chinese who had been permanently resident in the Colony.\n\n55 This Committee, like the others listed above, was under the chairmanship of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Chinese temples were controlled, in accordance with Ordinance No. 7 of 1928, by this Committee.\n\n56 The Chinese Recreation Ground was an open space situated off Hollywood Road. Funds derived from the rents of stalls in both Hollywood Road and the Yaumati Public Square in Kowloon.\n\n57 Before 1941 there were 9 Chinese Public Dispensaries controlled and maintained by a committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. They were originally established to help combat plague.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207146, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n211\n\nNote the offices of the Nam-pak Hong Association on the left-hand side of Bonham Strand; the divided shops of the Chun Lung Sang porcelain business (1878) and the bamboo and rattan ware dealers further along, also the frontage of the Ping Heung Tea-house next to Ching Wah Kok.\n\nDuring this visit Members are advised to look around them, up as well as down, because there are all sorts of interesting little vistas to have had, often revealed by the removal of a house for redevelopment.\n\nFootnote:\n\n1) We will not be going to the Shun Tak District Commercial Association at 67, Queen's Road, West, as hoped, because a terrible blow; the furniture and fittings have already been cleared out prior to demolition of the building.\n\n2) The Tung Kwun District Commercial Association was founded as the Tung Yee Hop Tong in 1893 for charitable, including educational, work among persons of that district resident in Hong Kong. The present premises were purchased about 40 years ago. There is an interesting commemorative board above the window in the main hall presented by four shops in Liu Po New Market, Tung Kwun in 1912 in appreciation of flood relief work and settlement of disputes and of a defamation case by the Hong Kong Chamber. This shows that its influence extended beyond Hong Kong.\n\n3) The Nam-pak Hong Association in Bonham Strand, though in new premises that are of no appeal, is of great interest. This powerful commercial association was established in 1868 by merchants from different parts of China together with Chinese merchants from South-east Asia. This explains the name of the association which, in Chinese, means South-North Firms' Public Office.\n\nAdditional Notes for the Visit to Old Western District Carl T. Smith\n\n(a) The Development of West Point\n\nThe area we are visiting today was formerly dominated by two points of land. After the British occupation of Hong Kong they became known as Possession Point and West Point. Between the two was a steep hillside with a bay at its foot. The present Ko Shing Street approximates the original beach.\n\nDr. Eitel in his history of Hong Kong, Europe in China, pp. 123-124, gives an account of the event which gave Possession Point its name:\n\nOn January 24, 1841, Commodore Bremer, having arrived at Lantao, directed Captain Belcher, in command of H.M.S. Sulphur, to proceed forthwith to Hongkong and commence its occupation.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207719, "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-1976", "page_number": 107, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "A HAWAIIAN KING VISITS HONG KONG, 1881\n\nEditor\n\nTIN-YUKE CHAR*\n\nJournal of Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch\n\nSir:\n\nI am submitting a manuscript for publication in your Journal on King Kalakaua of Hawaii and his visit to Hong Kong in 1881. It gives a clear explanation why Hong Kong was chosen as the principal embarkation port for the Chinese labor recruitment to Hawaii. The strict administration of British regulations on emigration, the designation of an honorary Hawaiian consul in Hong Kong, and the reasonable contract between employer and employee signed in Hawaii, as documented in an appendix, all give a better understanding of the good treatment of our Chinese immigrants to Hawaii compared with the abuses in Peru and Cuba.\n\nThe first reigning monarch to make a trip around the world was King David Kalakaua of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The year was 1881. King Kalakaua, born November 16, 1836, reigned for twenty-three years (1874-1891) until his death in San Francisco on January 20, 1891.† He had already had his first experience travelling abroad in November 1874 when he called on President Ulysses S. Grant in Washington and addressed the United States Congress in fluent English. As a result of this visit, the Hawaiian government was\n\n* Mr. Char was born in Hawaii in 1905 and has had a colorful life combining business and education. A graduate of McKinley High School in Honolulu, he received his B.A. degree from Yenching University in Peking and his M.A. from the University of Hawaii, and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University. He then taught, both in Hawaii and in China. In 1938, Mr. Char and his family returned to Hawaii as refugees from the Japanese military invasion of Canton. He spent the next thirty years in the insurance business. In 1952, he became the first person in Hawaii to gain the national professional designation of CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter) in the field of insurance. Always active in community affairs, Mr. Char served on the boards of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Hawaii Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Nuuanu YMCA, and the Board of Underwriters of Hawaii (insurance), among others, and is currently a member of a number of historical societies, including the Hawaii Chinese History Center. Upon retirement in 1969 as president of the Continental Insurance Agency of Hawaii, Mr. Char spent a year on the campus of Chung Chi College, a division of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as a volunteer in student counseling and placement service. Since then, he has devoted his time to historical research and writing.\n\nMr. Char is also the author of The Hakka Chinese: Their Origin and Folk Songs and Chinese Proverbs, both published by the Jade Mountain Press of San Francisco in 1969, and The Char Family Genealogy Book, privately published in Honolulu in 1970.\n\n† See Plate 15.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207793, "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-1976", "page_number": 181, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "166 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nIn 1868 T. T. Cooper, a British merchant in Burma, came to Shanghai and attempted to improve on Blakiston's feat. His venture was partly financed by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. Cooper went up the Yangtze to Chungking, and then overland to Chengtu, the capital of Szechwan. Here he received permission from the Governor General to travel on through Szechwan and Tibet to India; but he met such determined opposition and hostility from the lamas on the Tibetan border, where he was imprisoned for five weeks, that he was forced to turn back. \n\nIn the following year, Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Minister at Peking, sent Robert Swinhoe of the China Consular Service to investigate trade prospects on the Upper Yangtze. Vice-Admiral Keppel, R.N. was making a survey of the river, and Swinhoe's party, which included Alexander Michie and Robert Francis of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and two naval surveyors, travelled to Ichang on H.M.S. Opussum. This was the first time a steamship had reached Ichang, and the Chinese pilot refused to go any further. A junk was hired for the passage through the Gorges to Chungking, and soundings and surveys taken en route. The surveyors, however, gave an unfavourable report on the feasibility of steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze. They particularly commented on the force of the current, lack of suitable anchorages, intricacy of navigation because of the changeable channel, and so on. They also thought descent would be even more difficult than ascent. The chief engineer of Opossum described a sample of coal obtained half way between Ichang and Chungking as resembling good anthracite in appearance, but requiring large furnaces and a long time for combustion. \n\nThis was the most thorough navigational survey of the Upper Yangtze, and many of the factors militating against steam navigation between Ichang and Chungking were investigated and made known. The bed of the river falls 470 feet in the 360 miles between the two places, and this fall of one and a third feet per mile is the cause of the strong currents and rapids in this section of the river. The most difficult stretch is the first half of the Upper River between Ichang and Wanhsien, where the most difficult rapids and gorges are encountered. The Ichang Gorge begins five miles above Ichang, and then come the Ox Liver and Horse's Lung Gorges, and the Hsintan Rapid immediately after the latter. The most spectacular", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209218, "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-1981", "page_number": 121, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 107\n\nson-in-law of Ho Tung\n\nT. N. Chau, a barrister\n\nLi Wing-tin\n\nSimon Tse Yan, also known as Tse Ka Po\n\nFung Ping-shan, donor of the Fung Ping Shan Library building\n\nat Hong Kong University\n\nChau Yu-ting, a wealthy import-export merchant\n\nYung Tse-ming, compradore of the Chartered Bank\n\nHo Wing, son of Ho Fook, adopted son of Ho Tung and compradore of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank\n\nWong Ping-shuen, and\n\nIp Lan-chuen\n\nWong Ping-shuen advocated a slow approach, \"The time was not yet ripe for drastic action. Conditions in China had to be radically changed before it would serve any useful purpose to legislate on the question\".\n\nThe Secretary of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ip Lan-chuen, contended that Hong Kong was too close to China to attempt abolition at this time.\n\nLi Po-kwai, the Chairman, vividly portrayed the dangers to the mui tsai if she were released from servitude at the age of eighteen. She would do \"mad and silly things\" which would lead to her downfall.\n\nChow Shou-son spoke out as \"being dead against the Bill\". If left alone the custom would die out in time as had the practice of foot-binding. After making his speech in Chinese, for some reason he shifted to English to conclude it, saying, “It is the opinion of the Chinese community and the Chinese people generally that the system should not be abolished”.\n\nMr. M. K. Lo interjected a moderating tone into the discussion when he reminded the meeting that it would have been better if the Chamber had expressed opposition to abolition sooner and more clearly, instead of keeping relatively silent until the Government had drafted and introduced a Bill.\n\nMr. Wong Kwong-tin objected to the Ordinance because it did not provide protection to the owners of mui tsai and was therefore grossly unfair. He gave a warning to the British Government they should be very careful in interfering with an old Chinese custom which had become an unwritten law.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209285, "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-1981", "page_number": 188, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "174\n\nNG LUN NGAL-HA\n\ndemonstrated on his occasional visits to his native village while he was a student in Hawaii and in Hong Kong.\n\nAs to the promotion of commerce, Sun's ideas were very much inspired by Ho and Cheng, both of whom were of the comprador merchant class preoccupied with commercial interests. Yet, as an eye-witness of the economic prosperity of Hong Kong, a free port under the Western and British commercial system, Sun's ideas were much more than echoes of the above thinkers. His exposition on this aspect went much deeper than the section on industrial development, which was then not a main feature of the Hong Kong economy, and which he knew about merely from his reading. The three important measures prescribed by Sun for the promotion or free flow of commerce were not original. They were the abolition of internal customs barriers, protection of merchants by government against extortion and the building of railways and ships to ensure facilities for transportation. Yet the examples he cited as being carried out by Western nations, especially Britain, were evidently learnt in Hong Kong. He pointed out that the merchant class in Western countries had long been actively involved in government policies and their overseas commercial expansion had received military support from their governments. In return, it was the financial support of the merchants which enabled Britain to conquer India, territories in Southeast Asia and Africa, and also to annex Australia. Sun wanted to prove that commercialism was the road to the nation's wealth and power and that merchants were a very influential class in the nation. The privileged position and influence of merchants and the mercantile houses were in fact evident in Hong Kong since the first day of its founding. Very often, the Governor and even the home government had to yield to their requests and demands, and all the unofficial seats in the Hong Kong Legislative and the Executive Councils were taken by prominent merchants and members of the General Chamber of Commerce.18 To show that Chinese merchants, if given chance and encouragement, would also be able to help in building up a modern China, Sun pointed out that a great part of the railway network in Southeast Asia was built by overseas Chinese investment. \"If government would give assurance for proper interest and profit, these merchants would certainly be willing to invest in their native country\", Sun remarked.\n\nSince Sun had received a major part of his formal education in Hong Kong, he was able to experience personally the advantage of a Western education, especially the professional training at the medical", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209453, "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": 110, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "88 \n\nELIZABETH SINN \n\nto keep their own people in order. Local headmen such as the Paou-chong E, and then the Tepo were used in the first two decades of British rule. In 1846 the Registrar-General became also the Protector of Chinese Inhabitants in the Colony, 88 \n\nBut the Registrar-General's office was small, and its function was very much one of liaison. It depended heavily on Chinese leadership groups to manage the native population, The Man-Mo Temple Committee was one of the first such groups to emerge, followed by the Nam Pak Hong and the Tung Wah Hospital, which since its inception in 1870, became the predominant institution of its kind, until the Chinese Chamber of Commerce began to share its status in the 20th Century.87 \n\nThe Tung Wah Hospital, like the rest, had functions beyond what its name might suggest. It was modelled upon traditional Chinese urban gentry organizations which provided relief of various types, arbitrated conflicts, sat in judgement over minor offences, ran schools, and occupied a privileged position between the officials and the common people. In short it provided in Hong Kong what the Chinese population expected from gentry organizations in China, and created in its merchant-members images of the gentry. \n\nIt may appear anomalous to describe the Chinese leaders in Hong Kong as shen (gentry). If defined as degree holders then certainly not many of the Chinese leaders in Hong Kong would qualify for the description of \"gentry\". Yet these men were consistently referred to by Chinese officials as shen-shang (gentry, merchant). Mariane Bastid raises the very interesting point about the transition over time of the expression shen-shang from denoting merchant and gentry to denoting merchant-gentry in China. This change, of course, reflects nothing less than the change in social composition in late Ch'ing China, and perhaps nowhere did this change take place more dramatically than in Hong Kong. The one important difference was that being in Hong Kong, the shen-shang had to act as a bridge, not only between the people and government of Hong Kong, but also between the Chinese of Hong Kong and the Chinese Government, and, in particular, the authorities in Canton. They stood in the midst of a complex net of interests, often clashing interests, and to accommodate all parties was a game of intricate manoeuvring,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209658, "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": 315, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n293 \n\nThe final happy twist to this story is that the Foreign firm which took over Welsh's contract for Cassia, thus restoring the good name of the foreigners, was almost certainly Herton's. Earlier in Piry's report he wrote: \"Messrs. RUSSELL & CO's steamer Hainan will be remembered here as having proved the means of breaking the ice in Pakhoi. She made her first appearance here on the 28th of September, with a Foreign merchant on board\". As we have seen above, the Hainan came to Pakhoi especially to fetch the consignment of Cassia, and the Foreign merchant on board was equally probably Mr. Herton, perhaps come to take up residence as indicated by Stronach.\n\nWhat use, if any, William Keswick made of the two letters has not been ascertained. It is of interest, however, to note that soon after Russell's Hainan inaugurated the Hong Kong - Pakhoi run, Jardine, Matheson's Conquest began to include Pakhoi on her Hong Kong -- Haiphong route.\n\nH. A. RYDINGS \n\nNOTES \n\nThe large collection of China Maritime Customs publications in the Library of the University of Hong Kong were donated by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1937. William Keswick was at one time Chairman of the Chamber. When the letters were found in the 1879 volume it was unfortunately not noticed between which pages they had been left, but it is probable that it was at the beginning of the report from Pakhoi.\n\n* Contained in Great Britain, Foreign Office, Embassy and consular archives: China: correspondence (F.O.228), now in the Public Record Office, London: microfilm in the University of Hong Kong Library. Correspondence on the Herton claim is in vols. 612, 630 and 654.\n\n4.\n\nTransit passes were instituted under the Treaty of Tientsin, 1858, in Article XXVIII of which it is stated:\n\n\"It shall be at the option of any British subject, desiring to convey produce purchased inland to a port, or to convey imports from a port to an inland market, to clear his goods of all transit duties, by payment of a single charge. The amount of this charge shall be leviable on exports at the first barrier they may have to pass, or, on imports, at the port at which they are landed; and on payment thereof, a certificate shall be issued, which shall exempt the goods from all further inland charges whatsoever.\"\n\n(Hertslet's Treaties, &c., between Great Britain and China, London, 1908, v.1, p. 27-8).\n\nHai-An (M) is the port on the mainland opposite to Kiungchow,\n\nPage 315\n\nPage 316", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210693, "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-1986", "page_number": 44, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "27\n\nsaid that no man loved Ireland more dearly, and there was no warmer heart in Ireland than his. He asked why Irishmen loved their country more than the English, who were daily getting more cosmopolitan, and the Scots who were daily getting more English, loved theirs. He suggested that the reason was that the Irish were a little less selfish and a little more generous, and gave preference to strangers over their own. They loved Ireland as their mother because over the last thousand years they had suffered and laboured much. That had made them patient, enduring, witty, generous, self-reliant, hospitable, brave and reckless. They had great learning to be proud of. Before St. Patrick came, and their Saxon friends were still going about painted, Ireland had laws and a recognised society. St. Patrick had little to do but introduce the spirit of Christianity. Irish immigrants were the backbone of countries where they lived and had succeeded everywhere. One fault that the Irish were gravely charged with was that they drank too much and were too fond of whiskey. He exhorted all present to resolve not to bring discredit on their country by excessive drinking, and to give up drink for six months to help the Duchess of Marlborough's Famine Relief Fund. After that he recited a poem entitled “Dear Ireland\".\n\nAs to Queen Victoria, in 1893 speaking at a meeting of the General Chamber of Commerce called to discuss the coining of a British dollar, he expressed opposition to anything bearing the Queen's head being made in a foreign country. At a meeting of the judiciary and legal profession in 1901 to pay respects to her memory he began his speech, which was twice as long as those of the Chief Justice and Attorney General combined, by describing himself as \"the senior member and actual, although not official, leader of the local Bar, and the solitary representative among the higher members of the profession of the Irish race and Roman Catholic community.\" He said “Loyalty to the throne is a duty most strenuously enforced on every member of the Catholic Church. The personal loyalty of Irishmen to the sovereign has always been conspicuous, the few contemptible exceptions only making the loyalty of the vast majority the more conspicuous\".\n\nHe was a public person, interested in most things that went on and ever ready to express his view about them. His talent for oratory ensured that his views were often heard. He was connected with many societies and clubs and because of his legal training was much in demand to sit in committees. He was ambitious and a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210699, "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-1986", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "33\n\nnominated E.R. Belilios. The only way in for Francis was by election by the Justices or the General Chamber of Commerce of which he was a member. He suffered a number of handicaps one of which was that he was not a businessman. He was present at a meeting of the Justices in 1884 to elect a member and expressed regret that Justices who were officials had, at the request of the Governor, declined to vote. He said they should either use their vote or, better, have no vote. In 1886 he was a candidate for the Justices seat. He published his interest in the newspapers saying \"I honestly believe I can do the colony good and faithful service and better than any other man. I am nearly one of the oldest residents. I came here in 1859. Since 1862 I have taken a lively and I hope intelligent interest in the affairs of the colony. I have some knowledge of business and its requirements and am deeply interested in the prosperity and progress of Hong Kong as a whole. It is my home, my life's work is here and I rise or fall with its fortunes\". He referred to his practice as a speaker and training as a lawyer and said he was thoroughly independent in all things. He said he was in favour of maintaining absolute freedom of the port and improving the harbour, changing the method of dealing in land and reforming the Legislative Council including increasing the number and powers of unofficials.\n\nAn editorial in the Daily Press said “false modesty is not a failing of our eminent counsellor any more than want of courage. However the Justices may require other guarantees from their candidate. They may also object that Mr. Francis whilst perhaps independent now has not always been equally so and the tone he now takes smacks rather too much of constant and indiscriminating opposition to the Government. There is some reason to doubt whether the best interest of the colony would be best served by a lawyer. Mr. Chater would be a better member\". Francis replied “unofficial members are permanently in opposition but obstruction for the sake of obstruction is a thing I hate and detest. I pride myself on having been in all things and at all times absolutely independent in thought and word. I have spoken and acted in support of what I thought right when it was in my interest in every sense to do otherwise\". The paper responded “Nine years ago Mr. Francis and two other barristers (Ng Choy and Hayllor) arrayed with the Governor against almost every member of the British and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210709, "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-1986", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "43\n\nClub and Fraser Smith and represented the Club in legal proceedings. After one case Fraser Smith unsuccessfully proposed at an Annual Meeting that his fees be not paid, alleging that he had been actuated by prejudice in advising that there were grounds for expelling Fraser Smith from the Club. I have found no evidence that Francis ever rode or owned horses. However he did run on one occasion. That was in 1880 in the Veterans Flat Race during the Civilian Athletic Sports. He was unplaced off a twenty yard start. T.C. Hayllar won off thirty-five yards.\n\nHe was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the China Association and the Navy League, and in 1895 accepted the Presidency of the British Mercantile Marine Officers Association. He was also a member of the Gun Club and the Rifle Association. He joined various literary and debating societies. He supported Dr. Cantlie in the formation of the Odd Volumes Society in 1893 observing that he had been connected with many similar ventures during his thirty-three years of residence.\n\nHe was an inveterate lecturer, his subjects ranging from Jesuitism in 1872 through maritime and Asian affairs to the theory of British Advocacy in 1897. He was still lecturing in the year of his death. He was said to be an entertaining, clear and simple lecturer though the China Mail said that his chief fault as a public speaker was \"inartistic redundancy\".\n\nIn 1889 at a meeting of the Literary Society he expressed hope for an elected Legislative Council and objected to heads of departments being members of the Executive Council. In 1893 at the Odd Volumes Society on the subject \"What does Hong Kong want\" he gave the answer “public spirit”, and attacked incompetent officials and harmful legislation.\n\nIn 1899, again at the Odd Volumes Society, he disagreed with the view of an earlier speaker that the British Nation was more vulgar than others and deficient in imagination and gave his own view that the British were disliked by others because of their national self-complacency and arrogance which resulted from the accomplishment of great deeds.\n\nHe played chess and kept open house in his chambers for chess players at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesdays. In 1894 he was involved in a living chess tournament organised to raise funds for the Union Church and held in the grounds of the Hon J.J. Keswick at East Point. In 1897 he took part in the founding of the St. Cecilia Society established to cultivate a taste for music and was its President.\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210893, "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-1986", "page_number": 244, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "227\n\nThe whole matter was one that was not really for public discussion and the chairman suggested it be dealt with by the Standing Committee of the chamber. After some discussion this mode of dealing with the matter was approved.\n\nHo A-mei may have been a little bold in speaking up at his first meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, but he was not one to shrink from expressing his opinions. His outspokenness received the approval of the press, which in its comments on the emigration resolution said: \"It was a novelty that it was put forward, not without ability, fluency and clearness by a Chinaman. The fact is reassuring, as an indication of the interest in public events which is being developed amongst the Chinese.\"\n\nHo A-mei, as \"a Chinaman,\" was to speak out about public questions on many other occasions.\n\nHO DABBLES IN THE REALTY BUSINESS\n\nHo A-mei's link with the distant past of Hongkong was a housing scheme he was promoting in 1895. The scheme was financed by the wealthy Li Sing family of Hongkong. They had purchased through a Hongkong-based company, Fuk Tin, the remaining rights of the Tang clan in the area between Laichikok and Shamshuipo. There are also references to the Fung Fuk and Tin Fuk firms in connection with the deal.\n\nThe Tang's claim to the land extended back many centuries, most likely to the Sung dynasty, when members of the family first came into the region. There is well-substantiated evidence that the family once owned Hongkong Island, British Kowloon, much of New Kowloon, Tsing Yi Island and a substantial part of the New Territories.\n\nThe original grant had been broken up through the centuries. It was divided among various branches of the clan, portions had been sold outright to others, certain tracts had been perpetually leased with the Tangs retaining their right to annual payments.\n\nThe Tang family received no compensation for their claim for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210998, "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": 60, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "35 \n\npirates carried out a vicious attack on the s.s. Namoa. Some suspects were arrested in Hong Kong and two of them were committed for trial, but they were released for lack of evidence. Those arrested in Kowloon were less fortunate, for they were convicted and beheaded on the beach in front of the City, with British officials invited to witness the execution.\" The Chinese were of course also interested in keeping Chinese waters free of pirates and joint efforts were made to this end.\n\n18 \n\nOfficials at Kowloon performed more than their strictly official duties. Numerous temple inscriptions testify to their active involvement with the community activities of the territory, on both sides of the border.\" The stone tablet over the entrance of the Pei-ti Temple at Wanchai, with the temple's name inscribed in Chang Yu-t'ang's calligraphy is particularly significant.\n\n29 \n\n30 \n\nThe Chinese community in British Hong Kong were obviously very aware of the Chinese official presence across the harbour. Sometimes they looked to it for protection. For instance in 1886 when it was rumoured that 500 children would be required to consecrate the Tytam Water Works, children were sent to Kowloon City for protection, to the extent that hardly any child was to be seen anywhere for two days.\"\n\n31 \n\nThe Chinese in Hong Kong also looked to Kowloon as a source of authority and patronage, and this was most clearly seen in 1896 when the first Chinese Chamber of Commerce opened in Hong Kong. As was customary, rites were performed before the Kuan-ti M, or martial god. The Kowloon Commodore, Ch’en Kun-shan 120!!, officiated, as the dragon flag of Ch’ing China fluttered above,32 as if to establish the Chineseness of the occasion. Not surprisingly this display of loyalty to Chinese officialdom incurred the resentment of the local English press. The Daily Press leader lamented that the Hong Kong Governor had not been invited to officiate instead, and saw this as a move \"to insult the established order of the colony\".\" This, in fact, suggests that to some of the foreign community at least, Kowloon, as a Chinese base, was too close for comfort.\n\nThere were other problems. Gambling, prohibited in Hong\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211111, "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": 172, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "147\n\nHongkong opposed the request for two basic reasons. Any check to smuggling would deprive opium importers of substantial profits. This reason was seldom openly acknowledged. The other reason was frequently stated.\n\nIt was the ever-present fear that the Chinese population of Hongkong would be influenced or controlled by the officials in China and British prestige and sovereignty would be affected.\n\nThe dispatches, memorials and letters of the Hongkong Government, the General Chamber of Commerce, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the representatives of the Chinese Government, the British Consul at Canton, and the British Minister at Peking, as well as the editorials and correspondence in the local papers, such as the letter of Ho A-mei in 1891, point up the issues involved.\n\nThe matter was first raised in 1868. At that time, Prince Kung on behalf of the Chinese Government was discussing the revision of the 1858 Treaty of Tientsin with the British Minister at Peking, Sir Rutherford Alcock.\n\nThe Prince asked Sir Rutherford if China would be permitted to station one of its officials in Hongkong to look after the collection of duties China levied on goods conveyed in junks from Hongkong to the mainland. Much revenue was slipping away because of the ease by which Hongkong exporters could evade the custom taxes. China wished to plug the leak. The simplest and least expensive method was to check it at its source.\n\nSir Rutherford thought that Britain should not permit a Chinese Government official to reside in Hongkong in any official capacity other than that of consul. This would bring his position in line with general diplomatic usage.\n\nIt was the practice for consuls of foreign nations to reside in British possessions to look after the interests of the country they represented.\n\nThe British Minister in Peking was aware that China had a real", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211113, "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": 174, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "149\n\nThese local views were expressed in the dispatch of the Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, to the Colonial Office in London and in a memorial from the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce. Both reflect, as we shall see, the uneasiness underneath the comfortable life of the expatriate in nineteenth century Hong-kong.\n\nCOLONIAL PRESSURE STOPS CONSUL MOVE\n\nIn 1891, Ho A-mei wrote to the newspapers supporting a proposal of the British Foreign Office that a Chinese Consul be appointed for Hongkong. It was an issue which in the past had sharpened differences between Hongkong and the Home Government.\n\nThe matter had first been raised in 1868. When news reached Hongkong at that time that it was being considered by the Foreign Office in London, there was an immediate outcry.\n\nThe Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, rushed off a protest to the Colonial Office. He objected not only to the proposal, but also to the manner in which the British Minister at Peking had ignored Hongkong.\n\nThe Governor was not on good terms with the Minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock. He complained that it had been his experience that Sir Rutherford was not concerned about the interests of Hongkong and in his negotiations with China paid little attention to Hongkong opinion.\n\nThe Governor wrote to the Secretary of the Colonies that it was no surprise to him that Sir Rutherford had sent the suggestion of a Chinese Consul to the Foreign Office without consulting or informing the local government, nor had he given Hongkong an opportunity to register its opinion on the matter.\n\nWhen the Governor had eventually heard the British Minister's suggestion, he immediately called together his Executive Council to consider the issue. At that time all the members of the Council were Government officials.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211117, "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": 178, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "153\n\nclaimed: “We believe that such a creation of an imperium in imperio would produce alarm and dissatisfaction among the Chinese residents here; and by unnecessarily pressing on the Chinese the adoption of such a measure, Her Majesty's Government would be taking the surest course to develop, during times of peace, the worst vices of Chinese rule in a population under British protection; and, on the other hand, in the event of approaching disturbances, or the cessation of friendly relations with Peking, we would be creating in our midst a dangerous centre of rebellion, plots and hostile actions.”\n\nThe basic insecurity of a small group of colonials dwelling in the midst of a large population, whose customs and language were unfamiliar and strange, welled up at the prospect of the approval by Britain for a Chinese consul to assume duties in Hongkong.\n\nPressure from Hongkong and from merchants in Britain interested in the China trade caused the matter to be dropped.\n\nIt was revived in 1875 and again in 1891. It was in the latter year that Ho A-mei spoke out on the matter.\n\nCONSUL NEEDED ‘FOR FAIR TREATMENT\n\nThe suggestion that a Chinese consul be appointed for Hongkong reappeared periodically. The idea was first advanced in 1868.\n\nAt that time the Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, sent a strong protest to England.\n\nTwo years later the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce expressed its views on the subject.\n\nThe Treaty of Tientsin between Britain and China was signed in 1858. It contained a provision that it should be reviewed after 10 years. These revisions were embodied in the Chefoo Convention.\n\nThe Foreign Office asked the various Chambers of Commerce", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211118, "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": 179, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "154\n\nin Britain and China to submit their views on the document. The Hongkong Chamber of Commerce responded with a memorial in 1870.\n\nOne of the items the chamber found objectionable was Article II. It stipulated that China might appoint consuls in all ports in British dominions.\n\nThe chamber admitted that for ports distant from China the provision was fair, but it should not apply to Hongkong. The port was peculiar and existed in a special relation to China. Nothing should be done that might endanger the dreams of its founders and the hopes of the memorialists.\n\nThey submitted that, \"this Colony was originally established as an experiment, and the views of its founders have been fully realised by its progress and growth. . . Its geographical situation, and its magnificent harbour mark it as admirably adapted to become the emporium of foreign commerce in this part of the world, and the headquarters from which the large financial and commercial transactions of British and Foreign Merchants in China could best be carried out.\" Its location ensured its prosperity.\n\nSuccess, however, may produce envy. The chamber believed that Hongkong's prosperity and its status as a free port “have long been regarded with jealous displeasure by the Chinese Government which has done all in its power to interfere with its trade, especially that carried on by native merchants settled in Hongkong.\"\n\nThe memorialists contended that China could not claim the diplomatic privileges of other nations because it did not qualify as a civilised country. China's capricious legal system disqualified it from acceptance within the community of nations.\n\nIn the opinion of the Hongkong merchants, all governments worthy of being recognised \"find a common unity in their provisions for securing the life, the liberty and the property of all foreigners as well as natives.” This security is rooted in a dependable", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211120, "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": 181, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "156\n\nIn its memorial the Chamber of Commerce maintained that both foreigners and Chinese who were British subjects, when travelling or reading in China, needed the protection of a consul and the right to be tried in a British Consular Court.\n\nOn the other hand, the Chinese on the British soil of Hongkong needed no such protection. They could rest confident in the fair administration of British justice. In addition it was pointed out, \"they have an important official in the Registrar General, to whom as 'Protector of Chinese' they can always have recourse for advice and assistance.\n\nThe Chefoo Convention was never ratified by Britain. Therefore China could not claim by treaty rights the privilege of appointing a consul for Hongkong.\n\nThe question arose again in 1874 as the result of the so-called \"blockade of Hongkong.\" This development had been anticipated by Sir Rutherford Alcock, the British Minister to China, at the time China had first asked for permission to station an official in Hongkong as a check to smuggling.\n\nIn 1868 the Viceroy of the Two-Kwangs had opened customs stations near Hongkong to collect provincial duties on goods carried by Chinese junks sailing from Hongkong.\n\nTwo of them were near the eastern and western approaches to the Hongkong harbour. Another was on the island of Cheung Chau. In 1871 the stations began collecting the treaty tariff duty on opium,\n\nIn addition, armed revenue cruisers were introduced to see that the stations were not bypassed. They patrolled Chinese junks, chased smugglers and attempted to ensure that proper duties were paid. The foreign merchants in Hongkong labelled this effort of the Chinese to protect their interests as a \"blockade.”\n\nThe Chinese, however, had not given up their wish to have a consul in Hongkong. The expense of maintaining a fleet of armed vessels near Hongkong was heavy. There was always the danger", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211133, "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": 194, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "169\n\npublic. Its conclusions were considered not acceptable and its tone would have aggravated differences between China and Britain.\n\nIn December 1873, the Governor of Hongkong had appointed a three-man commission to investigate the alleged interference by China with the trade of Hongkong. Its members were Phineas Ryrie, a businessman and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, H. G. Thomsett, the harbour master, and M. S. Tonnochy, his assistant. They submitted their report in April 1874.\n\nThe General Chamber of Commerce requested a copy, but it was told that as the Colonial and Foreign Offices were still considering the report, it could not be released to the public.\n\nThe merchants felt that the Government was deliberately withholding the findings of the commission. To draw attention to their views, which were similar to those expressed by the commission, the merchants encouraged a group of aggrieved Chinese to petition Her Majesty. They then followed this up with their own public meeting.\n\nThe commission had taken the position that the method China was using to enforce its revenue collection was seriously hurting Hongkong trade. The main premise of the report, that China had encroached on Hongkong's sovereignty, was rejected by the representatives of the British Government at Canton and Peking.\n\nAlthough the Foreign Office in London, Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister in Peking, and Sir Brooke Robertson, Her Majesty's Consul at Canton, were not in complete agreement about the various points raised by the commission, they all agreed that the commission had greatly overstated the case.\n\nIt was conceded that the employment of a low type of foreigner by the Chinese was objectionable, that in the nature of the case there must have been some violation of Hongkong waters when a junk was being chased by cruisers, and that no doubt there had been instances of squeezing.\n\nIn commenting on the report of the commission, Sir Brooke", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211152, "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": 213, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "188\n\nclude the Chamber of Commerce in this?” \n\nIn its opinion Hongkong need not fear that a spy was needed to discover these soft spots they were so obvious anyone could see them. \n\nAfter the appointment was withdrawn, the anxieties of those who had so strongly opposed it were alleviated. Four years later, in 1895, the fear of undue influence of Chinese officialdom on Hong-kong affairs was again aroused at the inauguration of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce under the leadership of Ho A-mei. \n\nA CHAMBER TO GIVE CHINESE AN IDENTITY \n\nIn 1895 a building for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce was opened. Ho A-mei was chairman of the organising committee. The opening was the fulfilment of a long-felt need within the Chinese community. \n\nThere had been a need for a proper meeting place for the leaders of the community. Previous centres had not been altogether satisfactory and there had been agitation for something like a Chinese Town Hall for a number of years. The new building of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was expected to meet this need. \n\nThe demand for a public meeting place attested to the fact that through the years there had emerged out of the heterogeneous collection of Chinese who had settled in Hongkong from various villages and districts recognised leaders, community organisations and a distinct identity. \n\nBoth the leaders and the organisations were an important part of the history of the Chinese in Hongkong and the struggle for visible signs of self-identity. \n\nThe Chinese who came to Hongkong after the British occupation were, on the whole, an unruly lot. \n\nThe officer in charge of Census and Registration describes the state of affairs: \"The arrival of the British fleet in the harbour", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211164, "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": 225, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "200\n\nJUBILEE JOY HAS A SOUR START\n\nFunds for a hall for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was opened in 1896, were raised as a part of the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887.\n\nHongkong's planning for the jubilee was officially launched by a question raised in the Legislative Council in February of the Jubilee Year by Mr. Paul Chater, an unofficial member.\n\nIn the opinion of the China Mail it was none too soon: “We have been waiting and watching for many weeks for some sign on the part of the Government or on the part of the committee who, we understand, had taken the matter in hand, but we have waited in vain, and we are thankful to Mr. Chater for saving us the trouble of losing our patience.”\n\nHongkong was lagging far behind the rest of the British Empire in formulating plans. In India, the date for the celebration had already been fixed, and the home country was a-bustle with preparations.\n\nThere had been some preliminary discussion in Hongkong by a small group of concerned loyal subjects. Their action, however, was criticised by the editor of the Daily Press.\n\nThe journalists of that day were always quick to object to efforts of small groups to manage or control Hongkong affairs. The editor felt that this group was presumptuous for privately taking an initiative regarding the jubilee.\n\nPlanning, the editor contended, should be a thoroughly open and public matter. Although he expressed approval of Mr. Chater's move to query the Government regarding its intentions, he felt that it would have been preferable first to have had an open meeting to discuss what projects were most popular with the general public. Such a meeting could have then appointed a committee which would have been representative of all sections of the community. This committee could then have been entrusted to co-operate with the Government in formulating plans for the cele-\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211168, "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": 229, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "204\n\nendow a high class school and call it the Victoria Female College.\" And lastly, the possibility of a statue was advanced.\n\nAlready seeds were sown for divided opinions and each little group pushing its own project. Out of the resulting confusion, the Chinese emerged with their own scheme, a hall for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce.\n\nJUBILEE PLANS COMPETE WITH RACING\n\nThe manner in which Hongkong should observe the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was publicly launched when Mr. C. P. Chater raised the question at a Legislative Council meeting on February 11, 1887.\n\nHis preliminary remarks reflected the sentiments prevalent among colonials in a period when the British Empire was in its unchallenged glory. They were proud of the widespread dominion of their native country.\n\nMr. Chater began thus: \"Sir, the question I am about to ask, though neither of state importance, nor materially affecting the interests of the Colony, touches upon a subject which at the moment is appealing to the loyal feelings of millions of Her Majesty's subjects all over the world.\n\n\"This year Her Most Gracious Majesty celebrates the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne of that great empire, the Government of which she has so ably administered; and throughout her vast dominions rejoicings are to be the order of the day.\n\n\"And her subjects, of whatever race they may be, are anxious to celebrate the occasion in a manner befitting its exceptional and gratifying nature.”\n\nHongkong, said Mr. Chater, was eager to participate in the general rejoicings.\n\n\"This Colony does not wish to be behind in anything, more especially in a matter of this sort.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211177, "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": 238, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "213\n\na hall for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce which was eventually opened by Ho A-mei in 1896.\n\nTHE JUBILEE SQUABBLING GOES ON AND ON . . .\n\nHongkong got itself into a muddle attempting to decide on a permanent memorial to mark the celebration of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee year.\n\nA public meeting was held at the City Hall on March 2, 1887, to formulate plans for the celebration. At the meeting it was decided to create a park in the Wongneichong valley to be named after the Queen. Both before and after the meeting many objections were raised to the scheme, which was eventually abandoned.\n\nAt the meeting, the chairman, Sir George Phillippo, in his introductory remarks mentioned a number of proposals that had already been put before the public.\n\nHe referred to an institution to be located in London to display and promote the products of the Empire. A year or so before the Indian and Colonial Exposition had been held. The various possessions of Great Britain had sent examples of their natural resources and products to it.\n\nIt was such a success that plans were put forward for something more permanent. The jubilee seemed an appropriate time to promote such an undertaking.\n\nAt the time, the British people were basking in the extent and importance of their empire. Its many colonies and dominions were rich in raw materials to feed the industries of the United Kingdom.\n\nThe multitude of people of different races under its rule were regarded as an inexhaustible market for the manufactures of the home country.\n\nIn recognition of the financial importance of Britain's possessions the plan for an Imperial Institute in London was launched.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211353, "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": 69, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "45\n\nThe mui-tsai question provoked more reaction and heat in the Chinese community than child labour, since the mui-tsai system affected the domestic life of the owners of the child servants. Most of the households affected were of the wealthier class. Child labour also affected families but these were the poorest in the community. The Chinese Christians organised to abolish the mui-tsai system. Those opposed to any drastic changes were the wealthy merchants and compradores.\n\nThere was no easy solution to either problem, as both were part of a complex social and economic pattern.\n\nAnother stimulant for action on child labour was the regulations laid down by the International Labour Organisation following the end of World War I. Britain was committed to these proposals as it was a signatory to the Peace Treaty which embodied them. Both in Hong Kong and in the British Parliament calls were made for the commitment to be honoured in Hong Kong as a colony of the British Empire.\n\nThe 1896/97 Chamber of Commerce Report on labour conditions in the East\n\nUnder the auspices of a British Chamber of Commerce a mission was sent to China in 1896-97 to investigate conditions in trade and industry.\n\nThe mission rejoiced that in China there had been no legislation controlling workers; this included Hong Kong. The report said,\n\nThere is... no hampering legislation for which there has been such a reckless desire in recent years in the West; curtailing the liberty of the labourer within the narrowest possible limits and unduly harassing the employer.\n\nBy contrast,\n\nIn the East every man, woman and child is allowed, without restriction, to sell his or her labour at the best price obtainable, and to work under any conditions as to hours, systems or place. Employers are at liberty to conduct their own business as seems best to their discretion and judgment.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212497, "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-1991", "page_number": 51, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "31\n\nLo was suspected to have cheated an amount of 20,000 taels as bad debt from the Bank See Group Archives of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Comprador Files Law Pak Sheung\n\n|| Ibid. Lo Hok Pang was said to be involved in certain bankruptcy cases See Comprador Files Lo Hok Pang\n\n12\n\nFor an important article that explores the studies on early Chinese in Hong Kong, see Carl T Smith (1993), Hong Kong Chinese Wills 1850-1890\n\n13 See HKRS#144-98. Cheang Hoong (December 1856), 245 Wong Kong (August 1867), 254 Kwong A Hang (January 1872), 268 Ng A Cheong (October 1870), 349 Law Pak Sheung (February 1877), 368 Wei A Kwong (October 1866), 457 Law Sai Nam (December 1881), 470 Lau Cheong (June 1880), 661 Au Yeung Shing (December 1886); 733, Wong Shi Lai (June 1888), 734 Sung Chin Tseung (January 1888), 1161 Tong Mow Chee (December 1894), and 1465 Choa Chec Bec (June 1890)\n\nHKRS#134-144; Soong Ke (December 1864)\n\n15 See Zheng Guanying. Da Guangzhou shangwu zonghu yi bingting zhuamban zhangcheng ershisi tiao (To draft the twenty-four opening ordinances of the General Chamber of Commerce of Canton), in Xia Dongyuan (1988a), pp 593-6\n\n16 HKRS#144-273 O Kee Cheong (October 1872)\n\nHKRS#144-1504: Leung Kiu (April 1887)\n\n18 HKRS#144-394 La Hing (January 1879)\n\n19 See Carl T Smith (1993), p 11, 15-6\n\n20 For Western merchants who came with their Cantonese compradors to Shanghai, see Hao (1970), pp 51-3\n\n21 According to Leung Yuen-sang's study, Wu Jianzhang came to power because of the rise of mercantile power in post-1843 local politics when there was an absence of official-gentry leadership during the British invasion and capture of Shanghai in 1842 The vacuum was filled by Cantonese merchants and compradors They were sought because of their foreign language skill and foreign knowledge During Wu's office, nearly all the jobs in the government were filled by Cantonese See Leung (1990), pp. 53-6, 147-50, Toyama Gunji (1994), Shanghai dotai Go kensho (The Shanghai Taotai Wu Jianzhang), pp 45-54. and Zhang Wenqin (1989), Cong fenguan guanshang dao maiban guantiao, Wu Jianzhang shilun (From Feudal Official Merchant to Compradorial Bureaucrat), pp 31-54\n\n21 Leung Yuen-sang (1982), Regional Rivalry in Mid-Nineteenth Century Shanghai: Cantonese vs Ningpo Men, pp 34-6.\n\n21\n\nThough Li Hongzhang was a central bureaucrat, through the guandu shangban enterprises in Shanghai and Tianjin, he had successfully extended his influence in this region discussed through the \"Shanghai-Tianjin Connection\" See Leung Yuen-sang (1986), The Shanghai-Tientsin Connection: Li Hung-chang's Political Control over Shanghai during the Late Ch'ing Period, pp 315-30\n\n24 Ibid, pp. 45-6\n\n24\n\nWang Gungwu (1990). China and the Chinese Overseas, pp 175-6\n\nHKRS#144-1152 Li Chu (December 1896)\n\n27 HKRS#144-1087. Lee Chak (May 1894)\n\n8 HKRS#144-1093 Chan Kin Tong (April 1896)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213229, "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": 51, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "30 \n\nMrs. T.C. Meyrick of Fareham, Hants, England. He was educated at University College School, London, from where he went to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1900. He arrived in China in 1907 to join Arnhold, Karberg and Co. He was a keen supporter of racing with his brother Harry Arnhold. They ran a stable in Shanghai for many years under the nom-de-guerre of \"Winsome and Hasty\". He was the last Chairman of the Shanghai Race Club before the change of régime in China. At one time he was a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council and Vice Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai. He came to Hong Kong in 1949 and the head office was then transferred here. He had been interned at the Haiphong Road Internment Camp in Shanghai. He supported the British Orchestra and the Hong Kong Concert Orchestra. He was born in London in 1881.\n\nSince 1888 a member of the firm of Arnhold, Karberg and Co. had been on the Board of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank though, of course, after 1914 German firms were not represented. The firm also represented German financial interests in the negotiation of foreign loans to China. Its \"Teutonic thoroughness\" is shown by the number of offices the firm had in China in 1908 — Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canton, Hankow, Tientsin, Tsingtau, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Newchwang, Chungking, Mukden, Peking, Tsinanfu, Kirin etc. It had buying offices in London, New York and Berlin. Dr. Frank King in his history of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation designates the firm as an \"Anglo-German\" company. Like other large China-based German firms it found it advantageous to establish strong links with Britain. It was about the only German firm able to continue its trade after 1914, principally because the two Shanghai partners were born in England.\n\nBourjau, Hubener and Co.\n\nAdolph Bourjau and Carl Albert Hubener were authorised to sign for L.E. Lebert and Company at Canton in 1858 but by the next year they were in business in Hong Kong under their own name (FC 18 Mar. 1858, 31 May 1859). They are mentioned as emigrant agents in 1866 (DP 1 Nov. 1866). Mr. Bourjau continued as a senior partner until his death on 14 February 1873 (DP 5 Apr. 1873).\n\nArthur Booth was a partner in 1862/3 and Oscar Booth from 1866 to 1869. Ernest Behre was the managing partner at Shanghai in the 1860s.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213391, "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": 213, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "201\n\nForsyth, Sidney A, An American Missionary Community in China 1895-1905, Cambridge (Mass), Harvard University Press, 1971\n\nFortune, Robert, Five Year's Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, London John Murray, 1844 (Shanghai Reprint University Press)\n\nTwo Visits to the Tea Countries of China and the British Tea Plantations in the Himalaya, London John Murray, 1853\n\nFox, Helen, ed and trans, Abbe David's Diary, Cambridge (Mass) Harvard University Press, 1949\n\nFranck, Harry Alverson, Wandering in Northern China. New York and London The Century Company, 1923\n\n— Roving Through Southern China, New York and London The Century Company, 1925\n\nFranek, Rachel (Harta), I Married a Vagabond the Story of Family of the Wandering Vagabond, New York Appleton-Century 1939.\n\nFritz, Chester, China Journey, Seattle Washington University Press, 1981\n\nGallagher, Louis J ST, trans, The Journals of Matthew Ricci 1583-1610, New York Random House, 1953\n\nGamewell, M N, The Gateway to China Pictures of Shanghai New York Fleming H Revell Company, 1916 (Taipei: Reprint Cheng-wen Publishing)\n\nGarman, Schuyler New Fight on Hua and Gabet. Their Expulsion From Lhasa in 1846. Pacific Eastern Quarterly | 148-63 (1942)\n\nGardner, James. In and Out of Chungking Changteh - Wenchow - Chanchow. Missionary Life, Experience and Adventure During the First of Three Periods of Residence in China, Sydney 1947\n\nGaron, Shirley S. The Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA in Mark Elvin and G William Skinner, eds. The Chinese City Between Two Worlds, Stanford Stanford University Press. 1974 213-238\n\nGaunt Mary Elizabeth Bakewell (b. 1872). A Woman in China, London, Lane, 1914\n\nGeil, William Edgar. A Yankee on the Yangtze, New York Eaton and Mains, 1904 (Copy at Yale published by Methuen in London 1926)\n\nGeneral Description of Shanghae and Its Environs Shanghai The Mission Press, 1850\n\nGoes, Bento de, The Travels of Benedict Goez, a Portuguese Jesuit from Lahore in the Mogul's Empire to China, in 1602. in Pinkerton, John, ed, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels London 1808-14:577-587)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213879, "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": 231, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "205\n\ndifferent parts of China As the Manchu government was drumming up a \"commercial war\" between Chinese and foreign enterprises, overseas Chinese merchants were targeted by Beijing as a source of wealth for new industries.\n\nIn Hong Kong, the first groups of Hong Kong Chinese to respond to this reform were a group of newly returned migrants of Siyi and Xiangshan origins. They returned from America and Australia, where exclusion policies against Chinese immigrants had been implemented during the 1890s. Once settled in Hong Kong, they found themselves left outside the established leadership hierarchy in the colony (the Legislative Council-Tung Wah circle). They had to vest their interests in other institutions They looked northward and, immediately, they saw hope in China, where the late Qing reforms offered them ample chances for political and economic advancement. The Governor recalled with contempt the composition of the Siyi Chamber.\n\n[It is] composed of Californian and Australian coolies, artisans who though [they] could often talk fair English, could not write their names in any language\n\nThanks to this rhetoric of \"commercial war\", these overseas returned migrants penetrated into south China. They formed themselves into regional chambers of commerce and through which they raised capital for such large-scale investments as railways, public utilities and land reclamation in Guangdong. Among others, these enterprises included a Siyi Steamship Company, a Sunning (of Siyi) Railway Company and two companies, with respectively 500,000 and 580,000 silver taels in capital, for “port-building” against Portuguese Macao and British Hong Kong. With the approval of the Qing government, these two port-building companies initiated two large-scale port and market development schemes in Siyi and Xiangshan which were intended to recover benefits lost to Hong Kong and Macau. The channel that these merchants went through was the following, the chambers of commerce submitted petitions to the Commissioner of Industrial Promotion and thence to the Bureau of Commerce in Beijing\n\nConservative in design, this late Qing reform led to revolutionary consequences. Among these policies of centralization was Beijing's attempt to nationalize economic resources in the provinces. It was the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213895, "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": 247, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "221\n\nThus, a new political language, clustered around the ideas of labour and trade unions soon overshadowed the existing political language, which was introduced in the late Qing and clustered around the ideas of merchants and chambers of commerce. To curb the political power of merchants, the Canton government dissolved all the existing merchant associations in Canton. The directorship of the Canton General Chamber of Commerce was abolished and the Canton government appointed their own supporters to the Chamber. Liao Zhongkai even went to the extreme of making legislation in 1925 to prohibit \"compradore merchants” from taking up government posts.\n\nPolitical regulations were changing fast during these years. Trade unions continued to expand and were politically active in Canton. This eventually led to the 1925 General Strike which in Hong Kong involved a total of 300,000 labourers. It was known as the greatest and largest strike which had ever occurred in China, and retrospectively, the Chinese Communist Party would time and time again herald its success.\n\nAs for the Cantonese merchants and the Communication Clique, they retreated from Canton to Hong Kong after 1924. I have tracked down a very beautiful piece of information from 1941 - on a Julao Hui (九老會), or the Nine Elders Club. The club was formed by the retired leaders of the regional Chambers of Commerce. These retreated Cantonese, despite their previous competition, joined together as a social club to celebrate the abundance of their offspring and their own longevity. These nine gentlemen enjoyed a total age amounting to 676 by 1941. On this occasion, Liang Shiyi sent them a couplet. It read:\n\nThe three of us in person congratulating the nine elders, altogether in one hall we celebrate our thousand years.\n\nAs far as this small circle is concerned, it sounds like a happy ending.\n\nBeyond this circle, all we can see is a Hong Kong society with its members, for a long period of time, showing little interest in the issue of constitutional reform, representative or self-government, as their Indian, African, or Malay counterparts did. Even during those noisy years after the Second World War while the issue of decolonization was very much talked about and the British Empire actually collapsed,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215279, "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-2001", "page_number": 56, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "could be nullified only by the use of the crown prerogative of disallowance. The Colonial Office was most reluctant to exercise this power except in extreme circumstances since it might cause the governor public embarrassment. There are only three cases to be found in the files before 1933 where the Colonial Office was consulted about a project and imposed its veto.\n\nThe progress of industrialisation in Hong Kong was completely different from all other British colonies where factories could be established only with the aid of protective tariffs and other government assistance and manufactured goods were sold only in the local market. Hong Kong island was originally occupied because it had the best deep-sea harbour between Shanghai and Indo-China. It served as a base for the British navy and a place where merchants could store their goods and transfer them from ocean-going vessels to smaller ships to trade at ports along the China coast and inland waterways. About 80 per cent of the goods passing through the harbour consisted of re-exports destined for South China from overseas or from North China, or exports from China being transhipped in Hong Kong. Since the principal reason for Hong Kong's existence was to be an entrepôt for trade with China, it has always been a free port with no customs duties on imports or exports. Industries were established early in the colony's history to provide for the needs of the port and to process primary products for local consumption and export to China. Shipbuilding and ship-repairing yards were established soon after Hong Kong island was occupied in 1841, followed by a rope-making factory in 1851, a flour mill in 1859, a sugar refinery in 1870, a distillery in 1871, tobacco and cigarettes in 1880, a cement factory in 1897, and a cotton spinning and weaving company in 1899.\n\nIn 1911 the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey of all European, American, and British Indian firms in the colony engaged in import, export, and manufacturing. The survey listed 38 trading companies which had also set up factories. The 1931 census found that about a quarter of the working population (112,133 out of 470,794) were employed in manufacturing industries. The 1930 Blue Book listed 3,164 factories and workshops under 102 categories ranging from 124 boat builders to 116 tin beaters and 14 weaving factories. Most of these establishments were very small, situated in the back streets and tenements of the urban area. In 1932 only 586 were registered under the new Factories and Workshops Ordinance, which regulated firms that employed at least 20 persons. It is difficult to quantify the size of the manufacturing sector in the absence of detailed statistics of local consumption, but it appears that domestic exports of manufactured goods in 1932 totalled at least HK$36 million (about £2,500,000).1 The main items exported were cement, refined sugar, preserved ginger, lard, knitted singlets and hosiery, and electric torches.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215291, "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-2001", "page_number": 68, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "16\n\nsufficient to qualify for preference in colonial 'native' markets then it is a very bad outlook for us as I cannot see how the growing population of Victoria and Kowloon are going to find employment without industrial development,\n\nI therefore consider it as politically important as it is, from our point of view, economically advantageous to give the Hong Kong Chinese a commercial attachment to the empire. Our military and naval defences are designed against external aggression, but if relations with China ever became antagonistic there would be an enemy totalling over one million within the fortress gates, unless their bread is liberally spread with Empire butter.\n\nThe governor's plea for Hong Kong's manufacturing industry was warmly supported by all the Colonial Office officials who wrote minutes on this despatch. It was quickly passed up to the colonial secretary, W. Ormsby-Gore, who endorsed it as 'an admirable letter' and gave instructions for copies to be sent to the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade.\" Officials made frequent use of Caldecott's argument of imperial interests when attempting to repulse proposals from the Board of Trade and other departments to place further restrictions on Hong Kong's manufactures in the years that followed.\n\nBritish textile manufacturers continued to protest that they were suffering from unfair competition in the British and colonial markets and demanded that Hong Kong exports should be excluded by tariffs or quantitative restrictions. In order to fend off these pressures the Colonial Office suggested to the governor of Hong Kong that all cotton and artificial silk piece goods exported to Britain and the colonies should be accompanied by a certificate that they had been made from cloth which had been spun, woven and finished within the empire. This proposal posed difficulties for Hong Kong. There were no spinning mills in the colony and more than half the cotton yarn used in the production of piece goods and hosiery was imported from Japan and Shanghai. In order to continue to enjoy the benefits of imperial preference, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce secured the manufacturers' agreement to switch their purchases of yarn from China and Japan to cotton mills in India which were within the empire. But the manufacturers of goods made from artificial silk protested strongly that the only alternative to yarn from Japan was British yarn which was double the price ($1.70 a pound compared to 85c). This would destroy their competitiveness with Japanese products in British Malaya, the African colonies and the West Indies and drive them to bankruptcy. The Colonial Office put its case to the Board of Trade which refused to compromise, asserting that if Hong Kong was to continue to enjoy the advantages of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215298, "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-2001", "page_number": 75, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "23\n\n45. Cabinet Minutes, 6 June 1934, 23(34)6, 13 June 1934, 24(34)6, 3 Oct. 1934, 33(34)5, CAB23/79, PRO.\n\n46. Confidential Circular Despatch, June 1934, CO323/1298/10 and CO854/175.\n\n47. Colonial Office to Governor Hong Kong, 6 April 1934, CO323/1298/11.\n\n48. Information from R.R. Todd, an administrative officer in Hong Kong 1924-56, interviewed in 1986.\n\n49. CO323/1298/11. CO852/16/10.\n\n50. CO852/219/13.\n\n51. Circular Despatches, 13 April 1934, and 15 May 1934, CO854/175.\n\n52. Havinden and Meredith, 188-90. Governor Hong Kong to Colonial Office, 2 May 1934, CO323/1290/6.\n\n53. Circular Despatch, 19 Sept. 1936, CO854/170.\n\n54. Governor Jamaica to Colonial Office, 6 July 1936 and 11 Aug, 1936, CO852/51/9. Governor Jamaica to Colonial Office, 3 June 1937, CO852/106/19.\n\n55. An Economic Survey of the Colonial Empire, HMSO Colonial No 95 (London, 1934), 137. Economic Survey Col. 109, 170; Economic Survey Col. 126, 170. Hong Kong Trade Statistics 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935.\n\n56. Circular Despatch, 13 March 1933, CO323/1230/11.\n\n57. Letters and Memorandum from Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in Caldecott to Colonial Office, 25 July and 4 Aug. 1936, CO852/51/9. McKenzie (Custom House) to Eastwood (Colonial Office), 18 Sept 1936. Rydderch (Custom House) to Colonial Office, 26 Feb. 1937, CO852/107/1.\n\n58. In 1936 exports of electric flashlight torches totalled HK$2,930,000, including India HK$595,000, Netherlands East Indies HK$379,000, and Britain HK$167,000. Hong Kong Trade Returns 1936.\n\n59. Minutes on Caldecott to Clauson, 15 Oct. 1936, CO852/51/9. Clauson commented: 'It is all too seldom we get from a colonial governor so thoughtful and comprehensive a review of the future of the colony he governs.'\n\n60. Officer Administering Government, Hong Kong to Colonial Office, 30 Sept. 1937, with enclosures, CO853/109/5. King (Board of Trade) to Eastwood (Colonial Office), 13 Nov, 1937, CO852/109/5.\n\n61. Circular Despatch, 2 June 1937, CO854/176.\n\n62. Memorandum by Hamilton (Superintendent of Imports and Exports Hong Kong), 22 April 1937 CO852/106/19. Hong Kong Trade Returns 1937.\n\n63. Circular Despatch, 24 Feb. 1938, CO854/177.\n\n64. Minute by Caine (Financial Secretary Hong Kong 1937-39), 24 Jan. 1940, CO852/215/3. Gas masks, CO129/580/9. Aircraft assembly, CO129/571/15 and CO129/580/4.\n\n65. Hong Kong Blue Book 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940.\n\n66. Calculations made as in note 5 from Hong Kong Trade Returns 1938 omitting all raw materials, unprocessed agricultural products and exports of banknotes (valued at HK$36,000,000).\n\n67. Clausen described the policy of the Colonial Office in these words when speaking at a meeting of the Overseas Trade Development Council, 31 July 1935, CO852/16/7.\n\n68. Colonial Office to Neville Chamberlain, 15 Jan. 1936. Federation of British Industries to Warren Fisher, 14 Feb. 1936. Minutes in Treasury file T160/763/F14811/1.\n\n69. Minutes of the second meeting of the committee, 23 April 1937, T160/763/F14811/1.\n\n70. CO852/16/13, The inventor approached the Colonial Office directly and officials referred the project to the governor of Trinidad. The governor appointed a committee which doubted if the project was feasible. The Colonial Office received a number of similar proposals in the 1930s. Often the entrepreneur was eager to set up a factory provided that he was granted a high protective tariff, an exclusive license, part of the capital costs, subsidised freight rates and other financial privileges. In effect the businessman was asking the colonial government to bear all the risks while he would enjoy the profits if the project was successful. See for example CO852/16/9, a proposal to set up a factory in Nyasaland to process sisal into binder twine. An official commented that this was a last desperate attempt by a bankrupt farmer to keep his own sisal estates going.\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]