[ { "id": 207018, "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": 89, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG\n\n83\n\nThere is a gap of several months between the second-last and last of Bridgeman's letters. The last letter was written on October 29, 1843 following his release from hospital where he had been ill with dysentry.23 He told his sister that he was still ill and very weak, but (perhaps on account of illness) he was coming home—at last.\n\nLittle information can be found on Orlando's subsequent life and career. We know that he continued with the 98th Regiment as a lieutenant until sometime in 1845, when he was transferred to the 11th Regiment of Hussars (Prince Albert's Own).24 Undoubtedly to Orlando's delight, this regiment was stationed in England, first at Newbridge and then at Coventry. Bridgeman served as a lieutenant with the 11th Hussars until sometime in 1847 when he appears to have quit the army.25 From 1847 until his death on October 4, 1913 at the age of ninety, he seems to have led a completely obscure life.26 The 1914 edition of Burke's Peerage described him as a “late” lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, a post he had held almost seventy years before. He died unmarried,\n\nReading Orlando's letters today one is inclined to picture him as something of a whining prig who found cause for complaint with everyone and everything. At his best, one might be charitable and describe him as retiring and sensitive. With his concern for the effects of the noon day sun and his distaste for unnecessary perspiration, he certainly was not suited to the rigorous and hard life of punitive expeditions in an expanding empire. Neither did he desire to join the rowdy drinking of his fellow officers, but preferred the company of his singing canaries. A Flashman he was not. Or was he? As with any historical document, one must keep in mind for whom the documents were written, in this case a sister. What sort of letter did he send his brother Francis, a captain in the 45th Regiment? We will probably never know, but one hopes that he told his brother that he joined Captain Balfour's farewell party, for a cup of tea at least.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208716, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "146\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nManila, would have made the journey more comfortable. Another early visitor was Father John Smith of Kong Moon mission, just returning from the States. Apparently his stay at home had made him careless and he had not been on the Hong Kong streets very long before he was \"taken\" by several urchins who successfully \"lifted\" his fountain pen while pretending to fight over the privilege of shining his shoes.\n\nEarly in April, Father Tennien returned to Shanghai after a visit to Hong Kong. At this time, Father Brack recovered a goodly number of articles which the Carmelite Sisters had managed to save from looters by storing them in their convent. Among these were books, vestments, an adding machine and some typewriters, together with a lot of stationery. They had also kept in their convent a large wooden crucifix and two large statues, both the beautiful handwork of Brother Albert, to be replaced in the Chapel.\n\nIn addition to the ravages caused by the Japanese on Stanley House, another enemy moved in and inflicted more damage. This enemy was white ants, and they did a rather thorough job on much of the woodwork that had remained otherwise intact.\n\nWe learned that national currency was getting to the point where one \"weighed\" it rather than \"counted\" it. A big shopping spree in Shanghai or Canton required hiring a coolie or ricksha to carry enough bundles of paper currency to pay the bills. At the same time, prices in Hong Kong were outrageous; a cheap white suit costing HK$160—over ten times the pre-war price!\n\nA Korean Dominican priest, Father Ri, stayed at Stanley while working with Japanese political prisoners now detained in the Stanley jail where the British and American internees spent the war years.\n\nIn May, Archbishop Zanin, Apostolic Delegate to China, arrived by plane from Shanghai for a conference with more than a dozen Ordinaries of South China, including our four Ordinaries.\n\nBishop Paschang arrived at Stanley for the conference, with a Van Dyke beard. Only his episcopal rank saved him from the customary Stanley practice of removing beards by force!\n\nOur jeep made five trips into Hong Kong in one day. Sometimes it must carry nine passengers with baggage, but without it, we would be lost.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212860, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 169, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "154\n\nAbdullah Sassoon (Member Bombay Legislative Council, 1818-1896)\n\nDavid Sassoon and His Family\n\n2 daughters\n\nSir Albert Abdullah\n\n2 daughters\n\nSir Jacob\n\nSir Edward\n\nSir Victor\n\nJoseph\n\nHannah Moise (d. 1870)\n\nSir Elias David (1843-1884)\n\nMeyei\n\nLeah Gubbay\n\nDavid (d. 1879)\n\nHannah Joseph (d. 1826)\n\nDavid Sassoon 1792-1864 (First Jewish trader in Shanghai)\n\nFlora Hyeen (d. 1886)\n\n3 daughters\n\nDavid Sassoon 1832-1867 || Flora Reuben\n\nDavid Reuben\n\nArthur Abraham David\n\n1840-1912 || Eugenie Louise Jadilk Perugia\n\nDavid Aaron\n\n1841-1894 || Flora Abraham\n\nFrederick David\n\nDavid Sassoon's elder brother, Abdullah Sassoon, who had supervised the family's business in Bombay, was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council. David Sassoon and Company, incorporated in London to buy and sell raw cotton, began to carry opium in the early 1830s. After the Opium War ended in 1842, David Sassoon and Company moved into Hong Kong, and, as soon as British authorities were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "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": 213231, "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": 53, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "32\n\nAfter the firm of Elmenhorst and Sander had closed under financial pressure, Elmenhorst was declared a bankrupt in July 1866 (DP 24 July 1866). Fritz Sander continued business under his own name. Fritz Adolph Riscius Grobien joined him as a partner in 1869 (DP 20 Apr. 1869). Mr. Grobien had formerly been an assistant in Oxford and Co. After his association with Sander ceased, he conducted a brokerage business in Hong Kong on his own account. He became a naturalised British subject in 1888 (GG 21 Feb. 1888).\n\nBrune Herbert Becker became a partner of Sander, who returned to Hamburg. When Mr. Becker left for a visit home in 1892, he appointed as his attorney in Hong Kong Gottlieb Lebricht Theodor Bunge, an employee of his firm, and his brother Albert Wilhelm Arthur Becker, from the firm of Wieler and Co. in Hong Kong. Sometime between 1896 and 1911, the two firms of Wieler and Co. in Hong Kong amalgamated under the name Sander, Weiler and Co.\n\nWieler and Co. was operating in Hong Kong in 1876 under the management of Oscar Wilhelm Wieler. Mr. Wieler returned to Germany in the year 1887, where he died on 25 August 1895. After his departure, the Hong Kong office was managed by his brother Gustav Adolph. Both the brothers had been assistants in the firm of Bourjou, Hubener and Co.\n\nAt the time of the liquidation of Sander, Wieler and Co. in 1914, the partners were G. Wieler and R. Becker of Hamburg, A. Becker of Hong Kong, A. Sander, and B. Mielek of Shanghai.\n\nMelchers and Company\n\nSiemssens and Melchers were the two largest of the German firms in China in the nineteenth century. Melchers was established at Bremen in 1806 by Anton Friedrich Carl Melchers (DP 9 Jan 1906). Sixty years later, they opened a branch in Hong Kong. The partners were Hermann Melchers and Adolf Andre (DP 30 Aug. 1866). Soon after they opened their offices at No. 4 Graham Street, the old firm of Dent and Company failed. This provided the opportunity for the German firm to acquire a large and convenient office and godown on the seafront at Pedder's Wharf (DP 21 Nov. 1868). Before the office was opened, Hermann Melchers had been an assistant in the firm of Schellhass and Company. He remained with Melchers and Company until it was liquidated in 1914. The interest", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216161, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 460, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "394\n\nfood in village culture. Early last century, the meals in most village families were basic for most of the year: consisting of rice with salt fish or preserved vegetables, with meat once or twice a month. During my initial researches into Hong Kong's rural history, a local leader impressed upon me how people so looked forward to the major festivals of the year, for it was only then, most notably at the lunar new year, that they could have a greater variety of food, and more of it. Major family events, like the marriages of sons and the celebration of old age, were welcomed for the same reason. Anticipation was heightened by the confident expectation that even if they could not afford the expense and had to borrow cash or mortgage land, families would provide the proper feasts on these occasions, or else \"lose face\" in the community.\n\nLike much else in Chinese culture, the dishes prepared at such times were named so as to have auspicious meanings. For instance, at the lunar New Year, oysters, in Cantonese pronunciation named ho si conveyed the sense of good luck, whilst a dish of green vegetables, faat choi, expressed the wish that all those attending the feast would get rich. There were, and are, many such examples - see, pp.46-7 of T. C. Lai's book, At the Chinese Table (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1984), also in the Images of Asia series. Even more focused on this topic is another interesting book, recently reprinted (2001) from the original edition of 1991 by Graham Brash, Singapore: namely Koh-Hwang I-Ling's Symbolism in Chinese Food. This is recommended reading, albeit it relates to Singapore Chinese of Hokkien descent, rather than the Cantonese and Hakka who are the subject of my book.\n\n-\n\nA certain type of food eaten at village feasts had (and still has) a distinct social function. This was the \"basin food\" provided for, and often by, the whole village on celebratory occasions. Consisting of very fat pork, with bits of turnip, dried mushrooms, beancurd and the like, cooked and mixed together, it was meant to indicate the equality and solidarity or brother-hood of participants. It was and is not confined to men but includes women and children. It is communal in every sense of the word, and is intended to be such. Its preparation involved persons from each family in one or other of the many tasks involved, from providing or marketing for the ingredients, the building of an outdoor stove and its covering, the collection of dried grass and firewood to feed the stove for the cooking, fetching water, washing crockery before and after, bringing tables and benches to the site, and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]