[ { "id": 206558, "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-1972", "page_number": 106, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "100\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nSuch improvements, however, were inadequate to overcome 50 years of neglect and insensitivity to the basic requirements for good public health and in 1894 the bubonic plague descended upon Hong Kong with a vengeance.\n\nThe Great Plague of 1894 and Remedial Action\n\nLengthy accounts have been written about the bubonic plague of 1894 including case histories of the agonies suffered by its victims. Suffice it to say that of the 2,679 persons treated in government hospitals, 2,485 died in great misery giving a mortality rate of almost 93%. Of the victims, the vast majority was Chinese. The worst afflicted area was the Western district and particularly the Tai Ping Shan locality.\n\nIn seeking an answer to the outbreak, Dr. J. A. Lowson reported that:\n\nPredisposing causes are, speaking generally, insanitary conditions, and of these filth and overcrowding must be ... two of the most important factors. The district of Tai Ping Shan supplied these factors in a marked degree at the beginning of the outbreak, the majority of houses being in a most filthy condition, as owing to the uncleanly habits of the people, the amount of ... rubbish accumulates in a Chinese house ... to an extent beyond the imagination of most civilised people. When to a mixture of dust, old rags, broken crockery, moist soil etc. is added faecal matter, and the decomposing urine of animals and human beings, a terribly insanitary condition of affairs prevails; and that this is no overdrawn picture of what was to be met with in Tai Ping Shan, many Europeans know to their cost. ...10\n\nDr. Lowson made a number of strong recommendations as to the measures which should be enforced to prevent further outbreaks of bubonic plague. Among other things, he urged that existing regulations should be strictly applied regarding the design and construction of house drains, the closure of insanitary buildings and the provision of adequate lighting and ventilation of premises. He further recommended that the use of basements as domestic accommodation should be prohibited, that all wells situated in densely\n\n10 Lowson J. A., \"The Epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong, 1894\", Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1895, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong, 1895, p. 182.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206587, "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-1972", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "REVIEW OF HOUSING CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG\n\n12. Hong Kong Government\n\n13. Hong Kong Government\n\n14. Lowson J. A.,\n\n15. Maunder W. F. & Szczepanik E. F.,\n\n16. Pryor E. G.\n\n17. Wellington A. R.,\n\n129\n\nReport of the Housing Commission, Hong Kong 1923.\n\nReport of the Housing Commission 1935, Hong Kong 1938.\n\n\"The Epidemic of Bubonic Plague in Hong Kong 1894\", Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1895, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong 1895.\n\nHong Kong Housing Survey 1957, University of Hong Kong in the Final Report of the Special Committees on Housing 1956-1958, Hong Kong, 1958.\n\n“An Assessment of the Need and Scope for Urban Renewal in Hong Kong\", Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1971.\n\nPublic Health in Hong Kong, Hong Kong 1930.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207302, "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-1975", "page_number": 70, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "62\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nmucous and epithelium frequently appeared in the stools.* Additionally, painful swellings or buboes commonly developed in the groin, neck or armpits usually by the second day.\n\nEven though by the turn of the nineteenth century medical science had made significant progress, little was still then known of the manner in which the disease was transmitted. It was not until 1905 that it was finally established in Bombay by the Plague Research Commission of India that the bacillus, pasteurella pestis, commonly gained entry into the blood stream by inoculation through the bite of fleas which, in turn, were carried by rats. Scientific research into the causes of the plague in Hong Kong came close to finding this answer but the plethora of other more plausible-looking theories detracted attention away from the apparently harmless flea.\n\nThe Origin of the Plague in Hong Kong\n\nBubonic plague in China was thought to have first spread from Yunnan which, itself, is likely to have been infected by transmissions over the trade routes from India.\n\nAs a prelude to the outbreak of the disease in Hong Kong in 1894, it appears that it occurred in Canton in January of that year. By June, it had reached epidemic proportions and had accounted for some 80,000 deaths. At the outbreak of the disease in Canton, many persons (particularly the well-to-do) moved into the countryside and thereby created new foci for its dissemination. Simpson thus records that it is \"not surprising that whatever affects Canton is not long in making itself felt in Hong Kong. This year when cholera broke out in Canton there was only an interval of a few weeks before the disease appeared in 1894.\" Indeed, the spread of the disease to Hong Kong was accelerated by the unrestricted entry from Kwantung Province of many thousands of workers and also junks and river boats that formed an integral part of the colony's role as an entrepot.\n\nOn the 10th May 1894, Hong Kong was declared an infected port and within the space of a few weeks the administration was\n\n* Quoted in William Hunter, A Research into Epidemic & Epizootic Plague Hong Kong, 1904, p. 6.\n\n↑ W. J. Simpson, Report on the Causes and Continuance of Plague in Hong Kong and Suggestions as to Remedial Measures, London, 1903, p. 22.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207303, "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-1975", "page_number": 71, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "THE GREAT PLAGUE OF HONG KONG\n\n63\n\nfaced with our epidemic of great magnitude. By July, for example, there had been 2442 deaths. Hospitals were quickly established on board the \"Hygeia\", at Kennedy Town Police Station and at the Kennedy Town glass works. The first two hospitals were run by European staff whilst the third was manned by Chinese personnel of the Tung Wah hospital. Official despatches record that \"it was deemed advisable to give the Chinese doctors a free hand at first. In any case, it is difficult to persuade the Chinese to report cases of sickness and their foolish and violent prejudice against Western medical men is quite sufficient to induce them, as they certainly did in the first fortnight or three weeks of the existence of the plague, not only to secrete their sick but often to desert their plague-stricken friends and relations after death.\"*\n\nA house-to-house inspection was carried out by personnel of the garrison and those houses in which plague had occurred were cleansed and disinfected. This action gave rise to numerous complaints from the Chinese community for it was rumoured that the foreigners had sinister and unspeakable desires on the women and children. Indeed, so inflamed did feelings become that a deputation of Chinese petitioned the Governor, Sir William Robinson, to order the cleansing operations to be stopped. However, Sir William made it clear in no uncertain terms that the government was determined to take strong measures. Subsequently, an anti-government poster campaign was launched and this spread to Canton where further rumours were started to the effect that English doctors were accused of cutting open pregnant women and scooping out the eyes of children to make medicines for the treatment of plague-stricken patients.\n\nThe prompt answer of the governor in Hong Kong was to station the gunboat \"Tweed\" off Tai Ping Shan and to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of persons distributing malicious posters. Additionally, the Chinese Viceroy in Canton was requested to issue proclamations denying the atrocity stories. However, these were not made with any great degree of vigour and feelings in Canton continued to run high to the extent that two women missionary doctors were set upon by a mob.\n\n* \"Further Correspondence Relative to the Outbreak of Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong between Sir William Robinson to the Marquess of Ripon 1894\", p. 2 in Blue Book Reports on Bubonic Plague 1894-1903, Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210705, "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": 56, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "39\n\none else. The general expectation was that May and Francis would be treated in the same way. However, whereas May was awarded the C.M.G., Francis was merely offered an inkstand. The discrepancy was made all the more apparent by the fact that inkstands were also awarded to a number of junior officials.\n\nOn 22 May 1895 the Governor wrote to Francis \"By the direction of the Marquess of Ripon I have great pleasure in forwarding to you the accompanying handsome inkstand. You will find engraved on it the following inscription: 'Presented by the Hong Kong Government with the approval of Her Majesty's Government to J.J. Francis Esq., Q.C., Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board, in recognition of services rendered during the epidemic of bubonic plague at Hong Kong in 1894'. For those services you have already been thanked by me, and also by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In again expressing my appreciation of the work which you then performed so willingly and so ably it only remains for me now to ask you to accept this inkstand from the Government of Hong Kong as a slight recognition of your disinterested and valuable labours during the epidemic of 1894\". Francis replied in a letter dated 27th May which he made public. After reviewing the work of the Permanent Committee and his part in it he said that the Public Committee felt that a medal or piece of plate, however valuable, was no sufficient acknowledgement for his services and in the circumstances it was impossible for him to accept the inkstand. He was perfectly satisfied with the thanks of the community and the Governor and Secretary of State and would have sufficient memorial of the plague year in the gold medal to be presented by his fellow citizens and in the state of his fee book. He would have been highly gratified if he had been honoured in the same way as May but the gift of an inkstand was so ludicrously inadequate to the services he had rendered that he could only conclude that the Secretary of State was under a false impression as to their nature. It was usual in England, or at least always had been, to award the honours of the campaign to the leader. He had done his work freely and voluntarily and without a thought, at the time, of anything beyond serving the colony but he now had a duty to speak out in justice to the Public Committee.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212940, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 8, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT\n\nHON AUDITOR'S REPORT\n\nARTICLES:\n\nKarina Lam Wai-Ling - The Concern of a Nation's Face: Evidence in the Chinese Press Coverage of Sports. ............................ 1\n\nJanet George - The Lady Doctor's 'Warm Welcome': Dr Alice Sibree and the Early Years of Hong Kong's Maternity Service 1903-1909 .. 81\n\nKeith Stevens - Three Fukienese [Min-nan] Cults: Pao-sheng Ta-ti, Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih and San P'ing Tsu-shih ....................... 111\n\nGerald Choa - The Lowson Diary: A Record of the Early Phases of the Bubonic Plague Epidemic in Hong Kong 1894 ................ 129\n\nPatrick Hase - Eastern Peace: Sha Tau Kok Market in 1925 ............ 147\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nMary Pang - Reflexivity in Research and a Question of Culture ..... 203\n\nDan Waters - Tales of a Venerable Chinese Gentleman ................. 211\n\nDan Waters - Taking a Godson ............................................... 215\n\nGeoffrey Roper - Visits to the Swire Institute of Marine Science at Cape D'Aguilar 1993 and 1994 ............................................... 217\n\nBOOK REVIEWS ....................................................................... 221\n\nvii\n\nix\n\nxvi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213080, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 148, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "The Lowson Diary: \n\nA Record of the Early Phase \n\nof the \n\nHong Kong Bubonic Plague* \n\n1894 \n\nG.H. Choa \n\n129 \n\nOne hundred years ago, a Bubonic Plague Epidemic broke out in Hong Kong. It originated from Yunnan where the disease was first detected probably in 1850. After an epidemic which occurred in 1860, it became endemic and in 1893, it spread across Guangxi to reach Guangdong early in 1894. Cases began to appear in Guangzhou in March and Hong Kong was hit in May.\n\nBriefly, plague is an infection of rats by the plague bacillus which is transmitted to human beings by the bite of fleas infesting the infected rats. Crowded and insanitary conditions in which people and rats co-exist are therefore breeding grounds for the disease. Spreading is by infected rats carried in any kind of transport from one place to another, infecting the local rat population. The most common form, bubonic plague, is so called because of the appearance of swollen glands in the arm-pits or groins of the patients; 'bubo' means swollen glands. The condition was almost invariably fatal, but can now be treated by antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline. It was during this last world-wide epidemic that the two causes of the disease, the plague bacillus and the flea as a vector carrying it, were discovered in Hong Kong and India respectively.\n\nThe Hong Kong Epidemic went on for thirty years, from 1894 to 1923. During the period, 21,867 cases were reported with 20,489 deaths, a mortality rate of 93.7%. The first cases of the disease were discovered among residents in the Tai Ping Shan District in West Point. There, the poorer class Chinese lived in appallingly overcrowded and squalid conditions without proper ventilation, sanitary services, drainage, and water supply. As soon as it was realised that plague had broken out, the place was immediately disinfected, but the disease continued to be prevalent.\n\n* A talk given to the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society on October 5th, 1994.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213083, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 151, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "132\n\nwhen he was tired out or feeling angry and frustrated. However, he made some annotations at a later date, 1933, on some of the entries and these were written in very clear, tidy, and easily legible handwriting. He was then sixty-seven, two years before he died. The diary must have meant a lot to him that he should review it forty years after the events. Maybe it was then that he decided to bequeath it to posterity with the hope that it might see the light of day, one day. Lowson began his diary in January 1894 and stopped writing after July. It was in the three-month period from May to July that he recorded the day-to-day happenings in connection with the Epidemic. He put down some statistical and clinical data in the first few days but, afterwards, he wrote mainly about the development of the situation, the measures taken to handle it, and of even greater interest, his clashes with the authorities. By editing the diary's contents, it is possible to write a coherent account of the early phase of the Epidemic, and this is what I have attempted to do. Lowson had also kept several pages of the Hong Kong Weekly Press dated May, June, and July 1894, on which weekly summaries of the events related to the Epidemic were reported. Besides, I am most grateful to Dr. John Nicholls of the Department of Pathology, Hong Kong University, for giving me a copy of a Report Lowson submitted to the Governor dated May 16th. Incidentally, the handwriting in this Report was as good and clear as the annotations. From these other sources, I have been able to obtain further data and information to elaborate on some of the entries I have chosen to present.\n\nTo us, the diary came to life on May 4th. Lowson wrote that he went to Canton by night boat and mentioned seven names. It would seem that they were going there to play some match, for the next day, the 5th, he wrote 'Murray and Potts licked hollow.' However, in his Report to the Governor, he stated that his main purpose was to see for himself the state of affairs as there had been reports that bubonic plague had broken out there.\n\nMay 6th\n\nWent into town to see plague and saw a large number of cases\n\nMay 7th\n\nBack to Hong Kong. In Club 6 pm. Rumour of plague. Saw Ram who said not so and described what had occurred\n\nRam was E.A. Ram, who was acting sanitary superintendent, and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213084, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "133\n\nsecretary of the Sanitary Board. He turned out to be wrong.\n\nMay 8th\n\nI am diagnosed A. Hung as suffering from plague and isolated him\n\nThe identity of A. Hung was revealed in the Report to the Governor. He was a ward boy in presumably the Government Civil Hospital. He was admitted during Lowson's absence in Canton with the diagnosis of remittent fever but having seen him Lowson diagnosed it as plague. This then was the first case he saw in the Hong Kong Epidemic. Action had now to be taken as described in the following entry:\n\nMay 10th\n\nOrder from HE OAG for report on plague in Canton in morning Order an four Taler to visit Tung Wah where I found about 20 cases of bubonic plague Visited Tung Wah again with Ayres at 2:30 pm Sanitary Board at 4:00 pm Long Meeting Gave order to have Hygeia over in morning and prepare for epidemic Government proclaimed Colony suffering from plague\n\nThe Governor then was Sir William Robinson. He must have been away and the person acting for him, known as the Officer Administrating the Government, could be the General Officer Commanding. The Hygeia was a hospital ship moored in the harbour for the isolation of patients suffering from infectious diseases such as small-pox and cholera. The Tung Wah was the same hospital which still stands on its original site, on Po Yan Street in Sai Ying Pun District.\n\nWe will now follow the situation as it developed from the entries of the next few days:\n\nMay 11th\n\nHygeia over Sanitary Board in pm passing bye-laws 13 deaths from plague\n\nMay 12th\n\nSome difficulty with moving patients but got them all over before 4 pm Saw all settled Rabbit and Guinea pig injected from A Hung 26 deaths reported from plague", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213096, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "145\n\na file-brand, his actions were dictated by his intense interest in his native town and its welfare.' A final judgment: “No matter how bitterly he might differ with any of his colleagues, and in his early years in the Council particularly he figured in many a heated scene, he left all rancour behind at the Council table. Next day he would greet his opponents as cheerfully as though nothing had happened to ruffle them and be good friends.\" We know that in Hong Kong, Lockhart and Francis had not responded to him,\n\nIn the end, how should we appraise Lowson and his diary? You will agree with me that he would appear to have been a rather difficult man; otherwise, he would not have clashed with authorities wherever he worked, in Hong Kong, India, and Forfar. You will recall that at the early stage of the Epidemic, he, a relatively junior doctor, offered to take sole charge but was turned down. This shows that he was probably the type who would prefer to give rather than take orders. But he was undoubtedly a forthright and strict character, uncompromising in disputes when he thought he was right and entirely honest in his intentions. I am sure all of us have come across such traits among our friends and colleagues. But neither Lowson nor history should accuse any of the people he criticised of mishandling the situation in any way. There was nothing else they could have done without the means that we now have at our disposal and the knowledge of the disease we now possess. Lowson's diary, though covering only the first phase, is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the literature on the Hong Kong Plague Epidemic now that it has become available.\n\nIn recent years, there has been much talk about Hong Kong's resilience, its capacity to recover quickly from one financial crisis after another, becoming even more prosperous each time. We seem to have forgotten Hong Kong's resilience in having survived the devastations of diseases, such as malarial fever in its infancy, bubonic plague in its adolescence, and occasional outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and others all through the years. There was a time when living in Hong Kong was a hazard, for one never knew when life or health would be threatened. The Plague Epidemic of 1894 was a real calamity for Hong Kong, as Sir William Robinson had said. But it can be regarded as a watershed for, after it, Hong Kong became a healthier and cleaner place. To mark its centenary, let us pay tribute to all those who contributed in the long fight against the Epidemic in their various capacities, as administrators, legislators, and medical and health officers, among them our unsung hero, Dr. J. A. Lowson.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213505, "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-1995", "page_number": 101, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "69\n\ndue to high density made the spread of diseases rapid and easy. In 1888, a very serious epidemic of smallpox broke out among the inhabitants of the district. In 1894 Bubonic Plague fell upon the district with a vengeance.\n\nProbably the terrible disease was introduced into Hong Kong from Canton. Unfortunately, Hong Kong had for several months been suffering from excessive drought and consequently a very limited water supply. The local overcrowding and insanitary conditions tended to favour the spread of the disease. It was not surprising to learn that two or three days later after the first appearance of the plague (11th May 1894) it assumed an epidemic form.\n\nThe plague had gained a firm footing in the most densely populated districts of Hong Kong. In Sai Ying Pun, First, Second, and Third Streets were the most infected parts of Hong Kong. The disease in Sai Ying Pun was due possibly to the bad conditions of the latrines, especially the public ones. They were used by the bulk of the Chinese population. Few Chinese dwellings in the district were provided with facilities of this kind. The plague bacillus was abundantly found in the faeces. In those latrines, there was practically no disinfection of the faeces, and they were not cleaned out as regularly as they ought to have been. These latrines were often visited by plague-stricken people. The bacillus was probably borne by air and infected the neighbouring houses.\n\nFrom a letter of Dr. Lowson to the Colonial Surgeon, bearing the date 15th August 1894, we learn that:\n\n\"There is a licensed private latrine at 113 Second Street. At a casual glance, the shut-up houses all around bear eloquent testimony upon this point. Round this latrine, there is scarcely a house occupied.\n\nIn Centre Street, at the corner of Third Street, there is a latrine. On passing into Third Street to the South, numerous houses are shut up, and several cases have occurred in the neighbouring houses.\n\nAt 82 First Street, there is a latrine with an entrance at 91 Second Street. A very large number of cases occurred round this place. Around several other latrines, more especially at 29 First Street, numerous cases occurred. Sheung Fung Lane off Second Street and opposite to No. 91.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213509, "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-1995", "page_number": 105, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "REFERENCES\n\n73\n\nChadwick O) (1882)\n\nReport on the Sanitary Condition of Hong Kong, London\n\nEitel, E.\n\n(1895)\n\nEurope in China\n\nFortune, R (1847)\n\nThree Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China. London\n\nJanet, UHLG (1931-5)\n\nOld Hong Kong, Hong Kong\n\nLethbridge, C.H. ed. (1948)\n\nCentenary History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong\n\nLo, Hsiang Lin et al (1963)\n\nHong Kong and its External Communication before 1842, the History of Hong Kong prior to the British Arrival, Hong Kong\n\nLowson, J.A. (1895).\n\nMedical Report on the Epidemic of Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong in 1894. Hong Kong\n\nSayer, G.R. (1937)\n\nHong Kong Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age, London\n\nSimpson, W.J. (1903)\n\nReport on the Causes and Continuance of Plague in Hong Kong and Suggestions as to Remedial Measures, Hong Kong\n\nTalbot, I.E.D. (1971)\n\n'An Outline of the Urban Development of Hong Kong Island During the Nineteenth Century' in Dwyer, D.J. (ed.) The Changing Face of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P47-62\n\nPage 105\n\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215523, "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": 300, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "250 \n\nburial ground. Inland Lot 899, on the east by the Pokfulam Road, and West by Cliff facing the Sea, measuring on the North, 4,800 feet, South-West, 3,500 feet, West, 5,100 feet.\n\n69\n\nCAROLINE HILL. Situated on the South side of the Caroline Hill Road and to the South of Caroline Hill, bordered on the North by a Public Road, 400 feet, South, 612 feet, East, 1,275 feet, West, 1,100 feet.\n\nIn the 1890s, a Eurasian cemetery, generally known as Ho Tung Cemetery before the Second World War and later renamed 'Chiu Yuen Cemetery,' was erected in Mount Davis, with the first grave dated to December 1892.70\n\nThe Plague Cemeteries and Trenches\n\nThe first outbreak of bubonic plague in Hong Kong occurred in May 1894. In less than a month, more than two thousand persons had died. On 6 June, Father Piazzoli, the pro-vicar, wrote:\n\nThe plague is spreading rapidly with 100 dead each day, though only a section of the Chinese city is infected. The tragedy is terrible. There are streets completely empty: it is estimated that about 40 thousand Chinese have left the island. The harbour too is deserted, the large ships sail at large; the trade is dead and the most horrible misery is growing...\"\n\nFrom 1896 on, the plague became almost an annual recurrence. Over the period 1894-1901, about 8,600 people succumbed to the disease.72 Two plague cemeteries were designated at Kennedy Town and Cheung Sha Wan in 1901.74 In addition, a section of ‘Kau Pui Loong Cemetery' (see below) was also referred to as 'Plague Trench'75 (疫症); which was also the case of 'Kai Lung Wan East Cemetery' (also see below).76\n\nIndian / Hindu Cemeteries in Kowloon\n\nIn 1900, a Hindu Cemetery was authorized in Kowloon, this might have been the result of the plague, as many Indian troops were among the victims of this epidemic disease. This Hindu Cemetery was described as:\n\nPage 300\n\nPage 301", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216103, "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": 402, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "336\n\nGovernment servants completed four-year tours up until the early 1960s. When we went on leave, being seen off was a grand occasion. One would normally organise a reception for a number of friends. They boarded the ship. Occasionally, there was a bit of gate crashing by people known as \"professional see'ers off\" who enjoyed the company and a few free drinks.\n\nBrass bands would play Auld Lang Syne on the quay and paper streamers would be thrown to friends on shore. As the ship pulled away the streamers would break and the \"umbilical cord\" would be severed, as it were. After a four-year tour a government servant would earn something like seven months leave plus 30 days travelling each way. That meant you were away from the colony for about nine months. Being seen off was an important affair for Chinese too and, in the 1950s when the growing of rice was not profitable any more and the \"vegetable revolution\" was underway, many New Territories' Chinese made their way to England to work in restaurants. On being seen off just about the entire village would sometimes turn out!\n\nOn one occasion I was on leave in England and a fellow passenger on a train spotted my suitcase. 'Ah,' he said, 'you're from Hong Kong. Tell me. Do they still put paint on with their hands?' I had to admit that painters stick their woollen-gloved hand into a pot of paint when they paint metal railings and the like. They still do. It's labour saving. It's surprising what people remember about Hong Kong after they have left.\n\nPestilence\n\nThe colony was not a healthy place in its young days and many expatriates died young, as a wander through what we used to call the Colonial Cemetery (now the Hong Kong Cemetery) in Happy Valley reveals. There were cases of bubonic plague up until the 1920s with an especially bad epidemic in 1894. There was a worrying outbreak of cholera in the early summer of 1961. Stalls were manned by nurses in the street, for example by the Star Ferry. There was no wasting of time and no paperwork. All you did was roll up your sleeve. Now, from the days of pestilence and being an unhealthy place, Hong Kong has a life expectancy greater than most western countries, including Britain and the USA.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]