[
    {
        "id": 207552,
        "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": 320,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "312\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThe Deputy Commander at Taipang was the highest ranking officer in the locality of Kowloon during the Ch'ing Dynasty. At that time, the headquarters was set up within the Kowloon Walled City. This office, which also served as a garrison, still existed before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, but had been converted into a Home for the Aged run by a Catholic Mission. In accordance with the [Kwangtung] military system adopted in Ch'ing Dynasty, there were altogether 6 battalions of armed forces under the Kowloon garrison commander. The reason why the Kowloon headquarters was named the Taipang Garrison is that the geographical name of Kowloon was once alternatively called Taipang Shan (⚟) and was politically under the sovereignty of Po On (then San On) District Magistracy.* Besides, there is also a very good harbour by the name of Taipang Bay located at the southeastern part of Po On District and east of Kowloon. In Taipang harbour the water runs to 5-10 fathoms deep where large warships can cast anchor. It was partly due to the importance of local coastal defence and partly due to the necessity of civil administration that such a garrison was established at Taipang Bay. The post of Deputy Commander was normally held in a 3 years' term; and among all the previous commanders, General Cheung was the most important in terms of historical significance.\n\nCheung Yuk-tong, alias Hon-sang,† was born in Wei Yeung District, Kwangtung, and for many generations the Cheung's family lived in the Peach Garden in the capital town of the Wai Yeung District. In the 4th year of Hsien Feng (A.D.) (1853) he was appointed as Deputy Commander at Taipang, being promoted from staff officer at the Chin Shan Checkpoint [near Macao]. For four successive tours of service, in all a total of 13 years Gen. Cheung had been holding this post, and in those days the local inhabitants enjoyed a very peaceful time.\n\nIt was not until the 5th year of Tung-chih reign (1866) that General Cheung retired from the military service at the age of 72. When the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula was ceded to Britain as a consequence of the signing of the Peking Treaty he was still in office. As the Treaty was signed by the Imperial Court,\n\n*This is not so, but the Taipang garrison force served in and controlled Kowloon and district. Except where stated footnotes are supplied by James Hayes.\n\n†",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207555,
        "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": 323,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n315 \n\nWhen Yuk-tong was a boy, he sat the local preliminary examinations. For seven times he failed in these examinations, so decided to give up and joined military service, where he enjoyed a very good reputation on account of his accumulated merits. In the 20th year of the Tao Kuang reign (*) he led his troops to fight a battle in Kwun Chung ('È'). Later, in the spring of the 4th year of Hsien Feng (A), i.e. 1853 he was transferred from being a staff officer stationed in Chin Shan Checkpoint to Taipang City and was promoted to be Deputy Garrison Commander, with his headquarters in what we call nowadays the Kowloon Walled City.* \n\nHe held this post for 13 years, once acting as Commander-in-chief of naval forces in Kwangtung province. It was under his care and supervision that Fort Bocca Tigris (✯✯) was repaired. When the Kowloon peninsula was first leased to Britain in 1860 and Sino-British diplomatic relations were established, negotiations between the two governments took place frequently. In spite of the fact that Gen. Cheung, the chief officer in the locality, was unavoidably involved in external affairs, he insisted that he was only responsible for local defence and the garrison and thus had no authority for making any decisions on foreign affairs. What he could do was to submit himself to instructions from higher authorities. \n\nIt happened on one occasion that the general crossed the harbour to Hong Kong island, where he stayed overnight, and on the next day all the inhabitants of the Walled City set off fire crackers in order to welcome him back. It is, of course, beyond our imagination nowadays to realize just how excited were those inhabitants at that time, but we do have strong reasons to believe that the general must have been greatly admired by them.† Although the general himself was not known for his academic achievement, yet there was one thing of which he was proud in his later days; that is, that his grandson Cheung Ching-san ( ) passed with distinction in the local examinations. \n\nIn the 5th year of the Tung Chi reign (♬✯) (1866) the general retired from military service at the age of 72, and died four years later, at the age of 76. \n\n* His rank was which may be translated as brigade-general. \n\n† At this time Hong Kong was under foreign i.e. British rule, and (though the article does not say so) the visit probably took place when a state of war existed between the two nations. Hence the great excitement.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    }
]