[ { "id": 204466, "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-1962", "page_number": 98, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "LIFE IN THE NEW TERRITORIES\n\n87\n\nHeaven. In Canton itself there was a serious plot to seize the city in October 1894, which led Consul Fraser to write in his next report\n\nThere is little doubt that dissatisfaction with the administration of their native country is growing among the Southern Chinese, and if no attempt at reform is made, may result in a serious insurrection\". He mentioned the plot but remarked that its failure was due more to the ineptitude of its organisers than to the vigour of the local authorities.33 His colleague at Pakhoi, in the south-east of the province, was more critical.\n\nSuch as is Chinese civilisation, Pakhoi is of its outskirt only and shows a lower level than I have seen anywhere else in this country. Piracy is in the blood of the race. A glance through the year's diary shows a monotonous record of petty coast raids, hoverings of pirate junks (which still terrorise the neighbouring coastline) and robberies of every degree of dignity from the sacking of the larger pawnshops to the plunder of a returned emigrant from the Straits or Sumatra. Of Chinese local authorities at Pakhoi itself there are practically none, the highest native Civilian within 20 miles being an officer of the rank of sub-district deputy magistrate armed with an amount of authority that barely enables him to call in question the theft of a matchbox. It would be invidious to say this much of the Pakhoi neighbourhood without adding that most of the adjacent areas are worse.34\n\nWhilst these reports were confined to individual districts there can be little doubt that the general unrest was known and felt in the New Territory. It will be recalled that SUN Yat Sen was a Cantonese and some of his followers are credited with swelling the ranks of the village bands which offered resistance to the British troops who entered the New Territory in 1899.35 This tale of unrest and lawlessness, and weakness on the part of the civil authorities, provides a background to the unsuccessful reform movement of 1898, sponsored by the southern party at Peking, whose sequel was the incarceration of the emperor by his formidable aunt, the Empress Dowager, the stringent capital measures against the reform party and their dispersal overseas or in foreign concessions in China. The leader of the movement and adviser to the emperor was KANG Yue Wei, a prominent scholar and mandarin, and himself a Cantonese.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205248, "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-1967", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "and in the Colonial Office in London. Mr. Endacott's History of Hong Kong (1958) has already indicated what sort of material is available to form the necessary background to new studies in urban history and sociology.\n\nWe hope, then, that this Journal will receive contributions in this neglected field and that, in particular, it will benefit from the new project in urban studies, now being initiated by Dr. Alan Birch of the History Department at the University of Hong Kong. We hope, too, that some of the material being obtained from the Urban Family Life Study commissioned by the Hong Kong Government and now in progress under the direction of Dr. Robert Mitchell from the University of California, Berkeley, may appear in its pages. As a Hong Kong publication the Journal must play its part in encouraging and making available some of this basic information.\n\nMeantime we have not made much progress with the ethnographic aspects stressed by the Hon. Editor in 1962. Unfortunately, pure ethnography is rather neglected by scholars nowadays and, probably for this reason, less progress has been made in this field, though the curator of the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery, with the help of the New Territories Administration and others, has begun collecting items of interest, with a view to forming a local collection. Members were fortunate recently in hearing a lecture from Mr. Alan L. Kagan on the Cantonese Puppet Theatre in Hong Kong. It is hoped to include this article in the 1968 Journal. Mr. Kagan's assessment has reinforced Mr. Cranmer-Byng's remark five years ago that time is indeed short. Whereas there are only two part-time puppet troupes operating in present-day Hong Kong, there were more full-time operators twenty years ago, when a smaller, poorer, less-sophisticated and less westernised population supported this type of entertainment enthusiastically and business was good, their services being in demand all over the territory. The Editorial Committee welcomes articles of this sort and would be glad to have more of them from interested persons.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205421, "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-1967", "page_number": 183, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "176\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\npopulation is involved in all this and its relationship to the institutional life of the society. There are a few useful pieces on such matters however. A section worth mentioning here is on the city gods who are second only in importance on the island to the goddess Ma Tsu. The section includes a detailed description of the temple to the city god in Hsinchu,\n\nIt appears that before the Ch'ing dynasty set up official law and order in Taiwan the need for public control in the early days of immigration was met largely by the city gods and their temples. In some cases temple attendants became the administrators of local justice and a group of bone-healers (associated with the temples?) the police force. Their shops in Taiwan, says the author, still display swords and helmets associated with their former role. Mandarin officials sent by the Ch'ing court in Peking had first to report to the city god temple and ask permission for any changes in local administration, and this went on until the Japanese curtailed the activity during their administration. Not only did the city gods \"take the place of the Imperial government\" in the early days, but \"each were given titles and enfeoffed (sic) with their territories\" (p. 58).\n\nThe resident in Hong Kong might be interested particularly in a section on Ma Tsu, who has assumed something of the status of patron saint in Taiwan. Ma Tsu, in fact, is none other than T'in Hau, \"Goddess of Heaven\" who is so important here to the boat population. The author gives us various legends of her origin which are popular in Taiwan and show us why she should have such importance for sea-faring folk (interestingly enough T'in Hau is similarly known as Ma Tsu in Macau and some believe Macau is in fact named after her). It is also interesting to note that those seven \"fairies\" known as the Seven Sisters in Hong Kong and worshipped by girls looking for husbands appear in Taiwan as the Seven Old Maids, with a particular role in care of children.\n\nIt is my impression that this book is probably written more with the interests of the foreign visitor or new foreign resident to Taiwan in mind, and perhaps those also of people working in Christian missions on the island. However, even if not directed especially to the research worker or resident elsewhere, there is much in this account to repay study by them. Hong Kong, 1967.\n\nMARJORIE TOPLEY", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205553, "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": 95, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "90\n\nARMANDO M. DA SILVA\n\nIt will suffice here to say that the exterior defence of the Chu Kong estuary consisted of a series of forts, customs-stations and guard-posts in the Lo Man Shan 老萬山, Kai Pong 鷄澎, Sam Chau Mun 三洲門, Ngoi Ling Ting 外伶仃, and the Tam Kon ## groups of the outer off-shore islands. The civil administration ruled from Nam Tau, the district city of the San On district. The military administration was centred at Tai Pang, on the western arm enclosing Tai Pang Hoi (Mirs Bay). The civil administration operated on a north-south axis, as against the east-west axis of the military coastal defence system. This is understandable when one realizes that the military could facilitate their control of the coast-line by establishing easy communications by water running the length of the coast-line from strongpoints on strategic head-lands and the offshore islands.\n\n3 For the Chinese characters of place names of some locales in the vicinity of Tai Yu Shan see map 3. For names of places within the present territory of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960).\n\n4 So far as I know there has been no published study of this fort by Hongkong's local historians, except for a brief mention in one work which states that Kai Yik Kok fort was of Ch'ing dynasty date. Lo Hsiang-lin, Hongkong and its External Communication before 1842, (Hongkong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963) p. 172.\n\n5 The principal ingredients of this cement are clam and oyster shells which are crushed and burnt to produce slaked lime. The lime is then mixed with fine sand to produce a holding cement. Shells and fine sand are common to many local beaches and are, apparently for this purpose, used in lime kilns.\n\n6 San On Yuen Chi, kuen 22, under section on Coastal Defence reads:\n\n看復界後海絮籹寧而設險更捻周密雖今之汎地 及設兵皆與舊制不同而大嶼山雞翼角炮臺南頭 炮臺赤濘炮蠱最為餓要\n\n7 Fan Lau is also known as Shek Sun meaning \"boulder growths\", a reference to the numerous residual boulders at Kai Yik Kok,\n\n8 Luis Gomes, Monografia de Macau (Macau, 1951), a Portuguese translation of the O Mun Kei Leuk p. 70. \"No 7° ano de long Tcheng (1730) construiram-se fortalezas nas duas montanhas, distribuiram-se as guarniçoes para a sua defensa e foram reforçadas as tropas que guarneciam Tai-U-San formando assim como que um angulo semelhante ao que e constituido pelos chifres dum boi, para servir de defensa exterior de Macau e o Boca Tigre\",\n\n9 J. J. L. Duyvendak, \"Sailing directions of Chinese voyages\" T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938) pp. 230-237; and \"The true dates of the Chinese maritime expeditions in the early fifteenth century\", T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938), pp. 341-412.\n\n10 The district of San On (新安) was formed in the sixth year of Lung Hing (隆慶) ie. 1572-73, Fourteen years later, in 1587, the San On district gazetteer was written by Yan Tai-kon (縣太君), the District Magistrate. Various editions followed. The latest edition was published in 1819. This gazetteer provides the best primary source of information on pre-British Hongkong. Chapters (kuen) XIV and XXII deal with Coastal Defence. These are chapters of special interest to historical geographers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206348, "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": 165, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "SUNG-TYPE POTTERY FINDS IN HONG KONG\n\n149\n\namong the sites, will at least be an important step towards an understanding of the overall pattern of early cultural and trade relations between China and South-east Asia over a period of several centuries. This comparative study will, of course, become more meaningful still when the pottery traditions of South China are better known,\n\nNOTES\n\n1 A report of the finds at Shek Pik by Hayes and Watt appeared in the Journal of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, Vol. I, 1968, pp. 19-23.\n\n2 Jao Tsung-i: Kowloon in Historical Records of Sung Period, Hong Kong 1959.\n\n3 Lo Hsiang-lin: Hong Kong and Its External Communications before 1842, Chapter on “Last of the Sungs\", Hong Kong 1963.\n\n4 According to the survey sheets and land ownership schedules kept in the District Office, Islands, New Territories Administration.\n\n5 WW 1963.1, pp. 27-35.\n\n6 WWTKTL 1958.2, pp. 34-37 and WW 1959.6, pp. 62-71.\n\n7 WWTKTL 1958.2, p. 37.\n\n8 L. and C. Locsin: Oriental Ceramics discovered in the Philippines, Tuttle, 1968.\n\n9 Ku-Kung Po-wu-yuan Yuan-k'an, No. 2, 1960, pp. 121-123.\n\n10 WW 1965.2, pp. 26-31.\n\n11 UKK 1965.6, pp. 287-288.\n\n12 Kuang-chou Hsi-ts'un Ka-yao I-tzu, 1958.9, Wen Wu Press.\n\n13 See, for example, Plate V, KKTH 1956.4. Also Plate XVI (2) in J. C. Y. Watt: A Han Tomb in Lei Cheng Uk, Hong Kong, City Museum Handbook, 1970.\n\n14 WWTKTL 1955.10.\n\n15 See notes on pp. 161-3 JHKBRAS Vol. 9, 1969.\n\n16 KK 1962.8 pp. 414-415 and KK 1964.4 pp. 196-199.\n\nWWTKTL = Wen-wu-ts'an-k'ao-tzu-liao\n\nWW = Wen-wu\n\nKKTH = K'ao-ku-t'ung-hsün\n\nKK = K'ao-ku\n\nChinese Names and Terms\n\nNim Shu Wan 稔樹灣 Kai Tak 啟德\n\nPage 165\n\nPage 166", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207840, "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": 228, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 213\n\nto create local contacts; and some of the politicians are certainly not unwilling to be drawn into this, for them, new organisational version of kinship. In the spring rites in the main ancestral hall of one big clan there was represented this year a Hong Kong association based on the surname of the clan but largely recruited from among townspeople with no original New Territories connexions. One of the politicians of this same clan is the sponsor of an occult religious group which is a branch of a widespread esoteric religion in Hong Kong, the members of which are chiefly immigrants. At the only meeting of this group that I was able to attend the great majority of the people present, including all the specialists, were immigrant business men from the urban areas. It is not easy to disentangle the politician's motives in agreeing to sponsor the group, but it is at least clear that his own economic interests, on some of which I am informed, are likely to be served by the ties he has in this way created or strengthened. Indeed, the penetration of New Territories leadership by urban interests and residents, and the orienting of New Territories leaders to the city are a significant index of the way in which in recent times the once partly isolated back garden of the Colony has become a part of the city's organisational life. Many aspects of this increasing loss of autonomy by the New Territories need to be looked into, for, apart from anything else, it suggests that in the planning of research we can no longer assume that town and country can be treated separately.\n\n38. Between the abandonment during the first decade of the century of the idea that there was a regular and readymade system of leaders and tribunals for the Administration to make use of and the development after the Second World War of the institution of the Village Representative (based, it seems, on innovations made by the occupying Japanese), the elders and leaders appear to have been anybody whom administrators might from time to time place trust in and care to consult. The accessibility of the administrators was so high and their prestige so great that they came to assume a chief role in the field of social control. It was not simply that they were magistrates and land officers; their courts were informal and they were prepared to help settle disputes on an even less formal basis. (Present-day administrators lament the disappearance during the war of the New Territories Administration papers, for they look back on them as a lost guide to Chinese custom and its application. The social historian and the anthropologist should join in the mourning...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207845, "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": 233, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "218\n\nMAURICE FREEDMAN\n\n(as I hope it will be) of the relations between a market town and its surrounding villages, then there will be in the course of it the opportunity to see how local leaders acting in concert may attempt to deal with disputes brought to them.\n\n47. I turn now to a different subject. Fung shui is very much in the administrator's mind and I was pleased to have my own growing interest in Chinese geomancy reinforced by the interest shown by the District Officers. I should explain that before I began my survey in the New Territories I had not dealt with fung shui as a field problem and that the only analysis I had made of it from the literature was concerned with the significance of quarrels over grave sites. (My Lineage Organization deals briefly with this matter at pp. 77f.) I had therefore much to learn while I was in the New Territories and there remain many points I have yet to study. The following account, as a result, is an exploration and only the beginning of an analysis.\n\n48. I shall open the discussion with a bald statement that any view of the situation is misguided which starts from the assumption that the inhabitants of the New Territories are parties to a great cynical conspiracy seeking to exploit the tender concern of the Administration for the religious susceptibilities of its charges. This is a view held by many city people who, in a mixture of envy and condescension, gaze on their country cousins from afar, and by some outsiders in the New Territories whose distance from the local people is to be measured socially and not in miles. True, the Administration has shown itself to be zealous in the protection of Chinese religion (and more tolerant of it than the preceding Chinese regime, whose officials were required to suppress unorthodoxy); and there are undoubtedly cases where a government with a less tender attitude might with impunity have overridden geomantic objections which, in the event, have cost the Administration time, annoyance, and money. But in fact the success of many country people in getting their way in fung shui matters has necessarily rested on their belief in it; for were people to be generally cynical the system of action could not go on unchanged. There are sceptics, some of whom may behave as though they were not in order to benefit from the rewards for belief. I have already suggested that Village Representatives may disbelieve in the validity of their constituents' claims and yet press them for political reasons. On the other hand, it is not always easy to be sure that the expression", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207862, "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": 250, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963\n\n235\n\nwho have been held to have spoilt a fung shui may be asked to pay for a tun fu. Some people suspect that the sums of money handed over in payment cover more than the fees of the ritual expert, but I doubt whether any great fraudulent profits are made. The victory scored over the 'intruders' by the very fact that they have been forced to acknowledge their 'trespass' and make it ritually good is a big enough compensation. A vital claim has been vindicated.\n\n70. Will fung shui last? I suspect that from the very beginning officers of the Administration have detected signs of growing scepticism and confidently awaited the spread of modern enlightenment. Contemporary administrators are probably less tempted to the facile optimism of their predecessors of a generation or so ago, but one can hear it asserted that the young people of the New Territories today no longer believe in fung shui. If this were so the Administration could look forward to an imminent surcease of its anxiety. But I am not convinced that modern education by itself deals fung shui a deadly blow. Metaphysical beliefs supported by social props are not easily wafted away by the book learning of schools. There are unbelievers in the New Territories, but I suspect that scepticism, if it is at all thorough, stems from their having been prised loose from the grip of their society. Urban Chinese can easily stop paying attention to fung shui if they choose because they are free from the social pressures which, in a rural community, they would be forced to take into account. Living in the city they are not so closely dependent on one another that the actions of one can be held to affect the lives of the others, and they can more easily escape the consequences of neighbourly disapproval. In a village which is still a self-contained community people are tied to one another in a complex web of relationships. Conformity is produced as a response to a multitude of obligations and sanctions; it is not the result of a mere mechanical uniformity. One has to live fully within a village or get out. If, therefore, I am accused of harming my neighbour's fung shui and he is supported by others in his contention I must give way. If my village thinks generally that some outsiders have encroached upon its geomantic privileges, I must join in the reaction. And every response of this kind reinforces my neighbours and me in our faith. (I may believe that in my own case I have been hard done by, but this does not undermine my belief in the assumptions from which my neighbours are", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207887, "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": 275, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "260\n\nMAURICE FREEDMAN\n\nare discarded, inscriptions neglected. I have already referred to the cast out stone in the Tin Hau Temple in Tai Po Kau Hui. The stock of genealogy books and old land deeds is being fast depleted by loss and decay. The apparatus of ancestral halls is in many cases being allowed to disintegrate. (I came across a village where only the initiative of the Village Representative restored to the ancestral halls the honours boards which villagers had filched to make beds). Now people are at liberty to do what they like about their past and I am not in favour of any artificial antiquarianism; but it is surely a good argument that both the world at large and their own future generations will be grateful to the New Territories people for the preservation of their historical relics. Would it not be possible for the Administration to undertake to register all monuments, to collect unwanted documents, to copy those which their owners are unwilling to part with, and generally to preserve what can stand as a witness to the past of an interesting corner of civilisation? I am told that it is the intention of the new City Hall Museum in Hong Kong to start collecting at some future date objects illustrating the art and material culture of the New Territories, but I fear that if action is long delayed there may be little to survive.\n\n101. I have covered many subjects in this report and made a number of suggestions for research. In many cases I have implied the degree of priority I should give to particular kinds of investigation, but I have not attempted to offer a neat arrangement of subjects on a scale of usefulness, because it is for the Administration and not me to say what is more or less important to its needs. I have tried to indicate the kinds of research that I should sponsor if I were in a position to do so and within the limits of the talent and money at our disposal my colleagues and I hope to be able to pursue some of the investigations I have proposed. If the New Territories Administration is interested in the private research to be undertaken and should itself wish to sponsor investigations then a plan could be drawn up to co-ordinate more closely the needs of the Administration with the interests of the social scientists.\n\nHong Kong, Singapore\n\nMay-July 1963.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209366, "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": 23, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN AN URBAN ORGANIZATION: THE MUTUAL AID COMMITTEES\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT*\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees (MACs), or as they are more commonly known in Hong Kong, were first established in June of 1973. They are organizations composed of residents of a building, or more rarely, a group of buildings, and have the dual aims of promoting a sense of friendship and mutual reliance among all authorized tenants and of cooperating to promote better security, a better environment and more effective management generally (City and New Territories Administration 1982:1).\n\nWhy are Mutual Aid Committees established? Investigations and interviews with government officials carried out during 1976-1978 suggested the following reasons. The first was the desire of the Hong Kong Government to improve communication with the people of Hong Kong. The MACs were originally created under directives from the Home Affairs Department, and came under the jurisdiction of the City District Offices, themselves set up under the City District Officers Scheme of 1968. As one writer described this Scheme:\n\nThe CDO Scheme was announced at the beginning of 1968, but the first CDOs were appointed in the middle of that year. The Scheme divides the urban areas into ten districts: four on Hong Kong Island and six in Kowloon. A City District Commissioner on each side of the harbor coordinates the work of the CDOs, each of whom has liaison and other duties.\n\n* Dr. Janet Lee Scott is a member of the Department of Anthropology, New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research on the Mutual Aid Committees was supported by a grant from the Institute of Social Studies of the Chinese University. Doctoral dissertation research carried out during 1976-1978 was supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant, an N.D.F.L. fellowship awarded through Cornell University, and a grant from the Cornell Center for International Studies. The author wishes to express her appreciation for such generous financial support.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209372, "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": 29, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "7\n\nTions living in many public housing estate blocks. As observed in 1980:\n\nOne of the largest estates where I interviewed, Tze Wan Shan Estate, is the largest in Hong Kong, housing well over 150,000 people. One of its blocks, Block #66, houses approximately 8,400 people. But it is not the largest. Across the street, Block #61, on the outer edge of the estate, houses nearly 9,900 people (Scott 1980:33).\n\nBlocks of this size, with such enormous resident populations, would make the standard arrangement not only impractical, but ridiculous. Yet, there have been some standard committees created under such situations. For example, in 1978 Blocks #62, #64, and #65 of Tze Wan Shan Estate, with a combined population of 11,000 inhabitants, were operating with one committee. Some blocks solve the population problem by dividing into floors; for example, one committee could be formed for, say, every three floors. In 1977, the Mutual Aid Committees of Block #23 of Tung Tau Estate, Wong Tai Sin District, were arranged in this way. It is also possible, if the block has wings, for each wing to have its own committee. Even with all these alternatives, there is probably no one perfect solution to the problem of committee allocation in public housing (Scott 1980:33).\n\n11\n\n“A Mutual Aid Committee must be approved by the District Officer/Assistant District Officer under delegated authority from the Secretary for District Administration on a biennial basis for the purpose of exemption from the Societies Ordinance (Cap. 151)” (City and New Territories Administration 1982:1).10 Each Mutual Aid Committee in Lok Fu Estate follows this rule and is registered for a period of two years. However, before October of 1981, the committees were registered for only one year. The lengthening of the registration period was felt to have a beneficial effect, as it would enable the committees to complete projects planned and generally function more efficiently. At the end of this time, each committee is reviewed by the District Officer or City District Officer and if found to be functioning without serious problems, its certificate is renewed. Each committee has its own biennial cycle, however, based on the time at", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209373, "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": 30, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "8\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nwhich it was established, so that one committee's renewal date is different from the renewal dates of committees in other blocks. While most MACs have their certificates automatically renewed, a few may be suspended or dissolved. The 1982 Model Rules states on page six (of Section XIV, rule 14a, i-ii) that an MAC can be dissolved “\n\nupon expiry or the withdrawal of approval by the District Officer/Assistant District Officer,\" or at a General Meeting of heads of household in which a simple majority present resolve that the MAC be dissolved, provided that this majority represents not less than 20% of the householders in the Block.\"12\n\n44\n\n■\n\nDiscussions at the District Office, however, made it clear that the deregistration procedure is more complicated. First, if there is no interest shown by the residents and if no new officeholders can be elected, the committee can be suspended. Suspension can be for an indefinite period, during which staff from the District Office survey the opinions of the residents. If a minimum of 20% of those surveyed twice vote not to have a committee, then the committee moves from suspension to dissolution, and its remaining funds and equipment are donated for charitable purposes or used for welfare or recreational purposes, according to the wishes of the residents and subject to the approval of the District Officer or Assistant District Officer (City and New Territories Administration 1982:6).\n\nWhile conducting research previously, I only learned of a handful of committees in my sample areas of Wong Tai Sin and Mong Kok Districts, mostly those formed during the early stages of the Mutual Aid Committee Scheme, that had ceased to exist. Most were disbanded, I was told, because there was absolutely no enthusiasm left for the committee, and because of that, it was doing nothing for the residents (Scott 1980:26). At present, Lok Fu Estate has two blocks without Mutual Aid Committees: Block #21 and Block #9.\n\nBlock #21 is still in the process of being converted. Prior to this conversion, it had a fully-functioning MAC, but this committee had to be dissolved when the residents were moved out. The resettling of this block is scheduled to be completed in about June 1983; at that time, staff from the District Office\n\nPage 30\n\nPage 31", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209376, "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": 33, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "11\n\n1,000 to 1,500 and a final five contain over 1,500 occupants.14 How large are the Mutual Aid Committees of this relatively small estate? Is there such a thing as an \"average\" committee? The following figures are computed for active members only; honorary members are excluded here, but will be discussed later in this paper. In my sample, four of the committees have a membership of ten or less, officers and committee members combined. Another seven operate with eleven to twenty members, and four more have between twenty-one and thirty. The three largest committees in this sample have thirty-seven, thirty-nine, and forty-five members. In all these examples, actual committee membership may vary from election to election, depending on the number of floor representatives serving at any one time. Nevertheless, these committees are still rather small when compared to those in other estates, where the total membership is generally much higher. In Tze Wan Shan Estate, for example, the committees regularly contained fifty members, and in 1978, one committee had a total of fifty-nine active members (Scott 1980:41).\n\nFloor Representatives\n\nMutual Aid Committees are best understood as organizations formed in two stages: the first, and basic, level is made up of the floor representatives, who are the first members selected when a committee is established. Floor representatives (*), who in Lok Fu Estate MACs are synonymous with committee members (Δ), make up the group from which officers are elected and which provide the manpower for the sub-committees, if any. The Model Rules of 1982 states that, \"Floor representatives shall be elected biennially either at floor meetings convened before the Annual General Meeting, or at the Annual General Meeting\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). Many committees do hold elections to choose their floor representatives, but in others, a number of floor representatives simply volunteer for the positions and are approved; for this reason, the floor representatives of some committees do not change every two years.\n\nHow many floor representatives are elected to a committee? Here the actual situation is somewhat at variance with the official", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209377, "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": 34, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "12\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nregulations. The Model Rules of 1982 state clearly that \"The number of floor representatives for one floor shall depend on the total number of household units on the floor but shall not normally exceed three. Each floor of the same building shall have an equal number of floor representatives\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). However, the majority of committees show considerable variation in the number of floor representatives elected. While most committees do not elect more than three floor representatives per floor (most elect two or three), the majority of committees operate with unequal representation by floor. For example, in one block one floor had selected seven floor representatives, while other floors in that block had selected only two. While this is an extreme example, half of the committees vary the number of their floor representatives, electing two or three per floor, with different floors electing different numbers. Adding up the figures, eight committees had elected twenty or more representatives, while the remaining had elected nineteen or less. The smallest committee was operating with a total of eight members, which meant that some floors had not elected representatives at all.\n\nMutual Aid Committee officeholders are chosen from the committee's group of elected floor representatives, the floor representatives doing the electing themselves. Aside from this responsibility, what other duties do the floor representatives perform? Much depends on the general functioning of the committee. If it is inactive (that is, meets infrequently, organizes no activities, rarely participates in the activities sponsored by the District Office), the floor representatives will have little or nothing to do. A number of chairmen, rather embarrassed, had to admit that this was so. As their name suggests, the major responsibility of the floor representatives is to keep in touch with the residents of their floor, keeping an eye open for problems, and collecting complaints and opinions to present in the MAC meeting. The floor representatives also help transmit information to the residents from the MAC, which, in its turn, is receiving it from the District Office and other government departments. For example, before the recent District Board elections, the floor representatives of one committee went to the residents of their floors to assist them in registering as electors. Others help by distributing leaflets or", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209378, "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": 35, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "13\n\nofficial information. Floor representatives also participate in their MAC's subcommittees, if there are any, and so do much of the work of organizing and carrying out activities.\n\nOfficeholders\n\nHow many officeholders are there? The basic committee structure consists of three officers: chairman, secretary, and treasurer. Section VII of the 1982 Model Rules (Composition of Committee) explains that, \"The MAC shall consist of at least three key office-bearers namely a Chairman, a Secretary and a Treasurer, and such other office-bearers as may be elected\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:2). The three officers (and, of course, any additional officers) are required to show their identity cards and register at the District Office along with the committee itself. The registration practice, which is now standardized for all City Districts, involves giving certain personal data for recording in the District Office. The information recorded is: name, address, telephone number, identity card number, sex, date of birth, age, educational background, occupation, nationality, and C.C.C. number.15 All of the officers of all committees must register. However, the District Office does not keep records on any other members of the committee, nor does it record the structure of the committee itself.\n\nIn addition to the three officers mentioned above, most committees add extra officeholding positions to assist in the running of the committee. While government regulations do not state clearly what positions these might be, all the Mutual Aid Committees in Lok Fu Estate have vice-chairmen. Most have only one, but three committees have two vice-chairmen, one has three, and one has four. Committees have vice-chairmen because they recognize the need for someone to assist the chairman, on whom falls much of the responsibility for the affairs of the committee. Sometimes, there is too much for one person to do. Three more committees have either vice-secretaries or vice-treasurers, and two committees have both a vice-secretary and a vice-treasurer. The chairman of one of these committees explained that these extra vice-officers were the secretary and the treasurer of the previous term and were kept on to advise and assist the newly-elected secretary and treasurer. This ensured", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209379, "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": 36, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "14\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nboth continuity and smooth operation, the desire for both being a common reason for electing vice-officers. One of the committees listed above as having two vice-chairmen, did so because one of these officers was soon to move to another estate and the second would be available to take over the position after he left.\n\nIn June of 1982, a decision was made by the District Offices to add auditors as appointed members of the Mutual Aid Committees. This was done on the advice of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which believed that, although the MACs and their financial transactions were small, it was nevertheless a good idea to prevent any possible mishandling of funds.16 Any person living in the block who is not already an officer can become the auditor, but the MAC can, with the agreement of the residents, ask residents of other blocks to serve as their auditor. At the end of March, 1983, seventeen of the Mutual Aid Committees of Lok Fu Estate had appointed auditors, and one of these had also added a vice-auditor.\n\nThe largest committee in Lok Fu Estate, that of Block #15, has eight officers: one chairman, three vice-chairmen, two secretaries, one treasurer, and one vice-treasurer. The next largest, that of Block #12, operates with six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, one secretary, and two treasurers. Block #19, the third largest, has also elected six officers: one chairman, two vice-chairmen, two secretaries and one treasurer. In size, these committees resemble the large scale MACs in Tze Wan Shan Estate, committees which have as many as eight to ten additional officers (Scott 1980:37). For example, the fifty-five member committee mentioned previously had fourteen officers altogether: one chairman, eight vice-chairmen, one secretary, two vice-secretaries, and one treasurer (Scott 1980:41).\n\nWhat are the duties of these officers? Of course, the chairman is the key officer, as he is the official representative of the MAC, convening the meetings, and acting on behalf of the residents when meeting with officials and representatives from the government. The vice-chairman, according to the 1982 Model Rules, is \"deputising the Chairman as and when necessary\" (City and New Territories Administration 1981:3). However, the vice-chairmen, acting in hand with the chairmen, sometimes", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209380, "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": 37, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "15\n\nhave a great many other duties to do as well, and step in to work whenever necessary. The secretary, with the assistance of the vice-secretaries, if any, handles the correspondence, takes the minutes at meetings, and in general keeps the letters and correspondence received from outside, although in some committees this latter duty is performed by the chairman. Finally, the treasurer prepares the income and expenditure statements (in cooperation with the chairman and the auditor), issues the cheques (also bearing the signature of the chairman and/or secretary), checks the validity of payment vouchers, and supervises the collection of voluntary contributions and monthly fees (City and New Territories Administration 1982:4).\n\nThese distinctions look neat on paper and the division of labour seems clear, but the actual situation is a good deal less distinct. The lack of enthusiasm on the part of committee members often means that the officers of some committees carry out all the work themselves, and so take on additional duties beyond those formally listed for their offices. In addition, the distinctions between responsibilities often become blurred because officers must help each other perform their duties, especially if one is ill or away. This is especially true for the chairman, who in some committees becomes the only working office-holder. All the chairmen of Lok Fu Estate Mutual Aid Committees stressed the cooperation between the officers and the fact that they all could do each other's jobs when and if that became necessary.17\n\nHow long do officers serve? The Model Rules of August, 1982, stated clearly that, \"The tenure of an office-bearer shall be two years\" (City and New Territories Administration 1982:3). Before these rules were enacted, however, the officers of Mutual Aid Committees served terms of one year. The District Offices had many reasons for extending the term of office, but the most important was that the new officers needed more time to become acquainted with the block, its problems, and the duties of an officer. This was especially true if they were new to the block. In addition, the one-year term of office did not allow sufficient time for the officers to complete projects. The reason for this was that the last two months of a term were taken to prepare for the next election. Therefore, officers were serving, in effect, ten-month terms and it was felt that a longer term of office was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209391, "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": 48, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "26\n\nJANET LEE SCOTT\n\nNOTES\n\nIt might be mentioned that the adult population of Hong Kong was, at the time of Mutual Aid Committee formation, already well acquainted with the idea and work of urban organizations. While the Mutual Aid Committees had (and still retain) their own unique design, their structure (and their functions) were not unfamiliar and they were not viewed as mysterious committees having no resemblances to other, more traditional, Chinese organizations.\n\n* The other five subdivisions are: Kam Kwok Mansion, Luen Hop Building, Mei Tung Estate, Pui Man Tsuen Cottage Area, and Pok Oi Village (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:271).\n\n* The exact total, provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate, was 21,221 at the end of February, 1983.\n\n• At the end of 1982, the exact figure was 523,927.\n\n* The Mark I blocks include Blocks #1-5, #9, #10, and #12, and the Mark II group is made up of Blocks #13-20 and Blocks #22 and #23. The remaining blocks (#6-8, #11, and #21), already rebuilt, are now referred to as Converted Buildings (Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982:272).\n\n• This information was provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate.\n\n* At the end of February, 1983, there were 26 Mutual Aid Committees in the Lok Fu Area and 286 Mutual Aid Committees for the entire Wong Tai Sin District.\n\n* The selection of male members is because all but one of the chairmen of the Lok Fu Estate Mutual Aid Committees interviewed were male. In addition, the opinions of female members towards participation were investigated during the research period of 1976-1978.\n\n* Block #23 of Tung Tau Estate is still divided into floors for the purpose of MAC formation. In early 1983, it had five MACs, one for each three floors.\n\n10 In 1982 the old titles of City District Commissioner and City District Officer were changed to District Officer and Assistant District Officer respectively. At the same time the old Home Affairs Department and New Territories Administration were amalgamated into a new department known as the City and New Territories Administration.\n\n11 The official certificates of registration are framed and prominently displayed in the committee's office, or if the committee lacks an office, are kept by an officer, most often the chairman.\n\n19\n\nHowever, given the apathy of many residents and the low attendance at many MAC meetings, one might wonder if any committee has been dissolved by popular action, the second alternative.\n\n10 This is the schedule as described by the Wong Tai Sin District Office, Tung Tau Sub-office. The office of the Housing Manager, Lok Fu Estate, explained that the conversion has already been completed and that 114 families (the figure as of March, 1983) had already moved in.\n\n\"These figures have been provided by the office of the Housing Manager of Lok Fu Estate, and are accurate as to the end of March, 1983.\n\n16 The C.C.C. number is a code number found on the Hong Kong Identification Card and is written under the Chinese characters of the individual's name.\n\n10 According to the Tung Tau Sub-office of the Wong Tai Sin District Office, there are no instances of the mishandling of MAC funds known in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209392, "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": 49, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "27\n\nLok Fu Estate. I did, however, hear of such misuse during my earlier research in other districts.\n\n17 It might be mentioned here that a number of MAC office-holders, most often the chairmen, are asked to participate on other community organizations, thereby representing the MAC and forming a link between it and the organization. The nature of such links varies from committee to committee, but membership on the Area Committee is common. For example, nearly all the chairmen of Lok Fu Estate MACS participate in the Lok Fu Area Committee. Participation on such outside organizations increases the duties of the office-holders, as they must carry back to the MAC information and announcements for dissemination.\n\nIn a few committees, these items were purchased by the officers (usually the chairman) and donated to the committee. Other committees have applied to the Sir David Trench Fund. This fund, made up of a sports grant from the Council for Recreation and Sports, can be used to pay for sports equipment such as table tennis tables. Applications are invited once a year, usually in September or October. At that time, the District Office sends the temporary community organizer to each MAC, to ask the chairman if any equipment is desired. If so, the forms are completed and forwarded to the City and New Territories Administration by the District Office. The forms are tabulated and the committees are then informed of what they can buy. The committees then buy the approved items and are reimbursed.\n\nThe Mutual Aid Committees are not unusual in their practice of inviting honorary members. Honorary members seem to be a part of many Chinese organizations, both traditional and modern.\n\nThe position of honorary member is not based on sex; both men and women can be asked to be honorary members, although male honorary members are more numerous, reflecting the generally greater participation of men in the Mutual Aid Committees.\n\nDespite the popularity of inviting honorary members, the District Office does not encourage this practice, as it views the officers and the floor representatives as the functioning members. In addition, there is potential for committee conflicts if members cannot agree on who to invite as honorary members, and this should be avoided.\n\nThe terms \"honorary\" or \"ordinary\" refer to the distinctions made by some committees. Actually, there is very little substantive difference between president and honorary president or consultant and honorary consultant. In a few committees, it seems that the titles of honorary president or honorary consultant confer a bit more prestige, but this is by no means certain.\n\nEach registered Mutual Aid Committee may request reimbursement of its essential expenditure up to a total of $2,000 per year, computed quarterly (that is, $500 every three months). This money is provided for the MACs from a special fund from the City and New Territories Administration and may be used to pay the costs of the initial setting up of the MAC office; to purchase supplies such as blackboards and notice boards, first-aid kits, and loud speakers; and to pay the monthly bills (such as rates or the cost of electricity) for the office. Sports equipment cannot be bought with this money. Newly-established committees that are setting up their offices can ask for a one quarter's advance, so that they can use up to $1,000 in the first quarter if necessary. However, if the $2,000 yearly allotment is insufficient for the committee's needs, or if special expenditure is planned, the additional funds must be collected from the residents, or donated by the honorary members.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209394, "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": 51, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "29\n\nDwyer, D. J.\n\n1971\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\"Introduction.\" In Asian Urbanization: A Hong Kong Casebook. D. J. Dwyer, ed. pp. 1-10. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press.\n\nGrandpierre, Kathleen\n\n1978 Personal Communication.\n\nHong Kong Government. Census and Statistics Department.\n\n1977 Hong Kong By-Census 1976. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1978 Hong Kong By-Census 1976. Basic Tables. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1978 Hong Kong By-Census 1976. Tertiary Planning Unit Tabulations, Vol. 1: Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1978 Hong Kong By-Census 1976. Tertiary Planning Unit Tabulations. Vol. 2: Kowloon and New Territories. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1978 Hong Kong Population. A 20-Year Projection. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\nHong Kong Government. City and New Territories Administration.\n\n1982 Model Rules for a Mutual Aid Committee in a Public Housing Estate. Hong Kong: Government Printer.\n\nHong Kong Government. Government Information Services.\n\n1974 Hong Kong 1974. Report for the Year 1973. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1975 Hong Kong 1975. Report for the Year 1974. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1976 Hong Kong 1976. Report for the Year 1975. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1977 Hong Kong 1977. Report for the Year 1976. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1978 Hong Kong 1978. A Review of 1977. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1979 Hong Kong 1979. A Review of 1978. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1980 Hong Kong 1980. A Review of 1979. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\n1982 Hong Kong 1982. A Review of 1981. Hong Kong: D. R. Rick, Government Printer.\n\nHong Kong Government. Home Affairs Department.\n\n1974 Annual Departmental Report, Director of Home Affairs. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.\n\nHong Kong Government. Wong Tai Sin District Office.\n\n1982 Wong Tai Sin District Report 1982. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Press.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209646, "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": 303, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n281\n\ndisturbances were under control to rescind the proclamation invoking emergency powers as soon as the Chinese New Year celebrations were over. But conditions in the colony had not yet fully returned to normal and various wild rumours continued to be put into circulation, including the story that when May arrived the enlarged garrison would make an attack on China and annex further areas of Guangdong north of the New Territories. However, no-one was expecting any serious trouble on the morning of 4th July when the elite of the colony turned out to welcome the new governor.\n\nThe ship bringing Sir Henry May from Fiji arrived off Kowloon point early in the morning and at 10 a.m. Sir Henry crossed the harbour in the government launch to Blake Pier where he was greeted with a salute of 17 guns. He inspected the guard of honour and met the members of the Executive and Legislative Councils, all of whom were well-known to him. Among them was Sir Kai Ho Kai, the senior member of the Legislative Council, who had just received his knighthood, the first ever given to a Chinese in Hong Kong. Sir Kai had strong connections with the reform movement in China, but he had loyally supported the British administration in the measures taken to deal with violence in the colony, and the knighthood was his reward for this as well as for his long career of public service.\n\nThe next part of the ceremonial was the procession to the City Hall. Sir Henry and Lady May took their seats side by side in two sedan chairs, each carried by eight coolies. The chairs were escorted by eight Indian constables, four on the right of Sir Henry's chair marching two paces apart, and four on the left of Lady May's chair. Behind them was a European police sergeant, and he was followed by four more chairs carrying the four daughters of the new governor. The route to the City Hall was lined by soldiers stationed at intervals of three paces on either side of the road.\n\nAs the procession left Blake Pier and passed along Pedder Street towards Des Voeux Road a Chinese dressed in European clothes was seen to push his way through the crowd around the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211000, "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": 62, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "37\n\nment, when attempting in April to occupy the New Territory (as the New Territories were then called), encountered much more ferocious resistance than anticipated. At this juncture, 600 men were sent into the Kowloon Walled City by the Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and the British authorities, convinced that they were there to support the resistance, demanded their withdrawal. The Colonial Office went so far as to threaten starving out the garrison at the City until troops were removed.41 The Chinese, however, claimed that the troops had been sent by special request of the Hong Kong government to preserve order, and though some of the men were withdrawn, by 4th May, 200 were still stationed in the City.42\n\nThis prompted the British to take action to attack Shumchun and Kowloon City as punishment for the Governor-General's duplicity in abetting the local resistance. On 16th May, at 3:00 p.m., a force of 300 men consisting of Royal Welsh Fusiliers and 100 Hong Kong Volunteers proceeded to Kowloon and occupied it, apparently meeting little resistance.43 All Chinese civil and military officials were ordered to depart as the British claimed that their continued presence and the retention of Kowloon Walled City in Chinese hands had proven inconsistent to British military requirement. To “legalize” the situation, an Order-in-Council was issued in December, announcing British jurisdiction over the Walled City which was to be administered in the same manner as the rest of the Colony.44 Yet this remained a unilateral revision of the Convention which the Chinese government never recognized.\n\n44\n\n45\n\n46\n\nThe Chinese naturally responded bitterly to the development. T'an Chung-lin, the Governor-General, protested vehemently to the court of the undignified manner in which the military officers and soldiers were cast out.45 At Peking, the Tsungli Yamen complained to the British Minister.46 Chinese eagerness to recover jurisdiction at Kowloon is best revealed in the letters from Lo Feng-lu****, Chinese Minister at St. James, to the Foreign Office.Yet, paradoxically, this eagerness was not accompanied by action; no attempt was made by the Chinese to reinstate an administration in the Walled City.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213647, "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": 243, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "219\n\nwould have been rakish nonentities in their home country, and it is incontestable that there was an element of 'keeping the numbers up' in the recruitment of British expatriates by the Hong Kong Government.\n\nJames, though, was never to give anything less than a hundred per cent effort to his work and to Hong Kong in general. After a year's language training, he was posted to the Southern District Office as District Officer. His first assignment was to co-ordinate the clearing of villages soon to be immersed under the new Shek Pik Reservoir on Lantau Island. Thereafter he served with the Resettlement Department, the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, and the Commerce and Industry Department, in addition to his posts within the City & New Territories Administration. A notable posting was as Deputy Commissioner for Labour from 1982 to 1985. The apogee of his career was as Regional Secretary, New Territories, an area and whose inhabitants he had come to know and love. His postings are remarkable in that he spent almost all of his career outside the Government Secretariat, in contrast to the norm which is generally a mixture of work in the policy branches of government and, in James' words, 'key' departments. Generally, postings to the departments, other than to the most senior positions, are not sought after.\n\nThis book will make a good, informative read for people with little knowledge of Hong Kong and its government. It is written in an informal, pleasant style and there is no impaling of former colleagues or slagging of the system, although James does start drifting towards a characterisation of the political reforms of the eighties towards the end of the book, the impression being that he was not entirely enamoured of the new scheme of things. For 'insiders', there are few surprises and the book is not, therefore, riveting, although it will bring back memories for some, though.\n\nWell done, James, a good addition to the shelves from a former leading civil servant.\n\nPETER HALLIDAY", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213970, "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-1997", "page_number": 39, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "4\n\naloof on his return. The present writer can vouch for his active approval of an African-inspired experiment whereby departmental administrative officers in the urban areas would collect and transmit upwards a monthly 'intelligence digest' of local opinion, morale and responses to government action or inaction, and of attitudes to prominent local figures and to Chinese or foreign affairs: this was meant to supplement what was collected in their own specialist manners by the HK Police Special Branch (SB), the New Territories Administration (NTA), the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)'s Political Adviser (PA) and the Security Liaison Officer (SLO). Some of what was collected may have been too near the knuckle, some was rather too easily discounted as mere \"gossip,\" important though that might be as a reflection of influential belief at the grass roots, and some may have hurt the dignity of those who had the existing duty of intelligence-gathering. The governor was persuaded to drop the experiment as proving trivial.\n\nBut Trench also showed interest in another interloping proposal that, in the absence of any generalist government institutions to supplement the Secretary for Chinese Affairs (SCA)'s advisory staff (who liaised with the various kai fong (Neighbourhood) Welfare Associations, Clansmens' Associations and Residents' Associations, which were often self-perpetuating), District Officers (DOs) should be appointed in the urban areas; these should have certain executive functions, fewer than those of their colleagues in the New Territories so as not to encroach on the licensing prerogatives of the Urban Council, but sufficient to ensure that all should know of their existence and, above all, of where their offices were. Primarily they should oversee and co-ordinate the activities of the various professional and technical departments in their bailiwicks, but also, like paternalistic mandarins, inquire into, report upon and seek answers to the needs and concerns of the inhabitants. This suggestion was effectively smothered by a DCS who was unable to understand what such DOs might achieve in a city that existing institutions did not already adequately do: the concept of such junior, peripheral, government officers being responsive to people, as opposed to being mere executive agents responsible for essential infrastructural public services, was alien. Apart from the SCA's and District Commissioner New Territories (DCNT)'s contacts with often self-appointed élites, there was little by way of direct exchange with the man in the street: the same DCS once said, \"Government must, of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214063, "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-1997", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "98\n\nprovince.\n\nIn 1941, construction of a 457m-long tarmac-surfaced runway at Kai Tak for military use on an approximate south-east/north-west orientation, which had already necessitated the dismantling of the RAF hangar, was due to start on 8th December 1941, the precise day on which the Japanese invaded the New Territories and attacked Kai Tak airport.\n\nMilitary/Defence Works\n\nPrior to the British administration, there were several forts in the New Territories going back to the early years (17th century) of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the oldest existing fort (1717) probably being that on Tung Lung Chau overlooking the narrow Fat Tong Mun passage in the eastern approaches to the harbour, and the largest still remaining at Tung Chung (60m by 80m) on the northern coast of Lantau, which was completed in 1832. Little remains of the old 4m-high walled Kowloon City, a garrison fort (120m by 230m) with its sturdy granite parapet wall complete with embrasures and watchtowers, which was finished in 1847 soon after the British established themselves on Hong Kong Island.\n\nSubsequently, the British military have been involved in a considerable amount of civil engineering. The Royal Engineers were first involved in 1841 in the early construction of Queen's Road in Victoria. Perhaps their most impressive roadworks over the years, constructed before the Pacific war, have been Jat's Incline, which provides access to the upper levels of the steep hills overlooking Kowloon. Nevertheless, the main military engineering effort was expended on providing defences and back-up facilities (for example, naval dockyards, aviation needs, storage depots, barracks, and hospitals), principally against possible seaborne attack by Russia last century and later against the increasingly land/sea invasion threat by Japan in the 1930s. Novel defence measures included excavation of a cavern at Lei Yue Mun towards the end of the nineteenth century to house the sophisticated Brennan torpedo, which, after launching down a ramp, was controlled from the shore with a wire attached to the rudder.\n\nRegarding defence facilities, at the outbreak of the Pacific war in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 } ]