[ { "id": 211602, "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-1989", "page_number": 17, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN,\n\nCONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE BASIC LAW.\n\n30 October 1989\n\nDear Sir,\n\nI am writing this personal letter in my capacity as President of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.\n\nThe Hong Kong Branch, first begun in 1847 and re-established in 1959, is a wholly independent body, and self-financing. The enclosed Brochure, together with the Chinese version to be printed shortly, will indicate our long history as a cultural society, and our record of work done in Hong Kong over the past thirty years.\n\nI have been a member practically from the outset, and have been an office-bearer since 1966, editing the annual Journal for 14 years, serving as a Vice-President since 1970 and as President from 1983. I have thus been closely involved with the affairs of the Hong Kong Branch for most of its recent history and feel that I can give you an accurate idea of our hopes and aspirations for the future.\n\nPut very simply, we would hope to continue our activities in the interests of Hong Kong long after 1997, and in the same way as we are able to operate at present. Our particular function is to increase the common stock of knowledge and understanding of Hong Kong, and to build a bridge between the Chinese and expatriate parts of the local community, promoting social interaction and friendship among its residents.\n\nLike other bodies of its kind, our Society is registered under the Societies Ordinance. It has an approved constitution, to which any changes require the approval of the licensing authority. Otherwise, within these parameters, our Society operates with complete freedom of action, and its activities are not controlled, directed or restricted by the government in any way.\n\nThis freedom of action is at the root of our continued successful existence. It feeds the imagination and creativity which enable the Council to mount successful programmes that meet with the approval of the\n\nxvi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213334, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1994", "page_number": 156, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "138\n\nredevelopment, and spoke to each group in turn on their history and background. The first time around, a small donation had turned away the indignation of an old female resident, who had noisily enquired what we were up to. Also, we were entertained on each occasion by the Kowloon City Kaifong Association in its office inside the City, and given its side of the story.\n\nThe opportunity would not recur. At the time of writing (June 1994), all the buildings within the Walled City boundary (less those of historic interest) have been demolished and their residents compensated and rehoused, and a four-week long archaeological investigation has been completed, uncovering the inscribed granite slab over the old South Gate.25\n\nOther Aspects of the Society\n\nTwo Letters\n\nThe RAS has seldom been politically motivated. On the rare occasions that we have made representations to the authorities, this was done to support some worthy public cause, like the need for a proper Museum of History.26 The only occasion on which the Society has campaigned vigorously on a local issue has been in the past few years, against the government's intended removal of the Public Records of Hong Kong to Tuen Mun New Town, and to press in lieu for a more suitable premises in a convenient location.27\n\nHowever, on two other occasions, in the exceptional circumstances of the time, special representations were made on behalf of the Society, because in both cases Hong Kong's future was seen to be involved. Following the Tiananmen Square incident in mid-1989, which threw Hong Kong into an emotional turmoil the like of which had never been seen, the RAS Council met to discuss the position. It was decided to send a letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, urging it to stand firm in its dealings with Beijing, in the interests of Hong Kong and its people. **Sad to say, there was no response; and despite sending a follow-up copy some weeks after, not even so much as an acknowledgment. In the second instance, again in 1989 and just before the period allowed for public comment on the draft Basic Law had elapsed, in my capacity as President of the Society, I sent a personal letter to the Chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law, Later reproduced in the RAS", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214120, "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": 188, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "157\n\nBearing in mind the RASHKB is sometimes seen as supporting the \"establishment”, in October 1989, four months after the Tiananmun incident, Dr James Hayes, then our President, wrote to the Chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law (Hayes 1989: xvi). As no reply was received a copy was then sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London. Again, no reply was forthcoming.\n\nIn this letter, put very simply, the President wrote that the RASHKB hoped to be able to continue its activities in the interests of Hong Kong long after 1997. Indeed, members hoped to be able to carry on in the same way as they had been able to operate before 1997. The letter went on to say that the Branch's particular functions are to increase the common stock of knowledge and understanding of Hong Kong and to build a bridge between the Chinese and expatriate sectors of the local community, promoting social interaction and friendship among residents.\n\nLike a number of other societies in Hong Kong, over the years the RAS has in its own way contributed to peace and stability. It has helped to nurture the growing sense of territory identity, for example, that has formed especially since the end of the 1960s. In spite, however, of trying to recruit more Chinese members, especially in recent years, the Branch has had limited success.\n\nI am pleased to say, a few months after the handover of the Territory to China, the Branch is continuing to operate along similar lines as in the past. For the RASHKB, in other words, it is \"business as usual”.\n\nIt is accepted that the world, including Hong Kong, changes in various ways, and our Branch will need to keep its ear to the ground and move with the times. Although we remain basically an English-speaking Society, we did conduct some lectures in Cantonese during the winter of 1995-96. These were held in conjunction with the Exhibition, Hong Kong Going and Gone mounted jointly by our Branch and the Antiquities and Monuments Office.\n\nOur Society, which has a long and honourable history, consists mainly of active members who make up a generally friendly, cosmopolitan body of people with similar interests. In spite of the fact", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214121, "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": 189, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "158\n\nthat you cannot please all the members all the time there is still a role for societies like the Royal Asiatic Society to play in Hong Kong. It is interesting to recall that some of the best research on Hong Kong history has been carried out by amateurs, often by RAS members. We, as members, must continue to ask ourselves the question: How can the local Branch make Hong Kong a better place and how can we members continue to serve the community, including both Chinese and Westerners?\n\nReferences\n\nBard, Solomon. 1995. “Archaeology in Hong Kong: A Review of Achievements”, Archaeology in Southeast Asia, University of Hong Kong: 383-395.\n\nChambers Biographical Dictionary. Revised edition 1969. states: “(Bowring) ... acquired knowledge of 200 languages”.\n\nDudgeon, David and Richard Corlett. 1994. Hills and Streams: an Ecology of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press.\n\nEndacott, G. B. 1958. A History of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press.\n\nHayes, James William. 1989. “Letter to the Chairman, Consultative Committee for the Basic Law”, Journal RASHKB, 29: xvi and xvii.\n\n1997. \"The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\", Journal RASHKB, 34: 129-145.\n\nPfister, Lauren F. 1993. \"Clues to the Life and Academic Achievements of One of the Most Famous Nineteenth Century European Sinologists-James Legge (AD 1815-1897)\", Journal HKBRAS, 30: 180-218.\n\nRide, Lindsay and May, 1996. An East India Company Cemetery, ed. Bernard Mellor, Hong Kong University Press.\n\nThe Royal Asiatic Society: Its History and Treasures. 1979. eds. Stuart Simmonds and Simon Digby, The Royal Asiatic Society London.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 } ]