[ { "id": 204256, "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-1961", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n21\n\nA most odd and interesting bird to be seen around Victoria from Garden Road to the University is the Rose-ringed Paroquet, presumably introduced but now firmly established as a resident. Sometimes parties of up to sixteen birds have been seen.\n\nA noisy but seldom seen family are the Cuckoos, who are well represented here, nearly all of them summer visitors. The Indian Cuckoo, or ‘One-more-bottle Bird', the Large Hawk-cuckoo or 'Brain-fever Bird', and the Plaintive Cuckoo or 'Rain-bird', are three summer visitors to certain favoured localities, mainly in the northern New Territories. The Koel is more common and widespread. All these four are parasites of smaller birds, too lazy to make a nest of their own. The Crow-Pheasant and Lesser Crow-Pheasant (which are neither crows nor pheasants!) are also quite common and widespread: both of them are to some extent hill birds, and the former likes more wooded country than the latter.\n\nTwo species of owl are resident in the Colony, the Barred Owlet, whose bubbling call is heard in the northern New Territories, and the Collared Scops Owl both there and on Hong Kong Island, especially on The Peak.\n\nThe Savannah Nightjar must breed in the Colony, for its whip-lash call is heard frequently over many open spaces in the New Territories during the spring and summer, but no nest has yet been found.\n\nHouse-swifts nest, several pairs at a time, under the verandahs of shops and houses in at least half-a-dozen towns. Many thousands of these and the Large White-rumped Swift pass through the Colony on migration.\n\nThe kingfishers are one of the sights of Hong Kong's bird-life. The Common Kingfisher, the one seen in Europe, is here all the year round and almost certainly nests. The White-breasted Kingfisher and Black-capped Kingfisher are both large, very gaily-coloured birds, although the first is much more common than the second. The Pied Kingfisher is confined to the Deep Bay area, where probably only one pair nests, although formerly this species used to be quite common also.\n\nThe Great Barbet, which as might be expected of a close relative of the woodpeckers is a lover of big trees, may be heard calling its monotonous 'coo-lee-you' from the Norfolk Island Pine in the Botanical Gardens and from several woods in the north-eastern New Territories where it breeds. A small relation, the Wryneck, may be seen in winter, quite frequently in scrubby foothill country.\n\nSwallows are a well-loved and common summer visitor to the Colony, and occasionally a few birds may be seen even on the coldest days of winter. Large numbers also come through on passage.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204318, "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-1961", "page_number": 86, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n82\n\nfloated up again, until the Buddha of Light transformed himself into a monk to advise the elder that it was not a lump of flesh, and that inside it were five children.\n\nNo-cha's mother was pregnant for three years and six months. I think this is derived from the Pei-yu-chi (\"The Dark God Chên-wu or The Voyage to the North\"), Ch.6, which depicts one of the re-incarnations of the god Chên-wu (EH). In that story it is said the queen of Li T'ien-fu (X), a king of the Kingdom of Hsi-hsia (E), was pregnant for three years and sixty days. The king was vexed about it and thought it inauspicious. When the baby was born at last, the whole chamber was \"full of an extraordinary fragrance.\"\n\n4. THE COMBAT AND THE STORY OF THE PAGODA-BEARER\n\nWhen No-cha was only seven he was six feet in height. It was in the fifth month, the weather was hot and that made No-cha irritable and uneasy. He went to request his mother to allow him to go out of the Pass for a walk. The mother was very fond of him and approved his request but said, \"You must be accompanied by an attendant and must not stay outside very long lest your father should come back.\" (Fêng-shên Yen-i, Ch.12)\n\nIn Ch. of the Nan-yu-chi we read: \"The young Intelligent Light (XAF) prostrated before his mother and said, 'Your son knows that the hills around here have lovely scenery. Please allow me to ramble about them.' The mother said, 'You may go, but you must be accompanied by an old servant, lest you rush into calamity. Do not stay too long and forget your home-work.' When we come back again to the Fêng-shên, we read: No-cha and the attendant went out of the Pass for about one li, when he was covered with perspiration and could not continue the journey. They decided to rest under the shade of some willows. Sitting there he unfastened his waist belt, opened his coat and enjoyed the cool air. A stream of green water running between two banks of willows with a lively current was in front of them. A gentle breeze blew over its surface, and the murmur of the water flowing through the rocks could be heard. No-cha hastened to the bank and cried out, 'I will bathe here on the rock.' 'Hurry up,' the attendant reminded him, 'and take care of yourself. Your father will be anxious if he returns and does not find you.' No-cha agreed. He stripped off his clothes, and dipped his seven feet of red silk gauze, which covered his body, into the water as a towel. When this precious gauze was immersed in the water its brilliant ray turned the river to a reddish", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204351, "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-1961", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n115\n\nCHINESE BURIAL CUSTOMS IN HONG KONG *\n\nB. D. WILSON, M.A.\n\nBefore 1949, burial customs in China were largely geared to the traditions of a predominantly agricultural country. Except in the New Territories, however, Hong Kong was not in a position to follow the same rural traditions of burial procedure and therefore was forced to evolve a pattern more or less of its own. The postwar change of Government in China has led to even further changes in local burial customs.\n\nFor non-Christian Chinese in Hong Kong the focus of burial practices is the veneration of family ancestors. In its extreme form this can be taken to mean the belief that if surviving relatives and descendants pay sufficient respect to their dead, the dead in their turn will exercise a benevolent influence over the lives and prosperity of their family.\n\nThe deceased is considered to be in a better position to watch over his earthly descendants if buried close to his native place, where it is also, of course, easier for his family to pay their respects to him. This has led to the practice of conveying the deceased back to the place in China whence he came and interring him in a traditional burial ground. It is well known that, no matter where they die, the bodies of overseas Chinese have, where possible, usually been conveyed back to their homes for burial; when they could afford to do so, relatives have followed this same principle where death occurred in Hong Kong. Coffins and remains of Chinese who died in various parts of the world, e.g. Borneo, the Philippines, Indonesia, the U.S.A., have been shipped to China via Hong Kong which in prewar and immediately postwar days enjoyed a certain pre-eminence as a transit centre for the onward movement of human remains.\n\nThe trans-shipment was not always immediate. Circumstances often imposed some delay. To meet the difficulties of holding the coffin temporarily, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in prewar days set up in Hong Kong a coffin repository in Sandy Bay where remains could be stored on payment of a monthly fee. This repository served its original purpose well till 1949 when difficulties arose in the way of transferring bodies into China. At present, there is virtually no movement of coffins into China, with the result that the repository has gradually accumulated\n\n* The writer wishes to make it clear that, in putting forward this article, he has simply recorded information which has come to his notice incidentally in connection with other duties. He is neither an anthropologist nor a trained research worker, but simply an amateur with an interest.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204412, "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": 44, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "CURRENCY PROBLEMS\n\n35\n\nI replied, \"on the contrary you ought to reward me with the highest decoration your country can bestow. The two hundred and thirty thousand dollars I put into circulation all possessed one very striking property\". What was that?\" he asked, Not one stuck to the palm of the hand, they all slid off I replied.\n\nPage 04\n\n44\n\n**\n\n+\n\nWhen I returned to Shanghai, in September 1945, at the end of the War, I found three currencies in common circulation. First the \"Fah Pi\", the legal tender of the K.M.T., secondly, the \"Wei Pi\" the currency issued by the puppet Wang Ching-wei Government, and thirdly the \"Mei Pi\", U.S.A. currency. I remember that whenever labour was asked for the currency of its preference the choice was invariably, “Mei Pi”.\n\n44\n\nTime will not permit to enlarge upon the use of gold as a medium of currency. When the quantity of silver exceeded the convenience of transportation, exchange into gold was the usual practice. This was in the form of dust, leaf and bar. To the inexperienced, such as myself, preference was usually for gold leaf as being more readily inspected for adulteration. But reputable exchange dealers, from time immemorial have issued their own certificates of purity which were always reliable provided they covered a first-hand purchase. I remember that towards the end of 1929, in company with another missionary, I was faced with bringing out the balance of relief funds, to the coast, through a bandit-infested area. In all the total weight of the gold was 63 ounces which we had worked into bangles which we wore high up on the arms and bars which we secreted in waist belts. We fell into the hands of the bandits who robbed us of our belongings but by the Grace of God did not search our persons. Thus through varying experience we finally reached Tientsin and I can still see the look of surprise on the face of the Agent of the Chartered Bank when we partially disrobed in his office and shot the total of our carryings on to his desk.\n\nIt is only fitting that I close with a reference to the introduction of the latest form of currency, the Jenminpiao. This came to Shanghai with the Liberation Army in May 1949. Prior to the arrival of the Communist forces and during the wild days of the K.M.T. evacuation to Taiwan, the Shanghai brokers had brought out their stocks of silver dollars and were doing brisk business all along the Shanghai streets, exchanging paper for...\n\nPage XX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204479, "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": 111, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "100\n\nJ. W. HAYES\n\nexerts itself with unprecedented vigour and hardihood in local affairs. No dispute arises but one or more of these social pests thrusts himself forward between the contending parties, and no fraud on the revenue or wholesale extortion is free from their similar influence\". Lockhart (through Governor Blake) says that the New Territory's literati \"have hitherto lived by irregular \"squeezes\" from the people\" and he blamed the opposition to British rule to them and to \"gamblers and bad characters banished from Hong Kong\" and not to the people who were incited by the gentry and elders. See Papers 1899 pp. 520 and 554.\n\n26 Papers 1899 p. 194.\n\n27 Papers 1899 p. 554.\n\n28 Arthur H. Smith Village Life in China (Edinburgh, Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, about 1900) p. 121.\n\n29 These affected the coastal and riverine regions of Kwangtung. See C. F. Neumann's Translations from the Chinese and Armenian with notes. 1. History of the pirates who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, (London, John Murray 1831). This includes, pp. 97-125, a very interesting account of an enforced stay of eleven weeks and three days with the pirate fleet in 1809 by Richard Glasbrooke, the mate of an East Indiaman. The pirates spent a considerable time on and near Lantau, which must have suffered from their depredations. The clan record of the HO family of San Tsuen, Pui O, on the south side of the island mentions pirate raids and a decision to fortify the village with walls which can still be seen, with several embrasures for cannon.\n\nPiracy continued until a much later date. The Cheung Chau police station was attacked and burnt in 1912, necessitating its removal and enlargement, one of the Cheung Chau ferries was pirated in 1923, and in 1925 a band of sixty robbers from the Delta entered Tai O by way of Po Chue Tam creek, killed a woman and made off with young men and a fair amount of booty without any difficulty. The Police Station is situated at the other end of the town and knew nothing of the attack until it was over. See Administrative Reports, District Officer, New Territories 1912, 1923 and 1925.\n\n30 Papers 1899 p. 528.\n\n31 Foreign Office Report 1606 on Trade of Canton 1894.\n\n32 Salt was smuggled into China from Tai O as the government monopoly and price ring made it profitable to do so. See also Enclosure D to Sir Matthew Nathan's despatch No. 59 of 11 January 1905 in Correspondence relating to Kowloon-Canton Railway which mentions rice smuggling from Shum Chun and Deep Bay into Hong Kong. The export of rice from China was forbidden, and checked by the Imperial Maritime Customs.\n\n**F O Trade Report No. 1778 for 1895.\n\n34 F O Trade Report No. 1983 for 1896.\n\n33 Papers 1899, p. 540.\n\nBrenan, with his thirty-two years' service wrote feelingly \"The Chinaman is happiest who never sees an official, who does not even know the name of one\". J N CBRAS XXXII (1897-98) 37.\n\n31 Foreign Office Trade Report for Canton No. 1606 for 1894.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204717, "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-1964", "page_number": 20, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n11\n\nin the Pearl River estuary. This estuary formed a great bay on the eastern edge of which was Hong Kong and on the western edge the Portuguese city of Macao. Many of the ships whose cargo were destined for Canton stopped first at Macao and the city was the summer home of a considerable number of foreign merchants trading to Canton. The island of Lintin, consisting of little more than a sharp peak rising in the center of the bay, was the entrepôt of the opium trade. At the mouth of the Pearl River a series of forts known as the Bogue dominated the estuary, at its widest three miles and at its narrowest one mile.* European ships were required to stop at the fortifications and receive permission from the Chinese authorities to proceed up the Pearl River. They then sailed on thirty miles to Whampoa, an island in the river where they anchored and discharged their cargos which were taken by barges and smaller ships thirteen miles to Canton, Neither the depth of the river nor the Chinese government permitted the \"Foreign Devils\" to bring large ships to the provincial capital.\n\nOn March 28, 1839 Elliot agreed to turn over to Commissioner Lin the entire holdings of opium which he stated as 20,283 chests. As each major consignment of opium was delivered restrictions on foreigners were eased in regard to food supplies and employment of Chinese workers. By early May conditions outwardly had returned to normal, the embargo lifted and the river opened to commercial traffic. The first crisis was over but the basic problem had not been settled.\n\nThe journal of William Hunter covered the critical days of siege from March to May 1839. Hunter graphically presented the dangers and concerns of the western community in Canton yet more significantly he showed the necessary patterns of life which develop even in the midst of agonizing uncertainty. In short the routine of peace was exchanged for the routine of confinement. All in all, tension produced by a state of siege, rumor, and the anticipation of an unknown fury ready to be unleashed by Chinese authorities were key ingredients of the spirit of the beleagured foreign community in Canton in 1839. Hunter was not concerned about the morality of opium trade. Apparently he saw no justification whatsoever for the action of the Chinese government.\n\n* For places mentioned here and in the Journal see the map facing p. 27.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204737, "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-1964", "page_number": 40, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n29\n\na communication from them in which they state that orders had been transmitted for the return of the cooks, coolies, and compradores to our service. Johnston also states that at noon of the 12th he had ordered up to Chumpee the following vessels, Jane, Ariel, Lady Grant, Ruparell, Mithras and Mermaid with their cargoes for immediate delivery. He says that the mandarins did not give any trouble from too close investigation.\n\n10 p.m. Our compradore came in to see us at 9 and has just gone away, there appears to be a difficulty in returning to the Factories. Bonds are required by the officers which involve them in great responsibility, and he says many will not grant them and consequently will not return to the service of foreigners.\n\nMonday, 15 April, 1839\n\nThere are about 30 sailors, English, American, Malay, and Bengalee in Canton who happened to be here when the communication with the shipping was cut off and consequently could not get down to their ships. Four belong to H.B.M. Sloop Larne, who came up with Captain Elliot. They afford the Chinese a good deal of sport by their antics in the Square every afternoon. Yesterday afternoon one of them climbed up to the top of the American flagstaff, a height of about one hundred feet, much to the astonishment of our guard. In fact it was quite a feat; he had no assistance except from the cleats nailed at long intervals to the mast.\n\n16th April\n\nTwo of our coolies have been with us for two or three days, and we have transferred to them the duties of setting table, washing dishes and plates, sweeping, making beds and so forth which we have been, in common with all foreigners, obliged to submit to for more than three weeks past.\n\n16th April, 1839*\n\nYoung Tom's purser A Heang came in today and reported that he had received a letter from his partner dated at the Bogue which communicated the fact of a boat with 100 chests of opium and a Chinese officer in charge having disappeared. No one knew where she had gone, it was supposed that during bad weather that had been experienced she had foundered.\n\n* The journal contains two separate entries for 16th April.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204741, "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-1964", "page_number": 44, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n33\n\nbeing to get rid of the opium as quick as possible and thereby procure our release. The latest accounts from below are that 12,391 chests have now been delivered to the Chinese. We hear also that Saoqua, one of the Hong merchants at Chumpee, met with a serious accident getting into his own boat from one of the ships. While here old Houqua, one of our best friends, has been confined to his house for a week past with dropsy of which he has a bad attack.\n\nNearly all the Factories have now their compradores, cooks, and coolies and here and there a servant. Our imprisonment is the same as before but the guard at night do not keep up such a continual beating of gongs and blowing of horns as they did. Sunday evening, 28 April, 1839\n\nThis evening while taking tea at Elmslie's, Houqua and Mouqua came in. They each sat down and ate some jelly and bread and took a cup of tea. The former had just had a letter from Pwankuqua dated at Chumpee yesterday, which said that 13,900 odd chests had been delivered. After half an hour's chat on various matters they went over to see Captain Elliot at the hall. Wrote to J. & P. Sturgis at Macao, gave the letter to Delano to be forwarded.\n\nWe heard this morning of the arrival of the Cowasjee Family from Calcutta and Singapore with 500 chests of opium. The Columbia and John Adams sailed from the latter place five days before her. The Columbia we understand for Lintin direct and the John Adams to touch at Bankoff. This news was received with great delight throughout our prison as they may in some measure hasten our release or the catastrophe, whatever it is to be. No passage boats or ship boats allowed to run.\n\nMonday, 29 April 1839\n\nSeveral days since we heard that three lascars had been brought from the coast of Chinchoo at which place they probably deserted from some ship and were lodged at the Consoo House. Today they were released and sent out to the Factories. Nothing can be made of their story except that they belonged to an opium vessel on the coast and had landed and were left behind. This was of course carefully concealed from the Name-Hoe who questioned them at Consoo House. We hear today that Mouqua is better and Saoqua also. He requested permission of the Yum Chae to come up which was refused.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204742, "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-1964", "page_number": 45, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "34 \n\nW. C. HUNTER \n\nDuring the afternoon letters were received from Macao dated 27th stating that Columbia had arrived in the roads. It is needless to say that this news has created universal joy in our prison, tho' she may not after all be able to afford us any protection. It remains to be seen what effect her presence will have on matters, \n\nWednesday, 1st May 1839 \n\nEverything remains as before. We have no certain intelligence from below but many rumors, amongst them that of opium becoming scarce at Chumpee and doubts if there will be enough for some time to make up 20,283 chests. In the evening we heard that a letter dated yesterday had reached town stating that the Colonel Young and Ternate, two east coast vessels, had got in, which is lucky as it will keep the deliveries going till more arrives. The Manl... is also in from the Gulf of Tonquin rather unexpectedly. She reports having been lying at anchor in a bay for one month surrounded by men-of-war junks without the possibility of a boat getting alongside of her. \n\nThursday, 2 May \n\nThis afternoon we had a report in town of the arrival in Macao Roads of the John Adams which gave us great pleasure. There are now outside three vessels of war. It is also said that Commodore Read has sent on shore at Macao 50 barrels of gunpowder. The Commissioner it appears has ordered the place to surrender a quantity of opium within three days, and if not given up threatens to remove all Chinese servants, cooks, etc., and to cut off all supplies of food from the foreigners. It is well known that there is no opium in the place, and consequently we are at a loss to know what measures the Commissioner will adopt after the three days have expired. In the meantime the Governor of Macao46, who is himself a soldier and said to be a brave man, intends should the Chinese commence hostilities against the place to defend it. He has about 400 troops. The forts are in good order and quite capable if well manned to defend the city against any Chinese force. There are about 350 officers in the place, a daring set of fellows who despise the Chinese, and about 800 or 1,000 male inhabitants capable of bearing arms. Besides these he will have the assistance of all the crews of the vessels in the roads without the men-of-war, about 500 men, and finally there \n\nRemaining part of name illegible. \n\n! \n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204764, "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-1964", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "56 \n\nK. M. A. BARNETT \n\nwhere the sea has been receding, it should be possible to find sites for excavation which are further away from the sea than they were when occupied. If one such can be found, it might be possible to uncover the whole settlement (whereas hitherto we have had to be content with the inland fringe of it) and thus to learn more of how these people lived before their way of life was disturbed. The area between the present Castle Peak Bay and Lau Fau Shan,79 particularly the re-entrants (which 1,000 years ago were bays) on the eastern side of Castle Peak and Tai Tau Shan,42 seems to afford the greatest promise. \n\nAssociated with the seashore sites, but also to be found on all the hills, are curious inverted conical pits variously described as kilns and vats. Their use has never been satisfactorily explained. These also should be plotted. I would be surprised if the plotting of all these objects: pits, stone walls, graves, standing stones, shore-side occupied sites and pre-Chinese irrigation channels, did not indicate that the inhabitants whom I have described throughout, in deference to tradition and to Chinese records, as of four kinds did not prove to have been after all one people. The fact that a people who grew cereals and roots on the hills and hunted wild game in the forests did not possess a technique for draining and cultivating mangrove swamps is no proof that they did not know how to catch fish; and the fact that our present boat people grow no crops and have for some centuries specialised in fishing and manufacturing salt does not mean that their earlier ancestors could not have hunted on the hills as well as in the sea, and there grown the cereals they needed to supplement a fish diet, and the roots from which they produced the preservative dye which they still use for their nets and sails. They must have had access to the forest to obtain the wood from which they built their boats, the skins from which they made their sails, and the gut from which, I suppose, they made their bowstrings and other fastenings. They may have done all this by friendly barter (I have suggested elsewhere that a group of place names including Yau Ma Tei,65 Ma Yau Tong90 and Ma Liu Shui could have been places where by convention the people of the shore and the people of the hills met to exchange their necessities), but the possibility that they were all one people", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204983, "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-1965", "page_number": 91, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "82\n\nA. D. BLUE\n\nand Wei-hai-wei, in sight of a sister ship, the Linan. The Tungchow was turned south for Bias Bay, and a few days later was recognized by another sister ship, the Sinkiang, and flags were dipped. The Sinkiang accounted for the Tungchow's being off her usual route by assuming that she was bound for the Company's dockyard in Hong Kong. This was one of the most successful piracies in the interwar years. The pirates went ashore in Bias Bay with well over £30,000 in specie, $10,000 in cash, and only the last-minute cancellation of a large consignment of silver taels prevented their haul from being much larger.\n\nThe second Tungchow piracy was almost ten years later, when she was carrying several hundreds of thousands of dollar notes from Shanghai to Tientsin. The pirates captured her the day after she left Shanghai and, as before, turned her south for Bias Bay. During the next few days they painted out her name and altered the colour of the funnel. A disquieting feature of this second piracy was the fact that the Tungchow was passed by several ships when under pirate control, including a British warship looking out for her.\n\nThis second Tungchow piracy had its amusing aspects. The passengers included a number of European school children, returning to school in North China after spending their holidays with their parents in Shanghai. The pirates made friends with them, and supplied them with fruit and other delicacies broached from the ship's stores. As before, the Tungchow was taken to Bias Bay, where the pirates went ashore with their loot. Unfortunately for them, however, the dollar notes were unsigned.\n\nThe Nanchang piracy of March 1933 was even further from the normal pattern than either of the Tungchow cases. The most normal feature was that the Nanchang was a China Navigation Company ship. This piracy took place at the mouth of the Newchwang River in Manchuria, well outside the pirates' range of operations. Also, the Nanchang, which was boarded by two junks when she lay at anchor, carried no passengers. There were no casualties in this case, but four British officers were taken prisoner, and only released after five months of tortuous negotiations and the payment of a ransom. This incident took place eighteen months after the Japanese had overrun Manchuria, and had set up the puppet state of Manchukuo; it might possibly be described as banditry—with political undertones.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204984, "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-1965", "page_number": 92, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "PIRACY ON THE CHINA COAST\n\n83\n\nAnother case which might be said to have had political undertones was that of the China Navigation Company's Shuntien in June 1934. The Shuntien was the latest addition to the China Navigation Company's large fleet, and was making only her second voyage at the time. She was captured by some thirty pirates after leaving Tientsin for Chefoo, and was taken to the mouth of the Yellow River where she was beached on soft sand. The pirates then made off inland, taking five European and twenty Chinese passengers as hostages. Before leaving, they told the ship's compradore that the piracy was a reprisal for the Chinese Maritime Customs having stationed an extra customs cruiser in Shantung Bay, thus interfering with their smuggling operations. The Europeans returned a few days later, but nothing more was ever heard of the Chinese hostages.\n\nBias Bay, sixty-five miles northeast of Hong Kong, was notorious as the pirates' stronghold in the interwar years. Unfortunately, it was just outside Hong Kong territorial waters, and came within the jurisdiction of the Cantonese authorities, who were either unwilling or unable to co-operate with the Royal Navy against the pirates. The nationalist and anti-foreign feelings of the Cantonese probably contributed to this, as did the fact that the warlords of Kwangtung were suspected of being in league with the pirates. Whether this was so or not, it was definitely established that pirates based on Bias Bay committed nine major piracies between 1924 and 1926.\n\nAlthough the Navy was unable to suppress piracy on the China coast, so much of which took place almost on its own doorstep, the mere fact that naval ships were in the vicinity must have reduced its incidence. The pirates rarely boarded ships at Hong Kong, partly because of the strict naval and police control there, and also because passengers joining ships there were unlikely to have much money or valuables. In the case of the second Sunning piracy in 1926, it was definitely established afterwards that the pirates came on board at Amoy, and that their weapons were smuggled on board by stevedores. The lack of co-operation from Canton meant that the Navy was unable to follow up action at sea by punitive expeditions against the pirates' shore bases. The Kwangtung authorities had been much more co-operative in the first few decades after the cession of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204985, "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-1965", "page_number": 93, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "84 \n\nA. D. BLUE\n\nHong Kong, than in the 1920's and 30's. The latter period came within the warlord era when the writ of the central government at Peking or Nanking sat very lightly, if at all, on the southern provinces. In 1925 and 1927, however, the Navy sent expeditions into Bias Bay, to destroy—if possible without damage to innocent lives and property—villages known to harbour pirates and pirate junks. The second expedition was undertaken in exasperation after the pirating of the Jardine steamer S.S. Hop Sang in March 1927.4 The official report issued after the expedition claimed that one hundred and thirty stone and mat shed huts were destroyed in the two villages attacked, and forty junks and sampans destroyed. The raid had been no surprise, and definite evidence was found that the villages had been implicated in recent piracies. These raids only caused a temporary lull in the pirates' activities.\n\nThe Navy had one notable success in the Irene piracy of October 1927, which illustrates the difficulties with which the Navy and the Hong Kong Government had to contend in their anti-piracy campaign. H.M.S. submarine L4 challenged the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company's Irene when entering Bias Bay without lights and in suspicious circumstances. When she refused to stop, and then ignored a warning shot fired across her bow, a live round was fired which still drew no response. The Irene's captain was navigating under the pirates' supervision, and tried to ring down to stop the engines, but was too late.\n\nThe next shot struck the Irene amidships on the waterline, disabling the engines, killing a pirate standing beside the chief engineer, and starting a fire which almost gutted the ship before she sank. L4 went alongside and rescued most of the crew, and 220 of the 248 passengers. Three other warships and the tug Alliance arrived later, but were unable to prevent the Irene from sinking. When L4 arrived at Hong Kong the crew and passengers of Irene were screened by the police, and three men were identified as being pirates. A few days later seven other men were arrested, and all ten eventually hanged, after a sensational attempt to break out of Hong Kong's Victoria Gaol. The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company came under the control of the Chinese Government, and the Irene\n\n4 The only piracy of a Jardine ship in the modern era,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204999, "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-1965", "page_number": 107, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "98\n\nCOLINA LUPTON\n\nindication is given in this book of how the British Government saw the ultimate future of the Colony, though this is of academic interest today.\n\nThe years 1946-1949 were spent in drawing up what has become known as the Young Plan, after the Governor of the time, which would have provided for an elected Municipal Council, with a franchise for all men and women over the age of 25 who could read and write either English or Chinese. This plan was however thrown out by the Legislative Council, of which the unofficial members felt that reform of their own body should come first. They also objected to the fact that the proposed Municipal Council would overlap the functions of the Colonial Administration. In any case, the time, mid-1949, was unsettled in view of events in China and the opportunity was missed. Subsequently, the whole of Hong Kong society underwent such an upheaval with the flood of refugees and the diminishing of trade with the Mainland that constitutional reforms were shelved.\n\nA feature of the post-war situation of Hong Kong is the fact that everyone knows that the really important long-term decisions are not made in the Colonial Secretariat or even in Government House. This certainly adds to the lack of interest in acquiring any share in the Government. On the other hand, a paradoxical result of the establishment of the Communist Government in Peking is that most of the Chinese who have come to Hong Kong in the last fifteen years are here to stay, unlike the transients who before the war came to the Colony to find jobs in bad periods at home, expecting to return to their families when conditions improved. Hence the Chinese population does in fact have more interest than it did in pre-1949 days in seeing that the Government should at least be of the complexion it desires. As time passes, this will be both more and less true: a greater proportion of the populace will be Hong Kong born or educated, or both; but since it is clear that as Mr. Endacott says, Peking's demands for the revision of the \"unequal treaties\" are unlikely to stop at the Shum Chun river, the Colony's lifespan depends on how pressing the Chinese Government feels this revision is.\n\nAn interesting point in the early history of the Colony which Mr. Endacott brings out very clearly is that it was the British Government, which by not allowing any constitutional advance", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205187, "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-1966", "page_number": 143, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "OLD BRITISH KOWLOON\n\n137\n\n50 The Hong Kong Blue Books for 1904 onwards list Basel Mission out-stations at Shaukiwan on Hong Kong Island and at To Kwa Wan, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon Tong in Kowloon. It is not certain when the Sham Shui Po station was opened as The China Mission Hand Book p. 279 lists two out-stations from Hong Kong but does not give their names. The earlier Blue Books are not much help.\n\n51 Hung Hom, Tai Kok Tsui and Mong Kok Tsui had their docks and in Sessional Papers 1899, p. 482 Tai Kok Tsui is described as \"an industrial area\".\n\n52 This study was hampered by the fact that no early land records appear to have survived for the group of villages described in this article. The only information I have been able to obtain, besides evidence from maps, relates to squatter licenses. A list for 1896, which appears in Sessional Papers 1897, p. 203, includes Ho Man Tin (37), Tai Shik Kwu (1) and Mong Kok (57).\n\nL\n\n+\n\nAddenda\n\nI ought not to leave this subject without mentioning the bad feeling between Hakkas and Cantonese in British Hong Kong which was the legacy of the disturbed times during the Taiping rebellion. Mayers, Dennys and King, the authors of The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London and Hong Kong, 1867) state that fights between Hakka and Punti were common in British Hong Kong and that many Hakka labourers had come to Hong Kong with vivid memories of ill-treatment in their native place. It seems that these fights were not confined to immigrant labourers with scores to settle. Eitel records that for several days in August 1862 \"the peninsula of Kowloon presented the novel aspect of an animated battle field, as the Punti inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were engaged in a bloody warfare with the Hakka settlers at Tsim Sha Tsui\". A previous engagement, presumably between the same people, occurred in the same place in August 1859 when hostilities lasted two days though \"little damage was done beyond a few knife wounds\". We are told that \"The Hakkas remained masters of the situation\" (Dennys etc. p. 84). At that time, according to this source, the Puntis \"have an intense antipathy to the Hakkas\" (p. 19). It is interesting that this is reflected in the fact that the Canton Coolie Corps which assisted our army in the Second Chinese War 1857-60 was recruited in Hong Kong entirely from among Hakkas. See W. Stanton The Triad Society, Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh 1900, p. 26.\n\nFurther to the early descriptions of Yau Ma Ti given in the text I have since come across another in Sessional Papers 1888, p. 103, in which it is stated that \"the boatmen and fishermen who have hitherto constituted the residents of Yau Ma Ti are gradually becoming outnumbered by town people and artizans (sic) from Hong Kong who are attracted to Yau Ma Ti by the lower rents charged them for house accommodation\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205219, "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-1966", "page_number": 175, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n169 \n\nplant. In Hong Kong four general groups are recognised comprising about thirteen different varieties, all of which but one, the upland rice, need to grow in standing water.\n\nThe first crop of kuk ripens in mid-summer during the typhoon season of blue skies and huge white mountains of cumulus cloud. Sudden and devastating rain storms and periods of low pressure at this time may ruin a crop not yet ripe. Rice is a particularly difficult grain to grow as right up to the last few days before harvesting there is no hard grain in the heads but only a milky white fluid, which, unless it has a few days of very strong sunshine, will not harden into grain. Typhoon winds at this period can completely ruin a crop by flattening the standing grain into the padi water. However, assuming that all is well, the first crop is harvested from the water in which it grows.\n\nBeing harvested from wet fields the grain from this first crop is unsuitable for keeping in store for lengthy periods as it tends to mildew. This crop therefore sells at a lower value than the second crop, which is harvested in the Autumn.\n\nAs the water in the fields is no longer required after the second crop the fields are drained off, the rice left standing in the drying fields, ripens and turns into a grain that will keep in store for years if necessary. This crop fetches a higher price than the first crop.\n\nBy tying his rent return to kuk instead of to a fixed cash rent the landowner ensures that his return is commensurate with the local market price at the time of harvesting. Should bad weather make a poor harvest local prices for kuk rise in sympathy with shortages. If a glut of rice ensues then prices will fall in sympathy with the economy.\n\nRentals\n\nYield should be an important factor when considering tenant rentals, but figures based on statistics collected for use at arbitration board hearings, indicate a pattern which is against yield as a factor in deciding rents in some localities. As a corollary to a technical soil survey of arable lands carried out by Dr. C. J. Grant of the University of Hong Kong, the author made enquiries and collected statistics of prices paid by tenant farmers in those areas mentioned under the heading \"Soil Associations\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205288, "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": 50, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY\n\n43\n\nHalf-way up the valley Plum Grove Village (Mui Tsz Lam) climbs the lower slopes of a cone-shaped mountain peak, overlooking a widening stretch of land. No flat land is to be found here and farming takes place on stone terraces built on the slopes. There is plenty of water, running down the hillsides in small brooks. The third and uppermost settlement is another composite one, Grass Field Village (Mau Ping). It comprises three hamlets and some isolated houses. The valley ends in a bowl-shaped area, and the settlement is spread around on three steep sides. Farming is done entirely on stone terraces. Parts of this bowl are densely forested.\n\nRice production is a prominent feature of the valley. The irrigated fields are double-cropped but the yield is and has, within living memory, never been sufficient to cover the local consumption. It seems that even in a good year the basic food supply would last only for about seven months. Small holdings are characteristic of this valley. Bad soil and lack of arable land limit the possibilities of agricultural expansion, together with the frequent and serious damage caused to crops by typhoons. The torrents of rain accompanying the storms sometimes flood the whole area. The water carries away fertilizers and soil. On the other hand, the crops, especially the first, are exposed to periods of drought since, however well-watered the valley is, people find it extremely difficult to make use of the supply. There is a constant want of rain-water as the fields are often too far away from the brooks. The main stream pursues its way in a deep ravine and is hardly of any use at all, whilst its mouth is, as mentioned, filled with salt water during high tide. The hillsides are steep and the run-off of water is rapid.\n\nIn earlier days the rice produced in the village was consumed on the spot. According to the rice merchants in the market towns the quality of the grain from this mountain area is as good as any from the New Territories' plains. When rice mills operating in the Sai Kung and Sha Tin markets after the Pacific War (1941-45) started an exchange system, the villagers were presented with a new alternative. They could transport their high-quality rice crop to the market and there exchange it for inferior broken polished rice, generally imported from Burma or Thailand. This is now usually done, and on a 'picul for picul' system;", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205309, "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": 71, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "64\n\nL. G. AIMER\n\nemigrants who had left the Colony. The masons in Grass Field Village, who had their village within a day's journey, naturally had a word in all village affairs; but the Big Stream men working in Vancouver or on Aruba in the West Indies had a very limited influence on decisions made in the home community.\n\nVI\n\nTraditional leadership in these Hakka villages was gerontocratic in nature. There were no formal isu (M) or fang (M) leaders. An informal council of old men met occasionally in the ancestral hall to discuss current problems. These persons' influence was directly correlated to the distribution of economic control within the community. As long as this differentiation was small, all elders would have had fairly equal status. Age differentiation within the group does not seem to have been of vital importance.\n\nThe process of emigration created new economic groups. In Big Stream Village, where emigration abroad early dominated the scene, the informal council of village elders is made up of four former overseas Chinese. Two of them have worked in the United States, one in Canada, and one on Aruba in the Netherlands West Indies. The last-mentioned man has quite a good house and has apparently had some resources, but he is in poor health, struck by rheumatism, a fact he ascribes to excessive use of alcohol in his younger days. His sight is bad and is hardly improved by the smashed pair of spectacles on his nose. This 76-year-old man said that he was 'willing to accept anything, whatever it is and whenever it comes.' He has no children. His influence on village affairs is apparently very limited. It seems as if he is taking part in the village council meetings merely to represent the first minor lineage, even if I was never able to confirm a strict rule that all fang (M) should be represented there.\n\nOf the other three leaders, two are men who have spent much time in New York in the United States, and one who has been working in Vancouver, Canada. One of the New York men is Village Representative and the official spokesman with the British administrative authorities. He is 73 years old and a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205332, "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": 94, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "THE CHINA COASTERS\n\n87\n\nChina Navigation Company, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, and to a lesser extent to ships of some smaller British companies such as the Douglas Steam Navigation Company and the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company. The 'outside' ships belonged to a disparate group of owners, British and Chinese, in both Hong Kong and Shanghai; and officers on the 'regular' ships considered themselves superior to those on the 'outside' ships. The latter were usually old ships which had passed their best days in the service of the regular companies. Some maintained a respectable standard of seaworthiness and seamanship, but many had a bad reputation in this respect. British masters and chief engineers were carried mainly to satisfy the requirements of the classification and insurance societies. Like the ships themselves, many officers on the outside ships had formerly served on the regular ships.\n\nBy the First World War, at least so far as the regular companies were concerned, China coast shipping had become divided into a number of liner services, for each of which a particular type of coaster had been designed. The China Navigation Company was then the largest company, and its principal trades were the Yangtse and Tientsin trades based on Shanghai, the interport trade between Hong Kong and Shanghai which also served the intermediate ports, and the Singapore and Bangkok emigrant trades and the Canton River trade based on Hong Kong. The Indo-China and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Companies were similarly organised, but neither was so vitally concerned with the emigrant trades in the south; and the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company's largest ships operated their long-established service between Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Japan.\n\nOne important trade which was seasonal, did not fit into this framework. This was the beancake trade between Manchuria and South China, in which the China Navigation Company was predominant. Newchwang was the main export port, and most of the trade was concentrated in the few months of spring after the Newchwang River was opened to navigation, and the few months of autumn before it was closed by ice. When the China Navigation Company first entered the beancake trade in the 1870's, they employed specially designed coasters, but this practice was gradually discontinued. By the early 1900's, by which time the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205397, "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": 159, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "152\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nA CANNON FROM THE END OF THE MING PERIOD\n\nYour Honorary Editor has suggested that I write a short piece about the cannon recently found near the Sino-British frontier about twenty miles from Kowloon. I do so with some hesitation, as I have not seen the piece and it has probably already received some attention, including a translation of the inscription. Nonetheless here is my rendering of the latter:\n\n\"Weight: 300 catties.\n\nConstructed on the 26th September 1650 by the following: Wu, Superintendent of Inland Seas, Chief Military Commissioner, installed (?) as Ting-hai General,\n\nTu, Governor General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, by imperial order.\n\nFan, Regional Commander of Kwangtung and guardian of the imperial heir (?),\n\nHsiao Li-jen, Local Commander of military operations, Su, Chief of bureau (?), Chief of military commission.”2\n\nIt is of some interest to note that the names of Tu, Fan, and Hsiao Li-jen appear also on the inscription of the cannon dated June/July 1650, found in Kowloon Bay in 1956.3 So far I have not been able to identify any of these individuals, especially since four of the five are listed by their hsing only. Doubtless they would all have owed their appointments to one or other of the Ming princes who were trying to uphold the authority of the tottering dynasty. One of these was Chu I-hai (Prince of Lu), then with headquarters at Chusan, captured by the Manchus on October 15, 1651. Another and more likely one was Chu Yu-lang (Prince of Kuei) who at this date held his court on boats at Wu-chou. Canton, after a siege of eight months, was taken by the Ch'ing forces on November 20, 1650.\n\nThese, as may be imagined, were parlous days for the house of Ming. Not alone for the surviving members of the imperial family, but also for the local population and the foreigners in their midst.4 One may surmise that the casting of cannon in the summer and early autumn of 1650 was a singularly difficult and hazardous one. But cannon and their casting were well known to the Chinese in this and earlier times.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205761, "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-1969", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "33 Ibid., p. 113.\n\nMILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE\n\n61\n\n34 This event has a tangled academic history. The establishment of the association by the twenty-four villages was originally reported in the Chinese Repository (IV, 1836, p. 414), and is quoted by Wakeman (op. cit., p. 63) from that source. It is also quoted by Hsiao (op. cit., p. 309) as an example of inter-village co-operation for the purposes of defence and the maintenance of order. Skinner (op. cit., p. 39, n. 80), quoting from Hsiao, argues its significance for the analysis of standard marketing communities.\n\n35 Wakeman, op. cit., p. 39.\n\n36 Skinner, G. W. \"Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China Part II\". The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. XXIV, no. 2, February 1965, pp. 207f.\n\n37 Only those aspects of the New Territories most relevant to the argument will be discussed. There is a growing literature about the area which, taken together, gives considerable detail. Freedman, op. cit., p. viii, provides a bibliographical note on published works.\n\n38 The land frontier of the territory begins just north of the Sham Chun river and runs eastward from Deep Bay to the market of Sha Tau Kok. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, the then Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, was deeply opposed to this boundary. \"It cuts in two the rich valley of which Sham Chun is the centre, and, while excluding that town, divides the villages in the valley hitherto linked together by family ties and common interests; all these villages regard Sham Chun as their central and most important market, where they dispose their goods and make their purchases\" Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts from Papers Relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1899, Hong Kong, 1900, p. 196.\n\n39 Ibid., p. 187. Stewart Lockhart's population estimates cannot be regarded as very accurate. By 1900 he thought the number of villages to be 597. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1900, Hong Kong, 1901, p. 252. The Hong Kong census of 1911 gave the total population of the territory as 104,101. In the Northern District alone, 398 villages were enumerated. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, Hong Kong, 1912, pp. 103ff. On the other hand, as guesses go, Stewart Lockhart's count is by no means disreputable. His estimate of 100,000 is not all that far from the 1911 census figure cited above. Other examples could be given which suggest that his estimates are sufficiently accurate to indicate general magnitudes of population, if not precise numbers.\n\n40 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts..., op. cit., p. 188.\n\n41 This discussion will be confined to that part of the territory which used to be known as the 'Northern District' and will not consider the markets at Sai Kung, Tsuen Wan, Sham Shui Po, and Cheung Chau island. For brief accounts of these, see Hayes, J. W., \"The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898\"; \"Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets\", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 11, 1962, vol. III, 1963.\n\n42 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, op. cit., pp. 103f.; Correspondence (December 15, 1903, to February 27, 1907) Relating to the Proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, Eastern No. 88, Colonial Office, London, 1907, pp. 85ff.\n\n43 For example, the marketing schedule of the two Tai Po markets was 3-6-9. That is to say, the markets met on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th and 29th days of each lunar month. The same principle applies to the schedules of each of the other markets. Normally, in specifying a schedule, only the first three days are given.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205845, "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-1969", "page_number": 151, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "THE SAN ON MAP OF MGR. VOLONTIERI\n\n145\n\nThe pattern of settlement presented by the map must be treated with some caution, for there is a distinct difference in the degree of complexity between the two portions divided roughly by an imaginary line running from the middle of the top margin south-westwards to the bottom edge. To the east of this divide practically all the villages known to have been in existence at that time were accurately located and named, but on the other side of the line, the settlements were under-represented and the locations of those actually cited were rather inaccurately plotted. Furthermore, some six to eight miles of the north-western boundary with Tung Kun District is conspicuously missing, but it does not seem that any part of San On lies beyond the margins of the map. The distortion of the coastline and the lack of relief contrasts on which Volonteri must have based his observations, were part of the reason for the imprecision, but the full explanation for the omission of many village sites in western San On must be sought elsewhere.\n\nAlthough there was a larger number of small villages in the eastern peninsula, the concentration of population was definitely in the more prosperous and long established western plains. The broad valleys of the rivers emptying into Deep Bay were settled by the Cantonese Tang clan as early as the tenth century, while the hilly tracts of the east had to wait a couple of centuries for the arrival of the Hakkas. Several farming communities on the large island of Nam Tao (Lantau) have a history dating back to the Ming and even to the Sung Dynasty, but none of these were recorded on the map. There are two possible explanations which may account for this unfortunate lack of information in western San On. The first must be that Volonteri, like his successors, found that the Hakkas were, on the whole, more receptive to Christianity than were the more wealthy and tradition-bound Cantonese and hence a concentration of missionary efforts on these communities in the early days. In view of the Tai Ping Rebellion (1850-64), with its religious and ethnic implications, the timing of Volonteri's arrival and survey work was certainly not the most opportune. He would therefore have spent more time with the Hakkas and have become more familiar with the areas around the five strategically located Roman Catholic churches in the eastern section. The result was that his knowledge of the remainder of the district did not seem to have extended far beyond", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205994, "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-1970", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "CHINATOWN IN HONG KONG:\n\nTHE BEGINNINGS OF TAIPINGSHAN\n\nDAFYDD Emrys Evans\n\nIt seems unrealistic to talk of a 'Chinatown' in a place as obviously Chinese as Hong Kong. But for a very long time, there was indeed an area thought of by the Europeans as a part of the city into which they would not normally go. This area has, right from its inception, been known as \"Tai Ping Shan' or Mountain of Peace, after the Chinese name for the mountain the Europeans called Victoria Peak. When the British arrived in Hong Kong at the beginning of 1841, the north shore of the island was substantially unoccupied, there being nothing more than scattered huts between the village of Sai Ying Pun in the west and Wong Nei Chung in the east. The principal site for the new city lay in the present Central District of Hong Kong, and the first areas built up by the Europeans (apart from the waterside godowns and houses which extended from the Central Market to Causeway Bay) lay around the present Central Magistracy but rapidly extended within the first three years of the Colony's existence east and west of that spot. Although a small number of Chinese obtained grants of land in this area it is true to say that the town was exclusively European (with, of course, a number of Parsee merchants from British India) from the line of the present Garden road as far as the present Aberdeen Street and up the hill to Hollywood Road. At the time of the Colony's inception there were never more than a few hundred Europeans contrasted with several thousand Chinese who came as tradesmen and artisans. Where, then, did the Chinese live?\n\nApart from the small town that Jardine, Matheson & Co. built out at East Point, there were three principal areas where the incoming Chinese settled at first. It is known that in the early days after June, 1841 a good many matshed huts sprang up on the hillside to the west of the area later to be the site of the main part of the town (and these were destroyed by the great typhoon in August, 1841) and one stretch of the waterfront was 'taken over'. As early as August 1841 the 'Lower Bazaar' was forming in the area of what later became Jervois Street and Bonham", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206008, "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-1970", "page_number": 88, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "CHINESE EMIGRATION AND THE DECK PASSENGER TRADE 83\n\nlanded in Cuba alive. Losses of up to 40% were not uncommon on such voyages, and it is not surprising that the emigrant trade was sometimes called the \"Pig Trade\".*\n\nMost of this emigration continued to be in sailing ships as the early steamships were not particularly popular in the emigrant trade; it was thought the passengers were not landed in such good condition as from sailing ships. The number of days at sea was not so important as the number and condition of the passengers landed. It is probable, however, that like the contemporary objections against carrying tea in steamships, the objections against steamships in the emigrant trade were mainly based on prejudice.\n\nBetween the 1840's and the 1870's, when emigration to South America and the West Indies was practically uncontrolled, conditions on the long passage from the China coast were as bad as those on the notorious 'Middle Passage' of the African Slave Trade. Sometimes they were so intolerable that the Chinese rose in revolt, and attempted to kill the captain and crew. Sometimes they would set the ship on fire, hoping either to capture the ship or escape in the confusion. Emigrant ships were usually provided with barricades on deck in those days, like those on convict ships, to prevent the coolies from attacking the officers' and crews' quarters, a device later adopted as an anti-piracy precaution on late 19th and early 20th century emigrant ships in the South-east Asian trades.\n\nDuring this same period Indians were emigrating to the West Indies, Mauritius, Fiji, and other places, and the Indian section of the emigrant trade has been studied more intensively than the Chinese. The Indian trade was not subject to such great abuses as the Chinese, as it was under more effective control at each end. Indians were also more amenable to discipline, so there was less danger of revolt on Indian emigrant ships. Their passivity and personal habits, however, made them more liable to illness, and the greatest dangers in the Indian emigrant trade\n\n* S. Wells Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide (Hong Kong, 1863) pp. 223-224, shows that coolies for the American countries were known as \"chü-tsai ## or pigs\" among contemporary Cantonese \"by an allusion to their [i.e. the Cantonese] mode of catching and carrying off swine in round baskets\". It is not known whether this phrase, which is still remembered today as 7, is of earlier origin. Ed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206009, "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-1970", "page_number": 89, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "84 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\ncame from cholera and fire, and not from revolt. It was generally believed that the Chinese were more able to look after themselves than the Indians. \n\nOne of the greatest tragedies in Chinese emigration befell the American clipper Flora Temple in 1859. The Flora Temple left Macao for Havana with 850 passengers, who were rebellious from the very start of the passage. Although they were unsuccessful in breaking out of the holds, they killed one of the crew who fell into their clutches. The ship ran into bad weather four days out from Macao, and was unable to take accurate sights. Two days later she ran on a reef off the coast of Indo-China. It was apparent that she would soon break up, so the captain and crew launched and provisioned the two lifeboats, and abandoned the ship and passengers. After a rough passage the captain and one of the lifeboats reached the coast near Touron twelve days later, but nothing was heard of the other lifeboat. A French naval ship was sent to rescue the deserted coolies and search for the missing lifeboat. When they arrived at the scene of the wreck, however, all they could find was a few planks of the Flora Temple, but no trace of the passengers or other lifeboat. \n\nAnother tragedy, but on a smaller scale, befell the British barque Sophia Fraser when taking emigrants from Amoy to Penang. The Sophia Fraser ran into a typhoon three days out of Amoy, and during the pandemonium which broke out among the coolies confined in the 'tween decks thirty-five died. The subsequent enquiry revealed that only four of the deaths were due to natural causes, the rest having been killed in the senseless fight caused by panic. This bears some resemblance to the central incident in Conrad's novel \"Typhoon\", as the burning of the Shah Jehan in the Indian coolie trade resembles the central incident in \"Lord Jim\". \n\nWhat appeared at the time to be one of the major tragedies in the history of Chinese emigration concerned the French ship St. Paul in 1858, when taking 327 indentured labourers from Hong Kong to the Australian gold fields. The St. Paul ran on a reef off Rossel Island, a small island lying to the east of the New Guinea islands, and the captain and eight of the crew were picked up fifteen days later by the British schooner Prince of Denmark. After an inexplicable delay of two months they were put ashore", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206013, "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-1970", "page_number": 93, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "88 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nAlmost every China coaster was equipped to carry several hundred deck passengers, although ‘equipped' is too grandiose a word to use when describing the very modest preparations this entailed. Deck passengers were usually carried on the main deck and in the 'tween decks, wooden decks on most ships, but without beds, bunks, or any luxuries of that nature. Each passenger or family was simply allotted so many square feet of deck space, and supplied their own bedding, mats, and wooden pillows. As the weather was usually warm and mild, male passengers spent most of their time on the main deck, which was sheltered from the sun by awnings. Female passengers, however, often spent the whole passage in the 'tween decks, in semi-private enclaves constructed with their baggage. Washing and sanitary facilities may have been primitive, but were reasonably adequate for a voyage rarely lasting more than nine or ten days, and were probably superior to what the passengers were accustomed to in their native villages. Numerous taps provided fresh water several times per day, and on a well-found ship passengers could fill buckets and other receptacles to last them through the dry periods. Thus Conrad's \"Typhoon\" does not give a very accurate description of an emigrant ship: the Nanyang was not a regular emigrant ship, and even Captain MacWhirr's well-intentioned efforts cannot have secured his passengers a comfortable passage before running into the typhoon.\n\nIn the heyday of the trade, deck passengers were usually provided with at least two Spartan meals per day, whose main ingredients were rice with a little dried fish and vegetables, and bought any extras and luxuries themselves. The compradore's staff cooked the two meals and kept the decks clean; but the whole crew were financially interested in the deck passengers. Some ran food and drink stalls where a wide range of Chinese delicacies were on sale; others ran opium dens and gambling schools; while others again hired out their accommodation. Under such circumstances the passenger with money to spare could have a very pleasant passage. There were the occasional periods of discomfort during bad weather and typhoons, when it might be necessary to confine the passengers in the battened down 'tween decks for their own safety. During the late 1920s and the 30s on the Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, and Haiphong trades I saw very little real hardship, and few destitute passengers. Most", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206014, "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-1970", "page_number": 94, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "CHINESE EMIGRATION AND THE DECK PASSENGER TRADE 89\n\nmaking their first venture abroad in those years were joining relatives or friends, and had been able to borrow enough on future earnings to ensure a comfortable passage. There were always a few unfortunates, however, who, in their anxiety to escape from the poverty and misery of their native village, had borrowed their passage money from money lenders or their tongs at ruinous rates of interest.\n\nConditions for most of this century were certainly vastly changed from the middle decades of the 19th century. Prospective passengers lived in boarding houses in Amoy or Swatow when waiting for a ship, and the ship's compradore often had a financial interest in these boarding houses or worked in close co-operation with their owners. As there was keen competition in the 20th century emigrant trades, not only between different shipping companies, but under the compradore system — between different ships in the same company, the prospective passengers were well treated in the boarding houses, which bore little resemblance to the barracoons of the 'bad old days'.\n\nBeside the China coasters, overseas ships on the Far Eastern run also took part in the emigrant trade, especially to the Straits and Bangkok, as this could be fitted into their wayport schedule; and even the large and luxurious Canadian Pacific liners were not above carrying a few hundred deck passengers from time to time. Ben Line steamers, too, sometimes called at Amoy and Swatow and took up to two hundred deck passengers to the Straits or Bangkok or vice versa, but on many overseas ships the passengers had to supply and cook their own food, and sleep on wooden planks laid over steel decks. The overseas ships were not normally so well suited for deck passengers as the regular coast ships, and by the First World War the latter had captured the cream of the trade.\n\nIn the South-east Asian trades south-bound traffic normally exceeded north-bound, but not to a disproportionate extent. Many overseas Chinese returned home, either for a holiday or to retire, and north-bound ships were especially busy just before Chinese New Year, and south-bound just after this important festival. These north-bound ships, where many passengers were carrying the savings of a few years or even of a lifetime, were the most tempting for pirates, and were specially equipped to deal", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206055, "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-1970", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "130\n\nHENRY D. TALBOT\n\nThe lines of soundings indicate the tracks of ships and we are entitled to assume that, although they were probably not hydrographic survey ships, they are likely to have been annotating their charts to improve the depiction of the coast-line at the same time as plotting the position of the soundings.\n\nMost of the names given are romanized versions of Chinese names, presumably written down by a European sailor from the words spoken by a Chinese person on board. This would explain the b/m confusion in the case of “Botae Island\" (both are bilabials) and the n/l confusion in the case of \"Lammon\" (both are alveolar).5\n\nThe misnaming of \"Peng Chau\" as \"Tay Pak\" and \"Siu Kau Yi\" as \"Sui-pak\" can also be explained if the islands were seen from the east; on having them pointed out to him the Chinese person mistook the places indicated and gave the names of the villages on the coast of Lantao directly behind them.\n\nThe most extraordinary feature of the map is the fact that Hong Kong Island is shown as split in two parts with a waterway apparently running from the present Aldrich Bay (Shau Kei Wan) to Tai Tam Bay. A glance at the topographical and geological maps of the island shows that it is quite impossible that such a waterway could have existed at this time. The only feasible explanation is that at the time the ship was passing north of the island the visibility was so bad that the hills were not visible and that there appeared to be a strait at this place.\n\nThe name \"Fan-Chin-Cheou” is surprising as it does not appear in other sources as a name of Hong Kong Island. The last syllable \"Cheou\" presumably represents the well-known word \"chau\" meaning \"island\", as in \"Cheung Chau\" and \"Peng Chau”. No obvious meaning for the first two syllables is apparent, although it is tempting to suppose that \"Fan\" might mean \"Foreigner\". \"He-Ong-Kong\" is probably a mistaken transcription of \"Heong-Kong\", the equivalent of the modern name.\n\nA close examination of the shape of Lantao on the chart shows that this, too, is very badly distorted, especially on the eastern side. The bays such as Silvermine Bay are completely lacking, while the peninsula north of Chang Cheou Is. (Cheung Chau) is shown as a separate island.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206079, "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-1970", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "154\n\nS. F. BALFOUR\n\npopulation who took on Chinese surnames and customs. The town of Canton itself, although parts were surrounded by walls, continued to be inhabited by a large matshed population. It was full of Arabs, Indians and Persians who were allowed to have their own administration and laws and to settle in the place without hindrance. Here is a quotation from the famous Arab book known as the Chain of Chronicles which is an account of the trade with China in the ninth century compiled by the Zaid Hassan of Siraf in Arabia. The merchant Soleyman states:\n\n\"The reason why Chinese merchandise in Baghdad is at present rare is because fires are so common in Khanfu (Canton). This town is the principal port for ships and is the entrepôt for all trade between Arabia and China. The fires which consume the merchandise break out because the houses are built of bamboo and reed. Another cause of the paucity of merchandise (in Baghdad) is the large number of shipwrecks and the fact that the ships are so often raided by pirates or are forced to remain in port for long periods during their journeys.\"\n\nAnother merchant states in the same book: \"In 878 the rebel Ban Shua (Huang Chao) besieged Khanfu (Canton). After many days the town was taken. On this occasion 120,000 Mussulmans, Jews and Christians who were established in the city perished by the sword.\"\n\nSince this event preceded a decline in the trade with the west from Canton it is as well to try and form a picture of it up to this period.\n\nThe boats used were larger than any of the native craft that are now seen on the Chinese coast. As early as 413 Fa Hsien the Buddhist pilgrim returned from Java on a boat which carried over 200 people. It drifted, he says, at the mercy of the wind without taking any particular course and \"only by observing the sun, moon and stars was it possible to go forward.\" Fa Hsien's ship was set for Canton but was blown out of its course as far as Shantung where they landed without knowing in the least where they were. In spite of the difficulty of steering without a compass the trade route was very much helped, as it has always been, by the monsoons which blow from the north in winter and from the south in summer. There is some evidence that tacking was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206081, "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-1970", "page_number": 161, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "156\n\nS. F. BALFOUR\n\nbetween A.D. 785 and 805 by a Chinese called Chia Tan and which are published in the T'ang official history. The text concerning our region reads:\n\n\"From Canton travelling towards the South East for 200 li you reach Mount T'un Mun.\n\nThe name T'un Mun or garrisoned entrance is still given to the Castle Peak region. The landmark is in fact Castle peak itself. It must have been known centuries before the publication of the text we have cited and the foreign ships coming to and from Canton must have anchored in its neighbourhood in such numbers that a Chinese garrison was sent to control and protect them. This garrison was appointed during the Tang dynasty.\n\nThere is some difficulty in placing the locality of the anchorage. It may have been Castle Peak Bay itself, or any of the harbours between it and Fat T'ong Mun. The Arab Chain of Chronicles gives the following description of the route to Canton:\n\n\"Seven days are needed to pass through the Straits between the mountains. Then you reach fresh water and proceed to Khanfu.\n\n**\n\nThere may, of course, have been confusion in these accounts, and the area of approach to Canton also called by the Arabs \"the Gates of China\" may have been elsewhere than our region. On the other hand this description fits in with the nature of the passage from Fat T'ong Mun to T'un Mun in all respects except that it takes less than seven days to pass through. Perhaps, however, these seven days were meant to include the administrative delays which ships entering Canton were bound to encounter.\n\nThere is no local tradition or archaeological evidence of the passage of foreign traders past T'un Mun, or of the site of the garrison. One theory is that it was near Castle Peak Bay and at that period there was a channel connecting with Deep Bay which made the Castle Peak range itself an island. Amongst other things the garrison was in charge of the salt fields in the district, and it seems quite likely that at that time the salt fields covered this channel.\n\nThe mountain itself is supposed to have been visited by a Buddhist saint in 428 A.D., who journeyed across the sea in a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206108, "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-1970", "page_number": 188, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n183\n\n24TH MAY, 1969\n\nVISIT TO OLD SHAU KEI WAN\n\nThe programme notes prepared for the visit are reproduced below.\n\nEd.\n\nThis visit is to an area soon to experience redevelopment. Within a few years, extensive reclamation and clearance of squatter structures will transform the district. Dirty and non-descript, nonetheless it has interesting relics and associations that are worthy of attention.\n\nShau Kei Wan, the name means \"Rice Basket Bay\", clearly so named because of its shape, is an old settlement probably dating back to centuries before the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841. Its population was given as 1,200 persons in the first Hong Kong census of May, 1841. Then as now, the population were farmers, shopkeepers, and fishermen, scattered in various settlements round the shores of the bay, named by the British \"Aldrich Bay\" after a military engineer officer who served in Hong Kong in those first years.\n\nShau Kei Wan has for long been known locally as the 'Bay of Hungry Men'. Writing as long ago as 1858, the Rev. W. Lobscheid noted:\n\n\"This village is called by the natives Ngo-yan-wan (the harbour of the starving men). They relate that, about 150 years ago, a few junks were driven into this harbour by a hurricane. The weather continuing very rough for several days, and being in want of provisions, they went on shore in order to purchase some rice and other necessaries. But nothing could be obtained, and the unfortunate men had to leave almost in a starving condition. From that time, they called the place the harbour of the starving men', which appellation it bears up to this moment.\"\n\n[From A Few Notices on the Extent of Chinese Education and the Government Schools of Hong Kong, etc. Hong Kong, Printed at the \"China Mail\" Office, MDCCCLIX p. 38.]\n\nIn another version of the same story, given in a Chinese publication in 1947, the name is ascribed to the fact that Shau Kei Wan was a base for lawless pirates, the \"hungry people\". This account said that because of the geographical advantages", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206215, "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": 32, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "26\n\nSTEPHEN UHALLEY, JR.\n\nabout in the preceding three days, beginning with a request apparently from the Ch'ing tao-t'ai of Ningpo for British and French naval support for his impending attack on the city. Consul Harvey noted that this was \"an extraordinary coincidence,\" and one that \"was far too good an opportunity to be thrown aside and lost.\" The attack was to consist primarily of the vessels of a famous pirate of the region by the name of Apak who had gone over to the Manchus. Some effort was made to conceal the joint nature of the attack at the outset, for Captain Dew wrote for the record that he told his Ch'ing collaborators that since the rebels had refused his demands he had no objection to their fleet passing up river, \"but that they were not to open fire till well clear of our men of war.\"28 The fiction of this position was made clear by subsequent events, and by other evidence. The ultimatum of May 8, stated that had the demands been agreed to, the English and French should have felt bound in honour to prevent an attack on the Taipings from the settlement side by approaching Ch'ing forces \"which in countless numbers and heavily armed ships advance to attack you.\" The ultimatum proclaimed neutrality unless fire came from the battery or walls opposite the settlement on the advancing Ch'ing forces \"(thereby endangering the lives of our men and people in the foreign settlement).\"29\n\nIt is of interest to note how this exchange of correspondence was characterized by Consul Harvey and Captain Dew. Harvey said that \"... the whole tenour of their letters was as bad and sarcastic as it was defiant,” and he assured his respondent “that nothing could have been more friendly, reasonable, and patient than the tone of our letters, as well as of all our demands on the Taipings.\"30 Dew was a bit more candid, for as he reported later: \"I now commenced a lengthy correspondence with the Taiping chiefs, which was met on their side by the most subtle reasoning and arguments soon convincing me that but one argument, viz: that of cannon balls would avail with them....\" The two men substantiated their interpretation of events and attitude in the correspondence with two memoranda written by an interpreter. The first, based upon \"information supplied by certain respectable natives,\" claimed that General Fan had been sent from Nanking “to turn the foreigners out of Ningpo.\"32 The second memorandum purported to be extracts of a speech made by General Huang\n\n31", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206381, "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": 198, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "THE COLONY OF HONG KONG\n\nFrom a lecture by the Rev. JAMES LEGGE, D.D., LL.D., on reminiscences of a long residence in the east, delivered in the City Hall, November 5, 1872.\n\nEditor's note. The following article is reprinted from the pages of The China Review, Vol. III, (1874) pp. 163–176. Its subject, and its distinguished author, (1815-97, appointed first Professor of Chinese at Oxford, 1876) are of equal interest and require no introduction from me.\n\n[The lecturer, having stated that his main object would be to interest his hearers by a review of the progress of the Colony, almost from its commencement down to nearly the present time, and by some references to the changes which during that period have taken place in the relations of China and Japan with the Christian nations of the West, the old nations of Europe and the young nation of the United States, proceeded to say that wherever he might interject views of his own in the course of his historical survey, he claimed perfect freedom in doing so, and was ready to accord the same to others in estimating the value of his opinions. He then sketched briefly his arrival in the East in 1839, and a residence in Malacca of nearly three years and a half, which brought him to his removal to Hong Kong in 1843. From this point, he shall speak in his own person.]\n\nIn the month of May, 1843, I reached Macao, and, a few days after, came over with my family to this place. Our passage was made in a small cutter, chartered for the occasion, and I have not forgotten the sensations of delight with which, when we had passed Green Island, I contemplated the ranges of hills on the north and the south, embosoming, between them the tranquil waters of the bay. I seemed to feel that I had found at last the home for which I had left Scotland; and here has been my abode, with intervals occupied by visits to the fatherland, for nearly thirty years.\n\nThe hill-sides now occupied by the graceful terraces of our city then presented a very different appearance. But the small and rude beginnings would not have been what they were in the middle of 1843, if they had not dated from before the treaty of Nanking. The island had been ceded to Great Britain in January 1841, by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206391, "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": 208, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "182\n\nREV. JAMES LEGGE\n\nI have drawn, you probably think, sufficiently long on your attention and patience already, and yet, that we may get a sufficient view of the growth of the Colony, I must ask you to go back with me to the time at which I had arrived when the unhealthiness of 1843 led me away into all these digressions. I will try, however, to be brief in what I have further to say.\n\nSir Henry Pottinger, I observed, was governor of the Colony when I came to it, and I was surprised to find that he was not by any means popular. He was a good man, people said, to conquer China, and a bad man to rule Hong Kong. The impression which I received from my intercourse with him was of a man condensed, reticent, powerful, who would have his own way, and was able to force it. Mr. Davis, afterwards Sir John Davis, arrived and relieved him in May, 1844; and his coming was hailed with eager expectation. He had been in China before in the East India Company's time, was a Chinese scholar, and had written a book on China, which is still the most readable and entertaining work on the country up to the time to which he was able to bring it down. He, it was thought, was just the man for the place. How it came about, I hardly know; but of all our governors he left his office under the greatest cloud of popular dissatisfaction. In his time, however, the Colony made very considerable advances. The arrival of Judge Hulme was almost contemporaneous with that of Sir John Davis, and a Court of Supreme judicature was constituted. Mr. May, whom we all know, arrived in March, 1843, and the police force began to take shape. Not long after, the tax on house property was proposed, and never was there a greater clamour in the place. It was argued that it was unconstitutional, an imperilling of that palladium of English liberty that taxation must go hand in hand with representation; and the revolt of the American Colonies in the last century was alluded to. It was not my lot, however, to be in Hong Kong during the greater part of Sir John Davis's administration. I was laid down with Hong Kong fever in the autumn of 1844, which returned with other complications in the following year, till I was carried on board ship on the 18th November, to make the passage round the Cape, my friends all supposing that Hong Kong had seen the last of me.\n\nTwo days after I had left, Ke-ying, the Chinese statesman, paid a visit to the Colony, and gave a grand entertainment to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206476, "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": 24, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "18\n\nDR. F. I. TSEUNG\n\nthe 7th century taught that the mouth should be cleansed with water several times after each meal so as to preserve the teeth.\n\nSir James Cantlie, teacher of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, once speaking before a medical congress in England said that the Chinese knew a great deal of fundamental hygiene. As illustrations, he mentioned the light, loose and comfortable Chinese dress, and the habit of drinking tea. This general adoption of tea as a beverage is a distinct step of progress. It saves people from many intestinal diseases caused by contaminated water such as typhoid, dysentery, cholera and diarrhoea, etc. The present day habit of taking cold drinks and ice creams is a common source of infection for these diseases. It seems that the ancients were wiser, in this respect, than we moderns. Now, a few words about Chinese medical education and administration in the early days.\n\nState medical examinations may be said to date from as early as the 10th century B.C. The Chou Rituals () state that at the end of the year the work of the doctors was examined and the salary of each fixed according to the results shown. If the statistics showed that out of ten patients treated, all got well, the results may be regarded as very satisfactory. If, however, one out of ten died, the results may be regarded as good; if two out of ten died, only fair; if three out of ten died, poor; and if four out of ten died, bad.\n\nRegular medical schools were organized in the Sung dynasty, about the 10th century, first in the capital and later in other parts of the country. In 1076 A.D. an Imperial Medical College was founded. At first it was put under the Tai Shang Szu (✯✯✦) (Imperial Court of Sacrificial Worship) but later transferred to the Kuo Tzu Chien (F) (Directorate of Education). Three hundred students were enrolled, with a staff of medical officers to teach them the three branches of medicine; namely, medicine, surgery and acupuncture. After examination, the candidates were classified into grades. The best ones were given official appointments or ordered to compile and write medical books, or engaged as teachers. The second grade ones were given a licence to practise. Those who were not satisfactory were required to study again; while those who failed were ordered to change their profession.\n\nOfficers and other medical staff were appointed to the prefectures and districts, the number depending on the size and importance of the places. These positions were often filled by men selected by...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206757, "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-1973", "page_number": 34, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG, \n\n1903-1915* \n\nA. J. S. LACK \n\nThere are many things in the port of Hong Kong which are taken for granted. One example which is quite remarkable in its own right is the typhoon shelter at Yaumatei, Kowloon. This shelter has provided refuge for local craft in any number of typhoons since it was completed; but it is not its present use on which I intend to speak to you today, but rather to give an account of the events which led to its construction as these are to be traced in the records of the proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong†.\n\nThe story goes back to 1900 when a very severe typhoon caused a great deal of damage in the Colony. Following that storm and in the years 1901 and 1902, many demands were made that the Government should do something to afford greater protection to the boat people in Hong Kong during the typhoon season. There were then none of the sophisticated means whereby the course of a typhoon could be accurately plotted several days before striking the Colony. Indeed the nature of these storms was simply not understood at that time, and in the early days of the century and before typhoons would strike without warning and frequently caused extensive damage and loss of life. There were, however, within the harbour some relatively sheltered anchorages and unreclaimed bays in which the fishing people and the boat population in general could take refuge during storms. But there was only one artificial typhoon shelter at that time. This was a small shelter at Causeway Bay, constructed in 1883.\n\n* An Address given to Kowloon Rotary Club on 26th December, 1972. * Mr. Lack is the Principal Marine Officer in the Marine Department, Hong Kong Government, and has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1953.\n\n† In 1913 when a new edition of the Laws of Hong Kong was published, the Legislative Council of the Colony consisted of the Governor, the Senior Military Officer, the Colonial Secretary, Attorney General and Treasurer, plus up to three other Official Members and up to six Unofficial Members. The work and proceedings of the Council are set out in Instructions (1888) and Additional Instructions (1896) contained in pp. 14-23 of Vol. 3 of the Alabaster Edition of the Laws of Hong Kong, 1913. An up to date account of the work of the Legislative Council and its senior partner, the Executive Council, is given in Hong Kong 1973, Report for the Year 1972, (H.K. Govt. Press, 1973), pp. 200-201. Ed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206780, "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-1973", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "EARLY STEAMSHIPS IN CHINA\n\n51\n\nthe Chinese more than all the rest of the British warships put together,\n\nChinese opposition to steamships was overborne after the First China War, and in the years between then and the Second China War 1857-1858, steam navigation in China was established on a secure foundation. During the first two decades of steam, American ships were as prominent as British on the Canton River and on the coast, and sometimes more technically efficient. This was largely because the Americans made good use of their experience on the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers, and also because their early steamships were designed specially for coastal and river conditions. Many of the early British steamships were merely sailing ships equipped with engines.\n\nThe earliest American steamers were associated with Russell and Company, and Robert Benet Forbes was the man mainly responsible for bringing most of these early steamships to China. The first was the Midas, built at East Boston in 1844, which was the first American steamship to round the Cape of Good Hope, as well as being the first to be seen in China. The Midas arrived at Hong Kong on 21st May 1845, and was put on a twice weekly service between Hong Kong and Canton, the first regular steamship service in China. She also engaged in towing and salvage work, which was usually more profitable than carrying passengers or cargo; so that the advertised regular sailings were often more honoured in the breach than in the observance.\n\nThe Midas was followed by the wooden screw bark Edith, also built at East Boston, which arrived at Macao on 2nd September 1845 and Hong Kong a few days later. The Edith was originally intended to run in the opium trade between India and China, but plans were changed and she was loaded with general cargo for Shanghai. Bad weather and engine trouble foiled two attempts to make this passage, and the Edith was eventually sent back to Boston via Rio de Janeiro, reconditioned at Boston and then chartered to the United States War Department.\n\nIn 1846 Forbes sent the small 20 ton screw steamer Firefly on another ship to Hong Kong, and put her in service between Hong Kong and Whampoa until 1849, usually making two trips daily. She was withdrawn in 1849 and sent to California by sailing ship.\n\nIn 1846 Jardines were successful in inaugurating the first British steamship service on the river, with the Corsair between Hong Kong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206841, "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-1973", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "112\n\nSUNG HOK-P'ANG\n\nland, distributed in various parts of the mainland, and on the island, having fields in Kowloon, Ch'eung Sha Wan (*) Kw'an Taai Lo (###) (where the city of Victoria now stands) Causeway Bay, Pokfulum and Aberdeen. He immediately promised to give one thousand piculs. When Yau Tai K'in heard of it he thought there must be some mistake, but the officer said, “At first I also thought he made a mistake, so I asked him again, and he said quite plainly, one thousand piculs!” So Yau T'ai K'in was very pleased, and he at once went off to visit Tang Yuen Fan, who said, “My rice is quite ready in the granary.” The magistrate sent off word to the \"Yamen\" to have junks sent to collect the rice, and on the day it was collected the river was so covered with the junks that the water could not be seen, and all the people gathered to watch shouted for joy. Yau remained with Tang several days and spent much time walking about the country admiring the scenery. He was much impressed by the fine buildings, open fields and pleasant woods, and exclaimed, “Why should the village have such a name? Sham T'in, it should be called Kam T'in instead!” The villagers were delighted with the new name, and it has remained till the present day.\n\nThe name, however, now embraces quite a large collection of villages each with its own name, but most of the villagers still belong to the Tang family and the name of Ch'an has disappeared. There are a certain number of people with other surnames to be found among the Tangs, but they have come in from other places at different times and are not really native to the place in the same way as the Tangs are. A new village which goes by the name of San Ts'uen (††††) new village, has been built very recently for the Cheng (*) family who had to move from the Shing Moon (M¶) district when the reservoir was started.\n\nThe only trace of the old Ch'an T'in village that remains is the temple known as Hung Shing Kung (g) in Shui Pin Ts'uen (k). This temple which was built by the Tangs is known in the village as the Big Temple although small, because formerly it was merely a shrine and was enlarged to its present size at a later date. The exact date of the temple is not known. Some say it was built when the first Tang came to Kwai Kok Shaan; others, that it was built first as a small shrine in the time of Shing Fa (✯ft) A.D. 1465-1487 of Ming dynasty when the Tang family built the village", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206881, "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-1973", "page_number": 158, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "152\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThe making of verses was a gentlemanly pursuit in early Victorian days, encouraged of course by the system of classical education which emphasised translation from Latin and Greek and hence a detailed knowledge of the rules—or mechanics—of prosody. Mercer received such a traditional education: he was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took a B.A. degree, and for a time was at the Inner Temple, though he did not take the Bar examination. When he came to Hong Kong as his uncle's private secretary, he sought solace from the chores of day-to-day colonial administration in his poetic exercises and the result was Under the Peak.\n\nThere are five poems in this book—‘a string of sonnets’—which refer specifically to Hong Kong. They are, respectively: The Peak; The Bay; The Triads' Cave; The Water Fall; The Temple on Taplichow; The Pic Nic Cottage at Heong-Kong; and The Chinaman's Grave on the Lonely Hill Side. According to Mercer's note on the poem, The Triads' Cave, ‘a cavern romantically situated, has now disappeared before the utilitarian demand for granite. It was long the chosen resort of the members of the infamous San hop hwai, or Triad Society', where:\n\nThe robber horde oath-bound to mutual aid\n\nWould plan foul murder and unpitying raid\n\nO'er midnight counsel in their secret den?\n\nThe gem among these sonnets is without doubt The Chinaman's Grave, and should be given in extenso:\n\nOh Chow, or Wong! or by whatever name\n\nMen call'd thee, or the Gods may call thee now,\n\nWhy so extravagantly vast thy claim\n\nTo mortuary earth upon the brow\n\nOf yon fair hill? If all men spread as thou\n\nNo room for things created would be found\n\nThroughout the Seric land, but all the ground\n\nWould teem with graves, and well might it be said\n\nThat living ones were push'd from off their stools\n\nBy men all useless, now that they are dead\n\nAnd vanish'd. Did Confucius leave no rules\n\nTo bind a soul's ambition by the tomb?\n\nThen let survivors show themselves no fools,\n\nBut dig thy bones up to make elbow-room", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206885, "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-1973", "page_number": 162, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "156\n\n6. 1828 June 23\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nPENANG MERCHANT\n\nJ. Mitchinson\n\nPenang to Lintin: C. Galastauro to Magniac & Co.\n\n652 baskets of cutch\n\n11,600 bundles of rattans\n\n“17 bdls and 3 baskets in dispute if found to be deld.”\n\n7. 1828 Sept. 2 CUMBERLAND\n\nA. Steel\n\nSingapore Roads to Canton: Charles Thomas & Co. to Magniac & Co.\n\n665 pieces of ebony about piculs five hundred\n\n8.\n\n1829 Feb. 7 EPHEMINA\n\nN.M. Harper\n\nManilla Bay to Lintin: N.M. Harper to Magniac & Co.\n\n2004 bags rice weighing about 1080 piculs\n\nPaddy in bulk about 1950 piculs\n\n9.\n\n1829 March 10 FALCON\n\nS. Moore\n\nRoads of Singapore to Lintin: Guthrie & Clark to Magniac & Co.\n\nTwo chests Patna opium\n\nFive chests Benares opium\n\n10. 1829 May 14 PENANG MERCHANT\n\nJ. Mitchinson\n\nRiver Hooghly to Lintin: Nanjie Tacoran for Jamseljie Jyiebhoy [?] to Magniac & Co.\n\nTen chests Patna opium\n\n+\n\n+ +\n\nshall not be subject to any demurrage until thirty days after the arrival of the ship at Lintin.”\n\n11. 1830 April 23\n\nCONDE DE RIO PARDO\n\nL. d'Encarnacão\n\nDamão to Macao: [?] to Magniac & Co.\n\n20 cases of Opio de Malva\n\nIn Portuguese\n\n12. 1830 May 24\n\nCASSADOR\n\nJ.A. da Silva\n\nDamão to Lintin: Sr Caramachande Arcachande to Magniac & Co.\n\n5 boxes Aufião de Malva\n\nIn Portuguese\n\n13. 1850 Aug. 13\n\nARIEL\n\nJ. Burt\n\nRiver Hooghly to Cumsingmoon: Moolchund Premjee on acct of Oomedchund Hookumchund of Bombay to Jardine Mathewson & Co.\n\n10 chests Patna opium", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207044, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 115, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "THE HONG KONG REGION\n\n109\n\nplexities of local settlement and the absorption of the aboriginal dwellers of the area in the past thousand years. For a general account, readers are referred to the works by Lo Hsiang-lin (1959, 1963), K.M.A. Barnett, (1957, 1967) and the earlier writings of Krone (1859), G.N. Orme (1912) and S.F. Balfour (1941) cited in the references to this article.\n\nIntroduction*\n\nFor present purposes the Hong Kong region is defined as the present British Crown Colony of Hong Kong (403.7 square miles)1 and the immediately adjoining parts of Kwangtung province with which there has been intermittent official concern following the establishment of Hong Kong 134 years ago. This takes in the districts round the market town of Sham Chun north of the present Sino-British frontier, occupied by British troops between 16th May and 13th September 18992, and the areas of Mirs and Bias Bays to the east of the Colony that were often visited by British naval forces in their suppression of piracy in local waters during much of the 19th century and well into the 20th3. (See map).\n\nAt the time the British occupied Hong Kong island in 1841, the whole of this area, less Bias Bay, formed part of the Hsin-an district of the Kuang-chou prefecture of Kwangtung province. The place names and geographical features of the region are shown in many contemporary and earlier Chinese sources, whilst the large scale European map produced in 1866 by Msgr. Volontieri, an Italian missionary of the Propaganda, provides rather more local detail4.\n\nIn time the British came to occupy a greater part of Hsin-an district. Their occupation of Hong Kong island in January 1841 was converted into possession by the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. British territory was extended by the lease in perpetuity of Kowloon under a deed dated 20th March 1860 and the cession of the same area by article VI of the Convention of Peking 24th\n\n1 CR1971, p. 204; this figure includes recent reclamations.\n\n2 See Groves, pp. 52-55.\n\n3 For the early period see Fox and Dalrymple Hay. Two expeditions to Bias Bay in March and September 1927 were noted in AR1927, K16: and as late as 1947 piracy in Mirs Bay kept Hong Kong fishermen in port; CR1947, p. 46.\n\n4 The KTTS of 1865 provides more detailed maps of Hsin-an and its adjoining areas than are given in the district and prefectural histories (HNHC and KCFC); see the general chart at pp. 1-2 of the opening volume. For the Volontieri map, which includes Chinese characters, see Ronald C. Y. Ng (1969) pp. 141-148 and Hayes (1970) pp. 193-196.\n\n* For the place names of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960: hereafter styled Gazetteer.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207053, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "118\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nto play havoc in it. The Japanese wo-jen had been particularly active. In 1571 the small walled town of Tai Pang on Mirs Bay in the northeast of the district had sustained a siege of over forty days by Japanese pirates equipped with scaling ladders.1\n\nThe district gazetteer gives an account of the troubled times at the end of the Ming period, which brought much misery and suffering to the people of the district, since famine accompanied the disturbances.2 These disorders lasted for a considerable time. It is reported that Tai Pang was held for nine years against all comers by a band of soldiers.3 The clan record of the Tsui family of Shek Pik contains a vivid account of the disasters of the time, as it affected their relatives and friends in their old home near Tung-kuan city which was the centre of an unsuccessful revolt against the new dynasty. These disturbances extended to the present New Territories. A former officer of the Ming, Li Man-wing, held this area on his own account between 1647 and his surrender to the new dynasty in 1656, and the walls and moats of the principal villages of the Tang clan in the New Territories are said to date from this time. The land presented a pitiable sight in these years: there was much burning and pillaging and many of the inhabitants fled. During this time, it was said, \"The ground was covered with bones, in the day time nothing could be heard but the hum of flies, and at night the voice of weeping.\"\n\nThe evacuation of the coast in the early years of the K'ang Hsi reign between 1662-1669 followed soon after these prolonged miseries and had a profound effect on the lives of the population and on the pattern of future settlement.\n\nUnder instructions from Peking, the provincial authorities required the evacuation of the coastal areas of Kwangtung. The provinces of Shantung, Chekiang, Kiangsu and Fukien were also affected to varying degrees.7 This measure was in accordance with a five-point plan to deal with the pro-Ming ruler of Formosa, Cheng Ch'eng-kung, suggested by one of his former lieutenants\n\n1 IHNHC 13/7.\n\n2 HNHC 13/8-9.\n\n3 HNHC 13/9-10.\n\n4 JHKBRAS, 7 (1967), p. 154.\n\n5 Sung Hok-p'ang in HKN, VIII, No. 2:107-108.\n\n6 ibid, presumably a quotation from the Tang clan's genealogical record. The YCKC has a lengthy entry on the disorders of this troubled time, chuan 4/46-60.\n\n7 Hsieh Kuo Ching, pp. 585-593.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207057, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "122\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nthe settlement into a fortress to guard against marauders. This involved construction of a walled enclosure, built of stone, and the replacing of the existing wooden gateway by a stone structure on the advice of the writer of the clan record, then an old man. As the positioning of the wall and its main gate was of great importance, for geomantic reasons as well as military considerations, a message was sent to Shing Mun* to invite a man named Cheung Lam-to, presumably a noted geomancer and perhaps a distant relative, to advise on the siting and on auspicious days for carrying out the work. The record ends:\n\nWork began on the 13th day of the 8th moon of the 8th year of Chia Ch'ing, and the gate was fixed on the 16th day. All the village men and women co-operated in the work which took a month to complete.\n\nOther areas of the Delta suffered in these years. In 1789, the 54th year of the Ch'ien Lung reign, an official of Hsiang-shan, the district in which Macau is situated, led an expedition in person against a considerable pirate known as the \"wave-leveller\".1\n\nThe scourge continued in the Delta and riverine areas of Kwangtung for over twenty years, and reached its worst proportions in the years 1807-1810. An interesting account of an enforced stay of eleven weeks and three days with a pirate fleet in 1809 was given by Richard Glasbrooke, the mate of an East Indiaman, who was captured by them. This fleet spent a long time on and near Lantau which probably suffered from their levies and depredations. One of these pirates, Cheung Po-tsai, is remembered today in the Hong Kong region, where local stories link many places with his activities.3 With the help of the Macau authorities whose squadron fought a sea battle off Lantau in January 1810, Cheung was blockaded in the shallow waters of the bay of Hsiang-shan and was induced to capitulate with over 270 junks, 16000 men, 5000 women, 7000 swords and jingals and 1200 guns.4\n\n1 Waley, 1956, p. 176.\n\n2 Neumann, pp. 97-125.\n\n3 Lo, 1963, pp. 106-118. See also the Ch'ao-lien of Hsin-hui gazetteer pp. 281-284 and Centenary History of Hong Kong, pp. 12-14. Cheung's memory lingers strongly in the region, though most attributions are unsubstantiated and many stories are probably apocryphal.\n\n4 Montalto de Jesus, pp. 231-248: he calls him Ĉam Pao Sai or Chang Pao.\n\n*In the Tsuen Wan sub-district of the New Territories. See Gazetteer, pp. 147-148.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207096, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES\n\n161\n\nAnother ancestral hall, built by the Tang family was less fortunate. The story goes that in the 1st year of Ka Hing (✯✯) A.D. 1796 of Ts'ing dynasty, the sons of Tang Yue Cheung (**) decided to build an ancestral hall worthy to house the tablet of their illustrious ancestress, the princess. So they built a house of “kak muk” (**) in T’aai Họng (✯✯✯) village, and in shape the house was like a king's palace. At that time the district magistrate of Sun On was a man nicknamed “Hungry Bug\" on account of his habit of collecting \"squeeze\" wherever he could. When he heard of the new building being erected in Kam T'in, and how magnificent it was, he scented a chance to make money. So he sent a message to the Tangs to say he would like to inspect their new acquisition.\n\nThe Tangs were much dismayed; being familiar with the character of their district officer they knew quite well the object of his visit, they did not want to pull down the house yet its very existence was an indication of their wealth and prosperity. In the village of Lung Kwat T'au (#) where the villagers are Tangs too, being descendants of the first son of the princess, there was a portrait of the princess and the Tangs of Kam T'in borrowed it and hung it up in the entrance of the hall. When the district officer saw it he was filled with awe, and hastily made obeisance to it. He was so impressed that he dared not demand money from the descendants of so distinguished a lady, and after making a show of being pleased he stayed one night, and then took his departure.\n\nEventually the picture had to be returned to its rightful owners, and the Kam T’in men fearing further trouble, pulled the hall down, but the foundation stones, overgrown with weeds and grass can still be seen.\n\nThe legends of Kam T'in are curiously mixed up with tales of buried treasure. One story tells how at the end of the Ming dynasty the Tangs wished to build an ancestral hall for the tablet of their eleventh ancestor, Tang Kwong Yue ( ). Tang Ping Yee (*) (a grandson of Tang Kwong Yue) and eight of Tang Ping Yee's cousins chose what was, according to one \"Fung shui\" man, a very lucky day to put up the central beam of the house, but a few days later they found that the beam was putting forth shoots. The people considered this to be a bad omen, so they consulted a more reliable fortune-teller, who declared that the day had been a lucky day, but for building boats, not houses! The people at once pulled down the beam, the time happened to be the season of the dragon boat festival, and the villages decided to make the discarded", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207129, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 200, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "194\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nof rice varieties were selected by the growers. The first group was sown in early March, transplanted in April and harvested in July. The second group was sown in mid-June, transplanted in August and harvested in November. The seeds were sown in a nursery which enabled the grower to sow the seed for the late crop before the harvest of the early crop. Seedlings were transplanted in puddled soil. Weeds were tramped in the wet mud with bare feet. Most of the local varieties matured from 100 to 135 days. The crop was reaped by sickle and dried under the sun. The grain had to undergo the process of winnowing before storage.\n\nThe land was prepared through ploughing and harrowing by draft animals, usually cattle. The plough was made of three pieces of wood with an iron head and shear, and the harrow was made of iron similar to a rake, with ten teeth of about 12 inches long spaced 4 inches apart, and a wooden handle was fixed on top of two iron rods extended from the toothed bar. These implements were light and small and could be carried conveniently by a farmer from one field to another. They are still in widespread use.\n\nVegetables planted for subsistence farming were: Preserved Mustard, Chinese Radish, Leaf Mustard, Chinese White Cabbage, Spring Onion, Sweet Potato, and Taro. Any surplus of these vegetables was preserved either by sun-drying or by salt.\n\nAt the end of the last century, the demand for fresh vegetables increased, due to the increase of population in the local towns or markets. Fresh vegetables for cash were produced in the suburban areas. In addition to the above-mentioned species, the market gardeners produced a much wider range of vegetables, namely Flowering Cabbage, Chinese Kale, Chinese Gourds, String Bean, Lettuce, Tomato, Spinach, Chinese Celery, etc.\n\nLichi, longan, tangerine, pummelo, wangpei, guava, and banana were the important fruits grown in this territory. Generally, fruit trees were planted in the vicinity of the villages. Lichi, tangerine, pummelo, and guava were propagated by air-layering; longan by approach grafting; wangpei by grafting, and banana by separation of young suckers to maintain the quality of the fruits. These techniques of fruit tree propagation have been used since before 544 A.D. (Ka 533-544 A.D.) A large number of small orchards was established in the early twenties of this century. They adopted close planting and used longan and lichi as shelter plants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207155, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 226, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "220 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nlarge paper bag. This cost 10 cents and the number of dim sum was 18 pieces, usually sufficient for 8-9 persons. The article made picturesque comparisons between the sizes of different foods, then and now, with much larger pieces being supplied in the past. Prices too came in for odious comparison. \"The difference in price in the old days and now is too great: people have said that it may be compared to the difference between the legs of mosquitoes and cows”. \n\nTea house business begins at dawn. Those in Western open between 5-6 a.m, and close about 9 p.m. nowadays. According to the article, the tea houses of 50 and more years ago started business before dawn and closed at 10 a.m., and opened again between 11-12 to 3 without doing business at night time. The interior of tea houses was very colourful. The waiters used slang to report, usually in a loud voice, the consumption of patrons for making up their bills. The customers lolled about and took things at their ease, putting their legs on their own or another stool, often dressed only in a singlet and shorts in the summer months. This sort of thing can still be seen in one of the tea houses that we will visit (the Foo Lung Tea-house, 382-386, Queen's Road, Central) and at lunch time many of the patrons bring their singbirds in cages which they hang around the walls. 50 years ago and more no women were present in the tea houses because at that time it was not the practice for them to appear in public places; and no doubt this added to the informality noted above. \n\nTea houses were also the scene of musical entertainment of a special Cantonese type known generally by the name of nam yam (✯✯) or \"Southern tunes\". Like Cantonese opera, the themes were often concerned with historical stories, handed down from one generation of entertainers to another. Blind musicians and singers often performed these roles. Until this year, this type of entertainment was given in the Tim Nam Tea House in Wing Lok Street, now under demolition. According to the former manager, the majority of the audience were boat people from the cargo boats plying in the harbour. In recent years this traditional type of entertainment has declined in popularity and both singers and audience were confined to a small group of devotees.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207243, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "3\n\nApril he arranged a visit to old Wanchai, one of the oldest districts of British Hong Kong. Under the name of Ha Wan or \"lower bay” it was one of the 5 bays or \"circuits\"-a terms used in the 1850s and 1860s to describe the residential and commercial areas largely developed by the new Chinese population of the island. Places visited included the Pak Kung Shrine in Star Street, established before the war and probably upward of 70 years old; the Hung Shing Temple, one of the oldest of the area, perhaps even existing as a shrine before the British occupation; the Sui Tsing Pak temple housed in several dwellings in a terrace and of the late nineteenth century; the Yuk Hoi Kung Temple to Pak Tai, God of the North and of early origin; and various terraced houses and individual buildings.\n\nIn May Mr. Hayes arranged another excursion to the Diocesan Boys' School-D.B.S.-and La Salle College. D.B.S. originated in 1869 with the Diocesan Home & Orphanage for English, Eurasian Chinese and other scholars, male and female and had links with an earlier body, the Diocesan Native Female Training School of 1860-58. In 1900 the Diocesan Girls' School opened and DBS no longer took girls. The school moved from Bonham Road to its present site in 1926. La Salle dates from 1932 but its connection with Catholic Education in the Colony is much longer. The La Salle brothers had already a record of 42 years work at St. Joseph's College in Hong Kong.\n\nIn June Mr. Hayes organised a visit to old Western District which included tea in a traditional tea-house. The original Chinese tea house was a place where many kinds of tea were served together with tim sham, small tidbits or literally \"to point to the heart\". It is gradually being replaced by new establishments usually combining a Chinese restaurant with tea-house business. Later, in July, a visit to a tea-house was also arranged to hear typical Cantonese music and \"southern songs” traditionally played to clients of such establishments and also sadly disappearing in modernising Hong Kong.\n\nDuring the June visit to Western, many shops for traditional crafts and wares were visited or observed. Many have since been pulled down in this area scheduled for urban renewal. In July, Miss Helga Werle, a member of our Council, arranged with a colleague, a visit to Aplichau the small island-just still an island-off Aberdeen. Members visited the Hung Shing Temple, probably built in 1773; and the Shui Yuet Kung Temple (Shui Yuet is another name for Kuan Yin) probably dating from the early days of Aplichau town developing in the 1850s.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207394, "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "154\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nconflict. I came to regret my thoroughness, for there was never time to use the equipment thus accumulated and this must have been splendid booty for the Japanese. There was also a full social life; many British women had enrolled for nursing and other essential duties and had not been evacuated. The Hong Kong Hotel was a gay place indeed, particularly on a Saturday night.\n\nIn October 1938, 35,000 Japanese troops had landed in Bias Bay on the China coast 35 miles from Hong Kong, and had then occupied Canton and had cut all communications between Hong Kong and mainland China. Patrolling Japanese ships thereafter made sailing from the Colony outside a circumscribed area very hazardous. In February 1939 the Japanese occupied the island of Hainan, 300 miles to the south of Hong Kong thus controlling the sea communications with Singapore. Curiously, after my arrival I do not remember taking part in any serious discussions with my friends about the prospects of a successful defence of Hong Kong. There were however plenty of rumours to fill the air. It was generally known that the strategic plan required Hong Kong to resist an attack for 90 days before a relief could arrive, a decision taken by the British Chiefs of Staff in 1937. In February 1940 the home authorities decided that food reserves should be accumulated for 130 days, while in August 1940 the Chiefs of Staff reached a further decision that in case of war with Japan, Hong Kong should be regarded as an outpost to be held as long as possible. After the war I learned from Liddell Hart's History of the Second World War, that in February 1940 the Chiefs of Staff concluded that the troops should be withdrawn from Hong Kong. Nothing was done to give effect to this decision. I have no doubt that the decision taken in February 1940 was the correct one which could with advantage have been taken much earlier. Ever since my arrival in Hong Kong in 1939 I believed that the Colony could not be defended successfully. The frontier, beyond which lay a strong Japanese army, was some 20 miles from Hong Kong harbour, the line to be defended, the so-called Gin Drinkers line was less than 5 miles from the harbour, the Japanese navy controlled the coast, our airport was tiny and the Air Force planes were few in number and no match in performance for their potential opponents. One and a half million Chinese civilians were crowded into Kowloon and Victoria. Roads suitable for wheeled traffic were few and open to close observation at many points. The whole picture left no doubt", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207417, "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": 185, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n177\n\nOur food came from four sources; the Japanese rations, food sent in by our friends in Hong Kong, supplies received from the Red Cross Society and food purchased with funds contributed by officers mainly those in the hospital but also those in the camps from time to time. These contributions were made from pay received from the Japanese by these officers.\n\nJapanese Rations\n\nI have prepared tables (Appendix A) to show the kinds and the amounts of foods issued to us from Japanese sources and used on behalf of patients and staff who were on a full diet. Notes given in the tables give additional information and include details of certain additional Japanese food received and how it was used. The amounts in these cases were very small and while they must be recorded, especially the milk, it was rare for any to appear in the general diet and then only as a treat when supplies allowed. Since this is not a scientific treatise, I intend the tables to present a broad picture of our food situation. The daily quantities of food therefore are shown as averaged over five months in 1942, rather under three months in Bowen Road in 1945, rather over three months in Kowloon in 1945, and over the whole years of 1943 and 1944. These averages should be read in conjunction with specimen daily menus I set out in tables at Appendix B. There were many, many days on which our diet consisted of boiled rice and vegetables.\n\nIn these tables, I make no allowances for losses resulting from poor quality, preparation, and cooking in the case of vegetables and fish. These losses were usually high, and on occasions reached a level of 30% in the case of vegetables, which were sometimes rotten when received. We were not choosy when deciding when food was fit to cook and eat. The fresh vegetables, in addition to the more usual varieties, which practically never included Western-type potatoes, though we had sweet potatoes more often, did however include such unusual varieties as chrysanthemum leaves, Chinese lily root, tara root, and so on. The fish varied greatly; on 10 October 1942, I noted that we had received \"long thin fish, shark flesh, baby sharks, and heaven knows what, most of it a little old\". Sergeant Seino, of whom I shall have more to say later, warned the quartermaster that some fish was perhaps poisonous and advised us to be careful using it. I believe Seino's intention was to be helpful, though...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207423, "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": 191, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n183\n\na more cheerful atmosphere became apparent; most people used the contents intelligently to make the basic diet more palatable while the thought that we were not forgotten did much to improve morale.\n\nSix months later, in May 1943 a second consignment of parcels arrived. Some of our patients had already received a second parcel in Sham Shui Po and those who had done so were allotted one parcel between two men from our second allocation. All others in the hospital received one parcel each, but as before a number of parcels showed shortages.\n\nOn 1 September 1944, sixteen months later we received a splendid consignment of parcels from the Canadian Red Cross, enough to issue two to each person in hospital. A few parcels remained after this distribution and I took these into the store and used the tinned foods for general messing. As usual some parcels were incomplete though the wrappings were intact, and the shortages in this case and perhaps in others must have resulted from bad packing.\n\nIt was only three days later when on 4 September 1944 we received a further 144 Canadian parcels and issued two between five men. As before a few parcels not allocated in the foregoing way were broken up, the tinned food being used for general messing while such items as prunes, chocolate, raisins, biscuits etc. were added to bulk stores of similar nature received three days earlier and used to make 133 prizes which were raffled among 315 people.\n\nNo further individual parcels were received, and therefore each member of staff and each long-term patient received a total of just under 41 parcels between 1942 and 1945, though patients admitted from Kowloon may have had a fraction more. In January 1943 the Red Cross organization in Hong Kong had started to send in bulk stores of food to us. These included tins of meat and vegetable, preserved meat, sardines, condensed milk, marmalade, jam, tomato catsup, syrup, Yershey's milk powder, shark liver oil, dripping, hen and duck eggs, barley, fresh limes, dried peas, soy beans, soy bean powder, soy sauce, peanut butter, peanut oil, Chinese and cube sugar, tea and cocoa. In January we had two intakes and further intakes were spread at irregular intervals, one in May, one each in June and July and two in October. In August 1943 Sergeant Seino told me that we could expect no further supplies but in 1944 we had two intakes in each month from March to August inclusive, one each...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207430, "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": 198, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "190\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\na patient of ours. He drew our rations from the store and cooked for us for a time, but I came to consider that the rest of the hospital could feel that the members of our mess were doing better than their fellows. Our rations had of course been weighed and issued by the steward and conformed exactly to the scales in general use. I suppose the mess did benefit in that the cooking was done for a small number and for that reason was less liable to the bad days that others experienced. Because of this advantage, I stopped all separate cooking for the staff officers' mess early on, and thereafter we drew cooked food from the kitchen like other messing units and in due course, also like them we drew our uncooked rice from the store and had it cooked in the main kitchen.\n\nAnother problem that beset us was the distribution of the small quantities of extras like peanut butter, syrup etc., received from our Hong Kong friends usually, or from the Red Cross. One method would have been to issue at once the total amount to which each member of the hospital population was entitled and then leave him to use his stock as he wished. I was drawn to this solution which would make every man responsible for using the extra delicacy as he wished, but in the end, up till 1945, we issued the total entitlement in small quantities daily over a number of days, each issue being enough to flavour the rice dish or a meal. The decision to issue these substances in small quantities was made in the early days when shortages were acute and deficiency diseases were to be seen on all sides. One aim was to avoid the acquisition by individuals of a stock they could not always guard and which would be a temptation for others to steal. The other aim was to make it as difficult as possible to sell any part of a patient's nourishment for cigarettes, which some did. This policy of small issues was not accepted by many without protest, but in the circumstances of the time I believe it was the right one. In Kowloon in 1945 in the easier times then prevailing we issued his total entitlement of such foods to each man in bulk.\n\nWe had a community rightly watchful over its interests, particularly its own nutrition, for there before its eyes existed evidence of the results of an inadequate diet. Occasionally the concern of individuals showed itself in a rancorous manner and from time to time, especially in the early days though remarkably infrequently, anonymous letters were slipped into my office drawing attention to alleged shortcomings on the part of members of the staff for whom", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207477, "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": 245, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n237\n\ndays in selected cases but without improving the condition of their patients.\n\nIn addition to beautifying our cemeteries further by means of tiles removed from walls in the hospital, a wooden Memorial Cross was completed and erected in the front cemetery to those of 27 Company R.A.M.C. who had been killed. The names of the men had been skilfully carved by a patient, Private Medhurst. The ideas for beautifying the cemeteries and for the memorial cross as well as for many of the improvements made in the hospital came from many sources and I was able to give all encouragement to men with ideas and to provide materials when available.\n\nThe year 1944 was a bad one for the supply of our Japanese rations and fuel. In February we had our last baking of bread using flour, and by that time the flour was very stale and weevily. In compensation the ration of rice allowed by the Japanese was raised from 384 grammes first to 570 grammes and later to 600 grammes daily. We were never able to issue rice on these scales because of the short weight sacks to which I have referred before. A typical disappointment came in March when the ration was cut back to 480 grammes, the cut being made retrospective to 1 March. March also brought news through Watanabe who told me that Red Cross bulk supplies would be delivered twice a month and I prepared lists of items we considered desirable, again keeping my suggestions within the bounds of what I guessed to be practicable in Hong Kong. Saito told me on 8 March that supplies I had asked for on 29 February after one of his searches could not be provided. This was an advance for me because so often in the past I never heard what the decision was on any request. In our first receipt of Red Cross supplies in March we received cod liver oil which I allocated to the medical officers for use as they judged proper. We had also received some shark liver oil from visitors and I used this by adding it to any stews we had in proportion of 5 minims for each person in the hospital. At this time we began to issue to all in hospital soy bean powder as such, instead of making what turned out to be rather repulsive milk from it. We continued to make soy milk for certain patients on the assumption that it might be more readily absorbed. Our meals were often late, mainly because of difficulty of getting good fires in the kitchen. Deliveries of rations were often irregular and we were generally uneasy about the system. Our guards seemed to share this anxiety. The quality of rations", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "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": 207618, "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": 6, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "166\n\nDAVID FAURE\n\nin Sheung Yiu, Tsak Yue Wu, Tai Mong Tsai, She Tau, Shek Hang, Tai Long, Wo Mei, Nam Wai, and Ho Chung.1\n\nFinally, the pirates must not be omitted in any discussion of the early history of Sai Kung. It would seem that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the pirates were most rampant in the outer reaches of the region. Seung Sz Wan and Hang Hau Village kept two guns on the two arms of the bay to be directed against pirates. Madam Lau of Seung Sz Wan remembered that the pirates once came into the village, and took away the villagers' pigs. In Tan Ka Wan, there were bandits in the late 1920's and 1930's, and the young men had to keep watch regularly.1\n\n15\n\nUp to the early 1900's, despite the economic development, Sai Kung was not yet in any strict sense a \"district\". There is no indication that the villagers of the time thought of the area that is now Sai Kung District as a single territorial unit. Crucial to the creation of the district was the founding of Sai Kung Market.\n\nSAI KUNG MARKET AND ITS TRADE\n\nThe San On Gazetteer of 1819 did not consider either Sai Kung or Hang Hau to be a market. Unlike other markets in the New Territories, periodic market gatherings were not held here at any time. As Mr. Yau T’aam Shang explained it to us, \"Sai Kung in those days was not a market; it was a moorage inlet.\"10\n\nIn 1835, Lai Tak Yau, a Tanka fisherman who sometimes served as pilot for Western sailing boats, took by force some four thousand dollars from one that was hit by storm. Out of this, he spent over a hundred dollars to settle his debts with the general store San Ue T'aai on Leung Shuen Wan. He went on a shopping spree, and spent more than a hundred dollars on Peng Chau and Cheung Chau, buying silk goods from the shops in the latter place. He left most of the balance with a certain Wong Yau Kwong, of Kowloon, a Tanka boatman who owned a large fishing boat and moored at Fat Tong Mun. Wong, in turn, went to San Ue T'aai, and purchased four hundred and fifty dollars' worth of provisions, and then, because he thought", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207723, "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": 111, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "96\n\nTIN-YUKE CHAR\n\ncountries in the hope to find suitable people to replenish our population. We have the productive land. Sugar and rice are our main and most profitable crops.\" The letter also mentioned that the Chinese did not bring their women and that it was dangerous to give them franchise because their numbers would be a threat to the Kingdom. The suggestion was to try India where the British had been successful in using their coolies in agricultural development of the colonies. Armstrong, however, later sent a report that the East Indians were not suitable nor desirable as immigrants to Hawaii. Minister Green had also written on January 18, 1881 to William Keswick, Hawaiian Consul General in Hong Kong to expect King Kalakaua's arrival and to assist Armstrong in obtaining a good class of Chinese immigrants to be accompanied by wives and children.\n\nFrom Hawaii the party first started for San Francisco where the Chinese Consul General entertained the Royal party at Hang Fen Lou Restaurant and took the occasion to thank the King for his kind treatment of the Chinese in Hawaii.\n\nSailing for Japan on the Oceanic, the Royal party arrived after twenty-four days at the Bay of Yedo on March 4, 1881 and landed at Yokohama. King Kalakaua wrote back from Tokyo on March 15, 1881, “Our reception has been most cordial and pleasant with the Emperor [Meiji]. He extended the hospitality of being his guest during our stay in the City of Tokio, occupying the same buildings that General Grant did when he was here and other distinguished guests, Prince Henri of Germany and the Duke of Genoa.”\n\nThe subject of possible Japanese emigration to Hawaii received some consideration by the Japanese officials. And on February 8, 1885, the first group of Japanese immigrants (676 men, 159 women, and 108 children) came to Hawaii. Major credit for this successful endeavor was due to \"the personal friendship of the Emperor of Japan for King Kalakaua.\" commented the editor of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.\n\nTo proceed to China, the party sailed on the Tokio Maru. Upon arrival at Shanghai, they were furnished the Pautah by the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company to take the Royal group to Tientsin. They had hopes of being received at Court in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208008, "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-1977", "page_number": 47, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "STANLEY INTERNMENT CAMP, HONG KONG 1942-1945\n\n31\n\nAfter 17 days in appallingly overcrowded, filthy conditions with very poor food, those in these hotels were taken by boat from the western waterfront, around past Aberdeen and Repulse Bay, to Stanley,\n\nIt is not known exactly why the Japanese chose Stanley as the site, as others were suggested, e.g. the Peak, the University and La Salle College, Kowloon, but probably it was chosen because of its isolation and the buildings for housing which were there. The camp area consisted of the grounds of St. Stephen's College and the grounds of Stanley Prison, excluding the prison itself.\n\nAt St. Stephen's College were a number of buildings including classrooms, an assembly hall and bungalows for the teachers. Several hundred internees eventually lived at St. Stephen's, more than twenty occupying bungalows built for one family, and many more in science laboratories living between partitions of sacking and old blankets. In August 1942, a number of nurses who had been allowed to remain at work at St. Theresa's Hospital, Kowloon, were made to move to Stanley. They joined other nurses and VADs (Volunteer Aid Detachment) women in a classroom block. On their way to camp, the buses carrying them stopped in central and they were addressed by a Japanese officer who said:\n\nYou are now going to Stanley Internment Camp. All things there will be good - food will be plentiful, conditions will be pleasant. I hope you appreciate this kindness from the Imperial Japanese Army.\n\nSeveral hundred internees lived at St. Stephen's, but the majority lived on the prison grounds. Looking at the map, you will see a building marked 'Dutch'. In this building lived the Dutch, Belgian and later Norwegian internees. Next to it was the Prison Officers' Club, used as a canteen, kindergarten, Catholic church and recreation centre during internment.\n\nLooking further at the map, you see two main divisions of quarters - the Warders' Quarters and Indian Quarters. The first, the Warders' Quarters, were for European warders and were large flats of several rooms; designed for one family, an average of thirty internees lived in each during internment. The Indian Quarters had housed Indian prison guards; they consisted of small flats consisting of two 14 x 10' rooms with a small verandah with a kitchen,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208017, "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-1977", "page_number": 56, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "40\n\nG. C. EMERSON\n\nwas summoned to Japanese Headquarters in Camp and informed of the surrender.\n\nThe first days after the surrender were tremendously exciting ones as friends and relatives arrived from the city and prisoners-of-war came from the two Kowloon P.O.W. camps. On 23rd August, Mr. Gimson moved into the city and began re-establishing the Government. Nearly two weeks passed after the surrender before the British fleet arrived on 30th August. At 5.00 p.m. that afternoon, the Commander of the Fleet, Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt, came to Camp and attended a very moving flag-raising ceremony. It was several weeks before the Camp was finally closed. Many ventured into the city to begin picking up the lost threads of their lives but many, particularly those whose health was poor, remained in Camp waiting to board the ships which took them away from Hong Kong.\n\nFrom this brief account, it may sound as if internment was not a particularly bad experience. Such an impression would be far from the truth. Internment was a dreadful experience. Not only were the physical aspects - lack of food and of clothing, the over-crowding, the insufficient food, etc.- most unpleasant, but the mental aspects were extremely bad also. The humiliation of defeat, the separation from loved ones and the years of waiting for release are impossible to imagine for those of us who have never had such experiences. While the horrors of the German concentration camps fortunately never were experienced in Hong Kong, internment in Stanley Camp was a terrible experience for almost all the internees.\n\nI would like to finish by reading you a few lines from a poem written by Mr. C. J. Norman, later Commissioner of Prisons, Hong Kong, in 1954. The poem is entitled “A Farewell to Stanley”.\n\nA Farewell to Stanley! It's over.\n\nOf Internees there isn't a sign. They've left for Newhaven & Dover\n\nFor Hull & Newcastle-on-Tyne.\n\nNo tales where the rumours once started.\n\nThe kitchen's devoid of its queues.\n\nThe strategists all have departed\n\nWith the lies which they peddled as 'news'.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208069, "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-1977", "page_number": 108, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "92\n\nK. G. STEVENS\n\n\"White Tiger Disease\" which cannot be diagnosed further, and which can only be cured by offering him expensive propitiation.\n\nThe White Tiger's full title is \"The White Tiger of the Black Altar\" but even though the Wealth God, Hsuan T'an (literally “Black Altar\" and whose name, as we saw above is Chao Kung-ming) is always accompanied by a tiger, no temple keeper has had the courage of his convictions to connect the White Tiger with him, although the connexion seems obvious enough.\n\nWhite Tigers fight evil, destroy demons—particularly sickness demons—and, more mundanely, prevent squabbles and strife between women. Though many temple keepers spoke confidently, they tended to connect the attributes of any one deity with others on the same altar, thus claiming that White Tigers are prayed to stop scandal and rumours, and also prayed to by gamblers who are having a run of bad luck. In former days, so several temple keepers claimed, ritual purification before worshipping the Gods was carried out at the White Tiger Altar, as he was a stellar deity who warded off baneful influences.\n\nOn the day of the Excited Insects, (the 17th of the 1st lunar month, one month before Ch'ing Ming), White Tigers are propitiated by temple-goers, who crowd around them force-feeding them with delicacies known to delight them. These include raw eggs still in their shells, which are rammed willy-nilly into the tiger's mouth together with lumps of white cooked fatty pork, raw liver, chick peas and silver coins. Pork fat is a delicacy beloved of tigers who, according to temple keepers, will not eat beef or fish! One particularly stomach-churning sight was of a temple keeper pushing his fingers into the Tiger's mouth through the mush of raw egg, liver, paper, shell and fatty pork, to recover the coins. For the very poor, a mere smear of pork fat on the lips of the White Tiger is sufficient to bring his aid. Elderly ladies also offer oranges, minute packets of tea and three sticks of incense before the Tiger.\n\nAt the same ceremony devotees burn, or again thrust into the mouths of the White Tigers, dozens of tiny printed paper tigers with yellow and black stripes, folded in half lengthways and filled with cold cooked rice, slivers of raw liver and a few peas. Some of the elderly ladies took the paper tiger cut-outs and removing a shoe walloped the tiny paper tiger unmercifully. Such chastisement is to ensure that gossips and trouble from demonic sources do not", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208117, "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-1977", "page_number": 156, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "140 \n\nW. J. HINTON \n\nnot so very different in their essence from those of greater cities. \"Aes alienis\" is much the same all the world over. \n\nFarther west a rope walk stretches back across several streets on the landward side, where they are twisting a mighty bamboo cable for the big junk being built in the Yard at the end of the bay. On the seaward side one of the long dark houses frames a picture of the bay and the ships seen through a verandah three rooms distant; within is the rich glow of lacquer chest. It is a picture for a Dutch master. For the most part the well-built doorways are closed by lacquered or painted doors or screens. We are in the West End; the crowd is thinner, but the dogs, pigs, fowls, and cats, if anything, more densely strew the scene. Through little lanes and alleys, we can see the Hoklo boats drawn up on the beach or riding a little from the land. Their owners are busy about them or putting out to fish with net and line in neighbouring bays. \n\nA dry nullah, and we are on a flight of steps leading to the terrace of the Pak Tai Temple. This terrace is a spacious place at times covered with a huge matshed theatre, which will house all the population that can leave home or junk for the show. Just now, it is occupied by children and by two parties of fishermen making fishing lines of some tough fibre on a primitive bamboo contrivance doubling and redoubling the thread. Under the groves, we see the eaves of another and smaller temple, and the tall wooden dyeing vats in which the nets are dyed blue and so made invisible to fishy eyes in the blue water. \n\nThe Pak Tai Temple must await another visit, for dusk has fallen, and bright lights are burning on the junks. There is no moon, but the stars are reflected in the still water. On the stern of every junk, the little cooking stoves glow, and family groups crouch round the rice bowl, half-illuminated by the glow, or brightly lit by a fishing flare where such extravagance can be afforded. Our yacht lies far out, and we hire a sampan, sitting side by side in the middle while the woman plies the \"ulch\" like a Venetian gondolier, crooning meantime to the baby on her back. Now we are among the junks, and the water lanes are full of small craft loaded with miscellaneous wares. A pedlar dips his paddle and cries his wares set out in a tray on his tiny dug-out. Sampans carry happy parties going ashore, or quiet ones coming off to their floating homes. There are no noisy parties of drunken sailors, but plenty of jollity and even a little horseplay here and there. Our boat moves", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208140, "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-1977", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n163 \n\nneat grave on the far side of the burnt-out area; where the fire may have started. \n\nh) The cutting beside Tai Mo Shan Road (about 100 metres up hill from the car park) shows the parent rock quite well. The soils in this region, and from here to the summit, are red-yellow podzols. \n\ni) Small mammals that have been identified from the adjacent countryside in recent years include: Paguma larvata (masked palm civet or 果子狸), Melogale moschata (ferret-badger or 獾) and Rattus rattus sladeni (Sladen's roof rat or 司氏屋顶鼠(田鼠)). \n\n3. Stop B-car park near summit (altitude ca 700 m.) \n\nOn many days of the year, as on the day of the RAS visit, this site is covered with drifting cloud or mist which undoubtedly increases the effective precipitation. The vegetation here is a grassland, probably maintained by fire and lack of seed etc. of other life forms. However, improvement is feasible, as may be seen from the reasonable growth of planted trees. \n\na) Extensive views can be obtained from this site: see inset on the sketch map. In order to see Deep Bay (后海灣) it is necessary to walk ca 100 m. down the road & on to the knoll beyond the signals hut. \n\nb) To the west of Tsing Yi Island can be seen the badly eroded hills surrounding the Tai Lam Chung (大欖涌) reservoir. These hills are composed of granite of several kinds. Granite weathers much more readily than the volcanic rock of which Tai Mo Shan is composed, so that the hills are denuded of vegetation and are pale brown in color. \n\nc) The sloping terraces on the far hillside and close beside this car park are intriguing because their original purpose is seemingly unknown. However, recent investigation suggests they were concerned with control of water flow, either retention of water or control of run-off; a record of these terraces is being prepared for submission to the JHKBRAS. Tea bushes (Camellia sinensis) were formerly cultivated on Tai Mo Shan and the sloping terraces", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208194, "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-1977", "page_number": 233, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n217 \n\nis formed on top. Then pick out the thin layer with a bamboo stick, upon which it is allowed to dry. The end-product will be the delicious and nourishing bean skim. Being performed entirely by hand in the past, the whole process was not so simple as this brief description suggests.\n\nOver eighty years ago, my great-grandfather with his two sons and their wives fled from famine-stricken Chi Kam hsien in Wai Chau prefecture, Kwangtung, and reached Pun Shan Village, Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan where they started their occupation of bean skim making. At that time, there was no highway linking Tsuen Wan with Kowloon. In order to sell the bean skim and buy more yellow beans, my ancestors had to climb over rugged hills every day.\n\nIn those days, the yellow beans were first exposed under hot sun (or heated in a pot in case of dull weather). The impurities such as sand and stalks were carefully picked out from the beans, then the beans were crushed by manual labour until the husks were separated from the beans. Beans and husks were then poured into a bamboo container which was tossed up and down with both hands so as to cast out the husks. The pure beans were then put into a tank and soaked in water for four hours (six hours in winter). Then the beans were ground into a paste by pushing hard at the stone-grinder. The amount of beans could not be in excess of forty catties if the whole process was to be finished within one day, and one had to rise about 2 a.m. to start grinding. This paste was then wrapped inside a cloth bag and the fluid squeezed out. The refuse was then filtered off, while the pasty fluid was poured into twelve flat-bottomed metal pans and boiled, using grass as fuel. (The smoke as emitted from the fluid and the burning grass is not unlike tear gas, giving one a suffocating feeling.) The surface foam was removed, and the fluid kept at a temperature that kept it near boiling. A thin layer of membrane formed on the surface, which was taken off with a bamboo stick and allowed to dry. This process of heating, layer-forming and taking off was repeated again and again, until the paste in all the twelve pans became membrane i.e. bean skim. This process must have required the longest working-hours of the world, for one had to work at it twenty-one hours on end every day, from 2 a.m. to 11 p.m.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208283, "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-1978", "page_number": 7, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "186\n\nin the district.68\n\nDAVID FAURE\n\nOn its way to Kowloon, the Japanese army looted Ho Chung. Mr. Tse Ming recalled that the Japanese came in groups, and took away the villagers' food. This continued for about a week. Tseng Lan Shue and Pik Uk, the next stop on the route to Kowloon, probably suffered more than other villages in Sai Kung, for Japanese troops stayed there for more than twenty days. The troops disturbed the women, took most of the crop that had just been harvested, and burnt the doors and furniture in the village houses for firewood. It seems that only scattered units of the Japanese army went into the Hang Hau area. Mr. Leung Chiu Man of Hang Hau saw some fighting between British and Japanese troops but recalled that the Japanese did not greatly disturb the village.69\n\nThe bandits\n\nAfter the Japanese came the bandits. Mr. Chau T'in Shang's impression in Sai Kung Market was that the bandits came many times and took away all the residents' valuables. Mr. Cheng Ip of Pak Kong remembered that it was Tung Chi (winter solstice) when the bandits first came. They were armed with guns, and they forced the villagers to carry their grain to Kei Ling Ha where they departed by boat. Mrs. Ts'ui of Sai Kung Market, whose husband was a fish-monger, remembered that many bandits came, and soon she was required to deliver a fixed quantity of fish every month to them. She fled to Yim Tin Tsai for two weeks, and then went up to P'ing Shan on the Chinese side of the border for three months, before she dared return to farm on her own land at Pak Kong. Mr. Hoh King of Nam Shan had just returned from Kowloon, and learnt that his name was on a list drawn up by the bandits of people they wanted to hold for ransom. He left Sai Kung with the proprietor of Kwong Tak Lung, whom he knew well, for the villages near Sham Chun, and stayed there for a month before he returned to Nam Shan. Even then, he did not stay in the village, but lived for a while up on the hillside.70\n\nBandits were reported throughout Sai Kung District, from Clear Water Bay, Junk Bay, to Long Harbour, in both the poorer villages and the richer ones and the market towns. According", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208599, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 56, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n29\n\ndescended and the patrol boat lost them. The Bishop will have to take the same route and the same risks on his forthcoming visitations. While here, he performed the ordinations at the Dominican Rosary Hill chapel, in the absence of Bishop Valtorta.\n\nDr. and Mrs. Bagalawis also slipped into Hong Kong. The Doctor told of the hundreds of patients he has been treating in a refugee hospital organized by Fathers Joe Sweeney and Joe Farnen: some of his patients are victims of gunfire by Japanese patrols making incursions into the villages outside their front lines.\n\nMARCH\n\nMarch proved to be a quiet month. Outstanding visitors were Dr. S. K. Yee, Counsellor to the Chinese National War Council and Mrs. (Dr.) Yee. Dr. Yee's hobby is calligraphy and he promised to give us a talk on this interesting facet of Chinese culture. Mrs. Yee took her medical training in Cleveland and San Francisco.\n\nAPRIL\n\nIn early April, Father Bernie Welsh departed with 250 cases of supplies and arrived at Swabue just two days before the city was taken over by the Japanese army: Father Sandy Cairns sent word that he had arrived safely at Sancian Island after a two-day sail from Cheung Chau. However, his baggage and his bag were still at a half-way stop, Kwong Hoi, where the Japanese took the place on their way to the large city of Toi Shan. No doubt Father John Joyce at Sancian had been looking forward eagerly for the goodies in Father Sandy's boxes.\n\nThree Passionists, Fathers Cunningham, Caulfield and Richardson, arranged a special deal with the China National Air Company to ship their mission supplies from Hong Kong to Nam Yeung, across the Japanese lines, for U.S. $200 per ton. Our Father John Elwood accompanied them on the flight with 21 cases of Red Cross medicine for our Kweilin Mission, and 7 cases for Wuchow. Father Elwood managed the trans-shipping from Nam Yeung to Kweilin through unoccupied territory.\n\nDr. S. K. Yee gave us the promised lecture, and graded the efforts of those present with Father Trube carrying off the honors with the best characters, displaying the most \"inner strength\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208602, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "32\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nMaryknollers in the Wuchow Mission, visited Stanley in response to many invitations received from his Maryknoll patients in Kwangsi. (After the Red take-over of Wuchow, he was arrested and jailed together with Bishop Donaghy and Father Kennedy. The two Maryknollers could hear his screams of pain in another cell for many days, and finally they were brought to the doctor's cell to cut down the body, which was hanging from a cross-bar, obviously to be used as \"witnesses\" to the good doctor's \"suicide.\")\n\nFather Joe Reardon and Sister Marie Regis, attempting to get to Hong Kong by way of Swatow, were turned back by the military. They returned to Kaying and took the only other route open, via plane to Shiu Kwan. However, when they reached this city, other difficulties were encountered and they were compelled to journey on to Kweilin in the West where, after a visit of some days, they succeeded in getting a plane for Hong Kong.\n\nFather Bill Whitlow and Brother William, coming by way of the Philippines, stop over-night on their return to Japan.\n\nOCTOBER\n\nFather Arthur Allie, the only representative from Korea to visit us in a long time, arrived by an evacuee ship, the Anhwui, from Japan. He is seeking medical treatment here.\n\nThe \"Double Tenth\" passed with the usual firecracker spree and subsequent rush to medical clinics for treatment of powder burns. Mr. Wei, the manager of R.K.O. pictures in Hong Kong, who very kindly lends films to us, came to visit bringing \"The Great Commandment\" which was enjoyed immensely.\n\nThe first contingent of new missioners arrived on the 15th, aboard the Pan-Am Clipper from Manila. They are Fathers Kruppelmann, Brennan, Winkels and Siebert. The rest of their classmates will follow along later.\n\nFather General arrived via Macao and, at dinner, gave us a talk outlining his journeys and future plans. There was some mystery about his reason for leaving us immediately for the States after coming from Japan, but he promises to be back here by Christmas. We did not know it at the time, but it seems he was bearing a message to our State Department in Washington from those in Japan who were trying to avert a war between Japan and the U.S.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208603, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\nNOVEMBER\n\n33\n\nPat Wong, an old Maryknoll friend from our first days in Hong Kong, and now visiting the Colony from his new home in Honolulu, took the new men to their first Chinese banquet with no casualties reported.\n\nThe Kongmoon contingent among the new men, with Father O'Melia as guide and teacher, take off for the Tan Chuk Seminary in the Wuchow Mission as the new site for the Language School; a safety precaution in view of the worsening conditions between the Japanese and the British-American bloc. Father Siebert, assigned to Kaying, will leave for there later on.\n\nThe Stanley staff went to the dock to greet the S.S. Van Buren and the other new missioners but they were not on board - a mystery!\n\nBrother William arrived from Shanghai where he has been staying with Father Whitlow for some time. He is unable to return to Korea at present.\n\nFather Don Hessler arrived from Kweilin by plane for a rest after his recent bout with typhoid. Father Barney Meyer goes to the Paris Foreign Mission compound, \"Nazareth,\" for a retreat preparatory to his coming jubilee. Father Feeney and Father Bauer arrive, the latter for treatment at St. Paul's for a bad case of dysentery. The end of the month brought Passionist Bishop Cuthbert O'Gara by plane from Kweilin.\n\nPART II: WAR AND OCCUPATION, DECEMBER 1941 -- AUGUST 1945\n\nWith the proximity of the Japanese across the border, the atmosphere in the Colony was rather tense. When Canton fell to the Japanese, there was a mass flight of refugees to Hong Kong. It was then estimated that some one hundred thousand came in 1939, bringing the population of the Colony at the outbreak of hostilities to approximately one million six hundred thousand, and it was thought that at the height of the influx, some half a million were sleeping on the streets.\n\nThen, on the fateful date of December 8th, the quiet of the Maryknoll House was rudely broken by the events of what was, no...\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208610, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "40 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS \n\nenough, but their range was inadequate and the planes flew just above their fire and dropped bombs upon targets with impunity. It was reported, however, that one plane was shot down with an anti-aircraft gun. Of course, there was not a single British fighter in the air to oppose the Japanese. The two or three antiquated crates that were seen occasionally flying around before the war were perhaps only trainers or observation planes. On the first and second nights of hostilities the drone of planes was heard around midnight, and a few planes were evidently taking off and landing at Kai Tak. Our first reaction to this was that they might be British planes arriving from Singapore, to aid in the defense of Hong Kong, but these sporadic flights soon stopped, and we learnt later that there were the ordinary CNAC or commercial planes which were being flown away to safer havens, and at the same time taking a few important people out of the Colony. The Japanese had the air entirely to themselves, and to my observation there were never more than ten to twelve planes in action at the same time. \n\nIn comparison with former days, there was comparatively little shipping in the harbor at the outbreak of hostilities. The few ocean freighters were either scuttled or set on fire in Kowloon Bay or in Lyemoon channel, by their captains. It may be that a couple were bombed, I do not know. There was a number of small river craft anchored near Kowloon, and of course the usual ferries, harbor tugs and a considerable fleet of Chinese junks huddled together in the typhoon shelters. At about the second or the third day of the war, every small ship and tug, including river passenger boats and ferries, got into motion and began moving slowly up and down the harbor fairway. Apparently this was to avoid being hit by bombs or shells. \n\nDuring this time I watched a small tug, perhaps a navy tug, calmly set out from Kowloon to cross to Hong Kong. As it pulled away from its anchorage a train of shells began falling in its wake. However, it kept on majestically and quite unconcernedly on its way, and though the shells fell closer and closer to its stern, it reached the navy yard in safety, and then as calmly turned out into the harbor again. At the same time, a small British destroyer, the Thracian backed slowly out of its berth in the Navy Yard, turned around and headed westward out of the harbor. No shells hit it", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208611, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 68, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n41\n\nwhile it remained in sight, but I understand a little later its crew beached it somewhere near Repulse Bay. The day after the parade of the ships in the harbor under bomb and shell fire, the harbor seemed entirely deserted and hardly any craft was discernible, the only shipping movement being a lone Star Ferry slowly coursing its accustomed way back and forth to Kowloon. Evidently during the night, the masters of the various craft had received instructions to scuttle or beach their vessels, and some river steamers could be thus seen along the Kowloon side of the harbor.\n\nBy this time it was becoming increasingly difficult to cross into Hong Kong from Kowloon, and practically impossible to return. In and around Hong Kong, the British authorities were using super-human efforts to keep communications open and supplies delivered to crucial points. Trucks were tearing around madly through the streets and people were milling back and forth, not knowing what to do or how to do it. Police were endeavoring to preserve order and the defenders of Hong Kong, both regular and volunteer soldiers, were taking up positions assigned to them. Pillboxes and barricades had already been erected at strategic points in the city streets, and these were now manned by machine gunners; most of the buses stopped running, as well as private cars; and only government-operated trucks were allowed to carry on their important business of keeping the city supplied with food and necessary services.\n\nAt the Cathedral for the first two or three days provisions could be purchased as usual, but gradually it became more and more difficult, and finally there was no more bread, no more eggs or fruit to be had. Then everybody went on rations of rice, soya beans, and green vegetables. Firewood, too, was beginning to be at a premium.\n\nAt about this time, the Bishop heard it rumored that his priests were interned at the old Metropole Hotel on Ice House Street. Accordingly, that evening, when the shelling and bombing went into a lull, he and I went to the Hotel to investigate, but found there not his priests but a timorous group of Italian and German women and children. Fear and anxiety were written on their faces, and they complained to His Excellency about the treatment they were receiving and besought him to strive to alleviate their position. A little later, His Excellency learned that his priests were at Stanley Prison and, sadly needing their assistance in his work for the people, he wrote an appealing letter to the Governor of Hong Kong for the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208617, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n47\n\nrequested the use of two classrooms for quartering his men, some two hundred or more, eventually. During their stay they were well disciplined and polite, and upon leaving for the Hong Kong side, they graciously handed over to the Sisters what stores they had left.\n\nOn the 21st or so, though Hong Kong had not yet fallen, a Japanese officer appeared and requested space for housing some five or six hundred prisoners, more than half of whom were Indians, the rest English, Canadians, and Portuguese. Some were wounded, and the Sisters were soon at work attending them.\n\nReturning in our narration to Stanley, it may be well to note that in addition to our regular family, we also had with us two Salesians, one a Polish priest, Father Szeliga, and the other an Irish seminarian, Brother Bernard Tohill. As their house at Aberdeen was coming into the range of fire, they came out to the refugee camp at Stanley, bringing with them twenty or more of their orphan boys. Just below our house to the north, the British Government had constructed, as it had in many other places on the island, a refugee camp. Here three large godowns had been erected and had just been filled with stores of rice, peanut, and coconut oil for cooking purposes. A large open-air kitchen also had been constructed, containing about sixty large fireplaces with the usual Chinese wok t'au or rice caldrons, and close by, a huge pile of firewood had been built up. Simple, fabricated refugee shelters had also been planned, but they had not yet been erected. The plan seemed to be that, in case of intense bombing or bombardment of the city, the inhabitants could come out to Stanley during the day and stay at these camps, returning at night to their homes, but as a matter of fact, the camps were never put to much use. At Stanley, there were some refugees, and the Government placed Father Charles Murphy, a member of the Scarboro Mission, who had been studying Cantonese in our Language School for the past year, in charge. Some of our priests and Brothers likewise assisted in setting up some of these shelters, both at Stanley and Repulse Bay. When we learned that the Salesians were at the Camp, we invited them to eat with us, and finally put up their boys on the floor of our Mission Room at night.\n\nTo return for a moment to the early days of the war, after their arrival, the new missioners journeyed to Hong Kong in order to satisfy the requirements of the Police Department in regard to pass-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208618, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 75, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "48 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM, DOWNS \n\nports, visas and so on, and on their return the bus which they had boarded took them only as far as Repulse Bay Hotel. From there they began walking to Stanley, and they had not gone far when the command rang out: Halt!. They saw no one in the gathering darkness and continued on, when suddenly a bullet whistled over their heads. Some British Tommies on sentry duty stopped them and demanded their credentials. These having been verified they were allowed to proceed, none the worse for their experience. \n\nDuring these eventful days, Father Toomey did great work in visiting the Prison, on occasional sick calls. He also went to Point d'Aguilar where volunteers were holding an advance position. He was likewise at the Fort on the Hill when it was being bombed by the Japanese planes. While at the Prison he attempted to visit the interned Italian Fathers, but was not allowed. However, he managed to have delivered to them a Mass kit or two with the necessary supplies. \n\nAt the Carmelite Convent just below our hill, Father Hessler said daily Mass for the Sisters and later on remained with them during the actual fighting at Stanley. \n\nAs the days wore on in the second week of the war, things began to get pretty \"hot\" around Stanley. An occasional shell whistled overhead, reports came in that the Japanese landed in Hong Kong and were even now converging on the Tytam reservoir just to the east of us; in fact, they were even said to have captured a red brick house close by. Finally, on the twenty-second of the month, without warning, eight of the Royal Engineers' coolies who were standing just outside our garage on the west of the house, were wounded by machine gun bullets fired from across the valley. Also a little beggar girl who used to come frequently for food received a flesh wound. We brought them all into our house and laid them on the floor and did what we could for them, bandaging up their wounds. Just across this valley the British had built some ammunition dumps and had placed there an anti-aircraft battery or two. These batteries fired at enemy planes in the beginning but eventually we heard them no more and no doubt they were removed elsewhere, for now the Japanese were in possession of this hill. As a measure of safety we moved our kitchen away from this western exposure and also kept away as much as possible from that end of the house. \n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208637, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 94, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n67\n\nLooking forward, as only Father Meyer can do, he buys a small pig and puts it down in brine, and now and then in addition to our cans of bully beef, we have a slice of salt pork.\n\nSome of us are anxious to get to Hong Kong for various reasons. Bishop O'Gara to see the dentist and Father Troesch, with his procuratorial instinct, to see about food supplies. Permission therefore being duly secured, the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., start out for Hong Kong on foot, as there isn't a car on the road, save occasionally Japanese army trucks or official cars. Father Troesch also succeeds in getting passes for two, and he and Father Meyer trek in to see what is to be seen and what is to be done. We are also rationing our Mass candles and wine.\n\nAfter saying Mass on the sixth at the Carmelite Convent, the Bishop comes up again to see us. With him is a Korean Seminarian from Rosary Hill. As a few of our members are ill, this seminarian is instrumental in securing the services of a Japanese doctor. He seemed rather kindly disposed, but could not do much under the circumstances, though he promised to have the sick men transported to Queen Mary Hospital. Accordingly, in the afternoon, a truck drew up in our driveway and Father Bauer, Brothers Michael and Thaddeus are put aboard. Bishop Valtorta and Father Toomey get permission to accompany them. Fathers Troesch and Meyer return with the news that Bishop O'Gara and Fathers Benson and Norris have been interned in Hong Kong! We may be next, but nevertheless today we again started our language classes.\n\nAnd now for a little retrospect as to what happened in Hong Kong after the 16th, when the writer returned to Stanley. We left the Japanese in complete possession of Kowloon and as their peace mission failed, they returned to prosecute the siege of Hong Kong. The shelling and bombing kept up, and within a few days, they had effected a landing on the Island at North Point, from which place they advanced towards the city and inland to Stanley. Later, other landings were undoubtedly made as they were soon in control of Aberdeen and Repulse Bay. The guns on Stonecutters Island had been silenced as were those on Mt. Davis. Bitter street fighting took place as the enemy advanced to Causeway Bay and through Wanchai. The central part of the city suffered little actual damage, although an occasional bomb or shell fell there. Later on, the worst damage inflicted on property was by the looters, who virtually stripped buildings of all their woodwork for fuel. In many instances.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208638, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 95, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "68\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nonly the masonry shell of a building stood, mute witness to the horrors of war. Whenever a building was left untenanted, it suffered this same fate. The area around St. Paul's Hospital was pretty badly scarred, and the Hospital itself received many direct shell hits. A few Jesuits and some Salesians were kept prisoners for a while close to the Hospital, but were released after a few days. While engaged in driving an ambulance in the city, one of the Christian Brothers, Brother Peter, was killed; otherwise, the clergy and religious of Hong Kong were uninjured, though I believe Father Tournier, Assistant French Procurator, was slightly wounded. One shell hit the Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon, and though the Sisters had a trying time, they were unmolested.\n\nAfter the armistice, the Japanese began immediately collecting all vehicles, cars and trucks. Along the road at Stanley, on our return from the garage, we saw a number of trucks and cars on the road, either having been damaged by machine-gun fire, or abandoned by their drivers. These were all towed into town, in many cases by British army trucks which had been captured, and hundreds and perhaps thousands of cars, trucks and buses were corraled on the Happy Valley and Deep Water Bay recreation grounds. It is also thought that the Japanese took many of these vehicles to Japan, as it is reported that they took food supplies out of the Colony to Japan.\n\nGradually, a few bus lines were started up, as was a ferry or two to Kowloon, but the only cars on the road were Japanese trucks and official cars. All business was at a standstill; shops and department stores were closed and boarded up; what business there was, was done by hawkers on the streets. All foreign enemy property was promptly taken over by the Japanese and strips of wood with Chinese characters painted or stenciled on them bore the motto: \"Imperial Japanese Government Property.\" Our house at Stanley was likewise placarded and Father Troesch was appointed guardian for the Japanese Government.\n\nThe French Fathers at Pokfulam were treated rather roughly, and were kept in a small room for several days, while their buildings were ransacked and looted. The Christian Brothers' College suffered the same fate, even though they were of mixed nationality and their head an Irishman. The Jesuits lost Ricci Hall but managed to keep Wah Yan College and the Seminary at Aberdeen. The beautiful French Procure was finally confiscated and the Fathers had to move", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208641, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 98, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n71\n\nOn the eighteenth, two Japanese officers called and we entertained them with tea. They were pleasant enough, but had little to say. Soldiers and officers have come almost every day, either for a courtesy call or out of mere curiosity. One officer especially has been very friendly with Father Toomey, and has brought him cigarettes and milk. Others seem rather arrogant and haughty. Of course, we in turn are mild and meek for we don't like bayonets. Today, finally, our Ford V-8 was towed away down the hill.\n\nShortly after our return from the garage, we witnessed a rather sorrowful scene and one which will long remain in our memories. It was when, a few days after the signing of the armistice, the British and Indian soldiers marched out of the fort on the hill and took the winding road down through Stanley and to Hong Kong and to internment in Kowloon. There must have been at least a thousand, if not more men, disarmed and dejected, and passing just below our hill we watched them as they went by under the victorious Japanese flag hung across the road. As we stood on our hilltop and saw that mournful column passing along silently, we thought of the glories and peace of Hong Kong which had been and now everywhere is desolation and despair. The victors are despoiling the city; they have ruthlessly dethroned the foreigner and humiliated him in the eyes of the Chinese; they have destroyed overnight, as it were, the work of decades; they have completely disrupted the organization of a huge modern city, and starvation faces the populace. The Japanese have learned their lessons well from the West, and the West is now reaping the harvest of what it has sown. Poor Hong Kong! which had to be one of the first victims.\n\nAfter tiffin on the 20th, we received final word to leave Maryknoll House, now His Imperial Majesty's property, for our new home in the Prison Warders' Apartments attached to the Prison at Stanley. We are to be interned, not as the Italian Fathers were, in the Prison itself, but in modern apartments, these having been built only a few years ago. We hastily summoned our coolies, and the vanguard soon got under way. We walked in advance, each with a suitcase or bag in each hand and a bundle of bedding on his back, the coolies bringing up the rear with the heavier and more awkward bundles. Twenty-four priests and Brothers, and as many more coolies made quite a cavalcade, and looking back, it seems that we have been able to move all that Father Troesch and Father Meyer", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208648, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 105, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "78\n\nREYS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nA word about our quarters may now be in order. Within the Camp confines are the Hong Kong Prison Warders' apartments, consisting of some seven blocks of buildings, each building having about six flats or apartments, of three living rooms each, plus a tiny kitchen and pantry and bath. Across the road, there is St. Stephen's College, with two main buildings and a few small bungalows. Down in the valley near the seashore are about six blocks of flats formerly occupied by the Indian Prison guards and their families. Also a block of apartments for bachelor Warders, a Prison Officers' club and another building occupied by the Indians, which is now Tweed Bay Hospital for Camp use. Likewise a small leprosarium, now inhabited by some English doctors. The Americans are housed in three separate blocks of the Warders' apartments and the British are in the other buildings, except that the Americans also have the former Prison Officers' Club, the main hall of which is used for church services, for recreation and for plays and songfests. The camp is situated on a peninsula jutting out between Tytam and Stanley Bays, and we have a splendid view of the sea on three sides. During hostilities, of course, all the buildings were looted and there remain only odd pieces of furniture here and there. The Japanese have provided some camp cots, but these are far from enough to supply the actual need, and as a result, a great many of the internees, men, women and children, are living in crowded quarters with no beds, chairs or tables. They sleep on the floor, which, in the Indian Quarters and in some parts of St. Stephen's College, is cement. The Americans, having been brought to Camp rather early, were given quarters having at least camp cots and a few articles of furniture. Many internees have only what they could bring in as hand luggage, and some have only what they were wearing at the time. As soon as the doctors and nurses arrived, one building was set apart as a hospital and a few iron cots and camp cots secured. The emergency operating table is an old door on two saw horses, and the stock of medicines is practically nil. We have been given no cooking utensils or supplies of any sort, except our daily rations of rice, a little meat and vegetables, and many are eating their food out of tin cans and whatever they have managed to pick up.\n\nAlready many cases of dysentery are appearing, and Tweed Bay Hospital is filling up. It has, I should say, about sixty or eighty beds. Father Reardon seems to be improving.\n\nT\n\nPage 105\n\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208665, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n95\n\npurchase of certain items on the lists. Again the question of food! In our American community kitchen, as has been explained, the internees line up for their portion. After all are served, there is usually some left over in the pots. Hitherto, this has been given to those who, after having finished their meal, return to the kitchen. This has given rise to complaint, so now a new system is being devised, and instead of first come, first served, on the \"seconds\", we now get \"seconds\" in turn according to a list posted on the bulletin board. So now, once in six or seven days, each one gets \"seconds.\" Born, at Stanley Camp: a baby girl, to Mr. and Mrs. Owens, 7-1/2 lbs., Madeline Jeannette Owens, who has the distinction of being the first American born in the Stanley Camp.\n\n15—Our flour rations are to be increased from 2 to 3 ounces a day. No Canteen today. Three packages of Chinese cigarettes given out to each internee. These seem to be the gift of someone, and we pay only a nominal sum for the transportation. Father Bauer not so well. Father Walter comes down with a mild form of dysentery.\n\n16—According to a notice posted on the British bulletin board, those who have business interests in Shanghai may make application to go there. Bishop O'Gara and Fathers Benson and Norris make this application. Our one absorbing topic of conversation continues to be food, food, and more food.\n\n17—Father O'Connor, C.M., also applies to go to Shanghai – anything to get out of this Camp, and the fever is spreading. Sister Mary Paul, having previously requested the Japanese for permission to go to Hong Kong, as being a Third National, is today promised that she and three other Sisters may shortly be allowed to do so. EXTRA: Two American women internees are called up on the \"Hill\" today and told that having been vouched for by someone in Hong Kong, they would be allowed to leave Camp within four days. Not to be outdone in the matter, we Maryknollers write a letter requesting that we be allowed to return to our residence in the Missions.\n\n18—In a consultation of doctors about Father Bauer's case, it is found that he has an ulcerated colon. He is very weak, but there seems no danger, and with proper diet and care there is hope of a cure. Mr. Hunt, our Council chairman, very kindly offers flour,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208675, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n105\n\n23-We are notified today that swimming will soon be allowed at Tweed Bay just to the south of the Prison. Rules governing this permission will be issued later.\n\n24-Sunday. As usual. Our days now follow each other in much the same way, and apart from rumors, there is not much to chronicle. Father Moore follows Father Quinn with the \"flu\" and goes to bed.\n\n25-His Excellency, Bishop O'Gara, finally gets permission to leave the Camp, as also Father Chaye, a Belgian M.E., and quite a crowd gather to see them off. Father Meyer now becomes the Vicar Delegate of Bishop Valtorta.\n\n26-Father Madison succumbs to the \"flu\" and room number 9 seems to be hard hit.\n\n27-Canteen opens. Fathers Quinn and Moore improved and Father Downs back from Tweed Bay Hospital. One thing about the Hospital in the Camp, the doctors have a splendid cure for dysentery and within a short time the patient improves.\n\n28-The Sisters take over bread-baking for all the Maryknollers.\n\n29-After reconsidering the matter, four of the new men decide to remain, and take their names off the list.\n\n30-The American community meets and discusses the coming repatriation. It seems each repatriate will be allowed only such baggage as can be carried by him; in other words, no more than five bags as a maximum.\n\n31-Camp was agog this morning as a report spread that a tiger, or tigers, were seen within the Camp precincts. During the morning we did see a few Japanese soldiers clambering among the rocks on the hill to the south of us, and wondered what was up. Later, the police killed a tiger which is said to have weighed 240 pounds and was 3 feet high. A photo of the kill appeared in the next day's local paper. The other tigers remained in the vicinity for a few days and were later reported near Hong Kong.\n\nSunday. Father Meyer takes over the preaching, and loses no time in starting Catholic Action, with a meeting in the afternoon at 3:30. About 35 people were present. May Devotions close this evening, with an outdoor crowning of the Blessed Virgin. Mr. Fisher, a very good Catholic, 75 years of age, died in Tweed Bay Hospital.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208680, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 137, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "110\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n27-Medical inspection of repatriates at 2:00 p.m. and preliminary inspection of baggage in rooms at 11:00 a.m., so it is beginning to look as if the good ship Asama Maru does mean business, after all!\n\n28-Sunday. There were no public Masses this morning in the Club Chapel, as that public room was reserved by the authorities for inspection of the baggage of the repatriates. Some baggage was also inspected at the same time just in front of our American Blocks. All bags and suitcases and bundles had to be put in a line and opened for the inspecting gendarmes as they passed along the line. After all, the inspection was not very strict. The baggage was then taken away in trucks to the small pier jutting out into Stanley Bay where, evidently, embarkation will take place. Since we could not have our regular public Masses in the main chapel, we had to be content with three Masses said in the Maryknoll Sisters, Canadian Sisters and in the Dutch apartments. In the afternoon as well we had to have Benediction in another garage just behind the American Club. At Stanley pier, we notice three small launches and some lighters, which are no doubt awaiting the arrival of the Asama Maru. All the Americans on the qui vive these days, and wondering when and if the good repatriation ship will put in an appearance.\n\n29—Maryknoll Foundation Day for all and Departure Day for some. As we arose, we scanned the horizon for signs of the Asama Maru, but there was no sign of her. However, along towards noon, she hove in sight and proceeded to Stanley Bay, where she anchored off shore about a mile distant. It was a thrilling sight, especially for the departants, and they were all wondering what kind of accommodations they were going to get, and what kind of food. After the ship dropped anchor no time was lost, and early in the afternoon the repatriates, about three hundred from the Stanley Camp, and some sixty direct from the city, went aboard the ship by launch. These sixty Americans from the city were bankers and banks' other officials who were allowed to remain at their posts, but who were practically interned in their own quarters. Some forty Americans are remaining in Camp, some of whom, including us, hope to get out to Hong Kong one of these days. Of this number, half are Maryknollers, including 15 priests, one Brother and 4 Maryknoll Sisters. Since we again lose our cooking squad, Father Meyer jumps into the breach and takes over, preparing our supper, which", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208684, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 141, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "114 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS \n\n12-Sunday. Masses as usual, with Father Meyer preaching a course of sermons on the Mass. Another good tiffin with roast beef, sweet potato, spinach and NO rice for a change. Supper, rice pudding with raisins only. Either we feast or we fast these days. \n\n13—All Americans, except Maryknollers, are to report to “The Hill\" tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. The four Americans who have already signed up are still waiting for final word. \n\n14----The Americans called up were asked why they wanted to go to Hong Kong, and how they could support themselves. Were told that they would hear further from the Foreign Office. Father Murphy baptized an adult catechumen. \n\n15 Sister Henrietta Marie celebrates her feast day by giving us a piece of chocolate cake. We seem to be getting very few vegetables these days. The water spinach is wormy and getting tough and the chives—well, 'nuf said! And we are supposed to pay for all this FOOD after the war is won, for we get a monthly bill therefor. The rice, too, is beginning to get poor, being broken cargo rice and full of worms. (The Chinese would never think of eating this.) The British now have nothing but this poor rice, but we seem to have a limited supply of the good rice yet. The Camp seems very quiet these days and even our own quarters have quieted down considerably. We have much more satisfactory arrangements for Mass now, with two altars in our little chapel. The Blessed Sacrament is also reserved. Heavy rain continues. \n\n16-A wedding this morning at 8:00 in the Maryknoll Chapel, Father Murphy officiating. He also has another baptism in the afternoon. Mr. Dick Munsey, an American ex-seaman, dies in Tweed Bay Hospital, after a very short illness. Rain all day. \n\n17--Mr. Munsey buried at 10:00 a.m. He has a wife and family in Hong Kong. \n\n19-Sunday. Vacation religious classes begin. Catholic Action meeting after Benediction. Father Hessler is now chaplain to the Hospital, succeeding Father Toomey. At last swimming permission is granted. We are now allowed to go to Tweed Bay beach in groups, between 9 and 11 in the morning and from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. \n\n20-Delay on swimming. Rain continues.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208685, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n115\n\n21-Report has it that some 52 internees may be allowed to go to Shanghai on Wednesday. No electricity due to overloading of circuits. As a result, we have to get our \"chow\" cooked in the British kitchen for a couple of meals. The Shanghai baggage goes to town in the food truck.\n\n22--The Shanghai trip delayed and the baggage returns from the city.\n\n23-We understood a few days ago that the Japanese had rounded up several hundred very destitute Chinese in the city with the intention of deporting them somewhere along the South China coast. They were first brought out to Stanley and placed in the Prison for a day or so. Next they were herded onto several large junks in Stanley Bay. The junks were towed out to sea but meeting heavy weather, the tugs had to put back into quieter waters and anchored again in Stanley Bay just off the western side of our Camp. As we walked along the top of St. Stephen's Hill, we could see the unfortunates very plainly crowded on the junks, and standing up, with no covering over their heads. Thus they remained for at least two days and nights, exposed to the sun and rain. No doubt their food was but a trifle, for while anchored off the Camp, a number of bodies were seen by the internees to be thrown overboard, and later these bodies were washed up on the beach, where they remained unburied. I believe the Camp officials requested permission to bury them but the beach being outside our barbed wire enclosure, the permission was refused. The junks finally sailed away with their human freight. Earlier in the Camp, a similar permission was asked to bury a few bodies of soldiers which had been washed up on the beaches, but again the permission was not granted. July so far has given us 22 days of rain which, like California, is most unusual for this month, and as a result the reservoirs are filled up and overflowing.\n\n25-The Shanghai repatriates are told to be ready to leave at any time, but there is still a further delay. No doubt it is a question of shipping. Among them are two Dutch Salesian Fathers. The British put on a good show at 7 p.m., \"The Optimists,” on the bowling green outside our former American Club A-4 Block. Swimming restrictions lightened; we may now go and return at any time within the prescribed hours. Mixed marriage in our private Maryknoll Chapel at 9 a.m. Father Hessler officiated.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208688, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 145, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "118\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n14-There is a softball game almost every evening now and that gives us something to look forward to, although swimming is also a good attraction during the day. Tweed Bay Beach is a very fine sandy one, but not very large. We learn that the Holy Father has given $15,000.00 HK to victims of the war, and each internee at Stanley will receive about $5.40.\n\n—\n\n15 Feast of the Assumption. Only one Mass in the Club Chapel today. We are hoping to receive our long-looked-for permission to leave Camp today, as hitherto something important usually happened on a Feast Day, but there is as yet no news from \"The Hill.\" However, we did have quite a surprise when the Sisters gave us a dish of ice cream for supper. How they manage these things is more than we can fathom. No show tonight, but a farcical game of softball between the Police and the Ladies.\n\nThe next few days are quite uneventful, with baseball the main feature of the day. As clothing is becoming quite a problem for the internees, flour sacks are being utilized for articles of apparel. On the 17th there was another death at the Hospital. The British are also having lectures each Tuesday for those who wish to attend. Rain kept us indoors at times and it looks as if we might have a typhoon. One of the patients who had been allowed to go to St. Paul's Hospital for X-ray treatment failed to return to Camp and as a punishment no more patients will be allowed this privilege for a month, no matter how sick they may be.\n\n20-Seven months in Camp today and at last the good news has come: we get our call to sign our papers on \"The Hill\" at 9:30 a.m. These papers merely say that we shall do nothing against His Imperial Majesty's Japanese Government if we are paroled, and we gladly accede to such a request. Accordingly, promptly at the appointed time, we 13 Maryknoll priests, Brother Thaddeus and two of the remaining four Maryknoll Sisters, Sister Dorothy and Sister Henrietta Marie, sign the required papers and are informed that we may leave in a \"few\" days. Fathers Meyer and Hessler, with Sisters Eucharistia and Christella, will remain in the Camp to look after the Catholics. At present there is only one other priest left, Father Charles Murphy of Scarboro Bluff, Canada. He is seeking his release.\n\n21 — Packing up our few belongings and Dr. Talbot gives us cholera shots. Softball gives us a good evening's entertainment.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208695, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n125\n\nThis literally took the wind out of our sails and we were in the doldrums. Bishop Valtorta also interviewed Mr. Oda on our behalf but received the same categorical answer. However, Sister Paul made application about this time for Sisters Marie Regis and Dorothy, the former having been released from the Camp on a third national status, but the latter with us. As a result, Sister Regis was allowed to board the boat but Sister Dorothy was turned back. So we returned to Bethany, sadder but wiser.\n\nOur status in Hong Kong now being determined for us, we began to think about resuming Language Classes, and looked around for some teachers. We found one for the Mandarin and one for the Cantonese, but could not easily get a suitable one for the Hakka-ites.\n\nFrom the 11th to the 15th of October we went on Retreat, it being conducted by Father McCarthy, S.J., from Wah Yan College. About this time, Father Knotek's electrical ability having been discovered, his services were much in demand, both at Carmel and at St. Paul's Hospital, Causeway Bay.\n\nIt may be of interest here to describe briefly Hong Kong, as we saw it, some eight or nine months after its capitulation. The downtown section, at least along Queens Road Central, was fairly normal, and business seemed to be going on as usual, that is, on the surface, but actually business was pretty poor. All the stores had long since reopened; the larger foreign stores, of course, being taken over by the Japanese, and prices were on the military yen basis. The Chinese department stores were likewise open, but their stock seemed to be depleted, and not only were prices high, but it was difficult and even impossible to purchase many articles, especially of clothing. In many cases, about all that was left were extra large sizes of things. Along the streets in many places, and just outside of the department stores, sat vendors of various small articles. On the streets, the crowds seemed to mill about almost as in normal times, but little money changed hands. There were only the strictly necessary purchases made. Even for the Chinese populace, rice, oil, and firewood were rationed and on certain days, the purchasers had to line up and wait their turn at depots in various parts of the city. The Gloucester Hotel is now the Matsubara Hotel, and is open for business, but of course, mostly Japanese business. The Japanese Army and Navy have taken over almost", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208703, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 160, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "142\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nwhatever food for the Club which could not be bought in the market.\n\nFather Meyer in October notes that the money exchange rate for the U.S. dollar was HK$7.50, although the official rate given by the banks was only HK$4.00. He opined that this difference came about because the U.S. dollar had become a sort of \"super currency\" for South China because the Chinese considered it much safer than their own.\n\nDuring the \"post occupation\" days when everyone in Hong Kong was trying to put the pieces together again, the U.S. Navy was a great help to Father Meyer, particularly Father Hargreaves who often stayed at the Maryknoll House in Stanley. Father Don Hessler, who had volunteered to remain in the Internment Camp with Father Meyer in order to care for the people not repatriated on the Gripsholm, was recalled to the U.S. after Father Tennien's arrival in Hong Kong to take over the Stanley House. Father Don had organized a school for the children of Stanley Village, and continued to work for the warders and prisoners in the jail. He and the Carmelite Sisters also took care of the Japanese internees who had been transferred to the barracks on the tip of the Stanley peninsula. They found 12-15 Catholics among them. General Festing, who was in charge of the Japanese internees, was a Catholic and very helpful to the Sisters and to Father Hessler. There were some 8,000 Japanese internees and Father Meyer had been toying with the idea of asking Maryknoll to send Japanese-speaking Maryknollers to take care of them. He himself would have done this but his time was completely taken up with the organization of the Catholic Club in town, and organizing Catholic Action Groups. The Club opened on October 19—Armistice Day. It served 1,722 meals that day. Catholics made up 20 per cent of those who patronized the Club in order to eat something other than barracks' and ships' rations.\n\nFather Tennien arrived to take over Stanley on November 26th. His first report on the House was: \"Not bad considering most of the homes and institutions in Hong Kong, although the flooring had been pulled up. Open fires for cooking in the rooms had blackened all the walls but did not damage them.\" He held off on major repairs due to the almost impossibility of getting materials, and the inflated cost of labor at the moment. Government was selling", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208841, "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-1980", "page_number": 3, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "202\n\nTo\n\nand\n\nsites were also rendered ineffective by the emperor's golden pen. My knowledge, the elders knew of four sites. One of them was on Tiu Chung Chau at Kau Sai in Saikung. The fungshui of this site was ‘a golden bell hanging on a silk thread'. Every year at the Double-ninth festival, nine buffaloes came to worship at the grave; there was also the sound of a bell being struck. A second site was at Yuen Chau Chai at Kei Leng Ha Village. The fungshui name was 'the general comes down from his horse to drink three cups of wine'. In the middle of the sea, there is Wu Chau (with the adjacent island of Sam Pui Tsau) that resembles a pig, three cups of wine and two cups of tea. Another site was at To Tau Tsui at Wu Kai Sha, which is opposite Nga Chau (usually nowadays called A Chau) in the Tai Po Hoi. The fungshui name was crows going into the ocean. Legend has it that in the old days a mud embankment connected Wu Kai Sha to Nga Chau which sank into the sea after the emperor put down the dragon. The embankment has not been seen again. One more site was on Ap Chau opposite Kat O. The fungshui name was 'precious duck going through the lotus'. The legend is that Ap Chau used to be able to swim between Sam Mun Kan and Mirs Bay. Later, it was blocked by a duck pole, that is, the place currently known as Hak Ngam Kok. After that, when paddy ripened in the Yim Tin Village area near Sha Tau Kok, there was no rice grain on the stalk, because it was all eaten by the duck. After the emperor put down the dragon with his golden pen, the head of the duck... and then there was grain again.\n\nI know about the fungshui of only these four grave sites.\n\nhe cut off\n\nPassage 2\n\nRecorded by Ho Kei Fook\n\n\"An extraordinary person saw that Huang Hsiao-yang [rebel in the Canton area in the early fifteenth century] had features fitting to make him emperor and gave him a bamboo shoot to plant at home. When the 'bamboo grew to the height of his brows', he was supposed to be able to make an arrow out of it which he could use to kill the emperor with and thereby take over the throne. Huang planted the bamboo shoot as he had been instructed and a bamboo stem grew", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208888, "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-1980", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "22 \n\nKEITH G. STEVENS \n\ncolumns, boards, boards bearing auspicious phrases, balustrades, roofs and lattice windows exactly like full-size temples (Illustration 16). Several wooden miniature shrines seen on lower decks of large sea-going junks were heavily ornamented and the carving exquisitely detailed. At the other end of the scale, soap boxes, painted red and upended, serve as the simple shrine of the less affluent household. \n\nActual images of gods in homes are few, and their worship is very limited. Usually, there is just a framed print, and routine offerings consist of a daily incense stick burnt before the print with, in addition, a small offering of tea or rice on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month. The majority of Chinese who have a household shrine display on their main altar the bodhisattva Guan Yin, who is, without a doubt, the most popular deity of Chinese everywhere. Most homes also have a second “altar”, the Kitchen or Stove God, whose title on a red board is hung up, or when written on a red paper is pasted up near the family cooking range. \n\nShop or factory shrines usually stand or hang on walls at shoulder height, constructed of wood and painted vermilion. The majority of shop shrines contain plaques or prints of Guan Di as patron deity of merchants and Tu Di Gong, the Earth God. Those in fire stations and police stations bear prints of Guan Di in his role as the patron deity of loyalty. \n\nOn days marked Chu (除)22 in the Almanac (i), old lady devotees offer prayers in the street before unpainted wooden boxes used as shrines. They are propitiating the demons who cause disasters, and are also attempting to change their luck for the better. They use one of their shoes to strike the \"small men” (1-A) banging small figures of humans cut out of black paper and at the same time calling out in high-pitched voices for the demons to flee. The voice is pitched particularly high when calling back the roaming soul of a sick child (the absence of the soul being the cause of the sickness). \n\nApart from modern concrete decorative structures in places like the Tiger Balm Gardens and on the foreshore of Repulse Bay, there is only one pagoda in Hong Kong or Macau. This is at Ping Shan, in the New Territories, and was built of stone blocks some three hundred years ago. Like other Chinese pagodas, it has little use other than to enshrine some sacred object, in this case, several images", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208892, "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-1980", "page_number": 54, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "26 \n\nKEITH G. STEVENS \n\ntyphoon and rebuilt some two centuries later on the site of the present Tian Hou temple in Joss House Bay,27 \n\nThere have been several apparent brief bursts of temple building in Hong Kong since the arrival of the British. One was in the early days of Hong Kong in the 1840's; another spurt during the period of growing prosperity in the 1870/1880's; another during the era of the plague (the 1890's); and another in the 1950's during the massive influx of refugees. Many temples were renovated during the latter days of the Qing dynasty, and by the Hong Kong government's Chinese Temples Committee since the second world war,28 \n\nTemples are expensive buildings and are built mainly in times of economic affluence. Although many temples are receiving less and less attention from keepers and grass grows high in temple yards, others are expanding and have been refurbished at great cost. \n\nOne should not be misled into believing a temple to be old by its condition, as the climate ages buildings very rapidly on the coast of China. The dilapidated state of some dozen or so traditional temples gives the impression of centuries of neglect, whereas most were working temples up to a decade or two ago. Others looking almost new are, in reality, traditional temples which have been rebuilt or refurbished with the assistance of large government subsidies. However, many modern renovations have changed the original character both of the altars and of the temples themselves. \n\nThe Hong Kong Government has been meticulous in providing assistance whenever it has needed to encroach upon temple property. One site in Lo Fu Hang between Castle Peak and Yuen Long where a government department authorised a quarry to be opened and in the process ordered the removal of three ramshackle huts termed \"temples\", one large and two small concrete and tile edifices were built nearby to rehouse the gods. \n\nChaozhou immigrants who settled in Hong Kong during the fifties and sixties quickly discovered that their shanty dwellings on hillsides, considered illegal by the Hong Kong Government, were torn down by officials. They also quickly discovered that British officials, fearing to tread on religious susceptibilities, were more lenient towards religious structures. The Chaozhou immigrants therefore built for themselves small, rough temples of corrugated iron and wood and, as an annex, a small living area, and more often", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209129, "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-1981", "page_number": 32, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "18\n\nSTEPHEN MORRIS\n\nomens warning him against some action, he has only himself to blame if he becomes ill or meets an accident.\n\n+\n\nOn most occasions it is the human being who is the offender; but it does sometimes happen that a spirit gratuitously attacks a man, or it may even be that a spirit takes a liking to some human, and in order to make him aware of the fact will cause him to fall ill; so that he is obliged to call in a shaman, who through his own friendly spirits can get in touch with the one who is causing the trouble and make the situation known to the patient. Sometimes the spirit will tell the sick man why he is ill and what he has to do in order to be cured. Sometimes the disrespect; the breach of proper boundaries between the different classes of being is the work of an animal. Crocodiles, for example, have the power to entice the soul of a human and keep it, knowing that unless something is done the body will follow, looking for the soul, and provide a meal for the crocodile. The symptoms of this kind of theft, paleness, lethargy, fatigue, are usually indistinguishable from those of an attack by a spirit or any other cause for the soul's departure from the body. Only a shaman, with the help of his spirit friends and guides, can diagnose with any certainty what has happened.\n\nFinally there are some illnesses caused by witchcraft or sorcery. Witchcraft, in the sense of malice projected symbolically without the use of material means, by a living member of the victim's society is rare among the Melanau; and it occurs only when a shaman's moral character is not sufficiently strong to control the potentially nasty habits of his spirit friends. They persuade him to send his head out at night to suck the blood of victims, and so feed the spirits. A weak or a bad shaman is not strong enough to prevent that kind of thing. The result is what I suppose we should call anaemia; and it is eventually followed by death, if the shaman is not stopped in time - usually in former days by killing him. Illness can also be caused by sorcery (though not often I think) by carving images of particular spirits, bringing the carvings to life, and then ordering the spirits to disregard the rules of the ader and hunt down the sorcerer's enemy.\n\nTo summarise what I have been saying: the principal causes of illness in a Melanau diagnosis on the basis of symptoms are\n\n(i) Improper relation of hot and cold elements in the body.\n\n(ii) An act of disrespect that flouts the proper order of things, usually an action by the sufferer but sometimes by another being - a spirit, an animal, or even another human.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209271, "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-1981", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "160\n\nWEI PER-TI\n\nfew days later from his wounds. Upon being told of the news, Juan Yuan \"suspended the Company's trade and required the surrender of the man whom he termed the 'Foreign Murderers'\"*\n\n+\n\n63\n\nTo Juan Yuan, the Select Committee's reaction to his demand was in contravention to Chinese regulations. He was told by the Committee to communicate directly with Captain Richardson of the Topaze instead of going through the hong merchants and the Select Committee. Had Juan Yuan done as he was asked, he would have implicitly consented to change the Canton system. This he refused to do. He continued to hold to the principle that the supercargo of the British factory be responsible for the conduct of all British nationals in China. While the hong merchants, British traders at Canton, and Captain Richardson debated various possible courses to take, Juan Yuan suspended all British trade and held steadfast to his principles. On February 3, 1822, a Chinese official was permitted to board the Topaze and was understood to have said that he would make a report to the Governor-General. On 8 February, using as the excuse that as he had not heard from Chinese officials everything must be satisfactory, Captain Richardson took the Topaze to sea.\n\nIt was at this point the crisis really became serious. The British factory left Canton within three days. The language used by both sides in their communications was inflexible and threatening. The Committee insisted upon disclaiming responsibilities for the British navy. Another two weeks passed without any sign of solution. The Committee then explained to Juan that Captain Richardson had returned to Britain to \"report to his sovereign\" and that \"copies of all the papers would be sent to the Court of Directors [of the Company]\". Juan Yuan, noting that since the Topaze had already left Chinese waters, so that it was impossible for the supercargo to surrender the criminals even if he had been willing, and as the entire account was being sent back to both the sovereign and the Company, permitted the resumption of British trade at Canton. This compromise in order to resolve a difficult case reflected Juan Yuan's willingness to make the best of a bad situation.\n\nJuan Yuan did not negotiate with the British except through the intermediary of the hong merchants, and, it was the Company that was to be held responsible for finding the criminals to be remitted to Chinese justice, although no such promise had actually been made.55 And, most important of all, the British navy was removed from the China seas. On the surface at least, the principles of the Canton system were preserved.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209276, "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-1981", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826\n\n11 Ti-tzu chi, 5:11.\n\n165\n\n12\n\nFour men were known by the name (or title) of Howqua. They were Wu Tung-yüan (Puiqua or Howqua II), his father Wu Kuo-yung (Howqua I) before him, his two sons, Wu Shou-ch'ang (Howqua III) and Wu Chung-yao (Howqua IV).\n\n13\n\nWai-chi-tang, (hereafter cited as WCT), n.p. Copy of memorial from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, dated TK 1/11/19 (1821/2/21).\n\n14\n\n+6\n\n16\n\nMorse, Chronicles, III, 334.\n\nLiang-kuang yen-chik, chuan on Chia-ch'ing.\n\nIbid.\n\n17 Morse, Chronicles, IV, 57.\n\n18\n\nCopy of memorials from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, in Shih-liao Hsun-k'an 4:126a-b.\n\n19 W. C. Hunter, The \"Fan Kwae\" at Canton Before Treaty Days, 1825-1844, (Shanghai, 1911), p. 40.\n\n20 H. F. McNair, Modern Chinese History: Selected Readings, (Shanghai, 1913), 1:42.\n\n21 Chinese Repository, V:2:422 (January, 1834).\n\n22\n\nMorse, Chronicles, III, 377.\n\n23 Extract of letter from the Select Committee to the Court of Directors, East India Company, as reprinted in Parliamentary Papers, 21:104.\n\n24 Morse, Chronicles, III, 318.\n\n26\n\nIbid., 320.\n\n26\n\nWai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57.\n\n27\n\n28\n\nLetter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537. Wai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57b.\n\n20 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers, 21:537.\n\n30 Morse, Chronicles, III, 381. In the listing of Company ships at Canton 1805-20, however, the security merchant for the London is given as Kinqua, Ibid.\n\n31 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537.\n\n32\n\nIbid. After the crisis was over, it was revealed that Pigott had been hiding on a British warship, the HMS Liverpool, then moored at Lintin. He could not return to the London when it left China because of bad weather, but managed to return to England at a later date, Morse, Chronicles, III, 382.\n\n33 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:539; Morse, Chronicles, III, 380.\n\n34 Morse, Chronicles, p. 380.\n\n35 Eliot to Palmerston, as cited in Chinese Repository IX:406 (August, 1842).\n\n**WCT-TK1/11, Chinese Repository, V:5:223.\n\n37\n\n*7 WCT-TK 1/11.\n\n38\n\nMorse, Chronicles, IV, 23.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209294, "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-1981", "page_number": 197, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "BRO. TSUNG LAI SHUN IN MASSACHUSETTS\n\n183\n\nrobe. Their headgear was particularly ill-adapted to our winters, and after a while they were forced to make application to their rulers in China for permission to adopt hats which would give them better protection. In due time the permission came and in consequence, a few days later, the Lai-Sun women appeared on the streets waving masses of Chinese clothes crowned by the very latest creations of the up-to-date American milliner. And the combinations were often startling.\n\n+\n\nThe family were punctilious in the discharge of their social obligations, in this respect, too, living up to their Chinese customs. It seems that the social customs of China demand that the ordinary \"call\" be repaid as soon as possible. The Lai-Suns were very particular about this matter. They usually returned a call on the following day, and commonly the entire family participated in this function. Persons who received these visitations describe them as decidedly novel and interesting. And the appearance at the door of a house of the eight smiling Celestials was a spectacle whose general significance strongly suggested the sallying forth of the famous Peterkin family—\"Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, Elizabeth Eliza, Solomon John and the two little boys in their India-rubber boots.\"\n\nDuring the latter part of their residence in this city the Lai-Suns lived in a house on Bay street, Mr. Lai-Sun having at that time returned to China. The exact reason for his return was not made public at that time, but the general explanation was that the conservative element in the Chinese government had succeeded in discrediting the policy that had sent the Chinese young men to this country. And so Mr. Lai-Sun went back to China, and in the course of a year or so his family followed him.\n\n[The first page of the following article is missing]\n\nCHINESE STUDENTS FAMOUS AT HOME\n\n(continued From First Page)\n\nsilk rustling, they made an imposing procession. Mr. Lai-Sun had impressive dignity and the family were punctilious in the extreme regarding their social obligations, there never being any neglect of the proper etiquette, if the Lai-Suns were able to ascertain precisely what the occasion demanded.\n\nThe Lai-Suns spoke English fluently and were evidently people of means. The daughters of the family were amiable and attractive and made a remarkable record of marrying out of their race. One, Annie,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209775, "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-1983", "page_number": 34, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "REVD. CARL T. SMITH'S NOTES ON THE SO KON PO VALLEY AND VILLAGE\n\nSo Kon Po can be translated as \"the straw broom plain\", or possibly, \"the straw broom landing place\". The valley is a pocket with hills closing in at its seaward end. The hill to the north is the site of Tai Hang Village and Tiger Balm Garden. To the south-west is Jardine's Lookout, and to the south-east is Caroline Hill. There are two principal roads, both circular, the Eastern Hospital Road and the Caroline Hill Road. The original So Kon Po district extended to the north-west of the valley itself, that is, to the north-east side of the old East Point Hill, now the area of Hysan Avenue and Lee Gardens. In the present area of Jardine's Bazaar, Irving Street and Keswick Street there was probably a Chinese settlement at the time the British occupied Hong Kong. In 1842 the population of this village of So Kon Po was given as eighty. The valley drained into the sea near the present junctions of Yee Woh Street, Causeway Road and Tung Lo Wan Road. Tung Lo Wan was the name of the bay at the seaward end of the valley; the bay has now been reclaimed to form the Patterson Street and Victoria Park area.\n\nThe original cultivators of the valley seem to have been the Wong (#) family. A few people in the village were engaged in ship-building and fishing.\n\nCapt. Belcher, commander of H.M. survey ship \"Sulphur\", landed on Hong Kong island in January 1841. As the most suitable site for a settlement, he suggested a spot \"at nearly the east end of Hong Kong bay, in two small indents; one opening into the valley of Wongneichong and another to the north-east [the So Kon Po valley]. A small promontory [East Point] of about 220 yards in length and 120 in breadth, with a frontage on both sides, has a landing place for boats at the point at all times of the tide. Both of these small bays are dry at low water spring tides, and would be easily gained from the sea\". (Canton Register, 7 Dec. 1841)\n\nCaptain Belcher's suggestion was not followed, but Jardine, Matheson and Company considered the East Point promontory,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209860, "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-1983", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "97\n\nin the N. E. corner. My pilot not being acquainted with the channel, I got a fisherman's boat to go up with one of the Chinamen I had on board, to see if he could recognise his property. He shortly returned on board, saying his boat was there, and that the other boats were pirates. I immediately stood in under easy steam, when the pirates seeing my intention, made sail, and ran through the channel towards Wanchowchow (Stonecutters). I fired a few shots at them, but they soon got under the cover of the land. Then sending my boats after them, and running round outside the Island. I had the satisfaction of driving them on shore, and destroying five, as well as liberating two market-boats with several passengers who had been in confinement for several days.\n\nThree captured men are sworn to by one of the owners of the boats, and I have sent them in irons to Hong Kong.\n\nThese piratical boats had all the rebel flag flying and fired upon our boats, without however doing any damage.\n\nMa Wan (\"Horse Bay\"). This island is low-lying, although the geological structure is the same as Tsingyi and Lantau. The east coast has a fine bay, almost unapproachable for rocks. The inhabitants are mostly Hakka. One of the Customs stations built for the so-called \"Blockade of Hong Kong\" during the 1870s and 1880s still stands on this island; it is now used as a school.\n\nThe waters around Ma Wan are known as Kapshuimun (\"Rushing Water Channel\"). The name is apt since Kapshuimun has about the swiftest tiderip of any channel in Hong Kong. It is 25 fathoms deep. It is the track of all steamers from Hong Kong going to and from the Delta. Opposite Ma Wan, on the south shore of Kapshuimun, that is, on the northernmost tip of Lantau, are the only wolframite mines in the islands.\n\nLantau. This is our biggest island, two and a half times the size of Hong Kong Island. Lantau Peak is the highest peak in the Ladrones 3061 feet.\n\nThe northern end is almost deserted except for a few tiny hamlets round Yam O (“Hidden Haven\"), a perfect smugglers'", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209864, "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-1983", "page_number": 123, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "101\n\nThe\n\nThere are two similar settlements nearer the Police Station. boatpeople's huts are designed on the model of a sampan or junk, it would seem. Almost certainly the boatpeople are a sign of a non-Chinese element in the population. Several fires have happened, the last in 1930, since when galvanised iron has become popular as roofing, replacing the older roofing of woven palm leaf matting.\n\nTemple funds are often applied to small public works, and in such cases the District Officer gives dollar for dollar from his vote. Works such as repairing tracks, or steps to the water, or paving streets in Tai O often use this source of funding. The District Officer often holds court in the charge room of the Police Station, which is one of the coolest and healthiest in the Territory.\n\nA little to the south of Tai O is Yi O (“Second Heaven\"), which is a mere village, and a little further south again Tsin Yu Wan (\"Arrow Fish Bay\") which has a beautiful sandy beach with a temple, but is otherwise deserted.\n\n1.1\n\n0\n\nOn the extreme south-west tip of Lantau is Shek Sun (“Stone Bamboo-shoots\") on a typical dumb-bell isthmus of sand between two bays. The isthmus connects Lantau proper with the low granite hills forming Fan Lau point which is the end of British territory in this direction. On one hill is an ancient fort, thought to be Dutch; if so, it was probably built and occupied at the time of their attack on Macao in 1622. (The failure of this attack led to the Dutch occupying Taiwan in Formosa, thus drawing Chinese settlers there, who expelled them about fifty years later.) The fort may, however, in fact be Chinese. The name of this village probably comes from the way the boulders stick out of the hills above it, like low pillars.\n\nThere are some fields on the hill above Shek Sun enclosed by dry-stone walls: evidently these were once used for dry crops, but they are now abandoned. They were not pastures: animals are never enclosed when grazing.\n\nTurning to the south coast of Lantau, and moving eastwards from Fan Lau Point, you see in succession three valleys each with a group of villages, all of which are purely agricultural and fishing.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209865, "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-1983", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "102\n\nThe first valley is that of Shek Pik (\"Rock Wall\"). This lies right under the steep south-west face of Lantau Peak. The main village stands at some distance from a creek with a big sandbar which makes a good harbour for small boats. To the east is a little hamlet, Tung Wan (\"East Bay\"), where a sandbar has silted across the mouth of a stream, making a marsh. A bay a little west of the creek faces the surf, and so has no landing and is in consequence deserted except for cultivation and pasture1a.\n\nShui Hau and Tong Fuk (\"Creek Mouth\" and \"Banked Happiness\"), which form the second group of villages, have poor landing-places. They lie at one end of the long stretch of beach which extends to Pui O (“Cup Haven\")14 which is the name of the third group of villages.\n\nThe chief features of Pui O are its fine woods with their ancient trees: the very long sand-spit enclosing a lagoon where boats can lie: and the double storm beach, the second one to the rear being the older. There is an old brick or pottery kiln built on this beach. Passes go from Pui O to Mui Wo and Shap Long.\n\nBeyond Pui O to the southeast is a rugged granite peninsula; it only has one village of importance, Tai Long (\"Great Waves\"). This village has one very fine sand beach with another to the west, which, because it is much more exposed, has no village15. To the east of Tai Long are the wells from where the Cheung Chau waterboats get their water.\n\nOn the north coast of this granite peninsula are bays and hamlets where sand junks used to dig sand. At its innermost point is Shap Long (\"Ten Ridges\", but this translation is particularly doubtful), a plain with a sandbank in front; the sea is so shallow sand junks cannot approach. A few years ago an epidemic of smallpox made the villagers think something was wrong with their abode, so they left the houses all standing and moved into huts further down the valley, on its northern side.\n\nThe next point of interest on the Lantau coast is the Silver Mine Bay, a beautiful valley with a big sand beach in front, and with four villages, Mui Wo (\"Plum Nook\"), Tai Tei Tong (\"Big Land Pond\"), Luk Tei Tong (\"Deer Land Pond\"), and Pak Ngan", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210155, "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-1984", "page_number": 126, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "105\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND BEFORE 1841\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nHail, little isle! and Hong's fair haven, hail!\n\nFirst-fruits of China to the ocean-queen! New orient realms, new navies' embryo sail Glass'd in thy shifting horoscope are seen. May British virtue shine, in thee confest; And in her colony be Britain blest!'*\n\nThe cession of Hong Kong evoked different feelings in both China and Britain. In China, needless to say, there was scarcely rejoicing. The sixty-year-old Tao Kuang emperor, monarch of China since 1820, when asked to sanction the proposed Treaty of Peace that granted Hong Kong to Britain, spent the rest of the day and most of the night pacing up and down the corridor of his Palace, deep in anxious thought. Several times he was heard to mutter \"impossible\" and to sigh deeply. At last, at 3 a.m., he stamped his foot and proceeded to the audience chamber where he affixed the \"vermilion pencil\" to the draft. One of his subjects, the great Chinese statesman Tso Tsung-tang (1812-1885), then an unknown and rather unsuccessful scholar, wrote four poems in which he expressed grief and indignation when he heard that the British had taken over Hong Kong; and when he learned the final terms of the peace he was so overcome that he thought seriously of retiring to some lonely mountain retreat for the rest of his days.\n\n2\n\n3\n\nIn England the young Queen Victoria, twenty-two years old and married with a baby daughter wrote to her uncle, the king of the Belgians, \"Albert is so much amused at my having got the Island of Hong Kong and we think Victoria ought to be called Princess of Hong Kong in addition to Princess Royal\".2\n\nHer Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, was not amused. He received the news of the Chuenpi agreement (January 1841) between Captain Elliot, the British Plenipotentiary, and the Imperial Commissioner Kishen, with disappointment and disapproval.\n\n* See Plates 1-3", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210157, "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-1984", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "107\n\nsee, had a reputation for civility. The larger farming villages included Little Hong Kong and Wong Nei Chung. The smaller villages and hamlets included Hok Tsui, Chai Wan, To Tei Wan, Tai Tam (at Stanley), Tin Wan (at Aberdeen), Wan Chai, Tai Tam Tuk, Kwan Tai Lo, Wong Ma Kok, So Kon Po, Shek O and Pokfulam, whilst the port villages cum small towns included Chek Chu (Stanley), Shau Kei Wan and Shek Pai Wan (Aberdeen).” Most of these settlements exist today, albeit greatly changed, although a few have gone.\n\nWhat did these places look like in the 1840s when they first came under British rule? Fortunately, in those days before the camera, one of the officers stationed on the island and entrusted with the first contour survey (1843-1845) entered some useful descriptions in his letters home. This was Lieutenant Thomas Bernard Collinson of the Royal Engineers, a gifted young man who died a major-general at the age of 81 in 1902.\" In a letter he wrote:\n\n\"There is really a great deal more to be seen in Hong Kong than its appearance promises. Besides the town of Chuck Chu [Chek Chu] there are 10 villages and at least 400 acres of well cultivated ground. Some of the villages certainly consist of only 7 or 8 houses, but they are distinct villages with ground attached. The largest is Shapwont as it is printed,\" or “Chuckpyewan\" as it is called by the inhabitants, and “Aberdeen\" as it is called by the Governor. Her Majesty's surveying vessel employed by the Board of Ordinance has been anchored for a fortnight exactly at the figure 6 at Careening island [on the Chart of the anchorage] and begins to know something of Aberdeen and if the old Aberdeen is anything like the new, it must be a straggling village scattered round a small bay, with an ill-paved sort of quay in front and about 50 fishing boats lying about a great rock in the middle, a good supply of shops where bamboo hats, mats, sails, ropes and baskets; rice, fruit, vegetables, tobacco, earthenware and fireworks are all sold together; these being the staple commodities of a Chinese country shop and cakes by the bye, with plenty of pork fat in everything and a thousand of the dirtiest men women and children that ever talked altogether in a singsong:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210162, "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-1984", "page_number": 133, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "112 \n\nJAMES HAYES \n\nen are all of the sort that go barefooted and work in the field. I have not seen one small-footed woman here. At least 8/10 of men here smoke opium.' \n\nAs we have seen, Aberdeen, about the same time, was, as Collinson reports, also a fishing port. According to another military observer, Captain Cunynghame, it contained about 200 buildings, and had “a very respectable appearance”. It is thus very likely that it engaged in the same mixed business as Stanley, and contained a similar size of population and a similar mixture of people.24 \n\nThe villagers were essentially farmers and fishermen relying on their padi fields for a subsistence rice crop twice a year, supplemented by coastal fishing. The old style of village life, that must have characterized Hong Kong's settlements before British rule, lingered on in its essentials well into this century until squatters and development ended the old life style. Even as late as 1967, at Little Hong Kong, Old Village, an old lady then aged 80 told me that her's had been the first family in the village to apply for a mains water supply ten years before, and some villagers were still in 1967 cutting grass to use as fuel to heat water, cook pig food, etc. and going to the foreshore to find edible items. \n\nIn earlier days, the hillsides were apportioned for grass cutting between clans and their member families as in the New Territories, and she had changed areas where she married a man in another clan from the New Village. Besides being cut for fuel at home, grass was taken to Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay to sell to the boat people anchored there. They used it to burn the marine growth from the underside of their craft at regular intervals (usually twice a month), as was done in many coastal villages in the area. \n\nThe villagers used the adjacent sea shore to supplement their diet, waiting for the tide to go out and spending up to four or five hours daily in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lunar months (March till May or June) gathering sea eggs, digging in the sand for clams, looking for other shell fish among the stones and gathering sea weed to feed the pigs. Both men and women engaged in the work, and she recalls both her mother and father carrying large baskets of sea", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210219, "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-1984", "page_number": 190, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "169\n\nfattening, and harvesting. The spawning and spat fall has been described by Mok, 1973. The minimum water temperature and highest salinity recorded in Deep Bay studies for minor spawning were 25.8°C and 19.5 g/kg respectively, and for mass spawning greater than or equal to 27.4°C and less than 14.9 g/kg. Spawning occurred from May to September with setting or spat collection between June and October, (Mok, 1973).\n\nThe views of Chinese oyster farmers were that water temperature from 21°C to 30°C and salinity 10 to 15 g/kg were necessary for spat fall, together with an appropriate wind direction. It is doubtful whether the wind has any direct significance, but the hydrography is influenced by wind and appropriate salinity levels and other factors referred to in basic literature on oysters are thus affected by wind vectors. Collection of spat was considered best in May and June for around 40 days only. Technicians from a research and culture station in Shekou considered the best period to be shorter, limiting it to about 20 days in May only. Cultch placed too early would be fouled with barnacles and other biota.\n\nThe cultch techniques are discussed in a later section. The typical growth period to achieve market size for Deep Bay oysters has been reported as 5 years, (Mok, 1974a). The life span of the oyster is about 7 years depending on growth rates, (Bromball, 1958). The Chinese oyster farmers consider 4 years as the average time to reach maturity and market size. The Hong Kong oyster farmers interviewed in 1984 indicated that 5 to 7 years is needed in Deep Bay depending on the area of culture. Figure 4 shows the relationship of length of growth period to area of culture suggested by the farmers. The farmers claim that the increased growth period is a result of increased pollution, but there is no direct evidence to support the claim. Neither are adequate hydrographical or chemical data available to examine whether some natural phenomenon is responsible. The Chinese farmers interviewed did not mention the problem.\n\nThe fattening process only takes a few months during the autumn prior to the main winter sales season. In the summer months the flesh is lean and watery as a result of the stress due to production of sperm and eggs but subsequently becomes thick and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210227, "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-1984", "page_number": 198, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "177\n\nNo organised marketing systems exist, but advance orders of 2 to 3 days lead time are normal. The current wholesale price is HK$11/kg and retail price around 25% higher, although prices vary according to supply and demand and like most seafoods are very weather dependent. Oysters sold in the market are normally shucked. Industry sources estimate 70% of oysters go to restaurants. The remainder go to seafood stalls or are processed into dried oysters and oyster sauce.\n\nConclusions\n\nOyster cultivation has been carried out for several hundred years despite political and social upheavals. Deep Bay oyster beds were leased by the Hong Kong Government between 1909 and 1977. Strong family ties exist between oyster farmers in Hong Kong and China.\n\nThe industry is a typical artisan fishery with low capital investment. The official Hong Kong Government figures show that production tonnage of Hong Kong grown oysters is declining. However imports from China, using official and unofficial routes, and production tonnages claimed by the Hong Kong oyster farmers indicate that total production remains substantial and this presumably reflects an appreciable demand.\n\nThe Chinese oyster industry directly employs more than 20,000 people in the area, whereas the Hong Kong industry has probably less than 5,000 including those indirectly employed. Hong Kong is however the main export market for the Peoples Republic of China.\n\nThe commercial oyster's life cycle can be examined in three stages: spawning with spatfall, growth, and fattening. The conditions of temperature and salinity for spat collection correspond with earlier reports. Longer growth periods (up to 7 years) from spat to marketable size are reported in some areas allegedly as a result of pollution, but the average growth period is 4 years with as little as 2 1/2 years claimed where raft culture is used. The Shajing area is used only as a fattening and distribution centre for oysters from various areas along the South China coast adjacent to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210450, "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-1985", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "38 \n\nBARBARA E. WARD \n\ngiven land, a new dwelling, a new pig-sty, free transport for himself, his family, livestock and all belongings, and an agreed sum of $50 per person per month to tide his family over the first six months until he could begin to get an income from his new land. It is important to stress that the negotiations, which were conducted by the District Office, were entirely correct, the enquiry meticulous and the terms most generous. Only the fishermen were left out of account. \n\nThe omission was, at the time, not unnatural. The stereotyped view of the Boat People as essentially mobile (“like gypsies” was a common English phrase) made it difficult even to imagine that some of them might be attached in any permanent sense to any particular place. It was assumed, too, that fishing could be carried on as well in one part of the water as another (or, if not, that it would be impossibly difficult with such a transitory population to determine who normally fished where) and that therefore only the land people of Kau Sai could be considered. \n\nThere were in fact two separate issues, affecting respectively two separable categories of fishermen. On the one hand were those who claimed that because firing practice interfered with their fishing operations and therefore reduced their income they were entitled to monetary compensation; on the other hand there were the others who did not want compensation but simply desired to be allowed to go on using Kau Sai as their permanent anchorage. The former group, mainly small long-liners and others engaged in day-time fishing, put in their claim to the District Office during the course of the negotiations with the land villagers. It was referred to the Fisheries Section of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and investigated by its officers together with those of the Fish Marketing Organisation. Finally, a list of claimants was drawn up, and a once-for-all payment agreed and handed over. The organisation of this claim and its significance are discussed more fully below. \n\nThe second group of fishermen were mostly, but not all, night-time operators, purse-seiners, who normally spent the days at anchor in Kau Sai bay. At first, they seem to have shared (though for different reasons) the District Officer's assumption that the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210451, "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-1985", "page_number": 58, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "39\n\nproposed resettlement was a matter for the land villagers alone. As the day fixed for the move drew nearer, however, they began to fear that they too would be expected to leave. It was true that the original reason for deciding upon the move was to prevent the future accumulation of massive claims for compensation (with the resulting time-consuming investigations, apportionment of responsibility between civil and military authorities and so on), but in the absence of knowledge about the status of the fishermen at their anchorage it seemed only too likely that once the householders had been moved away the Army authorities would assume it to be no longer necessary to maintain the safety angle during gunnery practice. The fishermen began to wonder about their own safety, but remained extremely reluctant even to consider moving. They were, they said, Kau Sai residents, descended most of them from fishermen who had anchored in the bay long before any houses had been built. Kau Sai, they maintained, was excellently placed for their fishing grounds, and ideally well-equipped for tasks like fish-drying and sail-making, that had to be done ashore. Furthermore, the fung shui of “our bay\" was uniquely propitious or, as some of them put it, the god of their temple, who was a fisherman's god, had been very good to them and they were not prepared to desert him and risk the consequences of his displeasure.\n\nIn other\n\nThe examination of the validity of their argument words, the problem of the degree to which the potentially completely mobile Boat People are in fact tethered to any one spot or area is one of the major themes of this book. To cut a long story short now, it is enough to say that the argument was in fact accepted. On a morning in June 1952 three L.S.W.'s arrived to remove the Hakka land families. The fishermen sat and watched them go. Hardly a word was exchanged. Within a few days the landsmen had returned and stripped their buildings of tiles and anything else of any value. The temple, two shops and two other houses remained. For the rest the village appeared to be in ruins.\n\nThe anchorage, however, was unaffected. The safety angle remained on the guns. The fishermen went about their ordinary business, and prospered. The move in fact coincided with the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210453, "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-1985", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "41\n\nhad disappeared.\n\nThe improved landing facilities were a great convenience. The new main pier, a good deal higher than the old jetty at the seaward end, sloped gradually up to the level of the village path and both path and pier were smooth surfaced, not slippery even in rain. (With the removal of the pigs they were also much cleaner.) All major landing and embarkation operations were now conducted from this, the new westernmost, pier. The smaller one was in fairly frequent use for more domestic purposes: children coming ashore to play, women dashing in to the shops to buy something wanted at the last minute for supper, and so on. The concrete latrine, built to comply with government regulations when the school was put up in 1958, occupied the site of a similar matting and bamboo structure which used to make an appearance for about a week in the second lunar month during the period of Kau Sai's annual temple festival.\n\nNeither the change in the outline of the water front nor the movement of as many as seventeen boat families into their newly built houses ashore made much difference to the lay-out of the anchorage proper. Allowing for a few departures by death or change of occupation or anchorage, and the arrival of one or two others, the accompanying diagram made originally in 1952 is still a fair record of the stations occupied by boats belonging to people of the same surnames as these in 1970.\n\nThe forty-two junks included in the diagram were seldom all in port together. From time to time, too, they were joined by others - notably by a group of six purse seiners, whose owners all surnamed Ng, often anchored at the neighbouring island of Kiu Tsui to which they had moved en bloc from Kau Sai shortly after the end of the Japanese occupation, and by further small liners claiming Kau Sai residence. Visitors also came from many places, particularly at the time of the festival when the bay was suddenly filled for the better part of a week with three hundred or more junks at once. Few visitors stayed more than a few nights or days at a time, but certain Hoklo fishermen, all surnamed Sou, reappeared year after year at certain seasons. The arrival of strangers in \"our Bay\" was always a source of some\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210455, "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-1985", "page_number": 62, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "43\n\nunease until, or unless, they had been identified as being known to at least one Kau Sai resident.\n\nA set of moorings on the western side of the bay was especially set aside for “quarantine\". This did not refer to physical sickness of any kind, but to risks of spiritual pollution. Any junk on which a death, a birth or a miscarriage had occurred anchored there (with its partner, if it worked in partnership) for a required number of days. During this period of ritual quarantine, which varied according to the seriousness of the pollution, no-one living on board any other junk would board the polluted ones and no member of the polluted junks' company would board any other.\n\nThe diagram depicts an “ideal” arrangement of straight ranks which was hardly ever achieved in practice. Wind, currents, fishing plans, shore jobs, threats of bad weather to come, might bring about alterations. But in a dead calm, if everyone was at home and in his proper place, both informants and observations agreed that the lay-out would conform to the diagram.\n\nAmongst other things the diagram indicates a tendency for agnatic kinsmen to moor near one another. It does not follow that all bearers of the same surname moored side by side. As later pages will show, the fishermen of Kau Sai did not maintain a lineage organization and their genealogical memories were shallow. Only those who recognised each other as close agnatic kin moored together. The few exceptions occurred when, as for example in the case of the Lo surname group, one recognised relative practised a different kind of fishing and was frequently absent from the anchorage.\n\nFor it is important to note that different types of fishing method required differing uses of the anchorage. Briefly, purse-seiners, who fished at night and needed space ashore to sun dry fish and nets by day, were normally present between sunrise and sunset every day, whereas liners and others who fished by day and had no such regular need for shore work used the anchorage mainly after dark and much less frequently.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210465, "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-1985", "page_number": 72, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "53\n\nexpected, at least in the days before mechanisation.\n\nSeasonal activities were, of course, closely affected also by the weather. From the local fishermen's point of view, this had three major aspects: wind, rainfall, and the occurrence of tropical storms. Hong Kong, lying just within the Tropic of Cancer, has well-marked seasonal variations in wind direction, temperature, and rainfall. Generally speaking, the winter months are cold and damp, the spring foggy, the summer hot and very humid, and the autumn warm and dry. Both the NW winds of the winter and the SE winds of the summer monsoons could be utilised by fishermen even in days of sail, but the SE monsoon period has one vital peculiarity: it is the typhoon season. Though relatively rarely directly in the path of a typhoon, Hong Kong is affected by the proximity of about ten tropical storms every summer. The exact course of a typhoon being unpredictable, this means that there is a period of several days' uncertainty each time, during which winds of up to 80 m.p.h. may be experienced, with extremely high precipitation. The effects on the water-dwelling population can be imagined.\n\nKau Sai, facing slightly east of south, was totally unsafe in a typhoon. At the first hint of bad weather from the southeast in the summer, the junks would up anchor and make for Sai Kung on the mainland, where the harbour was more sheltered.24\n\nAnnual Rhythms\n\nAs in most other parts of the world, the annual rhythm of life in Kau Sai was marked out by the pattern of annually recurring ritual. Most of the rituals observed by the fishermen were common to non-Christian and non-Westernised Hong Kong Chinese, but there were certain omissions and some differences in content and emphasis. I have already mentioned the substitution of the Spirit of the Prow (suen tau kung) for the landsmen's Spirit of the Earth (tai tze). At New Year, worship was offered to Heaven and the Waters (tin shui) rather than Heaven and Earth (tin tei). There was a complete absence of any lineage ritual. Also, at New Year (or after a birth or death on board, or at any time of bad fortune), many a fisherman on one of his visits to town", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210471, "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-1985", "page_number": 78, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "59\n\nThem daily to their fishing grounds brought them back in the evenings as often as not to the anchorage at Sai Kung, where they could sell their fish alive immediately to the buyers in the street market or to dealers, or have it collected fresh first thing in the morning at the F.M.O. depot, buying bait from the incoming purse-seiners at the same time before setting out to sea again. At times too, particularly before mechanisation, they found it wise to choose an evening anchorage nearer their next day's fishing grounds than Kau Sai or even Sai Kung, in which case they would probably sell their fish to fish collecting junks and not return to port at all for several days as one of them put it \"until the rice runs out\". The less frequent presence of the small liners in Kau Sai was reflected in the greater timidity of liner children when they did come ashore there to play.\n\nBecause the main fishing seasons for purse-seiners and long-liners did not coincide, there was a certain alternation in the intensity of the spatial rhythms of occupational movement just described, but in other respects the programme of seasonal and annual changes affected all the fishermen in rather similar ways. The threat of a typhoon, for example, would bring about an immediate transformation in the spatial distribution of all the local junks as they converged upon Sai Kung or Yim Tin Tsai. At such times Kau Sai, like the other neighbouring anchorages, would be empty of boats for probably several days.\n\nContrariwise, there was one occasion in the annual cycle of ritual events when almost all the local craft met in Kau Sai. During the Hung Shing Festival in the 2nd month, the bay might contain four hundred or more junks calling in from all the neighbouring anchorages and Shaukiwan, and even (though rarely) from as far afield as Aberdeen, Cheung Chau or Castle Peak. During this period, as at New Year, all who considered themselves \"real\" Kau Sai people stayed at their moorings. The pattern of movement at this festival was balanced, so to speak, by others elsewhere in the locality - notably that at Lung Shuen Wan in the 3rd month and Pak Sha Wan in the 6th - to which Kau Sai boats went regularly. Once there, they usually anchored in a block together, recognised agnatic kin side-by-side as at home. During these periods, they continued to go out fishing, but", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210490, "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-1985", "page_number": 97, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "78\n\nBARBARA E. WARD\n\nand the development of radio weather forecasts directed specifically to the fishing fleets, brought at least a measure of security which was quite new.\n\nI have stated that Kau Sai bay was not safe in a typhoon. Under sail the journey to the nearest relatively safe place, Sai Kung, might take anything up to two-and-a-half or even three hours. Given the unpredictability of typhoons any master who did not take his boat, with his family on board, off to Sai Kung at the first intimation of a possibly threatening storm would have been failing in his manifest duty. Many fishing days and nights in the summer were lost in this way. But with an engine there was nowhere in the whole territory which was more than an hour's journey from a typhoon refuge, and the journey itself was not dependent upon the very winds one was hastening to avoid. One of the most vivid and lasting memories of windy days in the summer of 1952 in Kau Sai, the first summer in which the village had had a properly mechanised boat at the anchorage, is of old Chung Fuk Hei chugging about here, there and everywhere to round up the stragglers and tow them into safety. He was unfailingly generous in this self-imposed task, and several times made two or even three journeys back to Kau Sai to make sure that no one was left behind. The lesson that engines spelled safety was very quickly learnt.\n\nSafety when proceeding under power was, of course, also a matter of official concern. The prohibition of petrol engines as a safety measure has already been mentioned. With the introduction of small marine diesels the Hong Kong Government, through the Marine Department, devised a simplified form of license for coxswains and engineers in order to make it possible for inshore fishermen with only a few years' schooling to obtain essential minimum skills in navigation and engine maintenance. If this had not been done it would have been necessary for the owners of mechanised junks to employ men with the existing unnecessarily advanced qualifications. Since such men could command salaries well beyond the range of ordinary purse-seiners or small long-liners, the mechanisation of the inshore fishing fleets would never have taken place. At about the time that the first small marine engines made their appearance the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210557, "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-1985", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "145\n\n5 For an introduction to the religious life of the empire during the Principate, see J. Ferguson, The Religions of the Roman Empire (London, 1970), together with the criticisms of this work advanced in the review of M.J. Boyd, JRS, 62 (1972), 197-198; or the more synthetic effort of R. MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire (New Haven, 1981).\n\n* For the date of composition, see G. Highet, Juvenal the Satirist (Oxford, 1954), 12-13. Isis was one of the redemptive oriental divinities; standard treatments include L. Vidman, Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern (Berlin, 1970); R.E. Witt, Isis in the Graeco-Roman World (London, 1971); and F. Dunand, Le culte d'Isis dans le bassin oriental de la Méditerranée, 3 vols. (Leiden, 1973). As the title itself suggests, S.K. Heyob, The Cult of Isis among Women in the Graeco-Roman World (Leiden, 1975), focuses on the characteristics of Isis that made her attractive to women in the classical world, and on their role in her cult. The last two items are vols. 26 and 51 respectively in a general series edited by M.J. Vermaseren, Etudes préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain (Leiden, 1961-), which contains several more specialized monographs on Isis, and on which I shall have more to say below. Other salvationist deities worthy of note include Mithras and Cybele. The classic study of the Mithraic cult is that of F. Cumont, Les mystères de Mithra, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1902); on Cybele, cf. H. Graillot, Le culte de Cybèle, mère des dieux, à Rome et dans l'empire (Paris, 1912); and M.J. Vermaseren, Attis and Cybele: the Myth and the Cult, trans. A.M.H. Lemmers (London, 1977).\n\n7 The literature on the persecution at Lyons, as on the persecution of Christians in general, is predictably vast. One may profitably begin with S.R. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1965), of which pp. 1-30 are devoted to the events at Lyons.\n\n8 The persecution at Lyons was preceded by a ban on Christians entering private homes, the public baths, or the forum (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 5.1.5-6) - a useful reminder that people of very different beliefs routinely mingled in public and private. The tensions that could arise between a Christian and his or her pagan spouse were addressed by Paul circa A.D. 56 (1 Cor. 7: 12-16); we can follow them in greater detail in some of the aristocratic households of the fourth century; cf. A. Chastagnol, “Le sénateur Volusien et la conversion d'une famille de l'aristocratie Romaine au bas-empire”, REA, 58 (1956), 241-253; and P.R.L. Brown, \"Aspects of the Christianization of the Roman Aristocracy”, JRS, 51 (1961), 1-11. But Christianity itself was not a monolith; the decision to embrace the ascetic life could generate strong opposition from more orthodox Christian family members, as has been demonstrated by A. Yarbrough, “The Christianization of Rome: the Example of Roman Women\", Ch. Hist., 45 (1976), 149-165.\n\n9 One frequently encounters the argument, for example, that the ecstatic cult of Dionysus was especially attractive to women because it offered an outlet for the pent-up frustration and anger that resulted from their extremely low social status; cf. recently R. Kraemer, \"Ecstasy and Possession: the Attraction of Women to the Cult of Dionysus”, HThR, 72 (1979), 55-80; and E.C. Keuls, The Reign of the Phallus. Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens (New York, 1985), 360 et passim.\n\n10 The extraordinary cultural diversity of the empire is brought out well in the brief survey of F. Millar (ed.), The Roman Empire and Its Neighbours (London, 1967).\n\nHence the resort to notional dates, as in Ogilvie (1969), who admits at the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210596, "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-1985", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "184\n\nWEI PEH TI\n\nmonth on the way down by native boat and a month back. When I returned there was so much to do and before long we had Mr. and Mrs. Williams come, and July 5th Mrs. Ferguson had a little son. It all meant work and if I had been well would have been equal to every emergency, but I wasn't and gave up and consulted the doctor. For a few days only the necessary things were attended to, then after the doctor and Mrs. Williams left Mrs. Ferguson became alarmingly ill and I nursed her for two weeks and had the baby to bathe and look after generally, besides the housekeeping, not to speak of my regular work of classes, etc. I have only these last few days given the little one over to the mother but I always help with the morning bath and putting to bed. So you see my time has been fully occupied, besides, at times, not feeling up to much myself. I am feeling the need now of getting away for another rest as it is simply impossible here. Dr. Williams made general the knowledge that I dispensed a few medicines when he was here and doing medical work. So my \"medical practice” has doubled and redoubled till I feel myself in kind of a predicament, as I know absolutely nothing about some of their ailments. And they think I ought to know it all. But I haven't killed any yet and the majority seem to get well!\n\nJust so it is a help in the work and more hear the Gospel and I am satisfied. I am willing to spend and be spent for the people whom I came out to help, but I must confess I begrudge the time and strength spent for fellow missionaries, except when there is no one else to do it and a native cannot be trusted. A single lady worker has a bad time living with a family as she is looked upon as general nurse and companion and seamstress. But I do not mean this as complaining. I don't know why I let it slip out of my pen. I hope you have had a good summer and all is well with you.\n\nWith much love,\n\nEDITH", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210778, "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": 129, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "112\n\nNICHOLAS TAPP\n\nto become prosperous before others), and the replacement of much grain-cultivation by new cash-crops associated with the introduction of the household responsibility system, have by no means affected the minority areas to the same extent as other, more fertile, areas of the countryside, and indeed were not introduced into most minority areas until 1982 (after the Third Session*), there is no doubt that the limited family farming permitted, and in particular the increased power to control land, has led to marked improvements in the economic circumstances of most minority nationality people. Indeed, in some areas it has been only this which has averted the threat of ‘not having enough to eat'. As elsewhere in China, house-construction has dramatically increased, boosting the allied trades of carpentry (as has the revival of coffin-making), forestry and quarrying, while in minority areas located near major town settlements or market centres, for example in the Dai and the Bai areas, some minority entrepreneurs have emerged as middlemen, money-lenders, and even rice-hoarders, often former leaders of rural production brigades who have the necessary foresight, experience, and connections to forge new links and contacts. In certain areas the introduction, over the past twenty years, of hydro-electric dams, mining, food-processing plants, textile and other light industries has of course resulted in a measure of occupational specialization for minorities which antedates the recent changes. On a lesser scale, the growing policy of opening some of China's less developed areas to foreign-based industries such as tourism and even hunting, has led to the involvement of minorities in sales of quasi-traditional handicrafts and artefacts, performances of quasi-traditional cultural items of songs and dance, and some work in the hotels and allied industries. This can be seen, for example, in the much-visited ‘Sani’ area of Shilin in Yunnan, as also to an extent in the Yao countries of Northwest Guangdong, and although it is too early as yet to predict whether this will become a general phenomenon, certainly the carefully choreographed performances of provincial minority troupes and the locally superintended production of handicraft items, may have an impact in the future in which minority entrepreneurs will seriously challenge state control of these enterprises. Coupled with the emergence of minority entrepreneurs in rapidly developing areas, and the fact that some cash-cropping is already occurring in the autonomous regions, this adds up I think", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211213, "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": 274, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "249\n\nMr. Crow did not qualify. He was young. His position as a Government pharmacist did not put him in the same circle as the business taipans and senior government officials. The letter writer, in advocating a committee and the consideration of only written proposals, remarked: “It will never do to let any boy in the place get up at every meeting and have his crow.”\n\nThe writer himself had his own favourite scheme, but he modestly poses as one who knew his proper station. He said he would like to have spoken at the meeting on behalf of a girls' school, but had not because, “although an old resident, I am not a person of enough influence to put myself forward as its advocate at a public meeting, nor do I happen to be a ‘cocky' individual anxious to make my voice heard.”\n\nHe intimated that unless a proposer was a man of influence his proposal was unlikely to receive support: \"My idea may be good or bad in itself, but I do not wish to weaken it through its being advocated in a public meeting by a (signed) 'Nobody'.”\n\nWith such sentiment being expressed, it was unlikely the next meeting would be able to rise above snobbery, personal feelings and petty animosities.\n\nMUDDLED THINKING CLOUDS\n\nJUBILEE MEMORIAL ISSUE AND PUBLIC HAS TO DECIDE\n\nA meeting held on April 16, 1887 made no further progress towards reaching a decision on a suitable memorial for the Queen's jubilee than the meeting held four days earlier. At the conclusion of the meeting matters were still at a stalemate, even though there had been long speeches in support of the various proposals and the usual involved debate over procedure.\n\nThere was fear that this example of poor management, divided public opinion and display of petty feeling would be used as an argument against granting Hongkong citizens the privilege of more direct participation in the Government. There were demands being made at the time to allow the residents to elect a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211244, "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": 305, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "280\n\ntwo of those that were placed in this region for defence purposes, and installed at Kowloon Walled City when that was built in 1847.\n\nANTHONY K.K. SIU\n\n1 Wu T'u-li #, White Banner Manchu, Acting Governor of Kwangtung from the 5th year to the 7th year of Chia Ch'ing (1800-1802).\n\n1 Chüeh-lo-chi Ch'ing, White Banner Manchu, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi from the 1st year to the 7th year of Chia-ch'ing (1796-1802).\n\n} Sun Ch'uan-mou, native of Fukien Province, Commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung (Marine) Forces from the 1st year to the 9th year of Chia-ch'ing (1796-1804).\n\n4\n\nFrom the inscription, the name of the Commissioner of Salt Transport of Kwangtung and Kwangsi is illegible. However, from historical record, the one who was in that post was Zhang Ch'uan, native of Chekiang Province.\n\nHONG KONG'S OWN BOAT PEOPLE\n\nIn April 1970, I went with one of my friends to visit his mother who lived on a boat in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. The friend was a boatman who crewed and looked after a pleasure boat for a European firm. He lived in a squatter hut in Chai Wan Cottage Resettlement Area.\n\nThe old lady belonged to the indigenous boat population of Hong Kong Island. She had been born on a boat moored off the old Dairy Farm pier inside the present typhoon shelter. This was in 1890. Her father had also been born there in a boat, and she thought this had been so for several generations: at least, this was the family's received information. Her husband had also been born on a boat in the area, and his father before him, and with the same family tradition of local identity.\n\nThis evidence is not conclusive, being based only on word of mouth within these two families of boat people. The grandparents might have come into the area upon the opening of the port in the 1840s. On the other hand, a pre-British origin would accord with many other cases known to me, in which Tanka boat people had attached themselves to small bays and local anchorages: by all accounts and certainly by their own traditions for generations, and perhaps even for centuries.\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211245, "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": 306, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "281\n\nIt might often have been the case that they predated the land people of the neighbouring villages. Theirs was not a symbiotic relationship. Even when they lived together in the same locality, they kept apart; the villagers in their houses and the boat people on their little family boats just offshore in the same or an adjoining bay. Despite some interaction, the two communities were separate and individual, contributing nothing vital to the other nor sharing anything important.\n\nIt was in such circumstances that my friend's family had probably lived at Causeway Bay for generations before the establishment of British Hong Kong, fishing the local waters and living in some proximity to the land people of the two nearest local villages of So Kon Po and Wong Nai Chung.\n\nThe number of indigenous boat people in the Causeway Bay anchorage was apparently not large. In her own words, \"When I was young, not very many of the boats in the anchorage were native to the area.\" These families gained their livelihood, then as in 1970, by fishing not far from home going most frequently over to Junk Bay and by ferrying people to and from the cargo boats and cutters using the anchorage. Some took out guests for a quiet dinner on the water, an entertainment for which this area became quite famous. Taking people out in this way was described as sung-yan t'au-long. Others used their boats for marine hawking, going among the other craft with daily necessities in those days before refrigeration made their services largely redundant.\n\nIn the last years of the nineteenth century, as in 1970, their local marketing area was the Tang Lung Chau market. This was the name of that locality, and not of the little island off shore which the British named Kellett Island. It later became the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, joined by a causeway to the shore at Tang Lung Chau. To the boat people, the old lady said, Kellett Island was simply known as “Chau Chai\" or \"the little island”.\n\nThe local boat people's main market village was Shau Kei Wan, with which she seemed very familiar. She particularly mentioned the songs of the boat people there, of the kind known as haam-shui.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211246, "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": 307, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "282\n\nkon ɔk. Before the tram service was opened in 1904, her family members used to walk there to buy goods, going also to the shops in the Western District of the Island. (She called it by its old name of Ham Yue Lan, or \"Salted Fish Dealers”). Before the trams, it was common for little wooden carts pulled by men (and probably women also) to carry goods along the north shore of the Island.\n\nThe Shau Kei Wan shops catered mostly for boat people, owing to the large number of craft using the anchorage. They included both local and visiting craft. The old lady's purchases were largely of fishing supplies. She particularly recalled buying the traditional dye stuff called shue leung. This was used for dyeing nets, and she remembered the large wooden vats set up beside the shore that were used to immerse the hempen nets in order to restore their strength.\n\nShue leung was also used for dyeing cloth, she said. At this point her son and daughter interposed, saying that their mother had been very competent at making clothes and had made all the family's garments for a long time, after first dyeing the cloth purchased from the shops.\n\nIn response to questions about the local temples, and her visits there, she said that when young and through her life, she had gone regularly once a year to the Tin Hau Temple at Causeway Bay during the annual festival, adding that there was a Kuan Yin or Goddess of Mercy image there as well. She did not seem much interested in the other temples of the adjacent areas, but did mention that she kept the traditional observances at the little shrine on board the family boat on the 2nd and 16th days of each lunar month (tso-nga #4).\n\nUnfortunately, I paid only the one visit.\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nADDENDUM: For a detailed account of Tanka fishermen in a permanent local anchorage, see Section I, “Chinese Fishermen:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211251, "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": 312, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "287\n\nA duck and chicken wholesaler, one of the 73 managers for this year and a resident for over forty years, added that, in pre-war days, lion dancers from other districts would come uninvited to join the procession and compete for the money. This was the general practice in urban Hong Kong, and greatly contributed to both the excitement and the squabbles.\n\nThe annual celebrations were made more colourful, and noisier and more bustling still, by the presence of groups of worshippers who came in a body to worship at the temporary shrine and competed for the lucky crackers or pau (ki) which were fired from a bamboo gun. They exploded in the air to shower the worshippers with lucky papers, for which youths struggled to obtain for their homes. There was a money value attached to the first and subsequent numbers in the series, which increased the competitiveness of the occasion and added to its general roughness. A prosperous merchant might offer $500 for the first pau, the manager said.\n\nIt is obvious that in all these types of activity during the festival, excitement was at a high level, and tempers were hot. A propos of this, and as we were watching the boys holding up the front lion dancer on his pole, the vice-chairman said, “We won't put up with uncontrolled temper. If a lad can't keep it, he gets put out of the dance group”. In 1974, perhaps, it was easier to take this line than in earlier times, when competition was one of the highlights of these celebrations. By then, and as a direct result of the 1967 Disturbances, fire-crackers had been banned, and the processions round the streets to vie for the prizes dangling from shop fronts had been discontinued after the police ban. It was a quieter, and less boisterous event, at least in these respects, as a consequence of more crowded streets and increased vehicular traffic, which confined it to the playground and the restaurant in which the annual dinner was held to mark the occasion.\n\nThe ground was packed with people, and could not have held more.\n\nThis year, there were several women managers among the 73 selected for the event. I was told that men and women, without distinction or restriction, could be managers, and that this had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211253, "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": 314, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "289\n\nof illegal structures. In time, it became a fixture, and the canopy and office have long carried the markings affixed by the department and its successor from 1971, the Housing Department, that granted them tolerated status.\n\nThe principal celebration at the shrine takes place at the Mid Autumn Festival, on the 14th to the 16th days of the eighth lunar month. Entertainment is provided for both the god and his followers on this occasion, along with protective rituals carried out by Taoist priests. In Elgin Street days, a stage was erected for performance of traditional songs (WA). After the move to Peel Street, a stage was set up in the middle of the “street”, opposite No. 49, built over the steps and with space to let the public pass up and down during the three-day event. Performances of Hoklo Opera were held every year up to 1973, the year before my visit. Permission had been refused in 1972, and there was no opera that year, but in 1973 the managers ignored the prohibition, and held the performance regardless.\n\nFor some reason, the opera that year was performed by a Cantonese troupe, instead of a Hoklo one. Perhaps the 1972 interruption, and uncertainty as to whether it could be held in 1973, were responsible. In 1973 the cost was over 30,000 dollars, with the opera troupe being responsible for erecting and dismantling the mat-shed.\n\nTheir persistence in the face of official disapproval was related to traditional practice at the mother temple in To Tong Market. There, before 1949, Hoklo opera was performed every year. Moreover, the proceedings were on a much larger scale. The religious rites and operatic performances lasted between 20 to 40 days, dependent upon weather, the state of the local economy - whether it had been a good or a bad year - and the amount subscribed towards the event. Curiously, there seems to have been a local tradition that servants and workers were not to be engaged by residents over the festival period, long though it was. This, too, was said to have applied in Hong Kong, over the three days observed here.\n\nIn Hong Kong, the group could not hold opera performances", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211344, "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-1988", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "36\n\nconsisted of several persons, including William Sheldon and Sage's wife, Anne Tilney Sage. This marked the first time a woman from outside the Yunnan and Sichuan mountains had participated in hunting the giant panda.\n\nOn December 8, 1934, the expedition achieved its objective. Sage recorded in his journal that, after days of tracking with local guides and dogs in the mountains, he and William Sheldon felled a giant panda.\n\nWe walked along the ridge for about two hours and then stopped to rest a while on a sunny slope. At this point, the pursuit seemed vain and decidedly discouraging. The dogs showed not the slightest interest. Suddenly, I heard the deep, angry growl of a large animal, and I began to get really excited. And, then as if in a dream I saw a giant panda coming through the bamboos about sixty yards away from me. He was heading straight up the ravine with the dogs at his heels. I fired, but missed..... He's only twenty feet away, now fifteen, he's coming straight at me, I jammed (a cartridge) into the gun and fired. ... He was less than ten feet from me! At the same moment Bill shot from above, and the animal, struck simultaneously by both our bullets, rolled over and over down the slope and came to stop against a tree fifty yards below.\n\nWe have killed a giant panda.\n\nA baby panda captured\n\nThe first live giant panda exported from China was captured in Sichuan in 1936 by an American woman, Ruth Harkness. William Harkness had died in Shanghai early in the year while embarking on a giant panda search. Defying all opposition - sexist and otherwise - his widow Ruth took on the task and led the expedition into the mountains of Sichuan. In November, she succeeded in capturing a three-pound female baby panda, \"no more than ten days old\",\n\nResultant excitement was considerable. The baby panda, subsequently named Su Lin, was flown from Chengdu to Shanghai by air. Customs\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211434, "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-1988", "page_number": 150, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "126\n\nlocated off Nuuanu Avenue near the waterfront. A third child, a son, was born three years later. As the Chinese in those days rarely registered the births of their children, especially when they were girls, there are no official records of these births. When Mother was about two years old, the family moved to a larger community known as Wai Jook Yard #1, bordered by Nuuanu Avenue and Pauahi Street, probably named after Ching Wai Jook who operated a store on Nuuanu Avenue. The site became known as 'The Children's Playground' later.\n\nIt was at that time that Grandfather started a shoe-making business, but this was not successful because he had to rely on hired workers.\n\nWhen Mother was three, my grandparents made a trip to Shekki, taking Mother and the infant, but leaving Tin Yau in care of Cousin Chang Gum Chin. It was on this trip that Grandmother bought a young bond servant girl, Chang Chun Moy. After Grandfather left by himself for Honolulu, the infant died unexpectedly. Grandmother, alarmed that she would also lose Mother, again pawned her jewellery and returned with Mother to Hawaii, bringing with them Chun Moy. This was in 1891.\n\nGrandfather insisted on having a business of his own, even if it were as small a venture as just selling peanuts. He did not, however, succeed in any of his undertakings, including a restaurant, a dry goods store, and a farm in Moiliili. He tried selling baby chickens and ducks to local farmers, buying the eggs and hatching them in an incubator heated by charcoal. The eggs that did not hatch were fed to the family, then considered good for one's health. Because of much bickering among the workers, he gave that up. His final attempt at being an independent businessman was to buy ready-made 'dim sum', luncheon pieces, and have Uncle peddle them to native Hawaiians. At that time Uncle was a student at St. Louis School, and Mother was in the 4th grade. The average profit of 25 cents a day had supported the family on two meals a day. Finally, with a saving of $10, enough to buy ingredients and fuel, Grandfather hired a cook to make their own luncheon pieces. The cooking was done in an area in the back of the house, and Grandmother, who was suffering from severe headaches at that time, would sit on the back stairs to watch and to supervise. Uncle had to continue peddling even during school days and learned to speak Hawaiian.\n\nPage 150\n\nPage 151", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211436, "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-1988", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "128\n\ngreat anxiety whenever Grandmother stepped gingerly into the deep water at its source to gather watercress. I believe this spring still supplies water to the Kaneohe area today.\n\nHook Sung Wai was reached from Kamahameha Highway via a narrow unpaved road, but at one point passed by a wide stream, where many rocks and large boulders could be seen in the clear water and which became a terrifying dangerous torrent of rushing water during heavy rainstorms. As there was no bridge over the stream, Uncle found it both difficult and worrisome when he had to drive his horse-drawn buggy across it in bad weather. The children, who walked to Benjamin Parker School, somehow managed to get to and from school safely, regardless of the weather.\n\nIt must have been before the family went into farming that Grandmother found a husband for Chun Moy. He was a middle-aged Hakka farmer surnamed Heu, who took her to Wailuku, Maui, and then to a farm in Kula. After his death and after raising a large family, Chun Moy got in touch with her relatives, a Chang family running dry goods business on Nuuanu Avenue, between King and Hotel Streets. I remember her vaguely as a plain woman, with a worn outlook that clearly reflected her hard life. She died in her sleep on her last visit with these relatives. My generation came to know her children as a result of a meeting at their home between my cousin, Helen, and Robert Zane, whom she married. Two of Chun Moy's sons were Heu Fook and Heu Sam Fat, both now deceased. The latter was eager to learn something about his mother's background, wondering how she had come to Hawaii. He was told that Chun Moy had been adopted by my grandmother. Some of Chun Moy's grandchildren have done well, and are active politically in Hawaii.\n\nGrandmother thought it would be mutually beneficial to advance money to bring her two nephews, Chang Lum Gin and Chang Lum Tim, from China to help on the farm. Following this, she welcomed into the household a 16-year-old girl, Wong Fung, said to be a native of Shanghai and brought to this country by Chun Kwai Ha, a neighbour who was taking his family back to China. It was an acceptable cultural practice in those days to bring a young maid into a household and marry her to a member of the family at a later date. Grandmother had intended Wong Fung to be the bride for Lum Gin, but\n\n+", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211441, "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-1988", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "133\n\nthe truck, Uncle hired drivers to take the produce to Honolulu. I had many rides on the truck to pick up bananas which Okinawa immigrants grew on what used to be pineapple fields. Uncle prospered and was dubbed *Mayor of Kaneohe*. When it was time for him to retire from farming, he bought a piece of Cobb-Adam's land on Kamehameha Highway, one lot removed from Lilipuna Road. Uncle was extended credit from C. K. Ai, who was a friend of my parents, so that he could buy lumber from City Mill Company to build a simple but spacious home and a large garage for his trucking business.\n\nWhen Uncle was struggling to make ends meet, Father would try to help with small loans. During the First World War, when the price of guano was rising fast, Father bought a ton of the fertilizer and stored it under our School Street home. Uncle would pay the current price for each bag he took, and when the ton was used up, the profit was divided between Father and Uncle. Because the price of animal feed was also rising, Mother would wake Ruth, Helen and me at early dawn, competing with a neighbour, to gather algaroba beans from a back lot for Uncle at one dollar a bag.\n\nThere was little social life in those days. Uncle was a member of a fraternal society in Heeia, namely, the Bow Yee Tong, established in 1903. Mother told me that this was a Triad society, where members were initiated and sworn in as 'blood brothers' by secret rituals, so secret that they were not revealed even to their wives. In later years, after the death of Aunt, Uncle became a devout Buddhist and frequently visited a temple in Honolulu.\n\nUncle registered seven of his ten children with the Board of Health on 15 October 1918. At that time, he gave his name as Cheung Yau and Aunt's as Wong Fung, and his age at 38 and hers 33. Their children are:\n\nAnnie Ah Hoon (21 Apr 1902-1936) married Henry Auyoung\n\nMary Ah Moy Hiki (9 Oct 1904-) married Joseph Liu\n\nHelen Ah Sam (11 Dec 1906-) married Robert Zane\n\nAlice Ah Lin (15 Dec 1909-) married Frank Carpino (died 1982) 1927\n\nReuben Ah Kau (17 Jun 1911-) married Eunice Ching\n\nAaron Ah Mung (13 Oct 1913-8 Oct 1985)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211453, "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-1988", "page_number": 169, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "145\n\nwere married on 16 March 1903, in appropriate Chinese fashion and in a Christian ceremony. This was followed by an elegant dinner given by Grandfather for relatives, friends, and Father's colleagues and superiors at the bank. There were many compliments on the beauty of the bride and the exceptional choice of dishes.\n\nMy sister Ruth McLan was born on 4 April 1904. I, Violet MeBigT, was born on 20 January 1906; MeYukE on 21 September 1907; and Dora MeSunX4 on 7 October 1917. Because Me means 'beautiful' and because we were born in the United States, called the 'Beautiful Country' by the Chinese, Grandfather chose that character as a part of our names.\n\nAfter MeYuk was sent to First Uncle in her infancy, and when Helen was still very young, I was babied longer than customary, often on Father's lap. One night, shortly after we moved to Broad Road, he beckoned me to sit on his lap. For some unexplained reason, I demurred shyly, whereupon my mother supported me by saying, 'You are a big girl now'. For a while I shared a bed with Father, while Mother slept with Helen, the baby. During that time two incidents made a deep impression on me. The first was the cracking sound of frightened chickens emanating from under our house, where they roosted, that roused us one night. I was very much afraid and Father felt it was the better part of valour not to go out to investigate. Loose chicken feathers we saw the next morning told us that someone must have tried successfully to steal our chickens. An even more frightening experience which left me trembling in bed late one night was hearing a woman next door whimpering each time her husband beat her. I swear I could hear the swish of the rattan. Not one adult in that extended household interceded. We concluded that the man, a gambler, must have vented his anger on his wife when he lost money that night.\n\nFather showed more affection for his children than most Chinese men did in those days. He enjoyed teaching Ruth because she learned easily and did so well in school; he enjoyed Helen because she was a very sweet child and a cute performer; he enjoyed Dora because she was the baby. He liked me because I provided personal service, such as massaging his face, brushing and combing his hair, trimming his toe and finger nails. He would take us walking with the youngest child in his arms and the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211454, "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-1988", "page_number": 170, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "146\n\nolder ones tagging behind. Happy was the welcome we gave him when we ran down the street to greet him as he returned from work, relieving him of parcels (usually food) he carried and vying to tell him of the day's happenings. This was before automobiles took over our streets. When in good spirits, he would sing Chinese opera or English songs or hymns, among which were 'Way Down Upon the Swanee River', 'Home, Sweet Home', 'My Old Kentucky Home', and 'In the Sweet, Bye and Bye', his favourite hymn. We learned these songs but did not thoroughly understand or correctly pronounce a number of the words.\n\nYet, in the other aspects, Father was a timid person. He was afraid of thunder and lightning. If a storm arose in the night, he would get up, cook a simple meal and awaken Ruth and me to eat and keep him company. He was not adept at manual work and he was afraid of heights. He usually got me to climb a ladder to do a necessary chore because I was the tom-boy in the family. He often felt the pressure of Mr. Carter's bad temper and would be silent and moody for a while when he returned from work. We the children sensed enough to keep quiet while he worked out his frustrations, although eventually he developed a duodenal ulcer. I will always remember Father as a warm, witty and loving father, whose sense of humour gave us cheers and laughter. However, he could be stern and strict, but not often, when he expected good behaviour.\n\nTwo themes ran through his early childhood in the village: a harsh teacher and inadequate food. He related how he and First Uncle's wife would commiserate with each other when they could afford ‘only one salted bean with each mouthful of rice. I am quite sure that Grandfather and First Uncle had sent adequate support and were not aware of their plight. In those days, it was the practice to send money to families through male relatives who often appropriated part of the money. Because of this deprivation during his childhood, Father was a frugal man, very careful and conservative with his money.\n\nExposed to the Christian influence of the Damons and others, Father became a member of the Fort Street Church in Honolulu, after being baptized in Hilo by the Rev. Yee Kui. A person of integrity and morality, he tried to bring us up to be respectful, honest and industrious. He once gave me a verbal dressing down when I said to him, 'Are you crazy?' Another time he gave me a terrible switching because I had wandered", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211466, "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-1988", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "158\n\nRuth's death in 1932, after several years of illness, was a physical and emotional drain on Mother, but surprisingly, she took this loss with much fortitude. In times of adversity and loneliness, she must have found support, solace and strength in her religious faith, in her loving family and in her close friends.\n\nMother died on 20 November, 1974, following a stroke, at the age of 87. We three daughters had tried to make life easier and happier for her. She had the companionship of Dora and her two sons since 1950 when they returned to Honolulu to live with her. Mother had made several extended visits with Helen in Chicago and with me in Brookline and had travelled with me by car as far north as Bar Harbour and as far south as Philadelphia, and across the United States through the Southwest via Yosemite Park to San Francisco. I earnestly hope that we had given her some real happiness. We are grateful for the sacrifices she had made without expecting anything in return. A simple, unobtrusive and intelligent lady, devoted to husband and children, loyal to family and friends, and strong in her religious beliefs this was my Mother. She had been my support, my counsellor one who gave me life and nourished me with love. I shall miss her always.\n\nMy Sisters and I\n\nWe were a family of five girls\n\n―\n\n▬\n\nRuth, Me Yuk, Helen, Dora and I. The three older ones were about 20 months apart in age and were born in our first home on Prison Road. In those days Chinese women did not have the benefit of either prenatal care or professional attendance at time of delivery; they relied on the help of midwives or experienced relatives. Although Mother had arranged for me to be delivered by a midwife, the latter could not keep her commitment because my arrival was too close to the lunar New Year. It was fortunate that a Hawaiian neighbour was available. She cleaned my eyes, massaged them so that they would become large and round, and sucked my breasts so that they would grow large and full.\n\nI have no recollection of Me Yuk as she was sent to California while still a baby. Ruth and I were each other's playmate most of the time in those early years. I recall having only one doll between us named To Gai and Tong Chen (words without meaning that we had concocted),", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211533, "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-1988", "page_number": 250, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "226\n\nto this one, although the bamboo arm-rest was a bit of a luxury not always found! This latrine was probably built early this century. Sheung Wo Hang had 30 latrines to service its approximately 100 families at the time of the Block Crown Lease in 1905; the great majority of them were very close in style and construction to this one.\n\nNOTES\n\nP. H. Hase\n\n2 Journal Vol. 23, 1983, p. 241-246.\n\nMy thanks are due to Mr. M.Y. Lee, of Sheung Wo Hang village, for drawing the latrine to my attention, and for helping me to measure it.\n\nSee plan attached, and plate 11.\n\n4 See plate 12.\n\nA NOTE ON RICE HULLERS (RE)\n\nIn March 1972, I visited the New Territories' village of Ma Yau Tong, situated off the Po Lam road leading to Rennie's Mill in Junk Bay. I knew the village representative, Mr. Li Tak (...) from my days as\n\nDistrict Officer South, 1957-60. He was aged 79 in 1972.\n\nWith friends from Ngau Tau Kok old village in East Kowloon, who knew the Ma Yau Tong people, I looked carefully round the houses, paying special attention to old ones and their contents.\n\nLike most N.T. villages, Ma Yau Tong had been a rice-growing settlement, but in their case they had stopped planting some 10 to 15 years before my visit. I was interested in the farming tools and equipment, and made notes on a pair of rice hullers that we saw. However, we were only able to learn the details about one of them. The other was much older, and had been in the house longer than the old lady who lived there. As she had already lived in the village for 48 years, after marrying into one of the village families when she was 20 years old, it had obviously been made before about 1920. “About 100 years\", they guessed, but", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211654, "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": 69, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "44\n\nCommander of the Main Army [ff]) and the Yu Ying Kung share the sanctified premises and all offerings. The stalls in front of the temple sell 'gold paper' for the Wang Yeh and 'silver paper' for the Yu Ying Kung together in one bundle. Worshippers have to pay their respects at both temples or their prayers will not be answered. These are special characteristics of this temple.\n\nThe temple was completed in 1824 and Wang Te-lu (E), an Escort to the Crown Prince and a native of Taiwan, went to Nan K’un Shen to pay his respects to the Wang Yeh. It was generally believed at that time that such deities are incarnated officials and are feared by demons. The way to test whether a deity is a genuine incarnation or not is for a living high official to kick the effigy of the god and if it is a demon in disguise then the effigy will fall over. Wang Te-lu kicked an image of one of the Five Wang Yeh with his boot but the image did not budge.\n\nThe Yu Ying Kung is known in this temple as The Lord of the Myriad Kindnesses (Wan Shan Yeh). He is also referred to colloquially as the Infant Duke (FA).\n\nAccording to legend, one of the Five Wang Yeh of Nan K'un Shen in 1820 made a tour of inspection to the north of their area and encountered the local magistrate also on tour, in what is now Chia I. Neither would give away to the other and a dangerous confrontation took place. A nearby illiterate farmer suddenly had supernatural powers and wrote in the soil with his hoe, \"Representing Heaven in order to deal with both the Yin and Yang worlds. Hope that the bad government will change for the better\". The magistrate seeing these words hurriedly gave way. The local Prefect heard of the incident and decided that he would like to test the power and genuineness of the Wang Yeh. By coincidence the Wang Yeh was on his way to Tainan, where the Prefect had his Yamen, in the course of his inspection tour. So the Prefect ordered his men to tie an effigy of the Wang Yeh on the altar to a large tree stump and announced that if the effigy was unable to free itself from the tree stump then he, the Prefect would chop the effigy up for firewood. Nothing happened for two days and then, on the third day at midday two large black dogs appeared, jumped on to the shrine and tore away the large tree stump. The Prefect was very impressed and pledged that he would go each year to the shrine to worship before the Wang Yeh.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211678, "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": 93, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "68\n\nmembers of the Kiu Kiang Defence Force, a small volunteer group recruited from the foreign residents. Some of the men were veterans of the Great War, and the force had originally been armed with rifles and Lewis guns provided by the Navy; however, to avoid all possible accident, these lethal weapons had been withdrawn and replaced with truncheons. Men were despatched to close the Concession gates so as to keep out accessions to the rioters from those directions, and by the exercise of a good-humoured restraint and some sang-froid the rioters were gradually dispersed and shepherded away. By nightfall all was quiet again at the cost of a few broken heads and windows, but the atmosphere remained dangerously charged with emotion.\n\nThe Consul ruled that the women and children must be evacuated that very night in a river steamer, which he had caused to be held up for the purpose. I dashed off to our small flat overlooking the tennis courts at the back of the Concession to warn my wife. We had also our two infants, the one in arms and the other just able to walk; and their dear old amah, of course, had plenty of advice to give. During the early days, while the Revolutionary Army was still attacking the Northern troops who held the city, there was a certain amount of indiscriminate shooting and shots fell amongst the houses in the Concession. One came in through our front door and down the hall. The old amah then used carefully to drape a layer of blankets on the window side of the children's cots \"to keep out the bullets\", as she would ingenuously explain.\n\nOn a large verandah outside the flat where a good view could be obtained of the back gate, the Navy had mounted a Lewis gun and installed an inlying piquet. My wife arranged to cook meals for the sailors, and what with the assistance of an occasional bottle of beer from the Club over the road, they voted that life in Kiu Kiang was not so bad. It was a change from the routine of shipboard and had one unforeseen result; the sailors made so strong an impression on our infants that when he grew up nothing would satisfy the elder boy but that he should join the Navy.\n\nNow the sailors volunteered to assist in the packing, but time was short and there was little room on the steamer for other than the bare essentials. It was more than any Chinese coolie's life was worth to be seen carrying baggage for the foreigners, and so with naval assistance husbands and bachelors helped each other to get the boxes down to the ship.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211688, "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": 103, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "78\n\nextensively damaged; and close range fighting never actually reached us. The Japanese (as we discovered later) never actually located the two field gun batteries though they could tell their approximate position. They also seemed to suspect that something was concealed in the woods running down the valley from the Peak to Pokfulam, so this area was fairly intensively searched. So there was a rain of trench mortar and field gun shells and of air bombs (both high explosive and incendiary) all round us, and sufficient direct hits on the block of flats itself as well as near misses to make things unpleasant.\n\nThe Japanese landed on the Island on December 18th-19th and we had hardly absorbed this unpleasant information when we learnt that they had already crossed the hills and were in Aberdeen and Repulse Bay, thus cutting the island in two. On the morning of Christmas Day the Police sent round an urgent warning that the situation on the Peak was critical and that everyone who could move should go down the hill. Mrs. Witham and her baby got a lift in what must have been the last car to get through but there was no room for my wife and myself, and as we could not walk we had to stay where we were. Our fellow evacuees struggled down to Pokfulam and the servants disappeared so we were left alone in the flat. Our situation was, however, not so bad as it sounds, as there was a Police post in the same block of flats and the Police were very helpful during the following days in getting food and water for us. Hongkong surrendered on Christmas afternoon and the fighting, so far as we saw it, ended with a heavy burst of fire about 5 p.m. from one of our own anti-aircraft guns posted on one of the adjacent islands which was in Japanese hands.\n\nThe troops in our neighbourhood gradually collected, firing off their ammunition, blowing up batteries and dumps and making bonfires of stores. There were so many stores that if we had been mobile my wife and I could have provisioned ourselves comfortably. Even as it was, we got some tins of biscuits, jam and other odds and ends which came in very useful during the next fortnight. The troops were marched off to internment next morning but it was not until late that evening that we saw our first Japanese, when a Gendarmerie post was established in a nearby building. There followed a very disagreeable period. Though the Japanese established Gendarmerie posts here and there they seemed to make no serious effort to patrol the Peak area effectively, and it was in consequence being very thoroughly looted by bands of Chinese. The Japanese themselves were also very troublesome. Though the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211785, "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": 200, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "175\n\nwas enough to account for that. In addition quite a few women were the wives of missionaries, and in religious circles suspicions about the theatre in general and the role of females in particular often still lingered on. This was indeed so conspicuous that the list of \"contributors\" in the first issue of \"Puck\" (April 1, 1871!) mockingly included: “Our Dramatic Critiques will be undertaken by the Missionary Body who are so frequently absent from the Performances and will therefore be impartial judges of the merits of the Performances\". And then, of course, it may just have been possible that the taipans did not like to see their wives before the footlights with other men.\n\nReading about the early Thespian evenings one may nonetheless be fooled into thinking that women had in fact taken their place on the stage. In the circumstances it was only natural that the \"actresses” should be called \"Miss\" or \"Mrs.\", but what should we think about the glowing term in which one of them, a “Mrs Nesbit” (was this stage name a pun on the rather well-known British actress Louisa Nisbett?) was described on more than one occasion:\n\n“The acting of our charming favourite Mrs. Nesbit, as Mrs. Lullaby [in Henry Danvers' A Conjugal Lesson, on March 26, 1857 – JH] left nothing to be desired. It was perfect of its kind and were it not that she gave a too vivid, and, it may be, truthful portrait of that dread of club-haunting bachelors like ourselves, the matrimonial chamber, we could on the instant have made Mrs. Nesbit the offer of our hand”.* Stronger even, on February 16, 1859:\n\n#\n\n\"But where shall we find words to express our admiration of Mrs. Nesbit, that beautiful Nesbit, who, blessed with an incomparable modiste, displayed so many feminine graces, such latent charms, as effectually to revive the enthusiasm of our younger days and cause us to run round the stage door in the hope of once more beholding so fair a 'genius of the lamps'.\n\n* 34\n\nAnd in an epilogue to the evening of May 26, 1864, the ladies were again put under the spotlight:\n\n\"But stay! The Ladies' praises must be sung. These Belles were surely meant to be well rung. There's Wiggins, Lizzie, Baby, only choose.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211873, "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": 288, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "263\n\nI shall not venture to say much about the cooking, etc. for I am obliged to keep my eyes shut on all occasions where I am near it, for fear I might see something not quite to my fancy in that department. I enjoy the biscuits very much, only I shall soon have to shut my eyes when eating them. Our fresh provisions are beginning to go, so we must soon fall back upon the preserved provisions. We have plenty of good milk to last the voyage, plenty of sardines, salmon, etc. and plenty of bottled fruit, so that we have a fruit pie or pudding every day. In fact we have everything that could be procured on land, and for what I can see, quite as good.\n\nThe captain and I agree very well on all points but religion. Yesterday we had a regular set-to about it, and I was obliged to talk to him rather plainly, only it will not do to say too much to such a man when he is warm. Captain Moult is about such another, or else he would not be a bad companion. He has been well educated, and has a good share of common sense. We are thrown a great deal into each other's society, and so it is to our interest to keep on pretty good terms. Since he has resided at Hong Kong for some time he knows all about the place, and I get a good deal of information out of him, on different subjects.\n\nWe have spent several hours in walking the deck together. It is the only exercise to be got on board ship. I have however invented two or three species of exercise in my cabin, which I find very beneficial. I believe I should be soon laid up if I did not take a fair amount of exercise. Often I have envied the sailors at their work, and should have liked to have a pull at the ropes with them.\n\nSaturday, April 6th\n\nToday has been a cheerful pleasant day. Soon after daylight the chief mate came down with the intelligence that land was in sight on the \"lee bow\". After so many days rambling over the water it was joyful news to me, so I got up, and had the usual wash all over, and went upon deck to take my constitutional, i.e. early walk. It was a lovely morning. The sun already \"well up\" was rather warm, and all round was lovely and delightful. Sure enough there was the land, but it was above thirty miles off, yet on account of its great elevation (in some parts 6000 ft) I judged it to be about four. The clear atmosphere quite deceived me. It proved to be Madeira, and we were on the eastern side. All day I have been on deck enjoying the beautiful soft balmy breezes, which are now quite", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211904, "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": 319, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "294\n\nIn fact since reaching Java I never enjoyed such good health. Captain Moate continually jokes me about my stoutness. I am really getting quite a corporation, in spite of having my clothes continually saturated with perspiration. Even now as I write the perspiration stands in great drops on the backs of my hands.\n\nOur diet holds out wonderfully well, in fact we laid in a good store in Batavia. Every morning I have a great dish of rice and curry. It is a capital dish and the condiments in the curry tend to strengthen the stomach, so that I can now almost digest a brick bat. I mean to live chiefly on it at China if all is well. Today there has been a pig killed, so tomorrow there comes a feast of liver and crow and roast pork. Meat here never keeps over a day, even under the most favourable circumstances.\n\nA few days more and with a fair wind we ought to finish our journey. I shall begin to pack up tomorrow. I brought a piece of American Drilling at Batavia. I got forty yards for eight rupees. Already I have made myself two pairs of trousers and nearly finished a third. I cannot however finish them off before reaching China. All on board in the cabin dress in white, as is the universal custom in Java, and China.\n\nMy cabin is like a little oven on account of the hot sun shining on it all day. At night I sleep with my window open and of course never think of bed clothes. It is only towards morning that the temperature of the room becomes bearable. All day nearly I sit on deck under the awning, where there is generally a fresh breeze blowing when there is a breath of wind. Walking about or taking exercise is an utter impossibility on account of the heat.\n\nI find however the benefit of taking nothing of stimulative drinks. I am always myself, which is more than I can say of the rest of the folks. Only fancy a man taking these things during the day:- at seven o'clock a stiff glass of grog, made with full quarter pt [pint] of rum. Ditto at eleven, at twelve, at five, at eight and at midnight. At dinner a large glass of beer, and three or more glasses of port or sherry. I might have just as much if I liked to drink it, only I know a trick worth two of it. Captain Moate is almost if not quite a slave to spirits. He envies me for looking so stout, while he is continually troubled with a dysentery and is quite thin.\n\nA The Chinese has come off rather badly lately on account of this", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211908, "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": 323, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "298\n\nwere so responsible. Everything appears strange, and I feel altogether out of place.\n\nFor the five days I have been here I have messed with Mr Beach and Cleverly. I have of course never been in such society, and it is hard work to be the gentleman. However I tried my best. Mr Beach being absent I had to take the head of the table, and goose was given me to carve. I could not help thinking which was the greater goose of the two. But still with a little tact I manage to pass muster, and they both seem well satisfied with me. We spend two hours over dinner, from eight to ten, and then a chat in the Drawing Room, and to bed at eleven.\n\nIt is rather queer work to be looked up to in the way I am here. No one would imagine me to be the boy that used to clean boots and knives and run errands13 at a brewhouse. Truly God has been good to me, who am most undeserving.\n\nThe building is very large and beautiful. I had no idea of its being so extensive. I shall have 52 students when the vacation ends on Sept. 1st. At present there are 12 who live too far off to go home. The study room is a fair sized one, and adjoining is the college chapel. The work before me is quite unlimited. I can launch out as far as I like, and raise the college to almost any amount of perfection if all goes well. I have a Chinese master who greatly pleases me. He is the headman, and his appearance and manners are highly satisfactory. He will doubtless prove a great assistance to me. The other three are away for vacation. The Chinese classical master is a Chinese graduate, or what in England is equivalent to a Master of Arts. I understand he is a clever fellow in his department.\n\nThe library, which is my sitting room, is a large fine room, with glass doors and venetian shutters. One end faces the sea, and the other opens on the verandah. I have one part of the house to myself. I have also a private parlour, with three large glass doors and a fine view, and a bedroom, but I have ordered them to be lime washed and repaired, and shall enter them on Monday. At present I live in the bishop's bedroom, which of course is not a bad berth,\n\nThe selection of books in the library is very large. I have never before seen such a useful and valuable selection. There are on a rough guess about 5,000 volumes, and I have the entire charge of them, to lend out", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211944, "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": 359, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "334\n\nBui Leng village was established in very early days, “even earlier than Kam Tin\". But the building of Yau-Leun Tong had destructive effects on its fung-sheui. After the rise of the Dangs the Sa Bui Ling villagers became their ha-fu.\n\nI have talked with a 64-year-old Mr. Chan, who was the oldest person in this village. The villagers were originally of three surnames: Chan, Yeung and Yun. The Yuns have left no descendants. The villagers had established Sa Bui Leng at the same time as the Dangs established their settlement. The Dangs had taken measures to prevent the prosperity of this village. They built three ancestral halls (chi tong-jai), i.e. Yau-Leun Tong, and two others, which used to be at the site of the present playground, and dug a pond which had only been filled up to build the cinema some ten years ago. The combination had bad impacts on the fung-sheui of Sa Bui Leng and the Chans suffered a serious decline. Therefore some of them had moved to Tai Kiu, a small village in Yuen Long.\n\nBefore the war, the Chan family had grown rice on fields rented from a wealthy Dang and one of the jous of the Kam Tin Dangs. Mr. Chan stressed that the family farmed land rented from the Dangs, they did not work for them. There are indications that at least for the last hundred years, the Sa Bui Leng people were accepted as equals by some of the poorer Dangs. The Chan family was a member of the Yi-Chung Wui, a ritual association which drew its members mostly from the poorer Dang villagers of Kim Tin, since at least the time of his great grandfather. I also discovered that Mr. Chan's wife was a daughter of a Tai Hong Wai Dang.\n\nV. WORSHIP\n\nThe supernatural world was very real to the villagers. It is still so to many of the elders. A Mr. Dang who had spent his youth in a trading firm on Hong Kong Island told me that in the old days when the area was less densely populated, one often encountered ghosts. Now that there were more people one rarely saw ghosts. I have heard something similar from a younger Mrs. Dang. The belief in the reality and power of the gods is strong too. It is, above all, manifested in the villagers' behaviour in the jiu festival.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212008, "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": 423, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "398\n\n16\n\nSee Chapter 32 of the Yuet Tai Kei\n\n1\n\nWan Li edition.\n\n17 See the Map of the East Coast of the Kwangtung Province in the Ching Cho Hoi Keung To Shuet. The book was prepared in the Reign of Yung Cheng (1723-1736).\n\n18 See Chapter 10 of the San On Yuen Chi. 1819 edition.\n\n19\n\n20\n\n+\n\nSee Chapter 125 of the Kwangtung Tung Chi, 1822 edition.\n\nSee my article \"More about the Tung Lung Fort\", Vol. 22, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1982.\n\n21 See my article \"Distribution of Forts and Guard Stations on Lantau Island during the Late Ching Period\", Vol. 18, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1978.\n\n22 See Chapter 3 of the San On Yuen Chi. 1688 edition.\n\n23\n\nSee Chapter 2 of the San On Yuen Chi, 1819 edition.\n\nTUNG LO WAN 銅鑼灣\n\nTung Lo Wan, the small bay which lies on the north coast of Hong Kong Island, got its name because it has the shape of a bronze gong. Before the 1840s, there were only a few Tanka boat people living in these small bays and anchorages. They fished in the local waters and lived in some proximity to the land people of the two nearest local villages of So Kon Po 掃管莆 and Wong Nai Chung 黃泥涌,\n\nBefore 1840, the area was known as Hung Heung Lo Shan. Legend said that in olden days, there was a red incense burner floating on to the shore which landed at the site of the Tin Hau Temple (Tin Hau Temple Road). Thus the hill was known as Hung Heung Lo Shan; and in 1810, a guard station (shuen) was posted there,\n\n+\n\nIn the early 1840s, the land around Tung Lo Wan was known as Tang Lung Chau, which means Lantern Isle. It stretched from Tai Hang 大坑, through Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣 to Kellett Island 奇力島. The incense burners placed in front of the Tin Hau Temple of Causeway Bay and the couplets inscribed by the window of the Lotus Palace of Tai Hang are evidence to this old name. The Tang Lung Chau Market in the area is important evidence, too. However, the origins of the name Tang Lung Chau are unknown.\n\nIn 1871, the Causeway Bay Police Station at Causeway Bay was built, and in 1884, 23 acres of land were reclaimed at Causeway Bay. With the construction of the causeway joining Kellett Island and the shore of\n\n!\n\n------", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212173, "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-1990", "page_number": 115, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "92\n\nto present a neatly typewritten note in English, carefully preserved in a cellophane envelope, stating that the area was prohibited.\n\nThe pheasant shooting season continued until the Chinese New Year holiday, which falls late in January or early in February. It was generally possible to get two or three days off for this holiday, and at this date in 1937 two of us found ourselves some ten miles up the Yangtze above Nanking in the neighbourhood of the Three Hills. We had come in the houseboat, now so seldom used owing to the opening of the countryside to the greater convenience of the motor car. Only where the river bank was steep-to could we bring the boat sufficiently inshore to throw a plank across and step off; and so having disembarked we had to walk awhile until we reached a small creek, which we crossed in a borrowed sampan, before arriving at the extensive reed beds for which we were heading.\n\nAt this late season great stretches of the reeds had already been cut by the country people for use as fuel, leaving small clumps and narrow strips standing here and there. Inland, the fields, turned over by the shallow Chinese plough, showed long rows of soft green where the shoots of winter wheat sprouted. The country was ideal for pheasant. Unfortunately it was drizzling and blowing hard. Sandy, the smooth-haired black Labrador was at the top of his form, but nonplussed by the poor shooting. In such weather the birds would as a rule sit tight until the last moment, when they would get up suddenly at your feet; for some reason today they were wild and rising almost out of range. As we approached each patch of reeds, inside which pheasant might be sheltering from rain and squall, we would carefully move to the lee end and beat our way back upwind. My wife worked with us, and two of the boatmen, who also served to carry the bag. The pheasants were reluctant to fly, and would run unseen out of the reeds through the more open stretches of stubble to start up cackling indignantly at unexpected moments. The expenditure of cartridges was considerable, but so far as I remember, the bag only held six brace. Late in the afternoon, soaked, we boarded the houseboat. Luckily the run down with the tide was much quicker than the outward trip, and there was something in the icebox to keep the damp out. Little did we realise that was to be the last shoot for many a season!\n\nThat year was Coronation year: great preparations were made by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212186, "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-1990", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "105\n\ntimed with their fuses set to burst just a few feet above water level. But the gunners evidently found the moving targets difficult to follow, because the aim grew wilder and eventually the shelling ceased. As the sun set in the west, the British ships came to anchor off the Three Hills, where I had my last pheasant shoot, while the American ships anchored in a group a few miles lower down.\n\nNext morning broke clear and sunny, one of those late autumn days in China, when there is not a ripple on the river, and the smoke hangs low in a thin pall over the country villages. Gun fire could be heard in the distance, both above and below the concentration of neutral vessels; and by-and-by the three American ships, escorted by the U.S.S. \"Panay\", got under way and steamed upriver. As she went by, the \"Panay\" stopped to pass back one of our wounded men, who had been kindly accommodated in her sick bay, and the Commander explained that he was taking his ships further up towards **Pidgeon Island** as the Japanese had been dropping some \"bricks\" in the river just below them. Not for the first, or the last, time in China, the Americans elected to play a lone hand.\n\nMeanwhile the refugees on the British vessels whiled away the time counting up the splinter holes in their ships, attending to the wounded, and in mutual visits for gossip over the events of the previous day. Every one thought it was all a mistake, although some concern was caused at about 10 o'clock, when a number of Japanese military landing craft were seen upriver pulling in to the north bank, on to which they ran a small gun which was openly trained at the ships. But the feeling of security was confirmed when the Japanese craft, one after the other, steamed out towards the British gunboats, circled round them, waved a salute or two, and then went on their way down river. There appeared to be no Chinese troops in the neighbourhood, and the Japanese sailed down the Yangtze unmolested, stopping to burn an occasional junk.\n\nIt was without an after-thought that we all sat down to lunch on that lovely Sunday morning on the Yangtze. We were anchored off the reed beds which grow round Rosina Beacon, and through the porthole I could see across the river the clumps out of which not so many months before we had driven our last pheasant. Imagine our astonishment and indignation when suddenly we heard the approaching noise of planes, the roar of power dives, and bombs", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212244, "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-1990", "page_number": 186, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "163\n\nand there on the right is the room I occupied for the first six days after my arrival. We will go through the verandah, and just peep into the bedrooms, and then look at the study which is a comfortable room indeed. There is a sort of bow window to the verandah where one can sit and have a most wide and delightful view of the whole town. By moonlight the scene is sublime. The bay seems quite like a sheet of silver. I will now show you the Tower Room, a compact little nook. We will go then upstairs to the Upper Tower Room, another snug little corner, and at last come out on the top of the tower, where the view is beyond description, and the air is generally cool and pleasant of an evening.\n\nHere having rested with you a short time after the fatigue of looking about, and having given you a draught of the iced water of Hong Kong, which I know you will think very refreshing and agreeable, I will conduct you downstairs to the Hall. Then taking you round the lawn, and pointing out a few of the most remarkable flowers and shrubs, I now conduct you to the gateway. As we walk down the footpath it pleases me to hear you all say you are gratified with the place; and with much gratification at having pleased you, I bow you out of the gate wishing you a safe walk home and a very good evening.\n\nToday I sit down to give an account of my domestic arrangements. Before I could commence keeping house, I had to do what everybody has to do, lay in a stock of apparatus. Accordingly there being no earthenware for me, I went and bought a good assortment of plates, dishes, knives, forks, spoons, glasses, cruet stand, sugar basin, tea cups and saucers, and other items too numerous to mention, for which I had to pay the most extravagant prices. Next come table cloths, feather dusters, shoe brushes, blacking, two large wooden tubs for washing the aforesaid crockery, dish cloths, bowls, knife board, pots and kettles, tea pot, and tea canister, and all the necessary apparatus for a single gentleman. But once fairly started I soon began to get to rights, and now I am quite at home, although I shall never regard this as a home.\n\nI have three servants. My personal servant I will first introduce to your notice. As he walks in and makes his bow, you will surely notice his fine pig-tail reaching to the ground. He little thinks how often I am almost tempted by his blunders, to catch hold of it and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212245, "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-1990", "page_number": 187, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "164\n\nswing him about. He is a tall fellow, and when well rigged up, as he is when he attends on me, he does not cut a bad figure. He never was a personal servant before, and in fact never was with Europeans before. He consequently regarded me with almost as much amazement as I did him. He must have had queer ideas of what Englishmen eat, as well as the cook, who does not understand English cooking. Since I cannot explain what I want, for several days his blunders were very laughable. [I] gave him orders as I thought for a good breakfast. Went to sit down [and] found a strange medley; and had to make a meal of rice and potatoes. Told him to make some pork curry; so he and the cook got some fat pork, and stewed it in lard, and thus served it up. Now however he does very fairly. I cannot scold him, [and it is] well for him, for he would not understand me. However I am getting hold of the lingo and will soon give him the arrears, with interest. He seems desperately afraid of doing too much work, although I give him $5 a month.\n\nMy coolie is an old stager and has been employed in the college for several years. I have to rout him about pretty sharp, to keep everything clean and tidy. The cook I know but little about, except that he has the national characteristic of being a rascal. I know, as it is I have to keep the three of them nearly; and if I did not look precious sharp I might keep all their fathers and mothers. Things go no one knows how. The rats the other night went to the [meat-]safe, and ate up two pork chops, bones and all, after which they washed out the plate very clean, and put it away among the earthenware! Remarkably clever! However I told John Chinaman to tell the rats to come again, and eat as much as they thought proper, and welcome, for I should take the amount out of the wages at the end of the month. Strange to say the rats do not accept the invitation.\n\nMr Beach tells me the first few weeks will give me nothing but a continual battle with them, till they find out the depth of my purse. They always try and find out just how far you can afford to go. It costs a good deal to live here at all decently and properly. Yet I hope to be able to save money which I get quite to rights. My expenses this month have been heavy. Five pounds have had to go for clothes suitable to the climate; and I have only laid in a slender stock. People here dress almost entirely in white, since it is the coolest. Fancy me walking about with a white suit and helmet. It is rather expensive however as so much washing is required. The washing costs about", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212303, "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-1990", "page_number": 245, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "222 \n\nand Jardine's Crescent, both in Causeway Bay, and Jardine's Corner on the Peak. Bulkeley Street market, and streets named Perceval, Irving, Anton, Landale, Matheson, Paterson, Johnstone and Keswick are named after Jardine taipans.\n\nThere is also Jardine's Lookout. It was from this 433 metre high vantage point that observers galloped down by 'pony express' to head office, in the days before modern communications, with the news that a Jardine ship was approaching. In early Hong Kong the company is said to have had a fleet of 12 ships which were faster than those of rival firms,\n\nThe late Richard Hughes, wrote that, of the two founders, Jardine was the older and tougher, and the planner. He was respected and even feared, and nicknamed 'Iron-headed Old Rat', in Chinese, because of his insouciant attitude when attacked and hit over the head with a club in Canton (Hunter, 1844). Except for the one on which he sat, there were no chairs in his office. Visitors were not encouraged to dally.\n\nMatheson was more genteel, although not of exalted stock, and some of his family had been clergy and others army officers. He was more liberal, suave and affable, and even, so it is believed, regarded with some affection. Unlike most businessmen at the time, he was a person of some taste and culture. In 1827, he supplied a small hand printing press so the Canton Register, an English newspaper, could be published. He owned the only piano in Canton or Macau. But as Hughes writes, no one laughed when he sat down to play'. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK) on the 19th February 1846.\n\nMatheson was a good organiser and administrator. He could draft a dry, caustic minute as the following illustrates:\n\n\"The 'Gazelle' was unnecessarily delayed at Hong Kong in consequence of Captain Crocker's repugnance to receiving opium on the Sabbath. We have every respect for persons entertaining strict religious principles, but we fear that very godly people are not suited for the drug trade. Perhaps it would be better that the Captain should resign.\"\n\nIncidentally David Matheson, a member of the 'clan', did resign some years later to become chairman of the executive committee of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212316, "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-1990", "page_number": 258, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "235\n\ncompleted in 1908 on a site of 53 acres. These were more impressive and more modern than the Kowloon Whampoa Docks, with larger machine shops and greater electric power. But public opinion still supported the Whampoa Docks and many people considered the new establishment to be a direct and unwarranted attack on one of Hong Kong's most esteemed institutions. Like Kowloon Docks, Taikoo Dockyard also had a built-in clientele, including Butterfield and Swire's China Navigation Company, Blue Funnel line, and other shipping connected with these two lines.\n\nQuarters and other facilities were provided for staff at Quarry Bay, and the aim was to make them into a 'big friendly family'. The 88-year-old F.K. (Uncle Pat) Pattinson recalled (in 1989):\n\n\"We were a separate 'colony' within the community. We worked, lived and breathed ships and shipping.\"\n\nThe author visited Taikoo Dockyard and had continuous contacts with its staff in the 1960s and early 1970s and endorses Pattinson's remarks.\n\nLong before the days of cross-harbour tunnels, the hammerhead crane, erected in 1937 in the docks at Hung Hom, provided a landmark as one traversed the harbour by ferry. Even though, in the early 1990s, Hong Kong has the largest container port and is one of the busiest ports in the world, and dockyards are still situated in the Territory (but moved to another site), the harbour looks empty to some old residents without that crane.\n\n—\n\nKowloon Docks at Hung Hom have been developed into vast housing estates. Today, Hong Kong United Dockyards (HUD) operate on the west side of Tsing Yi Island, and this was after the merger of Hutchison International and the old Hong Kong and Whampoa Docks. This was the combining of two of the largest commercial enterprises in the East. The Hutchison group of companies is now known as Hutchison Whampoa Limited. A decision was taken to build no more ships. Ferries and other vessels for Hong Kong's needs are now constructed elsewhere. HUD concentrates on conversions and repairs. The last vessel built was a tug, appropriately listed No.1066 on the Company building register. It is hoped a smaller, scaled-down dockyard will be viable.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212331, "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-1990", "page_number": 273, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "250\n\ngenerating their own supplies, switched to Hong Kong Electric.\n\nIn 1924 there were 1,369 gas street lights, compared to 469 electric. By 1936, few gas lights remained.\n\nDuring the invasion, in December 1941, a small group of Hong Kong Electric engineers and other staff, a few of whom were veterans of Britain's past wars, held the Japanese at bay in the epic defence of the North Point Power Station. Casualties were heavy. Of these, Vincent Sorby, the general manager, later died of wounds in prison camp.\n\nExcept for early days and the war years, blackouts have totalled only two hours 50 minutes. One was caused by a fire at North Point Power Station in 1930, and another when a shoal of fish was sucked into the cooling system in the same year.\n\nChina Light and Power\n\nChina Light and Power is younger than Hong Kong Electric, and until it was established, apart from a few lamps, the streets of Kowloon went lightless at night. Robert George Shewan registered the company in 1900 (some records say 1901). His main business was as a partner in Shewan, Tomes and Company. Its predecessor was Samuel Russell and Company (liquidated in 1879), which started business in Canton in 1818, an American trading firm originating in Boston which merged with Perkins and Company, another American company, in 1842.\n\nLawrence (now Lord) Kadoorie, Hong Kong's first peer, was born in Hong Kong and raised in China. His father, who became Sir Elly Kadoorie, arrived in Hong Kong, via Bombay, in 1880 from Baghdad where his was one of the leading Jewish families. Lawrence Kadoorie joined the board of China Light and Power in 1930. Since then, he has been one of the driving forces in the company.\n\nChina Light and Power commissioned its first power station, at Hung Hom, in 1903. In 1989, the company supplied electricity to nearly 1,400,000 customers in Kowloon, the New Territories, Lantau, and some outlying islands. 'China Light' is not dealt with at such length here as Hong Kong Electric because it did not come into", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212388, "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-1990", "page_number": 330, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "307\n\nrecovering them and their stubborness in this belief undoubtedly saved the lives of 21 British seamen.\n\nH.J.W. CHETWYND-CHATWIN\n\nREPORT ON VISIT TO TAI HANG FIRE DRAGON DANCE, MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL 1992\n\nOn the 11th September, 1992, a party of Society members, family and children visited the Tai Hang Tsuen Fire Dragon Dance at the invitation of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association.*\n\nThe Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance started in 1880 when Tai Hang was a small Hakka village of farmers and fishermen on the waterfront of Causeway Bay.\n\nAccording to local legend, on a stormy night that year, just prior to the Mid-Autumn Festival, some villagers killed a serpent at a stone house in Sun Chun Street. They placed the body of the serpent in a bamboo cage, intending to hand it over to the local police station the next morning. However, by then the body had disappeared. A few days later a plague broke out in Tai Hang and over ten persons died.\n\nOne night a village elder in his sleep was told by Buddha (one version says that the message came through Kwun Yum, the Goddess of Mercy) to make a grass dragon and burn firecrackers and incense sticks during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This advice was followed and the sulphur in the firecrackers drove away the disease and the villagers were saved.\n\nIt then became customary to hold a fire dragon dance every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival in order to drive away infectious diseases and to bring good fortune. This custom has been followed every year since 1880, with the exception of the Japanese Occupation and during the 1967 disturbances. The arrangements are in the hands of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association, and the event is very much a community function which continues a long-standing village tradition in the heart of modern, urban Hong Kong.\n\n* See Plates 14-15.\n\nPage 330\n\nPage 331", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212389, "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-1990", "page_number": 331, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "308\n\nThe Dance is performed on three evenings. The official invited to officiate on the first evening is an officer of the civil authority (Man), whilst the official on the second evening is an officer of the military authority (Mo), represented by the Royal Hong Kong Police. The third evening is regarded as the Village's own celebration.\n\nThe Dragon is 220 feet long and has a team of 120 dancers. It consists of the head, body (32 segments), and tail and is preceded by two dancing Dragon Pearls (Lung Chu) whose purpose is to attract the Dragon forward. It is accompanied by a drum and clashing cymbals, as well as by banners and costumed children carrying lanterns. The dragon itself is composed of grass, the head being on a cane base, and it is liberally stuffed with burning incense sticks; the throwing of firecrackers ended with the 1967 ban on fireworks. The grass is 'pearl' grass, obtained these days from the New Territories. Incense sticks from the Dragon are taken home by the dancers to worship their Tai Hang ancestors who have previously taken part in the Dance. Dragon cakes from the Temple are taken home on the third day for the same purpose. The Dance ceremony starts with the decoration of the Dragon and its stuffing with incense sticks and continues throughout the evening through the streets of Tai Hang. At the end of the three days of celebrations the Dragon is thrown into the waters of the harbour.\n\nChinese Dragons are the essence of the Yang, or male, principle, and the Tai Hang Fire Dragon is no exception. Until recent years female participation was limited to the cutting of grass. Ladies were not allowed to touch the Dragon and they were not admitted during the Dragon's visit to the Lin Fa Kung Temple (sited to the east of Wun Sha Street and dedicated to Kwun Yum). Pregnant women with two daughters and no sons were, however, allowed to pass under the Dragon, with the intention of the birth of a son.\n\nThe Royal Asiatic Society of Hong Kong is grateful for the assistance given with this visit and in the preparation of these notes by Mr Ho Choi-Chiu, Chairman of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association, and by Mr Chan Tak-Fai, of the Association's Dance Organising Committee.\n\nGEOFFREY ROPER", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212576, "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-1991", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "110\n\nbuildings, traffic congestion and increased costs, erecting stagings became impracticable.\n\nWith the advent of death the 'blue lantern' used to be hung outside the house. This corresponded to the matt black 'mourning boards' that were fixed outside a home in Britain. The latter went out of fashion in the early part of this century.\n\nThe three important events in a Chinese life are birth, marriage and burial. If a person is not 'buried well' he may suffer in the next world. A great deal of money can be expended on a funeral and giving a parent a good 'send off' epitomises filial piety. Relatives are unlikely to haggle over cost. Although the undertaking profession has few bad debts, and is said to enjoy a profit margin of from 30 to 45 per cent, it is not seen as a salubrious occupation: 'Such men are bad luck and their touch is very filthy.' Misfortunes of the deceased can be transmitted to the toucher. In slang, a corpse is known as 'salt fish' (MA).\n\nThe Day Before the Funeral\n\nIn sub-tropical Hong Kong there used to be a 48-hour limit for storing corpses. With refrigeration and 70 to 80 per cent of bodies being embalmed, which includes injections, this is no longer so. A cadaver can be kept for two months. The ceremony in this study took place seven days after death and close relatives arrived at the 'Hong Kong Hotel' (slang for funeral parlour where a funeral is known as the 'complete menu') the day before, at three o'clock.\n\nA multi-storey funeral home contains many halls to cater to both Christian and (like this one) non-Christian funerals. Two large 'blue lanterns' hung outside the hall. These are in fact white, with the family name in large, purple (at a Roman Court this was the royal or imperial colour) characters and the deceased's age in smaller red characters. On that day and the day of the funeral close relatives were 'not allowed to kill'; namely to eat meat, fish or eggs. Also, sexual intercourse should not take place during the mourning period.\n\nIn addition to the deceased's 16 by 20 inch photograph, incense was burning on the altar. Western candles (candles are normally burnt in pairs) symbolised Christianity and Chinese candles Buddhism, another example of hedging. Also on the altar were tasty snacks that the dead person", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212582, "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-1991", "page_number": 136, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "116\n\nThe stylised format remains similar to the 5th century edition. Traditionally, preparing this almanac was the responsibility of the Board of Astronomy.\n\nThe funeral service in this study involved five Taoist (sometimes Buddhists are engaged) monks who, as is customary, chanted mantras. They were accompanied by an orchestra. 'Wooden fish' (*), namely sound boxes, bells and small brass singing bowls were struck. A high-pitched flageolet, a musical instrument with six or eight finger holes, played what some would describe as discordant music. As the coffin was wheeled into the hall, head first on a bier, relatives crouched and mourners born in the Year of the Monkey were instructed over a microphone not to look at the casket. If they did it could bring bad luck. With the head of the corpse towards the altar (in a Christian church feet usually face east towards the altar) the 'body was shown to the gods'.\n\n26\n\nWith patrilineal kinship ties, if there are sons or grandsons in the family a ceremony of 'buying water' (A) takes place. With a traditional funeral in Hong Kong's New Territories this still consists of the eldest son, the chief mourner, being escorted to the nearest stream or well, dropping three cash (old copper coins) in and bringing back a bowl of water. The ritual can vary from bathing the corpse to a symbolic dab on the dead parent's forehead. This, in Confucian tradition, signifies filial piety. It also helps to ensure the lineage continues. 'I have no sons to buy water!' is a not uncommon lament by some husbands, which, in the old days, meant taking a concubine because the first spouse did not give birth to an heir. As there were no sons in this study the three daughters kowtowed three times and walked around the open coffin three times. Other mourners then bowed.\n\nThe public 'lying in state' continued until the 'last glance', towards the end of the ceremony. With the upper portion of the body visible through a clear, plastic 'window' family mourners, followed by the congregation, filed around the coffin. There was weeping. Some children were held up to look at the corpse. (By contrast, I have heard it said a mourner should not get too close for fear of being 'possessed'.) The lid was then secured.\n\nAfter the service the dead person's spirit was 'led' to Chung Yam Fat Ser (Pine Shade Buddhist Association). This hall is situated in multi-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212583, "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-1991", "page_number": 137, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "|17\n\nstorey, basically domestic, accommodation in crowded, busy Kowloon, The eldest daughter, in the front seat of the car, carried the enlarged photograph of Mother in her 'spirit shrine' (jing tong), made from coloured paper stretched over a bamboo frame. A short ceremony was held at 'Pine Shade Hall' with two Buddhist nuns in attendance. Pine is an emblem of longevity.\" It frightens away evil, such as ghouls that prey on corpses.\n\nLater, a meal with three tables (about 12 people to a standard Chinese round table) was provided at a nearby restaurant. A place was filled at intervals. It was the first time relatives had eaten meat for two days.\n\nIt is bad luck to return to the funeral parlour on the same day (to retrieve something left behind, say) and it is not propitious to go straight home. One should 'leave' the bad luck elsewhere. All close relatives, however, were given a piece of bright red cloth, about eight inches square, cut from the shroud. This they still keep as souvenirs.\n\n28\n\nBecause of congestion long funeral corteges with pedestrians, some in good spirits, and close relatives and professional mourners weeping unashamedly, are no longer allowed. Up to the late 1960s when these were still common, an elaborately carved, nine-foot high funeral chair with a portrait of the deceased would lead the procession followed by the hearse.29 Large bamboo and wicker frames covered with silver and blue papers and flowers, with characters reading, for example, ‘Funeral of Wong Family', and describing the dead person's outstanding characteristics, would also be shouldered by coolies or transported on tricycles. The names of the three genial Gods of Happiness, Wealth and Longevity, Fuk, Luk and Shau, would also sometimes be displayed as would names of donors. Chinese bands, some engaged by friends to proffer condolences, played western hymns: like Abide with Me, or pop tunes such as Polly-wolly Doodle all the Day. Paper scatterers left trails for souls to find their way back home.\n\n28\n\nThe cortege of Kwok Acheong, who died in 1880, was supposed to have taken one hour and 13 minutes to pass. The author recalls a quarter-mile long cortege in 1956, with 16 separate bands and musicians' uniforms ranging from white-waiter-style, to Salvation Army blue, to Confederate grey. The procession completed one circuit of Happy Valley before stopping at the then Colonial Cemetery gate. On such occasions newspapers recorded, \"The funeral passed the Monument at such a time.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212601, "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-1991", "page_number": 155, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "Maymyo 1941 \n\nGUERILLA TRAINING* \n\nP. H. MUNRO-FAURE \n\n135 \n\nThe shortage of British shipping along the China coast became more marked during 1940 and 1941. The vessels built for this traffic, generally between three and four thousand tons in measurement, with comparatively shallow draft, were particularly suitable for use in the Persian Gulf and along the shores of North Africa. Many had been taken to serve as transports in those seas. Moreover, the Admiralty, sensitive to the dangers threatening the peace of the Far East, had directed such larger ocean-going vessels as still were available not to proceed west of Singapore. Consequently there was pressure on the remaining cabin space, and I was fortunate to obtain a berth in a small coaster, which took seven days to reach Hongkong from Shanghai, as against the usual four.\n\nHongkong was very quiet, a state of affairs not to be attributed to an entire absence of females. It was remarkable how many had succeeded in avoiding the order to leave the Colony. I had to wait a whole week for a passage to Singapore, where formerly berths on a dozen different ships would have been offered in the time. This gave me an opportunity to look around. Friends took me out to Deep Water Bay, where we sunbathed on the beach, and drank our tea on the club verandah, looking out over the little golf course. High up on the hill towards Wong Nei Chong Gap I could see the green tiled roof of the house where my wife and I, only three years previously, had been caught in the rain. I wondered whether the lady of the mansion was one of those who had contrived to remain behind. In the evening we drove round to the next bay and bathed from the Lido, a steel and concrete building of pleasing design housing a restaurant, and bathing booths. The hot weather had set in, but here a cool breeze blew down a gully on the hillside into the windows. I had always liked the place because of its informality. You could eat your dinner, and dance and talk, in shorts, and so keep cool, as compared with the stricter etiquette of the Gloucester and Hongkong Hotels, or the Repulse Bay Hotel, or even the Peninsular Hotel across the harbour, where several nights a week you were required to don “black ties”.\n\n*This is the third part of the Memoirs of Col. P H. Munro-Faure. See Editor's Note, p 61, vol. 29, and Plate I", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212617, "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-1991", "page_number": 171, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "151\n\nalong the dismantled track ran no trains, under whose wheels we could get our dummy mines, as we had been able to do in Burma where the alarm created by their noisy, if harmless, explosions had often confused the Indian engine drivers.\n\nThe magistrate was helpful: he devoted two days to tramping round with us from village to village, until we could decide where accommodation for the school might be most suitable; and he promised to build a short length of road to connect the village finally selected with the motor road so that our lorries could drive right up to the door. The village was some miles outside a small country town; I shall call it Chin Ya, the Golden Duck.*\n\nNew Year's Eve fell while I was making these investigations. The local general, with that consideration which is the charming mark of Chinese breeding, fearing I should be lonely, invited me to dinner. Since arrival in the 3rd War Zone I had asked to be kept informed of any parties of foreigners escaping from Shanghai, but no news of any escapes had come through. It was accordingly with the greater pleasure, as we were sitting down to dinner, that I was surprised by the entry of a tall bearded figure, wearing a long Chinese gown, and heard myself addressed in English. He was the first foreigner to escape from Shanghai, an American, Mr. Hawkins, the manager of one of the branches of the big American bank which had offices in China.\n\nHe told us his story while we ate our dinner. Having only just returned from leave in the States, he was staying at an hotel, which happened to be near the Bund. Early on the morning of December 7th he was wakened by the sound of gunfire. He went out to investigate and found that Japanese destroyers were sinking H.M.S. Peterel in the Whangpoo River just off the Bund. He realised that war must have broken out and dashed round to his bank to 'phone his manager. He then returned to his hotel, packed a small bag, got into his car, and drove out to the stables in the western suburb, where a friend kept two ponies which he had permission to ride. He saddled the ponies, and riding the one while leading the other, passed through the gate at which a Japanese sentry stood guard where the road crossed the barbed wire barrier surrounding Shanghai. The barrier had originally been put up by the foreign troops holding the\n\n* It is in the Tianmushan mountains, near the border of Chekiang and Anhwei, near the country town Anchi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212629, "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-1991", "page_number": 183, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "163\n\nJapanese planes were reported to be patrolling the road. We rolled back the hood from the rear half of the lorry and posted two sentries, one looking forward and the other aft, to sound the alarm should any planes be seen. The stores made such a rattle that in the cab you could not hear a shout from the rear, and so a string was led forward and tied to my wrist where I sat next to the driver. Three sharp tugs meant: \"Plane in sight, stop and get out quick\". Our lorry was always full of odd people, besides our own party, as in those days of transportation shortage there would be a crowd of passengers, civilian and military, male and female, at all stopping places, hoping for a lift. The trouble was that their idea of when the lorry was fully loaded and ours seldom agreed, and they would continue to pile in with their bundles long after, in our opinion, the safety margin had been passed.\n\nThe thought of our cargo made my hair stand on end. We had broken every safety rule inscribed in the manuals of the Royal Ordnance Corps. In addition to four large drums of petrol, we had a ton of ammonal, several boxes each of primers and detonators, some Mills and 69 grenades, rolls of instantaneous and detonating fuse, and a number of odd boxes of other types of explosive, such as gelignite and 808; each of these materials should have been segregated, and here they were all higgledy-piggledy with a quantity of shovels, picks, axes, and other metal implements jangling in the steel body of our lorry, and only too liable to spark. Our casual passengers liked to smoke and in their delightfully inconsequential way could not understand why we should object. It was a situation that would have pleased the \"Mad Hatter\", and the climax came when after a particularly bad bump over a pot hole one of the petrol drums burst a seam. The alarm signal was given and I pulled up in quick time to learn that the trouble was not a hostile plane but to meet a reek of petrol that spread a mile and to see the whole of our cargo soaked in the precious fluid which poured away to the earth from a corner of the vehicle. It did not take me long to turn off the engine. The members of our party jumped out and seized any handy can or bucket to catch the jetting petrol; others threw out part of the cargo so that we could reach the drum, which we eventually succeeded in turning over with the burst seam on the upper side. Having escaped disaster thus far, I ordered the whole of the party well away from the truck till the cargo had dried out and the spilt petrol had evaporated.\n\nOn the fourth day a van full of American aviators passed us. They were some of General Doolittle's men, who had parachuted into China", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212780, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 89, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "74\n\nRepeated references by Mesny to the refusal by the Szechuan provincial Viceroy to send funds, supplies, reinforcements and rations to his provincial Force in Kueichou were followed by harrowing descriptions of the great hardships caused to the Szechuanese troops, with rations virtually non-existent and rampant disease carrying off many men.\n\nBy mid-winter of 1869/70 the C-in-C of the Szechuan Force decided that he could no longer wait for the Hunan Force to complete its reorganisation, and made up his mind to capture Ka-ba Niu-ch’ang, near to where the Hunan Force had been defeated the previous year. In the event the main body of the Ko-i Brigade were defeated with heavy losses though the rest of the Szechuan Force managed to hold on. The Ko-i Brigade, after a feint attack by a flanking element of the Szechuan Force which drew off the Miao rebels, eventually reached Wu-ku Lung and Ka-ba Niu-ch'ang.\n\nAgain the C-in-C of the Szechuan Force proposed joint action with the Hunan Force, supporting an advance this time towards Tu-yün Fu and Ma-ho Chou with the express aim of relieving pressure on the provincial capital. The Hunan Commander appears not to have agreed and, without co-operation and united action, nothing could be attempted and nothing therefore was done. However, T'ang, the C-in-C of the Szechuan Force again decided to act alone. He seemed to be unaware at the time that a new Kueichou provincial C-in-C, Chou Ta-wu, had been appointed to command all troops within the province operating against the rebels; this included the Szechuan and Hunan Forces. T'ang went ahead, ordering the withdrawal of the main body of the Szechuan Force from its forward positions in Miao territory in mid August, leaving behind at Ch'ang-p'ing Hsien some fourteen battalions of his now increased Force to hold the line until new plans could be made and carried out. In less than three days the main body of the Force had retreated unmolested through Ta-ngai and Niu-ch'ang to Weng-an Hsien where the main body remained whilst the C-in-C and his headquarters withdrew a further 20 miles to Kou-ch'ang (later renamed Lung-ch'ang: about half way between Kuei-yang and Tsun-i).\n\nThe commander of one half of the force of the fourteen battalions left behind at Ch'ing-p'ing Hsien decided off his own bat to evacuate the city, abandoning all camp kit and equipment, and fleeing with his seven battalions to Kuei-yang where he spread a report that the main body", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212837, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 146, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "131\n\nwith him.\n\nThe marriage customs are many and curious. We happened to be passing a village on the day of a wedding and were invited to see the communal dancing; the ceremony included inspecting the bride and groom in bed by the fitful light of torches. It seems that immediately after the feast the lucky couple retire to bed and are there visited by all and sundry to an accompaniment of the sort of joking which does not appear in print. The custom of men seizing their brides in mock raiding attacks, staged for the purpose, is also common. During one such attack, until we discovered what it was about, we thought that we were being sniped at by the Japanese.\n\nNancha is high up the mountain, some 6,000 feet, overlooking the Salween, which here flows at 1,000 feet above sea level. The river itself was out of sight in the bottom of the valley where it ran between steeply-sloping banks. Across the valley on the mountain on the far side a mile away we could see in the bright sunlight the villages occupied by the Japanese. Their system of garrisoning was not continuous; they had one or two central posts, and from these they would man one or other of the lesser posts. Through my glasses I could see the posts; trenches with grass huts screened in the jungle nearby, and the ubiquitous Japanese flag. They were sited where the path entered the village high above the river: a mile away as the crow flies, to reach Nancha from one of those villages would take the best part of a day.\n\nFrom Nancha, Jack left to reconnoitre the Salween ferries, while I moved on more slowly as I wished to study the country and make friends with the people; we took three days to reach the Lihsaw village of Hsintang. Despite the small size of our party our progress was triumphal: the young women were shy and kept out of the way; the men were still cowed and not sure of their position; but the old women everywhere came out to greet us. They met us with gifts of bananas, brought up from the hot valleys below, chickens and eggs, neatly done up in long tubes of plaited rice-straw; and being of Chinese blood they prepared tea for our refreshment and invited us indoors to drink it. They said, \"We have not seen you Englishmen for a long time. Where have you been for the last two years? We have waited for you a long time, and now conditions are so bad that they are no longer to be borne. But you have at last returned and set our minds at ease.\" This blind confidence was very touching: may Britain long prove worthy of it.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212907, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 216, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "201\n\nbut recognisable environment.\n\nOn the whole we preferred Cheung Chau and it was to Cheung Chau that I was taken after my appendix operation. During my stay in hospital when I had to stay in bed for some time, I had forgotten how to walk or even stand up! I protested that I could not possibly walk up to the bungalow so a sedan chair was sent for. I had not seen one on Cheung Chau before, though they were a common sight in Hong Kong and were used to carry children up Lantau Peak. I was lured out of my invalid bed by the present of some stunning bathing shoes. These were brightly coloured rubber shoes that were meant to protect your feet from stones on the beach. I do not remember ever actually using such shoes but, with the sound of the waves lapping on the beach, they were enough to remind me of the delights of swimming, and messing about in the sand, and playing with model boats, the largest of which had been made specially by the building contractor in Fatshan.\n\n4\n\nSwimming played a central part in our lives on Cheung Chau. I can remember my first unaided swim, which was rewarded by the present of a trumpet much regretted by my parents in subsequent days. The beach was the highlight for our lives. We would walk through the thick pine woods across the island from our bungalows, down through the screw pine to the beach. The smells of the pine trees, of the screw pine, and of the beach and the sea still evoke the thrill of arriving at the beach and dashing into the sea.\n\nSome of the grown-ups were able to swim out to a large rock off the Evening Beach (Kwun Yam Wan) to which the Residents' Association had fixed some iron rungs for climbing out. I was only able to achieve such an exploit when I had come back to work in 1950, but by then the iron rungs had mostly rusted away. The Association also arranged with some fishermen, who fished at night, to anchor their boat in the bay and fix steps and a diving board for us to use by day. This did come in reach, and I can still recall the thrill of climbing up the steps after the swim out. The boat had a delicious smell of fish and sea water and was swarming with the little black creatures with lots of legs. It was a great place to play as well as being an excellent diving platform.\n\nThe Morning Beach (Nam Tam Wan) was much smaller, but it too had a large rock equipped with rungs to climb out on. We did not go often to the Police Beach (Tung Wan), which adjoined the Evening", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212916, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 225, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "210\n\nthe day we would be off to the beach annex of the Chefoo Club where there were rowing boats and canoes. From nine in the morning till lunch time and all afternoon a crowd of us were in and out of the water, rowing out to the raft which was a converted junk with diving boards. I got so brown that summer that the mark of the swimming trunks was still visible at Christmas time!\n\nHolidays at Home\n\nA great part of school life was the holidays at home. Home at this time was in Tung Shan Terrace off Stubbs Road, when my father was building the Chinese Methodist Church in Wanchai—the triangular red brick building at the junction of Hennessy Road and Johnston Road.* This was home not in a flat but a three-story house, with a garden overlooking Happy Valley. At the back we had access to Bowen Road which was a safe place to play as there were no motor vehicles. Those holidays I remember chiefly for rambles up to Sir Cecil's Ride and a major hike over to Tytam from Wong Nei Chong Gap. And we went to a school pantomime at the Central British School (now King George V School) where the bad guy called himself “ZBW my middle name is trouble you\" ZBW being the embryo Radio Television Hong Kong. We had our first family car here, an Austin Seven with a folding roof and went for picnics to the beaches at Repulse Bay and Big Wave Bay, and at Stanley where a new prison was being built. Although it was winter in Hong Kong the climate was comfortable for us from the north and we had no hesitation in swimming.\n\n—\n\nOur journeys home in the winter holidays were considerable undertakings. Of course there was no air travel nor was rail travel possible. Instead we went by sea on the B. & S. ships of the China Navigation Line. These were coasters of about 7,000 tons which made their way up and down the China coast carrying cargoes of all sorts, a small number of passengers in cabins and a much larger number of deck passengers. Sometimes we were able to get a ship that went all the way from Chefoo to Hong Kong but often we had to get off in Shanghai and wait in the China Inland Mission hostel for a suitable connection. Some luckless schoolmaster had to accompany some twenty or so children more as far as Shanghai on these journeys. They were carefree days and I have wondered how we all survived. We would sit up on the taffrail undeterred by the possibility of toppling over into the sea. I remember getting into frightful trouble from practising throwing a penknife into the cabin bulkhead. In the ports we watched\n\n*Since demolished [Editor]\n\n—\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212918, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 227, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "212 miles of China coast to look for her. As time wore on, the distance she could travel extended until it could be anywhere from Tientsin to Hainan. The Royal Navy had an aircraft carrier in Hong Kong and this was drafted into the hunt. An aircraft from H.M.S. Hermes spotted a ship like the Tungchow anchored in Bias Bay (Days Bay) which was a well-known haunt of China coast pirates. It was indeed the Tungchow and the pirates, seeing the plane swoop over, realised that they had better decamp. Once they were away, the Captain sailed for Hong Kong where he arrived a few hours later. Although the pirates escaped, they had a frustrating piracy. They had got the wrong ship. The silver was on another ship which delivered its cargo safely. The Tungchow carried no silver but a cargo of oranges. The pirates broke open the crates in their hunt for the silver so that the ship was running with oranges which the boys gathered in quantities. The pirates did no harm to the children but at first kept them shut up in the passenger accommodation. You can imagine what tales the Shanghai party had to tell when we all got back to school.\n\nWe Leave China\n\nIn 1939 my father's tour was up and he decided, after twenty-five years, to retire from the mission field. He was in his mid-fifties and few stayed so long. Today this sounds an early retiring age, but today we have the untold advantage of constant air-conditioning to temper the severity of our summers and much greater control over diseases. The advance of the Japanese and the threatening war situation in Europe may well have influenced his decision too.\n\nIn any event, my parents and our younger sister set off from Fatshan, while my brother, other sister, and I set off from Chefoo on the last of our journeys on a B. & S. coaster for Shanghai. My parents travelled up from Hong Kong on a Canadian Pacific steamer, the Empress of Russia, which we joined in Shanghai. By this time, Shanghai had been occupied by the Japanese, though they were still at peace with Britain and America. In the occupied city, security was tight, especially round the docks, and we had to pass through several check points manned by pretty rough soldiers. Once at sea, those worries were left behind, but, as a postscript, when we sailed from Yokohama a few days later, we found ourselves in the midst of large-scale manoeuvres by the Japanese fleet and accompanying aircraft firing and bombing targets not far from us.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213091, "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": 159, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "140\n\nnot see the graves. About the use of lime as a disinfectant it appeared that this was being understood by the public, for Lowson added in an annotation to the July 16th entry that 'the lime which had been supplied to Laichikok and graveyard was brought over to Hong Kong and sold at high price to the Chinese in the streets. Or, was he talking about corruption and a black market?\n\nThe relationship between Lowson and Cantlie would seem to be strained at this stage. Cantlie made himself look ridiculous by writing to the Sanitary Board that the insanitary conditions in Victoria Town had nothing to do with the Epidemic. He was openly challenged by Major James in a letter to the Hong Kong Weekly Press. They made up afterwards. After they died together on July 21st, Lowson wrote: 'At this time he had ceased to be simply causing trouble and angry because he had not been taken more notice of but he began to see our side was right.'\n\nJuly 17th\n\nA meeting of the Permanent Committee Lockhart, myself and others A warm discussion arose and I had to tell Lockhart and Francis that they were both damned cowards as they were afraid to go near the plague cases They wanted many things done which were simply impossible When I called them damned cowards old Ayres backed me up and there was some scene May did not say much but silently agreed with us\n\nLowson knew that by calling Lockhart and Francis cowards to their face he could not expect to get any recognition for his work. He put down on this entry in bold letters: CMG strip. Also, 'that settled the question of future honours as neither would forgive me and they were bitter enemies for years.' In those days he could indeed expect the CMG, as the Order of the British Empire which later becomes the normal award for civil servants was not instituted until the reign of George V. However, he received some other rewards as we shall soon see.\n\nJuly 19th\n\nGovernor really played the bloody ox Feeling very bitter and strained at this time as Governor and Lockhart felt everybody was thinking them nonentities and fools and they had a very bad time It was entirely their own blame\n\nI think we have had enough of the bickering. Lowson ended the diary", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213099, "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": 167, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "149\n\nabout the beds, and growing concern in enlightened circles about the cruelties implied by the corvée. By the end of the Ming, the north and east shores of the Bay were merely home to a few scattered, small, agricultural villages. The waning of imperial interest in the area led to an explosion of piracy. This area had, by the late Ming, become a lightly populated and dangerous part of Hsin An County, insignificant, remote, and probably declining.\n\n5\n\nThe Coastal Evacuation of 1662-1668, the forcible removal of people living near the coast, to deny anti-Ch'ing remnants support, was a traumatic event. Many of the previous inhabitants died - possibly half. It seems likely that, when the remnants of the people returned in 1668-1669, they concentrated themselves in the better lands to the west, around Yuen Long and Sham Chun (Shenzhen), and around Tai Po and Sha Tin at the head of Tolo Harbour, abandoning the declining Mirs Bay area. However, land taxes still had to be paid for this area. Lineages looked, therefore, for tenants or purchasers to take over these more marginal areas.\n\nThe newcomers they found to repopulate the area were Hakkas from the north-east. All the present inhabitants of the northern and eastern parts of the Mirs Bay area are Hakka, and their clan traditions all speak of settlement in the area after 1668. A few villages claim to have been founded in the late seventeenth century, many in the eighteenth, and some only in the nineteenth, in every case by families who had moved into the area after 1668.\n\nSome of the Hakka newcomers living in the north-west quadrant of Mirs Bay became, at least in village terms, wealthy during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Much of this wealth was poured into large reclamation projects. These aimed at increasing the arable land available in the area by filling in the mouths of the bays in front of the villages. These reclamation projects in turn brought yet more wealth to the area. The social status of the local Hakka rose steadily during this same period. In 1805 the Hakka were granted a quota of their own within the Hsin An County imperial examinations quota. Over a quarter of all the early Hakka examination successes from Hsin An County were from the north-west quadrant of Mirs Bay, and this should be seen as evidence of the wealth and self-confidence of the Hakka of that area in the early decades of the nineteenth century.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213108, "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": 176, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "158\n\nKong waters. This petition was probably written because of fears as to the practical problems they would face if they lived in British territory, and their market was in Chinese territory. \"In the early years after the lease, grievances over the Customs remained at high heat. In the winter of 1906, the villagers from the New Territories went on strike, and refused to go to market. In 1907 there was a full-scale riot, triggered by a Customs official beating a villager for not paying duty. Later that same year, the elders of the Shap Yeuk petitioned to the authorities at Canton, begging that the Customs officials at Sha Tau Kok be restrained.4 Later, relations with the Customs improved a little, but the duty demanded from villagers remained a major irritant and grievance throughout the period from 1899 to 1951.\n\nAnother irritant, and brake on economic development, was the political chaos in the border area of China. As can be seen from the Calendar of Border Disturbances at Appendix 1, political trouble in this area began even before the Revolution of 1911. An abortive rebellion in the Wai Chau (Huizhou,H) area in 1900 saw the Ch'ing Government lose control of the wild lands east of Yim Tin. A second abortive rebellion was centred in these hills, at Sam Chau Tin (Sanzhoutian,E), in 1904-1905.\n\nA second period of disturbance came after the Revolution, during the years 1911-1928, when the area immediately north of the frontier was the plaything of various competing political groups and would-be warlords, passing from one to the other week by week - 'In those days, when we went to market, the soldiers would be wearing yellow, but the next week, they would be wearing brown'. This period was marked by large-scale banditry, piracy, and general turmoil. With the large garrison of Customs and military personnel at Sha Tau Kok, bandits never threatened the town itself, but the Yim Tin Customs post was sacked by bandits in 1913 and (three times) in 1916, Nam O (Nanao,) Customs post at the entrance to Mirs Bay, was sacked in 1913 and 1914, Chan Hang in 1915, and, a little east of Chan Hang, Kai Chung (Xichong,) Customs post was sacked in 1916 and 1917. The Customs post at Sha Yue Chung (Shayuchong,) was sacked in 1919 and 1920, while the Sha Yue Chung Ferry (the lifeline of the market to the east) was captured by pirates in both 1921 and twice in 1922. For nearly one and a half years in 1918-1919, indeed, all the Customs Stations in Mirs Bay east of Yim Tin were forced to close, so lawless had the area become. The irregular soldiers", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213115, "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": 183, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "The road and terry junction in this area attracted attention from the military authorities from an early date. While the Salt Commission and the Pearl Monopoly were active in Mars Bay, law and order were probably maintained by the special salt and pearl troops. After these were withdrawn, a military post was established at Shek Chung Au, with a watchtower nearby. This was close to the Wu Shek Kok ferry pier, and near to the road junction at Wo Hang Au. Other troops were established at Yim Tin. In various formulations and strengths, this military position remained at Shek Chung Au for several hundred years, until the mid-nineteenth century - eloquent testimony to the continuing importance of this traffic node.\n\nSha Tau Kok's position in the road system of the area gave it two economic advantages. The first was the Sha Yue Chung Ferry. There was only one a day in the early twentieth century, and this can safely be assumed to have been the case earlier as well. Many travellers, therefore, would be obliged to spend the night in Sha Tau Kok, or at least several hours, waiting for the ferry, and, if the weather was bad, these enforced waits could stretch out to several days. There was, as a result, plenty of opportunity for merchants in the town to profit from servicing travellers held up there. As noted already, in the 1920s Sha Tau Kok had more guesthouses, restaurants, and entertainment facilities than most towns in the area, and although most of those facilities were new, servicing the new frontier garrison and Customs staff, some at least were certainly a feature of the town from an earlier period.\n\nThe other great economic advantage was the geographical location of Sha Tau Kok in relation to Sham Chun. Sham Chun was at the head of navigation on the Sham Chun River, and was a busy port for the small junks that came up the river from Deep Bay. Sham Chun was, therefore, well located as far as water-borne traffic from the west went. But Sham Chun had no water route to the east, to Mirs Bay. By sea from Sham Chun to Sha Tau Kok is a good hundred miles: by land, barely seven. There were three important commodities not available in the Deep Bay area which could be had from the Mirs Bay area - rice, some sorts of quality fresh fish, and salt. Sha Tau Kok was, in effect, the port of Sham Chun to the east, where these commodities in particular were landed, and then carried by coolies over the Miu Keng pass to Sham Chun.\n\nMirs Bay was usually - despite occasional famines - a rice surplus area. The Sham Chun and Deep Bay area was a rice shortage area, even", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213149, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "199\n\nits name - and the road from Sha Tau Kok to Yuen Long. (3) The 1819 Gazetteer adds specific references to the route from Sha Tau Kok to Kowloon (ARG.MM. AM 4) The Sham Chun to Sha Tau Kok road is not specifically mentioned in the Gazetteers, but undoubtedly also existed at this time; the Cheung Sha Kwu Tsz at the summit of the pass on this road was founded in 1789, in part as a place of shelter for travellers on the road. See P.H. Hase, \"Cheung Sha Kwu Tsz, an Ancient Buddhist Nunnery in the New Territories, and its Place in Local Society\", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29, 1989, pp. 121-157.\n\n52 See 1688 Gazetteer, ch. 7, and 1819 Gazetteer, ch. 11, Chung Lap Pao edition, 1979, p. 12.\n\nSee P.H. Hase, \"Sha Tau Kok in 1853\", op. cit. It is possible that the salt fish trade in this part of Mirs Bay was centred on Kat O rather than Sha Tau Kok, although the fresh trade was certainly predominant at Sha Tau Kok. There were \"many salt fish dealers\" on Kat O in 1891 (Basel Mission Archive, doc. Al-25, No. 70).\n\nby\n\n54 These figures are calculated from the surveys of traffic on the roads in the area conducted by the Hong Kong Government in advance of the construction of railways in the area. See File CQ882(PRO London, copy at PRO Hong Kong), despatch no. 59, Sir Matthew Nathan to Mr. Lyttelton, received Feb. 13th, 1905, and File CO129/376(PRO London, copy at PRO Hong Kong), despatch no. 165 (page 582), from Sir Frederick Lugard to Rt. Hon. Lewis Harcourt, 28th April, 1911. The surveys were carried out on Dec. 11 and 12, 1904, and Dec. 26 and 29, 1910. The surveys were somewhat summary, but they suggest total traffic of this approximate amount. The Governor, in 1904, calculated that they suggested an annual total of 250,000 persons travelling on the road, with a quarter of them being coolies carrying loads.\n\nThese statistics are taken from the 1910 surveys noted in n. 34. The figures in the surveys have been analysed and averaged to give the totals given in the text. The surveys consisted of a head-count of people passing a given spot, mostly the summit of the local passes (Shek Chung Au, Wo Hang Au, Miu Keng Au). The surveys were conducted twice, once on a non-market day, and once on a market day. The averages have taken into account the number of market and non-market days in each month. The Governor noted that the numbers of travellers was much higher at peak seasons, such as when the rice crop was being carried to Sham Chun. Taking all the imperfections of the statistics into account, they can still be used to give an impression of the amount of traffic in the area. The figures seem high, but to put them into perspective, they are the equivalent of 1 lorry-load of goods entering the town every hour, and three double-decker buses every hour of a twelve-hour day.\n\n56 Administrative Reports for the Year 1926, App. J, \"Report on the New Territories for 1934\", p. J2.\n\n57\n\nI would like to express my very sincere thanks to those elders, especially those in Wo Hang, who have suffered the long hours of questioning that I have subjected them to on this issue, and especially the late Mr. Lee Yau Shi, and Mr. Lee Chung (Lee San-tuen), both born in 1907, and Mr. Yau Chu, born in 1911. I would also like to thank Mr. M.Y. Lee for his indefatigable help in setting up meetings and translating. Without his help, this article could", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213254, "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": 76, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "55\n\nThere were two attempts to escape from the Hung Hom Bay Camp. The first try was made by five prisoners. They were assigned to build a platform for concerts. The platform was near the barbed wire fence. It provided a shelter for them to tunnel to freedom and a storage place for the earth removed during their digging. Under cover of darkness, five crept through the tunnel; however, the last of the group was spotted by a sentry, who shouted the usual \"Halt or I shoot\". The escapee kept on going, and the sentry shot. The bullet hit the bag the prisoner was carrying, containing some of his gear, so he escaped injury, but he was overtaken and captured. Shortly after, another of the escaped internees was found in the hills of the New Territories. Several days later, the remaining three were rounded up near Sai Kung.\n\nSome time after this incident, another man arranged to accompany two other prisoners on a visit to a dentist in the Hong Kong Hotel. The dentist was only expecting two patients. He took these two into his surgery; one was to serve as an interpreter for the other. The third man, who had somehow arranged to come along, was left in the waiting room with a guard. He informed the guard he must go to the toilet. The guard accompanied him there; however, he did not go into the toilet as he wished to keep his eye on both the door of the dentist and the door of the toilet to ensure that none of his three prisoners escaped. The man in the toilet was able to escape through a window, but he was caught the same night and returned to the camp.\n\nThe patriotism aroused by war stirred up in a British colony much doubt, distrust of old friends, ill will, and harsh words. The clubs passed resolutions excluding enemy aliens; the ties of former friendship were severely strained and, in many cases, broken. Many in the Colony who frequently passed the former premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank on Queens Road, not far from the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, were irritated by the continuing presence of the Prussian double-eagled ensign, an architectural feature of the building. Many indignant letters appeared in the correspondence column of the newspapers before the emblem was finally removed.\n\nSince my delivery of the talk upon which this paper is based, Anne Selby has published a well-researched article in the South China Morning Post on 25 June, 1988, entitled \"When Germans were unwelcome in HK\". She used many of the same sources as I have used in the Public Records Office. I would refer interested readers to her article for information I have not included in my account.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213265, "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": 87, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "67\n\nStandard Chartered Bank's big brother, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (surrounded by the Bank of China, Standard Chartered Bank, the Legislative Council building, and others, which act as 'dragon and tiger' guards), also went to considerable lengths to build 'fung shui considerations' into its award-winning headquarters. It was completed in 1985. Sir Norman Foster, the English architect, brought in fung shui masters at various stages throughout the Bank's design and construction. Although it was described as the 'most innovative bank building in the world', symbolising flexibility with no expense spared, nevertheless 'The Bank' (as it is sometimes known locally) went to great pains to lift its two bronze lions into position simultaneously (Lions Return Home, 1985:19). Work commenced on a propitious day, starting at 5.00 am (Guarding the Bank.., 1985:10) (Chung, 1985:10). Senior British Bank officials attended. On the advice of the fung shui practitioner, the two lions, Stitt and Stephen (named after two past Bank managers), act as guardians. They ward off evil. They are often patted by Chinese to bring them good luck, although the two lions do not directly face each other. Their exact positions are important. Heavy objects such as stones or statues (like two-ton, bronze lions symbolising energy) have the power to stabilise a situation. In everyday life, heavy ornaments and the like can affect the ability of a person to hold down a job or to hang on to a wife.\n\nIn addition to placing two lions in position in front of a bank, turning the first sod, foundation stone laying and topping out ceremonies, and house-warming parties are all important in Western society (Groves, 1991:passim). Also, a Christian priest consecrates a new church. In Chinese culture too, although human sacrifices have long disappeared, special building ceremonies are still sometimes conducted, for example, when starting work on the foundations, erecting the main door, or hoisting the ridgepole of a village house. With the last example, items are hung from the ridge. These include 'lucky' objects, such as a small bag of rice (no-one must ever go hungry). All such ceremonies must be carried out on auspicious days.\n\nOne would imagine the Hong Kong Bank is too concerned with profit and loss accounts to bother about what some describe as superstitions. Yet care was taken, when planning the front entrance on Des Voeux Road, that it is lower than the exit on Queen's Road. This is similar to a humble Chinese college in that the front door should be bigger and lower than the...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213274, "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": 96, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "76\n\nto the homing instinct of some birds, the salmon's sense of smell and the robin's sensitivity to stellar radiation.\n\nA trained person can walk across a field with a forked twig and he or she can say with certainty whether water is present below. The influence given off by the movement of water has been likened to an electric field (Pike, 1945:16 and 24). Similarly, horses during periods of drought will locate an exact spot where water is to be found below in an otherwise waterless district. Dead horses have been seen at such spots, with hoof-marks left on the ground, where the unfortunate animal tried to paw his way to water.\n\nAs a leftover from our animal past, the skill of divining in which the 'human radio set' picks up cosmic waves, magnetic energy or radioactivity is possessed by different people with varying degrees of sensitivity. 'Listening to the earth' has been likened to developing the powers of clairvoyance. Such fields and lines of currents radiate patterns of energy. They vitalise the countryside. Some spots produce more life, in the form of trees, flowers, animals, birds and minerals, than others. Cows, for example, prefer to stay in parts of a meadow which are places of energy (Pennick, 1979:38). Dowsing, with its 'inner eye', has sometimes been used to trace leylines in Britain (Miller, 1989:26). The author, however, knows of no cases where dowsing has been employed to try to trace the 'dragon veins' of fung shui.\n\nLinking Chinese fung shui and dowsing; it is interesting that an old Hakka village in Tsuen Wan, in Hong Kong's New Territories, has a well which was sunk in the position advocated by a fung shui consultant. And even during bad droughts, like that of 1963 when water was on tap for only four hours once every four days, villagers maintain the well always remained 95 per cent full (Leung, 1986:19).\n\nCase Study One\n\nThis paper now examines an actual case of fung shui, at Realty Gardens, 41 Conduit Road, Mid-Levels, on Hong Kong Island, where the author has lived since 1976. The flat in question is situated in the centre block of five blocks. A fung shui master visits the flat annually. It is said to be situated in a good geomantic spot. Many uninitiated Westerners would more likely phrase it as, 'the flat has good spatial orientation'. Both", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213322, "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": 144, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "125\n\ncalling the Chinese \"disloyalists\", the Fukien braves sided with the enemy and set fire to the town. The foreigners then got over the wall and burnt the Manchu quarter, the Assistant Tatar-General and the acting Sub-Prefect losing their lives, and the taotai escaping to Kashing. The Magistrate Wei Feng-chia led a body of militia to oppose the British advance on the town and was killed, and whilst Heng Hsing, the Chinese Force commander at Hangchou was cashiered, the Chinese commander at Chapu, Chang Hsi, escaped death and capture but was later, posthumously, accused of having run away. The official toll of Chinese casualties including civilian casualties was said to exceed 1300. This figure includes more than 400 officers and men from the Green Standard force and 280 Manchu Bannermen.\n\nWhen I-li-pu \"arrived at Chapu, the English demands, so the Chinese version continues, were so extravagant that nothing definite could be arrived at; and, when the Governor requested the Emperor's sanction to the restoration of the score or two of white and black barbarian prisoners, the foreign ships had left Chapu. The prisoners were then sent to Chen-hai, and it was suggested that bygones should be bygones; but the English would not listen any more.\n\nThe idea of an attack on Hangchou itself by the British forces was now abandoned and attention was directed to the important trade centre of Shanghai. The British, having destroyed the Chinese arsenal, guns and all Chinese government stores in Chapu, released all their prisoners of war cash with a small present, and then on the 28th May embarked for the Yangtze and Woosung, the town at the mouth of the river leading to Shanghai. The transports took fifteen days to cover the hundred miles to Woosung which was bombarded and captured by naval forces. The war ended two months later before the walls of Nanking,\n\nThe 18th Royal Irish was disbanded in 1922 and amongst its many battle honours was 'China 1840-42'. The men of the regiment who took part in the campaign were eligible for the medal awarded for the 'China War' though, regrettably, there was no bar for Chapu.\n\nIn March 1994 my daughter and I tried to find the site of the joss house. Enquiries in the town of Chapu itself were received with polite replies that no such place existed and that there were no temples now near Chapu, this despite the fact that standing less than thirty yards from the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213479, "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": 75, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "43\n\nTHE PEKING OPERA\n\nD.H. LIU\n\nIt may sound strange to many that the Peking Opera originated, not from Peking, as it is generally believed, but from the obscure county towns of Huang Po (黄陂) and Huang Kong (黄冈) in the Hupeh Province on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. From its early beginning as local, folk song amusement of surrounding areas, it gradually gained popularity and traveled beyond the provincial boundary to Peking where it settled down and prospered during the reign of Emperor Chien Lung (A.D. 1751-1795)\n\nAs the troupe travelled on its way to Peking, it absorbed many of the methods and techniques of different theatrical groups, notably, the K'un Chu (昆曲) and the Hwei Ban (徽班) with one sole dogma it has persistently adhered to the original dialect of the Hupeh Province in its performance up to the present day.\n\nThe Stage in the Early Times:\n\nAt the beginning, the stage was a very simple structure with no proper sitting arrangement for the audience. People would sit around a square-shaped table with two persons on each side. I remember that, when I was a boy, the first theatre we had in Yienta (烟台) where I was born, was called the Tan Kwei Tea House (谭家祠茶馆). People went there to watch the opera and at the same time, enjoy a cup of tea. Why not? People were out to enjoy themselves. I still remember how people would enter the theatre and leave it at will. You sat at the table watching the play, drinking Chinese tea and cracking melon seeds, all at the same time. You will say that this would divert the attention of the audience from what was going on on the stage. Why worry? If the actor or actress was good, the audience, of course, would automatically stop drinking tea and pay close attention to the stage!\n\nI still remember that, in those happy days, the theatre waiters would throw a hot towel to you from a distance of ten feet to wake you up when you were tired. What a wonderful idea!\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213500, "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": 96, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "64\n\nwhich this path ended was naturally called by this same name. But among the Hakkas, the Island of Hong Kong or rather this northern portion of it, is to the present day called by the same name \"Kwantailou\" (Eitel, 1895, P.134)\n\nAs early as 1841, a shoreline road was planned in the northern part of the Hong Kong Island. It was pegged out by the Chinese labourers and made to connect Sai Ying Pun to East Point, a distance of nearly four miles. It was finished in early 1842 and was named Queen's Road. The road was so cut as to leave generally enough space between it and water and at a safe height above sea-level for the erection of godowns.\n\nThe possession and occupation of the Island in the first instance was largely due to military reasons, especially as the Chinese mainland was so near at hand. There were two Chinese forts on the tip of Kowloon peninsula. Military establishments were therefore quickly set up on the northern coast in order to prevent the Chinese from recapturing Hong Kong.\n\nIn the early days of February 1841, the navy had already laid claim to Navy Bay (Belcher's Creek) lying due east of the bluff then known as Belcher's Point and was already running up store houses on the sloping foreshore.\n\nThe Army had established two camps on the northern shore, one on Cantonment Hill (later known as the Victoria Barracks and the Seven-and-six Penny Hill) and other at Sai Ying Pun, on the long slope which now carries on its shoulders the Hong Kong University and at its foot, the old Reformatory Building (Sayer, 1937, P. 99) and above the present Pokfulam Road. On the site in Third Street where the St. Louis School now stands was a small battery, called the West Point Battery or Elliot's Battery. (A similar battery, East Point Battery or Pottinger's Battery was mounted on the site of Wellington Barracks)\n\nThe barracks at that time were of a more or less makeshift nature. Owing to unstable political situation, it was said that Lord Saltoun, then Commander-in-Chief, would not take upon himself to erect permanent and suitable barracks and officer quarters for the troops. The soldiers were encamped in flimsy structures of bamboo, cane, palm leaves and canvas. The so-called barracks at Sai Ying Pun were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213501, "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": 97, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "65\n\nactually a few wretched huts or matsheds built on shelves cut out on the acclivity of a ridge. They were filled with Indian sepoys, the Bengal Volunteers. A supplement of a survey of Hong Kong in the Canton Press dated February 1842 gave us information about the Sai Ying Pun Barracks in 1842.\n\n\"A half-moon battery or platform which is to mount some half-dozen heavy guns on carriages is constructing at the extreme west of the town to protect the barracks there and at which are stationed the Bengal Volunteers\" (Sayer, 1937, P. 209).\n\nThe sanitary conditions of the barracks in those days were largely neglected. The water closet system that existed in the barracks was unfortunately unsuited to a tropical climate. Epidemics of fever spread through Hong Kong every summer in those early years of British occupation. In 1842, the Indian troops, stationed in Hong Kong lost nearly half their number. The death rate for the army in Hong Kong for that year was 25%.\n\nIn 1843, the sanitary condition of Hong Kong was most alarming. In the summer of 1843 an extraordinary outbreak of malaria fever occurred which during the six months from May to October carried off by death 24% of the troops and 10% of the European civilians. It was noticed that this virulent fever ravaged chiefly the extreme west and east ends of the British settlement. (It was due to the opening up of the ground by the troops in making roads or new buildings created marshy conditions that helped to breed mosquitoes). At the West Point Barracks in Sai Ying Pun where the left wing of the 55th regiment quartered, sickness was so universal that the regiment lost 100 men between June and the middle of August. On 20 July 1843, the troops stationed there were hastily removed on board ships in the harbour and the Barracks were abandoned and ordered to be razed to the ground. At the recommendation of the Committee of Public Health and Cleanliness, the ground in the neighbourhood was ordered to be levelled and well-drained.\n\nSince Sai Ying Pun had proved to be one of the most unhealthy spots in the Island, the main forces of the army began to move out of the place. The Royal Navy also found the naval base east of Belcher's Bay unhealthy and lay fully exposed to the fury of a typhoon and moved.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "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": 213571, "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": 167, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "136\n\nThe “Fan Kwae” at Canton Before Treaty Days (1825-1844). W.C. Hunter. Pb. Kegan Paul & Trench. London 1882.\n\n12 All vessels bound for Whampoa were loaded with general cargo, or with rice only, and were subject to what were called Cumsha and Measurement Charges.\n\n29 \"The position of Hong merchant was obtained through the payment of large sums of money at Pekin. I have heard of as much as 200,000 taels, say £55,000 sterling. If the licence they acquired was costly, it secured to them uninterrupted and extraordinary pecuniary advantages...\"\n\n36 [Ilouqua]: “have got too much bad news... Hwang Ho have spillum too much... Man-ta-le have come see you? ... He no come see me, he send come one piece ‘chop’. He come to-morrow. He wantchee my two-lac dollar\". \"You pay how much? ... My pay he fifty, sixty thousand so. But suppose he no contentee? ... Suppose he No. 1 no contentee, my pay he one lac.\"\n\n44 You and I are No. 1 \"olo flen\"; you belong honest man, only no got chance\"... \"Just now have settle counter, alla finishee; you go you please.\"\n\n54 The position of compradore was therefore one of great responsibility, and I never knew of but one betraying the trust reposed in him. Although his pay was comparatively small, say $250 or $300 per annum, his perquisites, from sources which had long been in existence, and had become \"olo custom\", were very important.\n\n99 Before she could open hatches, the formality of “Cumsha and Measurement\" had to be gone through. The first word signifies \"present\", and was a payment made by the earliest foreign vessels for the privilege of entering the port;..\n\n100 Measurement: 842.2.8.5, Cumsha 810 9.6.1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214049, "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": 117, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "84\n\nKowloon, mainly for ships in the coastal trade, was opened in 1868 to be followed soon afterwards by a shorter 80m-long dock. A few years later (1876) the 140m-long Cosmopolitan Dock and dockyard at Tai Kok Tsui were commissioned. Subsequently the much larger 168m-long Admiralty Dock at Hung Hom was completed in 1888 and later extended in length by some 8 metres in 1903, to be followed by further lengthenings in 1911 and 1931.\n\nIn the summer of 1907, the 170m-long Admiralty dry dock in Victoria, with an entrance width of 29 metres and 9m clearance at lowest spring tides, and Tai Koo's great ashlar-faced 238m-long 27m entrance-width graving dock (now a car park in the Tai Koo Shing development) at Quarry Bay, the latter capable of accommodating the largest ship then afloat (the liner Oceanic), were both commissioned. By laying down the former dock where it did and extending the original dockyard, with an 8ha reclamation which was started in 1900, the Navy sealed the long-held hopes of making Victoria a coherent city with a continuous commercial waterfront. Due to difficult foundation problems, including removal of a 1.2 to 1.8m layer of hard porous coral and the need to install hundreds of steam-driven hardwood piles through the underlying decomposed granite to secure the site, the naval dry dock finally took seven years to build whereas the larger commercial dock at Tai Koo was finished in five.\n\nThe whole of the Tai Koo dockyard development took seven years to completion in 1908, a remarkable achievement in so much that it not only included the large dock but also excavation of some 1.3M cubic metres of hillside to form a 21ha site, which included a 8ha marine reclamation, and the adjacent section of the 23m-wide cut for King's Road, and the building of an entire complex of slipways, workshops and all the ancillary works which are needed to make a large dockyard a world of its own. It is interesting to note that Admiralty engineers in 1908 regarded locally-made cement as unsurpassed in fineness and tensile strength (at 28-days around 750lb/sq in or 5.2MPa), and it was used exclusively when building the new naval and Tai Koo dockyards.\n\nWharfs\n\nBy 1843 there were several comparatively small piers and jetties on the Island located between East Point and Sheung Wan. Pedder's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214052, "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": 120, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "87\n\nof the Island This was completed in 1904, partly with filling material obtained from Chinese territory. The limits in Victoria of these two earlier major reclamations are marked by Des Voeux Road and Connaught Road respectively. During the next 30 years reclamation continued on the Island, the largest schemes being those at Tai Koo for the dockyard (21ha which included 13ha of land site formation, completed 1908), Wan Chai (36ha, completed 1929) and around North Point (nearly complete before the Pacific war), together with a smaller reclamation at Shau Kei Wan.\n\nSoon after the cession of Kowloon under the Convention of Peking in 1860 there was some reclamation adjoining deep water in Tsim Sha Tsui, primarily for wharfs, and at Hung Hom for the dockyard, to be followed by extensive reclamation in Tai Kok Tsui and Yau Ma Tei and, to a lesser extent, at To Kwa Wan, Sham Shui Po and Lai Chi Kok, the latter two both lying just to the north of Boundary Street. Subsequently an important reclamation was formed by the Kowloon-Canton Railway in Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom bays (16ha, completed 1910) primarily for its own use which included three deep sea berths on the extreme south-east tip of the Kowloon peninsula. In the period after 1922 there was considerable reclamation in and near Kowloon just as there was in Wan Chai on the Island. Large areas were reclaimed at Sham Shui Po (26ha, completed 1928), Kai Tak (83ha, completed 1931) and Lai Chi Kok (c35ha), all these areas lying in the New Territories close to the old Kowloon/China boundary with much of the filling being obtained from Kowloon Tong, then being developed as a garden city. Just before the Pacific war, reclamations were also started in three other areas of Kowloon Bay, at Ma Tau Kok, Ngau Tau Kok and Kwun Tong.\n\nRoadworks\n\nConstruction of Queen's Road in Victoria was started in May 1841, only four months after the British landed on the Island, by the Royal Engineers following the alignment of a narrow bridle/tow path high above the beach which extended some 7 kilometres from the water's edge at Kennedy Town on the west to within a short distance of Happy Valley on the east. Another road, from Wong Nei Chong to Shau Kei Wan was built at the same time, a causeway with two bridges being constructed to carry it across what is now known as Causeway Bay.\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214056, "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": 124, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "91\n\nKong village in 1936, thus providing access to the proposed second airfield site at Pat Heung. In the following year the first roadworks on the outlying islands were undertaken at Muk Wo (Mui Wo) on Lantau, primarily to provide access to the ferry pier.\n\nDrainage\n\nIn 1843, a particularly bad year for disease, some essential drainage was begun and, by 1847, 740 metres of city drains had been laid in Victoria. At Happy Valley the muddy waters discharging from the surrounding hills via Wong Nei Chong (literally yellow mud stream) created swamp and healthwise lethal conditions, in particular following heavy rain. By 1846 the rice and sweet potato farmers at Happy Valley were bought out and the flat land drained, thus making the area less unhealthy than before. In spite of drainage improvements in and around the city, the mortality rate amongst European troops remained exceptionally high, for instance in 1851 it reached 24% compared with 10% for the civilian population, this latter percentage being swollen by the deaths of seamen. In the early days, to avoid flooding in low-lying areas, main drainage nullahs (large open channels) were constructed, the earliest in the central district probably being the Murray Barracks Nullah, which ran through the naval dockyard area, and the winding Victoria Barracks Nullah. At East Point, an impressive 6m-wide and 3.6m-deep nullah, the Bowrington Canal (now decked and located under Canal Road) which carried the run-off from the Happy Valley catchment area was planned as early as 1842. In Wan Chai, Stone Nullah Lane was located above a stream which ran below Hospital Hill (to the east of Morrison Hill).\n\nThe quality of design/workmanship in the original drainage system clearly left a lot to be desired as, in 1860, a very heavy rain storm is reported to have burst most of the drains and also caused the collapse of some houses in Canton Bazaar (off Queen's Road opposite to the naval dockyard). During the violent typhoon in 1874, mounds of soil were again thrown up by bursting drains. The sewers also had other uses, for instance in 1863 twenty-two prisoners were known to have escaped from the old gaol in Hollywood Road by way of the monsoon drains whilst, in the next two years, the ingenuity and engineering skill displayed by “drain gangs\" was such that a godown, jewellery store and even the vaults of a bank were entered by using storm-water drains.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214058, "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": 126, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "93\n\nRailways\n\nThe first railway to be built was the Peak tramway, a 1.4km-long 1.5m-gauge steam-driven funicular railway rising 370 metres along steep rugged terrain, which was opened in 1888. A contemporary description stated that “A splendid feat of engineering skill has made the Peak accessible to all.” Nevertheless, during the following year, as a result of exceptionally heavy rainfall, the track was breached by a major landslide, a debris flow originating from a fill slope on the Peak. A few years later, in 1904, a conventional electric tram service was implemented along the northern side of the Island between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town. Both of these are still running today. Railway track, with locomotives, trucks, and steam-operated cranes, were widely used around the turn of the century for transporting/handling freight in the dockyards and site construction materials.\n\nIn 1905, the Government took over a part of the concession to build a section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR), namely that between Kowloon and the Chinese border. The 34km-long railway, which was completed in 1910, involved construction of five tunnels, 48 bridges (the largest span being 30.53 metres on an irregular skew over-bridge at Hung Hom), 66 culverts, workshops, and stations, drainage channels, and a little roadwork, the creation of a 16ha reclamation in Kowloon (in Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom bays), and many cuttings and end-tipped embankments, including those along the exposed seaward sections between Sha Tin and Tai Po. In all, some 2.6M cubic metres of materials were handled in the earthworks. A contemporary technical discussion indicated that slopes of 1:1 were generally adopted in cuttings on which \"turf grew excellently....... Good results were obtained by plastering bad decomposed rock faces with a mixture of lime, sand, and gritty red earth\". Labour guilds kept the rates of wages relatively high (those for the building trades and for dressed granite even approaching those in England) and regulated the quantity of work to be undertaken by the various classes of workmen.\n\nThe 2.2km-long, 5.2m-wide horseshoe-shaped brick-lined Beacon Hill tunnel, which at the time was longer than any in China itself, was ranked as one of the outstanding engineering achievements of its day. To gain access to the south face, it was necessary to build a temporary 3km-long metre-gauge railway from the nearest jetty at Tai Kok Tsui,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214060, "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": 128, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "95\n\nwith impounded water being conveyed through a 2.2km-long 2.5m-diameter tunnel, mainly in granite, and by a 5km-long conduit winding along the northern shore of the Island beneath Bowen Road to the first two slow sand filter beds above the city, and thence into the service reservoir located at a lower level. The distribution system involved laying, between 1890 and 1892, some 30 kilometres of 75-350mm-diameter cast-iron mains together with the installation of a system of fire hydrants. Major fung shui problems were encountered during the tunnelling works, rumour being that children were to be selected for burial alive to ensure success; fortunately no ritual sacrifice was needed!\n\nOn an uncontoured 1895 version of Collinson's plan (1845), there is an interesting feature clearly marked “overhead tram\" extending 2.3 kilometres between Quarry Bay and Quarry Gap. It seems likely that it would have been used to transport materials and, perhaps, workmen associated with the early Tai Tam reservoir works. As part of the Tai Tam scheme a further small high-level reservoir at Wong Nei Chong was completed in 1899. Around this time the Braemar reservoir (now Choi Sai Woo Park) and further smaller reservoirs near Quarry Bay were built, primarily to meet the needs of the large commercial Tai Koo sugar refinery and dockyard complex.\n\nWith the population already rising to about half a million, three further concrete dams within the Tai Tam valley, the largest Tai Tam Tuk being 50m high, and associated reservoirs were completed between 1904 and 1917. The upper (42m high) and reconstructed lower (20m high) concrete dams, the latter being previously a privately-owned dam built in 1890 for a paper works, impounding the Aberdeen reservoirs were later finished in 1931 and 1932 respectively, thus completing the last economical water storage development on the Island.\n\nAfter the turn of the century engineers were already looking to the New Territories to increase the supply of water for Kowloon, which had hitherto been dependent on two wells located to the north of Yau Mai Tei. As a result, the 35m-high concrete dam for the Kowloon reservoir was completed in 1910 and three further reservoirs in the vicinity were completed during the period 1925-1931 by which time the population was already approaching a million. A commercial reservoir was also built early this century to the south of Lung Wo Tsuen to provide water for Rennie's cotton factory at Junk Bay.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214133, "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": 201, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "172\n\nin the Colony), it could also be seen at Sha Tau Kok and at San Hui in Castle Peak Bay.7\n\nIn certain places along the route on our way to Huizhou, where there was apparently good fung shui, there were concentrations of graves and funerary urns, the latter, in Chinese, known as 'golden pagodas'. These contain human bones, placed in anatomical order, in the shape of a foetus, ready to 'return to the womb' for rebirth at reincarnation. Often, as one sometimes sees in Hong Kong's New Territories, small clusters of these urns were placed in tiny shelters. In some places however, along the road to Huizhou, these small structures were painted in garish colours.\n\nOften one would pass in China brick and tile kilns very similar to those simple kilns which one could find in the Castle Peak district of Hong Kong in the 1950s. A few years later these small firms were put out of business by less expensive clay, building-products which were imported into Hong Kong from Guangdong.\n\nThe author contrasts this visit to Huizhou, in beautiful short-sleeve-shirt weather, with a visit led by RAS Member Phillip Bruce, also undertaken in November, about a decade earlier. The previous visit took place on one of the coldest November days on record with temperatures down to freezing. The author wore a deerstalker hat with ear-flaps to protect him from the biting wind! At the time, limited development had taken place in Huizhou. It is surprising how things have changed.\n\nAcknowledgements\n\nThe RASHKB is grateful to Geoffrey Roper and his Activities Committee members, and especially to Dr Joseph Ting and Peter Rull, for organising this visit. The author is also grateful to RAS Member Charles Slater for the three photographs which illustrate this article.\n\nNOTES\n\nPeter Rull and Joseph Ting, Outline Programme for RAS Huizhou Visit 15 and 16 November 1997, handout\n\nGeoffrey Roper, An Introduction to the Tan Gong (Tam Kung) Temple below the Julung", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214354, "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-1998", "page_number": 212, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "177\n\nself and appeared back home, having lost his lucrative post, where he bore the full fury of his wife as she had been enjoying the perks of the wife of a high official. He explained that he had no intention of returning to the palace as the fortunes of the evil Zhou Xin had a further twenty years to run, and went off spending his days fishing.\n\nMany years later the father of the future victorious King Wu heard a fisherman singing and learning that the song foretold the future fall of the Shang and the victory of the Zhou he went in search of the man who had taught the fisherman the song. This turned out to be Jiang who was then encouraged to return to the court of Duke Fa, where after Duke Fa's victory he was made the Prime Minister.\n\nIn the Fengshen Yanyi he was then despatched to the mystic mountains of the West, the Kunlun Shan, where he was to seek from the great deity, Yuanshi Tianjun, the Primordial Heavenly Lord, honours for the loyal ministers, brave warriors, and all the good and bad immortals, male and female, who had died during the struggle. Jiang arrived at the Palace on the Kunlun mountains and was admitted by the White Crane Youth, Bai Hao who escorted him to meet Yuanshi Tianjun. After Jiang knelt and made his plea the Primordial Heavenly Lord promised to send a decree, which would authorise the canonisation of all the warriors, and name each in turn. Jiang returned to report to King Wu, followed a few days later by the White Crane Youth who descended amidst soft music and fragrance to deliver the decree. Jiang then ordered the Terrace to be prepared and soldiers to guard it whilst he purified himself. He entered the Terrace and after unrolling the decree read aloud the order which promised that those to be deified should be free from transmigration, and would be promoted or demoted according to their merits. He ordered that they should be worshipped by the people as protectors of the nation and its people, and they were to regulate the wind, rain and natural forces for the benefit of the people. They were authorised to reward good deeds and punish the wicked. The list of names of those deified was then hung up and the ministers and warriors ordered to approach in a lengthy queue with no one being permitted to leave it. The first to be called was Bai Jian, who was created the God of Pure Blessedness. He was followed one by one until all 365 warriors and worthies had been rewarded. Not all were straightforward. Some had followed the evil King during the struggle and had perpetrated wicked acts but had eventually recanted and had tried to make", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214414, "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-1998", "page_number": 272, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "238 \n\nment you will undoubtedly form a mental picture of the appearance of the mountain in time to come. The Chinese of course never dreamt, in 1842, when, by the Treaty of Nanking, they ceded to the English this barren rock, instead of the flourishing island of Chusan, what the red headed barbarians would turn it into. Even less likely were they to have dreamt that they, the Chinese, would with their own hands, be heaving these stones, laying walls, building parapets, mounting cannons... and round their own necks to boot.\n\nAll this has been done. True, the city of Victoria consists of one street but there are almost no houses on it; I erroneously said houses earlier: these are all palaces whose foundations bathe in the bay. The balconies of these palaces face the sea and are shaded by those scraggy bananas and palms which are visible from the searoad and which have the same effect on the landscape, as a forced smile on a sad face.\n\nI didn't go ashore for about three days: I wasn't feeling well and it wasn't inviting. There was no freshness or freedom in the air. Finally on the fourth day P. and I took the ship's boat, first going alongside the Chinese quarter, consisting of two sections of population: one section lives on boats, the other in little houses which are all clustered together and cling to the very shore and some of which are fixed on piles in the water. The boats, with families on board, stand in rows in the one place, or move about the harbour, engaging in fishing, trading and if not that, then transporting people from ship to shore and back. They all have cabin-like awnings. One sees family scenes everywhere: eating, stitching, a mother breast-feeding a baby.\n\nWe pulled in to one of the numerous piers in the European quarter and through some sort of merchant house, through a crowd of Chinese, vendors and porters (coolies), through all manner of odours, we squeezed our way to the street, thinking we would be able to breathe freely there. But on drawing breath, we seemed to be swallowing hot steam and then after only a few steps we had to think about a refuge where we could shelter in real, cool shade and not that which lay along one side of the splendid street. The sun burns here, even in the shade. We ran to some shop where bales of all kinds of goods lay heaped on the floor and, incidentally, with pharmaceutical items on the shelves. For some reason they also sold soda water and aerated lemonade. Here too the English drink it with a touch of brandy, that is, cognac, ostensi-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214423, "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-1998", "page_number": 281, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "247\n\nTHE STORY OF STANLEY FORT\n\nBrief History\n\nR.G. HORSNELL\n\nThere seems to have been a military presence at Stanley since the early days of Hong Kong as a British Colony. The original barracks were situated at Chek Chue (Stanley Village), Tytam Bay. The English name seems to have been derived from the name of the Colonial Secretary of the day, Lord Stanley.1 Work on erecting new barracks commenced in 1841 and by 1857 there was accommodation available for 3 field officers, 10 officers, 1 mess room, 1 anti-room, and accommodation for 441 NCOs and men. The high rate of fever within the Hong Kong garrison resulted in a decision being taken in 1857 that Stanley Barracks was to be used as a Convalescent Station and orders were given for the unused portions of the barracks to be prepared for convalescent soldiers. With an increasing number of troops arriving in Hong Kong the accommodation problem made it necessary for the hiring of private buildings, supplemented by Madras tents which could accommodate 20 men per tent. Bell tents were not considered to be suitable, nor were the traditional Chinese matshed temporary camp structures which formerly had been used in the very early days.\n\nThe present barracks on the Tytam Peninsula, known as Stanley Fort, were built in 1936 to replace the old 1840s barracks which had been abandoned about 1895 and fallen into ruin. A contract was given to a Chinese contractor on 11 June 1936 for the following buildings:\n\n1 Barrack Block\n\n1 Sergeant's Mess\n\n1 Dining Room and Cookhouse\n\n1 Bath House\n\n1 Medical Inspection Room and a 2-Bed Ward", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214443, "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-1998", "page_number": 301, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "268\n\nleading up from ground level. The rear verandah has been bricked up. The tubular steel railings to the verandah and steps are probably not original. The building has an underfloor ventilation space formed by segmental arches bearing on brick piers. The verandah columns are square brick pillars with stop-chamfered arrises with plain plinths and capitals. Windows are metal framed with matching glazed doors. The flat roof has a parapet with coping and piers arranged above the verandah columns. Modern installations include a cat ladder to the roof on one side elevation and two floodlights mounted on poles on the roof to illuminate the volley ball court in front. The whole building is well maintained and in good condition. Photographic evidence in the PRO indicates that the roof originally was a Chinese tiled pitched roof.\n\nBarrack Blocks 1 and 2 are white painted two-storey brick buildings forming two opposite sides of the parade ground or barrack square. Both blocks have identical front elevations of plain but boldly arched verandahs of nineteen bays each. Arches are supported on square brick pillars with stop-chamfered arrises and plain unmoulded plinths and capitals. The lower floor is raised off the ground by means of segmental arches on short square brick piers forming a ventilation space below. Storey heights are emphasized by horizontal projecting string courses. The flat roofs have coped parapet walls with exposed brick piers, in vertical line with the pillars below, raised off the top string courses. The front elevation of each block is marred somewhat by the addition of a modern external staircase with balustrading and verandah railings in tubular steel. Internally there is little of architectural merit. There is evidence in the P.R.O. that when originally built Blocks 1 and 2 were left unpainted in natural brickwork and also had open verandahs on the rear elevations (now bricked up). Verandah balustrading consisted of two panels of cross diagonal braces per bay. The roofs were pitched Chinese tiled roofs with steel trusses, gable ends and chimney stacks. External rainwater pipes with hopper heads served the roof gutters. Both blocks are Grade 3 historical buildings.\n\nBlock 9, the Officers Mess, is a white painted building L-shaped in plan. The rear part of the Mess dating from 1903/4 consists of a two-storey building built in rusticated granite in Italianate style with bold arched ‘Venetian' verandahs on both sides. The lower floor is raised off the ground in a similar manner to the adjacent barrack blocks. Arches to the under floor ventilation space and ground floor verandahs", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214504, "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-1998", "page_number": 362, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "331\n\nwe had met Howard Song, the excellent local guide, and \"Mr White' the bus driver, and had arrived at the hotel (The Qingdao Shangri-La), checked in and been allocated rooms, it was already dinnertime. No problem, as all that had been planned for that day was dinner - a Chinese banquet style dinner in the hotel.\n\nMike, Sarah and I were able to brief the tour members on the story so far, how the trip had been planned and what we were going to see. I think that such a formal briefing had not been done on earlier trips but it seemed to have been well received. Following that, tour member Carol Tan, a Research Fellow at the University of Hong Kong, gave a talk on \"British Jurisdiction on Chinese Soil\" - an interesting and useful explanation of how the legally-minded British went about establishing the necessary legal framework in the many territories that came under their control. Particular reference was made to Hong Kong and Weihaiwei.\n\nTsingtao - A German Home from Home\n\nTsingtao is already well known for the remaining wealth of evidence of German influence, perhaps the most famous being the Tsingtao Brewery. The problem facing us in organising this leg of the trip was not so much what to include, but what to leave out. Arriving, as we did, on a Saturday ruled out the brewery. Visitors are normally welcome, but only during the hot summer months does beer production continue seven days a week, so as to satisfy the thirst of all who depend on the brewery's products. The port area would have been interesting, to see what is left of the original German plan for its mighty naval base. Chiao-chou Bay would also have been interesting, to go and imagine the sights that first faced the German fleet when it arrived in the area. For those with strong stomachs, I have heard that the sewer system is still a masterpiece and a tribute to German organisation and engineering. But all these had to be left out owing to time constraints.\n\nHow the plan worked out was to split the city into two parts - the \"downtown\" area, with its official buildings; and the former military and residential area, with its remaining villas and barrack buildings.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214512, "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-1998", "page_number": 370, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "339\n\ncucumber. When we asked why we could not have stayed here as well, we were told that \"it would not be appropriate.\" Draw from that what you will.\n\nInstead we stayed at the adequate Pacific Ocean Hotel. Perhaps a better choice would have been the Yantai Marina Hotel on the eastern end of the sea front. This would have been nearer to the Chefoo School and the other main places of interest to us along the seafront.\n\nWeihaiwei - An Uncertain Possession\n\nThe pace never slackened for a minute. The following morning it was “all aboard” for another anachronistic piece of Britishness. On the way to Weihaiwei, about an hour's ride from Yantai, we received a briefing from Carol Tan on the background to Britain's involvement in this piece of territory that was leased by the British from 1898 to 1930.\n\nOne or two of the party, including myself, had been there before. Indeed, Jessie Stewart had lived there as a child in the 1930s. Gillian Sunderland's family had lived here many years ago, and Rowan Callick's grandfather had been a member of the Weihaiwei Masonic Lodge. But none of us had been to Liu Kung Island, the site of the naval base, and so this part of the journey was to be a bit of a challenge - not least for the \"organiser\".\n\nPort Edward\n\nany\n\nWhat we wanted to see in Weihaiwei fell into two areas: remains of the former Port Edward in the city itself and those on Liu Kung Island. Armed with a vast collection of old photographs from the early days of the British tenancy, thanks to Arthur Hacker, we went off in search of what we could find. The most likely area seemed to be the low hill rising at the north end of the bay around which the present-day city is clustered.\n\nUp above the small naval base, set off from the main road by a small garden, is a small but charming bungalow. Was this the former governor's residence? Some controversy here. The majority view was that the building was not grand enough. Perhaps it was the naval", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214758, "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-1999", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "TRANSLATION OF \n\n\"RUSSELS MATHEMATICAL TABLES” \n\nP.J. ASTON \n\n137 \n\nIntroduction \n\nThe Japanese attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941. Seven-teen days later, on Christmas day, the brave but outnumbered defending forces surrendered and were put into prisoner of war camps in which many died. A young squadron leader in the RAF, Donald Hill, kept a diary of events during the battle for Hong Kong and for a while during his captivity. In order to keep it secret, he wrote it in a numerical code which, according to the cover of the book in which he wrote, was supposedly \"Russels Mathematical Tables”. Donald survived the camp and brought the diary out with him, However, his experiences were so traumatic that he did not like to talk about them. The diary was never translated before his death in 1985. I decoded the diary in 1996 revealing, for the first time in nearly 55 years, this first hand account of the battle for Hong Kong and life as a prisoner of war.\n\nSHARJOITAH 18 304714 10 d4d3 Ida7a731644 2779 \n\nYou 7016/049 1760BR277] (630323223 (63 70 31 24 120 273-75728314 1/2003 2338 74/75 242123OSH THIN CHAVAKSA 17/03/\n\n5972/BLYV7221707031 790 EJIZZA VE MAM 787 7670 2729/0/4 BAR) 2377 7030 JATT 1808 SAB777238:14 H135-83310742277607 \n\n7383747075337273/21/20-014131176/A \n\n7634225781788 17249150BRAD5-9120/61/0N73 \n\nANGRIA. \n\n770773 1976 SAUNANGAKA127 1273 321 1772 5635 ELDR: 170 KEADILANJA \n\n** \n\n36 KTA JADI 01270765 2301#2777/03077 \n\nMAA VENA DELECTABlanco FIO O PAÍ \n\nA sample of \"Russels Mathematical Tables\". \n\n香港仔店收容所", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214763, "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-1999", "page_number": 178, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "142\n\nthe weather. Spend half the night pouring rum into semiconscious men who are dead tired after sleepless nights with very little food. We have no reserves and everyone has had a gruelling time. A Canadian sergeant from Campbell's party returns to our pillbox at midnight in a state of mental and physical collapse and reports that all his party have been killed. A few hours later another Canadian arrives in a similar condition and with the same story. Worst night I can ever remember and never was the dawn more welcome.\n\nSunday twenty first. Naval personnel recalled by the Commodore for defence of the dockyard, leaving us seventy Canadians. We all carry a good supply of grenades as the Japs are very skilled at getting to close quarters without being spotted. The Jap soldiers wear rubber shoes and are as stealthy as cats. They carry a bag of grenades, automatic weapons and a light rifle of quarter inch calibre. They always attack at night and from all directions. Their snipers seem to be everywhere. Japs now using their mortars and artillery much more, being firmly entrenched on Shu Shun Hill. Our artillery do some excellent shooting at Shu Shun and Japs run in all directions. No one seems to know where the Japs are or how many there are. The High Command, whose daily communiques reveal nothing, seem to know less than anyone else. Chang Kai Shek's army reported attacking Japs in the rear and we are told to hang on as they will be with us in a few days.\n\nMonday, Japs break through Middle Gap and are now very close to us. Scots take a heavy toll and retake some positions but Japs always come back in strength. There is no doubt now that the Japs have a very large force on the island, well equipped and experts in this guerilla warfare. Spend the night on continuous watch. The men very jumpy as every sound has to be investigated. If only one could see them instead of this hide and seek. In several cases the Japs have crept up to pillboxes and dropped grenades down the airshaft, killing everyone inside.\n\nTuesday twenty third. Several Canadians who had been given up as lost return with amazing stories. Many wounded Indians come through our lines kitless but not broken. Heavy shelling of Bennetts. Just before dark enemy start terrific bombardment of our positions. Hundreds of shells whistle just over our heads. Major Baillee rings up constantly and seems very jumpy about our positions. At two am he", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214775, "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-1999", "page_number": 190, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "154\n\nFourteenth and fifteenth. Florrie brings a huge parcel including a Chinese mingtoia blanket, sheet and pillow case, and food. What an angel and one I hope to repay her. Another death from dysentry and many more sick.\n\nWeek ending twenty second. Slightly warmer but was thankful for that blanket. Singapore has fallen which is a severe blow. Cholera outbreak in colony and we fear it will reach the camp as sanitary conditions are awful and men in very low state, especially Scots. Two men killed at Kai Tak by a landslide. At GOC's conference he gives us the daily news from BBC as there is still a set working. Japs shoot two Chinese who were marched through the camp onto the jetty where they were shot in the back. Food bad and little of it but worst of all, practically no medical requisites.\n\nWeek ending twenty ninth. Florrie turns up every few days and tells me the Japs have turned her out of her flat and pinched all her jewellery. I wish I could help her and I tell her to leave the Colony. Governor's chief of staff and retenue visit the camp. Another two hours on parade. Much warmer and Chippy, Tressider and I cut each other's hair off. We look extremely funny but it feels cool. Two Scots escape and Japs have rigid check on evening parade. Wet and cold again and running short of footwear. Owing to fifth columnists in the camp Japs suspect we have a wireless so GOC orders it to be destroyed. A three hour parade in the rain and Japs search our rooms. They find a couple of wireless sets. No more BBC news now, just wild rumours. Two Scots who escaped have been shot. A proclamation is read to us forbidding escapes, all who are caught will be shot and severe reprisals taken against our comrades. Malnutrition very noticeable. Personally I feel very fit thanks to Florrie's parcels.\n\nWeek ending seventh March. Japs interview my wireless people but I had prepared them for it and the Japs get nothing out of them. Florrie still sending parcels. Chippy also gets one from his wife. The women of HK are doing grand work, little do they know the difference their presence and gifts of food make to us. Usual two parades a day and life is becoming a little monotonous. Japs send for me and Fam escorted out of camp by George, the Jap WO, and a Portuguese interpretor. I am taken to the camp commandant's office where the officers are very pleasant and give me some cigarettes. I ask the English...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214848, "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-1999", "page_number": 263, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "230\n\n47 United Service Journal 1841, pp.531-2. The latter could not always be guaranteed, as we have seen.\n\n48\n\nThe British navy was the major element in this technical superiority. These were still the days of sail, when its ships' commanders' chosen tactic in a fight was to force their enemy into submission. This was achieved by means of the broadside, the firing together of all guns on one side of a ship, resulting in \"the hull-and-gun-crew-smashing at which they excelled\" (Geoffrey Best, War and Society in Revolutionary Europe, 1770-1870, Fontana Paperbacks, 1982, p.146). In China, the same \"hull-smashing\" tactics were employed by the British navy against forts and city walls, with equally devastating effects. The inclusion in the expeditionary force of war steamers like the famous Nemesis, which could sail into any bay or anchorage regardless of wind and tide, meant that the British navy's supremacy was completely overwhelming.\n\n49\n\nSome examples may suffice. Upon coming from India, leaving only six men sick at Fort William, the 26th Regiment had numbered 28 officers and 902 other ranks. By the end of 1840, only 110 were fit for duty, having lost 240 by death and hundreds of others in hospital or too weak to go on parade. Yet this was the regiment, which, thanks to the healthy regime instituted in India by Colonel Oglander, had had a remarkable record of freedom from death and sickness. Holt, p. 112. Between 21 July 1842, upon its first landing at Chin-kiang-foo up to February 1844 - a period of little more than eighteen months - the unfortunate 98th Regiment had lost by death alone 432 out of 766 non-commissioned officers and men. Shadwell, p.123.\n\n50 Cree, pp. 117-8.\n\n51 Davis, ibid.\n\n52 \"The country round Chapoo beats anything we have yet seen, indeed I defy anything hardly to equal it in beauty, one immense valley as far as the eye could reach covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, with the people going on with their employment in the fields quite unconcerned.\" Blackwood's 1964, p.157.\n\n53 Holt, pp.152-3.\n\n54 Cited by Davis, Chinese Miscellanies, p. 179.\n\nBingham, Vols. 1, pp.3 and 277, and 11, p. 156", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214983, "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-2000", "page_number": 79, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "35\n\nOn the British side, other nationalities were considered for recruitment for use in Labour Corps, including Egyptians (thought to be reliable), Indians (considered to be lazy and would be affected by the climate), Maltese (whom Kitchener thought bad workers), as well as conscientious objectors, but were deemed for various reasons to be unsuitable. There were Labour Corps serving in France from Egypt, Fiji, India, Malta, Mauritius, Seychelles, the British West Indies as well as a Native Labour Corps from South Africa.\n\nFollowing protracted negotiations between Beijing, the British Government and the War Office, the first contingent of 1078 coolies, under six officer candidates, one doctor and one regular Army captain, left Weihai Wei on 18th January 1917, three months after recruitment commenced.\n\nThe (British Army) Labour Corps was formed in April 1917 from various ASC, RE and infantry labour units which had come into existence from the early days of the war to meet the need for unskilled labour in large numbers for handling stores, constructing rear lines of defence, making and repairing roads, etc.\n\nAt the same time a Directorate of Labour was formed at GHQ, BEF, to take over the control, administration and allocation of all labour. Companies belonging to the Chinese or similar Labour Corps were included but not RE technical units.\n\nChinese were recruited both directly and through the Wei-min and other recruiting companies while Chinese-speaking British personnel for officers were contacted directly through the British Legation in Peking. Later, advertisements were placed in newspapers throughout the British Empire seeking Chinese-speaking Europeans to enlist as officers and NCOs in the CLC.\n\nThe Chinese, invariably from the “up-country” farming class, were mainly recruited from the provinces of Shandong and Zhili [Chihli in the former romanisation, and the metropolitan area covering much of present-day Hubei province]. They were considered physically strong and were used to adverse weather conditions. Others also came from the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and even as far as Gansu. This was ascertained from the graves of those visited.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215028, "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-2000", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "80\n\nAppendix B to CLC in France\n\nI am indebted to Claudine, my wife, for translating a booklet I received from Noyelles-sur-Mer, in which there are some personal reminiscences and a few facts, these from a French point of view, concerning life at that time and the CLC.\n\nI quote:\n\nWork conditions were sometimes extremely dangerous. Deaths also occurred from epidemics such as \"Spanish flu\" at the end of the war and poor hygienic living conditions, with many dying at Camp No. 3 at Noyelles-sur-Mer.\n\nUniform of the CLC appeared [to the French] bizarre in being blue padded jacket, with funny hats, but not as funny as the kepi.\n\nThe Chinese adored to eat apples and so the French locals, as usual, exploited this in charging high prices.\n\nThe hospital in the Camp appeared to resemble a park for madmen. On the night of 23 May 1918, when the munitions dump at Saigneville was bombed, this unsettled some members of the CLC who destroyed the barbed wire surrounding their camp and escaped, being found after a few days.\n\nMme Nataly Salle [born 1900] remembers the Chinese and said that, due to bad treatment meted out to them, no one wished to speak.\n\nThe grandparents of Mme Félicienne Bruvy, stated that they were savages, mad and dangerous. They were lazy, greasy, stupid and ugly. They also apparently murdered her grandparents.\n\nMme Salle said that many Chinese died from bad treatment. 'The Gestapo never invented anything like this 25 years later'. But Mme Salle, whose husband, Valery, worked in the cemetery for 15 years said “It was the war”. 'They would be beaten like dogs by the guards and the English police. They removed their shoes, undressed them and told them to lie on tables where they were whipped until they bled. And then they would be scrubbed with a brush and hot water to cover...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215071, "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-2000", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "124\n\nHong, was a special deity said to save people from the 'fifteen bad deaths.' Images of both Yin Hong and Yin Jiao flanked that of the Jade Emperor on the latter's altar. The brothers were portrayed, rather surprisingly, sitting naked and with claws, beaks and wings. Grootaers writing about the Kalgan district of northern China, said that Yin Jiao was never seen on altars except as an attendant of the Jade Emperor.\n\nIn a small folk religion temple at the roadside in Kuala Selangor an image of Taisui has a tiger sitting beside him and when asked the reason for this the temple custodian explained that Taisui keeps a tight control over the tiger who would otherwise eat people's luck. A similar image, holding a bell in his right hand and with a pair of tigers, stands on the Taisui altar in a temple in Cholon [Saigon].\n\nIn Ningbo in the 1890s the Gods of Time, of the year, months, days and hours were, according to one missionary, all represented with long black moustaches, and with the central one seated beneath a triple scarlet umbrella richly embroidered in gold representing the highest emblem of authority.\n\nSixty images [presumably Taisui, though the observer did not actually spell it out] ranged down the side walls of the Temple of the Three Emperors in the Native City in Shanghai in 1906, with twenty-six on one side and thirty-four on the other. Paper 'shoes' representing silver sycee [money] were burnt as offerings.\n\nOther images of Taisui have been referred to in all parts of China by western travellers in groups of sixty. One traveller, Grainger, noted all sixty in one temple in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in 1921, were worshipped for rain and called 'The Spirits of the Rain Dragon of the Year' [Dangnian Xingyu Longshen].\n\nThe Legend of Taisui\n\n19\n\n18\n\nThe story of Yin Jiao begins with him being born a lump of formless flesh which so horrified his father, King Zhou E, that he ordered it to be abandoned outside the city walls. The lump was recognised as an immortal, the caul split open and the child removed. Cared for by a hermit he was brought up and nursed by one of the Eight Immortals, He Xiangu. When he came of age he was told about his birth and about", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215076, "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-2000", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "129\n\nday no one should take a bath or bury the dead. However, on another it might be an auspicious day for a head shave but a bad day for starting the construction of a house. It was referred to by Couling in his Encyclopaedia Sinica as the Calendar of Superstitions. It does not take much imagination to realize that such a calendar has to be accurate as every movement of the stars influences human destiny, from birth to death, through marriage, travel and business and any error in calculating the calendar would make the whole meaningless.\n\nSince remote antiquity Chinese have recorded each individual year by pairs of characters. These are a combination taken from two sets, one of twelve characters and the other of ten, producing a cycle of sixty pairs, with the individual pairs identifying the year of an event or the age of a person. The sixty-year cycles consist of sixty possible combinations of individual characters, one from the ten stems [tiangan] and the other from the twelve branches [dizhi]; beginning with the first of the branches, Jia, and the first of the stems, Zi, together forming a combination for the first year of the sixty, Jia Zi. Each successive year has another pair designating it for the whole sexagenary cycle when the combination begins again. The \"branches\" were originally used to designate successive days; however, since the Han they have been used in combinations for successive years. A second separate system used reign periods to mark events.\n\nAlso within that sixty year repetitive cycle each individual year, with the five sequences of twelve years, was known, not only by the combination of stem and branch but also, for simplicity, by the animal of the year. Thus, the year 2000 is the Gengchen year as well as being the year of the Dragon. 1988 was and 2012 will also be the year of the Dragon but neither will be Gengchen years as this only comes round once every sixty years. For example, the Gengchen year 1940 was sixty years earlier than the Gengchen year 2000 with the next Gengchen year being 2060. Sixty years of age, a full cycle, used to be regarded as a good old age, and any years of life thereafter were regarded as a blessing and a bonus.\n\nShould the average Chinese be asked about a specific happening in the past he would reply that it happened 'several moons [months] ago,' or 'several years ago,' and often when discussing historical happenings the response would be a round figure of a thousand or two", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215080, "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-2000", "page_number": 176, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "133\n\nchambers or tanks. The most famous of the early clocks was constructed in the then national capital, Kaifeng, about the time of the Norman Conquest of Britain, by Su Song [1020 - 1101 AD]. Su Song, born in Tongan county in Fujian province where he is still revered within the Su ancestral hall, created an astronomical clocktower in which he incorporated his mechanical clock, a celestial globe and an armillary sphere. The difference between water clocks until the time of Su Song and his invention was his creation of an escapement mechanism which controlled the regular movement of the small water tanks providing previously unheard of accuracy.\n\nThe Twenty-eight Constellations\n\nIn early China the visible stars were divided into 28 zones or constellations, referred to as lunar mansions. These provided manageable proportions of the heavens, with seven in each of the four directions. The selection of twenty-eight reflects the time it takes the moon to make a complete circuit of the stars, a fraction under twenty-eight days. Books describing such celestial spirits, printed in Taiwan, illustrate each spirit with a sketch showing the \"human\" form and giving its attributes. Although usually regarded as a group, in some places a number of these celestial spirits, always mythological, are referred to individually in legend or by ritual specialists. According to religious specialists each of the stellar deities of the Twenty-eight Constellations has a title and a specific role, the latter differing depending upon the individual ritual specialists or books.\n\nThe Pole Star was also the celestial base of the several deities, the main one being the Northern Emperor, also known as the Dark Warrior, Xuan Wu, one of the spirits of great antiquity who ruled one quarter of the universe. Each of the Thirty-six stars of the Plough was a legendary hero recorded in one of the numerous stories of the deification of and struggles between the deities. They are deities of good omen, whereas the Seventy-two Stars of ill-omen, without individual legends, are just that, stellar spirits of bad luck. The great popularity of the Northern Emperor has rested for many centuries on devotees' belief in the mighty magical powers with which he suppresses demonic forces with his Daoist Pole Star sect, Beiji Pai, of which he is the patron, centred at Wudang Shan in Hubei. Xuan Wu was the Lord of the northern sector of the 28 Lunar Mansions and as one of the Spirits of the Four", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215081, "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-2000", "page_number": 177, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "134\n\nQuadrants of the 28 Heavenly Constellations, the image of Chen Wu [Xuan Wu], as Lord of the North, was usually to be seen on altars, usually in Daoist monastery or temple entrance halls, together with the Azure Dragon [Qing Long] of the East, the Vermilion Bird [Zhu Qiao] of the South and the White Tiger [Bai Hu] of the West, where they were the guardians.\n\nAlthough Tai Sui is the Minister of Time, another major deity, Fu Xi, has been credited not only with the establishment of kingly rule, of marriage laws, but also the computation of time by inventing a form of calendar using a knotted cord. The Eight Trigrams [bagua] are attributed to him as well as the development of a system of fortune telling using these trigrams which has governed the lives of a great many Chinese ever since.\n\nYang Ren\n\nThere is ambiguity over the rôles of the two deities, Yin Jiao and Yang Ren. In the very early days, before the emergence of the concept of the stems, the twelve branches were represented by images of the deities of the year with all twelve portrayed on altars in temples, especially in northern China where they were regarded as an entity commanded by Yang Ren. Later, when the Sixty Spirits of Taisui, that is the sixty cyclic deities, replaced the Twelve, they too were commanded by Yang Ren - or by Yin Jiao depending on local legend. According to the Fengshen Yanyi Yang Ren is the Jiazi Taisui [the first of the sixty combinations] and is known as Jiazi Taisui Zhengshen.\n\nXIE. [see photograph 4: with small hands emerging from the eye sockets] whilst Yin Jiao, as we have seen above, was identified in the same historical novel as the President of the Ministry of Time. Though we have accepted Yin Jiao as the President of the Ministry and Yang Ren being the identity of the primary Taisui, the picture is far from conclusive.\n\nThe Ten Stems and Twelve Branches have been represented in human form in a number of temples but, as far as can be ascertained, none has been connected with the Lord of Time, Taisui. One of two side walls of the main hall of a temple near Pingyang in Shanxi province representing the Lord of the Northern Dipper, Zhen Wu, contains 13th century frescoes depicting ten figures. These represent five of the Ten", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215308, "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": 85, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "33\n\ncould also be a day for worshipping at the graves—a spring practice spread over several possible days. There is likely to have been a link of association between the She and the dead—in a way similar to what can still be discerned in some southern parts of China today. The offerings on this day were sometimes made in a grand style with cavalcades and officiants engaging the spirits. It was an occasion for feasting, drinking and games.\n\n31\n\nThere was another festivity in the second lunar month of the year which was called Hua Zhao or 'Flower Dawn,' which occurred on the full moon day, the fifteenth of the moon. The festival is mentioned in chronicles from Tongshan, Baling,32 Yingshan,33 Zhongxiang,34 and Gong'an.35 If the sky was clear on this day in Baling, then the cotton plants would have a good harvest.36 In Gong'an there were similarly good prospects for cotton if there was a clear full moon on this night.37\n\nThe Flower Dawn as a social event is not extensively described, but we learn that in Zhongxiang there were outdoor activities in the open country outside the town, and so there were presumably also picnics. It is said that gentry and commoners ta qing—‘trod on the greenness’—and they dou bai cao ‘gathered one hundred grasses.’\n\nTa qing is a name for a spring outing, and the designation for this festive picnic is in the wider Chinese world associated with various dates, like the eighth day of the first moon, the second day of the second moon and the third day of the third moon. It is also generally held to be among the customs of Qing Ming in early April, even signifying grave visits. In this present corpus of ethnography we find mention of ‘treading on the greenness’ at the Flower Dawn. Dou bai cao was a game in which people armed themselves with stalks of grass. From each of a pair of stalks was pressed a drop of liquid and the two drops were\n\n31 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1223:風俗考2a.\n\n32 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1166:風俗考4a.\n\n33 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1142:風俗考2a.\n\n34 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1193:風俗考3b.\n\n35 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1223:風俗考2a.\n\n36 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1193:風俗考3b.\n\n37 古今圖書集成,1888.VI,1120:風俗考6ab.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215339, "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": 116, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "64\n\n5: Shared with other Han Ethnic Groups\n\n[though regarded by Hainanese as Unique Hainanese Deities]\n\na] Madame Xian, Xian Tai Furen ★★↑ is a deity whose image has only been noted on two altars in Hainanese folk religion temples, within fifteen miles of each other, in southern Malaysia, in Rengam and Kluang. The image is of a standard matron, and in both temples it stands alongside images of Tian Hou, the patron deity of seafarers, and Shuiwei Shengmu.\n\nMadame Xian was the wife of Feng Bao, an official of the Liang dynasty who became prefect of Gaoliang and who died at the age of 44 in AD 558. Before her marriage, she had been schooled at home by an extraordinary teacher who not only taught her secret practices but also military strategy and tactics. Despite having trained and commanded troops in battle, she also frequently showed her alter ego trying to persuade her relatives, and in particular her brother, to be kind and considerate. Her brother was markedly different from her. He used the skills she had imparted to him to attack neighbouring areas, causing great misery and hardship, and though it took time, she eventually managed to persuade him to stop causing trouble to others. The peace that then reigned brought many over to her side, and her exploits came to the notice of Feng Rong, the prefect of Gangzhou, who arranged for her to marry his son, Feng Bao.\n\nAlthough Feng Bao, as prefect of Gaoliang, was fair and strict, his orders were still not being carried out, and Madame Xian, now his wife of some years, first warned her husband's subordinates and then drafted orders which stated that anyone who committed a crime, even blood relations of officials, would be punished severely. From then on, laws were applied with great fairness, and criminals were deterred.\n\nA few days later, Li did rebel and sent an army under General Dou Shi to take over power in the capital. Madame Xian pondered that if her husband joined battle against Dou Shi, there would be bitter fighting and many casualties. She realized that Dou Shi was a poor general who was locked in combat with the emperor's forces and would be unable to assist Li Qianshi in Gaozhou; therefore, she and her husband should devise a way to defeat Li by strategy. She told her husband that he", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215398, "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": 175, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "124 \n\n“呈盧督頌詞”的中國象徵圖案 \n\n竹 : 在冬天仍然生長茁壯的長青植物, 因能耐寒而象徵長壽。 \n\nChinese symbolism in The Tribute \n\nBamboo : Evergreen and flourishes throughout the winter, an emblem of longevity owing to its durability. \n\n貔貅 : 象徵來與長齡, 據中華藥忠記記載 \n\nBar \n\n色白如銀, 吃它的術可得長壽和遐齡 \n\n獼猴桃 : 刺繡品中常見的圖案 紫微歡樂與愛情, 是中國的愛神 \n\nButterfly : A favourite theme for embroidery: an emblem of joy and conjugal felicity - the Chinese Cupid. \n\n菊花 : 當其他花卉在秋天凋謝時, 獨有菊花仍然盛開, 耐冷期不懼風霜。 \n\nChrysanthemum : Blooms in the autumn when all the other flowers have withered. Can withstand chilly weather and the autumn wind. \n\n鹿 : 象徵長壽, 因為人們相信牠的壽命很長, 是唯一可找到靈芝的動物。 \n\nDeer : Believed to be a very great age emblem of long life. The only animal which is able to find the fungus of immortality. \n\n龍 : 東方的龍是力量和善良的天才, 是四種有智慧的生物之一, 象徵警惕和守護, 也用在香港殖民地時期的紋章上。 \n\nDragon : The Eastern dragon is the genius of strength and goodness; one of the four intelligent creatures, emblem of vigilance and safeguard; a feature of the coat of arms of colonial Hong Kong \n\n翡翠鳥 : 根據古代傳說, 為了與海慎微型巢於海面, 在孵卵期能平息波浪, 因此有「平靜的日子」之說。 \n\nKingfisher : Halcyon : fabled by the ancients to build its nest on the surface of the sea and calm the troubled waves, during its incubation period; hence the phrase 'halcyon days'. \n\n靈芝 : 一種不朽的植物; 食用它可帶來不朽。 \n\nLing Zhi : An immond plant; brings immortality to those who eat it. \n\n龍 : 主宰百獸的雄偉動物, 象徵勇猛和精力充沛; 也是香港殖民地時期紋章的特色。 \n\nLon \n\nLotus : 蓮花是純潔和完美的象徵。 \n\nLotus : A symbol of purity and perfection. \n\n玉蘭 : 一種迎接春天的花卉。 \n\nMagnolia : A flower that welcomes the spring. \n\n鴛鴦 : 象徵幸福的夫妻和夫婦的忠貞。 \n\nMandarin duck : Symbol of a happy couple and conjugal fidelity.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215409, "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": 186, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "135\n\nthe town of Pontevedra into prominence during the first half of the sixteenth century. They provide interesting insights into the social factors that favoured the development of this kind of structure, and remind us of Macao's pre-eminence in the region due to the trade with Japan.\n\nFrom Late Gothic times the town became the centre of a cofraria or confraternity of Pontevedra seamen in the southern region of Galicia. Its wealthy trading ships sailed to Portugal, France and Italy and the church's construction by the cofraria was a direct result of the city's commercial prosperity.7\n\nCornelis of Holland and Juan Nobre, probably a Portuguese, started work on the façade of the church in 1541. These master masons and their team of artists actually superimposed their large carved Late Gothic decoration onto the front of an early sixteenth-century church.\n\nThis highly decorative \"stone altarpiece\" is in fact fitted, in imitation of a real main altarpiece, into the apse-like space created by the wall of the church and the two large plain buttresses framing it. Apart from its function as a refined embellishment to the church and city, the sole reason that such a large decorative work should be erected outdoors on top of a high hill was evidently that it could be seen for miles around and from the river below, especially by seamen and traders aboard ship.\n\nIt is divided into five bays, comprised of a large central bay and two adjoining narrow ones at either side, divided horizontally into five storeys. The three lower storeys are sculptured and stand forward, away from the two upper ones executed in lower relief. Stone steps lead to a sumptuous terrace and to an equally sumptuous façade (Fig. 3).\n\nIn spite of its 1541 date, rather outmoded Early Plateresque baluster columns are used throughout. But there is little one can say against the delightful Netherlandish fantasy of these columns and their carving (Fig. 4).\n\nMore important to my arguments are the reliefs of its central bay. They have as focus a depicting the Dormition of Mary, which in style recalls Gothic retables of the School of Cologne and others (Fig. 5).8", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215416, "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": 193, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "142\n\nhimself, as well as the whole of their missionary activity in Asia and the Far East, including Macao, accounts for this. Sadly, as in Macao's Madre de Deus (which apparently was popularly called St. Paul's because of the Goa college and church), today only a pitiful ruin remains of this artistic and historic treasure, with merely a section of the entrance façade with its stone portal standing (Fig. 8).\n\nThe entangled history of the church's abandonment and final decay need not concern us here. But conveniently for my main arguments, the small section that does survive displays an Arch of Triumph integrated to the wall. Here engaged Corinthian columns, paired and elegantly fluted, standing on bases decorated with diamond-shaped reliefs and carrying a broken entablature frame the half-circular entrance arch. Artistically and technically this feature is close to the sophistication of Italian Renaissance architecture.\n\nSince neither the famous college nor its church survives, Mário Chicó attempted to reconstruct the latter by means of drawings based on contemporary descriptions. He believed it to be the prototype for one of two types of Indo-Portuguese churches. He also convincingly argued that of the two types that of the façade of São Paulo is the closer to Serlio and Italian Renaissance architecture.\n\nIn Chicó's published drawing the façade of the church is shown as having three storeys, plus a pedimented attic. The three storeys are divided into three bays by projecting pilasters with entablatures, with openings for entrances and square and round windows. There is a niche for a titular image in the attic, which is joined to the floors below by the pilasters of the middle bay and by volutes.\n\nIt's an imaginative reconstruction, especially the fact that the façade has comparatively little decoration. It relies for effect on the more purely abstract lines of the design and on the main feature of its decoration, its Arch of Triumph.\n\nThe artistic and symbolic potency of the motif and its application as decoration to the façades of religious architecture was one that was not actually initiated by either the architects or the religious members of the Society of Jesus in Italy, Spain, Portugal or India. Rather it was one that the Jesuits had readily accepted and were able to effectively", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215418, "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": 195, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "144\n\nof Triumph theme itself has been incorporated here into a more sumptuous design and at first glance is not immediately apparent.\n\nAlthough it is not possible to discuss it in detail, one should at least take note of the articulation of the façade. Its luxuriously applied decoration is executed in a soft local stone and stands out from the brick wall, once coated in white plaster. It starts with Corinthian columns on three bays of the ground floor that connect to Doric and Corinthian pilasters in the two storeys above and a fanciful Mannerist Composite order with decorative shafts in the attic. But the overall design is highly compartmentalized by means of large buttresses framing the corners and central bay in the shape of classical brick pilasters rising on all storeys.\n\nHowever, in spite of similarities, one can see a marked difference to the churches the Jesuits has built previously. Quite novel are the Mannerist carvings now embellishing practically the whole design of the façade of the Bom Jesus. The rendition of the symbol of the Society of Jesus in the attic, inside an oculus framed by a Mannerist cartouche upheld by eight angels, as well as other unusual details, is typical of the Mannerist style (Fig.10).\n\nStarted in 1601 the Collegiate Church of the Society in Diu is the second most important example of a new development in Jesuit churches in India. Its proper name is Espírito Santo, or Church of the Holy Spirit. The design of the front elevation basically reproduces that of the Bom Jesús, except that it has been greatly unified by the abolition of the third storey and the compartments created by the buttresses in that building (Figs. 11,12).\n\nIn ornamental extravagance its carved white stucco decoration outdoes the Bom Jesús and it has been argued that this is partly due to the influence of Indian architecture.\n\nBoth the influence of retables claimed by D. Kowal for the Jesuit portals showing arches of triumph in Velha Goa and Baçaim, as well as the decorative complexity of the fronts of the Bom Jesus and Espiritu Santo are new developments. They point the way towards the even more novel departures seen in the façade of the Church of Madre de Deus in Macao.\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215426, "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": 203, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "152\n\npair emerges at the back of the fourth storey. These six lions obviously served the same purpose as the gargoyles of Gothic churches, and may be void of iconographic meaning. In this case more important than classical orthodoxy for the Jesuits was evidently the incorporation and integration of Chinese and Japanese decorative motifs.\n\nPurpose of Decoration\n\nOne of the most striking features betraying the influence of retables is the profusion of religious symbols adorning the walls of the frontispiece, an esoteric hieroglyphic language growing in iconographic intensity as it moves towards the top. In purely architectural terms this richness of imagery appears to be mainly artistic and non-functional, and is not found to this extent in the decoration of more conventional church façades. However, it is something typical of Counter-Reformation altarpieces, one of its main purposes being a didactic one. Not only the structure, but also the decorative dialogue of the façade also reveals it to be a mixture of medieval scholasticism and Renaissance classicism.\n\nAnother characteristic of retables found in the façade is the hierarchy and progression of symbols and sculptured images that goes from bottom to top. For example, instead of the geometric decoration of the first storey, the second storey's bays display naturalistic bas-reliefs of palm trees. The bronzes themselves start with images of blessed and saints, above which appear those of the Virgin and Jesus.\n\nThe upper half of the façade consists of a third storey united to those below by carved volutes, and a fourth storey or attic joined to it by segmental brackets and crowned by a large pediment displaying the dove of the Holy Spirit.\n\nIn this upper half there are several Chinese inscriptions, further attesting to the didactic purpose of the decoration. Although these apparently were not the work of Chinese artists knowledgeable of calligraphy,25 they are quite legible and visible from the upper steps and the entrance courtyard below. There can be little doubt that their main purpose was to make the iconographic and calligraphic messages of the frontispiece, largely concentrated in the upper half of the façade, clear to the Chinese population and to potential Chinese converts.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215430, "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": 207, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "156\n\nPopular Jesuit devotional manuals of the times prove useful. A good example is a 1617 book of poetry that was quickly disseminated after its author's death. The Officium parvum Immaculata Conceptionis, or Small Office, by the Spanish Jesuit St. Alfonso Rodriguez intersperses a brilliant cluster of Marian symbols amongst its prayers. Besides the Fountain, the Spotless Mirror, the Enclosed Garden and the Cypress, the Small Office also sings the praises of the Palm tree, the New Star of Jacob, the Eastern Door of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Port of Shipwrecks and others. Thus, the closed door underneath the decorative pyramid topped by a globe seen on the farthest right-hand bay of the façade can be equated to Rodriguez's porta orientalis of the Temple of Jerusalem, taken from Ezekiel, which remained ever closed after the Lord Yahweh had passed through it.\n\nOther carved symbols can be deciphered with other contemporary texts. For instance, one of the three left bay reliefs carved on the base of the third storey shows the seven-branched candlestick of the Jewish Tabernacle. Here it is reasonable to infer that this is a literary conceit typical of much of sixteenth century Mannerist literature in Europe. Thus, through allusion Mary's immaculate earthly body has been likened to a tabernacle and related to the Eucharistic mystery. This is because Mary carried the baby Jesus in her womb in the same way that the consecrated host is housed in a tabernacle, a cryptic simile known from Counter-Reformation religious literature.”\n\nSuch an interpretation is further confirmed by the reliefs decorating the section of the base of the third storey below the two adjoining bays, as well as the left volute. They show a stylised vine and a small monstrance amid branches with berries.\n\nThese reliefs correspond to the flowering plants that adorn the mirror on the right. Like the flowered pedestals of the columns, these plants seem to be more decorative than symbolic, depicting specimens of Chinese or Japanese flora in which Far Eastern artists have been encouraged to integrate more traditional painterly images with images of Western origin. As is the case with the gargoyles in the form of Chinese lions, they attest to the significant role played by Chinese and Japanese artists in the design and execution of the decoration of the church.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215565, "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": 342, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "292\n\nI am sorry I cannot tell you much about the life of the keepers. If you have not been able to question Charlie Thirlwell (and people like him) then it is likely their story has gone forever. Sad, but so many stories are already lost.\n\nThe good news however is that, over a period spanning approaching half a century, the author has been able to question, off and on, some of Hong Kong's lighthouse keepers, together with seafarers and Government Marine Department staff. Accounts given by them and the life keepers led are detailed in this paper. Much of the material is based on oral history gleaned in discussions with Government Marine Department staff, both serving and retired, as well as other persons. Both authors have made several visits to Hong Kong's lighthouses and have appeared on television programmes about them (Video; 2001).\n\nEmphasis in this paper has been placed on Waglan Lighthouse because, situated approaching five kilometres from and to the south of Cape D'Aguilar, and nearly 13 kilometres from Lei Yue Mun, Waglan is the most isolated lighthouse in the Territory (Banister; 1932, 50) (Lee, HC). Other lighthouses include those at Cape D'Aguilar and Cape Collinson, both on Hong Kong Island. Others at Green Island and Kap Sing lighthouse are both within harbour limits.\n\nClimatic conditions\n\nThe author recalls visiting Waglan Lighthouse with the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) by boat on a lovely afternoon on Saturday 9th June 1990. Indeed on some days out there in the South China Sea it can be idyllic - a not-to-be-forgotten experience. Terrence Courtney, an Australian who served as Superintendent of Lights in the late 1950s and '60s, used to stay overnight on the island because he found it ‘enchanting.' He slept in an isolated, small, brick building which is still standing.\n\nBut the helipad, constructed in mid-1982, destroyed much of the romance although helicopters do of course provide a vital service - if a keeper fell seriously ill for example. Also, they were useful for getting keepers on and off Waglan in bad weather. Previously, it had sometimes meant their being hauled up or lowered in a basket which served the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215566, "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": 343, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "293\n\nsame purpose as a breeches buoy. With extremely bad weather it could mean, with supplies running low, men having to stay on the island for an extra couple of days or so before they could be relieved.30\n\nBut lighthouses are constructed in exposed positions because of their role and for much of the time out there in the South China Sea life can be anything but enviable. One can even be swept away by hurricane force winds and huge waves in mountainous seas (Jones; 1985, 387). One only has to live in Hong Kong for a relatively short period to realize what the weather can be like (Dyson; 1983). For example, the typhoon which struck the colony on 2nd September 1937 was said to have been the worst natural disaster in Hong Kong's recorded history. Estimates of the final toll range up to 11,000 dead.\n\nBy comparison the Battle of Hong Kong, which lasted from 8th to 25th December 1941, saw some 2,250 Allied servicemen killed, an estimated 4,500 Japanese deaths, plus unknown but significant civilian casualties (Dyson; 1983, 62). Since World War Two, death tolls from typhoons have been lower because of today's more efficient weather forecasting and warning systems.\n\nThe maximum recorded gust in Hong Kong was 259 kilometres an hour at the Royal Observatory during the passage of Typhoon Wanda, on 1st September 1962 (Hong Kong Observatory; 1999). On that occasion Waglan recorded a gust of 216 kilometres an hour. The maximum gust ever recorded at Waglan was 230 kilometres per hour. This was during the passage of Typhoon Ruby on 5th September 1964.\n\nTry to imagine being cooped up in the cylindrical prism of Waglan Lighthouse, with windows that do not open and no air-conditioning, after the Number Ten Typhoon Signal had been hoisted.31 This signal indicates a probable direct hit. It was not until the 1970s that the lighthouse watch tower was air-conditioned.\n\nIt is recorded that, in 1893, a severe typhoon passed over Gap Rock (which can be seen by telescope from Waglan).32 This caused extensive damage to the lighthouse which extinguished the light for several days (Hong Kong; 1962, 14). In spite of the base of the tower being well above sea level and the lantern windows being situated approximately 15 metres or so above the base of the tower, the windows", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215641, "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": 418, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "370\n\nconsiderably out of sorts and suffering from gout. During the journey Jeremy Reid, one of the guards belonging to the Royal Regiment of Artillery, died:\n\nHis disorder was occasioned by a surfeit of fruits, the man having eaten no less than forty apples at breakfast!\n\nOn reaching 'Pekin' Macartney received letters informing him that Lion and other ships were leaving Chusan and that only Hindostan was remaining (Chusan being an island in the bay between Shanghai and Hangzhou, which was preferred, over Hong Kong, as a base by the British Government). Hearing that the ships had left Chusan upset the Chinese officials who wished, now the visit was over, for the Embassy to leave the coast of China as soon as possible, the limit of forty days prescribed for visits from without the Kingdom having been reached. Because of this the Embassy was then more or less directed to start on their return journey and left 'Pekin' on 7th October 1793 for Chusan travelling down the Grand Canal from Tientsin to Hangzhou. In Tientsin they were treated to a sumptuous banquet:\n\n...excellent mutton, pork, venison and poultry of all kinds, fruits in great variety - peaches, plums, apples, pears, grapes, chestnuts and walnuts and several others new to them.\n\nThe journal describes in some detail the construction and working of the system of sluices on the Grand Canal. These were unlike the locks on British canals but consisted of a single sluice which was raised by windlass, in fairly flat country, through which the boats were hauled when the sluice was raised.\n\nAt Hangzhou it was confirmed that Lion and the other ships had left for Canton being urgently in need of medicine for the men on board. Hindostan was quite incapable of accommodating the entourage and all its heavy baggage and it was agreed, as though it was simply a matter of course, that the party would continue the long journey by river and with some trekking overland on ponies between the north and south flowing rivers, and so to make their way to Canton. They left Hangzhou on ponies on 14th November and reached Canton on 19th December. This was an extraordinary and intrepid journey. Macartney's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215675, "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": 452, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "404\n\nIan Morrison's Last Dispatch\n\nPOHANG IN HANDS OF\n\nNORTH KOREANS\n\nAnnex\n\nTOWN IN FLAMES\n\nFrom Our Special Correspondent\n\nBIHAR ARMY HEADQUARTERS, August 12 —\n\nA serious situation has developed at Pohang on the east coast. North Korean forces, who for several days past were known to be working their way south through mountainous country inland from the coast, and who yesterday were reported at a point seven miles north-west of Pohang, attacked the town early this morning and are now threatening the airfield five miles to the south-east. Fires are burning in the town and it may become necessary to evacuate the airfield.\n\nFor several weeks past the South Korean forces based on Pohang have been fighting in and around Yongdok, a small town 25 miles north of Pohang. Their supply line has been the road which runs along the coast. The mountains to the west are some of the steepest in Korea, but they have not deterred the North Koreans from making the obvious outflanking movement. The exact strength of the North Korean force is not known. Three days ago it was reported as two regiments. Probably it consists of a nucleus of regular troops and several hundred guerrilla troops who have long been established in these mountains.\n\nThe allied command apparently minimized their threat, because it was only yesterday that reinforcements were hurriedly rushed to this coastal sector. These consisted of South Korean infantry and a small American task force equipped with light tanks. Exactly what happened is still obscure, but the American convoy was ambushed soon after midnight on the main road 15 miles south of Pohang and pinned down until dawn. Air support was called for, which eventually drove off the North Koreans, believed to have been a number of guerrilla troops, and permitted the convoy to continue after considerable delay.\n\nMustangs were still using the airfield up to 5 o'clock this afternoon, and in some cases pilots were firing their guns only two or three minutes after taking off. The North Koreans had moved south of Yongdok, and pilots claimed to have destroyed two tanks, 10 vehicles, and two ammunition cars. Transport aircraft also were still flying into the airfield this evening and bringing out certain unessential staff such as ground engineers.\n\nAccording to these arrivals, North Korean mortar shells were landing in the general area of the airfield, but it was not under small arms fire. American gunners who have been supporting South Korean infantry in this coastal sector were shelling North Korean positions on the ridge about two miles north of the airfield between the airfield and the port. Large numbers of Korean civilians who had evacuated the town had gathered round the airfield, which is situated close to the shore of the bay, and two ships were standing by offshore in case evacuation should become necessary.\n\nLieutenant-General Walker, commander of the Eighth Army, and Major-General Partridge, commander of the Fifth Air Force, flew over the area this morning.\n\n97", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215680, "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": 457, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "409\n\nbeginning of 1900 she was under construction at the yard of Dennys of Dumbarton. She was a side-wheeler, 180 feet long, 60 feet beam across the paddle boxes, drawing 6 feet and having a deadweight of 150 tons with accommodation for many deck passengers.\n\nHaving made all the arrangements for \"Pioneer\" to be shipped to Shanghai in pieces, Little returned to London. Whilst having lunch at the Oriental Club with some of his backers and advisors, he was introduced to Captain Samuel Cornel Plant. Captain Plant had recently returned to England having served for several years in command of steamers on the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers well known for their navigational difficulties. When Little learned of the captain's previous experience, he did his best to persuade Plant to come to China and take command of \"Pioneer.\" Plant promised to give the matter some thought. For whatever reason, he subsequently agreed to go along with Little.\n\n\"Pioneer\" was shipped to Shanghai and reassembled. Plant and his wife, Alice Sophia, took ship to China, joined \"Pioneer\" and in early June 1900 the attempt on the Three Gorges began. With Plant in command, \"Pioneer\" made the trip from Ichang to Chunking in 73 steaming hours over seven days. She was held up for three days at Hsin T'an Rapids. On arrival at Chunking she was greeted by most of the expatriates living there and it is said that the banks of the river were black with hundreds of junkmen who had crowded to see this latest barbarian wonder.\n\nThe Aftermath\n\nBad luck again struck Little. There were rumblings of trouble along the river that were to culminate in the Boxer Uprising. The British Consulate in Chunking commandeered \"Pioneer\" and used her to evacuate expatriates from the trouble spots. (It is not known whether Little was compensated for the loss of \"Pioneer\" or not. She was eventually handed over to the Royal Navy, renamed H.M.S. \"Kinshi\" and finished life as H.Q. Ship, Senior British Naval Officer on the Yangtze River.)\n\nPlant's Career\n\nPlant, having left the employ of Little, bought himself a houseboat", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215807, "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": 106, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "39\n\npart of the year (May to August). In fact, it rained about two out of every three days during the months of June and July, with June having a better than 40 per cent chance of experiencing three or more consecutive days, and even a 25 per cent chance of having at least an entire week, of rain.\n\nIn a largely undeveloped place like Hong Kong during the war, heavy rains falling on land usually translated into mud. Thus far in the war, both sides had already experienced the difficulty of moving across mud in various theatres. In Hong Kong, only the urban areas had all-weather roads, so its roads and terrain outside of the urban areas were trafficable only during periods of dry weather.10\n\nThen one must remember that 75 per cent of Hong Kong was mountain. By the nature of their sloped sides and rocky terrain, mountains are already difficult to traverse in good weather. In times of bad weather, mountains are even harder to negotiate, especially if they have been stripped of vegetation. This was the case with Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. As the war dragged on, supply shortages of everything became acute. Whereas coal was the preferred fuel for industrial and residential use, the increasing difficulty of importing this item into Hong Kong forced people to switch to firewood. This resulted in the felling of trees throughout the territory, thus depriving the mountains of the foliage that anchored their soil, and increasing the chances of erosion and landslides.\n\nMachinery was the epitome of the Allied arsenal, and embodied from its factories, to its logistical functions, and finally to the fighting machines on the frontline. But machinery was also very susceptible to the weather. In Hong Kong, with its high rainfall and lack of all-weather roads outside of the city, construction activities would be needed to improve its roads for the vehicle-oriented Allies. But construction would be curtailed during periods of heavy rainfall.\n\nWithout a suitable system of roads, the Allies would be unable to take full advantage of their superior mechanised transport in Hong Kong. The necessity of supporting China with a strong LoC inland from Hong Kong would have taxed its inadequate roads past their limit. Estimates for the portion of supplies landed each day that could be transported inland to support the Chinese amounted to no more than 25 per cent,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215808, "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": 107, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "40\n\nand this was on a good weather day. An alternative was to utilize the sole railroad in the territory - the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR). However, the KCR was primarily a passenger railway, so rolling stock for transporting freight was in short supply,12\n\nA third option was to transport the supplies by water via the Pearl River and its tributaries, which lead up to Canton and points beyond. This method, if fully operational, would greatly increase the amount of supplies headed inland. It too was dependent on various factors, like Allied control of both banks of the Pearl, the availability of suitable river craft (Canton could still handle large vessels, but as the river branches out and tapers off, smaller vessels would be needed), and the weather.13 Without modifications, the mediocre communications inland from Hong Kong would not do justice to its generous port capacity.\n\nAs for ground operations, the Allies enjoyed a crushing supremacy over the Japanese in the quantity and quality of their armour, but Hong Kong's mountainous terrain would have ensured that armour could see only limited duty there.\n\nOn a bad day, mechanised transport would become bogged down on Hong Kong's muddy roads. The Allies would have felt Hong Kong eerily similar to Italy, a place that was also mountainous and experienced high rainfall. There, the Allies had armour superiority, but it was of limited value, and their advance was slow. Their advances along the coast were a bit faster because it was relatively flat, just like Hong Kong's. However, during bad weather days, a lack of natural ground in many of the coastal areas (due to urbanisation) to absorb rainfall could cause flooding. In addition, there was human-induced flooding. Southern China was still mainly an agrarian region, where farmers would deliberately flood their fields in April of each year to fertilize their crops.14 That added at least a month to the flood season.\n\nInfantry would also find the combination of rainfall and challenging terrain as harsh for them as they would be for their vehicles, if not more. Without substantial support from mechanised forces, infantry would be deprived of a vital factor to combat the Japanese.\n\nAir support, a key ingredient in offensive operations worldwide, and one in which the Allies enjoyed superiority and obviously hated to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215872, "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": 171, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "104\n\nPottinger Battery were relocated to Bokhara Battery, Cape D'Aguilar in 1939 or 1940 (Rollo: 201). The batteries' arc of fire at Devil's Peak in 1938 reached the southwestern tip of Lamma Island and the south of the Po Toi Group of islands, whereas those at Stanley reached beyond the southwestern part of the Lema Islands (Dangan Liedao).\n\nThus, before the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong on 8th December 1941, there were no guns at either the Gough or Pottinger Battery. However, the sites at Devil's Peak had become part of the Gin Drinker's Line in the 1930s. This Line runs from Gin Drinker's Bay (Kwai Chung) in the west to Port Shelter in the east. The Devil's Peak was a crucial component of the Kowloon segment of the Line. The Japanese had good maps about the location of the defences of Hong Kong. Some remarks on the defence works at Devil's Peak are registered in a map produced in 1939/1940 (Empson 1992). Defensive positions in the military sites on Devil's Peak were taken up by the 5/7 Rajputs of the Hong Kong Garrison on 12 December, after the fall of the Shing Mun Redoubt in the western part of the Line three days before.\n\nThe sites at Devil's Peak witnessed heavy defensive fighting by the 5/7 Rajputs and the First Mountain Battery of the Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery. The latter expended 400 rounds with their four 3.7 inch field guns before the evacuation of the defenders to Hong Kong Island on the morning of 13th December. The defenders destroyed all equipment before they crossed the Harbour during the night. Thereafter, the Japanese used the sites to bombard the Island and the defenders' gun returned fire.\n\nAfter the defeat of Japan, the Devil's Peak sites were abandoned by the British, although the batteries on the Island side of Lei Yue Mun Pass were reoccupied and put into active military use until the mid-1980s. Before 1997, there had been little news connected with British military activities at Devil's Peak, save for an air accident in the 1950s. In March 1956, two Royal Navy Sea Hawks struck fog-shrouded Devil's Peak, killing the pilots and an elderly lady (Eather 1996).\n\nA surviving example of the 9.2-inch guns that were deployed on the batteries at Devil's Peak can be seen at the Buyu Battery (Siu 1997: Plate 6 at p.76) that guards Humen (The Bogue). This battery was modernised in 1883 with the assistance of British and German military experts.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216054, "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": 353, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "287\n\nThe Consulate was on the most commanding elevation, at least fifty feet above the road with a steep mountain behind. About two hundred unruly soldiers gathered round the lower enclosure but seeing the four armed men did not approach. A written message was sent off to General Tao, commanding the permanent camp, half a mile off, stating that the man would not be released until the general came in person, identified the prisoner and punished him. After half an hour General Tao in his chair, with Colonel Peng on his charger, arrived and were informed that there was no intention to claim jurisdiction over or be harsh with the arrested man, but that it had to be clearly understood that if any soldiers or even officers came in to the settlement, they would be forced to obey the municipal bye-laws; and the Consul was the municipal chairman. The General was not too happy about the position he found himself in but was civil. He went with Parker to the prison, spoke with the man through the bars and as a result the man received about twenty slight bastinado-strokes on the spot and all was settled.\n\nThe winter of 1877-8 was unusually bitter, the year of the great Shanxi famine when millions of Chinese perished from sheer want of food. Neighbouring provinces were invaded by endless streams of refugees and more especially so through the area surrounding Zhenjiang - because all roads from the north lead there. The authorities had provided thousands of mat hovels, on and against the city walls where shelter from the bitter wind was obtainable. Skilly was served out gratis twice a day with between fifty thousand to a hundred thousand refugees congregated around Zhenjiang.\n\nAs we have already noted Zhenjiang was far from being the ideal posting and at least one consul there, in 1923, is known to have committed suicide. Consular duties brought hazards which, while not thought of as routine, were certainly sufficient to cause many a consul to look back with horror and amazement at what they had survived. One such consul would recall that in 1913, during the early days of the period of the war lords following the foundation of the Republic, with petty armies looting and causing endless unrest, soldiers of one such war lord, Zhang Xun, approached Zhenjiang bent on plundering the city. The British consul and a lone western merchant went out to face them - then, after very nearly being shot they held them at bay until one of their officers appeared and brought them under control. In another incident during the anti-British movement troubles of 1925 the British", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216093, "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": 392, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "326\n\nso \"starchy\" and where you did not have to dress for dinner. French ships called at Saigon and Jibuti and the voyage ended at Marseilles. Italian ships berthed at Genoa. Other passengers preferred freighters. These were more relaxed still and life was not so \"organised.” Not more than 12 passengers were allowed or there had to be a doctor on board. Whereas most airports look similar, with a freighter you called at interesting, out-of-the-way little ports, each with its own special smell. By freighter, the journey from Britain to Hong Kong could take up seven or eight weeks. Halcyon days indeed!\n\nHong Kong\n\nto\n\nWhen I arrived in Hong Kong World War Two had ended less than a decade before. Yet some Britons living here still believed there were two kinds of expatriates. There were those who had been “in the bag\" (prison camp) (where, in Stanley for example, some of my younger friends were born) and, secondly, those of us who came to Hong Kong after the War. The fact that some of us in the second group had seen more action than many of those who had been interned did not really count as far as old Hong Hands were concerned.\n\nThe camaraderie which develops when people face danger or privation together came to the fore when I received a ticket for parking in King's Road. When I later told my old boss he said, 'Pity: the case has gone too far now. If you'd told me earlier I could have got it quashed.\" My boss had a friend, a senior police officer, who had been in prison camp with him.\n\nIn 1954, Hong Kong's population was something like two-and-a-half million, compared with 600,000 at the end of the War. Immigrants were coming here from China in frantic attempts to evade communism. Accommodation was terribly overcrowded with people in some cases sleeping, on a shift basis, three to a bunk. With China all but cut off from the rest of the world we had lost our entrepôt trade and,\n\nwith backs to the wall, it was a case of export or starve. There was considerable unemployment.\n\nReligion was burgeoning although many were said to be 'rice Christians.' Namely, joining for the handouts. People knew life in Hong Kong was not perfect. But it was a jolly sight better than living", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216097, "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": 396, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "330\n\nthe long queue. After a few words from him and a few glares from odd people lined up, formalities were completed. My barging in seemed, more or less, to have been accepted.\n\nIn January 1955, I remember going to a new workshop which was being built for the government Public Works Department at So Kon Po, on Hong Kong Island. There, old women were straightening nails, for reuse, which had been knocked out of timber formwork into which concrete was poured. They were paid $1.50 a day. Tradesmen were paid $5.00.\n\nWhat were my other impressions of the winter of 1954/55? I could not get over how crystal clear the sky was as I stood on Hong Kong Island gazing northward over the Kowloon foothills. Leading on, jumping to 1964, businessman K.A. Watson of the Traffic Advisory Committee, said: 'Hong Kong might one day have a smog problem as bad as Los Angeles unless action is taken to eliminate vehicle exhaust fumes.' No one took much notice.\n\nIn those days if one spoke of 'the Government' one meant the one in Whitehall. But if one wrote 'government,' with no definite article and a small 'g,' then one meant the administration in Hong Kong. Interestingly, during the 1957/58 legislative year, only one question was asked in the Legislative Council among the eight unofficial (non-government) Councillors and they only, between them, made a total of 12 speeches.\n\nHong Kong was a pretty colonial place in those days and there was always a military parade with bands marching along the streets of Kowloon on the morning of 21st April. It was a public holiday and the Queen's Birthday. It was a jingoistic occasion with a few Britons carrying furled umbrellas and wearing bowler hats. In the 1950s the Murray Parade Ground was regularly used, near the Garden Road-Queen's Road corner, opposite the cricket field where Chater Garden is situated today.\n\nWe went into \"whites\" on about 1st May and this, for most of us in government at least, meant shorts with shirts tucked in and knee-length socks. We changed back to heavy clothing on about 1st November. My old boss, typical of the more senior, used to come down on the Peak", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "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 }, { "id": 216104, "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": 403, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "337\n\nMeters, flyovers and service charges\n\nIt was not until 1962 that Hong Kong had its first parking meters and at about the same time service charges were first levied in restaurants. Also at this time, in spite of high immigration figures, unemployment consistently stood at well below two per cent. Inflation was negligible. The Territory saw its first flyover, outside Saint Teresa's Church on Prince Edward Road in Kowloon, in 1963.\n\n‘One damn thing after another'\n\nIn the early 1960s, we are referring to a time when something like 30 million inhabitants died of starvation on the Chinese Mainland. This was as a result of the failure of the 'Great Leap Forward.' There were long queues in Hong Kong post offices sending food parcels to relatives in China. All in all, the 1960s was a challenging decade and, as one government servant phrased it, 'It was one damn thing after another.' But the Territory was a great survivor and frequently managed to come back stronger than ever.\n\nTyphoons\n\nWhen I first arrived in Hong Kong my boss told me there is a bad typhoon every seven years. In fact, there is no set pattern if you check as I have. An estimated 11,000 people died in the 1937 typhoon, more than the 8,750 total Allied forces, Japanese and Chinese estimated to have been killed when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong in December 1941. There was an inadequate typhoon warning system in those days. Up until the 1930s a gun was fired from Blackhead Point, in Kowloon, either when a typhoon was approaching or when the mail ship arrived. Not infrequently, the two events were confused.\n\nTyphoon Wanda, in 1962, is sometimes remembered as the last typhoon from which bitter lessons were learned on how to batten down. It coincided with a high tide, with an 11-foot rise in water level and a storm surge that caused bad flooding. This happened right up to Tsang Tai Uk (the big house of the Tsang family), the fine, Hakka walled village at the end of Sha Tin Hoi (Sea). This Hoi has long since been reclaimed. With Wanda, something like 2,000 ships and small craft were sunk or damaged. There were 130 deaths. With gusts of 164 mph", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216105, "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": 404, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "338\n\nour concrete framed building, where I lived in Argyle Street, Kowloon, swayed. You could hear glass breaking, there was a constant job of mopping up. Water seals were sucked out of toilets.\n\nA problem of people\n\nAs Claude Burgess, Colonial Secretary from 1958 to '63, was fond of saying, Hong Kong has a problem of people. They have swum in on pigs' bladders across Mirs Bay and Deep Bay and come in by just about every means possible. Up until 1980 there was a touch base policy. Any illegal immigrant who reached the urban area was allowed to stay. But after that date all illegal immigrants caught have been repatriated.\n\nIn 1962, the Communists had a trial run and opened the 'flood gates.' Over a period of 25 days something like 70,000 men, women and children were allowed to surge into Hong Kong. The communist guards stepped back and directed the masses. They walked over the hills. Hong Kong was overwhelmed. And then, just as abruptly as they had opened, the flood gates shut. It seems to have been a move by the People's Republic to embarrass the colony. They wanted to show that they could take over Hong Kong at any time.\n\nWater shortage\n\nHong Kong was invariably short of water, from the early years of British rule when everyone depended on streams and wells. Up to comparatively recent years the water supply situation was a common subject of conversation.\n\nIn 1963, 'the year Hong Kong ran dry,' we were down to four hours of water on tap once every four days. In resettlement estates people started queuing for water eight hours before it was turned on and at Diamond Hill, it was reported, 20,000 people were dependent on one hydrant. Thieves stole water. Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists and Christians all prayed for rain. Water was shipped in by tankers from higher up the Pearl River.\n\nPeople would say at a reception, 'I must slip off early. Our water is turned on tonight.' Of course we, who lived in flats, also stored water. Bathing in a small amount of water was an art. Children went in the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216226, "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": 525, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "A POEM FROM THE HKBRAS VISIT TO EAST BHUTAN, FEBRUARY 2003\n\nJOHN WILSON\n\nHKBRAS TOUR TO EASTERN BHUTAN\n\nThis is the tale of the RAS tour\n\nto Eastern Bhutan in two thousand and four.\n\nThere's something not right there - now what can it be?\n\nOh yes, the year was in fact 2-0-0-3.\n\nThe tour was the brainchild of Doc Brian Shaw,\n\nwho'd been to East Bhutan and wanted some more\n\nof its gompas and chortens and drubdas and dzongs;\n\nto spend a few days well away from the throngs\n\nof Chinese New Year in polluted Hong Kong.\n\nIf you'd know more about it, come list to my song.\n\nLet us turn first to Felicity Shaw,\n\nwho said she 'assisted' but then did much more.\n\nThose in her 'bus never felt spirits sag,\n\nand often they heard the cry - 'Where's my red bag?'\n\n459\n\nPage 525\n\nPage 526", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216337, "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-2003", "page_number": 96, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "45\n\nwhich is actually levied,' and since the dealers believed the authorities to have been personally interested in these illegal transactions, they believed it would be useless to look to them for protection or redress'.\n\n63\n\nWhilst these passages are taken from early Treaty Port days, two decades after the Canton System had been replaced, they describe a world which had otherwise scarcely changed. It was still, in its essentials, the working milieu in which the Co-hong, the officials and their minions, both civil and military alike, and the people at large, on land and sea, had been obliged to exist; and with which, and with whom, the Western traders had to contend,\n\nRough treatment by the mandarins\n\nIt was also a milieu in which criminals, and anyone falling foul of officials would have a very bad time. The Chinese personnel of the Old China trade were no exceptions to the general rule, and could be very roughly treated by the mandarins when they chose to enforce the minute and graduated regulations that governed all and sundry throughout the Empire.“\n\n64\n\nA compradore was severely beaten and tortured and thrown into prison in 1816, because the EIC's ships' captains had presented a petition at a city gate over difficulties with obtaining a permit to load, with more beatings ordered for another compradore and two linguists, whilst the Company's head compradore had to leave hurriedly because police runners were looking for him. 65 In 1831, during the Canton Prefect's unannounced visit to the EIC's hall, a linguist was put in chains, taken away, and threatened with decapitation. 66\n\nThe officials, their courts and prisons were justly to be feared. Just how bad they could be was experienced at first hand by Captain Denham, shipwrecked on Formosa with his mixed crew of 55 Europeans, Chinese and Indians, and 2 passengers, in 1842. Perhaps because their brig, the Ann, had been an opium runner, they were treated like Chinese criminals, subject to the practices and procedures usual when men were imprisoned, tried, and condemned to execution, as indeed nearly all of them were. 67\n\nThe truth is, that the Chinese government was very severe with its", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216411, "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-2003", "page_number": 170, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "120\n\nHERMES herself though always small and crowded, and below decks a very hot ship, seems to have been a happy ship and \"old hands\" with whom I have chatted refer to her with considerable affection (JP).\n\n6840 tons. On 5th May 1942, just a day before the surrender of U.S. forces, to be sunk in Manila Bay by Japanese air attack.\n\n'Public Record Office/National Archives, Kew. File PRO ADM 156/101-2. Report by Captain E.J.G. Mackinnon dated at Wei-Hai-Wei, 13 June 1931.\n\n*Built in Aberdeen in 1889 as YUEN SANG, 1,723 grt, for Indo-China S.N. Co. Ltd. (Jardine Matheson & Co.). In August 1923 sold by them to Mr. Pao Ying Lin for Yen 75,000. Registered at Newchwang, China. Newchwang is in Southern Manchuria, and in 1931 within a Japanese zone of influence. Only to be sold to the breakers in 1937, aged 48 years.\n\n'PRO ADM 116/2843. China General Letter No. 7 covering the period 1 - 30 September 1931.\n\n-\n\n\"Ewo is Jardine's Chinese name 'Happy Harmony' - I believe adopted from that of a merchant in Canton with whom they did business in very early days (JP).\n\n\"Lieut. E.H. Chavasse, Up and Down the Yangtze, printed privately.\n\n-\n\n122,595 grt. Built in Hong Kong in 1926 for Indo-China S.N. Co. Ltd (Jardine Matheson & Co.). In 1940 to be requisitioned for service as an auxiliary patrol vessel with the Royal Navy. On 13 February 1942, when carrying escaping personnel south from Singapore towards Batavia, to be bombed by Japanese aircraft. Damaged, beached and abandoned at Muntok on Banda Island.\n\n\"PRO ADM 116/2843. Report 0702/204 dated at Hankow, 6 October 1931.\n\n\"PRO ADM 53/78855. Log book, H.M.S. HERMES.\n\n15625 tons. Built in 1915. In March 1939 to be sold for scrap.\n\nAnne M. Lindbergh (1936). North to the Orient. (London: Chatto & Windus), 248. Born on 22nd June 1906 she was to die only as recently as 7th February 2001.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]