[ { "id": 206011, "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": 91, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "86 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\n1860's, cannot have been much worse than those experienced by contemporary European emigrants to America and Australia; and may have been better than those experienced by many thousands of Irish emigrants to America during the famine years of 1846-48. In her book \"The Great Famine\", Cecil Woodham-Smith gives horrifying details of the sufferings of these unfortunate people. Two of the most tragic cases concerned the British ships Larch and Virginius, which left Sligo and Liverpool respectively for Quebec at this time. Of the Larch's 440 passengers 108 died at sea, and 150 of the remainder were landed sick; while of the Virginius' 476 passengers 158 died at sea and 106 of the remainder — including the master and mate — were landed sick. At that time American ships were superior to British, and their fares were higher than on British ships, because they applied the Passenger Acts more strictly. Also during this same summer of 1847 German ships were constantly arriving at Quebec with hundreds of healthy, robust, and cheerful passengers. It was surely a mastery of British understatement for Earl Grey, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to write that \"the desire to reach America being exceedingly strong, many emigrants are content to submit to very great hardships during the voyage\". Nor is it to be wondered that fully 90% of these emigrants later crossed over into the United States, among them the father of Henry Ford. The greatest hardships during the famine emigrations took place on ships chartered by landlords anxious to clear their estates of impoverished tenants, and some of the worst cases are said to have involved Lord Palmerston's own tenants. Lord Palmerston, who was Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister for most of the 1840's, and prominent in the campaign against the African Slave Trade, probably knew little about his tenants' misfortunes, in itself one of the most telling indictments of the Irish land system. \n\nIn all the long period of Chinese emigration and until the early years of the 20th century, very few Chinese women emigrated, a factor which has had an incalculable effect on South-east Asian history. It is said that the Chinese authorities, while comparatively lax in preventing the emigration of men, took great precautions to prevent women emigrating, and it was not, for instance, until the mid 1920s that the authorities in Hainan Island allowed women to emigrate. A Chinese woman was a rare sight in the streets of Bangkok until about 1910, but within twenty years", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206613, "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": 161, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR\n\n155\n\nwhich went into his own pocket. The accusations had, of course, been withdrawn because they were impossible to substantiate but doubts still existed on the expenditure of the money which had undoubtedly been collected—Caine's version was that it had been used to run a voluntary hospital for the women but the Hong Kong Register alleged that a sum of about $500 per month was still being collected. To make matters absolutely plain, the Register reported that Afoon had told them that the Compradore's 'squeeze' was known to the Chinese as \"Caine's rent\" or \"tax.\"20\n\nThe finger was pointing at Caine though it is fair to say that Tarrant, whatever his motives, merely recounted the alleged facts. It was the two newspapers which implicated Caine in the dealings of the two compradores, but it was only Tarrant who found himself arraigned, with Afoon, for conspiring to damage the reputation of Caine. He was committed to trial before the Supreme Court by a bench of Justices. As it happened, the three justices were all Government servants (Campbell, Hillier and C. G. Holdforth) and two of them held to be Caine's protégés. It is probably true that the public was taken aback at this and Tarrant had their sympathy. When his case eventually came before the Supreme Court in October, Tarrant being suspended from duty during this period, the Attorney General moved that the trial be postponed because of the absence of a material witness. Lo Een-teen, Caine's Compradore, had disappeared from the Colony. Tarrant was willing for the trial to proceed but the Chief Justice Hulme ruled that it should be postponed and when it came up again, the Attorney General (now Parker, acting) moved before Campbell, now Acting Chief Justice, that there was no case to answer and did not offer any evidence.21 But, although Tarrant was now a free man, he found himself without a job—during his suspension the Government had combined his post with another. He proceeded to petition the Secretary of State, Earl Grey but he was hampered by lack of evidence.22\n\nIt is at this point that we return to the account of transactions in the Central Market. On 23 November 1847, Hwei's interest in the Central Market ceased when it was sold by the Sheriff to Le Kip-tye, an interpreter in the Government's employ, in execution of a writ of fi. fa.23 in the suit McSwyney v. Hwei Afoon.24 His interest was said to amount to 5/13 of the whole and this must have been his interest under the deed of 28 June of the same year.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206614, "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "156\n\nDAFYDD EMRYS EVANS\n\nThis had the effect of substituting Le Kip-tye for Hwei Afoon in that arrangement.\n\nAt about the same time as the charges against Tarrant were dismissed, in the December of 1847, Tarrant purchased at public auction the equity of redemption25 of the Market lot. This sale went unrecorded in the Land Office, possibly for sinister reasons but more likely because Tarrant desired to keep it quiet for the time being.26 He probably bought the equity of redemption at the same sale as that at which Le Kip-tye purchased an interest, Tarrant buying the redemption and Le that right to receive $100 per month which Hwei had had. It must have been that Tarrant's purpose was to buy himself an interest in the Market so that he could obtain positive evidence about corruption to back up his petition to Earl Grey but he was not yet in a position to be able to call to see the accounts which would tell what he needed. However, about two months later, on 24 February 1848, Le Kip-tye assigned his 5/13 interest to Ong Chok27 in consideration of a monthly payment of $10028 and, on the same date, we find the second complicated transaction involving several parties. Chow Aoan, Le Quong-chong and Hwei Afoon (whatever interest he had remaining) assigned their respective interests to Tarrant (in consideration of a payment of $130 to Hwei Afoon, the sum which Tarrant is stated to have paid at public auction for the equity of redemption) and to Ong Chok (in consideration of a payment of $2,400 to Le Quong-chong and $1,300 to Chow Aoan, both sums being the sums still outstanding as principal under the arrangement of 28 June).29\n\nTarrant was now in strange company, being a part-owner of what was otherwise a wholly Chinese concern. But he still could not get his evidence and, the following February, he arrived at an arrangement with Ong Chok whereby he released his equity of redemption in favour of Ong in return for a quarter share of the surplus rents, etc.30 Now, whilst he could undoubtedly use the money since he was unemployed and would have had little coming in from the few properties he owned, he very significantly secured the right to inspect the books on the first of every Chinese month.31\n\nWhatever evidence he did uncover, if any at all, certainly did not reach the public but he was able to receive limited redress from Earl Grey who vindicated him to the extent of allowing him his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210683, "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": 34, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "17\n\nJOHN JOSEPH FRANCIS, CITIZEN OF HONG KONG, A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\nWALTER GREENWOOD\n\nV.H.G. Jarret writing about Francis in the South China Morning Post in the 1930s commented \"It seems strange that so well known a man should not be commemorated in any way”. When one considers the number of streets and roads in Hong Kong named after less prominent Government officials and businessmen the force of that comment will, it is hoped, be appreciated by the end of this essay.\n\nFrancis was born in Dublin in 1839, the eldest son of William Francis Aylward, an Inspector of Irish National Schools, and\n\nMr. Walter Greenwood J.P., M.A. (Cantab.), Barrister of Gray's Inn and the North Eastern Circuit, a Permanent Magistrate in Hong Kong\n\nAUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:\n\nThis essay was hurriedly researched and written in snatched hours and does not claim to be comprehensive, much less to do justice to Francis. I hope it may lead to interest in his life and career and I should be grateful if anyone who finds new information about him would send it to me at 26, Great Bounds Drive, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4OTR. It is based mainly on skimming through newspapers and dipping into the standard histories of Hong Kong. I have also received generous help from many quarters. First I should like to acknowledge my gratitude to the staff of the Hong Kong Public Records Office for their ever friendly and willing help; my thanks go also to the staff of the Supreme Court Registry and University Library, the Secretaries of the Bar Association, the Law Society, the Jockey Club and the Volunteers, Mrs. Lisa Chee, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Po Leung Kuk, Fathers Naylor, Pagani and Pittavino (for searching church records), Mr. Michael Clancy (for information about “Stonyhurst”), Mr. Carl Smith (for information about Francis' marriages) and Mr. Colin West (for arranging the cleaning of Francis' tombstone) in Hong Kong; the Parish Priest of All Saints Church, Borella, Colombo; Father Turner of Stonyhurst College; the staff of the Public Records Office, Genealogical Office and Public Registry in Dublin; Mr. Julian Walton of Dublin and Waterford (for supplying me with material about the Aylward family which he also presented to Dr. Ken Smith of South Africa for use in his biography of Alfred Aylward); the Editor of the Irish Ancestor, the staff of the Public Record Office, Royal Artillery Institution, University and Crown Agents in London; Mrs. Theresa Thom, Librarian of Gray's Inn; Mr. Leo D'Almada Q.C. in Portugal; Dr. Walter Mautsch in Germany; Mr. Nigel Osner in London; Pamela and Eric Russ in Bournemouth; my wife (for her patience whilst I practised my drafts on her); and Mrs. Mary Whitticase for her great kindness in typing my manuscript.\n\nCopyright Walter Greenwood 1986.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210723, "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": 74, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "57\n\nRoyal Asiatic Society on July 4th 1848. Mr. Gutzlaff's suggestion, in the form of a letter to the Governor, was read to the Society on August 8th of that year, resulting in the suggestion \"that a committee be appointed to make enquiries as to the best site, the probable expenses etc. etc. and to report generally on the subject”. At a meeting of the Society, on November 7th later in the same year it was proposed, \"That the Garden Committee be authorized to draw up a memorial to the Colonial Government and to the Royal Asiatic Society for assistance, either by funds or otherwise, towards establishing a Botanical Garden in Hongkong; and also to correspond with such of the Botanical or Horticultural Societies in England as may be likely to assist in furthering the object in view.”\n\nThat the idea that a Public Botanical Garden in Hong Kong was generally discussed in both government and commercial circles about this time can be gleaned from the correspondence of one C.T. Braine, an employee of Dent & Co., a property firm, who offered his house, “Greenbank”, and its attendant garden to the government both as a suitable government house and as a well-stocked garden that was ripe for development and expansion as a public garden. Braine took the unusual step of writing on June 26th 1850, with his offer direct to Earl Grey as Secretary for State to the Colonies, who redirected Braine's letter to the Governor of Hong Kong for comment. The Governor, in turn, replied to Earl Grey on September 25th, 1850 emphatically refusing to accept either the grounds or the house as being suitable:\n\n\"In reply I beg to report to your Lordship that I cannot recommend the garden in question be taken over at the expense of the State, reference being had to the financial resources of the Colony, as well as to the absence of any person to whom it would be possible to confide the charge of such an establishment: it must be remembered moreover, that independently of the original cost of the ground, a Superintendent and several Assistants must of necessity be maintained at a permanent expenditure, which, I am satisfied, would in the end prove by no means inconsiderable.\n\nFrom Mr. Braine's letter I find he has informed your", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212570, "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": 124, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "104\n\nCHINESE FUNERALS: A CASE STUDY\n\nDAN WATERS\n\nThe boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,\n\nAnd all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave\n\nAwaits alike the inevitable hour;\n\nThe paths of glory lead but to the grave.\n\nThomas Gray, Elegy Written in Country Churchyard.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThis paper examines an actual, fairly typical, present-day Chinese death in urban Hong Kong and the funeral services and mourning that follow. Comparisons are made with past customs in Hong Kong, with traditional Hong Kong New Territories funerals and European funerals. Because this paper is largely about Hong Kong, Cantonese terms and Romanisations are mainly used rather than pinyin. Currency quoted is in Hong Kong dollars.\n\nThe author is grateful to Mr Gerald C.S. Siu, manager of the Hong Kong Funeral Home, Doctor James Hayes, the Reverend Carl T. Smith, Mrs Judy Kant Young and other persons and organisations named in this paper. Help varied from recommending source material to providing information.\n\nThe Case Study\n\nOne November night in 1988, a couple received a call saying the wife's mother had been taken to hospital. Shortly after midnight the couple, together with the wife's two younger sisters and two granddaughters, gathered around the corpse.\n\nTraditionally, Chinese hope for a peaceful death in old age with family mustered around the deathbed. In this case the end came suddenly. As Chuang Tzu, sometimes named as the first important Taoist writer, phrased it:\n\nWe are born as from a quiet sleep,\n\nWe die to a calm awakening.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215272, "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": 49, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "Carl Crow, 1883-1945\n\nMy friends, the Chinese. London: Hamish Hamilton. 1938.\n\nFitzgerald, C. P., 1902-\n\nCommunism takes China: how the revolution went Red. London: BPC, c1971.\n\nFranck, Harry Alverson\n\nRoving through Southern China. New York: Century, c1925.\n\nGeil, William Edgar\n\nA Yankee on the Yangtze: being a narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the Central Kingdom to Burma. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904.\n\nGottschang, Thomas R.\n\nSwallows and settlers: the great migration from north China to Manchuria. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, c2000.\n\nGray, John Henry\n\nChina: a history of the laws, manners, and customs of the people. London: Macmillan, c1878. 2 vols.\n\nHobart, Alice Tisdale, 1882-1967\n\nOil for the lamps of China. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1934.\n\nHo, Pui-yin.\n\nDian di hua dang nian: Xiang-gang gong shui yi bai wu shi nian. Xiang-gang: Shang wu yin shu guan (Xiang-gang) you xian gong si, 2001.\n\nHo, Pui-yin\n\nWater for a barren rock: 150 years of water supply in Hong Kong; [English translator, Lui Yuen Chung]. Hong Kong: Commercial Press, c2001.\n\nHoney, W.B. (William Bowyer)\n\nThe ceramic art of China and other countries of the Far East. London: Faber, c1945.\n\nxlvi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]