[
    {
        "id": 205850,
        "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": 156,
        "title": "RAS-1969",
        "content_text": "150 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\n“Bethesda\" was forced to close down due to the unfortunate consequences of the First World War, and as yet, I have not been able to locate the old \"Bethesda\". Where was its exact location? Are early Hong Kong Government records regarding the lease or sale of land still available for the period concerned (1860/61) and maps showing the land distribution and property rights? \n\nBeing concurrently pastor of the present German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong and chairman of the Ebenezer School and Home for the Blind, which branched off from \"Bethesda\" in 1897 specializing in the care of blind girls, I have a double interest in the question of locating the former \"Bethesda\", an institution connected with the history both of Ebenezer and our German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong. \n\nHong Kong, 1968. \n\nALBRECHT PLAG \n\nTHE COMET OF 1532 \n\nRecently, while working on the biography of Feng En (1491 - 1571) I encountered an interesting problem about a comet. But first let me make a few remarks about the man. \n\nHe came from a family settled in Hua-t'ing, southwest of Shanghai, which had originally belonged to the military category. Somehow he managed to get a sound education and achieve the advanced degree, or chin-shih, in 1526, and receive the appointment of censor in Nanking. While serving in that capacity a comet appeared on September 2, 1532, and continued to illuminate the sky for 115 days, disappearing (according to the section on astronomy of the Ming shih 27/11a) on December 26. This was no ordinary phenomenon. The comet later known in Europe as Halley's, had appeared just the year before (August 5 to September 7, 1531) and lasted only 34 days. The young emperor, Chu Hou-ts'ung (born 1507), and his entire court took it seriously. According to the theology of the day, which went back at least to the second century before our era, and probably many hundreds of years earlier, someone in high office must be to blame. Chang Fu-ching \n\n(1475 - 1539), senior grand secretary, probably following a nudge from the throne, resigned. Feng En, along with a number of other officials, did not consider his resignation enough.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213207,
        "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": 29,
        "title": "RAS-1994",
        "content_text": "8\n\n00\n\nuntil the outbreak of war in 1914. During the period when the congregation met in the Union Church Hall, the community also conducted a school there. The group meeting there was called the Deutsche Kirchen und Schulegemeinde (Rev. Albert Plag, \"Bethesda and the Berliner Frauenverein Für China”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1969, v. 9: 149-150, Carl T. Smith, “The German Congregation in Hong Kong until 1914\", ibid, 1975. v. 15: 292-295).\n\nIn the 1896/97 the Hildesheim Mission opened the Ebenezer Home for the Blind. There were two homes, one on Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon. During the First World War they were placed under the supervision of the Church Missionary Society, though the Sisters in charge were allowed to continue to care for the children. Among the first Germans to return to Hong Kong after the end of the war were several deaconesses of the Hildesheim Society. The Ebenezer Home and School for the Blind is now located on Pokfulam Road.\n\nTwo German missionaries became Inspectors of Schools in Hong Kong. Rev. Wilhelm Lobscheid was sent to China in 1848 by the Rhenish Missionary Society, but in 1857 he changed his allegiance to the British-based Chinese Evangelization Society, yet another of the groups inspired by Gutzlaff. He was Inspector of Schools in Hong Kong from 1855 to 1859. He published in 1859 a valuable historical account entitled A Few Notices on the Extent of Chinese Education, and the Government Schools of Hong Kong; with remarks on the history and religious notions of the inhabitants of this island. From 1861 to 1866 he acted as an emigration agent, recruiting labour for British colonies in the West Indies. His labours in this endeavour again produced a book which contains much of interest as its title suggests, Chinese Emigration to the West Indies: A Trip through British Guiana undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the Chinese who have emigrated under Government Contract With Supplementary Papers Relating to Contract Labour and the Slave Trade.\n\nAnother German, Rev. Ernest J. Eitel was Inspector of Schools from 1878 to 1896. He was influential in setting policies for the development of education in Hong Kong. He was sent to China in 1862 by the Basel Missionary Society. Three years later he transferred to the London Missionary Society. He married Miss Eaton, an agent of the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East. She was head-mistress of the Diocesan School for Girls. Mr. Eitel became a naturalised British",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]