[
    {
        "id": 210788,
        "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": 139,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "122\n\nD.L. MICHALK\n\naverted had the Cantonese management consented to employ non-Cantonese workers for tapping and harvesting. However, as experiences with the new crops accumulated, a large number of successful plantations were planted by local businessmen to diversify their interests.\n\nAlthough some of the mineral resources of Hainan were known to the medieval Chinese, the richest deposits were located in the central mountains where mining was prevented by the contumacious Li tribesmen. However, as relationships with the Li people improved and exploration exposed the precise locale of the precious minerals, mines were opened up in the once forbidden interior, but with varying success. At Shi Lu Shan (literally stone-green mountain), for example, an extensive mining operation was commenced with the prospect of exporting the rich copper ore to Europe. Unfortunately, this plan was thwarted by the government who granted sanction to the Chinese company to mine the ore, but denied foreign steamers the use of port facilities for loading the mineral (Swinhoe, 1872a). Misfortune struck again when due to poor management, a cave-in claimed the lives of a hundred workers (Henry, 1886). This effectively closed the mine which also led to the abandonment of searching for silver, lead and iron in the same group of hills. Smaller mines extracting tin, gold and silver were also plagued by cave-ins, particularly in the wet season, although it was the superstitions of the owners of the land or people living nearby who forcibly stopped the diggings for fear that the earth would take revenge for the removal of the precious deposits (Henry, 1886).\n\nLumbering in the Five Finger mountains by the aborigines under the direction of Hakkas proved to be more rewarding than plantations or mining, possibly because the exploitative harvest continued as it had for ten centuries, but on a much larger scale to meet the growing demand for the highly valued Hainan timbers in the mainland. Since Hainan's forests also yielded rattan, incense wood, wild teas and herbal medicines, Hakka traders nurtured a subsidiary commerce with their Li workmen. Migrating to Hainan in the 1750's (Fusson, 1929), the Hakkas had by patient industry and thrift become fairly prosperous, and by befriending both the Han Chinese and the Li, they provided the vital link between the",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210793,
        "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": 144,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "127\n\ncontinued the guerilla war from bases in the nearby Nanlin Hills (Paul, 1982). As a revolutionary base was established, workers' and peasants' democratic governments were formed at the county level throughout Hainan, the first being set up in Lingshui County amongst the Li community (Gao, 1981).\n\nThreatened by the possible emergence of a unified China, Japan, which already had a firm foothold in northern China, landed troops in Shanghai in 1928 in order to weaken Chiang Kai-shek's power and prolong the onset of the inevitable Sino-Japanese war. Taking advantage of the rift between the KMT and Communists, Japan strengthened her influence, first by invading Manchuria in 1931, and finally, by means of a number of orchestrated landings in 1937, secured the whole of the coast of China, effectively severing all major supply arteries to the country: China was no longer a dangerous adversary (Eberhard, 1969). As part of this offensive, Hainan was first attacked in August, 1937 (Clark, 1938), and Japanese forces quickly occupied the coastal fringe. By February, 1939, Hainan, like the mainland, was subdued (Wigmore, 1957).\n\nRemnants of the old Red Guard units, hardened by 12 years of battle with the KMT, took up positions around the island immediately behind the Japanese and used their guerilla tactics to harass the intruders, while the KMT held defensive positions in the central mountains (Fairtex-Cholmeley, 1963). It appears that a non-interference agreement was quickly ratified between the Japanese and the KMT, leaving the Communist guerillas to pose the chief threat to the invading Japanese (Paul, 1982). Although Mao Tse-tung committed the Communist Party to collaborate with the KMT, conflict continued between the two factions even in Hainan where in 1943, the Li leaders, Wang Guo-xing* and Wang Yu-jin, led 20,000 tribesmen in an armed foray against KMT troops entrenched in the Five Finger Mountains (Gao, 1981). In spite of these \"domestic\" conflicts, the combined Chinese forces tied up two Japanese divisions in Hainan (MacCrae, personal communication).\n\nDue to its strategic location, Hainan became a training and staging area for the Japanese southward thrust, with components of the XXV Japanese Army being exercised on the island during",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    }
]