[ { "id": 204483, "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": 115, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "104\n\nELSPETH MANEELY\n\n16\n\nhill slopes of the western islands and in the Castle Peak area; but perhaps only four places investigated since archaeological work began in the Colony may be dignified by the term \"site\". These are: So Kun Wat #, a series of low hilltops to the west of the Tai Lam Chun reservoir; Lamma Island (Pok Liu Chau14), which really comprises several distinct sites; Shek Pik and Man Kok Tsui, both on Lantau Island (Tai Yu Shan). A report on the findings at So Kun Wat was presented by C. M. Heanley and J. L. Shellshear in 1932 at the first Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East held at Hanoi. Father Finn's publications on the Lamma sites, begun in 1932, have recently been reprinted in one volume, Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island Near Hong Kong.3 The Shek Pik site, on the south-west coast of Lantau Island, was excavated by W. Schofield and J. G. Andersson in 1937 and a report was published in the Proceedings of the Third Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East, Singapore, in 1938. The artifacts uncovered at Man Kok Tsui are similar to those found at these earlier sites and are of three kinds: stone tools and ornaments, pottery and bronze.\n\nBefore describing the discovery of Man Kok Tsui in more detail however, reference should be made to Father R. L. Maglioni's extensive discoveries in Hoifung as they bear a definite relationship to finds in the Hong Kong area. Hoifung lies on the China coast about one hundred miles north-east of Hong Kong. In 1934 Fr. Maglioni, then a priest in the Hoifung region, embarked on a thorough search for prehistoric remains. He located as many as twenty distinct sites. In general the finds were of the same type as those described by archaeologists working in Hong Kong, but Fr. Maglioni was able to distinguish three separate Neolithic cultures. These three he called the SON, SAK and PAT cultures from the capital letters of the romanized names of villages adjacent to the sites. So far Neolithic remains in Hong Kong resemble closely those of Fr. Maglioni's PAT culture, the latest of the three.\n\nIn April 1958, Dr. S. M. Bard first reported Man Kok Tsui as a possible area for investigation by the University Archaeological Team. The site, given the number 30 by the Team, lies at the extreme tip of the northern arm of Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island. It consists of two sheltered, sandy beaches, a flat fertile valley", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204485, "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": 117, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "106\n\nBRONZE\n\nELSPETH MANEELY\n\nThe bronze, though small in amount, was an interesting and exciting discovery. Fr. Finn at his Lamma sites, and Schofield and Andersson at Shek Pik also found bronze associated with pottery and stone of similar workmanship to the Man Kok Tsui material. The Man Kok Tsui bronze: two pieces of a lanceolate knife, and a fine patinated fishhook, were found in the vegetable fields of the central valley. In considering the age of the site the presence of these three pieces of bronze is important despite the fact that they must be regarded as surface finds.\n\nSTONE:\n\nThe stone artifacts found at Man Kok Tsui consisted of grinding, hammering and polishing tools of local granite and sandstone; polished adzes, knife edges, roughly chipped discs, polished discs and rings. The most interesting of these were perhaps the adzes and the rings, showing as they did the advanced nature of the stone industry achieved by these Neolithic people. The adzes were of most of the types found in South East Asia, including some rectangular in cross-section, a type Fr. Maglioni has linked with his Late Stone Age PAT culture. The rings varied in size and shape, and mostly were of quartz or black dolorite. Some were very finely finished, one particularly fine slotted quartz ring varied in section thickness by only 0.004 of an inch.\n\nPOTTERY:\n\nTwo varieties or qualities of Neolithic pottery were encountered at Man Kok Tsui; a hard resilient stoneware, grey or buff in colour often with a purple tinge and frequently speckled through and through with blackish spots; and a soft, coarse, friable sand-mixed ware. No complete soft pots were found but, judging from pieces of lip and concentrations of sherds found, some of these pots must have been large. Man Kok Tsui yielded eleven whole, nearly whole, or reconstructable hard pots. Some of these looked as if they had been finished on a turn-table and some seemed entirely hand-made. The two largest hard pots, one eighteen and the other sixteen inches high, appeared to have traces of glaze. The shapes of the pots corresponded to those described by Finn, Shellshear, Schofield and Heanley from other sites in Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204488, "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": 120, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "EXCAVATIONS AT MAN KOK TSUI\n\n107\n\nThe impressed designs on the pottery were geometric and appeared to have been stamped onto the pot with a die or paddle as over-printing was often noted. The patterns on the soft pots differed from those on the hard pots being, on the whole simpler and cruder. A 'string' pattern, running vertically up the sides of the pot and overprinting in criss-cross on the base was the commonest on the soft pottery, and 'zig-zag chevron' and basket-like designs also occurred. On the hard pottery the commonest pattern was a 'net' design of differing fineness, which sometimes covered the whole pot or was used in conjunction with one of the more elaborate hard pot designs: and 'lozenge', 'circle', and 'double-f' motifs; or with horizontal parallel lines, and the pricked stitch pattern described by Fr. Finn.\n\n4\n\nMany of the hard pots had, either on the base or the lip, a distinctive incised mark of dots or parallel lines—perhaps a potter's or owner's mark. None of these marks were alike.\n\nOne spindle whorl made of stone and two made of pottery were found in the central valley at Man Kok Tsui, also many roughly fashioned rings of stone and pottery which may have been used as weights for fishing nets.\n\nCONCLUSIONS:\n\n44\n\nAlthough it is known that the sea level was higher and that primary forest covered the Colony in prehistoric times, it seems reasonable to suppose that the factors making an area desirable for settlement (for example: a reliable source of fresh water, shelter from the worst prevailing weather, good landing beaches for small boats, etc.) would still apply in historic times and up to the present day. This limits the possibility of undisturbed and \"diggable\" sites in Hong Kong, as many existing villages may be built on top of older settlements. We were lucky enough to find at Man Kok Tsui remains of a Neolithic culture, over-laid with very few traces of later habitation and to have a record of the cultivation and settlement of the valley in recent years. In spite of this little information was gained about where or how the people lived, except what could be gleaned from their tools and pottery—the fine workmanship in stone, the few pieces of bronze, the fish-hook, the presumptive net weights and spindle whorls. The heavy rains and high humidity of this area, and the acid nature of the soil may account for the complete absence of traces of animal and human bones, clothing and dwellings.\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204489, "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": 121, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "108\n\nELSPETH MANEELY\n\nThe suggestion of glaze on two of the pots, the bronze, the variety of shapes of the polished stone adzes, and the impressed patterns on the pottery similar to Fr. Maglioni's PAT culture, all indicate a Late Stone Age or Early Bronze Age date (Warring States, 481-221 B.C.) for the Man Kok Tsui site. However, the people living in this area may have continued to use stone tools and pottery of this type well into the Han period.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n1 William Watson, Archaeology in China, Max Parrish, London, (1960).\n\n2 C. M. Heanley and J. L. Shellshear, “A Contribution to the Prehistory of Hong Kong and the New Territories\", Proceedings of the First Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East, Hanoi, (Jan. 1932),\n\n3 Daniel J. Finn, S. J., Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island Near Hong Kong, Ricci Publications, Ricci Hall, University of Hong Kong, (1958).\n\n4 W. Schofield, \"A Protohistoric Site at Shek Pik, Lantao, Hong Kong\", Proceedings of the Third Congress of Prehistorians of the Far East, Singapore, (1938).\n\n5 R. L. Maglioni, S. J., \"Archaeology in South China\", Journal of East Asiatic Studies, Manila, II, No. 1, (Oct. 1952).\n\n6 R. L. Maglioni, S. J., \"Archaeology Finds in Hoifung\", Hong Kong Naturalist, VIII, Nos. 3-4, (March 1938).\n\n7 S. G. Davis and Mary Tregear, \"Man Kok Tsui, Archaeological Site 30, Lantau Island, Hong Kong\", Asian Perspectives, IV, Nos. 1-2, (1960), 183-212.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204906, "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": 14, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "9\n\n# ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN AND\n\n## AROUND HONG KONG\n\nA lecture delivered on 15th February, 1965\n\nS. G. DAVIS\n\nThe exhibition of neolithic finds in our City Hall has for the first time brought together the choicest specimens from the collections of Rev. Fr. D. J. Finn S.J., who concentrated his main work on Lamma Island, Rev. Fr. R. Maglioni who worked along the Kwangtung coast around Swabue, and the University of Hong Kong Archaeological Team that excavated at Man Kok Tsui on Lantau Island. The sites were all dug carefully and have fortunately been written-up in detail and published. But they represent a very small fraction of the total number of sites that have been recorded together with those not so far discovered in this part of South China.\n\nMany sites have only been examined cursorily and there is still very much work to be done with well-organized \"digs\". Unfortunately many sites have suffered and many finds have been lost through free-lance enthusiasts with varying degrees of competence not working systematically and not keeping detailed records.\n\nThe vast amount of pottery and artifacts already found in this area certainly indicates the population in neolithic times was considerable and that there were well-established communications throughout. The types of materials used, the quality of design and the workmanship also point to a civilization that was highly cultured and organized.\n\nIt is strange that neolithic archaeology in China was neglected or barely known until the present century. Berthold Laufer claimed in his Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty (12) that the first mention of Han pottery in European literature was made by S. W. Bushell in his book Oriental Ceramic Art (New York,\n\nEditor's note: Numbers in parentheses in the text are references to fuller particulars on specific book titles in the bibliography which accompanies the article.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205781, "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": 87, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "TUNG KWU ISLAND\n\n81\n\ninfluence is provided by the recent discovery (in 1968) of a Shang-style stone ko (dagger-axe) on Sha Chau in association with the same soft pottery. The affinity between the decoration on the pottery of Sha Chau and Tung Kwu and Shang pottery is therefore rather stronger than Mr. Schofield's last sentence in the present article suggests. Perhaps his statement made thirty years ago in his classic report on the Shek Pik site remains true: \"From the earliest period to which the Hong Kong culture can be dated a trace of Chinese influence is present.\"\n\n++\n\nPre-war writings on Hong Kong Archaeology include:\n\n(1) J. G. Andersson — “Topography of the Hongkong Sites\" in Bulletin No. 11, Topographical and Archaeological Studies in the Far East, of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1939.\n\n(2) S. F. Balfour Section II, \"Archaeological Evidence\" at pp. 336-341 of his article \"Hong Kong Before The British” between pp. 330-352 and 440-464 of T'ien Hsia Monthly, Shanghai, 1941.\n\n(3) Fr. D. J. Finn — various articles in The Hong Kong Naturalist between 1933-36. These are now reprinted in (ed. T. F. Ryan, S.J.) Archaeological Finds On Lamma Island (Akhio) Near Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Ricci publications, Ricci Hall, University of Hong Kong, 1958.\n\n(4) C. M. Heanley and J. L. Shellshear \"A Contribution To The Prehistory Of Hongkong And The New Territories”, Praehistoria Asia Orientalis, I, Premier Congrès des Pré-historiens d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, 1932.\n\n(5) W. Schofield — \"Implements Of Palaeolithic Type In Hong Kong\" at pp. 272-275, The Hong Kong Naturalist, December, 1935.\n\n(6) W. Schofield — \"The Proto-Historic Site Of The Hong Kong Culture At Shek Pik, Lantau, Hong Kong\" at pp. 235-305 of Proceedings of the Third Congress of Pre-historians of the Far East, Singapore, Government Printing House, 1940.\n\nA photograph of Mr. Schofield taken at Tung Kwu by Professor Shellshear on 9 December, 1931 is at Plate 9. Ed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205936, "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": 16, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "10\n\nwilling help has been of great value to me as President and to\n\nthe Council generally.\n\n13th May, 1970.\n\nLectures in 1969 comprised:-----\n\n20 January\n\nDr. M. W. M. Lau\n\n24 February\n\nJ. R. JONES\n\nThe F. A. Nixon Collection of Nestorian Crosses and the Fr. Finn Collection of Finds on Lamma Island\n\nDr. Morris I. Berkowitz\n\nThe Effects of Resettlement on the Plover Cove Villagers\n\nProf. P. G. O'Neill\n\nThe No Theatre of Japan Today\n\nMr. K. M. A. Barnett\n\nRemoving Some Barriers to Comprehension\n\nAspects of Hong Kong Marine Fauna\n\n11 March\n\n8 April\n\n15 April\n\nDr. Lamarr B. Trott\n\n28 April\n\nAnnual General Meeting.\n\n5 May\n\nMr. Holmes H. Welch\n\n24 May\n\n\"The Role of Religion in Chinese Life\n\n9 June\n\n11\n\n23 June\n\nA Tour of Old Shau Kei Wan organized by\n\nMr. J. W. Hayes.\n\nDr. Hugh D. R. Baker\n\nThe Chinese Lineage Village: A Pyramid of Kinship\n\nDr. R. K. Murton\n\nWild Life in Hong Kong\n\n29 September\n\nMr. J. C. Y. Watt\n\n23 October\n\n17 November\n\nThe Use of Jade in Old China\n\n\"Look Around\" Tour on Hong Kong Island\n\norganized by Mr. J. W. Hayes.\n\nMr. G. E. Johnson\n\nFrom Rural Committee to Spirit Medium Cult", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206626, "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": 174, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "168\n\nW. SCHOFIELD\n\nEditor's Note The manuscript breaks off abruptly at this point, and since it was passed to me after Mr. Schofield's death in December 1968 and I was hitherto unaware of its existence there is now no means of knowing whether it was completed or finished in part only. It is reproduced here for its interest as a contemporary statement of the progress of the archaeology of Hong Kong and South China by about 1938, when it was written, and for the useful account it provides of the part played by Schofield, Shellshear and Heanley in the early period of Hong Kong archaeological studies.\n\nPRE-WAR WRITINGS ON HONG KONG ARCHAEOLOGY INCLUDE:\n\n(1) J. G. Andersson — \"Topography of the Hongkong Sites\" in Bulletin No. 11, Topographical and Archaeological Studies in the Far East, of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1939.\n\n(2) S. F. Balfour Section II, “Archaeological Evidence\" at pp. 336-341 of his article \"Hong Kong Before The British\" between pp. 330-352 and 440-464 of T'ien Hsia Monthly, Shanghai, 1941. [Since reprinted in Vol. 10 (1970) of this Journal -Ed.]\n\n(3) Fr. D. J. Finn — various articles in The Hong Kong Naturalist between 1933-36. These are now reprinted in (ed. T. F. Ryan, S.J.) Archaeological Finds On Lamma Island (Ai》) Near Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Ricci publications, Ricci Hall, University of Hong Kong, 1958.\n\n(4) C. M. Heanley and J. L. Shellshear “A Contribution to the Prehistory of Hongkong and the New Territories\", Praehistoria Asia Orientalis, I, Premier Congrès des Préhistoriens d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, 1932.\n\n(5) W. Schofield — \"Implements Of Palaeolithic Type In Hong Kong\" at pp. 272-275, The Hong Kong Naturalist, December. 1935.\n\n(6) W. Schofield \"The Proto-Historic Site of the Hong Kong Culture at Shek Pik, Lantau, Hong Kong\" at pp. 235-305 of Proceedings of the Third Congress of Pre-historians of the Far East, Singapore, Government Printing House, 1940.\n\nJ. W. H., Hong Kong, 1972.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207022, "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": 93, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "FR. ERNESTO GHERZI, S.J.\n\n87\n\ndiscussed his impressive character. For example, Sir Francis Chichester in his book The Lonely Sea and the Sky (1964) tells of his early flight from New Zealand to Japan in August 1931 and of his visit to Zikawei to ask Fr Gherzi when it would be safe to proceed to Kagoshima. \"... I waited in a cool, silent, stone hall, while a priest went to find Father Gherzi. He was a thin tall man with slender high-browed head, and a narrow black beard. He wore a long black robe under which appeared two enormous black boots. He was impatient, impetuous and clever. In a rapid, emphatic way, he said that there was a typhoon centred east of Formosa, that it was travelling fast straight for Shanghai, that it was impossible for me to leave for Japan because of a 35 mph head wind, and that I must secure my seaplane at once. After my experience the day before with the emphatic reporter in the sampan, I started cross-examining Father Gherzi about this weather. He showed clearly that he resented this, and that he thought me a fool.... In the afternoon Father Gherzi said that I must not leave before he had the Japanese reports at 8.30 in the morning. That meant a 9.30 start, which was later than I liked, but what could I say to a man who was taking so much trouble for my safety? There was something fine about that dark impatient man, and he was good; each time I parted from him, I had an impulse to live a better life.'\n\nHis 'enormous black boots' were sometimes the butt for humour by his more youthful and disrespectful colleagues, one of whom spoke of the 'longest feet in Asia protruding from beneath a long black cassock'.\n\nA WRITER OF MANY PUBLICATIONS\n\nApart from his annual reports and papers, Fr Gherzi wrote the following books on the distribution of the meteorological elements in the Far East: Rainfall (1928), Winds and upper air currents (1931), Temperature (1934), Humidity (1934) and an Appendix on Rainfall (1937), all published by Zikawei Observatory. He was particularly interested in microseisms and was the first (1923) correctly to attribute the source of a certain type of microseism to the central region of typhoons but he thought, incorrectly, that they were caused by barometric pulsations of the central atmospheric column. He presented his case in a number of journals (e.g. 1932) and for the rest of his life, he continued to argue for this cause of typhoon microseisms. Indeed, the journal which carried notice of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208607, "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": 64, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n37\n\nSecretary, Procurator, and all his priests in the other parishes of the City were interned, he did not know where at that moment, but later on he was informed that they were at Stanley, in the prison. That evening our belated supper was eaten in more or less silence, as with guns booming in the distance and the suspense in the air, we did not have much heart for conversation. We retired early, but about eleven o'clock were awakened by the air raid siren, only to find that it was a false alarm. Incidentally, during the hostilities of Hong Kong there were no night air raids. However, after that false alarm, Father Downs in the city, at the Cathedral Rectory, could not get to sleep, and heard the clock strike every quarter of the hour until daybreak. And the next morning at about eight o'clock, the fun began! At that time planes appeared overhead, bombs were dropped at various points and wherever these bombs fell, anti-aircraft guns in the vicinity started barking. A couple of these anti-aircraft guns were set up in a small depression just below the Italian Sisters' Hospital on the hill to the east and south of the Cathedral, and when they began popping we thought they were in our backyard. During the day and those that followed, there were perhaps an average of four or five daily air raids, the targets being mainly gun emplacements, shipping and forts.\n\nHowever, on the very first day, as narrated by Fr. Downs a couple of bombs hit a portion of the Central Police Station, a block or two just west of the Cathedral. Guns were booming over on the Kowloon side and out in the New Territories along the Pearl River estuary where the Japanese landed, having come down the river from Canton. Whether these guns were land or naval batteries, of course we could not judge, but no doubt the shells came from both sources at times. On the night of the second day, after we had retired, the booming of guns seemed to be nearer, and finally we were awakened by a crash which seemed to be in the Rectory. As the booming kept up we were not desirous of making any personal investigation, and as we waited, another crash shook our building, and then another, a little farther away. The next morning we learned that the Japanese were evidently trying to get the range of the anti-aircraft guns just above us near the Sisters' Hospital, for the shells seemed to fall in a straight line; the first struck to the west of us, the second hit the edge of the roof of the house next door, the third crashed through the roof of the Cathedral, cutting a neat hole", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215422, "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": 199, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "148\n\nkept in the archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome and elsewhere, indicate that they were understandably interested in the names of their martyrs, but much less so in those of their artists, no matter what names contemporary researchers may have been able to find. Nevertheless, the sculptures of Chinese lions and the reliefs of Japanese flora, which decorate the façade, show that under their wing these mainly anonymous Asian artists were at least free to express their native sensibilities.\n\nThe 1644 Annual Letter\n\nWhat cannot be established, except through a careful examination of the façade, is if these artists were under the influence of contemporary altarpieces. But again it should be recalled just how important the design of retables had become in the Iberian universe. Latin American Baroque and Rococo retable-façades clearly testify to the ascendancy of the features of retables over those of retable-façades.\" I would argue that a similar influence was already at work in the design of the façade of St. Paul's.\n\nThe Litterae Annua of 1644 for the Japan Province penned by António Ferreira, in the archives of the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus, in Rome, is an exceptional document of exceptional relevance for this paper. It is already known to scholars from competent but slightly inaccurate eighteenth-century transcripts by Fr. José Montanha in the Archivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, and has been quoted since 1955 by Fr. Videira Pires and others. But the original manuscript has remained quietly filed and largely ignored in the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome. The original passage in the Annua that describes the façade as it reached completion in 1644, and which I would like to quote to the honourable audience and members of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong for the first time in public form my translation of the Portuguese text, reads as follows:\n\nAlms were given this year to crown the main façade of this Church, which is all of carved stone in a Roman manner. From top to bottom it has three orders of columns with their pedestals, six arched niches in good proportion; four of the ones which are half domes are on the first frieze amongst the orders of the second order of columns, each by itself next to the opening of the three windows of the choir: in them there are the half length figures of our Saints Ignatius, Xavier, Borja and Gonzaga,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215742, "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": 41, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "Date 2002\n\nApril 13\n\nMay 4\n\nMay 18\n\nJune 1\n\nAugust 10\n\nAugust 31\n\nNovember 23\n\n2003 January 25\n\nMarch 1\n\nLocal Visits\n\nHa Tsuen Market Town, Deep Bay, led by Dr Patrick H. Hase (see also Lecture Programme)\n\n\"Waglan Island Lighthouse, led by Dr Dan Waters & Tim Ko (see also Lecture Programme)\n\nPak Sha O in Sai Kung Country Park, led by May Holdsworth & Dr Patrick H. Hase\n\nHa Tsuen Market Town, Deep Bay, led by Dr Patrick H. Hase (Repeat Visit)\n\nFing Ping Shan Museum, to visit the Da Qin – An Imperial Christian Site of the Tang Dynasty Exhibition led by Dr Martin Palmer (see also Lecture Programme)\n\nRoman Catholic Cathedral and Archives, led by Anna Kwong & Fr Louis Ha\n\nVisit to Ming Chi Sing Cantonese Opera Troupe: Backstage Visit, \"The Sweet General\", led by Stella Ma (see also Lecture Programme)\n\nDevil's Peak Fort, led by Lawrence Lai, assisted by Tim Ko (see also Lecture Programme)\n\nHong Kong Museum of History, to visit the \"War and Peace: Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties\" Exhibition, led by Dr Joseph Ting\n\nOverseas Visits\n\nDate 2002\n\nMarch 28-April 2\n\nXi'an, led by Dr Joseph Ting\n\nSeptember 28-October 1\n\nAngkor Wat, Cambodia & Saigon, Vietnam, led by Dr Patrick H. Hase\n\n2003 January 30-February 13\n\nEastern Bhutan, led by Dr Brian Shaw\n\nxxxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]