[ { "id": 211055, "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": 116, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "91 \n\nhe did this spontaneously, in response to our questions. In any case, his response constitutes an interesting datum for those interested in the study of religious rationalizations.\n\n28 Ge Hong, of course, wrote of Huang Chuping, but only as one of a large number of immortals. Su Dongpo, who stayed at Luofu in the 11th century, praises a painting of Huang Chuping in one of several poems on various paintings, but does not mention any connection between the painting and Luofu. Qu Dajun's very detailed account of Luofu (in Guangdong Xinyu) and its saints does not mention Huang Chuping at all. It might be noted, however, that the Southern Song court bestowed titles on Huang Chuping and his brother in the reigns of Shaoxing (1131-1162) and Jiaxi (1237-1240). The Ming official Huang Gongfu (1573-1657) also seems to have brought worship of Huang Chuping to Guangdong. He was stationed in Fujian not far from Jinhua Mountain, according to the annals of Xinhui (quoted by Wong “A study of Huang Ta-hsien\"), but became disillusioned with the Ming regime and migrated south to become a hermit in the Xinhui area. While there, he wrote some poems mentioning Huang Chuping. He lived near a rock or crag once named Yang Shi Keng (Sheep stone pit), changed its name to Chi Shi Yan (The crag of shouting [at the sheep]), evidently referring to Huang Chuping's miracle of turning rocks into sheep. There is as yet no evidence that worship of Huang Chuping by the founders of the Hong Kong temple owes anything to the influence of Huang Gongfu. Many of the devotees of the Xiqiao Huang Daxian, however, came from Gaoming and Heshan not far from the home area of Huang Gongfu.\n\n19 The article, authored by An Shi, is on page two of the brochure, which is printed on newsprint-type paper with the heading \"Scenic spots in Luofu, Tangquan, Huizhou”. The brochure, published by the local branch of the provincial Tourist Agency, is clearly written by journalists and local scholars attached to the local cultural affairs bureau.\n\n10 We were told at Luofu that two former members of the local Wenhua Ju (Cultural Affairs Bureau) had written articles to prove that the Hong Kong Huang Daxian originated in Luofu: Mr. Xie Hua (editor of Luofushan Fengwuzhi), now at the Tequ Bao (Special Zone Daily), had apparently written an article for the Shenzhen Ribao (Shenzhen Daily); Mr. Su Fanggui, now at the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Huizhou, had reportedly also written an article on this theme.\n\n31 We were told during the interview with these officials that Huang Chuping was another disciple of Ge Hong; he became an official in Huizhou (obviously a reflection of Huang Li]; he had a brother named Huang Chuqi; he went to Hong Kong, found he had to go far north to a mountain in Zhejiang province, where he was engaged in tending sheep; he became separated from his brother; and so on. These cadres had evidently consulted some books on Taoist saints prior to their meeting with us.\n\n12 Regarding traditions about the mute tigers associated with Yeren, see Soymie, \"Le Lo-feou chan\". p. 27. Soymié points out (ibid. p. 111) that by tradition, several other saints of Luofu also had tigers as companions. Tigers functioned like tutelary deities of the mountain, placed there in part to prevent the wicked and the unworthy from ascending the mountain.\n\n33 We learned while in the area that there had been some recent conflict between the proprietors of rival shrines near the mountain in their attempt to get some of the tourist trade. For a time in the spring of 1987, the Beidi temple on the plain several kilometres from the main temple was by-passed by a steady stream of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211104, "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": 165, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "140\n\ncommunicate with the Chinese.\n\nThe editor of the Daily Press suggested that, “it would be well, indeed, in this colony if the Chinese could be encouraged to give a fuller expression to their opinion than they have been accustomed to do, for at present the Government has to work largely in the dark and has no reliable means of feeling the pulse of the native community.\"\n\n\"Brownie\" of the China Mail also felt that the Government should be ready to listen to the real grievances of the Chinese, but only through the proper channels. \"We desire to hear the real views of the respectable Chinese, but we must fight shy of any agitation which is not recognised by the Chinese representative,” meaning Dr. Ho Kai. Here, of course, was some of the difficulty. Dr. Ho Kai was in some measure out of tune with elements in the Chinese community.\n\nThe Governor did not improve the position of Dr. Ho vis-a-vis the Chinese, or at least that is what I conclude from the remarks of \"Brownie.\" He comments on \"the clever way in which the Governor called upon Dr. Ho Kai to clinch the arguments,\" even though \"the worthy doctor may not have appreciated being used as a sledgehammer upon his own compatriots, though he doubtless recognised the necessity of the operation.\"\n\nThat he would submit to being a sledgehammer and appreciate the Governor's hard line was a high recommendation for him in the eyes of the foreigner, for \"we badly need a few more Chinese who possess the enlightenment of the doctor.\" So thought \"Brownie.\" An opposite view was taken by the Hongkong Telegraph.\n\nIt felt that, \"the Chinese are entitled to better representation in the Legislative Council than at present.\" The editor suggested that in Hongkong where the British principle of “no taxation without representation\" is ignored, “it must be especially galling to a large section of the community like the Chinese, whose one representative in the Council is nominated by the Governor. He is, we are assured, not the chosen representative of his countrymen,”\n\nPage 165\n\nPage 166", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211106, "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": 167, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "142\n\nThey had little power, other than that of the strike or riot. Such power was to be met not by reason but by force.\n\nSuch attitudes influenced the manner in which the Hongkong Government related to the Chinese community in the nineteenth century.\n\nThe Telegraph editor implied that the Governor used threats because he was dealing with Chinese, that he would not have treated the Europeans so.\n\nThe charge was that “he got out of his depth in a perfect torrent of assumed righteous indignation, because forsooth, a Chinaman had dared to speak in public against a galling ill-considered Government measure. Because a Chinese gentleman of the highest standing had the unparalleled audacity to object to being imprisoned and treated with all the indignities a clumsy policeman, dressed in a little brief authority, delighted to inflict on him for just taking a stroll in the cool of the evening, and because the above mentioned wicked and seditious Chinese arrogated to himself the right of thinking for himself like a man which the Government could not do if it tried — and because this celestial reprobate was so hardened in crime as to actually say what he thought with due moderation, for which under the circumstances, he should have had the highest credit as becomes a man who strives for the right and fights the cause of his unfortunate countrymen, and seeks to protect even the humble coolie from the tyrannical minions of the 'law!'”\n\nHaving defended the right of the Chinese to speak out on public questions, and particularly praising the forthrightness and courage of Ho Tung, the editor poured his sarcasm on Hongkong officialdom. He called it “a self-satisfied Government of imported incubuses from the Downing Street Museum of Fossils and Antiquities,” that is, the Colonial Office.\n\nThe editor had suggested that the Governor dared only to use threats against Chinese, not against Europeans. He further claimed that it would only be the Chinese who would be punished for their criticism of Government policies.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212753, "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": 62, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "47\n\n18\n\non the depth and interest of their writings. Some, like Archibald Colquhoun1 went into great detail describing the wealth of minerals, the scope for modernisation in communications and the economy, all subjects which Mesny too, at the same period if not earlier, had written about at length. Others like Mrs Scidmore2 list 'intrepid travellers to Szechuan3 and the far west,' with names like Richtofen, Pumpelly, Von Kreitner, Hosie, Baber, Blaikiston, Little, Gill, Hart, Parker, and Pratt, Mrs Little and Mrs Bishop, and Dr Morrison, but not one of these authors referred to Mesny whose travels and experiences outweigh most if not all of them. Was it because he was considered to have gone native or been more Chinese than ‘one of us\"? We shall never know but each time yet another book was published it must have been galling for Mesny to find only very rarely he had earned a mention. After his trip with Gill to Tibet and India in 1877 he was scarcely referred to in books on China; this together with his constant and repeated reference to his contacts with and closeness to Chinese friends and acquaintances, mostly in high places, suggests that he was ostracised or perhaps no more than ignored by the western social community in Chinese ports and in Shanghai in particular.\n\nDuring his later years when fortune seemed to elude him, when there was no caste lower than the impoverished European or American, a number of themes and points of view in Mesny's writings place him fairly firmly into a class and category of his time. A plague of self-importance swept late-Victorian Britain and spread through its colonies and dependencies. Mesny suffered a massive dose and never, as far as his Miscellany record, appears to have had his balloon pricked. He must have been seen by foreigners in Shanghai and, in particular by his fellow 'Old China Hands', during the latter years of the nineteenth century and the first decade of this as a vulgar, low-born upstart, too fond of his own ideas, a self-centred braggart and an opinionated man, but let it be stressed that he would not be alone in this category in Shanghai or for that matter in all the other major western communities in the Orient. His own notes reflect the disdain with which he was regarded by people like Sir Thomas Wade and Sir Robert Hart. His name dropping in many of his writings, mostly in his personal relationships with Chinese viceroys, provincial governors and commanders in chief, suggests that he probably also dropped names to the same extent in everyday conversation. However, he knew the importance of patronage, especially in China, as one can see from his obituary of Tso, and his description of the momentary meeting with a Manchu hereditary prince.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214316, "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": 174, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "138 \n\nLegends surrounding the birth, life and death of Xu Sun are numerous, complicated and tangled stories. Just before his birth his mother is said to have dreamed that a golden phoenix dropped a pearl from its beak into her hand. A popular story claims that he was born either in Henan province or at Nanchang in Jiangxi, ca AD 240 where he lived out his life as a saintly doctor. Xu Sun passed the imperial examinations, became a prefect of a district and distinguished himself by his benevolence. According to some versions, his popularity was due to his power and ability to heal diseases using secret preparations. Others claim that he was an official who, having served in Sichuan province, died in about AD 293 or AD 374 when still only in his fifties. In another version, a typical mythological finale to a virtuous and extraordinary life, he died at the great age of 134 and was borne off to Heaven 'together with his wives, children, dogs, chickens and beasts'. \n\nMembers of the Daoist Jingming sect claim that he was the founder of the cult with its centre at the temple dedicated to him in Nanchang city. This no longer exists; however, a temple dedicated to him in the small town of Xi Shan [Western Hill] some twenty miles south-west of Nanchang, is the present cult centre. A large notice before his altar in the temple informs devotees that he lived during the Eastern Jin [317-420 AD] and during a twenty year struggle managed to solve the problem of annual flooding in the province and that he should be revered mainly for his success in water conservancy in northern Jiangxi, particularly around the Boyang Lake. The notice also claims that he lived for 136 years. \n\nHis cult centre in Xi Shan is now a bustling temple complex with two main halls and some four lesser halls set in large grounds. The two large main halls, side by side, are dedicated one to Xu and the other to the Jade Emperor. The inside walls of the hall dedicated to Xu are lined with some twenty or so anonymous minor perfected lords whilst the Jade Emperor's hall is lined by sixteen guardian generals, again unnamed. The Jade Emperor is flanked by four major Daoist deities, the philosopher Lao Zi; the founder of the Heavenly Master sect Zhang Daoling; the doctor of the Eight Immortals Lü Dongbin and the Northern Emperor, Zhen Wu. The main altar in Xu's hall bears two images of Xu, one tall gilded statue of Xu standing, and a smaller, portable image of him sitting swathed in red robes. Neither has any unique characteristic and he is depicted with a black beard, pink face and holding a tablet in both hands before his chest. He is attended by two youthful attendants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214768, "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": 183, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "147\n\nand one cruiser anchor off the dockyard followed by a victory parade including a fly past of sixty bombers and fighters. All very galling.\n\nMonday twenty ninth. News is that we are to be moved to the mainland at dawn tomorrow and that we will be given no transport and can only take kit that we can carry. The GOC and Commodore are treated the same as everyone else. Obviously we are going to be humiliated. For dinner we open all the tins in store and eat royally, washed down with beer and champagne. Pack what little kit I have, also any tinned food left over.\n\nTuesday. At dawn we prepare to move off. Frank and I sling our kitbags on a pole coolie style. We sling blankets round our neck. We are determined to bear our humiliation without a murmur, our day will surely come. We form into units and after two hours waiting move off, over six thousand strong. Arrive at the ferry and, after another long wait, are ferried across to Kowloon where we form into units again. Off again but where, no one knows. After a mile or so we come back into Nathan Road. By this time we begin to feel the strain and have to rest frequently. Each unit has its own guard. Thousands of Chinese line the streets, a few jeering, but mostly quiet, and some are in tears. It would appear that we are going to Sham Shui Po, several miles away. Our guard is a decent fellow and, seeing we are having a tough time, allows coolies to carry our kit. Eventually reach SSP barracks eight hours after leaving China Command. A battle for billets commences. The whole camp has been stripped of every useful article by looters and had also been bombed. All doors, windows, furniture, and fittings had been taken leaving just hulks of buildings. Even in peace time it was an awful dump, but now it looked as if a typhoon had hit it. We found a small hut and then a tremendous hunt started for anything resembling a bed. Found some horse hair and wrapped it into one of my blankets. Several men had been here for days, being captured earlier on. Two WO's had been tied up with wire, stripped of everything, and left for three days without food or water after having seen several of their comrades bayonetted. We get rice twice a day which tastes foul and does not alleviate our hunger.\n\nWednesday thirty first. Moved to a slightly bigger hut, the Wing moving in with us, the men are in another hut close by. There are over six thousand men in the camp with no sanitation and rotten food. We", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "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": 215341, "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": 118, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "66\n\nthe imperial troops defending Lingnan area. Madame Xian sent Feng Sheng to help them but as the rebel general and Feng Sheng were old friends, Feng Sheng delayed his attack on the rebels, Madame Xian was furious and had Feng Sheng cast into gaol. She then despatched Feng An but found it necessary for herself to don armour and lead the troops against the rebels. Within a couple of months it was all over. The rebels surrendered. The Sui emperor pardoned Feng Sheng and appointed him to be the Governor of Luzhou, and at the same time appointed Feng Huai to be Governor of Guangzhou and at the same time appointed Feng Huai to be Governor of Guangzhou and Feng An as Governor of Gaozhou. He also appointed Feng Bao, Madame Xian's long deceased husband, the posthumous Area Commander-in-Chief of Guangzhou and Marquis of Jiaoguo so that he could appoint Madame Xian as Duchess of Jiaoguo. He also granted her the seal of her title to enable her to administer six prefectures. The empress presented Madame Xian with a tiara, jewellery and robes which Madame Xian placed in a chest in the main hall to display them to the family as a reward for three generations of loyalty and filial piety. She then advised the future generations to continue to do their duty.\n\nIn AD 591 a number of places rebelled against the dynasty due to the corruption and tyranny of the Area Commander-in-chief of Panyou. Madame Xian proposed that she should arbitrate, and listed the crimes of the Area Commander-in-Chief to the emperor and peace was restored.\n\nShe died at the age of 89 and was granted the posthumous title of Huguo Shengmu and given a state funeral. She was buried in Tianbai county, commonly known as Gaoling where a temple was raised in her honour leading to today's cult.\n\nb] A deity who, though not Hainanese, is revered by them in several temples in South-east Asia, is the Lord of the White Horse, Baima Laoshi Gong, possibly better known simply as Laoshi Gong. He has only been noted in three temples, in Singapore and Malaysia, though an image of him did appear on sale in a Kowloon curio shop some years ago. He is the main deity in two of the three temples, both on the west coast of central Malaysia, one north of Klang and the other to the south.\n\nApart from in the two temples in Malaysia, other temple keepers", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]