[ { "id": 204644, "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-1963", "page_number": 125, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "112 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nYangtse was not an easy river to navigate, and with its swift currents and shoals presented problems very similar to those on American rivers, in particular to the Mississippi. The Americans made good use of their experience in river navigation, and were also more willing to carry cargo on deck to speed up loading and discharging. They were more partial to paddle than to screw steamers, the former being better against strong currents and for reversing off shoals. This combination of factors gave the Americans a decided advantage in the early years, and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, belonging to the famous American trading firm of Russell and Company, was the most important company on the river for the first fifteen years of foreign trade.\n\nThe 1860's on the Yangtse was in many respects a repetition of the 1840's and 50's on the coast. Great stretches of the river were still under Taiping control, and it was constantly patrolled by British warships. Lawlessness was common among Chinese and foreign traders alike, and shipping was liable to attack from rebels, Imperial war junks, and pirates indiscriminately. Many foreign ships were engaged in illegal and immoral trades, in flagrant disregard of treaty rights, let alone of the welfare and laws of China. This applies to the sailing ships and lorchas under foreign flags, rather than to the steamers run by the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, the other American companies of Heard and Olyphant, and the British companies of Jardine, Dent, and Lindsay. Opium trading had been legalised by the Treaty of Tientsin, and for the first decade or two at least 20% of the foreign imports into Hankow by the steamers was opium.\n\nThe salt trade was a government monopoly, and the most common illegal activity on the river was salt smuggling. Salt could be bought for the price of rice at Eching, eighteen miles above Chinkiang, and sold further up the river for at least double the price to the great detriment of the salt gabelle. Then there were foreign adventurers who supplied arms and ammunition to the rebels, and others who, if not actually smuggling themselves, convoyed native junks which were smuggling.\n\n— \n\nThe Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was formed by Russell and Company in 1862 with American, British, and Chinese capital, and performed valuable pioneer work in developing river", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211777, "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-1989", "page_number": 192, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "The Rivals. 1861 saw some entertainment on board H.M.S. Scout, and in March 1864 there was a Prussian ship, the Gazelle, in port, and its amateur society performed three plays, two of which were by Kotzebue and Körner, whether in German or English is unknown, but the audience \"frequently expressed their approval by enthusiastic applause”. \n\nAs was stated in the introduction, there were times in the history of Shanghai when the Settlement was threatened from outside and foreign troops had to assist in its defence. Thus in the early sixties several regiments were brought down to the city. Both the British 31st and 67th regiment came out in 1861, to sail home in July 1863 and July 1865 respectively. The Royal Artillery started operations in 1862. After the military tasks had been largely completed in 1863, there was time left for whatever amusement could be organised — among these, of course, theatricals. Mid-March 1863 the amateurs of the 31st staged Lover's The White Horse of the Peppers and Brough's Crinoline \"before the largest audience of the season\".\" Some weeks later the Royal Artillery scored an equal success. Shortly before their return to England the 67th amateurs put on Selby's The Unfinished Gentleman on June 17, 1865, which was \"well attended and gave great satisfaction\".\" On more than one occasion the officers and local amateurs joined forces for the staging, for instance, of Morton's farces Where there's a Will there's a Way and Fitzsmythe of Fitzsmythe Hall on March 26, 1863 \"before a crowded audience of subscribers to the fund for defraying the expenses\".42 \n\nTravelling Companies \n\nUntil the heyday of theatrical entertainment in Shanghai during the years 1864 and 1865 only one professional company visited the city: On August 9, 1856 Messrs Baker, Woodward and Montgomery (\"formerly of the New York Serenaders\") advertised that they would give, on the 14th, a \"Grand Ethiopian Musical Soiree\" which “could not fail to please all lovers of fun and harmony\" and at which among others \"the sidesplitting Negro farce 'The Nigger Doctor and his Patient, or The First Lesson in Surgery' \"' would be performed. Ethiopian Soirees were another name for the minstrel shows given by blackened whites; they originated in the early 1830s and became hugely popular, especially in America, but later also in Britain,40 and to some extent in Shanghai too. These Ethiopian entertainments were given sometimes by amateurs (May 15, 1854) and sometimes by touring companies like the one mentioned above and later, in November and December 1864, by the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211827, "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-1989", "page_number": 242, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "217\n\n2.3.1864 (Wedn)\n\nPerformance by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery.\n\nNo plays are mentioned in the announcement (NCH 27.2.1864).\n\n4.3.1864 (Fri)\n\nPerformance by Mrs. Greig: \"dramatic reading and English ballad music” with the cooperation of Mr. Marquis Chisholm, piano, and the Rhenish Band.\n\nN.N. (H)\n\nR: This was an evening at which the Herald predicted that \"ladies may without impropriety be present\". Mrs. GREIG had had “a most successful career in India and the colonies\" and it was the first time she had come to Shanghai (NCH 27.2.1864).\n\n28.3.1864 (Mon)\n\nT. KORNER: \"The Governess\" (“Die Gouvernante')\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nA.F.F. Von KOTZEBUE: \"The Harvest at Home\"\n\nN.N.: Bullrick at Kroll\"\n\nC: Amateurs of His Prussian M.S. Gazelle\n\nTh: On board ship(?)\n\nN: It is not recorded in which language these pieces were played: titles and authors are those given by the Herald. Of Kotzebue's play I have not been able to find a German equivalent. HED, however, mentions some plays with the same title by British authors: Thomas Parry (1848) and Charles Dibdin (1787), as well as some by unknown playwrights.\n\nR: Perhaps in some fear, the Herald noted with a sigh of relief that \"the evening passed off without a single contretemps\" (NCH 2.4.1864). Curiously enough the only ship in port with the name \"Gazelle\" was a British merchantman which had arrived there from Hankow on the 22nd.\n\n30.3.1864 (Wedn)\n\nM.W.B. JERROLD: \"Cool as a Cucumber\" (1851)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nJ. KENNEY: \"Raising the Wind\" (1803)\n\nT: Farce (2 acts)\n\nJ.S. COYNER: \"Duck Hunting” (1862)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps\n\nF: Prologue, spoken by Commm. R.C. Antrobus\n\nTh: N.N. (H)\n\nN: First performance of the season\n\nR: After a brief period in which the actual names of resident-amateurs had been published, there was a reversion to the old practice of stage names, at least probably for most actors. A whole list was printed in the Herald (Messrs Talbot, De Jones, Robinson (were these latter two the same as those active in 1858?), Carnegie, Coke, Dolittle, Smith, Blister, Buttons, Bellingham and John; and Mesdemoiselles Olivia, Pipchin, Robinson and Sally), of whom only Mr. Talbot may have been genuine. As usual the female characters of the farces were played by men (\"prettier and more graceful amateur ladies than we have ever seen before\"), a generally horrid sight for the serious theatregoer. Not so for Shanghailanders for \"large numbers of residents who were desirous of obtaining admission were excluded for want of room” (NCH 2.4.1864). A detailed review had appeared in the Daily Shipping News of 31.3.1864, no longer available. Increasingly, instead of full reports, summaries from the daily edition were published until one has to resort entirely to the Daily News; of Survey).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212303, "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-1990", "page_number": 245, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "222 \n\nand Jardine's Crescent, both in Causeway Bay, and Jardine's Corner on the Peak. Bulkeley Street market, and streets named Perceval, Irving, Anton, Landale, Matheson, Paterson, Johnstone and Keswick are named after Jardine taipans.\n\nThere is also Jardine's Lookout. It was from this 433 metre high vantage point that observers galloped down by 'pony express' to head office, in the days before modern communications, with the news that a Jardine ship was approaching. In early Hong Kong the company is said to have had a fleet of 12 ships which were faster than those of rival firms,\n\nThe late Richard Hughes, wrote that, of the two founders, Jardine was the older and tougher, and the planner. He was respected and even feared, and nicknamed 'Iron-headed Old Rat', in Chinese, because of his insouciant attitude when attacked and hit over the head with a club in Canton (Hunter, 1844). Except for the one on which he sat, there were no chairs in his office. Visitors were not encouraged to dally.\n\nMatheson was more genteel, although not of exalted stock, and some of his family had been clergy and others army officers. He was more liberal, suave and affable, and even, so it is believed, regarded with some affection. Unlike most businessmen at the time, he was a person of some taste and culture. In 1827, he supplied a small hand printing press so the Canton Register, an English newspaper, could be published. He owned the only piano in Canton or Macau. But as Hughes writes, no one laughed when he sat down to play'. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK) on the 19th February 1846.\n\nMatheson was a good organiser and administrator. He could draft a dry, caustic minute as the following illustrates:\n\n\"The 'Gazelle' was unnecessarily delayed at Hong Kong in consequence of Captain Crocker's repugnance to receiving opium on the Sabbath. We have every respect for persons entertaining strict religious principles, but we fear that very godly people are not suited for the drug trade. Perhaps it would be better that the Captain should resign.\"\n\nIncidentally David Matheson, a member of the 'clan', did resign some years later to become chairman of the executive committee of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213887, "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-1996", "page_number": 239, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "213\n\nrelationship with Chen - they \"did not see eye to eye... [they] thrashed out their differences round the Council table which... they thumped.\"\n\nTo arrange the finance of the new Government, Sun decided to reorganize the province's currency. The new policy was a total abolition of the existing currency and the introduction of a brand new currency under a new government bank. Originally, the new bank was to have had a reserve of $10,000,000, but it turned out that the Canton government could only put up 30% of the original amount. As a government bank, it had the right to issue new currency, to control the treasury and the salt gabelle in Guangdong. The crucial thing it lacked, as shall be seen, was credit worthiness. The merchant's prediction proved correct. In response, the chambers of Commerce wrote a joint letter to Sun, stating that \"to cancel the existing currency (issued by the Bank of China in Canton) was equivalent to an act of sentencing them to the death penalty.\" Ending the letter, the chambers warned the government that \"if the creditability of the Government was shattered [by this incident], the new notes issued by the Provincial Bank of Guangdong may suffer too.\" The brand new currency issued by the new government bank, amounting to $1,500,000, depreciated sharply once it began circulation.\n\nIt was in March 1921 that Chen Jiongming secretly approached \"the leading Chinese merchants in Hong Kong,\" requesting them to form into an advisory council for the Guangdong Government, which was responsible for giving advice on the \"administration of the province in relation to civil and financial matters.\"\n\n**\n\nCoinciding with Chen's move, it was Liu Zhubo who submitted a confidential report to the Governor of Hong Kong on a scheme to finance a new government in Canton - \"the object of the proposed organization was to finance Chen Ch'iung-ming (Chen Jiongming) and enable him to sever [his] connection with Sun Yat-sen.\" According to Liu Zhubo's proposal, this new Canton government was to be modelled \"after the form of government of Hong Kong\" under the supervision of the Cantonese merchants. In Liu's words:\n\nThe Political ship of Canton - officiated, manned and navigated as it now is - is bound to strike rock... what the Chinese merchants in Hong Kong and Canton should do, and do at once, is to prepare and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216335, "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-2003", "page_number": 94, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "43\n\nThieving was common. Even the coolies who unloaded the cargoes into custom-house boats for weighing, and the boatmen who took them in covered and locked boats up to Canton, had a bad reputation, one witness even affirming that 'the Chinese exceed greatly the watermen upon the Thames in filching and chicanery,' which, Parkinson has observed, was of course saying a great deal.57\n\nNaval and military personnel of the Delta\n\nWe come now to another class of involved person, the commanders and personnel of war junks of the provincial navy, and of the many military forts and guard-posts in the Delta and up the rivers. Despite being natives of the province, they were not noted for their good behaviour towards the local land and boat populations. Indeed, the recital of exactions, inducements and \"squeezes\" that we have seen to be routine in the old China Trade is merely a reflection of what passed on the wider scene for much of the time. This culture of corrupt and bad practices is corroborated by recorded local history.\n\nOld persons in Hong Kong's outlying island communities interviewed in the 1960s recalled several instances of the petty corruption practised upon local people by soldiers from the military posts there before 1898. The Peng Chau post made an unlawful levy on boat people at their regular monthly \"burn offs\" of marine growth from the hulls of their craft, whilst their brethren on Cheung Chau extracted cash from vendors at the local market-place.5\n\nMore serious breaches against the boat people are mentioned in surviving commemorative tablets in some of the temples in the Delta area, erected for the public record by the wearied local communities with the consent of the responsible senior officials.\n\nOne such (1834) at a temple on Peng Chau near Hong Kong forbade the practice of commandeering two fishing craft each month and putting soldiers on board them, for cruises to entrap pirates whilst posing as innocuous traders, to the great inconvenience of the family members and temporary loss of their livelihood. Another (1826), placed outside a temple near the Barrier Gate at Macau, prohibited the unlawful charges and exactions being levied by the crews of salt gabelle patrol boats and the personnel of no fewer than 28 military posts along one stretch of\n\n59", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]