[ { "id": 204406, "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": 38, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "CURRENCY PROBLEMS\n\n29\n\nMemory calls to mind how that, in 1911, when I rode out of the Minshan range, which lies between the provinces of Kansu and Szechwan, I came out onto the great silk road of the Empire at Kwangyuan and travelled along it to Chengtu. On this road one found the most magnificent hotel accommodation then existent in the Empire. Yet in the best hotel I got the best room, together with all the rice I could eat at the evening meal, for forty cash a night—then the equivalent of about 3 cents U.S. currency!\n\nThis problem of the weight of the brass cash was well exemplified during the relief work I was called upon to direct in 1921 in North West China following the catastrophic earthquake that took place in December 1920. The quakes changed the whole face of nature in some fourteen counties and it became a matter of the utmost importance that we restored communications and set free the dammed up streams before break-throughs could cause flood devastation in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. To this end I had some fifteen thousand men at work in the 14 districts, engaged in this work of vital importance. They were paid on the basis of labour giving relief. On the largest undertaking at a place called Chin-Chiang-Yi I had four thousand eight hundred labourers. Of this number 10% were overseers or foremen gangers and received five hundred, or over, cash per day. The rank and file received a straight four hundred each. This means that the total weight of the cash required to meet a single day's pay on this one undertaking amounted to just over 12 tons deadweight. Something over 35 tons of cash was needed each day to pay the fifteen thousand men. Those were the days before motor transport in that part of the country and with the roads wiped out by the earthquake and pack-animals of all kinds exceedingly scarce the situation soon became impossible. After much thought I decided to put out my own note issue to meet the emergency. This though was easier conceived than executed. Neither paper supplies nor printing facilities were available. Therefore I had wooden blocks carved representing cash denominations of four hundred and five hundred cash. From these impressions were taken on strips of calico. The pull-offs were then oiled to prevent falsification. These notes were used in paying the workers who were able to use them for the purchase of food and necessities. The Chambers of Com-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207285, "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-1975", "page_number": 53, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CHINA'S ECONOMIC PLANNING & CHANGING GEOGRAPHY 45\n\nthe present regime is making efforts to convey water from the Yangtze River in the south to the Yellow River in the north. Since 1958, several survey parties in western Szechuan and southern Kansu have studied the possibility of transferring superfluous water to the Yellow River from the Gold Sand River, the Taito River, and other tributaries of the Yangtze.\n\nThere are, of course, many difficulties to be encountered in carrying out this plan. For example, the northwestern region is so sparsely settled that a tremendous number of workers must be brought in to construct the necessary canals and locks. The area has a serious problem of seepage and evaporation, and it experiences violent earthquakes.\n\nIf the plan is successful, however, it will provide ample compensation for the effort required. It will lessen the threat of flood in the southeast part of China, and will prevent drought in the northwest. It will improve the use of the region for pasture land, and increase its agricultural production. It can also develop electric power, which will make up for the shortage of coal in the region. It will modify the dry climate to some extent; this in turn will encourage forest growth. It will form a system of waterways that will facilitate navigation throughout the country.\n\nThe building of Railroads—For the sake of political coherence and the furtherance of economic development, the present government has paid great attention to the building of railroad systems. The length of the main line built since 1949 was 16,000 miles. Of the many completed systems of railroads, three have geopolitical significance. They reflect the determination of the present regime to unify the state and to open up the frontier border by connecting it with the inner areas.\n\n1. Along the east coast, five ports—Yentai, Ningpo, Foochow, Amoy, and Chiankiang—have been linked to the interior by short lines. The military intention of the railroads built in the areas around Foochow and Amoy apparently is that of “liberating” Taiwan.\n\n2. Two long railroads have been built for the purpose of connecting China with the Soviet Union. One, which was built in 1954, runs from Tsining to Ulan Bator in Outer Mongolia, and then to the Soviet Union. With the completion of this railroad, China was joined to the Mongolian People's Republic. The other, which is", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207807, "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-1976", "page_number": 195, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "180\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\ndevelopment from this, a temple built around a solid core. A narrow passage runs around the central core in which is set a niche containing the principal Buddha statue. The hollow temple, with immensely thick walls to support the weight of the vaulted roof, was in its early stages a core with the passage around and an antechamber or nave in front, usually on the eastern side. The stupa rising above the core could be of any shape, the Singhalese bell form or the stepped figured squares topped with a pinnacle, a form inspired by Pala architecture from India (particularly from one of the sacred Buddhist shrines at Bodh Gaya where the transformation of the Buddha took place). A development from this simple shrine is the Greek cross plan exemplified by the magnificent Ananda temple built by Kyanzittha, Anawrahta's son, in 1091. This still has the solid core but a double gallery around and antechambers on the axes of all four sides. A further development of this was where the whole temple was raised a level and the central core shifted slightly to contain and enfold the main Buddha facing east; the Thatbinnyu and Sulamani temples are good examples of this later style.\n\nOf the early buildings the Ananda is undoubtedly the most impressive, and the recent (mid-1975) earthquake, far from apparently damaging the building, has removed in parts the plaster and whitewash and shown the arching to be of bricks of alternating light and dark colours. The four main statues in the teaching posture have with overgilding lost their interest, but they impress by their size and the illumination from the hidden upper windows which show the Mon craftsmen as highly skilled technicians. The numerous glazed terracotta plaques ornamenting the base of the temple tell different Jataka tales (the lives of the hundreds of Buddhas before the Gautama Buddha and often taking the form of morality fables) and the small stone sculptures set in the internal walls tell the story of the life of the Gautama Buddha himself.\n\nThe terracotta plaques (the great invention of Pagan, as the distinguished archaeologist Bernard Groslier indicated in a lecture to the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society at Pagan) can be seen at their best at the very late (1284) Mingalazedi temple, a little damaged by the earthquake, and the two Petleiks of the 11th century, where the exceptional series is preserved almost in entirety.\n\nThe early temples near Myinkaba are remarkable for their excellent preservation and for the quality of their decoration. One\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207808, "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-1976", "page_number": 196, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "The Ancient Mon-Pagan, Peru & NAKORN PATHOM 181\n\nof the earliest is also one of the most unusual; the Nanpaya has beneath the spire four square pillars of stone each of which on two sides has a figure of Brahma holding lotus flowers in both hands. This is reputed to have been the residence of the captive Mon king Manuha, but this seems unlikely; it could have been his particular temple. The figure of Brahma in what was almost certainly a Buddhist temple is not impossible to explain away; the Brahma carvings face towards the central square pedestal which, originally, would have had a statue of the Buddha, possibly one looking in four directions; Brahma, a representative of Hinduism would be looking towards, and lower than, the Buddha. The temple is exceptionally faced with stone throughout, and the quality of the window pediments very fine.\n\nThe Abeyadana temple, not far away, is attributed to King Kyanzittha but an inscription determines his chief queen as the founder. It has a prominent harmika or bulge on the spire above the central core and a large seated brick Buddha in a recess in the core to the north (the whole temple is oriented to the north). The temple's great importance is in the quality of the paintings it still possesses, with Hindu gods and deities of Mahayanist Buddhism round the core and some excellent Jataka scenes with Mon inscriptions in the walls of the front projecting nave.\n\nAlmost opposite this temple is the Nagayon. It has good proportion and a very dark corridor pierced with five windows running round the central core. The quality of the paintings illustrating Jataka tales with Mon and Pali inscriptions is good.\n\nThe two Seinnyet temples are a little further south; the Ama is a square temple with four main porches, and the Nyima a solid stupa on three terraces. Lastly in this group is the Lawkanada stupa, built in 1059 by Anawratha beside the Irrawaddi, over which a magnificent view is obtained at sunset.\n\nOf the temples in the central area, nothing remains of the bulbous Bupaya stupa which fell into the river in pieces in the earthquake. The Gawdawpalin of the later period suffered severely and its tall finial is no more. In style, however, it resembles the Thatbinnyu which was built in the middle of the twelfth century. Only the eastern porch projects from the main plan, and the first floor where the main Buddha is located is reached by two narrow passage stairways built into the walls. The effect is of considerably greater height than the earlier buildings. As it is still in use it is", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207812, "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-1976", "page_number": 200, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "The Ancient Mon-Pagan, Peru & Nakorn Pathom\n\n185\n\nfrom 1823 to 1837, Amarapura once more from 1837 to 1857, and Mandalay from 1857 to 1885. Of Ava, which had also been the capital under another dynasty from 1636-1752, little remains; it is more famous now for the mile-long Ava bridge across the Irrawaddi, though U Bien's wooden bridge across the often dry Taungthaman lake, made from the timbers of the Ava palace, is more charming and evocative. This leads to the Kyauktawgyi pagoda of 1847, the principal interest of which is in the wall paintings similar to those in Siam of the same period. The Patotawgyi pagoda is not without interest, although it is essentially a stupa of later foundation (1820). The sacred hill of Sagaing, across the river, boasts no temples of great beauty, though the ensemble of the view from the top over the many spires and pagodas is delightful. The Kaunghmudaw pagoda, to the north of the town, is however unusual. It was built in 1636 in the shape of a gigantic almost spheroid dome, said to resemble a queen's breast. The shape is in fact Singalese, though one of the traditional attributes of Indic feminine beauty is perfectly rounded breasts. The stupa is also said to contain a tooth of the Buddha, and attracts many pilgrims to perform the pradakshina, the walking round the monument three times in a clockwise direction to obtain merit. The passage of the devotees at night was illuminated by a large number of upright pillars into which were inserted coconut oil lamps.\n\nMinggun, an afternoon's boat trip upriver from Mandalay, is well worth the journey. Clearly, Bodawpaya intended to make it his capital and he had a temporary residence there until he died in 1819. The base of the great unfinished pagoda is a witness to his folie de grandeur; the massive brick structure is on a 450-foot square and rises to 162 feet. It was abandoned even before it was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1838. Seen in the setting sun, the building impresses by its golden glow against the dark green foliage around. It has nearby a massive bell, said to be the largest ringing bell in the world, 12 feet high. To the north is the Hsinbyune pagoda built in 1816. It represents the Hindu-Buddhist cosmography; Mount Meru is symbolised by the central core containing a vaulted chamber for the Buddha, rising above the seven seas, represented by seven circular terraces with wave-like lines on their retaining walls. One has a fine view of the ensemble of Mingin from the Irrawaddi which for its size is a surprisingly empty river.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211412, "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-1988", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "104\n\nFirst Paternal Aunt I joined him in 1897. She was surnamed Ching and was born on 16 August 1869 in the village of Tin Bin. A kindly, passive and not well-educated lady, she was anxious to be liked, but did not have the authoritativeness, shrewdness, and skill necessary to manage a large Chinese household. Because she bore no children, Uncle asked Cousin George Goon Sun Chan to bring a 'bought' girl with him into the United States as his own wife, when in reality she was to be Uncle's concubine. This was in 1903. Her name was Wong Lin Hing, a native of Soochow, and she was born on 7 February 1887. Although she was addressed by the family as Ngee Nai, namely, Second Concubine, I called her Small Paternal Aunt, to give her more status. In San Francisco, these two women, by shelling shrimp in the home, were able to use their earnings for investment that gave them some income of their own. During the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, it was a very difficult experience for Uncle when he had to flee with Aunt on his back because she could not run with bound feet.\n\nIn response to one of Uncle's letters bemoaning the fact that he had no children by either spouse, Father responded, without realizing the full impact, that if they lived near each other, he would let him have one of his children. Uncle immediately wrote that friends passing through Honolulu on their way to California could take the child to him. Fortunately for me, it was my younger sister, Me Yuk, still an infant, who was presented to Uncle. I have never discussed with Mother what her feelings were, but I suspect that she had little say in the matter and had dutifully acceded to a husband's decision and that she carried a great burden of guilt over it. When Me Yuk was about four or five, Small Aunt took her along to visit friends in Sacramento, and on the way back by boat, she developed convulsions and died. She was described as a sweet, appealing, and talented child, a little performer, whom Uncle proudly showed off to his friends. He doted on her and lavished her with fine clothes, some of which were sent to us after her death. It was traumatic for the family. Small Aunt contemplated suicide as she felt that she was to blame for the child's death. Me Yuk's remains were later taken to Hong Kong for reburial, and in 1932, she was buried a third time by Mother to rest next to Father and Ruth in the Pokfulam Christian Cemetery, Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211896, "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": 311, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "286\n\nand pretty. There are abundance of trees of all sorts growing at the sides of the roads. The shops of the Chinese amused me very much as we went along. At last we came to \"Hughan's store\", where there is a great space, with easy chairs, etc. for loungers and loafers. Hughan is a ship chandler, and by keeping this place pretty comfortable he gets the captains of all the English and American ships there, and of course gets the job of supplying their ships with provisions, etc. Before the whole lines of stores and offices there is a path, with a roof to it so that one can walk about for an hour without being in the burning hot sun, which in Java is very injurious, especially to Europeans.\n\nWe took a short drive about the town with the captain, who was looking out for some spars for the ship, and then set off out in the country to Madame Baines' Hotel, which is the only English place where one can get to. It was a three-mile drive, but the beautiful appearance of the place made me think nothing of the distance. The Dutch, to whom the island belongs, are the greater part of the European population; consequently, the town is in every direction intersected by canals as is Holland. These canals serve the purpose of drainage, washing, and to keep the air cool. On each side of them is a very wide road, shaded by large trees from the sun. Thus the streets are very wide and airy. There are, of course, a great many bridges. The European houses are very grand, and nearly all built on the same model.\n\nOur two poor horses at last brought us up to our Hotel, where we arrived about two o'clock. It was half an hour before we could get anyone to attend to us, since it is the custom to sleep in the middle of the day. At last, after walking about over the house, we were met by our hostess, a Scotch lady of colossal dimensions, but withal a pleasant agreeable old party, who at once made us at home, and got us some \"tiffin\", or breakfast. All her servants are Malays, and she can speak the language very fluently. Indeed, when well spoken, Malay is a pretty language.\n\nHer house is an average specimen of all the European houses in Batavia. It has only one story on account of earthquakes, but it is very lofty and airy. There is a large dining hall and entrance hall, while round the house are the verandahs, where people spend a great part of the day, and especially the evenings. Facing the road, the verandah is very wide and lofty. In the garden is a stream, running round a small island, which has some fine clusters of trees, which are so curious that I cannot describe them. Some of the leaves are as large as a good-sized tablecloth. Round", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213171, "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-1993", "page_number": 239, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "221\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nEdward Seidensticker, Low City, High City Tokyo from Edo to the Earthquake how the shogun's ancient capital became a great modern city, 1867-1923 (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1991) and Tokyo Rising The City since the Great Earthquake.\n\nThese two volumes by Edward Seidensticker may well be the envy of every university press they are books which deserve to be on every scholar's shelf, which should be assigned regularly to students in classes and which are desirable reading for amateur historians and tourists alike. Certainly popular enough to be published in paperback as well as hardback, the books have also been made major selections in at least one book club. Profits like these are the staff of life to all the other worthy academic books which never make back their cost.\n\nSeidensticker is, first and foremost, a translator of Japanese literature and a commentator on the literary arts in Japan. His has long been an esteemed name in the field, holding with Donald Keene (likewise a professor of Japanese literature at Columbia University) pre-eminent position in the field. He crowned his “serious” career with a new translation of Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji, the first novel in Japan as well as in the world. Initially questioned for challenging the masterful translation by Arthur Waley, Seidensticker's translation has now been accorded pride of place in the field. It hews closer to the words that Murasaki wrote, yet it parses well too, even if it is not so splendid a piece of English literature as Waley's work.\n\nIn addition to literature, however, it is evident that Seidensticker has long been smitten by the city of Tokyo. He has collected enough trivia about the city, combined it with urban history and literary information, and achieved a series of insights into the city, the culture which vibrates through it, and the history of the development of Japan's largest urban centre. These he weaves together with light delicacy into a pair of books that are readable, interesting, entertaining and informative.\n\nSeidensticker begins Low City, High City by stating his intention to write primarily about the plebeian portion of the city, leaving the more patrician High City for the moment and stating about it that 'Another book asks to be written.' Fortunately, after the success of Low City, he replied to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213172, "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-1993", "page_number": 240, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "222\n\nquestion and wrote the second book, because the first volume, good though it is, told a very incomplete tale. Low City, High City concentrates on the Low City, Shitamachi or the old part of the city that was originally built on swampy lowlands and into which were crowded the commoners when Japan was ruled by the samurai. \"Commoner culture\" may have been a contradiction in terms to the samurai and their culture, yet it grew and grew and attracted avid attention even from the samurai in the feudal period. The lure of commoner culture remained in the Low City and continues today to beckon to many observers. Kabuki plays, haiku poetry, \"pictures of the floating world\" or ukiyoe, and the entertainers of the nightlife districts are just some of the legacies of the Low City which provoked Seidensticker's eulogy. He also takes up the high culture of the samurai, Zen Buddhism, tea ceremony and gardens, but his first love is clearly the culture of the Low City.\n\nHe takes his tale up to 1923 when the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed most of Tokyo and Yokohama, especially the part of the city which he lovingly portrays. The 'quake struck on September 1, at noon when cooking fires were burning throughout the city. Fire soon raged over the crowded Low City, killing an estimated 100,000 people in Tokyo and Yokohama. Although the Low City sprang back to life (Tokyo folklore had it that a business which could not reopen on the third day after a fire was one which would have failed soon anyway due to its owner's mis-management even if the fire had not occurred), for Seidensticker, and for many literary figures like Nagai Kafu and Tanizaki Jun'ichiro whom he quotes heavily, the old city and its culture failed to spring back, already having been changed by the new currents and culture flowing in from the West. Now, its physical base was destroyed as well.\n\nFortunately Seidensticker did not leave his subject on such a negative note. He took up his own challenge to deal with the 'many exciting things [that] have occurred in the six decades since the earthquake.' The second volume is increasingly different from the first volume not, however, in terms of its excellence or the tender care it gives to its subject but, rather, it deals with the High City, the portion of the city which stretches far to the west and north of the Low City and in which the samurai class once lived, but which now houses the middle-class society that pervades Japan. Although the influences of the Low City are not absent in the new High City, the atmosphere changes dramatically as one goes up the low hills. The austerity and severe-mindedness of the samurai class spreads through\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213281, "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": 103, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "83\n\nThere was a severe landslide on Fathers' Day, in June 1972, on the steep slope 200 metres to the west of the flat in this case study. After three days of torrential rains the hillside, with its excessive yang, turned to mud. When the earth is healthy humans thrive. When it is 'sick', humans suffer. The slippage extended from Po Shan Road, down to Conduit Road and below to Kotewall Road. The conclusion of the public enquiry was that extensive site development had caused the disaster. Sixty-seven people lost their lives after a 13-storey block of flats was cut off at its base and swept downhill. Life can be incomprehensible and vicious.\n\nHong Kong is not liable to seismic activity. The last earthquake, in 1918, did little damage. But a report by the late Professor S G Davies of Hong Kong University, shortly after the 1972 Kotewall Road landslip, noted fault lines. One line is said to run from Wanchai Gap over to Aberdeen, to the south of the flat in this case study. It is thus not difficult to appreciate how villagers, mentioned above, feel living at the foot of, or on the slopes of, a mountain. In the flat in this study, when it rains heavily and the slopes above turn to mud, as residents put it, 'one finds oneself gazing up at the mountain with its latent, supernatural power and wondering.' This is basically why, even if there is rhythm in the cultural landscape of nature, gentle slopes are preferred.\n\nUnderstanding the empirical ground rules of fung shui land usage, and the aesthetics of Chinese geomancy as a traditional form of spiritually based planning, can provide lessons for western architects, townplanners and environmentalists even today. Fung shui attempts to ensure that everything is in harmony with its surroundings. Its scope ranges from the planning of an entire town, to the construction of a high-rise building, to the design of an interior in an office or a home.\n\nWith respect to fung shui the owner's study, in the flat in this case study, is probably the best room in the flat. The owner has, however, been advised it would be better, even if he would miss the view, if he moved his desk around so he faced the door, rather than looking out of the window. With his back to the entrance much of the time, he always half-expects someone to come in. There is a loss of 'power'. It is not easy to concentrate. If he moved he would also not have to turn around when visitors come to see him. One's back should never face a window or a door as the force of chi is too great. The operator of a computer, which can stimulate chi, on the other hand, should face a door. If not, he or she may feel nervous and suffer stress.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213289, "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": 111, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "91\n\nThere are, for example, the Nine Stars and the 24 Mountains. The 24 Celestial Mansions, the 24 Fortnightly Climatic Periods, the 24 Characters, and the Five Elements are also represented. The compass, made from timber and coated with lacquer, not only tells direction, namely east, south, west, north and centre (the 'five' cardinal points), but it also shows the position of the sun at different periods of the year. To use the compass the base is placed parallel with the door, wall or other object to be oriented. The rings are then rotated so that things are lined up.\n\nAs a model of the universe, then, the loh poon helps its fung shui master interpret and predict, from the mystic Chinese characters, the client's future. This is done with the 'Eight Trigrams' forming the paat kwa (the eight-sided divining diagram as detailed in the I Ching) which is displayed on the inner section of the compass (Sung, 1934; and Sung, 1935). With the 'Eight Trigrams' two parallel continuous lines represent the 'Great Male Principle', and two parallel broken lines represent the 'Great Female Principle', and so on.\n\nThe ancient book, the I Ching, is regarded as almost sacred in some quarters and dates back to about 2800 BC, although the oldest extant commentaries were probably written closer to 1300 BC (Markert, 1986). The I Ching deals with prognostication, fortune telling and philosophy, with sets of symbols and different ways of combining these symbols so that they form titular statements. Much is written in poetic language which is difficult for the lay Chinese to understand.\n\nThese Trigrams mentioned above, made up of broken and unbroken lines in various relationships, are loathed by evil spirits in the same way that Holy Water, blessed by a Christian Priest, will fight evil.\n\nIn fact in China's Fujian Province, to the North-east of Hong Kong, large circular, communal dwellings have one ring of houses encircling another ring (Huang, 1994, 11). A whole complex, as large as an Olympic stadium, houses hundreds of families. Such structures are said to be earthquake proof and designed to provide natural temperature control. Each complex is shaped similar to the baat kwa, as outlined above.\n\nAs previously stated Chinese culture is woven around the 'Five Elements' in various ways (Needham, 1956, 243). The Five are employed, in fung shui, after consulting both the lunar and solar calendars (which", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 } ]