[ { "id": 211402, "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": 118, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "94\n\nA SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY INTO THE PAST OF\n\nTHE CHAN AND JONG FAMILIES*\n\nVIOLET MEBIG CHAN LEW\n\nIntroduction\n\nI have tried several times to get started on tracing my roots but have found several factors hindering my progress. Although I have gathered together quite a bit of material, I have been somewhat frustrated by my inability to read and write Chinese fluently or to find help with it. Also, ages given are often confusing because some are reckoned according to the lunar calendar and some according to the Gregorian system.\n\nOn one occasion I wrote, \"On this the 16th day of October, 1973, I am on a United Airlines plane with my husband, John, bound for Honolulu, which is 'home' to me. It seems that as long as one's parent is alive and is living in the same locality where one grew up, that place remains 'home'. It is the place where one has friendships bonded as far back as memory carries one. The older one becomes, the more one looks backward and recalls with pleasure incidents that have enriched one's life. I have been toying with the idea of putting down in English an account of the migration of my grandparents to Hawaii and the assimilation of the family members into the Western culture. Already, within three generations extending over a span of about one hundred\n\n* Editor's note: Violet Mebig Chan Lew was born in 1906. At the age of 71, she decided to investigate the history of her family, the Chan and Jong clans, which had emigrated to Hawaii from Hsiang-shan county in Kwangtung. Consulting public documents, genealogical records, personal correspondence, her diary and interviewing as many people as she could, Violet Lew spent ten years gathering material for this endeavour. A retired teacher and social worker, Mrs. Lew now lives in Boston and Honolulu with her husband, John. The Journal discovered this manuscript in 1986, and persuaded Mrs. Lew to allow it to be published. Mrs. Lew writes in her correspondence with the Journal: \"I wish to acknowledge the help of Dr. Wing Tsit Chan and my cousin, Toby Chen, in the translation of several sections of the Chan genealogy; the help of Pyun Kyau Minn with the organization of the project; and especially that of Betty Liu in getting this project published. I am also grateful to those who have contributed what they remembered of past events or enlightened me in the translation of Chinese characters.\" Mrs. Lew dedicates this article to her parents, Ping Yip and Jong Hung Chan.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212581, "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-1991", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "115\n\nmanifestion of poverty to symbolise the family has sold everything to pay for an elaborate funeral. Two hanging bands of the attire are left of different lengths to imply the mourner is distraught and does not know how to tie it properly. Women do not make-up.\n\nFor Chinese Christian funerals family mourners wear black gowns, but it is not a 'good' colour as it absorbs bad luck. When Chinese wear a black necktie they often remove it as soon as they can after the service.\n\nThe dead person in this study, who for major events such as birthdays used the Chinese calendar, knew she was born in the year of the ram but she was never sure in which year of the western calendar she was born. Because she used Chinese reckoning she was one year 'older' than if she had used the Gregorian calendar. In addition, on death, three years are usually added, 'one each for heaven, earth and mankind (天 · 人 · 地). A little subterfuge regarding age seems justified. It increases importance at one's destiny. Emphasis is placed on prolongation of age and symbols of longevity are many. They include the peach, crane and tortoise. The God of Longevity is sometimes depicted riding a deer. Because in this study the deceased was around 70 it was described as a 'happy funeral' (喜事).\n\nBy midnight all had left the funeral parlour except the three daughters, two granddaughters and two amahs (maids) who kept vigil, taking naps on the floor or on chairs. In the past gongs were banged throughout the night to keep away evil spirits. Noise restrictions today prohibit this. Although all-night vigils are not common in England now, they are still practised in eastern European countries and among those, for example, of Lithuanian descent in Scotland. Wakes are also held in Ireland, often accompanied by card playing, drinking and jollifications in an adjoining room.\n\nFuneral Day\n\nThe same as the previous day visitors paid respects, some early, shortly afterwards leaving for work. Later, the hall filled for the service. Day and time were important, as with other events concerning mourning. The Chinese Imperial Calendar and Almanac (usually known as Tung Sing(通勝) meaning 'know everything book') was consulted. Some editions of this sell a million copies a year. Dating back before 2205 BC, it is said to be the oldest, continuous publication in the world.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215078, "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-2000", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "131\n\nconnection with Chinese history when comparing the same with the Western system. There was also a slight derangement of time over the year, by one day only, with the intercalary moon being so arranged as to have only one solar period in it.\n\nAlthough the months were divided into two fifteen-day periods, markers for rituals, these periods had no particular relevance to the lives of the common man. What did have marked relevance for the majority of the population was the artificial division of the month into three ten-day periods, used mainly to mark rest days. However, as the seven-day week of the Judeo-Christians does not follow the natural laws by which events and phenomena operate, it was an alien concept to the majority of Chinese until 1911 when the western Gregorian calendar was introduced by the Republic.\n\nThe day was divided into twelve equal hours, each of 120 minutes - though the concept of such minuscule divisions as minutes within an hour used to be beyond the comprehension of the great majority of Chinese. Short periods of time used to be described as the length of time it took for a standard incense stick to burn down.22\n\nThese twelve Chinese hours were referred to using the twelve 'branches' or horary characters. These not only provided names for each of the twelve hours of the complete day but also, in combination with the ten celestial 'stems,' they gave titles for the years.\n\nMonths were referred to by twelve [or thirteen in intercalary years23] ordinary and literary names completely unconnected with the stems and branches.\n\nThe twelve hour day began with 11p.m. to 1 a.m., the hour of the rat and known by the first of the 'twelve branches' Zi; the second hour, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. was the hour of the ox and known by the second 'branch', Chou. The remainder of the twelve branches' were Yin, the hour of the tiger; Mao, the hour of the hare; Chen, the hour of the dragon; Si, the hour of the snake; Wu, the hour of the horse; Wei, the hour of the sheep; Shen, the hour of the monkey; You, the hour of the cock; Xu, the hour of the dog; and finally, Hai, the hour of the pig.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215079, "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-2000", "page_number": 175, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "132\n\nThe cycle of years consists of sixty possible combinations of pairs of characters, a system used since remote antiquity. A second system used reign periods similar to that used in England until fairly recent times. In the sixty-year cycle, the Chinese have used individual characters, the ten stems [tiangan] and the twelve branches (dizhi), paired to provide sixty combinations; thus, the first of the stems, Jia, and the first of the branches, Zi, together form a combination for the first year of the sixty, Jia Zi, and each successive year has another pair designating it for the whole sexagenary cycle when the combination begins again.24 The 'branches' were originally used to designate successive days; however, since the Han, they have been used in combinations for successive years.\n\nAlso within that sixty-year repetitive cycle, each individual year, with the five sequences of twelve years, was known, not only by the combination of stem and branch but also, for simplicity, by the animal of the year. Thus, the year 2000 is the Gengchen year as well as being the year of the Dragon. 1988 was and 2012 will also be the year of the Dragon, but neither will be Gengchen years, as this only comes round once every sixty years. For example, the year 2000 was Gengchen, as was sixty years earlier in 1940 and will be again in 2060.\n\nThe Chinese years are also referred to cyclically by one of the twelve named animals. Thus, we have the years of the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, etc., the change taking effect from the Lunar New Year, which can fall any time between late January and the middle of February on the Gregorian calendar.\n\nAlthough the months were divided into two fifteen-day periods, markers for rituals, these periods had no particular relevance to the lives of the common man. What did have marked relevance for the majority of the population was the artificial division of the month into three ten-day periods, used mainly to mark rest days. However, as the seven-day week of the Judeo-Christians does not follow the natural laws by which events and phenomena operate, so it was an alien concept to the majority of Chinese until 1911, when the western Gregorian calendar was introduced by the Republic.\n\nChinese used sun dials and water clocks from an early date, the latter dependent upon a constant and steady flow through control", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215300, "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": 77, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "25\n\nEARTH GOD WINE AND THE MEETING OF THE FLUTTERING BUTTERFLIES LOCAL CUSTOMS OF EARLY SPRING IN LATE IMPERIAL CENTRAL CHINA\n\nGÖRAN AIJMER\n\nAs spring was approaching in the lake lands of Southern Hubei and Northern Hunan, people became increasingly involved in the new agricultural season. Once snow and frosts were part of the past, the new season for rice began. In the first place the irrigated seedbeds were prepared to receive the sowing of the grain, and later to see the sprouting of the first thick green carpet of the young shoots. Irrigation systems had to be looked over and repaired in anticipation of the period when the large paddy fields were to be set under water.\n\nAfter the celebration of the Lantern Festival as the finale of the New Year season, on the fifteenth of the first moon of the lunar year, there was a bit of a ritual slack season. The advantage of this for people was that there was then a period of uninterrupted time necessary for the urgent agricultural spring tasks. What followed after New Year was a string of smaller seasonal events, somewhat more modest than the big cardinal festivals. Even so these celebrations were certainly of some importance - at least they provided a few short but joyful breaks in days otherwise filled with heavy loads of work. In this essay I shall examine two relatively minor festive events which were celebrated in the early spring, in the second lunary of the year or around that time.\n\nWe must remember that Chinese reckoning of time in Imperial days was structured by two main and different annual calendars. One was based on the phases of the moon and comprised twelve lunaries. The other took account of the annual behaviour of the sun and contained twenty-four solar phases. The lunar dates varied in terms of the sun calendar, but it was the latter which gave the pragmatic landmarks in terms of seasonal weather and rural tasks for the countryman, whereas various celebrations of agricultural achievements and social events were held in accordance with the moon year. The lunar New Year could fall any time from the twenty-first of January to the nineteenth of February, Gregorian reckoning, and thus varied a great deal from year to year in\n\nI have dealt with these elsewhere: Aijmer 1964; 1968; 1979; 1991; 2002.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215302, "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": 79, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "27\n\n'Establishment of Spring' starting on the fifth of February, Gregorian reckoning. A wu day would have been a day which showed a stem-branch combination that contained the character wu. The day of interest here would occur some forty to fifty days after the first day of the Li Chun. So this day would have fallen sometime by mid-March, generally in the second moon, but at varying dates there. This day was called She Ri 'She Day'. It seems likely that it was celebrated according\n\nto the date provided by the official calendar-chronicles from Yingshan Magistracy (in De'an Prefecture), Suiyang Magistracy 陽縣 (in Wuchang Prefecture 武昌府) and Wuchang Magistracy 武昌 (also in Wuchang Prefecture) place the festival in the second moon.3\n\nIt is not so easy to say what the She was in late imperial times in this lake land in Central China. In terms of State rituals there was still an imperial sacrifice in the spring on an altar southwest of the palace in the capital, devoted to She Ji *. Sometimes this two-character name is understood as referring to one deity, sometimes as to a combination of two-She being the god ruling the land and Ji the divine controller of grain crops. There was a hierarchy of provincial, prefectural and magistratial She Ji, who were all part of the imperial official state cult. The imperial offering was the exclusive privilege of the Emperor. Before his sacrifice the altar was covered with earth of five colours - a colorific togetherness which expressed the total universe, and thereby the generative and destructive power of the five activities, wu xing 4. A special stone tablet was erected in the middle. After the ceremony this was taken down and buried in the ground until the next occasion for worship.4\n\nIn some areas in the south, present-day villagers tend to see the She as a chthonic registrar of deaths and births, an earth god who is thus associated with both death and human fecundity. More generally it appears as if the She in many areas of China signified a notion of locality. Both the Imperial cult and the present day Cantonese example may serve us as pointers, but what the demotic ideas about the She, and the She Day, actually were in the area surrounding Lake Dongting a few hundred years ago, is something we must try to glean from the\n\n3 古今圖書集成.1888. VI,1166: 風俗考毯4a; 1120:風俗考2b4b.\n\n4 Bredon & Mitrophanow 1972: 63-64.\n\n5 Aijmer & Ho 2000: 37-41 and Yang 1961: 98-99.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]