[
    {
        "id": 206533,
        "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": 81,
        "title": "RAS-1972",
        "content_text": "SIR JAMES HALDANE STEWART LOCKHART\n\n75\n\nout the nineteenth century, a fashionable pursuit for the dilettante and the serious amateur scholar; even Elizabeth I, Queen of Rumania, acquired a European reputation, under the pen-name of Carmen Sylva, for her writings on the legends and fairy tales of her country of adoption. Lockhart, like N.B. Dennys and R.F. Johnston, became an addict of the new cult and study of folklore.\n\nThe term 'folklore' was coined as late as 1846 by the antiquarian W.J. Thoms; but the foundations of the study can be traced back to the influence of Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, published in 1765, and above all to the German brothers Grimm, whose Kinder und Hausmärchen appeared in 1812 and Deutsche Mythologie in 1835. They, in particular, laid the foundations for a study of folktales and popular superstitions upon a more scientific, comparative basis and examined problems from a wider point of view than that of the local antiquarian or literary romantic. The first folklore society in Britain was founded in 1878 and in that year appeared the first journal dedicated entirely to the study. This was the Folk-lore Record, the name of which was changed to the Folk-lore Journal and finally to plain Folk-lore.\n\nIn 1885 Lockhart was appointed to act as local Secretary of the Folk-lore Society of Great Britain and soon after he published an advertisement in the China Review asking readers to submit specimens of Chinese customs, superstitions and beliefs. He appealed to both European and Chinese readers and stated he would be pleased to translate communications in Chinese. He urged Europeans and Americans resident in China to co-operate for 'there can be little doubt that, either by their position or influence, they could materially contribute towards a thorough investigation of a subject which is daily becoming of great interest, and which is gradually assuming a place of no small importance among other branches of science.' It is not clear what sort of response Lockhart got from the readers of the China Review: but he did publish an article in 1890 in the British Folk-lore Journal, which was mainly a translation of material that had appeared originally in the Hong Kong Chinese newspaper, the Chung Ngoi San Po (Chung-wai Hsin-pao)† †† #報1\n\nLockhart's private papers are now lodged with his old school, George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and contain much material on Chinese folklore.62 What Lockhart intended to do with his treasure",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213908,
        "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": 260,
        "title": "RAS-1996",
        "content_text": "IMPERMANENCE OF IMAGES IN CHINESE POPULAR RELIGION TEMPLES\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\n235\n\nAt first glance the images of the deities on the altars in Chinese popular religion temples would appear to be permanent fixtures, as indeed is the relative position of images. And so they are in a great number of places. However, changes for several reasons do take place, the main one being the addition of a further deity to the temple altar and the balance of seniority requiring marginal movement to take place. Another factor is the change in or deletion of images due to the decisions of temple committees following some incident, often a devotee's dream, such as those requiring the addition of a further deity.\n\nWe are not looking here at the Lieh-shen T'an1, often the extreme altar stage right in the main hall, a conglomerate of unconnected deities, where all donated images are placed. The movement of images here is commonplace as more and more images over the years are donated usually by the relatives of dead devotees as a means of disposing of personal household images without upsetting anyone's feelings.\n\nTo notice change, long term observation, over a matter of decades rather than years, is essential, with the greatest change usually taking place during the rare refurbishment and redecoration of a temple. As an example we shall look at the Temple of the Lord of T'ai ShanA in Tainan city in southern Taiwan.\n\nThis old temple until the late 1980s was an extremely eerie and awesome place. The grime of centuries, the dim and poorly illuminated halls with the almost black images standing on the shadowy altars and against the side walls, provided an atmosphere approximating the role of the deities, the bureaucrats and enforcement agents of the Afterworld, whose images fill the temple. This has radically changed since the redecoration. Statues on the major altars were well nigh impossible to discern through the grimy glass windows fronting the main altars. All now tends to be clean, bright and much more airy, with modern strip lighting eliminating most of the shadows.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641",
        "rank": 0
    }
]