[
    {
        "id": 204411,
        "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": 43,
        "title": "RAS-1962",
        "content_text": "34 \n\nG. FINDLAY ANDREW \n\ncamped till about midnight. Then making our way down the mountain side we came to a large field in the centre of which some of the war-lord's men started digging. It was not long before they uncovered the first of several large earthenware crocks full of silver, mostly the fifty ounce \"shoes\". Each crock was wired to the next. By daylight we had the whole of the sycee boxed in the cases we had brought with us and shortly after sun-up we had the pack-animals loaded and were on our way home. One very pleasant remembrance of the incident was the spirit of integrity that was evidenced in the whole deal. Under the peculiar circumstances we naturally had to accept the weights and standards that were given us at the place of take over. But when we were able to check-up at the provincial capital we found no discrepancy. \n\nI purposed using this consignment of silver to purchase some coarse barley, cultivated on the Tibetan border and which was the only grain available and in very limited quantities. However, we hit a snag when the people of the district (half-breed Tibetans) insisted that payment must be made in silver dollars of standard value. It seemed for a time as though we had reached an impasse, until, acting on a hint, I found in the local arsenal machinery for a mint which our far-sighted War-Lord was planning for this backward province of the North-West. We found dies and stamps to mint the impressions which we made in moulds from the dollars of all provinces and regions. The only difference between our production and the originals was that our content was of uniform standard. The only dollar we were unable to copy was the Sun Yat-sen dollar where the impression goes through and comes out in relief on the other side. We even produced Hong Kong dollars. In all we minted and uttered two hundred and thirty odd thousand silver dollars. What alloy we used was white brass. This episode had an interesting sequel some ten years later when, one evening, I found myself dining with Dr. T. V. Soong, then Minister of Finance. Among the guests was Yu Yu-ren, then President of the Examination Board. This office was responsible for the disciplining of officials. Pointing at me, Dr. Soong said to Mr. Yu, “You ought to put this man behind the bars. He comes to our country and without Government charter or licence he issues our currencies and mints our coinage\". \"Excuse me \",",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f",
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    },
    {
        "id": 205337,
        "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-1967",
        "page_number": 99,
        "title": "RAS-1967",
        "content_text": "92\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\ndistrict city it was not under the district magistrate's direct rule but was under the charge of one of his deputies. This officer's yamen was in the walled city of Kowloon and he was responsible for many other villages besides those on Lantau Island. There was no civil officer actually resident on the island before 1898 though one imagines that runners would visit it from time to time to chase in taxes and, perhaps less frequently, to make an arrest. The military authorities were more in evidence. A captain commanded a detachment in the fort at Tung Chung, a large valley in the north-central part of the island, and a junior officer was in charge of another body of troops in the market town, Their presence was perhaps due more to European activities in the local seaways, and to pirates, than to any disturbances likely to take place on the island, especially in the latter half of the nineteenth century when there is no remembrance of internal disturbances.4\n\nThe people of Lantau were left mainly to their own devices by the government, military and civil alike. From evidence collected locally it appears that as elsewhere in China the clan and village elders kept the peace in the villages, and the Kaifong (#) or Street Association did the same in the market town and paid for watchmen to bar and walk round the principal streets at night. Anything more serious than minor disturbance and petty crime, e.g. piracies or armed robberies, was reported to the military, though by that time it was usually too late for anything effective to be done. Disputes were settled locally as far as possible. Besides these, the elders handled a variety of duties which, irrespective of the size of the community, were sometimes arduous and complex since much depended on handling individuals so as to produce a fruitful result. They organised small public works of benefit to their communities, such as the digging of a well or the construction of an irrigation dam or a small pier: they managed the local temples and arranged the details and financing of all festivals: they were responsible for finding suitable premises for village schools and engaging teachers; and so on. These persons came forward by a combination of such factors as age, experience, ability, ambition, leisure, wealth, lack of anyone else willing to do the job and so on. However, it is also true to say that they had also to be acceptable in their communities, since without local support and goodwill they could hardly operate.5",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208493,
        "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-1978",
        "page_number": 217,
        "title": "RAS-1978",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n201 \n\nCHANG'S descendants did not know his name, and so he was simply called by them Millionaire CHANG (...). When the writer first saw the images of CHANG and his family they were covered with dust and cobwebs. There was also a wooden carving of an award from the Emperor of that time. CHANG'S images in the bedroom, and parts of the other images, reflect the mood prevailing at that time. CHANG'S image in particular depicts him as a contemplative but determined old man.\n\nHis image depicts him seated, his forehead is high and long, his face too is longish; he has a slightly protruding jaw and thick lips which appear to be smiling. His head is inclined slightly to the left; his shoulders are level and his arms lowered with his left hand on the arm rest of the chair while his right hand rests on his lap. He wears the everyday robes of the man in the street, and despite the age of the image the carving is still well defined.\n\nThere was also an image of a female, probably his daughter-in-law, and another of a younger man dressed in official robes, perhaps CHANG'S son. Both these latter two have been carved by the same craftsman and probably at the same time. However, the image of CHANG is older. All in all, the three are rare works of art.\n\nThere are no descendants left of the CHANG family in the old house, and the images are worshipped by people in the neighbourhood. The writer found a woman of about 30 who claimed that she was one of CHANG'S descendants but she knew nothing about the legendary figure. Whether she was or not, the images are of great significance in Taiwanese folk art.\n\nA large number of people on the Pescadores 300 years ago were of Fukienese origin and whilst we do not know the ethnic origins of CHANG Pai-wan, it is probable that he was either of Fukienese or Ch'ao-chow origins.\n\nIn addition to the discovery of these 300 year old ancestral images, I have also seen a couple, husband and wife, carved in wood, seated on the front of the ancestral shelves in the Hall of Remembrance at the side of the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple in Malacca (See Plate 23). There is no identifying detail and the temple keeper was unable to say who they were.\n\nThe man, sitting together with and on the right of the woman on a high-backed bench with sides, is dressed in blue robes bearing",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208524,
        "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-1978",
        "page_number": 248,
        "title": "RAS-1978",
        "content_text": "Plate 23. Ancestral images on the ancestral shelves in the Hall of Remembrance in the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple in Malacca, 1979.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593",
        "rank": 0
    }
]