[ { "id": 209154, "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-1981", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "RELIGIOUS RESPONSE TO MODERNIZATION IN TAIWAN: THE CASE OF I-KUAN TAO†\n\nHUBERT SEIWERT*\n\nIntroduction: Modernization and religious change in Taiwan\n\nSince the middle of the last century China has been a theatre of far-reaching political, economic, social and cultural changes. The most obvious manifestation of these changes has been the revolution of 1911, sealing the end of a monarchy which had endured for more than two thousand years. But the defeat of the Manchu dynasty marked the closing of an epoch not only politically: the revolution of 1911 was also a decisive turning point in the cultural development of China. The traditional culture which so long was the pride of every Chinese scholar underwent an almost complete reevaluation. To the revolutionary intellectuals of the first decades of the twentieth century this traditional culture was the ideological expression of the overthrown feudal system. The construction of a new society should, therefore, not be a mere change of political institutions but had to comprise the formation of a new intellectual culture as well.\n\nThe central target of this cultural-revolutionary movement was Confucianism, which was regarded as the ideological foundation of the old social system. At the same time this movement also had distinct anti-religious tendencies aimed not only at the religious components of Confucianism but at all kinds of religion, traditional Chinese as well as foreign. Religion and superstition were inconsistent with the scientific worldview which had been imported to China from Europe and America.\n\nThe critical attitude of the Chinese intellectuals towards religion was certainly one of the factors which contributed to the decline of traditional Chinese religion in the twentieth century. But there were other reasons, too. On the popular level, the arguments of the intellectuals were probably of no great significance for the religious behaviour of the common people. More important were the changes\n\n*Universität Hannover\n\n† Parts of this article were read at the XIVth Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, August 1980 at Winnipeg, Manitoba.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212203, "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": 145, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "122\n\nOur office had removed to a new building, a tall building with lifts and American plumbing. But the old office was still there, a little way down the Bund, in the French Concession, built of red bricks in a style which can only be described as Sino-Edwardian, though decked with a hangover of that rococo embellishment, which was not one of the glories of Queen Victoria's reign. It was in that office so many years ago that a dear old Chinese merchant had patiently explained to me how in Hankow the yolks of all the eggs were in the centre of the egg, because Hankow was in the centre of China. Not a little bit up the egg, or a little bit down, but just in the centre. I asked him where the yolk of the egg was up in the north at Tientsin, but he said he did not know as he had never moved far from Hankow; and, I fear, he attributed my ill-concealed scepticism to callow youth. I do not suppose all those young Chinese officers who now walked briskly along the road worried where the yolk of the egg was. For since the fall of Nanking, eight months earlier, Hankow had been the capital of China, and also the headquarters of the army. The Japanese were held up at the Mateng bluff, where the Yangtze narrows some miles below Kiu Kiang, but the pressure was increasing and it was thought that Kiu Kiang might fall soon.\n\nBefore leaving Hongkong I had taken the precaution of providing myself with six bottles of whisky, as I had heard that supplies were running short in Hankow. My information was not quite accurate. I found there was plenty of whisky, but it was a green colour, derived from the solder-flux of the Kerosene tins in which it was despatched from Hongkong. Freight on the railway was reserved for war material, and it was easier to bring up an odd tin of whisky than to find space for a case. The green whisky, it was discovered, could be taken, in the usual small doses, with impunity. Nevertheless my six bottles, containing liquid of a more agreeable shade, were acceptable. They unfortunately did not go far. I heard afterwards that an enterprising chemist found a way of removing the green colour from the imported whisky to the joy of patrons who had qualms regarding the effect of solder-flux on gastric juices.\n\nHankow was a very busy place. Amongst other things the rolling stock, which had been salvaged from the north China railways, was being ferried as quickly as possible over to the south bank. Locomotives of diverse size and vintage were shunted down to Hengyang onto sidings where they were held for spare parts or for...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212826, "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-1992", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "120\n\nI was also most fortunate in my Chinese friends, many of whom strongly disapproved of the discreditable state into which Chinese administration had fallen. Unchecked hoarding and profiteering were the order of the day and on these the black market flourished exceedingly. Providing you had the money you could buy almost anything in the Kun-ming shops. Inflation mounted steadily and so far as one could see no serious efforts were made to control it. Many officials kept several wives and lived in great luxury; they had profited from the colossal fortunes made over the transportation of supplies on the Burma road. The sight of all this was sufficient to shake one's faith in the future progress of China.\n\nThere was also an extensive black market in money. The official rate of exchange for the Indian rupee was six Chinese dollars to one rupee; but in the black market you could get forty, then fifty, sixty, and so on upwards. British officers drew as much of their pay as they required in Chinese dollars at the fixed rate later by special arrangement with the Ministry of Finance increased by 50%, that is nine dollars to the rupee - but at these rates Kun-ming prices in terms of dollars were beyond their reach. They could not afford to go out, and had difficulty in returning hospitality. The Americans were better off because they received their pay in U.S. dollars, which they disposed of in the black market.\n\nThere was no difficulty about the provision of food; local supplies, so far as we were concerned, were adequate. The drink problem was more difficult; supplies had to come over the 'Hump' and a bottle of whisky was a very rare thing. The French Catholic fathers made a beverage, called Anis, not unlike Absinth in taste, and like Absinth it turned a cloudy white colour when mixed with water; it had a kick like a mule. Anis was rather expensive though, and the more enterprising members of the community took to distilling their own ‘gin'. The machine consisted of a two-gallon petrol tin, placed over a charcoal fire: from the top of the tin a copper tube - probably salvaged from a dismantled lorry - led through a five-gallon kerosene tin filled with cold water, where the vapours from the still passed through coils in the pipe, condensed, and dripped into the gin bottle. The stock from which the liquor was distilled would be either one of the fiercer forms of Chinese wine or the commercial alcohol manufactured for use in driving vehicles: either product tasted horrible and left the most distressing hangover, but it did make a party go.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213214, "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": 36, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "Colonel Mosby had been sent to Hong Kong by the United States State Department to investigate and eradicate reputed abuses that had arisen in the affairs of the Consulate. His report to Washington was published as a pamphlet. The report claimed that Mr Smith had been instrumental in the perpetration of great frauds on the United States Government. The court found Consul Mosby guilty of slander. Before sentence, Mosby spoke in his own defence. \"It has been proved that when I came here Peter Smith was what was known as 'the shipping master' at the American Consulate. He had a desk and a clerk, and he had a monopoly of the shipping business. He was a powerful man at that time, so far as American shipmasters and sailors were concerned” (CM 10, 11 Jan. 1881). Upon losing the lucrative business of shipping master for the American Consulate, Peter Smith applied for a spirit licence for a house on Queen's Road West which he wished to name the City of Hamburg. The Superintendent of Police questioned whether a boarding house keeper should also operate a tavern. However, the licence was granted, but only for a year and with the caution that if there were any complaints regarding its conduct, the spirit licence would not be renewed (CM 4 Jan. 1881). Smith did not live long to enjoy his accumulated wealth. He died in December 1882, aged forty-seven.\n\nOther taverns which would have attracted the German sailor on shore were the City of Hamburg 1861 to 1976, Bremen Tavern 1866, City of Bremen 1866 to 1867 - when the name was changed to Scandinavian Tavern, the Prussian Eagle 1870, and the Hamburg Tavern 1861 to 1878. Several of the proprietors of these establishments followed a pattern set by Peter Smith in marrying women from Macao families. William Gardner, who was born at Strassburgh in 1834, married, in 1863, Cecilia Libina de Jesus Correa. Her sister Melena Rita Correa married William von den Busche in 1864. Both Gardner and von den Busche were associated with the Hamburg Tavern. John Juster took over the Hamburg Tavern from William Gardner in 1871. He had been born in Hanover in 1834 and married in Hong Kong, in 1875, Maria Antonia Botelho, a native of Macao. Louis Kuchmann held the licence for the Land We Live In for twenty years. In 1886 the licence was transferred to Tevel Silbermann, probably a German Jew. Kuchmann had one daughter, possibly by a Chinese wife. She married in 1885 Carl Holm, captain of a German schooner.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213300, "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": 122, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "102\n\nas a barrier to progress, by, for example, not allowing a person to carry out a certain operation on a certain day.\n\nThe Hong Kong (British) Government has certainly not ridden roughshod over Chinese culture and it has given tacit approval to fung shui by paying sizeable sums as compensation when the 'dragon's vein' has been endangered by public works. Few other colonial governments would probably have been as considerate. Also, remedial structural measures have been taken to the residence of the British Governor to bring it into line with fung shui beliefs. Many western business houses take fung shui into consideration. Their managements maintain the investment is well worth it. Staff worries are allayed. It is good for business.\n\nAlthough some is undoubtedly superstition, nevertheless much fung shui is common-sense and practical, taking into account natural rhythms that form part of man's lifestyle. It is, it has been suggested, up to everyone to treat fung shui with an open mind and to decide what he or she is able to accept. 'Staples' include symbolism, coins, crystal, mirrors, lights and wind-chimes. Fortune plants, with their non-calcified, non-woody stems, serve a useful purpose in purifying the atmosphere. Colours are linked not only to one's year of birth but also to the Five Elements.\n\nEvery building has its own metabolism. One purpose is to channel chi to all rooms so as to improve the bond with, and the energy and performance of, the occupants. Westerners believe they are able and have the right to control nature. The Chinese view is more akin to living in balance with nature and taking a holistic approach. This outlook helps bring about harmony and peace in the home or workplace. And, as society becomes more affluent, so the Chinese have more money to lavish on things like fung shui. Also, with the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China and the resulting uncertainty, more people are likely to appeal to the supernatural, and to visit fortune-tellers and engage fung shui masters, to try to find solutions to their worries and problems.\n\nIt has been argued nonetheless, not without reason, that geomancy can be rather 'hit and miss', more resembling an art than a science tested by experiments and research. It has also been argued that fung shui can be 'self-reinforcing'. This means that whatever is forecast is likely to come true partly because it is often explained in such vague terms. The fact that a forecast may not come to pass for years is accepted. As a result, much", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213942, "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-1997", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "1997-98 PRESIDENT'S REPORT ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH PRESENTED AT THE 38TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING FRIDAY 27 MARCH 1998\n\nThe year under review, from 26 March, 1997 to March 27, 1998 (from AGM to AGM), was a unique and historic period in that it spanned the Handover of the Territory from Britain to China.\n\nAs a direct result, what has changed? The short answer is, very little. To echo Mr Tung Chee-hwa's own words: 'It is (for our Branch) business as usual'. Neither the world nor Hong Kong, of course, stay still. You will see from this report that developments and changes, often subtle, are taking place, many of which have no connection with the Handover. For example, during the year we completed updating our Constitution. Nevertheless, for our Branch a great deal has happened and it has been a gratifying year.\n\nOne of the direct changes resulting from the Handover is the question of patronage. Previously the Chief Executive—formerly the Governor—has always been our Patron. It came as no real surprise, however, when we received a reply, in answer to our invitation for the new Chief Executive to become our Patron. The pivotal sentence read:\n\n'Mr Tung regrets that he will not be able to accept your request'.\n\nYour Councillors are of divided opinions as to whether having a Patron serves a useful purpose, and, if it does, who should be invited to take up the post. Views of members present here tonight will shortly be sought.\n\nFirst, turning to other matters.\n\nMembership\n\nDuring the past year Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, now living in Scotland, who as Sir David Wilson served as Governor of Hong Kong, graciously accepted our invitation to become an Honorary Member of our Branch. As a Sinologist, when he served in the Territory he\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213944, "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-1997", "page_number": 14, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "that a copy of the Journal is given, free, to all fully-paid-up members. Also, while our lectures are free, our visits provide leadership and quality that one is unlikely to find elsewhere, at a similar cost in the private sector for example. It should be noted that, to encourage students to join, their annual subscription remains at only HK$50.\n\nAlthough there has not been a mass exodus of expatriates from Hong Kong, many have left, and, in turn, new people have arrived, often short-term stayers. Our Branch is becoming less British in composition. With the RAS in some ways an international institution, with branches or affiliated organisations in places like Japan and Korea which never formed part of the old British Empire, for our Branch to become more cosmopolitan is not a bad thing. However, although we have tried to recruit more Chinese members over recent years, we have had limited success with numbers varying from 15 to 20 per cent of total membership. Nevertheless, although we have organised a few lectures in Cantonese, we are basically an English-speaking society in what has become, since the Handover, a more Cantonese-speaking community. But, in spite of this change, the RAS still fills a need in Hong Kong in its present form. Having said that, if our Branch wishes to increase considerably its number of Chinese members, then it will have to organise many more functions in the local language.\n\nWe are a society catering partly to scholars, and some of the quality research on Hong Kong has been undertaken by RAS members who have endeavoured to place their findings on record, in some cases before the old ways of life disappear forever. But, at the same time, the RAS is popular with newcomers to Hong Kong who wish to learn something of local history and about Chinese culture, one of the most important cultures in the world.\n\nHere it should be said that many of our members contribute a great deal to the Hong Kong community, and, as a result, five were named in the June 1997 Queen's Birthday Honour's List. They included Dr Michael Lau, Professor I.J. Hodgkiss, Mr Randolf O'Hara, and Ms Caroline Courtauld, who each received an MBE, and Mr Peter Halliday, who was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.\n\nxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213948, "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-1997", "page_number": 18, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "to his daughter, Mrs R. Woodcock, for donating these to our Society.\n\nOur Branch is always looking for donations and if anybody wishes to find a good home for some interesting and valuable items or artifacts we should be grateful if you would consider donating them to the RASHKB.\n\nThe Public Records Office\n\nAlthough the RASHKB is apolitical and has no wish to be seen as a pressure group, it does make its views known when it has a case. You may remember that our Branch objected when the Hong Kong Government decided to move the Public Records Office from Central District into an industrial building in Tuen Mun. Besides writing letters and taking other action two Branch deputations appeared before the Legislative Council Panel on Information Policy in 1993. The outcome of our efforts was that a new, purpose-built Public Records Office was opened in Kwun Tong, in June 1997, shortly before the Handover. Our Branch played a major role in this achievement.\n\nThe Council\n\nSeveral of the 14 posts which comprise our Council require a special expertise. These include the Treasurer, the Librarian and our Editors. But, in addition to these 14 posts, other persons are co-opted on to the Council. They include the Reverend Carl Smith, our Honorary Vice President, and our Assistant Secretary, Mrs Sarah Parnell. Each Council Member is expected to pull at his or her respective oar and to row in unison. It is a working council.\n\nIn addition to the two co-opted persons named above, namely Carl Smith and Sarah Parnell, as well as the President, the following have sat on the Council during the past year: Doctors Elizabeth Sinn, Michael Lau, Patrick Hase, Joseph Ting, Peter Barker, Choi Chi-cheung and Anthony Siu, together with Robert Nield, Geoffrey Roper, Peter Halliday, Valery Garrett, Julia Chan, and Peter Rull. Also, although Anita Wilson stepped down from the Council at the last AGM, she was co-opted back on until she left the Territory last July. All those\n\nxvii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213953, "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-1997", "page_number": 23, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "20 June \n\n18 July \n\nKong's Battlefields and Wartime Sites. \n\nDr Elizabeth Johnson, Women's Place; Women's Roles-Question of a Female Identity in a Tsuen Wan Village. \n\nM. Philippe Le Corre, The Hong Kong Handover: An Historical Perspective. \n\n19 September Dr Judith Hollows, Hong Kong, Korean and Japanese Management: What is Different and Why? \n\n31 October \n\nDr Betty Wei Peh-T'i, Foreigners in China: A Bibliography. \n\n28 November Ms Tess Johnston, Northern and Southern Treaty \n\nPort architecture in China. \n\nDr Patrick Hase, Fung Shui in Action. \n\n5 December \n\n1998 \n\n16 January \n\n6 February \n\n20 March \n\nMr Ko Tim Keung, An Illustrated Talk on Pre-World War II Kowloon. \n\nMr Kevin Bishop, China's Imperial Way. \n\nDrs Gillian and Verner Bickley, Nineteenth Century Government-led Education in Hong Kong. \n\nConcert \n\n21 June 1997, Chinese International Music Performance, Hong Kong YWCA Chinese Orchestra, organiser Dr Michael Lau. \n\nExcursions outside Hong Kong \n\n28-31 March 1997 \n\nVisit to Shanghai, Drs Michael Lau and Joseph Ting. \n\nxxii \n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214120, "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-1997", "page_number": 188, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "157\n\nBearing in mind the RASHKB is sometimes seen as supporting the \"establishment”, in October 1989, four months after the Tiananmun incident, Dr James Hayes, then our President, wrote to the Chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law (Hayes 1989: xvi). As no reply was received a copy was then sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London. Again, no reply was forthcoming.\n\nIn this letter, put very simply, the President wrote that the RASHKB hoped to be able to continue its activities in the interests of Hong Kong long after 1997. Indeed, members hoped to be able to carry on in the same way as they had been able to operate before 1997. The letter went on to say that the Branch's particular functions are to increase the common stock of knowledge and understanding of Hong Kong and to build a bridge between the Chinese and expatriate sectors of the local community, promoting social interaction and friendship among residents.\n\nLike a number of other societies in Hong Kong, over the years the RAS has in its own way contributed to peace and stability. It has helped to nurture the growing sense of territory identity, for example, that has formed especially since the end of the 1960s. In spite, however, of trying to recruit more Chinese members, especially in recent years, the Branch has had limited success.\n\nI am pleased to say, a few months after the handover of the Territory to China, the Branch is continuing to operate along similar lines as in the past. For the RASHKB, in other words, it is \"business as usual”.\n\nIt is accepted that the world, including Hong Kong, changes in various ways, and our Branch will need to keep its ear to the ground and move with the times. Although we remain basically an English-speaking Society, we did conduct some lectures in Cantonese during the winter of 1995-96. These were held in conjunction with the Exhibition, Hong Kong Going and Gone mounted jointly by our Branch and the Antiquities and Monuments Office.\n\nOur Society, which has a long and honourable history, consists mainly of active members who make up a generally friendly, cosmopolitan body of people with similar interests. In spite of the fact", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214155, "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-1998", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY (HONG KONG BRANCH)\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1998-1999 PRESENTED AT THE\n\n39TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 19TH MARCH 1999\n\nCome July 1, 1999, it will be two years since the Handover of the Territory, from Britain to China. As far as the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch (RASHKB) is concerned, little, you will see as you read these pages, has basically changed. However, inevitably, we are moving with the times.\n\nIt has been jokingly said that a careful driver is someone who looks both ways before he or she goes through a red light and certainly, with our evolving role as we enter the new millennium, we need to think things through thoroughly before making drastic changes. We are, as you know, affiliated to the RAS Headquarters in London and, although we do communicate on occasions we are almost entirely left to plough our own furrow. It is, after all, important that our Branch is thoroughly rooted in Hong Kong. Perhaps I should add here, however, that we still, after almost two years, have not found a suitable person to be our local patron. Nevertheless, we seem to be managing quite well without one although we have not shut the door entirely.\n\nI will now report on various aspects of our Branch over the past year which, I am pleased to say, has continued to be strong and active, thanks largely to the work of its Councillors and Activity Committee members.\n\nMembership\n\nAt the end of 1990, the then President reported that our Branch comprised a total of 718 members, although this number dropped to 676 by early 1991. This was partly, we were told in that year's report, because of a 'more thorough weeding out of those who had not paid their subscriptions or had left Hong Kong.'\n\nAs at 16 March, 1999, our Branch's numbers have dropped to around 580. This includes both 486 local and 94 overseas members of\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214156, "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-1998", "page_number": 14, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "whom 136 are life members. Owing largely to the fact that many expatriates have left Hong Kong our membership has consolidated and there has also been a tendency for our Branch to become more cosmopolitan. In today's Hong Kong this has advantages. There is strength in diversity.\n\nAlthough there is a reduction in overall numbers your Council feels that the 'quality' of the membership is more important than total numbers, and certainly, over the past year, lectures have generally been well attended and visits not infrequently over-subscribed. In this respect, regarding finance, our Branch derives approximately three times as much money from members attending visits (which is raised at relatively short notice to finance individual functions) as it does from annual subscriptions. In the case of life members, of course, they pay no annual subscriptions, and, in theory at least, the money they originally paid was supposed to have been invested at a good rate of return. Unfortunately, with bear stock markets, this has not always been the case.\n\nAlthough not particularly successful, in order to try to attract student members their annual subscriptions have been left at $50.00 for some years. This, I might add, entitles them to a free copy of our annual Journal which retails at $200. Some Councillors have suggested that students' subscriptions should be increased, although it is debatable whether now, during the present recession, is the most appropriate time to do so. Your Council is also looking into whether our Branch can, in some way, become a charitable institution so that it can use donated funds, which it would hope to attract, to sponsor scholarship and research. As yet, no positive conclusions have been formulated.\n\nI report with pleasure that one year after the Handover, on 1 July, 1998, the following RASHKB members were decorated by the Hong Kong SAR Government of China. J E Strickland was awarded a Gold Bauhinia Star for his work in banking. Jane Cheng Chee-hing received a Chief Executive's Commendation for community service and I received a Bronze Bauhinia Star for my work in heritage conservation. The last can be viewed as embracing my work as President of the RASHKB and may be taken as a feather in the cap of the Branch and especially the work of all Council members.\n\nIn the autumn of 1998 David Gilkes, our Immediate Past President,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214169, "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-1998", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "REPORT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM FRIENDS OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\nIt gives me great pleasure to write about and report on the first year's activities of the 'Friends.'\n\nWhy has such a society been formed you may ask? There is, as many of you know, a very respectable Royal Asiatic Society already in existence in London, which is the parent body of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong, and some of our members are already members of that august body. However, with the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the return to the United Kingdom of many members of the Hong Kong Society, there was a general view that a continuous identification of the Hong Kong Society's aims should in some way be perpetuated in the United Kingdom. A loose federation was not considered to be suitable - a more defined affiliation was felt to be desirable and it was therefore decided to sound out those members who had returned to see to what extent they would be interested in joining a Hong Kong Branch in the United Kingdom. In deciding to do this there was great encouragement from the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and from our Royal Asiatic friends in Hong Kong; the latter were particularly helpful in that they very kindly loaned us £250 (now repaid) for initial start-up expenses.\n\nThe response to the first circular was very encouraging and over 100 RAS members who were in Hong Kong expressed a strong interest in joining and, importantly, a large majority sent in the first year's subscription (£15 single, £25 joint). Such a response enabled the committee to plan the first year's activities and decide where and when to meet.\n\nSince the first committee meeting in the Oxford/Cambridge Club in London in April, 1998 there have been three well attended functions:\n\na) An inaugural lecture given by Mr. Keith Stevens on 11th July, 1998 on the subject \"The Yang Family of Generals of the Sung Dynasty\" at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)\n\nb) A lecture by Mrs. Kirsty Norman on 31st October, 1998 on \"Drugs, Prisons and Paparazzi,” again at SOAS\n\nxxvi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214197, "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-1998", "page_number": 55, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "18\n\npeople believe, and there appears to be truth in this (with greater use being made of the Chinese language since the Handover), that Hong Kong as a city-state is becoming more Chinese. Although this can affect the development of Hong Kong humour it is expected to be more than offset by globalisation and the world-wide effects of radio, television, the Internet and information technology.\n\nThe late Lin Yutang postulated that a Chinese believes, while getting in a few puffs while standing in front of a no-smoking sign, that the world is a stage where drama and high comedy abound. Life is a huge farce and one must not take matters too seriously, whether they be government reforms or funerals (Lin, 1936:65). The latter have a certain amount of 'gaiety' about them. Sending a person on his or her last journey to confront the final mystery of life should, it is believed, be expensive. The Chinese consider only Europeans (Lin insists) take funerals seriously and try to make them solemn affairs. What is wrong at a funeral in getting a few words across to a pal, about horse racing or morning walks, when you have not seen him for a long time? The man who takes life too seriously and obeys all the rules (according to Lin), and keeps off the grass when nobody is looking, appears ridiculous. In addition Chinese humour often takes a tolerant view of vice and evil. Instead of condemning them outright why not make fun of them? Lin Yutang believed humour could transcend cynicism and be used for other and better purposes than reconciling oneself to one's down-trodden position.\n\nAccording to Lin Yutang (1936:64), first-class humour is to be found in the Confucian Analects. \"After all, Confucius is quoted as having said, because Tsai Yu napped during the day:\n\nRotten wood cannot be carved nor a wall of dried dung trowelled. How would I rebuke him?\n\nA saying like that is always good for a chuckle.\n\nMuch humour is to be found in Ming dynasty novels, in Hong Kong's New Territories' folk songs (largely forgotten except among the elderly), and in the poetry of the drunkard, Li Po (alias Li T'ai-po), who lived in the eighth century. He made much of the solace and lib-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214203, "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-1998", "page_number": 61, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "24\n\n'Eat or don't eat!' \n\nJohn Moloney, the British comedian, found that playing to a Chinese (partly westernised) audience in Hong Kong required less of a cultural leap than when he took his act to Beijing (Syrett, 1995:4). The itinerant comedian, in fact, soon learns to steer clear of anything remotely embarrassing or linguistically complicated and to resort to the 'language of action.' This is universal and capable of bringing about smiles and even belly laughs.\n\nWhile all people, no matter the culture, are said to cry at similar incidents, people in London, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, or wherever, may not always laugh at the same jokes. In the same way, people in the West and people in China may not always see insults in the same light. For example, Jimmy Lai, the owner of Apple Daily, in the run-up to the 1997 Handover in Hong Kong, called a senior China official a 'turtle's egg,' meaning more or less 'unnatural birth.' Although not too unpleasant, it caused a furore. Yet, as an American Old-China Hand commented to the author, 'Who would get worked up over name-calling like that?'\n\nThe last British Governor, Chris Patten, took it as a joke when he was described in catch-phrases by the Beijing Government as 'a serpent' and being 'disgraced in history for a millennium.' In fact, Patten quoted with relish his sobriquet of 'Whore of the East.' Most Britons also saw such 'insults' in much the same light as Patten, and as being faintly despicable, with the rhetoric unworthy of 5,000 years of continuous civilisation (Waters, 1995:168).\n\nIn the same way that Chinese and Westerners may see insults differently, so they often see humour differently. A Hong Kong Chinese, of Shanghainese stock, said to the author, 'I'll tell you a typical English joke which the average Chinese cannot really appreciate.\n\n'A publican and a customer were talking in a bar (E) when in came another man. He walked up the wall, walked upside down across the ceiling, and then down the wall the other side. He ordered a pint of beer, which he promptly quaffed. He then walked up the wall, across the ceiling, down the wall the other side, and out of the pub door. \"That's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214216, "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-1998", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "37\n\n(15) Humour changes over time and many Chinese, for example Singaporeans, have become Westernised in various ways, including regarding their sense of humour.\n\nThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976), and its vicious aftermath, even though it was for many Chinese largely of their own making, had a profound effect on China physically,\n\npolitically and morally. But the Chinese have considerable capacity for survival boosted largely by their philosophy of life, acceptance of realism, and capabilities to surmount the vicissitudes of life with understanding, limitless grace and (it must be stressed) with considerable humour.\n\nNevertheless, where there are differences in senses of humour, the more a Westerner learns about and appreciates Chinese culture, or when a Chinese understands Western culture, the more he or she 'extends' his or her own sense of humour in an alien culture. More rigorously chronicled jokes and more well-researched material will assist this process.\n\nBut with time, improved travel facilities and communications, including radio, television, the Internet, other forms of the mass media and information technology, the world is becoming more of a global village. In spite of Hong Kong becoming in some respects more 'Chinese' since the 1997 Handover, from Britain to China (including more use being made of the Chinese language), the merging of western and Chinese cultures will continue. This will, in the end, result in differences being narrowed and Chinese and Westerners laughing more at each others' jokes. Laughter will then cross the Great Wall more easily.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214431, "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-1998", "page_number": 289, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "255\n\nLaya and to assist in the Korean War. In 1957 the Royal Artillery lost one of its major stations in the colony described as \"the last of the great Gunner bastions on the island,\" when 27 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA, which was stationed at Stanley Fort, was sent back to the United Kingdom for reorganisation. From then up to the handover to the Hong Kong Government in 1994, Stanley Fort was occupied by British infantry battalions on 2-year tours of duty. In 1997 it was handed over to the People's Liberation Army who are the present occupants.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 Lord Stanley, Edward Henry, 15th Earl of Derby, Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1845.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n\"Stanley, Hong Kong - The First Three Years\" by Lieut. G.P. Shearer, R.E., Royal Engineers' Journal, June 1938.\n\n\"British & Indian Armies on the China Coast 1795 - 1985\", by Alan Harfield, A&J Partnership, 1990.\n\n\"The Guns & Gunners of Hong Kong\", by Denis Rollo, The Gunners Roll of Hong Kong 1992.\n\n\"Eighteen Days\", by Col. D.R. Bennett, R.A.P.C., The Royal Army Pay Office, Hong Kong, 1976.\n\n\"Lyemun Barracks: 140 Years of Military History\", by Phillip Bruce, 1987.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214444, "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-1998", "page_number": 302, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "269\n\nare formed in stepped voussoirs. The first floor verandah is divided into bays by rusticated granite pillars which support the entablature and parapet wall to the roof. Ground and first floor verandah balustrades consist of heavy moulded copings on pierced and mortised infill panels with heavy plinths supported on moulded horizontal cornices emphasizing the storey heights. Flights of entrance steps lead up to the ground floor verandahs on both sides. The 1935 addition comprising the front entrance, dining room, and anteroom is built in similar style but is three storeys in height due to the sloping ground. There is a five-centred elliptical arch and a panel with the Royal coat of arms over the main entrance. On the parapet wall above there is a plaque engraved '1935.' Internally there are several interesting fireplace surrounds and period joinery but little else of architectural interest. Evidence in the P.R.O. indicates that the present infill panels to the verandahs may not be original and that the roof originally was pitched with gable ends and had several large chimney stacks projecting above the ridge. Part of the original roof still remains. The Officers' Mess is a Grade 2 historical building.\n\nThe last British Army Units at the barracks were 28 Squadron, the Gurkha Transport Regiment, also 247 Gurkha Signal Squadron. The United Services Recreation Club occupied part of the site, and 10 Intelligence and Security Company occupied the old Colony Club building, having moved in on the handover of their former site, Number 3 Camp, Argyle Street, to the Hong Kong Government in 1977. Prior to occupation by the Gurkhas, the barracks were usually occupied by British infantry battalions. In recent years occupying British units have included the First Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers (1967), First Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers (1969/71), First Battalion The Black Watch (1971/73), and the First Battalion The Royal Hampshire Regiment (1974/76). The 25th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, is also recorded at Gun Club in 1948. Some of the earliest troops to be stationed in Kowloon were the 99th Regiment (now the Second Wiltshires) and the Second Royal Welch Fusiliers, some of whom were quartered at Gun Club upon their arrival on January 13, 1899. Other Kowloon based units included the 91st Argylls (1888), First Battalion The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (1892) and the First Battalion the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214445, "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-1998", "page_number": 303, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "270\n\nA new military hospital has now been built facing Jordan Road on the site of the old gun shed and the barrack buildings started a new stage in their history when the PLA moved in after the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997.\n\nREFERENCES\n\nNEWSPAPER CUTTINGS (PRO)\n\n\"Horse Lines on the Kowloon Plains Over 100 Years Ago”, Hong Kong Then & Now series, Sept. 16, 1973.\n\n\"Transformation of Sleepy Chatham Road”, Hong Kong Then & Now series, May 5, 1978.\n\n\"Tsimshatsui's Little Portugal\", Hong Kong Then & Now series, Nov. 26, 1978.\n\n\"Healthy Military Sites\" by Colin Crisswell, The Vanishing City series, South China Morning Post, Jan. 1, 1978.\n\n\"An Army Home for Over a Century\", by Neil Pereira, Hong Kong Then & Now series, July 29, 1979.\n\n\"The Street Where You Live” Chatham Road - the End of an Era\", by Kavita Daswani, Dimensions in Living, Nov. 1986.\n\nBOOKS\n\n\"British & Indian Armies on the China Coast 1795 - 1985\", by Alan Harfield, A & J Partnership, 1990\n\n\"The Guns & Gunners of Hong Kong”, by Denis Rollo, The Gunners Roll of Hong Kong, 1992.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214454, "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-1998", "page_number": 312, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "279\n\n1970\n\n1971\n\n1973\n\n1974\n\n1977\n\n1978\n\n1986\n\n1989\n\n1994\n\n1995\n\n1997\n\n1st Bttn. The Royal Welch Fusiliers at Gun Club.\n\nDeath of \"Billy\" Regimental Goat on 8 June. Buried behind Church. (The \"gravestone\" was salvaged, prior to excavation work for the new PLA Hospital, & removed to ASD Property Services Branch Antiquities Store at APB Centre in Cheung Sha Wan. No remains of \"Billy\" were found.)\n\n1st Bttn. The Black Watch at Gun Club.\n\n1st Bttn. The Royal Hampshire Regt. at Gun Club,\n\nAlanbrooke Block (British MQs) & Infants' School (Block 27) demolished. New Gurkha MQs, Temple, Clinic & School build started. 10 Int & Sec Coy moved into Colony Club (Block 36) from Argyle Street Camp.\n\nGurkha Transport Regt. & Gurkha Signals moved into Gun Club from Shamshuipo Camp. Victoria Junior School moved over from Victoria Barracks.\n\nNew Classroom built at Gun Club Primary School. Skeleton said to date from Japanese occupation unearthed during excavations.\n\nSevere flooding on May 2 to MT compound causing considerable damage to vehicles, buildings and equipment. Compound again flooded on May 20 during Typhoon Brenda.\n\nColony Club (Block 36), St. Eligius' Church, and the old gun shed (Block 29) demolished to make way for the new military hospital. Banyan trees transplanted to elsewhere in the barracks also to the new Kowloon Walled City Park.\n\nBarracks vacated by the British Army and handed over to Hong Kong Government.\n\nBarracks occupied by People's Liberation Army following handover of Hong Kong to China.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214597, "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-1999", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH\n\n1999/2000 PRESIDENT'S REPORT PRESENTED AT THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY, ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON FRIDAY 24TH MARCH 2000\n\nNo man can know a country who only knows what is happening in it today. Anon.\n\nAs you know the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch (RASHKB) took the 1997 Handover of the Territory, from Britain back to China, in its stride. That Hong Kong has rejoined its Motherland makes little difference to the way our Branch operates. More recently, we have taken a further leap into what most people have come to accept as the New Millennium. This year is also, incidentally, the 40th anniversary since our Branch was reconstituted. Our Branch was first established in Hong Kong in 1847. Unfortunately, it survived only 12 years. It then slumbered for a century and was reconstituted in 1960. Now, moving on into the 21st century means in effect that the RASHKB has played an active part in the local community during three centuries. That is from early British colonial times to the present day when Hong Kong forms a part of the People's Republic of China. Our Society is pleased to have been able to contribute to our community in a variety of ways as this report amply illustrates.\n\nAlthough we are a Royal Society with our head office in London we are at the same time, with branches in several parts of the world, international in character. Together, we share a rich history. Nevertheless our local Branch ploughs its own furrow entirely and we receive no financial assistance from Headquarters. Our Branch is very much part of the Hong Kong scene doing its best to serve the local community, foster goodwill and provide close working relationships between locals and expatriates.\n\nLet us examine various aspects of our Branch's activities since the 1999 Annual General Meeting one year ago. I should emphasise that the Branch has continued to be strong and virile as you will see from the following pages.\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214604, "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-1999", "page_number": 19, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "May, 1999, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, after which he gave a talk entitled: 'Hong Kong: From Memory Lane to Post 1997 Handover'\n\nRASHKB Library and finance\n\nBoth our Honorary Librarian, Julia Chan, and our Honorary Treasurer, Robert Nield, have prepared their own 1999/2000 reports which they will present at this Annual General Meeting. I thank them for their assistance and for the special expertise that they bring to our Council. Our RASHKB Library is on permanent loan to the City Hall Urban Council Library and we thank the City Hall and its staff for all their assistance during the past year.\n\nAccommodation\n\nWe also owe a debt of gratitude to PricewaterhouseCooper, who have helped us in various ways. With their offices situated in the heart of Central District, for example, they have provided us with very convenient accommodation for our Council and committee meetings. Similarly, we are grateful to the Public Records Office, at Kwun Tong, for providing us with storage space for our publications and for other assistance rendered by them during the past year. We are also indebted to the Government Leisure and Cultural Services Department for permitting us to use the City Hall accommodation for lectures which are run as joint RASHKB/Leisure and Cultural Services functions.\n\nThe Council\n\nAlthough a number of decisions have to be taken outside Council (because of the time factor) by individual office bearers or a few together, the majority of the important decisions are taken in Council. This meets every six weeks or so with a longer break over the summer. During the past year the Council has consisted of Doctors Elizabeth Sinn and Michael Lau, both Vice Presidents, Robert Nield, Peter Halliday, Julia Chan, Valery Garrett, Bob Horsnell, Tim Ko, and May Holdsworth. Doctors Patrick Hase, Joseph Ting, Peter Barker, and Janet Lee Scott have also been members of Council while the Reverend Carl Smith, Honorary Vice President, and Sarah Parnell have been co-opted on to the Council.\n\nxviii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214929, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "been a bit of flak. But as Winston Churchill wrote, it is exhilarating to be shot at without success. Many changes have taken place during my period of office, which spanned the Handover from Britain to China, entering the New Millennium and our RAS 40th Anniversary. Through the efforts of many the Branch, which is much more complex now than it was when I took over, is strong and of good heart. May I thank you again for your unfailing support and friendship. I know you will show the same measure of support to our new President.\n\nI conclude by quoting a translation of one of my favourite Chinese poems:\n\nDAN WATERS\n\nPresident\n\nDry vines, old trees, evening crows - Small bridge, flat bank, water flows - Old road, slim horse, west wind blows - And as the sun westward sets, Forlorn love, far away, no one knows!\n\nA GREAT YUAN DRAMATIST\n\nxxiv", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215167, "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": 263, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "223\n\nA Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\ndates. Also, with the introduction of the Apprenticeship Act and the Designated Trades Act, part-time day-release courses built up rapidly.\n\nBut in those days, although useful as guides, there was a tendency to put too much faith in the Government Labour Department manpower surveys. For example, if a survey showed that 129 tool and die makers were required, some planners seemed to believe that this exact number could be trained in a technical institute, and, from then on, it was just a question of slotting them into vacancies when they completed their course. Insufficient thought was often given to broad-based technical education to suit the rapid pace of change. After all, Hong Kong now has little manufacturing.\n\nBut retracing our steps yet again back to the latter half of the 1960s, a proposal was made that the old Technical College should be upgraded to become a Polytechnic. This proposal really emanated from Britain in the wake of the Polytechnic Act which had then been introduced there. Not everyone agreed with the proposal. Some would have preferred that the Technical College in Hong Kong remained as such and a new polytechnic be built on an entirely new campus.\n\nWhat happened is now history. The Technical College was upgraded to Polytechnic status in 1972 and, during the 1970s, in spite of some growing pains, the rate of expansion has been equalled in few parts of the world. Today the Polytechnic University, as it became in 1994, is one of the best examples you can find anywhere of ‘academic drift', starting life as a humble trade school. It has much to be proud of.\n\nFinal Thoughts\n\nIn recent months, especially since the Handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, education - including technical education - has been under the microscope. Today it is fashionable to denigrate Hong Kong's past education", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215613, "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": 390, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "341\n\nNEXUS OF VILLAGES BY UNICORN DANCING TEAMS\n\nCHIU HANG SHI\n\nIt was chilly, cloudy and rainy on Sunday, January 27, 2002 in Hoi Pui Tsuen, Pat Heung. This village is inhabited by the Fan, the Cheung and the Kan. This area was quite inaccessible before the construction of the Tai Lam Tunnel and recently the West Rail Station.\n\nSome 60 people, mainly young men and some leaders of the village, have been gathered in front of the village office since 2:00pm in a jovial manner. Inside the village office, a temporary altar was set up facing the entrance of the building with a tablet of hand-written characters on it. Some seven unicorn dancing teams arrived by 5:00pm. All teams were first greeted by the unicorn team of the host village and then each team proceeded to the two ancestral halls (Fan's and Cheung's) to pay tribute to the ancestors. A banquet of basin meal of 120 tables was served in the evening.\n\nThe organizer of this celebration was Nam Shing Tong. This celebration has been held every year after the Handover. The reason for doing so was that this Tong has had some extra money left every year.\n\nAt first one might have no idea why unicorn dancing teams from some apparently unrelated areas would be invited to come. 1. Yuen Long, well, it is reasonable to have a team from Yuen Long. Hoi Pui Tsuen is in Yuen Long, 2. Shatin, it is quite the other part of the Territory, and 3. Sai Kung, it is obviously very far away. Later, I was enlightened by being told that they were from the same instructor, Master So. The unicorn dancing team from Sai Kung was particularly able to draw one's attention - it was known as Pak Kei Lun (Northern unicorn), which was black, as different from the unicorns commonly seen in Hong Kong, which were bright and colourful. The Pak Kei Lun had two small horns, which might, ironically, make it no longer qualified to be a unicorn, in a Western sense. The ordinary unicorn had five colour strips around the neck: red, yellow, blue, white and black, resembling the five directions: south, centre, east, west and north.\n\nPage 390\n\nPage 391", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215908, "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-2002", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "141\n\nDr. Waters arrived in Hong Kong in 1954, at the age of 34, not so young but not so old.\n\n\"I can remember there used to be parades in the street over in Chatham Road of troops marching, the army marching and there were British types around with bowler hats and furled umbrellas and things like that. And it was then really very colonial and very British. Funnily enough, I never realised it would change so much...I mean I thought things would be like that forever.\"\n\nHe sailed to Hong Kong on a ship and the journey took 31 days. He came to work for the colonial service and right from the beginning, he had come to stay. Waters sold his builder's business back in England to take on a permanent job teaching for the now Hong Kong Polytechnic. Waters met his wife, a local Hong Kong Chinese, in the territory. In his book \"Faces of Hong Kong: An Old Hand's Reflection,\" Waters talks about how his father-in-law never approved of their relationship. His father-in-law died in 1959, and Waters and his wife married in 1960.\n\nHis mother-in-law and sisters-in-law welcomed Waters to the family. But it was a time when interracial marriages were not tolerated by many. At work, things were less than comfortable, at times.\n\n\"It's got much better,\" said Waters. \"I married on the Queen's birthday in 1960. We were married in the morning and we went to the Governor's garden party at Government House in the afternoon. But, oh yes, there was without a doubt a certain amount of racism and there was a certain amount of ostracism in the institution where I worked. I felt it myself. Now of course, it's very common for mixed marriages.\"\n\n72\n\nWaters joined the RAS in 1964 but hadn't heard of the society before then. He was invited to join the RAS Council in 1990 and became president in 1996, just before the handover. Since the handover, the RAS is one of the few organisations to have kept the 'Royal' in the name.\n\n\"No one has bothered us. We carry on the same way. We make sure our roots are planted here.\"\n\nWaters very naturally falls into Cantonese when he speaks. Every once in a while, his statements end with 'hai m hai' (isn't that right)?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215915, "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-2002", "page_number": 214, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "148\n\nwith Sir John Davis, the Governor of Hong Kong, as its president and remained active for 12 years, but ceased to exist in 1859. The Hong Kong branch was re-established under the active patronage of another governor, Sir Robert Black, in 1959.\n\nSince the handover, the society no longer has a patron. When the present Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa was asked to serve in that role, he politely declined.\n\nAn American in Hong Kong...\n\nThe conference participants are back from the lunch break and the 82-year-old Reverend Carl Smith is helped to the stage by Elizabeth Sinn. Smith's talk is titled \"Forty Years of Research on Hong Kong.\" The lights are dimmed and heads begin to nod off again...\n\n\"You get out at exit A and on your right you'll see this big set of steps leading up to the skies...don't take them,\" said Smith as he was giving directions to his home in Mei Foo Sun Chuen. As soon as he said that it reminded me of an episode of the popular TV series M*A*S*H when the doctors had to dispose of a bomb. It went something like, “cut the red wire\"...the doctor cuts it... \"after cutting the blue wire\"...explosion!!!\n\nThe reverend's instructions are spot on and I arrive without any trouble. The block is 19 and he's on the 11th Floor, flat D, but his flat is labelled 19D...go figure. Smith greets me and has to unlock the gate with a key. Not very safe, I think, for a man of his age. What if there's a fire? How is he going to get out?\n\nThe apartment is smaller than I had expected and it is filled wall to wall with file cabinets and card files all of Smith's research work over the last 40 years. The cards were put on microfilm and housed in the Public Records Office as the Carl Smith collection. Smith has recently agreed to leave the cards themselves to the Library of Congress in the United States.\n\n\"The Asian division of the Library of Congress, right before the handover, came to Hong Kong with the purpose of getting documents", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215916, "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-2002", "page_number": 215, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "149\n\nbecause they had this American idea that once the handover is made, that everything would be a total mess in Hong Kong,” said Smith. \"Nothing left, you know. An entirely mistaken idea.”\n\nSmith decided to go with the Library of Congress because it has the financial backing from the US government his cards will be taken care of - and because the library is accessible to all.\n\nFor 13 years, before settling in Hong Kong, Smith was pastor at a U.S. church he established. At 42, he came to the territory in 1960 to teach for the Church of Christ in China,\n\nSmith taught through a translator at first, and then his students began speaking English to him, so he never got a real grasp of the Cantonese dialect.\n\nBut the Reverend reads and writes characters and has used these skills in his work. Smith has written many articles over the last 40 years and has published two books.\n\nSmith considers his article on \"The Emergence of Chinese Elites in Hong Kong\" his most significant work because it appears in bibliographies most often.\n\n\"People are always polite and they say nice things...if we're going to look at early Hong Kong we're going to have to go and look at the article.\"\n\nSmith's book “Chinese Christians: Elites, Middlemen and the Church in Hong Kong\" was published in 1985 and coincided with the 25th anniversary of the re-establishment of the RAS Hong Kong branch.\n\nJames Hayes said in the foreword that it was a time to look ahead to the handover and to the Society's continued contribution to the study of Hong Kong culture and history.\n\nThe Society held a one-day seminar that year to talk about the '97 issue. Opinions were divided on keeping the Royal in the name and Smith was one of the ones opposed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215980, "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-2002", "page_number": 279, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "213\n\n81\n\nperson named \"Soo Hoy-ü.\" Once again Legge insisted that Soo be dealt with \"in some way which should mark their sense of the enormity of his conduct.\" Both conditions were acknowledged and accepted by all of the officials Legge spoke to. Things went so smoothly, both in ritual form and placid acceptance of what must have been very difficult conditions for the officials, that Legge was both elated and disgusted. In his own mind at the time, the officials' display of timely submissiveness under pressure appeared only little more than blatant bathos.\" Cohen rightly points out how this kind of situation in the decade of the 1860s placed any Qing official between the Scylla of imperial duties to follow the treaty stipulations and the Charybdis of the anti-foreignism of local gentry who carried much popular support.82 Having bent over backwards for months previous to Legge's arrival, trying to use more humane means to obtain compliance from the literatus Soo and his supporters, the district magistrate had to battle at cross purposes with the popular demonology supporting anti-foreignism and the additional shame of recent military defeats. To act too abruptly or harshly would earn the magistrate the epithet of being a “friend of foreigners,” and so even risk his imperial role as an appointed civil authority. On the other hand, any blatant refusal to respond to the treaty conditions would merit imperial disfavour and severe reprimand, possibly including imprisonment. The double bind working on officials in this Guangdong setting could not have been any stronger.\n\n83\n\nEarly in the morning after the handover ceremonies Legge was woken by the River Superintendent (\"Hoppo\") and urged him to get an early start in his boat headed toward Canton. After the ceremonies the day before Legge had left the keys of the house in Ch'ea's hands, nominating the former keeper of the temple of Master Kong now the keeper of the new chapel dedicated to shangdi. When Legge mentioned to the Hoppo that he wanted to leave parting words with Ch'ea, the Hoppo apparently promised to pass on any message, and so Legge compliantly entered the waiting boat and headed off before sunrise.\n\nWhat motivated the Hoppo to treat Legge in this manner is", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216096, "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-2002", "page_number": 395, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "329\n\naccount. It was an old colonial style building with paddle fans suspended from ceilings. This structure was replaced by an air-conditioned building in 1959, which was, in turn, replaced by another new Standard Chartered building opened formally in 1990. In the 1950s many buildings were old, roomy, colonial style, low-rise buildings, with colonnades, wide balconies and large windows or French doors in order to allow for \"through draught.\" That was important. Windows usually were fitted with louvres or jalousies.\n\nI was taken to meet the Director of Education whose office was then in the lovely old French Mission Building (now the Court of Final Appeal) at the top of Battery Path. I had to sign the visitor's book at Government House. 'Unless you do this,' I was warned, 'you will not be invited to the garden party on the Queen's birthday.' In spite of what people would often have you believe they were generally proud to receive an invitation from the Governor. Just as today they like to receive an invitation to the reception, in the Convention and Exhibition Centre, on China's National Day. (When a HKBRAS group visited Government House in January 1997, shortly before The Handover, just about every member was keen to sign the book.) There was no doubt, too, that Hong Kong people felt greatly honoured if they were decorated by the Queen just as they feel honoured today if they receive a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region award.\n\nMy Yorkshire colleague, back in early 1955, also introduced me to a reliable comprador. In this sense, I mean a grocer. In fact I still deal with the Asia Company to this day. Compared to the aseptic, soulless supermarkets I have wonderful memories of street-corner comprador shops stocked with goodies, including kam wa hams hanging from ceilings. I am, of course, talking of times when cheung saams were far more common and years before Big Macs and Kentucky Fried Chicken had made their debuts in the Territory. Regarding the latter, one person commented to me, 'We Chinese have a 1,000 ways to cook a chicken. Kentucky will never make it!' But although they failed once they returned to Hong Kong, Kentucky Fried Chicken has been a success story.\n\nWhen I arrived I had to register and obtain an identity card. I was quite embarrassed. On arrival at the North Point office, as I was a European, I was taken by my Chinese colleague straight to the front of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216110, "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-2002", "page_number": 409, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "343 said to have returned 'mysteriously' in 1945. They were watched carefully during the 1967 riots. When I went back to Marine Police Headquarters a year or so after the 1997 Handover, from Britain to China, the pigeons were no longer there. \"They are flying around Tsim Sha Tsui,' I was informed.\n\nIn many respects the social history of the Territory, together with its myths and legends, has been as exciting as any novel.\n\nHalf a century ago many of us who lived and worked in colonial Hong Kong gave limited thought to the future and the forces of modernity. Even if we had, it is unlikely that we would have envisaged anything like the degree of change that has actually taken place during which the world map has been redrawn.\n\nIf a person is unable to adjust to change then, certainly, Hong Kong is not the place to be. If it is any consolation the pace of change is even more likely to accelerate in the future. In this paper I have looked at the past 50 years with special emphasis on the 1950s and 60s. What will the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region be like in the middle of the 21st century?\n\nBut that has to be another story.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216294, "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": 53, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "2\n\ndevelopment in traditional environment would not be an exception.\n\nPractically speaking, one of the greatest difficulties in understanding the interpretations of traditional dwellings is finding a conceptual framework to encompass the range of values and interests that occur in relation to heritage preservation and tourism development.3 For instance, creating tourism products may heighten existing tensions existing in heritage because of its contested meanings. My earlier research for analyzing the heritage tourism in Hong Kong is not only to investigate the construction of \"culture\" in terms of heritage preservation, but also to clarify the contested meaning of heritage regarding the awareness of identity/identities among various kinds of participants, especially local Hong Kong people. In particular, during the last two decades, the desire to know more about Hong Kong has been increasing among not only the scholars but also the mass public. On the one hand, this might be due to nostalgia or the search for “the good old days\" which is initiated by the mass media, or psychological depression brought about by uncertainty over the future, especially before 1997. On the other hand, this might also be a result of local researchers' and scholars' efforts to force a rethinking of local traditions and development in the post-New Territories context with the understanding that the meaning of New Territories was challenged, especially after the 1997 handover.\n\nPost-New Territories\n\nThis constructed history of Hong Kong is explicitly disseminated to the population through the display of a series of archaeological discoveries and architectural exhibits. This was the result of the involvement of government officials in promoting the preservation of Hong Kong's heritage, and can serve as a means of cultural-awareness at the community level. During the last decade, old houses in the villages of the New Territories in Hong Kong have been transformed into cultural heritage, and a large number of these buildings are objectified for presentation by the tourist industry.\n\nThis process of creating cultural heritage can also be claimed for works of cultural preservation started in mid-1970s, with the shift from rock-carving-oriented monuments to ancestral-worship-oriented monuments, as well as the shift from \"dead and hard” records to \"live", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]