[
    {
        "id": 204964,
        "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-1965",
        "page_number": 72,
        "title": "RAS-1965",
        "content_text": "65\n\nTHE SOUTHERN SUNG STONE-ENGRAVING\n\nAT NORTH FU-T’ANG\n\nJEN YU-WEN\n\nOn the southern tip of the small peninsula, North Fu-t'ang (Pak Fat-t'ang), on the eastern shore of Junk Bay, lies a stone-engraving dating from the Southern Sung Dynasty, one of the most famous historic relics in Hong Kong. The vernacular name for this place is Ta-miao (Tai-miu), or \"Big Temple,\" because a temple of T'ien-hou (T'in-hou), or \"Heavenly Queen,” is situated there. About half-way up the hill just behind this Temple, is located the large rock, five feet high, ten feet wide and five feet thick, hidden in the thick brush. On its flat surface facing the south, there are 108 Chinese characters engraved in nine vertical lines with twelve characters each. Each character is about four square inches in size. The entire surface covering the engraving is four feet two inches wide and three feet nine inches high. The engraving was done in the tenth year of the reign of Hsien-hsun (Ham Shun) of the Emperor Tu Chung of the Southern Sung Dynasty (A.D. 1274) — the date given at the end of the inscription. Just three years before this date, two of the Emperor's sons, who later successively succeeded him to the throne, were fleeing from the pursuit of the Mongols and had landed on the western shore of Kowloon Bay at the historic spot subsequently named Sung Wong Toi.\n\nThis stone-engraving is recorded in the Chia-ch'ing (Ka Hing) edition of the Gazetteer of Hsin-an (Sun-on) District, but details of the historic relic are not given in its description. The Genealogical Record of the Lin (Lum) clan of P'u-kang (P'u-kong) village in Kowloon, however, contains a narration concerning the place, the Temple and the stone-engraving which is very helpful for studying the history of this historic relic. Unfortunately, many of the characters on the stone as transcribed therein are not correct, leaving the readers still in the dark regarding the real meaning of the original text. As a matter of fact, a few engraved characters on the rock have been partially worn-out so badly that it renders some lines absolutely unintelligible.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206787,
        "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-1973",
        "page_number": 64,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "PERSIANS, ARABS AND OTHER NATIONALS IN T’ANG CHINA: \n\nTHEIR STATUS, ACTIVITIES AND \n\nCONTRIBUTIONS \n\nCHIU LING-YEONG* \n\nThe rise of Li Yüan in A.D. 618 marked the beginning of a dynasty which was destined to become a model in later ages. The Chinese were and still are proud to be called T’ang-jen1 because it was this dynasty which extended Chinese territory beyond the Pamirs over the states of the Oxus Valley and even over the upper waters of the Indus in modern Afghanistan. The administrative protectorate of An-hsi (Pacify the West) was set up in the Tarim Basin, paralleling the administrative protectorate of An-nan (Pacify the South), which had been set up earlier in North Vietnam and which eventually gave its name to the whole region of Annam. There were also An-pei (Pacify the North) in Mongolia; and An-tung (Pacify the East) in South Manchuria.2 \n\nT'ang Tai-tsung subjugated the Eastern Turks in A.D. 630 and he himself took the title of \"Heavenly Khan\" of the Turks. After a series of campaigns between A.D. 630 and A.D. 648, the Western Turks also yielded their submission to the T'ang Empire. China by then had embraced nearly the whole of Central Asia: or as Sir Aurel Stein called it, Serindia. These are the glories which have long been inscribed in many Chinese minds. \n\nT'ang China enjoyed nearly three hundred kaleidoscopic years. In these three hundred years, envoys, clerics, students, merchants and others from different parts of Asia poured into the main Chinese cities. The greatest envoy to come to T'ang China was perhaps Pērōz, son of King Yazdgard III and scion of the Sasanids.4 With regard to clerics, Indian Buddhists were in abundance. There were also Persian priests of varying faiths: the Magus for whom the Mazdean temple in Ch'ang-an was rebuilt in A.D. 631; the Nestorian, honoured by the erection of a church in A.D. 628; the \n\n* Dr. Chiu is Senior Lecturer in Chinese History in the University of Hong Kong. His article \"The Debate on National Salvation: Ho Kai versus Tsang Chi-tung\" appeared in Volume 11 (1971) of the Journal.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211348,
        "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": 64,
        "title": "RAS-1988",
        "content_text": "40\n\nwas easily dismissed by exponents with the reasoning that the illustrators of the Ming era had not the slightest idea what they were doing. Others, more sceptical, on the other hand, came to a different conclusion. The existence of this picture obviously proved that mo, like pixiu, was only a legendary animal.\n\nZhouyu\n\nThe third animal offered by scholars as the giant panda in Chinese history and literature was zhouyu.\n\nIn the Book of Odes, the zhouyu was depicted as \"A giant animal that could be as large as a tiger, that had white fur but was black in certain areas. It was not carnivorous, and displayed a gentleness as well as a sense of trustworthiness\".\n\nSo far, this portrait fitted the modern giant panda. There was one flaw, however, as the description of the animal went on to say that **its tail was even longer than its body**.\n\nSubsequent writings on the zhouyu, claiming to be based on actual sightings, however, did not mention the impressive length of its tail.\n\nIn one of the Confucian ritual texts, the Rituals of Zhou, it was stated that the term zhouyu was adopted as the title for the imperial official whose responsibilities were the upkeep of the emperor's menagerie of animals and birds. This use of the term implies that the animal of the same name was rare and valuable.\n\nIn the History of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was recorded that the zhouyu was sighted in 333 A.D. in Liaodong in eastern China, where fossil remains of the giant panda had been found. In the History of Five Dynasties, by the noted stateman and scholar of the Song era, Ouyang Xiu (1017-1072), the zhouyu was recorded to have been seen two times. In 908 A.D., residents of two localities reported sighting the zhouyu. These localities were Wuding and Bishan, both in Sichuan. Five years later, in 913 A.D., the animal again was seen by residents. (It is regrettable that the Chinese language makes no distinction between singular and plural nouns. Therefore it is not clear whether residents",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q",
        "rank": 0
    }
]