[
    {
        "id": 206292,
        "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-1971",
        "page_number": 109,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n103\n\nand invest in paddy fields or shares in local firms and shops, or, if more affluent, endow or build schools or family temples or contribute to public improvements such as roads and bridges.\n\nOriginally the Christian Chinese were in the employment of the Missions, and as most of them remained so, they did not receive high wages. But as earnest Christians they did not pass their time in gambling, visiting the sing-song girls, or smoking opium. All of these activities tended to make inroads into the income of many of the other Chinese, particularly those who were in Hong Kong without families. Avoiding the temptations of money-absorbing local high life, the Christians were able to invest their small savings in real estate.\n\nWhen the London Mission Society moved to Hong Kong, the Rev. James Legge brought with him from Malacca a printer named Ho Asun † alias Ho Ye Tong and Ho Tsun Shin alias Ho Fook Tong ✰ alias Ho Yeung M. They both began to invest in Hong Kong real estate, though Ho Fook Tong became much the larger proprietor. Their first investment was soon after their arrival, but as income from rents permitted, they continued to purchase property until their deaths. Ho Asun died in 1869 and Ho Fook Tong died in 1871. At the time of their deaths their property had appreciated greatly in value, so that Ho Fook Tong's estate was $150,000. It was one of the largest estates appearing on the schedules up to that date.\n\nAlthough neither of these two Christian converts appear on the lists, their children assumed a place of leadership in the Chinese community. Of the several sons of Ho Asun, Ho Chung Shan was proprietor of the Wah Tsz Yat Po from 1886 to 1889; but his brother Ho Shan Chee (†) or Ho Alloy (*) had a more prominent career. He began as a teacher of English in the Chinese Government Schools (1855-1857), then he became Chief Interpreter in the Police Court (1857-1866). He incurred the ill-will of the English section of the community when he accepted charge of the Opium Tax Station the Viceroy of the Two Kwangs attempted to establish in Hong Kong. In the 1870s he joined the staff of the Provincial Government at Fukien, where The Daily Press correspondent from Foochow reported that the Governor of Fukien was \"happy in the possession of this peripatetic conglomeration of legal",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206302,
        "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-1971",
        "page_number": 119,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n113\n\ncorporated as a more integral part of government, and its members may be regarded in many ways as the élite of the élite. But these developments are beyond the time limit set for this particular study.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 See the studies by Chung-li Chang, The Income of the Chinese Gentry (Seattle, 1926) and The Chinese Gentry: Studies in their Role in Nineteenth Century Chinese Society (Seattle, 1955) and by Ping-ti Ho, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China (New York, 1964).\n\n2 The South China Morning Post, 12 July 1933, in column \"Old Hong Kong\".\n\n3 Colonial Office Records (hereafter given as C.O.), Series 129-12.\n\n4 The Friend of China, 6 Nov. 1861.\n\n5 George Smith, The Consular Cities of China (London, 1847), p. 82.\n\n6 Yen-p'ing Hao, The Compradore in Nineteenth Century China (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), p. 195. I have not been able to check the sources he cites.\n\n7 These were Loo King A owner of I.L. 99, LL.102, I.L. 103; Lo Lye or Alloy A owner of M.L. 16 C., M.L. 19; Loo Foon owner of M.L. 16 D.; Loo Sing A owner of M.L. 17 C.; Loo Chuen alias Loo Chew alias Young Aqui alias Loo Choo Tung owner of M.L. 16 A., M.L. 28 A., M.L. 35 A. The family lived in Aqui's Lane, or as it is now known Kwai Wa Lane† running from Hillier to Cleverly Street and lying between Queens Road and Jervois Street. Here in 1872 lived Loo Wan Kew, Loo Yum Shing, compradore of D. Sassoon, Sons and Co., and Loo Achew.\n\n8 The China Review, Vol. 1 (1872), p. 333, \"The Districts of Hong Kong and the Name Kwan-Tai-Lo\". This source also confirms the deleterious effect of Aqui's activities in Hong Kong: \"In 1843, when there were but few merchants or shop keepers, one Sz-man-king, unto whom those who were in distress, in debt, or discontented, resorted, opened a place for gambling along Chung Wan to which all among the fishing-boat people, who loved gambling, came.\"\n\n9 Quoted by R. M. Martin in his report, 24 July 1844, in G. B. Endacott, An Eastern Entrepot (London, 1964), p. 97.\n\n10 E. J. Eitel, Europe in China (Hong Kong, 1895), pp. 168-169.\n\n11 Endacott, op. cit., pp. 96-98.\n\n12 Ibid., p. 107.\n\n13 Ibid., p. 96.\n\n14 A Singapore house was a pre-cut timber house ready for assembling imported from Singapore. At the time of the gold-rush in California, a similar type house was shipped from Hong Kong to San Francisco in large numbers. The trade enriched a number of Hong Kong carpenters.\n\n15 C.O. Series 129-12, No. 97, 10 July, 1845.\n\n16 C.O. Series 129-7, 23 July, 1844.\n\n17 C.O. Series 129-3, Treasurer's Report 1847.\n\n18 The Friend of China, 5 Jan., 1856.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]