[
    {
        "id": 206809,
        "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": 86,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "80\n\nHELGA WERLE\n\nChing p'eng \"cleaning the matshed\" has to take place before the performance. The puppeteers take a live cock and make an incision in his throat and then carry him over the stage, dropping his blood into every corner, over the backstage and even over the musical instruments. This is done in order to protect themselves against the evil spirits or hungry ghosts, which performing puppets attract. That human actors perform at the Hungry Ghosts Festival is a development of the past 20 years for Ch'aochowese. Originally only puppets were used. The human likeness of the moving puppet fools the ghost, who takes possession of the puppet. Thus humans are protected from their assault and the whole area gets cleared of their evil influence. Puppet-shows are mainly performed as an exorcising ceremony and it therefore does not matter whether there is a public to watch the performance or not.\n\nThe actual performance starts mostly with the 'Birthday of the Eight Immortals', which is a series of good wishes. This introductory piece starts with the Peach Banquet, implying the wish for longevity. The next part is called 'To bestow Rank and Riches'; then comes the fairy who sends sons. The next short play is a ceremony to \"cleanse the matshed\" and the last is called \"the banquet at the capital\", which is to congratulate the troupe for its performance. The main play starts after this introduction.\n\nThe repertory of the two Hong Kong Ch'aochow puppet-groups comprises the following operas, which are part of the Ch'aochow Opera tradition:\n\nHu-li Luan Chou Wang 狐狸亂周王\n\nTuan-Chiao Hui\n\nLi Te-wu 李德武\n\nKuan Wang Miao 闊王廟\n\nYang Tsung-pao\n\nI Chih Mei 一枝梅\n\nThe script/stories of these operas are spoken and sung by the puppeteers. If the opera is a wen-chü or literary play, the text which is in rhymes is fixed and a script is used; but when a wu-chü or military play is performed the puppeteers use their own imagination to enrich the familiar plot.\n\nOne further point should be mentioned. Shadow-puppet theatre was very early a most important part of entertainment and when finally drama became organised, the public eye was so trained on the shadow-puppet movements that they were taken over into the",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207263,
        "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-1975",
        "page_number": 31,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "A HONG KONG SPIRIT-MEDIUM TEMPLE\n\n23\n\nweekday. His possessing spirit is the saintly monk Buddha Sha僧。\n\nThe third medium is also a Chiu-chow in his early 30's. He is employed as a performer in a Chiu-chow opera troupe and seldom appears at the temple except on major feast days, e.g. Chinese New Year. His possessing deity is the Supreme Buddha.\n\nThe medium \"in training” is a Chiu-chow in his early 20's who was until recently employed as a security guard at a local transportation facility. He now supports himself by odd jobs such as take-home piece work from local factories. His possessing deity is the mythical Monkey of Chinese legend.13\n\nIt is obvious that an individual kei tung's rank within the cult is not based on the relative position of their possessing deities within the Chinese pantheon. Rank is predicated on the kei tung's experience as a medium and degree of involvement in the affairs of the temple association. The mere fact that the cult master's possessing deities would be judged as relatively minor personages in the Chinese pantheon in no way affects his recognized position of dominance among the ritual specialists. His over twenty years of experience as a kei tung, and his role as one of the founding “19 Brothers\" of the temple association, render his position unassailable.\n\nMany elaborate ceremonies are conducted by Tai Wong Ye kei tung, the most ostentatious being those held during Chinese New Year and the Yu Laan or Hungry Ghost Festival. It is our contention, however, that the keystone of the cult's appeal as a religious centre lies in the simpler ritual held each evening at 10 p.m. It is that ritual which we will now discuss.\n\nTai Wong Ye Temple: The Possession Ritual\n\nEighty-seven years ago a Christian missionary in Amoy described a spirit possession ritual as follows:\n\n\"The graven idol can be seen sitting in the shrine, with its attendant figures by its side. The group of men that are chanting in a steady, monotonous voice charms that are supposed to bring the spirit are usually men of no reputation in the village. There is no scholar in his long role present, and no man of influence standing by to do honor to the idol. The men seem fit for scenes of darkness and remind one of Macbeth's witches making their",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207655,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 43,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "28\n\nDOUGLAS W. SPARKS\n\nmay be more or less unknown to the latter or they may be included in a larger category with no internal divisions. For example, a brief analysis of ethnic stereotypes in the Castle Peak Bay area in the New Territories (Anderson, 1967:98-99) mentions certain groups (particularly Cantonese boat people) which are not significant to the Teochiu that I studied in a housing estate. With regard, however, to very positively or negatively stigmatized categories, members of which are found throughout the Colony, considerable similarity in attributed characteristics is found. This is particularly true of stereotypes of Teochiu. For example, according to the Castle Peak stereotypes, Teochiu are dishonest, rascals, and involved in triads (Anderson, 1967:98). Almost all non-Teochiu that I have spoken to concerning their conceptions of Teochiu, regardless of their educational levels, have verbalized a mostly negative stereotype. The key elements of this stereotype seem to be the conservativeness of Teochiu; their clannishness or tendency to stick together, particularly in the face of adversity (this aspect is invariably given an implied negative connotation); their proclivity for involvement in crime and narcotics; their religious and non-religious superstitions, proven by their commitment to certain rituals, particularly the Hungry Ghost Festival; their violent, aggressive and pushy personality which leads to conflict with others in the market or factory. These elements are causally inter-linked in the minds of non-Teochiu. Teochiu, of course, are well aware of the stereotype and have counter-explanations or rationalizations for each element. The origin of the various elements can be explained in terms of recent patterns of interethnic interaction following the immigration of large numbers of Teochiu after 1949; that is, in the way that non-Teochiu reacted to this group which initially could not speak Cantonese, and in the manner that Teochiu in turn solidified ethnic boundaries and separated themselves. It is therefore important to consider Teochiu conceptions of themselves and other ethnic groups.\n\nThe data presented here is largely drawn from a questionnaire which was administered to Teochiu in a resettlement estate whose residents included former squatters and refugees from mainland China, Teochiu living in other localities, and non-Teochiu from various localities. Probability survey methods were found to be impractical in application and questionnaires were administered to people I met during the research. The questionnaire contains questions concerning ethnic stereotypes and rank ordering of ethnic",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207666,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 54,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "The Teochiu: Ethnicity in Urban Hong Kong\n\nTeochiu Associational Structure\n\n39\n\nTeochiu are reputed to be highly organized, much more so than other ethnic groups. The proliferation of Teochiu associations in Hong Kong must certainly give the impression to outsiders that the Teochiu community is a hierarchically organized, monolithic structure. Teochiu themselves, however, are well aware of internal divisions and the lack of communication between different \"levels\" within the formal organizational structure.\n\nThere are a number of different kinds of formal and informal Teochiu organizations in Hong Kong. A preliminary distinction can be made between what will be called \"higher level\" and \"lower level\" associations. This distinction is based partially on the primary functions or activities of particular associations and partially on the influence of an association as a group and the influence of individual leaders and members. \"Higher level\" associations include commercial organizations of various kinds ranging from the most influential and powerful Chiu-Chow Chamber of Commerce to associations whose membership is limited to certain occupations such as the wholesale rice trade or ownership of plastic factories. \"Lower level\" associations include surname, district, and Hungry Ghost Festival organizations.\n\nThere are probably at least 150 Teochiu organizations in Hong Kong, including 58 Hungry Ghost Festival organizations, a number of other religious organizations, and numerous Teochiu Christian organizations. These organizations are not tightly interconnected through formal communication channels, nor are the \"lower level\" associations controlled by \"higher level\" associations. Many organizations are fairly autonomous, with few formal links to other organizations, and are largely concerned with activities pertinent to their own sphere of interest. This is reflected in the failure of an attempt by some Teochiu leaders several years ago to establish a general Teochiu association to be composed of representatives of all Teochiu organizations. This kind of association would presumably have been a very potent special interest group. The attempt failed because of an apparent lack of interest on the part of many elite Teochiu, the feeling that \"higher level\" Teochiu associations already sufficiently fulfilled the functions of such an association, and, according to one informant, the dominant concern of some leaders with their own limited sphere of interest.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207667,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 55,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "40\n\nDOUGLAS W. SPARKS\n\nAnother example was an attempt, again several years ago, initially promoted by several very prominent Teochiu elites, to use some of the money donated for the three-day Hungry Ghost Festival for charitable purposes. Total expenditures on each of these 58 festivals range from HK$150,000 to more than HK$200,000. The minimum total annual expenditure is at least HK$9,000,000. The attempt was unsuccessful in that the organizers were unable to convince local-level leaders to set aside part of the collected funds for a general fund for certain charitable purposes.\n\nThere is considerable diversity among Teochiu leaders in attitudes toward this particular festival which, as a three-day public ritual, is largely performed by Teochiu (though many non-Teochiu families also make individual offerings to the hungry ghosts on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month). Some leaders regard the festival as a “superstitious” waste of money, and this attitude was one of the motivations behind the attempt to siphon donated funds into charitable purposes. This example illustrates the lack of agreement among Teochiu organizations and leaders at different levels concerning attitudes toward religious beliefs and ritual in general and this important Teochiu festival in particular. It is important in that it is the ritual focus of a number of locally organized informal groups and is considered by many Teochiu and non-Teochiu as the cultural symbol par excellence of Teochiu ethnic viability. Although it is possible to argue that this huge expenditure is a waste of money and effort, it is my belief that local-level leaders would not be able to generate sufficient enthusiasm for the donation of money and physical labor for purposes other than those which non-elite would choose to participate in. The festival organizations are largely autonomous and locally organized informal groups which would not exert such effort for goals originating at higher levels within the Teochiu community.\n\nIf Teochiu organizations are not tightly inter-linked by formal mechanisms, they are of course interconnected by personal networks. These are the threads tying together the Teochiu community and literally run up and down socio-economic levels and have contact points with the formal organizations. Ego-centric networks also cross-cut ethnic boundaries, a reflection of numerous friendship, commercial, and political ties across ethnic categories. There is of course considerable variation in the extent to which ego-centric networks include non-Teochiu linkages.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207669,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 57,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "42\n\nDOUGLAS W. SPARKS\n\npopulation of this estate, comprising more than one tenth of the 67,000 people in the estate, were for the most part resettled from several squatter settlements in Tsuen Wan and Kowloon, where extensive friendship and kinship networks were already developed prior to resettlement. These networks were elaborated and extended within the housing estate. There is of course differential involvement in local Teochiu organizations and in reliance upon solely Teochiu sources of assistance, although virtually all contribute money and participate in the locally organized Hungry Ghost Festival in early August. Only a minority of Teochiu men in the estate are actively involved in the three Teochiu organizations in the estate, which suggests one kind of variation within the Teochiu population of Hong Kong. Most of the Teochiu households in the estate are composed of two or three generations and the primary wage earners are usually men, ranging from the late twenties to middle age, who immigrated from China. They identify themselves as Teochiu, have primarily Teochiu close friends (this statement is based on observation and not informants' statements) and for the most part marry Teochiu women. The majority of these men are primarily concerned with their jobs or businesses and their families and do not choose to become actively involved in local Teochiu associations. All Teochiu in the estate do have friendship relationships with non-Teochiu who are either work colleagues, neighbors or friends of friends. However, given the large numbers of Teochiu in the estate from a small number of villages in one of the Teochiu districts in China, it is not surprising that most leisure time is spent with kinsmen, fellow villagers or Teochiu friends who are also the primary sources of assistance in resolving problems,\n\nBased on experiences in other resettlement estates, I would suggest that the behavioral patterns outlined above can be generalized to that segment of the Teochiu population residing in resettlement estates. It is not necessarily possible to equate Hong Kong's resettlement population with one social class, in that some resettled families now own very successful businesses. Within the resettlement estate discussed above, however, the majority of Teochiu families, while having modest savings, consume most of their monthly earnings and not infrequently are forced to borrow money from friends or relatives for short periods of time.\n\nIt is much more difficult to generalize about interethnic interaction and attitudes toward ethnic identity for Teochiu residing",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207671,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 59,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "44\n\nDOUGLAS W. SPARKS\n\nThese changes may have future implications for the continued growth and viability of Teochiu religious organizations. Present growth in number and size of Hungry Ghost festival organizations, the majority of which are located in resettlement estates, suggests that Teochiu local leaders have been successful in mobilizing support for this festival within the lower socio-economic levels of the Teochiu population. This mobilization has obviously been carried out and expressed in terms of ethnic solidarity and a common cultural heritage, and has been successful partially because it has utilized and, in fact, worked through the extensive and dense friendship and kinship networks that have developed within the housing estates. These festival organizations can be viewed as extensions of these networks into the organization of rituals which express Teochiu cultural solidarity to others and reflect underlying inter-ethnic rivalry and hostility in the local area.\n\nOne purpose of this article is to derive a preliminary conceptualization of ethnicity in the urban areas of Hong Kong. Such a conceptualization should involve more than an analysis of ethnic groups residing in a city. It should also indicate in what ways urban ethnicity is different from rural or non-urban ethnicity as a result of particularly urban processes and urban structure. This would involve the consideration of such factors as urbanization and urban planning, transportation networks, available housing and different types of residential settlements, the extent of housing segregation, occupational structure, and occupational specialization by particular groups, differential access to, and ethnic competition for, economic resources.\n\nThis paper has briefly discussed some of these factors with reference to urban areas of Hong Kong; in particular, the relative lack of Teochiu occupational specialization, the absence of housing segregation but the tendency of many Teochiu to segregate themselves in squatter settlements, the general absence of restrictions on social mobility based on ethnic group membership, the effects of urban housing policies on ethnic identity in resettling large ethnic concentrations to housing estates. Certain features of the urban system have thus clearly influenced the expression of ethnic identity and hostility. It is questionable, however, whether any part of",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207694,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 82,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "ETHNICITY IN A HOUSING ESTATE IN HONG KONG\n\n67\n\nto clearly demarcate the two groups, Organizations, ritual differences and stereotypes will be discussed shortly.\n\nThe number of Hoi Luk Fung in the housing estate is not more than one-tenth of the number of Teochiu, and there are only several hundred people from the Kap Jih area. The latter are sufficiently large in number, however, to be considered socially significant by local Teochiu, and for the label \"Kap Jih\" to have meaning within the local area. The primary concern of this paper is that the label has different meaning for different people, and some are not at all sure of the appropriate meaning.\n\nThe largest, most active and organized Teochiu association within the housing estate maintains an office and a small temple, which has been recently expanded, and is primarily concerned with the organization of public rituals. The latter are almost entirely supported by the local Teochiu population with very little participation by other ethnic groups. The other registered Teochiu association is organized around a spirit medium and his public presentations, and has recently built a tiny concrete temple (which is not in the immediate local area). The third Teochiu association is informal in that it is not registered with the government and is only active during a period of several months each year during preparations for the major Teochiu religious festival, the Hungry Ghost Festival. Most of the members of these associations are Teochiu, primarily from the district of Hui Lai, a few members are Kap Jih, and there are no Hoi Luk Fung members. There are a number of other Teochiu associations within Tsuen Wan, the industrial town within which the housing estate is located, as well as a large number of temples and temple organizations. The Teochiu associations discussed above have no formal contact with most of these; formal contacts between associations tend to follow the personal networks of the members. Thus, there are close formal ties between the three associations in the estate and other Teochiu associations in nearby housing estates in South Kwai Chung. These ties are very clearly a function of the extension of friendship and kinship networks from the one estate into the other estates, where fellow villagers, kinsmen, and old friends reside.\n\nThere is only one informal Hoi Luk Fung association within the housing estate, whose sole function is the organization of a five-day religious festival which in most respects is similar to the Teochiu Hungry Ghost Festival. The only substantive difference",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207696,
        "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-1976",
        "page_number": 84,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "ETHNICITY IN A HOUSING ESTATE IN HONG KONG\n\n69\n\nwere firmly established as having the best festival, and that this has helped to elevate the general prestige of Teochiu and their leaders.\n\nAlthough there has never been any cooperation between the two organizations, relations between them deteriorated several years ago as a result of an incident which involved police and local government officials. Many of the Hungry Ghost Festivals in Hong Kong are held in playgrounds within housing estates and are widely considered nuisances by non-participants in that the operas perform until late at night, loudspeakers shriek out auction proceedings, etc. The Hoi Luk Fung festival had for several years been performed at a certain playground within the housing estate, while the Teochiu had held their festival at a more remote site outside the estate. One year the Teochiu decided that they would use the more centrally located playground in the estate since they were the larger and stronger of the two groups. Hoi Luk Fung learned of the Teochiu plan, and overnight they quickly began building their opera matshed in order to forestall the Teochiu strategy. The next day both groups applied to the government for use of the playground and both were refused. During this period someone tried to burn the Hoi Luk Fung structures on the playground. The Teochiu claimed that the Hoi Luk Fung started the fire themselves in order to blame the Teochiu, and the Hoi Luk Fung of course blamed the Teochiu. In any case, the Teochiu then decided to follow the government's ruling and commenced planning to use the acceptable but more remote site. The Hoi Luk Fung persisted, however, in their plans to use the now restricted playground as their festival site and continued to build their structures. This led to a series of confrontations with police and several injuries to both sides were incurred. Although the Hoi Luk Fung rebuilt structures several times after police destroyed them, they were eventually forced permanently out of the playground. In succeeding years, Hoi Luk Fung used the more remote site with government permission. Although there was no organized fighting between Teochiu and Hoi Luk Fung, the incident severely strained relationships between individuals and the organizations.\n\nAs stated above, Hoi Luk Fung are the most similar to Teochiu among Chinese ethnic groups in language, culture and historical origins. Yet they view each other with great hostility and distrust. These feelings and perceptions were evidently developed in Hong Kong in that I have been told that Hoi Luk Fung and Teochiu",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208737,
        "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-1979",
        "page_number": 194,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "CHINESE RELIGION REDISCUSSED\n\n167\n\ntake place at the home or in ancestral temples, less frequently in \"bone temples\". But secondly, community temples are not intended to offer funeral rites: their whole significance lies elsewhere. Funeral rites from very early times on used to be a family or clan affair and had no direct relationship with the community as a whole. With the coming of Buddhism and the growing success of their eschatology, monks started to take over or at least participate in funeral services. The author has overlooked a very simple alternate explanation: the proverb may have been coined at a point in history where the Ullambana ritual (or hungry ghost festival) was purely Buddhist, whereas the li-tou from its inception was a Taoist creation and in earlier times only performed by Taoist priests. Later changes occurred, but the saying continues.\n\nOn p. 175 author states that (Buddhist) \"bone temples” “cannot be used as a site for the popular chiao festivals\": the gods are not willing to descend in a death-polluted location (p. 176). This may not be the true reason. Those \"bone temples\" are not real temples (they are pagodas) and certainly not community temples: therefore they obviously will not do as sites for the chiao festival which is the community celebration par excellence. It seems to me, however, that Buddhist temples are organizing great rituals parallel to or equivalent to the chiao, which they call ta fa hui (great dharma meeting). This is a substitute ritual for their own Buddhist devotees, and a ritual for the living at that.\n\nOn p. 180 the author distinguishes two groups of worshippers in Buddhist temples, so-called the “living” and the “dead”. (As long as quotation marks are used, these expressions although not ideal, can be accepted, but on p. 182 the author speaks of dead worshippers, without the marks). The two groups do not meet at the same times and participate in different rituals. This whole passage is informative but does not clarify or further substantiate the author's thesis. The so-called “dead worshippers” do not belong to the real congregation of the temple: they place the urn or tablet once and for all, often to rid themselves of an awkward responsibility. The monks have received their lump sum payment and do not expect them back therefore they are almost forgotten on purpose. The \"living worshippers\" are cultivated because they provide the regular temple income.\n\nOn p. 185, the author speaks of the \"Taoist\" Matsu deity. This is a wrong identification as author should be aware of. Further",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208743,
        "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-1979",
        "page_number": 200,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "CHINESE RELIGION REDISCUSSED\n\n173\n\nties. Fear may well be a motivating force to build small shrines for abandoned bones, but except for one case of a major cult arising out of it (Anle po, pp. 254-256) the author has not substantiated his thesis. I feel that ghost-worship is only a minor and exceptional case of deity-formation.\n\nFinally, Chapter VII: “Structure and Function of Community Cults\" (pp. 270-291), treats some of the sociological aspects of the community cults: especially leadership. But first the author discusses the primary functions of the cult, which he formulates as follows:\n\n\"First to rid the community of evil and to assure the well being of the community members; second to act as an instrument of social control so as to unite the worshippers of various different families, and to elicit from them a certain conformity of behavior.\" (p. 270).\n\nI wonder whether the author should not have reversed the order; instead of emphasizing the negative functions, the more positive ones are more significant:\n\nFirst, the community cult is a symbol and an effective expression of group cohesion. Social control and conformity are rather secondary effects. Primarily the cult is an organism for group celebration — secondly, the cult is a means to protect the community: by obtaining divine favours from the various community gods and by exorcising all kinds of evils of 'supernatural' origin.\n\nAmong those evils, the ‘hungry ghosts' (rather the 'lonely' ghosts) are one group, but they are not the \"main evil\" confronting the community (p. 271). Among the greatest misfortunes used to be and still are fire hazards and water catastrophes (like typhoons, storms, floods): these are caused by fire and water spirits, and are often exorcised in the early days of a chiao festival.\n\nOn p. 272 ff., Baity speaks about the spatial aspects of the community cult. It is regrettable that he did not discuss this matter right at the start, since this is one of the essential aspects of the community cult. The main temple of an area, housing the protective deity of the community, is called a tsung miao by the author (p. 272). This is at least ambiguous: a tsung miao is rather the mother temple of a cult which has spread to other areas developing a number of split-temples or fen-miao.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 209717,
        "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-1982",
        "page_number": 374,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "352\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\ndescriptions of most of the more important local festivals and rituals, arranged on a month-by-month basis. Each festival is introduced by a \"where to go\" section (which includes \"how to get there\") and includes brief, but clear and concise descriptions of the ceremony, of the god in question, of any unusual or striking rituals, and of the significance of the festival within traditional local society. At the end are notes on the Ta Chiu and On Lung ceremonies, neither of which is held on any fixed day.\n\nIntermingled with the written descriptions are 85 colour plates, most of which are of the most superb quality, and many of which are of rituals either almost completely unrecorded or else never recorded so vividly and well (e.g. the photographs of the On Lung ceremony, or of the village ladies making cakes for the New Year). It should be noted that the plates are not designed strictly as illustrations of the text. Several rituals not separately described in the text, such as funerals, weddings, and Tun Fu ceremonies, are given plates and short marginal comment. Other rituals dealt with somewhat sketchily in the text such as the Ta Chiu and On Lung rituals - are profusely illustrated in the plates. This is obviously designed, and is to be welcomed: each part of the book is of independent value in itself and the book must be treated as a whole to get the best from it. It is clear from this volume that Hong Kong has in Joan Law a photographer with a real natural genius in the photography of ceremonial. It is to be hoped that this volume is the first of many that will be illustrated by her.\n\nThe book, while describing village rituals adequately, also pays attention to urban rituals such as the Chiu Chow Hungry Ghost (Yue Laan) Festival, the Sau Mau Ping Monkey God Festival, the T'am Kung Festival and the Lu Pan Festival. Of course, in a book such as this it is not possible to cover all festivals or rituals, but it will be found that very few of any real significance in Hong Kong are omitted.\n\nThe photographs are so good, and their reproduction so excellent, and the text is so readable and alluring that it is difficult to conceive of anyone previously unacquainted with Chinese festivals looking at the book and not wishing to go straight out",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210292,
        "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-1984",
        "page_number": 263,
        "title": "RAS-1984",
        "content_text": "242\n\nCHOI CHI CHEUNG\n\nnese News (MA###); reports about the Ghost Festival in Kobe no longer emphasised the role of the Hokkienese. Thus, the secondary identification (identity of being a Chinese and/or of being a resident in Kobe) instead of the primary identification (identity of blood relation and/or of origins) became the central idea of the Festival. Thus the Festival is more inclusive now.\" The Festival, though including all elements of the secular world as well as the sacred world, stressed only ancestor-worship because only ancestor worship supercedes the boundaries of all social groupings and categories, eases the tension of group competition among the Chinese, and connects all social groupings and categories into one worshipping group which is based primarily on the relationship of the worshippers with Kobe, and secondarily on their territorial identity as Chinese.\n\nNOTES:\n\nThe original meaning of 'Yue Lan' is \"hanging upside down” (of the hungry ghost in Hell). However, during the festival, participants used terms like: Obon (Mah, Japanese term for the festival), Chung Yuan (†, middle of the year, which is a term mainly used by the taoists for the same event), and/or Kuai Chie (m, ghost festival). Some Cantonese even called it a Chiao (M) (simply meaning a festival dedicated to the Gods). Moreover, the documents used during the festival spoke of it as 'Pu Tu' (#), meaning general offering and place where spirits can cross over to this world, e.g. the papers that hung over the entrance of the Tao Ch'ang (entrance A) wrote \"The water and earth Pu Tu is held in this Tao Ch'ang' (*), at the entrance B, it was written 'the Great Occasion of Pu Tu' (E), the invitation card wrote \"the great meeting of Pu Tu' (#★#), and the same term was also used in the P'ang.\n\n1 See Kobe Kakyou Ho (#), no. 71, 1976.3.10. In 1974, there were 46944 Chinese in Japan. 8585 of them lived in Hyogo Prefecture of which 7071 were concentrated in Kobe city. The distribution of the origins of the Chinese in Hyogo Prefecture was as follow: Taiwan (41%), Cantonese (21%), Hokkien (11%), Kiangsu (11%), Shantong (5%), Chekiang (4%), others (7%).\n\nSee plan at the Appendix to this paper, and Plate 15.\n\nPlate 16.\n\n3 Plates 17, 18, 19.\n\n6\n\nSometimes informants called the paper-made houses \"Cho' () without distinguishing between the house for the 'Newly Dead', and that for the gods. Here, Ming-che is used for the house of the \"Newly Dead', and Cho for that of the gods.\n\n7 Plate 20.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211254,
        "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-1987",
        "page_number": 315,
        "title": "RAS-1987",
        "content_text": "290\n\nwhilst the shrine was at Elgin Street, largely because no Hoklo troupes were available in Hong Kong or could visit from the mainland. The position improved when members of troupes reassembled here.\n\nIt is usual in these traditional festivals for an image of the patron god to be installed in a special altar at the theatre matshed or nearby. At Peel Street this is not necessary, because the shrine faces down this sloping street directly onto the opera stage. The god could see all without moving his position. When I asked whether any other images were brought from neighbouring shrines, there was a unanimous and swift denial!\n\nThe group of devotees, at any rate in and up to 1974, were mainly persons from To Tong Market, and all Hoklo speakers. The personnel of the Hoklo opera group hired in the previous few years were all Hoklos from Hoi Luk Fung, but only one of them was a native of To Tong Hui.\n\nI did not ask about management in 1974, though I gathered that they described their managers as ta-lei yan and not as chik-lei, which is more common among the Hong Kong shrine and temple groups.\n\nBesides the annual celebration, there is also religious activity at the shrine on the first and fifteenth days of each month.\n\nIt is curious that, although the Peel Street shrine is dedicated to an earth god, there are no celebrations on either the first or second months of the lunar calendar, when so many of the local shrines in town and country carry out major activities. The Sheung Fung Lane shrine's big day is in the first moon, as with the Tai Ping Shan and Kennedy Town shrines also mentioned in the article (pp. 124-127). The Nam On Fong shrine at Shau Kei Wan (pp. 128-130) originally celebrated in the second lunar month. However, the Sai Wan Ho earth god shrine at the other end of Shau Kei Wan had always celebrated the Yue Lan or \"Hungry Ghost\" festival as its principal event, for as far back as memory and local tradition served (pp. 130-132). There is variety in all things, old and new, mercifully.\n\nPage 315\n\nPage 316",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212109,
        "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": 51,
        "title": "RAS-1990",
        "content_text": "28 \n\nmembership of an alliance.\" \n\nIII. Studies on Jiao Festivals in Hong Kong: the 1980s \n\na. Trend \n\n18 \n\nThere are not as many studies of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong as in Taiwan. The earliest study in Hong Kong is probably Taylor's 1953 ethnographical essay on the Cheung Chau Jiao festival. The article was re-printed in every issue of the special annual bulletin for the Bun festival in Cheung Chau until the beginning of the 80s. The late Prof. B.E. Ward noticed very early the importance of the Jiao festival to the understanding of rural society. Her account of the festival itself, however, appeared only briefly in her introductory guide book on festivals in Hong Kong. Dr. James Hayes has also noticed the importance of the celebration during his studies on rural communities in the outlying islands and new towns in Kowloon. However, only some of the celebrations were given brief mention in his 1983 book. Mathias' study on the 1975 Kam Tin Jiao festival is probably the earliest comprehensive study of the festival. It is a pity, however, that it has not been published. Kani, Obuchi and Yoshihara are probably the earliest Japanese scholars to realize the significance of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong. Kani, in his study of boat people in Hong Kong regards the Jiao on Cheung Chau island as an event, like the Hungry Ghost Festival, to feed wandering ghosts. Obuchi, working with a Taoist priest, Mr. Chan Wah, studied the symbolic meanings of different Taoist rituals performed in the 1975 Shatin Jiao festival. Yoshihara in a section of his paper on religion in Hong Kong briefly described the 1977 Tai Wai, Sha Tin, event. Beginning in 1979, Tanaka and Segawa commenced active data collection on the festival. Tanaka began his extensive research in Hong Kong in 1979. At least 14 different Jiao festivals were recorded in his three books. Segawa joined the research later, from 1983 to 1985, and several articles have since been published in Japanese. \n\n20 \n\n22 \n\nThe nineteen eighties saw a growth in interest in Jiao festivals among local institutions and scholars. In 1980, students and lecturers of the History Department (Dr. D. Faure), the Sociology Department (the late Prof. B.E. Ward), the Anthropology Department (Dr. S.H. Wang) and the Music Department (the late Dr. B.C. Lu) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK] began concurrent studies on Jiao",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212574,
        "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-1991",
        "page_number": 128,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "108\n\nAlthough one of the above six destinations is the normal fate of a person's heavenly soul, earthly souls reside in graves or ancestral tablets to be worshipped by descendants. Terrestrial souls can even be divided between tablets on altars in family members' homes and in ancestral halls. Views vary on this 'multiple-soul' principle. As do those from theologians, regarding life after death for a Christian.\n\nFor the Chinese, ancestral spirits, gods, devils and ghosts play important roles. Supernatural intervention and magical powers have to be reckoned with. Malevolent, wandering spirits that have no male descendants to worship them must be appeased or they can bring bad luck, sickness and death. Makeshift altars are sometimes set up in streets, joss sticks are burned and offerings made, especially on the 15th day of the Seventh Moon at the Hungry Ghosts Festival (Yu Lan). With the fundamental dualism of Chinese cosmology, devils and their cohorts are yin, ‘inauspicious and gloomy'. Conversely gods, idols and the like are yang and 'lucky and bright'.\n\nIn this study, father died in 1959. When windows rattled, doors opened mysteriously, or troubles befell the family, his spirit, rightly or wrongly, was at one time suspected. This had to be propitiated by visits to the temple. When death strikes, a family tends to become even more superstitious. Scissors and knives are hidden to avoid children cutting themselves and thereby inadvertently hurting the corpse. This is termed lei hei (##) meaning an edged tool or weapon which can injure.\n\nIn this study, a Buddhist prayer in plastic holders was placed in strategic positions around family members' homes, including on the eldest daughter's bedside table. Although a person is a Christian, there is nothing like hedging protection. One granddaughter who had yam ngaan (dark eyes), namely psychic powers, heard a woman ghost wailing at night. When she placed the prayer on her bedside table, it kept quiet. This prayer could be rendered ineffective if taken into a church. Chinese always seem much closer to the spirit world than the average Westerner. For example, some of the older drivers on late-night buses travelling along the Pok Fu Lam Road stop and open the door whether anyone is waiting there or not. This is said to be to allow wandering spirits to get on and go back to the cemetery for the night.\n\nChinese dislike people dying at home as it is considered 'unclean'. If they do, the body is removed as soon as possible, often in a woven,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214163,
        "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": 21,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "Appendix A\n\nTalks\n\n28 March, 1998, 19th Century Government-led Education in Hong Kong by Drs Verner and Gillian Bickley.\n\n29 March, Annual lectures in conjunction with South China Research Circle and the Antiquities and Monuments Office.\n\n3 April, Prisons and Paparazzi-how three generations of one family survived Hong Kong 1930-97, by Kirsty Norman.\n\n8 May, Identifying and Recording Hong Kong's Historical Gardens, by Bill Greaves and Bob Horsnell.\n\n29 May, The East River Column with Special Reference to the Hong Kong and Kowloon Group, by S.J. Chan.\n\n26 June, The History of the Hong Kong Film Archives, by Cynthia Liu.\n\n7 August, Imperial Connection: Chinese Snuff Bottles by Humphrey Hui.\n\n28 August, The Hungry Ghost Festival, presented by Elizabeth Sinn.\n\n18 September, Conservation for Hong Kong Museums, by Paul Harrison.\n\n30 October, An 18th Century Armenian Macau Merchant Prince, the Man and his Money, by the Reverend Carl Smith.\n\n23 November, Archery Seminar led by Dr Charles Grayson and organised by Stephen Selby in conjunction with the Asian Traditional Archery Research Network.\n\n11 December, Military Experiences in Hong Kong and Korea in the early 1950s, by Dr James Hayes, followed by dinner at the FCC.\n\nXX",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214821,
        "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": 236,
        "title": "RAS-1999",
        "content_text": "202\n\nTo this day, services for the departed, whether as newly-deceased souls or as wandering spirits, command the greater part of the time of practitioners from the two religions. Apart from the varied religious services carried out in the homes of the deceased, or in the temples and monasteries where similar rites were held for the departed, both Buddhists and Taoists are prominent in the rituals carried out in public places at the Hungry Ghost Festival.23 This, the most important ritualistic pacification of wandering souls and spirits during the lunar year, is still performed throughout Hong Kong on behalf of the general public by priests of the two religions, hired by local committees and associations.\n\nWhat People Want: Individual Expectations from Acts of Worship\n\nIn approaching the gods, whether in the temples and monasteries, or at the earth god shrines on the street or in the fields, the worshippers had specific requirements in view. Then as now, worshipping itself was principally devoted to obtaining divine assistance in time of trouble or to attain the object of one's desire or supplication. These usually concerned health and wealth, as well as general preservation from all ills, for oneself and for family members, deceased as well as living. There was also the need to obtain protection (because of their great potential for harm) from the general body of those many departed souls without living male descendants to care for them.\n\nUnlike the ritual services, worshipping was not carried out with the help of intermediaries from the two religions. It is a personal act, usually conducted by the individual before the altars in temples, monasteries or nunneries, or at the tombs of deceased family members and ancestors at certain fixed times of the lunar year.\n\nAs Archdeacon Moule says - and it bears repeating because it is so basic to an understanding of how Chinese people think and act - the prayers of the worshippers one sees in the temples are being \"addressed to images representing deities of living and present power.\n\n24 In Hong Kong, a visit to a large city temple like the Wong Tai Sin Temple in New Kowloon at a major festival leaves one in no doubt that the people believe in the ability of the god to grant their requests. Nor is satisfaction kept to oneself. The word soon gets around, and since the worship",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]