[
    {
        "id": 207790,
        "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": 178,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "LAND AND RIVER ROUTES TO WEST CHINA\n\n163\n\nValley. A tea committee was formed whose findings were favourable, and experimental tea gardens were opened at Jaipur in Upper Assam. By 1859 over 4,000 acres were under cultivation, and the industry was assured of a bright future. Ample British capital was available for expansion, the British public's appetite for tea seemed inexhaustible; but scarcity of labour was a serious handicap. Assam was thinly populated, and the planters were dependent on Bengalis, who took a long time to get acclimatised. The idea of importing Chinese labour by the overland route was suggested, as at this time Chinese labour was considered indispensable to economic development in the tropics, and the Indian government was sympathetic. There were several possible land routes between India and West China, some passing through Burma, and Article 9 of the 1862 Commercial Treaty between Britain and Burma allowed entry into British territory from the Burmese side. The tea planters, however, failed to recruit Chinese workers, and blamed their lack of success upon the difficulties and hardships of the overland routes. This led to pressure on the government to improve the major land routes, and to several expeditions across the debatable borderlands between India, Burma, and China.\n\nFrom the 1860s until near the end of the century, therefore, there was rivalry between British commercial circles in India and those in China, over access to West China. In addition to these two approaches, from India and from the Yangtze, there were others from the south; by the Mekong or Red River from Indo-China, and by the West River from Canton and Hong Kong. Anglo-French colonial rivalry was acute during the second half of the nineteenth century, especially in the Far East. The French were keen to find and exploit a trade route to West China; and while Britain was investigating routes from Burma, the Yangtze, and the West River, France was investigating possible routes from the Mekong and Red Rivers.\n\nAs became widely known by the end of the century, and suspected by realists before then, West China and its borderlands comprise some of the most difficult regions of the world in which to build roads or railways, or in which to improve river navigation. There are high mountain ranges divided by deep valleys, densely forested in many places; and all the great rivers—the Yangtze, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Red River, and Salween—are seriously impeded by rapids",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 209113,
        "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": 16,
        "title": "RAS-1981",
        "content_text": "2\n\nsen and his Hong Kong experience and was based on a current study he is undertaking into the meaning and significance of Sun Yat-sen's sojourn in Hong Kong. Also in February we were pleased to welcome Mrs. Robyn McLean, assistant archivist at the Public Records Office, who, using material on her files, spoke on the efforts to locate the Chater art collection after the Japanese Occupation - an effort that proved in vain. Finally, this month Carl Smith, one of our Vice-Presidents and a well-known investigator of primary sources of Hong Kong history, spoke on the origins, functions, and network of the Hong Kong compradores.\n\nExpeditions: Hong Kong and Abroad\n\n- During the year we had one walking tour in the New Territories and two expeditions to Rajasthan. The November walking tour was one of the winter walks which David Liu of your Council arranges from time to time, and the first for members of the society. Thirteen people participated. The first expedition to Rajasthan was centred around the Pushkar Fair/Camel safari but included many other novel activities, such as desert camping, 6 days by camel to visit off-the-track villages of the Shekhawati with their frescoes, a visit to the remote desert town of Bikaner with its palaces and forts, as well as a visit to the Rajmahal Palace, Jaipur. Altogether fifteen members took the tour. The second tour, entitled \"Meet the Maharaja\", took place in January of this year and went from Delhi through Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer. Participants stayed in hotels converted from maharajas' palaces, met maharajas, and travelled on a royal saloon train. Seventeen members went on the tour. This is the first time that overseas tours have been arranged for us outside the Council, and I cannot report fully on the tours as no member of Council was able to go along. We will be pleased, however, to get the reactions and comments of those taking part. Mrs. Craig has kindly offered to show moving films of the two expeditions that she took to the Society, possibly in April - and those taking part in them will be invited to bring along their own photographs for display.\n\nPublications\n\n- The 1979 Journal (Vol. 19) was published and distributed during the year. Editorial work on the 1980 Journal was completed, and so was much of that on the 1981 Journal. Dr. James Hayes, who handed over the role of editor to Dr. David Faure last year, remained in charge of the Journal for 1980 and as advisor on that for '81. He has asked me to",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m",
        "rank": 0
    }
]