[ { "id": 206096, "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-1970", "page_number": 176, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH\n\n171\n\nthe Portuguese suddenly arrived and increased in an unexpected way the problem of the Chinese authorities in coping with local disorders and foreign traders.\n\nThe first mention of their arrival is in Portuguese in the history of the Navigators by Barros, a contemporary, who states that in 1514 Jorge Alvares reached a place called Tamao in China and put up a monument to commemorate his discovery on which he engraved the arms of Portugal. His son, who had died on the voyage, was buried in the same place at the foot of the mountain. Tamao is undoubtedly T'un Mun but some difficulty in placing the exact locality is found owing to the frequent references by Portuguese historians to an island. For instance, one contemporary states: \"The island is three leagues from the coast and the Chinese call it Tamao while we call it the Ilha de Veniaga (Island of Trade, the last word being Portuguese pidgin from Malacca). From this place none may proceed to any of the places near the coast without the permission of the Council at Canton, which is a city 18 leagues away. Even when going there the ships do not enter but stay at the outskirts and there carry on trade.\" The Portuguese received a good welcome and were impressed with the extraordinary riches of China and with the possibilities of trade. Other voyages were made and the results reported to Alburquerque who was then at Malacca. Three years later an expedition commanded by Fernando d'Andrade arrived at T'un Mun with instructions to go to Canton and open negotiations for a trading treaty with China. Fernando d'Andrade very nearly succeeded in his work. He did not return the shots which were fired at his ships by a Chinese fleet, but succeeded in obtaining the permission of the official at Nam T'au they called Pio (whose full title was \"Pei Wo Tu Chih Hui” or local officer for defence against Japanese pirates) to sail as far as Canton and after a whole year of investigation and exploration his expedition returned safely to Malacca where they made a report. The next year, 1519, Simon Andrade, brother of Fernando, was sent to carry on the negotiations but as soon as he arrived at T'un Mun he began to terrorise the whole neighbourhood.\n\nIn justice to the Portuguese it must be remembered that they were continually being attacked by the Tanka and other pirates.\n\n27 Castanheda quoted in Tien Hsia, May 1939, by J. M. Braga.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206098, "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-1970", "page_number": 178, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH\n\n173\n\nthe Chinese took place. Where was the island which the Portuguese called Ilha da Veniaga or \"island of trade\" and which was the centre of the foreign trading community? It has been very plausibly argued that it was at Ling Ting the Solitary Island in the estuary, but there is no local tradition or Chinese text confirming it. My own impression of the events is that the Portuguese built their fort in the neighbourhood of Castle Peak Bay and with their superior ships and artillery tried to dominate the foreign trade by controlling the entrance to the Canton estuary and by compelling the ships which put in at any of the natural harbours between Fat T'ong Mun, or at any rate K'ap Shui Mun and T'un Mun, to recognize their suzerainty.\n\nAnother text says: \"T'un Mun had long been the collecting place of foreign trading ships. In the reign of Ching Tê the Feringhis of the west under pretext of sending tribute infested our shores. Their actions were beastly and poisonous. They kidnapped children and ate them etc.\n\nThese two texts are from inscriptions on a temple to a famous civil officer named Wang Hung who organised the attack on the Portuguese fleet and fortress. He was remembered with such gratitude by the local people he protected that he has received minor canonisation and is worshipped in our region. After describing the outrages of the Portuguese the inscription goes on: “All this came to the ears of Wang Hung who was enraged. He raised an army which he commanded personally, risking his life and exerting himself to the utmost. His efforts in conceiving the winning strategy in recruiting local craft and in teaching them to fight were crowned with success. He saw that the foreign boats were big and relied solely on their sails to move about. At that time the south wind was strong and he ordered the wrecks of some foreign ships to be filled with firewood and combustive oil and sent them on fire towards the Portuguese who were burnt or drowned. The people then attacked with a loud shout and gained the victory, totally exterminating their enemies.\" The Topography places the site of this final onslaught at Kau King Shan just above Castle Peak Bay.\n\nThe Portuguese present at this battle were in some eight or ten ships and included Jorge Alvares, the discoverer of T'un Mun,\n\n29 J. M. Braga in Tien Hsia of May 1939,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213918, "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-1996", "page_number": 270, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "248\n\nIndia in 1521 preparatory to a voyage to China. Fernão Lopes de Castanheda notes that he was from Santarém and João de Barros notes that he was the son of Jorge de Melo Lageo dalcunha. Now in various nobiliários Martim Afonso de Melo is said to be the son of Jorge de Melo O Lageo and of D. Branca Coutinho and that he returned very rich from China. In 1522 he sailed to China.\" According to João de Barros, Da Asia (Decade III Livro VIII Capitulo V, 1563 ed.) he returned safely to Portugal in 1525. In April 1526 he is already dead (cf. Chancelaria of D. João III, Doaões, Livro 11, folio 84v).\n\nA humble Portuguese Jorge Alvares was the first Portuguese to sail to China in 1513-1514 as is well known. His voyage was succeeded by the more principal voyages of Fernão Peres de Andrade in 1517-1518, Simão de Andrade in 1519-1520 and Martim Afonso de Melo in 1522, in which each of these captains sailed as captain-major of a Portuguese fleet, after which official contacts of Portugal with China ceased for many years. The voyage of Martim Afonso de Melo brought to a conclusion the epochal period of first Western contacts with China during the era of trans-oceanic navigation, of which he was one of the principal figures.\n\nI take the present opportunity to republish the inscription of Martim Afonso de Melo which appears on his sepulchral urn according to the version of Ignacio da Piedade e Vasconcelos in his Historia de Santarem Edificada, Parte II, Lisbon, 1740, p. 202 and add to it my version so much as the damaged state of the urn allows.' It does not appear to have been dated.\n\nINSCRIPTION NUMBER 1\n\nTHE INSCRIPTION OF MARTIM AFONSO DE MELO ON HIS\n\nSEPULCHRAL URN ACCORDING TO PIEDADE\n\nE VASCONCELOS\n\nAqui jaz Martim Affonso de Mello filho de George de Mello, e de Dona Branca Coutinho, e sua nora Dona Maria Henriques\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 } ]