[ { "id": 204617, "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-1963", "page_number": 98, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "BRITISH LEGATION AT PEKING\n\n85\n\nthe gate and then, detaching myself from the queue, walked into the compound. The demonstration had started on a Friday afternoon and continued all Friday night, throughout the whole of Saturday and Saturday night and only ended about midday on the Sunday. Altogether according to my reckoning it lasted for forty-four hours without a break. It was an exciting exhibition for the people of Peking and everyone caught something of the 'Roman Carnival' atmosphere. To me it was interesting as an example of 'mass diplomacy' carried out by slogan and poster in an attempt to impose a point of view by noise and numbers. After the demonstrators finally dispersed the entire wall running along the road outside the Legation was covered from top to base with posters painted in Chinese ink on gaily coloured paper. Slogans and pictures, some crude but some of considerable merit extending for 400 yards, made quite a poster gallery. One felt that the masses had let off steam and left their coloured breath behind. From the point of view of organization it was a considerable feat to keep up a continuous demonstration for over forty hours, and to marshal large crowds so that all had a chance to shout and gesticulate at the entrance to the Legation. It showed a practical grasp of logistics, and also complete control over the masses by the Party cadres. The demonstrators never got out of hand though they were usually noisy enough to be convincing.\n\nAlready by the Summer of 1958 there were indications that the authorities in Peking were about to request the British Government to hand over the land occupied by the old British Legation. In January 1959 the Vice-Director of the West European Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent for Mr. A. C. Maby, at that time acting British Chargé d'Affaires, and informed him that part of the centre of Peking was scheduled for reconstruction and that the area occupied by the British Legation was required for the site of a large new building for the Judicial Executive. The staff of the Legation was therefore requested to move out of their quarters by May 31st 1959, and the British were invited to work out plans for new permanent premises. The Russians had received a similar request, but had already prepared a new and sumptuous Embassy", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206960, "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-1974", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "The Paper Chase\n\n25\n\nSo far, we have received transfers of records from 27 different government offices, the whole now occupying nearly 6,000 feet of shelving. We have therefore passed the storage capacity of our present premises and have had to resort to additional temporary accommodation on the old naval dockyard site.\n\nWhen I came to Hong Kong I was told that practically all of the government's pre-war records had perished during the Japanese occupation. It is true that pitifully little remains of the very large accumulations which must have been in government offices in 1941, and what records did survive, with a few notable exceptions, tend to be fragmentary and unrelated to one another in time or content.\n\nNevertheless the dearth is not as great as is sometimes supposed. The Rating and Valuation Department's Rates Collection Book series, which we now hold, is practically complete from 1858 to 1952, and several large and exceedingly valuable series of 19th and pre-war 20th century Land Office records have been transferred to us from the Registrar-General's Department. These include series of correspondence files dating from 1866 to 1940, Crown and Village Rent Rolls from 1843 to 1958 and 1856 to 1960 respectively and some 90-100,000 Surrendered Title Deeds, many of which date from the middle of the 19th century, and possibly earlier.\n\nOther pre-war records have reached us from the Prisons Department, Audit, the Supreme Court, the Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers), and the Official Receiver's Office and they are still coming. Only a few days ago some twelve volumes of Judicial Department correspondence dating from 1844 to 1903 were unearthed from a great pile of lumber and rubbish in a government record store and as my staff are still quarrying in it I have no doubt that more of them will come to light.\n\nThere is no knowing what treasures may lie in the many dungeons of government's archival limbo. Some of them are so cluttered as to be virtually inaccessible, except by emptying them, and it will be years before we have prospected them all—that is, if we succeed in finding them all. Twelve years ago a very large crate of mid-19th century records was discovered quite by accident in the roof of the Supreme Court.\n\nThe loss of Hong Kong's pre-war records is regrettable but the situation is not entirely irretrievable. As many of you know, a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213477, "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-1995", "page_number": 73, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "40\n\n146 literally \"to fill up the bedchamber\" tea wife married when one of parties was previously widowed or divorced, to take the place of a \"kit tat\" wife\n\n147 vide infra\n\nWilson's Notes, e.g. Russell J's Report on Chinese (18th July 1883), Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1886-87, pp 187-189 (part of which is reprinted as Appendix 8 to Committee Report, 1953, at p 194), E Alabaster, Notes and Commentaries on Chinese Criminal Law, London, 1899, pp 168-170, Jamieson, op cit, p 13, and Van der Valk, op cit, pp 133-134\n\n1517\n\nvide Dyer Ball, op cit p 632 et seq\n\nReport on the New Territories 1899-1912, Appendix E (Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1912, at p 62)\n\n142\n\nWilson's Notes\n\nViz, CHOW CHAM vs YUET SEEM (1910) 5 HKLR 233, UN YAN SING AND OTHERS vs FONG LUN SAN (1913) 8 HKLR 89, CHAN KA LAM AND OTHERS vs CHEUNG CHUN KONG AND ANOTHER (1915) 10 HKLR 157, CHAN TU SANG vs TAM WAI SANG (1927) 22 HKLR 129 AND FAN NGOI NAM AND OTHERS vs ASIA CAFÉ (1929) 24 HKLR\n\nibid. (This subject is included since, as already noted, resort has occasionally been made in recent years to Chinese customary oaths in judicial proceedings, however, as long ago as 1912, the infallibility of this test was beginning to be doubted as the morality of the villager changed under foreign influence vide Report on the New Territories 1889-1912 para 87, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1912, p 56)\n\nAs already indicated, the main source for this part has been the material collected by Mr W Duncan of the Co-operative Development and Fisheries Department. Burkhardt also describes the \"Boat People\", op cit Vol II p 177, as does Barbara E Ward in her article “A Hong Kong Fishing Village\" JOS Vol I No 1 (January 1954) p 195\n\nY\n\nvide 1961 Census figures supra and also the figures for the 1911 census which were respectively - Land Population 94,246, Floating Population 9,855 (Report on the New Territories 1899-1912, para 6 Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1912, p 43)\n\n15% ibid para 53 at p 53\n\n157 For a description of a Boat People's Wedding see Burkhardt, op cit, vol 1 p 80", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 } ]