[ { "id": 205187, "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-1966", "page_number": 143, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "OLD BRITISH KOWLOON\n\n137\n\n50 The Hong Kong Blue Books for 1904 onwards list Basel Mission out-stations at Shaukiwan on Hong Kong Island and at To Kwa Wan, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon Tong in Kowloon. It is not certain when the Sham Shui Po station was opened as The China Mission Hand Book p. 279 lists two out-stations from Hong Kong but does not give their names. The earlier Blue Books are not much help.\n\n51 Hung Hom, Tai Kok Tsui and Mong Kok Tsui had their docks and in Sessional Papers 1899, p. 482 Tai Kok Tsui is described as \"an industrial area\".\n\n52 This study was hampered by the fact that no early land records appear to have survived for the group of villages described in this article. The only information I have been able to obtain, besides evidence from maps, relates to squatter licenses. A list for 1896, which appears in Sessional Papers 1897, p. 203, includes Ho Man Tin (37), Tai Shik Kwu (1) and Mong Kok (57).\n\nL\n\n+\n\nAddenda\n\nI ought not to leave this subject without mentioning the bad feeling between Hakkas and Cantonese in British Hong Kong which was the legacy of the disturbed times during the Taiping rebellion. Mayers, Dennys and King, the authors of The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London and Hong Kong, 1867) state that fights between Hakka and Punti were common in British Hong Kong and that many Hakka labourers had come to Hong Kong with vivid memories of ill-treatment in their native place. It seems that these fights were not confined to immigrant labourers with scores to settle. Eitel records that for several days in August 1862 \"the peninsula of Kowloon presented the novel aspect of an animated battle field, as the Punti inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were engaged in a bloody warfare with the Hakka settlers at Tsim Sha Tsui\". A previous engagement, presumably between the same people, occurred in the same place in August 1859 when hostilities lasted two days though \"little damage was done beyond a few knife wounds\". We are told that \"The Hakkas remained masters of the situation\" (Dennys etc. p. 84). At that time, according to this source, the Puntis \"have an intense antipathy to the Hakkas\" (p. 19). It is interesting that this is reflected in the fact that the Canton Coolie Corps which assisted our army in the Second Chinese War 1857-60 was recruited in Hong Kong entirely from among Hakkas. See W. Stanton The Triad Society, Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh 1900, p. 26.\n\nFurther to the early descriptions of Yau Ma Ti given in the text I have since come across another in Sessional Papers 1888, p. 103, in which it is stated that \"the boatmen and fishermen who have hitherto constituted the residents of Yau Ma Ti are gradually becoming outnumbered by town people and artizans (sic) from Hong Kong who are attracted to Yau Ma Ti by the lower rents charged them for house accommodation\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205883, "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-1969", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "183\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\nHONG KONG BRANCH\n\nList of Members\n\nPatron: His Excellency Sir David Trench, K.C.M.G., M.C.\n\nHonorary Members:\n\nSir Robert Black, G.C.M.G., O.B.E.* 183 Oakwood Court, London, W.14, England.\n\nProf. J. L. Cranmer-Byng, M.C., M.A.* 190, Glengrove Avenue, W., Toronto 12, Canada.\n\nR. E. Lawry, O.B.E., F.R.G.S.* 36, Newton Road, Cambridge, England.\n\nDr. Marjorie Topley, B.Sc. Econ., Ph.D.* 19, Peak Mansions, The Peak, H.K.\n\nMembers:\n\nAKERS-JONES, D. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Road, H.K.\n\nALLEYNE, Mrs. E. L. University of Hong Kong, Pokfulum, H.K.\n\nARMERDING, L. E.* P.O. Box 4333, North Point, H.K.\n\nASERAPPA, Mrs. J. P. 6 Lloyd Path, Severn Road, H.K.\n\nAU, K. N. c/o Grantham College of Education, Gascoigne Road, Kowloon.\n\nBachman, Miss Ann H. c/o American Consulate General, 26 Garden Road, H.K.\n\nBAKER, Dr. H. D. R. c/o School of Oriental and African Studies, London, W.C.1, England.\n\nBAKER, W. E.* c/o The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. 40, St. Mary Axe, London, E.C.3. England.\n\nBALL, J. M. c/o H. K. Refrigerating Co., Ltd. P. O. Box 291, H.K.\n\nBARD, Dr. S. M. University Health Service, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulum, H.K.\n\nBARNETT, K. M. A. P. O. Box 248, H.K.\n\nBARR, Miss E. 80 Robinson Road, H.K.\n\nBARRY, Cmdr. R. S. Hong Kong Club, H.K.\n\nBASHALL, Mrs. C. G. c/o H.M. Prison, Stanley, H.K.\n\nBEDLINGTON, Mrs. M. 1, Albion Terrace, Kowloon Docks, Hunghom, Kowloon.\n\n* Life Member\n\nPlease notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207188, "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": 259, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "LIST OF MEMBERS\n\nORDINARY MEMBERS:\n\nBUTLER, Miss B. A...\n\nBUTT, Dr. Nancy\n\nCAMERON, Nigel\n\n+\n\nCAPLAN, Malcolm\n\nPublic Services Commission, Room 573, Central Govt. Offices, H.K.\n\n253\n\nThe Grantham Hospital, Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen, H.K.\n\n11-D, Venice Court, 41, Conduit Road, H.K.\n\nc/o Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd. Kowloon Docks, Hung Hom, Kowloon.\n\nCAREY-HUGHES, Dr. John Room 315, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building, H.K.\n\nCENTRE OF ASIAN STUDIES\n\nCERNY, Miss Eva\n\nCHAN, Prof. Cheng-siang\n\n·\n\nCHAN, Sui-Jeung\n\nCHAN, Tom\n\nCHEETHAM, Mrs. J. A.\n\nCHERN, Dr. K. S.\n\nCHEUNG, O.\n\nCHIU, Mrs. Carol C.\n\nCHIU, Dr. Ling Yeong\n\nCHOA, Robert\n\nCOCHRANE, Mrs. Valerie\n\nCOCKELL, Miss June V.\n\nCOLBOURNE, Dr. M. J.\n\nCOMBER, Leon\n\nCONNOLLY, Miss Moira\n\nCOTTON, P. C.\n\nCRABBE, P. I.\n\n+\n\nCRAIG, Dr. Dale A.\n\nCRAMER, B. L.\n\nCREMA, Mario\n\n+\n\n+\n\n+\n\n+\n\nUniversity of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nDepartment of Anatomy, University of Hong Kong, Li Shu Fan Building, Sassoon Road, H.K.\n\nGeographical Research Centre, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.\n\nEnvironment Branch, Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Road, H.K.\n\n43, Stubbs Road, Flat B-1, 5th floor, H.K.\n\n12, Douglas Apartments, 22, Old Peak Rd., H.K.\n\nDepartment of History, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\n703, Prince's Building, H.K.\n\nTwin Brook, Flat 11B, 43, Repulse Bay Rd., H.K.\n\nc/o Dept. of Chinese, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nBanque Nationale de Paris, 2nd floor, Central Building, H.K.\n\n3rd floor, 112, Macdonnell Road, H.K.\n\n66, Conduit Road, Flat 6B, H.K.\n\nDept. of Preventive & Social Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Li She Fan Building, Sassoon Road, H.K.\n\nP.O. Box 6086, Kowloon.\n\nQueen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nc/o Humphreys Estate & Finance Co., P.O. Box 44, H.K.\n\nProperty Dept., Local Property & Printing Co. Ltd., 34/6 Caxton House, 1 Duddell Street, H.K.\n\nMusic Dept., Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.\n\n18, Fenwick Street, 7th floor, H.K.\n\nc/o Italian Consulate General, Chartered Bank Building, H.K.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207339, "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": 107, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS IN 19TH CENTURY\n\n99\n\nadjacent to the European business centre, the so-called Central District (Chung Wan), or, eastwards along Queen's Road, in the district of Wan Chai.\" Once Kowloon was acquired, pong-paân were attracted to this new area of settlement because of low rents and the propinquity of the docks, wharves and godowns soon established there, which in time gave employment to numerous European overseers. At the end of the century, Kowloon had become the principal habitat of lower class Europeans. There were terraces of houses occupied solely by them. A witness wrote:\n\nThese are generally employees in the dockyards, or clerks, or the families of engineers and mates of the small steamers that have their headquarters in Hong Kong... Hong Kong looks down on Kowloon with all the well-bred contempt of Belgravia for Brixton. And even in the despised suburb on the mainland these social differences are not wanting. The wives of the superior dock employees are the leaders of Kowloon society; and the better half of a ship captain or marine engineer is only admitted on sufferance to their exclusive circle.18\n\nBut the part of Victoria most frequented, especially at night, by the European lower orders—soldiers, sailors, merchant seamen, beach-combers and others—was Tai Ping Shan, a densely populated Chinese residential area west of the Central District. In 1875 a visitor to Hong Kong wrote:\n\nPassing westward along Queen's Road, we come upon a quarter of the town much frequented by seamen of all nations. Here spirits are sold in nearly every second shop, and bands of common sailors may be seen spending their time and money on questionable drink in more questionable company, roaring out some rough sea-song in drunken chorus, or dancing to the time of a drum and flute, accordion or cornopean. The piles of Chinese houses which rise above this locality embrace Tai-Ping-Shan, or the hill of great peace. The name is a fine one, but a fine name will not hide the sins of the place. Tai-Ping-Shan is inhabited, for the most part, by Chinamen; but men are found there belonging to all the nations of the East. As for women, these are principally Chinese; they are numerous enough, but of the lowest type. There are strange hotels in this quarter,\n\n* There are a number of 19th century street maps available for early Hong Kong, held in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208612, "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": 69, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "42\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nrelease, at least of a few of his most important helpers. In the meantime, Father Craig had taken up his residence with the Italian Sisters at their Canossian Convent where, in addition to their large family, there was a large number of refugees and orphans. More people were crowding into the Bishop's house as a place of comparative safety and were loath to return to their homes. Little children kept close to their mothers, and fathers walked around distractedly, not knowing what to do or to expect. All heard Mass every morning, which was celebrated in the Bishop's house after daylight, as we were not allowed to have any lights showing. We said Mass as early as we could, but very often during one's Mass planes were roaring overhead, bombs dropped, shells screeching and anti-aircraft batteries popping all around, so that Father Downs confessed that more than once his knees were pretty wobbly as he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice.\n\nNaturally during these first days of the war, all sorts of rumors were abroad. Of course we knew that the Japanese had landed somewhere in the New Territories and that the British troops had engaged them in battle, as we could hear the distant boom of guns, but with what success we knew not, until reports began to come in that the Japanese were in Shamshuipo on the outskirts of Kowloon. This heightened the fears of the populace of Hong Kong, but still everyone hoped that the British troops would succeed in holding back the enemy. However, the booming of heavy guns came nearer and nearer and finally news came that the Japanese were actually in Kowloon.\n\nOn Thursday, and on the following morning, we distinctly heard machine guns rat-a-tatting away not far from the Kowloon Star Ferry landing. We later learned that Indian troops were fighting a rearguard action at this point, and from then on all communication with Kowloon ceased, the last ferry being scuttled on the Hong Kong side.\n\nAbout this time, during an air raid, a bomb struck one of the many godowns or warehouses along the Kowloon dock area, and immediately a huge volume of yellowish-green smoke rose up from the ruins. Evidently some sort of chemicals were stored there and the fire burned for several days, casting a lurid light at night on the surrounding buildings. Shortly after, also, a string of small barges was seen slowly drifting away from the Kowloon docks and out", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208613, "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": 70, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n43\n\ninto the harbor fairway. Our first thought was that the Japanese were attempting a landing on Hong Kong, especially as soon after the barges left the docks, shells began falling all around them. One or two of the barges were hit and immediately the same kind of smoke came from the burning barge. Shells kept falling all around, but few of the boats were hit or sunk and they continued drifting until they came to a standstill some hundreds of yards away from the docks, and where they remained for several days. Apparently the British were trying to destroy their own supplies lest they fall into the hands of the Japanese.\n\nFriday, bringing the news of the Japanese occupation of Kowloon, was a tense day for the citizens of Hong Kong. Many of the Kowloon residents had already moved over to Hong Kong, others were caught in Hong Kong and now could not return to their homes or families on the other side. From our vantage point in the Bishop's house we could look across the harbor and pick out familiar buildings and spots, but all along the dock area and at the Kowloon Ferry wharf there was not a sign of life, and Kowloon seemed a wholly deserted city. However, at one time, a few British shells from Hong Kong batteries spattered against the buildings near the Star Ferry, but nothing could be seen moving in that area. Later on we learned that the Japanese were setting up big mobile guns in the streets just back from the Ferry. We also learned later that when British lorries tried to move through the streets of Kowloon, Fifth Columnists often obstructed their passage, and as soon as the Japanese began to infiltrate into the city, looting began. It was also said, but we cannot vouch for the truth of the statement, that a number of British and Chinese police remained in Kowloon to attempt to maintain order, even when the Japanese had arrived. The regular troops, of course, had all crossed to Hong Kong. During all this time the daily papers were printing communications from the Governor's Office that the situation was well in hand and that there need be no anxiety for the future.\n\nThe next day, Saturday, there was a lull in fighting, and out of the silence and gloom which had settled over Kowloon a lone ferry or tug boat could be seen slowly leaving the Star Ferry Wharf and heading for Hong Kong. At its mast was a white flag, and it bore a peace mission, consisting of a few Japanese officers, who had with them as hostages, two British women. They were met at Blake Pier", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212315, "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": 257, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "234\n\nWhen it opened, in 1868, it gave the Colony a new orientation. The first vessel the Docks built was the 46-foot launch, Duncan, for their own use, which affectionately became known as Old No.1.\n\nCertainly a considerable outlay of capital and expertise was involved, and the Docks were well supported by the P&O line, which ran a service from Hong Kong to Shanghai from 1849, and by Jardine's.\n\n**From Rangoon to Shanghai there is nothing equal to that great concern (the Docks); nor along the entire Pacific Coast of North and South America is there any undertaking equipped with better facilities...** (MacMillan, 1925).\n\nThe Cosmopolitan Docks (later purchased by Hong Kong and Whampoa Docks) began at Tai Kok Tsui in 1880, and by the 1890s the main docks at Hung Hom had built up rapidly. The local community (even by 1881 the population of old British Kowloon numbered only 9,021) was among the largest industrial settlements. It worked day and night for years with queues of ships waiting to be repaired. The Hong Kong Guide 1893 records:\n\n**The Docks**\n\nare the most extensive of any in Asia. Vessels of 550 feet in length and 30 feet draft of water can be docked at Kowloon.\n\nExtra dividends were awarded to shareholders twice a year, and sons of skilled craftsmen from Hung Hom followed their fathers into the Docks. The village was never asleep as journeymen worked on shifts around the clock. It was one of the most prosperous places in the Colony.\n\nWith a population of only 260,000, at the turn of the century Hong Kong was the second largest port in the world. By then her own ships sailed the Pacific Ocean and the seas of Asia. Easterners (the Chinese) and Westerners (the expatriates were mostly Scottish) had joined forces in the Dockyard, and the Board was representative of many nations of maritime importance. A strong sense of pride and community spirit existed. During World War I, ships of more than 5,000 tons were built.\n\nButterfield and Swire started to construct their dockyard at Quarry Bay, on Hong Kong Island, in August 1902, and work was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212316, "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": 258, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "235\n\ncompleted in 1908 on a site of 53 acres. These were more impressive and more modern than the Kowloon Whampoa Docks, with larger machine shops and greater electric power. But public opinion still supported the Whampoa Docks and many people considered the new establishment to be a direct and unwarranted attack on one of Hong Kong's most esteemed institutions. Like Kowloon Docks, Taikoo Dockyard also had a built-in clientele, including Butterfield and Swire's China Navigation Company, Blue Funnel line, and other shipping connected with these two lines.\n\nQuarters and other facilities were provided for staff at Quarry Bay, and the aim was to make them into a 'big friendly family'. The 88-year-old F.K. (Uncle Pat) Pattinson recalled (in 1989):\n\n\"We were a separate 'colony' within the community. We worked, lived and breathed ships and shipping.\"\n\nThe author visited Taikoo Dockyard and had continuous contacts with its staff in the 1960s and early 1970s and endorses Pattinson's remarks.\n\nLong before the days of cross-harbour tunnels, the hammerhead crane, erected in 1937 in the docks at Hung Hom, provided a landmark as one traversed the harbour by ferry. Even though, in the early 1990s, Hong Kong has the largest container port and is one of the busiest ports in the world, and dockyards are still situated in the Territory (but moved to another site), the harbour looks empty to some old residents without that crane.\n\n—\n\nKowloon Docks at Hung Hom have been developed into vast housing estates. Today, Hong Kong United Dockyards (HUD) operate on the west side of Tsing Yi Island, and this was after the merger of Hutchison International and the old Hong Kong and Whampoa Docks. This was the combining of two of the largest commercial enterprises in the East. The Hutchison group of companies is now known as Hutchison Whampoa Limited. A decision was taken to build no more ships. Ferries and other vessels for Hong Kong's needs are now constructed elsewhere. HUD concentrates on conversions and repairs. The last vessel built was a tug, appropriately listed No.1066 on the Company building register. It is hoped a smaller, scaled-down dockyard will be viable.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214054, "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-1997", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "89\n\ncarriage roads and by the end of 1915 Pok Fu Lam, Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay were all accessible by car, to be followed by Repulse Bay in 1917, Shek O in 1923 and finally, in 1924, direct vehicle access to the Peak itself. After this date road construction on the Island was usually limited to road improvement, for instance to Kellett Road in 1928 and in the following year to Barker Road.\n\nThe timing of the development of much of the road network can be readily deduced from the names of streets named after Governors, military leaders and other prominent residents, for example on the Island Pottinger Street, Bonham Strand, and Kennedy, Hennessy, Chater, Sassoon and Stubbs Roads, and in Kowloon - Robinson (later renamed Nathan), Mody, Cameron and Ho Tung Roads, Kadoorie Avenue and Braga Circuit.\n\nIn Kowloon by 1887 a fairly comprehensive road system was in place south of Austin Road. The first 850 metres of the 30m-wide Robinson (Nathan) Road from Middle Road, some 1.1 kilometres of MacDonnell Road (later Canton Road), and Des Voeux Road (later Chatham Road) were all started. Many of the intersecting roads, for example Granville and Kimberley Roads, were already built. To the north of Austin Road the road network was concentrated in the southern Yau Ma Tei district with the 15m-wide 1.6km-long Station Road (later Shanghai Street) reaching Mong Kok Tsui. A small independent road system was already constructed in the Hung Hom area near the docks, for example Bulkeley Street and Gillies Avenue.\n\nBy the turn of the century there were some 35 kilometres of roads in Kowloon which included the first two original direct links into the newly-leased New Territories, that is those to Kowloon City and the Tong Mi area. In particular the road network in the new development at Yau Ma Tei was well under way and the Hung Hom road system had been enlarged and connected to the extension of Des Voeux (Chatham) Road. In order to relieve pressure on Victoria's densely built-up areas with their unhealthy conditions and at the same time to provide an easy access to facilitate opening up of the New Territories, the Harbour Master in 1901 proposed the construction of a cross-harbour bridge between Pottinger Street on the Island and Robinson (Nathan) Road, there being no engineering difficulty or \"any practical obstruction or even inconvenience to shipping\", the deck being 12 metres above high", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214062, "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-1997", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "In order to deliver fresh water to the public. It is interesting to note that, in order to conserve fresh water, a salt-water mains system for flushing was investigated in 1921 and again in 1927 but was not pursued at that time.\n\nAirfields\n\nThe original aerodrome was formed on a wedge of land comprising some 10 hectares (350m long by 275m wide) which had been reclaimed from the shallow waters of Kowloon Bay by a private housing development company established by Sir Kai Ho Kai and Mr Au Tak and bounded on the east and west by large open nullahs, with the first plane taking off in 1924. The reclamation then came under the control of Government in 1927 after the company failed. Government subsequently arranged for the airfield to be extended in 1929 and 1931 to some 83 hectares, partly using as a filling material hydraulic fill, obtained by dredging from the harbour, which was then covered with about a metre of decomposed granite and contained by a concrete blockwork seawall extending some 1.2 kilometres. The three open nullahs crossing the airport field were all covered by 1930, the concrete slab decks being propped by central piers.\n\nA short 457m-long tarmac runway, primarily for civilian use on an east-south-east/west-north-west alignment, together with hardstandings, jetty, control building, offices and a new piled civil hangar near the south-western extremity of the airport were completed in the later thirties which enabled Kai Tak to become viable, not only for flying club and military purposes, but more importantly for scheduled commercial operations which began in 1936 at a time when mail took precedence to passengers. One significant improvement noted at that time was the provision of a concrete slipway for seaplanes to replace the old tedious method of lifting them ashore with a steam-operated crane.\n\nReports that three Royal Air Force squadrons were being sent out to reinforce Hong Kong's defences shortly before the Pacific war prompted planning of a second airport, at a site near Pat Heung (Shek Kong). In 1938 the ground was levelled and grassed over but the scheme was abandoned in early 1940 with the realisation that it would be within range of Japanese artillery following their invasion of Guangdong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214665, "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": 80, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "44\n\nThe lychees at Po Kong are really abundant.\n\nOf these verses, the reference in line 169 is to a temple near Ma Thu Wai. The reference in lines 170-172 is probably to the ejection of the Ch'ing officials from the Kowloon Walled City. In line 174 the reference may be to the prostitutes' quarter in the Market. The \"hospital\" in line 175 is the Lok Sin Tong.\n\nFor three villages - Po Kong, Sha Tei Yuen, and Yuen Ling - the poet singles out the orchards and vegetable fields he saw there as particularly significant and worth comment, and at Ngau Chi Wan it was \"herding\" - presumably of meat animals for the market - which he noted as interesting and special. The vast majority of villages visited by Hui Wing-hing were rice-subsistence villages, with almost every inch of arable land used for rice, and the Kowloon villages clearly looked very different. While Hui Wing-hing's attention at Nga Tsin Wai was taken up by the British takeover of the New Territories, there can be no doubt that Nga Tsin Wai, too, was to a large degree a market-gardening area in his time.\n\nAlmost all the coastal villages in the New Territories area had sampans, and added inshore fishing to their subsistence. It is a measure of Nga Tsin Wai's general prosperity that the Nga Tsin Wai village elders believe that their ancestors did not do this: the village had no sampans, and bought its fish - probably mostly from the coolies carrying fish from Tolo Harbour past the village to Kowloon Market. The Nga Tsin Wai villagers did, however, dig clams from the mud flats offshore, together with the villagers of all the other villages in the Kowloon Bay area. They also reared carp in the village moat, and possibly in other fishponds, for sale in the Market.\n\nNga Tsin Wai was never a poor village, but it prospered noticeably during the later nineteenth century. 1902, the date of the Block Crown lease must have been about the most prosperous period of this village community. The village fields were fast being converted to market gardens as the village faced their sellers' market in the growing City. The village had developed good contacts with shipping companies, so that many of the men were able to get good jobs as seamen. Many villagers were also getting good jobs in the Whampoa Docks, where, again, the village developed good contacts in this period. As the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214674, "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": 89, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "53\n\n1902 the Nga Tsin Wai market gardeners were in a sellers' market, this was emphatically not so twenty years later. Finally, the sudden stopping of traffic over the passes lost to Nga Tsin Wai the business opportunities the village had previously enjoyed with the passing trade: from being an important cross-roads, Nga Tsin Wai very suddenly found itself a back-water.\n\nAccording to today's village elders, these economic reverses hit Nga Tsin Wai hard, but not disastrously hard. The contacts with the shipping companies and the Whampoa Docks remained, and more of the village youths now found work there. The village also established excellent contacts with the Royal Air Force at Kai Tak, and enjoyed something close to a monopoly in providing servants and general labourers for the small garrison there. Many of today's elders at Nga Tsin Wai worked at R.A.F. Kai Tak as boys in the 1930s. The relations of these village boys with the soldiers and airmen at Kai Tak were generally good. The airmen tended to treat the boys a little roughly, but without real unpleasantness.\n\nOne elder told me how, when he was working there as a boy of twelve, a group of airmen offered him a cigarette: when he said he didn't smoke, they said that that wasn't on - if he didn't smoke with them, he would be \"tied hand and foot and thrown into the sea\". So he took a cigarette, and another, and yet another, until he was, to the delight of the airmen, violently sick. Thereafter, the airmen gave him cigarettes every day, and insisted he joined them for a cigarette and a beer after work - he still today cannot rest unless he has a cigarette before he goes to bed. He says that he eventually became very good friends with these airmen.\n\nEven the market gardens at Nga Tsin Wai still provided income, albeit not as easily as before. The produce now had to be carried on shoulder poles and sold in Yaumatei, which is where the market was - a heavy job for the women who had to do it.\n\nIn the long run, an even greater threat to village life was development. Prince Edward Road and Argyle Street were completed as far as Kowloon City by 1924 (Boundary Street was completed a little later), and the land on either side of these new roads was cleared and sold off for development shortly thereafter. By 1930 Ma Tau Wai, Hau Pui Long, Ma Tau Kok, and Yi Wong Tin villages had disappeared forever, replaced by new suburban housing. Redevelopment of Kowloon", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214760, "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": 175, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "139\n\nappear heading our way. There's no time to do anything except to man our defence posts. The bombers pass overhead but the fighters swoop down on us and pour a concentrated fire into our planes. We give them all we've got which is precious little. Some Indian troops get panicky and rush into a shelter, in their excitement they fire their Lewis gun. There is a mad rush for safety and by a miracle no one is hit. After twenty minutes of concentrated attack by the fighters the Beeste with bombs goes up in smoke and the two Walrus are left blazing and sink. Finally they make off, not unscarred we hope, and we inspect the damage. Both Walrus are gone, one Beeste is ablaze, another badly damaged, leaving one plane intact. We attempt to put out the fire praying that the bombs won't explode. The blaze is too fierce and she is completely burned with two red hot heavy bombs amongst the ruins. One aircraft left but no casualties to personnel. Eight civil machines are burnt out including the American clipper. In the afternoon, bombers come over again bombing the docks and Kowloon, one stick dropping on the aerodrome. Heavy fighting reported on the frontier, the Japs said to be using one division with another in reserve.\n\nTuesday 9th. After a quiet but sleepless night comes a hectic morn with rumour and counter rumour. Heavy bombing of docks and shipping and a big blaze is started in Kowloon. The Japs make a breakthrough on the Castle Peak Road. Chang Kai Shek's army reported to be coming up behind the Japs and we realize it is our only chance of holding the mainland with two brigades against two divisions. Oil dump at Lai Chi Kok set ablaze by bombs.\n\nWednesday tenth. News of fighting on mainland bad and we are ordered by the GOC, Major General Maltby, to evacuate to the island. We smash up all valuable equipment and burn all secret papers. All arms and ammunition to be carried with us, parties taken off by lighters proceed to Aberdeen and thence to the AIS. I left late in the afternoon on the last lighter with twenty men and all the arms and ammunition. Aerodrome strewn with all kinds of obstacles to prevent use by the enemy. Chinese loot our mess as the lighter leaves. When just off the waterfront bombers appear and our skipper takes fright, have to use force before he will proceed. Heavy shelling and bombing of Stonecutters which is bombarding the Japs advancing down Castle Peak Road. We are fired on by our coast defences after rounding Davis but we run up a Union Jack and all is well. Arrive Aberdeen and get", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]