[ { "id": 205854, "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": 160, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "154\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nEARLY HONG KONG LIBRARIES\n\nVol. VIII of the Society's Journal contained an introduction to Hong Kong's library history under the heading of \"Notes on Hong Kong Libraries in the Nineteenth Century\". It mentioned as foremost of the early libraries in the Colony the Victoria Library and Reading Rooms which had been privately organised in 1848. There was, however, a still earlier library—that of the Asiatic Society of China which was founded in January 1847 and later became the China Branch and, still later, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Some of the founders of the Society had belonged to a Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in Hong Kong in May 1845 and to a Philosophical Society of Hong Kong formed shortly before the Asiatic Society. Both these societies were merged in the Asiatic Society in January 1847, and the books of the Medico-Chirurgical Society were handed over to the Asiatic Society to form part of the new Society's library on the understanding that members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society be admitted as members of the Asiatic Society without ballot or entrance fee.\n\nThe Asiatic Society's library was kept from 1849 in a room at the Court House which had been granted for the use of the Society for its meetings by Sir George Bonham. When the Society ran into difficulties in 1858 it handed over its valuable library of 400 books on trust to the Morrison Education Society which had been formed in Canton in 1835 and which, from 1855, had also kept its library in the Old Court House.\n\nWhen the demand for a proper public library grew on the building of the City Hall the Morrison Education Society presented its own library and that of the Royal Asiatic Society to the City Hall Library which was visited by the Duke of Edinburgh when he opened the City Hall on 2 November, 1869,\n\nHong Kong, 1969.\n\nJ. R. JONES\n\nDEFENCE WALL AT PASS BETWEEN KOWLOON CITY AND KOWLOON TSAI\n\nThis item on one of the antiquities of Old Kowloon City is taken from a pencilled note in one of Mr. Walter Schofield's note-books, dated 15th April, 1928. It is clearly a contemporary description. The note is reproduced", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206934, "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": 5, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPage\n\nPRESIDENT'S Report for 1974 · 1\n\nHON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1974 · 8\n\nTHE LIBRARY, 1974 · 10\n\nTRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH: · 12\n\nThe Paper Chase-Archives and the Public Records Office of Hong Kong (A lecture given on 7th January, 1974) - A. I. DIAMOND · 28\n\nAdventurers in Hong Kong: the Marquis de Morès and David de Mayréna (A lecture given on 29th March, 1974) - HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE · 58\n\nDogs and Horses in Ancient China (A lecture given on 27th May, 1974) CAROLE MORGAN · -\n\nARTICLES: · -\n\nThe Craft of God Carving in Singapore- KEITH G. STEVENS · -\n\n\"Oh for the Joys of England\": Lt. Orlando Bridgeman's Letters from China and Hong Kong, 1842-1843– ROBIN MCLACHLAN · -\n\nFather Ernesto Gherzi, S. J., 1886-1973—G. J. BELL · 68\n\nNotes on the Sources of De Mailla, Histoire Générale de la Chine-Richard Gregg Irwin, with Introduction by L. Carrington Goodrich · 76\n\nThe Monuments of Vientiane and Luang Prabang (Report of the RAS Tour to Laos, 23-24 January, 1974)— MICHAEL SMITHIES · 85\n\nThe Hong Kong Region: its place in Traditional Chinese Historiography and Principal Events since the Establishment of Hsin-an County in 1573....-JAMES HAYES · 108\n\nREPRINTED ARTICLES · 136\n\nPlace Names of Hong Kong and the New Territories (1958) K. M. A. BARNETT · 160\n\nLegends and Stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in (1935-38) (continued) SUNG HOK-PANG · -\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES · 188\n\nThe European Grave on Shek Kwu Chau, Hong Kong JEAN MOORE · -\n\n\"Fung Shui\" Woodlands-L. C. SHEN · 190\n\nUnusual Trees in Hong Kong: the Cassia Bark Tree- L. C. SHEN · 191\n\nTraditional Farming Techniques and their Survival in Hong Kong-P. L. SIAK · 196\n\nProgramme Notes for Visits to Places of Interest in Hong Kong and Kowloon, 1974: Kennedy Town, Old Wanchai, Old Western District, the Diocesan Boy's School and La Salle College, and Ceramic Factory and Sam Tung Uk, N.T. JAMES HAYES, CARL SMITH, HELGA WERLE et. al. · -\n\nBOOK REVIEWS · 235\n\nLIST OF MEMBERS · 245", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207195, "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": 266, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "260\n\nLIST OF MEMBERS\n\nORDINARY MEMBERS:\n\nO'HARA, Randolph\n\nO'H WARD, Dr. & Mrs. F. A.\n\nOTTWAY, Mrs. Joy\n\nOXLEY, C. W. B.\n\nPARKIN, Mrs. Elise\n\nPARRINGTON, Miss June\n\nPAUL, Mr. & Mrs. Anthony M.\n\nPAYNTER, J. L.\n\nPERESYPKIN, Oleg P.\n\nPICKFORD, J. B.\n\nPORDES, F.\n\nPOW, Hugh J.\n\nPRESCOTT, Jon. A.\n\nPRYOR, Dr. E. G.\n\nc/o The City Hall Library, Edinburgh Place, H.K.\n\nFlat 58, 140, Pokfulam Road, H.K.\n\n216, Windsor House, H.K.\n\nDistrict Office, Sai Kung, Sai Po Kong Government Offices, 692, Prince Edward Road, Kowloon.\n\n12, Peak Mansions, H.K.\n\nArts Faculty Office, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\n9, Jade House, 47C, Stubbs Road, H.K.\n\nCanadian Trade Commission, P.O. Box 126, H.K.\n\nP.O. Box 1382, H.K.\n\nE/M Dept., Public Works Department, Caroline Hill, H.K.\n\n209, Gloucester Building, H.K.\n\nSchool of Physiotherapy, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon.\n\n67B, Perkins Road, Jardine's Lookout, H.K.\n\nColony Planning Division, Crown Lands & Survey Office, Murray Building, H.K.\n\nHistory Department, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nQUESTED, Mrs. R. K. I.\n\nREYNOLDS, W. A.\n\n19, Middleton Towers, 140, Pokfulam Rd., H.K.\n\nRICKETT, Mr. & Mrs. E. A.\n\n35A Shouson Hill Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K.\n\nRIFKIN, Miss S. B.\n\nRITCHIE, D. J.\n\nROBERTSON, Mrs. A. G.\n\nROBERTSON, Mrs. W. G.\n\nROGERS, R.\n\nROPER, C. W.\n\nROSE, Miss Patricia\n\nRUDANT, Jacques\n\nSALMON, Mrs. P. A.\n\nAmerican Consulate General, 26, Garden Road. H.K.\n\nFlat A-4, 45, Repulse Bay Road, H.K.\n\n5A, Hatton House, 15, Kotewall Road, H.K.\n\nPark Mansions, 4 Mile Taipo Road, Taipo.\n\n1st floor, Kowloon.\n\nThe Chartered Bank, 10, Granville Road, Kowloon.\n\nPolice Headquarters, Arsenal Street, H.K.\n\nc/o Diocesan Girls' School, 1, Jordan Rd., Kowloon,\n\nFrench Trade Commission, 1505-7 Hang Seng Bank Bldg., 77 Des Voeux Rd., C., H.K.\n\n40, Plantation Road, The Peak, H.K.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208169, "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-1977", "page_number": 208, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "192\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nContinuously to the present, since elders in both communities were boys and reportedly before, worship of these heroes has been carried out twice a year, at the times of the first and second padi harvests (described as 春分*). It even continued throughout the Japanese Occupation, a hard time when traditional practices were sometimes dispensed with and not taken up again. Such practices, whilst tending to keep each community together, also had the effect of perpetuating a rift; and the existence of such shrines did nothing to reduce the endemic bickering that characterized much of local society at that time.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 Sessional Papers 1928 (see the District Officer North's report which follows at Part C to the Notes for this Visit).\n\n2 See Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong Government Printer, n.d. but circa 1960): 148-152.\n\n3 Copies of genealogies of the Cheng (#) Tang (*) and some other local lineages have been recently deposited in the Chinese Library, University of Hong Kong.\n\n4 They also went to Tai Po Market and to North West Kowloon.\n\n5 YEUNG Kwok-shui (#) of Yeung Uk, a small single lineage settled since the Ch'ien Lung period.\n\n6 Local place name of the district city of Hsin-an.\n\n7 Gazetteer: 154.\n\n* Gazetteer: 150. Lo Wai is claimed to be the oldest of the Tsuen Wan villages.\n\n9 See e.g. G. N. Orme's Report on the New Territory 1899-1912 in the Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1912: paras 58-60; and the file CSD1903 Ext/17, minutes of 6 April and 5 May 1905 in Public Records Office of Hong Kong.\n\n10 Gazetteer: 150-151.\n\n11 GR.\n\n12 Shek Lei Pui (†) was the name of a village moved to Sha Tin in the 1920s to make way for an extension to the Kowloon Reservoir. See H.K. Government's Administrative Reports 1924, page Q146, para. 4.\n\n13 Gazetteer: 151.\n\n14 The Tin Hau Temple inscription says a wooden tablet, worshipped for 70 years.\n\n15 of Sam Tung Uk, Chairman of the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee and Chairman of the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, died 15th October, 1956: para. 119 of District Commissioner, New Territories' Annual Departmental Report 1956-57.\n\n16 From the names listed it seems likely that, as stated by informants, friends and relatives of the Shing Mun people from the Pat Heung (Gazetteer: 170) aided them in the war against Tsuen Wan.\n\n17 According to the Tsuen Wan tablet, the fighting took place with sharp weapons. (i).\n\n18 This name was a purely Shing Mun description and does not appear in Gazetteer which only refers to the other Pat Heung to the north.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210042, "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": 13, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "photographs with accompanying text will follow Hong Kong Going and Gone, published in 1980.\n\nSome Problems\n\nA number of problems have beset us during the year. First, the important matter of where we can hold our talks. After the GIS theatre was closed to all outside groups, we used the American Library premises in United Centre for a time. Well provided, and conveniently located for the subway, bus and taxi services, it was a disappointment to learn that the Library's own activities precluded its further use. We then turned to the Museum of History in Kowloon Park, whose excellent facilities partly outweigh the inconvenience for members accustomed to our long-standing practice of using the Hong Kong side of the harbour. We are very grateful to the Curator and his staff for their assistance.\n\nSecond, we had to decide what to do with our Library after the Hong Kong Arts Centre advised constituent members (of which we are, or were, one) that it would be revising the basis of their participation in the organization. Thereby, it was clear that we would have to withdraw, and so lose the library accommodation. Our library, despite its size and content, has been little used over the years, and in the circumstances the Council authorized an enquiry via the Hong Kong Library Association for an appropriate home. In the event, the most suitable expression of interest came from the Urban Council Library Services. The Chief Librarian has now been authorized by the Urban Council to accept our library on long loan, under certain conditions, which include retaining its identity and making it available for reference and research in what will be Hong Kong's largest public library, the new Kowloon Central Library due to open in July 1985.\n\nThird, we have been faced with a falling membership and a diminished return from sale of publications. The phenomena are directly connected, as I shall show below. Fourth, in the longer term we have to consider very carefully the future of the Society in today's changing Hong Kong. I shall deal with both these considerations in the concluding sections of this address.\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210405, "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-1985", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "we would have to withdraw and thereby lose our library space. After enquiry through the Hong Kong Library Association, the Council decided to accept an offer from the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Public Libraries, to house our collection in the New Kowloon Central Library on long loan and under certain conditions which included retaining its identity and making it available for public reference.\n\nThe removal proceeded smoothly, and our collection is now on the shelves of the reference section of the Kowloon Central Library. Books are still available for loans to members on production of an updated membership card (now being issued) and, for reference only, to members of the public. A number of Council members attended the opening on 9th September 1985 by Lady Youde. Thanks are due to our Hon. Librarian Mr. Peter Yeung for the considerable work involved in the transfer.\n\nIn the course of making the transfer arrangements and viewing our library in its new home, it became obvious to us how much loving care and effort had been put into its management by our former Hon. Librarian, Mr. Tony Rydings. He deserves our renewed appreciation for this major contribution to the work of our Society.\n\nAdministration\n\nAs stated last year, we have found it necessary to provide more administrative support for the Council. The trend for councillors, and particularly the office bearers, to be increasingly burdened in their own career posts has continued. Following the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future and the increased commitments arising therefrom, it has become essential to have an efficient back-up system and the services of a competent executive assistant secretary. Without them, as I said last year, hopes for increased membership, improved sales of publications and general progress were clearly illusory; in fact, would not materialize. I am glad to say that, in the past year, we have made progress in this important area. A word processor and ancillary equipment have been purchased and an increased salary provided for our assistant secretary with our Hon.\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210412, "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-1985", "page_number": 19, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1985-1986\n\nThe collection of the Royal Asiatic Society Library comprising 1,551 volumes of books and bound periodicals, 58 pamphlets, 5 photo-albums, 1 roll of microfilm and 1 reel of tape-recording was transferred from the Arts Centre and the University of Hong Kong Library to the Urban Council Kowloon Central Library. The library materials are on permanent loan to the Urban Council Public Libraries and kept in the closed stack of the Kowloon Central Reference Library for home borrowing by members of the Royal Asiatic Society and for public use in the Library after its opening on 9th September 1985. A card catalogue is provided for the ease of the use of the collection.\n\nA small number of new books and periodicals have been added to the collection by exchanges and donations. Twenty-eight monographs and some issues of T'ien Hsia (FF) were purchased during the reporting year.\n\nMarch 1986\n\nxviii\n\nPETER YEUNG Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210662, "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-1986", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "Publication Stock\n\nHitherto the Society's stock of publications was kept at the University of Hong Kong and latterly at Bethanie, in a section occupied by the University Press. However, in May 1986 we were asked to remove the stock to make way for a rearrangement of the University's accommodation in the building. The impending crisis was averted by the Law Librarian Mrs. Felicity Shaw's kindness in allowing us to hold stock in the basement pending finding another home. This was achieved in July when the Government Archivist, our council member Dr. Thomas Lau, agreed to hold our stock in the Public Records Office. I am most grateful to Felicity (an RAS member) and Thomas for their timely assistance.\n\nThe Library\n\nAs members will recall, in 1985 the Council decided to place our large and valuable collection of books and periodicals on China and the Far East on permanent loan with the Urban Council Libraries, to be housed in the new Kowloon Central Library at Homantin, Kowloon. Wherever one places the collection it is necessary to advertise its existence, in order to ensure that it will be used. The Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, takes various measures to this end periodically. On our part, we have written to some twenty local tertiary educational institutions whose students would wish to know of our library and its contents, enclosing copies of the library catalogue. This publicity, repeated at intervals, is bound to pay off eventually. In the past year, the Chief Librarian reports 18 enquiries, and that 37 books were consulted.\n\nSir Edward Youde\n\nThe Governors of Hong Kong have always been closely associated with our Society; as Patrons of the Hong Kong Branch re-established in 1959-60, and as Presidents of the first China (Hong Kong) Branch in 1847. Our first President was Sir John Davis, scholar, sinologue and a founder member of the parent society in London in 1823. In this connection I have to remind members of the sad event that occurred last December when we lost our current Patron, Sir Edward Youde, who died suddenly whilst on duty.\n\nPage xii\n\n¡", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210666, "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-1986", "page_number": 17, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nFOR THE YEAR 1986-1987\n\nThe Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Besides gifts from Dr. Hayes, the Library has received gifts from Mr. David Liu, Mrs. Valerie Garrett, and Mrs. M.L. Winkler. Mr. Walter Greenwood has also donated to the Library his article in manuscript entitled \"John Joseph Francis, citizen of Hong Kong: a biographical note\". The Council is considering including it in the next issue of our Journal. Nearly all the books in the last two years have been catalogued and shelved in the Kowloon Central Library. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian on request.\n\nThe Library has donated two items of its duplicates to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library, and made an offer of permanent loan of McMullen Bills of Lading to the University of Hong Kong Libraries.\n\nRegarding the usage of the Society Library, Mrs. Barbara Luk, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council Public Libraries wrote: \"As at 28.2.87, there were 18 requests for information, 17 of which were from members of the Society. A total of 37 books were consulted during the year.\" To maximize the use of the Library, Dr. Hayes has sent the Catalogue of the Library to about twenty librarians, with his covering letter giving a brief description of the Library. The Kowloon Central Library is planning to have an exhibition of books from our Collection in the coming September to make the general public more aware of the Library.\n\nThe Council is looking into the question of insurance for books in the Society Library.\n\nMarch 1987\n\nxvi\n\nPeter Yeung\n\nHon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210963, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "# HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nThe Society Library has acquired in total 102 valuable titles through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Among them, 84 titles were donated by Dr. Hayes and 18 titles were purchased for the Library. Dr. Hayes has also kindly lent his set of Hong Kong Naturalist to the Library for photocopying to complete our gaps.\n\nAn exhibition entitled Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was jointly presented by the Society and the Urban Council Public Libraries in the Kowloon Central Library in the period between 18 November and 1 December 1987. Two talks on the history of the Society and the Collection were delivered by Dr. J. Hayes and Mr. P. Yeung respectively.\n\nStatistics show that there is an increase of the usage of the Library. As at 29 February 1988, there were 44 requests (compared with 17 last year) for information. A total of 100 volumes (37 last year) of books were consulted. Seventeen volumes of books were lent out for home use by Society members.\n\nMarch 1988\n\nXV\n\nPeter Yeung\n\nHon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211295, "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-1988", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "left vacant on a popular visit.\n\nVenues\n\nWith a predominantly Hong Kong Island based membership, some of you have rightly said that it would be more convenient to have our lecture meetings in Hong Kong rather than in Kowloon. We have borne this point in mind, and through Dr. Patrick Hase, and by making joint presentations with the Urban Council, have been able to use the Extension Activities room on the 2nd Floor of the City Hall High Block for 7 of our talks this year. We are grateful to the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, for use of this amenity with its excellent location and facilities, and courteous and helpful staff, and look forward to continued programmes there. At the same time, we express our thanks and appreciation to the Chief Curator, Hong Kong Museum of History, for the continuing use of his well-equipped lecture hall in Kowloon Park from time to time. Without permanent premises of our own, we are doubly grateful. This closer connection with the Urban Council's Museum and Public Library Service has, I feel, been mutually beneficial.\n\nPublications\n\nThe Journal is our main publication. It has been running behind, and I am glad to report the completion and issue of two numbers during the year, those for 1984 and 1986. The 1987 Journal is with the press. I wish to thank Dr. Patrick Hase and Dr. David Faure for editing them, and Dr. Faure again for his work on the 1987 number.\n\nLooking through these and past issues, one becomes strongly aware of the Journal's permanent contribution to Hong Kong Studies. It's almost as if anyone interested in the subject can't afford to be without a set! And indeed we have sold nearly 30 sets in the past year. With more attention being paid to Hong Kong Studies — especially in China, where I hear there are some 20-30 centres established for this purpose — the value of the material stored in the Journal has become apparent to many. No other academic publication has for so long concentrated on Hong Kong, and our contributors have surely aided its readers towards a better understanding of the place. To give but one example, Hong Kong's commercial development and interaction with China come vividly to life!", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211296, "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-1988", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "in Rev. Carl Smith's articles reprinted in the 1986 Journal. His accounts of 19th century Cantonese entrepreneurs like Ho A-mei show that Chinese energy and enterprise was fuelled and sustained by the opportunities opened by colonial Hong Kong, and remind us that what we see and marvel at today has also happened yesterday.\n\nWe have another publication nearing completion. This is the book entitled The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today which is a collection of papers by authors with first-hand knowledge of the subject and edited by one of our members, Professor Julian Pas of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.\n\nLibrary\n\nMembers will have noted the greater expenditure on our library in the year's accounts. We are continuing the RAS tradition of building up a fine reference library of books on China. At a time when such books are in increasingly short supply, as reflected in booksellers' rising prices, the financial value of our collection grows from year to year.\n\nSince 1985, the Library has been kept at the Kowloon Central Library, as part of the reference collection there. The advantage of housing it in a public library is that more people can use it, but the disadvantage from our members' viewpoint is that most of them live on Hong Kong Island. Their use of the RAS Collection is undoubtedly limited thereby, especially as the Kowloon Central Library is not located on or near an MTR station. I have therefore discussed with the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, the possibility of moving it back to the Island when an opportunity occurs. Mrs. Luk tells me that this can be done when the City Hall's Hong Kong Central Library is replaced on the same or another site in the 1990s, and that she is willing to do so at that time. I have written to her subsequently to formalize this request.\n\nAn allied problem is the availability of the collection. Under normal library policies, access to the stacks (the shelves where the books are kept) is very limited. This is the case at Kowloon Central Library, where books other than ours are kept in the same section. On the other hand, the books are ours, and our members should have better access to them, instead of being confined to the catalogue and making a requisition. Mrs.\n\nXi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211308, "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-1988", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY\n\nREPORT FOR THE YEAR 1988-89\n\nAs usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 138 titles in 144 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. It is noted that there is a gradual increase in the number of books in oriental languages. Dr. J. Hayes is still the most generous donor to the Library. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can contribute more to the building up of our collection. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request.\n\nFrom the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.4.88 to 21.2.89 is noted as follows:\n\n1. No. of requests for information : 76\n\n2. No. of books consulted : 115\n\n3. No. of borrowers (RAS members) : 3\n\n4. No. of books checked out (by RAS members) : 5\n\nFor the convenience of the majority of members, the Council would seek the possibility of moving the Library back to Hong Kong Island.\n\nMarch 1989\n\nPeter Yeung Hon. Librarian\n\nxxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211598, "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-1989", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "The Library's value to members of our Society, as well as to the general public, lies in the fact that the only other collections of such books in Hong Kong are held by the Universities and are not accessible to the public at large. The RAS Collection is available to Members and, for reference only, to the general public, and since 1985 has been located in the new 12 storey, custom-built Kowloon Central library, opened in that year.\n\nHowever, this location is not convenient for most RAS members, the majority of whom reside on Hong Kong Island. Also, the stacks where our books are held are not directly accessible for free consultation and browsing, because other private collections of books are held in this section of the Library.\n\nIn response to our expressions of concern, the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries has promised that our Collection will return to the Island in the early 1990s, when the present City Hall Library will be expanded or replaced. The books are then expected to be housed in a new reference library where most of them will be kept on open shelves.\n\nIn this joyful expectation, the Council continues to expand the Collection, and has earmarked $10,000 for expenditure in 1990-91.\n\nPublications\n\nAs mentioned in the opening Summary, this year has seen the publication of two items, the 1987 Journal and the book of papers on China and Hong Kong, The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today.\n\nI wish to thank the Chinese Temples Committees for a generous grant of half the publication costs from the Chinese General Charities Fund, and Oxford University Press for agreeing to publish in association with the Society and for all help rendered in the final stages of production.\n\nProfessor David Faure had to relinquish the editorship of the Journal when he left Hong Kong to take up a post at the University of Indiana. He had contributed much to the Council and the Society, not only through his impeccable scholarship and hard work, but also through his sterling personal qualities which we all grew to appreciate. Dr. Patrick Hase has taken over the half-completed 1988 Journal which we hope can be published by the Summer, and is putting material together for 1989. We\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211609, "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-1989", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY\n\nREPORT FOR THE YEAR 1989-1990\n\nAs usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 215 titles in 251 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. Among 121 gift titles, 119 titles were donated by Dr. J. Hayes. Other donors were Mr. Phillip Bruce and Mrs. Eveline Caldwell. New additions will be made known to members through the RAS Journal.\n\nArrangement has been made that members may also borrow books from the City Hall Library.\n\nFrom the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.3.89 to 9.3.90 is noted as follows:\n\n1. No. of requests for information\n\n2. No. of books consulted\n\n3. No. of borrowers\n\n4. No. of books checked out\n\n: 90\n\n: 112\n\n: 14\n\n: 21\n\nMr. Wan Yiu Chuen will stand for the election for the Hon. Librarian this year. He is now working in the Special Collections, University of Hong Kong Libraries and has ample experience both in public and academic libraries.\n\n22nd March 1990\n\nxxiii\n\nPETER YEUO Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212079, "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": 21, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "# ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH\n\n# LIBRARY\n\n# REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1990/91\n\nThe stock of the Library grew considerably this year and there are 1,627 books in the collection. 131 new titles (in 148 volumes) were processed and added to our collection housed in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library. Among them, 90 titles were purchased through Dr. James Hayes from local bookstores, in Australia and Britain. Most of them are out-of-print, if not rare, items which cannot be found in local libraries. The remaining 41 titles were received as gifts. Dr. James Hayes again contributed 25 titles to the Library. Other donors included Dr. G.H. Choa, Mr. Eric Peter Ho, Dr. D.D. Waters and Mr. Ian Diamond.\n\nAs reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library in the period from March 1990 to January 1991 is as follows:\n\n| Category | Number | \n| ------------------------------- | ------ | \n| 1. No. of requests for information | 84 | \n| 2. No. of books consulted | 136 | \n| 3. No. of borrowers | 16 | \n| 4. No. of books checked out | 20 | \n\nMembers might like to know that they can also check out books from the City Hall Reference Library, though only 2 books were checked out in the same period. Following the up-grade of the City Hall Public Library into the central library in Hong Kong Island in, we hope, mid-1992, our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Library where our members would find the Library more accessible.\n\n21st February 1991\n\nY. C. WAN\n\nHon. Librarian\n\nXX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212466, "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": 20, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "# ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\n# HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY\n\n## REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1991/92\n\n97 new titles, of which 78 titles in English and 19 titles in Chinese, were added to the library collection this year bringing the total number of titles available in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library to 1,724. All of them were received as gifts and donors included Dr. James Hayes, Rev. Carl Smith, Dr. Alan Birch and Mr. Nigel Cameron. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can take a more active role in contributing to the building of our library collection. An addition list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request.\n\nAs reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of our library collection in the reporting year is as follows:\n\n \n 1. No. of requests for information\n 160\n \n \n 2. No. of books consulted\n 165\n \n \n 3. No. of borrowers\n 3\n \n \n 4. No. of books checked out\n \n \n\nI reported last year that our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Public Library following its up-grade to the central library in Hong Kong Island in mid-1992. Yet, I was later informed by the Chief Librarian that there were unexpected delays in the programme. It is highly likely that the anticipated move would not be able to take place in the near future. I will keep in touch with the Urban Council Public Libraries Office to monitor further development.\n\nMarch 1992\n\nI\n\nxix\n\nY. C. WAN Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213190, "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-1994", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "and a platform for members to publish, and in this connection may I draw your attention to Vice-President, Reverend Carl Smith's book recently \"Chinese Christmas\" which can be bought at all leading book stores, and also at the back of this room. In addition one of Hong Kong's oldest members and of this Society, Dr. Dan Waters, has published his own memories entitled unashamedly \"An Old Hand's Reflection\" - again it can be bought at all leading bookstores and at the back of this room.\n\nIn addition we have an excellent quality library with many interesting books and, not only is this steadily augmented by our past roving President, Dr. James Hayes, from Australia, but in this past year we have been given a magnificent collection of books on China and Hong Kong from Mr Archie Graham, who at the age of 91 has emigrated to New Zealand. All these books are now in a special room on the 3rd floor of the City Hall, High Block; and at this point I would like to give a sincere thanks to the Urban Services Department and their library staff in particular. In the past year not only have they moved the Society's library from the rather inaccessible Kowloon Public Library to the City Hall library in Central but they have computerised the collection and altogether made the whole collection far more accessible than it has been in the past. I really do urge you to visit this and see for yourself what is there, and of course members can borrow most of the books. For this improvement in our library facilities I must also thank our Librarian Mr. Y.C. Wan who has been very helpful in making all this possible.\n\nI said earlier that the Society makes its views known to the public: I should also add that public and Government organisations also seek the views of the Society, not only on an individual basis, but also on a collective one. I mentioned last year the assistance we gave to the Antiquities Advisory Board in helping them to grade some of Hong Kong's older buildings. At one time the Society had 20 members involved in this, but as I understand it since many of the eligible buildings have been graded then the members have declined: this project has been led by Dr. Dan Waters and we owe him and his team a vote of thanks for their hard work.\n\nOn a collective front the Society has continued to be very active in monitoring the situation over the Public Records Office. Last year I reported to you that we thought we were making some progress and the position at the moment, whilst not completely satisfactory, is considerably better than we hoped for two years ago. The Public Records Office is\n\nXI", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213362, "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-1994", "page_number": 184, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "167\n\nKong, HIIKBRAS, vol. 14 (1974) pp 12-27 and his Facilities for Research on the Public Records Office of Hong Kong, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Materials for Hong Kong Studies, (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 153-192\n\n16 In 1994, the Executive Council instructed that all records over thirty years old should be reviewed, this does not automatically mean opening the files to the public, and some materials are re-classified. Applications for use still have to go to the generating agent (department) for approval. But it is now much easier to get access to records over 30 years old.\n\n17 Peter Young, The Hung On-Lo Memorial Library, the Hong Kong Collection, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds), pp. 137-152\n\nIX The most current project is an index to CO129, the Colonial Office Original Correspondence series on Hong Kong, from 1841-1926, containing about 45,000 despatches. The index, put on CD-Rom, operates on the basis of search by keywords. The chief investigator of the project is Elizabeth Sinn who currently runs the Hong Kong History Workshop. Her major works include Power and Charity. The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989) and Growing with Hong Kong: The Bank of East Asia 1919-1994 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994).\n\n19 Peter Y L. Ng. The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih a critical examination with translation and notes. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, 1644-1842 (Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1961). The work was published many years later as New Peace County: A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong region, prepared for press and with additional materials by Hugh D.R. Baker, (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1983).\n\n20 Ng Lun Ngai-ha, Interaction of East and West: Developments of Public Education in Early Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1984).\n\n21 Other scholars include L.Y. Chiu, K.C. Chan, K.C. Fok, Ming K. Chan, Elizabeth Sinn and Steve Tsang at the HKU, David Faure and Bernard Luk at the Chinese University, John Young, Fung Pui-wing and Chung Po Yin (much later) at the Baptist University, and later Choi Chi-cheong and Liu Dik Sang at the University of Science and Technology - although not all of them are, or would agree to being labelled as, practitioners of local history.\n\n22 Patrick Hase, Research Materials for Village Studies, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Material for Hong Kong Studies (Ibid) pp. 31-46\n\n23 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngai-ha Lun Ng (comp.) Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, 3 volumes (Hong Kong Museum of History, 1986).\n\n24 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngan-ha Lun Ng, The Hong Kong Region According to Historical Inscriptions, in David Faure, James Hayes and Alan Birch (eds). From Village to City: Studies in the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 43-54", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214114, "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": 182, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "151\n\nfrom the Colonial Office, in London, for the setting up of a Botanical Garden. This garden, which still flourishes today, finally came into being in 1862.\n\nBut, skipping a hundred years to the Branch's second time around, quite a lot else has been achieved. For example, the RASHKB has built up a respectable library of books on Asia. This is on permanent loan to the Urban Council, at the City Hall, and members of the general public are welcome to refer to it. On the shelves of the RASHKB Collection one can find many old, valuable titles, such as: A Narrative of the British Embassy to China in the Years 1792, 1793 and 1794, by Aeneas Anderson (1795) (then in the service of Earl Macartney), and Narrative of a Voyage Round the World, by Captain Sir Edward Belcher RN (1843), in two volumes. Some books in the RAS Collection bear interesting chops (stamps), such as from the old Canton Reading Room and the South China Morning Post's pre-World War II Library.\n\nIn addition RASHKB Archives, including files, photographs and papers, are deposited with the Government Public Records Office (PRO). Other Branch possessions are on long-term loan to the Hong Kong University. These include the F.A. Nixon, Buddhist, Tang Dynasty Scroll and the 38 M.A. McMullen Bills of Lading, relating to shipments in China from 1825-73. Also held by the University on behalf of the RASHKB are microfilms of 1847-59 Branch procedures and the Nixon Photographs of 991 bronze Nestorian crosses.\n\nAlthough the Society is basically apolitical, and occasionally thought of as being pro-establishment, it has not been afraid to take up cudgels when it felt there was a cause. As examples a letter was sent, in May 1995, to the Hong Kong Government pressing for the retention of the spirit hall and historical and architectural artefacts when the old Nga Tsin Wai Walled Village, in East Kowloon, is demolished.\n\nAlso, because of some government intransigence at the time, a small group of RASHKB members appeared twice before a Legislative Council committee to press for a properly established Public Records Office. When a purpose-designed, reasonably accessible, PRO opened in June 1997 at Kwun Tong, many members liked to think the RAS played a part in this successful outcome.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214620, "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": 35, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1999/2000\n\nAs of 1 March 2000, the library collection had increased to 3,950 volumes. A total of 246 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mr. Solomon Bard, Mr. Rowan Callick, Dr. Edward C. Harris, Dr. Patrick Hase, Dr. James Hayes, Mrs. May Holdsworth, Mr. David Mahoney, Mr. Robert Nield, Mr. Geoffrey Roper, Dr. Dan Waters, Hong Kong Museum of History, and Hong Kong Public Records Office.\n\nFollowing the success of the book, Beyond the Metropolis: Villages in Hong Kong, the Society's new book: In the Heart of the Metropolis: Yau Ma Tei and Its People, represents another breakthrough and was successfully launched in December 1999 at the Foreign Correspondent's Club. Edited by Dr. Patrick Hase, the book consists of photographs by members of the Cathay Camera Club and portrays Yau Ma Tei as the “economic and social heart of West Kowloon, the heart of 'real' Hong Kong in recent decades.”\n\nTo promote the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch), an exhibition of over 55 photographs extracted from the archives of the Society, illustrating domestic, industrial and commercial buildings and interesting street scenes in Sheung Wan and Western District in the 1960's, was held at the foyer of the University of Hong Kong Libraries from 3-21 January 2000. These photographs were supplemented by two old maps and a few air photos from the HKU Map Library as well as some books and pamphlets from the Main Library to provide more detailed illustration in some areas. The result was very promising; there were questions and emails expressing interest in the activities of the Society. Library users were particularly enticed by the photographs since some of them or their relatives/friends were residents in the surrounding area prior to redevelopment in the mid-1970's. The book: Hong Kong Going and Gone, which was compiled from part of the photographic survey, became a high-demand item, both for research in architectural structure as well as Hong Kong studies in the 1960's. 25 copies were sold, 14 new members were recruited, and more were recorded later.\n\nInvestigation was made into the possibility of setting up an exhibition\n\nxxxiv", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215737, "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-2002", "page_number": 36, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "each case this has been followed by sending a complete set of our Journals to the institution in question. As a result of this initiative, the number of Institutional Members of the Society has increased during the year from 9 to 21. We are continuing to keep this development in the front of our minds, and more new Honorary Institutional Members are likely to be approved during this next year. We hope in particular to agree arrangements which will allow us to get sets of our Journal into libraries in Peking and Canton. We are also currently looking into ways to increase the number of University Libraries with sets of the Journal, in Europe, America, and East Asia, and I hope to be able to give a full report on this next year.\n\nWe have also agreed with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government to improve the holdings of the Journal in the Public Library Service of Hong Kong. We found when we investigated the issue, that there were eight sets of the Journal in the Public Library Service in Hong Kong, but that not even one of the sets was complete, and several were missing up to half the volumes. All the missing volumes have now been replaced at the Society's expense, and agreement with the Libraries Service reached so that every major public library now has a complete set. There are two sets in our library within the Central Library at Causeway Bay, and a third set in the public Reference Library of the Central Library, and sets in all the Regional Libraries (City Hall, Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun).\n\nThe daughter of one of our Members who died recently has returned his set of the Journals to us as a donation, together with a large number of the Hong Kong Government Annual Reports. This very welcome and generous donation has allowed us to prepare another set of Journals which will, in due course, be donated to another library in Hong Kong. We are currently looking at possible sites for this set, in the context of an investigation into the holdings of the Journal in the libraries of Hong Kong's tertiary institutions, and in other scholarly libraries here. I hope to be able to make a further report on this issue next year.\n\nStructured Membership Drive\n\nLast year I also announced an initiative to seek to encourage Membership among selected target groups, particularly students of our\n\nxxvii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215760, "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-2002", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society reviewed that all the major public libraries which include Hong Kong Central Library, libraries at City Hall, Kowloon, Shatin, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and even the RAS Collection have incomplete holdings of the Journal. Since it is important to keep the Journal up-to-date, copies of all missing volumes, including the Indexes and Seminars, were provided to all the public libraries at the Society's expense. While Hong Kong Central Library will continue to receive one free copy that comes with the Library's institutional membership, payment will be made for renewals for the Journal for the other five branches.\n\nIt has been the normal practice of the Hong Kong Public Libraries to record subject talks conducted at their venues. Prior consent is sought from the speakers to do this. For legal protection, Council Members agreed that RAS speakers will also be requested to sign the same form for RAS lectures. In order to better preserve the content, it was decided that tapes of RAS speakers will be digitized if permission is granted. The Hong Kong Central Library has kindly offered, free of charge, to digitize these tapes since they are produced by the Library. The digitized version will be stored in the Multimedia Information System, available for convenient access in the larger Public Libraries via the System. The RAS Library will also be given one audio CD for each of the tape digitized for borrowing or archival purpose.\n\nHong Kong Central Library has also sent us a list of past recordings of all the RAS lectures held at City Hall Library, 78 in total dating back to 1988. Since none of the speakers had given consent to record their talks before and it would not be feasible to seek retroactive consent, it was agreed that while these tapes will be digitized for preservation purpose, the CDs will be placed in the RAS Collection in Rare Book Room, available for use in the Library but not for loan. The audio tapes will also be stored in the Rare Book Room, serving as back-ups.\n\nAnother digitization project that will be undertaken by RAS is a collection of old RTHK radio programmes related to the history of Asia and Hong Kong. Due to limited resources, these tapes probably will not be digitized by RTHK. In order to preserve the culture and heritage of Asia, Council members expressed interest and investigations will be conducted into the feasibility of digitization and projected demand for the finished project.\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215919, "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-2002", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "152\n\nThe agency had asked him to help with its 45th anniversary publication. He agreed, and asked the agency if it possessed photos of its first resettlement blocks. He wanted them for the publication. Someone said no. Later, at the agency's office, he was researching in a back room and came across more than 20,000 negatives dating to 1962.\n\n\"These would be the most important visual record about public housing, not only in Hong Kong but the world, because public housing would not be developed on the same scale [anywhere else] as in Hong Kong,\" said Ko.\n\nWhen Ko offered to catalogue the entire collection, he met with disappointment. He ended up printing about 3,000 of the photos and labelling them, but is concerned that the rest of the 20-odd thousand others may just be discarded and lost forever.\n\n\"I was very disappointed because these would be very important in the future for researchers and their own use,” said Ko. “I think these people are very short-sighted. I don't think any other department would be much better. Even the Government Information Service has its photo library, but I was told by a staff member that a lot of [photos] have been discarded in the past 10 years, because the less they possess, the less they will need to do.\"\n\nKo moves to the edge of his chair; he seems agitated by the current situation. We are at the City University in Kowloon Tong, sitting facing each other on one of the open floors of the school. It's early on a Saturday morning, but Ko is wide-awake. No late nights for the 37-year-old, except in the dark room.\n\nmost\n\nKo says he has a collection of more than 100,000 photos he's taken but also including many contact sheets that haven't been sorted out. Among his collection are some that appear in the RAS publication on Yau Ma Tei.\n\nThe Hong Kong native has published many books, including one co-authored in English on Hong Kong battlefields, but Ko prefers to write in Chinese. His first book, more photos than text, was a history book on Hong Kong for secondary students.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216130, "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-2002", "page_number": 429, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "363\n\nIn 1957, with the generous support of Mr. R.E. Lawry (Honorary Secretary), the British Council in Gloucester Building became the home of the Society where it held its meetings and lectures to members. The Library's collection was accordingly kept in the British Council's Library. But shortage of space soon became a problem which necessitated the splitting of the collection. Mr. H.A. Ryding, the then Hong Kong University Librarian as well as the Society's Honorary Librarian, extended an offer to house some of the rarer volumes and the growing stock of exchange periodicals. This unsatisfactory division of the Library persisted after the closure of the British Council Library in 1975 when all the books were moved to the Public Records Office Library with the kind permission of the Government Archivist, while the periodicals (current and bound volumes) and pamphlets were sent to the Hong Kong University Library.\n\nIn 1977, when the Society joined the newly built Hong Kong Arts Centre as a constituent member, it was able to rent a small room for use of members and place its growing collection in the Kotewall Library within the Centre. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is a privately funded body dedicated to the promotion of culture and performing arts. Its focal position for the arts in Hong Kong together with the great efforts of the Honorary Librarian, Mr. Ryding, resulted in a spectacular increase in the use of the Library. The collection also grew rapidly through enthusiastic contributions from members. Unfortunately, in 1985, prompted by financial considerations, the Arts Centre reorganised and the Society had to move.\n\nWith the help of the Hong Kong Library Association, the Society's Library found a new home in 1985, on permanent loan to the Urban Council's Kowloon Central Library, the newest and largest addition to the Urban Council's Public Library Service at that time. The event was marked with an exhibition, in November 1987, of the Society's collection of books on China and Hong Kong with a supporting series of talks to publicise the valuable collection. A catalogue of the exhibited collection was also compiled and published for the occasion.4\n\nIn 1994, recognising the need for a central location for members to use the books effectively, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council, Mr. Michael Mak, agreed to members' petition to relocate the books to the Reference Library at the Hong Kong City Hall, when the High\n\n363", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216134, "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-2002", "page_number": 433, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "367\n\nunique collection will be able to serve a much broader scholarly audience in the pursuit of Asian studies and scholarship.\n\nNOTES\n\n1. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 1, 1961, pp.1.\n\n2. President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, 1962, pp.3.\n\n* President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 4, 1964, pp.8.\n\n* Dr. James Hayes, the then President, selected a collection of books for an exhibition jointly presented by the Urban Council Public Libraries and the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Library between 18 November and 1 December 1987. A Catalogue of Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was also compiled and printed, and was available free to the public at the exhibition.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216136, "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-2002", "page_number": 435, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "Kowloon Public Library\n\n369\n\nPage 435\n\nPage 436", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216264, "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-2003", "page_number": 23, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "from last year and the year before. The SARS outbreak was to blame for some of this, since, in the early part of last year we were a little careful about putting events into the programme. Recently, we thought we were going to have to give up our lecture venue at the City Hall for some months, and so slowed the programme down, only to find that the long-awaited renovation and refitting of the Extension Activities Room had been put off, perhaps to the autumn, perhaps indefinitely, because of financial restraints. To put this into perspective, last year we had 17 lectures (2 more than this year), 9 local visits (5 more than this year), and 3 visits to places outside Hong Kong as against 4 this year. Last year the programme thus had 29 items on it, and this year only 23. In 2001-2002 there were 24. We will endeavour to do better during this up-coming year! The Council would welcome Members suggesting items for inclusion in the programme. Members willing to lead visits are particularly urged to put themselves forward!\n\nImproved Relationships with other Branches, and Extended Availability of the Journal in Libraries around the World\n\nCouncil has continued to take action to improve relations with our sister societies around the world, and has also taken action to ensure that full sets of the Journal are to be found in more Libraries, both academic and public. I am glad to repeat what I said last year, that full sets of the Journal are now to be found in all five of the Regional Libraries of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (in the City Hall, and in the Kowloon, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan Regional Libraries), with three sets in the Causeway Bay Central Library. Sets are also available in the Public Library Service in Macau, and in Shenzhen, as well as in Shanghai. Negotiations are in hand to get sets into the library services at Canton and Peking as well.\n\nAll the tertiary academic libraries in Hong Kong also now have full sets (two sets at Hong Kong University), as do the libraries of the Museums of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. We are in process of ensuring that the other Museum libraries in Hong Kong also get sets.\n\nDuring this upcoming year, Council will continue to try to increase the number of libraries around the world which have the Journal.\n\nxxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]