[
    {
        "id": 214584,
        "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-1998",
        "page_number": 442,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "411\n\nTHE GOLDEN NEEDLE\n\nTHE BIOGRAPHY OF FREDERICK STEWART\n\nDE83-1389)\n\nby Gillian Bickley\n\nBOOK REVIEW\n\nGillian Bickley (1997), The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889), with a foreword by Lady Saltoun, Hong Kong: David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies.\n\nFrederick Stewart, born in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was known by his contemporaries as the “founder of Hong Kong Government education.” He was the first headmaster of the Central School, now Queen's College, which led Hong Kong English education from 1862 until 1911 when the first university in Hong Kong was established.\n\nStewart became Registrar General, then Colonial Secretary, acting as Governor of Hong Kong on several occasions. He was keenly aware of his historical context at the meeting of the two cultures of East and West, and of his role as a facilitator in the modernisation of Chinese thought. His consistent policy was to educate pupils in Western knowledge, while preserving their Chinese identity, and he insisted on equal time for Chinese and English studies. Although retiring, unassuming and modest, Stewart was highly popular among the Chinese, foreign and Portuguese communities. By the end of his life, Stewart's intimate knowledge of Hong Kong was considered unequalled among non-Chinese in Hong Kong at the time. Never married or in particularly good health, he died at the early age of 52 of double pneumonia and is buried at Happy Valley.\n\n“Unassuming and modest,” in the nicest possible way, might be a good description of the book and its author. Although the book is printed using an unusually small font, it still manages to be 308 pages long, which gives you an idea of the amount of content. As regards the author, who is an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214585,
        "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-1998",
        "page_number": 443,
        "title": "RAS-1998",
        "content_text": "412\n\nUniversity, she very handsomely acknowledges the help that she received writing the book, notably from her significant other, which is a nice touch.\n\nThe reviewer's not-uncommon experience of books written in Hong Kong by Hong Kong people, and particularly where painstaking research is required, is that a degree of laziness creeps in. Serious subjects, which require hard work to research and write about, all too often do not receive this sort of dedicated application, with the result that books are shallow and anecdotal, rather than being accurate and detailed.\n\nDr Bickley demonstrably does not fall into this group. She attests to research going back over eight years and the amount of data backs this assertion up. There is an astonishing amount of detail, even to who was with Stewart at the time of his death. There is a certain amount of editorial comment and Dr Bickley is clearly an admirer of her subject. But there is much about the subject to admire and he left a lasting legacy. The author has also gone to considerable trouble to illustrate the book with old, generally relevant photographs, and one such photograph heads each chapter, which is a little monotonous. It might have been preferable to distribute them more randomly throughout the work and put a caption under each one. Nevertheless, in Lady Saltoun's words, \"Dr Bickley's life of Frederick Stewart is beautifully written, eminently readable, and at times moving.\" The reviewer heartily agrees. The work is a valuable contribution to the post-colonial history of Hong Kong.\n\nObtaining particular books about Hong Kong can be difficult. The Golden Needle is available by mail-order from the UK at £13.50 plus postage and packing from Mrs Jean Shirer, c/o Aberdeen and NE Scotland Family History Society, 164, King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5BD or from Hong Kong (for delivery outside Hong Kong) at HK$168 plus postage and packing from The David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, 34, Renfrew Road, Hong Kong. Bookazine bookstores in Hong Kong have good stock.\n\nPETER HALLIDAY",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794",
        "rank": 0
    }
]