[ { "id": 205134, "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": 90, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM\n\n85\n\nordination on May 6, 1936 and began what was to have been a three-year program of Theravada studies. One by one, however, they disrobed and scattered.34 In 1940 Fa-fang arrived. He had been teaching in T'ai-hsu's seminaries since the early 1920's, and soon became lecturer in Mahayana Buddhism at the University of Ceylon. In 1945 he brought over two younger Chinese monks. They too disrobed, as did one or more of the monks who had gone to Thailand ten years earlier.35\n\nThis may partly have been because their sense of monastic vocation was undermined by exposure to foreign life and ideas. Another reason was the attitude of their hosts. From the Theravada point of view the Mahayana ordination was invalid. In fact some Theravadins considered that Mahayana Buddhism was such a dangerous heresy that its destruction would be a blessing for the world.36 They saw no question of dialogue, but only of correcting error. In this atmosphere Sinhalese laymen are said to have discriminated against the Chinese and refused to accord them the same deference as they gave to the Sinhalese monks, as, for instance, always taking a lower seat and presenting them with dana. Hence the Chinese monks became disillusioned and left. All the above information comes from a Mahayana informant, whose account may be colored.37 In any case it seems likely that the Sinhalese were entirely unaware of the sensibilities that they were offending.\n\nIn China itself the attitude towards Theravada Buddhism was ambivalent. On the one hand the Chinese regarded it as too narrow. Naturally they could not approve of its rejection of Mahayana doctrine and its air of superiority. On the other hand an increasing proportion of the Chinese Buddhist intelligentsia, both monks and laymen, came to accept the thesis that Theravada was indeed closer to Buddhism in its original form than was Mahayana. Quite aside from the changes the latter had undergone in India, there were the Confucian and Taoist accretions of which they became aware as they studied the history of Chinese Buddhism in the newly established seminaries. Furthermore Theravada, as expounded by Buddhist intellectuals in Ceylon and Burma, seemed less vulnerable to the charge of \"superstition\" and more compatible with the pronouncements of science. The elite of the Theravada sangha seemed to be less involved in\n\nPage 90\n\nPage 91", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205273, "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-1967", "page_number": 35, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "28\n\nJEN YU-WEN\n\nIt is recalled that the area north of the Sacred Hill was known locally by the name of Chiao-pei-shih (Kau-pui-shek in Cantonese) (1). Chiao-pei, or more properly pei-chiao, means two pieces of wood carved in the shape of oyster shells which are used for the purpose of divination in worshipping idols. This has induced me to think that the Sacred Hill just to the south was originally named Chiao-pei-shih, for the two large rocks really looked like a pair of divining blocks.13\n\nOn 24th October, 1860, when the Peking Treaty was signed, the area south of Boundary Street in Kowloon was ceded to Great Britain, and on 19th January, 1861 was formally taken over by the Hong Kong Government. Since then the Government has taken a deep interest in, and made special efforts for, the preservation and protection of the Sung Wong Toi. In February, 1899, the Sung Wong Toi Reservation Ordinance* was enacted expressing the popular wish of the local residents to preserve this area as a public resort and to prohibit the leasing of any piece of land within it for constructing buildings or any other purpose. The Government also erected a small stone tablet at the foot of the Sacred Hill bearing the words \"Sung Wong Toi Reservation, Quarrying Absolutely Forbidden” and two lines of Chinese characters beneath. In 1915 Prof. Lai Chi-hsi (賴際熙), head of the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong, upon hearing that this area was to be sold by auction, appealed to the Government to be sure to reserve this area permanently. Mr. Li Sui-kam (李瑞金), a leading citizen of Hong Kong, lent his support and paid for the erection of an encircling stone balustrade.\n\nWhen the Japanese occupied the territory 1941-45, they levelled the Sacred Hill for the purpose of extending the Kai-tak Airport. They blasted the engraved rock which broke into three pieces. Fortunately one part retained the original inscription intact. After the Liberation in 1945 the Government held to its former desire to preserve this ancient monument. A small garden was created to the southwest of the airfield, about five hundred feet west of the original Sacred Hill across the Tam-kung Road. The section of engraved rock was trimmed into a rectangular shape and placed within the garden which was to be its permanent and suitable resting place. This, too, fulfilled the public wish. Work on the\n\n* On the initiative of Dr Ho Kai, later Sir Kai Ho Kai (1859-1914).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205872, "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": 178, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "172\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nterm “militia” to translate tuan lien (). Wakeman uses this term and, to my mind, strays further from its real meaning when he differentiates between tuan lien and \"genuine tuan lien\". I would prefer to use Siang-tseh Chiang's term \"local corps\" for all \"tuan lien”, whether \"genuine\" or not. In English this is a more accurate, because more loose-fitting, term, and it does not abuse the word \"militia” which in Britain at least has a precise meaning. Militia were auxiliary troops not on full-time service except when embodied in time of war for home or overseas service. These forces were totally under government control, and indeed were an integral part of the military forces of the English Crown and as such subject to considerable constitutional constraint. This led Cardwell, the 19th-century Army reformer, to describe the militia as \"the constitutional force of England.. a force ever dear to the people of England from constitutional antecedents\".* Thus the circumstances of the existence and mode of use of the British militia after the establishment of the Standing Army in 1660 were quite different from those obtaining in China during the Ching dynasty; which surely strengthens the case for selecting another term to describe \"local forces\" that were not financed by government and might never have had official blessing.\n\nThat the appearance of tuan lien might be deceptive is, however, certain. The Kwangtung Viceroy commented as follows on Hong Kong Governor Sir Henry Blake's theory that Chinese regular troops might have taken part in the disturbances that followed the occupation of the New Territories of Hong Kong in 1899:\n\nThe Governor of Hong Kong suspected that they were regular troops from the fact that they had guns, cannon, and uniforms. He was not aware that the villagers of Kwangtung, in their constant fights with each other, are always erecting forts, and use guns and cannon, and wear uniforms. This is a matter of common notoriety.\n\nThis quotation is borrowed from Mr. Groves' article, printed elsewhere in this number of the Journal, in which he uses Wakeman's book to put together an interesting essay on the interaction of market, lineage and militia (local forces) during the opposition to the British occupation of the New Territories in 1899.\n\nSecondly, this reviewer found the discussion of \"local schools\"\n\n* Quoted in The Spectator, 14th March, 1969, p. 331.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206346, "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-1971", "page_number": 163, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "SUNG-TYPE POTTERY FINDS IN HONG KONG\n\n147\n\nApart from general similarities in shape and style of potting, the bowls display a marked divergence in colour and quality of the glazes which range from a clear and very pale greyish green to an almost matt dark olive green. Crazing occurs with some of the glazes, usually the clear light coloured ones. Perhaps the most attractive of these glazes is one which is thick, unctuous and pale greyish green in colour and is found usually on bowls with flat unglazed bottoms and in one instance of a \"turned-down\" mouth rim of a vase. The styles of potting and decoration suggest similarities with certain wares of Chekiang.\n\nGENERAL PROBLEMS OF DATING\n\nIn connection with the dating of these pieces, it must be pointed out that none of the finds have been recovered as a result of systematic and controlled excavation, and all attempts at dating have been made by the criteria of traditional classifications or by comparison with finds reported from kiln sites in China. The accuracy of the latter method is largely determined by the standard of the reports and the correctness of the dating of the kilns by the excavators. If the judgment of the excavators of the kilns is influenced by traditional concepts and classification, which is not only possible but likely in some cases, then the value of their reports is greatly reduced as references for dating pieces found away from the place of manufacture. There is as yet very little evidence to prove conclusively that pieces regarded as \"Southern Sung\" could not have been produced in the later decades of the 13th century and, conversely, that \"Yuan\" pieces were not in production before the 14th century.\n\nThe discovery of coins with pottery finds is very much of a mixed blessing. While coins do provide an upper limit for dating they are of comparatively little use in precise dating. The extensive and continued circulation of Sung coins into later periods of Chinese history, especially in Kwangtung, is the source of much argument in the archaeology of Kwangtung in the later historical periods. To quote a notorious example, in 1955 there appeared a report14 of a \"Sung tomb\" in Canton which produced several blue-and-white jars. The strongest evidence adduced by the excavators for giving the tomb a Sung date was that all the numerous coins found in the tomb were Northern Sung. It took nearly two years and a great deal of...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206401, "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-1971", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "192\n\nREV. JAMES LEGGE\n\nI had intended to say something on the coolie traffic, though Great Britain happily is not chargeable with its enormities, as another thing which is disgraceful to the Christianity of the West, and happily has not extended to Japan;-forming another great element of difference in our relations with it and with China, and going far to account for the different way in which foreigners are regarded by the people of the two countries. I have trespassed, however, so long on your time, that I content myself with this brief reference to it.\n\nAnd there is only one other subject which I shall mention. A little ago I quoted from Sir Rutherford Alcock the words of Prince Kung, asking that we should take away from China our opium and our Christian Missions. Are these two things then to be placed in the same category? It is enough to say that Missions are expressly commanded by God, and that it is not in the province of human governments to interfere with them. If there be abuses indeed in the conduct of any religious missions in China, let them be proved, punished, and forbidden. The one thing that in the circle of my experience has been a great blessing to China has been the missionary enterprise. Our Protestant missions may not have come anywhere in it with much observation, but in the little more than five and twenty years that they have been at work, they have made constant progress, and have on the whole been greatly successful. There is much misconception on this subject,—misconception in some to be pitied, in some to be blamed. I would gladly say more upon it, and I think I could prove more than what I have affirmed to the satisfaction of you all. But I must have done; I could not, having been for the best part of my life a missionary, have satisfied my conscience if I had not said thus much on this occasion.\n\nWell; what is to be the future of Hongkong? \"Things are on the turn,\" one and another have said to me, \"and we shall soon be having as good times as in the best days of Sir Hercules Robinson.\" Not so soon, say I, unless we have war again, which may God forbid! The first thing must be to get back and foster the junk trade. Then when I try to pierce into the future, I see a railway from Kowloong to Canton. I see a trunk line from Han-k'ow to Canton, and branch lines connecting with it from the great provinces of the west, and from Cheh-këang and Fuh-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206519, "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-1972", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "SIR JAMES HALDANE STEWART LOCKHART\n\n61\n\nCouncil to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of the Chief Justice from that body; and in 1891 he was made a member of the Executive Council. In that year he was also appointed chairman of the Board of Examiners in Chinese and chairman of the Governing Body of Queens' College,17 the oldest Government Anglo-Chinese secondary school in the Colony. In 1895 he was appointed Colonial Secretary in conjunction with his office of Registrar General, 'the first time in the history of the Colony that such a combination had ever taken place and which it was believed was effected for purposes of economy.' At the same time he became Rector of the College of Medicine for Chinese, from which Sun Yat-sen had graduated in 1892. Lockhart in 1895 was, then, the most important official, apart from the Governor, in the Colony and in charge, through his joint appointment, of both Chinese and European affairs.\n\nIn 1898 the leasing of the New Territory (as it was first called) from the Chinese Government for 99 years gave Lockhart yet further employment. The New Territory was an area of 365 square miles, consisting of a portion of the Chinese mainland lying immediately to the north of the Colony; it contained about three-fifths of the Chinese county of San-on (Hsin-an), one of the smaller administrative districts of the Kwangtung Province. In March 1898 Lockhart had proceeded to England on leave of absence but he returned hurriedly to the Colony on 2 August 1898 as Special Commissioner under instructions to inspect and report upon the territory acquired under the Convention of 9 June, 1898. Having completed his inspection he returned to England on 31 August, 1898, by The Empress of India, and submitted a detailed report on 8 October, 1898.19 Thus in less than a month Lockhart had visited the entire district to be taken over, had made assiduous enquiries, and had mapped out, as it were, the entire social and economic organisation of the area.\n\nLockhart returned from his interrupted leave on 3 February, 1899, and on 11 March was appointed to be the representative of the Government of Great Britain for the purpose of fixing the exact boundaries of the extension. By the Convention the boundaries were only indicated generally and provisions had been made for their more exact determination 'when proper surveys have been made by officials appointed by the two Governments.'20 Lockhart", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206968, "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": 39, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "ADVENTURERS IN HONG KONG\n\n33\n\nLegion of Honour for Bravery. That same year he published Souvenirs de la Cochinchine,17 an account of his life and adventures in Indo-China in the years 1863-1868. It is extremely difficult to decide what is fact and fiction in this chronicle for Mayréna had already matured into a remarkable mythologiser and phantasist—a monumental liar.\n\nLittle is known about Mayréna's life for some years after 1871, except that he set himself up as a banker in Paris, dabbled in journalism and led the existence of a boulevardier, ogling the girls at Tortoni's and the Napolitain. Then in July 1883 he was accused of swindling, a warrant for his arrest issued, and he fled to Holland. From Holland he embarked for the Dutch East Indies and arrived there penniless in September 1883. In August 1884 he was repatriated to France at the expense of the Dutch colonial administration. But only a few weeks after his return to France he was again on his way back to the East, this time as leader of a scientific expedition of exploration to Java, financed by the Baron Roger Seillière.\n\nMayréna did not proceed to Java as planned but stayed on in Saigon. The 30,000 francs, handed to him by the Baron for equipping the expedition, he spent lavishly in the cafés of Saigon, relating wild Munchausen-like tales of his previous adventures in the East. The police soon compiled an extensive dossier on this troublesome fellow, who was suspected of gunrunning, swindling, and a variety of other offences. In August 1885, the Commissioner of Police wrote of Mayréna and his brother, who had accompanied him on this last trip, that they were 'faiseurs et monteurs de sociétés à exploiter les naifs'.18\n\nMayréna made several expeditions into the interior of Indo-China in the years 1885 to 1888, but it was his last journey which concerns us here. In March 1888 he landed on the coast at Quinhon at the head of a semi-official expedition of exploration into the independent region of the Moï country. The expedition had the blessing of the Secretary-General at Saigon. On 21 April 1888 the party left Quinhon. It included a seedy adventurer from Saigon, Mercurol; a trader, Paoli; two Annamite women; a few Chinese; and a contingent of local levies and porters. Mayréna was amazingly successful in a short space of time. He signed a treaty with an important Moï chief and soon succeeded in welding together a number of disparate Moï tribes into a confederation.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207042, "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": 113, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "The Monuments of Vientiane and Luang Prabang\n\n107\n\nOn the return journey one can stop at the village on the bank opposite to Luang Prabang which contains one of the most interesting temples in the whole of Laos, Vat Chieng Men. Its doorways are among the best examples of the carving modelled with a mixture of mahogany sap and ash which hardens in the air; peacocks, perhaps a reminder of the Mon hamsa, decorate the outer arch of each door which is triple tiered and deeply recessed. The ceiling is coffered and carved, and the altar contains a fine Buddha statue. The surrounding buildings are simple kuti, or monks' dwellings, and the whole temple blends harmoniously into the jungle background of the mountain at the very wall of the temple. Not least of the attractions of this temple is the walk to get there from the river bank; one goes along a path through the village where children play, mothers chatter and sell bananas and dogs look suspicious but wag their tails. As everywhere in Laos, the scene may be unsophisticated but it is not wanting in humanity and charm.\n\nReaders of this note should not think that the tour did nothing else but visit temples. A silk-weaving village was seen, a Meo settlement, and the making of silver; the royal palace dancers performed specially for the group and the final evening included a specially-arranged baci blessing ceremony with a Lao dinner.\n\nThe principal point of the tour was to absorb something of the restful atmosphere of Luang Prabang through its not magnificent but charming temples, its unhurried way of life and its noble simplicity. Vientiane provides a more modern contrast, but remains a quiet provincial town rather than a frenzied capital of the twentieth century. Laos might have the lowest income per capita in the world and its problems may be enormous, but it is not lacking in dignity and the charm of its people is unforgettable.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207099, "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": 170, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "164 \n\nSUNG HOK-PANG \n\nOn picking up the coins it was found that one large one, bigger than the rest, had two characters on it (*) Shing Kwong. The villagers accounted for this by believing that the coins must have belonged to a man named Shing Kwong who in some time of trouble had buried them. After many years the spirit of the silver had caused it to fly away to be bestowed on some lucky man who deserved good fortune. Thus the money was collected together and handed over to the house. \n\nWhen the baby, who played such an important part in this story, was a month old, he received his first name which was Tang Naan. Later on, when he was old enough to go to school he was sent by his grandmother to a country school. It is a Chinese custom for a new pupil to ask his teacher to give him a new name \"shue meng” ✯ % (=a name for a pupil-book name) Tang Naam's teacher, who was not a Kam T'in man, and knew nothing about the story of \"Ngan t'au Laam” in Kam T’in, strangely enough gave him the name “Shing Kwong,” exactly the same as the two characters on the largest coin. When evening came and school lessons were finished, the boy went back to his house with his books and much surprised the village elders by showing them his new name written on all his books. \n\nAfter that they were quite convinced that the money was meant for him. When he grew up Tang became a merchant and because of his wealth he was able to subscribe liberally to public funds which resulted in his receiving the honour of being made Chau T'ung (#) assistant officer of Chau, which meant that he was higher than a district officer. His official name of Tang Sz Taan was recorded in the History of Sun On. He built himself a very big house called Naam Teng, the remains of which can still be seen on the south side of Kat Hing Wai. The round outside wall and the stone doorway with the three characters on it (1) Lin Hing Lei, \"Continuous Blessing Place\" are still there. \n\nTwo stories of this merchant have been handed down. One of his children married into a very prosperous family named To living at Ts'eng Chuen Wai, † near Castle Peak, and between Tang and the head of this family who was a farmer, owning several hundred acres, there existed a friendly rivalry. One day they were having a meal together in old Yuen Long market and both of them, heated with wine, contested that he was the richer. To declared", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207514, "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": 282, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "274\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nand I doubted very seriously whether any prisoners would get out of Hong Kong. Having reached this conclusion it seems strange that one just carried on. I do not recall discussing the situation as I saw it with any other person in the hospital, for it was my job to try to keep people cheerful rather than inspire feelings of gloom. I suppose the truth of the matter is that with the blessing of work to be done it became possible to shut one's mind to the dark thoughts that crowded in.\n\nIn 1944 the effects of the blockade on the Japanese began to become evident to us, though after April 1945 when the hospital reopened in Kowloon our conditions were improved and my own depression and I believe that of others lifted very considerably.\n\nThe military situation was such that in April 1945 the Japanese expeditionary force in China which had recently been reinforced numbered about one million men, though by this time neither the training of the troops nor their equipment were good and their efficiency was not high. Responsibility for the Canton area was laid upon the Japanese 23rd Army which consisted of six divisions, two independent mixed brigades, two independent infantry brigades and the defence force allocated to Hong Kong. In May 1945 the 23rd Army was reduced from six to three divisions, but its task was still to hold Liuchow Peninsula, the Hong Kong-Canton area and Swatow in order to repel an American invasion.\n\nWhatever plans may have been made or even considered, our Official History contain no suggestion that an American or British attack on Hong Kong was contemplated in 1945. Lieutenant General Wedemeyer, the American Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chang Kai-shek and commander of the American forces in China, hoped to have a force of 13 Chinese armies, each of three divisions for operations in the Hong Kong-Canton area. Wedemeyer's plan was to attack the Hong Kong-Canton area in the last quarter of 1945, and the assault on Canton was to be made on 1 November. Sixteen out of Wedemeyer's 39 divisions had American training and were fully equipped. None of the other 23 was either fully equipped or trained. At the time of the Japanese surrender 20,000 troops and civilians laid down their arms in Hong Kong. It would seem therefore that the battle for the relief of Hong Kong would have been fought between Japanese and Chinese troops. All operations of course were halted after the atom bombs were dropped.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207645, "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-1976", "page_number": 33, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "18\n\nRICHARD J. SMITH\n\nWestern attire in Japan, although never complete, undoubtedly received some of its impetus from the military. Likewise, the wearing of Western-style military caps necessitated the cutting of top-knots, which quickly became a mark of \"enlightenment\" in Japanese society generally. As early as the 1870's, the emperor began wearing a military uniform in the fashion of European royalty.39 One can hardly imagine a Chinese emperor doing the same.\n\nAnother socio-cultural effect of military modernization was the boost given to music, drama, art, literature, and even the use of the Japanese vernacular by the Sino-Japanese War. Donald Keene has brilliantly summarized the impact of the war on these areas of Japanese life, emphasizing also the change in Japanese attitudes toward China, the growth of Japanese national pride, and the altered perceptions of Westerners toward Japan as a result of the war and Japan's resounding victory.40\n\nIn economic terms, the modernizing effect of the military is more difficult to judge. Ogawa's study of conscription, for example, sees the military as a mixed blessing in nearly every sphere of economic life, including labor, productivity, and consumption.41 Yet on balance, military development seems to have benefited the economy. Even the most outspoken critics of the military and its costs, such as Ono Giichi and H. T. Oshima, concede that there were at least some economic advantages to the Meiji program of military modernization—especially in the creation of military and military-related industries, which served as model plants, and in the increased demand for products through inter-industry linkages.42 Military needs, in other words, generated a demand for modern products produced by modern means, and contributed to the growth of economies of scale. The Sino-Japanese War brought Japan numerous economic benefits and a huge indemnity (231 million taels; nearly 368 million yen), which was put to effective modernizing use, although war expenditures and the indemnity did contribute to economic problems such as business fluctuations and inflation.43\n\nFor China, much of the foregoing discussion can be stated in reverse. Although the lack of a centralized military did not appreciably impair the Ch'ing government's authority as long as \"regional\" leaders remained loyal to the throne, it did prevent China from contending effectively with foreign aggression, and eventually undermined support of the dynasty. Furthermore, the fragmentation", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208036, "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": 75, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "TWO ESSAYS ON THE CH'ING ECONOMY OF HSIN-AN\n\n59\n\nThe study of perpetual tenancy systems has long constituted an important, if overlooked, avenue of research into the diversity of economic life which characterized pre-revolutionary rural China.13 Though the institution of perpetual lease was widespread, the degree to which it dominated the agricultural sector—as well as the particular form it took—varied considerably over short distances. In a communication to the Colonial Secretary's Office in January 1904, an officer of the Land Court complained of difficulties facing administrators attempting to codify the land tenure system:\n\nChinese law does not, so far as I can ascertain, contain any mention of perpetual lease and I am informed that the custom of leasing land perpetually is local in the New Territories and does not prevail a short distance from our borders.14\n\nThe variant of perpetual tenancy found in 19th-century Hsin-An closely corresponded to the ti-ku (地骨)/ti-p'i (地皮) system found in Ch'ung-An Hsien (崇安縣) of Northern Fukien. Hsu Tien-t’ai, in his \"Study of the Tenancy Systems of Fukien” (福建租佃制之研究), groups this system with the t'ien-ku (田骨)/t'ien p'i (田皮) category of perpetual tenancy (永佃制). His description follows:\n\nConcerning t'ien k'u (lit: \"field's bones\") and t'ien p'i (lit: \"field's skin\"), or k'u t'ien (骨田) and p'i tien (皮田), this system is found in several counties throughout the province, the names changing slightly from place to place. The value of the \"bones\" belongs to the landlord, and the value of the \"skin\" belongs to the tenant; both sides can freely sell their respective rights. While the landlord (\"bones-master\") can freely sell his title, he can, in no way, affect the rights of the tenant to the \"skin-value.\" Moreover, the responsibility of paying the land-tax resides, as usual, with the landlord. When the tenant sells his title, even if disputes arise, there is no way for the landlord to interfere. Indeed, even the government finds it difficult to intervene.15\n\nOne of the earliest British accounts of perpetual lease in Hsin-An is to be found in Lockhart's \"Memorandum on Land\" appended to his Report on the New Territory at Hong Kong (1900):\n\nThe relation between landlord and tenant is often a complicated one, chiefly owing to the system of perpetual lease. Under such leases the landlords have practically renounced all rights to the\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208122, "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": 161, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "MEMORIES OF THE DISTRICT OFFICE SOUTH \n\n145\n\nand might bring anything from a complicated murder to a petty assault case: the former, with its formalities, always ticklish for an inexperienced lay magistrate. The next job was to interview people sent for by the D.O., deal with any disputes brought up by the parties or the Police, and hear any land cases fixed for that morning. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons the longer cases could be heard: failing these, there were always land deeds and registers to sign, files to deal with, or minutes to write. At the end of the day the ledger, cash books and receipts would come in for checking.\n\nIn my time most of the cases that came to my office were from the nearer islands, New Kowloon, and the Tsun Wan district. Another class of case nearly always taken there was Resumptions, which I always considered the most distasteful and unpleasant task a D.O. can be expected to perform: for though resumptions in 1917 were usually paid for at cent a square foot, and those in 1926 at 34 cents a foot, I never felt that money could in any way make up to a peasant for the loss of most or all of his land. Nearly always they wanted land in exchange, which it was rarely possible to find. I may remark here that when Mr. Ruttonjee started the brewery at Sham Tseng about 1926 he secured the land for it partly by leasing a piece of foreshore from Government and reclaiming, and partly by leasing agricultural land from the villagers who were mostly surnamed Fu (— should be a Chinese character, possibly 祖 or 夫, but as per rule 1, it is preserved as is, assuming it was (4)) for a fixed term at a yearly rent, thus giving them a regular income and a right of re-entry on their land in default of payment, which seemed to me a very fair arrangement, though the raising of foreshore levels made a terrible mess of the fields.\n\nMy first spell at the D.O. South ended in about four weeks; but in March 1923 I left the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs for good, and became 'Lord of the Isles', and not a mere substitute. This gave me the chance to carry out researches without applying for Police launches, so I expect the appointment pleased the Water Police! It was the custom for the D.O. South to hire a big launch from a Chinese firm to take him, his bailiff, and his Chinese demarcator to Cheung Chau and Tai O on alternate Wednesdays if business there demanded his presence, or there were enquiries to make, or local applications for land to consider. For this he got a large travelling allowance, I think $1200 a year, which I believe I nearly used up every year, though I don't remember asking for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208127, "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "150 \n\nW. SCHOFIELD\n\nmorning visiting Nei Kwu Chau to discuss the problem of their fifteen children. They had been taught by a private teacher in the ancestral temple: but he had left, and the Education Department were asked to find someone to replace him. They had replied that the children would have to go to Cheung Chau, thus raising in an acute form the problem common in villages all over England to-day. Few if any teachers would volunteer to teach fifteen children in so poor an island as Nei Kwu Chau in those days. The problem of providing one was then found insoluble, and as the only means of transport to Cheung Chau was by junk or sampan, I fear the rate of literacy on Nei Kwu Chau must have declined badly.\n\nAnother event which affected life in Cheung Chau in 1925-6 was the change of Governor in November 1925, during the great Communist-inspired but mainly Nationalist strike which started in June that year. Sir C. Clementi increased the D. O. South's public works vote from the absurdly small figure of $400 to $1000 or more. This made it possible to repave some of the chief streets of the village with granite blocks set in concrete, which cost about $800. He also paid a State visit to the island in the summer of 1926. Flags and decorations were put up, and practically all the proceedings were in Chinese, including a lengthy prepared speech by H.E., written out in characters by (I believe) Mr. Sung Hok Pang. He walked through the main streets, keeping up conversation with the Kaifongs, and showing that despite a long absence in British Guiana and elsewhere his Chinese scholarship had undergone no observable decline. The chief impression of the day that remained with me was the heat!\n\nWhile I was District Officer South I attended two other functions of importance, both in the Northern district. In 1925 the Government had had the imagination and sympathy to restore to the Tang clan the village gates of Kam Tin, removed in 1899 because of the clan's opposition to the original leasing of the New Territory and taken, as I heard, to Sir Henry Blake's estate in Ireland. The ceremony of reopening the restored gates took place in May, just before the big Strike began: its central point was to be the opening of the gates to admit H.E. Sir R. Stubbs. As he rose up from his seat the local band struck up, and this so startled a small pig rooting in the moat that he fled for shelter over the causeway to his sty in the village, just getting ahead of H.E. and bursting through the gates! The reward for the Government's attitude was seen in the autumn", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208201, "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": 240, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "224 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nment. Here is also a letter from an army doctor, which is as follows: Dear Sir, my regiment stayed in Pakhoi. The officers and soldiers were not accustomed to this new place, therefore most of them became sick. Fortunately, the doctor has the heart of Jesus and gave us treatment free of charge, so I have the honour to write and thank \n\nyou. \n\nSince Sept. 1938, I have been acting again as Customs Medical officer. I have also been the only doctor for the hospital and Leper Settlement about 3 miles away, and I would like to point out that without the self-sacrificing help of the hospital staff, I could never have been able to fulfil this work. We were most thankful for all the help Bishop Hall gave us through the British Relief Council, and we were also most grateful for all the help and inspiration from Deaconess Vincent, who was with us for 7 months, and are glad to welcome Miss Bradley, who is as eager and successful in the Maternity and Hospital work as Matron and interpreter, as in her pastoral work among the lepers. On March 6th, Bishop Hall paid us a visit on his way to Kunming; we were very glad to see him, and although his visit was short, it proved a great blessing both spiritually & practically. \n\nOur hearts are full of gratitude and thanks to God for the help we have received in so many ways through many people, both Chinese and foreigners. \n\nPakhoi, August 19th, 1939. Po Yan Hospital. \n\nAfter nearly 3 months of relative quietness, with only occasional alarms and machine-gun skirmishes with planes on their way or from the scene of real activity, we began to think that we were safe and quiet again. \n\nOn the 15th of July, some of the hospital's staff went down to the beach for a bathe in the late afternoon. We had not been there long, however, before the alarm signal sounded in the town. Two planes came up over the horizon very quickly, and before we could get ashore, they were flying overhead. Their real object of attack was a group of large fishing junks lying about 200 yards away, but it was unpleasantly near to us, and we were forced to take cover under the wooden frame of the diving board until the worst was over; some of the swimmers had managed to get ashore in time and took refuge in the bathing house. On the 14th of August, we had a \n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208335, "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-1978", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "ALTER IMAGES FROM HUNAN AND KIANGSI\n\n43\n\nhad had made another image of Ti Chu ( ), (the tutelary deity of the home) which he presented for consecration so that it could be efficacious and able to expel all demons and evils, protect his family and bestow the three abundances (blessing, long life and off-spring) on him, his family and all his future generations. The slip also referred in passing to the \"secrets of Lao Tzu”, “the magic of Erh Lang\" \"the five Thunder Magic\" and the \"Lei Kung\"4, as charms, witnesses or aides. The image of Ti Chu was carved and decorated as a bearded and seated elderly man, in robes and wearing a tall, decorated hat. His right hand is holding his robe edge. The original colours have faded, but faintly discernible are the red of the robe and a flash of gilt on the hat.\n\nThe second image (Plate 3), also from Wu Kang county but from a different area, is of an unidentified female, surnamed Jen (£). It was presented at the City God Temple for dedication in 1903 prior to being placed on the family altar. Her decoration, red, blue and white paint, is chipped but still quite bright. She is wearing red robes with a blue and white decorated shoulder cape, and open-winged bird headdress. The slip of paper in the back of this image says that \"worshipper Yin Chang-kung, together with his son, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, younger brother and four nephews, all of Shuang Chiang Chiao, Shan Men (about sixty kilometers north of Wu Kang), on the 16th day of the 9th moon of the 29th day of Kuang Hsü (4th November 1903) offered sacrifices to the Gods at the City God temple, reporting to them that he had had an image made of a lady surnamed Jen, and presented it to undergo consecration prior to its installation in the family shrine for the perpetual worshipping by and protection of the whole family\". Six other images in the shipment were identical or almost so, to this image, but the cavities in their backs had been emptied before they arrived in Hong Kong.\n\nThe third image (Plate 4) from Wu Kang county, again from Shan Men, was dedicated in 1871 at the City God temple. This one is identified as Duke Wei, (±), protector of the family of the person who commissioned the carving, Yin Tso-fan, and of their domestic animals and poultry. The slip of paper calling itself a \"Viscera and Stomach Document\" () relates that devotee Yin (#) together with his wife, five sons, grandson and others, on the 25th day of the 4th moon, of the 10th year of Tung Ch'ih (June", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208430, "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-1978", "page_number": 154, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "138\n\nC. MARTIN WILBUR\n\ncenters. The occurrence of this Ti-pao complicates the discussion of village government for several reasons. In the first place, when his position is firmly established he seems to infringe somewhat upon the purely democratic nature of village government, because he usurps many of the duties of the elders. Secondly, the fact that his authority is not always equally great makes it difficult to fit him into the picture of the free village, for the greater his power from above the less complete may the self-government be said to be. For the present this individual will be left out of the discussion, though it must be remembered that his existence as an underling of the Hsien government does modify theoretic village government.\n\nThe village temple is the recognized center of government in the village. Usually it has a minor religious significance, being dedicated to some beneficent deity such as the god of literature, of war, of mercy, or of rain, who is calculated to bring a particular blessing to the village. More essentially it is the social center of the village and the seat of government, a sort of town hall. This temple enjoys what amounts to a corporate existence; it has perpetual being, owns property, can buy and sell and enter into contract, and it acts through a body of officers, a council, which is regularly elected. Many typical administrative duties in the village are undertaken by the temple, through its council, for the civic good.\n\nThis council is either composed of all the heads of various families in the village, or more probably of a group elected or taken in rotation from among the heads of families. It receives no recognition from the central government, being an internal administrative body pure and simple, handling village business only. It meets whenever village business needs to be discussed or attended to. Bazin reports that minutes (Pao tan) are kept of these meetings, one set in grass characters to be passed around among the villagers, and a second, more complete in large characters to be pasted upon the door of the temple. Whether this is an usual practice, however, it is impossible to say.\n\nIII\n\nFirst among the administrative duties of the village temple is the handling of village finances. There are various sources of revenue.\n\n1 Leong and Tao; Village and Town Life in China, p. 34.\n\n2 Bazin; op. cit., I, p. 64.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208651, "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": 108, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n81\n\nThompson, member of the Hong Kong police, joins our Hakka class.\n\n16—Since the cessation of hostilities, the Japanese Army has been in control of all departments of Hong Kong civil and political life, but today it was announced that they would hand over this control to the Civil Authorities. Doctor Talbot, British doctor, gives cholera and typhoid injections to the Americans.\n\n17—Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras at St. Stephen's Hall, with popular songs and specialties. The local Civil Authorities, in inaugurating their regime, give us a movie showing industrial Japan. Canteen opens again with a limited amount of ham, jam, oatmeal, milk, and syrup.\n\n18—Ash Wednesday. Blessing of Ashes at chapel in Maryknoll Sisters' apartments and at the Club Chapel. Bishop O'Gara gave the sermon. Father Grogan, S.J., from Hong Kong, appeared in camp for a few minutes today, having come out on the Red Cross truck which brought some milk for the babies. As the Dairy Farm is still functioning on a limited scale, the Camp officials have been endeavoring to secure milk for the babies, but with little success, and only a small amount is forthcoming. Up to the present, the Japanese authorities, acting through a Chinese comprador, have been supplying us with our daily rations and are trying to find means whereby we can pay for our food. Today at a meeting on \"The Hill,\" they asked that we pay $50.00 per month for our food. They have already frozen all accounts in the banks, and though some people in Camp do have some money, the majority are without funds. If we do not pay this amount, all we get will be eight ounces of rice, one ounce of sugar, and one-twelfth of an ounce of salt!\n\n19—American police duty changed to a four-hour stretch. Only those who are not otherwise engaged in manual labor do the patrol work. Rice and soup for tiffin today.\n\n20—Canteen opens from ten to twelve in the morning and two to four in the afternoon. Those who have funds queue up, starting at eight-thirty and stand in line for hours, and when their turn comes often there is nothing worthwhile buying.\n\n21—The police stage a songfest at St. Stephen's Hall. Rainy and misty. The new Hong Kong Governor arrives in the Colony to...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208710, "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": 167, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "140 \n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS \n\nrest was the only thing they could prescribe. There was not one liver injection left. True to non-Catholic principles, some of them began to say: \"Wasn't abortion justified in such circumstances?” Several were carried out, and we felt it necessary to make a strong protest. Even Catholics began to waver when faced with the stark reality and under the influence of a spirit of defeatism. \n\nWe knew that egg yolk formed the entire body of the baby chick. Why should it not help form other baby bodies? In 1946, as many as eight mothers were receiving egg yolk at one time. Their blood-count began to improve; the doctors nodded their heads in approval. Every baby was born a perfect specimen; the one miscarriage had nothing to do with malnutrition. \n\nOne Catholic mother, who had had several miscarriages before the Camp, was blessed with a beautiful child. Two rather prejudiced Masons were dumbfounded when the Fathers offered to help their wives with the precious egg yolk; one could see hopelessness gradually give way to confidence, and both had healthy children. \n\nSo, life went on in Stanley Camp. The end came none too soon. The physical condition of everyone was at the danger point. And what a blessing one realizes freedom to be after he has been deprived of it. Yet before we left, Father Hessler and I agreed that the Camp had been for us a great grace of God (grace means “gift”). It was an experience that neither would have wished to miss, and down in their hearts all those who so generously cooperated in showing forth Christ to others felt the same. As one of the Catholic Actionists, who had previously been a careless Catholic, put it, \"One leads the fuller life only if working for a cause, and then it is not so much what one does for the cause as what the cause does for him.\" \n\nPART IV: AUGUST 1945 DECEMBER 1946 \n\nAt the termination of hostilities and the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, Fathers Meyer and Hessler were released from the Internment Camp and as quickly as possible returned to the Stanley House. Father Meyer has written a summary of what he found at the time. He said: \"There was nothing notable about the surrender. The departing Japanese kept order beautifully, and with", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208885, "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-1980", "page_number": 47, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS\n\n19\n\nGod and tutelary deity of the village) sits in a niche inside the ground floor of the tower of the gateway, watching over his parishioners. In the attic of the gateway of some of these villages, out of sight and only accessible by a rickety ladder, is an image of Gui Xing, one of the Gods of Literature, placed there for students to pray to prior to taking an examination, and for parents to pray to for the blessing of a bright child.\n\nThe majority of more recent temple structures, mostly built on hillsides during the past twenty-five years, mainly by Chaozhou immigrants and a few by Min An immigrants, have been extended room by room over a period of years and may be any shape and size, according to the possibilities of the site, and may have a dozen or so rooms for one use or other.\n\nQuite a few of the temples constructed by ethnic minorities contain very local cults brought to Hong Kong from the area in China from which the emigrants came, and the temples themselves are a focus for the ethnic or sub-ethnic groups concerned. Thus, in Hong Kong over the years, separate shrines, halls, and finally complete buildings have been built by Chaozhou, Min An and Hoklo immigrants. There are even a few built by refugees from Shanghai and the north.\n\nA unique structure in concrete, shaped and moulded to look like rock, was demolished in 1979 in Tsuen Wan to make way for a major new housing estate. The building, a squatter temple built by immigrants from Swatow, covered a large area and had three major and four minor altars. The inside of the temple was shaped to resemble a large rocky cavern with the altars shaped like small caves, fronted with glass and illuminated with neon lights. The outside walls were painted smooth concrete. The roof, however, was a phantasmagoria of small concrete figures from Chinese legend amidst miniature buildings, more caves and grottoes, all painted in vivid colours. The whole was over-shadowed by a large vividly crimson concrete structure which can only be described as a massive red pepper standing vertically on a greeny-blue base, and punctured by small holes to act as windows. Although the building looked a ghastly monstrosity to foreigners, it had a unique character and was very popular amongst the Chaozhou immigrants of Tsuen Wan and Kowloon.\n\n* It has been resited, and is in course of redevelopment, but alas not in such a picturesque form! Hon. Ed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208964, "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-1980", "page_number": 126, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "94\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nthe new fire and the Easter Candle performed in the Roman Catholic Church on the eve of Easter Sunday. After discussing these two rituals separately, I shall conclude with some comments of a comparative nature.\n\n1. The Fen-Teng Ritual in Taoism\n\nThis ritual called fen-teng in Chinese, can be literally translated as “division of lamp(s)” or the “distribution of lamps\". \"Teng\" by itself means \"lamp\", or \"lantern\", and designates not so much the light produced by the lamp or lantern, but the object which contains the light. The expression fen-teng is not often translated by Western authors: usually the term is just transliterated. But sometimes there are attempts to render the term in translation. E.g. M. Saso: \"Lighting lamps to the Three Pure Ones\", which is not strictly a translation but a meaningful although partial description of the significance of the rite. Another rendering, not of the literal sense but again of the meaning, is \"Lighting of the New Fire\"2: this translation is not based on the Chinese expression fen-teng but indicates one of the fundamental meanings of the ritual. It comes actually closer to another Chinese expression sometimes used for the same rite: chu-teng3, which literally means: 'blessing' or 'consecration of the lamp(s)'.\n\nThe fen-teng ceremony does not appear to be an independent ritual but seems always to be performed in the context of a larger celebration, called chiao or ta-chiao, which is variously translated as \"ritual of cosmic renewal\", \"the great community festivals”, “great propitiatory rites\", or \"Taoist Mass\"7. So far there is only one monograph on the fen-teng ritual in a Western language: K. M. Schipper's Le Fen-teng. Ritual Taoiste. Apart from this well presented critical text edition, there are only minor treatments of the fen-teng ceremony included in monographs on the chiao festival as a whole: M. Saso's Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal is so far the only monograph in English on the chiao, and he just briefly discusses the fen-teng ceremony. Chinese scholars have also started to pay attention to this great Taoist event: two monographs are now available in Chinese by Liu Chih-wan9. It is remarkable that for the two different occasions Mr. Liu describes the chiao festival, he does not use the terminology used by Schipper and Saso, but calls the rite chu-teng or 'blessing of the lamp(s)'. One wonders where and when this variant designation", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208969, "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-1980", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT \n\n99 \n\nbeen pointed out in other areas as well.16 Other channels of inspiration are not therefore excluded; in the structure of the Taoist ritual some essential elements can hardly be explained by pointing to an old Chinese model only. (See below).\n\nIf Chou rituals are, however, accepted to be the prototype of the Taoist fen-teng, there is still an important discrepancy between the two; if the old Chinese custom was related to the four seasons and in the Han dynasty to the spring equinox exclusively, the change brought in by the Taoists is the disconnection of the ritual from the spring equinox: as it stands now, the fen-teng can take place any time during the year, whenever the chiao festival is celebrated. Since the chiao is a grand occasion for renewal, the fen-teng or the striking and blessing of new fire, harmoniously blends together with the meaning and essence of the chiao,\n\nThere is another indication of the eclectic origin of the fen-teng ritual within the sequence of the present-day chiao festival. As was mentioned above (footnote 10) it is a regular occurrence in some temples to have the essential chiao preceded by two days of preliminary exorcism: exorcism of the water-spirit and of the fire-spirit. 'Water' and 'fire' have throughout history been extremely dangerous elements in South China; water especially has often been a threat in Taiwan, where every summer typhoons and floods have destroyed crops and property and caused the drowning of many fishermen. Fire also is a potentially destructive force: before the age of concrete building, fire was an enemy against whose rage little could be done; once a fire broke out, it would destroy a whole cluster of buildings, if not large sectors of a town or city. At the beginning of the chiao, the 'water' and 'fire' spirits are pacified by means of recitations and sacrifices, performed by the Taoist priests, and ultimately almost 'sacramentally'17 restrained from doing harm to the community in the new time period to come.\n\nIn view of this exorcistic ritual, in which 'fire' (and 'water') is seen as a threat, the fen-teng ritual, which takes 'fire' as a blessing, appears to be paradoxical and can only be explained as to derive from a different conception and origin altogether.18\n\n2. The Christian Consecration of Fire and the Easter Candle\n\nAlthough the Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church has been changed throughout the centuries to accommodate new perspectives", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208970, "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-1980", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "100 \n\nJULIAN F. PAS \n\nin the understanding of faith and ritual, its essential characteristics transcend time and remain unchanged: the re-enactment of the divine salvation work performed by its Founder, Jesus Christ, in order to let people of all times and places participate in the fruits of redemption. This central concept has been liturgically expressed in rituals that are often symbolic, and more often, sacramental. Whereas the essence of theological content is believed to be eternal, its manifestations in time can be numerous and changeable.\n\nThe liturgical year develops round the major themes of the life of Jesus: his nativity and manifestation to the world, his passion, crucifixion and resurrection and finally, his effusion of the Holy Spirit who continues the work of sanctifying grace in the Church. Although this theme is one of uniqueness when compared to the other world religions, the celebration of the resurrection, which is central in Christianity, can easily be seen as a parallel found in many other traditions. The occurrence of Easter in early spring is phenomenologically related to the spring equinox, celebrated in various ways throughout antiquity. Without denying the uniqueness of meaning inherent in the Christian liturgy, it is striking to find that a pre-existing pattern, almost like an archetype, has been adapted to the new faith of Christianity.\n\nThe consecration of new fire on Easter Eve, from which the Easter candle is lit, is a concrete example of the Church's adaptation of old rituals and customs to a new belief system. Although this particular ritual act seems to be rather simple in its structure, there are various levels of meaning that have been superimposed on it. In its primitive significance, the ritual may be a borrowing from the old Roman custom of keeping a sacred fire burning in the temple of Vesta.19 In the early times of the Christian Church, everyday before the Vesper service, a light was struck from a flint: this new light was used to light candles and lamps during the vesper service, and was kept burning until vespers of the following day:\n\nThe Church of Rome observed this custom with great solemnity on Maundy Thursday morning, and the new fire received a special blessing. We learn, from a letter written in the eighth century by Pope St. Zachary to St. Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, that three lamps were lighted from this fire, which were then removed to some safe place, and care taken that their fire was kept burning. It was from these lamps that the light for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208971, "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-1980", "page_number": 133, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT\n\n101\n\nHoly Saturday night was taken. In the following century, under St. Leo IV, whose pontificate lasted from 847 to 855, the custom of procuring new fire every day from a flint was extended also to Holy Saturday.2\n\n20\n\nIn modern times, this ceremony is no longer performed except once a year on Holy Saturday on the eve of Easter. Although the significance of the ritual has been adapted to the Christian doctrine, it remains clear that the structure of the ritual itself points to a different origin. The event takes place outside the Church proper. All the lamps in the sanctuary have been extinguished and as Abbot Guéranger mentions,21 the faithful had previously put out the fires in their own homes as well; they would relight them on their return from the church service with the new light consecrated at the Easter service.\n\nThe structure of this blessing of fire closely resembles the parallel tradition observed in ancient China: it is a renewal of fire as a life-giving force and is related to the victory of the sun after the spring equinox. Fire was kept burning in the homes both for cooking and for light-giving at night, but it was believed to grow old and weak, and needed to be renewed occasionally. In China the custom was probably observed during the day-time, since fire was taken from the sun directly; in the Roman and Christian tradition, it was struck from a flint stone in the evening.\n\nThe Christian liturgy has maintained this tradition but adapted it skilfully to the new faith: whereas the old form remained unchanged, its symbolic meaning was reinterpreted: the new light represents Christ \"Light of the World\"; the spark of light struck from the flint represents our Lord rising from the rock-hewn sepulchre, through the stone which sealed it\".22 In the present-day Roman liturgy, after the new fire has been struck from stone, charcoal is lit from it and this new fire is then blessed by the officiating priest. After the blessing, some of the consecrated coal is put into the thurible and the new fire is censed with it. After the inscription of the large Easter candle has been made by the priest, five grains of incense are inserted in five small openings, symbolizing the five wounds of Jesus inflicted at his crucifixion. Next, one of the assistants lights a small candle from the new fire and with it again lights the Easter candle. The priest consecrates the newly lit candle with this prayer:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208972, "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-1980", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "102\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nPour forth, we beseech thee, O almighty God, thy abundant blessing on this lighted candle23 and behold, O invisible regenerator, the brightness of this night: that not only the sacrifice that is offered this night may shine by the secret mixture of thy light; but also into whatever place anything of this mysterious sanctification shall be brought, there, by the power of thy majesty, all the malicious artifices of the devil may be defeated. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.24\n\nAfter this prayer the deacon, who has changed from purple to white ritual garments, receives the consecrated Easter candle. A procession is formed and proceeds toward the church, which is now in total darkness. Upon entering the church building, the deacon sings aloud: \"The light of Christ.\" to which all present respond, kneeling: \"Thanks be to God\". Then the officiating priest lights his own candle from the blessed Easter candle. A second time, in the middle of the church, the deacon sings in a higher tone: \"The Light of Christ!\", and all the clergy present light their candles. Finally arriving in front of the altar, a third intonation of \"The light of Christ!\" is followed by the lighting of the candles of all those present. The lights in the church are also switched on. The Easter candle is then placed on a standard in the middle of the choir and after the usual ritual of incensing, the deacon, standing in front of the Easter candle, intones the beautiful hymn “Exsultet”.\n\nThis whole series of ritual acts is rich in symbolism and this has been pointed out by Christian authors. For the people attending, the symbolism provides an immediate experience in which they intuitively grasp the significance and the solemnity of the Easter events. From a critical viewpoint, however, several layers of symbolism can be discovered: the inner structure of the ritual, although overlaid with later essentially Christian meanings, points toward its ancient roots in pre-Christian times: the taking of new fire as a renewal ceremony. The first adaptation, also pre-Christian, was to see in this act a symbolical victory of the powers of light and goodness over the powers of darkness and evil. The second adaptation, made by the Christian church, was to identify light with Jesus Christ, who after having been overcome by the powers of darkness, triumphs again by his resurrection. However, since the Christian tradition has been partially grafted on the rich heritage of Judaism, it is no surprise that we find in the Easter celebration several themes reminiscent of the Jewish Passover. The texts of the Christian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208974, "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-1980", "page_number": 136, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "104\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\n(1) The names fen-teng or chu-teng appear to have replaced an older name jan-teng which is found in older manuscripts, dating from the fifth century.28 The change of name to fen-teng appears in the later manuscripts (Sung dynasty) and must have a special reason: the name indicates the significance of the rite as a whole; a new name implies a new meaning perhaps not totally replacing the old one, but certainly emphasizing a new theme in the structure.\n\nSimilarly the name chu-teng points to a new perspective in meaning. It is not clear where this name came from, but ‘blessing’ or 'consecrating' fire-light appears to be an innovation in Taoist liturgy. The Christian parallel is very clear: 'blessing' of light, like so many other types of blessing, is a truly Christian ritual act; in the texts of the Easter candle the terms 'sanctify' and 'bless' occur several times.29 By contrast, no type of \"benediction\" or blessing is found in the Chou-Li. The idea and even the expression \"fen-teng\" is also found in the Christian ritual: during the Exsultet chanted by the deacon, this passage occurs:\n\nAnd now we perceive the glory of this pillar, which the sparkling fire lights for the honour of God. Which, (fire) though now divided (divisus in partes) suffers no loss from the communication of its light.30\n\nBefore the Easter liturgy was changed in recent times, this was the moment when the lights in the church (the lamps or candles in older times) were lit from the Easter candle: the very moment of fen-teng.\n\n(ii) The actual striking of new fire is amazingly similar in the Taoist and Christian liturgies: in contrast with the Chou Li where light was said to be taken directly from the sun with a mirror (and therefore presumably in bright daylight), the rituals here both take place in the hours of darkness. In M. Saso's description, \"striking a match\" produces the new fire:31 this, however, is certainly a modern adaptation, and since a mirror cannot be used at night, we may assume that the striking of rocks must have produced a new fire in older times.\n\nThe similarities go even further: the new fire is produced outside the temple or church building in both cases; also, the lights in temple and church are extinguished and are relit after the new fire has been taken inside.\n\n(iii) The Trinitarian formula. In the Christian liturgy, there are three successive moments of lighting a candle during the en-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208983, "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-1980", "page_number": 145, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT\n\n113\n\nseven days, although the chiao was called wu-ch'ao (or five days). The fen-teng ritual took place in the evening of the 2nd day of the 5-day celebration, or on the 4th day if the two preliminary days are also counted. This distinction is not sufficiently made clear by K. Schipper in his fen-teng discussion, nor by M. Saso in his chiao monograph.\n\n11 Saso, Cosmic Renewal, p. 73.\n\n12 De Groot, Fêtes Annuellement Célébrées, p. 210.\n\n13 Chou Li, Book 37: Officers in charge of keeping the fires; folio 27: \"They are in charge of receiving, with the mirror fu-su the bright light from the sun; (and) of receiving with the simple mirror, the bright water from the moon.\"\n\nAfter E. Biot, Le Tcheou-li ou Rites des Tscheou (Paris, 1851, Taiwan Ch'eng-wen reprint, 1969), vol. 2, p. 381.\n\n14 See W. Eberhard, Chinese Festivals (Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, vol. 38). (Taipei: The Orient Cultural Service, 1972), pp. 65-75.\n\n1 De Groot, Fêtes, p. 219 (My trsl.).\n\n18 To cite one example: the Taoist ritual garments, says de Groot (Fêtes, ch. 1, \"Messe Taoïque\", pp. 61-62) are often embroidered with motifs borrowed from the old imperial sacrificial garments,\n\n17 'Sacramentally' here refers to the sacramental nature of these rituals: A sacramental act is a rite in which both words and deeds not only have a symbolical meaning, but moreover are understood to actually produce the signified effect: here the active pacification-and-expulsion (or control) of the potentially dangerous spirits.\n\n18 The confusion of the various ritual acts of a chiao festival is increased by another rite of great importance in present-day renewal celebrations: the su-ch'i. Here again 'water' and 'fire' are present, but as parts of the total cycle of five agents (active powers). See M. Saso, Cosmic Renewal. pp. 75-77.\n\n10 De Groot, Fêtes, pp. 215-6.\n\n20 Abbot Guéranger, The Liturgical Year. Passiontide and Holy Week. London, 1880 and 1929), pp. 498-499.\n\n21 Ibid., p. 499.\n\n22 Ibid., p. 499.\n\n23 The Easter liturgy has in several instances been changed: the text and rubrics of the modern Roman Missal are different from the old liturgy, used in Abbot Guéranger's text. The present prayer refers in the blessing of the newly lit Easter candle, whereas in Guéranger's text as in the older liturgy it is a prayer to consecrate the incense grains.\n\n24 Ibid., p. 502. The Roman Missal, p. 180.\n\n25 Abbot Guéranger, op. cit., p. 505.\n\n26 Ibid., p. 507.\n\n27 Already J. M. M. de Groot, Fêtes (p. 217), was struck by the similarity of the Taoist and Christian ritual: \"It is beyond doubt that the ceremony of extinction and renewal of fire, which is a custom observed at the same time of the year in the Roman Catholic and Greek churches,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209146, "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-1981", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "ANOTHER LOOK AT LAND AND LINEAGE IN THE NT, 1900\n\nIII. Conditions of tenure\n\n-\n\n35\n\nThe existing literature on the New Territories and the small amount of interviewing I have been able to do so far suggest that there was considerable variation in both the form of contract and the term of tenure on the land. On individually-owned (that is, non-clan) lands there might be written leases, but the unwritten, or oral lease, was quite common (as it was in Taiwan). There was an open-endedness about the arrangements. A term of lease might not be specified, there being the understanding that the lease ran from year to year and, assuming each side kept to its terms, was understood to be renewed. How did such a lease without term and subject only to performance – become (if it did) a lease that guaranteed the right of the tenant to stay on the land? Or were such guarantees of perpetual lease, as opposed to this open-ended lease, never the outcome of years of open-ended lease but instead a product of documented arrangements from the very beginning? As far as I know, this point has never been researched. On lands owned by clan trusts it appears that in some parts of the New Territories the land was leased in turn to branches of the clan, with the understanding that the leasing branch for that year had to be responsible for managing all expenditures to which clan land-derived funds were to be applied. For the Ping Shan area, Potter reports a practice of leasing clan lands only to the poorer branches of the lineage, the richer branches simply enjoying the benefits. There was also, it seems, the practice in some times and places of letting out clan lands to the highest bidder, whether or not a clan member. This last practice apparently was common in the Pat Heung region. No doubt there were other variations besides those just mentioned. What is needed is research that will explain why a certain system was used at a given time and in a certain situation.\n\nSo far as I know, rent on rice land was always paid in grain, in a fixed amount that reflected an established ordinary yield per unit of land. A fixed rent favoured the tenant in the sense that anything he produced over the normal yield was his, unless and until he did so with such regularity that the landlord was alerted to the possibility of renegotiating the rental figure. Many tenants, however, disliked grain rent, as opposed to money rent, because they felt that they were cheated by the measuring devices used by landlords. Landlords also complained of tenant slyness in measurement, and it is clear that payment in grain was, in the New Territories as elsewhere in China, a fertile source of landlord-tenant disputes and suspicions. The early", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209147, "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-1981", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "36\n\nEDGAR WICK BERG\n\nBritish administrators, believing that the landlords wished to retain grain rent (an impression nourished by the receipt of landlord petitions to that effect) and that tenants did not, attempted to outlaw any but monetary payments of future contracts, but the practice of grain rent continued.\n\nTypically, the level of rent was an amount of grain that approximated one-half of the year's yield of rice, paid in two installments at the time of each harvest. Thus, if one tou-chung of land (Cantonese tau-chung, a common measure in the New Territories, approximating one Chinese mou) produced, say, 200 catties of grain, the rent would probably be about 100 catties. As in other parts of China, there was an understanding between most landlords and tenants that in the case of a poor harvest due to bad weather or other circumstances beyond the tenant's control, the landlord might grant a reduction. I have no information about how regularly this ideal was actually observed in the New Territories.\n\nIt would be interesting to compare tenant rent to grain price and land price, and if we can get together enough material on these subjects, it should be possible. If so, we can then make some observation on landlordism as an enterprise, on some aspects of tenant economy compared to that of an owner-farmer, and on the possibility of a tenant's buying any part of the land he rented.\n\nIn several regions of south China in late imperial time the practice of requiring a tenant to pay a cash deposit, most often called ya-tsu, was prevalent. Such a deposit, often quite large, guaranteed tenant performance of the contract; it also provided the owner with a lump sum in cash which he could invest as he wished without having to pay interest. So far as I have been able to determine, this practice did not exist in the New Territories ca. 1900. Its absence may indicate many things: harmonious landlord-tenant relations; absence of competition for land; or lack of landlord interest in, or need for (from this source, at least) interest-free cash. It may be that the prevalence of clan ownership of tenanted lands in the New Territories is the explanation, if we argue that clan leasing practices did not, or probably would not, include practices of that kind.\n\nIV. Lineage\n\nWe come now to the \"lineage\" part of this paper, in accordance with the title of my talk. I will continue to refer to the lineage as the clan, however, despite the problems in using either name—or both", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209701, "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-1982", "page_number": 358, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "336\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\n(No. 92) are equally successful in giving new perspectives on the human life of Hong Kong.\n\nAll in all, this volume is recommended to anyone wishing to own a superbly produced volume of intelligently conceived and masterfully produced photographs of Hong Kong.\n\nP. H. HASE\n\nChukoku Saiki Yengeki Kenkyu (Ritual Theatres in China). By Issei Tanaka, Institute of Oriental Culture, The University of Tokyo, 1981, xvi + 926 pp, Index.\n\nThis impressive book contains the results of the author's researches during the period of ten years since he joined the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, in 1972. Trained as a sinologist, Prof. Tanaka started his study on ritual theatre in China from a historical viewpoint. Later his research focus shifted to field studies, particularly in Hong Kong. Between 1978 to 1981 he visited Hong Kong eight times and stayed here in total for eleven months. Most of the data presented in this volume are his field reports collected during his time in Hong Kong, and these form a mine of fascinating material which will prove to be of great value to many scholars.\n\nIn addition to presenting the field reports, however, the book analyses three aspects of ritual theatre in China. One of these is the origin of ritual theatre. Based on historical data, the author traces the process of transformation of ritual theatre from ancient times to the present. Through these studies, he points out that the original form of ritual theatre was aimed at exorcising or controlling evil forces or at celebrating beneficial forces and seeking their assistance. Theatre of this kind can still be found in Hong Kong. The ritual theatre of Hoklo and Ch'ao-chou people in Hong Kong are mostly performed for exorcising, i.e., these theatrical performances are mainly aimed at freeing orphan souls and wandering spirits. Cantonese ritual theatre, on the other hand, is of the latter type, celebrating the deities' birthdays and beseeching their blessing.\n\nThe second aspect is concerned with the social organization of ritual theatre. The author classifies Chinese local theatre,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209809, "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-1983", "page_number": 68, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "46\n\n4.\n\nChing Sheung (注1) or Sheung Tin (注a) Land\n\n(a) This is land bequeathed by the original owner (i.e. ancestor) or set aside by his inheritors for the specific purpose of ancestral worship. It is usually held in the name of a clan that bears the original ancestor's name. Rent and proceeds from the land are devoted primarily to the worship of ancestors, and secondarily to the education of members of the clan, relief of poor members, marriage and funeral expenses of members etc.\n\n(b) The land cannot be alienated without the consent of the representatives and elders of the whole clan,\n\n(c) The land is normally cultivated by distribution amongst members of the clan or by lease to a member.\n\n5.\n\nLand held by Clans\n\n(a) Portions of property owned by a clan (tso£) are sometimes leased to a family within the clan. These families have often cultivated the same fields for generations, paying an annual rent to the clan accountant. Sub-letting is frowned on and generally forms grounds for cancelling the lease. Alternatively, the various families of a Tso (n) may cultivate the land for a year at a time in rotation and at a fixed annual rent.\n\n(b) Another method of leasing tso (1) property within the clan is to hold an auction where the highest bidder for the annual lease is granted the tenancy for the following year. Money derived from the bid is devoted to ancestral worship etc. as stated in 5(a) above,\n\n(c) Proper granting of leases by the trustee of the clan is not a regular feature and generally forms a large proportion of land disputes by reason of its omission.\n\n6.\n\nFamily Disputes\n\nThe first and most important step is to discover the status of the parties, i.e. are they properly married by Chinese custom or are they co-habiting under some lesser bond?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209822, "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-1983", "page_number": 81, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "59\n\n(g) The drawbacks are numerous.\n\nIt is preferable that each member should appear at each meeting if he is not to be deprived of his chances. No member can back out of the association until the full period has elapsed, since otherwise the sum won by the successful tenderer will be depleted. Most disputes arise by reason of a successful tenderer attempting to back out at an early stage, having obtained a sum of money by means which are hard to define as either larceny, false pretences or embezzlement.\n\n15. Names\n\n(a) Throughout his life, a Chinese will often use bewildering series of names or aliases, each of which usually denotes some stage in life. The practice between men and women is slightly different.\n\n(b) When a child is born, he or she is given a milk name (乳名), chosen well before the full moon feast which normally takes place when the child is a month old. This milk name is used by the child's family and relatives.\n\n(c) At the full moon feast, the parents choose a proper name for the child and then worship the gods (Goddess of Mercy Kwun Yam, Queen of Heaven Tin Hau, Kwan Tai etc.) who are informed of the name and asked to give their blessing to its holder.\n\n(d) When the child first goes to school, he or she is traditionally required to kneel before the teacher who invokes the aid of Confucius in assisting the child in studying knowledge and who gives the child a school name (學名). This school name is used by pupils and teacher in school but at home does not normally displace the milk name which the family will continue to use.\n\n(e) On marriage, a man will give up his milk name and will be given an adult name (表字) by his fellow clansmen. Usually the second name will be that of the second name of the clan, e.g. TANG Ping Cheung (炳祥) after the TANG Ping Hak Tso (鄧炳克祖).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209935, "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-1983", "page_number": 194, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "VARIATION TECHNIQUE IN THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF THE MUSIC OF TAOIST JIAO-SHI IN HONG KONG\n\nPEN-YEH Tsao\n\nCHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG\n\nTaoism is one of the major indigenous religio-philosophical traditions that have played an important role in the life of Chinese people for more than two thousand years. Organized Taoist religious communities have had at least eighteen hundred years of history since the second century A.D. Among its various sects, the more representative and wide-spread are the Zheng-yi 正一 and Quan-Zheng. The most important Taoist ceremony is the Jiao-shi, a ritual that expresses gratitude to the gods for their blessing and solicits continued peace and prosperity or early termination of and recovery from natural calamities. The holding of Jiao-shi involves a team of dao-shi Taoist priests, who recite, chant, and dance during the various stages of the ritual, accompanied by melodic and percussion instruments. Among the twelve or so types of Jiao-shi, the following four are more often practiced:\n\n \n 1.\n P'ing-an-jiao\n Jiao-shi to pray for continued peace and prosperity, the most frequently held among the four.\n \n \n 2.\n Wen-jiao\n Jiao-shi to pray for the extinction of a plague.\n \n \n 3.\n Q'ing-ch'eng-jiao\n Jiao-shi to celebrate the completion of a construction, such as a temple.\n \n \n 4.\n Huo-jiao\n Jiao-shi to appease the God of Fire after a big fire.\n \n\nA Jiao-shi can be completed in one day, two days, three days, or more; the more common being that of one day (yi-zhao-jiao) and three days (san-zhao-jiao). Generally,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210592, "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": 199, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "180\n\nWEI PEH T'I\n\nvery sticky mushy condition and Chinese shoes are not adapted to that, being only made of cotton cloth. Except we wear the wooden stilts like the men, like this π somewhat like skates.\n\nWe have had a pleasant Christmas, spent it at the next station, twenty-three miles from here, our nearest foreign neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have just returned from furlough and they have a beautiful little baby girl one year and a half old. It was a pleasure to see her and hold her and she did look so pretty after the little yellow babies and so clean, which the yellow babies are not.\n\nWe meant to get there before them to get the place in readiness but we could not get boats all the week and were finally forced to go by wheel-barrow to get there at all. That is the usual mode of travel and very comfortable, but fearfully slow. We put our box on for a back and then our bed, then we sit on with our feet out over the wheel. These barrowmen are accustomed to pushing between four and five hundred pounds so we count a light-load and all the pay they get is ten cents a day. We always pay for their return trip too making 20 cents, and a tip if they have pleased us. Wherever we go we take our bed with us, that is a cotton wadding mattress and our bedding and quite understand now the meaning of “take up thy bed and walk”.\n\nI think I told you Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm have been planning for some time to go on furlough and there did not seem to be anyone to send in their place. Now a Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are coming with three children, the eldest one about six so in three weeks we will be a houseful. This place is very small, just enough room for we three and an occasional visitor and how to take in two grown-ups and three children is a problem. But the Malcolms may be leaving as soon as they arrive. The children will be a great blessing here, always such a help in breaking down prejudices, for the people then think we are more like themselves. They cannot understand single women away from home in a strange place. I am generally accepted as Mrs. Malcolm's inferior wife. I got over feeling badly about it, as it is quite right in their eyes, and much better than for me to be living alone, for then I would have a bad name.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210811, "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "145\n\nPerhaps the break between 1856 and 1914 does not strictly qualify the present Ying Wa College for the title of the oldest in Hongkong, but it can legitimately claim the tradition of the school founded in 1818.\n\nThe Anglo-Chinese College opened at Malacca was the result of the labours of two missionaries of the London Missionary Society, the Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison and the Rev. Mr. William Milne. Dr. Morrison was the initiator of the project and raised most of the funds. The Rev. Mr. Milne was its first Principal.\n\nIt was a very ambitious project, as it was envisaged that it would be a meeting place for the language, philosophy, literature and science of the East and the West. Its student body would be composed of both Europeans and Asians.\n\nDr. Morrison expressed his hope for the school as follows: \"God grant that it may prosper, that it may be an honour to my country, and a blessing to China; and thus unite in its name, and in its benefits, the West and the East; and finally blend in peaceful intercourse the extremities of the world, the islands of Britain and Japan.\"\n\nUnfortunately the early death in 1822 of the Rev. Mr. Milne prevented the college from fulfilling Dr. Morrison's dreams. A succession of men were principals after Mr. Milne, and it seemed that with each the school progressively declined. It faced many problems, one of the principal ones being the proper language of instruction.\n\nMany of the boys had Malay mothers. Their fathers were often Fukienese. The additional task of mastering a third language, Mandarin, was formidable.\n\nThere is an interesting account of the foundation stone laying of the college building in 1818. It was written by Abdullah, a Moslem youth who taught Mr. Milne the Malay language.\n\n\"Mr. Milne received instructions from his society to provide a building for the college... When everything was ready Mr. Milne", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210999, "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": 61, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "35 \n\nKong except for a short interval between 1867 and 1871, was a major attraction of Kowloon City.” Gambling houses fronting the beach offered free launch services and carried on a thriving business. This caused so much consternation in Hong Kong that, after a series of stunning embezzlement cases and a connection with the gambling \"hells” of Kowloon had been established, the Hong Kong government passed an ordinance making it an offence for civil servants to visit Kowloon for the purpose of gambling. Under pressure from the Hong Kong government in the late 1890s, Chinese officials actually suppressed gambling. Ironically, it was under “British rule” in the twentieth century that gambling was re-introduced. But it was only after the Second World War, when Hong Kong prohibited brothels and opium that the Walled City was transformed into the squalid enclave of vice for which it later became notorious.\n\n36 \n\nThe City had other attractions. Both the Walled City and the fort had been frequently visited by foreigners since the 1850s. It was the terminal point of several interesting walks on the mainland popular with European residents. They were not required to produce passes or go through other kinds of formalities normally required in a garrison town. Often at the end of an excursion, visitors took a quick walk around the wall, snapped a few pictures of \"this curious and particularly dirty town\", and left for the Island by launch from the Lung-chin jetty.\n\nThe great change came in 1899. In the previous year, the Convention of Peking had been signed between China and Britain leasing territory south of the Shumchun river to Britain. However, in face of strong Chinese insistence on retaining jurisdiction in the Kowloon Walled City, the British agreed to include a clause that \"within the city of Kowloon the Chinese officials now stationed there shall continue to exercise jurisdiction except so far as may be inconsistent with the military requirement to the defence of Hong Kong.\" This reservation of Chinese jurisdiction upset many sectors of British interest, not least of all, foreign residents in Hong Kong, all seeing this Chinese enclave in the midst of a British administered territory a security risk.\n\nThe matter came to a head in 1899. The Hong Kong govern-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211257, "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": 318, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "293\n\nPamela Atwell had taken it for granted that her readers had not needed any such historical background information. The story of Weihaiwei under British administration during this highly turbulent era as well as its return to Chinese rule was the focus of her research, embracing hundreds of documents in the Public Records Office in London, a number of unpublished private papers in England and Scotland, as well as sources in Japanese and Chinese but not Chinese archival documents.\n\nA meticulous researcher and skilful writer who also provided the readers with clear and interesting photographs, Dr. Atwell has produced a book that is a joy to behold indeed, both for the specialist reader and the non-specialist. She has shown admirable understanding of Chinese institutions and British thinking, and thus has recreated an area that had needed a thorough examination by historians looking at imperialism in China. Dr. Atwell has found, for instance, that the leasing of Weihaiwei was not a simple and straightforward matter. The Chinese had first proposed the leasing through Robert Hart of the Imperial Customs Service and Ambassador MacDonald at Peking to a reluctant British cabinet. Then, even as the British cabinet were being convinced of the value of leasing Weihaiwei, the Chinese had second thoughts. Together with other diplomatic and political complications, it was not until 24 May 1898, after the Japanese forces withdrew, that the British ensign was finally hoisted over the port.\n\nResearching as a political scientist, Dr. Atwell's major interests resided in the juxtaposition of government authorities. She had observed that the British administration at Weihaiwei was noteworthy in several ways. The British never claimed sovereignty over the port. They had maintained that Weihaiwei \"remained part of a foreign country within which Britain exercised legal jurisdiction, but it was not a colony and the Chinese living there were not British citizens.\" (p. 12). British administrators were simply superimposed over traditional Chinese rural community elders and magistrates who represented the central government in these localities.\n\nEarly conflicts over such issues as taxes and militia were resolved when Britain began to send civilian commissioners experienced...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211497, "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": 213, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "189\n\nA great many books are missing; a circumstance which has been duly recorded by the Council, and against the occurrence of which such measures have been taken as will prevent in future any further similar loss.13\n\nApparently Haas' efforts to tighten up went too far because his successor, F. Hirth reported in 1879 that \"the Library is too sparingly used by the members of the Society”, and even that was \"somewhat disorderly, not to say, unconscientious\". He went on to state that an honorary librarian could not be expected to oversee the operation at all public hours, nor during those times when the Chinese servants were cleaning it. He proposed that the Shanghai Library, which was leasing space in the society's building, take over its operation and run it as a non-circulating reference collection. The society would continue to seek donations and exchanges, and its members would continue to have borrowing privileges. In 1881 this transfer took place and this arrangement continued for the next two decades until the Shanghai Library became a true public library and moved to other facilities.\n\n15\n\nThese were slow years in the development of the library, and the annual reports complained of few donations and included such statements as “it is remarkable and no less a matter of regret, that our excellent library is so little used”. In 1887 the society issued its first catalogue of Chinese language publications, a two-page list of sets which totalled 1,497 volumes. In 1894 a third edition of the printed catalogue of Western language books was issued, which showed 1,324 titles, up only about thirty percent in a quarter of a century.\n\n17\n\nBy the beginning of the twentieth century the library was embarking on its second growth cycle. There were now exchanges with \"about 60 learned societies and journals”, from such diverse places as Hong Kong, Holland, Portugal and French Indo-China, as well as the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. There was an assistant librarian, a Miss Backet, who was compiling indexes of articles on Asia appearing in European journals.\n\n19\n\nAnother recataloguing of the collection took place in 1907, this time according to the Dewey Decimal System, \"upon the recommendation...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211976, "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": 391, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "366\n\nThe procession soon turned back without entering the village. By now, I noticed, the team had grown to more than 100 young men. They moved towards Kat Hing Wai. On the way they turned the paper image to \"shine on\" an alley opposite the food stall at the market, and the paths leading from the main road to Tsi Tong Tsuen and Tai Hong Tsuen. Beside the alley was a shop, where a few women fled when they saw the King of Ghosts facing them. Then the same \"shining on\" procedure was repeated at the other spots they passed on the way to Wing Lung Wai: the path leading to Tai Hong Wai, the path leading to the Tung Tak School of Shing Mun San Tsuen and a place on the other side of the road. Partly for fun, the young men did the same to the two doors of the Jockey Club betting centre, \"to influence the outcome of bets\". The procedure was also applied to the village gate of Wing Lung Wai and a spot opposite the gate across the road. Then the procession turned back and proceeded to Tai Hong Wai, where some of the men in the team shouted, \"tell people to keep clear and shut their doors\". Some of the younger men added, \"thank you for your co-operation\". I had the impression that they were talking like that partly for the fun of being in command. The procession went back to the main ritual area after \"shining on\" the village gate of Tai Hong Wai.\n\nG. Renewal of the jiu\n\nThis took place in the morning after the final main rite of Grand Offering to the ghosts, after the Taoist priests had performed the brief purification rites at the individual households. It took place at the temple of Jau and Wong, the two main gods of the festival. To their altar was escorted the image of Gwun-Yam, the other patron god of Kam Tin.\n\nIn the preparation for the rite an elder explained to a younger ritual representative that this rite is to heui-ping-on, to beseech the gods for well-being, giving a promise that in ten years' time another celebration will be held. Only the no. 1 to no. 15 ritual representatives (which was in accordance with the traditional rule) and the priest participated. The priest chanted a eulogy and the invocation for blessing.\n\nH. Sending off the gods\n\nThis took place after the end of the Opera performance period. I overheard previously the villagers telling one another that those who fetched a god should send them home afterwards in this rite.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212024, "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": 439, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "414\n\nThe British stayed at Weihaiwei until 1930, when it was returned to Chinese administration. During the interim, the Kaiser and the Tsar had collapsed and China had gone through the Boxer uprising, a series of reforms, a revolution that toppled the Ch'ing dynasty, a period of disunity and warlord rule, and, finally, the establishment of the National Government at Nanking led by Chiang Kai-shek in 1927. The rise of Chinese nationalism increased demand for return of all foreign concessions in China, including Weihaiwei.\n\nPamela Atwell has taken it for granted that her readers do not need any historical background information. The story of Weihaiwei under British administration during this highly turbulent era as well as its return to Chinese rule was the focus of her research, embracing hundreds of documents in the Public Records Office in London, a number of unpublished private papers in England and Scotland, as well as sources in Japanese and Chinese but not Chinese archival documents.\n\nA meticulous researcher and skilful writer who also provided the readers with clear and interesting photographs, Dr. Atwell has produced a book that is a joy to behold, both for specialist readers and non-specialists. She has shown admirable understanding of Chinese institutions and British thinking, and thus has recreated an area that had needed a thorough examination by historians looking at imperialism in China. Dr. Atwell has found, for instance, that the leasing of Weihaiwei was not a simple and straightforward matter. The Chinese had first proposed the leasing through Robert Hart of the Imperial Customs Service and Ambassador MacDonald at Peking to a reluctant British cabinet. Then, after the British cabinet were convinced of the value of leasing Weihaiwei, the Chinese had second thoughts. Together with other diplomatic and political complications, it was not until 24 May 1898, after the Japanese forces withdrew, that the British ensign was finally hoisted over the port.\n\nResearching as a political scientist, Dr. Atwell's major interests were in the juxtaposition of government authorities. She had observed that the British administration at Weihaiwei was noteworthy in several ways. The British never claimed sovereignty over the port. They maintained that Weihaiwei \"remained part of a foreign country within which Britain exercised legal jurisdiction, but it was not a colony and the Chinese living there were not British citizens\", (p. 12), British administrators were simply superimposed over traditional Chinese rural", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212108, "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": 50, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "27\n\nH. Studies on Jiao festivals in Mainland China & Taiwan\n\nOne of the most striking indicators of the revival of the traditional religious activities which were labeled as \"feudal superstition\" and prohibited in China after 1949 is the reappearance of the large scale Jiao festival in southern China. According to Dean, small scale religious activities were secretly practised by some small villages in Fujian during the Cultural Revolution. Large scale Jiao celebrations were seen in many parts of southern China only after 1980, the decade following the fall of the \"gang of four.\" Dean's study in Fujian is one of the pioneering studies of the revival of Jiao festivals in mainland China. In his paper Dean asked whether or not the revival of Jiao festivals will lead to the restoration of local tradition and eventually encourage local autonomy. This, according to Dean, \"only time will tell.\"\n\nRecords of Jiao festivals on the mainland are very limited but Jiao festivals in Taiwan have been widely studied since the 1960s. One of the earliest systematic studies is Liu Zhi-wan's ethnographical account of the 1963 Jiao festival in Song Shan, Taipei. Though severely criticized by Li, the study successfully drew the attention of many scholars to the study of such festivals. Besides descriptive ethnography, two approaches should be mentioned here. One looks at the Jiao festival from its religious and symbolic significance. Li Xian-zhang pointed out in 1968 that the Jiao in ancient China was a \"rite of transition.\" Saso suggested that the Jiao is a rite of cosmic renewal closely related to the theory of Yin and Yang. He wrote \"[Jiao] is to restore Yang, that is, life, light, and blessing, to its pristine state of growth, and to expel the forces of Yin, darkness, evil, and death.\" Saso's theory was adopted by many scholars to define the Jiao festival. For instance, Ward wrote that objectives of the Jiao festival are the wiping away of evil, the restoration of peace, and the renewal of life for the entire population and of a sizable group of villages.\n\nAnother approach studies the festival from its social aspects. It focuses on the organizing community's internal structure and its relationship with a larger society. Okada's studies on \"religious area\" were done in the 1930s. They argue that the religious area is an area in which people interact through common religious activities which focus on a temple or a religious object. A religious area is also a sphere of social life which may coincide with marketing or marriage areas. The festival is seen as a mechanism to consolidate or to re-confirm\n\n14", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212156, "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": 98, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "CHINESE LOCAL SEMI-DIVINE DEITIES\n\n75\n\nKEITH G STEVENS\n\nDeification in Chinese Folk Religion\n\nIt is hard to generalise about Chinese folk religion and beliefs and yet be sufficiently precise. Broadly speaking Chinese folk religion is a popular belief in a multitude of deities, with each community, be it province, city or village, having its own pantheon of deities. These include the spirits of both national and local worthies and heroes from recorded history in addition to the heavenly and nature deities revered China-wide.\n\nThere are a number of ways in which Chinese deities can be categorised ranging from the simplistic division into the deities who existed before the creation of the world and mankind and those who are deified humans, to more complex categories depending upon one's beliefs and viewpoint. I have found it easiest in practice to divide Chinese deities into six major categories consisting of:\n\n1.\n\n2.\n\n3.\n\nthe mythological, usually called Heavenly deities;\n\nnature spirits, the Gods of the Rain and Wind, of Trees and Streams, and of Mountains;\n\ndeified humans both legendary and real, frequently considered to be semi-divine:\n\n4-6. and the deities of the three religions: Confucianism, Buddhism\n\nand philosophical or institutional Taoism.\n\nTwo avenues to deification were open for humans: popular deification which evolved within the immediate community; and deification of deities whose cults received imperial or other official blessing. A number of the latter are deities of the former group whose growing popularity caused the cult to spread beyond the immediate locale and thus came to official notice and recognition.\n\nWe are particularly interested here in how humans have become local deities and will venture to distinguish between locally deified", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212247, "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": 189, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "166\n\ncomes up to Anna's. In the Cathedral when she sings she can be heard at times quite distinctly from the powerful organ, and an efficient choir. She wants me to join the choir, but I am in no hurry to do so, till I can find out the character of the members. The organist is quite a young man, but a very fair performer.\n\nMy description must now soon be brought to a close. I must however just say a few words as regards my pupils. They seem generally very shy, what I have seen of them. Two in college now will shortly leave. Hah-choong, the elder is a tall genteel looking youth of 18. His father was an Englishman and his mother Chinese. He was left an orphan, but a German missionary has care of him and his brother and when they come of age there is property for them. I take a great interest in the elder he does all he can to oblige me. He will soon get an appointment in an English counting house, but I hope to be able to keep my eye upon him.\n\nWhen I first came I could not get near enough to speak to them, they would all run away. Even now I cannot get them to talk. They stand motionless when I call them up to me. I find them as the Bishop said, a very cold hearted set. They take everything with the coolest indifference. Whether pleased or displeased one never knows. It is rather discouraging, but I shall adopt an even course of conduct with them, which will break down the barrier between us eventually, I hope. Indeed I may say it is fast improving already.\n\nThe parents of some of the children are quite respectable people. The other day a Chinese B.A., or graduate of the First Class, called to get his son admitted. He came with a very low bow, and presented his visiting cards, which I enclose as a curiosity. One gives his family name, the other his surname, and his rank. I will also send you one of my bills which the industrious A-tse brings me every morning. I can now keep accounts in Chinese.\n\nMany of the pupils are still heathens in heart. I trust however that with God's blessing on my labours I may be enabled to do some good among them. It is only by his Spirit's influence that the heathen notions, and strong prejudices can be wholly extirpated from their minds.\n\n我又有美非此牢者。\n\n21", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212252, "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": 194, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "171\n\nThe Non-Operatic Performance of the Offering\n\nThe introduction of the present paper has already mentioned that the White Tiger ritual is often undertaken in contexts other than the initiation of a new Cantonese operatic stage. The other forms of the ritual are discussed below.\n\nIn modern Hong Kong, one of the other rituals that makes use of the White Tiger ritual is known as da siu jen (beating the petty or debased person), which is performed by a male or female religious practitioner for his or her client who suffers misfortune or bad luck. According to Chien Chiao's study, the ritual can be held for “general blessing or exorcising purposes\" (Chiao 1986:213) but it is often aimed at a certain spirit or real person who brings bad luck to the practitioner's client. During the ritual, the practitioner pierces or beats with a sword or shoe a small paper figure cut in the shape of a human being, as an act to punish and defeat the petty person's harmful power. The practitioner also puts a piece of pork in the mouth of a stone statue of the White Tiger as a simple form of offering, which is supposed to be a similar exorcistic action to the more elaborate ritual involved in the initiation of an operatic stage.\n\nWhen a temple is newly opened or re-opened after its renovation, its management sometimes hires priests, operatic actors or puppeteers to perform the White Tiger ritual. According to some Taoist priests, for such an occasion, an offering to the White Tiger should better be staged by puppets as the fierce spirits and evil deities surrounding the temple might harm the priests and actors if actual human beings were to perform the ritual. Sometimes the management chooses to hire a Cantonese operatic troupe to stage operas to celebrate the opening and also requires the troupe to hold the White Tiger ritual for the occasion, even though the stage may not be a \"new\" one. If no operatic troupe is hired, the temple management might hire a group of priests, who are often Cantonese operatic employees, or a group of Cantonese operatic actors and accompanists to stage the offering. Whether performed by puppets, priests or actors, the ritual appears in a form similar to that used for the initiation of a new stage.\n\nSome building managements also arrange to have the White Tiger ritual staged either at the time the construction work begins or concludes. Ward has described this form of non-operatic White Tiger", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213105, "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-1993", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "155\n\nto the front of the school building, to double the defences of the bridge, probably some time in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.\n\n27\n\nThe building of the gun-towers, the school, the Man Mo Temple and Meeting Hall, and the communal grave, is evidence for the prosperity and vitality of the town, and the village society in which it was set, in the later nineteenth century. By 1904, the market had about doubled in size, and in the number of shops operating, from its situation fifty years earlier. From its foundation in 1830-1835, in fact, the prosperity of the town seems to have increased steadily until 1898, with the only check being the very temporary set-back of the Taiping attack.\n\nThe Market and the New Frontier\n\nThe leasing of the New Territories to Great Britain in 1898 was traumatic for the villagers of the Sha Tau Kok area. The line originally proposed for the new frontier would have run along the Sha Tau Kok River from source to sea. This would have put two of the eleven village alliance areas of the Shap Yeuk into China, the market and the other village alliance areas into the New Territories. This was unacceptable to the Chinese authorities, who were unwilling to allow so significant a place as Sha Tau Kok to become part of the area administered by Britain. Eventually it was agreed that the frontier should run along the Sha Tau Kok River from the source down to the Sha Tau Kok bridge, and then be diverted from the bridge down the centre of the bridge access road to the sluice at Yim Liu Ha, then in a straight line to the sea, and thence east along the high-water mark to the mouth of Mirs Bay.* This line was drawn very close to the northern and western edges of the market. As such it isolated the market from the rest of Chinese territory; its only access was either over the bridge, which was half in Hong Kong, or through Hong Kong territory, or by sea through Hong Kong waters.\n\nIn the late nineteenth century, China controlled imports and exports through customs regulations, enforced by the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service. By the drawing of the frontier where it eventually was, the normal, day-to-day trade of Sha Tau Kok market suddenly found itself\n\n* See Map 4.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213577, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1995", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "143\n\nTHE USE OF HILL LAND FOR VILLAGE FORESTRY AND FUEL GATHERING IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONG KONG.\n\nRICHARD WEBB\n\nWhile recent economic and social changes in the New Territories of Hong Kong have wrought irrevocable changes to the rural villages, until perhaps twenty years ago, villagers appeared to have used the hillsides much as they pleased, even though some of the larger clans claimed payments for hill land. The villagers of Cheung Sha Wan, west Kowloon, for example, paid regular sums in silver to the Tangs of Kam Tin for their forest land. The Liu family of Sheung Shui was leasing forest land to the villagers of Long Keng under a deed of 1867 (Hayes 1983). However, hill and forest land was usually annexed by the nearest village. Each village had its forestry lot, apportioned to families according to natural boundaries. There was a major difference in people's minds between land under pine tree cultivation (Pinus massoniana) and other hill land used for fuel gathering, grass cutting, and grazing. The British administration carried over the common usage of hill areas for pine cultivation into their village forestry licenses, or \"t'sung shaan p'aai\", which allowed villagers to occupy Crown Land for the purpose of growing these trees on which they relied for fuel, poles, and timber. It was the 'pine hills' that mattered more to the village families, even though they possessed no proper title to them, save under British rule, an undifferentiated notional share in the village license through being part of its community. Like houses and fields, hillside plots could be passed from father to son.\n\nDaley (1975) provides an account of forestry activities, although it is not clear if this refers to village forestry, in which 211,015 trees were planted in 1880, rising to 1,157,609 in 1883. The British administration established the Botanical and Forestry Department in 1880, with the objective of planting the badly eroded areas and water catchments. From 1881 to 1891, an average of around 647,223 trees were planted every year, of which 95% was Pinus massoniana, a local pine which can establish on very poor soil. By 1938, 70% of Hong Kong island had been afforested with government plantations, and 200 km2 of the New Territories were occupied by leased forestry lots used as a source of firewood. By this time, the government plantations were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213838, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 190, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "163\n\nhave served as the focal point of village coalition organization as early as the 18th century. Pending verification is the identity of Houwang. As commonly held, he was the Chinese folk hero, Yang Liang-chieh, who had loyally protected the last emperor of the Sung, fleeing by sea from the victorious Mongols. The young emperor and his bodyguard, under Yang's leadership, finally landed near what is now Kowloon. Legend also holds that they spent some of their last days in the Tung Chung Valley. It is suggested that not only Yang's honourable behavior, but also the fact that he was a refugee far from home, deeply touched the hearts of early immigrants to this new land, especially the Hakka people.\n\nIn local people's minds, indeed, there is no doubt of the efficacy of this hero-turned-god. For their families and themselves, they come to procure divine assistance in connection with serious illness, financial problems, the picking of propitious days for marriage, long journeys, house construction, and so forth. By casting the divining blocks before the altar, the deity's instructions are revealed to them. Small-scale ritual transactions between the deity and individual worshippers are usually carried out with the assistance of the miao-chu, the temple's keeper and religious specialist. In the case of marriage, for instance, it is the Houwang who decides, through the temple keeper, whether the betrothed are well-matched.\n\nBesides day-to-day ritual transactions invoking the local god's help in meeting personal or family needs, annual religious activities also strengthen villagers' patronage of the temple. Examples are the occasion of tso-fu (make blessing), usually held in the second lunar month, during which the worshipper requests the god's favour in the coming year, and the observance of huan-shen (repay the spirits), held at the end of the year to repay the god for his blessings. While these relatively small-scale rituals are performed on behalf of individual worshippers, the Houwang's Birthday celebration is held on behalf of the community as a collectivity. Thus it best demonstrates the role of the local principal deity in maintaining a communal sense of identity among villages, which have formed a united body in the territory, and the function of the temple as a village-coalition temple.\n\nEven the date for the festival carries distinctive local characteristics. While the Houwang's Birthday is on the 6th of the sixth lunar month", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214265, "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": 123, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "86\n\npray to him for the blessing of a son. However, in Cholon [Saigon] his image, seen in several temples are known as Tzu-wei Ta-ti but identified as T'ai-sui, the god of the planet Jupiter and of Time, though in the major Jade Emperor temple in Cholon images of both T'ai Sui with his bell and Tzu-wei astride his lion stand side by side.\n\nHis standard image in Cantonese communities portrays him as a clean-shaven youth with large round protruding eyes, astride or sitting side-saddle on a reclining mythical beast, possibly a stylised lion. He is holding a seal aloft in his right hand, a talisman bearing the inscription \"The Star looks Straight On\" R. He also has a unique feature, a flag pole behind him on to which is fixed a sheathed sword. The youth holds a conch shell in his left hand and is dressed in only trousers and a cape which hangs round his neck and down his back. He is wearing shoes and has neck-length hair which is held in place by a tiara from which two objects, like insects' feelers, protrude upwards.\n\nIn yet another tale, an extraordinary and complicated legend, an emperor had eighteen robes specially embroidered for the Eighteen Lohan. These were being delivered by a trusted minister who reached their palace in the Western Heavens only to find seventeen Lohan. He sought the eighteenth and found him dead in the kitchen crawling with big fat lice. As this Lohan was the god of the star Tzu-wei and this star represented the emperor of China, the minister knew immediately that the emperor had died since his departure and the spirit of the dead Lohan had been incarnated as the new emperor. The minister was puzzled - what he should do? Finally, he placed the cape around the body of the dead Lohan and returned to Earth bearing a box from the other Lohan which would, they assured him, prove that he had accomplished his mission. When, after months of travel, he reached home, the new emperor opened the box and out flew a crane up into the sky and back to the stars. Artists customarily depict this in their portrait of Tzu-wei.\n\n39] Lei Shen The Spirit of Thunder\n\nLei Shen is portrayed and named as such in only one of the two temples, the Pi-yun Ssu. The problem is that Lei Shen, as such, has been noted on remarkably few altars. Lei Kung, the God of Thunder is", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214276, "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": 134, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "97\n\nNOTES\n\nMacGowan J : Men and Manners of Modern China: T Fisher Unwin: London 1912\n\n2 Werner in his Dictionary of Chinese Mythology gives the Eight Classes of Dragon Kings as follows:\n\n3 Deva naga, Yaksha, Gandharva, Asuras, Garudas, Vinnaras, Mahonagas and Rakshas Soothill in his Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms lists the Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings as follows: Deva, Naga, Yaksha, Gandharva, Asura, Garuda, Kinnara and Mahoraga.\n\nMajor well known Brahmanist deities not included in the groups of Deva in the Western Hills of Peking include Hanuman, Parbati and Ganesh.\n\n* A Student Interpreter: Where Chineses Drive : English Student Life in Peking Wm Allen & Co : London: 1885\n\n6 As with a number of titles the romanised spelling varies depending upon the form used and, as examples, we have Siva and Shiva, Pancika and Panchika. He is the esoteric cult Deva, a masculine form of the wife of Siva. He is the tutelary god of Mongolian Lama Buddhism, and is also said to be an incarnation of Vairocana for the purpose of destroying demons.\n\n7 Werner, ETC: A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology:\n\n8\n\n9 x stands for an illegible character. Although images iconographically look like the standard Buddhist image of the Temple Guardian, Wei T'o, they have been identified as being one of three Vedic deities. Lessing in his Yung-Ho-Kung [Stockholm 1942] and the Taiwanese guide to The Guan Yin Hall of the Ta Pei Ssu both identify Wei T'o's origin as Skanda whilst Soothill claims that he is Viharapala.\n\n10 Occasionally Yüeh T'ian-wang, that is the 12th century hero Yüeh Fei, takes the place of Li Yüan-shuai.\n\n\"Chin-se are the Five Primary Colours permutated in various ways to represent various ideas; also, a five coloured emblematic cord, a Brahman sign worn on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214377, "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": 235, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "201\n\nof affairs is not known but it is a possibility which cannot be discounted entirely. What is beyond dispute is that these widely publicized fears were used by the leaders of the Chinese community as a reason to petition the Government for permission to organise a force of Chinese watchmen who would help the public police. The scheme received the blessing of the Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, though it met with less than wholehearted approval from some other members of the administration, most notably the Chief Justice, Sir John Smale. The feature of the plan which appealed most to Government officials was its economy. Since the expenses of operating the scheme would be borne by the Chinese merchants, the Government would not need to spend any money yet it would, in effect, gain additional police constables.\n\n\"The Victoria Registration Ordinance 1866\" (No. 7 of 1866) provided the authorization for the formation of this body of men and came into effect on 1 January 1867. By its provisions the Governor, on the recommendations of the inhabitants of a particular District, could appoint a Chief Watchman and Watchmen who were under the control of the Registrar General and had the same powers as a constable. Thus, although both the words 'District' and 'Watchmen' appeared in the Ordinance, the combination 'District Watchmen' was not used. Two of the most informative early accounts of the District Watch Force appeared in the Registrar General's Reports for 1867 and 1868. In 1867 the Registrar General's post was held by a young Cadet Officer, Cecil C. Smith, who also acted as Colonial Secretary whilst in 1868 Alfred Lister, a Cadet with even less experience, acted as Registrar General. From the tenor of the earlier report it seems that Smith favoured the establishment of 'a body of men acting as a help to the Police Force.' The introduction of the scheme was not easy and 'Much jealousy was at first displayed as to the powers which were to be exercised in controlling the Watchmen.' Although the wording is ambiguous and the sentiments could have applied equally to some Europeans, the tone of the following sections of Smith's report suggest that this 'jealousy' prevailed within the Chinese community. This political in-fighting amongst the Chinese merchants and shopkeepers had long-lasting consequences for the future direction of the watchmen and undoubtedly led to the subordinate position of the Chinese in its operation.\n\nAs had occurred with earlier attempts to give the local population", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215076, "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-2000", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "129\n\nday no one should take a bath or bury the dead. However, on another it might be an auspicious day for a head shave but a bad day for starting the construction of a house. It was referred to by Couling in his Encyclopaedia Sinica as the Calendar of Superstitions. It does not take much imagination to realize that such a calendar has to be accurate as every movement of the stars influences human destiny, from birth to death, through marriage, travel and business and any error in calculating the calendar would make the whole meaningless.\n\nSince remote antiquity Chinese have recorded each individual year by pairs of characters. These are a combination taken from two sets, one of twelve characters and the other of ten, producing a cycle of sixty pairs, with the individual pairs identifying the year of an event or the age of a person. The sixty-year cycles consist of sixty possible combinations of individual characters, one from the ten stems [tiangan] and the other from the twelve branches [dizhi]; beginning with the first of the branches, Jia, and the first of the stems, Zi, together forming a combination for the first year of the sixty, Jia Zi. Each successive year has another pair designating it for the whole sexagenary cycle when the combination begins again. The \"branches\" were originally used to designate successive days; however, since the Han they have been used in combinations for successive years. A second separate system used reign periods to mark events.\n\nAlso within that sixty year repetitive cycle each individual year, with the five sequences of twelve years, was known, not only by the combination of stem and branch but also, for simplicity, by the animal of the year. Thus, the year 2000 is the Gengchen year as well as being the year of the Dragon. 1988 was and 2012 will also be the year of the Dragon but neither will be Gengchen years as this only comes round once every sixty years. For example, the Gengchen year 1940 was sixty years earlier than the Gengchen year 2000 with the next Gengchen year being 2060. Sixty years of age, a full cycle, used to be regarded as a good old age, and any years of life thereafter were regarded as a blessing and a bonus.\n\nShould the average Chinese be asked about a specific happening in the past he would reply that it happened 'several moons [months] ago,' or 'several years ago,' and often when discussing historical happenings the response would be a round figure of a thousand or two", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215489, "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-2001", "page_number": 266, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "215\n\nthey were a bit more accurate, and secondly, being faster, the trajectory of the arrows need not be so high. Arrows were whizzing past us at just about head height. It reminded me of the old line: 'Do people get killed here often?', to which the reply is: 'No sir, only once.' \n\nThe Wangdi Dzong was built in 1638, and that in Punakha in 1637. Both are massive structures and it can only be wondered at what effect all this building activity had on the local economy and employment market. Perhaps similar to the time in England when vast stone cathedrals were going up, many at the same time. More comparisons to mediaeval England and building methods were to follow, but first there was dinner and bed.\n\nDay 9 brought us to what for me was the absolute highlight of the entire trip. So overwhelming were the sights and sounds that faced us that I knew neither what to write, nor how to write it. As I am afraid you will find out on the following pages, however, I soon found some words - although it is impossible to capture anything more than a few personal observations.\n\nWe knew already that the usual ‘no hats, no scarves, no cameras’ rule applied, and this was in many ways a blessing - we were indoors mostly, it was fairly warm, and the absence of a camera meant that I was not distracted by apertures and shutter speeds. Immediately inside the first courtyard, the atmosphere struck like a blow in the face. Red-robed monks standing about in twos and threes; a deep horn blowing its long steady notes somewhere off-stage; sounds of many heavy footsteps on bare wooden floors; a small crowd cheering somewhere from within a building; a stone mason chipping a hole in a flagstone; men carrying impossible loads of stone on their heads, on their backs or in their arms, up an equally impossibly steep flight of stairs into an inner sanctum (whether they were doing so to gain merit, or because they were contract Indian labour doing what Bhutanese chose not to do we did not manage to find out). Something was clearly happening. No - Something Was Clearly Happening.\n\nThis was, after all, the beginning of Day One of a four-day festival, one that has been going on for so many centuries that it is now by no means clear what it is all about. The triumph of the Bhutanese over the marauding Tibetans. The triumph of Buddhism over evil. Whatever it", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215871, "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": 170, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "103\n\n6\n\nCertain Stations at Home and Abroad shortly before the taking up of the New Territories by the British in 1898. The War Department had a scheme, drawn in 1902, to develop the \"low promontory\" between Yau Tong and Chong Lui (which has become the present Lei Yue Mun Typhoon Shelter) into a barracks area. This promontory is now the Yau Tong industrial and residential zone. The proposed military reserve was extended to cover the entire Cha Kwo Ling promontory (\"Rocky Hill\"). Neither the barracks scheme nor the reserve has ever been implemented. However, there is no doubt that the British military attached great significance to the Lei Yue Mun and Devil's Peak area in the late 19th Century. The leasing of the New Territories definitely had a clear military intention, because it had the French, Russian, or Imperial Chinese forces in mind.\n\nThe Gough Battery was definitely in place as early as 1900. The Pottinger Battery was likely erected at the same time, and not later than 1902. The Duke of Connaught was said to have observed the firing practices of both the Gough and Pottinger Batteries in 1907 (Rollo 1992: 83). The approved establishment for the Gough Battery in 1914 was one officer plus 15 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96).\n\n[The Pottinger Battery had two 9.2-inch BL (Breech-Loader) Mark X guns. The Gough Battery originally had two 6-inch BL Mark VII guns. However, one of the gun emplacements was later enlarged to accommodate a 9.2-inch BL gun no later than 1910. The approved establishment strength of the Pottinger Battery in 1914 was one officer plus 26 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96).]\n\nThe Devil's Peak Redoubt was the location of the Eastern Fire Command. It was definitely in place by 1914. Though it could accommodate at least 150 soldiers in action, the approved establishment of the Redoubt in 1914 was only one officer plus 10 soldiers (Rollo 1992: 96).\n\nThe 6-inch gun at the Gough Battery was removed as early as 1912. The three 9.2-inch BL guns at Devil's Peak were subsequently relocated to the batteries on Hong Kong Island South. The 9.2-inch calibre Mark X gun at Gough Battery, originally on a Mark V mounting (Rollo 1992: 187), was removed in 1936 to Stanley Fort and placed on a Mark VII mounting (Horsnell 1998/1999: 249), and the two guns at", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215896, "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": 195, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "1864\n\nThe terra \"Kowloon Battery\" appears right to the north of the expression \"Lei Yue Mun\" in the Sun On Gazetteer, referred to as the \"Sun On District Gazetteer Map.\"\n\nEmpson, 1992, p.113 (Plate 1-25)\n\n1876\n\nThe name Devil's Peak appears in a sea defences map of 1876.\n\n1888\n\n1895\n\n27 May 1898\n\nThe name Devil's Peak appears in Stanford's Map of Hong Kong and Kowloon.\n\nThe Chinese translation \"Kwei Shan,\" literally \"devil hill,\" appears alongside Devil's Peak in the revised Collinson Map.\n\nThe Committee on Armament on Certain Stations at Home and Abroad decided on 27 May 1898 that two 9.2-inch Bl. Mark X and two 6-inch QF guns were to be mounted on Devil's Peak at sites to be called Pottinger Battery and Gough Battery, respectively, to strengthen Eastern defences.\n\nEmpson, 1992, p.134 (Plate 2-3)\n\n(Plate 2-4)\n\nEmpson, 1992, p.135\n\nEmpson, 1992, pp.136-137\n\nRollo, 1992, p.70\n\nThe Kowloon Battery is universally associated with the fort outside the south gate of the Kowloon Walled City.\n\nSee p. 187 Rollo, 1992 for a drawing of a 9.2-inch BL Mark X on a Mark V mounting\n\nJune 1898\n\nJanuary 1899\n\nThe leasing of the New Territories for 100 years by the British with effect from 1 July 1898, Devil's Peak became part of British Hong Kong.\n\nConference on Armaments regarded Hong Kong as a dockyard, port, and naval base of great importance.\n\nThe 6-inch guns proposed by the 1898 Committee took shape in the form of BL guns on Centre Pivot Mark II mountings instead of QF guns,\n\nThree batteries proposed for Devil's Peak.\n\nRollo, 1992, p.72\n\n128\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]