[
    {
        "id": 210789,
        "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": 140,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "123\n\ntwo.\n\nForeigners in the land\n\nAlthough the opening of Hainan to foreign trade led to an influx of westerners to open business houses and man the British, German and French consulates that were installed in Haikou soon after the treaty port proclamation, they were not the first foreigners to penetrate Hainan. This honour belongs to gallant Roman Catholic priests who took up residence on Hainan almost 300 years before, although undoubtedly even these priests were preceded by unknown sailors from foreign vessels marooned by typhoons on the \"Shore of Pearls\".\n\nThe first Jesuit padre known definitely to enter Hainan was Father Gago who was shipwrecked in 1560 on the southern coast (Madrolle, 1898), and spent five months at San Ya before he could secure passage to Macau (Dehergne, 1940). However, it was not until the arrival of the Portuguese Jesuits, Pierre Marquez in 1632 and Benoit de Matos in 1635, that a church was established in K'iungchow (Pfister, 1932). By 1637, there were four churches with a total membership exceeding one thousand which included some high officials such as Wang Hung-hui, a former emissary to Peking, and his son, Paul (Pfister, 1932; Dunne, 1962).\n\n2\n\nThrough persecution and plagues, a succession of priests from Portugal, France, Italy and Germany, superintended the growing mission for more than a half century until 1665 when Jesuits were banished from China (Dehergne, 1940). After the priests were expelled, church property was seized and converted into Taoist temples, two of which were still standing in the late nineteenth century (Swinhoe, 1872a). Little remains today of this influence, although as late as 1919, the Roman Catholic cemetery in K'iungchow was still intact, albeit neglected, and the epitaphs of at least three priests buried in the 1680's could still be deciphered (Moninger, 1919). The number of tombs of respectable people is evidence of the large following the Jesuits had established in Hainan (Henry, 1886).\n\nBetween 1673 and 1725, priests returned to Hainan to continue",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 216205,
        "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": 504,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "438\n\nto the spot where he died, by some French missionaries in the 19th Century. Father Kane referred me to Father Antonio Tam in the Macau Jesuit Residence who, despite being elderly, still travelled regularly to St Johns, and was leading a Taiwanese group there the following month. He recommended the services of the Religious Affairs Bureau rather than China Travel to organize our trip, so that we would gain a better insight into the history of Christianity in the area. This proved more difficult than it sounded, but China Travel came to the rescue with a reasonable-sounding itinerary.\n\nOur trip eventually took place in the first weekend of November 2002. China Travel suggested a suitable package tour for five adventurers - Patricia Bierregard, Anna and Michal Niewiadomski, Jenny Wu and myself, Chris Bailey - members of the HK Branch of the RAS. We had planned a varied itinerary including St Francis' Church on the island, Flying Sand beach, Big Buddha and Nine Dragon's cave - with the firm CTS instruction: No missioning! We caught the 8:30 am ferry to Gong Yi from the China Hong Kong Terminal. The sea journey was quite rough until we reached Macau, where a right turn along a Pearl River tributary took us back through time for a pleasant 3 hours viewing village life along the river banks (having upgraded ourselves to the upstairs first-class cabin). The rice-fields at harvest time were particularly splendid and the hamlets looked inviting, with interesting watch towers.\n\nWe disembarked at around 1 pm at the small port of Gong Yi and were met by Roger, our excellent CTS guide who escorted us to the town of Tai Shan for an elaborate lunch. We caught the 4 pm boat for another rough trip across the muddy waters, but in less than an hour were rewarded with the splendid sight of our goal - a white church on the hillside - as we arrived at the island, dominated by a large PLA base. Roger could not tell us how many military personnel were stationed at the base and we glimpsed only a few blue and white uniformed sailors walking along the streets.\n\nThe day's end was approaching and Roger speedily herded us into another vehicle for the short drive to the church, and the resident caretaker opened the gates - we finally climbed the stairs to the recently redecorated church and entered its large wooden doors. The interior was well-kept and featured a large central \"tomb\" with paintings along",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278",
        "rank": 0
    }
]