[ { "id": 206109, "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-1970", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "184\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nthat the bay presented for boats taking shelter in bad weather, these pirates were gradually displaced by fishing people and shopkeepers, leading in time to a permanent settlement. (See 香港百年史 Centenary History of Hong Kong 南中編譯出 Hi Ep 7 n.d. pp. 74-75).\n\nThe name Ngo-yan-wan appears to have been used officially, too. Government Notification No. 69 of 1857 which appears in The Hongkong Government Gazette for May 9, 1857 describes District No. 2 Show-ke-wan as being \"from Hoong-heung-loo to the village of Ngo-yan-wan, taking in Wong-kok-tsai, Chut-che-mooey, Shui-cheang-wan, Show-ke-wan and Ngo-yan-wan,\" but it is not clear to which part of the present extended Shau Kei Wan Ngo-yan-wan belonged,\n\nThe oldest part of Shau Kei Wan, where original settlement took place, is along the Main Street East which we shall visit today. Many old houses probably dating from the 1850's to 1870's are still in existence. It is likely that the style of building followed that in contemporary Victoria and the Western district, though successive waves of redevelopment have left few traces of them there. They are all shop houses, and a count of the present shops in old premises shows besides groceries and general stores 9 Chinese herb shops, 7 josspaper shops, 7 fishing suppliers, 5 goldsmiths and 5 rice shops, indicating long established lines of trade with a predominantly fishing clientele*.\n\nIn Main Street East is the Tin Hau Temple. The existing building dates from the 1870's, but since the inscription above the entrance states this to be a reconstruction, it is likely that a smaller building stood on the same site for many years before. A stone tablet dated 1876 states that it was badly damaged by the famous typhoon of 1874, necessitating a major repair. In this connection there is an interesting parallel with the Tam Kung Temple below which had also to be rebuilt a short time after its first construction owing to a more than usually destructive typhoon. The temple contains two other major shrines to Kwun Yam (Goddess of Mercy) and Lui Cho (one of the most prominent among the later Taoist patriarchs).\n\nsee\n\n* A prominent local shopkeeper has told me that, pre-war, fishermen would not go outside Main Street East for business or pleasure.\n\nThe shop houses are shown in plates 21-22,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208028, "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": 67, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "The Return Journey \n\nA JOURNEY TO YENAN 1946 \n\n51 \n\nA 'political' question arose about our return trip. The 18th Group Army had, as previously mentioned, a Chungking office and extra staff were needed for this. Would we be willing to transport 40 passengers in our otherwise empty trucks from Yenan to Chungking? The questions the request raised are obvious: being a pacifist organization we did not, on principle, carry troops or military supplies. What complication would this raise with the KMT Government in Chungking? Or the Hsi-an Command? I asked if a message could be transmitted to FAU Headquarters in Chungking putting the problem and asking for instructions. Meanwhile the Unit Headquarters in Chungking had received the same request from the 18th Group Army Office there and they had asked for a message to be transmitted to me, telling me of the request and saying in effect 'Use your own judgement'. In the event neither message was received. Yu Chin-lung and I used our own judgement and we set out on February 22nd with our 40 unarmed passengers under Major Chiang and including two young women comrades. \n\nThere was some alarm and excitement when we reached the 'border'. The outpost sentries waved us on, but did not inform their colleagues in the main guard house that we were coming. No doubt someone then shouted that there was a motorised attack by the 8th Route Army; there was a smart turnout of machine guns, rifles, etc. into defensive postures and magazines were slapped into place. We stopped the trucks and Yu Chin-lung and I walked down the road endeavouring to preserve a becoming Quaker calm and hoping no one was enthusiastic about target practice. It seemed a long 50 yards. Documents were produced for ourselves and Major Chiang produced his, and after tea and apologies on both sides we went on. \n\nAs we came down out of the hills to the Yellow River plain the weather broke and snow swirled down. If this had come a day earlier it would have been most difficult since the road was so rocky and full of pot holes that a snow covering would have led to accidents. \n\nIf we had maintained a low profile coming up, we positively crouched on the way back after crossing the border. I slipped into Hsi-an on my own and called at the Methodist Mission for any letters. Meanwhile Yu Chin-lung had got the trucks loaded on the train and we set off for Pao-chi through the night. Two young", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208334, "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": 58, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "42\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\nIn addition there were scraps of cotton, threads, one or two grains of rice, a tiny sac of cotton cloth stuffed with more cotton and several beads and slivers of mica. There were also two dried sea-horses* in the image dedicated in 1871 though there were no signs of any other remains. The strips of paper are not all that usual and are rarely found in Southern Chinese images. Precis translations of the six strips of paper are included later in this note.\n\nThe papers show that five of the seven images were dedicated and placed on altars in the County of Wu Kang (A) in South East Hunan, one hundred miles due north of Kweilin and three hundred and seventy-five miles NNW of Hong Kong, near the Hunanese boundaries with its neighbouring provinces of Kwangsi and Kweichow. The west and south-west of Hunan were not easily accessible until the 1930's due to the dangerous rapids in the upper reaches of the plentiful rivers. Then a system of highways opened up the area. Prior to that, apart from the occasional traveller, traders and, of course, the petty officials sent to such \"punishment\" posts, all that was known of the area came from tales passed on from mouth to mouth. Wu Kang is in rising country, on the edge of an area marked on old maps as the lands of the Thai minority peoples, the Ko Lao (z) and another larger minority people, the Miao (δ). The other two images come from Chi An prefecture () in Kiangsi province, some two hundred and eighty miles due east of Wu Kang. Chi An, an old walled city and a major centre on the north-flowing Kan Chiang, had closer cultural links with central rather than south China.\n\nThe first image (Plate 2), from Wu Kang and dedicated in 1756, is a household deity to protect the home and family and to bring blessings. The slip of paper relates that Worshipper Fu Shih-hsiang, together with his three sons and others from his family, all of Hsin Wu Chang Village, Yen Shan, Lung Chu district of Wu Kang county in Pao Ching prefecture (now Shao Yang), Hunan, on the 4th day of the 7th moon of the 20th year of Ch'ien Lung (1756), offered sacrifices to the gods at the City God temple in Shih Pei.† He also reported to them in writing that he and his whole family\n\n* Seahorses, found as far inland, would have a rarity value, though they are commonly used by Chinese herbalists & pharmacists.\n\n† Chinese characters are to be found on the illustrations of the slips of paper.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210793, "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": 144, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "127\n\ncontinued the guerilla war from bases in the nearby Nanlin Hills (Paul, 1982). As a revolutionary base was established, workers' and peasants' democratic governments were formed at the county level throughout Hainan, the first being set up in Lingshui County amongst the Li community (Gao, 1981).\n\nThreatened by the possible emergence of a unified China, Japan, which already had a firm foothold in northern China, landed troops in Shanghai in 1928 in order to weaken Chiang Kai-shek's power and prolong the onset of the inevitable Sino-Japanese war. Taking advantage of the rift between the KMT and Communists, Japan strengthened her influence, first by invading Manchuria in 1931, and finally, by means of a number of orchestrated landings in 1937, secured the whole of the coast of China, effectively severing all major supply arteries to the country: China was no longer a dangerous adversary (Eberhard, 1969). As part of this offensive, Hainan was first attacked in August, 1937 (Clark, 1938), and Japanese forces quickly occupied the coastal fringe. By February, 1939, Hainan, like the mainland, was subdued (Wigmore, 1957).\n\nRemnants of the old Red Guard units, hardened by 12 years of battle with the KMT, took up positions around the island immediately behind the Japanese and used their guerilla tactics to harass the intruders, while the KMT held defensive positions in the central mountains (Fairtex-Cholmeley, 1963). It appears that a non-interference agreement was quickly ratified between the Japanese and the KMT, leaving the Communist guerillas to pose the chief threat to the invading Japanese (Paul, 1982). Although Mao Tse-tung committed the Communist Party to collaborate with the KMT, conflict continued between the two factions even in Hainan where in 1943, the Li leaders, Wang Guo-xing* and Wang Yu-jin, led 20,000 tribesmen in an armed foray against KMT troops entrenched in the Five Finger Mountains (Gao, 1981). In spite of these \"domestic\" conflicts, the combined Chinese forces tied up two Japanese divisions in Hainan (MacCrae, personal communication).\n\nDue to its strategic location, Hainan became a training and staging area for the Japanese southward thrust, with components of the XXV Japanese Army being exercised on the island during", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211258, "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": 319, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "294\n\nenced in colonial administration. They were also blessed with long tenures. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, who had advised the Hong Kong Government on the administration of the New Territories, was British Commissioner at Weihaiwei for nineteen years, and R. F. Johnston for sixteen.\n\nWeihaiwei was not a major port boasting access to other areas of China. Despite efforts at cultivation, except for ground-nuts, its lack of a marketable product meant the absence of a powerful foreign business community like those that challenged authority and policies of British officials at the treaty ports. The British administrators, therefore, could establish and carry out policies without having to consider other vested interests. As a rule, they were free to work within the framework of traditional Chinese institutions.\n\nConservatism of the local gentry and absence of a strong Chinese middle class meant that there was no pressure on British administrators to bow to forces that clamoured for reform and modernization. During the first decades of the twentieth century, Chinese institutions were undergoing changes. Certain constitutional features were being introduced to the Chinese government, and, with the abolition of the civil service examination system in 1905, education based on Confucian classics was being replaced by a more modern, westernized curriculum. At Weihaiwei, however, neither the local elders nor the British administration sought to change the status quo.\n\nWith the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, demands for ending foreign privileges increased. Subsequent civil war among various warlord factions meant hardship for the people of Weihaiwei, but, until the formation of the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, Britain did not have to give serious thought to returning Weihaiwei to Chinese rule. Meanwhile, administrators kept expenditures below revenue, partly because they wanted to make sure \"that sufficient funds were available for staff pensions and other expenses when the British withdrew.\" (p. 168)\n\nThe actual transfer of administration to the Chinese took place", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211706, "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": 121, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "96\n\nThere are four reasons why this area developed incense wood cultivation. Firstly, the area is extensively underlain by igneous rocks, the disintegration of which forms sands and silts: an ideal soil type for the growth of the incense tree. Secondly, the long history of cultivation of incense trees in Tung-kuan had enabled the cultivators to accumulate the necessary experience in the technique of incense tree cultivation. Moreover, the fact that most of the cultivators inherited their business from their fathers suggests that they were highly skilled in the cultivation of incense trees, and the tapering and cutting of incense wood.2 In addition to these physical and historical factors, the market for incense products was large. There was a high demand from the inland areas of Kuang-tung, Chiang-hsi and Che-chiang which consumed large quantities of incense wood annually. The Hong Kong area, being geographically accessible, collected incense wood logs in Tsim Sha Tsui (then called Tsim Sha T'ou or Hsiang Pu T'ou) from where it was shipped by small boats to Shek Pai Wan (near Aberdeen) and then reshipped by Chinese sea-going junks to Canton. From this place, incense wood was transported northward overland to Chiang-su and Che-chiang. Thus the cultivation of the incense trees also stimulated the development of the small local ports.\n\nIt has been suggested that the cultivation of and trade in incense trees gave rise to the name of Hong Kong (literally meaning \"Incense Harbour\", #), \n\n香港\n\nLittle Hongkong, or Heung-kong-wai, is said to have been so-called on account of the quantity of Pak-mu-heung-shu then growing there, the wood of these white-wood fragrant trees is called “Nga-heung” (i.e. fragrant wood white as a tooth), is odoriferous when burnt, and although now the woodcutters have left but few trees there and at Wong-nei-chung, yet formerly it grew abundantly there. In the time of the Han Dynasty, this wood, it is said, was highly valued, and formed an article of tribute.\n\n5\n\n>>4\n\nIt seems that before the mid-seventeenth century, the incense industry, though one of the three major industries of Hong Kong, was not engaged in the manufacture of joss sticks. For example, Fêng K'ê-pin of the Ming Dynasty has 22 prescriptions for the use of incense powder, but none refers to the manufacture of joss sticks.*", "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": 212025, "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": 440, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "415\n\ncommunity 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 in colonial administration. They were also blessed with long tenures — J. H. Stewart Lockhart, who had advised the Hong Kong Government on administration of the New Territories, was British Commissioner at Weihaiwei for nineteen years, and R. F. Johnston for sixteen.\n\nWeihaiwei was not a major port boasting access to other areas of China. Despite efforts at cultivation - ineffective except for ground nuts — its lack of a marketable product meant the absence of a powerful foreign business community like those that challenged the authority and policies of British officials at the treaty ports. The British administrators, therefore, could establish and carry out policies without having to consider other vested interests. As a rule, they were free to work within the framework of traditional Chinese institutions.\n\nThe conservatism of the local gentry and the absence of a strong Chinese middle class meant that there was no pressure on British administrators to bow to forces that clamoured for reform and modernization. During the first decades of the twentieth century, Chinese institutions were undergoing changes. Certain constitutional features were being introduced into the Chinese government, and, with the abolition of the civil service examination system in 1905, education based on Confucian classics was being replaced by a more modern, westernized curriculum. At Weihaiwei, however, neither the local elders nor the British administration sought to change the status quo.\n\nWith the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912 demands for ending foreign privileges increased. Subsequent civil war among various warlord factions meant hardship for the people of Weihaiwei, but, until the formation of the National Government under Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, Britain did not have to give serious thought to returning Weihaiwei to Chinese rule. Meanwhile, administrators kept expenditures below revenue, partly because they wanted to make sure that sufficient funds were available for staff pensions and other expenses when the British withdrew, (p. 168).\n\nThe actual transfer of administration to the Chinese took place on 1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212158, "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": 100, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "77\n\nexalt the magical power of the tree god.'\n\nOn the 23rd day of the first lunar month in 1925 just west of Suifu in Szechuan province some Chinese saw a beggar lying on the ground. They returned very shortly after to find the beggar had disappeared completely, the ground where he had lain was bone dry and his imprint on the wet grass stood out. They realized that he must have been an Immortal and built a small shrine dedicated to him. Once a year thereafter, on the 23rd of the first month anniversary local people held a special festival to celebrate his disappearance.\n\nInnumerable stories are told of the creation of such new deities. These tend to have the following common factors:\n\na. a human dies under unusual circumstances and his spirit is 'found' to have special and supernatural characteristics.\n\nb. An image is carved and placed on an altar as a direct result of the god's behaviour or action. Usually the deity has appeared in a dream, or in a more tangible form as a piece of wood sometimes rough, at other times shaped (a gate or door) — floating in the sea, on a lake or a river, and manifesting supernatural characteristics.\n\nAlthough in theory the deification of a dead soul requires the joint authority of the supreme Taoist deity, the Jade Emperor and the terrestrial emperor of China, there have been a large number of minor deities in particular who owe their deification to the common people, voting with their feet, going to shrines to offer up incense and oil. And just as gods fade and disappear because of lack of support from devotees who have found other and apparently more potent deities, so the creation of new gods springs from a natural but unusual happening such as was the case of the small boy in Singapore, who, as we shall see later, was killed in 1963 by lightning.\n\nCults spring up whenever the spirit of a dead person responds to public devotions and offerings and grants devotees their requests. The deceased need not be from the distant past. An image of Chiang Kai-shek, who only died in 1976, has been seen on at least one major altar in Taiwan, against the wishes of the Kuomintang government, though they would appear to have turned a blind eye. Sun Yat-sen, one of the Republic's greatest worthies, has also been seen in both image and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212423, "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": 365, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "342\n\nview of the world, its acceptance had been prepared by anarchist and socialist ideas already current since the nineties. Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu were the progenitors of the Chinese Communist movement. Both were university intellectuals. And, as Luk points out, although Chen Duxiu has been portrayed as a determinist who favoured bourgeois leadership and a bourgeois dominated period after national revolution, this view of him is unfounded. He believed in revolution by the masses and saw, early on, the importance of the peasants as a means of achieving it.\n\nLuk awards a relatively minor role to Mao Zedong in the development of party ideology and buries, once and for all, the simplistic idea propagated by some popular writers that Mao's was the first lone voice that revolution was possible only through the countryside. Mao brought the weight of personal knowledge and experience to bear on the question, but there were others, more influential, who thought as he did.\n\nThe greatest difficulty experienced by the Communist party-founders in China was in applying Russian Bolshevik doctrine to a Chinese situation. What did Lenin mean by \"feudal conditions\"? How important was the Chinese proletariat, numbering only a few millions, even though for the Russians its role was crucial? There were many more such questions giving rise to internal contradictions and differences.\n\nThe Communists in China, as we know, joined the Guomindang as a \"bloc-within\" and in 1927 Chiang Kaishek turned on his unwelcome allies and nearly destroyed them. But despite this catastrophic set back the ideologies already developed in the party were largely maintained. According to Luk, Mao Zedong was later to take over all the main ingredients of the revolutionary model of the 1920s. The major difference now was that the CCP, after 1927, was on the one hand more determined to establish itself as an independent political and military force and on the other hand, was by now well aware of the limits of class struggle and willing to adjust its policies accordingly. It is said that, to carry out revolution successfully, both ideology and organisation are indispensable. By the late nineteen-thirties the CCP had developed both these weapons to a formidable degree.\n\nANTHONY LAWRENCE", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212759, "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-1992", "page_number": 68, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "53\n\nChinese government officials to modernise and import technology with Mesny's assistance. These overtures seemed always to run into trouble over the officials' inability to appreciate the future Mesny was holding out to them, though on more than one occasion such plans were later put in hand and came to fruition after many years, with the assistance of others, leaving Mesny to comment that it had been his idea in the first place and had they only had the vision it would all have been achieved ten or twenty years earlier.\n\nHis leading articles frequently offered future economic and social concepts, ideas and plans he proclaimed as original, which quite often were no more than logical progressions of current trends. Frustration showed at every turn, mainly due in his view to lost entrepreneurial opportunities. His regular theme was the inability of the Chinese to get their act together to build major railway trunk routes necessary to modernise their country. He claimed that the British had been slow in developing the Canton/Hong Kong Railway and that even the Portuguese were going ahead in the matter of railway building, constructing as they intended a line from Macau to Canton. He also vehemently blamed the British for not pushing ahead with a line from Burma via Chiang-hung to Ssu-mao Ting in Yunnan. At one point he stated that Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister in Peking had told Mesny that he had been asked by an English gentleman to offer Mesny £2,000,000 at any interest above 5% for the construction of anything which Mesny might deem advantageous to China and her people. [He does not explain why it never came to anything].\n\nIn an editorial in May 1899 Mesny explained that he felt that he had *a sort of an inspired mission in China to set forth, preach and proclaim the inspiring and magic words of Reform and Progress to the inquiring multitude amongst China's 400 millions of black-haired people.' The notes and anecdotes in the Miscellanies however, clearly betray the personality and empiricism of the writer, though his colourful use of words and phrases, apart from a rather tedious repetitive use of 'money makes the mare move,' provide a picturesque and interesting read. There is a marked lack of careful proof reading, careless use of capitals and punctuation, and not infrequently intuitive spellings. One of his nicer words was the description of something standing 'slanting-dicularly.'\n\nMesny printed an intriguing and unusual Notice at the beginning of an edition of his Miscellany [Volume III, no. 18: 22 July 1899], a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212773, "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-1992", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "67\n\nMesny, writing in the first person some thirty years later, was not in any way slow in claiming that he played key roles in the campaign and frequently related how his improvements on the battle plans conceived by the Szechuan Force's senior officers were immediately adopted and were always successful. On the occasion when a general went ahead with his plan without Mesny, which ended in defeat and failure, Mesny made no bones about it; the failure was due to the lack of foresight of the general concerned for not first consulting Mesny!\n\nAlso of significance is the infrequent mention by Mesny of the Manchu Tartars. Considering that China was at this stage still under the rule of the Manchu dynasty, with the main forces of the Imperial Army in Manchu hands, and whose armies consisted to a considerable extent of Manchu bannermen, there is no indication from Mesny of Manchus being involved in the campaigns to suppress the Miao, and his only reference to the Manchus was the sighting of Manchu women in a town on his journey along the Yangtze. Manchu emperors had permitted only Manchus real power and had not allowed Chinese to hold independent commands until Tseng Kuo-fan was given a military command during the Taiping rebellion, in 1852. His army, called the Army of Hunan, won many of its battles leading to other Chinese armies being raised, one of which was the Army of Szechuan into which Mesny was recruited. How much Mesny understood the behind-the-scenes politics in play directing the control of the force in which he served is difficult to assess as, for example, he does not refer to the Manchus at any point. He would have us believe that he was frequently the confidante of Chinese senior military officers; logic, however, suggests that he, a foreigner in his twenties who had had no previous military experience, would be unlikely to be told anything of the more complex struggles and challenges for control and power within his or other Chinese forces.\n\nMesny's position within the Chinese Imperial military, as he described it, was complex. On joining the Szechuan Army Corps at Kuei-yang at the age of 26 in 1868, he was given a commission and brevet rank of Ch'ien-tsung +, which he equated on one page of his Miscellany to a First Class Warrant Officer or Sergeant Major, and on another page with a Company Commander or Captain.\n\nIn early 1870 he was awarded the rank and honour of ts'an-chiang hsien. The 'hsien', according to Hucker in his Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, is a troublesome term. It is often", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212774, "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-1992", "page_number": 83, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "68\n\nrendered as brevet rank, which Mesny did. 'Ts'an-chiang is an assistant regional commander [tsung-ping kuan], rank 3a in the Chinese forces called the Green Banner. However, according to Brunnert and Hagelstrom, [Present Day Political Organisation of China [1911], translated from the Russian], it equated to Lieutenant Colonel. Mesny lists it as 'Colonel, the lowest grade of general.\n\nBy the latter days of the second Kueichou campaign he appears to have been promoted to the rank of Major-General, and some twelve years later was awarded the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-General, bearing the title for the remainder of his life. As he is portrayed in foreign-style uniform in a photograph in the Miscellany and yet occasionally refers to himself wearing Chinese attire with his Chinese buttons of rank, it is far from clear whether these were genuine ranks or honorary ones awarded to an attached civilian. It is noteworthy that he never refers to himself wearing a mandarin square [the chest badge], though he does mention his cap button. His uniform as an instructor in the army of Tso Tsung-tang consisted of a cap of the French kepi pattern, ornamented with the Chinese coat of arms [two dragons struggling for a burning globe], with a coat and trousers of dark blue navy cloth, ‘nicely braided front, back and sleeves.\n\nMesny explained that between 1868-1871 for two or more years he was in one corps of fifteen2 battalions styled the Ko-i Ch'üan-chün [brigade], part of the Shu-chün, the Szechuan Army Corps; and another for four years with a corps styled Wu-tzu Ch'üan-chün741, also in Kueichou, i.e. from 1871-1874. The latter corps was also in the original Hsiang-chün, [the Hunan Army]. Regrettably this confuses his story rather than clarifying it, as we do not know when he served with the Hsiang-chün unless he means the Wu-tzu corps which in another part of his Miscellany he noted to have been part of the Hunan Force.\n\nAs far as can be ascertained from the jigsaw pieces he has supplied us with, Mesny, when he was with the Szechuan Army Corps in the first campaign in Kueichou province from 1868-1871, and again during the second campaign from 1871-1876 with the Wu-tzu Hunan Army Corps, almost certainly served with one of the new provincial armies which he refers to in his Miscellany as Disciplined Army Battalions.3 At no point does he actually say so in so many words, but bearing in mind the grades he gave for the ranks and styles of the senior officers in his Force and as he was particularly scathing about the proficiency of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212792, "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-1992", "page_number": 101, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "86\n\nNOTES\n\nIn one of the notes written by Mesny in his Miscellany, [Volume 4 page 34], he listed the various classes and degrees of military rank in what he terms the Chinese Militia Service. A marshal or general was a T'i-tu Chün-men, a lieutenant-general was a Tsung-ping Kuan, a major-general a Fu-chiang; and a colonel a Ts'an-chiang.\n\n2 Mesny gives various totals for the number of battalions serving with the Szechuan Force and in particular with the Ko-i Brigade, with a grand total of thirty-three battalions in the whole Force. These vary from eight to fifteen and a half operating with the Ko-i Brigade. Presumably the explanation lies in the arrival of new battalions to support the Force from time to time, though we are unable to be certain how many battalions were serving at any one particular moment.\n\nMesny states at the beginning of Volume 1 of his Miscellanies that in 1861 General Ward had organised a disciplined force for the Chinese Government, at first locally styled \"Ward's Force\" and later as the 'Ever-victorious Legion'.\n\n4 Mesny later keeps referring to thirty-five battalions.\n\nThe I-ho-t'uan, the \"Patriotic Train Band\", was the official title of the Boxers, of ill-repute.\n\n6 Mesny too had been a member of a train band, the volunteer force in Hankow between 1863-67, under arms several times during the approach of the Nien-fei rebels, when he wore the uniform of the Queen's Western Rifles [sic].\n\n7 Mesny goes into some detail providing recruitment policy, promotion schemes, ranks and titles, training and duties.\n\nUse of the term Disciplined Force was a contemporary fashion. It later became popular to refer to the Lien-chun Ying as Field Forces.\n\n9\n\nMost of the ranks of unit commanders given by Mesny do not tally with those given by Hucker in his Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China.\n\n10 All commanders of divisions and corps had one or more battalions, regiments or brigades, serving a sort of staff brigade and forming the headquarters of that particular army corps. It was popularly designated the Body Guard Battalion or Regiment.\n\nPresumably Han Chinese rebels such as the Huang-hao or the Pai-hao, the remnants of the Taipings or even the Moslem rebels.\n\n12 This is the same title as the Force previously operating under the command of General Gordon during the Taiping Rebellion. Either Mesny has incorrectly recalled the title of the new Force or the new Force continued to bear the former title.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212801, "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-1992", "page_number": 110, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "Terminology\n\n95\n\nButton : The knobs used by the Manchu dynasty to indicate rank, worn on top of caps. They were either transparent or opaque and, depending on rank, red, blue, white or plain gold.\n\nCash: the only coin cast in Imperial China prior to modernisation in the early twentieth century; a crude copper disk each with a square hole in the centre for convenience in carrying a large quantity, hence the expression ‘strings of cash'. Cash, like taels [see below] lacked uniformity in value, and strings, normally a thousand cash, often were composed of 700 pieces or even 1100 according to the regulations prevailing in the locality at the time. Giles claimed that the name was derived from Caixa, the Moorish name for the coin found at Malacca by the Portuguese in AD 1511.\n\nCh'al-kuan : Orderly Officers. These were men of all ranks, risen from the lowest grades, and were the operative staff of any commander.\n\nChai-tzu #7: a common term for a stockade or more commonly in southern Chinese rural areas, the village outer stockade.\n\nChen-t'ai #✩ : General of Division and an Area Commander\n\nChiang-chün #: General, a rank in the Chinese Imperial army used for commanders of reasonably substantial bodies of men be they regular forces or forces recruited for a specific campaign. Mesny explained that any commander lieutenant-colonel and above was referred to as general, and provided a good example with General Hsieh, the adopted son of General Liu, a major commander in the Szechuan force in which Mesny served. Hsieh was only 22 at the time of the campaign, some four years younger than Mesny. He had been the orderly to General Liu and had been adopted by him as his son after Hsieh had carried Liu off the battlefield, saving his life. General Hsieh's command in the Kueichou campaign consisted of the Left-wing Regiment and its second battalion; he could therefore be a regimental commander equating to a full colonel or brigadier at the most in western parlance. Another example is the \"solitary battalion' under command of General Ho Te-wu, the Chung-tzu Ying, with Ying being a 'force of a number of battalions' or ‘a lone battalion'.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212809, "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-1992", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "316\n\nMESNY'S CHINESE MISCELLANY\n\n1420. HSIANG SHAN HSIEH ш:-\n\nThe Hsiang Shan Brigade, composed of two regiments. Each regiment is commanded by a Tu-stu, Major, who has a Shou-pei, or Second Major, for his Adjutant. At the same time the Major commanding the Left Wing Regiment performs the duties of Brigade-Major and Adjutant to the Brigadier-General. Each regiment is divided into two Shao or companies, called in both cases the Tso Yu Shao, or Left and Right (Wing) companies. Each company is commanded by a Ch'ien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by a Tou Ssu Pa-tsung, First-Lieutenant, and a Er-ssu Pa-tsung, Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of seventeen officers for the whole brigade, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1421. TA PENG HSIEH :-The Ta Peng Hsich Brigade stationed at Chinese Kowloong, opposite the British Colony of Hong-kong.\n\nThe brigade as usual is commanded by a Brigadier-General, Fu Chiang, or Isich Tai, called Hip Toi in Cantonese.\n\nThe brigade has a Tu-ssu, Major, as Adjutant to the General, but it is composed of two battalions, only each commanded by a Shou-pei or Second-Major. Each battalion is divided into the usual Left and Right (Wing) Companies or Shao, having a Ch'ien-tsung for Captain to each Company, with Tou and a Er-ssu Pa-tsung, First and Second-Lieutenant, besides the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men, thus giving a total of sixteen officers.\n\n1422. CHIEH SHIH CHEN # #- The Chieh Shih Chen division, composed of a staff corps or Chên Piao of three regiments and a territorial regiment called the Ping Hai Ying.\n\nJan. 9th, 1896.\n\nmanded by a Ts'an Chiang, or Colonel. Each regiment has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major as adjutant.\n\nThe Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the central regiment acts as the General's Adjutant. Each regiment is divided into the usual left and right wing companies, and is commanded by a Chien tsung, Captain, assisted by a Tou-ssá Pa-tsung, First-Lieutenant, and a Er-ssu Pa-tsung, Second-Lieutenant, in each case, thus giving a total of twenty-four officers for the staff corps, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men to each regiment, besides the General.\n\n1423. PING HAI YING\n\nThe division is commanded by a Tsung Ping, or Chen Tai, Lieutenant-General. The central and left wing regiments of the staff corps are each commanded by a Yu-chi, Lieutenant-Colonel; the Right Wing Regiment is commanded by a Tu-ssu, or Major, the Territorial Regiment is commanded by a Ts'an Chiang, Colonel.\n\n-The Ping Hai Regiment. This territorial regiment, as I have said, forms part of the Chieh Shih division, and is commanded by a Ts'an Chiang, Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major, for his Adjutant. The regiment is also divided into two companies, each having a Chien-tsung, Captain, a Tou-ssŭ Pa-tsung, First-Lieutenant, and a Er-ssŭ Pa-tsung, Second-Lieutenant, that gives eight officers, besides non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1424. NAN AO CHÊN YU YING ★ UЯ6\n\n-The Nan Ao (or Namao as it is pronounced locally) division has but two staff regiments, Tso Yu Liang Ying, and one of them, the left wing regiment, is paid and equipped by the government of Fu-kien province, as the station is partly in Fu-kien territory and partly only in Kuang-tung territory. The Right Wing Regiment, belonging to this province, is commanded by a Yu-chi, Lieutenant-Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, Second-Major, for his Adjutant.\n\nThe regiment is divided into two Shao or companies, each commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, assisted by a First and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving nine officers, including the General, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men. Beside its staff regiments the Nan Ao division has two territorial regiments and one territorial battalion in the Kuang-tung province.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212810, "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-1992", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "Jan. 9th, 1896.\n\nMESNY'S CHINESE MISCELLANY.\n\n1425. CHENG HAI YING-This territorial regiment is commanded by a Tsan Chiang, Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major, for his Adjutant. The regiment is divided into two battalions, each of which is commanded by a Shou-pei, Second-Major; each battalion is also divided into two Shao or wing companies. Each company being commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, assisted by a First and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of sixteen officers, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1426. HAI MEN YING-The Hai Men Regiment. This Territorial Regiment also forms part of the Nan Ao Division in this province, and is commanded by a Tsan Chiang, Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major, for his Adjutant. The regiment is divided into the usual two (left and right wing) companies, each of which is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain. The left company having a First and Second-Lieutenant, the right company having a First, Second and Third-Lieutenant, which gives a total of nine officers, besides the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\nThe Ta\n\n1427. TA HAO YING Hao Ying is a Territorial Battalion also forming part of the Nan Ao Division.\n\nIt is commanded by a Shou-pei, or Second-Major, under the orders of the Colonel of the Hai men Regiment.\n\nBesides the Commandant of the Battalion there is a Chien-tsung, Captain, a Tou-ssu Pa-tsung, First-Lieutenant, and a Er-ssu Pa-tsung, Second-Lieutenant, with the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men under them.\n\n1428. YANG CHIANG CHEN The Yang-chiang Division. The division was lately transferred to Pakhoi, or the neighbourhood, with the name of Pei-hai Chên derived from the port of Pakhoi, but I have not yet learnt whether the staff officers and men remain as before whilst at Yang-chiang. The Yang-chiang division was composed of two staff regiments.\n\nThe first called the Tso ying, or left (wing) regiment, was commanded by a Yu-chi, or Lieutenant-Colonel, who was also the General's Adjutant; the Regimental Adjutant as usual being a Shou-pei, Major. The regiment is divided into two or Shao companies; the one being a territorial company its captain is called the Chun Cheng Chien-tsung, and he has the assistance of a Tou-ssu Pa-tsung, First-Lieutenant, and a Er-ssu Pa-tsung, Second-Lieutenant, in the ordinary manner, but the Yu Shao, or right (wing) company has, besides its Chien-tsung, or Captain, no less than four Lieutenants, styled respectively Tou-ssu, Er-ssu, San-ssu and Ssu-ssu Pa-tsung with a corresponding number of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\nThe Right Wing Regiment of the Yang Chiang staff corps is commanded by a Major, who has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major, as his Adjutant. The regiment is also divided into two wing companies or Shao in the usual way, each with a Captain and two Lieutenants to a company, besides the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1429. CHIN CH'I HSIEH Chi Chi Brigade. This is composed of its own two battalions, besides one Territorial Regiment and two Territorial Battalions, all of which also form part of the Yang Chiang Division.\n\nThe head-quarters of the Chi Chi Brigade are quite near Macao. Its two Wing Battalions are each commanded by a Tu-ssu, Major, the left (wing) Commandant being also the General's Adjutant. Each battalion is divided into two Shao or companies, each of which is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by First and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of fifteen officers, including the General, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1430. WU CH'UAN YING: The Wu Chuan Regiment. This Territorial Regiment is commanded by a Tu-ssu, Major, subject to the orders of the Chi Chi, Brigadier-General,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212811, "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-1992", "page_number": 120, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "918 \n\nMESNY'S CHINESE MISCELLANY.\n\nand he has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major for his Adjutant.\n\nThe regiment is divided into the usual Left and Right (Wing) Companies, or Shao, each of which is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by a First and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of eight officers to this regiment, besides the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1431. CHIEH-CHOU YING - The Chieh Chou Battalion. This Territorial Battalion is commanded by a Tu-ssu, Major, subject to the orders of the Chih Ch'i, Brigadier-General,\n\nand as such also under the orders of the Yang-chiang, Lieutenant-General. The battalion consists of a single company commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by a First, Second and Third-Lieutenant, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1432. TUNG SHAN YING - The Tung Shan Battalion. This Territorial Battalion is commanded by a Shou-pei, Second-Major, also subject to the orders of the Chih Ch'i, Brigadier-General, and thus also forming part of the Yang-chiang Division.\n\nIn one copy of the Red Book that I have this very battalion is placed as under the orders of the Colonel of the Lei chou, Territorial Regiment, but the Provincial List has it placed as above.\n\nIt has a Chien-tsung, Captain, described as a Shui Shih and a Lieutenant, described as a Shui Shih Pa-tsung, besides one Lieutenant, simply described as Pa-tsung (I suppose the Shui Shih officers are afloat), thus giving a total of four officers, besides non-commissioned officers and men.\n\nJan. 9th, 1896.\n\nSecond-Lieutenant in both companies, thus giving a total of eight officers, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men. This regiment ought to form part of the Chiung-chou, or Hainan Division.\n\n1433. HAI KOU YING - The Hai-kou Regiment. This Territorial Regiment is stationed at the Treaty Port of Hoihow (Hainan Island), and is commanded by a Ts'an-chiang, Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, Second-Major, for his Adjutant. It also forms part of the Yang chiang Division, and is divided into two Shao or companies, each of which is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, assisted by a First and Second-Lieutenant.\n\n1434. LUNG MÊN HSIEH - The Lung Min Brigade. This is an important brigade. Its head-quarters are near the frontiers of Tung-king, as well as on the coast. At the present moment the French are in possession of some town in the neighbourhood, which the Chinese commissioners claim as Chinese territory. The brigade is composed of two wing regiments, Tso Yu liang Ying. Each regiment is commanded by a Tu-ssu, Major, who has a Shou-pei, or Second-Major for his Adjutant. The commandant of the left (wing) regiment is also Brigade-Major and Adjutant to the Brigadier-General. Each regiment is divided into two left and right (wing) Shao or companies. Each company is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by a First, and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of seventeen officers, including the General, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\nA number of war junks and a few steamers are also attached to this brigade, I am told, but I suspect the steamers are not worth much.\n\n1435. HAI AN YING - The Hai-an Regiment. This Territorial Regiment is commanded by a Yu-chi, Lieutenant-Colonel, who has a Shou-pei, Second-Major, for his Adjutant, and the commandant is to a certain extent under the orders of the Lung men Brigadier-General.\n\nThe regiment is divided into the usual left and right wings, Shao or companies, each of which is commanded by a Ch'ien-tsung, Captain, who is assisted by a First and Second-Lieutenant, thus giving a total of eight officers, besides the usual complement of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\n1436. AI CHOU HSIEH - The Ai Chou Brigade. This brigade is composed of\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212812, "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-1992", "page_number": 121, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "Jan. 9th, 1896.\n\nMESNY'S Chinese MISCELLANY.\n\nland and sea forces, and its head-quarters are on the coast of Hai-nan Island. It furnishes a marine battalion to the sea-coast naval force. The marine battalion is called Ai Chou Hsieh Shui Shih Yu Ying, or the Right Wing Marine Battalion of the Ai Chou Brigade. It is commanded by a Shou-pei, Second-Major, who is assisted by a Shui Shih Chien-tsung, Naval Captain, two Shui Shih Pa-tsung, First and Second Naval Lieutenants, besides the usual number of non-commissioned officers and men.\n\nThe remainder of the brigade forms part of the land forces of the Hai-nan division Ch'ing Chou.\n\n1437. KUANG-TUNG SHUI SHIH KE CHUN LUN CH'UAN 廣東水師各軍輪船\n\n:-The Steam Naval Forces of Kuang-tung province, or the Canton Provincial Steam Fleet. In the year 1884 there were altogether fifty-six steam vessels of various sorts and sizes belonging to the provincial authorities of Kuang-tung.\n\nThe best of the steamers, the Fei Chao Hai, Chên-jui and An Lan, are neither new, powerful nor fast, though serviceable craft for sea-going gun-boats. Some of the others are of the alphabetical class, but they have been so badly kept that they are far from reliable as to steam power. Some of the vessels are hardly fit to go to sea; though not old in point of age they are not sound, and never were very swift or powerful, even for their class. The rest are nothing better than pleasure boats or steam launches for riverine purposes.\n\nCANTON GUN-BOAT SQUADRON,\n\n \n Name\n Flug and Rig.\n Guns.\n Tons.\n H.P.\n \n \n Chee-hing\n cruiser\n 7\n 450\n 265\n \n \n An-lan\n gun-boat\n 2\n 80\n 20\n \n \n Chên-jui\n cruiser\n -\n -\n -\n \n \n Chên-to\n gun-boat\n 7\n 450\n 265\n \n \n Chop-chung\n gun-boat\n 5\n 500\n 300\n \n \n Chop-sai\n gun-boat\n 3\n 80\n 17\n \n \n Hai-chong-ching\n gun-boat\n -\n 320\n 200\n \n \n Hai-king-ching\n gun-boat\n 4\n 320\n 200\n \n \n Hoi-tung-hung\n -\n 3\n 350\n -\n \n \n Lien-chi\n gun-boat\n 3\n 200\n -\n \n \n Peng-chao-hai\n cruiser\n 3\n 450\n 310\n \n \n Quang-on\n gun-boat\n 3\n 155\n 100\n \n \n San-hing\n gun-boat\n 3\n 150\n 100\n \n \n Tching-on\n gun-boat\n 3\n 150\n 100\n \n \n Tching-po\n gun-boat\n 3\n 150\n 100\n \n \n Tchun-tung\n gun-boat\n 3\n 170\n 100\n \n\nN.B. Some of these vessels have now been condemned.\n\nBy order of the Viceroy of the Two Kuang Provinces (Chang Chih-tung) seventeen of the most serviceable war steamers have been formed into a fleet, called Shui Shih Chin Kor Naval Corps. Each of these ships is called a Shao or company. Four ships, Shao or companies, form a Ying, battalion, or squadron, and four Ying, or squadrons form the Chun, or Corps (may be fleet.) The odd ship is the Peng Chao Hai, and serves as flag ship for the commandant of the fleet, who is styled Tung-ling, and is also commander of his own flag-ship. His titular rank is Tu-ssü, or Major (just now), was, when appointed, Shou-pei, Second Major only.\n\n1438. CHAO CH'ING SHUI SHIH YING -The Chao-ch'ing Naval or Marine Regiment.\n\nThis regiment, although forming part of the Riverine Naval Force, is actually a part of the Governor-General's Staff Corps, and is usually styled the Tu Piao Shui Shih Ying on that account.\n\nThe Governor-General of the Two Kuang Provinces was formerly stationed at Chao-ch'ing Fu, a prefectural city some hundred miles or so from Canton on the north bank of the West River, hence the reason why five of the six regiments forming his Staff Corps are stationed there to this day.\n\nThe Chao-ch'ing Naval Regiment is commanded by a Tu Chiang, Colonel, whose Adjutant is a Shou-pei, Second-Major. The regiment is divided into two Shao or companies, each of which is commanded by a Chien-tsung, Captain, assisted by two Pa-tsung, Lieutenants, and the usual complement of Wai Wei, Sub-Lieutenants and non-commissioned officers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213064, "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": 132, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "113\n\nThe mage in bus cult centre in the village of Pai-chiao ft, between Amoy and Changchou, is swathed in silken robes making it impossible to note any iconographical detail. Images of his parents and his elder brother, but none of his only sister, stand on a secondary altar in the cult centre together with a large metal bowl in which it is claimed that Wu Pen had concocted his herbal remedies. Caretakers in the cult centre point out the site in the village of the house in which Wu Pen had been born and lived out much of his life, and also the place at the end of the village where the sea once lapped the shore long before a series of land reclamations left Pai-chiao ft from the open sea.\n\nIn legend Pao-sheng Ta-ti has thirty-six warriors who carry out his orders under two senior soldiers, General Tieh [or Chao] # [#]19¤ and Marshal Kang. Such retinues have been observed in a number of temples dedicated to Pao-sheng Ta-ti in Fukien, Taiwan and in SE Asia, either with him or on side altars, or in a great number of temples painted individually across one of the temple's side walls as a large mural.\n\nA large tablet dedicated to his parents stands on the rear hall altar of a large temple dedicated to him in Tainan city. One smaller image portrays him with a bowl in his hand and a dragon with a pearl in its mouth before his feet?. Two major statues, at floor level, flanking the altar on which Pao-sheng Ta-ti is the main deity, were identified as Chang Sheng-che ' * P K and Chiang Hsien-kuan Il about whom none of the temple staff could offer any information. They would appear to be Pao-sheng Ta-ti's assistants or guardians. However, in Taiwan other pairs of guardian generals have been identified. These have included Generals Chien and Chao MA and Marshals Kao and Yin á KIM.\n\nAlso in the Tainan temple two assistants on the main altar table are Ts'ai-yeh T'ung-tzu X RM and Tsuo Chih T’ung-tzu, 1⁄2 Youths who Collect the Herbs and Compound the Medicines.\n\nLegends about Pao-sheng Ta-ti's origins, powers of magic and his ability to cure the sick abound. He was regarded not only as a powerful mediumistic protective deity who provided effective prescriptions, he was also believed able to stave off floods or bring much needed rain. He is said to have saved the city of Changchou from plague, and again later from starvation during a prolonged drought. He was also summoned to Court where, either in about AD 1030 he cured the Empress Wen or in AD 1408 when the wife of the Ming emperor suffered from sore nipples.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214006, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1997", "page_number": 75, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "41\n\nheroes of the Yang-chia Chiang, [the Romance of the Generals of the Yang clan), the novel in which elements of fact are linked and held together by chunks of fiction, embellished over the generations by public story tellers and opera. The title by which several of the family are known individually is Yang Fu Ta-shih. This is also the group title in the few temples in which the whole family of the Yangs are revered as protective deities. The family in the novel includes not only the mother, but also a daughter-in-law, two daughters and a serving maid, all of whom served as generals during the Sung dynasty, as did all seven sons.\n\nIn one of the numerous episodes in the novel, P'an Jen-mei is said to have planned during the martial promotion jousts to promote his soldier son, P'an Pao, by unfair means. He caused the sons of Yang Yeh to be forbidden to compete and also eliminated other major contestants by having them killed. The Seventh Son of Yang Yeh was furious and despite the ban, entered the jousts and killed P'an Pao. Yang Yeh and two of his sons were sentenced to death but had the sentence commuted to banishment.\n\nAt one stage P'an Jen-mei, who hated Yang Yeh, had him beaten for disobeying orders and then ordered him and his sons to attack the Liao forces. Unfortunately for Yang Yeh during the battle he and his sons were cut off on Liang Lang Shan [the Mountain of the Two Wolves]. The Seventh Son managed to escape and on returning to P'an's headquarters to seek help was accused by P'an of desertion and shot to death with arrows. Yang Yeh, surrounded and without hope, killed himself by banging his head against a tombstone whilst the Sixth Son managed to get away and back to the capital at Kaifeng. There he laid charges against P’an Jen-mei who was brought back to the city and put on trial. After various machinations he was finally convicted but attempted an escape to the Liao only to be caught and killed by the Sixth Son and his sisters. As a result the Sixth Son was banished by the Sung Emperor.\n\nOn his way to Ho-tung [Taiyuan] and banishment at his old family home, the Sixth Son by chance met his elder brother, the Fifth Son, who had become a Buddhist monk on the holy mountain, Wu T’ai Shan. The Fifth Son listened to the story of the fate suffered by members\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214368, "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": 226, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "192\n\nfunded for the temple.\n\nA logical progression, though always thought impossible in Mainland China, has been the deification of the late Chairman Mao. In Taiwan we have seen images of Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen on altars, revered as are the scores of historical worthies and heroes, but the thought that one day an image of Mao Tse-tung would grace the altar of a Chinese temple was so far fetched as to be ludicrous. None the less, Reuters printed a picture of a peasant in a rural temple in northern Shansi in early 1996 standing before a life-size image of Mao on the altar. Another sighting, of the small white bust of Mao on a household altar in a village on the banks of a river in the upper reaches of Yünnan province during the summer of 1997, was easily explained. The altar bore no other images and it was through this village and across the village's bridge, during the Long March, that the Chinese Red Army passed leaving behind a strong folk memory.\n\nMao, it must be remembered, was revered as a god in his lifetime, with cadres and Red Guards bowing before his image during the Cultural Revolution, and reporting the day's activities. And it has not been uncommon for taxi drivers in some of the major cities during the late 1980s and early 1990s to carry pictures of Mao suspended from their rear-view mirror as a protective amulet, though this has been more of a gimmick, but the idea of a statue of Mao on the altar in present day China is still astounding.\n\nWhat is less strange, perhaps, is the description of a Mao image being carried at the head of a religious procession in Fukien province, providing \"legality\" for this ritual procession of deities. Posters portraying the main Central political leaders were also borne aloft at the head of the procession.3\n\nNo doubt there have been zealous cadres carrying out the anti-feudal, iconoclastic purges following the party line and, recalling the clue provided in the report on Hupei, it would seem more than likely that the large number of illegal temples and shrines destroyed are in fact the small rural shrines dedicated to the Earth God which farmers have in their fields. By and large, it has been quite obvious that in general people will continue to go to temples to offer prayers and incense, and that temples and the deities will thrive, or possibly simply survive.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214461, "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": 319, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "286\n\narms Force, and at about this time Ward was strongly praised by Hope,1 the British Admiral who appealed for a large expansion to Ward's force. The eventual force of about 8,000, under a number of foreign officers and several Chinese was, after several very successful battles, named by imperial decree the \"Ever Victorious Army [Ch'ang-sheng Chün].” It was under the overall command of the Governor of Kiangsu province. He was awarded the fourth rank button with peacock feather, though he has also been said to have received the higher imperial award of the Yellow Riding Jacket. At about this time Ward married the daughter of his Shanghai Chinese merchant-patron, Yang Fang. Referred to as Major Ward or General Ward, his rank was immaterial. He was the commander and, in Chinese terminology, commanders in action of forces larger than company level, that is over about one hundred men, were referred to as Chiang-chün, a term translated into English as General.\n\nHe died in Ningpo in September 1862 having been mortally wounded in action at nearby Tz'u-ch'i while reconnoitring by himself and having asked to be buried in the court of the Confucian Temple at Sungkiang, his unthinkable request was granted. He was succeeded for a short time first by another American, Burgevine [of whom more later], and then temporarily by Captain Holland before being finally replaced by Charles Gordon, a British officer in the Royal Engineers. The latter was generally credited by foreigners with the eventual defeat of the Taiping forces. In reality, by the time of Ward's death the corner had already been turned by the much larger Imperial forces under Li Hung-chang, supported by the Ever Victorious Army and other similar small units of foreign led Chinese, and within a short time they, together with British [a brigade of some two and a half thousand men under Brigadier-General Charles Staveley] and French forces, had the Taiping in retreat. Harry Franck, the American traveller of the 1920s, explained probably quite accurately that \"Gordon did the least of the work and won most of the credit for the 'Ever Victorious Army'.\"\n\nFranck retold a legend that \"Ward had planned, in case the Trent affair [during the US civil war] resulted in war with England, to seize British warships and merchantmen in Chinese waters. He had converted his large possessions into cash and negotiable securities, which disappeared when he was killed. An English officer last seen with him was accused of the theft, and there were long proceedings in the U.S. Consular Court in Shanghai.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214826, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1999", "page_number": 241, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "207\n\nold and modern form, they can be found hanging on many walls, even to this day. See Ibid. pp.235-243. Again, as with the religious works, the tracts have Buddhist/Taoist and Confucian connections. The first two are stated in the compilers' Notes to be respectively \"a Buddhist tract\", and the \"work of a literate adhering to Buddhism\". The third was a collection of classical sentences, memorized by schoolboys and often quoted in proverbs, described as the work of a [Confucian] literatus. The last named was by another literatus, again stated to be a Confucianist. The similar work printed earlier in the same Section, the Ch'i Chia or \"About Ruling the Family\" is described as \"the work of a Buddhist writer who is at the same time a Confucianist\". Ibid, pp.208, 222, 234 and 185. The Ch'i Chia, again with Chinese text, translation and Notes, is between pp.158-193.\n\nRefs. \"Instruction\" and cautionary tales could also be found here and there in the texts of opera plays performed all over the country, and were incorporated into the repertoire of traditional tales told by generations of storytellers in towns and villages in all the provinces.\n\n15 From the inside text of the dust cover of Francis C.M. Wei, The Spirit of Chinese Culture (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947).\n\nGeomancy was probably the most compelling of these beliefs, because it concerned both the living and the dead. In its two main branches, geomancy catered for the tombs of the dead as well as the abodes of the living, with their combined effect upon human destinies,\n\n17 Chiang Monlin, Tides from the West (Taipei, China Cultural Publishing Foundation, 1957 but originally Yale University Press, 1947), p.29. The second element in this credo is of particular interest. In it is made manifest the influence of the religious \"Instruction\" given in the works described above, and the whole thrust of the concern with moral teaching described by Hu Shih,\n\nis Ibid. pp.6, 29. Also the biography in Howard L. Boorman and Richard C. Howard (eds.) Biographical Dictionary of Republican China (New York, Columbia University Press, 1967), Vol.1, p.347.\n\n19 This major aspect of Chinese religious belief is covered in the two final chapters of Mrs. J.G. Cormack's Everyday Customs in China (Edinburgh, The Moray Press, 1935), pp.229-256, entitled \"The Influence of the Spirit World\" and \"Spectres and How to Deal with Them\". See also Soothill, op.cit., pp.262-270", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215931, "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": 230, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "164 \n\nlaconically states that, even on what was actually his honeymoon visit, Boxer had not lost his 'powers of observation.' \n\nIn accordance with the policy of withdrawing resources to Singapore, supposedly an impregnable fortress, the FECB was downscaled and most of its men and resources moved. Boxer was promoted to Major, with a small staff, which included his close friend and best man, Alf Bennett. Ironically, this gave him greater flexibility to use his own initiative. \n\n4 \n\nUnable to make much headway with London, Boxer flew to Chongqing to see the British Ambassador, Sir Alexander Clarke-Kerr. Boxer then made contacts with key figures in the Chinese military. He was received by none other than General Dai Li, head of the formidable Juntong or Bureau of Statistics and Military Intelligence. After the Generalissimo himself, to whom his loyalty was almost feudal, General Dai was perhaps the most powerful man in China. An extremely shrewd strategic thinker, he was in many ways the power behind the throne. His organisation, fiercely secretive and ruthless, has been described as a sort of Chinese Gestapo, prepared to use any means, including murder, to achieve its aims. Dai was fanatically devoted to Chiang Kai Shek, and shaped the Juntong to be a dreaded political as well as military machine, spying on all perceived enemies of the state, Communists and fellow Guomindang as well as Japanese. The Juntong organisation was highly effective, operating through cells united by family and social bonds, whose members were expected to subsume all private needs to the pursuance of state aims, however lethal. It has been demonstrated that General Dai and his followers modelled themselves on folk heroes from Chinese history who operated through secret societies and who believed that extreme action such as assassination, was justified in the interests of the common good. Dai was known to be anti-western, for he believed that western countries with their imperialist policies were the cause of China's humiliation, and were exploiting its weakness for their own aims. Many assumed that Dai's anti-British stance was on the personal embarrassment of having been mysteriously arrested in Hong Kong, thus conveniently sidestepping questions raised by decades of opium and gunboats. Dai also believed that any western country operating in China should function under Chinese control, an idea anathema to westerners used to extraterritoriality and getting their own terms. Boxer, however, found Dai co-operative and willing to ...\n\nbased", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215933, "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": 232, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "166\n\noff from distant airfields and alerted possible targets. Previously the British had depended on runners and letters delivered by junk: the advantages of tapping on to the Chinese system were obvious.\n\nChiang was enthusiastic, and eager to talk. British policy seemed engineered towards appeasing the Japanese. Protecting trade and British economic interests were paramount, and the fate of China and its people were seen only in the light of that primary concern. In the deafening silence of British efforts to help the Chinese, Boxer's visit, and the recent reopening of the Burma Road, must have seemed like a breakthrough in British attitudes. Boxer sensed that Chiang was 'apparently envisaging a great deal wider form of liaison than we actually had in mind.' Later, British organisations were to claim that it was Chinese hostility and the Americans who stymied their efforts in China. There is plenty to negate this assumption. Dai Li, a shrewd judge of character and not a man to suffer fools, undoubtedly had had Boxer closely observed, and would have smoothed the way for his introduction to Chiang Kai Shek. The warmth of Boxer's reception shows the Chinese were not implacably opposed to the British. Indeed, far from being anti-western per se, General Dai gave enthusiastic support later to Americans such as Captain Miles, and indeed some British SOE related agencies, who were prepared to work with the Chinese on Chinese terms.\n\nThe wireless sets were duly sent to China and installed by a Cantonese speaking SOE officer, Major Hector Chauvin, who had been attached to Boxer in December 1939 for this purpose. Chauvin travelled extensively in China setting up the stations and meeting the Chinese personnel involved. This network was a prototype. It was the first serious intelligence system in the Hong Kong region. Most importantly, the arrangement was based on trust: the Chinese had full operational control. Although the Chinese might have a different agenda to the British, it was an implicit acknowledgement that, in China, the Chinese were paramount, and that Chinese could and did run a most efficient system. The arrangement worked: The evening before the Japanese attacked Kai Tak, Phyllis Harrop, a civilian police adviser, was at a dinner party with British intelligence personnel. At 10:30 hours, they were interrupted by a sudden telephone call, advising all staff to return immediately to headquarters. Major L left immediately and Captain Bush half an hour later. Bush was an expert on extremist secret", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216022, "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": 321, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "THE YANGZI PORT OF ZHENJIANG DOWN THE CENTURIES\n\n鎮江\n\nPART I\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\n255\n\nIntroduction\n\nZhenjiang is a former walled city on the south bank of what is known to the Chinese as the Chang Jiang, the Long River, or simply as The Great River, and to Westerners - the Yangzi [Yangtze]. The city lies some 40 miles downstream from Nanjing and 156 miles upstream from Shanghai, and in its prime during the Northern Song, in the eleventh century, it was one of the major ports on the River, and even though its influence and authority came to a sudden and dramatic end with its capture and destruction by the Taiping rebels in 1853 it remained the provincial capital of Jiangsu province down to the 1940s.\n\nZhenjiang commanded one of the two junctions of the southern or main arm of the Grand Canal with the Yangzi. The city is surrounded on one side by the Yangzi and on three other sides by hills, none at all high or steep, with the Grand Canal winding past the southern and western face of the walls to its convergence with the River at the Xiannü Temple. The city has been walled since the Yuan [13th century], and was built on the level ground between the Yangzi and the Grand Canal. Three of these numerous hills, all islands or former islands in the Yangzi, Jiao Shan, Beigu Shan and Jin Shan, are part of the city's legend. Some ten miles to the south lies a range of higher hills within which foreigners used to seek their exercise, riding and hunting.\n\nOf all the treaty ports Zhenjiang is possibly the least remembered by the great majority of westerners, with very few nowadays even having heard of the place. Not even when it is explained that in former romanisations it has been known to foreigners as Chinkiang, Chin-kiang, Chen-chiang Fu, Chin-keang-foo, Tsing-kiang-foo, Kin-kiang, Chingkiang, Tsing-kiang and Jingkou [i.e. Gateway to the Capital - Nanjing]. It was even known by the title of Chin-shan [Jin Shan], Gold", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]