[ { "id": 207237, "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": 5, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT\n\nTREASURER's Report\n\nTHE LIBRARY: and the Library Rules\n\nTRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH :\n\nI\n\nPage\n\n1\n\n9\n\n13\n\n16\n\nA Hong Kong Spirit-Medium Temple-JOHN T. MYERS\n\nMerchant Organisations in Late Imperial China: Patterns of Change and Development-WELLINGTON K. K. CHAN\n\n28\n\nChina's Economic Planning and Changing Geography—CHIAO-MIN HSIEH\n\n43\n\n∞ NOA\n\n48\n\n61\n\n71\n\n88\n\nARTICLES:\n\nIncident between the Hong Merchants and the Super-cargoes of the British East India Company in Canton, 1811—J. L. Cranmer-BYNG\n\nThe Great Plague of Hong Kong-E. G. PRYOR\n\nNotes on Chiuchow Opera-Helga Werle\n\nCondition of the European Working Class in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong-HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE\n\nThe Employment of Foreign Military Talent: Chinese Tradition and Late Ch'ing Practice-RICHARD J. SMITH\n\n113\n\nThe Pacific Oyster Industry in Hong Kong-BRIAN MORTON AND P. S. WONG\n\nCaptive Surgeon in Hong Kong: the Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945- DONALD C. Bowie\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\n...\n\nThe Pottery Kilns at Wun Yiu, Tai Po-J. W. HAYES\n\nThe Noon Day Gun-CARL T. SMITH\n\nThe German Congregation in Hong Kong until 1914-CARL T. SMITH\n\n139\n\n150\n\n291\n\n292\n\n292\n\n295\n\nBoat People's Ceremonies observed from Island House, Tai Po-D. AKERS JONES\n\n300\n\nThe RAS Photographic Survey in Hong Kong—H. A. RYDINGS\n\n311\n\nChief Marshal T'ien, patron of the stage, of musicians and wrestlers-East and South East China-K. G. STEVENS\n\n303\n\nChang Yu-tang and an old Hanging Scroll from Cheung Chau-FRANCIS S. Y. SHAM AND JAMES Hayes\n\nHung Hom: an Early Industrial Village in Old British Kowloon-Carl T. SMITH AND JAMES HAYES\n\nTyphoon Preparations in 1903\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\n318\n\n324\n\n327", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208064, "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": 103, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "UNDER ALTARS\n\n87\n\nOf these eight titles, Marshal Yin, a famous character in mythology, is a God in his own right in the Taoist folk religion pantheon. He is to be seen only in one temple in the heart of rural New Territories in image form, where, unconnected with any Under Altar, he is one of four generals guarding a major deity.\n\nOthers who regularly appear in the Under Altar and are the deities who share the occupancy but in image form, are the Local Wealth God and the White Tiger. Others who occasionally appear on top of, near to, or in the Under Altar include the Green Horse, Marshal Chao and a second demonic figure similar to the Local Wealth God.\n\nThe Local Wealth God (地方財神)\n\nThe major image, sometimes called the Wealth God of the Under Altar (下壇財神) or the spirit of the Location (地方神) is usually alone though very, very occasionally he may be accompanied by a somewhat similar image. A Hong Kong Cantonese writer who lived during the last century, Wu Yen-jen, in the collection “Ch'ing Tai Wu Yen-jen Yu Yen Chi” (清代吳恩仁寓言集) calls this local deity the \"Local Demon\" (地方惡魔), a description which is more honest than the anodyne and unprovocative term \"spirit\" used nowadays.\n\nThe Wealth God of the Location is a gaunt middle-aged man dressed in mourning apparel, ill-fitting robes of sacking (hessian). He has a protruding tongue and a tall dunce's cap bearing the message vertically on the front \"Fortune at one glance\" (一覽生財). His face is haggard, often with tears of blood coursing down his cheeks. Most Local Wealth Gods clutch palm leaf fans in their left hand, whilst others carry either furled umbrellas, wands with tattered edges raised above their heads in their right hands, have their arms full of paper charms, or a string of silver coins strung around their necks. The majority of images are roughly made of folded coloured papers, and bear strips of white cloth as a sign of mourning. One, in Macau, had a hessian veil stretched across the face \"to prevent him from eating worshipper's “luck\"\", so the keeper said!\n\nThe Local Wealth God is located at ground level because he is neither fit nor qualified to stand on the altar. According to a God Carver in Macau, he stands in the Under Altar for the want...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208067, "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": 106, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "90\n\nK. G. STEVENS\n\nand in another temple with a carved wooden coiled snake in the middle of the group. In one Macau temple four of the Five Demons have very cheeky, European children's faces. This is because the original heads of the images had been so badly burnt by candle and incense heat that the temple keeper had substituted European doll's heads.\n\nApart from the background sheet of titles and the image of the Local Wealth God and those of the Five Demons already described, there are some five other items and images which may feature in Under Altars. As with every temple disposition there does not appear to be any firm rule as to where or how each image or item should be placed within the altar.\n\nThere are many conventions, but none without the exception. The first group of items consists of wooden or stone images of living animals or creatures, the most popular being cockerels, dogs and snakes. No keeper was prepared to say why these creatures are depicted.\n\nSecondly, there are several Gods whose images are seen in Under Altars in addition to being on normal altars. The most popular and easily the most common of these is Marshal Chao, a Wealth God who is also called the \"Marshal of the Dark Altar,\" Hsuan T'an Chao Kung-ming Yuan Shuai (#). Chao's image is relatively standard, and was very common in temples throughout China. He is a ferocious general, seated astride or seated with a foot on a tiger; or standing on a tiger; with his right hand raised holding a magic whip (a knobbly-bladed sword). He was spotted on one occasion in one temple only with a long folded white strip of paper and a short strip of hessian laid across his head. We will briefly refer again to Chao. Others include Tzu Wei Hsing Chun (***), The Star God of the Planet Venus, and Hua Fen Fu Jen (✯✯✯A), the Powder Maiden (who preserves a girl's beauty). The face of the latter image is coated with cosmetic powder by young girls and she is frequently bedecked with strings of imitation pearls as offerings. The connexion between the Powder Maiden and the rest of the altar escapes explanation, and the answer from temple keepers has been that it is simply custom. There are also numerous other unidentified individual images unconnected with the altar which have been placed there by ignorant temple keepers or worshippers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "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": 214259, "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": 117, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "80\n\na Stupa and/or spear\n\nThe King Protector of the North E and controller of Autumn\n\nelement metal\n\nsometimes identified as Li T'ien-wang\n\nP'i-sha-men T'ien-wang E\n\nIn a number of older temples the Diamond Kings are portrayed as demonic with black skins and with a total of eight in the group rather than the usual four. In the Kai-yüan Ssu in Changchou in Fukien province, the Eight are positioned on all sides of the main altar. They are bare to the waist and have bare feet, and are without weapons or attributes.\n\nIn northern Chinese temples the two guardians outside the main doors, often painted on the front walls flanking the entrance, are blue or green skinned demons known as Wu-shih, simply meaning 'warriors'. or Li-shih J\n\nDoré claims that the Four were introduced in the 8th century during the reign of T'ang T'ai Tsung who believed that the Four helped him establish his empire. The Taoist group said to have assisted the T'ang emperor is often identified with four Taoist mythological deities. These are:\n\nLi Yüan-shuai [Marshal Li or Li T'ien-wang], Li Ching, the Heavenly King who holds a pagoda10\n\nMa Yuan-shuai [Marshal Ma] or Ma the Heavenly King who holds two swords\n\nChao Yuan-shuai [Marshal Chao] or Chao T'ien-wang, holding a single sword\n\nWen Yuan-shuai [Marshal Wen] or Wen T'ien-wang holding a spiked club", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216040, "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": 339, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "273\n\nsince sought his assistance to calm storms. In yet another legend Yan Gong is claimed to have saved the life of the first emperor of the Ming during a crossing of the Yangzi; and Werner, after relating a complicated story about the presence of a mythical creature being found, noted that Ming Hong Wu, having realized that he had been saved by a spirit called Yan, bestowed the title of Marshal of the Metropolis upon him and ordered a temple to be built in his honour.\n\nImages of Yan Gong have been only noted on altars in the area of Nanchang in Jiangxi, and in the southern maritime provinces of China including Taiwan and Hong Kong, but not within Chinese communities in South-east Asia.\n\nJiang Shen, literally the spirit of the river, is the generic title for a nameless deity on the Yangzi about whom little is known. She is said to have taken on human form and been bathing in the nude when she was stranded by the low tide. A fisherman caught and raped her, and died! The image of the deity seen in the temple near Wuhan on the Yangzi was that of a fish.\n\nJin Shan Si\n\nThe Song emperor Zhen Cong [998-1022] first gave the name of Longyou Dao, the Island of the Imperial Swim, to Jin Shan island after he had had a dream that he had been swimming in the Yangzi from it and then some ten years later gave permission to the monastery on the island to take the name Longyou Chan Si, which indicates that the temple was of the Buddhist Amitabha School of Meditation. It was restored to prominence and imperial patronage in about 1323 following several annual religious congresses.\n\nVisitors nowadays see a hillock, Jin Shan, Gold or Golden Hill, on which the temple stands with its tall octagonal pagoda with galleries marking each of the seven storeys outlined against the sky. This pagoda crowns the buildings and dominates the River and for a small gratuity permission to ascend the spiral staircase may be obtained. Today's pagoda, known as the Cishou Ta, was built in 1900, though according to historical texts there used to be two pagodas. These stood one at each end of the temple, and were first built during the Tang, though reconstructed several times down the centuries.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]