[ { "id": 207376, "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": 144, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "136\n\nRICHARD J. SMITH\n\n46 See K. A. Wittfogel and Feng Chia-sheng, History of Chinese Society, Liao (907-1125) (Philadelphia, 1949), 8-10; also Igor de Rachewiltz, “Yeh-lü Ch'u-ts'ai (1189-1243); Buddhist Idealist and Confucian Statesman\" in Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett, Confucian Personalities (Stanford, 1962).\n\n47 Wittfogel and Feng, 9.\n\n48 See Herbert Franke, \"Sino-Western Contacts under the Mongol Empire,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 6 (1966), 52.\n\n49 Kuwabara, 96-99.\n\n50 See Henry Serruys, \"Mongols Ennobled during the Early Ming,” HIAS, 22 (1959); also Serruys, \"Landgrants to the Mongols in China: 1400-1460,” Monumenta Serica, 25 (1966), especially 394. As had been the case with other barbarians in China's past, the use of Mongol and Jurched troops in the Ming could be a liability as well as an asset. See Serruys, \"Sino-Jürched Relations During the Yung-Lo Period (1403-1424),” Göttinger Asiatische Forschungen (Weisbaden, 1955); 67-68, 71.\n\n51 See the summary discussion in Immanuel C. Y. Hsü, The Rise of Modern China (London and Toronto, 1975), 138-139; also George L. Harris, \"The Mission of Matteo Ricci, S.J.: A Case Study of an Effort at Guided Culture Change in China in the Sixteenth Century,” Monumenta Serica, 25 (1966).\n\n52 James B. Parsons, Peasant Rebellions of the Late Ming Dynasty (Tucson, 1970), 129.\n\n53 C. R. Boxer, \"Portuguese Military Expeditions in Aid of the Mings Against the Manchus, 1621-1647,\" T'ien-Hsia Monthly, VII (1938); S. Y. Teng and John K. Fairbank, China's Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839-1923 (New York, 1970), 13; North-China Herald, January 10, 1852. Boxer, 32, offers the explanation that the expedition was undermined by Cantonese who feared that the Portuguese, if successful, would be granted extended trading rights, while the North-China Herald suggests that when the men reached Nan-ch'ang they were ordered to return because \"the contemptible figure they presented completely disappointed expectation.\" It is probable that each of these interpretations has a measure of validity.\n\n54 Serruys, \"Were the Ming,” 136.\n\n55 Boxer, 35.\n\n56 Wills, Guns, Pepper and Parleys, especially chapter 2; Fu Lo-shu, A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations (1644-1820) (Tucson, 1966), I: 32-33, 58; Teng and Fairbank, 34.\n\n57 The Ch'ing did, however, ally with the Russians against the Dzungars during the K'ang-hsi period and the Ch'ien-lung emperor did make good use of Western cannon (Hsi-yang p'ao) in his famous campaigns. See, for example, IWSM, TC 9: 30a-b; also Teng and Fairbank, 34; Swisher, 697.\n\n58 See Immanuel C. Y. Hsü, \"Russia's Special Position in China during the Early Ch'ing Period,\" Slavic Review, 13.4 (December, 1964).\n\n59 Chinese Repository 11: 64; Swisher, 98-99.\n\n60 See Masataka Banno, China and the West, 1858-1861 (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), especially 45-53, 207-209; Swisher, 683-697.\n\n61 See, for example, IWSM TC 22: 11b-13b; also Richard J. Smith, \"Foreign-Training and China's Self-Strengthening: The Case of Feng-huang-shan, 1864-1873,” Modern Asian Studies, 10.12 (1976).\n\n62 For the use of this expression (or a variant) as late as the 1890's see WCSL 101: 9 and 129; 16.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210805, "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": 156, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "139\n\nNOTES\n\n'The son of a minor official of K'iungshan, Hai Jui left Hainan at an early age and after passing the superior examination in Beijing, rose rapidly to high office. Although severed at an early age from immediate connection with his native Hainan, Hai Jui continued to bear its interests actively at Court. He died in 1587 (Mayers, 1872).\n\n2\n\nDisappointed by his failure to receive promotion to the Board of Rites in Peking, Wang Hung-hui resigned his office as emissary in 1599 and returned with his family to Hainan. Before leaving, however, he gave the Jesuit, Father Matteo Ricci, letters of introduction to his Peking colleagues (Dunn, 1962).\n\nKnown as Lingnan Agricultural College, the College of Agriculture at Canton Christian College was an indigenous undertaking, and unlike contemporary colleges in Nanking and Peking, it was fostered and developed by the Cantonese and was not directly under western control. Today, Lingnan Agricultural College survives as part of South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou.\n\nWang Guo-xing became the first governor of the Li-Miao Autonomous region which was formed in 1952 (Lee, 1964).\n\nREFERENCES\n\nAnon., (1982a) “Hainan Island Mining and Mineral Survey Mission\", Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra.\n\nAnon., (1982b) \"Hainan Region National Economic Statistical Material — 1981\" Hainan Region Bureau of Statistics, August, 1982, p322.\n\nThe Bulletin (1983) “China's Island Economic Zone\", May 10, 1983 p124.\n\nChin, Mien-min (1962) “Hainan Island under the Chinese Communist Rule,\" Communist China, 2: 231-251.\n\nChina Daily (1981) “Ownership of land will not be altered\", November 4, 1981, published by Xinhua news agency.\n\nChina Daily (1981) “Hainan Island: a place worth investment”, December 4, 1981, published by Xinhua News Agency.\n\nChina Daily (1983) “Special measures for Hainan Island”, June 6, 1983, published by Xinhua News Agency.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213392, "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-1994", "page_number": 214, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "Gordon-Cumming, Constance Frederica, Wanderings in China, Edinburgh Blackwood, 1888\n\nGraham, Gerald S. The China Station Wan and Diplomacy 1830-1860, London Oxford University Press, 1978\n\nGraham, Dorothy, Through The Moon Door the Experiences of an American Resident In Peking, New York JH Sears, 1926 (Bj19j/A2/926g)\n\nGray, John Henry, Walks in the City of Canton, Hong Kong De Souza, 1875\n\nGray, Mrs John Henry, Fourteen Months in Canton, London Macmillan, 1880\n\nGreen, Owen Mortimer, The Foreigner in China, London Hutchison, 1942\n\nGreenberg, Michael, British Trade and the Opening of China 1800-42, Cambridge the University Press, 1951\n\nGriffith, Robert, China fu - China fydd, etc, London Gwasq Livingston, 1935\n\nGue, Caroline, China 13 (An Account of Travel to Treat Trachoma), London Faber and Faber, 1964\n\nGumpach, Johannes von, The Burlingame Mission, a Political Disclosure on the Position and Influence in China of Robert Hart As Confidential Advisor of the Tsungli Yamen, the Dispersion of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla, the Policy of the United States in China, Shanghai, London and New York, 1872\n\nGutzlaff, Charles (Gutzlaff, Karl Frederick), Journal of Three Voyages Along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832, and 1833, London Frederick Westley and A H Davies, 1834\n\nChina Opened, or a Display of the Topography, History, Customs, Manners, Arts, Manufactures, Commerce, Literature, Religion, Jurisprudence, etc of the Chinese Empire. London Smith Elder and Co. 1838\n\nHall, Josef Washington, In the Land of the Laughing Buddha, New York Putnam, 1924.\n\nHao, Yen-p'ing, The Comprador in Nineteenth Century China Bridge Between East and West, Cambridge (Mass) Harvard University Press, 1970\n\nChanging Chinese View of Western Relations 1840-95, Cambridge History of China, vol 11, 142-201\n\nHarkness Ruth, The Baby Giant Panda, New York Garrick and Evans, 1938 (Yale copy entitled The Lady and the Panda, an Adventure)\n\nHarris, George L, The Mission of Matteo Ricci, SJ a Case Study of an Effort at Guided Cultural Change in China From Sixteenth Century, Monumenta Serica XXV 1-168 (1966)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213402, "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-1994", "page_number": 224, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "212\n\nStockholm Statens Etnografiska Museum, 1866\n\nSkrine, CP, Chinese Central Asia, London. Methuen, 1926 (Hong Kong Reprint Oxford University Press)\n\nSladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton, The Japanese at Home, 5th edition, with Bits of China, London and New York Waid, Lock and Bowden, 1895\n\nSmedley, Agnes, Chinese Destinies - Sketches, New York Vanguard, 1933\n\n- China Correspondent, London Routledge and Kegan. 1934\n\n- Battle Hymn of China, New York Knopf, 1943\n\n+\n\nSmith, Carl T, Chinese Christians Elites, Middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1985\n\nSmith, Richard J, Mercenaries and Mandarins: the Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China, New York KTO Press, 1978\n\nSmith, Ronald Bishop, A Projected Portuguese Voyage to China in 1512 and New Notices Relative to Tome Pires in Canton, Bethesda (Maryland) L Decatur Press, 1972\n\nSpence, Jonathan, To Change China: Western Advisers in China 1620-1960, Boston Little Brown, 1969\n\nThe Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, New York Viking Penguin, 1984\n\nStaunton, Sir George Leonard, An Authentic Account of An Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, London G Nicol, 1798\n\nStein, Sir Mark Aurel, Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1921\n\nStern, Simon Adler, Jettings of Travel in China and Japan, Philadelphia Porter and Coates, 1888 (WB11894)\n\nSzczesniak, Boleslaw, The Writings of Michael Boym, Monumenta Serica XIV (1949-55), 481-538\n\nTaylor, Francis, mss (Bodleian Library Ms Rawl D391/95-98) Letters of Francis Taylor to Dr Edward Browne April 25, 1703 off Ancuago on coast of China,\n\nTeignmouth, Henry Noel Shore, (b 1847), The Flight of Lapwing, a Naval Officer's Jottings in China, London Longmans, 1881\n\nThomas, James A, A Pioneer Tobacco Merchant in the Orient, Durham NC Duke University Press, 1928.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214548, "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": 406, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "375\n\nBACKSTREETS OF BEIJING\n\nNOTES ON THE EASTER, 1998 VISIT TO BEIJING\n\nPENNY ROBBINS\n\nMEREDITH TONG-DRAPER GEOFFREY ROPER\n\nThe idea of a visit to Beijing, the Branch's first, came up during the Easter 1997 visit to Shanghai when Council member Dr Joseph Ting offered to lead a trip to aspects of the capital seldom seen by the tourist. Despite a busy work schedule, Dr Ting came true to his promise and on Good Friday, the 10th April led a party of 26 members and guests, including Branch President Dr Dan Waters, to Beijing.\n\nDriving in from the Airport we found that spring had already arrived with the highway lined with trees sprouting every shade of green that one could imagine, and blossom in white, pink and deep crimson. Everything, that morning, looked fresh and clean, and to those who had not been there for some years, more prosperous. \"Bamboo\", the tour guide supplied by the travel agent, soon let us know that Beijing was now sharing in the nation's wealth.\n\nDr Ting soon had us working hard and we went straight from the Airport to the Foreign Missionaries Cemetery in the western suburbs of Beijing, off Chegongzhuang Road, rather ironically tucked away in the grounds of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Cadre Training School, where a billboard proclaimed Deng Hsiao-ping's pragmatic message “learn from experience\". At the Cemetery, for which the Ming Emperor Wanli had given land in 1611, we were met by Professor Liu Shuyong a research fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Hon. Secretary of the Hong Kong University Alumni Association in Beijing, who had helped make many of the arrangements for our visit, and Madam Gao Zhiyu, President of the China Association for Matteo Ricci Studies, which had been formed in 1995. Madam Gao gave us a very informative guided tour of the cemetery. [Illustration One].\n\nThere are two main sections, one, which has three graves and another with almost fifty more. The principal grave is that of Matteo", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214549, "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": 407, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "376\n\nRicci (1552-1610) the Italian Jesuit, astronomer and mathematician who left Portugal in 1578 and reached China in 1583. After time spent in Guangdong Province (mostly at Zhaoging (Shiuhing) on the West River), Nanchang and Nanjing, he finally reached Beijing in 1601. His descriptions of life at the Imperial Court created an enthusiasm in Europe for all things Chinese and he contributed to cultural exchange between China and the West. Matteo Ricci's legacy was to be a recurring feature of our weekend.\n\nThe second grave is of Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666) from Cologne, who arrived in Beijing in 1630. He became a translator of Western books on astronomy at the Ming court of Hsu Kuang-ch'i and later produced a calendar based on Western mathematical calculations. Under the first Qing emperor, Shih-tsu, he was granted permission to erect the Southern Church, which we were to visit on Easter Sunday. The third grave is of the Belgian, Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-88) who arrived in 1659. In the second section, graves include those of priests from Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia and Belgium, and also 14 Chinese priests. In this section the most notable is that of the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), famed for his painting of horses. Some of the buildings bordering the Cemetery have been destroyed during the passage of history but a former French convent, built in 1926, is still standing and the Matteo Ricci Society plans to turn it into a museum as part of their revival of Matteo Ricci studies.\n\nAt our hotel, the Palace, we found that Nina Ricci now had a shop there, indicating that although some Beijing intellectuals had a revived interest in Matteo, the new-rich of the capital preferred the high-fashion consumerism of Nina.\n\nOn the Saturday we visited the National Library of China at 39 Baishigiao Road, near Beijing Zoo and Purple Bamboo Park, in West Beijing where we were received by Madam Sin Liping, Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs and Mr Huang Runhua, Head Librarian of the Rare Book Section, together with members of his staff; and given a privileged viewing of a selection of rare foreign books. These included a Catechism dated 1588 in Latin and Chinese, with the Chinese also transliterated into Roman script. This may have been the work of Matteo Ricci. Another equally fascinating book had been written in Spanish,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214550, "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": 408, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "377\n\ntranslated into Italian, then into French. It was the undated French version that we saw. It had been written, possibly in Macau, on the instructions of the Pope and described the persecution of priests. There was also a massive hand-written \"Tartare-Mantchou French dictionary” 1st edition, Paris 1789, in 3 volumes. Another interesting book was \"Dr Fryer's Travels: A new account of East India and Persia in eight letters, being nine years travels\" by John Fryer MD (Cantab) and Fellow of the Royal Society, published in 1898.\n\nThe more linguistically accomplished of our members interpreted these works for the benefit of all and there was much erudite discussion. This was the Society at its best and we could have spent many more hours, even days, delving into this fascinating collection. [Illustration Two].\n\nOn Saturday afternoon we drove out to Fa Hai (Sea of Dharma) Temple, in the distant western suburbs at the southern foot of Cuiwei Mountain. The temple was begun in 1439 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) with funds raised by Li Tong, a favourite eunuch of the Emperor. It was completed in 1443 and named by Emperor Ying Zhong. The most outstanding features are the frescoes, which completely fill the walls of the main, Mahavira, hall. These reflect a relatively pure Buddhism without Taoist depiction. They are of Buddhas, Avalokiteshvara (Kuan Yin) and the three other bodhisattvas, devas, wonderful animals, auspicious clouds, flowers and realistic landscapes. There are five Buddhas on either side with the 10 Buddhas together representing the full power of Buddhism, and possibly also the idea of east and west. The colours are subtle and not too faded (although the viewing of a colour-enhanced video prior to touring the Temple helped our appreciation). In the temple grounds are unusual pine trees with silver-white bark; ancient trees, said to resemble dragons, and a bell engraved in Chinese characters expressing Sanskrit teachings. The auspicious clouds inside were matched outside, for misty rain added to the atmosphere of the temple, set in the mountainside woods.\n\nOn Easter Sunday we were up very early to go to the oldest Christian church in Beijing - the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception of Blessed Mary, on Qianmen Avenue. This is also known as Nan t'ang, or South Church. The Emperor bestowed on Matteo Ricci the lands and funds to build the church near the then Calendrical Bureau inside", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214552, "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": 410, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "379\n\nmeeting place where candidates from the two provinces could stay while attending imperial examinations. An opera hall was added in 1830 and it became a centre for Beijing opera masters including Mei Lanfang. The hall was restored in 1992 and the site also houses a small opera museum. We watched a very lively performance of excerpts from famous Beijing Operas, the highlight of which was the Monkey King in Journey to the West defeating a rapid succession of opponents through brilliant acrobatics and martial arts.\n\nOn Monday, our final day, we visited the former Legation Quarter, now called Dong Jiao Min Xiang. This quarter had long been the place where tributary visitors, such as Mongols, Tibetans and Vietnamese stayed, and during late Qing times became a virtual \"state within a state\".\n\nDr Ting guided us on a walk which began at St Michael's Church, in Taijichang Street (formerly known as Rue Marco Polo) and built by French Vincentians in 1901. Inside the church is simple and modest with some of its services still conducted in Latin. We went on past the sites of the Russian Embassy and the former British Embassy, as well as the present Beijing Municipal Government offices, the Supreme People's Court and the Beijing Public Security Bureau. There still exists one interesting road sign, Rue Hart, named after the famous founder of the Imperial Maritime Customs, Sir Robert Hart.\n\nOur visit to Beijing ended with a brief look at the antique market Liulichang (Glazed Tile Factory) an area named after a pottery which, in Ming times, produced tiles for the roofs of the Forbidden City. It had been famous for centuries for its old book shops, pictures, rubbings, jewellery, bronzes and porcelain and for some years now it has been revived as an antique market, (but one has to bargain very hard to get a good price).\n\nWe returned to Hong Kong on Easter Monday afternoon having visited a capital undergoing both revival and development, with room for both Matteo Ricci and Nina Ricci, for both the study of history and plans for a future based on past experience; and for both the tranquillity of the Fa Hai Temple and the boisterous artistry of the Monkey King. We look forward to further insights in Qingdao during Easter 1999.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214553, "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": 411, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "380\n\nMD\n\nIllustration One. The Beijing visit party by Matteo Ricci's tomb with Madam Gao Zhiyu in the centre. Photograph by Allan Painter.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214822, "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": 237, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "203\n\nis result-oriented, clients either multiply or fall away. The more \"miracles\" a god is perceived to have worked, now or in the past, the more popular he or she becomes with the public. Money flows like water to that temple, enabling major reconstructions that can double its size and more. Where there are no miracles, and results cease to flow from that image or shrine, the disappointed, discontented supplicants turn their attention elsewhere. I have frequently come across this attitude in the local temples, among worshippers and temple keepers alike, and it is apparently one of very long standing.\n\n25\n\nThis capacity to discard as well as acquire gods, is due to the very pragmatic attitude adopted by the people. It has been styled the \"shopping approach\" towards religion and the deities because it is so deeply grounded in expectation and its continuation is so much dependent upon results.26 In line with this approach, frustrated devotees sometimes took their disappointment and dissatisfaction a step further. Especially in crises, gods who failed to protect were not only abandoned but sometimes harshly treated. Whilst this phenomenon had been noted by many Protestant missionaries in 19th century China, the practice was observed long before that time. In 1583, the most famous of all Roman Catholic missionaries to China, Father Matteo Ricci, had written that “when these [idols] do not grant them what they [the people] desire, they beat them hard and make peace again with them later on.”??\n\nMany Gods in the Chinese Pantheon\n\nFrom the foregoing, it will scarcely come as a surprise to learn that the gods were legion. The pantheons of both Buddhism and especially Taoism have shown over many centuries the extreme creativity of the Chinese people in the matter of finding extra deities to worship. Over a century ago, Rev. Hampden Du Bose, \"for Fourteen Years a Missionary at Soochow,\" described the very wide range of gods adopted by different professions and groups in the late 19th century.\n\n28 There has, in addition, always been a strong impulse to seek assistance and protection from any new deity or spirit which appeared to have miraculous powers, and this is far from being dead to-day.29", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215427, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 204, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "153\n\nTrue, the originality and beauty of carvings and images constituted an aesthetic experience aimed at everyone in the city. But one cannot help thinking that this complex text, with its erudite cross-referencing, was partly conceived with the more literate and bookish administrative and literati class in mind. After all, attracting the upper and educated classes had recently evolved as a novel Jesuit method of missionization that had borne rich fruit for Matteo Ricci and his confreres in the Chinese mainland.\n\nOne of the Chinese inscriptions states: 'The Holy Mother tramples on the dragon's head,' a reference to the Book of Genesis (Fig. 19). Both the left and the right scrolls have carved inscriptions in relief (as opposed to those explaining the dragon, which are incised), consisting of six large vertical characters. Like those on the dragon, they explain the two images spreading horizontally across the scroll inside a frame. The ones on the left, before the claws of another strange monster, with tail, short antlers, a snout, large bat's wings, breasts and shot through with an arrow, read: \"The Devil tempts mankind to do evil things\" (Fig. 20).\n\nOn the right we read: 'Remember Death and do not sin,' a kind of memento mori epigram at the bony feet of a grimacing skeleton also shot through with an arrow (Fig. 19).\n\nMain Image\n\nReferences to the Devil, who tempts humanity to sin (whose wages is death), form part of the complicated iconography of the façade. Directly or indirectly the entire iconographic programme revolves around its titular image depicting the Assumption of Mary (Fig. 21).\n\nIt is the largest bronze in the frontispiece, measuring practically six feet in height, and like all the bronzes of the façade of rather shallow 3-D casting and flat at the base. It is surrounded by reliefs of music-playing and incense-burning angels, amongst the finest in colonial religious imagery by East Asian artists (Fig. 22). The Assumption is combined with an Infant Salvator Mundi in the attic above, and with the Dove of the Holy Spirit in the pediment (Fig. 23).\n\nThe Virgin's Assumption in bodily form into heaven is one of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]