[
    {
        "id": 204639,
        "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-1963",
        "page_number": 120,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "107\n\nEUROPEAN NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE\n\nA. D. BLUE *\n\nThe Yangtse is the greatest river in China, and has been of much greater importance in the history of the world than the Amazon and the Mississippi, which are superior in length and volume. In this respect it ranks with the Nile and the Euphrates, but unlike them it has always had a much greater population living along its banks. The Chinese know the Yangtse as the Long, or Great, River. Marco Polo may not have been the first European to see the Yangtse, but he was certainly the first to appreciate its importance, and to bring it to the notice of the Western world.\n\nOf the Yangtse in general Marco Polo said \"the multitude of vessels that invest this great river is so great that no one who should read or hear would believe it. The quantity of merchandise carried up and down is past all belief. In fact it is so big, that it seems to be a sea rather than a river\". There is no doubt but at that time, the second half of the 13th century, the Yangtse carried a greater volume of traffic than any other river in the world. Marco Polo was correct in thinking that no one would believe his reports on the Yangtse, or on China, and it was left to later generations to appreciate the accuracy of his observations.\n\nIt was the missions to China of Lord Macartney and Lord Amherst in 1793 and 1816 respectively, that made Europeans realise the importance of the Yangtse. Then in 1842, during the First China War, a British naval force entered the Yangtse, and was on the point of attacking Nanking (182 miles from the mouth) when the Chinese sued for peace. Sixteen years later, after the Second China War, one of the clauses of the Treaty of Tientsin\n\n* The author served as an Engineer Officer with the China Navigation Company from 1928 until 1938, and was on the Yangtse in 1930 in the Shengking and again in 1934 in the Wuhu. He was captured by pirates in the Newchang river in Manchuria in 1933 and held prisoner for five and a half months. During and after the War he was in the Colonial Service in West Africa, but in 1958 he returned to service with the China Navigation Company, and this has enabled him to revisit a number of the former Treaty Ports.\n\n1 Chinese records mention the visit of a 'Roman merchant' to Nanking about 230 A.D. See G. F. Hudson, Europe and China (London, 1931), p. 90.\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
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    {
        "id": 204644,
        "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-1963",
        "page_number": 125,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "112 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nYangtse was not an easy river to navigate, and with its swift currents and shoals presented problems very similar to those on American rivers, in particular to the Mississippi. The Americans made good use of their experience in river navigation, and were also more willing to carry cargo on deck to speed up loading and discharging. They were more partial to paddle than to screw steamers, the former being better against strong currents and for reversing off shoals. This combination of factors gave the Americans a decided advantage in the early years, and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, belonging to the famous American trading firm of Russell and Company, was the most important company on the river for the first fifteen years of foreign trade.\n\nThe 1860's on the Yangtse was in many respects a repetition of the 1840's and 50's on the coast. Great stretches of the river were still under Taiping control, and it was constantly patrolled by British warships. Lawlessness was common among Chinese and foreign traders alike, and shipping was liable to attack from rebels, Imperial war junks, and pirates indiscriminately. Many foreign ships were engaged in illegal and immoral trades, in flagrant disregard of treaty rights, let alone of the welfare and laws of China. This applies to the sailing ships and lorchas under foreign flags, rather than to the steamers run by the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, the other American companies of Heard and Olyphant, and the British companies of Jardine, Dent, and Lindsay. Opium trading had been legalised by the Treaty of Tientsin, and for the first decade or two at least 20% of the foreign imports into Hankow by the steamers was opium.\n\nThe salt trade was a government monopoly, and the most common illegal activity on the river was salt smuggling. Salt could be bought for the price of rice at Eching, eighteen miles above Chinkiang, and sold further up the river for at least double the price to the great detriment of the salt gabelle. Then there were foreign adventurers who supplied arms and ammunition to the rebels, and others who, if not actually smuggling themselves, convoyed native junks which were smuggling.\n\n— \n\nThe Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was formed by Russell and Company in 1862 with American, British, and Chinese capital, and performed valuable pioneer work in developing river",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
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    {
        "id": 204646,
        "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-1963",
        "page_number": 127,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "114 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nwith Howqua, the great Canton hong merchant, until 1861 and were also associated with Baring Brothers, the London bankers, shows that the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was far from being a purely American concern. The initiative in its formation and its success, however, was almost entirely due to the determination and ability of the Shanghai heads of Russell and Company, and in particular to Edward Cunningham, the firm's managing partner in Shanghai in the vital years of 1862, 63, and '64.\n\nBecause of American influence in the early days, and the similarity between navigational problems on the Mississippi and on the Yangtse, the luxurious river steamers which plied on the Lower and Middle Yangtse during the heyday of foreign trade were very similar to the Mississippi steamers of Mark Twain's day. They had the same tall, narrow funnel, and the long promenade deck extending almost the whole length of the ship, which Hollywood has made so familiar. At the forward end of this deck was the dining saloon, and at the after end the lounge. Both of these were elegantly, and even ornately furnished, the entrance to the lounge being flanked with potted shrubs leading to a wide stairway down to the lower deck. The best cabins were on the promenade deck. Unfortunately no one with Mark Twain's genius has written a ‘Life on the Yangtse' to match his Life on the Mississippi, an omission now very unlikely to be repaired.\n\nIn his journey up the Yangtse and overland to Burma in 1874, which was to end in his tragic murder, A. R. Margary travelled from Shanghai to Hankow by the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company's Hirado.\" Margary described his cabin as large and airy, and the Hirado as a wonderful structure and not like a ship at all. She had a tall narrow funnel in front of each paddle box, tier upon tier of cabins built on the smallest possible hull, and the general appearance of a gaudy palace of pleasure full of windows and terraces floating upon the water. Margary continued by mandarin boat10 to Yochow, and then across the Tungting Lake and by the Yuan River to the border of Kweichow, and then completed his\n\n10\n\n\"The Hirado was one of the largest steamers on the river at this time, being of 1,294 gross tons. She had been built in America for Dent and Company in 1866, and sold by them to the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company in 1867.\n\n10 A long, narrow junk divided into 5 or 6 compartments.\n\n1",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206780,
        "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-1973",
        "page_number": 57,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "EARLY STEAMSHIPS IN CHINA\n\n51\n\nthe Chinese more than all the rest of the British warships put together,\n\nChinese opposition to steamships was overborne after the First China War, and in the years between then and the Second China War 1857-1858, steam navigation in China was established on a secure foundation. During the first two decades of steam, American ships were as prominent as British on the Canton River and on the coast, and sometimes more technically efficient. This was largely because the Americans made good use of their experience on the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers, and also because their early steamships were designed specially for coastal and river conditions. Many of the early British steamships were merely sailing ships equipped with engines.\n\nThe earliest American steamers were associated with Russell and Company, and Robert Benet Forbes was the man mainly responsible for bringing most of these early steamships to China. The first was the Midas, built at East Boston in 1844, which was the first American steamship to round the Cape of Good Hope, as well as being the first to be seen in China. The Midas arrived at Hong Kong on 21st May 1845, and was put on a twice weekly service between Hong Kong and Canton, the first regular steamship service in China. She also engaged in towing and salvage work, which was usually more profitable than carrying passengers or cargo; so that the advertised regular sailings were often more honoured in the breach than in the observance.\n\nThe Midas was followed by the wooden screw bark Edith, also built at East Boston, which arrived at Macao on 2nd September 1845 and Hong Kong a few days later. The Edith was originally intended to run in the opium trade between India and China, but plans were changed and she was loaded with general cargo for Shanghai. Bad weather and engine trouble foiled two attempts to make this passage, and the Edith was eventually sent back to Boston via Rio de Janeiro, reconditioned at Boston and then chartered to the United States War Department.\n\nIn 1846 Forbes sent the small 20 ton screw steamer Firefly on another ship to Hong Kong, and put her in service between Hong Kong and Whampoa until 1849, usually making two trips daily. She was withdrawn in 1849 and sent to California by sailing ship.\n\nIn 1846 Jardines were successful in inaugurating the first British steamship service on the river, with the Corsair between Hong Kong",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
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    },
    {
        "id": 206986,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1974",
        "page_number": 57,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "ADVENTURERS IN HONG KONG \n\n51 \n\nboarded Huck Finn's raft on the Mississippi went by the names of the Duke of Bilgewater (Bridgewater) and the Dauphin. But a title not only helped to disarm potential sceptics but allowed an adventurer to secure credit, often a necessity for the realisation of his schemes. Mayréna, as we have seen, kept himself afloat for some time by the sale of bogus titles, decorations and honours. A title, as it were, gave the claimant a fake persona, a social mask or facade behind which the predator could lurk. In this century, however, a devaluation of titles has taken place coincident with the rise of meritocracy.\n\nPoor communications helped an adventurer of the impostor or swindler type, for if knowledge of his past leaked out too soon, this would undermine any claim to respectability and diminish confidence in his intentions. News flowed more sluggishly in the nineteenth century, though it was a period of great achievements in the development of a network of world-wide communications. In 1853 the P. and O. had established a regular mail service between Hong Kong and Calcutta, thus establishing fortnightly communications with England; in 1863 the French Messageries Maritimes opened a route to the East; telegraph connection with Manila was achieved in 1880, with Canton in 1882. Nevertheless, mail, newspapers, and reading matter of all kinds took time — usually a month — to reach Hong Kong from Europe, even at the end of the century. There was also no Interpol to flash news by telegraph or wireless about international swindlers, pretenders and other social pests. The Hong Kong public had to wait several weeks before Le Courrier d'Haiphong brought news of the accusations Father Guerlach had levelled against Mayréna. It was not until 24 December 1888, six weeks after his arrival in Hong Kong, that the general public acquired some knowledge of Mayréna's chicanery and general untrustworthiness.\n\nIt was not only the pursuit of adventure, of fame or fortune, that drew adventurers to alien shores. Some left their homelands to escape from the cultural constraints and legal bind of their own societies — an escape, as they saw it, into freedom, innocence and, its corollary, libertinage.57 Laurence Hope, the wife of Lieutenant-General M. H. Nicolson of the Bengal Army, in 1902 wrote:\n\nUpon the City Ramparts, lit up by sunset gleam,\n\nThe Blue eyes that conquer, meet the Darker eyes that dream,58",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211843,
        "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": 258,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "233\n\n(SCR 5,6. 1865). \"The gentleman is gifted with rare powers of voice and action which enable him to throw an immense amount of dramatic spirit in his readings and recitations\" (NCH 3.6.1865). It was his second (recorded) performance; earlier he had been successful on March 3 1857.\n\n1.6.1865 (Thur)\n\nPerformance by the Shanghai Amateur Burlesque Company Ltd.\n\nNo titles have been recorded. (NCH 3.6.1865; SCR 5.6.1865)\n\nR: It was \"not quite so successful as some of their previous representations\" (SCR).\n\n3.6.1865 (Sat)\n\nPerformance by Mr. Benjamin Seare.\n\nTh: N.N. (I)\n\nEarly June 1865\n\nConcerts by the Police Band on the Bund.\n\n17.6.1865 (Sat)\n\nC. SELBY: \"The Unfinished Gentleman\" (1834)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs of the 67th Regiment\n\nF: Music\n\nTh: N.N.\n\nR: Whereas in days gone by it was quite usual that there were only a couple of theatrical or musical entertainments during the whole season, now, after a fortnight since the last occasion, the Herald complained that \"considerable dullness has prevailed in Shanghai during the week owing to the lack of any public amusement of any description\" (NCH 17,6,1865). The night of the 17th was \"well attended and gave great satisfaction” (NCH 24.6.1865).\n\n30.9.1865 (Sat)\n\nW. BROUGH & A. HALLIDAY: \"The Area Belle\" (1864)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"The 'Grin' Bushes or Missis Brown of the Mississippi\" (1864)\n\nT: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act)\n\nC: Shanghai Amateurs Burlesque Company Ltd\n\nTh: N.N. (1)\n\nR: This was the first night of the new season (NCH 30.9.1865). No review was published in the Herald or the Record.\n\n10.11.1865 (Fri)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"Princess Springtime\" (1864)\n\nT: Fairy extravaganza\n\nJ. KENNEY: “Turn Out!\" (announced as \"Turn Him Out!'')\n\nT: Musical farce (2 acts)\n\nC: Amateurs of the Shanghai Mounted Rangers\n\nF: Prologue spoken by Capt. Markham\n\nTh: N.N.\n\nR: The evening \"proved a complete success. The acting throughout was excellent and not a single hitch occurred\" (NCH 16.11.1865)\n\n20.11.1865 (Mon)\n\nRepeat of 11.11.1865,\n\nR: The proceeds of this performance went to the Shanghai Hospital, an institution founded",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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    },
    {
        "id": 211846,
        "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": 261,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "236\n\nP: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\n\"No | Round the Corner\" (12.3.1854). P: 23.1.1856\n\n**Perdita the Royal Milkmaid or The Winter's Tale** (15.9.1856). P: 8.4.1865\n\nBUCKINGHAM, Leicester Silk (1825-1867)\n\n\"Take That Girl Away (5.3.1855). P: 15.2.1860; 3.12.1864\n\nBUCKSTONE, John Baldwin (1802-1879)\n\n**A Dead Shot** (22.1.1827). P: 11.4.1865\n\n\"The Flowers of the Forest. A gipsy story\" (11.3.1847), P 28.3.-5.4.1865 \"Isabella or Woman's Life\" (27.1.1834). P: 28.3-5.4.1865\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" (13.6.1840). P: 26.3.1857\n\n\"A Lesson for the Ladies\" (5.9.1838), P: 8.4.1865 \"Married Life\" (20.8.1834). P: 12.11-18.11.1864 \"A Rough Diamond\" (8.11.1847). P: 13.4.1865\n\nBUTLER, Richard (1794-1858)\n\n**The Irish Tutor** (12.7.1822). P: 5.5.1853\n\nBYRON, Henry James (1834-1884)\n\n**Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp** (1.4.1861), P: 2-.9.1864; 19.11.1864; 26.11.1864; 29.4.1865\n\n\"The Babes in the Wood! and the Good Little Fairy Birds!\" (18.7.1859), P: 17.4.1865\n\n**The Bride of Abydos or the Prince, the Pirate and the Pearl** (31.5.1858). P: 22.10-28.10.1864; 13.4.1865\n\n\"Cinderella or the Lover, the Lacky and the Little Glass Slippers\" (26.12.1860). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\n\"Fra Diavolo! or the Beauty and the Brigands\" (5.4.1858). P: 15.10-21.10.1864\n\n**The 'Green' Bushes or Missis Brown of the \"Mississippi\"** (26.12.1864), P: 30.9.1865\n\n**Ill Treated Il Trovatore or the Mother, the Maiden and the Musician** (21.5.1863). P: 22.6.1864; 29.6.1864\n\n**The Maid and the Magpie or the Fatal Spoon** (11.10.1858). P: 8.10-14.10.1864; 15.10-21.10.1864; 15.4.1865\n\n\"Princess Springtime or The Envoy who stole the King's Daughter\" (26.12.1864). P: 10.11.1865; 20.11.1865\n\nCAREY, Henry (1687?-1743)\n\n\"The Dragon of Wantley\" (1737; music by John Frederick Lampe). P: 26.1.1852\n\n\"A Wonder or an Honest Yorkshireman\" (1735). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\nCENTLIVRE, Susannah (1667?-1723)\n\n\"The Wonder. A Woman Keeps A Secret\" (April 1714). P: 12.11.-18.11.1864\n\nCHELTNAM, Charles Smith (1823-?)\n\n\"Aurora Floyd or the Deed in the Wood\" (11.3.1863), P: 26.11.1864; 17.4.1865\n\n\"A Lucky Escape\" (9.9.1861). P: 25.4.1864\n\nCOLMAN, George, the younger (1762-1836)\n\n\"The Heir at Law\" (15.7.1797). P: 21.4.1851\n\n**Love Laughs at Locksmiths** (25.7.1803). P: 9.5.1864\n\n**The Review or The Wags of Windsor** (2.9.1800), P: 24.3.1852\n\nCOURTNEY, John (1813-1865)\n\n**Time Tries All** (4.9.1848). P: 5.5.1860; 21.3.1865",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
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