[
    {
        "id": 207037,
        "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": 108,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "102\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\nFrench, advancing up the Mekong from Saigon, over-anticipating its value as a trade route to China and claiming suzerainty over Annamese vassals, slowly filled.\n\nThe explorer Mouhot was at Luang Prabang in 1861 and Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier shortly thereafter. The Kha rebellion of 1885 gave the French an excuse for intervention and stopping further extension of Siamese power in Laos; in 1886 a provisional Franco-Siamese convention was signed giving the French the right to establish a vice-consulate at Luang Prabang. The first mission by Pavie to Luang Prabang took place early in 1887, but French expansionism was effectively held in check for three years by the devastation caused by Deo Van Tri and the Black Flags (the Ho 'pirates' operating from Yunnan and Tonkin). Incidents increased between Siam and France and culminated with the French naval demonstration at Bangkok in 1893; the Siamese gave way and ceded the left bank of the Mekong to France. The Franco-Siamese treaty of 1907 gave the right-bank province of Sayaboury and those right bank parts of Champassak to France, but recognised Siamese authority over the rest of the right bank. The present frontiers of Laos were effectively decided by the French, from whom the Lao gained independence in 1949 under King Sisavong Vong. Prince Boun Oum of Champassak having in a secret protocol of 1946 renounced his right to the kingdom. More recent events have been well chronicled and the agreement of the three major political princes of left, right and centre in 1974 to form a joint government offers hope that the troubled post-war history of Laos might enter a more peaceful phase.\n\nThe buildings in Vientiane then are either restorations or totally modern and, as always in mainland southeast Asia, the monuments of note are almost exclusively religious. The most attractive shrine is the That Luang slightly outside the city. This solid tapering square tower was built in the 16th century by King Settathirat and is said to contain Buddhist relics. It was badly destroyed by the Red Flags in 1873 and its reconstruction was completed in 1929. It is an impressive pile set in a large open square fringed with trees. A vast fair takes place here every November and assumes a national importance.\n\nVat Pra Keo was also built originally by King Settathirat to house the Emerald Buddha on its arrival from Chiengmai; the statue",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207040,
        "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": 111,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "THE MONUMENTS OF VIENTIANE AND LUANG PRABANG\n\n105\n\non Tonkin and Laos; the Dutch merchant van Wusthoff also visited the capital of Souligna Vongsa from 1641-42 and left an interesting account of his travels. But neither Protestant merchants nor Jesuit priests could have made such a visual impression that more than two hundred years later their envoys should be recorded in a different city from that they visited. No known accounts, either written or visual, survive from the Lao side to record the visits of these gentlemen; however the visual tradition of Europeans, particularly the French, in 17th century Siam was strong during the reign of King Narai (as the lacquer pavilion in Suan Pakkard Palace in Bangkok bears witness), and was continued into the nineteenth century, and as the artists for the frescoes undoubtedly came from Siam one suspects that the inspiration for the unusual door and window carving comes from the same source. It is significant that the foundation date of the temple is also that of Mouhot's visit to Luang Prabang, one of the first recorded visits by Europeans. In the grounds of the temple a resourceful monk had utilised a plasma bottle and dripper to feed his roses.\n\nVat May, past the royal palace in the main street, was built in 1820 and has an unusually high roof; the portico is decorated with large gilded panels representing scenes from the life of the Buddha. It was for a time the shrine of the Pra Bang, the palladium of the Lao kingdom. This statue came from Cambodia in 1358 at the founding of the Kingdom of Lane Xang and was moved to Vientiane when the capital was transferred in the 16th century. It was taken in 1778 with the Pra Keo by the Siamese; the Pra Bang was returned in 1781 to Ong Boun. The Siamese again removed it in the sack of Vientiane in 1828 but King Mongkut restored the statue in 1867. Recently it has been moved from the temple for safekeeping in the Royal Palace. Between the temple and the palace is a small red lacquer post and dais; until recently, each year the royal elephants were preached at and requested to behave themselves before being sprinkled with lustral water.\n\nThe two other principal temples of the town are away from the main street. Vat Vixun was restored in 1867 and much changed in shape. It has a large nave and fat pillars and it is far more imposing than many temples in the town. A number of pieces of woodcarving have been collected in it to form the basis of a museum, but at present it is but a jumble of spirit houses and shrines. Here are to be found several flags, each with a number of small Buddhas",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
        "rank": 0
    }
]