[ { "id": 204718, "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-1964", "page_number": 21, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "12\n\nW. C. HUNTER\n\nThe Hunter Journal was presented to the Boston Athenaeum by Dr. Robert W. Hooper on March 27, 1858. Hooper was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1810, graduated from Harvard College in 1830, received a medical degree from the same institution six years later, and thereafter became a prominent surgeon in Boston. Hooper was also a bibliophile and a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum who added substantially to its holdings by gifts. It is impossible to establish definitely how he obtained the Hunter Journal, but it seems probable that it came from his wife's family. In 1837 he married Ellen Sturgis, daughter of William Sturgis who was active in the Orient trade. Many Massachusetts men engaged in the China trade were related. In 1788 Thomas Handasyd Perkins went to China on the Astraea and launched a commercial venture with the aid of his elder brother James. 1803 their nephew J. P. Cushing also travelled there and managed the business until 1828. Other nephews of T. H. Perkins, James Sturgis, and Charles Bennet Forbes also prospered in the China trade. In 1833 the third generation of the family left Boston for the Orient and for the next decade divided his time between Manila and Canton. William Hunter was a business associate of both R. B. Forbes and Russell Sturgis and mentioned the latter in his Journal, Julian Sturgis, son of Russell had vivid memories of Hunter.\n\nIn\n\nI remember Mr. Hunter visiting my parents at Walton (England) when I was a boy, a handsome, courteous man with a brown face and white moustache, like a fine type of Anglo-Indian, and speaking Chinese for our amusement with so soft a voice that I have often wondered how much of that soft musical quality was due to him and how much inherent in that unknown tongue.2\n\nHunter finally left Canton and closed Russell and Company in May 1841. This move was recorded in the letters of William Henry Low, a young man in his twenties who arrived in Canton in September 1839 and joined his brother A. A. Low in Russell and Company.\n\n1 Russell Sturgis joined Baring Brothers and Co. of London after he ended his commercial ventures in China about 1849. He became senior partner of the English firm in 1873.\n\n2 Julian Sturgis, From Books and Papers of Russell Sturgis (Oxford, 1893), p. 206.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204719, "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-1964", "page_number": 22, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n13\n\nOn the evening of the 19th affairs looked so squally that Mr. Hunter who had returned to Canton a day or two before ordered all the books and papers packed up and started with them at 2 A.M. the next morning for Macao. At 7 Mr. King started Mr. Spooner and myself off in Mr. Hunter's sail boat with a load of baggage, and books that Mr. H. could not take. We were towed down by Captain Endicott's boat and arrived safer after a passage of 6 hours on board the Naraganset. On our arrival we received a chit from Mr. Hunter stating that a number of transports and men of war were on the way up and advising us to get out of Canton as soon as possible. This I forwarded to Mr. King, but he did not get it as he had already left with the remainder of R and Co's Establishment.3\n\nExplanatory terms\n\nIn China the factory was a multi-purpose building. The lower floor usually was used for office space, storage, and the like, the second floor for dining and lounging, and the third for sleeping. Broad verandahs around the building gave it a spacious and airy quality. In Canton the factories of the various nationalities, American, Danish, French, Dutch, and Swedish faced the river. The British factory was truly magnificent for it contained a huge and lavishly furnished dining hall with terrace, library, chapel and numerous private rooms.\n\nHong was sometimes used interchangeably with factory but specifically it referred to all the buildings of a commercial establishment, i.e., the factory and subsidiary buildings such as living quarters for servants and workers and large storage areas for cargos of ships.\n\nHong merchants had formed an association in the early eighteenth century; in 1839 the Chinese merchants numbered thirteen and they had a monopoly of trade with foreigners. The most powerful and wealthy Hong merchant was Howqua, spelt by Hunter Houqua.\n\nConsoo House was the property of the Hong merchants, and in actuality was a series of buildings in the Chinese style. The main building contained lavish reception rooms and a series of courtyards.\n\n3 James Duncan Phillips, editor, \"The Canton Letters 1839-1841 of William Henry Low,\" The Essex Institute Historical Collections LXXXIV, 1948.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204720, "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-1964", "page_number": 23, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "14\n\nW. C. HUNTER\n\nLinguists were licensed Chinese interpreters. (See note 39). Compradore was a Chinese national in charge of workers in a factory.\n\nColoured buttons attached to caps determined the rank of Chinese officials.\n\nThe term Hoppo was coined by Westerners to designate the official appointed by the Emperor to look after trade at Canton and to remit the resulting revenue to the Board of Revenue (the hu-pu) at Peking. His full title was Yüeh Hai-kuan-pu which means \"Superintendent of Customs for the province of Canton”.\n\nChop was an official pronouncement by Chinese authorities.\n\nChop boats carried cargo from Whampoa to Canton; in design they resembled a melon with circular decks and sides and could provide for 500 chests of opium.\n\nJOURNAL OF OCCURRENCES AT CANTON 1839\n\nMarch 24, Sunday\n\nThe Chinese are building bridges across the street in the rear, to the roofs of our Hongs in order the better to keep a lookout.\n\nOur servants, coolies, cooks, and compradore as well as those from all other Factories, quit the Hongs this evening. It looked as if they were running from a plague, each person carried off his bed, trunk, or box, and for a short time the Square was all in confusion. The linguists permitted ours to remain till the last moment, and from the time the order for them to quit was received, which was about 8 p.m., till after 8 when not a Chinese was left in any Hong, the coolies made out to secure for us outside and bring in about 60 fowls, 15 tubs of water, a tub of sugar, some oil, a bag of biscuits, and a few other things.\n\nThe Square now is one blaze of light, innumerable lanterns from the different Hongs are disposed all over it, and the noise of some three or four hundred coolies stationed to guard any foreigner from leaving Canton makes it resemble a large wild encampment.\n\nCaptain Elliot landed at the Factory steps about 5 p.m., hoisted the British colors and called a meeting of all the foreigners in Canton. He then went to Mr. Dent's Factory and took him to the hall. Thousands of Chinese in the Square greatly excited", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204721, "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-1964", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n15\n\nand not knowing what is to happen. At night the police cleared the Square and posted a strong guard.\n\nMarch 25\n\nForeigners employed in all the Factories cooking their own meals and preparing food for each other, some carrying provisions from one Factory to another, and others taking buckets to the river for water.\n\nSome sailors and lascars who happened to be here when the embargo commenced have been distributed amongst some of the residents to assist in cooking.\n\nWe have clubbed together all in our Hong, and make one mess, cooking by turns. We have Mr. Snow our Consul,1 Mr. Forbes2, Green3, Delano, Kings, Low, Spooner, Gilman, Miranda and Dasilva two Portuguese clerks in our office, natives of Macao, and myself, in all eleven.\n\nSome go and milk the cows who have been removed to the yard in front of the Danish [Factory], another cooks, while others wash the plates, knives, forks and so forth. We find it a great bore, while the moment one goes out of the Factory he is watched till he returns.\n\n26th* Mouqua4 tells us the cows shall be looked after today, he had them supplied with grass, and says a shed shall be erected to keep them from the sun.\n\nAt night the Chinese brought into the square all the boats belonging to English foreigners to prevent any escape.\n\nMarch 26, 1839\n\nThis morning a linguist purser10 from Ahtore's establishment brought in a Chinaman to act as cook and left us six loaves of bread which he had secreted in his sleeves.\n\nThe cows, having been compelled to stand in the Square opposite the Danish Hong with a hot sun pouring upon them, are becoming quite desperate. This morning on going there I found a Chinaman who had prepared for them some food and was on the point of giving it to them when the police came and drove him away.\n\n* Hunter wrote 26th at this point although he started another entry for 26th a few lines later.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204728, "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-1964", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "22\n\nW. C. HUNTER\n\nforwarded it let me send a small chit to Mr. Sturgis by the same conveyance.23\n\nWeather very warm.\n\n9 p.m. Houqua came in this evening with a Chop from the Commissioner for Mr. Snow, the Consul, which orders him to give up 1,500 and odd chests of opium which he says he knows are held by American merchants, and does not believe the statement sent him three days since by Mr. Snow wherein was clearly stated that this opium which was held by American merchants had been surrendered to Captain Elliot by his order as it was British property.\n\nA quantity of large Chops left Canton today for Lankeel to receive the opium and bring it to Canton. It appears the vessels outside are to come up to Lankeel and there deliver it, two vessels at a time, so that it may be a month yet before we are released from imprisonment, if so soon. The Chinese do things of this sort very slowly.\n\nAll the vessels at Whampoa remain as before. On the day the Commissioner laid his paw upon us, stopped the trade, surrounded us with soldiers, and deprived us of our cooks, coolies and servants and of all intercourse with the Chinese there were 7 or 8 vessels ready for sea and on the point of sailing, amongst them are three consigned to us, Vancouver, Niantic, and Francis Stanton all loaded except the last and she only wanted a few tons more to complete her cargo.\n\nIt is to be hoped the Chinese government will have to pay all this detention with interest, to say nothing of the violent imprisonment of all foreigners in Canton who are not to be released till opium, not their own, is given up to this scoundrel of a Commissioner. It is nothing more nor less than an act of piracy. Not one of us is allowed to quit Canton, innocent or guilty, till the opium is all in his hands. He has caught us this time in a trap, but please God he may be well thrashed for it yet, and if our lives, as he threatens, are to be the penalty for the non-delivery of the 20,282 chests of opium this place may by and by be made too warm for him,24\n\nSunday 8th*\n\nAchun arrived today from Macao and reports that there are\n\n* A mistake, Sunday was the 7th and the 8th was a Monday,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204732, "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-1964", "page_number": 35, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "26\n\nW. C. HUNTER\n\nFriday 12th\n\n1* at\n\nAt nine this morning received a letter from Macao dated the 8th, in answer to mine of the 5th; all quiet there but everyone ready to be off the moment any trouble was at hand. Delano received, enclosed in mine, a chit from Russell Sturgis which contained much news. The Hercules and Austen left for the Bogue on Tuesday last to deliver their opium and were to be followed by the Jane and Aeriel. The Chinese would only let two vessels come up at a time. The Good Success left Macao on the 9th for Madras, with despatches to the British admiral on the India Station, and the Rob Roy was to leave today for Calcutta. The Exchange sailed for Manila on the 8th; the Nar† Naples, Roza and Benuo Successo and Poppy had also sailed for Manila but the letter does not say if they took opium or not.\n\nMr. Inness was on board the Hercules with Alex. Matthews and Chay. Beal36. The Hercules and Austen had in all over 5,000 chests.\n\nGave two bottles of beer to the Se-Ying37 or lieutenants on guard in the second line of boats in front of the Factories. Had a long chat with several of the officers belonging to Name Hoe's guard relative to matters in dispute. They appear exceedingly friendly but take no interest whatever in what is going on,\n\nSaturday, 13, 1839\n\nLast night at 12 o'clock Captain Elliot received a communication from the Commissioner, dated in the morning from the Bogue, in which he requests that the opium ships might be ordered to come up and anchor close to Chinn-up to deliver the opium, instead of Lankeel where there was much inconvenience owing to rough water. He also said that the compradores and cooks were ordered to return but they have not come yet. However it will take some time for the order to be generally promulgated.\n\nMidnight I have just returned from a chat of three hours duration held at the Hoppo House or \"Custom-House Station\" at the water's edge opposite our Factory between two officers, one equal to a captain and the other to a lieutenant, the Custom-House Officer and myself. The Captain, who wore a crystal button, was\n\n*Two words illegible.\n\n† Part of ship's name illegible.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204736, "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-1964", "page_number": 39, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "28 \n\nW. C. HUNTER \n\nOne comes and says his cows are starving as the cow-man sent to look after them has run away. Mr. B appears and in great distress begs them to send a few coolies to wash out his Hong, it being unwashed for ten days. Mr. K wants a basket of oranges, and Mr. F comes to complain of some of the guard having been insolent, with threats of his being about to go and annihilate them with his stick, at which the linguists say, \"Hae yaw? 42 How can do? Mandarin angry too muchee\". Then Mr. C comes in with a bundle in his hand which proves to be a ragged jacket or two which he insists upon it must be mended instantly. Others come to hoax the poor fellows with threats of forcing their way up China Street which alarms them and brings out the usual, “Hae yaw? How can do? No good takee so?\" Mr. B runs in and swears the rats are running away with everything movable in his Factory, and Mr. A tells them if they don't make the guard keep out strange dogs and strange cows and calves from wandering up his Hong, half starved and barking and bleating, that he will fire at them and they must take the consequences. A multitudinous (what a shocking long word) quantity of calls of this and every other nature keeps these poor fellows constantly busy and in trepidation. Besides the headmen each has from 6 to 12 clerks or pursers as we call them, and some 8 or 10 coolies constantly by, and they are kept on the go from daylight till late at night running from the tailors to the butchers, from the washerman to the shoemakers, from the market to [the] cow-keepers to supply the wants of some 350 imprisoned foreigners who cannot go beyond the Square in front of the Factories. But these linguists and all their assistants are the best natured set of fellows living. They laugh at us, they cannot help it; our situation is so entirely that of a closely confined prisoner and making known our wants excites their fun. But they do everything they can to relieve us and go on all manner of errands with great good will. \n\nSunday, 14 April, 6 p.m. \n\nAt 5 this afternoon Captain Elliot issued a circular in which he states he had received a letter from Johnston dated at Chumpee 8 p.m. of the 12th up to which time the Hercules and Austen had delivered 650 chests of opium to the Chinese officers and that they hoped to get on faster when more boats could be procured of which there was a great scarcity. The Commissioner and the Governor were both at the Bogue, and Captain Elliot also received", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204738, "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-1964", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "30 \n\nW. C. HUNTER \n\nA letter came up this morning from Whampoa which reported that two rafts are thrown across the river, about half way between this and Whampoa, and at some distance from each other. \n\nWe are all quiet here but begin to suffer from our long imprisonment, no excitement, dull and monotonous. Guard of coolies and soldiers kept up as usual, and no one permitted to go beyond the Square. Several coolies were returned to the service of the foreigners today and some cooks. The compradores are all very reluctant to come back. Supplies of food, water, grass for the cows, and so on, brought in daily. \n\nAt the Bogue the Chinese are very particular in receiving the opium; it is carefully kept in all the good chests while the loose is done up in bags sealed with the Commissioner's seal and stored in the forts and temples in the neighborhood. Many men are appointed to guard it. \n\nWednesday, 17 April \n\nNothing of interest has occurred today except that letters were received from Johnston which state that 700 chests of opium had been delivered up to the 15th at noon. Wrote to Mr. Sturgis at Macao and forwarded the letter through A-Hin, linguist. \n\nA game of cricket in the Square by a party of sailors which collected all the guard and foreigners around them. \n\nThe tailor came in and took clothes to be mended. The compradore also came for a few minutes in the afternoon and said he intended to return [the] day after tomorrow and that the cooks and coolies were to come back with him to remain, \n\nWeather hot, damp and muggy, at times hot sun and then again heavy rain with much thunder and lightning. Our meals brought to us as usual from Old Tom, the linguist. \n\nSaturday, 20 April, 1839 \n\nWe were much horrified this morning on going out to learn that a few hours before daylight a scene which liked to have proved serious occurred in the Danish Hong. It appears that a quarrel took place about midnight between Mr. Goldsborough and another Englishman and a Prussian named Knock. At two it got to that height that a scuffle took place, and as they are armed as all foreigners have been since the threat on the part of the Chinese to put us to death, Knock drew his pistol and fired at Goldsborough, fortunately he missed him. Mr. G. immediately", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204745, "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-1964", "page_number": 48, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n37\n\nNOTES ON HUNTER'S JOURNAL\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG and Sir LINDSAY T. RIDE\n\n1 Snow. Peter Wanten Snow, Consul for the United States in Canton. He surrendered the opium in American possession as demanded by Commissioner Lin, and was ready to promise that Americans would cease importing opium, but refused to have anything to do with the bond as the penalties were too severe. (See also note 43, bond.) (L.T.R.)\n\n2 Mr. Forbes. Joined the American firm of Russell & Co. in Canton in October 1838, became a partner 1 January 1839 and eventually was made chief of the house. Robert Bennett Forbes (1804-1889), first arrived in China in 1817. After some years back in the States he returned to China in October 1838 and was admitted a partner of Russell & Co., China on 1 January 1839. He retired in 1844 but had an interest in the firm till 1857. (L.T.R.)\n\n3 Mr. Green. John C. Green of Trenton, New Jersey, first went to China as an agent of N.L. & G. Griswold. In 1834 he was admitted a partner of Russell & Co., China, and retired to New York on 31st December 1839. At the time of the disturbances he was Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce at Canton. He died in 1875. (L.T.R.)\n\n4 Mr. Delano. Warren Delano, Jr. of Fairhaven, Mass., came to China 1834 to join the house of Russell, Sturgis & Co., of Canton and Manila. He was a partner of Russell & Co., China for two terms, 1 January 1840 to 31 December 1846, and January 1861 to 31 December 1866. He was a great-uncle of ex-President F. D. Roosevelt. (L.T.R.)\n\n5 Mr. King.\n\nThis is most likely to be Edward King of Newport, R.I., who was taken into the firm of Russell & Co., as a clerk on his arrival at Canton in 1834 in the Silas Richards. On 1 July 1834 he became a partner and retired in 1842 to Newport where he died in 1876.\n\nThere was a Charles W. King of Olyphant & Co. in Canton at the time, but as this firm had nothing to do whatsoever with opium, he may not have been confined to the Factory. (L.T.R.)\n\n6 Mr. Low. Abiel Abbott Low (1811-1893) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and became a leading figure in both the New York and China shipping world. He first worked as a clerk in shipping firms in Salem and in New York and then went to China in 1833 as a clerk in Russell & Co. of which house his uncle, Wm. Henry Low, had been head for some years. He was made a partner in 1837, retired to New York where he founded the firm of A.A. Low & Brothers, famous for its clipper fleet. In 1863 he was President of the New York Chamber of Commerce. (L.T.R.)\n\n7 Spooner. Daniel Nicholson Spooner of Plymouth, Mass. was at this time a clerk in Russell & Co., Canton. He became a partner in January 1843 and retired to Boston on 31 December 1845. He returned to China again as a partner in January 1852, finally retiring in 1857. (L.T.R.)\n\n8 Gilman. Joseph Taylor Gilman of Exeter, New Hampshire, joined Russell & Co., Canton as a Clerk about the same time as Spooner. His dates of partnership and retirement were the same, too, as Spooner's. (L.T.R.)\n\n9 Mouqua. Also spelt Mowqua in pidgin English. His official name as Hong merchant was Lu Ch'i-kuang Lu Wen-wei✰✰ The suffix \"qua\" signifies \"an official\". (J.L.C.-B.) and his family name was (kuan in mandarin)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204825, "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-1964", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "A RECONNAISSANCE OF MA WAN\n\nSecondly that the great extent of our commercial concerns in China requires a place of security as a depot for such of our goods as cannot be sold off or shipped during the short season that is allowed for our shipping to arrive and depart; and that for this purpose we wish to obtain a grant of a small tract of ground or detached Island, but in a more convenient situation than Canton, where our present Warehouses are at a great distance from our ships, and where we are not able to restrain the irregularities which are occasionally committed by the Seamen of the Company's ships, and those of private traders4.\n\n107\n\nIn fact in his Journal under an entry dated 2-7 January, 1794, after discussing the possibility of obtaining Macao, he went on to mention the possibility of a settlement on an island.\n\nOr with as little trouble and with more advantage we might make a settlement in Lantao or Cow-hee, and then Macao would of itself crumble to nothing in a short time. The forts of the Bocca Tigris might be demolished by half a dozen broadsides, the river would be impassable without our permission, and the whole trade of Canton and its correspondencies annihilated in a season. The millions of people who subsist by it would be almost instantly reduced to hunger and insurrection.\n\nTherefore it was natural that Macartney should send Lieutenant Parish to survey the coast of Lantao and the neighbouring islands in search of a harbour and a possible place for a settlement. In his report Parish refers to \"a situation for a settlement, intended to protect the large and valuable ships employed in the China trade\". It was unfortunate that the bad weather during the short time available for the survey prevented Parish from obtaining a more detailed description of the area. However, he did manage to land on an island which he calls Cowhee and his report to Macartney contains information of interest which, together with his sketch map, is worth reproducing3. It reads as follows:\n\nMacao 28th February, 1794.\n\nPursuant to your Excellency's orders, Mr. Alexander and myself embarked on board the Jackall in the Typas, at seven", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206242, "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-1971", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "LETTERS FROM CHINA 1835-36\n\n53\n\nwhich were imposed upon their movement by the Chinese authorities. Their effect upon a sensitive person are readily apparent from the letters. The literary interests and charitable works of the writer and his relatives are also of interest, and the mentions of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China and the Medical Missionary Society remind us of the starting difficulties that surrounded the first of these ventures.\n\nBoth societies were inaugurated at meetings held among foreign residents at Canton. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China originated at a meeting of residents on 29th November, 1834. The Medical Missionary Society originated at a public meeting held in Canton in 1838 and, according to Samuel Couling, was \"the first society of the kind in existence\" in China. The Society was formed to develop and finance Dr. Peter Parker's ophthalmic hospital in Canton which had started in Singapore in 1834 and been moved to Canton the following year. (See Samuel Couling, The Encyclopaedia Sinica, Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1917, pp. 345, 520 for further details. An account of the inaugural meeting of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China is given in The Chinese Repository, volume 3, page 378).\n\nWith the kind assistance of Mr. H. A. Rydings, Librarian of the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Librarian of this Branch, it has been possible to trace the reference in the letter written from the ship Asia to the Compendium of General History printed at Singapore, being the first work of the Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge in China. This is Koò kin wàn kwo kang kéén or Universal History, 244 leaves, Singapore 1838. This appears as No. 34 on page 60 of (Alexander Wylie's) Memorials of the Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese, Shanghae, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1867. Item 17 on page 58 is also relevant. Unfortunately, the mention of the Japanese Encyclopaedia, also in the long letter written on board the Asia, is too vague to allow for any identification.\n\nIt may be of interest to readers that in Volume 4 of this Journal (1964) we printed with Introduction and Useful Notes a recently discovered M.S. Journal of Occurrences at Canton during the Cessation of Trade at Canton 1839 which is considered to have been by W. C. Hunter, a resident of Canton and Macau contemporary with Stewart. Hunter published his reminiscences", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206425, "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-1971", "page_number": 242, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "216\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\ncusp of the crescent\" (of the Praya Grande), deserves the derision of every collector.\n\nTheir description of \"the ambroidered (sic) phoenix plastron” conclusively proves the authors know nothing of the eight privileged classes in China. With this lack of knowledge they are in no position to comment on any portrait of a mandarin or hong merchant. To suggest that Gou Qua, a hong merchant, would take to the street as a fortune teller is quite impossible as he would lose face by such an act and never would paint himself in this situation.\n\nThe authors really know very little about Chinnery. They state \"Chinnery's forte was for portraits and these comprise the greater part of his oeuvre\". Pages later they quote him \"I have about 6,000 sketches of Eastern Scenery already - an invaluable collection, I assure you; but you see I am constantly accumulating”. They produce the completely unproven slur that one of the portraits he painted was of “a man of great wealth, an important qualification in the artist's philosophy as he was at his best when a generous fee had been agreed\". They also attempt, again with no proof, to attribute to him “occasional bouts of opium smoking”.\n\nIt is an error to say \"Russell & Co..... in turn came under control of Low Brothers of Salem\". W. H. Low, Senior was a partner 1830-1833. His nephew, A. A. Low, was a clerk 1833-1837, partner 1837-1840. W. H. Low 2nd worked as a clerk but never was a partner. The famous firm of A. A. Low and Bros. of New York, please, not Salem - was founded in 1841 by A. A. Low after he had retired from Russell & Co. It is a solecism to call the firm \"Russells\". It makes a good story only to the authors that \"W. C. Hunter\", later a partner in Russell & Co., “grasped sufficient of the local dialect to act as interpreter\". It is common knowledge that he specifically was sent to Singapore and Malacca to study Chinese.\n\nIt is inaccurate to state that Harriet Low, in her Diary, mentions seeing the double portrait of Dr. & Mrs. Colledge, plate 79, in London at Daniells' on 19 July 1834. She \"saw pictures of Mr. & Mrs. Colledge, not a single picture. Let us read further in the Diary: \"Ayok\" (the Low Chinese servant) \"burst into quite an hysterical laugh when he saw his father's face in Mr. Colledge's picture\". This is an obvious reference to the Chinnery portrait", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210572, "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-1985", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "160\n\nWEI PEH TI\n\nhad to share the house with local fauna.\n\nI have lots of company over here in the way of rats and bats and in the summer scorpions and mosquitoes. Last summer Mrs. Malcolm killed ten scorpions over here and caught about half that many rats. The bats are here still,...29\n\nSingle women missionaries in larger communities, especially those teaching in schools, were found by Jane Hunter to be sharing quarters. They tried to furnish their residences to resemble their own homes as much as they could, some even bringing with them piano and other pieces of furniture. In comparison, Edith's quarters at Taiho were basic indeed. There were rugs in the bedrooms, which the local population duly admired, but elsewhere the floors were of cold brick.30 Chinese tiled roofs might be picturesque, but they did not serve well when it rained.\n\nI had to have the roof mended not long ago for every rain saw me placing basins and pails around. And the roof mender nearly landed through twice, much to my consternation.31\n\nEdith began to wear Chinese clothing as soon as she arrived at Yangchow. Describing this novelty, she wrote to Louese:\n\nOur Chinese clothes are very warm. You would laugh if you could see me, so we did at each other when we first put them on. Would you be interested for me to describe what I have on? We wear foreign underclothes, but try to dress as much like the natives on the outside as possible.12\n\nDespite efforts on the part of foreign missionaries to fit into the Chinese community, they remained an enigma to the local populace. The Chinese women could not understand what Edith was doing in their midst and gave their own interpretations.\n\nThey cannot understand single women away from home in a strange place. I am generally accepted as Mr. Malcolm's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210578, "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-1985", "page_number": 185, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "166\n\nWEI PEH T'I\n\nother hand, Edith wrote three letters in 1905 — mostly because she had so much to complain about Mrs. Ferguson. Therefore, more likely than not, Edith had written after April 1906, but these letters had not been saved.\n\nWe do know that Louese had a new baby in 1907. With four children under ten years of age, even with a household of servants that Louese must have had, she would have found little time for letter writing. We also know that she became seriously ill shortly after the last child, her only son Benjamin, was born. The family today thinks that she had leukemia. At least it is thought to be a form of cancer. She was sick for a long time, and died in 1909, when she was only thirty-seven years old.\n\nNOTES\n\nHarry Ryder is serving as Commercial Counsellor at the United States Embassy in Kuwait. The Strawbridges were originally Quakers who had settled in Philadelphia, but the Ryders are Episcopalians.\n\n2 At first, the Ryder family had believed Edith to be a classmate of Louese at the Central Friends School. Correspondence with Clayton Faraday, Archivist of the school, however, reveals that Louese had been a member of the class of 1890, but there was no mention of her among the list of graduates. Edith Rowe is unknown at the school. Therefore, a conjecture must be made that they were most likely classmates at the \"finishing school\". Had they been academic scholars, they would probably have been sent to Bryn Mawr College. I am grateful to Mr. Faraday for his timely reply to my inquiry, making it possible to correct the error in my original presentation to the society.\n\n3 Colonel Hedges lived in an apartment attached to the Strawbridge house in Bala Cynwyd after his daughter's marriage. He survived both his wife and daughter. Harry Ryder remembers his great-grandfather, but never knew his grandmother.\n\n4 Rowe letter dated 1 October 1903.\n\n5 Protestant Missionary records. I am grateful to the Reverend Carl Smith for looking up this information. Hopefully there is more data on Edith in the archives of the China Inland Mission in London or Shanghai.\n\n6 Jane Hunter, The Gospel of Gentility, American Women Missionaries in Turn-of-the-Century China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 13ff\n\n7 Hunter, 29-30.\n\n8 Rowe letter dated 2 March 1905. As it turned out, one of Louese's grandchildren, Harry V. Ryder Jr., did join the Foreign Service, but it was the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210818, "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": 169, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "152\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nDutch parentage from Malacca, who soon became dissatisfied and left for a more adventurous life at sea; J.H. Moore, born in Macau, who left after a few years, married a beautiful 15-year-old girl from Malacca and then took up newspaper editing and some unprofitable business ventures at Malacca and Singapore; and a student from overseas, William Hunter, an American.\n\nHunter's reminiscences of his days at Malacca indicate he enjoyed them. He studied hard, for it is no easy task for a foreigner to acquire competency in written and spoken Chinese. He enjoyed the companionship of J.H. Moore. When not studying they took long walks, explored the countryside, observed the ways of the people, joined in the excitement of local festivals and shared in the homely life of the missionary staff of the college.\n\nHe studied at the college for 18 months. He had arrived a boy of 12, he left a confident young man of 14. He returned to Canton where he continued studying under the direction of the Rev. Robert Morrison, but he also began learning the business of the counting house and godown. The firm to which he was apprenticed went into liquidation and Hunter returned to New York. But the \"China bug\" had bitten him, and when an opportunity came to return to China in 1830 under the patronage of Russell and Company, he eagerly accepted it.\n\nThis firm had a long history in China trade. Its roots go back to 1789; it took on the name Russell and Co in 1824. It was the largest of the American firms operating in China. It finally failed in 1891, though some members of the firm reorganised in Hongkong as Shewan, Tomes and Co. The latter is still operating in Hongkong.\n\nOne gathers from his reminiscences and references to him by others that he was a pleasant, agreeable, but not an aggressively ambitious person.\n\nWhen Hunter was visiting one of his former business associates in England, a young son of the family met him. Later he described Mr. Hunter as \"a handsome, courteous man with a brown face and white moustache, like a fine type of Anglo-Indian, and speaking Chinese for our amusement with so soft a voice that I have often", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213555, "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-1995", "page_number": 151, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "120\n\nHe told me his name was Ayou and that he had lived two years in Boston; that formerly he was a comprador to Mr. Cushing at Canton, and afterwards lived with him in America. Preferring his own country, he returned, and now has a large alum establishment, in which, he says, he is doing good business; he added that a Chinaman who speaks both English and Chinese can make \"plenty money\" in China.\n\nThe many critics of Pidgin have, I think, missed the point: Pidgin worked. It allowed people to communicate quite effectively in a situation where to learn or teach standard English would have been totally impractical. I believe that Pidgin had, in addition to the advantage of overcoming superficial communication problems, the subtle advantage of bringing together people from totally different socio-linguistic backgrounds to speak in a language that was native to neither—that was not a minefield of cultural conventions which could make normal communication break down.\n\nSources of Pidgin\n\nSome readers will, I am sure, have had personal experience of China Coast Pidgin. I am indebted to a number of old people who have told me anecdotes of Pidgin from before the Pacific War. Unfortunately, this anecdotal evidence is very limited. I have only been able to obtain it from Europeans: we have not yet come across a Chinese who still has a working knowledge of the language. What we have taken down from native English speakers has often been \"normalized\" towards standard English. We shall now take some time to cover some of the more important written sources available to us.\n\nThe most frequently cited sources for Pidgin are by native English speakers. W.C. Hunter's books, mentioned earlier on, quote extensively from conversations in Pidgin.\n\nHunter's quotations cover an early period (1806-1854) and are generally consistent in style. They are, however, part of two books written for the casual reader. All the spelling is normalized to standard English; but they form a useful source and I have found his quotations in Pidgin generally consistent with other, unrelated sources.\n\nAnother source with a quantity of quotations from Pidgin is B. L.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215027, "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-2000", "page_number": 123, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "79\n\nand left to fend for themselves (my father believed they were Spaniards). The Chinese were very fond of Mr. Ferguson and searched for him when he went missing. If they had found those who had committed the crime they would not have lived very long, but by the time my mother and I, and Mrs. Jarvis who was the wife of another Officer arrived in France the security in the area must have improved. We were meant to be there for several months, but the Chinese were marched off and my father demobbed earlier than expected. One of the Labourers was a very skilled carver and my father brought home as souvenirs two German shell cases the man had decorated with ornamental dragons using a razor, and a silver ring he had beaten out of a French coin which was decorated with Chinese characters. He was also presented with a gold half-hunter watch now belonging to my nephew, another John Morrison. My father asked Mr. Wong what would happen to the men when they got home, and Mr. Wong replied that if they didn't gamble their money away on the journey they would be important men in their villages. He also said that what worried him most about the future were the \"Yellow men,” by which he meant the Japanese.\n\nMrs Gibb told me that she remembers a show put on by the CLC for the troops. She recalls that, as the only child of a British officer in the camp, she was rather intimidated when they came and shook her hand, as they were so big!", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215029, "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-2000", "page_number": 125, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "81\n\nthe scars of the beating. They would then be sent to the camp hospital, where a kind Scottish doctor, Major Gray, would do his best to treat them...\n\n'Dead of what? Disease, only attended to when too late. Those who succumbed to harsh treatment, beatings, poor nourishment, the climate and cold. I saw one tied to a tree and savagely beaten. He died. But why such harsh treatment? Because they were not allowed to leave camp to walk in the village. Also, there were problems with the [French] women. This has always been the same throughout history. Some managed to escape at night, for one night. And at dawn, instead of returning to camp, where they knew they would be beaten to death, they would rather hide in the fields, buried in haystacks, where they would be found, weeks later, dead of hunger and cold. After the war many skeletons were found when the camp was dismantled. Many preferred to bury themselves alive rather than to return to the \"hell of Nolette.\" They were buried like animals, standing up, especially at first. Often their heads could be seen. It was only later that gravestones were arranged and maintained properly to erase the awful memories and so that the public could be kept in blissful ignorance of what really happened.'\n\nMonsieur Réveillon recounts: 'In 1917 I was 13 years old. Nobody by then paid any attention to French or English soldiers. But the whole population assisted on the arrival of these \"Little Yellow Men\" with complete bewilderment. They were odd, with their plait down the back, their padded blue sleeveless clothes, puffed-up trousers and slippers of the same material, which did not appear to have a sole and on which they walked silently.'\n\n‘On arrival, the Chinese were directed to the Camp located on sides of the road to Sailly. They live here, slightly in retreat where they have built a pagoda to pray. Only 2 street sweepers, always the same two, have contact with the villagers. Silently, they warm themselves in Mr Réveillon's father's forge. Other workers clean the stables where the English keep their horses. A bamboo stick in one hand, a basket in the other, they remove the manure. They also visit the shopkeeper, who is not always honest and sell them outdated stock hats, belts - at sometimes inflated prices. Apart from these rare contacts, the villagers did not approach the Chinese whose smile, they thought,\n\nww", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 } ]