[ { "id": 204288, "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-1961", "page_number": 56, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n52\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nLibrary, sanctioned by the Trustees, shall be published, with a Catalogue of the Books, and a copy of the same be placed in the hands of all those who are admitted to the privileges of the Society and the Library.'\n\n\"The Regulations of the Library\" were published in the Anglo-Chinese Kalendar for ... 1839 and include a provision that \"Any person, who is not a member of the Society, may be admitted to the privileges of the Library, by the payment of $10 per annum, or of $5 for six months or any shorter period, (* A single contribution of not less than $25, or an annual contribution of $10 constitutes membership.)\"\n\nThe \"Second Annual Report of the Morrison Education Society\" of 3rd October, 1838, says: --\n\nThe Library, as was contemplated, has been opened in a convenient apartment in Canton, and is now of easy access to all those who desire to enjoy its benefits. The trustees recommend the early adoption of measures for its enlargement. As a public library, it ought, in the course of a few years, to rise from its present limited number of two thousand volumes to a hundred times that number, and thence to increase until it shall equal some of the best collections of books in the world.\n\nThe Society moved to Macao in 1841 and the Library containing between two and three thousand volumes was again open to those who desired to borrow books from it at the Society's house, near St. Paul's, under the care of Mr. Brown. \"The Third Annual Report\" of the Society was not published until this year, the gap since 1838 being caused by the disturbed conditions prevailing in the intervening years. By 1842 the Society had already established itself in the newly ceded island of Hong Kong.\n\nAt the fourth annual General Meeting of the Society on 28 September, 1842, it was reported that, as the result of correspondence with Sir Henry Pottinger, (the Superintendent of Trade and Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China) a site had been granted to them for a permanent headquarters on Morrison Hill, a hill which at the time of writing is quickly nearing complete demolition just over one hundred years later. One of the larger rooms of the building to be put up was designed for the Library which now contained nearly 3500 volumes. The usual vicissitudes occurred which seem to beset so many libraries run on a voluntary or partly voluntary basis. An 1843 report says:\n\nThe Society's Library requires some attention in order to preserve it, and render it of greater public utility. I believe there are not far from 3500 volumes in it; but of these, a large number, perhaps one third are so injured as to make them unfit for circulation. Some sets have been broken by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204594, "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": 75, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "64 \n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG \n\nuninhabitable according to our notions, and we therefore tell the Chinese that the Minister is obliged to postpone taking up his residence until the residence is fit to receive him. Mr. Adkins is therefore charged with the task of repairs, and in March of next year or possibly earlier Mr. Bruce expects to take up his quarters there. His arrival at Peking before we quitted it was a happy hit. Formal interviews took place between Lord Elgin and Prince Kung at which the former introduced his brother and abdicated in his favour; so that before we quitted Peking Mr. Bruce had commenced his business with the Chinese authorities, while that of the Special Embassy terminated.7 \n\nSo interpreter Adkins remained alone in the Palace of Duke I-liang throughout the winter of 1860-61, until in March 1861 Bruce set out from Tientsin, accompanied by Thomas Wade, his interpreter, and Dr. Rennie, physician to the new Legation. Colonel Neale, the Secretary of the Legation, with two attachés, St. Clair and Wyndham, had gone ahead with the baggage. We are fortunate to have a detailed account of the first year at the British Legation kept by Dr. Rennie. In the Preface to his book Peking and the Pekingese he explained that \"a few months after Her Majesty's Legation had been established in Peking, a feeling began to be entertained by its members, that, with a view to future publication, some record should be kept of the various incidents which were from day to day occurring, during what may be termed the inaugural period of foreign diplomatic residence at the capital—the most important event in the modern history of Anglo-Chinese intercourse.\" Since Rennie had been keeping \n\n7 Quoted in The Life of Sir Harry Parkes by Stanley Lane-Poole, 2 vols., (London, 1894), I, 404-5. \n\nParkes was born in 1828, and came out to China in 1841 to join his two sisters who were living with their cousin, the wife of the Protestant missionary, the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff. Parkes was attached to Sir Henry Pottinger's suite in the expedition up the Yangtze in 1842 and witnessed the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. He started to learn Chinese and at the age of fifteen was attached to the British Consulate at Canton. Many appointments as interpreter and consul followed until 1865 when he was appointed Minister to Japan. In 1883 he became British Minister at Peking. He died in 1885. \n\n* D. F. Rennie, Peking and the Pekingese during the First Year of the British Embassy at Peking, 2 vols. (London, 1865) vii. \n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205427, "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-1967", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "182\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nWeddell's foray at the Bocca Tigris in 1637 until the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Nanking between Ch'i-ying and Pottinger on the newly ceded island of Hong Kong in June 1843. In this short book of 232 pages the author has mainly confined himself to retelling the part played by British subjects in the growth of foreign trade at Canton and the events which finally led to the cession of Hong Kong. He emphasizes the major role played by Macao in these events but without providing much information of interest not already known. Even the picturesque details of life in Macao which one might expect from Mr. Coates' known ability as a descriptive writer are few and far between.\n\nIn the main this is a simple account of how the British eventually gained Hong Kong, and in telling this story the author has traversed, in a brief space, the same ground that was covered by H. B. Morse in five volumes. The information is so compressed that one wonders whom the author had in mind when writing this book. Two hundred eventful years for which a mass of original documents in Chinese, Portuguese and English exist cannot satisfactorily be cut down to fit such a slim volume. Moreover, the author has resolutely made no concessions to scholarly readers, since the book contains almost no footnotes and no references to support the author's statements and judgments, and no details of the documentary sources from which quotations have been made.\n\nThe style of the writing may give some clue to the public for whom this book was designed; it is one of ‘imaginative reconstruction' based on the author's own sensibility rather than on thorough historical research and evidence supported by exact references. For instance, describing a Chinese official who could speak Portuguese he writes: \"No description of this one survives, yet we see him clearly. He is obviously Chinese, yet his youthful association with foreigners has changed something of his expression.... We cannot help being amused by his subtle understanding of his own people's weaknesses and shortcomings.” (p.9) This method is admirable in an historical novel but is out of place in what purports to be a factual account. At times the style tends to be rather arch, as though the author felt it necessary to sugar-coat his narrative in order to make it acceptable to the weaker students. The following examples show the kind of tricks he employs: \"But Weddell, a weather-beaten sea dog as tough as they come, was not a man to be taken in by a civil service answer\" (p.5). \"Let us", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205615, "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-1968", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "152\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nchose two lots to the west, which were designated at the time 72 and 73.12 It was at this time, however, that the firm definitely moved out to East Point and, immediately on the transaction regarding their property being settled, they proceeded to erect what became their main godowns at East Point.13 The firm had already acquired property in the area of East Point, Wongneichung and Sookunpoo, if only because no-one else seemed interested at the time and it was there cheaply for the asking. In October 1841, they instructed Morgan to obtain a grant of the hill behind East Point, which he immediately did14 and a little later obtained permission from Pottinger to purchase from its Chinese proprietors the slope on the east side of this hill.15 They also purchased from a merchant named Leighton a town lot on which he had built a godown16 and a suburban lot which he had prepared for building. Captain Morgan also secured a town lot on which a bazaar was built (Jardine's Bazaar not to be confused with Morgan's Bazaar near the barracks), and in addition he built a house on Caroline's Hill for himself which was known for a few years as Captain Morgan's Bungalow.\n\nLike most of the other large mercantile houses, Jardine, Matheson & Co. did not move their headquarters to Hong Kong from Macao until 1844. As shown above, there is ample evidence that East Point was not their first choice for the new headquarters, though the facility with which they were able to secure large areas of land at East Point may well have dictated a move even if the circumstances which I have described had not come about.\n\nHong Kong, 1968\n\nDAFYDD Emrys Evans\n\nMr. Evans, who has been on special leave of absence from the University of London, 1966-68, is a lecturer in the Department of Laws, London School of Economics and Political Science.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205707, "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-1969", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE COUNCILS IN HONG KONG UP TO 1941\n\nT. C. CHENG, O.B.E., M.A.(LOND.)*\n\n(A lecture delivered to the Branch on 29 April 1968)\n\nOn 5th April, 1843, Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted to Hong Kong a Royal Charter which declared Hong Kong a separate Colony. The main provisions of this Charter, published in Hong Kong in June 1843, included, among other things, the following:\n\n(i) There should be a Legislative Council to be composed of the Governor and of such Public Officers within the said Colony, or of such other persons as shall from time to time be named or designated by Her Majesty for the purpose;\n\n(ii) An Executive Council should be established to advise and assist the Governor, who was authorized to summon as an Executive Council such persons as may from time to time be named or designated by Her Majesty.\n\nIt was, however, not until January 1844 that the Legislative Council first met, being composed of all officials, viz., the Governor (Sir Henry Pottinger), the Lt.-Governor (Major-General D'Aguilar) and the Chief Magistrate (Major Caine). The Clerk of Councils was the Legal Adviser to the Governor (R. Burgass).\n\nMajor-General D'Aguilar and Major Caine were also appointed members of the Executive Council.\n\nIn June 1850 the first British unofficial members were nominated to the Legislative Council. They were Messrs. David Jardine and J. F. Adger, both elected by the unofficial Justices of the Peace. Even at this early period of the history of Hong Kong, dissatisfaction was already expressed, mainly among the British community, with the small number of unofficials serving on the Council. In the case of the Chinese, they were, however, inarticulate because there were then very few Chinese who were educated through the medium of English and who could communicate adequately in that language.\n\n\"Mr. Cheng has been President of United College in The Chinese University of Hong Kong since 1963. Prior to that he was in Hong Kong Government service since 1939, his last post being Chief Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206002, "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-1970", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "# THE BEGINNINGS OF TAIPINGSHAN\n\n77\n\nOffice's records had fallen owing to non-registration of transactions (it being by then more or less necessary for a purchaser to take a chance on the title to land offered to him by a vendor), a strenuous effort was made to regularise the situation and much \"squatting\" without title and consequently, in most cases, non-payment of Crown Rent, came to light.\n\nThe end for old Taipingshan came not in the 1880's but in the 1890's when Bubonic Plague was brought to the Colony from West China. The most virulent reservoir of the bacillus turned out to be Taipingshan. The only solution, not only to the problem of stamping out the plague but also to other forms of social offence given by the district, was to remove the Chinese town physically. This was done by powers given in the Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance of 1894, and the result was wholesale demolition of much property and re-aligning of old and construction of new roads. Taipingshan had to be razed and, fortunately for Hong Kong, never rose again in its former glory.\n\nUniversity of London, 1968.\n\nDAFYDD EMRYS Evans\n\nMr. Evans is Professor of Law in the University of Hong Kong. Two of his earlier contributions to the early history of Hong Kong appeared in the Notes and Queries section of the 1968 Journal.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 The area was known as Taipingshan from the early days of the colony and its name is not derived from its function as a refuge for T'ai Ping rebels in later years.\n\n2 See Gordon (Land Officer) to Pottinger, CO129/Vol II, f. 152,\n\n3 See Gordon to Malcolm (Colonial Secretary), CO129/Vol. II, f. 138 dated 6 July 1843.\n\n4 The rents for both the Upper and Lower Bazaar Lots represented the same rate per square foot as that charged by Johnston for Town Lots.\n\n5 But the Chinese were turning to the use of brick rather than wood by the end of 1841; see Canton Press, 19 February 1842.\n\n6 Gordon to Pottinger, 19 December 1843; CO129, Vol. II, p. 445.\n\n7 Davis to Stanley 26 July 1844; CO129, Vol. VI, p. 435.\n\n8 Woosnam (Pottinger's private secretary) to Gordon, 10 January 1844: CO129, Vol. V. p. 69.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206382, "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": 199, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "THE COLONY OF HONG KONG\n\n173\n\na Convention between Captain Elliott, who was then our plenipotentiary, and the Chinese commissioner Ke-shen; and some adventurous spirits had soon after located themselves on it. Ke-shen got into disgrace with his government for the cession; but it was fully confirmed by the subsequent treaty, and the island received the status of a Colony from an order in Council dated the 5th April, 1843, its principal town to be dignified with the name of our Queen. When I arrived, it was under the government of Sir Henry Pottinger, who had brought the war to a successful close.\n\nTo give you an idea of the place as I first saw it, I had proposed to take a walk with you along the Queen's Road from the west to the east, but I found that that would take too much time. That road was marked out, in many places imperfectly, from Sae-wan on towards Aberdeen, the waters of the bay, from which so much land has since been taken, coming, in the greater part of its course between East and West points, up to it on the north, Hollywood Road, and the streets running down from it to the Queen's Road, were also indicated in a rudimentary fashion. A little beyond the present Sailors' Home, were the Naval Stores, and, south of them, all the indentation of the hill where the Reformatory now stands was occupied with tents and huts peopled by the 55th Regiment. From that eastwards all was blank to the bluff where the Civil Hospital rises, and on which was a bungalow built by Jamieson, How & Co., and occupied by Mr. Edger, belonging to that firm, and in later years a member of the Legislative Council. On the other side of the road were some godowns of the same firm, washed by the sea. The next European buildings were Gibb, Livingston & Co.'s premises, enclosed within a ring fence, and where partners and employés all managed to reside, with none of the massive godowns which now seem to serve as buttresses to the offices. Up and down, and athwart, T'ae-p'ing-shan, were thread-like paths, with a Chinese house here and there, but the ground was mainly boulder and sandy gravel. Turning to the west, where Wellington Street runs into Queen's Road, you could see a few Chinese houses on either side of the latter, and Jervois Street was in course of formation, the houses on the north side of it having the waters of the bay washing about among them. Eastwards from the same point on to Pottinger Street, Queen's Road was pretty well lined with Chinese houses;", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206383, "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": 200, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "174\n\nREV. JAMES LEGGE\n\nthe Central Market was formed; and on the other side were some foreign Stores, and a tavern or two. Looking up Aberdeen Street, you saw a few indications of building, and a house on the south of Gage Street, forming the headquarters of a Madras Regiment; and looking up Pottinger Street, you could see the Magistracy and Gaol of the day, where the dreaded Major Caine presided, and below them were two or three other buildings. On from Pottinger Street, a few English merchants had established themselves, and the house which long continued to be known as the Commercial Inn was a place of great resort. On the west of D'Aguilar Street, not then so named, building was going on, and just opposite to it, was a small house called the Bird Cage, out of which was hatched the Hongkong Dispensary. All the space between Wyndham Street and Wellington Street was garden ground, with an imposing flat-roofed house in it, built by Mr. Brain, of the firm of Dent & Co. That great firm had its quarters where the Hongkong Hotel is now, and further on was Lindsay & Co.'s house. All else on the north side of the street was blank, on to the Artillery Barracks, which were building. On the south of the street was the Harbour Master's establishment on Pedder's Hill; and as conspicuous as are now Messrs. Heard & Co.'s Offices, which have been manufactured from it, rose the house of Mr. Johnstone, who had been administrator of the island on its first occupancy. On the Parade Ground was a small mat building, which was the Colonial Church, and above it, about where the Cathedral and Government Offices now stand, were the unpretending Government Offices of that early time and the Post-Office. Far up, if I recollect aright, might be seen a range of barracks, out of which have been fashioned the present Albany residences, and beyond the site of the present Government House was a small bungalow where Sir Henry Pottinger and Sir John Davis after him held their court. Crossing the bridge from the Artillery Barracks, there were some poor buildings for military purposes where the Naval Yard now is, and the houses of Gemmell & Co. and Fletcher & Co., the former of which has since been metamorphosed into the Commissariat Offices. On the right was the General's House, looking much as it does now, and below it was the Canton Bazaar, mainly occupied by troops.\n\nFollowing the bend of the road, one met with a few Chinese houses on the bluff opposite the present Military Hospital, and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206391, "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": 208, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "182\n\nREV. JAMES LEGGE\n\nI have drawn, you probably think, sufficiently long on your attention and patience already, and yet, that we may get a sufficient view of the growth of the Colony, I must ask you to go back with me to the time at which I had arrived when the unhealthiness of 1843 led me away into all these digressions. I will try, however, to be brief in what I have further to say.\n\nSir Henry Pottinger, I observed, was governor of the Colony when I came to it, and I was surprised to find that he was not by any means popular. He was a good man, people said, to conquer China, and a bad man to rule Hong Kong. The impression which I received from my intercourse with him was of a man condensed, reticent, powerful, who would have his own way, and was able to force it. Mr. Davis, afterwards Sir John Davis, arrived and relieved him in May, 1844; and his coming was hailed with eager expectation. He had been in China before in the East India Company's time, was a Chinese scholar, and had written a book on China, which is still the most readable and entertaining work on the country up to the time to which he was able to bring it down. He, it was thought, was just the man for the place. How it came about, I hardly know; but of all our governors he left his office under the greatest cloud of popular dissatisfaction. In his time, however, the Colony made very considerable advances. The arrival of Judge Hulme was almost contemporaneous with that of Sir John Davis, and a Court of Supreme judicature was constituted. Mr. May, whom we all know, arrived in March, 1843, and the police force began to take shape. Not long after, the tax on house property was proposed, and never was there a greater clamour in the place. It was argued that it was unconstitutional, an imperilling of that palladium of English liberty that taxation must go hand in hand with representation; and the revolt of the American Colonies in the last century was alluded to. It was not my lot, however, to be in Hong Kong during the greater part of Sir John Davis's administration. I was laid down with Hong Kong fever in the autumn of 1844, which returned with other complications in the following year, till I was carried on board ship on the 18th November, to make the passage round the Cape, my friends all supposing that Hong Kong had seen the last of me.\n\nTwo days after I had left, Ke-ying, the Chinese statesman, paid a visit to the Colony, and gave a grand entertainment to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206608, "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-1972", "page_number": 156, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "The Origins of Hong Kong's Central Market and the Tarrant Affair\n\nDafydd Emrys Evans*\n\nThe public market which at present stands in Queen's Road Central in Hong Kong occupies the site of a succession of older buildings of which the earliest was built as a market in 1842. The early history of this market amply demonstrates the too-seldom revealed complexity of Chinese merchants' commercial transactions at the time of the founding of the Colony of Hong Kong.\n\nHong Kong's first public market opened on the site in May, 1842.1 At the first sale of crown land in the new Colony in June, 1841, the westernmost lots were put up to auction first and the first four, designated at the sale numbers 19 to 16, were not sold but reserved for Government purposes. It was on the lot numbered 16 that the market opened, lying as it did conveniently near to the Upper and Lower Bazaars.2 The Market was, apparently, the brain-child of the Colonial Secretary of the time, Colonel George Malcolm who secured the erection of buildings at a cost of some $3,500.3 He appointed a Chinese named Hwei Aqui as Superintendent and established a fixed list of prices to be charged by the individuals to whom the stalls were let by Government.4\n\nWhen Sir John Davis succeeded Sir Henry Pottinger as Governor of the Colony in 1844, he decided that the Market could operate as a useful source of revenue for the Government and sold the market franchise to the highest bidder who was then free to charge what he could to the stallholders. The successful bidder was, in fact, Hwei Aqui and, though he had apparently given satisfaction formerly when simply in the employ of Government, caused grave dissatisfaction once he was operating the market on his own account, with prices rising far faster than they had previously and without the benefit of Government control over the state of the market.\n\nIt is the few years after the market passed into private hands that it makes its contribution to Hong Kong's history, not only on\n\n* Mr. Evans is Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. See Journal vol. 10, 1970, for his earlier article \"Chinatown in Hong Kong: The Beginnings of Taipingshan\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207161, "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": 232, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "226\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nthat the premises be used for the Kowloon British School (now King George the Fifth). During the occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese used the School for a military hospital.\n\nThe School has had a succession of able Headmasters. Mr. George Piercy served from 1878 to 1918. He was succeeded by the Rev. W. T. Featherstone who saw through the building of the Kowloon premises and published The Diocesan Boys' School and Orphanage, Hong Kong, The History and Records 1869-1929 (Hong Kong, 1930). In recent years several Old Boys have been heads of the School, the Rev. George (Shee) Zimmern and the present Headmaster, Mr. S. J. Lowcock.\n\nThrough the education the Diocesan Boys' School has provided for the Eurasians of the Port Cities and Hong Kong, it has made a significant contribution to the shaping of the distinctive quality of life in these places over the years. It also has educated students from many other Asian countries. The present student body, which numbers about 1,000, is preponderantly Chinese. In 1952, a Preparatory School was opened. It is now located next to Christ Church on Waterloo Road.\n\nLa Salle College\n\nThe origins of the present La Salle College extend back to 1845, when the Roman Catholic Church had a school for Europeans. It was closed in 1847, but the next year a school for the education of Portuguese boys in the English language was opened, but by 1857 Catholic education in English had almost withered away. A new effort was made in 1860 and the Church opened both an English and a Portuguese school. In 1863 a new school building was built next to the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Pottinger Street near Wellington Street. Here the English, Portuguese and Chinese Schools were reorganised in 1865 as St. Saviour's College. The school provided a training in commercial subjects preparing students to serve as interpreters and clerks. The arrangement of the school into three branches was not altogether successful, and in 1875 the Chinese section was eliminated. Portions of the Portuguese community were also dissatisfied with the school.\n\nThe school had been conducted by lay teachers. It was thought that the school would be more satisfactory if it were under the charge of a Religious Order. Both the French Sisters in Wanchai and the Italian Sisters on Caine Road had been providing for some", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209606, "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-1982", "page_number": 263, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "241\n\n# APPENDIX\n\n## THE HONG KONG AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB AND ITS PREDECESSORS Significant Dates and Performances.\n\n(Authors and dates of first publication or production from A. Nicoll, A History of English Drama, \"Handlist of Plays\".)\n\n(Note: only ADC productions are noted here: professional performances, and performances by Garrison groups or other amateur groups not detailed here).\n\n### 1844/45\n\n18 Dec. 1844 proposed to form a dramatic company of amateurs under patronage of H. E. Governor Davis.\n\n### 1845/46\n\n3 Jan. 1846 Tues. last performance given by \"Corps Dramatique\" at Aqui's Theatre in the Lower Bazaar.\n\n27 Jan. 1846 party of Amateur Performers presented \"The Lady and the Devil\" followed by \"Fortune's Frolic\" Aqui's Theatre.\n\n24 Mar. 1846 Amateur Performers Wed. last, \"The Midnight Hour\" and \"The Sleep Walkers\" Theatre.\n\n28 Apr. 1846 Amateur performance Mon. evening at Aqui's.\n\n27 June 1846 - Amateur Performers fifth and last performance at Aqui's Theatre.\n\n8 Jan. 1846 at length a fair prospect of a Theatre being erected in Hong Kong. Idea suggested last year. Half of funds needed already subscribed.\n\n9 Feb. 1846 Meeting of shareholders of proposed Theatre at house of Mr. Just, corner Queen's Road and Pottinger Street.\n\n### 1848/49\n\n1 Nov. 1848 first public performance by amateurs in new theatre (the Victoria) erected by Mr. Duddell. \"The Weathercock” (J. T. Allingham, 1805) followed by a comic song, concluded with farce \"Rival Valets\" (J. Ebsworth, 1805).\n\n1 Dec. 1848 - Amateurs second performance. \"Fortune's Frolic\" farce (J. T. Allingham, 1799) \"Bambastes Furioso\" burlesque tragic operetta (W. B. Rhodes, 1810) \"The Weathered\" farce\n\n### 1852/53\n\n8 Nov. 1852 meeting at City Hall of persons interested in the revival of drama in Hong Kong. To take measures for preserving the Victoria Theatre to the community for purpose it was originally erected. Committee of four to organize Theatrical Company.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213162, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 230, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "212\n\nIn 1914, the opium concession had been taken over by the Hong Kong Government and a policy for the discontinuance of the trade was pursued. But its use was not fully prohibited until after World War II,\n\nIt must be stressed that much of the information recorded in this short paper was by word of mouth. Over time facts can, of course, become distorted.\n\nHong Kong was affected directly but little by the First World War. 'But there were great celebrations, a two-day public holiday, a victory parade and a fireworks display (which cost HK$2,000) when it was over,' Mr. Lee told me.\n\n'We lived on the first floor of a three-storey building in Pottinger Street. There was a printing workshop on the ground floor.'\n\nAccording to Mr. Lee, his home was not far from the old Victoria Theatre, which stood in Pottinger Street. This was sometimes attended by Sir Francis May, the then Governor of Hong Kong (1912 to 1919). There were more street traders in those days, shouting out and advertising their wares.\n\nTo give a further idea of what Hong Kong was like in 1920, during World War One, the number of sedan chairs peaked at 1,215; whereas the number of rickshaws did not peak until 1924, with 3,411. In 1920, private cars numbered 351, up from 24 in 1914.\n\nI have always complimented Mr. Lee on his English. He, in turn, gives credit to his Chinese primary school teacher in Hong Kong. 'He was strict. But I learned my English grammar from him. Americans do not teach grammar,' he insists.\n\n‘I used to delight in taking a sentence to pieces and analysing it. We also studied the 'Four (Chinese) Books.'\n\nBecause his father, as a businessman in the fields of jewellery and cosmetics, spent 10 years in Australia as a young man, there was only one other child, Mr. Lee's elder sister. Mr. Lee's father was one of the two founders of the Sincere Department Store in Hong Kong. Father died at the age of 36, and filial Mr. Lee gives great credit to his mother, ‘a remarkably capable woman. She brought us up. I owe her a lot,' he told me.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214845, "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": 260, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "227\n\nChinese, except as regards the use of Opium, are exceedingly temperate in their habits and we cannot account for the immense distilleries which have been discovered here.\"\n\n19 Captain Sir Edward Belcher, Narrative of a Voyage Round the World, performed in Her Majesty's Ship Sulphur, During the Years 1836-1842. Including details of the Naval Operations in China, From Dec. 1840, to Nov. 1841 (London 1843, Dawsons of Pall Mall reprint, 1970, Vol.II, p.152.\n\nWyndham Baker, p.156. Commenting, he had added, \"The British common soldier in fact is a strange compound, for they are very kind to their prisoners when once the excitement ceases.\"\n\n21 Beeching, p.136.\n\n22\n\n24 Beeching, p.152. Another British placard recorded by Chu warned that there was to be no more commandeering of goods without payment: ibid. However, despite good intentions, according to another Chinese diary, this time from Shanghai in 1842, rape and looting did occur there, and impressment of civilians for forced labour for such heavy work as shifting gun emplacements and gunpowder [ibid., p.149]. Wyndham Baker, when landing his guns before Chin Kiang Foo, refers to \"about 100 helpless natives to assist in carrying the shot boxes.\" Baker, in Blackwood's 1964, pp.161-2.\n\nBeeching, p.139.\n\nThe British Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen, had agreed, minuting: “The worst proposal I have seen from Mr. Pottinger....It ought not to pass unnoticed\": Beeching, pp.139-140. But Pottinger deserves credit for preserving the famed Porcelain Pagoda at Nanking from British soldiers and sailors who, armed with chisels and hatchets, were intent on obtaining souvenirs by stripping tiles from the tower. \"Sir Henry Pottinger was very indignant at this gratuitous vandalism; a guard was stationed to keep off intruders, and no one was thenceforth allowed to visit the tower without a permit from the Admiral or Commander-in-Chief.\" Parkes wrote, \"Such an act as this is shameful and a disgrace to the British name.\" From Stanley Lane-Poole, Sir Harry Parkes in China (London, Methuen & Co., 1901), p.32. Alas, the Porcelain Pagoda was destroyed by the Taipings not long after, in 1856.\n\n25 Edgar Holt, The Opium Wars in China (London, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1964), p.139.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]