[
    {
        "id": 210660,
        "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": 11,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "them as Hon. Secretary to our Society. The departure of both ladies was suitably marked by a cocktail reception and presentations on behalf of our membership.\n\nI am relieved and thankful to report that both posts were immediately filled by two other ladies who are contributing in the same dedicated manner. Mrs. Anita Wilson, who with her husband John is a current member of the Society, took over from Mrs. McLean as Hon. Secretary, whilst Mrs. Sharon Bruce took up the Assistant Secretaryship. Both she and her husband Phillip are long standing members.\n\nSymposium on the Future of the Society\n\nIn my past two annual reports I touched on the possibility of holding a seminar to discuss the present and future of the Society in Hong Kong. We, as well as other local groups, will be affected in one way or another by the Sino-British Agreement ratified in December 1984 which arranges for the return of Hong Kong in June 1997 and its establishment as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is, in any case, desirable to take stock of our position now, to ensure that we are organized to meet the needs of the present transitional period and the changes which are evolving in this vibrant and progressive city.\n\nThe seminar has taken time to arrange because Councillors have been more than usually busy in the interim, but preparations are now well in hand, and it will now be held on Saturday 9th May, 1987. Our member, Mr. Ian Deane, with some assistance from myself and others, has nearly completed the arrangements for this important event. A special feature of the preparations has been a detailed questionnaire to which over 120 members responded, giving many valuable comments and suggestions. The Vice-Chancellor of Hong Kong University, Dr. Wang Gungwu, has kindly agreed to give the keynote address and other prominent speakers are likely to assist. Background papers will be distributed to members before the meeting in order to make the best use of the time available. They will cover such subjects as our organization, programmes and financing, the possibility of a bi-lingual operation, whether a change in the name of our Society is in order in preparation...",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
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    {
        "id": 211297,
        "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-1988",
        "page_number": 13,
        "title": "RAS-1988",
        "content_text": "Luk and I have discussed this question also. She tells me that other Societies with private collections on long loan also wish their members to have fuller access to their books, but this will not be possible until under a different arrangement more space in new premises enables the collections to be placed on free access in a reference library. In the meantime, Mrs. Luk wishes to facilitate our members' use of the RAS Collection. She is considering issuing updated catalogues and arranging for books to be requisitioned at, and be collected from and returned to, certain public libraries on this side of the harbour. The will to assist is obvious, and we shall be very grateful for improved borrowing arrangements meantime.\n\nThe Council and its Helpers\n\nMembers of the Council have worked hard during the year, in their various capacities. If I may say so, they are talented and competent, and make a good team: which is why (I suppose) you have not made any other nominations this year! They are also friendly and supportive, and it has been a pleasure to work with them.\n\nThe same is true of our helpers who, under our new arrangements, are assisting on the various committees. They, too, deserve a word of thanks. Those serving on the Activities Committee have certainly made it possible to do more than the Councillors could do unaided. Insufficient hands was one of the constraints impeding the growth of the Society, and it is very gratifying to be able to report the success of this particular outcome of the 1987 symposium. Those concerned are Rosemary Lee, Dan Waters and Geoffrey Roper on the Activities Committee, Betty Wei on the Editorial Board, Michael Kirkbride and, again, Rosemary Lee on the External Links Committee, and Helena Hung, David Yung and Choi Chi-cheung on the Ad Hoc Committee on Chinese Membership. Other members, some of them here tonight, have offered to help. Never fear! It is still \"early days\" with the newer committees, and we shall be co-opting you and other members once they get into their stride. The new arrangements enable us to be as flexible as is required.\n\nAt this point, I must also repeat what I said last year about the excellent support given by Mrs. Sharon Bruce, our tireless Assistant Secretary, helped on the side by the Acting, Unpaid Assistant Secretary, husband\n\nxii\n\n:\n\n!\n\n!",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt",
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    {
        "id": 212068,
        "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-1990",
        "page_number": 10,
        "title": "RAS-1990",
        "content_text": "Hase, Chek Lap Kok organized by Philip and Sharon Bruce, Fung Ping Shan Museum (x2) organized by Michael Lau, Parsee Building and Parsee Temple organized by Geoff Roper, Lam Tsuen Ta-Chiu festival organized by Dr. Patrick Hase. Shataukok visit (x2) organized by Dr. Patrick Hase, and a visit to the Chinese University of Hong Kong with its Arts Gallery organized by myself.\n\nWithout detracting from the other lectures I would like to mention that we were very privileged to have Dr. Wang Gangwu, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, to speak on the occasion of our 30th Anniversary, followed by a Chinese dinner at the City Hall restaurant.* I must confess it came as a surprise to find that it was 30 years since our rebirth. I think that all those who heard Dr. Wang's lecture on this occasion would agree that his lecture was as stimulating and thought provoking as you would ever wish to hear. It will, incidentally, we hope, be published in a future edition of our Journal.\n\nOverseas Tours\n\nFrom time to time members have asked us to organise tours overseas, and in response to this we have recently circulated a proposal for a visit to South Korea, where we would hope to meet up with the Royal Asiatic Society there. Unfortunately although many members have expressed interest, the final numbers who have definitely said they will go are below what we think is financially viable, and unless there is a strong interest in this trip within the next day we will be cancelling it. I am grateful to Dan Waters for all the hard work he has put into this, and I think we have learnt by this experience. We will continue to consider overseas tours but I think it will be a question of something closer and for shorter periods. Members' advice on this would be very much appreciated.\n\nMembership\n\nAt the end of last year my predecessor reported to you that there were 638 local members and 80 overseas members, making a total of 718 Members. Mrs. Bruce reports that at the last count there were 596 local members (492 living on Hong Kong Island, 65 in Kowloon, and 39 in the New Territories) and again around 80 overseas members, making a total of 676 members. This decline in the total membership\n\n* See Plate 16\n\nix",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299",
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    {
        "id": 212069,
        "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-1990",
        "page_number": 11,
        "title": "RAS-1990",
        "content_text": "is due not only to a stronger weeding out of those who have not paid their subscriptions, and people leaving Hong Kong, but also to the fact that the Society has not in the last year or so pursued such an aggressive recruitment campaign, although 59 have joined the Society since last April. It is of course difficult to determine how many members a Society such as this should have. The downside is that financially we may not be as healthy as we hoped, but the upside is that there is more room for our popular excursions, and presumably there is less administration, although I am not sure Mrs. Sharon Bruce would agree. At any rate your council is keeping this aspect under surveillance, and I urge you to encourage your friends to become members at the very modest rate of $250 p.a.\n\nThere is, however, one aspect of our membership on which I have to report on which there has been no further progress: I refer to corporate membership. Last year letters sent to many leading companies in Hong Kong produced no positive response. For the benefit of those who are not aware of this may I reiterate that for the comparatively small sum of $10,000 p.a. it was intended to give certain privileges to corporate sponsors particularly in the area of acknowledgement our publications. Amongst the reasons for this move, apart from putting the Society on a firmer financial basis, was to bring to those corporations' attention the Society's achievements and interests and hopefully involve them more in the historical and academic side of Hong Kong. We shall continue to pursue this, and if any of you this evening are in a position to influence your corporations, I hope you will do so. The companies that we did approach have in fact given money to our parent Society in London, so we do feel we are on strong ground.\n\nPublications\n\nThe annual Journal is, as my predecessor said, “our major contribution to knowledge of the Hong Kong region and further afield.\" It is a very important part, if not the most important part, of our activities and it is paramount that we keep up the academic standards. All those who have received the 1988 Journal (the 1989 one will appear later this year) will, I am sure, agree that standards have been maintained and for this we have to thank Dr. Patrick Hase. It is no small feat to produce a Journal in one's spare time. The Journal is well known in many overseas academic institutions and has became an important\n\ni\n\nX",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212457,
        "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-1991",
        "page_number": 11,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "having discussed it many times: there is no easy solution since the number of members are invariably limited due to external restraints, such as transport or the sheer difficulty in taking too many people around one place. One solution is to organise the trip twice or even thrice and you will note we have done this on a number of occasions.\n\nThe Council continues to be wary of running tours outside Hong Kong, after finding that the response to the proposed trip to South Korea early last year was not good, which led to its abandonment. However over the last year we have been to the Pearl River Delta and Xiamen and next July there is a thrust deep into China to be led by Mrs. Rosemary Lee and Mr. Peter Lee for which there have been some encouraging responses. It does seem therefore that this will be the pattern for the future, i.e. short or long trips into China rather than elsewhere.\n\nIt is customary for this report to include a paragraph on Membership, and this cannot be done without the assistance of our very capable Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Sharon Bruce, who is able to inform me from her records that our current numbers are 581 local members (450 from H.K. Island, 76 from Kowloon and 55 from the New Territories) and 114 overseas members, making a total of 695 members.\n\nThis compares with last year's figures of 596 local members (492 from H.K. Island, 65 from Kowloon and 39 from the New Territories) and around 80 overseas members, making a total of 676 members. In this transitory society it is considered that this is a satisfactory situation. May I ask that if you are leaving Hong Kong you will continue to keep in touch: we can keep you informed of our activities and send you the annual journal all for the modest subscription of HK$180. And on the subject of membership it is with great regret to note that we will be losing our patron Lord Wilson, later this year. Lord Wilson has been very supportive of the Society's activities and his presence at our Annual General Meeting dinner two years ago was very much appreciated. I regret to say I do not have a secret line to inform you as yet who our next patron will be but we will keep you informed as soon as we have anything definite.\n\nSuch a large membership does mean of course that they need servicing and that we have a system for keeping in touch: this is done very competently by Mrs. Anita Wilson, who produces a bi-monthly newsletter: this helps enormously to bind our Society together and also when we need assistance we have means to obtain it: this was clearly",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212705,
        "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-1992",
        "page_number": 14,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "We are fortunate to have such an able person to look after our finances and I would like to place on record the Society's appreciation for all the work he does. Membership as a whole continues to fluctuate, with many leaving and new members joining and we hope in the long run they will at least be equal if not more for the latter than the former. Last year I reported to you that there were 533 local members (492 in Hong Kong Island, 65 in Kowloon, and 39 in the New Territories) and around 80 overseas members. This year our efficient Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Sharon Bruce tells me that there are 593 local members (241 single, 176 joint, 104 life, 8 student members, 4 institute) and around 102 overseas members. There has therefore on the surface been a decline in local members, but I am reliably informed that this is due to the stronger weeding out of those who have not paid their subscription rather than any other reason. However we do always welcome new members and in these days of uncertainty it is important that we keep up the good publicity we have and obtain new members. For $300 per annum membership is a bargain, particularly when you bear in mind it includes the journal.\n\nBefore leaving the subject of membership, however, I would like to report to you that the Governor of Hong Kong, Mr. Chris Patten has graciously agreed to become the Society's patron and thereby continue a tradition of the Society ever since it was re-established in 1959. We naturally hope that when life is calmer for him he will be able to attend one of our functions in an informal way.\n\nAnd how are we kept together and informed? This is by the newsletter which is very competently produced by Mrs. Anita Wilson and we owe her and Mrs. Sharon Bruce who helps to distribute it a great vote of thanks.\n\nYou will notice in this report that I have referred to several aspects of the Society's past, but I would not like you to think that we do not give some thought to the future, something as Gladstone said we cannot fight against. There are some wonderful metaphors going around in Hong Kong at present such as the second stove, the second kitchen, but I believe we are more interested in the through train, or perhaps I should say a stable kitchen. This Society will I hope be able in its own small way contribute to a stable yet enterprising kitchen; but in order to do this we will need the support of all members, and to continue to stimulate an active interest in Hong Kong's history and heritage (a task as Professor\n\nxii",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212946,
        "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": 14,
        "title": "RAS-1993",
        "content_text": "in these issues has recently been sent on the above lines.\n\nTurning to other activities I would like to place again on record our thanks to all those volunteers who have assisted in grading ancient buildings in Hong Kong for the Antiquities and Monuments Office. This project has been going on for two years and I understand has made significant inroads and according to Mr. Peter Chan, Curator (Historical Buildings), their reports and work are very professional. Our thanks are also due to those members who sit on the Antiquities Advisory Board and particularly to Dr. Dan Waters who co-ordinates all these efforts.\n\nOn the administration side all of us have a good deal to be grateful for; keeping a list of members, and ensuring that they pay their subscriptions are we know thankless tasks but without them a Society such as ours would soon die; Mrs. Sharon Bruce, our Assistant Secretary does a superb job here, and so does Mrs. Anita Wilson on the newsletter, without which nothing would happen; also our Secretary, Mr. David Sheil who somehow manages to produce coherent minutes of our Council meetings from his Lamma Island outpost. I will leave Mr. Robert Nield, our Treasurer to explain our finances to you; you will, I hope find them in good shape, and whilst a Society such as ours should not boast that it has made a profit on the Stock Exchange, the fact is we have.\n\nTwo of the most important academic activities of the Society are the build up of the Library and the publication of the Journal. Last year I reported that the Library, under the capable direction of our Librarian, Mr. Y.C. Wan, would be moving from its location in the rather inaccessible Kowloon Central Library to a special collection room in the re-organised City Hall Central Library. Together with new acquisitions during the last year this is now likely to happen in the foreseeable future. Not only that, it is liable to be input into the Urban Council's data base, and therefore computerised. This is indeed very good news and I hope that when the Library does move it will be utilised more than it is now: it is a very fine collection.\n\nThe publication of the Society's Journal is one of the most arduous tasks; editors of journals are a wonderful breed and our editor, Dr. Patrick Hase is no exception; indeed his patience with late contributions and sub-standard publishers is a model. It is therefore with some relief that I report that the 1990 Journal was finally published earlier this month and there is no doubt that it is fully up to the high academic standards of the ...",
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    },
    {
        "id": 213191,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1994",
        "page_number": 13,
        "title": "RAS-1994",
        "content_text": "now no longer on the second floor of the Murray Road Car Park and last month some of the more important records were placed in a special room in the Central Government Offices West Wing and these are accessible to members of the public. The other records have been placed in Tuen Mun in, I believe, reasonable surroundings. However, more importantly it has been reported that the Government has agreed to build a special purpose building for Public Records in Kwun Tong. This is very good news even though the building is unlikely to be completed for another two or three years. I should again like to thank all those who helped in this campaign. One of the incidental results of the move of the Public Records is that the Society's stock of journals which were there (rather surreptitiously I may add) is now temporarily (I hope) stored in the library of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. And in this connection I hope you will have a good look and buy some of these back journals at the back of the room,\n\nPublications, visits, lectures and other educational activities are the ingredients of the Society and what makes it move. However none of these can work well unless there is a satisfactory administration to back it up. The Society has been fortunate in the people who help in this direction. We have our Treasurer, Mr. Robert Nield, who helps us (even orders us!) to keep on the right financial track; he will tell us later that the Society's finances are in reasonable shape and we will not need to raise our subscriptions in January 1996, but may well need to do so in January 1997. Our Secretary, Mr. David Sheil keeps us in order at our Committee meetings and even from his Lamma outpost. Our Assistant Secretaries - you will note I have said Secretaries rather than Secretary, because we have had two in the last year. Mrs. Sharon Bruce who served in this capacity for eight years did a splendid job - her sympathetic listening and quiet efficiency served the Society extraordinarily well. Unfortunately she left in December and her position has been taken over by Mr. Martin Barnett. We welcome him; he promises to professionalise us, but not, I hasten to add, too much. He has already put our membership records on computer thereby giving us more information on the profile of our members than we ever had in the past.\n\nLastly, I think it would be useful to give some thought for the future. The Society by nature caters very much for the local amateur and professional academic interested in local affairs covering a wide range of interests, from political and social history, anthropological matters, archaeology, architecture, geography, and many other matters which stimulate the mind. This is how it should be. However, we cannot be\n\nXI1",
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