[ { "id": 204585, "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": 66, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "CHANGES IN CHINESE LANGUAGE\n\n55\n\nand as te-mo-k'e-la-si #or te hsien-sheng ✯ (Mr. Democracy\"). But now these transliterations have become antiquated and replaced by i-hui for parliament, kê-hsüeh ** for science, and min-chu R± for democracy. But a few good transliterations have survived such as chi-he for geometry, lo-chi for logic, yu-mo ✯✯ for humour, wu-t'o-pang ✯‡₺ Ħ for utopia, sha-wen chu-i ✯✯‡ for chauvinism. Yet even in Hong Kong, where many Chinese use English, transliteration remains the less common method for introducing terms of foreign origin. Some popular transliterations are, however, in use such as pâk-ch'e for parking a car, in-shoh for insurance, sz-toh ✰✰ for store, fei-lam for film and chak K for cheque. The Chinese living in multi-lingual communities like Malaya or Singapore resort more frequently to transliteration; but their tendency to do so has not exerted a significant influence on the language as a whole. Transliteration of Western terms having in general been found to be a clumsy practice, many Chinese translators, especially before the May 4th Movement, have preferred to borrow certain terms from the Japanese.\n\nIn Chinese, many words can be used in more than one grammatical function, having either completely different meanings or different connotations of one meaning, depending on their position in the sentence. This peculiarity has sometimes been thought to make for a lack of that precision needed in scientific usage. But this so-called imprecision also makes for elasticity in the creation of new terms. For instance, the character pi # can, depending on its place in a sentence, signify \"writing brush\", \"to write\", \"writing\" or \"handwriting\"; moreover, it can be found in combinations such as kang-pi meaning pen; sui-pi M. sketch or essay; pi-chi . to take notes; ch'in-pi #, one's own handwriting; or finally chu-pi, editor or editorial writer of newspaper. How widely the meaning of a character may vary is best shown by the character su originally meaning \"plain and unadorned\". However, Chinese dictionaries usually list about ten meanings under this character, as well as numerous combinations in which it forms a part, such as su-shih . vegetarian diet; su-miao ✯, sketch; yin-su #, factor; and yüan-su ƒ‡. chemical element all newly coined expressions. Similar combinations in common use are: ke-ming, revolution;\n\n¡", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205024, "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-1965", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n123\n\nhappened recently at Tong Fuk on Lantau Island, a multi-clan Cantonese village with a population of 198 at the Hong Kong Census of 1911. Its present population is about the same number. In 1958 the scheme to build a new reservoir at Shek Pik was confirmed and work went ahead on the dam and associated works. Behind Tong Fuk there were to be catchwaters for which an access road had to be constructed to the west of the village. This led to difficulties with the villagers, because in feng shui ideology the place was held to be the seat of the White Tiger. They therefore requested a ceremony known locally as a tun fu (符) — to propitiate the gods and spirits who would, as they thought, be aroused by digging earth and blasting stones in this particular place.\n\nPrecedents were cited by the village elders. They said they had carried out such a ceremony thirty-five years before, following several unexpected deaths in the village. The inhabitants had worshipped at the Hung Shing (廟) temple on the beach nearby, praying for the removal of the malignant influence. It transpired that a villager had cut stone from this particular spot to build a house. The elders then invited a Taoist priest — a Hakka — to come from one of the neighbouring villages to carry out the propitiatory observances usually made under such circumstances. They also said that a similar ceremony had also been conducted twenty years before in the adjoining Cantonese village of Shui Hau, this time by a priest engaged from the urban area. Deaths had also occurred there and had been traced to one of the villagers having constructed a cowshed in front of his house on ground with feng shui properties.\n\nReturning to the 1958 case, the elders proposed to call in the services of the nephew of the priest who had supervised the ceremony thirty-five years before. He was a man of forty years of age who had followed in his uncle's footsteps. Such persons are known locally as feng shui hsien sheng (風水先生).\n\nThis ceremony was supposed to cause considerable inconvenience for the villagers, in theory if not in practice. One week of vegetable diet was obligatory for all and there was also a three-day prohibition on entering and leaving the village: that is, if the ceremony was to realize its full value. This meant that no cows could be grazed or grass or firewood cut on the hills; nor, presumably, could men go out to work in the fields.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205176, "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-1966", "page_number": 132, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "OLD BRITISH KOWLOON\n\n127\n\nbelow; another was the owner of a herbal medicine shop in Yau Ma Ti, and the other two came from Ho Man Tin. One of these was the village elder, and the other was a woman who was a keen Taoist and the wife of the richest man in the village.\n\nThe temple was the focal point of village life at this time and contributed much to relieve the boredom of hard work and ordinary routine for the cultivators, stone-cutters, shop-hands and their wives who were among its devotees. The highlight of the year was the celebrations at the time of the birthday of Kwun Yam, the patron goddess of the temple. This falls on the 19th day of the third lunar month. At this time the managers arranged for a variety of ceremonies and entertainments to take place. First, there was the annual chanting of religious books, called locally ta chiu (T). This was performed by Taoist priests known as nam mo lo (亮樣羅)12 and during this time it was customary for the villagers to follow a vegetarian diet. Having done their religious duty the elders made arrangements for entertaining both gods and men. They employed a troupe of actors to perform Cantonese opera for the traditional period of four days and five nights. My informants tell me that these shows took place every year when they were small, and indeed right up to 1926.\n\nRev. E. J. Hardy, who served as a military chaplain in Hong Kong for three and a half years at the turn of the century writes, with special reference to the villages of the Hong Kong region:33\n\n\"The great event of village life is the occasional visit of strolling players. In a very short time a temporary mat-shed theatre is put up on some barren spot on the outskirts of the village: around it cook-shops, tea-shops, gambling booths and the like, all made of bamboo, palm-leaves, and matting are erected. The place is like a fair. At mat-shed theatres the audience in the pit stand; above there are seats for subscribers and local magnates\".\n\nAnother feature of the celebrations on Kwun Yam's birthday was the firing of lucky rockets. It was usual to fire three rockets, and the assembled men and youths scrambled for the fragments of the rockets, which were believed to bring luck to the successful keepers. The first rocket was the most prized. This local entertainment could take place at various festivals. It is described for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207127, "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": 198, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "192\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nwas about 0.1 acre and it has been estimated that the area of land occupied per capita was 0.45 acre. By that time intensive farming techniques had been developed on cultivation of vegetables, but only on a small scale.\n\nAn attempt has been made to trace the influence of farming techniques of the ancient tribes on the present agriculture. The discovery of prehistoric stone implements, prehistoric village sites and disused rice fields indicates early inhabitancy of farming people. It was found that at least half of the implements were made of stone which could not be found locally in the New Territories. Probably the makers of these tools came from other parts and brought the materials with them.2 Finn suggests that the Hong Kong finds belong to the middle of the Second Millennium B.C.3\n\nAccording to the Chinese history, this region was occupied by the tribes of the Nam Viet group in 2,000 B.C. Their farming practice was known as \"knife cultivation and fire weeding” (刀耕火種), that is to clear the natural vegetation with knife and to burn the weeds with fire. Some villagers still believe that burning the vegetation on the hill will help increase the fertility of their fields. Continuation over centuries of clearing vegetation on the hills has resulted in disappearance of primary forests in this territory.\n\nThe early Chinese settlers paid much attention to the control of soil erosion. Most of the fields left by them on slopes are terraced and nearly all the fields are surrounded by bunds for the purpose of conserving soil, water and plant nutrients. It was estimated that not less than 75% of these fields were well irrigated for planting rice and the rest for dryland field crops, vegetables and fruit trees.\n\nOwing to allocation of the major portion of the cultivated land to rice growing, the early settlers built a large number of weirs and irrigation channels to divert water from streams through channels into the fields. Fields situated on an upper course usually have the first priority on use of the water. The water seeping from the fields is re-diverted by the second weir and so on. Thus, the water can be used again and again, i.e. the longer the stream, the fuller the use of water.\n\nVegetables grown on well-drained land were irrigated by the manual method. The grower carried the water in wooden buckets fitted with a tube and a rose head to sprinkle water on vegetables.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207423, "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-1975", "page_number": 191, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n183\n\na more cheerful atmosphere became apparent; most people used the contents intelligently to make the basic diet more palatable while the thought that we were not forgotten did much to improve morale.\n\nSix months later, in May 1943 a second consignment of parcels arrived. Some of our patients had already received a second parcel in Sham Shui Po and those who had done so were allotted one parcel between two men from our second allocation. All others in the hospital received one parcel each, but as before a number of parcels showed shortages.\n\nOn 1 September 1944, sixteen months later we received a splendid consignment of parcels from the Canadian Red Cross, enough to issue two to each person in hospital. A few parcels remained after this distribution and I took these into the store and used the tinned foods for general messing. As usual some parcels were incomplete though the wrappings were intact, and the shortages in this case and perhaps in others must have resulted from bad packing.\n\nIt was only three days later when on 4 September 1944 we received a further 144 Canadian parcels and issued two between five men. As before a few parcels not allocated in the foregoing way were broken up, the tinned food being used for general messing while such items as prunes, chocolate, raisins, biscuits etc. were added to bulk stores of similar nature received three days earlier and used to make 133 prizes which were raffled among 315 people.\n\nNo further individual parcels were received, and therefore each member of staff and each long-term patient received a total of just under 41 parcels between 1942 and 1945, though patients admitted from Kowloon may have had a fraction more. In January 1943 the Red Cross organization in Hong Kong had started to send in bulk stores of food to us. These included tins of meat and vegetable, preserved meat, sardines, condensed milk, marmalade, jam, tomato catsup, syrup, Yershey's milk powder, shark liver oil, dripping, hen and duck eggs, barley, fresh limes, dried peas, soy beans, soy bean powder, soy sauce, peanut butter, peanut oil, Chinese and cube sugar, tea and cocoa. In January we had two intakes and further intakes were spread at irregular intervals, one in May, one each in June and July and two in October. In August 1943 Sergeant Seino told me that we could expect no further supplies but in 1944 we had two intakes in each month from March to August inclusive, one each...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210387, "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-1984", "page_number": 358, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "337\n\nperiod — which lasted from the bronze age Dongson period of the third century B.C. to the end of the T'ang dominance in the early tenth century A.D. He has divided this long period into six distinct phases, constructing the main characteristics of each one as the centre-piece of a chapter.\n\nThe first (Chapter 1, \"Lac Lords\") covers the emergence of organized society in the plains of the Hong and Ma rivers (near present Hanoi) under feudal lords. Sources for this bronze age period are largely archeological and linguistic, with a heavy reliance upon the interpretation of myths and legends.\n\nThe second chapter or phase (\"The Han-Viet era”) charts the invasion of Chinese forces and particularly the southern expedition of Ma Yuan, the great Han general, and the emergence of a mixed Sino-Viet ruling class.\n\nThe third phase (Chapter 3, \"Regionalism and the six dynasties\") covers the consolidation of Chinese political and cultural domination.\n\nChapter 4, \"Local rule in the sixth century\" is the fourth phase, which Taylor calls a \"time of self-discovery” for the Vietnamese. It was a time when Chinese control weakened slightly before the consolidation of Sui-T'ang control of the south. And in this weakening the Vietnamese, according to Taylor, began looking to their pre-Chinese roots.\n\nThe Sui-T'ang period of rule is covered in Chapter 5, \"The protectorate of An-nam\". In this phase he chronicles the \"intensity\" of pressure upon Vietnam to conform to the Chinese model of civilized society, as well as the growing resistance to Chinese domination. That resistance bore success of sorts when in the tenth century the T'ang dynasty collapsed and Vietnamese rebellions succeeded in throwing off direct Chinese rule. This is Taylor's Chapter 6, \"The T'ang-Viet confrontation\", and Chapter 7, \"Independence\".\n\nWhile critical of Chinese and French historians as treating the Vietnamese past as a “branch of Chinese history\" Taylor uses", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211463, "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": 179, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "155\n\nI remember crying in pain and rage because adults and children gathered around me to watch.\n\nMother also used some of the ointments that Grandfather Jong brewed for us. One white jar contained a blackish, gummy substance, a bit of which in warm tea was for gastro-intestinal discomfort, and which I later learned contained a little opium. A jar of pink ointment was for drawing influence to a head after it had been warmed over a small flame and applied as a poultice. Mother was so pleased when Uncle Yim sent us a dried gall bladder of a bear because of its \"cooling\" effect on an infected area. Once she dissolved some of it in water and applied it to me. When I fell and cut my head, what Mother did was to press some tobacco, which Grandmother Jong used for her water-pipe, on the wound to stop the bleeding.\n\nAs we grew older and Mother began to learn more Western practices from some of her new-found friends, in particular Mrs. Lam Quan, a neighbour who had studied at Kawaiahao Seminary, castor oil was the first order of treatment when any of us got sick, followed by a dose of Chinese herbal tea to “cool” our system. According to Dr. Joseph Lam, the herbs served as a diuretic. Diet for the sick would always be congee, or sweet potatoes boiled in water and sweetened with cakes of brown sugar from China, or a thin sweetened gruel of white-flowered sweet potato flour, also imported from China. For a congested chest, she would rub the area with warm peanut oil and the feel of her soft, warm hand would give me comfort and reassurance.\n\nMother's health was always fragile, but she took very good care of herself. I do not know what her early ailments were, but she used to buy \"Vivai\" from a Mrs. McAllister upon the advice of Mrs. Lam Quan. Mother would drink the liquid and have either Ruth or me massage her back with the ointment at bedtime. Young and tired, I would often doze off while trying to do the boring task. Fortunately, this did not last long. In addition, Mother would use all kinds of Chinese medicines, often referring to a handbook of medicine. Soon after Helen was born, she suffered such severe gastric pains that a herbalist was called in to treat her. When I was in high school, it seemed that every time I planned to go to a football game, she would get so sick that I would have to be home with her. Later, after Father's death, when women were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211698, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 113, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "88 \n\nJ \n\nleft there were still many people who had neither beds nor mattresses. With the departure of the American internees at the beginning of July it had been possible to relieve a few of the worst cases of overcrowding, but the relief was quite insufficient, and for many I am tempted to say 'for most' — of the internees the overcrowding, the lack of privacy, and the consequent friction and nervous strain rank as a more serious hardship than the food shortage which I will deal with next.\n\nThe food question falls into two phases. During the first 2 1/2 months the food was very bad indeed, totally insufficient in quantity, poor in quality, ill-cooked and deficient in nourishment. When I was in hospital my normal food was: breakfast two thin slices of bread (sometimes with a scrape of jam or margarine, sometimes dry) and one cup of tea; dinner, a bowl of rice and soya beans cooked with two or three small pieces of buffalo beef, pork or fish and some greens; tea, one cup of tea only; supper, one slice of bread, sometimes with a sliver of cheese, and a cup of soup of sorts. (This was better than the ordinary camp fare). During this period there was no way of supplementing the basic rations of rice, soya bean, meat (or fish) and greenstuff, and everyone lost weight severely; some men lost as much as 70 lbs. The hospital was full of dysentery and diarrhoea cases and there were a large number of cases of beriberi and other malnutrition diseases.\n\nIn April, however, an issue of 1/2 lb. of flour a day was substituted for part of the rice ration and arrangements were made to bake bread in the camp. An immediate improvement in the general health of the camp appeared, and this was aided by certain other factors of which the principal were\n\n(a) the opening of a canteen where those who had any money could buy limited quantities of oatmeal, margarine, powdered milk, sugar, cocoa etc., at fancy prices, and\n\n(b) permission for parcels of foodstuffs, toilet necessities etc. to be sent in from the town.\n\nThose persons then who had money to spend at the canteen and friends in Hongkong were able to supplement their diet fairly satisfactorily. But there remained a large — a very large residue of people in the camp who had neither money nor friends in Hongkong and who were accordingly entirely dependent on their rations. These consisted when", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211699, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 114, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "89\n\nI left the camp at the end of July. Of rice, 7 oz. bread, 7 oz. a meagre portion of beef or pork, some greenstuff, a small quantity of peanut oil, and sometimes a slice of sweet potatoes daily, and about 1 1⁄2 oz. of sugar and a sufficient quantity of salt weekly. Sometimes excessive pork fat was boiled down in the kitchens and distributed as dripping. This diet, it should be noted, includes none of the following: milk, butter, margarine, cocoa, tea, coffee, cheese, fruit, eggs, or jam, and it is entirely inadequate for persons accustomed to a European dietary, as well as far short of the scale believed adopted for internees in the United Kingdom. The Japanese maintained that internees were receiving the equivalent of 2000 calories per head per diem and that this was sufficient for persons not doing hard manual labour. Our own doctors maintained that the minimum allowed by the League of Nations scale was 2400 calories, that we were, during the earlier days, getting only 1400, and that internees were, even at the end of July, getting only 1940. Anyhow, apart from the calories question, the basic rations do not afford suitable nourishment for Europeans, and those persons who were entirely dependent on them were definitely suffering severe hardship. I would add too that the suggestion that internees were not doing hard manual labour was only partly true. All the work of the camp, including road and building repairs and constructions, moving stores, cooking, baking, sawing firewood, grass cutting, etc., was done by the internees themselves, and many of the latter worked hard and for long hours. There is one further class which needs special mention: those people who cannot digest a rice diet. There were many such in the camp, and they were having a hard time. Though a special diet kitchen had been opened to cook for these and other special cases, its resources were very limited, and the diet, though somewhat better cooked, did not vary much from the regular camp food.\n\nThe rice supplied by the Japanese was very variable in quality. Only occasionally did we have first grade. The normal ration consisted of \"cargo rice\", a reddish rice full of grit, beetles, maggots, and other extraneous matter. It cooks badly and has an unpleasant musty flavour. Many representations on the subject were made to the Japanese Authorities, but without effect.\n\nDuring May, the Japanese were so impressed by the physical deterioration of internees that a sum of H.K.$300,000 was allocated for their relief. This came to approximately $105 a head, and it was arranged that a certain sum be allotted for the purchase of extras for the communal", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211970, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 385, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "360 \n\nof the Lineage, or his representatives, went to Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall for Hung-Yi. \n\nEach party took with them sets of paper clothing, fruit, tea, wine, yun-bou and a gong. \n\nI was told that the two officials Jau and Wong would be invited from the temple before the first five ritual representatives went to the Ling Wan Monastery. They departed for Ling-Wan Ji on a goods vehicle. A nun was there to meet them. The nun said that in the celebrations in the past they always heard the sound of the party's gong before the ritual representative's party arrived, this time the party was so quiet that she had no warning of their approach. (She had known that the jiu was to take place, though). \n\nA brief worship was conducted by the nun at the main altar. After that the paper clothing was burnt, and the ritual representatives made offerings of incense, tea, wine and a plate of vegetarian food. Then temporary spirit tablets of paper prepared in advance by the villagers for this occasion were each inserted into a piece of Chinese carrot and put on the altar table. There were a total of seven gods, including Gwaan-Dai, Fui-Sing, Choi-Baak-Sing-Gwan and Man-Cheung. Upon the suggestion of the nun, they added a temporary tablet for Gaam-jaai, a god to oversee observation of vegetarian diet. A concluding baai-san was accompanied by the villagers' gong and the nun's “chime”. Among the gods from Ling-Wan Ji, only Gwun-Yam was invited in the form of an image. \n\nNext the party went to the Pat Heung Temple. A woman of about 70 met them and the Kam Tin men explained that they were inviting the gods to see the opera and they would be brought back afterwards. The gods were Tin-Hau, Yeung-Hau, Gwun-Yam and Wa-Gwong. The woman instructed them to make an offering and burn yun-bou before they fetched the gods, which they did. Here they took no statue of the gods. \n\nThen they went to the Yuen Kong Temple. The ritual representatives had expected the presence of a temple keeper, probably for guidance. But none was to be found. Only Yeung-Hau and Bak-Dai were fetched, although the Kam Tin men made offerings of incense to the other gods of the temple too. After this the party went back to Kam Tin.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214898, "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": 313, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "287\n\nfive, offshore islets but, due to silting up over the years, they became part of the mainland. Mysterious caves within the mountain shelter altars dedicated to Buddha, different gods and genies based upon popular beliefs held by the area's inhabitants. Today, these caves still serve as religious sanctuaries. The mountains are also a valuable source of red, white and blue-green marble. At the foot of the mountains, skilful marble carvers create a great variety of objets d'arts.\n\nOur fifth day was spent in Hoi An. About 15 miles southeast of Danang, this charming old town was once a flourishing port and meeting place of eastern and western cultures in central Dai Viet under the Nguyen lords. Hoi An was originally a seaport in the Champa Kingdom; by the 15th century it had become a coastal Vietnamese town under the Tran Dynasty. In the beginning of the 16th century the Portuguese came to explore the coast of Hoi An. They were followed by the first western traders in the area. Then came the Chinese, the Japanese, the Dutch, the British and the French. In the early 1980s, UNESCO and the Polish Government took the initiative and funded a restoration program to classify and safeguard Hoi An's ancient quarters and historic monuments. The old town area borders the Thu Bon River to the South of the town. Le Loi Street was the first street to be built, about four centuries ago. The Japanese quarter with its covered bridge, Japanese style shops and houses followed half a century later, then came the Cantonese quarter a further 50 years later still.\n\nHoi An's ancient past is superbly preserved in its architecture. The old quarter is a fascinating blend of temples, pagodas, community houses, shrines, clan houses, shop houses and homes. One of the most remarkable historical architectural examples is the Japanese covered Bridge. Built by the Japanese community in the 17th century, the bridge's curved shape and undulating green and yellow tiled roof give the impression of moving water. Some pagodas and 20 Chinese clan houses stand in the centre of the ancient town. The clan house has been the meeting place for many generations of the same clan. Here they recall their origins and worship their ancestors. The Chinese migrant community built most of the temples and houses here over a span of 40 years, between 1845 and 1885.\n\nThe most characteristic examples of Hoi An's architecture are the old houses along Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. These elongated houses", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]