[ { "id": 204238, "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": 6, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n3\n\nTHE NORTH CHINA BRANCH started in Shanghai in 1857 under the name of the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society. Its first President was the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, D.D., the first American missionary in China and the founder and manager of the Chinese Repository. Its first Journal appeared in 1858 in the name of the Literary and Scientific Society, but in that year the Society became affiliated to the Royal Asiatic Society as its North China Branch. Except for a brief period between 1861, when Dr. Bridgman died, and 1864 when the Society was reanimated through the unremitting efforts of Sir Harry Parkes as President, the Society maintained for nearly 85 years—until the outbreak of the second world war in December 1941—almost an unbroken vigour and a high reputation as the principal centre of Oriental culture among the foreign and Chinese communities in Central China. It also kept up a high standard of scholarship and of cultural appeal in its Journal, which appeared unfailingly every year. After the war it continued its work until, after 1948, it was forced through political troubles to cease its activities. The last issues of the Journal had been published with the co-operation of the International Institute of China.\n\nThe Society in Shanghai was from its early days fortunate in the support of a generous public and of the British Government, which in 1868 provided it with a site at a nominal rent for its own building, completed in 1871. Later the property was conveyed to the Society in perpetuity or for so long as it was used for the Society's purpose. Thus, in 1931 the Society was able, with the aid of public subscriptions and generous municipal grants, to build in Museum Road close to the British Consulate a commodious building of its own; it contained a lecture hall named after the late Dr. Wu Lien-teh, a floor to accommodate its Oriental Library of 12,000 volumes and adjacent reading rooms, as well as space for an excellent natural history museum and for the exhibition of Chinese paintings and other works of art.\n\nIn 1941 the Society had nearly 800 members, including most of the leading Oriental scholars, explorers and travellers. Amongst the outstanding personalities who had been associated with the North China Branch a few may be mentioned—Dr. Joseph Edkins, Thomas W. Kingsmill, Dr. Emil Breitschneider, Henri Cordier (at one time the Society's Librarian), P. G. van Mollendorf, Sir Robert Hart, Sir Harry Parkes, Sir Byron Brennan, W. H. Medhurst, Sir Edmund Hornby (the first British Judge in China), Sir Rutherford Alcock, H. A. Giles, G. H. Parker, H. B. Morse, A. P. Parker, Alexander Hosie, Samuel Couling, Sir Sidney Barton and Dr. J. C. Ferguson, an American, former President of Nanking University and a man of profound learning and wisdom who, in the course of half a century, served the Society as President, Secretary and Editor of the Journal.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204243, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Vol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n8\n\nand contributions from the community, it built a commodious home for itself with a spacious lecture room and provided accommodation for its very valuable library and museum. In Hong Kong we hope that some facilities may be afforded in the new City Hall for societies like ours but if our plans are to mature we need a meeting place of our own where we can build up an Oriental library which should fill a special need which cannot be supplied by the University, whose library is not readily accessible to the public, or by the new City Hall, whose library will probably be of a wider popular interest.\n\nAs the basis of our projected library we propose to print a sufficient number of our periodical journals to enable us to exchange periodicals with kindred societies in other parts of the world. We also propose in our journal to review books on Oriental affairs which may bring us a useful nucleus of publications. Until we have enough money to buy books it would be greatly appreciated if members who have any books of interest and connected with the objects of the Society would kindly remember that any gifts of books and journals would be most welcome.\n\nThe Branch is greatly indebted to benefactors who have been generous with donations. In Sir Richard Winstedt's message on its formation he expressed the hope that both European and Chinese firms with their accustomed generosity would help to foster the growth of a Branch of high promise. This hope was realised in the donations received of 500 dollars each from Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., and The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and 250 dollars from Mr. Ellis Hayim. Then in April last year there came a munificent gift from an anonymous donor who is not now resident in the Colony. This was the gift of 10,000 dollars in memory of Arthur de Carl Sowerby, a great authority on the natural history of China, who was the founder and curator of the museum of the Society in Shanghai. These contributions have enabled us to put aside a capital fund which will help us in our aims for the future while yielding a useful interest in the meantime. It is greatly hoped that other merchant houses and individuals in the Colony may, without any direct appeal, emulate the example of these benefactors and help us to build up a Branch of the Society in Hong Kong worthy of the heritage which Professor Drake in his inaugural address coupled with the corresponding task which such heritage implied.\n\nDuring the year there was little change amongst the officers and members of the Council. Mr. Endacott resigned owing to pressure of work and the vacancy was filled in accordance with the rules by the co-option of The Hon. A. G. Clarke. Mr.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204618, "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": 99, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "86\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nin the north-east quarter of the city, well away from the new diplomatic quarter.2\n\nAll accommodation for foreign embassies was to be concentrated in one area outside the east wall of the city, and about one and a half miles from a newly constructed gate, just near to the old astronomical instruments which can still be seen on top of the east wall. Eventually, after negotiations, the new British Legation was allotted two large houses and two blocks of flats in this new diplomatic quarter. The last christening was performed in the Legation chapel, the books in the small library were taken off their shelves, the flag at the gate was hauled down, and everything was packed.3 Among the more colourful of the closing scenes in the life of the old British Legation should be mentioned the two Commonwealth cricket matches played in the Autumn of 1958 between the Moonrakers, captained by Mr. Duncan Wilson, the British Chargé d'Affaires, and the Woolgatherers captained by the Indian Ambassador, Mr. G. Parthasaratly. The rules governing this diplomatic cricket were many and local but the chief rule of all was that if anyone hit a ball into the grounds of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security next door his whole side was out.\n\nFinally, in September 1959, the staff moved to their new quarters and thus after nearly one hundred years of continuous occupation the existence of the old British Legation in Peking came to an end. From an historical and sentimental point of view its loss was sad. But from a realistic point of view which\n\n20 This was built on a site which had been granted to Russia as far back as the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689). As a result of fighting between Russian settlers on the frontier between Siberia and Manchuria about a hundred Russian prisoners were brought to Peking in the period 1683-5. They were formed into a company, given a place of residence in the northeast corner of Peking, close to the Lama Temple, and intermarried with Chinese and Manchus. They retained their Greek Orthodox faith and were allowed to have their own priests. See Michel N. Pavlovsky, Chinese-Russian Relations (New York, 1949) 145-164. It was to this place, known as the Pei-kuan (\"Northern Hostel\") that the members of the Russian ecclesiastical mission transferred in 1861.\n\n30 Unfortunately the imposing Royal Coat of Arms which dignified the gateway of the old Legation was too large to fit properly into the new Legation buildings. Mr. Michael Stewart, the Chargé d'Affaires at the time of the move, arranged with Sir Robert Black, the Governor of Hong Kong, that the Coat of Arms should be sent to Government House in Hong Kong. It is now fixed onto the wall at the far end of the long ballroom of Government House, which it dominates by the brilliance of its colours,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204709, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "3\n\nThe expedition to Tung Chung produced a new inspiration for the Society's activities, mainly the idea of our admirable Hon. Secretary, Mr. R. E. Lawry. It is proposed to hold a symposium during weekends to discuss the social organisation of village life and other aspects of life in the New Territories. A programme has been arranged for the weekend May 9th-10th, particulars of which have already been supplied to members. This extension of our activities is in accord with the avowed objects of the Society for it is our aim to direct attention not only to the cultural and literary heritage of the part of Asia in which we live, but also to practical pursuits such as its natural history, fauna and flora, and the lives of the people around us.\n\nA particularly noteworthy and important work of the Society is the production of the Journal, the fourth volume of which may be expected this summer. The Journal, built up on the meticulous standard of editorship set up by Mr. Cranmer-Byng and the Editorial Board of which, until his departure earlier this month, he had been Chairman, has already achieved a well-deserved reputation among the productions of learned societies in the same field. The contributions which come from non-members as well as members are sufficiently varied in nature and interest to appeal to the specialists as well as to the general reader. The Society may well be proud of its Journal and grateful to Mr. Cranmer-Byng and his colleagues for their splendid work and achievement.\n\nThe Financial Statement of 1963, which the Honorary Treasurer will present to you, shows a capital account of £1,699.10.0 and an apparent excess of income over expenditure of HK$2,947.26. The real position in the matter of income, however, is that the annual subscriptions from members during 1963 amounted to $6,177.91, while the expenses amounted to $7,459, leaving a deficit of $1,282. This deficit is met by recourse to income from the small capital investment fund, the greater part of which was established by the generosity of an anonymous donor, when the Branch was revived, for the purpose of establishing a library and for other capital expenditure necessary for the future activities of the Society and not for meeting current expenses. For the small annual subscription of $20, members receive, in addition to the benefit of the meetings during the year, a free copy of the Journal, which is sold to the public for HK$12. To place the Society on a sound", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205003, "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": 111, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "102\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nand enlarged opportunity. Yet this volume also acknowledges beginnings that antedate World War II. It is an index to historical studies in periodicals in the Fung Ping Shan Library of the University, founded by generous gifts to the University from the Fung family before World War II. This library is representative of the kinds of resources of long standing in the community which also have made their contribution to the mature development of the study of Chinese history and culture that we can now observe.\n\nThe present volume is a research tool of value to sinologues and historians everywhere, but it is of particular interest to persons already in Hong Kong or who are planning to work in Hong Kong since it provides a systematic listing of the academic periodical resources readily available in public collections in the Colony. Some few items of great interest in private collections also have been included, but these too probably would be accessible to scholars. At the time of compilation of this volume, one notes with some surprise, that more or less complete files of almost all of the major sinological journals published in Chinese, whether in original form or in microfilm, were available to Mr. Yu and his assistants in Hong Kong.\n\nIn addition, the Hong Kong resources include a number of items that are rare if not unique.\n\nThis index volume consists principally of an index by names of authors, of all articles on or relevant to Chinese historical studies, that appeared in Chinese periodical publications between 1902 and 1962, so far as these publications were available in Hong Kong by 1963. It includes 10,325 articles by 3,392 authors in 355 different periodicals. This is by no means the total content of those periodicals; only articles of some specific academic import were included. The usefulness of the index is greatly increased by the inclusion of a supplementary listing of articles by the major subject area indicated by their titles. Thus any article can be located either by author or by subject. Another supplementary index cross-lists all articles included in the main index under the name of the periodical in question. There are also lists of pen names of authors and of Chinese names used by Western authors of articles that appeared in Chinese most useful sources of difficult-to-locate information. The final \"Table of Errata\" is remarkably brief, indicating in this case the great", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205930, "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": 10, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "4\n\ntrade and penetration to China and the Far East, and the Society was in part designed to bring together in London members of these societies who had returned to England and allow them to meet and continue publication of their work. It was founded in March 1823 and received its Royal Charter of Incorporation from George IV on 11th August, 1824. It is the oldest and most important Society of its kind in Europe, and its standing as the doyen of Societies promoting the study of Asia has been maintained by the devotion of generations of eminent scholars, explorers, and others who have contributed through its Journal, in public addresses and in many other ways, a rich harvest of knowledge, the practical uses of which serve to promote and aid our understanding of, and our relation with, the East.\n\nBefore the acquisition of Hong Kong the movement had extended to the mercantile community in Canton, under the influence of Sir John Davis who had become a founder member of the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and of correspondents of the Society who included James Matheson.\n\nThe Hong Kong Branch grew out of a Medico-Chirurgical Society founded in 1845. This Society, however, in accord with the contemporary spirit of inquiry, and the enthusiasm for better knowledge of Asia in general and of China in particular, had contemplated setting up a Philosophical Society under the leadership of Andrew Shortrede, Editor of the China Mail who drafted the Society's laws based on those of the Royal Asiatic Society. Sir John F. Davis, then Governor of the Colony, by reason of his known literary and scientific acquirements rather than his official rank, was asked to be President. He suggested that the Society should seek to be admitted as a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society with which, as a founder member, he was in close touch and with whose active President, the Earl of Auckland, he had had discussions on these lines before he left England.\n\nSo in January 1847 the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was founded and all the members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society who wished to join were admitted on condition of their Society's library being handed over to the new body.\n\nBesides the Governor as President, and Andrew Shortrede as General Secretary and Major General D'Aguilar as Vice President,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206772, "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-1973", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "The Kam Tin Gates\n\n43\n\ncomposite whole, was put forward so convincingly that it carried the vote. And so the work was completed just in time for the ceremony of re-opening.\n\nThus, on May 26, 1925, Governor Sir Reginald E. Stubbs and his entourage arrived at Kam Tin for the ceremonial return of the revered gates. They were greeted by a Chinese salute of small guns and firecrackers and were presented with an Address which stated: \"We shall always now remember, how when your royal chair did pass, children and women left all the lanes deserted to come to bid you welcome, and when your car of state did stop, the neighbourhood was filled with joy\"16 There were \"expressions of goodwill and loyalty heard on all hands\"17, and the Government congratulated itself on a fine public relations exercise.\n\nIs there anything in this episode which gives it more than a mere antiquarian interest? Perhaps it illustrates the increasing readiness of the Hong Kong Government to accommodate the wishes of the local population; certainly, Governor Stubbs intended to impress upon the Kam Tin villagers his Government's munificence. He had gone to a good deal of trouble to ensure the gates' return, and the whole operation was paid for out of public funds. The Hong Kong Telegraph commented that \"there has perhaps been no incident in the whole history of Hongkong and of the New Territories which has more eloquently and genuinely revealed the Government's friendly feeling and sympathy towards the Chinese of the New Territories\"18. Yet within a month the anti-British strike and boycott of 1925-26 had commenced, and relations with the local Chinese thence rapidly deteriorated. One can also detect in Stewart Lockhart's Papers the Special Commissioner's disapproval of Blake's appropriation of the gates. The Governor and his deputy were at odds on several matters relating to the early administration of the New Territories, and there is evidence that differences of opinion regarding policy occasioned some personal animosity. Perhaps the episode of the gates from Kam Tin was a contributing factor.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 And to correct them. According to a translation deposited in the Colonial Secretariat Library, Hong Kong, the Kam Tin villagers offered resistance to the British in 1899 because the Ch'ing Government had not previously proclaimed the fact of the New Territories lease. This is false, for a proclamation had been issued by the San On Magistrate.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206882, "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-1973", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n153\n\nFor once Hotten had backed a loser with the publication of Under the Peak; certainly no further edition or impression was called for by a panting public. We do not know whether Mercer continued to write verses until his death at Reading on 23 May, 1879, but it seems likely for Mercer had all the enthusiasm of the bad poet.11\n\nNOTES\n\n1 One would like to cite P. G. Wodehouse, the son of H. E. Wodehouse, a Hong Kong Cadet Officer; but P. G. Wodehouse was born at Guildford, Surrey, and did not spend much time in Hong Kong. After leaving Dulwich College he worked for two years at the London branch of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.\n\n2 London, 1930.\n\n3 For biographical information on Mercer see particularly G. B. Endacott, A Biographical Sketch-Book of Early Hong Kong, Singapore, 1962, pp. 79-83. J. W. Norton-Kyshe, The History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong, 2 vols., Hong Kong, 1898, provides many details about Mercer's official career.\n\n4 For information on Hotten see especially Ronald Pearsall, The Worm in the Bud, London, 1969, pp. 387-90; and Steven Marcus, The Other Victorians, New York, 1966, pp. 68-75. Hotten was born in Clerkenwell, London, and showed an early interest in books and bookshops and achieved the dubious distinction of having been struck in a bookshop by the irate historian Macaulay. In 1848 Hotten went to America and there acquired a good knowledge of American literature. On his return to London he published the works of a number of American authors, including Bret Harte's 'heathen Chinee' poems.\n\n5 An account of Swinburne's dealings with Payne of Moxon's is given in Humphrey Hare's Swinburne, London, 1949, pp. 109-134.\n\n6 Written by Richard Payne Knight in 1786 but reprinted by Hotten in 1865.\n\n7 Written by John Davenport and published in 1873. In 1872 Hotten reprinted seven works on flagellation alone.\n\n* Copies of both Under the Peak and Addresses are in the British Museum. The Library of the Royal Commonwealth Society, London, has a copy of Under the Peak, now a very scarce book.\n\n9 p. 4. 10 p. 6.\n\n11 Several cadets maintained their interest in classical studies after reaching Hong Kong, notably (later Sir) Cecil Clementi (1875-1947). In 1911 Clementi published his translation, with apparatus criticus and explanatory notes, of the Pervigilium Veneris. In a preface to a later edition of this work, published by B. H. Blackwell of Oxford (3rd edition, 1936), Clementi tells us that he worked on his manuscript in Hong Kong and during periods of leave in England and Europe.\n\nHong Kong, March, 1973.\n\nHENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210405, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "we would have to withdraw and thereby lose our library space. After enquiry through the Hong Kong Library Association, the Council decided to accept an offer from the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Public Libraries, to house our collection in the New Kowloon Central Library on long loan and under certain conditions which included retaining its identity and making it available for public reference.\n\nThe removal proceeded smoothly, and our collection is now on the shelves of the reference section of the Kowloon Central Library. Books are still available for loans to members on production of an updated membership card (now being issued) and, for reference only, to members of the public. A number of Council members attended the opening on 9th September 1985 by Lady Youde. Thanks are due to our Hon. Librarian Mr. Peter Yeung for the considerable work involved in the transfer.\n\nIn the course of making the transfer arrangements and viewing our library in its new home, it became obvious to us how much loving care and effort had been put into its management by our former Hon. Librarian, Mr. Tony Rydings. He deserves our renewed appreciation for this major contribution to the work of our Society.\n\nAdministration\n\nAs stated last year, we have found it necessary to provide more administrative support for the Council. The trend for councillors, and particularly the office bearers, to be increasingly burdened in their own career posts has continued. Following the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future and the increased commitments arising therefrom, it has become essential to have an efficient back-up system and the services of a competent executive assistant secretary. Without them, as I said last year, hopes for increased membership, improved sales of publications and general progress were clearly illusory; in fact, would not materialize. I am glad to say that, in the past year, we have made progress in this important area. A word processor and ancillary equipment have been purchased and an increased salary provided for our assistant secretary with our Hon.\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "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", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211598, "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": 13, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "The Library's value to members of our Society, as well as to the general public, lies in the fact that the only other collections of such books in Hong Kong are held by the Universities and are not accessible to the public at large. The RAS Collection is available to Members and, for reference only, to the general public, and since 1985 has been located in the new 12 storey, custom-built Kowloon Central library, opened in that year.\n\nHowever, this location is not convenient for most RAS members, the majority of whom reside on Hong Kong Island. Also, the stacks where our books are held are not directly accessible for free consultation and browsing, because other private collections of books are held in this section of the Library.\n\nIn response to our expressions of concern, the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries has promised that our Collection will return to the Island in the early 1990s, when the present City Hall Library will be expanded or replaced. The books are then expected to be housed in a new reference library where most of them will be kept on open shelves.\n\nIn this joyful expectation, the Council continues to expand the Collection, and has earmarked $10,000 for expenditure in 1990-91.\n\nPublications\n\nAs mentioned in the opening Summary, this year has seen the publication of two items, the 1987 Journal and the book of papers on China and Hong Kong, The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today.\n\nI wish to thank the Chinese Temples Committees for a generous grant of half the publication costs from the Chinese General Charities Fund, and Oxford University Press for agreeing to publish in association with the Society and for all help rendered in the final stages of production.\n\nProfessor David Faure had to relinquish the editorship of the Journal when he left Hong Kong to take up a post at the University of Indiana. He had contributed much to the Council and the Society, not only through his impeccable scholarship and hard work, but also through his sterling personal qualities which we all grew to appreciate. Dr. Patrick Hase has taken over the half-completed 1988 Journal which we hope can be published by the Summer, and is putting material together for 1989. We\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212269, "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": 211, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "188\n\nevaluation of Legge's overall scholarship would consequently demand expertise in a wide range of Chinese history, literature, and religion as well as awareness of his Christian background. Very few scholars have the background to provide a balanced account of Legge's achievements, especially given our modern love of specialisation.\n\nThe second pragmatic problem is that there are major obstacles in gaining access to all the materials. Oxford's Bodleian does not own all of Legge's library, because much of it was bought by Mr. Wilberforce Eames in 1899 for the New York Public Library. This, however, does not solve the problem, for in 1909 the New York Public Library sold more than half of this collection to the Case Memorial Library of the Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. These materials remained in Hartford until the mid-1970s, when most of them were sold once more to Pitts Theology Library of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The total number of titles in this divided collection is nearly two thousand, including a large number of Chinese multi-volumed sets as well as a large number of sinological works and serials in many European languages. Many of these important sources still have Legge's notes in the margins, making them particularly valuable for revealing Legge's sources and his responses. Yet, for obvious reasons, there is no easy way to obtain access to these materials without travelling to all of these different locations. Furthermore, almost all of the earlier texts employed by Legge in the theological education of Chinese students in Hong Kong have apparently been destroyed by the humid climate.\n\nThe anti-missionary bias mentioned earlier has led to a third problem of some practical significance: Legge's lengthy professional career with the London Missionary Society has caused some scholars to suspect Legge's academic standards and competence in Chinese translation and in the evaluation of non-Christian traditions. A close look at his texts does show the strong Christian commitments underlying his work, but they are present in ways which do not substantially hinder a generally sensitive translation. Certainly Legge's philosophical commitments reflect the limitations of his age, but he was remarkably free of the conventions and biases which left far more disturbing marks in the work of some other scholars.\n\nFinally, a basic dilemma involving all sinological work in the 1990s is still the inaccessibility of many basic texts. Gradually, since", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212506, "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": 60, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "40\n\nPRIVATE PATRONAGE OF SCHOLARSHIP AND LEARNING DURING THE MID-QING: \n\nRUAN YUAN AND THE SCHOLARS AROUND HIM* \n\nWEI PEH T'I \n\nThis paper is an initial essay towards a biographical study of Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), a major scholar-official and patron of scholars of the Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns. I hope that by examining the life and work of a competent and respected scholar-official of this era, 'the prime exemplars of any age'.1 I may be able to bring into focus the critical problems and atmosphere of early 19th century China, the two score or so years immediately preceding the Opium War after which traditional Chinese institutions and values began to change. I have been fortunate in being able to make use of the extant Qing archival documents and Ruan Yuan's own publications for this research.\n\nRuan Yuan left considerable literary remains. I have located 75 titles, including a number of monumental publications that carry his name as author, compiler or editor. There are also prefaces he wrote for his own and other scholars' works, indicating that at least he had known the content of them before publication. Impressive indeed as these achievements were, questions about Ruan Yuan's actual efforts arise.\n\n* I would like to thank the following libraries for allowing me access to their valuable collections in preparing this paper: Library of the National Palace Museum, the National Taiwan University libraries; the National Central Library; the Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Academia Sinica; The Library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong Libraries; the Rare Book Collection of the Beijing Library; the Oriental Manuscripts Collection and the Main Collection of the British Library, the Harvard-Yenching Library of Harvard University; the Gest Library of Princeton University; the Library of Congress; the New York Public Library; and Qing letters from the collection of the late Dr Wang Shih-chieh. I am also grateful to the following individuals for their help and comments on an earlier draft of this paper: Chang Ling-sheng, Ch'ang Pe-te, Chuang Chi-fa, Wang Ching-hung, Wang P'u and Wu Che-fu of the National Palace Museum (Taipei), Wang Junyi and Huang Aiping of the People's University; Ji Longwei of Yangzhou Teachers' College; Feng Erkang of Nankai University; Beatrice S. Bartlett, Iona Crook and Stephen Shott of Yale University; F.W. Mote of Princeton University; Elizabeth Sinn, Maureen Sabine and Shih Hsio-yen of the University of Hong Kong; and Deng Linyu and Xu Xiaohui of the Chinese International School of Hong Kong. Of course, they are not responsible for the errors contained in this paper. My gratitude also goes to the Department of History and Centre of Asian Studies of the University of Hong Kong. I have opted to use pinyin to accommodate a particular Chinese software program, but have left the Wade-Giles transliteration in quotations.\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213190, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "and a platform for members to publish, and in this connection may I draw your attention to Vice-President, Reverend Carl Smith's book recently \"Chinese Christmas\" which can be bought at all leading book stores, and also at the back of this room. In addition one of Hong Kong's oldest members and of this Society, Dr. Dan Waters, has published his own memories entitled unashamedly \"An Old Hand's Reflection\" - again it can be bought at all leading bookstores and at the back of this room.\n\nIn addition we have an excellent quality library with many interesting books and, not only is this steadily augmented by our past roving President, Dr. James Hayes, from Australia, but in this past year we have been given a magnificent collection of books on China and Hong Kong from Mr Archie Graham, who at the age of 91 has emigrated to New Zealand. All these books are now in a special room on the 3rd floor of the City Hall, High Block; and at this point I would like to give a sincere thanks to the Urban Services Department and their library staff in particular. In the past year not only have they moved the Society's library from the rather inaccessible Kowloon Public Library to the City Hall library in Central but they have computerised the collection and altogether made the whole collection far more accessible than it has been in the past. I really do urge you to visit this and see for yourself what is there, and of course members can borrow most of the books. For this improvement in our library facilities I must also thank our Librarian Mr. Y.C. Wan who has been very helpful in making all this possible.\n\nI said earlier that the Society makes its views known to the public: I should also add that public and Government organisations also seek the views of the Society, not only on an individual basis, but also on a collective one. I mentioned last year the assistance we gave to the Antiquities Advisory Board in helping them to grade some of Hong Kong's older buildings. At one time the Society had 20 members involved in this, but as I understand it since many of the eligible buildings have been graded then the members have declined: this project has been led by Dr. Dan Waters and we owe him and his team a vote of thanks for their hard work.\n\nOn a collective front the Society has continued to be very active in monitoring the situation over the Public Records Office. Last year I reported to you that we thought we were making some progress and the position at the moment, whilst not completely satisfactory, is considerably better than we hoped for two years ago. The Public Records Office is\n\nXI", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213326, "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": 148, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "130\n\n4\n\nIn postwar Hong Kong, in the winter of 1959-60, a small group of dedicated persons set themselves the task of reestablishing a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society here. Their initiative met with public support, and the new Branch got off to a good start. Though not a founder member, my own association with it goes back thirty-five years, when I joined in the first year of its existence. I have been an office-bearer for all but the first six years; and during the long period of my government service in Hong Kong and continuing into my retirement, my work with and for the Society has been among the most meaningful and satisfying of all my various activities.\n\nThe task which our founders set themselves was to further the good work done by our predecessors. The keynote address was provided by Professor F.S. Drake in a talk entitled \"The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task\". We had, he reminded us, received something precious from them and must, in our turn, add to the stock of hard-earned knowledge, handing it down to the next generation. I believe we have done our best to carry out his injunctions. An annual Journal has been published from the outset, with over thirty issues to date, together with a dozen or so \"Occasional Publications\". Though far from being devoted exclusively to Hong Kong, they represent a major contribution to its history, and contain more information on the territory's past than any of their contemporary periodicals, here or overseas. Through another regular activity - our Visits Programme - the Branch has helped members and their friends to broaden their local knowledge and understanding of the place and its people. In these several ways, we have contributed to the stability of Hong Kong over the years and have helped to nurture the growing sense of identity that has characterized its recent development.\n\nHowever, we have to admit that, unlike our Shanghai counterparts, we shall not leave a magnificent premises for our successors. The Hong Kong Branch's modest membership and limited resources have not permitted this. Land and housing have always been very expensive for societies to acquire without government assistance or substantial private or corporate donations, and these have not been forthcoming.\n\nThe RAS Library Collection\n\n7\n\nFrom the outset, following the example set by our two predecessors, it", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213347, "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": 169, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "152\n\nIt is, moreover, fortuitous that he not only examines records for his own immediate purposes, but collates his data so systematically that it may conveniently be used by other researchers. His home, with hundreds of drawers of index cards, is more like a library. More importantly, his willingness to share his research experience and information has greatly helped other scholars in their study of Hong Kong. Recently, the Public Records Office has further processed his data to make it retrievable electronically. It would be no exaggeration to say that Carl Smith is a key figure (keystone?) in building a firm foundation for the study of local history, and has become something of an institution himself.\n\nHistorical Geographers\n\nAnother small group studying local history were the geographers, notably D.J. Dwyer, C.J. Grant, T.G. McGee and later Ron Hill of the University of Hong Kong, whose work covered the rural as well as the urban areas. It should be pointed out that under their guidance, many of their students have produced extremely interesting work, but unfortunately this is not widely known. Their field projects and BA theses, many of which are focused on localities and date back to the 1960s, are kept in the Map Library of the Geography Department, HKU, and these, with their contemporary descriptions and photographs, are in fact of immense value as source materials for local history.\n\nThe Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society\n\nThough the five groups were quite diverse in their focus and approach, two institutions did bring them together: the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) and the Centre of Asian Studies (CAS) at HKU. Almost all of them had at least some of their works published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Society's Occasional Publications. As early as 1962, three years after the Society was re-established, the Hon. Editor expressed a hope to develop the study of Hong Kong by printing articles and short notes about the life and customs of the people. James Hayes' article, \"The Patterns of Life in the New Territories in 1898\" appearing in the 1962 Journal, in a way marked the beginning of the RAS' deep commitment to local studies. This was Hayes' debut, to be followed by massive output in each following volume. Not surprisingly, it was also he who reminded the Society that \"Hong Kong has an urban history\" (his italics).12 As Hon. Editor from 1967 to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213362, "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": 184, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "167\n\nKong, HIIKBRAS, vol. 14 (1974) pp 12-27 and his Facilities for Research on the Public Records Office of Hong Kong, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Materials for Hong Kong Studies, (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 153-192\n\n16 In 1994, the Executive Council instructed that all records over thirty years old should be reviewed, this does not automatically mean opening the files to the public, and some materials are re-classified. Applications for use still have to go to the generating agent (department) for approval. But it is now much easier to get access to records over 30 years old.\n\n17 Peter Young, The Hung On-Lo Memorial Library, the Hong Kong Collection, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds), pp. 137-152\n\nIX The most current project is an index to CO129, the Colonial Office Original Correspondence series on Hong Kong, from 1841-1926, containing about 45,000 despatches. The index, put on CD-Rom, operates on the basis of search by keywords. The chief investigator of the project is Elizabeth Sinn who currently runs the Hong Kong History Workshop. Her major works include Power and Charity. The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989) and Growing with Hong Kong: The Bank of East Asia 1919-1994 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994).\n\n19 Peter Y L. Ng. The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih a critical examination with translation and notes. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, 1644-1842 (Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1961). The work was published many years later as New Peace County: A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong region, prepared for press and with additional materials by Hugh D.R. Baker, (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1983).\n\n20 Ng Lun Ngai-ha, Interaction of East and West: Developments of Public Education in Early Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1984).\n\n21 Other scholars include L.Y. Chiu, K.C. Chan, K.C. Fok, Ming K. Chan, Elizabeth Sinn and Steve Tsang at the HKU, David Faure and Bernard Luk at the Chinese University, John Young, Fung Pui-wing and Chung Po Yin (much later) at the Baptist University, and later Choi Chi-cheong and Liu Dik Sang at the University of Science and Technology - although not all of them are, or would agree to being labelled as, practitioners of local history.\n\n22 Patrick Hase, Research Materials for Village Studies, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Material for Hong Kong Studies (Ibid) pp. 31-46\n\n23 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngai-ha Lun Ng (comp.) Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, 3 volumes (Hong Kong Museum of History, 1986).\n\n24 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngan-ha Lun Ng, The Hong Kong Region According to Historical Inscriptions, in David Faure, James Hayes and Alan Birch (eds). From Village to City: Studies in the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 43-54", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213384, "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": 206, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "194\n\nBaddeley, John Frederick (1854-1940) ed, Russia, Mongolia, China, London Macmillan, 1919 (NY B Franklin 1967 mostly memoirs of Russian envoys from beginning of 17th century to end of reign of Alexander I).\n\nBaikov, Feodor Isakovich, An Account of Two Voyages. First of Feodor Isakovitz Backhoff to China, Second Zachary Wagener, a Native of Dresden also in China, in Churchill, Awnsham, compilers, A Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1744, v 2, 474-478\n\nBall, Benjamin Lincoln, Rambles in Eastern Asia, Including China During Several Years' Residence (1848-1850), Boston J French, 1856.\n\nBarnett, Eugene Epperson. As I Look Back, Recollections of Growing Up and Twenty-six Years in Pre-Communist China 1888-1936, typescript\n\nBarr, Patricia Miriam, To China with Love, the Lives and Times of Protestant Missionaries in China 1860-1900, London Secker and Warburg, 1972\n\nBarrow, Sir John, Travels in China, London T Cadell and W Davis, 1806 (Listed in Yale University Library catalog as Some Account of the Public Life, and Selection from the Unpublished Writings, of the Earl of Macartney and the date of publication is given as 1807)\n\nBarzini, Luigi, Pekin to Paris, An Account of Prince Borghese's Journey Across Two Continents in a Motor-Car, translated from the Italian, London, 1907,\n\nBates, Lincoln Wallace Jr, The Russian Road to China, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1910.\n\nBeattie, Hilary J, Protestant Missions and Opium in China, 1858-1895, Papers on China, 22A 115-156 (1969)\n\nBecker, C H, et al, The Reorganization of Education in China, Paris. League of Nations, 1932\n\nBell, John, A Journey From St Petersburg to Pekin 1719-22, edited with an Introduction by J L Stevenson, Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press. (NY Barnes and Noble reprint 1966)\n\nBennett, Adrian A, John Fryer the Introduction of Western Science and Technology into Nineteenth-Century China, Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 1967\n\nBergeron, Marie Ina, Letters a Yeou-wen, Souvenirs de Chine, Tours Mame, 1973\n\nBerry-Hart, Alice, Ching-a-Ring-a-Ring-Ching or Three Victorian Sisters in Shanghai, London. Rex Collins, 1977)\n\nBillingsley, Phil, Bandits in Republican China, Stanford Stanford University Press, 1988", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213947, "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-1997", "page_number": 17, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "Accommodation\n\nDuring the past few years our Branch's stock of Journals and other items have been kept at the Main Library in the Chinese University. In the autumn of 1997 we moved this stock to the new Public Records Office, in Kwun Tong. We are grateful to both these establishments for their assistance. As a small token of our appreciation we presented to both bodies a full set of RASHKB Journals.\n\nWe have for a number of years been talking about obtaining permanent Branch accommodation. In the middle of the last century Sir George Bonham, then Governor of Hong Kong, provided the RAS with a room in the old Supreme Court Building. When our Branch visited Shanghai, at Easter 1997, we were able to see the building which was erected originally by the old North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, in the 1930s. This was, unfortunately, commandeered by the Communists in 1949. It now serves as a bank. The books in the Shanghai RAS Library and the exhibits in the RAS Museum (said by some to have been the first museum in China) were also requisitioned.\n\nAt present our Office Bearers, some of whom put in several hours of RAS work a week on a voluntary basis, often find it more convenient to work from their homes. Caution is obviously needed before our Branch buys or rents a 'home of its own'. During 1997 Branch overheads ran at HK$13,750.00 a month. If we had our own premises, with expenses like maintenance, services and rates, this figure would increase considerably.\n\nPossessions\n\nDuring the past year we also made a survey of our archives which are on permanent loan to other institutions, such as to the University of Hong Kong. They include items like the Nixon Buddhist Scroll and photographs of Nestorian Crosses. Also, during the year, a number of our files have been placed on permanent loan with the Public Records Office. The same applied to an interesting collection of photographs and papers, from the estate of the late Arnold Graham, which gave an account of his long life in Shanghai and Hong Kong. We are grateful\n\nxvi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214166, "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-1998", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "Appendix C\n\nRASHKB Projects Undertaken during the 1998/9 Year\n\n(a) Photographic Exhibition: From 25 to 27 May, 1998, the RASHKB held a photographic exhibition on the overhead walkway leading from the Landmark building to Swire House. The RASHKB photographs of Western and Sheung Wan aroused considerable interest among the public. The main purpose of the exhibition was to boost RAS membership. Although many RAS members helped mount and man the exhibition, most of the planning and the bulk of the work was undertaken by Robert Nield and Tim Ko. Members Philip Bruce and Arthur Hacker also helped plan the recruitment drive, with the latter designing a new RAS brochure assisted by Dr Michael Lau for the Chinese translation. We are grateful to all who assisted in any way.\n\n(b) Tracing Graves: From July to September our Branch was involved with tracing seven graves for the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia. The requests to trace these graves came from descendants of the deceased living in Britain. Four of the graves were traced in Happy Valley and Carl Smith was able to trace, from his card index system, that the fifth person had died in Ningbo. The bulk of the research in Hong Kong was undertaken by Dr Dan Waters with help from the Government Urban Services Department.\n\n(c) Samuel Cornell Plant (1866-1921): Commencing in September as an ongoing project, two of our overseas members, Captain A.C. Bromfield and Mrs Rosemary Lee, have been assisting the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia research the life of Captain Plant. He was an inspector in the Chinese Maritime Customs on the dangerous upper section of the Yangtze River and he and his wife are buried in Happy Valley. The RASHKB has been involved at the Hong Kong end where research has been undertaken by Dr Dan Waters.\n\n(d) The National Library of China: From 17-24 January, 1999, RASHKB member Dr Kazimiera Gasztine worked in the National Library in Beijing, in an honorary capacity, assisting staff translate passages into English, and writing synopses of the contents of old and rare works. It is understood there is in the region of 4,000 such books in the Beijing library in languages about which the staff at the National Museum...\n\nxxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215246, "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-2001", "page_number": 23, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "It is likely that before the next AGM a full-scale donation drive will have been begun: members will, of course, be kept fully in the picture. In the meantime, preliminary discussions with the University of Hong Kong Press on the possibilities of establishing a series of monographs, funded by the Fund, and possibly to be called the \"Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, Local History Series\" have shown considerable promise. Even though the Fund is not yet formally in being, donations of a little under $2,000 have already been made to it, which is a hopeful sign. Please watch this space for further details!\n\nLibrary\n\nOur Hon. Librarian will shortly give a Report on the work of the Library of the Society for the year, and I do not wish to anticipate what is in that Report. However, I must mention the move of the Library from its previous crowded location in the City Hall to far more spacious and satisfactory premises at the new Central Library in Causeway Bay, since this is one of the most important achievements of the Society during the last year. The Society has been looking forward to this move for several years. Now our books are housed in a fine space. They have all been treated with appropriate preservation measures. Our rare and valuable books are housed separately in a secure room. Now the Library is kept in a way appropriate to its status as one of the most important research libraries in Hong Kong.\n\nI am glad that so many members of the Society took advantage of the two visits the Society arranged to see the Library in its new setting. As you no doubt are aware, the books in the Society's Library are on permanent loan to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. They remain ours, however. They are available to any member of the public to read, but only in the Reference Library of the Central Library. Members of the Society, however, who present their Membership Cards, can borrow our books (other than the rare and valuable ones). Furthermore, members may go into the stacks and work there (a small desk for the use of members has been provided). The Library is an important asset, and I am particularly glad to be able to report on its present flourishing and satisfactory situation.\n\nCouncil is anxious to continue to expand the Library, and thus to continue its development as a major research source for the study of\n\nPage XX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215840, "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-2002", "page_number": 139, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "72\n\naltars erected within the enclosure. On more social occasions, especially among the kaifong associations, it was also usual (and tedious for those present) to invite principal guests to speak: some orators did not need a second invitation!\n\nOwing to its super-glossy surface, this particular card does not reproduce well, nor does its successor for the 1985 Ta Chiu. I have therefore used the invitation card for the similar event at Shatin, held also in 1985 to indicate type and content (Plates 2-5).2\n\nAlthough the majority of invitation cards were printed, some were still being hand-written in black Chinese ink using a brush (Plate 6), and even on the printed ones, the recipients' names and ranks were usually added by brush rather than by fountain pen or biro (Plate 2). Owing to their intrinsic interest, and the fact that most were destined for the wastepaper basket, I kept many of those I received, and sent specimens to library collections as ephemera, literary productions of a fleeting kind. The Hong Kong Collection at the University of Hong Kong has, or should have, them in its holdings today.\n\nAt the scene\n\nInvariably, there would be some indication on site of the event being celebrated. Decorated archways and banners raised on bamboo scaffolding (pai lau), and/or floral tributes (fa pai), were the norm, and very colourful and ingenious they sometimes were, too. They were the work of skilled artisans, but their wording had to be supplied by the host body.\n\nHere are a few examples. The elaborate archway erected at the entrance to the ground used for the Ta Chiu at Kam Tin in 1985 features in Plate 7. The floral banner erected to mark the District Commissioner, NT's ceremonial opening of a newly completed local public works concrete track on Cheung Chau Peak in 1960 is shown in Plate 8, whilst the subject of Plate 9 is one of the large floral tributes made to honour a new chairman and his two vice-chairmen of the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee, which, along with others, was set up outside the restaurant\n\n1 I must apologize for the high family content of the illustrations, the selection being made, of necessity, from our own photographs and memorabilia, from my wife's and my own service in the relevant departments.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215990, "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-2002", "page_number": 289, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "223\n\nstamp in Hong Kong in 1994. For those who have purchased a copy of this book, the author is willing to send a copy of this stamp. Those with philatelist interests who have not been able to obtain the book may also contact the author.\n\n7. See the numerous references to Wong Shing in Carl Smith's Chinese Christians, and Legge's reference to Wong's Christian character in 1859 to counter public doubts in Britain about the authenticity of the conversions of Chinese Christians (EMMC, April 1859, pp. 266-267). After Legge departed for the last time from Hong Kong for England in 1873, Wong Shing and Wáng Tāo purchased from the London Missionary Society the Anglo-Chinese Press through Legge's arrangements, and so initiated the first major Chinese language newspaper published by Chinese editors.\n\n8. Nothing previously was known about Luó Zhōngfán until research in Legge's personal library uncovered his work. It has been discussed in two essays by Lauren Pfister, \"Some New Dimensions in the Study of the Works of James Legge (1815-1897): Part II,\" Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal 13 (1991), pp. 33-46, and in a more extensive manner in the essay, \"Discovering Monotheistic Metaphysics: The Exegetical Reflections of James Legge (1815-1897) and Lo Chung-fan (d. circa 1850)\" in Ng On-cho, Chow Kai-wing, and John B. Henderson, eds., Imagining Boundaries: Changing Confucian Doctrines, Texts and Hermeneutics (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), pp. 213-254. Wang Tāo passed through different jobs as an aid to Walter Medhurst in Bible translation during the Delegates' Committee meetings (1847-1852), later working with Legge on the Chinese Classics (1862-1873). In the period between 1868 and 1870 Wáng spent nearly two years with Legge and his family in Scotland collaborating on the Chinese Classics and learning much about English and European cultures. How much Wang's work actually influenced Legge's translations and interpretations of the Ruist canon has been discussed in detail in my article, “王韜與理雅各對新儒家憂患意識的回應”戟林啟彥,黃文江主編《王韜與近代世界》(香港:香港教育圖書公司,2000),頁117至147, an English version being published a year later as \"The Response of Wang Tao and James Legge to the Modern Ruist Melancholy\", History and Culture (Hong Kong) 2 (2001), pp. 1-20. Wang Tāo's writings on those European experiences and advocacy of institutional change in China catapulted him into the status of a well-known reformist figure in the 1870s and 1880s, making it possible for him to return to Shanghai as a leader in non-traditional education. His career was chequered by covert associations with the Taiping insurgents and habits which called his character into question in some circles. A substantial and earlier study of Wang's life has been written by Paul Cohen, Between Tradition and Modernity: Wang Tao and Reform in late Ch'ing China (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1974). It now is also available in a Chinese version, published by a mainland Chinese press.\n\n9. Numerous details about these people have been provided by Carl Smith in his Chinese Christians.\n\n10. A moving depiction of Liang's early role as the first Chinese evangelist and of some of his sufferings has been published in the first volume of the series of books by A. J. Broomhall entitled Hudson Taylor And China's Open Century", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216152, "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-2002", "page_number": 451, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "385\n\nINTRODUCING THE CONSERVATION SECTION OF THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT\n\nPAUL HARRISON1\n\nI am sure most members of HKBRAS regularly attend Hong Kong's museums and libraries. They might, however, not be familiar with all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make these institutions effective.\n\nOne group of specialists are the conservators. The author is employed as a conservator and is a life member of the HKBRAS. He is one of a team of thirty-five specialists who work at laboratories at the Museums of Art, Heritage and History, the Film Archive and the Central Library. These are further divided into ten specialist teams, to work on the many varied materials that these institutions collect. There is another similar team at the Public Records Office to conserve the Government's archives.\n\nA question that the author is often asked is 'What did you study to be able to do this?' The answer is that he has a B.Sc. in Archaeological Conservation, and an M.Sc. in Ancient Metal Working Techniques from University College London, and, accordingly, works in the Metals team. The other teams are Archaeology, Ceramics/Stone, Central Library, Film Archive, Historical Documents, Organic Materials, Paper, Photographs and Textiles/Natural History.\n\nThe other, curatorial, members of the section are locally employed chemistry graduates who after serving an apprenticeship at a museum head overseas to study a conservation discipline. Previously they all went to UCL too. Now people have been to Canberra University, Australia; the Canadian Conservation Institute, Rochester, New York, USA for Film Conservation; De Montfort University, Lincoln, England, and Southampton University for textile conservation; and Camberwell, London to study paper conservation. But training is a life-long experience and experienced conservators are sent on short training courses, overseas, to expand the skills base of the section.\n\nAnother question that I sometimes get is 'Can you do carbon-14 dating?'", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216265, "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-2003", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "During the last year, Council had the opportunity of meeting with the current President of the parent Society in London. I hope that this can be taken further during the year.\n\nThe Library of the Society\n\nOur Honorary Librarian, Miss Julia Chan, will be reporting separately on the present position with regard to the library. In general, the state of our Library is excellent, and the number of users is rising.\n\nOur website, which has proved to be of the greatest value in advertising the Society, is currently being up-dated and improved. I urge all Members to check the new format out! I would like to repeat what I have said before, and to thank Moody Tang for all her help in maintaining and up-dating the website. This is a heavy job, which Moody does extremely well. Thank you, Moody!\n\nFriends of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, in the United Kingdom\n\nI have, in each of the last few years, reminded Members of the existence of our sister Society in the United Kingdom. This useful body allows Members moving from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom to continue their interests in the culture and history of the Hong Kong area, as well as providing a social venue where they can continue to meet up with old friends who, like them, have moved from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom. As to what the Friends do, I will shortly read an Annual Report on their activities sent to us by the Chairman of the Friends, Mr David Gilkes.\n\nHonorary Fellows of the Society\n\nDuring the year, Council agreed to change the title of Honorary Member of the Society to Honorary Fellow of the Society, since it was felt that this title more accurately indicated to the general public what the Society intends by the grant of the position. Council grants Honorary status to people it considers have deserved recognition by the Society, either because of their outstanding contribution to the development of the study of Hong Kong, and its history and society, or for their outstanding support and dedication to the work of the Society, or both.\n\nxxiv", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]