[
    {
        "id": 206286,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1971",
        "page_number": 103,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n97\n\nof attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.\n\nWe have mentioned Dent and Company (it failed in 1867) and Jardine, Matheson and Company as the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside Jardines. The Bank was organized in 1865, and as we might expect its first compradore, Lo Pak Sheung alias Lo Chung Kong, was on Tung Wah's organizing committee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son Lo Hok Pung (alias Lo Sau Ko)(44). Unfortunately, the son overcommitted himself in several speculative ventures, and not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a million dollars of the Bank's assets; at least that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for unwise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the _Uet Po_ newspaper in 1885. Within a year, this had been spent, and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping Chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.33\n\nIn the field of shipping, the P. and O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. They established a branch here in 1845. Their compradore was Kwok Acheong# alias Kwok Kam Cheung. The newspaper notice of his death states that he \"originally belonged to... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti....\"34 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers of Hong Kong, having organized a provisioning system for the Army and Navy at the time of the first Sino-British War. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. and O. Company disposed of their shipwright and engineering department in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s, which provided keen competition to the European-controlled",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206781,
        "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": 58,
        "title": "RAS-1973",
        "content_text": "52 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nand Canton. Jardines were neither owners or agents of the Corsair, but there seems to be no doubt that they sponsored this service. The Corsair had been built in 1827 for the Irish Sea service, but after several years went out to Australia. She arrived in China from Australia early in 1846 consigned to Jardines, and soon afterwards was making two trips per week between Hong Kong and Canton, and also doing occasional towing and salvage work. She continued on the river until July 1849 and then disappears from the scene, probably because of her age, either being dismantled or allowed to fall to pieces.\n\nFrom this time British and American steamers appeared at Hong Kong at short intervals, most for the river service, but some for service between Hong Kong, Shanghai, and intermediate ports. Landmarks from the British point of view were the entry of the P. and O. into both the river and the coast services, and the formation of the Hong Kong and Canton Steam Packet Company. The P. and O. started their mail service from Ceylon to Hong Kong by the Lady Mary Wood in 1845, operating this in connection with their Suez-India service. Early in 1849 they put their iron paddle steamer Canton on the Canton River service, a steamship much superior to any of the others then operating on the river. When the Canton suffered severe damage through running on a sunken rock, she was replaced by the Sir Charles Forbes, which the Company chartered from the Bombay Steam Navigation Company. When the Canton returned after repairs, she was put first on the Hong Kong-Amoy service, and then on the Hong Kong-Shanghai service. The P. and O. originally ran these ships mainly as feeders for their overseas ships, and charged very high freights. In 1854, however, and about the time the Hong Kong and Canton Steam Packet Company was about to be liquidated, the P. and O. increased their river service and made it more attractive to outsiders.\n\nThe Hong Kong and Canton Steam Packet Company was formed in 1847, Alexander Campbell of Dent and Company and Alexander Matheson of Jardine, Matheson and Company being the men mainly responsible. Nearly all the foreign merchants in Hong Kong and Canton took shares in the new company, the first steamship company to be formed in China, although they knew that the P. and O. were on the point of improving their river service. Two sister ships were ordered in England, and the first of these, the Canton arrived in",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r",
        "rank": 0
    }
]