[ { "id": 204258, "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": 26, "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\n23\n\nrelative, the Black-throated Laughing-thrush, which is confined to Hong Kong Island and is a handsome bird of black and grey with white cheeks. Not so rare but still uncommon is another relative, the Hwamei. This name means 'Painted Eyebrows', a tribute to the most distinctive part of its plumage, but more than anything the Hwamei is famed for its voice. To hear a chorus of these birds almost any evening of the year, their song rather like that of the European Song Thrush, is an unforgettable experience, and the pity is that this species is only really well known on Hong Kong Island, being very local elsewhere.\n\nOne of the most charming families of birds to be seen in the Colony is that of the flycatchers, none of which actually breed here, but either pass through on migration or spend the winter. The variety of plumage is quite bewildering and some of the more exotic species, like the Paradise Flycatcher with its eight inches of tail, the black-and-lemon coloured Narcissus and Tricolour Flycatchers, the malachite-green Verditer Flycatcher, the Blue-and-White Flycatcher, and the Robin and Red-breasted Flycatchers are quite eye-catching and endearing to watch as they fly out from a favourite perch to snap at a passing insect.\n\nSimilarly, the great family of warblers is poorly represented by resident species, although many hundreds of migrants pass through or perhaps stay for the winter. The Deep Bay marshes provide nesting cover for the Fantail Warbler, Yellow-bellied and Brown Wren-warblers, whilst the Tailor-bird, with its neatly-sewn leaf house, breeds commonly all over the Colony. Probably no more than one or two pairs of David's Hill-warbler may nest near the top of Tai Mo Shan. Such permanent residents are far outnumbered by the winter visitors, like the Dusky, Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers, and the migrants, like the Arctic Warbler and Great Reed-warbler.\n\nOf the smaller thrushes, the Magpie-robin is the only resident, and is common all over the Colony. It is the third of our trio of fine songsters and with its smart pied plumage is an attractive addition to the list. But there are several more chats which are quite common in winter; the Rubythroat, Red-flanked Bluetail, and Daurian Redstart (all described by their names), the Stonechat all over the marshes and paddy-fields, and the Bluethroat on passage near Deep Bay. Among the larger thrushes the Violet Whistling Thrush is the only resident and may be found near most of the watercourses throughout the Colony, from The Peak and Tai Mo Shan down to sea-level. It has a very pretty habit of fanning its tail at rest. Many other thrushes come to the woods of Hong Kong in winter, but are usually shy and difficult to see. The Blackbird is quite common as are the Grey-backed and Grey Thrushes. On the rocky coastline both the Blue and the Red-bellied Rock-thrushes may frequently be seen.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204602, "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": 83, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "72 \n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG \n\nChina hand' of great experience, and a man of forceful character, Sir Harry Parkes. His daughter, Marion, had accompanied him to Peking and in a letter to a friend wrote of the Minister's house:\n\nHow can I describe the house to you? It is so utterly unlike anything we have seen or lived in before. It really was originally a series of Chinese temples, and has been adapted for the use of Europeans by having odd little rooms built on, at odd and inconvenient corners. The entrance is very fine: first come two courts, with handsome red pillars; the carving and painting of the roofs is very picturesque and the colouring really beautiful. From the court you mount a flight of steps, and enter the hall, or Queen's room as it is called - her picture being there.\n\n車\n\nThe grounds here are small but very nice; each person has his little home, and it reminds me much of a cathedral close; it is very peaceful and quiet.\n\n+\n\n16\n\nIn the following year Parkes had to part with his daughter Marion when she was married in the Legation Chapel to James Keswick, a partner in the firm of Jardine, Matheson and Company, and at that time Chairman of the Municipal Council of Shanghai. In the Spring of 1885 Parkes was unwell and he died after a short illness, the only British Minister to die in harness in Peking. He drove himself too hard and died of overwork.\n\nThe life of a student-interpreter at this time has been well described in a book called Where Chineses Drive,16 which was published in 1885, the title being taken from Paradise Lost, Book III.\n\nThe author, W. H. Wilkinson, described the Legation as having a frontage along the Imperial canal of about three hundred yards, and continued:\n\nThe compound forms an oblong of which the shorter side is about one hundred and thirty yards long. On the north it is shut in by the Han-lin College; on the west for the greater part of its length by the Lüan-i K'u, or as we call it, the \"Imperial Carriage Park”. South of this, still on\n\n15 Quoted in Lane-Poole, op. cit., II, 368-9.\n\n16 \"Where Chineses Drive\". English Student-Life at Peking. By a Student Interpreter. (London, 1885). The name of the author does not appear on the book but Henri Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, I, 217, attributes it to W. H. Wilkinson.\n\nI", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206981, "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": 52, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "46 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nOn the island Mayréna lived alone in a shack with a French poodle. He did not collect birds' nests, a task he left to his fellow European, but the feathers of birds of paradise. It seems that he took another 'wife—the twelve-year-old daughter of a local village chief. But he soon began to suffer acutely from paranoia, barricading and fortifying his shack and interrogating at the point of a rifle all who approached. He also suffered from delusions; he walked around gesticulating and talking to himself. He was now more than a 'king in exile', he was a 'mad king'. \n\nFor Mayréna's last days we must rely on the testimony of J.F. Owen,46 the Collector of Kuala Rompin on the mainland, who visited Tioman and made friends with Mayréna. In November 1890 Mayréna visited Owen at Kuala Rompin. The morning after he drew up his will, and executed it formally in the presence of Owen, who was a magistrate. Then he called Auguste, his poodle, and set forth for a stroll along a jungle path. Soon he returned in great pain and claimed to have been bitten by a poisonous snake. He died soon afterwards in the presence of Owen. He was buried, Lineham states, at Kampong Jawa on the Rompin and his grave was marked by a plain block of chengal wood.47 There was no inscription. ‘But if you chance to visit Tioman', Sir Hugh Clifford writes, \"the natives of the place will point out to you a number of strange-looking quadrupeds, half-pariah, half-poodle, and with pride will inform you that these are \"ânjing pranchis\" (French dogs); and these uncouth descendants of the well-beloved and redoubtable Auguste are the only traces left upon this little fairy island marking it as the erstwhile refuge of Marie David de Mayréna, Comte de Ray (sic), and King of the Sedangs'.48 \n\nThe Marquis de Morès' nirvana was as strange as Mayréna's. Back in Paris he discovered that he could not go ahead with his scheme to construct a railroad in Tongking because of opposition from Ernest Constans, Minister of the Interior, who had just driven from France another ambitious soldier who, too, had left the French army. This was the sentimental General Boulanger, who was later to commit suicide over his mistress's grave at Brussels. Morès, as a result of what he felt was a personal conspiracy against him, became an implacable enemy not only of Constans but of the regime, the Third Republic, that Constans served. He had also become an anti-semite, principally because of his experiences with the Jews in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207014, "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": 85, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "BRIDGEMAN'S LETTERS FROM CHINA AND HONG KONG\n\n79\n\nThe obvious solution would have been to obtain leave home, but, as Orlando explained to Selina, this was not easily achieved.\n\nMy mother in her last letter says to me \"get leave and join us there (on the continent) this winter.\" She little knows the difficulty of getting leave in India.* It will be given first to the senior subalterns for a couple of years, or perhaps three and when they return then as many more as can be spared, always in rotation. It will be therefore several years before it comes to my regular turn for leave. No dear pussy, the only way that I can get home is by exchanging, and the sooner you can manage it for me, the better.8**\n\nBridgeman's immediate future was to be spent in Hong Kong, where he arrived in November 1842 and was to remain until he left for the voyage home in late 1843. His first letter from Hong Kong recorded a visit to Macao, a place which he seems to have found pleasant and enjoyable. He was very impressed by the \"continental\" character the homes and gardens of the merchants gave to Macao. And, like so many visitors to Macao at that time, he was most impressed with the famous \"living\" bird of paradise kept in an aviary there.\n\nHong Kong, though, he did not find so pleasant or interesting, nor did he find the activities of his fellow officers compatible with his own concepts of recreation:\n\nI am going this afternoon to see the thoughtless part of the garrison play cricket. I call them thoughtless because I conceive it to be perfect madness on the part of any man to play cricket under a vertical sun. For my own part I never join in sports that require such strong exercise, for more reasons than one. In the first place I dislike exerting myself and putting myself into a profuse perspiration when perfectly unnecessary, and in the next place so much exposure to the sun is most likely to bring on fever and ague to a ten times worse degree than I at present have it, and I have no great desire to leave my bones\n\n* Hong Kong and China in military parlance of the period were considered extensions of India. This probably came about because many of the troops sent out to China were on Indian service and/or Indian service conditions.\n\n\"Exchanging\" meant that Bridgeman would trade places with another officer of similar rank in another regiment.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207816, "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-1976", "page_number": 204, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "The Ancient Mon-Pagan, Peru & Nakorn Pathom 189\n\n(Rama VI) complete with Shakespearian house and a statue to his dog whom he suspected had been poisoned by jealous courtiers.\n\nThe Pagan theme of temple paintings, though of a different period, may also be taken up again in Dhonburi, across the river from Bangkok. Dhonburi was the capital between the fall of Ayuthaya in 1757 and the establishment of Bangkok in 1782 and boasts a number of old temples, many still having their original mural paintings. The little visited Wat Wai Thepnimit is lost amid sluggish canals and has paintings in good condition dating from the late 18th century. Like many of such temples, the scene above the main door inside represents the victory of the Buddha over the temptations of Mara; the scene behind the altar shows the division of the world into paradise, earth, and hell; and at the lower levels on the sides, between the windows, are the stories from the last ten Jataka tales, while above are serried rows of alternating orahan, or devotees, and yaksa or giants. In better condition, though in not so charmingly dilapidated a building, is the temple of Wat Chaiyathit, which can only be reached by a walk by narrow canals and a railway track. The well-known paintings at the fine Wat Suwannaram on Klong Bangkok Noi need little introduction. The small dual buildings of Wat Rumarin Ratchapaksi near Wat Dusit, bombed by accident in the last war, are now at last being repaired, though not before the weather has caused considerable damage to the quality of the paintings. One of the most impressive buildings to survive the passage of time and weather is the old library at Wat Rakhang, the Ho Trai. This has three rooms and was formerly part of a dwelling of General Chakri, the founder of the present dynasty, in the 18th century. He had it converted into a library for the temple after he became king. The carved entrance doors are magnificent, and the Ayuthia period lacquered library cupboards are in very good condition. The paintings, which had been much damaged by time and smoke from a fire at the temple, are now being restored. The scenes depict barely recognisable episodes from the Thai version of the Ramayana.\n\nBangkok does not lack evening entertainment, but there is not much that can rival the setting of Krisnavara House, with its collection of antiques beside the Chao Praya River, for a performance of the now rarely presented hoon krabawk, or stick puppet theatre. The figures are clothed in 19th-century court dresses and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209166, "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-1981", "page_number": 69, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "RELIGIOUS RESPONSE TO MODERNIZATION IN TAIWAN THE CASE OF I-KUAN TAO 55\n\nWhile former passages showed a clear Confucian coloring, this last section depicts an ideal future world whose Taoist stamp cannot escape notice. A crucial point to be observed here is the admonition to spread the Tao all over the world, which will result in the emerging of a paradise-like new society. Since the Chinese expression for “world” here is not t'ien-hsia but shih-chieh, it is obvious that the deliverance is not thought of as confined to the Chinese nation only but is open to all mankind.\n\nI cannot decide for certain which religious group this text originates from. There is some evidence that it was revealed during an I-kuan Tao fu-luan session, but it could also be the product of any other fu-luan cult. In the interpretation of the present time there is a common stock of beliefs which is shared by most of the popular religious movements. According to my observations it normally consists of the following four basic elements:\n\n1. The present political, social and cultural situation is regarded as a time of decay and decadence. This can be seen above all in a general decline of public morality.\n\n2. The present time of decay is interpreted against the background of a religious theory of history. This applies especially for the I-kuan Tao and related groups. According to this theory we are now in the last phase of a cosmic period at the end of which there will be a worldwide catastrophe. Only a few elected, i.e. those who follow the true Tao, will survive this cataclysm. After this they will live in the ideal world of the Great Harmony (ta t'ung).\n\n3. The cause of the present decadence is to be found in the decline of the true Tao, which is a result of the influence of Western civilization. Western civilization is regarded as materialistic and immoral. The Chinese tradition, in contrast, is seen as a fountain of religious and moral values from which the spiritual renewal of mankind will grow.\n\n4. The divine revelations not only stigmatize the present time as a period of decay; the divine revelations also show the way to deliverance. This path is essentially the same one that was marked out by the sages of Chinese antiquity. That means it consists in the observance of the traditional Confucian moral values. While deviation from the true Tao accounts for the cause of decay, observance of the true way contains the key to salvation.\n\nObviously these views reflect the tensions between traditional", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209800, "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-1983", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "37\n\nhas apparent existence because of the apparent union of countless dust particles. Aside from the dust particles, there is no world. Similarly, according to modern scientific view, the world is made up of atoms. Aside from the atoms, there is no world.23\n\nThe third argument is that since the Buddha's teaching is the truth, it must contain all the knowledge ever discovered by science. However, the Buddha's words do not contain every detail of science, but they do contain the principles from which science is derived. One writer puts it: \"Although Buddhism is not science, it is science and philosophy on a higher level.\"24 Another writer puts it: \"Buddhism is the philosophy from which science is derived.”26 Since Buddhism is super science, it fulfills the a priori conditions of not getting into conflict with science.\n\nThe fourth kind of argument is the reconciliation of apparent contradictions between science and Buddhist teaching. One problem discussed is the existence of Amitabha's western paradise. The conviction that the world is a globe spinning round the sun has rendered the interpretation of the term \"west\" rather problematical. Two essays have been written to solve this problem and I leave the reader to reconstruct the arguments for themselves.20\n\nIV. The Self-perception of the Monks\n\nAt the outset of this paper, the observation was made that the monk's self-perception changes in relation to his perception of the reality around him. At whatever point in time, monkhood must maintain its sense of purpose. The monk must find his own life attractive and his sense of value adjusted to his perception of reality, which cannot be totally cut off from the community's perception of it. Hong Kong has experienced a lot of changes in recent decades and these changes posed challenges to the sangha and I have documented some of its major responses. Here I shall discuss the monks' self-perception in terms of these responses.\n\nDuring the last two or three decades, monks in Hong Kong have experienced great changes in material conditions. There have been great fluctuations in the numbers of monks when immigrant monks came from mainland China and later dispersed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210419, "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": 26, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "the altar.\" Although this practice follows logically from the concept of the Supreme Deity, one cannot help thinking, bearing in mind that no temple in Chinese religion, whether at present or in the past, is devoted to one deity alone, that this must have been the result of Lo's Protestant up-bringing.\n\niii. Human destiny\n\nAccording to Tan Tse Tao, man's final destiny is to return to the Supreme Deity after death.24 This immediately brings up a number of questions with regard to the human constitution. Is there life after death? Do such places as heaven or hell exist? What sort of union with the Supreme Deity is envisaged?\n\nFirst of all, Patriarch Lo recognizes the separate existence of the body and of the soul. “If the body functions but the soul is dead, that person is really dead even though his body is alive; if the body is dead but the soul exists, he is really alive even though his body is dead.”25 Indeed, the soul has three destinies. If a man's deeds are good, he goes up to heaven and may even become a god after death. If his deeds are evil, he goes below ground and becomes a ghost. If his deeds are neither good nor bad, he becomes a wandering soul,26\n\nGiven this belief in the existence of the soul after death and notions of reward and punishment, the belief in the existence of a heavenly paradise and hell becomes unavoidable. Tan Tse Tao recognizes this fact, but it tries hard to avoid crude notions of sensual gratification in heaven and of instruments of torture in hell.27\n\nPerhaps the more intriguing and difficult question is one about the nature of the union with the Supreme Deity. Will the identity of an individual be lost and the individual be merged with the Absolute in the final destiny or will the soul retain its individuality? Patriarch Lo did not discuss this problem in his writings. According to informants, the correct interpretation is that the soul retains its individuality. This is in keeping with the practice of keeping an altar in memory of dead disciples.28", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210806, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "140\n\nD.L. MICHALK\n\nChina Daily (1983) “Hainan Island draws more foreign interest”, November 25, 1983, published by Xinhua News Agency.\n\nClark, L. (1938) \"Among the Big Knot Lois of Hainan\", National Geographic Magazine, September issue, pp. 391-418.\n\nDehergne, J. (1940) “Les Origines du Christianisme dans l'ile de Hainan”, Monumenta Serica, 5: 329–348.\n\nDunne, G.H. (1962) “Generation of Giants: The Story of the Jesuits in China in the Last Decade of the Ming Dynasty”, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A.\n\nEberhard, W. (1969) A History of China.\n\nFairfax-Cholmeley, E. (1963) \"Hainan: Awakening Paradise”, Eastern Horizons, 2: 35-42.\n\nFenzel, G. (1933) \"Die Insel Hainan: Eine landeskundliche Skizze, dargestellt auf Grund eigner Reisebeobachtungen und des vorhandenen Schrifttums\", Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft Munchen, 26: 73-221.\n\nFusson, C.G. (1929) \"The Peoples of Kwang-tung: Their Origin, Migrations and Present Distribution”, Lingnan Science Journal, 7: 5-21.\n\nGao, Da-Xian (1981) “The Li People of Hainan Island”, China Reconstructs, 10: 59-65.\n\nHenry, B.C. (1886) Lingnam: Travels in the Interior of China, S.W. Partridge & Co, London.\n\nHollingworth, C. (1982) “Letter from Hainan”, Far Eastern Economic Review, April issue, p 78.\n\nIskoldsky, V. (1958) \"The Development of Agriculture on the Island of Hainan”, Sovetskoe kitaevedenie, 2: 117-123.\n\nKirk, D. (1965) \"Unknown Hainan\", Far Eastern Economic Review...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213946, "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": 16, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "Activities\n\nDuring the year under review 11 lectures, one concert, 13 local visits and three excursions to the China Mainland have been conducted. These covered a wide spectrum of topics and details may be seen in the Appendix attached to this report. Because the list is long I am unable to thank, in this report, all lecturers or persons who have led visits. We do, however, thank them as a group and we are pleased that some of them have accepted our invitations to be with us at this dinner tonight.\n\nA special mention must be made here of the Activities Committee which has met at intervals throughout the year. The members, many of whom have themselves given talks or led groups, comprise the Reverend Carl Smith, Doctors Elizabeth Sinn, Michael Lau, Patrick Hase and Joseph Ting, as well as Valery Garrett and Jason Wordie. During the year the place vacated by Claire Hockaday was filled by Sarah Parnell.\n\nThe Activities Committee, on which our Branch so much depends, chaired by Geoffrey Roper, has done a splendid job and provided a rich, diverse programme of events. We are extremely sorry to see Geoffrey Roper step down as Chairman of the Activities Committee. He has put in countless hours leading our activities team. We thank him and the members of his committee most sincerely.\n\nLibrary and Finance\n\nBoth our Honorary Librarian and our Honorary Treasurer will present their own reports later this evening. I thank both of them for the special expertise that they bring to our Council. We must also thank the City Hall Library, which comes under the Urban Council. Our RASHKB library is on permanent loan to the City Hall. There our books may be borrowed not only by RAS members but also referred to by the general public. It is hoped that, as well as serving as a paradise for bibliophiles, our library provides a bridge of understanding between our Branch and the community. Because many of our titles are valuable it has been decided that no book published before the year 1900 may be removed from the RAS library.\n\nXV", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215431, "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": 208, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "157\n\nOther Images\n\nA salutation in St. Alfonso's Office praises the palma patientiae and the cedrus castitatis. This allusion to both cedar and palm trees derives from Ecclesiasticus, 24, 17-18. When it comes to the date palms of the second storey, it is very much a part of the stock-in-trade immaculist symbols, particularly dear to southern Spanish poets and painters and also known from early prints, all praising Mary's Immaculate Conception. But these may equally refer to the triumph of the Society of Jesus, with the canonisation of its main protagonists, Sts. Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier in 1622 and the recent beatification of Francis Borgia and Luis Gonzaga.\n\nIn the fourth storey or attic The Child Jesus raises his right hand and holds an empty left hand forward. The latter undoubtedly held the lost orb mentioned in the 1644 Annua. It is a pose and attribute typical of the kind of devotional religious image known as an infant Salvator Mundi, that is, Infant Jesus Saviour of the World. The type of \"Menino Jesus\" as Salvator Mundi was well disseminated in Portuguese colonies in the East during the seventeenth-century, as a large number of Indo-Portuguese and Chinese ivory statuettes, usually nude, tend to confirm. Here the Child Jesus is framed by reliefs of angels displaying the Arma Christi, or symbols of Christ's suffering on the Cross. According to Christian theology, the ironically named arma are the “weapons” Christ used in his earthly battle against evil in order to redeem humankind. They were profoundly mystical symbols popularised in devotional literature and images since Medieval times in Europe.\n\nThe pediment is decorated with the large bronze of the Holy Spirit, originally gilded and emerging from rays, with four stars framing it. Next to it are square slabs of the sun and moon, with which the iconography of the main image of the Assumption is finally brought to full completion.\n\nThe dove of the Holy Spirit hovers over both Mother and Child with wings far outspread in an image that seems uncannily like a visual illustration of the Holy Spirit in the opening lines of John Milton's Paradise Lost. As bronze sculpture it is impressive enough today; with its original gilding it must have appeared awe-inspiring to the citizens of Macao and to seventeenth-century and later visitors before the fire.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]