[
    {
        "id": 214887,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1999",
        "page_number": 302,
        "title": "RAS-1999",
        "content_text": "ONE OF HONG KONG'S MANY HILLSIDE TEMPLES:\n\n\"THE TEMPLE OVERLOOKING THE SEA'\n\nDAN WATERS\n\n275\n\nThere are a number of hillside temples, both on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. But very little appears to have been written about them or about the communities that worship in them and frequent their environs.\n\nThis short paper looks at a small, ramshackle temple complex, including 'The Temple Overlooking the Sea', which used to cling to the hillside. Painted somewhat garishly bright red, green and yellow, it stood downhill, on the western side of where the remains of the old British Pinewood Battery are still situated. The latter, at 307 metres above sea level, was the highest of all Hong Kong's coastal defence batteries. To get to the temple you went up the winding, partly asphalted and partly concreted, Hatton Road, which starts at the western end of Conduit Road, where it joins Po Shan and Kotewall Roads. Hatton Road is steep and leads up to the Gap between Victoria Peak and the still, relatively unspoiled, High West.\n\nAbout half way up Hatton Road, on the way to the Peak, there is a branch off to the right, and, a further 35 metres or so along with a pavilion atop Dragon and Tiger Hill on your right, you turn left on to a concrete-paved jeep track. Proceeding downhill for approximately 300 metres you can still see the hillside scars and sorry remains of the old Temple complex. They are situated along what is sometimes called Cheung Po-tsai's Path, named after Hong Kong's most notorious pirate who was especially active in the first decade of the 19th century. Whether he actually used the path is debatable. It circles the western end of Hong Kong Island above Mid-Levels.\n\nNotices were posted up in the summer of 1999, in the area around the 'Temple Overlooking the Sea', saying that the complex was to be demolished. It was an illegal structure. The old Chinese folk who were very attached to the Temple were naturally upset and, although there were no strong protests, a few of them did attend meetings organised by government departments. Although the Temple folk sometimes",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 216223,
        "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": 522,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "456\n\nsouth-westerly monsoon in the summer. As the Cantonese saying has it, ‘Even with a 1,000 taels of gold it is not easy to buy a flat facing south.'\n\nOn the steep hillside with its lush vegetation, opposite and well above Realty Gardens, exists even now what is sometimes still called Cheung Po-Tsai's Path. Shown on maps, starting more or less opposite and a little higher up than May Road, although heavily overgrown and not negotiable in parts because of landslips and other obstructions, the footpath goes around and finishes up on the southern slopes of the Peak. Cheung was Hong Kong's most notorious and fearsome pirate who was at the zenith of his powers during the first decade of the 19th century. He was reputed to command as many as 600 junks, 40,000 fighting men - including a few British ex-Royal Navy gunners and \"own\" the prettiest girls. No firm evidence, however, appears to exist that he himself ever walked along that path.\n\nFrom the fung shui aspect Victoria Peak with its spurs, and Seymour Cliffs to our southeast, symbolise strong backing. The \"cosmic breath\" of fung shui rides on the wind and is dispersed and checked by watercourses. Realty Gardens' location brings blessings, which are just, and inevitable rewards deserved by the skilful and the diligent. Watercourses stream down the mountain keeping fortunes flowing into our flat and protecting our well-being. Some fung shui specialists maintain that the spiritual energy on the Peak is the best in the whole of Hong Kong.\n\nAt the far western end of Conduit Road, close to the junction with Kotewall and Po Shan Roads, a steep, narrow road branches off. This is Hatton Road. It leads to the Peak. About half way up it passes the remains of Pinewood Battery, which has been turned into a picnic spot. This artillery emplacement was constructed by the British, starting in 1903. The whole area around Hatton Road is relatively unspoiled and provides a wonderful recreational area for Conduit Road residents to stretch their legs and to appreciate nature. Many of the elderly Chinese who walk up there daily for exercise call it \"Long Life Road.\"\n\nSadly however, while talking of heritage, with the villa at No. 55 (completed in 1919) having been demolished in the summer of 2000, there is only one pre-World War Two building still standing in Conduit",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278",
        "rank": 0
    }
]