[ { "id": 204646, "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": 127, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "114 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nwith Howqua, the great Canton hong merchant, until 1861 and were also associated with Baring Brothers, the London bankers, shows that the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was far from being a purely American concern. The initiative in its formation and its success, however, was almost entirely due to the determination and ability of the Shanghai heads of Russell and Company, and in particular to Edward Cunningham, the firm's managing partner in Shanghai in the vital years of 1862, 63, and '64.\n\nBecause of American influence in the early days, and the similarity between navigational problems on the Mississippi and on the Yangtse, the luxurious river steamers which plied on the Lower and Middle Yangtse during the heyday of foreign trade were very similar to the Mississippi steamers of Mark Twain's day. They had the same tall, narrow funnel, and the long promenade deck extending almost the whole length of the ship, which Hollywood has made so familiar. At the forward end of this deck was the dining saloon, and at the after end the lounge. Both of these were elegantly, and even ornately furnished, the entrance to the lounge being flanked with potted shrubs leading to a wide stairway down to the lower deck. The best cabins were on the promenade deck. Unfortunately no one with Mark Twain's genius has written a ‘Life on the Yangtse' to match his Life on the Mississippi, an omission now very unlikely to be repaired.\n\nIn his journey up the Yangtse and overland to Burma in 1874, which was to end in his tragic murder, A. R. Margary travelled from Shanghai to Hankow by the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company's Hirado.\" Margary described his cabin as large and airy, and the Hirado as a wonderful structure and not like a ship at all. She had a tall narrow funnel in front of each paddle box, tier upon tier of cabins built on the smallest possible hull, and the general appearance of a gaudy palace of pleasure full of windows and terraces floating upon the water. Margary continued by mandarin boat10 to Yochow, and then across the Tungting Lake and by the Yuan River to the border of Kweichow, and then completed his\n\n10\n\n\"The Hirado was one of the largest steamers on the river at this time, being of 1,294 gross tons. She had been built in America for Dent and Company in 1866, and sold by them to the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company in 1867.\n\n10 A long, narrow junk divided into 5 or 6 compartments.\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204719, "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": 22, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n13\n\nOn the evening of the 19th affairs looked so squally that Mr. Hunter who had returned to Canton a day or two before ordered all the books and papers packed up and started with them at 2 A.M. the next morning for Macao. At 7 Mr. King started Mr. Spooner and myself off in Mr. Hunter's sail boat with a load of baggage, and books that Mr. H. could not take. We were towed down by Captain Endicott's boat and arrived safer after a passage of 6 hours on board the Naraganset. On our arrival we received a chit from Mr. Hunter stating that a number of transports and men of war were on the way up and advising us to get out of Canton as soon as possible. This I forwarded to Mr. King, but he did not get it as he had already left with the remainder of R and Co's Establishment.3\n\nExplanatory terms\n\nIn China the factory was a multi-purpose building. The lower floor usually was used for office space, storage, and the like, the second floor for dining and lounging, and the third for sleeping. Broad verandahs around the building gave it a spacious and airy quality. In Canton the factories of the various nationalities, American, Danish, French, Dutch, and Swedish faced the river. The British factory was truly magnificent for it contained a huge and lavishly furnished dining hall with terrace, library, chapel and numerous private rooms.\n\nHong was sometimes used interchangeably with factory but specifically it referred to all the buildings of a commercial establishment, i.e., the factory and subsidiary buildings such as living quarters for servants and workers and large storage areas for cargos of ships.\n\nHong merchants had formed an association in the early eighteenth century; in 1839 the Chinese merchants numbered thirteen and they had a monopoly of trade with foreigners. The most powerful and wealthy Hong merchant was Howqua, spelt by Hunter Houqua.\n\nConsoo House was the property of the Hong merchants, and in actuality was a series of buildings in the Chinese style. The main building contained lavish reception rooms and a series of courtyards.\n\n3 James Duncan Phillips, editor, \"The Canton Letters 1839-1841 of William Henry Low,\" The Essex Institute Historical Collections LXXXIV, 1948.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207148, "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": 219, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n213\n\nDealings in land and property were a major enterprise in early Hong Kong. An insight into the hazards of real estate speculation is given by George Duddell's testimony before the Land Committee in 1849. He speaks about his purchase of a lot at the south-west corner of Queen's Road West and Possession Street. As we walk along Fat Hing Street we shall be passing the south side of the lot. Duddell states regarding the purchase of the lots in 1844:\n\nThe lot was bought after unprecedented bidding for two hundred per cent on the original upset rental. The circumstances in palliation of my buying it at such a price are, the lot was airy and perfectly level with one rock only to clear it off before building could be commenced, combined with a great demand for houses, and the facility the lot offered to speedily erect them, with the fact I was outbid on all other lots the same day. The buildings were built and tenanted, but within a year they had left for other houses. These houses were void, vagrants plundering even from doors and glass from windows, every grate was stolen. I must hire a private watchman to protect useless property\n\nThe buildings were much damaged by the typhoon of 1848. In November of 1848, I surrendered them to Government. In consequence of requiring a Sailor's Home, I have by petition obtained back the lot, repaired the buildings and put my seamen into it.\n\nThe premises were known as the Circular Buildings. Duddell again surrendered them to the Government in 1850. Not long after, the land was resold to Quoke Acheong, the Compradore of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company. He was a large land owner in this area. On this property and a section he had purchased across Queen's Road, he developed his own business enterprises under the firm name of Fat Hing. The firm gave its name to the lane south of Queen's Road off Possession Street.\n\nUpon the elevated promontory called West Point, Joseph Frost Edgar built a bungalow. In March, 1843, he was admitted as the resident partner of the firm Jamieson, How and Company. He was one of the first two unofficial members of the Legislative Council, serving from 1850 to 1857. An advertisement for the rent or sale of the West Point Bungalow, dated July 19, 1845 (Friend of China), provides a description of one of the early residences in Hong Kong:\n\nA substantial house consisting of two sitting rooms each 30 by 20 feet and in height 17 feet, separated by folding doors, five", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207481, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 249, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n241\n\nin the operating theatre had about 15 hours in hand and all instruments except those in constant use were vaselined and stored in airy places. Typically, after all the fuss, mains electricity was restored on 10 September for two hours in the morning and one hour in the evening and we were again allowed to use our remaining generator. By 19 October our allowance of current for lighting was subjected to a further 40% cut and our power to an 80% cut. We now used the theatre on one day a week using our own generator, but the need for individual diets and surgical procedures had dropped very substantially. By 25 October all mains electricity was cut off and thence forward we used our small generator for short periods on Tuesdays and arranged our work to coincide with these periods.\n\nDuring 1943 we heard regularly the sounds of American bombers passing overhead but Hong Kong itself was rarely attacked. In February 1944 came the raid after which we had to crop our hair short, and by August raids and alerts were frequent and I noted eleven in my diary for that month. In the hospital our air raid precautions worked well enough and no accidents occurred as a result of patients being hustled downstairs by guards in the pitch dark. As I could not influence the guards myself I tried to get our administrators to send someone down during air raids to help to calm the guards. No one ever came, though eventually we got a telephone line between the hospital and the Japanese administrative quarters which I could use when I wanted, though it proved to be of little practical value. During September and October raids and alerts by day and by night were frequent and there was a particularly heavy raid on 16 October. In November and December the alerts and raids continued and on Christmas Eve we had three raids between noon and seven o'clock, four on Christmas Day and three on Boxing Day and the spate of alerts continued till the end of the year. One raid occurred, as I have noted earlier during a Red Cross inspection on 22 December and there had been raids also on each of the preceding three days.\n\nAt 31 December 1944 our total ration strength in the hospital was 200 and my sketch of the events of the year illustrates the increasing pressures being brought to bear on the Japanese by the allies, mainly of course the Americans. In the hospital the general feeling by the end of the year was one of buoyancy since the evidence of an approaching end to the war was clear. I shared", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207489, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 257, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG\n\n249\n\nhow these were employed. We had four gardens. The quarter-master and the padre slept in the former's office, three doctors slept in the small room we used as the staff officers' mess, while I was again fortunate and had a tiny room, enough to take my bed directly behind the main hospital office, an arrangement which was very convenient for all concerned. We re-started our meteorological observations on 14 April in lovely weather and I see that we had a small putting course and a croquet lawn in action both laid out over pretty rough country. The generator was successfully repaired and we tried to get cement to make a secure base for the engine. We were employing ten workers temporarily on various jobs while another ten were regarded as on permanent duty so long as they remained suitable. It was encouraging to receive two patients suffering from malaria and peptic ulcer respectively from Sham Shui Po since it looked as though we were going to be used as the local hospital for the camps. By 24 April the kitchen even began to accept private dishes for cooking from patients and staff. This sounds very grand, but in fact the dishes consisted of saved-up rice flavoured in various ways according to the resources of the owners. We now had a total of 176 people in the hospital and there were many spontaneous expressions of pleasure at our vastly improved conditions. The general spirit in the hospital was excellent, though we still had one patient on the dangerously ill list. The building was suitable for our use, our numbers were reduced, we were eating better and though we had some pretty ill patients they were being cared for in airy wards into which poured plenty of sunshine. I think this in itself, contrasting so markedly with the dull and rather gloomy wards with their sad associations in Bowen Road had a stimulating effect upon us.\n\nThe stairs leading from our part of the hospital to the Japanese quarters were blocked by wooden frames made by our carpenters on Japanese orders. The Hongkong News arriving very irregularly and we had to replace the white beds in the ward for the blind because they took up too much space.\n\nBy 26 April we had one garden ready for planting and we had decided that bully chow fan was a waste of good corned beef and that this was better made into rissoles. We washed out and thoroughly oiled all our drains but we could not obtain putty to repair broken glass in our metal frame windows. We were allowed to use the church piano up to 7 p.m. daily but the Assembly Hall remain-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208874, "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-1980", "page_number": 36, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "KEITH G. STEVENS\n\nserve Buddhist devotees and which have Buddhist images on altars in their halls and offices. These include Buddhist schools, clinics, book-stores and libraries, homes for the aged and vegetarian food shops and restaurants.\n\nBuddhist temples and monasteries are not only more airy, lighter and cleaner than the Daoist folk temples, their images are larger, gold-lacquered and usually distinctive. However, there are the exceptions, few though they be, of small, dark and, because they are old, more drab Buddhist establishments. Some images too can be multi-coloured, though very few are of any material other than wood.\n\nExclusively Buddhist establishments are few and far between, the majority having an altar or two containing folk religion deities. Quite a number of the Buddhist temples were first instituted in Hong Kong by a single wealthy Chinese who recommended or selected the specific deity or deities to be placed on the altars. The donation of funds to help found a monastery is not only a move to obtain merit for the donor, or for perpetual prayers to be said by the monks in the Memorial Hall of the monastery for the donor himself or for his parents or wife, but is often a gesture to display the importance of the donor (it entitles his or her name to be engraved and displayed at the entrance). Once the monastery has been built the flow of funds from devotees enables it to flourish, but when devotees disappear the monastery too withers. Once the decision to found a Buddhist temple has been made, a board of directors is established and executive decisions are then made by them. (The same is true of Daoist and folk religion temples). In Buddhist and Daoist establishments a priest is invited to become the abbot, and nuns, monks and lay men and women are gradually enrolled. Abbots and hermits choose attractive and secluded spots on remote mountain sides to escape from the tumult of life and to devote themselves to quiet meditation. Founded by either fervent monks or wealthy benefactors, they were usually built on sites which were both aesthetic and practical because, in addition to being a place of meditation, in old China travellers in remoter areas found it necessary as well as agreeable to stay overnight in monasteries. (Plate 1)\n\nThree very distinctive areas in Hong Kong's New Territories were all sufficiently remote to satisfy the \"hermit\" in the monks.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209657, "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-1982", "page_number": 314, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "292\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThe difficulty dragged on into the following year, as we know from the two letters dated 12th March 1879 which prompted this study. In his intelligence report dated 2nd July 1879, Consul Stronach stated, \"I have already reported the refusal of Transit Passes by the Governor of Kwangsi: a rumour has reached this that he has been superseded\" (F.O.228, v.631, p.131). In his next quarterly report, however, he was able to say \"The difficulties in the issue of Transit Passes made by the Governor of Kwangsi have been surmounted, and the actual issue of one has taken place to cover the Cassia Lignea contracted for by Mr. Welsh. The bark is expected shortly.\" He goes on, \"An opening has at last been made of trade with Hongkong, by a small Steamer, the 'Hainan', under the American flag, and Mr. Herton, of Herton, Ebell & Co., a part owner, proposes to settle here and push the venture.\" (F.O.228, v.631, p.158). The main owners of the Hainan were Russell & Co.\n\nThis, however, is not quite the end of the matter. In his Trade Report for 1879, Thomas Piry, Customs Assistant-in-Charge at Pakhoi, reports as follows:\n\n\"The attention of merchants was a little excited in the beginning of the year by the information they received of the issue of Transit Passes. Some determined to try them for the conveyance of Cassia Lignea to this port, an article hitherto prohibited on its market. A contract was in consequence passed with a Foreign merchant. On further consideration, however, the Foreigner backed out, somewhat disgracefully, and left the port. This regrettable affair, enough by itself to ruin the Foreign name in the new place, was fortunately remedied by the kind agency of a Foreign firm, to which not a little credit is due for the action. The contract was confirmed by them, a Pass immediately taken, and the Cassia Lignea was satisfactorily brought down from Kwangsi to Pakhoi. Hence, firstly, the coming of the Hainan to fetch this Cassia.\"\n\nIt seems that Welsh lived up to his name, and perhaps he was the former hotel keeper in Canton who had come to Pakhoi without any definite plans: this would also account for the omission of his name from the 1884 China coast directory.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209658, "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-1982", "page_number": 315, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n293 \n\nThe final happy twist to this story is that the Foreign firm which took over Welsh's contract for Cassia, thus restoring the good name of the foreigners, was almost certainly Herton's. Earlier in Piry's report he wrote: \"Messrs. RUSSELL & CO's steamer Hainan will be remembered here as having proved the means of breaking the ice in Pakhoi. She made her first appearance here on the 28th of September, with a Foreign merchant on board\". As we have seen above, the Hainan came to Pakhoi especially to fetch the consignment of Cassia, and the Foreign merchant on board was equally probably Mr. Herton, perhaps come to take up residence as indicated by Stronach.\n\nWhat use, if any, William Keswick made of the two letters has not been ascertained. It is of interest, however, to note that soon after Russell's Hainan inaugurated the Hong Kong - Pakhoi run, Jardine, Matheson's Conquest began to include Pakhoi on her Hong Kong -- Haiphong route.\n\nH. A. RYDINGS \n\nNOTES \n\nThe large collection of China Maritime Customs publications in the Library of the University of Hong Kong were donated by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1937. William Keswick was at one time Chairman of the Chamber. When the letters were found in the 1879 volume it was unfortunately not noticed between which pages they had been left, but it is probable that it was at the beginning of the report from Pakhoi.\n\n* Contained in Great Britain, Foreign Office, Embassy and consular archives: China: correspondence (F.O.228), now in the Public Record Office, London: microfilm in the University of Hong Kong Library. Correspondence on the Herton claim is in vols. 612, 630 and 654.\n\n4.\n\nTransit passes were instituted under the Treaty of Tientsin, 1858, in Article XXVIII of which it is stated:\n\n\"It shall be at the option of any British subject, desiring to convey produce purchased inland to a port, or to convey imports from a port to an inland market, to clear his goods of all transit duties, by payment of a single charge. The amount of this charge shall be leviable on exports at the first barrier they may have to pass, or, on imports, at the port at which they are landed; and on payment thereof, a certificate shall be issued, which shall exempt the goods from all further inland charges whatsoever.\"\n\n(Hertslet's Treaties, &c., between Great Britain and China, London, 1908, v.1, p. 27-8).\n\nHai-An (M) is the port on the mainland opposite to Kiungchow,\n\nPage 315\n\nPage 316", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209659, "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-1982", "page_number": 316, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "294\n\nG\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nIn 1884 Brenan was H.B.M. Consul at Chefoo. His position in 1880 is not clear from papers to hand, but he appears to have been making official visits to various places on the China Coast.\n\n* China, Imperial Maritime Customs, Reports on trade at the treaty ports for the year 1879. Shanghai, 1880, p. 246,\n\nIbid., p. 247. It was on behalf of one of Thomas Piry's grandsons that this volume of the trade reports was consulted, leading to the discovery of the two letters to W. Keswick.\n\n& Ibid., p. 246.\n\nTHE VILLAGE WATCH IN THE\n\nHONG KONG REGION\n\nBefore 1899 most New Territories villages of any size had watchmen or constables employed by the elders to enforce local rules, and in the bigger villages these may have had permanent employment. Lockhart wrote of “kang fu (kaang foo) or village constables, who are appointed by the village, and paid out of contributions made by the villagers according to the extent of their holdings in land\". He continued, \"Their duty is to keep watch, especially at night. They have the power to arrest, which is deputed to them by the gentry and elders of the village\". Writing four years after the transfer of the New Territories, another official, F. H. May, added a qualification: \"The so called Police really only village watchmen formerly and still in some instances employed by the villagers were only responsible for prevention of larcenies between villagers. They were not held responsible for robberies by outsiders which were supposed to be beyond their power to prevent\".2\n\nThe village watch was still a feature of the local security arrangements in the 1960s. Baker gives an account of it in the Sheung Shui villages of the northern New Territories in the 1960s, whilst Watson mentions it in his book on the Man lineage of San Tin, in an adjoining area. My own notes, which follow, made at Nga Tsin Wai, the last surviving village of central Kowloon, in the mid 1960s also offer some information on the subject.\n\nBefore and after 1899, this old walled village* had an office\n\nthere was no wall as such, but the houses all faced inward, giving the same effect as an enclosure.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209958, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "The white dews drop down on the fragrant but leafless trees; the sombre vapours rise up from the enchanted hills and valleys; and the zephyrs soften with their sweet breath the gloom that overshadows the earth.\n\nIt is now, while seated beneath the tented canopy of the proud ships provided for our reception, that I recall with tears the days that are past: I have left my very home; my heart grows cold; my robe flutters; I am as a man pierced with a dagger.\n\nI gaze upon yonder royal white city, on the high cliffs, while the shadows of evening gather round it. There it stands, lonely as a palace built upon a rock.\n\nThe sun has disappeared beneath the waves, but lingering eyes still turn to it with straining fondness. The southern stars that gleam upon its snow-white walls look beautiful and bright as glittering flowers.\n\nAnd now I weep with bitterness, and as I sink upon my pillow, the splendid town is present to me still. I behold even in my sleep the fragrant incense urn dispensing its thousand gushing streams [a footnote explains that Hong Kong in Chinese signifies ‘Urn of Fragrant Streams'] over the mountains, while the city's white abodes seem glittering in the morning sun.\n\nIt is thus I treasure in my sorrowing soul the loved remembrance; it is thus my mourning heart clings to departed happiness, as the tendrils twine themselves around you airy cliffs.\n\nThe scene is changed. The bright moon issues from the parting clouds, and spangles with her light the feathery bamboo and the shrubby jessamine, that overarch the islet's thousand habitations; and soon the silent morning sun starts from his golden sleep, and sheds a liquid lustre on the rocky steeps that bear aloft a thousand glittering and spacious mansions.\n\nYet on this spot erewhile were only to be seen the hovels of the roving fishermen. Where are they? gone like the swallows of departed autumn!\n\nThus I record in the above lines my uncontrollable regret when leaving your Empire and returning to Canton, on board", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209970, "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": 229, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "207\n\nThe Vietnamese bones include those of Andrew, Pro-Martyr of Vietnam. Andrew, or Phy-yen, was born in 1625 in Fan-ran province in South Vietnam. He became a Catholic at 15 and was martyred at 19 when he refused to adjure his religion. His head was taken to Rome where it can be seen today. His bones are in Macau, together with other Vietnamese and Japanese.\n\nThe bones are neatly packed in polished wooden boxes. Father Acquistapace laughs as he recalls the occasion when the relics were inspected by scientists: \"One seized a bone and said: 'But this bone is from a woman!'” The priest's comments: \"As if only men can die for Jesus!\" There are, in fact, bones from 15 female martyrs in the church.\n\nHe breaks off, pressing a few pamphlets and souvenirs into the hands of the visitor. \"Stay as long as you wish\", he says. \"The children are coming.\" And so they are, for into the cool, airy church come tumbling a horde of laughing Chinese children chasing each other and finding places on the wooden pews. Father Acquistapace moves his attention from the relics of the dead to the enthusiasms of the living. He strides up and down the short aisle as the youngsters roar out a cheerful hymn in Chinese, cajoling, quietening, and then swelling the youthful sounds with great arm movements. Outside, the day is hot and humid, and across the flat patch of muddy water in front of the small village that can be seen in China, a few dilapidated junks lie at anchor.\n\nFrom the church comes the sound of singing. The first modern missionary to the Far East, Xavier, and the martyrs from Japan and from Vietnam, must heartily approve.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210827, "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": 178, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "161\n\nreligious purposes, recommended that no charge be levied against the lots, thus somewhat redeeming officialdom in the eyes of the missionaries.\n\nDr. Legge describes the site as in the healthiest part of town. This was important when there were daily deaths due to “Hong-kong fever.” The lots were up the hill a distance from Queen's Road, hence removed from its bustle and noise.\n\nThe premises were bounded to the south by Staunton Street, to the north by Hollywood Road, to the east by Elgin Street and to the west by Aberdeen Street. While being in the European section it was within five minutes' walk of the centre of the Chinese population.\n\nThe main building for the site was planned as a residence for missionaries and a school. Two rooms were reserved on both the lower and upper floors for classrooms.\n\nThe building was typical of the colonial architecture of Hong-kong, substantially built to resist typhoons with large airy rooms and wide verandahs to shade the interior from the summer sun.\n\nWhile plans for the large Mission House were being prepared, smaller outbuildings were erected on the lot. One of these was finished in July 1844, and Dr. Legge was planning to move his family into it as he had given up his rented quarters. Dr. Benjamin Hobson advised, however, that it would be unwise to occupy the building while the plaster was drying and paint fumes were strong. The school, however, was able to take up temporary quarters in another of the outbuildings until the Mission House was finished.\n\nIn addition to problems regarding land, building and students, there was the matter of a name for the relocated institution. Some thought it not wise to retain the name it had borne at Malacca. It had come into disrepute and its past reputation would not serve to promote the reorganised school.\n\nThe name adopted by the missionaries at a formal meeting in 1843 - The Theological Seminary of the London Missionary", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211776, "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": 191, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "166\n\nin their own language. On April 18 1864 the first evening took place at which “the arrangement of the costumes and acting were all good and amply repaid a visit, even by those who may not understand the Portuguese language”. Two more performances are recorded of this company (October 15 and December 22 1864).\n\nWith respect to the financial side of the societies' activities not too much can be said with certainty. Expenditure included the rent of a godown to be fitted up as a theatre, scenery, etc. (see below: V. The Theatres). Evidently, entrance fees covered part of these expenses, the members themselves probably paid an annual amount, and furthermore there are some indications that at least a number of performances were for subscribers. Thus, speaking about an amateur evening on February 13 1863, the Herald added that a repeat would take place on the 17th at \"which the public that is non-subscribers will be admitted\". Earlier, in 1859, in a letter to the Editor, a \"Member of the A.D.C.\" complained about the liberties taken by some residents with the subscription circulars: “A wag has amused himself (and himself only) by converting quite a large number of 5 tael subscriptions into 15 and has thereby caused not only great confusion, but some unpleasantness”.36\n\n―\n\n―\n\n3\n\nSuch confusion could easily be tolerated in the all too numerous farces that were put up on the stage, but when it came to realities it was clearly considered to be just as well as to put them down...\n\nGarrison theatricals\n\nFrom time to time the season was enlivened by non-resident amateurs, Naval vessels of several nations that called at the port of Shanghai were sometimes the scene of an unusual crowding of merchants and marines when performances were given on board ship. Thus on October 8 1857 the \"Union Theatrical Company of the U.S.S. San Jacinto\" delighted the public with three farces.37 A year later, September 28 1858, the crew of H.M.S. Retribution entertained a large portion of the foreign community: The quarterdeck was converted into a rotunda tastefully decorated with national and other flags raised nearly to the height of the mizzentop forming a spacious and airy salon. The stage, raised to a convenient height for the audience, was adorned with a well-executed proscenium, the orchestra being in front, all en règles\".38 The piece selected was even of a higher quality than the usual fare, viz. Sheridan's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211896, "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": 311, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "286\n\nand pretty. There are abundance of trees of all sorts growing at the sides of the roads. The shops of the Chinese amused me very much as we went along. At last we came to \"Hughan's store\", where there is a great space, with easy chairs, etc. for loungers and loafers. Hughan is a ship chandler, and by keeping this place pretty comfortable he gets the captains of all the English and American ships there, and of course gets the job of supplying their ships with provisions, etc. Before the whole lines of stores and offices there is a path, with a roof to it so that one can walk about for an hour without being in the burning hot sun, which in Java is very injurious, especially to Europeans.\n\nWe took a short drive about the town with the captain, who was looking out for some spars for the ship, and then set off out in the country to Madame Baines' Hotel, which is the only English place where one can get to. It was a three-mile drive, but the beautiful appearance of the place made me think nothing of the distance. The Dutch, to whom the island belongs, are the greater part of the European population; consequently, the town is in every direction intersected by canals as is Holland. These canals serve the purpose of drainage, washing, and to keep the air cool. On each side of them is a very wide road, shaded by large trees from the sun. Thus the streets are very wide and airy. There are, of course, a great many bridges. The European houses are very grand, and nearly all built on the same model.\n\nOur two poor horses at last brought us up to our Hotel, where we arrived about two o'clock. It was half an hour before we could get anyone to attend to us, since it is the custom to sleep in the middle of the day. At last, after walking about over the house, we were met by our hostess, a Scotch lady of colossal dimensions, but withal a pleasant agreeable old party, who at once made us at home, and got us some \"tiffin\", or breakfast. All her servants are Malays, and she can speak the language very fluently. Indeed, when well spoken, Malay is a pretty language.\n\nHer house is an average specimen of all the European houses in Batavia. It has only one story on account of earthquakes, but it is very lofty and airy. There is a large dining hall and entrance hall, while round the house are the verandahs, where people spend a great part of the day, and especially the evenings. Facing the road, the verandah is very wide and lofty. In the garden is a stream, running round a small island, which has some fine clusters of trees, which are so curious that I cannot describe them. Some of the leaves are as large as a good-sized tablecloth. Round", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211898, "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": 313, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "288\n\nI had a good long yarn with Madame Baines on the verandah. When I told her what I was, she became very religious all at once; but I could see it was only hypocrisy, although she had an oily tongue. The Bishop of Victoria was there in 1856. The people were highly pleased with his visit, and all who I heard speak of him seemed to do so with respect. She was acquainted with a Mr King of the Scottish Free Church, who had returned from Scotland only three months ago; and promised to introduce me to him and drive me there in her carriage.\n\nAt eleven o'clock I went to bed. My room was very fine and airy. All the beds in Java have to be curtained all round to keep out the mosquitoes, which would prevent sleep, and sting finely into the bargain.\n\nThe captain and wife came from the ship to the hotel the next day. They made themselves such fools by wanting to appear grand that everybody laughed at them behind their backs. No sooner had the captain left the table, and the rest began to talk, when Mr Phillips began: “Well of all the disagreeable obstinate men I ever saw, I never saw anybody to beat him. I can see it in his looks although I have never spoken to him nor know who he is\". When I told him it was our captain he wanted to know if he had not guessed right. I told him I must be excused from answering that question. Madam was finely laughed at, and reckoned up in just the terms she deserved. Since our return to the ship these parties have been equally run down by the captain and wife,\n\nA\n\nTwo days I took a walk into the town in the middle of the day. I was afterwards told that no European would ever be able to do it, for it was enough to kill the strongest man on account of the sun's intense power. However it had not the least effect upon me. In fact I felt all the better for it.\n\nOn the first day I started to go into town but took a wrong turning, and went out through one of the Chinese quarters into the country, where I had a few miles' walk. The scenery was very fine indeed. The palm and betel nut trees, and trees of which I have no idea formed a delightful shade. Even the country is intersected by canals. But whether in town or country, you always find the shore of the canal crowded with washermen. The clothes are never washed, but merely beaten. They get a smooth stone, and after soaking the clothes in the water, they keep dashing them on the stone, swinging them for that purpose round their head.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212243, "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": 185, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "162\n\nIt is a bonny great room. The books are arranged in mahogany cases round, or rather at the sides, against the side walls. In the middle is a fine mahogany table, a round ditto at the end nearest the window, where I generally sit to study and write. At the other end a sofa, and a settee, while round the room you see any number of arm chairs. You will not fail to notice the scientific apparatus, and the globes, etc. The books form about the finest collection I ever saw, except the \"Museum\".'* There is a large case of foreign bibles and testaments in every language one can think of, presented by the Bible Society. Hours and hours have I spent in looking over all the books. I shall never be able to see the inside of one fourth of them. A great number are on Theology. I noticed Dr Stevenson's works, and the Memoir of the brother of the Misses Breay at Chudleigh. There are so many books that I am quite bewildered which to read first.\n\nThere is a round cylindrical tin case, containing a copy of the Scriptures in Hebrew, found among a number of Jews in the interior of China. They are a most interesting set of people,\" and retain the Hebrew language and Jewish religion, although very much corrupted. It is supposed by those who discovered them that they are of extreme antiquity. The book is just like pictures I have seen of the Jewish Pentateuch. It is written in most beautiful Hebrew characters on soft white leather, and when unrolled would reach a long way. It is regarded as a great object of interest. Before going out of the library I will call attention to the chandeliers, and the great punkah over the large central table, where I might dine if I felt disposed, but I prefer my own snug little parlour.\n\nNext I will show you the Chinese dormitories. Each contains two rows of iron bedsteads, on which during the summer is spread a Chinese mat, and pillow, which is like a square block of wood, although soft when one gets used to it!! Each has a box at the side of his bed. I shall only allow them to go to their boxes twice a day for a quarter of an hour. The rooms are very open and airy. The students have to be very quiet, for every sound can be heard. I shall not allow a sound after the lamps are put out at nine o'clock, when all hands assemble. At the sides you will notice the masters' room, shut off by a curtain. Before the entrance on the verandah is the staircase.\n\nWe now pass through a door into the Bishop's part of the house,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213612, "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-1995", "page_number": 208, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "181\n\nSINGAPORE'S DISAPPEARING TEMPLES AND THE DECLINE AND APPARENT DEMISE OF A POPULAR RELIGION CULT\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\nI first passed through Singapore in the mid-1940s and scarcely noticed Chinese temples even though, as I later discovered, they were everywhere. Then, during my first comparatively lengthy stay on the island in the early 1960s, during a carefully planned tour of each of the squares on the Street Guide, I found that there was hardly an area without at least one and often two or three, ranging from small single hall temples to the largest multi-hall and airy Buddhist temples. The majority were popular religion shrines and temples, relatively small and certainly far removed from the comparatively spotless cleanliness of the Buddhist temples. However, the atmosphere and the friendliness of the devotees more than made up for it.\n\nIf we look back at dynastic China there has been a rigid continuity of tradition in temples and temple life and even today we can be in the present and yet in temples in communion with the past. Nothing changed over the ages despite temple contents being comparatively flimsy. Roofs remain the same, vermilion pillars have kept their colour and shape, images have varied little apart from the liberal use today of bright chemical paints and monks wear the same garb. Unlike the edifices of Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Sumer, built to last forever, temple contents and structures have remained century after century being rebuilt as and when necessary and are still in use, though often in mainland China the images are in a parlous state and covered in dust.\n\nEach of the popular religion temples in Singapore had some unique aspect, something which rewarded my diligence. This might not necessarily be part of worship. It could be the tales told about the deities, or the origin and development of the temple. At that time I was primarily interested in identifying the deities and sorting them into categories. It took some time to find the most convenient way to record the information I was collecting. Eventually it began to fall into place and, of course, the more I discovered the more questions I raised, and so it went on,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213908, "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-1996", "page_number": 260, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "IMPERMANENCE OF IMAGES IN CHINESE POPULAR RELIGION TEMPLES\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\n235\n\nAt first glance the images of the deities on the altars in Chinese popular religion temples would appear to be permanent fixtures, as indeed is the relative position of images. And so they are in a great number of places. However, changes for several reasons do take place, the main one being the addition of a further deity to the temple altar and the balance of seniority requiring marginal movement to take place. Another factor is the change in or deletion of images due to the decisions of temple committees following some incident, often a devotee's dream, such as those requiring the addition of a further deity.\n\nWe are not looking here at the Lieh-shen T'an1, often the extreme altar stage right in the main hall, a conglomerate of unconnected deities, where all donated images are placed. The movement of images here is commonplace as more and more images over the years are donated usually by the relatives of dead devotees as a means of disposing of personal household images without upsetting anyone's feelings.\n\nTo notice change, long term observation, over a matter of decades rather than years, is essential, with the greatest change usually taking place during the rare refurbishment and redecoration of a temple. As an example we shall look at the Temple of the Lord of T'ai ShanA in Tainan city in southern Taiwan.\n\nThis old temple until the late 1980s was an extremely eerie and awesome place. The grime of centuries, the dim and poorly illuminated halls with the almost black images standing on the shadowy altars and against the side walls, provided an atmosphere approximating the role of the deities, the bureaucrats and enforcement agents of the Afterworld, whose images fill the temple. This has radically changed since the redecoration. Statues on the major altars were well nigh impossible to discern through the grimy glass windows fronting the main altars. All now tends to be clean, bright and much more airy, with modern strip lighting eliminating most of the shadows.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214415, "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": 273, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "239\n\nbly to equalize external and internal temperatures,\n\nI had heard about this equalizing of temperatures before, but must confess, I always suspected trickery:\n\nI remember back home in Russia seeing people who ashamed of openly drinking a glass of vodka, especially a second or a third, would hide behind an elbow or a sleeve: this seems to me to be the same thing. Some even embellish this trickery with a reference to rum and cognac being provided they say, by design, by a hot climate for this equalization... I don't recommend resorting to this method: it means upsetting the fitness of one's stomach with considerable irritation, quadrupling the intensity of the heat and then dropping with exhaustion as a result of the strain. I once heeded this advice and by way of experiment tried to equalize the two temperatures. The result was unbearable torture that lasted a whole day. There was nothing I could do, nothing to quench the searing dryness in my throat and stomach.\n\nOn the contrary, on abstention from meat, and all heavy food, as from spices (never mind that they also come from hot places), but most of all from wine, one easily endures the heat; the chest, the head and the lungs are in a normal state and the intense heat only aggravates one on the outside. I am sure that if in one's food one continually used rice, vegetables, a bit of fish and poultry, it would be possible to bear the heat just as easily as in Russia. But...but P.A.T. won't let you live as you wish, even in India and in China: he looks at you so suspiciously if at dinner you refuse lamb or pork, or puff-pastry pie - just wait for him to take umbrage and ask: \"Is something wrong with the lamb, is the pie stale?\" or addressing everyone he'll exclaim pathetically: “Just look gentlemen: he doesn't like the cuisine! If my instructions are unsatisfactory, if I'm incapable, if I don't know how, then pick someone else...\" No, it's better to suffer from the heat come what may!\n\nJang\n\nHaving rested, we continued down the street, looking at the palaces, at the splendid driveways, the cool vestibules, the airy galleries, the tightly locked windows. There are no signs of life to be seen in the houses, but meanwhile coolies run in and out of them, carrying goods, letters. Englishmen enter and exit under huge umbrellas, wearing straw or linen hats and everyone of them, and ourselves as well, in white", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]