[
    {
        "id": 205565,
        "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-1968",
        "page_number": 107,
        "title": "RAS-1968",
        "content_text": "102\n\nMORRIS I. BERKOWITZ\n\ntherefore that happiness in the resettlement area is purely an economic phenomenon. All of these families have the motivation and energy to have a source of income, sometimes two, other than rent, and although our data are not yet adequately analyzed to explain this difference between families, the source of the motivation would seem to be the variable working here.\n\nAll of this information would seem to reveal that those adult villagers least privileged in education, least worldly in language abilities, least able to secure employment, tended to look towards the village as a less complex, simpler and more satisfying way of life, despite the nearness to markets, entertainment, availability of amenities and transportation which the new site offers. The urbanness of the site seems to demand a kind of flexibility and adaptability which many of these rural people have not yet acquired. Several housewives, for example, displayed a basic inability to adjust to the simplest of economic demands of city life, were upset by and complained about the monthly water and electricity bills and spoke longingly about conditions when one's amenities (meager as they may have been) were available for anyone who wanted them without incurring future debt. There is a strong feeling from the data that putting all of life on a money basis has severely damaged the villagers' confidence in their own ability to cope with the world, even in a situation where money from rental of property is available to the villagers and they have become (by Hong Kong standards at least) rich and self-sufficient. This feeling of inadequacy comes out most clearly in the women's responses to a question concerning what occupations they would most like to have if they had the proper qualifications: most cannot even conceptualize themselves as qualified and as a result did not attempt to answer the question. Several others (after saying they didn't know) continued by pointing out, \"I am only an illiterate woman and have to look after the children.\" The men are not substantially better off: one man who had been a soldier would like to be a general officer, but the others want to be small business men, truck drivers, assistant supervisors, and so on.\n\nUrban Villagers\n\nThe response to these problems of inadequacy has been the cloistering of the villagers by self-selection into a largely isolated and (thus far, at least) non-integrated part of the urban community.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206276,
        "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": 93,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n87\n\nOnly a few were able to survive the perils of the business. They were not accustomed to building in the Western style and therefore often underestimated on contracts, resulting in their bankruptcy. In 1844 the Land Officer comments that \"almost all contracts hitherto entered into with Chinamen have been obliged to be finished by Government, for the works were taken at far too low an estimate, and the consequence was, when the parties found they would become losers, both contractor and security decamped, and in some instances they were imprisoned.\"16\n\nOne of the few contractors who did survive in this early period of Hong Kong's history was Tam Achoy †, alias Tam Sam Tshoy, alias Tam Shek Tsun, although he too almost went into prison for debt, escaping only through the generosity of his creditor. Achoy was generally recognized as the most prominent leader of the Chinese community when an élite was first beginning to emerge out of the hodgepodge of shopkeepers, craftsmen and traders. We have noted that he and Loo Aqui built the Man-Mo Temple where they performed in part the traditional role of village elder. He was also Trustee for the I Ts'z Temple in Taipingshan (1851) and the Temple in Queen's Road East at Wanchai (1869). In 1847 the Colonial Treasury had on deposit £185.16.8 from Tam Achoy for erecting a Chinese School in the Sheung Wan (Lower Bazaar).\n\nAchoy had come to Hong Kong at its foundation in 1841, having been formerly a foreman in the Government Dockyard at Singapore. He was granted a certificate for the easternmost of the lots in the Lower Bazaar, and soon began to buy up the interests of the adjacent property owners until he had acquired an extensive sea frontage. He built some of Hong Kong's most prestigious early buildings such as the P. and O. Building and the Exchange Building, which was bought by Government and used for many years as the Supreme Court Building. With the accumulation of increasing capital he began to broaden his interests and secured permission from Government to build and operate a market. This was a most profitable venture and when the Lower Bazaar was destroyed in the Christmas fire of 1852, he soon rebuilt it, operating it under his firm's name, Kwong Yuen. During the period after 1848, when Hong Kong became a port of embarkation for thousands of emigrants, Achoy was",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206283,
        "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": 100,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "94\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nChinese society, were eager customers. Purchased degrees was an easy way to acquire a social status which had previously been reserved for the scholars, government officials and gentry. The account of the Governor's visit to Tung Wah Hospital in 1878 published in The Hongkong Government Gazette states that \"there were present nearly three hundred influential Chinese residents from all classes of the community. Of those present some fifty or sixty were in their mandarin costumes.\"\n\n**\n\nWhen the second Sino-British War broke out in the late 1850s, the foreign firms at Canton moved down to Hong Kong bringing with them their compradores. This influx was an impetus to the already significant role compradores were assuming as leaders in the Chinese community. The compradores of the old-established Hong Kong firms formed the core of this leadership.\n\nIn the early days of the Colony the two leading foreign firms were Jardine, Matheson and Company and Dent and Company. One would expect, of course, that their compradores would be among the elite of the Chinese community. The earliest compradore of Jardine's that I can definitely identify is Ng Chook alias Ng Choong Foong alias Sooi Tong. At the time of the opening of the Tung Wah Hospital the newspaper account states that he was the oldest man on the committee, although his name does not appear on the official list of committee members. He died some months after the opening. His estate was administered by his son Ng Seng Kee (A), who was living in Shanghai. The first date I find for Ng Chook in Hong Kong is his purchase of the lease of the Central Market in 1848. I do not know if he is connected with Ng Sow and Ng Lok, both compradores originating from Macao, who bought and sold a great deal of real estate from 1842 to 1847. Nor if Ng Wei alias Ng Wing Fui (**) alias Ng Ping Un (e), who was a compradore for Jardines at Foochow in the 1860s and subsequently at Hong Kong, was a near relative of Ng Chook. Ng Wei was a member of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee in 1883 and died in 1897 at Canton.\n\nIn 1861, two of the compradores of Dent and Company, the rival of Jardines, provided capital for a significant real estate development in Hong Kong. The large property where Dent and Company had their stables and residences for their Taipans was bought up by Chiu Wing Chuen and Yeong Lan Ko along with",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 206284,
        "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": 101,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n95\n\ntwo European partners of the firm, with the intention of building Chinese houses of a better type to accommodate the wives and families of the growing class of well-to-do compradores. Previously the compradores had not brought their families to Hong Kong but they remained in their home village or in Canton. The editor of The China Mail comments that \"Messrs. Dent and Company have shown both wisdom and kindness in disposing of their land for such purposes.\n\nChiu Wing Tsun (†), one of the purchasers, and his elder brother, Yuk Ting (†), had both been compradores in Dent and Company. Their nephew Chiu Yee Chee () was compradore at Shanghai and became one of the organizers of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in 1872. Chiu Wing Tsun died at Macao in 1873, leaving property in Hong Kong estimated at $111,000.27 Yeong Lan Ko (☎), the other Chinese purchaser of the Dent property, had succeeded his relative Yeong Atai (*) alias Yeong Chun Kum, to the position of first compradore of Dents at Hong Kong upon the latter's death in 1870. Yeong Lan Ko alias Yeong Sun Yow (), and also known as Asam (), was one of Hong Kong's largest landowners. In 1876 he was the nineteenth largest rate-payer and in 1881 had risen to fifth position. He died in 1884 at Pak Shan, the family village in Heung Shan District.\n\nBefore Dents sold their property, the few substantial Chinese who had family residences in Hong Kong were located at the former Middle Bazaar site. When the inhabitants of the Middle Bazaar had been relocated at Tai Ping Shan, the Government replotted the area and laid off new lots which were meant to be bought principally by Europeans for their residences or business houses.28 Two of the more substantial Chinese bought lots at the sale in 1844: Ying Wing Kee (*) alias Ng Wing Kee (**), a compradore and merchant who died in 1849, and Tong Kam Sing, a contractor who died in 1845. Other Chinese of this class soon bought lots from European owners, that they might establish family houses in a better part of town. These included Wei Akwong, compradore of Bowra and Company and later of the Chartered Mercantile Bank; Ho Sek, compradore of Lyall, Still and Company; Lee Kip Tye, a Fukien broker who began his Hong Kong career as a Government interpreter;",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "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": 206609,
        "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-1972",
        "page_number": 157,
        "title": "RAS-1972",
        "content_text": "H.K.'S CENTRAL MARKET AND THE TARRANT AFFAIR\n\n151\n\nthe level of the commercial interests of Chinese merchants of the time but also because of the extent to which it figured in a scandal over bribery by Government officials and the victimisation of a Government servant who later became the embittered editor of one of the Colony's newspapers, the Friend of China.\n\nThough, from an historical point of view, the former matters are far more important, the two are not wholly distinct for the Government servant in question acquired property interests in the market.\n\nAfter Sir John Davis let the market franchise go to the highest bidder, he granted the franchise holder a short lease on the premises, thereby effectively changing the relationship of the market operator to the Government. Accordingly, the lot on which the market stood, an area of 37,800 square feet, was leased on 1 July 1845 to Hwei Aqui at a rent of $4,800 per annum (about £1,000). This area, comprising the whole of the land between the shore-line and the Queen's Road, was larger than that of the original market and allowed for the houses and shops which had been built between the market buildings and the road.\n\nIt is at this point that the scene becomes confused for Hwei decided to develop the property further and had to borrow money to do so. Between the date of the lease and mid-1847 when Hwei died, he executed several transactions, some of which are recorded in the records of the Government Land Office as Mortgages, some of which are not. The earliest was on 6 August 1845 when he borrowed $1,500 for one month from the estate of a Chinese, Tong Kim-sing who had been in business as a ‘contractor' until his death in 1844, at the staggering rate of interest of 10% per month. The satisfaction of this mortgage is not recorded in the Land Office but it is known that the administrator of the deceased's estate left the colony about this time and the defect might have been one of form only. About two months later, on 12 October 1845, Hwei borrowed from Ying Wing-kee, described as a ‘compradore' and one of the only two Chinese to have bought land at the sale of Crown Land on 22 January 1844, $2,800 for a period of 18 months and at a rate of repayment which worked out at an interest rate of almost 6% per month. Hwei was, therefore, deeply in debt before the year was out. Before his death in 1847, there follows one further transaction which was imperfectly recorded at the time. On 13",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207160,
        "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": 231,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n225 \n\nand half-caste parentage, and to board, clothe and instruct them with a view to industrial life and the Christian faith according to the Church of England'. (Resolutions of Jan. 18, 1870) \n\nAfter the reorganisation, the Committee came under male domination; local firms were liberal supporters. Some members of Jardine, Matheson and Company were on the Committee from 1869 to 1901, William Keswick serving the longest from 1869 to 1888, except for his absences from the Colony. Sir Catchick Paul Chater served from 1874 to 1925. \n\nThe school was particularly useful in meeting the educational needs of the increasing Eurasian element in Hong Kong and the China Coast. It educated many of the future leading members of these communities. In 1869, it was decided not to admit any more girls as boarders, though they could continue as day students. In 1892, the girls then in attendance were transferred to a Boarding School 'Fairlea' conducted by Miss Margaret Johnstone. \n\nBefore occupying a building especially erected for the school on a lot on Bonham Road at Eastern Street in 1863, the school had been at the Albany, a building loaned to them by the Government. The Bonham Road building was enlarged and improved over the years. In time, however, it became inadequate for the needs of the school, especially as a growing emphasis on the role of sports in the life of the school was frustrated by a lack of proper playing fields. In 1917, a definite decision was made that a new site be secured. The firm of Messrs. Little, Adams and Wood drew up plans for a new school in 1920, but negotiations with the Government for a site were not completed until 1923. Site formation began in 1924. The general strike of 1925 and the resulting financial recession slowed down the construction and necessitated the elimination of certain parts of the original plans. An imposing tower, a feature of the original plan, was never erected. \n\nThe buildings were occupied in 1926, but in 1927, the school somewhat reluctantly released the premises to the Army for a hospital for the Shanghai Defence Force. The school took up temporary quarters in a recently built block of buildings on Nathan Road near Prince Edward Road. In January 1928, the premises were returned to the school. The school faced another crisis in 1932 when suggestions were made that the Government resume the property in default of payments on the debt the School owed and",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207188,
        "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": 259,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "LIST OF MEMBERS\n\nORDINARY MEMBERS:\n\nBUTLER, Miss B. A...\n\nBUTT, Dr. Nancy\n\nCAMERON, Nigel\n\n+\n\nCAPLAN, Malcolm\n\nPublic Services Commission, Room 573, Central Govt. Offices, H.K.\n\n253\n\nThe Grantham Hospital, Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen, H.K.\n\n11-D, Venice Court, 41, Conduit Road, H.K.\n\nc/o Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd. Kowloon Docks, Hung Hom, Kowloon.\n\nCAREY-HUGHES, Dr. John Room 315, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building, H.K.\n\nCENTRE OF ASIAN STUDIES\n\nCERNY, Miss Eva\n\nCHAN, Prof. Cheng-siang\n\n·\n\nCHAN, Sui-Jeung\n\nCHAN, Tom\n\nCHEETHAM, Mrs. J. A.\n\nCHERN, Dr. K. S.\n\nCHEUNG, O.\n\nCHIU, Mrs. Carol C.\n\nCHIU, Dr. Ling Yeong\n\nCHOA, Robert\n\nCOCHRANE, Mrs. Valerie\n\nCOCKELL, Miss June V.\n\nCOLBOURNE, Dr. M. J.\n\nCOMBER, Leon\n\nCONNOLLY, Miss Moira\n\nCOTTON, P. C.\n\nCRABBE, P. I.\n\n+\n\nCRAIG, Dr. Dale A.\n\nCRAMER, B. L.\n\nCREMA, Mario\n\n+\n\n+\n\n+\n\n+\n\nUniversity of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nDepartment of Anatomy, University of Hong Kong, Li Shu Fan Building, Sassoon Road, H.K.\n\nGeographical Research Centre, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.\n\nEnvironment Branch, Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Road, H.K.\n\n43, Stubbs Road, Flat B-1, 5th floor, H.K.\n\n12, Douglas Apartments, 22, Old Peak Rd., H.K.\n\nDepartment of History, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\n703, Prince's Building, H.K.\n\nTwin Brook, Flat 11B, 43, Repulse Bay Rd., H.K.\n\nc/o Dept. of Chinese, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nBanque Nationale de Paris, 2nd floor, Central Building, H.K.\n\n3rd floor, 112, Macdonnell Road, H.K.\n\n66, Conduit Road, Flat 6B, H.K.\n\nDept. of Preventive & Social Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Li She Fan Building, Sassoon Road, H.K.\n\nP.O. Box 6086, Kowloon.\n\nQueen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, H.K.\n\nc/o Humphreys Estate & Finance Co., P.O. Box 44, H.K.\n\nProperty Dept., Local Property & Printing Co. Ltd., 34/6 Caxton House, 1 Duddell Street, H.K.\n\nMusic Dept., Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.\n\n18, Fenwick Street, 7th floor, H.K.\n\nc/o Italian Consulate General, Chartered Bank Building, H.K.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207533,
        "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": 301,
        "title": "RAS-1975",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n293 \n\nThe former had been purchased in 1859 at a Government Land Sale by an Austrian, Gustav Overbeck (later Baron von Overbeck), a partner in the firm of Dent and Co. In the following year, Lot 607 was granted by Government to the Berlin Women's Society as a site for their foundling hospital. The trustees were Overbeck and the Rev. Johann Ludwig Ladendorff. \n\nNew trustees were named in 1869, and of these, three were German merchants; Berthold Friedrich Johann Schwarzkopf, founder of the firm of Blackhead and Co., Friedrich August Julius Menke, of William Pustau and Co., and Gustav Overbeck. The other trustee was Ladendorff's successor as Superintendent of the Foundling Hospital, Rev. Ernest Klitzke. \n\nIn 1892, Lot 624 was purchased by the Government. The remaining lot was registered in the name of the Director in Hong Kong of the Berlin Ladies Mission for China, incorporated by Ordinance No. 12 of 1889. At the time of the First World War, the property was administered as alien property. Finally, in 1925, it was surrendered to Government. \n\nAs residents of an English colony with a predominant Chinese population, those for whom English or Chinese is not a first language tend to organize groups where they can use their mother tongue. A German Club was organized in Hong Kong in 1859, and by 1867 a recognized German church congregation was meeting regularly. \n\nGerman church services had been held previous to 1867, however. A report of the Berlin Society concerning its activities in 1858 mentions the baptism of a certain Lydia (Wei-mong) “at a German service at Victoria”. The Day Book of the Rev. Rudolph Lechler, of the Basel Missionary Society, notes on May 19, 1861, attendance at a German service on Morrison Hill, where the premises of the Berlin Society were located before they occupied \"Bethesda\" in July, 1861. Another Basel Society missionary, the Rev. Philip Winnes, in 1858 reported, \"I preached to the German sailors, for there are always ships arriving from Hamburg and Bremen. Also this year a poor German established a German Inn for sailors, where always a few people are staying until they can find employment. In this inn, I preached until the sailors had had enough, and that they had quite soon.” (Heidenbote, March, 1858, p. 15).",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207903,
        "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": 291,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "276\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nIncidentally, the furniture was once owned by the wealthy Canton Co-Hong family of Poon, whose fortunes had fallen on bad times. The Chinese government had seized their property for debt and sold it at public auction.\n\nThe transfer of the proceedings of the Chinese community from the Kung Soh to the Hospital Hall confirmed the suspicion of portions of the foreign community that the Committee of the Hospital was arrogating to itself too much power and was functioning as an unofficial government for the Chinese community. Even before the Hospital building was ready for occupancy, one of the newspapers reporting on a scheme to recruit Chinese labour for the southern states of the United States, stated that the Board of the Hospital \"appear to have constituted themselves the governing body in the colony in all Chinese matters. This we predicted in reference to the Hospital almost from the time it was founded; and on this point there will be much to say at some future date\". (Daily Advertiser, 7 Oct. 1871). And indeed there was much more said in the Hong Kong English language press in the ensuing years about these quasi-government functions of the Hospital Committee.\n\nWith the rising tide of criticism against the alleged usurpation of government authority by the Committee of the Hospital, the views and practices of the Magistrates changed regarding the propriety of recognizing any judicial power exercised by the leaders of the Chinese community. In a case heard at Magistrate's Court in 1875, a witness said that when the prisoner beat him, he threatened the prisoner that he would go to Tung Wah Hospital and complain about being duped and beaten. To this the Magistrate asked the witness, \n\nwhy he should go to Tung Wah Hospital to complain, explaining to him that this was a British Colony, and the Tung Wah had no powers. This was a British Colony and the police station was the place to complain to. If he had been badly injured he would understand his going to the Tung Wah for cure, but to go there for the redress of a wrong was preposterous. (Daily Press, Oct. 22, 1875).\n\nIt might seem preposterous to a European Magistrate for Chinese to first turn to their own countrymen for justice but to the Chinese it apparently was a most natural procedure.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208227,
        "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-1977",
        "page_number": 266,
        "title": "RAS-1977",
        "content_text": "250\n\nLIST OF MEMBERS\n\nORDINARY MEMBERS:\n\nCHEUNG, O.\n\nCHIAO. Dr. Chien.\n\n+\n\nCHILVERS, Mrs. A.\n\nCHIU, Mrs. C.\n\nCHOA, R.\n\nCHU, Lee\n\nCHUA, Miss Fi-lan\n\nCHUNG, Ms. S.\n\nCLIMAS. Mr. & Mrs. D. J.\n\nCOCHRANE, Mrs. V.\n\nCOCKELL, Miss J. V.\n\nCOLBOURNE, Prof. M. J.\n\nCONNOLLY, Miss M. CRABBE, P. I.\n\nCRISSWELL, Dr. C. N. CROSBY, A. R.. CUMINE, E., J.P.\n\nDABORN, Miss Carol\n\nDAIKO, P.\n\nDAVIES, Mrs. L. R.\n\nDAVIES, Mrs. Mona\n\nDAVIES, Mr. & Mrs. S. J.\n\nDAWSON, Prof. J. L. M.\n\nDAWSON GROVE, Dr. A. W.\n\nDE BURE, Mrs. U.\n\n703 Prince's Building, Hong Kong. Residence No. 8, Flat 1A, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.\n\n3, Mount Nicholson Road, 1/F1, Hong Kong.\n\nTwin Brook 11B, 43 Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong.\n\nBanque Nationale de Paris, Central Building 2/Fl, Hong Kong.\n\n48, Haven St., 4/Fl, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.\n\n1903 Hang Chong Building, Queen's Road, C., Hong Kong.\n\nMail Collection, H.K. & S. Bank, P.O. Box 64. Hong Kong.\n\nFlat A1, Pearl Gardens, 7 Conduit Road, Hong Kong.\n\nApt. 9, 23B Shouson Hill Road, Hong Kong.\n\nApt. 6009, Cape Mansions, Mount Davis Road, Hong Kong.\n\nDept. of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.\n\n5, Wylie Gardens, King's Park, Kowloon. Property Dept., Local Property & Printing Co. Ltd., 54/6 Caxton House, 1 Duddell St., Hong Kong.\n\nKing George V School, Kowloon.\n\nFlat B23, 7 Homantin Hill Road, Kowloon.\n\n28, Yun Ping Road 2/Fl, Hong Kong.\n\nMountain View, 31 Plantation Road, The Peak, Hong Kong.\n\nP.O. Box 201, Hong Kong.\n\n75 Perkins Road, Jardine's Lookout, Hong Kong.\n\n\"Sailing Look\", Lloyd Path, Barker Road, Hong Kong.\n\n1201 Luginsland, 18 Old Peak Road, Hong Kong.\n\nDept. of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.\n\n1, Headland Road, Repulse Bay, Hong Kong.\n\n550 Victoria Road, Block 2, Floor 30, Hong Kong.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208813,
        "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-1979",
        "page_number": 270,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "ORDINARY LOCAL MEMBERS\n\nCHISM, Mr. Michael, South Kowloon Magistracy, KOWLOON.\n\nCHIU, Mrs. Carol C., Twin Brook 11B, 43 Repulse Bay Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCHU, Mr. Lee, 48 Haven Street, 4/F, Causeway Bay, HONG KONG.\n\nCHUA, MÀ Fi Lan, 1903 Hang Chong Building, Queen's Road Central, HONG KONG.\n\nCLIMAS, Mrs. Jane, Flat D18 Pearl Gardens, 7 Conduit Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCLIMAS, Mr. D. John, Flat D18 Pearl Gardens, 7 Conduit Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCOCHRANE, Mrs. Valerie, Apartment 9, 23 B Shouson Hill Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCOLBOURNE, Prof. M. J., Dept. of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG.\n\nCOLLINS, Mr. A. J., c/o Legal Aid Dept., 13th FL., Sincere Building, 173 Des Voeux Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCONNOLLY, Miss Moira, 5 Wylie Gardens, King's Park, KOWLOON.\n\nCOOK, Mr. Ian R., Hong Kong Hilton, Queen's Road Central, HONG KONG.\n\nCOOPER, Dr. Eugene, Dept. of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG.\n\nCOOPER, Mr. Roy, E & M Office, Caroline Hill Road, HONG KONG.\n\nCRABBS, Mr. P. I., Property Dept., Local Property Co. Ltd., Baskerville House, 13, Duddell Street, HONG KONG\n\nCRAIG, Mrs Peggy, 21 Bisney Road, Pokfulam, HONG KONG.\n\nCRISSWELL, Dr. Colin N., King George V School, KOWLOON.\n\nCROSBY, Mr. A. R., Flat B32, 10 Caldecott Road, Pipers Hill, KOWLOON.\n\nCUMINE, Mr. E., F.R.I.B.A., 28 Yun Ping Road, 2/F, HONG KONG.\n\nCUNNINGHAM, Miss Margaret, Flat 27, Block 43, Baguio Villas, Victoria Road, HONG KONG.\n\nDAIKO, Mr. Paul, P.O. Box 201, HONG KONG.\n\nDAVIES, Mrs. C. E. G., 1201 Luginsland, 18 Old Peak Road, HONG KONG.\n\nDAVIES, Mr. S. N. G., Dept. of Political Science, HONG KONG.\n\nDAVIES, Mrs. L. R., **The Gums** No. 4 Chuk Kok Village, Hiram's Highway, Sai Kung, NEW TERRITORIES.\n\nDAVIES, Mrs. Mona, \"Sailing Look\", 6 Lloyd Path, Barker Road, HONG KONG.\n\nDAWE, Mr. Jock, c/o Travelove Ltd., Suite 823 Star House, KOWLOON.\n\nDAWSON, Prof. John L. M., Dept. of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG.\n\n243\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210553,
        "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": 160,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "141\n\nemancipation is at the very least one of the sources of the malevolent behavior that Romans sometimes attributed to their ancestors. The jurist Gaius observed that \"the children whom we beget in civil marriage are also in our authority (potestas). This right is peculiar to Roman citizens; for scarcely any other men have over their sons a power such as we have” (Inst. 1.55). It would be difficult to exaggerate the extent of this paternal authority, the notorious patria potestas. In theory, at least, the head of the Roman family enjoyed absolute control of its property, and possessed the power of life and death over all of his unemancipated children (who were said to be in potestate). He could at his discretion order the exposure of a new-born child, sell his children into slavery, transfer the labour of a son now fully grown to a third party in payment of a debt, or compel his son to divorce his wife, even after children had been born to the union. Until the father was dead, a mature Roman citizen still in potestate did not have a legal personality, and could neither establish an independent household nor accumulate property in his own name, unless his father agreed to emancipate him through a cumbersome procedure of fictive sale.\" Roman literature is replete with morally uplifting stories of fathers who put their sons to death for breaches of discipline (cf., inter alia, Livy 8.7), but there is nothing imaginary about Aulus Fulvius, a senator executed out of hand by his father in 63 B.C. (Sall. Cat. 39.5; Dio Cass. 37.36.4). Under such circumstances, it would be surprising indeed if the Romans did not harbour ambivalent feelings when their fathers died.*\n\nDuring the middle and late Republic, however, this authoritarian family structure began to dissolve, and in the first and second centuries A.D. it came under systematic legal assault. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161), for example, fathers were stripped of their authority to compel their children to divorce against their will (Paulus, Sent. 5.16.5). We have already seen that in this period the bond between kinship and property was also slowly breaking down. The latter had a significant impact on the cult of the dead we have noted the shift from personal to corporate worship exempli gratia. Hence it might be expected that a son who was emancipated from his father's jural authority and who could not realistically expect to",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210723,
        "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": 74,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "57\n\nRoyal Asiatic Society on July 4th 1848. Mr. Gutzlaff's suggestion, in the form of a letter to the Governor, was read to the Society on August 8th of that year, resulting in the suggestion \"that a committee be appointed to make enquiries as to the best site, the probable expenses etc. etc. and to report generally on the subject”. At a meeting of the Society, on November 7th later in the same year it was proposed, \"That the Garden Committee be authorized to draw up a memorial to the Colonial Government and to the Royal Asiatic Society for assistance, either by funds or otherwise, towards establishing a Botanical Garden in Hongkong; and also to correspond with such of the Botanical or Horticultural Societies in England as may be likely to assist in furthering the object in view.”\n\nThat the idea that a Public Botanical Garden in Hong Kong was generally discussed in both government and commercial circles about this time can be gleaned from the correspondence of one C.T. Braine, an employee of Dent & Co., a property firm, who offered his house, “Greenbank”, and its attendant garden to the government both as a suitable government house and as a well-stocked garden that was ripe for development and expansion as a public garden. Braine took the unusual step of writing on June 26th 1850, with his offer direct to Earl Grey as Secretary for State to the Colonies, who redirected Braine's letter to the Governor of Hong Kong for comment. The Governor, in turn, replied to Earl Grey on September 25th, 1850 emphatically refusing to accept either the grounds or the house as being suitable:\n\n\"In reply I beg to report to your Lordship that I cannot recommend the garden in question be taken over at the expense of the State, reference being had to the financial resources of the Colony, as well as to the absence of any person to whom it would be possible to confide the charge of such an establishment: it must be remembered moreover, that independently of the original cost of the ground, a Superintendent and several Assistants must of necessity be maintained at a permanent expenditure, which, I am satisfied, would in the end prove by no means inconsiderable.\n\nFrom Mr. Braine's letter I find he has informed your",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210851,
        "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": 202,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "185\n\nWith the promise of marriage, he induced the girl to leave the brothel and live with him, leaving behind her mother's unpaid debt as well as his own unsettled bill.\n\nThe brothel-keeper threatened to bring suit for the recovery of her debts. Tong A-chick tried to settle the two accounts with a token payment hoping to delay court proceedings. Meanwhile, he was dismissed from his Government post. This gave the brothel mistress new courage to bring her demands before the court.\n\nThe girl was imprisoned as a debtor; but when the case was tried in the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, the magistrate dismissed the claims on the ground that it had not been proper to secure the original debt by a pledge of “a body” for obviously immoral purposes.\n\nWith the case decided in favour of A-chick's friend, he took out a summons in the name of the girl against the brothel-keeper for certain property she had kept when the girl had left to live with A-chick. Before the case was heard, A-chick's uncle, who had been a compradore to a former sheriff and was still rendering service to the Government, tried to use his connections to intimidate the brothel-keeper. The girl, however, lost the case.\n\nThe publicity connected with this sordid affair did not enhance A-chick's reputation in the community. It seemed better to leave Hongkong to try his fortunes in another place. At this time his uncle was planning to go to California so it was natural for A-chick to join him.\n\nTong A-chick left Hongkong about the middle of January 1852. The departure had been delayed by the disastrous Lower Bazaar fire at the close of 1851. In the four hundred or so buildings destroyed were most of the provisions, clothing and necessaries accumulated by the emigrants for their voyage to San Francisco, together with their written contracts with the captain and charterers of the ship on which they were to sail.\n\nThe loss resulted in a dispute with the captain. An appeal was made to the Rev. S. W. Bonney at Whampoa, where the arrangements were made.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210894,
        "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": 245,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "228 \n\nCARL SMITH \n\nland on Hongkong Island when the British took it over. They petitioned the Kwangtung Government to present their claims on an official level to the British Government. The Chinese authorities, however, refused to intercede as their investigation showed the claimants had not paid taxes on the land for many years. \n\nThe authorities held that these findings had constituted a negation of the Tang family's rights to the land. This may have been a handy excuse for the Chinese officials to avoid another confrontation with the British soon after their humiliating defeat in the first Opium War. \n\nIn the 1860s the Tang claim to rights in British Kowloon was confirmed by the grant of some half a dozen farm lots. These, however, soon passed out of the possession of the Tang family. Some were sold but most were lost when the individual to whom they had been granted went into debt to a foreign contractor of Chinese labour, and his property was sold at Sheriff's sale. \n\nIn New Kowloon, particularly in the western portion, individual members and groups of the Tang family still owned land in the late 19th century. A certain portion, especially land which had been reclaimed, was still in the name of the five ancestors for whom a temple had been built at Tung Kun city. The association to support the temple was the Po Hing Tong. \n\nWhen suggestions were being aired that Britain might expand its borders, there was renewed interest in the holdings of the Po Hing Tong by certain prominent members of the Tang clan. The matter was managed by an individual of the Ping Shan branch of the family. He had passed the Kui Yan examination, equivalent to a modern master's degree, and had certain important connections. He used these in getting management of the Tang ancestral holdings. \n\nIt was charged that after he had the land in his control, he had mortgaged it to the Fuk Tin Company, in which he had an interest. The company itself, however, was largely controlled by Li Sing, Hongkong capitalist. Ho A-mei often represented the Li family, particularly in its dealing with foreigners. He, therefore, was",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211157,
        "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-1987",
        "page_number": 218,
        "title": "RAS-1987",
        "content_text": "193\n\nThe new hall was a more impressive and comfortable meeting place for community leaders than the old Kung Soh which was not only rather small but was also beginning to show the marks of age.\n\nA famous Victorian lady traveller, Isabella Bird, has left an account of the Tung Wah hall which she visited in 1879;\n\n\"The building where the directors meet... (has) one side open to the garden. It has a superb ebony table in the middle with a handsome chair for the chairman and six carved ebony chairs on each side—a most stately 'board room'.”\n\nThe furniture was once owned by the wealthy Canton Co-Hong family of Poon. They had encountered financial difficulties and the Chinese Government had seized their property for debt and sold it at a public auction. In this manner it found its way to Hongkong.\n\nThe activities of the hospital committee in affairs affecting the Chinese community were viewed with suspicion by Europeans in Hongkong.\n\nEven before the hospital was opened, the committee came under attack for interfering in a scheme to recruit Chinese labour for the southern states of the United States.\n\nThe Daily Advertiser said that members of the board of the hospital \"appear to have constituted themselves the governing body in the Colony in all Chinese matters. This we predicted in reference to the hospital almost from the time it was founded; and on this point there will be much to say at some time in the future.” As indeed there was.\n\nThe committee which oversaw the affairs of Tung Wah Hospital was elected annually from the most prominent members of the community.\n\nOstensibly their duties were to manage the hospital. Its members, however, also served as temple and kaifong directors. The jurisdiction of these bodies was not sharply defined.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212408,
        "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": 350,
        "title": "RAS-1990",
        "content_text": "327\n\nRussian empires came into conflict culminating in the Crimean War of 1854. This focused Hong Kong's attention on matters of defence. This concern was already heightened by pirates and elements in the local population which led the administration to review the consequences should the navy and military leave the young Colony unprotected. A pirate attack near Macao in May of 1854 prompted the then Lieutenant-Governor, William Caine, to address the issue of the unsavoury locals, \"The danger to be apprehended is that during an attack by an enemy or a gang of pirates, these vagabonds might form themselves into bands for the purpose of plunder, to be joined perhaps by others from this vicinity, and then immense loss of property and life might ensue through their progress; nor must it be forgotten with what facility the Chinese houses in some parts of the town may be fired by incendiaries to increase the confusion, and consequent facility to plunder. The existence of a reserve such as would be formed by a Colonial Volunteer Corps might stop such proceedings at the outset or prevent them altogether\" (p. 10).\n\nThis concern for internal security against the backdrop of patriotism led to the formation of the corps Caine advocated. The ability of the author to place the reader in the overall context of the times adequately is something often found lacking in history books. That Mr. Bruce has this talent is shown by the book's portrayal of the fears and aspirations surrounding each stage in the evolution of the Corps.\n\nHis profile of certain of the original 99 volunteers is particularly intriguing with such asides as 'Dent was the great rival to Jardine and that is probably the reason that none of the 99 were connected with the latter firm' (p. 15). In this first chapter we meet many of the characters who were the first Volunteers. These individuals reflect the frontier town atmosphere of the embryo port-city. There was Thomas Lane, clerk and shopkeeper who is remembered today in the name of one of Hong Kong's leading retail stores 'Lane Crawford' (p. 15). There was George Cameron who ran the El Dorado Tavern and, when he died in 1859 left it jointly to a friend and to the Chinese woman with whom he had lived for the previous seven years' and schoolmaster Joseph Thornton who must have known his way around the town's pubs as he eventually had to be dismissed for what were described as 'irregular habits' (p. 17), or when Alexandre Grandpre caused a stir when his wish to marry in",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212478,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1991",
        "page_number": 32,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "12\n\nsupport my wife and family. In 6 year of Hum Foong (1856) being advanced in age, I handed over all my property to my eldest son Cheng Chuen to manage and sign my name Soong Ke in all business transactions, and he has already managed for several years. In consequence of my having to return home to my native place in the present year to build an ancestor's hall out of my own money, and consequently coming and going I took sick and a large carbuncle broke out on my thigh, getting worse day by day, being now about sixty years of age and my constitution is weak.\n\nHong Kong-Shanghai and Shanghai-Canton-Hong Kong Networks\n\nCantonese compradors were predominant in the nineteenth century. They occupied most of the compradorship in foreign mercantile establishments. They were influential in Hong Kong, enjoying a high status in the business community. Cantonese compradors filled the new posts by personal ties, extending their influence from one place to another. For example, Xu Run was introduced by his uncles Xu Yuting and Xu Rongcun who had been working as compradors to Dent & Co. in Shanghai for many years. Xu was first employed as an assistant comprador and later succeeded his family members as compradors: one of his sons to a German firm; one of his cousins as Dent's Kiukiang (Jiujiang) comprador; and another cousin as Shanghai comprador to Carlowitz & Co.\n\nLikewise, Zheng Guanying was also introduced by his relative in Shanghai to serve the compradorship in Butterfield, Swire & Co. Tang Tingshu was introduced by his Zhongshan colleague called Acum (Lin Qin) to James Whittall, the Jardine's Shanghai manager, then he became a comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. Tang later guaranteed his elder brother Tang Maozhi as the firm's Tianjin comprador and this brother later succeeded him as chief comprador in Shanghai when Tang Tingshu was relocated to work at the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. in 1873. The post was held by the Tang family for several decades. The last was his grandson Tang Jichang. Those three compradors came from the same Zhongshan prefecture and had an inter-relationship. Zheng was a relative to Tang by marriage and also knew the Xu family for generations.\n\nZheng had guaranteed a Zhongshan townman named Yang Guixuan",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212489,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1991",
        "page_number": 43,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "23\n\nCloth Mill in 1879. They were regarded as merchants willing to take risks in adventurous undertakings, however, some of them lost money from pouring capital in modern enterprises and some even went bankrupt by speculating.\n\nXu Run (1838-1911)\n\nXu was the earliest, before Tang and Zheng, to come to Shanghai for business and trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, trade as a comprador. In 1852, at the age of 15 Xu left his hometown Zhongshan, transited through Macau and Hong Kong to Shanghai where he lived with his uncle Xu Yuting who was working at the Dent & Company in Shanghai (the first Western firm to open a branch in Shanghai) as a comprador. Xu entered Dent & Co. through his uncle's connection. Four years later Xu was promoted from a trainee (as Xu himself stated, he first learnt the tea and silk trade when entering the Company) to an assistant comprador and finally in 1861, he succeeded his uncle as the comprador. His diligent performance was greatly admired by the manager of Dent & Co., E. Webb. From Xu's autobiography, we are able to assess the wealth of a Cantonese comprador in Shanghai accumulated during his compradorial years and also as an independent merchant in which his business investment included various modern enterprises. Furthermore, his autobiography also tells of his complicated relations with Sheng Xuanhuai and Yuan Shikai as well as a part of his personal family history.\n\n30\n\nIn 1868, Xu Run left Dent & Co. and started his own business. He opened the Baoyuanxiang Tea House. The name itself manifested a tea trade business. By 1883, Xu had accumulated a personal wealth of 3,409,423.3 taels.\n\nItem\n\nTable 4\n\nAssets Owned by Xu Run in 1883\n\n  \n    Item\n    Amount (taels)\n    %\n  \n  \n    Landed property in Shanghai\n    2,236,940.0\n    65.61\n  \n  \n    Miscellaneous stocks\n    426,912.0\n    12.52\n  \n  \n    Capital in pawnshops\n    348,571.3\n    10.22\n  \n  \n    Shares in custody\n    397,000.0\n    11.64\n  \n  \n    Total\n    3,409,423.3\n    99.90\n  \n\nSource: Ku Run, Qing Xu Yuzhi Kiansheng Run Zixu Nianpu, pp 67-8",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212490,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1991",
        "page_number": 44,
        "title": "RAS-1991",
        "content_text": "24\n\nAs Table 4 shows, the largest amount of Xu's investment was real property. Xu was said to have started the business in real property when his boss E. Webb advised him to do so before Xu retired from Dent & Co. in 1868. He told Xu that a boom in landed properties in Shanghai would come within a few years as Shanghai was developing and its population was expanding. Xu did more than Webb said; he bought a lot of land and built a number of houses from which he could derive a rental income of about 122,980 taels per year. Xu was quite confident he could derive a large amount of profit even though he had to borrow money at a high rate of interest. Though Xu did plan to share his business with other persons by setting up a new firm named the Baoyuanxiang Real Property Co. with a subscribed capital of four million taels, his plan was unfortunately interrupted when he recognized it was not easy to raise sufficient capital in Shanghai. Even worse, his only partner, Boyd & Co. in England, failed to solicit the capital and suddenly withdrew from partnership. Therefore, he became the sole proprietor liable to all the debts of this company. In 1883, he had accumulated a loan of 2,522,237 taels from twenty-two native banks. Unfortunately, in 1883, Shanghai experienced a financial crisis and foreign banks and the Shenxi bankers withdrew financial credits from the native banks in Shanghai. At a time when real properties were declining in price, Xu was forced to repay debts. He finally became bankrupt. As Xu estimated, due to the recovery from depression in Shanghai after the crisis, the total value of his property in 1883 was now valued at about eighteen million taels. He complained he had lost a million taels.\n\nConcerning Xu's investment in modern enterprises, it is to be noted that he had been active only after his failure in the speculation of landed property in 1883. Table 5 shows Xu's business interests were not only confined to Shanghai but also other parts of China, including Hong Kong. The amount shown in this table is mainly based on Xu's autobiography. It is interesting that in stating his total investment, he had omitted the amount of investment in foreign enterprises and also partnership in the native banks. Perhaps he thought they were not in the category of modern Chinese enterprises. Of his investment in modern Chinese enterprises, the biggest amount was in steam navigation, mines, industrial manufactories, insurance, and land reclamation.43\n\nTang Tingshu (1832-1892)\n\nAs has been described before, Tang Tingshu was born in Zhongshan",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213466,
        "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": 62,
        "title": "RAS-1995",
        "content_text": "29\n\nof the blood but sons who have left the family to support themselves are disqualified from any inheritance. Daughters of the deceased likewise have no right to any inheritance but the deceased's brothers receive a share. On the dissolution of the estate the boat and engine are first offered for sale within the family. It might be that one of the heirs wishes to sell out his share and to build or purchase a vessel for independent operation. In any case the value of the property in the estate is realised and then the debts of the family are counted. If the value of the property in the estate is insufficient to offset the debts, one of the heirs may take the whole estate and thereby assume sole responsibility for all the debts of the family. Alternatively, the heirs on sharing the assets will share the debts equally also and will then each inform the creditors what share of the debt he has assumed responsibility to pay.\n\nMarriage 17\n\nMost sea-dwellers follow the old Chinese custom in marriage and very few reach marital state through love-affairs or register their marriages in the modern manner. A match-maker is employed to introduce the relatives of the boy and the girl and then upon the agreement of the respective parents the boy sends a gift to the girl as a symbol of their engagement. Then a temple or fortune-teller is consulted regarding the fixing of the wedding date. Ten days before that day the boy gives the girl's parents notice and on the day before the wedding he sends her a large present of cakes, wine, roasted pigs and other delicacies. That night the girl's parents give a dinner party. The following morning the boy sends one of his close female relatives with the match-maker in a sampan to a given rendezvous and they escort the bride to the bridegroom's boat. On her arrival the bride first salutes the bridegroom's ancestors. In the afternoon a dinner party is given by the bridegroom's parents usually on a \"Ko Tong” (=restaurant boat). If the bride's family is wealthy a dowry may be given.\n\nSince they are accustomed to adopt a son if their wife has no issue, few sea-dwellers keep concubines. However if a concubine is kept in the traditional manner then she must receive the approval of the first wife and thereafter any sons by the concubine are treated in the same manner as sons by the first wife.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]