[ { "id": 204241, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 9, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Vol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nORASHKB and author\n\n6\n\nyear we had 182 of whom 20 were life members and who included several eminent scholars from overseas. But as Sir Robert Black said in his address last month, \"there must be many times 200 people in Hong Kong who are interested both in the cultural life and history of this part of the world which has great riches to offer to anybody interested in research or in studying and enquiring about the inheritance which we all enjoy who live here.\" While we can feel pride in having in our present membership a substantial nucleus not only of scholars but of members generally representative of the cosmopolitan community of the Colony who are keen and enthusiastic, we need more members and hope to appeal to a wider public. As this is a Royal Society, membership is not a matter of form only, and we do not go out into the highways and byways to recruit members, but we feel that the Society can enlarge its activities and membership if the present members will help by bringing within the fold those of their friends and acquaintances who are interested in its activities. There seems to be no reason why in time the membership should not equal that of the Shanghai Branch, which before the war was about 800.\n\nDuring the year the Society has held eight meetings at which addresses have been given, all of them by persons of outstanding eminence in their respective spheres. Most of them were very well attended. Good lecturers are a gift from heaven but so far we have been truly blessed.\n\nWe were particularly fortunate in starting the year with two outstanding meetings. For an opening meeting we had an intensely interesting talk by Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark on \"The Social and Economic Organisation of Tibet\", illustrated by a coloured film taken over a period of seven years during his exploration of Central Asia. The formal inaugural address was given by Professor F. S. Drake of the University of Hong Kong on \"The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task.\" It was a memorable address which gave the stamp of learning and authority on the Society's efforts and the text of which is printed in this volume.\n\nOf no less interest and merit were the addresses following:\n\nby the\n\nProfessor John K. Fairbank on \"Chinese Studies in the United States\",\n\nMr. A. C. Scott on \"The Chinese Theatre\" illustrated by Chinese actors in costumes and makeup,\n\nMr. G. B. Downer of the University of London on \"The Yao People of Laos.\"\n\nIn the summer months we followed the advice of the first President of the original Hong Kong Branch, Sir John Davis,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204243, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Vol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n8\n\nand contributions from the community, it built a commodious home for itself with a spacious lecture room and provided accommodation for its very valuable library and museum. In Hong Kong we hope that some facilities may be afforded in the new City Hall for societies like ours but if our plans are to mature we need a meeting place of our own where we can build up an Oriental library which should fill a special need which cannot be supplied by the University, whose library is not readily accessible to the public, or by the new City Hall, whose library will probably be of a wider popular interest.\n\nAs the basis of our projected library we propose to print a sufficient number of our periodical journals to enable us to exchange periodicals with kindred societies in other parts of the world. We also propose in our journal to review books on Oriental affairs which may bring us a useful nucleus of publications. Until we have enough money to buy books it would be greatly appreciated if members who have any books of interest and connected with the objects of the Society would kindly remember that any gifts of books and journals would be most welcome.\n\nThe Branch is greatly indebted to benefactors who have been generous with donations. In Sir Richard Winstedt's message on its formation he expressed the hope that both European and Chinese firms with their accustomed generosity would help to foster the growth of a Branch of high promise. This hope was realised in the donations received of 500 dollars each from Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., and The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and 250 dollars from Mr. Ellis Hayim. Then in April last year there came a munificent gift from an anonymous donor who is not now resident in the Colony. This was the gift of 10,000 dollars in memory of Arthur de Carl Sowerby, a great authority on the natural history of China, who was the founder and curator of the museum of the Society in Shanghai. These contributions have enabled us to put aside a capital fund which will help us in our aims for the future while yielding a useful interest in the meantime. It is greatly hoped that other merchant houses and individuals in the Colony may, without any direct appeal, emulate the example of these benefactors and help us to build up a Branch of the Society in Hong Kong worthy of the heritage which Professor Drake in his inaugural address coupled with the corresponding task which such heritage implied.\n\nDuring the year there was little change amongst the officers and members of the Council. Mr. Endacott resigned owing to pressure of work and the vacancy was filled in accordance with the rules by the co-option of The Hon. A. G. Clarke. Mr.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204287, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 55, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n51\n\nfriends of Education the expediency of establishing a public library in China. This plan was brought to our notice by the following letter, (which we publish with Mr. Colledge's permission) addressed:\n\nTo the Rev. E. C. Bridgman, corresponding secretary to the provisional committee of the Morrison Education Society.\n\nMy dear sir, On the dissolution of the British factory, it became necessary to make some disposition of the library belonging to the members of that establishment; and it was proposed to give the whole collection to the Morrison Education Society. The arrangement, however, not meeting with the concurrence of all the proprietors, a division of the books was determined on; and while I regret that so excellent a suggestion should not have been adopted, I am still happy in performing with my share, what it was my anxious wish should have been done with the whole, by presenting it to that admirable institution.\n\nThe very injudicious method pursued in the division of the works, has allotted to me volumes of comparatively little value. Such as they are, I present them to the Morrison Education Society; with an ardent hope that I may live to see an institution, which so distinctly marks this enlightened age, attain, under your fostering care, the full realization of its philanthropic intentions, by promoting virtue and happiness through the blessings of education.\n\nI am, My dear sir,\n\nRespectfully and faithfully yours,\n\nT. R. Colledge.\n\nMacao, May 21st, 1835.\n\nFurther early history of the Society can be traced through reports in the above-mentioned journal.\n\nOne book still in the Library, A Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts Collected with A View To The General Comparison of Languages, And To The Study of Oriental Literature, by William Marsden, London, 1827, is inscribed by the author, \"For the Library at Canton from the Author\" and reminds the reader of the origin of some of the books.\n\n\"Proceedings relative to the formation of the Morrison Education Society including the Constitution\" were published in December, 1836. By this time there was a collection of some 1500 books on scientific, literary, and other subjects which had been presented to the Society, 700 from Mr. T. R. Colledge, 600 from Mr. J. R. Reeves, and others from Messrs. Dent, Fox, A. S. Keating, and J. R. Morrison, who gave a number of his father's books, some of which still bear his signature.\n\nA constitution was drawn up for the Library which stated that \"The books belonging to the Society shall form a public library and be styled the 'Library of the Morrison Education Society',\" and also provided that “rules for the regulation of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204288, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 56, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n52\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nLibrary, sanctioned by the Trustees, shall be published, with a Catalogue of the Books, and a copy of the same be placed in the hands of all those who are admitted to the privileges of the Society and the Library.'\n\n\"The Regulations of the Library\" were published in the Anglo-Chinese Kalendar for ... 1839 and include a provision that \"Any person, who is not a member of the Society, may be admitted to the privileges of the Library, by the payment of $10 per annum, or of $5 for six months or any shorter period, (* A single contribution of not less than $25, or an annual contribution of $10 constitutes membership.)\"\n\nThe \"Second Annual Report of the Morrison Education Society\" of 3rd October, 1838, says: --\n\nThe Library, as was contemplated, has been opened in a convenient apartment in Canton, and is now of easy access to all those who desire to enjoy its benefits. The trustees recommend the early adoption of measures for its enlargement. As a public library, it ought, in the course of a few years, to rise from its present limited number of two thousand volumes to a hundred times that number, and thence to increase until it shall equal some of the best collections of books in the world.\n\nThe Society moved to Macao in 1841 and the Library containing between two and three thousand volumes was again open to those who desired to borrow books from it at the Society's house, near St. Paul's, under the care of Mr. Brown. \"The Third Annual Report\" of the Society was not published until this year, the gap since 1838 being caused by the disturbed conditions prevailing in the intervening years. By 1842 the Society had already established itself in the newly ceded island of Hong Kong.\n\nAt the fourth annual General Meeting of the Society on 28 September, 1842, it was reported that, as the result of correspondence with Sir Henry Pottinger, (the Superintendent of Trade and Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary in China) a site had been granted to them for a permanent headquarters on Morrison Hill, a hill which at the time of writing is quickly nearing complete demolition just over one hundred years later. One of the larger rooms of the building to be put up was designed for the Library which now contained nearly 3500 volumes. The usual vicissitudes occurred which seem to beset so many libraries run on a voluntary or partly voluntary basis. An 1843 report says:\n\nThe Society's Library requires some attention in order to preserve it, and render it of greater public utility. I believe there are not far from 3500 volumes in it; but of these, a large number, perhaps one third are so injured as to make them unfit for circulation. Some sets have been broken by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204289, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n53\n\nthe failure of subscribers to return the books on leaving the country-so that there is a large space occupied by books that are of little value to the Society, or to the public. I would recommend that the Library be inspected, and that those books which are not worth binding anew should be disposed of, and the proceeds be devoted to rebinding those that are worth keeping. In this way, the library will be freed from a good deal of trash, and the really valuable part of it, which is by no means small, could be more easily accommodated in the apartment designed for it, and better fitted for the use of subscribers.\n\nThe reports of the Society for 1844, 1845 and 1846 do not specifically mention the Library, but it is interesting to note that at a meeting of the subscribers in January 1846 it was unanimously resolved, \"That a bust of the late Hon. J. R. Morrison (who had also died, at the early age of 29 in 1843) be immediately commissioned from England, to be placed in the public rooms of the institution of the Morrison Education Society; that a copy of Chinnery's painting of his father (the late Rev. Dr. Morrison) engaged in the translation of the Bible into Chinese, be obtained for the same purpose; that the sum of $1,000 be appropriated to meet the cost, and the expense of placing these memorials in China.\n\nBy 1849 the Society was running into financial difficulties, the premises had to be closed and the Library was packed up. By 1855 it was open to the public again when, according to an advertisement appearing in the Hong Kong Register on 30 October, 1855, \"The Library of the Morrison Education Society, now deposited in a room in the Court House, is open every day from 1 to 4 o'clock p.m. to Members of the Society for the giving out and exchange of Books. Parties, not members of the Society, may obtain the advantages of the Library, on payment of an Annual Subscription of $5. By order of the Trustees, James Legge, Secretary.”\n\nAt the annual meeting of the Society in 1858 the question of the permanent disposal of the Library was scheduled for discussion. In this same year they had accepted on trust a collection of 400 books belonging to the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society which had been founded in Hong Kong in 1847 by Sir John Davis, later revived by Sir John Bowring, but which was now defunct. A report of the founding of the Asiatic Society appears in the Hong Kong Register for 1847 with a list of 44 titles of books, prints, etc., which had been presented.\n\nThere had been a growing demand for a proper public library and in May, 1863, the Morrison Education Society issued a circular urging the foundation of such a library in a City Hall and offering its own books and those of the Royal Asiatic Society", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204291, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n55\n\nlesser degree and the rebinding and repairing which has been done is unskilful in the extreme.\n\nThe City Hall Library flourished in spite of some administrative difficulties and, in the Annual Report for 1880, it was stated that there had been 1917 readers during the year, that subscriptions amounting to $650 had been received from Europeans and $347 from Chinese and that it was 'fairly self supporting'.2 The salary of the Curator was paid by the Government.\n\nThe Library continued to justify its existence and in Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, published in 1908 it is described as follows:-\n\nThe nucleus of the Public Library was the library received in 1869 from the Morrison Education Society as a free gift for the use of the public, on condition that in consideration of this gift and of the great services of Dr. Morrison to both European and Chinese, the books are to be kept distinct from all other collections in the City Hall, and designated the Morrison Library in perpetuation of the great missionary's memory'. In 1871 the City Hall Library consisted of 8,000 volumes, 3,000 of which were unconditionally presented by the Trustees of the Victoria Library. Since that date it has been added to from time to time, and now contains 3,332 volumes in the Morrison Library, 6,220 including 320 Chinese religious and devotional books, in the City Library, and 3,287 in the lending collection—a total of 12,839 volumes. There are many valuable philological, biographical and other works, including some rare first editions, the department dealing with China and Japan being especially well filled. The Library is freely used, the register bearing the names of nearly 500 borrowers. The visitors to the reading-room, which is well supplied with local, home, and American newspapers and magazines, average about 1,412 non-Chinese and 628 Chinese a month. The library is open from nine to nine.\n\nBut a few years later the usefulness of the Morrison Library to the general public was in doubt and it was thought that it would have more practical value in the newly founded University of Hong Kong. At a meeting of the Senate on 25 September, 1913, the Vice-Chancellor was authorized to approach those concerned as to the feasibility of the University's taking over the Morrison Library. This was agreed to in the following terms: \"Upon the petition of the... Attorney General . . . praying for an Order that the Committee of the City Hall be at liberty to hand over to the University of Hong Kong a collection of books designated the 'Morrison Library' upon conditions IT IS ORDERED that the petition be granted in the terms\n\n2 China Mail, 27 August, 1880.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204379, "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-1962", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "Nevertheless the monthly meetings of the Society have been consistently well attended with audiences which often have more than filled this room and have averaged well over one hundred at each meeting. This regularity of attendance proves that there is in the Colony a reliable cross section of the community who appreciate what Professor Drake referred to in his inaugural lecture as the Study of Asia and our heritage.\n\nIn the earlier days of the Society up to 1859 when the Government of the Colony provided a home for the Society and its library it was honoured with the presence on its Council of the Governor, the Commander of the British Forces, the Chief Justice, the Bishop of Victoria, the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer and the Attorney General, and it had the active support of the heads of the great merchant houses like Jardine, Matheson and Co. and Dent and Co. Although in these busier days we miss the successors of some of these eminent personages we are still honoured today by the patronage of His Excellency the Governor and the support of leading members of a more cosmopolitan community than in the earlier days. We particularly appreciate the keenness of the Hon. W. C. G. Knowles, who has recently joined the Council, and of the Honourable the Chief Justice whose athletic figure some of us recall striding along the slithery slopes of Lantao on the occasion of our archaeological excursion last year. We hope that this year we may provide a further opportunity for members who do not perhaps know one another as well as it might be desired, to join in a combined social and study expedition either to Lantao or elsewhere in the New Territories.\n\nDuring the year 1961 nine public meetings were held at which unusually interesting lectures were given, most of them illustrated with colour slides-\n\nJanuary 23rd\n\nJames Liu\n\n\"The Knight Errant in Chinese Literature\"\n\n\"Tibet As It Was (1936-1950)”\n\nFebruary 10th\n\nHugh Richardson\n\nApril 10th\n\nMay 13th\n\nMiss Mary Tregear\n\n\"Chinese Paintings in Formosa and America\"\n\nExpedition to Lantao to visit archaeological sites", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204381, "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-1962", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "should like to appeal to other merchant houses and individuals in the Colony, who probably need only to have the nature and needs of the Society made known to them to follow the generous example of our first benefactors. In the second place, the greater part of the amount of about $7,000 now in hand will soon be needed to cover the cost of the production and distribution of the Journal Vol. II, to a free copy of which each member is entitled by virtue of his subscription. We also urgently need a public address system, made necessary by the steadily increasing size of our audiences. We shall have to consider the purchase of projectors and apparatus for the exhibition of colour slides with which many lectures are now illustrated. Hitherto we have been fortunate in that we have been furnished with all the necessary equipment by the British Council, to whom and to their projectionists I wish to tender the thanks and appreciation of the Society. Furthermore, until now the British Council Room has been our home ever since the first preliminary meeting of the Society in 1959, and all except three or four of our meetings have been held here. Our lecture expenses in 1961 amounted to only $213.75, and most of this sum was incurred when a larger room had to be taken in the Hong Kong Club. Without the generous help of the British Council and its Representative here, Mr. R. E. Lawry, who is our Honorary Secretary, in placing this room and all its amenities at our disposal free of charge the Society could not have been in the financial position it is in today. On behalf of the Society I wish to express our deep appreciation to the British Council and to Mr. Lawry and his staff for all they have done in giving the Society a home for now over two years, and in the absence of a home of our own we hope that the Council will continue its generous support.\n\nFinally, there is one other matter of expenditure we have to consider—the building up of a library. We are already in touch with many learned societies all over the world who send us their journals and publications, usually in exchange for copies of our own Journal. These will form a valuable nucleus of a collection. We need and appeal for money and gifts of books to build up an Oriental Library worthy of the Society, a collection of books and periodicals which we hope may serve to supplement the more general library of the City Hall and which can be made available for research study and reading not only to members", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204526, "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": 7, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "# PRESIDENT'S REPORT\n\n1962\n\nThis is the third Annual General Meeting of the Society since its revival in December 1959. During 1962 the work of the Society, judging by the popularity of the lectures and the success of the Journal, has shown a vitality which has justified the initial promise of the first two years, and has established its position as a permanent factor in the intellectual life of the community in Hong Kong.\n\nThe ten public meetings at which lectures were delivered were again all consistently well attended. The first two in January and February were held at the premises of the British Council, through the good offices of the Representative Mr. R. E. Lawry, who is also our Honorary Secretary. By the beginning of our third year the audiences had outgrown the normal capacity of the British Council Room and it was opportune that just then the City Hall with its admirable facilities became available for our subsequent meetings. The term \"lecture\" has now become inappropriate and somewhat of an anachronism in connection with meetings such as those of the Society. I recall an Annual General Meeting of the North China Branch held in Shanghai about twenty-five years ago when the late Mr. A. de C. Sowerby, the well-known naturalist and curator of the Society's museum, in his Annual Report referred to the \"lectures\" which had been given during the year. \"Of these,\" he said, \"two were illustrated with both motion pictures and ordinary lantern slides, seven were illustrated with lantern slides only, the remainder being without illustrations. It is evident that lantern slides form an added attraction, since it was noticeable that, regardless of the subject, lectures so illustrated were markedly better attended than those that were not.\" To some extent the same may be said of the more sophisticated audiences of Hong Kong today. However, the lectures that were not illustrated were of such interest that they brought excellent audiences, while those which were illustrated had the advantage of brilliant colours, such as Mr. Nixon's slides of flowers and Mr. Hugh Gibb's documentary films, and this added greatly to their popularity. The fantastic\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204709, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "3\n\nThe expedition to Tung Chung produced a new inspiration for the Society's activities, mainly the idea of our admirable Hon. Secretary, Mr. R. E. Lawry. It is proposed to hold a symposium during weekends to discuss the social organisation of village life and other aspects of life in the New Territories. A programme has been arranged for the weekend May 9th-10th, particulars of which have already been supplied to members. This extension of our activities is in accord with the avowed objects of the Society for it is our aim to direct attention not only to the cultural and literary heritage of the part of Asia in which we live, but also to practical pursuits such as its natural history, fauna and flora, and the lives of the people around us.\n\nA particularly noteworthy and important work of the Society is the production of the Journal, the fourth volume of which may be expected this summer. The Journal, built up on the meticulous standard of editorship set up by Mr. Cranmer-Byng and the Editorial Board of which, until his departure earlier this month, he had been Chairman, has already achieved a well-deserved reputation among the productions of learned societies in the same field. The contributions which come from non-members as well as members are sufficiently varied in nature and interest to appeal to the specialists as well as to the general reader. The Society may well be proud of its Journal and grateful to Mr. Cranmer-Byng and his colleagues for their splendid work and achievement.\n\nThe Financial Statement of 1963, which the Honorary Treasurer will present to you, shows a capital account of £1,699.10.0 and an apparent excess of income over expenditure of HK$2,947.26. The real position in the matter of income, however, is that the annual subscriptions from members during 1963 amounted to $6,177.91, while the expenses amounted to $7,459, leaving a deficit of $1,282. This deficit is met by recourse to income from the small capital investment fund, the greater part of which was established by the generosity of an anonymous donor, when the Branch was revived, for the purpose of establishing a library and for other capital expenditure necessary for the future activities of the Society and not for meeting current expenses. For the small annual subscription of $20, members receive, in addition to the benefit of the meetings during the year, a free copy of the Journal, which is sold to the public for HK$12. To place the Society on a sound", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205174, "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-1966", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "OLD BRITISH KOWLOON\n\n125\n\nto raising pigs and poultry. His daughter used to go to the vegetable fields at Tai Shek Kwu nearby where, in return for helping others to water their fields, she was given the outer leaves and spoiled vegetables to take home for pig food. Pig rearing, it appears, was as chancy a business in the 19th century as now,21\n\nAs a rule, however, the villagers produced crops and produce for the Hong Kong urban populace and for the growing townships in Kowloon itself, such as Yau Ma Ti and Hung Hom. It was fortunate for the village people that the Colony's rapidly increasing urban population required the three basic staples of rice, firewood, and vegetables.22 As Wells Williams wrote in 1883:23\n\n\"The supplies of the island are chiefly brought from the mainland where an increasing population of Chinese... find ample demand for all the provisions they can furnish.” The arrival of vegetable boats from Kowloon has for long been a feature of the Hong Kong waterfront.\n\nThese three staples, then, provided local people with the means to a livelihood; but they also had a wider effect. If they could summon the effort, villagers from further afield could and did share in meeting the urban demand, whilst local charitable and community organisations in Kowloon got part of their income from public weighing scales used for measuring vegetables and firewood destined for Hong Kong. Above all, the staples provided an opportunity for social advancement to those villagers with the necessary talent to exploit the business opportunities offered to them.24\n\nThe Colonial Government administered Kowloon with a loose rein. So far as I am aware, there was no seconding of administrators or magistrates there in the 19th century, and the police and other government departments with personnel available in Kowloon seem to have been on call when necessary in emergencies such as a fire, armed robbery, and serious crimes against the person, but were not otherwise obtrusive.25 The government did not see fit to appoint district officers to look after the people, as it was to do later in the New Territories. The advantages of doing so were suggested by a Land Commission in 1886, but never acted upon.26\n\nIn consequence, the internal management of these villages appears to have been much the same in Old Kowloon as it was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205519, "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": 61, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "56\n\nNOTES ON HONG KONG LIBRARIES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY\n\nH. A. RYDINGS*\n\nThose of us who have watched the rapid development of libraries of all kinds in Hong Kong since the new University Library building was opened in 1961 may sometimes think that there is no library history worth considering for the first hundred years of the existence of the Colony. Certainly an appeal to members of the Hong Kong Library Association, made some two years ago, for any information on the early history of Hong Kong libraries met with no immediate response. Later, however, my colleague Mr. G. W. Bonsall, in searching through local newspapers and other sources for information on other subjects, came across a number of items about libraries, which he kindly brought to my notice. The present article is based upon this, slightly augmented from other materials, and in no way purports to be a comprehensive history of Hong Kong libraries up to 1900. It is evident that much more remains to be found by the diligent searcher before such a history can be written. For the moment, however, this brief sketch based on what has so far come to light may be of interest as an introduction to Hong Kong's library history.\n\nForemost of the early libraries in the Colony is undoubtedly the Victoria Library and Reading Rooms. 'Colonial', writing in 1933, stated: “A privately organised library was established in Hong Kong as far back as 1848. A small library with attached reading rooms was run by this organisation for some years, and really formed the basis on which the City Hall library was subsequently established.\" Although 'Colonial' does not name the library, he goes on to say: “In 1871, probably in view of the coming into being of the public library, the original institution, retaining its more or less private character, was organised into a club, which was known as the Victoria Club.\" As will be seen later, this makes it certain that the reference is to the Victoria Library.\n\nThe next reference2 found to the Victoria Library & Reading Rooms is a report of the Annual General Meeting held on June\n\n* Mr. Rydings has been University Librarian at the University of Hong Kong since 1961. He is a member of Council of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society and is currently its Hon. Librarian.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205719, "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-1969", "page_number": 25, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCILS\n\n19\n\nan outstanding job in these difficult times in enlightening the Chinese masses and in explaining to them the purpose of the Government measures. For these invaluable services he was later presented with a gold medal and a letter of thanks from the general public of Hong Kong.\n\nWei Yuk was also a far-sighted person, for it was he who first seriously pursued the idea of constructing a railway from Kowloon to Canton and thence to Peking. He spent large sums in furtherance of the scheme which failed, however, owing to the obstacles placed in its way by officials in China.21\n\nWei Yuk served on many Government and public committees. While not being noted for long speeches, he was always clear and precise in expressing his views and advice. He retired from public service in 1917 at the age of 68. For his invaluable services to the Colony, he was awarded the C.M.G. in 1908 and knighted in 1919. He died in 1922.\n\nWhen Sir Kai Ho Kai retired in February 1914, his place in the Legislative Council was filled by Lau Chu-pak, who was born in Hong Kong in 1866. He was a brilliant scholar at the Central School and in 1885 was the first boy to be awarded the Stewart Scholarship.22 After leaving the Central School, he was for a time chief clerk at the Hong Kong Observatory. Later he became a tea merchant and amassed a fortune. He was a generous benefactor of education and helped financially many poor children to complete their schooling. With Ho Fook, he was co-founder, in 1900, of the Chinese Merchants Bureau which was renamed in 1913 the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Before he was appointed to the Legislative Council, he was for many years an active member of the District Watch Force Committee, the Sanitary Board, the Board of Education and the Council of the University of Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk in 1903, a founder-director of the Kwong Wah Hospital in 1907 and Chairman of Tung Wah Hospital in 1909/1910. In January 1909 when a powerful committee was nominated, with the Governor Sir Frederick Lugard as Chairman, to raise funds to start the University of Hong Kong, Lau, Dr. Ho Kai and Wei Yuk were all members of the Committee.\n\nLau Chu-pak's concern in education was demonstrated in 1916 when he suggested, in a Legislative Council meeting, that the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205723, "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-1969", "page_number": 29, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCILS\n\n23\n\nmerchants in this Colony. In all necessary measures to that end, I know that I can rely upon the whole-hearted support of this Council\". At the same meeting, the Senior Unofficial member, Sir Henry Pollock, paid the following tribute to Sir Shouson Chow and Robert Kotewall; \"During the last seven months, in particular, we have felt indebted not only to Sir Shouson Chow but also to his Chinese colleague on the Council. We, Sir, behind the scenes, can appreciate perhaps more fully than the general public the work of the Chinese members of this Council during the period I have referred to”. \n\nOn 9th July 1926, Sir Shouson Chow was also appointed the first Chinese member of the Executive Council, following the death of Sir Paul Chater who had served on that Council since 1896.26 Although the appointment was made on personal grounds, it was evident that political considerations also came in, viz., to pacify anti-British sentiment in China and to further encourage the loyalty of local Chinese towards Hong Kong. \n\nSir Shouson Chow served on both Councils until 1930, when he resigned from the Legislative Council. He continued, however, to be a member of the Executive Council until he retired in 1936. He died many years after the war, in 1959, \n\nWhen Lau Chu-pak retired from the Legislative Council in 1922, he was succeeded by Ng Hon-tsz who was born in 1877 and was compradore to Shewan, Tomes, Ltd. He was a director of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1907 and was a founder of the Tsan Yuk Hospital. He was at various times a member of the District Watch Force Committee, the Sanitary Board and the Council of the University of Hong Kong. He served in the Legislative Council for only two years and died in 1923 while in office. After his death, Sir Henry Pollock remarked at the Legislative Council meeting held on 10th May 1923 that Mr. Ng had always been a \"wise, sound and faithful councillor”. \n\nMr. Robert Kotewall, who succeeded Ng Hon-tsz as a member of the Legislative Council in 1923, was born in Hong Kong in 1880. Educated at the Central School as well as the Diocesan Boys' School, he was a noted English as well as Chinese scholar and was a very good speaker. After a distinguished career in the Hong Kong Government until 1916, he turned to business and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205748, "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-1969", "page_number": 54, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "48\n\nR. G. GROVES\n\n7th April includes entries for approximately 999 catties (about 1,332 lbs.), of gunpowder.\n\nMeanwhile, the Governor of Hong Kong again asked the Viceroy to take whatever steps necessary to maintain order prior to the take-over. A reassuring proclamation was jointly issued by the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi and the Governor of Kwangtung, and Chinese troops were ordered into the area. The Governor of Hong Kong had already issued his own proclamation to the people of the New Territory. Whatever its intention, his message cannot have appeased the resistance leaders:\n\nthe most respected of your elders will be chosen to assist in the management of your village affairs, to secure peace and good order and the punishment of evil doers. I expect you to obey the laws that are made for your benefit, and all persons who break the law will be punished severely. It will be necessary for you to register without delay your titles for the land occupied by you, that the true owners may be known.\"62\n\nIn other words, control over both land and political institutions appeared to be at risk.\n\nBy 10th April plans for resistance were sufficiently advanced to allow the establishment of the T'ai Ping Kung Kuk (Great Peace Public Council), at Yuen Long market. The inaugural meeting promulgated several policies: (i) a levy of 100 taels of silver was to be made upon each village and, where necessary, force was to be used to secure payment; (ii) the wealthy, and those who appeared to be associated with the British, were forbidden to leave the area. Those attempting to do so were to be killed,63\n\nThe date and place of the formal British take-over — Tai Po, on Monday, 17th April — had been announced in a variety of contexts and must have been widely known. However, the first major clash involved provincial Chinese troops, rather than the British. As part of his undertaking to maintain order the Viceroy had directed a Major Fong, in command of a gunboat and troops, to the territory. The Major sent letters ahead, saying that his intentions were pacific. The implication was that he would not interfere with plans for resistance. These assurances were unacceptable and his landing at Castle Peak Bay, on 12th April, was successfully opposed by militia of the Yuen Long Division,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205763, "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-1969", "page_number": 69, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "MILITIA. MARKET AND LINEAGE\n\n63\n\n61 Ibid., p. 154.\n\n62 Ibid., p. 159.\n\n63 Liu Wan-kuk, of Sheung Shui, later described the inaugural meeting and its consequences in the following terms. \"On the 1st of the 3rd moon (10th April), the Un Long Division made a great show of force, and stated in a most peremptory manner that if we refused to join in the resistance of the British, thousands of men from the Un Long Division with arms would proceed to level to the ground the villages belonging to the Liu, Tang and Pang families. The Sheung U Division was therefore compelled on the 3rd day (12th April) to request the Hau, Liu, Pang, Tang, Man clans to meet in the temple dedicated to a former Governor of Kwang Tung province. There it was decided to raise a small public subscription.... It was also decided that the various villages in our Division should have their trainbands (or militia) in readiness so that we should not be....powerless to check disorder. Our Division was the victim of circumstances.... Our trainband (or militia) was intended solely for the protection of the old and young in our Division.\" Translation of a statement made to the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, 26th April 1899, Papers. Despatches..., op. cit., p. 74. Here and subsequently, the spelling of place names and parenthetical remarks are those of the original translator. Remarks in brackets are my own.\n\n64 Correspondence ..., op. cit., p. 226. Jingals are \"long tapering guns, six to fourteen feet in length, borne on the shoulders of two men and fired by a third. They have a stand, or tripod, reminding one of a telescope being less liable to burst than cannon, they form the most effective gun the Chinese possess.\" J. Dyer Ball, Things Chinese, London, 1904 edition, p. 44.\n\nPage 13\n\nCorrespondence\n\n65 Stewart Lockhart described the flag as follows: \"the flag has a red border and a white centre, on which are seven Chinese characters meaning: Train band sanctioned by the Government: -Tai Kai (village), surname Man.' The village referred to.... is also known by the name of Tai Hang\n\n, op. cit., p. 180. The militia were so martial in appearance and conduct that the British at first thought they were regulars. The Viceroy commented: \"the Governor of Hong Kong suspected that they were regular troops from the fact that they had guns, cannon, and uniforms. He was not aware that the villagers of Kwangtung, in their constant fights with each other, are always erecting forts, and use guns and cannon, and wear uniforms. This is a matter of common notoriety.\" Ibid., p. 304.\n\n66 Ibid., pp. 188ff. These and similar letters were found in the T'ai Ping Kung Kuk at Yuen Long. A proclamation issued by the Council of the Yuen Long Division was also discovered. It supports Liu Wan-kuk's claim that coercion was a feature of the resistance movement:\n\n\"The English barbarians are about to enter our territory, and ruin will come upon our villages and hamlets, All we villagers must enthusiastically come forward to offer armed resistance and act in unison. When the drum sounds to the fight, we must all respond to the call for assistance. Should anyone hesitate to take part or hinder or obstruct our military plans he will most certainly be severely punished, and no leniency will be shown. This is issued as a forewarning.\" Ibid.\n\n67 Ibid., p. 171.\n\n68 Papers\n\n69 Ibid.\n\nDespatches\n\n, op. cit., p. 66.\n\nop. cit., p. 166.\n\n70 Correspondence", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206195, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "In Conclusion, there remain to me now three brief duties to perform and they are the duties of recording thanks.\n\nFirstly they go to you members who have demonstrated your public spirit by coming here this evening and making the number present up to that which is necessary to give this meeting legal status. Secondly, I must also thank the members of the Committee who, by so dextrously and loyally serving two masters during the year 1970, have ensured an even maintenance of policy and achievement during the change in Presidency.\n\nAnd finally, a bitter-sweet item, bitter because it is the last meeting at which we shall have the pleasure of the presence of Mr. Webster as our Hon. Secretary. He is leaving Hong Kong in the very near future on transfer to Istanbul, and this brings to an abrupt end his all too short stay here. We offer him our heartiest congratulations on his new appointment and we would like him to know that he takes with him our most grateful thanks for his invaluable services to the Society for the past two years. The sweet part of this item is the news that the British Council has offered us the continuation of its services, which, I think you should know, include facilities for the venue of all our Committee meetings as well as the procuring of halls for our Society's meetings; a central home for our secretariat; the services of two senior members of its staff on our committee; and the behind-the-scenes help of Mrs. Margaret O'Hara, who is invariably prepared to cope with the hundred and one minor problems which so frequently confront an organization such as ours in its ordinary every day affairs. In fact I am certain that without this sympathetic help from the British Council, we would have no chance at all of running this Society with the efficiency and success that you have come to expect of it. To the British Council, to its local Representative, Mr. G. A. Bridges, and to his staff, we again offer our most grateful thanks.\n\nWith these words of thanks to all our helpers, I beg to table this report of the affairs of the Society for the year 1970.\n\n3rd May, 1971.\n\nL. T. RIDE", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206197, "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": 14, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "At a later meeting the committee further decided that our active support should begin by informing you officially of our views on this important subject, but in doing so, I must not give you the impression that it represents the considered opinion of the Society as a whole. That may be forwarded later.\n\nI would however like to take this opportunity of making the point which I personally believe cannot be too strongly stressed at this stage of Hong Kong's development, where one so frequently still hears the question asked: \"Why do we need a public museum?\" Those who still ask that question obviously know nothing of modern museums or modern education. We need an up-to-date museum, not because all other cities in the world worthy of the name have at least one museum and that therefore we must follow suit, but because a museum in these days is something more than a mere repository of things relating to the past; it is as much an active, integral and essential part of any system of public education as a school, a college or a university is.\n\nAny modern museum worthy of the name provides opportunities for study which are complementary to the routine courses provided by institutions of learning at all levels of education - primary, secondary or tertiary - and the real value of these complementary opportunities lies in the fact that they are of a more informal nature, and consequently allow (and indeed encourage) the development of initiative and specialization among pupils.\n\nFor this reason, expenditure on a museum project is not to be regarded as favouring the intelligentsia or a minority group; it is essential for its part in the balanced development of the young minds in the colony of all classes.\n\nThis makes it of all the more importance in Hong Kong where our youth forms over 50% of our population, because the financial provision for these educational facilities is every bit as important as the provision of recreational facilities for our young people which so much more readily captures the imagination of social workers and the readers of the headlines in our press.\n\nYours faithfully,\n\nL. T. RIDE\n\nPresident,\n\nHong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206242, "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": 59, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "LETTERS FROM CHINA 1835-36\n\n53\n\nwhich were imposed upon their movement by the Chinese authorities. Their effect upon a sensitive person are readily apparent from the letters. The literary interests and charitable works of the writer and his relatives are also of interest, and the mentions of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China and the Medical Missionary Society remind us of the starting difficulties that surrounded the first of these ventures.\n\nBoth societies were inaugurated at meetings held among foreign residents at Canton. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China originated at a meeting of residents on 29th November, 1834. The Medical Missionary Society originated at a public meeting held in Canton in 1838 and, according to Samuel Couling, was \"the first society of the kind in existence\" in China. The Society was formed to develop and finance Dr. Peter Parker's ophthalmic hospital in Canton which had started in Singapore in 1834 and been moved to Canton the following year. (See Samuel Couling, The Encyclopaedia Sinica, Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1917, pp. 345, 520 for further details. An account of the inaugural meeting of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China is given in The Chinese Repository, volume 3, page 378).\n\nWith the kind assistance of Mr. H. A. Rydings, Librarian of the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Librarian of this Branch, it has been possible to trace the reference in the letter written from the ship Asia to the Compendium of General History printed at Singapore, being the first work of the Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge in China. This is Koò kin wàn kwo kang kéén or Universal History, 244 leaves, Singapore 1838. This appears as No. 34 on page 60 of (Alexander Wylie's) Memorials of the Protestant Missionaries to the Chinese, Shanghae, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1867. Item 17 on page 58 is also relevant. Unfortunately, the mention of the Japanese Encyclopaedia, also in the long letter written on board the Asia, is too vague to allow for any identification.\n\nIt may be of interest to readers that in Volume 4 of this Journal (1964) we printed with Introduction and Useful Notes a recently discovered M.S. Journal of Occurrences at Canton during the Cessation of Trade at Canton 1839 which is considered to have been by W. C. Hunter, a resident of Canton and Macau contemporary with Stewart. Hunter published his reminiscences", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206315, "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": 132, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "126\n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE\n\nof the District Watch Committee stemmed not only from this subjective ranking of committees and from the great 'face' given by government to the Committee: the Committee acquired its influence principally because its members were appointed in the first instance to serve for five years and in nearly every case this period was renewed. Some members served for over twenty years37. Thus the committeemen of the District Watch were able to build up particular relationships for a very long period of time with important government officials and members of the community, Chinese and European. As a consequence, they began to be seen as elder statesmen as ‘elders' if you like above the fray, beyond criticism. They exemplified civic virtue, public spirit and successful climbing. They stood out sharply from the mass; they were listened to with respect; they became known to many people by name; they were seen at public functions and on public occasions. In sociological language, they were both instrumental and ritualistic leaders. The colonial government honoured them in numerous ways, by, for example, printing their names in the Hong Kong Civil Service List; and their standing was emphasised by the tradition that developed of the full Committee meeting twice a year, though often more than that38, at Government House, with the Governor himself presiding in the chair. Nomination to the Committee meant, it is clear to see, a complete validation of a person's status and public respectability.\n\nFrom 1880, when the first Chinese was nominated to the Legislative Council, to 1941, sixteen substantive appointments were made to the two Councils: nearly every such person had been active on the Committee. As T. C. Cheng confirms: for many years it was more or less a tradition for prominent Chinese who wished to render public service to the Colony, to begin their public career with the Committee, and then, in the case of those who had a knowledge of English, to proceed to the Sanitary Board (which was replaced by the Urban Council in 1935) and thence to the Legislative Council. Nomination to the Committee thus made possible translation to even more prestigious positions and, in a few cases, to the acquisition of a Knighthood.\n\nThe Committee was able to develop into the chief consultative body because, among other factors, the population of Hong Kong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206327, "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": 144, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "138 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nwith a passion for tidiness disliked them intensely. In this case, I suspect, the Registrar General bowed to the will of the Committee. \n\n26 There was a marked tendency for the committees of such associations to grow very large in size-so many affluent Chinese wanted their names recorded as committeemen, and to donate money, without of course doing any committee work. Professor Freedman supplies an explanation for this phenomenon in Singapore: 'Since office-holding occupies a strategic position in the formation of social status, it is not surprising that the structure of associations seems adapted to this function. This adaptation is clear in two features: the elaboration of offices, such that many positions are made available, and the institutional arrangements for filling the offices with the well-to-do', Maurice Freedman, Chinese Marriage and Family in Singapore, London, H.M.S.O., 1957, p. 95. \n\n27 In 1903 the proposed scheme of detectives under the control of the Committee was not approved; but permission was given at a later date, apparently during the First World War and probably because of the shortage of European policemen. \n\n28 In 1938 there were 5 Head District Watchmen, 6 Assistant Head District Watchmen, 26 detectives and 103 uniformed men. The position was approximately the same in 1941. \n\n29 In 1902 the rate paid by Chinese shops was increased slightly and in 1924 it was increased by another 1/4 per cent. \n\n30 Butters writes that the figures which appear annually regarding the cost of living in the report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs are based on information obtained from the District Watch Force. At my request figures were furnished from the same source showing the cost of living of an ordinary labourer': H. R. Butters, Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong, Sessional Papers, No. 3 of 1939, p. 137. Applications from guilds and trade unions to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for permission to hold 'sing songs' were granted conditionally on a district watchman attending the meeting to see that nothing unlawful transpired. See Butters, p. 126. The watchmen were always regarded as a source of information about the Chinese population. When the commission on chair and jinricksha coolies attempted to discover whether there was a secret union of public transport workers, the first people they contacted for information about the matter were district watchmen. See Report of the Commission on Chair and Jinricksha Coolies, Sessional Papers, No. 47 of 1901, p. 56. \n\n31 The Registrar General in his report for 1868 made this quite clear: 'the chief object of the Chinese paying these watchmen is to drive away thieves, the cardinal evil of a shop-keeping population, And it is thought that the watchmen succeed, not only in arresting actual offenders, but also in keeping away those who live by pilfering'. \n\n32 These constables were recruited mostly from Weihaiwei, a territory leased to Britain on 1 July, 1898. \n\n33 These facts are taken from the reports of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for the respective years. \n\n34 See above: note 33. \n\n35 The Lok Sin Tong was an association established by officials and village gentry in Kowloon about 1879 to perform charitable works in the surrounding district. See James Hayes, 'Old ways of Life in Kowloon: The Cheung Sha Wan Villages', Journal of Oriental Studies, vol. viii, 1970, p. 167. The Chung Sing Charitable Society, originally known as the Chung Sing Opera Society, was founded around 1917 by a leading merchant, Tsang Foo. This charity also maintained a free school.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206514, "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": 62, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "56\n\nHENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE\n\nIn 1878, after success in the competitive examination held by the Civil Service Commissioners in London, he was appointed a Hong Kong cadet by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. He had wished to join, like his friend E.D.H. Fraser,3 the Indian Civil Service but his address to the Civil Service Commissioners for service in India had been turned down. Lockhart was the eighth cadet officer appointed to Hong Kong after the introduction of Hong Kong cadetships by Sir Richard MacDonnell in 1861. Sir Richard had been concerned to recruit young men from Britain who would train to become interpreters, for there was a great need for such persons in the Hong Kong public service at that time. But Sir Richard's scheme was not, properly speaking, an innovation since it was closely modelled on the system devised in 1854 for supplying interpreters to the Consular Service in China. The practice in Hong Kong was for a successful cadet, who had to be between the age of 20 and 23 on the first day of his examination, to remain in Britain for one year after appointment, during which time he was required to begin learning Chinese and to attend a class for students at King's College, London, held by the Professor of Chinese at that institution. The cadet was also employed for some hours daily at the Colonial Office in the work of the Department. At the end of his year's study the cadet was examined in Chinese, and the confirmation of his appointment depended upon both his passing a satisfactory examination and on the performance of his duties in the Office. Lockhart appears to have had no difficulties in meeting these requirements.\n\nIt seems likely that the European public in Hong Kong first knew of Lockhart when they saw a notification from the Colonial Secretary, W.H. Marsh, in the Government Gazette of 1879 which simply stated: 'It is hereby notified that James Haldane Stewart Lockhart, Esq., has been appointed by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, to be a Cadet in the Hong Kong Civil Service, and that he reported his arrival in the Colony on Tuesday, the 18th November, 1879.' Lockhart had set out from England by P. and O. steamer some time in September 1879; and, as was the form, immediately reported his arrival in Hong Kong to the Colonial Secretary. At that date it was the custom for a newly arrived cadet from Britain to spend a few weeks in the Colony before proceeding to Canton. During his brief stay in the Colony, the cadet was quizzed by senior officials, instructed as to his future", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206556, "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": 104, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "98\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nment should carry out improvements to existing properties financed from an improvement fund set up by contributions from the license fees on gambling houses; and that for buildings not capable of improvement the Government should acquire, demolish, rebuild and sell the properties concerned.\n\nChadwick's report was a landmark in the history of Hong Kong, and as with Dr. Ayres in 1873 he drew attention to the serious consequences that would arise if nothing were done to alleviate the bad sanitary condition of the Colony. On this point Chadwick reported that:\n\nIt is stated that, hitherto, Hong Kong has escaped the epidemics which have afflicted other places in the neighbourhood. The settlement is but 40 years old and the subsoil beneath the city may not yet be sufficiently saturated with filth to make it a hot bed for disease and a breeding ground of filth poison. It is somewhat premature to assume that this happy immunity will always continue for the process of saturation is slowly but surely going on and if unchecked cannot fail to bring forth abundant fruit, in the form of misery and disease.\n\nAnother twelve years elapsed before Chadwick's warning took the form he predicted.\n\nPrelude to Disaster 1882-1894\n\nChadwick's report prompted the government into action and, as a first step towards meeting the problem, a Sanitary Board was set up in 1883 under a draft Order and Health Amendment Ordinance which gave the Board wide powers to deal with insanitary houses, the inspection of premises, compulsory disinfection and the removal of persons who were a source of disease. However, strong opposition from property owners caused these provisions to be withdrawn although the Board remained in existence.\n\nFurther attempts were made in 1887 to introduce a Public Health Ordinance which, among other things, provided for the reservation of open spaces at the rear of buildings, the provision of privies and the fixing of a minimum standard of 300 cu. ft. of internal living space per adult. Great opposition against these proposals was voiced in the local press on the basis that the poorer classes would suffer\n\n8 Ibid., p. 22.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206571, "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": 119, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "REVIEW OF HOUSING CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG\n\n113\n\nof HK$2.5 million was made by government to the Society and by the end of 1971 this figure had increased to HK$179 million. Future schemes, however, will be financed from the income derived from rents. Sites are provided by government at one-third the market value. The Society provides homes for families with monthly incomes of up to HK$1,000 and by March 1971 had provided homes for some 110,000 persons (Figure 7).\n\nThe Hong Kong Housing Authority which was formed in 1954 has also made a significant contribution towards meeting the colony's housing needs. The Authority operates much on the same lines as the Housing Society and started off with a government loan of HK$50 million. By the end of 1970 loans totalling HK$250 million had been made available by government to the Authority, and for future schemes the income derived from rents is expected to provide the principal source of capital. Families with incomes of between HK$500 and $1,250 per month are eligible to apply for accommodation in Housing Authority estates which, by March 1971, accommodated 194,000 persons. In both Housing Authority and Housing Society estates accommodation is provided on the basis of 35 sq. ft. of usable floor space per adult and half this for children under the age of 10 years.\n\nIn quantitative terms, the most notable results in the provision of public housing have been accomplished through the efforts of the government's resettlement programme which got under way in 1954 with the object of clearing land occupied by squatters and making it available for development, largely for housing estates for the families so displaced. The resettlement programme now also provides accommodation for persons made homeless by the demolition of dangerous buildings and by other emergencies. Initially, accommodation in resettlement estates was provided on the basis of 24 sq. ft. of usable floor area per adult and half of this for children. This allocation was increased to 35 sq. ft. in 1968, thus bringing standards in line with those in other types of government and government-aided housing. There are no income limits for households that become eligible for resettlement. By 1971 almost one million persons were living in resettlement estates, which represents about 25% of the total population.\n\nA further type of subsidised housing was introduced by the government in 1961 to provide accommodation upon application", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206765, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 42, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "36 \n\nA. J. S. LACK \n\nAt the same meeting another unofficial member, Mr. Osborne,* mounted a quite blistering attack upon Government's past failure to provide adequately for the shelter of the boat people in Hong Kong. He referred to the typhoon of 1841 and to the storm of 1874 in which over 2,000 lives were lost within the space of 6 hours and 35 foreign vessels were wrecked or badly damaged. He claimed that the screaming of those in distress on the water could be heard in the mid levels of the town above the noise of the storm. He went on to refer to subsequent and more recent typhoons, one of which (1906) had exacted a toll of 10,000 lives in two hours. He demanded to know what it was that had been done with the lessons of previous years, and came to the reluctant conclusion that very little had been done. He castigated Government's lavish expenditure on various new public buildings, notably the Supreme Court, the Harbour Office, and the intended Post Office Building, as being quite beyond the bounds of what was required, and ended with these remarks,\n\nDuring a rather long residence in the Colony, I have had exceptional opportunities of coming into contact with the boat population. Though, like most humanity, their character is a blend of the good and the bad, there is one quality they possess in marked degree, which has always commanded my deep admiration, and that is their patience and philosophic bearing under circumstances of trial and suffering. In their name, Sir, and apart from the commercial aspect to which I have alluded, in the name of thousands who have already suffered in silence the misery wrought by these destructive storms, I appeal to your Excellency that there shall be no further delay in giving them the shelter which it is our clear and bounden duty to provide.\n\nThese words put the officials on their mettle. At the next meeting of the Council, the Director of Public Works and His Excellency the Governor were at pains to assure members that something was going to be done about the typhoon shelter: in fact, they had purchased a dredger on which to begin work on the foundations of the shelter. This provoked an unexpected row because some members considered that another dredger also for sale in the harbour at that\n\n* Edward Osborne, listed in Who's Who in the Far East as Secretary of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co., b. 1861, with P & O Steam Navigation Co. in London and Hong Kong 1880-1889. Director of Hong Kong Hotel, Dairy Farm, Steam Laundry, etc.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206767, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 44, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "38 \n\nA. J. S. LACK \n\nthat the dredger which they were buying was in every way fitted for the purposes in which it was being put. \n\n. \n\n** \n\nThe Director of Public Works said in reply that he welcomed the opportunity which was given him to contradict the gross mis-statements which appeared in the article to which his Honourable Friend alluded. The \"Canton River\" had been bought by the same firm from which the Government purchased the \"St. Enoch\". It was brought here in 1899 having been acquired as a second-hand vessel from one of the home ports to perform the work which ultimately devolved upon the \"St. Enoch\". He said that the firm in question had paid some £6,000 for repairs and work on the vessel before it was sent to the East, and he thought that in itself was a guarantee that she was not in the best condition when they purchased her. He was unable to give the relative dates of construction of the two vessels but did not think anyone could come to the conclusion that one was a more up-to-date vessel than the other. He reminded members that the \"Canton River\" had been sunk in the typhoon of November, 1900 and had lain for 8 months at the bottom of the harbour, \"a circumstance scarcely calculated to improve the condition of any vessel of that type.\" With regard to the question of price, he hoped that he was not revealing any secrets but he had ascertained that at the present moment the \"Canton River\" was being offered for sale at £22,000 as compared with the £15,000 which the Government required for the \"St. Enoch\". He pointed out that this was practically 15% more instead of $100,000 less. In regard to efficiency, he said that it so happened that the vessels had conducted operations exactly similar in kind in this harbour. The result had been that the \"St. Enoch\" was found to perform 34 trips during which she conveyed 700 tons each time, as compared with the \"Canton River's\" 3 trips with 400 tons each time, a total of 2,100 tons for the \"St. Enoch\", as against 1,200 tons for the \"Canton River\". Having in some triumph quoted these figures he concluded that it was almost unnecessary for him to speak further on the relative merits of the two vessels, but thought that some reference had been made to their inability to dredge Causeway Bay. In that connection, he pointed out that the \"St. Enoch\" drew 13 ft. 5 in. of water when loaded and the \"Canton River\" drew 1 ft. less so that in no case was either of the vessels capable of dredging Causeway Bay \"without performing a vast amount of absolutely unnecessary work\". \n\nHe finally routed the Unofficials by pointing out that the \"St. Enoch\" was capable of dredging a depth of 48 ft. as compared with the \"Canton River's\" 35 feet. It was not of course suggested that their depths would have been appropriate for the typhoon shelter which was to be built, but nevertheless, these figures appeared so to have so bemused the Unofficials that they raised no further comment. \n\nThe Governor had the last word. In the course of a speech at a following meeting, he said: \"I have alluded to the dredger. At the last meeting of Council, in answer to the question from the hon. member on my right (Hon. Mr. Slade), the Hon. Director of Public Works gave full information regarding that purchase. I think we may say it was a good bargain, and I hope that its acquisition will reduce the cost of the typhoon shelter. I may remind you that if the dredger had been sold out of the Colony we should have had to pay monopoly rates for whatever work we had to do, and I have good reason to believe it was likely to be sold out of the Colony. Indeed within 48 hours of our acceptance a firm offer was made. She was however surveyed under working conditions and found to be in every way sound and fit for our purpose. I may add to the figures given by the Hon. Director of Public Works when he contrasted the capacity of the \"St. Enoch\" with the \"Canton River\" that the maintenance of the one compared with the other is as 44 to 7 in favour of the \"St. Enoch\".* \n\n**", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206768, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 45, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG\n\n39\n\ncourse of that storm; but clearly the turning point in the typhoon refuge scheme had now been reached. On the 6th August, 1908 the Governor submitted for the acceptance of the Council the following resolution.\n\nBe it resolved that on and from 1st January, 1909 the owner, agent or master of every ship entering the waters of the Colony shall pay the following dues to such officer as the Governor may from time to time appoint. For all river steamers 5/6 ths of a cent per ton register. All other ships entering the waters of the Colony 2 cents per ton register.\n\nThe Yaumatei typhoon shelter was therefore to be financed by an impost placed on shipping entering Colony waters. The prolonged arguments of the preceding years as to how the Colony was to find the money for the new typhoon shelter were resolved by the introduction of this impost.\n\nIt was not to be anticipated that such a proposal as this, hitherto objected to by commercial interests, would pass without strong justification for it being advanced by His Excellency himself, and he did this in the course of a speech at the next meeting of the Council on 20th August, 1908. Thereafter matters continued apace. On the 25th February, 1909 a report on the proposed boat shelter at Mong Kok Tsui was tabled and in August 1909 the first reading of an Ordinance to authorize the construction and maintenance of a harbour refuge and the extinguishment of various marine rights was introduced to Council. Thereafter another altercation broke out in the Council on the introduction of the Liquor Ordinance which was to provide for the collection of duties upon intoxicating spirits, so it was not until October, 1909 that the matter of the typhoon shelter could next be proceeded with. However all submissions to the Legislative Council were finally completed in November, 1909. Nearly a year later, in October 1910, the Director of Public Works advised members of Council that a contract worth just over 2 million dollars had been let concerning the construction of the detached breakwater, and completion was anticipated in five years.\n\nIn 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914 work on the typhoon refuge continued steadily as the papers tabled before the Council indicate. Europe became engulfed in the First World War, but largely unaffected the life of the Colony continued, as did steady progress on the develop-\n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206867, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 144, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "138 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nThe question then arose as to what party had legal title to the land. Had the Government acquired title to the land by terms of the Cession of the Island of Hong Kong, or was the Government bound to recognize the title of the original Chinese owners? The island of Hong Kong had belonged to the Tang family, but the small island belonged to the Wong clan who gave it to the Chan clan and allowed them to erect the temple. Unfortunately all the ancient records and title deeds held by the Chan clan had been destroyed in the typhoon of 1874. \n\nApparently the temple had been repaired in 1877, for in that year the Public Works Department had given the caretaker permission to erect a temporary structure near the present temple to store images while repairs were going on. The Land Office had granted a squatter's license to the Worship Committee to occupy the site. \n\nOwing to the dispute which arose in 1893 between the Chan clan and the residents of Ap Lei Chau, the Worship Committee and the Kai Fong of Ap Lei Chau petitioned the Government for a grant of a Crown Lease for the site of the temple. The petition states, \n\nThat the Temple was established almost a hundred years ago and has conferred many benefits on the surrounding inhabitants... \n\nThat after restoration, the Temple was entrusted to the care of Chan Kwai [Chan A-kwai] by general consent. \n\nThat unwittingly this man turned out to be of a bad heart, unboundedly avaricious. \n\nThat he frequently exhorted [sic] the people who went to Worship, and for this he was expelled by consensus of the people at a Public Meeting. \n\nThat first before he was expelled he being aware of the attitude of the populace towards him, purloined goods belonging to the Temple, and took with him all the Squatter Licenses and went to live on Chinese soil. \n\nThat as the Temple was erected by the populace, Your Honour's humble petitioners venture to think that it should be managed by the voice of the populace..", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206939, "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": 10, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "4\n\nTerritories\", talked to us in December on Chinese ancestor worship, particularly at the clan or lineage level. Dr. Baker, who is a lecturer at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, carried out his first field work in Hong Kong, in Sheung Shui in the New Territories, and later published a book about the social organization of the area.\n\nMr. Ian Diamond, formerly of Fiji, and Hong Kong's first Government Archivist heading the new Public Records Office, talked in January about Hong Kong's records and the organization and purpose of such an institution. His talk will be published in our Journal, as will also that of Mr. Lethbridge.\n\nMr. Diamond's talk was preceded by an Extraordinary Meeting of the Society to consider amendments to numbers 10 and 11 of our rules. A reprint of the rules is necessary and this provided us with an opportunity to bring them up to date. Formerly Council members had been eligible for election for two years (although in practice we have held annual elections), and no arrangements had existed for enabling the Society to continue using the services of past Presidents. The new rules provide for a one-year period of office for members of Council, including office-bearers, and for past Presidents to stay on the Council as ex officio members. Voting was nineteen in favour, none against, and one abstention, and the new rules were therefore passed.\n\nThree additional talks have also taken place within this new year. One was given by Mrs. Helga Berger (Ms Helga Werle) of the Hong Kong Arts Centre, an enthusiastic member of our Society and an expert on Chinese folk arts. She talked on the subject of Chinese puppets: their history, religious functions, uses for entertainment, and how they are made. She brought along specimens of glove and stick puppets as used in Kwangtung and Fukien, and additionally some puppeteers who demonstrated their methods of manipulation. This talk preceded the Hong Kong Arts Festival at which puppet performances were held, and greatly added to our appreciation of these performances. Dr. Michael Colbourne, Reader in Tropical Hygiene and seconded from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene to the University of Hong Kong, also talked to the Society. His topic was a research project for the study of health of squatters settled in high-rise flats in Singapore, with which he was connected. He also looked generally at problems", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206944, "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": 15, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "1972 \n\nHKS \n\n$17,915 \n\n$ 8,050.00 \n\n2,733.74 \n\n3,786.50 \n\nTTI \n\n994.00 \n\nSundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, \n\n4,899 \n\nPostage, Lecture Expenses, etc.) Entrance Fee to Hong Kong Arts \n\nCentre Balance, being surplus of Income over Expenditure transferred to Accumulated Funds \n\n4,940.83 \n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY \n\nHONG KONG BRANCH \n\nINCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1973 \n\nJournal and other Publication \n\nExpenses \n\n+++ \n\nActivity Expenses (Annual General \n\nMeeting Dinner, Symposium and Outings) Purchase of Books \n\n... \n\n--- \n\n+++ \n\n++ - \n\n2,776 Receipts from Members for activities \n\nThailand Trip \n\nLess Expenditure \n\n1972 $ 1,350 \n\nLife Memberships \n\n+++ \n\n+ \n\nHK$ $ 1,628.50 \n\n4,355 \n\n11,192 Annual Membership 1973 \n\n210 Annual Membership 1974 paid in 1973 \n\nSale of Publications \n\n+ \n\n10,953.96 \n\n150.00 \n\n4,126.05 \n\n3,066.00 \n\nIncome Received \n\n+ \n\n$33,050.00 \n\n28,970.70 \n\n4,079.30 \n\n+++ \n\n7,200.00 \n\n1,114 \n\nBank Interest Received \n\n4 \n\n+ \n\n2,007.08 \n\n2,874 \n\nDividends Received \n\n1 TT \n\n-IT \n\n... \n\n4,273.84 \n\n200 \n\nSundry Receipts \n\n200.00 \n\n+++ \n\nILL \n\nILL \n\n5,513.40 \n\n1,550 \n\nBalance, being deficit of Expenditure over Income transferred to Accumulated Funds \n\nTI \n\n$25,621 \n\n$30,484.73 \n\n$25,621 \n\n$30,484.73 \n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE \n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH \n\nWe have examined the above Balance Sheet with the books and have obtained all the information and explanations we required for the purpose of our audit. \n\nIn our opinion, the said Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the Society's affairs as at 31st December, 1973, according to the best of our information and explanations given to us and as shown in the books of the Society. \n\nHong Kong, 1st March, 1974. \n\nWong, Tan & Co., \n\nHon. Auditors, Chartered Accountants. Certified Public Accountants. \n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207252, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 20, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1974\n\n \n 1973\n HK$\n \n 1974\n HK$\n \n \n $ 1,629\n Life Memberships\n \n $ 1,995.87\n \n \n \n $ 8,050\n Journal and other Publication\n \n $ 9,619.00\n \n \n \n \n Expenses\n \n 3,787\n \n \n \n \n Activity Expenses (Annual General Meeting Dinner, Symposium and Outings)\n \n 10,954\n \n \n \n \n Annual Membership 1974\n \n 14,230.84\n \n \n \n \n \n \n 4,990.60\n \n \n \n \n Annual Membership 1975 paid in 1974\n \n 150\n 4,126\n \n \n \n Sale of Publications\n \n \n 1,400.09\n \n \n \n \n \n 994\n \n \n \n \n Purchase of Books\n \n 3,066\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 3,882.00\n \n \n \n Sundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, Advertising, Lecture Expenses, etc.)\n \n 4,941\n \n \n \n \n Entrance Fee to Hong Kong Arts Centre\n \n 7,200\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 8,331.52\n \n \n \n Thailand Trip\n \n 4,079\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2,007\n Bank Interest Received\n \n \n \n \n \n 5,513\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 4,230.17\n \n \n \n \n \n \n 4,274\n \n \n \n \n Dividends Received\n \n \n 4,612.22\n \n \n \n \n \n 200\n \n \n \n \n Sundry Receipts\n \n \n 200.00\n \n \n $30,485\n \n \n \n $30,581.19\n \n \n \n Balance, being Surplus of Income over Expenditure transferred to Accumulated Funds\n \n $30,485\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $30,581.19\n \n\nD. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer.\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nWe have examined the above Balance Sheet with the books and have obtained all the information and explanations we required for the purposes of our audit.\n\nIn our opinion, the said Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the Society's affairs as at 31st December, 1974, according to the best of our information and explanations given to us and as shown in the books of the Society.\n\nHong Kong, 22nd March, 1975.\n\nWong, Tan & Co., Hon. Auditors. Chartered Accountants. Certified Public Accountants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207632, "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": 20, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "5th\n\nbeen covered before many of the older buildings of interest were pulled down. In addition, expeditions were made to other areas to photograph buildings of particular interest which were soon to be demolished. The photographs taken so far have been sorted and catalogued largely by Mrs. J. Edmunds, for whose assistance in this work the Council is very grateful.\n\nThe exhibition of photographs mounted at the last Annual General Meeting was afterwards shown at the British Council and again at the Library of the University of Hong Kong, where it attracted considerable public interest. Encouraged by this, the Council has been considering the publication of a volume of photographs selected from those taken in the course of the Survey so far, for sale to members and the public. It has been proposed that the publication should illustrate the history and character of the district both by photographs and in text. If successful, the volume might form the first of a series.\n\nParticipation of members of the Society in this work of the Survey, either as photographers or cataloguers, would be very welcome, and anybody who is interested should contact the Secretary, Mr. Ian Diamond—why not tonight?\n\nAcknowledgements\n\nIn closing, I would like to acknowledge with many thanks the voluntary help we have received from sources outside the Council. Mrs. Edmunds with the Photographic Survey, Michael Smithies with overseas visits, Mr. Westcott of the British Council for his continuing help with some of our office problems, Mr. Tao Ho for organizing our last symposium, our auditors, Messrs Wong, Tan & Co., and finally, Sir Lindsay Ride, who as a member of the Hong Kong Club has continued to act as our sponsor for booking accommodation for lectures, this meeting, and for the dinner to which we will soon thankfully proceed.\n\nApril, 1976.\n\nMARJORIE TOPLEY", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207636, "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": 24, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "1974 $9,619 Expenses 4,991 Secretarial Assistance\n\nHK$ INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1975\n\n1974 8,331 Journal and other Publication\n\nActivity Expenses (Annual General Meeting, Dinner, Symposium and Outings)\n\nPurchase of Typewriter Photo Survey Expenses Sundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, Advertising, Lecture Expenses etc.) Annual Subscription to Hong Kong Arts Centre $1,996 Life Memberships\n\nHK$ $11,088.75 + 14,261 Annual Memberships 18,135.44 1,400 Sale of Publications 5,496.00 6,223.97 6,420.00 3,882 Receipts from Members for Activities 5,130.00 1,200.00 677.75 4,230 Bank Interest Received 4,188.39 4,612 Dividends Received 7,767.18 ... 4,195.71 200 Sundry Receipts 200.00\n\n$30,464.00 + 7,640 $30,581 Balance, being Surplus of Income over Expenditure transferred to Accumulated Funds\n\n$30,581 6,862.67 $56,024.93 $56,024.93\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nWe have examined the above Balance Sheet with the books and have obtained all the information and explanations we required for the purposes of our audit.\n\nIn our opinion, the said Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the Society's affairs as at 31st December 1975, according to the best of our information and explanations given to us and as shown by the books of the Society.\n\nHong Kong, 19th March, 1976.\n\nWONG, TAN & Co., Hon. Auditors, Chartered Accountants, Certified Public Accountants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207828, "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": 216, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 201\n\nthe Man and their allies rallied local support to form a new market on the other side of what in British times has come to be known as the Kwun Yam River. This was the beginning of the market town of Tai Po in its present form. (The story up to this point is told by Sung Hok-p'ang, 'Legends and Stories of the New Territories. I. Tai Po', The Hong Kong Naturalist, vol. VI, no. 1, May 1935. The stone slab recording the magistrate's decision no longer stands in the temple; when the temple was recently rebuilt the stone was cast into the yard where it now lies, often encumbered with rubbish, a neglected minor monument of late Ch'ing history).\n\n19. The new market in a short time consigned the old one to a decrepitude familiar to anyone who has walked behind the Jockey Club Clinic which now stands next to the Tin Hau Temple. Soon the founder of the new market put up the first of the bridges to span the Kwun Yam River; the subscription list for the bridge is recorded on two stone plaques set into the wall of the Man Mo Temple which had been built as a centre for the new market. A room in the temple still houses the public weighing scales from which the founders and their successors have derived an income.\n\n20. The story goes that the Man who led the revolt against the Tang monopoly called a meeting of the leaders of seven yeuk around Tai Po, each of these taking a share in the new market in the form of shops. The land on which the market was built appears to have been for the most part the property of the Man. Now it is probable that the Ts'at Yeuk dates from this point in time. My informants take this view. And there is one piece of information which tends to confirm it: one of the constituent yeuk is Cheung Shue Tan which, according to what I was told in Sha Tin, was previously a member of a yeuk-complex in this latter area; so that it may well have changed its allegiance at the time of the founding of the new market at Tai Po. But even if the Ts'at Yeuk came into being so recently, the yeuk themselves can hardly have done so for they appear to have been the material out of which the complex was formed. Many locals assert that the yeuk did not antedate the Ts'at Yeuk, but I am inclined to think that we are dealing here with a very old form of grouping, as comparative evidence will suggest. The seven yeuk were Lam Tsuen, Cheung Shue Tan, Ting Kok, Shuen Wan, Hap Wo, Tai Hang, and Fan Leng. Together they had over seventy villages, but the yeuk were of unequal size, so that while, for example, the Man settlement at Tai Hang formed a yeuk", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207896, "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": 284, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n269 \n\nthe overlapping of Committee members for the two institutions. By 1908 eight such schools attached to temples were managed by the Hospital Committee. When in that year the Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council vesting the property of the Man Mo Temple in the Tung Wah Hospital, the schools became a legally recognized part of the Hospital's activity and responsibility. \n\nAfter the establishment of Kwong Wah Hospital it likewise assumed charge of the school attached to the Tin Hau Temple on the Public Square at Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. \n\nAll of these schools were free schools for the poor. They provided a traditional Chinese basic primary education. With the gradual introduction of modern educational methods and text books into China, the schools operated by Tung Wah also changed, and eventually middle school education was offered. Tung Wah's contribution to education merits detailed study since it will shed useful light on the general history of education in Hong Kong. \n\nReligious aspects of Tung Wah \n\nFrom its foundation Tung Wah explicitly stated that it was not a religious institution, but on the other hand it had its religious aspect. This is in keeping with the fact that most areas of Chinese life are reinforced by some kind of transcendent authority. Or as it is expressed in the General Rules of the Hospital, \"Chinese in their custom generally respect spirits\". The Rules then proceed to state that patients expect the protection of spirits, and that hospital servants are made dutiful through fear of the spirits. \n\nMost trade and business guilds have a patron deity. As a medical institution Tung Wah gave place of honour to the patron of medicine. To honour him the Regulations of the Hospital contained the following provision: \n\n+ \n\nNo image \n\nAll members of all ranks in the Hospital shall be present in the Grand Hall between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on the 1st and 15th day of each month to worship the Patron Saint (Shen Nung), so as to show that they are pure, upright and honest. An image of him will be kept, and we shall only write and post up his title to show that we respect him as if he were there.* The meeting Hall of the Hospital was built along the traditional lines of a Chinese Temple, as witness the building we are visiting today. There was a central hall containing an altar table with \n\n* One Hundred Years of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals 1870-1970, Vol. 1, p.12, Rules 11 and 12.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207902, "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": 290, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n275 \n\n(Lethbridge, 1971, p. 147). It was only when a \"respectable\" class of rich Chinese merchants and compradores emerged that a group existed which the colonial authorities could properly recognize as speaking for the Chinese community. The Chinese account states that the two patrons of the Temple \"judge the people (there) in public assembly\". In 1851 a proper Temple Committee was elected. It met at the Kung Soh (Public Meeting Hall), attached to the Temple, where all cases of public interest were decided. This judicial function by a self-organized Chinese institution is confirmed by the British Magistrates sending complainants to the Temple authorities for their arbitration of the disputes. For instance, in 1870 a case is mentioned in which the Kai-fong had imposed a fine upon a coolie for breaking a pane of glass.\n\nA year after the opening of Tung Wah Hospital the judicial proceedings formerly held at the Kung Soh of the Temple were moved to the Hall of the Hospital. This is reported in an editorial comment in the Daily Press (Jan. 2, 1873):\n\nThe old Joss House Court the Kung Soh in the Hollywood Road has, we hear, been given up in favour of another building not far off, and it seems that there a vast number of disputes are settled, and that it is an understood rule that matters should be brought to the cognizance of the proper authorities only if they cannot be arranged in this manner. We understand the committee of the Chinese Hospital is the same body of men who head the Kaifong, and that they discuss municipal and semi-political matters in the hall of the Hospital.\n\nInasmuch as the two committees apparently overlapped and as the Hall of the new Hospital was more spacious and imposing than the Kung Soh, the transfer in Chinese eyes would seem appropriate. On a visit of the Governor to the Hall he remarked that it was a much better meeting place than the Council Chambers of the Hong Kong Government. Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop) the famous Victorian lady traveller who visited Hong Kong in 1879, describes the building:\n\nThe hall 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\n* Photocopy of original manuscript letter in possession of John Murray, publishers, London.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207904, "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": 292, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n277\n\nIn the face of criticism one of the items discussed at a public meeting held at Tung Wah in 1875 was the question was it \"advisable to have a Kung Soh or Town Hall built so as to separate the functions of the Committee from that of the General Community in order to avoid further criticism\". There was no consensus of agreement on this question at this meeting. Two years earlier the Registrar General had asked the Committee to select two men from each District of Hong Kong to serve as Headmen of the District Watchmen. The Committee had demurred stating that they would like to see a separation of their duties as the Committee of the Hospital and the leaders of the Kai-fong. The Governor agreed that it would be desirable for such a separation -- the occasion was the introduction of the new Hospital Committee to the Governor in July, 1873. So the relation between the Hospital Committee and the Kai-fong leaders had been under discussion for some time, but no definite action was taken. One of the factors seemed to be that for the Kai-fong to function adequately as a separate body from the Tung Wah Committee it needed a proper meeting hall.\n\nAt the time of the discussion concerning separation of the two groups in 1875, a petition was submitted to the Government for the grant of a site at Possession Point on which the Chinese community might build such a Meeting Hall. When the 1876 Committee called on the Governor as was the custom shortly after its election, he said the matter was under consideration. The Chairman of the founding Committee, Mr. Leong On said that they had been obliged to resort to the Hospital as a place of meeting. This had given rise to adverse criticism in the foreign newspaper and they wished to have a meeting house in order to avoid future complaint. However, though the matter was \"under consideration\" by the Government nothing resulted.\n\nAs we have noted one newspaper editor almost from the foundation of the Hospital had grave doubts about the role the Tung Wah Hospital Committee would play as a representative of the Chinese community and its relation to the colonial administration. These misgivings on the part of a segment of the foreign community were not abated by the course of events. An ever growing outcry against the quasi-political activities of the Hospital Committee appeared in the editorials and the correspondence columns of Hong Kong newspapers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207905, "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": 293, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "278\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThis mounting criticism did not escape the notice of the Chinese community. A public meeting was held at their Hall in November, 1875 to discuss allegations against the Hospital occasioned by the Committee's interest and concern regarding a plan by the Dutch Government to recruit labour for Sumatra.\n\nThe Editor of the China Mail had pointed out that there was \"a vast difference between a reasonable recognition of native merchants and permitting them to interfere with and almost override the action of duly qualified officials\". It was charged that the Governors in their relations to the Committee had failed to preserve the proper reserve toward representatives of the Chinese community which had led them \"to regard itself (the Committee) as fully competent to regulate all affairs of Church and State\". In receiving deputations from the Committee and in consulting them directly for advice, the Governor was by-passing the channels previously created for communication between officialdom and the Chinese community, namely the Registrar General or Protector of the Chinese. The result was that there had arisen an imperium in imperio which threatened the whole structure of colonial administration in Hong Kong.\n\nThe meeting of the Chinese to consider these criticisms was attended by some 300. Eight propositions were presented for discussion and decision. The particularly relevant ones were:\n\n(2) Should the Hospital Committee in the future participate in anything which affected the interest of the Chinese Community at large.\n\n(3) Whether the Committee should cooperate with Government in suppression of gambling, kidnapping and transmission of women abroad for immoral purposes.\n\n(4) Had the Committee usurped the authority of local officials.\n\n(5) Was the Hospital a guild detrimental to the interest of the Community.\n\nThe decision was \"yes\" to the first two and \"No\" to the last two. (China Mail, Nov. 13 and 15, 1875).\n\nSuggestions had been made in the press in 1873 in discussing the hiring of detectives by the Hospital Committee to assist in detecting kidnappers that, rather than have a body such as the Tung Wah in charge of such matters, \"it would probably be wiser to give the Chinese a recognized status in regard to local Government, by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207986, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1975\n\n1974 $ 9,619 Expenses 4,991 Journal and other Publication Activity Expenses (Annual General Meeting, Dinner, Symposium and Outings) Secretarial Assistance Purchase of Typewriter 8,331 7,640 $30,581 HK$\n\n1974 $1,996 Life Memberships $30,464.00 14,261 Annual Memberships 1,400 Sale of Publications 5,496.00 6,420.00 1,200.00 677.75 3,882 Receipts from Members for Activities 4,230 Bank Interest Received 4,612 Dividends Received 7,767.18 200 Sundry Receipts HKS $11,088.75 18,135.44 ... 6,223.97 5,130.00 4,188.39 4,195.71 200.00 4,000.00 Balance, being Deficit of Expenditure over Income transferred to Accumulated Funds 6,862.67 $56,024.93 $30,581 $56,024.93 Photo Survey Expenses Sundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, Advertising, Lecture Expenses etc.) Annual Subscription to Hong Kong Arts Centre Balance, being Surplus of Income over Expenditure transferred to Accumulated Funds\n\nD. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer.\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nWe have examined the above Balance Sheet with the books and have obtained all the information and explanations we required for the purposes of our audit.\n\nIn our opinion, the said Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the Society's affairs as at 31st December 1975, according to the best of our information and explanations given to us and as shown by the books of the Society.\n\nHong Kong, 19th March, 1976.\n\nWONG, TAN & Co., Hon. Auditors, Chartered Accountants, Certified Public Accountants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208112, "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": 151, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "CHEUNG CHOW - LONG ISLAND\n\n135\n\nburned or sunbaked. There are many mean huts of wood and wattle, and except in the main street where the Public Works Department of Hong Kong has insisted on drainage and paving, the streets are full of wallows, and the wallows full of pigs. As often as not the sleeping pig is being carefully searched by a fowl or so.\n\nOf the foreign buildings the most conspicuous are the Meeting Hall of the European residents situated in the midst of their rather scattered bungalows, and in the village, the red brick Police Station and the new School. All through Hong Kong the territory the Police Stations occupy the strategic positions, looking like a strange modern variant of the frowning castle which overhangs so many ancient settlements in Europe. And the analogy is not far-fetched, for there are raiding kidnappers and pirates to be repulsed, and Cheung Chow Police Station has itself been besieged, and successfully too, by pirates. The present building is surrounded by barbed wire, and garrisoned by Sikh police, and could stand siege long enough to enable it to summon a swift and powerful police launch by wireless from Hong Kong. The new school was opened only last year, and while the Police Station holds itself aloof on the ridge just outside the village, the school nestles more intimately among the good people, some of whose children pursue learning within those cheerful walls.\n\nThe Europeans are the Highlanders of Cheung Chow. Like the Hebrews in Canaan, they leave the plains to the original inhabitants and occupy patches of the bare hills. The Chinese use these little hills only to pasture a few tiny cattle, to supply fuel, and to afford a last resting place for their dead. Among the grass and the graves the missionaries have built small stone huts in the strangest of styles. Some are reminiscent of little Bethels and Bethesdas which drew their original inspiration from the stone barns where sectaries used to meet. Others are refuges among the great clusters of rocks, to which and between which they cling and clamber like the nests of some strange and gigantic insect. Amongst these there are some half-dozen more comfortable bungalows of permanent residents. All these Europeans live in amity with one another. There are British, Americans, and now and then some Germans. They elect a little committee and officers for their Association to deal with the Colonial Government, and with the Kaifong which governs the village. A tiny fund is expended with admirable results.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208303, "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-1978", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 1977\n\n1976 HKS $16,353 Expenses ... 2,244 Journal and other Publication Activity Expenses (Annual General Meeting, Dinner, Symposium and Outings) ... $19,200.00\n\n1976 $ 2,064 17,365 8,863 HK$ Life Memberships (Note 1 on p. 10) $ 3,450.00 Annual Memberships (Note 1) 17,588.19 Sales of Publications 5,720.15 2,232 Receipts from Members for Activities 2,850.00\n\n7,200 Secretarial Assistance 3,269.50 7,200.00 3,374 Bank Interest Received 2,842.78 4,577 Dividends Received 2,746 Office Equipment 200 Sundry Receipts 5,230.46 225.00 1,253 Purchase of Books 500.00\n\n7,241 4,600 Sundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, Advertising, Lecture Expenses, etc.) 6,345.20 2,962 Annual Subscription to Hong Kong Arts Centre Balance, being Deficit of Expenditure over Income transferred to Accumulated Funds 2,808.12 4,000.00\n\n$41,637 $40,714.70 $41,637 $40,714.70\n\nD. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer.\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nIn our opinion, the above Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and fair view of the Society's affairs at 31st December 1977 and of its income and expenditure for the year ended on that date.\n\nWONG, TAN & Co., Hon. Auditors, Chartered Accountants, Certified Public Accountants. Hong Kong 8th March 1978.\n\n11", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208381, "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-1978", "page_number": 105, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "POLITICIZATION OF CHINESE CRAFT ORGANIZATION\n\n89\n\ngratification, in which workers are asked to temper their revolutionary fervor in deference to the policy commitments and requirements of the Peking government, whose immediate goals do not always coincide neatly with Hong Kong workers' needs.\n\nDuring my stay in Hong Kong* a group of women wig workers walked off their jobs for higher wages and were determined to see their demands met. As the strike dragged on, the Federation of Trade Unions counseled compromise, but the women would have none of it. Nor would they be put off by calls to a greater patriotism. They wanted theirs on the spot, and while the wig industry very soon shut down due to a collapse in the international market, the incident does show how the Federation of Trade Unions sometimes ends up with egg on its face in attempting to adapt the Maoist line to local Hong Kong conditions.\n\nI believe, however, that the Federation's control over its constituent unions tends to be somewhat tighter than in the above case, although it is virtually impossible to ascertain just how much so. It is probable that when an affiliated union decides to make a wage demand, it must be cleared with the Federation; which means the demand is evaluated not only in terms of the workers' immediate needs, such as coping with a rising cost of living, but also in terms of the effects any increase might have on the political situation vis-à-vis the British and vis-à-vis the Peking government and its relations with the British. In the art carved furniture industry these effects are not likely to be as great as they might be in textiles, plastics or electronics which are the mainstays of Hong Kong's prosperity, or in public utilities; but still, all in all, one gets the impression that unions like the Woodwork Carvers' Union must toe the line in their plans for industrial action.\n\nThis is not to say that the union is totally paralyzed by or gets no benefit from its affiliation with the Federation. It is a willing partner. During strikes, the Federation comes to the union's aid with strike pay, food, meeting space and resources, the likes of which a small union like the Woodwork Carvers' Union could probably never muster on its own. In addition, the Federation encourages a unity and camaraderie with workers in other affiliated unions that promotes class consciousness among the workers and\n\n* A reference to Dr. Cooper's post-graduate work here in 1972-73.\n\nPage 105\n\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208568, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "XV\n\nINCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER, 1978\n\n \n HK$\n 1977\n HK$\n \n \n $15,300.00\n $ 3,450 Life Memberships (Note 1)\n 17,588 Annual Memberships (Note 1)\n \n \n 5,720\n Sales of Publications\n +++\n \n \n $ 1,040.00\n 19,313.92\n 6,458.38\n \n \n +++\n +++\n +\n \n \n 2,920.00\n 6,600.00\n 1,064.15\n \n \n 2,850\n Receipts from Members for Activities\n 2,843 Bank Interest Received\n \n \n 5,231\n Dividends Received\n 2,400.00\n \n \n ...\n 1,602.34\n +++\n \n \n 5,795.89\n 225 Sundry Receipts\n 403.03\n \n \n +++\n 762.00\n Tours-Amount received\n \n \n 1977\n $19,200\n 3,270\n \n \n Journal and other Publication Expenses\n **\n \n \n \n Activity Expenses (Annual General Meeting, Dinner, Symposium and Outings)\n 7,200\n Secretarial Assistance\n \n \n Office Equipment\n H\n 500 Purchase of Books\n \n \n +++\n Sundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, Postage, Stamp Duty, Telephone, etc.)\n 6,545\n \n \n 9,253.60\n 4,000\n Annual Subscription to Hong Kong Arts Centre\n \n \n 4,060.00\n Rent for Library in Hong Kong Arts Centre\n HI\n \n \n $40,715\n 3,420.00\n $43,379.75\n \n \n 2,808\n $40,715\n from Members $103,700\n \n \n **\n Amount paid out 103,700\n \n \n \n Balance, being Deficit of Expenditure over Income transferred to Accumulated Funds\n +++\n 6,366.19\n \n \n $43,379.75\n \n \n \n\nD. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer.\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nIn our opinion, the above Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and fair view of the Society's affairs at 31st December 1978 and of its income and expenditure for the year ended on that date.\n\nWong, Tan & Co., Hon. Auditors, Chartered Accountants, Certified Public Accountants, Hong Kong.\n\n22nd March, 1979.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208589, "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": 46, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE U.S. AND THE QUESTION OF HONG KONG 1941-45\n\n19\n\nK'ai-shek's Visit to India, February 1942\", The Australian Journal of History and Political Science, XXI, no. 2 (1975), pp. 52-61, in which the American attitude is discussed.\n\n40 Memorandum by Hopkins, 15 March 1943, in FRUS, the British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, 1943, III, p. 17.\n\n41 Sherwood, op. cit., p. 719, and H. C. Allen, Great Britain and the United States (London, 1954), p. 828.\n\n42 For a summary of the allied military situation at the end of 1943, see J. M. Burns, Roosevelt: the Lion and the Fox (New York, 1956), p. 464. **Hornbeck to Ashley Clarke, 16 December 1943(?), in Hornbeck Papers, box 469.\n\n44 Hornbeck's autobiography, op. cit.\n\n46 Hornbeck's memorandum, 15 November, on his conversation with Churchill, Hornbeck Papers, box 468.\n\n10\n\n16 Hornbeck to Hull, 3 January 1944; also see Hornbeck's memorandum, 3 December 1943, Hornbeck Papers, box 181.\n\n47 C. Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (New York, 1948), II, p. 1599, 4 Hornbeck's autobiography, op. cit., and J. Bishop, FDR's Last Year (New York, 1974), p. 40.\n\n**E. Roosevelt, As He Saw It (New York, 1946), pp. 163-4, 203-4, 249-50; J. T. Flynn, The Roosevelt Myth (New York, 1948), p. 349; Hull, op. cit., II, p. 1596; and T. H. White (ed.), The Stilwell Papers (New York, 1976), p. 252. Stilwell was summoned to the conference to discuss China.\n\n50 See SWNCC III, secret, 17 April 1945, in ABC 014 Japan (13 April 44) see 32, National Archives.\n\n01 See minutes of the meeting in FRUS, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945 (Washington, 1955), p. 769. Also F. L. Loewenheim (ed.), Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence (New York, 1975), p. 656.\n\n52 FRUS, ibid., pp. 664-5, 676.\n\n53\n\n58 Thorne, op. cit., p. 549.\n\n54 Tung, op. cit., p. 61.\n\n55 Bishop, op. cit., p. 95.\n\n56 Division of Public Liaison and Office of Public Information, Department of State, \"Fortnightly Survey of American Opinion on International Affairs\", Survey no. 13, confidential, 18 October, Survey no. 14, confidential, 6 November, and Survey no. 15, confidential, 20 November 1944.\n\n57 Examples of these booklets are: \"The British Commonwealth and Empire\" (May 1944), and \"Britain and Japan\" (June 1944).\n\n**See paragraph six of the Chapter of the Combined Civil Affairs Committee at Washington, FO371/46251.\n\n**SWNCC 111, 17 April 1945, op. cit.\n\nSWNCC 111, 17 April 1945, ibid.\n\n61 SWNCC 111/2, top secret, 14 June 1945, in ABC 014 Japan (13 April 44) see 32.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208658, "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": 115, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "88\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nsoya bean supply in the Colony is exhausted or it is being diverted to other uses. It can hardly be exhausted, as the British Government must have put in an immense supply. American communal meeting, at which people either stand or sit on the floor, as we have no chairs. Roll call at twelve noon in each Block, to be repeated every 48 hours.\n\n19 Feast of St. Joseph. Benediction at Maryknoll Sisters' Chapel. Good supper tonight—hamburg steak, soya beans, vegetable, rice and one slice of bread. From now on we are allowed only one electric light in each room, and no fans allowed.\n\n20—No soup at noon today, because we have no salt in the Camp kitchen. EXTRA! SENSATIONAL ESCAPE! The whole Camp was electrified this morning by the whispered report that at least five, possibly eleven, internees, have escaped. As reprisals, we are to have a roll call twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., with all lights out at 11, and there are to be Japanese gendarmes on duty throughout the Camp. Our own American patrol is automatically dismissed. No public gatherings allowed. There is to be no diminution of our food rations, however. We understand that when some of the interned soldiers escaped recently from the Shumshuipo Camp, the rest of the internees were put on a diet of rice and water for a week. Brother Anthony ill again. No cigarettes as yet, and the brethren are resorting to all sorts of concoctions, made of pine needles, ginger and other leaves, for tobacco. Internees are seen walking around with their eyes glued to the ground, looking for cast-off cigarettes. How low have the mighty fallen!\n\n21—Latest official instructions: all typewriters and flashlights to be turned in to the authorities; also, we are not allowed to stand on our verandahs or on any eminence overlooking the Prison and look down on the superior beings quartered there, nor may we look on groups drilling. With the ban on public meetings, our proposed American spelling bee has been cancelled. Father Vincent Walsh improved and no operation seems necessary. The new regime on \"The Hill\" brings no relief or betterment in our food situation, though today we each got one duck egg and a slice of bread.\n\n22—Sunday. As usual, with the Bishop and Father Norris preaching. Father Benson has not been well for some time and today goes to the Tweed Bay Hospital, with diabetes and rather...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208789, "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": 246, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n219 \n\ngressed gradually. More than 140 cases of disputes between customers and our members were settled through the mediation of our Association. \n\nAt the beginning of the Summer season in 1950, a former senior British colonial official who had served in Africa and at the Colonial Office and his wife visited Hong Kong. On 12 May 1950, he paid a visit to our Association and had asked many searching questions about the history and organisation of our Association and also about the business conditions of our member firms. Extremely satisfied with our answers, he stated that after returning home, he would collate materials and write a book on this topic, so as to promote trade between China and the United Kingdom.* \n\nIn 1941, our Association had a membership of only 19 firms, which number was later increased to 23. On the liberation of Hong Kong in 1945, there were 32 members but in the following year, the number was increased to 37. In 1947, there were 41 members. In 1948, our Association launched a membership drive. By 1949, the number was increased to 80 and afterwards many joined our Association as members. By 1951, our Association had a membership of 102. In spite of the business slump in recent years, our Association still has a membership of 97 at present. \n\nConstruction of a new Association Building \n\nThe old Association Building was built in the 8th year of the reign of Tung Ch'ih (1868). In 1947, it was proposed by Mr. Yung Sai-fong, then Chairman of our Association, that the building should be demolished for reconstruction as it was in danger of collapse on account of its age. The motion was carried at a General Meeting. \n\nShortly afterwards, a notice was received from the Secretary for Chinese Affairs to the effect that Government proposed to resume and put up at public auction the Crown lot on which our Association building stood, and that our Association was to bid for it at the auction. In response, our Association requested Government to grant the lot to us for redevelopment. In 1947, our Association received a reply from the Colonial Office via the Secretary for Chinese Affairs stating that approval had been given for our Association to purchase the lot at a price of $100 per square foot. \n\nreference to Mr. Harold Ingrams, though the date seems wrong as the Ingrams left Hong Kong on 8th May. See Hong Kong (London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1952) pp.1,7 and 147.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208790, "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": 247, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "220\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nIn 1949, the Public Works Department asked our Association to sign a purchase agreement. As the clauses contained therein were not satisfactory to us, and because of the high compensation claimed by the ground floor tenants and lack of funds to meet the construction cost, the reconstruction proposal was temporarily shelved.\n\nMr. Tong Ping-tat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of our Association for several terms, requested Government to have the clauses in the said purchase agreement amended, and bargained with the tenants on the question of compensation. It was not until 1952, that our Association signed the deed of purchase with Government.\n\nIn 1953, Mr. Leung Chan-fai took over the Chairmanship of the Association. In June, our Association building was demolished. Simultaneously, he raised over $50,000 from our members, boosting the total amount of funds raised to nearly $130,000. The construction work was undertaken by Wing Lee Construction Company and a new four-storey building was finally completed in early Spring, 1954.\n\nThe past and the future\n\nThe Nam Pak Hong Association was founded over eighty years ago through the strenuous efforts of our capable predecessors. It is to be regretted that not all their names can be traced with the lapse of time. Just after the founding of the Association, only a few firms in Bonham Strand West and Wing Lok Street joined as members. They upheld justice and advocated business ethics but remained conservative. Whenever a meeting was held, there was no ceremony or procedure to follow. Those who looked after the affairs of the Association were called Directors. They took charge of the Association's affairs for a period of one month by turns. Apart from this, a resident Manager was elected to give assistance. On the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Directors would assemble in the premises of the Association to exchange greetings, which started the custom of exchanging greetings collectively at the Chinese New Year, which prevails to-date.\n\nAs related above, the ground floor of the Association building housed a Watchmen's Centre as well as a fire-fighting \"water-vehicle\", while the first floor was used as an assembly hall. In the centre of the hall were hung a pair of scrolls and a picture of Kwan Kung, above which was placed in 1946 a large painted portrait of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208865, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST December, 1979\n\n1978 1978\n\nH.K. Currency H.K. Currency\n\n$ 15,300 Journal and other Publications $ 15,380.00\n\nActivity Expenses (Annual General Meeting, Dinner, Symposium and $ 1,040 Life Memberships 500.00\n\n19,314 Annual Memberships 19,130.96\n\n6,458 Sales of Publications 2,920.00\n\nOutings) 5,486.00 8,799.85\n\n++ ---\n\n6,600 Secretarial Assistance 6,000.00\n\n2,400 Receipts from Members for Activities 5,550.00\n\n1,064 Office Equipment 1,603.00\n\nBank Interest Received 2,251.40\n\n762 Purchase of Books 1,861.95\n\n5,796 Dividends Received 8,490.19\n\nLLI JL\n\nSundry Expenses (Printing, Stationery, 403 Sundry Receipts 536.80\n\nLLL 9,254 Postage, etc.) 7,017.70\n\nTours: Amount received 4,060 Annual Subscription to Hong Kong Arts Centre 4,060.00\n\n3,420 Rent for Library in Hong Kong Arts Centre 3,000.00\n\nfrom members Amount paid out $217,693.00 217,693.00\n\n--- (6,366)\n\nBalance, being surplus of Income over Expenditure transferred to Accumulated Funds ++ 2,453.55\n\n$ 37,014 $ 45,259.20\n\n$ 37,014 $ 45,259.20\n\nREPORT OF THE HON. AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nIn our opinion, the above Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and fair view of the Society's affairs at 31st December, 1979 and of its income and expenditure for the year ended on that date.\n\n17th March, 1980.\n\nKWAN WONG TAN & FONG\n\nHon. Auditors.\n\nChartered Accountants, Certified Public Accountants, Hong Kong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209001, "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": 163, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n131\n\nThe Chinese are both adept at make-believe and at the same time very practical—in a way that confuses some Westerners. This flexibility also creates problems for the government of Teng Hsiao-p'ing. I have heard these problems talked about inside China and outside China. The most serious problem is that mid-level cadres report to Peking only what they think will please the orthocrats there. Therefore mid-level cadres conceal from their superiors the fact that a target has not been met. They do not want to be criticized for not meeting targets—and perhaps lose some of their perks.\n\nIn Peking the perquisites of cadres struck me more than anywhere else. I did not myself see the special schools that their children attend; nor their superior places of residence. What I did see once was a procession of about fifty cars, each with its curtains drawn as if to shield the occupants from curious gazes. I was told that the wife of the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka was visiting Peking. The first of several of the cars in the cavalcade were flying national flags as they went past me on Ch'ang-an Boulevard. Ambassadors rode in them.\n\nAfterwards I was walking back to the Peking Hotel, where I lived not in the western part (built with Russian help), but in the eastern part built in 1975. I happened to look in a gateway on the south side of Ch'ang-an Boulevard. I could hardly believe my eyes. What I think I saw was a white marble statue of Stalin, about ten feet tall. I could not enter the courtyard and inspect the statue more closely because the sign at the gate informed me that this was the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security.\n\nThe Chinese government is now revealing that many of the statistics released in 1958-1976 were erroneous. It is issuing corrections when it can. But it faces limits. For example, how can it state with certainty the approximate population of the world's most populous country? Cadres in distant areas may be reluctant to report that they have failed to carry out the program to stop married couples from having more than three children. Many peasant families still believe that the best old-age insurance is a larger number of children. Where they feel this way and have four or more children, the village cadre may be reluctant to report the fact to the county cadre; and the ascending accumulation of errors may be concealed from Peking. If Peking does not know the population of an area, it cannot plan to take adequate measures in case of drought—like the one in Kansu, for example, in 1979.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209002, "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": 164, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "132 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nIs this mismanagement? It can be called mismanagement by all who are dissatisfied: by ardent Maoists and by the proponents of greater liberalization. Teng Hsiao-p'ing must feel sometimes like a squeezed beancake. He will be criticized by some no matter what he does. \n\nThe reader must be tired of articles that breathlessly give eye-witness accounts of the truth about China. There is no simple truth about China, which is too large and complicated a country. Articles about it often tell more about the observer than the observed; and about those on whom the observer depended for his information. This problem is not unique to China. England is complicated. The United States is more complicated. Russia and China are still more complicated. About Russia it is hard to learn because of the paranoid secrecy emanating from the Kremlin. About China it is hard to learn because of its long history of ups and downs, ins and outs, and the tendency of most Chinese to assume that \"behind the curtain\" much is going on that differs from what is going on in public view... \n\nDuring my whole trip in China I never heard any Chinese bring up Mao Tse-tung. His portrait was still everywhere—though I have heard that it is rarer in Canton. There was a very long line of people waiting to enter his mausoleum in Peking. But no guide—no one at all, in fact—brought up the name of Chairman Mao. I had an interesting experience in Nanking. The local head of the China Travel Service gave our tour-group a banquet in order to make amends for a mix-up about our arrival in his city. At the end of the banquet he proposed a toast to friendship between China and the United States, to future tourism, and so on. Then one of our tour group responded by proposing a toast to Mao Tse-tung. I was watching our host's face. He was at a loss. Then, after a moment's pause, he joined in the toast. If I had been he, I would have responded with a toast to George Washington. \n\nI had very good luck in visiting monasteries and meeting monks when I went to Sian, Loyang, Nanking, Soochow, Shanghai, and Peking. I have described some of what I learned in the Far Eastern Economic Review for August 15, 1980. Let me say here only that my good luck was because China is a free country today in a way that the Soviet Union is not. While my tour group went off in a bus to see the sights, I hired a taxi and visited a monastery. Only on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209211, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 114, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "100 \n\nCARL T SMITH \n\nA resolution was proposed and seconded that the mui tsai system be abolished. The Chairman ruled it out of order as the meeting had been called to consider the advisability of establishing a society for the protection of servant girls. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution to form such a society was passed. It was duly organised as the \"Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai,\" \n\nFormation of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society - September 1921 \n\nThe group that had proposed a resolution for abolition regarded the new society as the vehicle of the elite establishment composed of past and present Directors of Tung Wah Hospital, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Kaifong leaders. The abolition group was made up of members of the churches, the YMCA, the YWCA and labour unions. They believed the Protection Society would advocate palliative measures only and not get at the root of the problem, therefore they were determined to organize another group to be called the Anti Mui Tsai Society. An organization meeting was held in September 1921 and a public manifesto was published a month later under the names of the Society's Provisional Executive Committee. \n\nThis document was divided into sections dealing with (I) the inherent evils of the system, (II) reasons for abolition, (III) the system not being charity, (IV) the futility of reform by persuasion, and (V) tentative proposals to effect abolition. \n\nThe document argued that the basic evil of the system was that the treatment and status of the servant girls were similar to that of slaves. Like slaves 'they were bought with money,... exploited without reserve, not paid for labour and can be resold”. The only difference between a slave and a mui tsai was that a slave served for life and his descendants inherited his status, while the servant girl received her freedom on reaching the usual age for marriage. \n\nAs reasons for its abolition the manifesto declared the system to be injurious to public morality, subversive of righteousness, and injurious to national prestige. On the last point reference was made to the fact that the 1918 Peace Treaty included the International Labour Convention in which the contracting nations agreed to endeavour to secure fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children. \n\nOne of the principal arguments used by those who wished to continue the practice was that it was charity. It benefited a child who", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209214, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 117, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 103\n\nto England had continued the campaign to bring the Hong Kong situation to the attention of the British public. The Haselwoods and other interested people had enlisted the support of the Anti-Slavery and the Aborigine Protection Society, the Industrial Committee of the National Council of Women of Great Britain and Ireland, the Women's Committee of the Fabian Society, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, the League of Nations Union, as well as Members of Parliament.\n\nIn Hong Kong a team of volunteer lecturers had spoken in churches, schools, the YMCA, the YWCA, and labour unions. One of the members had paid for the services of a professional lecturer to address passengers on boats travelling between Hong Kong and Canton.\n\nLiterature was produced both in English and Chinese. All the Parliamentary questions and answers were translated and sent to the Chinese press, along with original articles and correspondence with Members of Parliament, philanthropists and societies abroad. Locally, a literary competition had been held. The winning entry, a ballad, had been published and distributed both in Hong Kong and throughout China. The cost was underwritten by two wealthy contractors, Mr. Li Ping (probably a Roman Catholic) and Mr. Lam Woo (1869–1932) a founding member of St. Paul's Anglican Church and an Executive Committee member of the Society. A magazine of some 400 pages published by the Society contained articles treating the question in various literary forms.\n\nAt the time of the meeting 1,370 members had enrolled in the Society.\n\nOn instructions from the Colonial Office the Governor of Hong Kong issued a proclamation on April 14, 1922 stating:\n\nSlavery is not allowed to exist in the British Empire, and therefore it must be understood that mui tsai are not the property of their employers. Those of them who wish to leave their employers and who have reached the age of discretion must be allowed to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs who will consider their cases.\n\nGirls are warned that they must not leave their present employment until they have some employment to go to for fear they should fall into the hands of procuresses.\n\nMasters and mistresses are specially warned against any attempt", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209219, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "108\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nMr. Chow Shou-son came to the floor again to chide the Protection Society for not being as aggressive in placing its views before the public as had the Anti Mui Tsai Society.\n\nAt the conclusion of the meeting a resolution was passed that the Chamber of Commerce was not in favour of the proposed Bill at its second reading.\n\nIn a letter Mr. M. K. Lo wrote to the Daily Press after the meeting, he expressed dissatisfaction with the tone of the meeting. As one of the persons appointed by the Protection Society with full powers to forge out with the Secretary of Chinese Affairs and representatives of the Anti Mui Tsai Society draft terms to be submitted to Government for the abolition of the system, he felt he had been placed in an invidious position. Now that the majority of the representatives of the Society on the committee had signed the agreement, the meeting of the Chamber with nearly all the members of the Protection Society present had passed a resolution that the system should continue. They should have been fully aware of this position when he was appointed to the committee for he had clearly stated it in a letter to the Secretary of the Protection Society. He mentioned that the news account, which stated the resolution at the recent meeting was passed unanimously, was in error; he had voted against it.\n\nThe meeting came in for further attack when the editor of the Daily Press asked why a commercial organization like the Chamber of Commerce was discussing a social question. He described the meeting as one of employers of mui tsai who cannot be regarded as disinterested parties.\n\nA European correspondent to the paper said the well-to-do opponents of abolition were so aroused not because the Bill will put an end to an old custom but because it would deprive a group of pampered women of servants over whom they had complete control. Any inconvenience the change may bring to their mode of life will be taken out on their husbands.\n\nThe Kai Fong Meeting at Tung Wah Hospital\n\nSeveral days after the Chamber of Commerce meeting, the Kai Fong called a meeting at the Tung Wah Hospital to rally opposition to the Bill. They did not count, however, on the organizational and political strategy of those in favour of the Bill. The group packed the meeting by rallying the members of the Chinese churches, the YMCA,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209220, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 123, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAJ QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 109\n\nthe YWCA, the Seamen's Union and a large representation from other unions. The unions were again expressing themselves after the 1921 seamen's strike.\n\nTwenty speakers secured the floor to present their views. All but three were in favour of the Bill. One of the speakers in favour was Mrs. Ma Ying-piu, representing the YWCA. For a woman to address a mixed public meeting of Chinese was an unusual event in conservative Hong Kong.\n\nAs soon as the meeting opened under the Chairmanship of Mr. Lo Chung-kiu, the Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Directors, there were signs the meeting might not be as smooth as its organizers had planned. A question of procedure was raised regarding the Chairmanship: why should not the meeting elect its own Chairman as it had been convened by the Kai Fong and not by Tung Wah? The Chairman replied it was invariably the practice for Tung Wah to appoint the Chairman for meetings held on its premises. The matter was not pushed.\n\nThen began a succession of speakers supporting the Bill. Their remarks were frequently punctuated by applause initiated by the large section representing the Seamen's Union. They particularly acclaimed the speech of Mrs. Ma. She put forth the thesis that it was women who were principally responsible for the system. They did most of the buying and selling and were responsible for the mistreatment of the girls.\n\nMr. M. K. Lo spoke in favour of the Bill. Although the Hon. Mr. Chow Shou-son and Mr. T. N. Chau were present, they remained silent.\n\nA speaker from the YMCA attacked the rich, instructing them that they should use their wealth to develop industry to provide employment for the poor instead of selfishly hoarding their wealth and using labour in their homes they need not give wages to.\n\nThings began to get out of order when a speaker against the Bill asked why everything was being done for women when men coolies were being sold daily. Voices were raised demanding the Chairman rule the speaker out of order. But he was allowed to continue though he could hardly be heard above the uproar of protests. He eventually had to stop. At this point there was a stamping of feet and repeated cries of \"vote\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209358, "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": 15, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "Dr. Topley has been our President for the past ten years, and was a Vice-President for six years before that. She has also been a Council Member since the establishment of the Branch in 1960. More than that, she was one of the persons instrumental in establishing the Society in that year.\n\nThe contribution made by a number of persons during the preparations for re-establishing a Hong Kong Branch has not unnaturally been overshadowed by the leading role in our affairs played by our first distinguished President, the late Dr. J. R. Jones. It is now fitting to draw attention to the efforts also made by Dr. Topley and Mr. Cranmer-Byng at that time. Happily, some of the papers relating to that period are still available, and those who are interested may look at the copies in the attached folder. We propose, also, that they be included in a future issue of the Journal so that the facts are on permanent record.\n\nThe papers show that from early 1958 on, Marjorie Topley and Jack Cranmer-Byng were trying to arouse interest in founding a Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. They approached Dr. Jones, who was then Legal Adviser to the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation and had been a Council member of the North China Branch of the Society, to enlist his help in getting public support and in drawing up a constitution for the new branch. He expressed his personal interest and a willingness to canvas support among the business firms of the Colony. These preparations continued into 1959. In July of that year, at a meeting in his flat, Dr. Jones indicated that there had been promises of financial help from at least two of the leading business organisations but in his view at least $10,000 should be secured before the new Society should begin to function.\n\nProgress was reported to Sir Richard Winstadt, President of the Royal Asiatic Society of London. He had written a little earlier to Dr. Topley in May 1959 expressing his support saying that he had also heard from Dr. Jones, and that the work of forming a new branch was seemingly being done in cooperation. The pattern of activity is clear from the papers. The original effort was made mainly by Marjorie and Jack, but enlisting the interest of the major business firms and obtaining the necessary financial support was the work of Dr. Jones who, by virtue of his\n\nXV\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209374, "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": 31, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "9 \n\nA similar \nplan to go back and establish a new committee. 13 situation exists at Block #9, which has already been converted. However, it is not yet fully occupied and a committee cannot be established until all units have been taken. When this is done, the District Office will begin its visits. A different situation exists in Block #13, for its MAC has been in suspension since 1978. The reasons why were not entirely clear, for the suspension was enacted before the tenure of the present liaison officer. Block #13 contains both the Housing Department office and the office of the Neighbourhood Police Unit, so it is possible that the residents did not see the need for an MAC. In January of 1983, the staff of the District Office planned to make new visits to assess the situation at this block. It seems that their efforts were successful, for on April 15, 1983, the residents held a special meeting and voted to set up a new Mutual Aid Committee. While dissolution is a serious matter, if a committee is dissolved, it can be re-established at a later date if the residents change their opinions.\n\nPrivate housing blocks, it might be added, have another alternative—the owners' corporations—and some MACs disband when one of these is established. The owners' corporations were established under the Multi-Storey Building (Owners' Incorporation) Ordinance, passed in 1970. Normally, the two kinds of organizations do not co-exist in one building, although there are some examples of change over long periods when both continue to function. Some officials (for example, many of the liaison officers I interviewed while conducting research in the Mong Kok District) considered this change desirable and viewed the process as one of no committee, then a Mutual Aid Committee, then an owners' corporation. Of course, no such alternative is available at Lok Fu, as owners' corporations cannot be established in public housing estates, or in some private housing estates with management systems governed by Deeds of Mutual Covenant.\n\nA Question of Data\n\nHow large are Mutual Aid Committees and what is their internal arrangement? While this question seems quite straightforward, gathering the information necessary to answer it is not always easy. Because of conflicting sources, it is difficult to assess", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209397, "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": 54, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "32\n\n3.\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nmembers who were not elected but appointed. Even when colonial cities obtained a Municipal Council in one form or another as Hong Kong did in 1883 with the Sanitary Board, the later Urban Council, and Singapore in 1856, while it was still under the Bengal Presidency the main government rested in the hands of the Governor and the other appointed Councils. Furthermore, in these cities, if legislative measures had to be taken, approval of one foreign authority was necessary—the one in the metropolitan country.\n\nThis was in sharp contrast to the administrative system which prevailed in the Settlement. There municipal government consisted of a Municipal Council which was elected from among the foreign ratepayers in accordance with a written constitution termed the Land Regulations. If important byelaws had to be made these had to be approved by both the Council and the general body of foreign ratepayers assembled in Public Meeting as well as by a majority of the foreign consuls and ministers at Peking. This whole procedure was rather unwieldy when it was necessary to answer the new problems which were posed when the population of the Settlement increased (from 15 foreigners in 1844 to 38,940 foreigners and 1,120,860 Chinese in 1935), and when industrialisation gained pace from the 1920s.*\n\nAs regards the administration of justice, Shanghai equally held a special position. All foreigners belonging to countries having a treaty with China enjoyed extraterritorial rights, that is, in law cases they were tried by their own consuls according to the laws of their own country. This did not obtain in other colonies; there, strangers were prosecuted under the laws of the colony.\n\nAs for the Chinese in the Settlement they were tried by a so-called Mixed Court, in which a Chinese judge and a foreign assessor sat together on the bench.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209399, "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": 56, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "34\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nprinciple of mutual responsibility found its way into article XII, On the other hand some articles were clearly instigated by consul Balfour, e.g. those stipulating self-government by the foreign merchants.5\n\nThe 1854 Land Regulations\n\nAfter some years it was deemed necessary to alter the 1845 Land Regulations. It has never been made clear why, the only contemporary comment being a note in the North China Herald that \"the necessity of some thorough revision of the Land Regulations and their better adaptation to existing circumstances (has) long been very generally felt”.\n\nHowever, in foreign, and especially British, circles a certain resentment was felt about Chinese obstruction in the execution of some of the treaty provisions and it is not impossible that such sentiments contributed to the decision to alter the Land Regulations. At all events, in May 1853 Rutherford Alcock, the British consul, laid a draft of new Land Regulations before the American and later the French authorities. Apart from a simplification (the number of articles was reduced to 15 in the draft and 14 in the final version), it was also suggested that there be an amalgamation of the British and French concessions. This provision, however, was never acted upon and the French concession retained its independence.\n\nIn contrast to the 1845 Land Regulations the Chinese authorities had had no say in the drafting of the new ones. Nevertheless a number of articles about the protection of Chinese feelings were incorporated. These had their origin, as I have shown elsewhere, in the New Park affair - a clash between Chinese and foreigners over Chinese graves during the construction of a new racecourse. Moreover, the draft contained a number of clauses which stipulated that the taotai had to agree before certain measures could be taken by the foreigners. In the discussions about this draft among the foreign authorities, chiefly the British consul Alcock and the American commissioner Marshall, however, these clauses went overboard so that the Chinese official position was weakened.\n\nThe final version of these Land Regulations was discussed at a Public Meeting on July 11, 1854 and passed by the land-renters.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209400, "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": 57, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "35\n\nThe 1866-1869 Land Regulations\n\nThe first two sets of Land Regulations had been drafted by the Chinese and/or local foreign authorities; this was not the case with the third Constitution, the one of 1866-1869,\n\nIn the years between 1854 and 1866 a great number of problems had arisen, partially caused by the influx of Taiping rebellion refugees. Moreover, civic discipline among foreigners was waning (taxes were not being paid, nuisances were being caused in the form of building materials left lying around, the authority of the Municipal Council to levy taxes was being questioned, the members of the Municipal Council had been held personally responsible for any deficits and debts of the municipality, etc.). All this contributed to the opinion that something had to be done to increase the authority of the Municipal Council, and on April 15, 1865, a Public Meeting of landrenters appointed a Commission to draft new Land Regulations. This Commission consisted of Henry Dent (member of the Municipal Council 1863-64 and 1864-65), R. F. Gould (former municipal secretary), Thomas Hanbury, James Hogg, and William Keswick (all members of the Municipal Council 1865-66), J. P. Lynill, and G. Tyson. The new proposed Regulations were published on January 22, 186610, and discussed in Public Meetings on March 9, 12, 13, and 1711. After a delay of three years, they were eventually approved by the foreign powers in 1869.\n\nThere were a number of differences between the draft and the final version, but space does not permit me to detail these12. The new Constitution consisted of 29 articles, in which the position of the Municipal Council was strengthened as compared to the former Land Regulations. These Land Regulations were subsequently slightly amended, some articles being added in 1898. In this form, they remained in force until 1943, when the Settlement was returned to China.\n\nIn the course of these years, only a few byelaws were altered or introduced; and thus, during the greater part of its existence, the Settlement had as its constitutional foundation a set of Land Regulations devised essentially by the landrenters themselves in 1866.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209401, "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": 58, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "36 \n\nJ. H. HAAN \n\nThe assertion of selfgovernment \n\nIn some Western countries, especially Great Britain, the 19th century was the heyday of progress in parliamentary government. In Britain the 1832 Reform Act had substantially increased the number of voters, as well as redistributed them in favour of commerce and industry; the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act provided for the first time a uniform basis upon which local government was to be run, that is, through councils elected by ratepayers. By later acts (1865, 1884, 1918 and 1928) the parliamentary franchise was gradually widened, till the principle of taxation as a basis for voting rights disappeared. \n\nThe foreigners mainly British and Americans \n\n+ \n\n+ \n\n44 \n\n+ \n\n· \n\n- who came \n\nto Shanghai in the very early years were self-conscious of the fact that they ought to govern themselves, without in any way being subjected to a higher authority like their compatriots in Hong Kong. Although the 1845 Land Regulations provided for this self-government through article XII (about the building of roads and other public works: \"The Consul (i.e. the British consul — JH) will be requested by the various renters to urge the propriety of assembling together and publicly consulting about and contributing towards the necessary expenses incurred therein, .\") and through article XX (about taxation: \"the several contributors will request the Consul to appoint three upright merchants to deliberate upon and determine the amounts to be subscribed by them .\"), it was nevertheless thought advisable by some residents to express very clearly that local government rested upon a consensus of the foreign merchants themselves. The motive for these strong words was the fear of interference from Hong Kong with regard to the right to vote. At a Public Meeting of May 29, 1852, a resolution was moved which in its original form read: \"That this meeting consider the legal opinion of the Attorney General of Hong Kong respecting the qualifications of voters at this Meeting unnecessary, as the action of the body of landrenters is not governed by Law but by mutual agreement\", but after some discussion it was passed in the following form: \"That this meeting consider the action of the body of Landrenters with reference to Roads and Jetties is only governed by mutual agreement\",13", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209402, "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": 59, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "37\n\nLater, in 1861, it was again stated that \"this Municipal institution (is) founded upon the consent and concurrence of the whole community (...)\" There were even reminiscences of a contract theory à la Locke in a very elaborate article by the editor of the North China Herald on \"Led Horses\" (which at the time were forming quite a nuisance): \"That Britannia rules the waves' is the firm belief of all her sons, and they feel too that her onward march to almost universal dominion as it would seem, is to be traced solely to their obedience to her laws. All men are equal by virtue of their birth and under this conviction the only law that prevailed in the beginning was Club law. The administration of this Code, however, proved to be so fatally inconvenient that men in self-defence met together and voluntarily surrendered a very considerable portion of their birthright to secure that 'comfort, order and convenience' which they so signally failed to obtain under the equality system. Hence the origins of assemblies or 'meeting of wisemen', from Parliament to Parish vestries. Under this system tyrants have come to grief, and legally constituted authorities have grown up like trees by the waterside and have become the polished corners of the temple in our social system. (..)\"15\n\nNow, whether all these statements about the origin and functioning of representative bodies were correct or not, apparently they were believed in by at least part of the foreign community. At times it was very evident that there was no consensus at all about several questions, and that assertions of such a consensus were no more than a polite fiction, but these beliefs in the existence of and need for, consensus were the basis of the willingness of ratepayers to defend local self-government as an essential part of life. In practical terms this meant that the Public Meeting was considered as the local parliament1 and as such the body which had to approve any measures taken by the Municipal Council.\n\nIt seems therefore appropriate to give an outline of the Public Meeting's procedures and practice, as well as the voting qualifications, before turning to its executive organ, the Municipal Council.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209403, "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": 60, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "38\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nPublic Meetings and the voters\n\nI have already quoted some of the articles from the 1845 Land Regulations which dealt with the meetings of landrenters.\n\nThese provisions were still rather crude, but in the 1854 Land Regulations they were refined in the tenth article, and in those of 1869 in articles IX, X, XV, XVIII and XIX. Moreover to the 1869 Land Regulations were added \"Rules of Procedure to be observed at Meetings of Ratepayers\". In article IX it was laid down that \"it being expedient and necessary for the better order and good government of the Settlement that some provision should be made for the appointment of an executive Committee or Council, and for the construction of public works and keeping the same in repair the Foreign Treaty Consuls,\n\nL\n\n1\n\nP\n\nor a majority of them, shall, during the month of February or March in each year, and so early in the same as possible, fix the date for the election of the Executive Committee or Council and shall also during the said months give notice of a public meeting to be held within twenty-one days of such notice, to devise ways and means of raising the requisite funds for these purposes\"; and article XV provided that \"it shall be competent for the Foreign Consuls, collectively or singly, when it may appear to them needful, or for the electors, provided not less that twenty-five agree in writing so to do, to call a public meeting at any time, for the consideration of any matter or thing connected with the Municipality”.\n\nMost Public Meetings up to 1896 were probably held at the British Consulate, although a small number were convened elsewhere. The very first one was in Richard's Hotel on December 22, 1846; later some were held at the Shanghai Library (on April 8, 1861 and August 18, 1864). In 1896 a Town Hall was completed (a new one being opened in 1922) and from that date most meetings took place there. Most of the time the British consul was in the chair.\n\nEarlier we saw that foreign residents thought that municipal government ought to be based on mutual agreement and consensus; but, it might well be asked, whose agreement? In other words: who were allowed to participate in the elections and discussions at Public Meetings?\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209404, "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": 61, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "39\n\nAs in Europe in the first half of the 19th century, it was not deemed advisable to grant the vote to all and sundry. The fear of democratic tyrannic majority rule, after the experience of the French Revolution, still worked its influence on political thinking about the franchise. If only voters had some \"respectable\" background in most cases to be measured by their payment of taxes or rates they could be expected to vote in the \"right\" way. Moreover it was argued that the government of the land should be left to those who had a real stake in it, again measured financially. In view of this train of thought it is not surprising to find that in Shanghai similar opinions prevailed.\n\n10\n\nAccording to the 1845 and 1854 Land Regulations only landowners (incidentally: legally the ground could be rented only, but to all practical purposes it was owned) could take part in the decision making process at the Public Meeting. Originally this was a very natural development because most foreign residents owned land in the new settlement. Gradually this changed and more and more foreigners rented houses on which they had to pay a housetax which did not carry with it a right to vote. Soon after the approval of the 1854 Land Regulations in July, however, there was a short upheaval at a Public Meeting held on November 10, 1854. At that meeting a resolution was moved and passed which read: \"That in addition to the qualifications for Votes now in use the payment by any Foreign resident of fifty dollars annually, or upwards, towards the Dues or assessments levied by the Municipal Council, shall entitle the individual or firm so contributing to one vote at any General Meeting (...)\".20 This motion was probably induced not so much by the house renters, but by the payers of wharfage dues, the revenues of which in the budget of 1854-55 were estimated at $14,000 out of a total of $25,000 (against $2,000 landtax, $3,000 European housetax and $5,400 Chinese housetax),21 Chinese housetax). Although the resolution was passed unanimously, it was not approved by consul Alcock, whose main argument, expressed at the Public Meeting of November 24 was that if the franchise was widened on this basis \"its application in any impartial or equitable spirit would involve the introduction of several thousand Chinese voters, to the swamping of the present small fraction of Foreign renters, in whom all power was now without dispute vested\".22", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209405, "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": 62, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "40 \n\nJ. H. HAAN \n\nIt was one of the first manifestations of the fact that after all the land-renters were not sovereign in taking their own decisions and that for important measures the consent of one or more consuls was necessary. \n\nFor the time being the matter was allowed to rest, but the fact of tenants not having the franchise was again broached in the mid-1860s. Amidst numerous other signs of civic disobedience, a number of tenants refused to pay taxes which they themselves had not voted. Some of them were prosecuted before their respective Consular Courts with the result that in some cases the Municipal Council was proved right and sometimes wrong.23 \n\nThere was a widespread feeling that tenants could no longer be barred from attending Public Meetings; this feeling was expressed at the meeting of April 15, 1865, by the chairman of the Municipal Council, Henry Dent: \"Hitherto the practice has been of only land-renters voting. That this system is wrong in principle can hardly admit of doubt. Ratepayers contribute largely to the taxes and ought certainly to have a voice in matters of taxation. (...)\"24 \n\nApart from the principle involved, it was doubtless also an effort to muster support for the Municipal Council from the tenant-ratepayers. \n\nThe way seemed open for a wider franchise and indeed the new Land Regulations provided for the vote by some tenants (article XIX). The basis was rather restricted, however, and during the deliberations about the Land Regulations on March 12 and 13, 1866, it became clear that many land-renters who until then had exercised sole power—wished to limit the franchise even more than had been foreseen by the Commission which had drawn up the new Constitution. \n\nThe minimum rent which gave a tenant the right to vote was, therefore, eventually put at 700 taels. The only person who pleaded the cause of the tenants was the British consul, Charles Winchester, whose opinion was \"that the article just read (XIX) did not by any means come up to his idea what the franchise should be. One description of right should not alone", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209407, "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": 64, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "42\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nThis limited franchise might be called the first characteristic of the voting structure in Shanghai. The second was the existence of proxy voting, that is voting by people present at a Public Meeting acting as agents of and voting for persons not present.\n\nNeither in the 1845 Land Regulations nor in those of 1854 had any provision for proxy voting been made, yet even before 1854 it was widely used, so we might put the question as to when it was introduced.\n\nThe first time the matter was considered at a Public Meeting was on June 14, 1851, when the problem was raised as \"to whether persons holding special powers of Attorney to deal with the land of parties absent could claim a vote on their behalf at a Public Meeting in addition to their own\" 27 It was then argued that \"such a system... had never been adopted at Public Meetings of this nature at Shanghai\" and consul Alcock was not inclined \"to admit the principle on the present occasion”.\n\nHowever, there were apparently some difficulties of a legal nature involved and Alcock thought it wise to consult the Attorney General at Hong Kong, whose advice was negative. Earlier I have drawn attention to the fact that the merchants at Shanghai were very self-conscious as to their self-government and the resolution against the interference from Hong Kong has already been referred to. At the same Public Meeting of May 25, 1852, it was decided, by resolution no. 2, \"That all holders of Land within the British limits may specially appoint an Attorney to act for them in their absence; and further that one person may act as Attorney for several renters, and be entitled to vote for each proprietor he may be duly empowered to represent\".28\n\nAs from that date proxy voting became the established practice at Shanghai and it was incorporated in article XIX of the 1869 Land Regulations.\n\nThere were evident dangers in this mode of voting. The already rather oligarchical procedure at a Public Meeting might be still more monopolized if a great number of votes were collected by some persons who might then be able to corner the meeting. Moreover, less scrupulous voters might be willing to sell their own vote to the highest bidder. It should be stressed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209408, "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": 65, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "43\n\nthat irregularities of the latter kind have not come to light during my own research (they are of course difficult to discover), but a glaring and paradoxical case can be recorded of the former.\n\nIn the years after the system of proxy voting had been adopted there apparently grew up an uneasy feeling about the way it was practised. This can be deduced from the fact that the Commission for revision of the Land Regulations advised in 1866 to drop this system. One of the reasons for this was given at the Public Meeting of March 12, 1866, by one of the members of the Commission, Mr. Hogg: \"it had been foreseen that in a short time there would be very few owners of land left in Shanghai. But there lay the objection, for large numbers of Renters went to England, and naturally left their votes in the hands of some agent. It resulted that a person who had a large business of this description practically held the election of the Councillors. There was a grave objection to a man holding in his hands the turning power in such matter. It was felt to be unfair that a man residing in England should have a voice through his agent in the election of Councillors to represent the interests of ratepayers on the spot\". An amendment was moved, however, permitting the continuance of proxy voting, but this motion was rejected by 71 as against 62 votes, with two gentlemen, Mr. Keswick and Mr. Hogg together casting 51 votes at the Public Meeting. So with the weapon which he wished to abolish, Mr. Hogg defeated the opposition who wanted to retain it.\n\nNevertheless, proxy voting was included in the final Land Regulations by the foreign ministers.\n\nThe system of proxy voting made it necessary that voting lists were drawn up at each Public Meeting in order to establish how many votes each person attending could cast. Not much research has been done in this field, but it should make interesting reading to see in what measure meetings were manipulated by a minority physically present at a meeting. Up to 1866 only incidental references to the number of votes cast by one individual can be recorded. For example, on the voting list of June 6, 1861, one person appeared with 6 votes, two with 4, four with 3, ten with 2, and three with 1 vote.20 At the Public Meeting of August 18, 1864, Mr. Cowie managed to assemble 19 votes.30", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209409, "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": 66, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "44\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nand above I have already mentioned the swamping number at the Public Meeting of March 12, 1866.\n\nOne more danger which could well have appeared was the so-called plural voting system. This meant that each person was given more votes according to the acreage of land he possessed or the amount of taxes he paid. In several other foreign concessions in China, plural voting was part and parcel of the established administrative structure; as, for instance, in the British concessions at Hankow, Kiukiang, Canton, and Tientsin, as well as in the Russian and German concessions at Tientsin.31\n\nIn Shanghai, however, it was never practised, and in article XIX of the Land Regulations 1869, it was explicitly stated that no one should have more than one vote (apart from proxies).\n\nEarlier, it had already been rejected at a Public Meeting of May 25, 1852, but ten years later, an attempt was made to introduce it. At the Public Meeting of November 30, 1863, Mr. E. M. Smith moved a resolution which would have allowed plural voting.32\n\nThe text of the motion was published in the North China Herald of November 21, and the following week, a fiery letter to the editor from “Civis” appeared in the columns of the paper, in the following terms: “Just, however, as the slave-holding planters of the Cotton states of America felt the necessity of dominant power in the Federal Government, so the principal landholders in this settlement, true to the instincts of a monopolising class, are convinced that their influence to be secure must be paramount, and relying upon the specious boldness of a few and the moral apathy of the many, they propose a revision of the constitution which will place the Municipal power in the hands of a plurality of votes according to extent of Mowage or direct taxation\n\nand it was his opinion that “in the guise of much-needed reform, a coup d'état of no ordinary boldness is in contemplation.”3\n\nMaybe this sharp opposition contributed to the defeat of Mr. Smith's proposal, for at the meeting of November 30, the motion was not even seconded and therefore could not be voted upon.\n\nWith these details about voting qualifications in mind, we might well ask: how did they work out in practice; in other", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209410, "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": 67, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "45\n\nwords, to return to the question we put earlier: how representative was the electorate in terms of numbers for the total (foreign) population of the settlement?\n\nFor this we have to rely on scattered figures. Even for the years up to 1865, which I have examined carefully, it is very hard to obtain the necessary data. But apart from details the trend is clear. In 1855 the total foreign population of the Settlement was 2434, while the number of landrenters, all of whom then had the vote, was 107.35 Thus this would mean that 44% of the foreigners were entitled to vote.\n\nEighty years later in 1935, foreigners numbered 38,940 whereas there were 3,852 voters, roughly ten percent. So, although we should bear in mind that in 1935 there were many more children included in the total population number than there were in 1855, with the result that the figure for the potential politically active population should be lower and the figure of 10% somewhat higher, it is nevertheless evident that only a small proportion of foreign residents was eligible for the vote. Far less at any rate than in the 1850s and this notwithstanding the fact that land and house values had gone up very considerably; this could only mean that many foreigners still did not reach the very high standards set by the Land Regulations.\n\nThroughout the history of the Settlement the Chinese who constituted the vast majority of the population were not allowed to exercise the vote at Public Meetings or for the election of the Municipal Council as was of course the case in many countries which enjoyed full colonial status. The reasons for Chinese disenfranchisement have already been quoted from the succinct statement by consul Alcock, but it should be added that only at a very late stage did part of the Chinese population become dissatisfied with their not being represented on the Municipal Council and their inability to take part in elections. Later I shall devote some more attention to efforts to secure Chinese representation on the Municipal Council, to which body we must now turn our attention.\n\nThe Municipal Council\n\nLike the Public Meeting, the origins of the executive branch", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209411, "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": 68, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "46\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nlay in the Land Regulations. In those of 1845 article XX declared that \"the several contributors (of taxes, etc JH) will request the Consul to appoint three upright merchants to deliberate upon and determine the amount to be subscribed by them\". And the 1854 Land Regulations stipulated in article X “meeting of renters of land.. to appoint a committee of three or more persons to levy the said rates and dues ..\". \n\nWith 10 out of the 29 articles of the Land Regulations of 1869 referring to the Municipal Council, this set of Regulations were far more elaborate as to the election and functioning of the Municipal Council than their predecessors. This was mainly caused by the problems several councils had faced in the 1860s as a result of which it was decided to strengthen the powers of the executive. Article XIX laid down the qualifications for a Municipal Council member: \"And no one shall be qualified to be a member of the said Council unless he shall pay an annual assessment, exclusive of licenses, of fifty taels, or shall be a householder paying on an assessed rental of one thousand two hundred taels per annum\". \n\nFrom this it is clear that the qualification for membership of the Council was even more restrictive than that for voting (the threshold for Council membership as suggested by the Commission of 1865-66 was even higher at Taels 1800, but this was changed by the foreign ministers). This was in sharp contrast to the earlier constitutions by which it was theoretically, and even in practice, possible for non-landrenters to sit on the Municipal Council, whereas only landrenters had the vote, thereby indicating that, at that time, the qualification for membership of the Council was more liberal than that for the franchise. In the records of the Settlement's early history (until 1865) two cases have come to light in which a non-landrenter was elected as a member of the Municipal Council, but in both cases there was some opposition from part of the foreign community. \n\nAt the Public Meeting of June 14 1851 three gentlemen were proposed for membership of the executive then still called the Committee of Roads and Jetties, a name it kept until 1854 — William Seton Brown, Clement D. Nye and Edward Langley,37 viz:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209412, "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": 69, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "47\n\nOnly the first two belonged to houses which had property in the Settlement, but Mr. Langley was the manager of the Oriental Bank which was not registered as a landrenter. At some time during the meeting \"the fact of Mr. Langley not being a land-holder and his being disqualified in consequence, was then argued\", but most of those present thought that it was \"competent for the Landholders to elect at a Public Meeting any person they might choose to take charge of their affairs”.\n\nThus the affair was closed, and during the following ten years there were only renters on the Municipal Council; but in the edition of June 29 1861 a letter to the editor of the North China Herald was printed, which drew attention to the fact that a non-renter was allegedly a member of the Municipal Council. This letter, by \"A Landrenter\" partly read:\n\n\"Sir. It is a generally received axiom that the possession of landed property renders its owner conservative; and on this good principle I was always under the impression that the Municipal Government of this Settlement was founded. Much then was I surprised to find the meetings of landholders purporting to be convened for them alone were attended by non-renters and from amongst them one of our Municipal Councillors was chosen My only reason for troubling you with this letter is to ascertain the opinion of my fellow-landholders as to the eligibility of non-renters to hold Municipal offices .\". The person referred to was probably Mr. William Howard, manager of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, who resigned as from June 28 1861.38\n\nThe opinion of the \"fellow-landholders” was aired at a Public Meeting of March 31 1862, during which the stand of a decade before was reversed in a resolution passed unanimously: \"That before choosing gentlemen for the Municipal Council for the coming year it be resolved that non but bona fide foreign Renters of Land shall be able to become members of the Municipal Council.\"30\n\nThus the matter was after all decided in favour of the landowners, the final Constitution only adding a very high threshold, to bar anyone who might not be considered “respectable”.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209414, "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": 71, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "49\n\nplace was occupied by Japan, which had outstripped the Anglo-Saxon population in the Settlement. Japan got another seat in 1927 and although they pressed for more representatives these demands were resisted.41\n\nChinese representation\n\nThe Settlement was really a foreign one in so far as its government was dominated by non-Chinese, but with the advance of time, introduction of new ideas among sections of the Chinese population, the increase of this population itself and the resulting problems, it was evident that some mode had to be devised for representation of Chinese on the Municipal Council, if not at Public Meetings. The very first proposal for native representation was made in 1866 by the Commission which had drafted the new Land Regulations. It was proposed that a Board of three Chinese was to be established to advise the Municipal Council. This scheme was apparently not approved by the foreign ministers, for it was never put into practice.12\n\nA second attempt was dodged by the ratepayers in 1906. After the Mixed Court riots a new move was deemed necessary to improve contact between the Chinese and foreign sections of the population. Chinese merchants proposed a Consulting Committee which could express native opinion, especially that of a business nature. The Municipal Council inclined to agree with this scheme, but the ratepayers objected to it on the ground that they feared the body would be government infiltrated.\n\nAnother effort was made in 1915 when a Chinese proposal to set up an Advisory Board which would include members of different guilds was passed at a ratepayers meeting, but rejected by the foreign ministers.\n\nFour years later there was agitation among the Chinese residents for direct representation on the Council. This campaign was partly engendered by a threatening increase in taxation, partly by the heightened feelings of nationalism. Both the Municipal Council and the ratepayers objected to direct Chinese membership and as a temporary measure an Advisory Committee was installed in 1921. This body was to be recruited by the Chinese Ratepayers Association which was formed in 1919. The Committee did not", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209415, "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": 72, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "50\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nfunction very well and in 1925 there were fresh cries for Chinese representation.\n\nThis time the direct cause was the May 30th incident and as a result of numerous Chinese protests, demonstrations and strikes which took place at that time, the Municipal Council understood that the Chinese could no longer be barred from membership.\n\nIn 1927, for the first time in the Settlement's history, three Chinese took their seats on the once exclusively foreign Shanghai Municipal Council and three years later their number was increased to five.\n\nAll members were chosen by the Chinese Ratepayers Association, mostly from industrial and commercial circles so that the Chinese members came from the same business background as the foreign members.\n\nThus the electoral basis for Chinese differed materially from that for foreigners, which was understandable from the foreign point of view, for direct election would have meant that eventually the Council would become Chinese dominated. Besides, it suited most Chinese guilds and other business circles which were not used to open voting procedures, but preferred to be represented on an indirect functional basis. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that in the neighbouring Chinese Greater Shanghai Municipality, established in the same year of 1927, there also was an appointed Municipal Council.\n\nThe elections\n\nIn contrast to most governments and municipal councils in other countries, the Shanghai Municipal Council tenure of office was for only one year. Until 1865 the Councils were elected at a Public Meeting which was held especially for that purpose, as well as to discuss the budget (first introduced in 1854) and other financial and municipal matters. In the early years the months in which these electoral meetings were held varied, some being convened in January (1856, 1857, 1859), some in February (1858, 1860), March (1849, 1855, 1862), April (1863, 1864), May (1852), June (1851), July (1854) or August (1850). The", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209416, "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": 73, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "51\n\nThe result of this was that a Municipal Council sometimes sat for more, and sometimes for less, than a year.\n\nIn 1865, however, the way in which the Municipal Council was chosen was changed according to a resolution that had been passed at a Public Municipal meeting of April 15, 1865,4% and which provided that a separate poll spread over several days should take place for the election of the Municipal Council.\n\nSome days later the elections were held after the new system and in the final Land Regulations of 1869 this mode was adopted (article IX, X, XVIII and XIX). There it was also laid down that the Municipal Council should be elected in February or March of each year.\n\nNo reasons were given why it was deemed necessary to alter the rules for choosing a Municipal Council, except that “it was being urgently called for\", but it may be imagined that with the growth of the population and the number of land-renters, the old procedure was becoming increasingly unwieldy.\n\nThe period of small town politics was partly closed with this separate voting procedure. One of the consequences might have been that the composition of the Municipal Council would rest on a broader basis, as generally more people thought it worthwhile to vote, which took only an instant instead of going to a Public Meeting which might take a whole afternoon or evening. Other things being equal, there might even have developed a kind of election campaign and for 1866 it seems that something of the kind was indeed held, witnessing the remark that \"the usual number of placards decorated the walls of the settlement, some conveying rather happy hits\".44\n\nBut any developments in this direction were nipped in the bud by the provision in the Land Regulations of 1869, article XVIII, that \"should the number of names proposed for election be exactly nine or less than nine and more than four, it shall not be necessary to have a poll..\". In such a case, anyone opposed to one of the candidates could not vote against him.\n\nNo doubt sometimes the elections were really contested, but later it was often complained that they amounted to nothing but ritual affairs: \"the stage will be set for the annual election-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209421, "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": 78, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "56\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nthe fact that so many foreigners came from countries in which one form or another of representative government was part and parcel of the political structure, in Shanghai it was hard to speak of democracy apart of course from the Chinese having practically no official say in it.\n\nIn the very early days there was a real form of direct democracy in the Settlement. There were few people, few enough to make this kind of democracy feasible; nearly all were land-renters and there was a widespread feeling of doing something positive when introducing representative government into part of the Chinese empire.\n\nSometimes there were fierce clashes between the land-renters and the Municipal Council, as in 1852 when the Municipal Council even decided to resign because a Public Meeting had rejected their drainage plan, a decision which was only reversed when another Public Meeting repealed the rejection;55 or in 1854 when a large number of renters objected to the expense of police barracks and the increase in taxation, and the newly established Municipal Council was threatened in its very existence; or in 1864 when the whole budget was rejected and a new one had to be drafted.57\n\nDiscussions at these meetings were often very spirited affairs, with letters to the editor appearing in the columns of the North China Herald.\n\nGradually, however, the meetings seem to have become \"cut and dry affairs\"; sometimes debate became more heated, but lethargy prevailed, as became clear when the very important proposal to restrict Child Labour came up for discussion in April 1925, when not even the quorum to make a decision binding was present.\n\nOne of the defects of the system was that it was not really a representative one. There were in the 1930s over 3500 rate-payers with the right to attend Public Meetings. If every one of them had wished to make use of this right, the meeting would have been turned into a complete Babel.\n\nAny person speaking at a Public Meeting was only speaking for himself, and it was difficult to be clear as to whether he had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209422, "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": 79, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "57\n\nany supporters to give his words more weight. In other words: there were no political parties which might have mustered support for one cause or another and through which persons not eligible to vote might have been represented at a Public Meeting.\n\nMoreover Public Meetings were in principle held only once a year to discuss matters of a financial and municipal nature. Only if there were other important affairs for which approval of the ratepayers was necessary, would more meetings be convened.\n\nAnd there lay the second defect, and a very glaring one when compared to parliamentary systems in Europe or America.\n\nApart from the annual meeting, the Municipal Council was irresponsible in the sense that it did not regularly have to answer questions about its policy.\n\nLikewise information about the sessions and policy making of the Municipal Council was considered too scarce and meaningless. Until 1860 no minutes were published if ever they were taken, which is not certain. It was only after the Herald, in its issue of October 13, 1860, had accused the Municipal Council of negligence with regard to a big fire on Nanking Road, that the newly appointed municipal secretary, Edwin Pickwoad, offered to release the council minutes for publication.\n\nFor a time the minutes, as well as committee reports and annual reports were published in the North China Herald, until in 1908 the Municipal Council decided to issue its own bulletin, the Shanghai Municipal Gazette, first in English only, but afterwards also in Chinese.\n\nBut the value of these minutes as a true insight into the decision-making process of the Municipal Council was doubted from a very early stage, when the North China Herald wrote on October 29, 1864, with regard to plans for improvement of the Bund: \"The very brief allusions which are contained in the minutes of the Municipal Council meetings to the subjects which have been discussed, are not always intelligible to general readers. In many instances the object of publishing minutes, which we presume is to afford information regarding the current Municipal affairs, is completely defeated by this brevity\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209423, "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": 80, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "58\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nSeventy years later it was complained that \"official business in this important municipality is conducted in secret. Members of the Municipal Council are bound not to disclose matters discussed in meetings and no reporter of a local newspaper has ever attended a meeting of the Council. The Council does issue a so-called Municipal Gazette, probably the dullest official journal in the world, which contains brief reports usually starting out \"Notice is hereby given\" or \"I have the honour to convey\n\netc.\"\n100\n\nNow it is, of course, true that in Western countries with a parliamentary government, meetings of the cabinet or other governing bodies were (and are) not open to the public. But there the rulers were responsible to representatives of the people, be it in parliament or its local equivalent. Nothing of the kind happened in Shanghai, which apart from the other structural and institutional regulations which halted democracy as understood elsewhere, made the whole administrative system come to be looked upon as oligarchic.\n\nSummary\n\nSummarizing this article we might say that the Settlement government rested on a base which became increasingly outmoded in Western countries where democracy allowed ever more people to participate in politics. Franchise according to tax paid was gradually abolished in the West, but in the International Settlement at Shanghai it remained till the last day of its existence. In the beginning, consent of all residents was claimed to be the foundation of municipal government, but as time progressed the administration degenerated into an oligarchy with or without the negative implications which the term suggests. Political interest was low and nobody really tried to change the system. Though Justice Feetham published a massive report about the situation in the Settlement and offered valuable advice in 1931, nothing was done. Only in the heyday of Chinese nationalism were some minor facelifts agreed, without altering any of the fundamentals.\n\nIt was only after the return of the Settlement to China in 1943 and especially after the communist takeover in 1949 that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209427, "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": 84, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "62\n\nJ. H. HAAN\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nMUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP 1849-1865\n\nNote: Dates after the term of office refer to the Public Meeting at which the Municipal Council was elected.\n\n \n Members\n Firm\n Nationality\n \n \n \n Russell & Co. Rathbones\n American\nBritish\n \n \n 1851 (June)\n \n \n \n \n \n MacVicar & Co.\nJ. M. Smith & Co.\nWetmore & Co.\n American\nBritish\nAmerican\n \n \n 1849 (March) — 1850 (August)\n(10.3.1849)\n \n \n \n \n John N. Alsop Griswold\nThomas Moncreiff\n \n \n \n \n 1850 (August)\n(2.8.1850)\n \n \n \n \n Hector C. R. MacDuff\nJ. Mackrill Smith\nOliver Everett Roberts\n \n \n \n \n 1851 (June) — 1852 (May)\n(14.6.1851)\n \n \n \n \n Edward Langley Clement\nD. Nye\nWilliam Seton Brown\n Oriental Bank\nBull, Nye & Co. Rathbones\n British\nAmerican\nBritish\n \n \n 1852 (May) — 1853 (July)\n(25.5.1852)\n \n \n \n \n William Hogg\nEdward Cunningham (Chairman)\n Russell & Co.\n American\n \n \n \n Lindsay & Co.\nBlenkin, Rawson & Co.\n British\nBritish\n \n \n William Kay\n \n \n \n \n 1853 (July) — 1854 (July)\n(21.7.1853)\n \n \n \n \n William Shephard Wetmore\n Wetmore & Co.\n American\n \n \n \n Shaw, Bland & Co.\n British?\n \n \n (Chairman)\nJohn Hammond Winch\nJ. Caldecott Smith\n \n \n \n \n 1854 (July) — 1855 (March)\n(11.7.1854)\n \n \n \n \n William Seton Brown (Chairman) x\nDavid O. King (Treasurer) x\nEdward Cunningham\nCharles A. Fearon\nWilliam Kay\nDr. Walter Henry Medhurst x\nJohn Skinner\n Dent, Beale & Co.\nBirley, Worthington & Co.\nKing & Co.\nRussell & Co.\nAug. Heard & Co.\nBlenkin, Rawson & Co.\nLondon Missionary Society\nGibb, Livingston & Co.\n British\nBritish\n?\nAmerican\nAmerican\nBritish\nBritish\nBritish\n \n\nNote: In March 1855 only those members marked \"x\" were still in office,\nplus: H.C.R. MacDuff,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209438, "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": 95, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "73\n\nWhen this meeting between officials and representatives of the Chinese elite met, the latter made their stand clear. Leung On, one of the founding directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, and compradore of Gibb, Livingston & Co., a man well known for his outspokenness, proposed that the Government should issue another proclamation calling the strikers to work, and handed up a draft. It contained words to the effect that the Government had pardoned the rioters on the intercession of the Chinese merchants; Stewart found the implication objectionable and turned it down.\n\nUndaunted, Leong further proposed that the military picket should be removed from the Tung Wah Hospital Hall. He gave no reason for this request, but it is obvious that he wanted to avoid the impression that the Tung Wah Hospital was collaborating with the armed forces in suppressing the people. He also suggested that the Directors of the Hospital should hold a public meeting at the Hospital gates to persuade the people to resume work.\n\nAgain, Stewart turned down these proposals. He did not think this was a matter which concerned the Tung Wah Hospital as such. No public meeting could be held without government permission, and in view of the disturbed circumstances it would be inadvisable to hold any gathering.\n\nThe merchants also proposed that, if the Government felt it could not issue a proclamation, the Hospital should issue one in its name. This provoked Stewart into telling them directly that this would amount to an abdication on the part of the Government and the assumption of governmental power by the Hospital.\n\nSince the meeting was in stalemate, one of the merchants made a diplomatic speech to reduce tension, saying that the matter was not for any one private corporation or guild, but that it was the duty of all loyal citizens to co-operate with the Government in restoring order and terminating the strike. Finally, before the meeting ended, Stewart approved a proposal for street notices to be issued to induce the workers to return to work, so long as there was no attempt to assume governmental powers.30", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209444, "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": 101, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "79\n\n58\n\nofficials and gentry-merchants (shen-shang) are [agents]. There is no need for [professional] agents.\n\nWe have no means to prove or disprove Chang's somewhat extravagant claim, but we can be certain that there was at least some truth in it.\n\nIn Ho Amei, we have an example of Chang's \"Man in Hong Kong\". Ho is one of the most colourful personalities in 19th Century Hong Kong, and, as such, was one of those whom the Rev. Carl Smith has chosen to write about in several of his works on the Chinese in Hong Kong. Ho Amei had worked in Australia and New Zealand, in mining and emigration; for a while he worked at the Registrar-General's office in Hong Kong. He also worked in the Chinese Customs Service for a time. In 1882, he started the Telegraph Company in Hong Kong which the Chinese Government took over 2 years later. Then and after, he had many business connections with the Chinese Government, in emigration, mining, railways and telegraphy. In 1884, he was secretary of the On Tai Insurance Company, a position which entitled him to sit at the meetings of the predominantly European Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.\n\nThroughout the Sino-French War, he regularly sent telegrams to the Canton authorities reporting on French movements around Hong Kong. As we have seen, at the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, he condemned the French for searching junks. At the same meeting, he spoke out for China's right to block the river entrance in Shanghai in case of a French attack, an opinion which found no sympathy in the Chamber. Indeed, he was voted down as \"an interested party\".01\n\nInterested party he certainly was, but what we must not overlook amid the complexity of his material interests was his courage in speaking up for China, knowing full well his lone opinion would not reverse the resolutions reached by the predominantly European members of the Chamber. There was no need for him to please the Canton Government with a declaration of allegiance at a Chamber of Commerce meeting; it demanded loyalty of him in other ways. The public stand he made, and it was well publicised in the papers, was made out of his own convictions on the question of China's sovereign rights. He protested against the French not as a Chinese agent, but as a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209585, "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": 242, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "220 \n\nCARL T. SMITH \n\nestablished brothels, a gambling hall, opium divans, a temple, his family house and the Theatre. \n\nAs the location and arrangements of Acqui's Theatre were not very satisfactory, there was a movement to build something more suitable. Immediately after the first performance of the Amateurs, it was announced that plans for a new theatre were under consideration. The China Mail, 8 January 1846, gave its full support: \n\nWe are glad to learn there is at length a fair prospect of a Theatre being erected in Hong Kong. The project was suggested last year, and as it not only met with general approbation from the public, but received the sanction of His Excellency and the support of the civil and military servants of the Government, it is rather inexplicable how it was suffered to drop. We are indebted, we believe, to the same parties who lately favoured the public with an amateur performance in the Lower Bazaar, for taking the matter up again, and they seem now to have begun very properly by first testing the feelings of the middle classes upon the very important point of subscriptions. We are assured that the amount already subscribed for is more than half what will be required to erect a spacious building, adapted alike for the purposes of a Theatre and a Ballroom, or a hall for public meetings. With some proofs of support from the community at large, we trust the Governor's patronage will be continued, and the merchants and official gentlemen will take the matter up in good earnest, and complete what has already been auspiciously begun. When the plans are sufficiently matured we would suggest the propriety of bringing them before the public in a well-defined shape, by circular, or advertisement in the public papers. For this purpose our columns will be at the service of the committee gratuitously. \n\nA meeting to enlist shareholders was held at the house of Leonard Just, a watchmaker, in February 1846. The eventual outcome of the meeting was the erection of the Victoria Theatre on the hill behind the Hong Kong Club. The lot was up Wyndham Street somewhat to the south of Wellington Street.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209588, "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": 245, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "223\n\nseamen's boarding houses and did not welcome pious competition, Rather than lease it to the Bishop he preferred to turn it into a sail-loft. However, the meeting at the City Hotel to revive interest in drama raised enough money by subscription to lease the building for another season.\n\nThe building was to be used not only as a theatre, but as a venue for Balls, meetings and other public purposes, but further funds were needed for refurbishing the building which had fallen into disrepair through infrequent use and the natural effect of time. The newly formed Theatrical Committee reported that “the interior will require repainting, and considerable alteration in seats. The roof ought to be lined with wood. This would improve appearance and acoustics. The stage should be lengthened by carrying it back some twelve or fourteen feet\". The Committee also reported that they had been successful in securing a group of amateurs who agreed to perform on the condition that tickets be issued gratis, \"so as to secure attendance alone of the respectable portion of the community\". This stipulation suggests that the earlier efforts of amateurs may have failed because rowdies had taken over and driven away audiences.\n\nAlthough the season got off to a good start, there was not sufficient financial support to sustain it. No more performances are reported in the Theatre. The last notice I have found of the building is in 1859 when an auction was advertised at the “Old Theatre next to the Oriental Hotel\".\n\nPORTUGUESE AND GERMANS\n\nThrough the years notices of performances by Portuguese amateurs appear. The first mention is in 1847 for a production at the \"Theatro da Sociedade\" at which music was provided by the visiting Macao Band. In 1852 the \"Theatrino Particular\" on Wellington Street announced a performance of Portuguese amateurs. One of the pieces presented was by young boys aged between eight and fifteen. The next year the boys performed in the Victoria Theatre under the direction of the schoolmaster, Mr. J.J. da Silva e Souza. As an entre-act four young girls performed a Spanish dance, the \"Guarrache”.\n\n!\n\n:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209591, "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": 248, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "226 \n\nCARL T. SMITH \n\nsee what should be done toward erecting a permanent theatre\". \n\nThe year following, 1862, plans for a Theatre and Assembly Room were on view at the Hong Kong Club. They were estimated to cost $34,000, but a newspaper reporter was more realistic. In his opinion \"a glance shows it would cost $60,000 at least\". \n\nSomething as ambitious as this had to wait some years. It was finally realized with the opening of the City Hall in 1869. In the meantime, mat sheds, a large room in St. Andrew's School and the Club Lusitano were used. \n\nA public meeting in 1864 resolved that the Amateur Theatrical Matshed should be kept and a committee appointed to see to its preservation. One happy feature was the debt-free state of the theatre following a successful season. During the 60s there were notices of the Queen's Theatre on Queen's Road East. It was probably the adapted godown mentioned in the columns of Jarrett in his series \"Old Hongkong\" in the South China Morning Post. A Theatre Royal was on military ground, used not only for performances by the Garrison but also by visiting professional dramatic companies. In 1865 it was announced it was to be pulled down \"for much needed barrack improvements\". After its demolition, the Garrison amateurs used the Murray Barracks Canteen. \n\nThe general public expressed its appreciation to the military for permitting the theatre to occupy their ground. It had, however, been a hot, stuffy place, poorly ventilated. \n\nTYPES OF DRAMA \n\nAll the early productions of the amateurs were described variously as farce, burlesque, comic drama, facetious tragedy, vaudeville comedy or burlesque extravaganza. \n\nPerhaps the first play of a mere serious tone was given in 1875, when \"Plot and Passion\" by Thomas Taylor and J. Lang was presented. It was noted, however, that a drawback to such a play was its love scenes, as these were difficult when played by males only companies. The reviewer thought that while it \n\n! \n\n!", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209606, "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": 263, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "241\n\n# APPENDIX\n\n## THE HONG KONG AMATEUR DRAMATIC CLUB AND ITS PREDECESSORS Significant Dates and Performances.\n\n(Authors and dates of first publication or production from A. Nicoll, A History of English Drama, \"Handlist of Plays\".)\n\n(Note: only ADC productions are noted here: professional performances, and performances by Garrison groups or other amateur groups not detailed here).\n\n### 1844/45\n\n18 Dec. 1844 proposed to form a dramatic company of amateurs under patronage of H. E. Governor Davis.\n\n### 1845/46\n\n3 Jan. 1846 Tues. last performance given by \"Corps Dramatique\" at Aqui's Theatre in the Lower Bazaar.\n\n27 Jan. 1846 party of Amateur Performers presented \"The Lady and the Devil\" followed by \"Fortune's Frolic\" Aqui's Theatre.\n\n24 Mar. 1846 Amateur Performers Wed. last, \"The Midnight Hour\" and \"The Sleep Walkers\" Theatre.\n\n28 Apr. 1846 Amateur performance Mon. evening at Aqui's.\n\n27 June 1846 - Amateur Performers fifth and last performance at Aqui's Theatre.\n\n8 Jan. 1846 at length a fair prospect of a Theatre being erected in Hong Kong. Idea suggested last year. Half of funds needed already subscribed.\n\n9 Feb. 1846 Meeting of shareholders of proposed Theatre at house of Mr. Just, corner Queen's Road and Pottinger Street.\n\n### 1848/49\n\n1 Nov. 1848 first public performance by amateurs in new theatre (the Victoria) erected by Mr. Duddell. \"The Weathercock” (J. T. Allingham, 1805) followed by a comic song, concluded with farce \"Rival Valets\" (J. Ebsworth, 1805).\n\n1 Dec. 1848 - Amateurs second performance. \"Fortune's Frolic\" farce (J. T. Allingham, 1799) \"Bambastes Furioso\" burlesque tragic operetta (W. B. Rhodes, 1810) \"The Weathered\" farce\n\n### 1852/53\n\n8 Nov. 1852 meeting at City Hall of persons interested in the revival of drama in Hong Kong. To take measures for preserving the Victoria Theatre to the community for purpose it was originally erected. Committee of four to organize Theatrical Company.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209607, "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": 264, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "242\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\n1 Dec. 1852 - first performance of amateurs under new management.\n\n12 Feb. 1853 — Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Twice Killed\" farce (John Oxenham, 1837) \"Slasher and Crasher\" farce (J. M. Morton, 1848)\n\n19 Mar. 1853 meeting at Victoria Theatre for purpose of forming a Corps Dramatique to arrange for another performance at an early date.\n\n20 Apr. 1853 \"Animal Magnetism\" farce (Mrs. E. Inchbald, 1758)\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" farce\n\n19 May 1853 last night of season of Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Time Tries All\" dramatic drama (J. Courtney, 1848) \"Toothache, or The Prince and the Chimney Sweep\" farce\n\n1853/54 27 Oct. 1853\n\nMeeting at Victoria Theatre of those interested in theatricals to make arrangements for the coming season. (I found no notice of any performance for this season).\n\n1860/61 3 Jan. 1861 \"Still Waters Run Deep\" (T. Taylor, 1855)\n\n1861/62\n\n1862/1863\n\n29 Jan. 1861 new theatre, Hong Kong Amateur Theatre, performance by officers and gentlemen who have organized this establishment:\n\n\"A Bachelor of Arts\" (P. Hardwicke, 1853) \"A Nice Firm\" (T. Taylor, 1853)\n\n25 Feb. 1861 performance of Gentlemen Amateurs Mon. last.\n\n28 Mar. 1861 theatrical season drawing to close. Appreciation to the Committee. Difficult to see how the Amateur Theatrical Company could have managed without aid from the garrison.\n\nDec. 1861 - first performance of season:\n\n\"Cool as a Cucumber\" (M. W. B. Jerrold, 1851) \"The State Secret\" (A. Snodgrass, 1821, or T. E. Wilks, 1836) in same commodious erection as served so well for last year's performances,\n\n23 Jan. 1862 second public performance of Hong Kong Amateur Theatre:\n\n\"Not a Bad Judge\" comic drama (J. R. Planche, 1848) \"The Critics\" facetious tragedy (Sheridan, 1779)\n\n1862 season\n\n\"Cramond Brig\" (W. H. Murray, 1826)\n\nDec. 1862 The theatre a reproduction of last year's design. \"Uncle Zachary\" comic drama (John Oxenford, 1860) \"Fearful Tragedy in Seven Dials\" (Charles Selby, 1857)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209608, "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": 265, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "243\n\n12 Feb. 1863\n\nweek.\n\n30 Apr. 1863\n\nsecond amateur performance of season last\n\namateurs gave fourth performance on Wed.\n\nsubscription: 1863/64\n\n―\n\n17 Dec. 1863\n\n1864/65\n\n―\n\n1865/66\n\n―\n\nfirst performance\n\n\"Follies of a Night\" vaudeville comedy (J. R. Planche, 1842)\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" given also in 1853.\n\n6 Feb. 1864 on 4th third subscription performance and on 6th third public appearance.\n\n31 Mar. 1864- fourth and last performance of season:\n\n\"Tailor of Tamworth\" (also known as \"State Secrets\", T. Wilks, 1836) given also in 1861. \"Alladin, the Wonderful Scamp\" burlesque (T. C. Bryon, 1861)\n\n16 June 1864\n\n___\n\npublic meeting resolved the Amateur Theatrical matshed should be kept up.\n\n13 Oct. 1864\n\nmeeting of those interested in Amateur Theatricals agreed to continue them in next season in usual way.\n\n2 Jan. 1865 a visiting professional group, the Lewis Company, gave first subscription night to the subscribers of the Amateurs\n\n9 Nov. 1865 check given to movement for organizing a new Amateur Theatrical Corp by non-attendance at public meeting. To be hoped they shall not collapse in consequence.\n\n1866/67\n\n3 Jan. 1867\n\nfirst\n\nat new Club Lusitano Theatre performance of season of Amateur Dramatic Society: \"Sent to the Tower\" farce (J. M. Morton, 1850) \"Alladin, or The Wonderful Scamp\" burlesque extravaganza (T. C. Bryon, 1860) also given in 1864.\n\n―\n\n4 Feb. 1867 second subscription night of Hong Kong Amateur Theatricals:\n\n\"The Area Belle\" farce (Brough and Halliday, 1864) \"Shylock, or the Merchant of Venice Preserved\" burlesque (F. Talfourd, 1853)\n\n1866/67\n\n7 Mar. 1867\n\n1867/68\n\nHong Kong Amateur Theatricals third subscription night:\n\n\"Slasher and Crasher\" (J. M. Morton, 1848) given also in 1853.\n\n\"Raising the Wind\" (J. Kennedy, 1803)\n\n23 Mar. 1867\n\nHong Kong Amateur Theatricals fourth subscription performance.\n\n—\n\n28 Sept. 1867 Hong Kong Amateur Theatrical Society propose giving five subscription performances this season.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209754, "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": 13, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "With regard to normal publications, the 1982 Journal, No. 22, came from the printers in February. It is the largest ever volume (368 pages) and its high standard and the wide scope of its contents reflect the hard work and enthusiasm of Dr. Patrick Hase who took over the editorship from Dr. David Faure for this Journal. Dr. Faure has now returned from his sabbatical leave at Cambridge University and has kindly agreed to be co-editor with Dr. Hase for our growing programme of publications. I am delighted to have two such willing and capable work horses on the Council, if I may so describe them. Turning to another item, members will I am sure be equally pleased to receive from the printer Mr. Tony Rydings' second ten year index to the contents of our Journal. This time, the index covers the Journals from 1971 to 1980 inclusive, and will prove a valuable and convenient aid to readers and researchers alike. Mr. Rydings has now completed an index to the contents of Sessional Papers (the reports and other matter placed before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1879-1941) and the Council has publication in mind.\n\nPublicity for our Publications\n\nThe Council has long experienced problems in promoting the sale of publications. Whilst it has long been clear that there is a demand, it is also the case that our books and journals need to be brought regularly to the interested public's attention, here and abroad. In another attempt to grapple with this problem, it has been decided in consultation with our excellent Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Deb. Hodgkiss, that she will undertake specified duties in this field for appropriate extra remuneration, the position to be reviewed after one year.\n\nLibrary\n\nMs Elaine Morgan, who took over from Mr. Rydings as our Hon. Librarian, has had a busy year. Her report has been tabled and indicates the extent of her work. No fewer than 280 titles have been added to the Library since Mr. Rydings' second catalogue was published in 1983, and for members' convenience Xerox copies of the provisional list have been provided for this meeting. We are most grateful to Elaine for her work on our behalf.\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210039, "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-1984", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "done across the territory. Inscribed tablets have been copied from old temples and other public buildings, together with documents and family papers, and interesting old persons have been interviewed. The nature of this work, and its results so far, were reviewed.\n\nOn 30 May, the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong invited members of our Society to attend a lecture meeting at which Professor Michael Sullivan, Christensen Professor of Oriental Art at Stanford University spoke on \"The Present State of Chinese Painting”. On 19 June, Dr. Rosemary Quested, Reader in History at the University of Hong Kong and an authority on Sino-Russian relations, spoke on the subject \"Whither Sino-Soviet Relations: some reflections in the light of history and current events.” On 28th June, Ms. Patricia Cuenot gave a slide presentation entitled \"The Magic of Pushkar\", which dealt with the Camel Fair held during October and November each year in Pushkar, Rajasthan.\n\nOn 24 October, one of our members, Mr. Phillip Bruce, a Principal Information Officer of Government Information Services, gave a fascinating illustrated talk, entitled \"The Forgotten Fortress\". Based on his own research, it dealt with the coastal defences of Hong Kong from the 1840s up to the 1939-45 war. Following this, on 13 November, Professor Grant K. Goodman of the University of Kansas, who is Japan Foundation Visiting Professor of History at the University of Hong Kong and a specialist on the history and politics of Japan, gave an interesting lecture entitled \"Vanguard of Empire? — Japanese prostitutes in South East Asia\".\n\nOn Friday, 7 December, Mr. Francis S.Y. Sham, a veteran translator and language teacher and a member of our Society, gave an interesting talk on \"Fortune Sticks from Hong Kong's Temples\". Mr. Sham has published two volumes on fortune sticks from Kwun Yum and Wong Tai Sin Temples and is currently working on Lui Tso oracles from the Ching Chung Kwan monastery in Castle Peak.\n\nOn 29 January, 1985, I spoke on the subject \"Hong Kong before Lord Palmerston: a “Go” at the Barren Rock Myth”. The talk\n\nix", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210434, "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": 41, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "22 \n\nCARL T. SMITH \n\nChinese Cemeteries\". The senior Chinese representative on the Board, Mr. Lau Chu-pak, was quick to detect any signs of racial discrimination. He asked if bodies from cemeteries other than Chinese could be re-buried in the cemetery. \n\nThe Board sent a letter to the Colonial Secretary in April requesting that Government should allot a piece of ground for burial of Buddhists. This could be done immediately, so it was proposed by the Governor in Council that a new ordinance be drafted to set aside the major part of the Colonial Cemetery for the burial of Christians only. In transmitting this decision to the Sanitary Board, the Colonial Secretary reminded the Board that the proclamation to the Chinese in 1841 by Captain Elliott had guaranteed the free practice of religion to all nations and creeds, and as the Buddhists — meaning the Japanese — had no place other than the Colonial Cemetery to bury their dead, he suggested that the Board suspend, for the time being, the enforcement of the bye-law regarding joss sticks and crackers. \n\nThe two Chinese representatives of the Board expressed their dissatisfaction with recent proposals by some members of the Board which they considered would make the cemetery exclusively European and Christian. Mr. Lau Chu-pak reminded the meeting that the cemetery was open to every resident of the Colony, irrespective of nationality and religion, though, he admitted it was probably originally intended for persons of the Protestant faith as there had been special cemeteries provided for Chinese, Muslims and Roman Catholics — he did not mention the Jews and Parsees, which had their own cemeteries also. He looked back in history, saying that, “In the early days, when there was a Colonial Chaplain, what was more natural than that he should describe the cemetery at which he officiated as the Colonial Cemetery, meaning thereby the cemetery of the Colonial Church”, and he also acknowledged that the official Government Gazette had been referring to it as the Protestant Cemetery. In spite of the use of those names, Mr. Lau contended that the cemetery was a public one, as it was public property and maintained at public cost. He acknowledged that the general Chinese community did not use the cemetery. The Chinese who did, he said, were largely British born, British naturalized,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210435, "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": 42, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "23\n\nChristians or Eurasians. He expressed the opinion that such groups had given up their heritage; he himself was an ardent Confucian and promoted the building of the Confucian Hall in Sookunpoo. He sarcastically added that “as people had already been admitted into the European paradise on earth, he thought it was scarcely fair to debar them from using the passage to the European paradise in heaven”. (The Weekly Press, 17 April 1909)\n\nThe Hong Kong Telegraph took up the cause; Lau Chu-pak was one of its owners. Following the April meeting of the Sanitary Board in which Mr. Lau had expressed the opinions given above, it ran an editorial entitled “More Class Legislation in Hongkong”. The editorial linked the cemetery question with what the paper regarded as a growing movement towards the enactment of class legislation. \"The fact of the matter is that this sort of petty municipal legislation is all of a piece with the policy of the Government in reserving special lands for the bon ton of the Colony. First, they decreed that in life the Chinese should not live in the vicinity of the Peak, and now in death the Chinese are not deemed fitting occupants of lairs in the public cemetery.” The editor asked for consideration for the Chinese who were seeking a better deal for their dead: “Fancy the outcry there would be among the elite if the remains of the deceased predecessors were subjected to removal at the whim and caprice of some insignificant official in a Government Department. That in itself should constitute a plea for the Chinese that they have a right of interment in the Colonial Cemetery.\" Indeed, “the Colonial or Protestant, or whatever fancy name anybody might wish to call it, the public cemetery of Hong Kong is maintained out of the rates and taxes provided by the residents in the Colony. It is no more a private institution than the public gardens. No sect or body has a right to say that it has any particular claim on the domain; as far as we can make out, all have an equal right to interment”.\n\nThe Christian Cemetery Ordinance of 1909\n\nThe Government decided to draft legislation which would create separate sections in the cemetery where only those", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210586, "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": 193, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "174\n\nWEI PEH T'I\n\nback gate, sing a hymn to draw the crowd, then Mr. Malcolm steps out to preach to them. A great many of them won't come here, so we go to them. When they are eating their food you may think a queer time to hold a meeting, but do you know how they eat their food! And it's perhaps the only time to catch the men. The men do not eat with their wives and they do not know such a custom as tablecloth and knives and forks, except as they have heard of the extravagant foreigners. But the man of the house takes his bowl of rice, if he can afford it, or if not his bowl of dough strips and perhaps a bowl of salted garlic or some kind of greens. If it's the first or fifteenth of the month he will have another bowl with some stewed meat and onions etc. These he puts down on the ground and he sits on his front door step holding his bowl of dough strips which he pushes into his mouth with his chopsticks, stopping once in a while to take a little relish from one of the bowls on the ground. Those on the ground are public property if anyone else is eating with him, all dipping into the common bowl. Such is the life of our back lane. The women eat when their masters have finished. And perhaps our meetings disturb some of their calculations, for the men may have their bowl along with them and the housewife may not have another. However, there are people in Taiho who spend more money than we do over their everyday meals, and they do not eat them on their front steps, but they do not live in our back lane.\n\nWe think these back lane people keep very many from coming here, one man trying to frighten some women away from us said \"the Boxers will finish them all off yet!\" And several apparently friendly women invited me to drink tea with them one afternoon when I was passing. I refused as I was in a hurry, and had no sooner passed than I overheard “Foreign devil”. There seems to be an organized opposition against all of us. The city is largely Mohammedan, and they seem almost impossible to work with. \"All things are possible with God” and “to him that believeth.\" So we will continue to hope and pray. We have our little encouragements. I could write you several. The Lord has not forgotten us, nor these people. I have taken up this letter with things of not much account, if it's unprofitable. I am sorry to have taken your time. I will write next time more of my", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210693, "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": 44, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "27\n\nsaid that no man loved Ireland more dearly, and there was no warmer heart in Ireland than his. He asked why Irishmen loved their country more than the English, who were daily getting more cosmopolitan, and the Scots who were daily getting more English, loved theirs. He suggested that the reason was that the Irish were a little less selfish and a little more generous, and gave preference to strangers over their own. They loved Ireland as their mother because over the last thousand years they had suffered and laboured much. That had made them patient, enduring, witty, generous, self-reliant, hospitable, brave and reckless. They had great learning to be proud of. Before St. Patrick came, and their Saxon friends were still going about painted, Ireland had laws and a recognised society. St. Patrick had little to do but introduce the spirit of Christianity. Irish immigrants were the backbone of countries where they lived and had succeeded everywhere. One fault that the Irish were gravely charged with was that they drank too much and were too fond of whiskey. He exhorted all present to resolve not to bring discredit on their country by excessive drinking, and to give up drink for six months to help the Duchess of Marlborough's Famine Relief Fund. After that he recited a poem entitled “Dear Ireland\".\n\nAs to Queen Victoria, in 1893 speaking at a meeting of the General Chamber of Commerce called to discuss the coining of a British dollar, he expressed opposition to anything bearing the Queen's head being made in a foreign country. At a meeting of the judiciary and legal profession in 1901 to pay respects to her memory he began his speech, which was twice as long as those of the Chief Justice and Attorney General combined, by describing himself as \"the senior member and actual, although not official, leader of the local Bar, and the solitary representative among the higher members of the profession of the Irish race and Roman Catholic community.\" He said “Loyalty to the throne is a duty most strenuously enforced on every member of the Catholic Church. The personal loyalty of Irishmen to the sovereign has always been conspicuous, the few contemptible exceptions only making the loyalty of the vast majority the more conspicuous\".\n\nHe was a public person, interested in most things that went on and ever ready to express his view about them. His talent for oratory ensured that his views were often heard. He was connected with many societies and clubs and because of his legal training was much in demand to sit in committees. He was ambitious and a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210694, "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": 45, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "28 \n\nWALTER GREENWOOD \n\nfervent supporter of representative government. He was ever an outspoken critic of the Government. The Hong Kong Telegraph in its obituary described him as “an entertaining and instructive companion and full of anecdote. At public functions he joined in heart and soul, ever ready with a cheery word for all. Many were helped by him financially and with advice. He never made a parade of charity but anyone who went to him in trouble seldom left without help. He was a staunch friend and a generous enemy\". The Daily Press said of him that he had a genial breezy presence, a ready eloquence and a cheerful willingness to assist in the promotion of any public measure or social institution. He met with many rebuffs and suffered many reverses but always met them manfully and never bore malice\". The China Mail observed that true to the instincts of his race he was always best in opposition. \n\nA coincidence which affected his life and career was that Hennessy, a fellow Irish Roman Catholic, arrived to take up his appointment as Governor shortly after he was admitted to the Hong Kong Bar. He admired Hennessy describing him as “probably the most eloquent of Irishmen\" and supported him. The Daily Press said in its obituary that Francis \"obtained his acting appointments through the influence of Hennessy whose side he consistently espoused in his long quarrel with the British and Foreign Community, and that on the whole his friendship with Hennessy cost him more than he gained by it, and there was little reason to impute to him self-interest as a motive for his advocacy of the Hennessian regime”. In May 1877 Francis was presented to Hennessy at a General Levee at Government House (though his wife was not presented to Mrs. Hennessy) and that may have marked his arrival in society. He took Hennessy's part at the public meeting held in October 1878 to consider the existing state of insecurity of life and property and in effect to censure Hennessy. Francis was against putting the blame on Hennessy's policies. He said his present house had been burgled three times but the remedy was to amend the law and reorganise the police force. He caused much offence by saying that there was opposition to Hennessy even before he arrived in Hong Kong. His support for Hennessy on this occasion was remembered against him for many years. (In 1880, appearing for a man charged with libel in that he had carried on a bitter, active and ceaseless opposition to the \n\n! \n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210695, "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": 46, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "29\n\nGovernor, Francis said \"Is that defamation? I thought it was a recommendation usually in Hong Kong”). Whilst Francis argued with the Europeans, Ng Choy mobilised the Chinese who first packed the City Hall so that the Europeans could not get in, and when the Europeans adjourned to the cricket field requested an interpreter so that they could follow the proceedings. Their request being ignored Ng Choy led them away. Francis, like Hennessy, seems to have had a genuine interest in the welfare of others and particularly of the Chinese and any section of the community that was at a disadvantage.\n\nOne of the things that Hennessy did in 1878 was to revive the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps. There had been volunteers in 1854 and the Corps was founded in 1862 but was disbanded in 1866. It is not surprising that Francis, with his army background, should join. He was an active member until 1887 and maintained an interest until his death. In 1878 he was sworn in as an artillery member (there was also a rifle section) and in July he was elected a captain and received his commission. Another captain and three lieutenants were also elected. There was some criticism in the press of the elections it being suggested that Hennessy had influenced the results, and it was said that two of the appointments were positively distasteful. Francis took part in parades and exercises and rifle competitions, and in 1880 was gazetted an additional A.D.C. to the Governor. In June 1880 there was a meeting of the volunteers with the Governor to discuss the future of the Corps and Francis expressed interest in raising a company of Portuguese who formed a sizeable section of the European community.\n\nBy 1882 the Corps was nearly defunct again and a public meeting was held to consider starting a new one. A committee of five, including Francis, was appointed to draw up rules and regulations. A constitution was approved and in January 1883 the new Corps, some fifty strong, paraded and made \"a creditable show\". In March there was an election of officers. Francis was defeated for Major but again elected a captain. In April when the drill season was wound up the Daily Press reported “the main burden of the drilling work has fallen upon Captain Francis and he has shewn qualifications for drilling men and getting them into an efficient condition such as are seldom seen in a volunteer officer\". In replying to a toast to the Officers Francis said that perhaps an apology was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210703, "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": 54, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "37\n\nlegal ability and acumen in drafting regulations for dealing with the plague and its effects. A thoughtful touch by Francis was to offer coffee and cigars to the men of the Shropshire Light Infantry who helped with plague relief. The Hong Kong Telegraph in its obituary said that he directed and controlled everything and allowed his practice to suffer in the public interest. However, in September when the emergency was over, the Daily Press attacked the Sanitary Board, saying that its springtime of promise had drifted into a moribund condition of age, and the Permanent Committee saying that it was as absolute as practically to remove all control from the executive and demonstrated the difference between representative government and amateur despotism. In October, the Colonial Surgeon, giving evidence before a Retrenchment Committee that had been set up, alleged that the Board had done very little worth doing during the last six years. So far as the unofficial members of the Board were concerned, matters continued to deteriorate, and the last straw was the proposal early in 1895 to appoint another official member, the Medical Officer of Health, to it. Francis went so far as to say that he would be a Government spy. He and two other members threatened to resign. A Chinese member, Ho Kai, expressed the hope that they would not do so because that would be playing into the hands of enemies who wished to get rid of them. Francis and another member did resign and wrote to the newspapers to explain their reasons to the ratepayers. Their resignations were followed by others. At the next meeting of the Board, the Chairman said that they had all, especially Francis, who had devoted several months of his time absolutely to the work of coping with the epidemic, rendered valuable services to the colony, and it was resolved that the thanks of the Board be conveyed to them for the assistance they had rendered during their membership, especially to Francis for his untiring zeal and energy in coping with the plague epidemic in 1894. By this time, the Governor favoured the abolition of the Board. Despite that, he held a plebiscite in 1896 to ascertain whether the community wanted an official or unofficial majority on the Board. Francis took part in the plebiscite, and by 331 votes to 31 votes, the community indicated that it wanted an unofficial majority. However, the new Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, was not prepared to countenance that or to agree to the abolition of the Board, and it was reconstituted. Elections continued to be held.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210704, "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": 55, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "38\n\nWALTER GREENWOOD\n\nThe members elected in 1899 resigned in April 1901 on the ground that the Board could do nothing effective until it received adequate and independent powers, a view that Francis always held. Hong Kong had to wait until 1936 and the creation of the Urban Council for any further advance toward democratic local government.\n\nThe passing of the plague was followed not only by a post-mortem but also by a consideration of who should be rewarded, and how, for services rendered during the plague. The two outstanding candidates were F.H. May, the Captain Superintendent of Police, who served on the Permanent Committee, and Francis. In September 1894 at a public meeting a committee was appointed, with Edward Ackroyd as chairman, to decide on awards to be made on behalf of the community. In December Ackroyd wrote to the Governor \"The Committee consider that to Mr. Francis their best thanks are due for all his exertions and the time he devoted to the wants of the Colony for so many weeks. As Chairman of the Permanent Committee Mr. Francis had a heavy, troublesome and laborious task to perform, and throughout the duration of the epidemic he was unremitting in his devotion to his duties and gave up a great portion of his time, no doubt to the detriment of his extensive practice, to carry on the work he had voluntarily undertaken. Your Excellency is too well acquainted with his services for any need of further mention. Our Committee decided that his actions are deserving of the fullest recognition, that the best thanks of the community, with a good medal, should be tendered to him, and that his valuable services and useful work should be brought, through Your Excellency, to the special notice of the Secretary of State\". Meanwhile the Government was considering what recommendations it should make. It was chiefly concerned with officials but also considered non-officials including Francis. In September the Governor in writing to the Secretary of State expressed the hope that the latter had not failed to notice the untiring and energetic effects on behalf of the public weal of the medical staff and of Francis. However he seems to have been lukewarm to the suggestion, apparently favoured by May, that Francis should have the C.M.G. saying that he had no objection but \"it was easily earned\". He appears to have suggested that silver inkstands be given to the Colonial Surgeon and Francis but to no", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210709, "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": 60, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "43\n\nClub and Fraser Smith and represented the Club in legal proceedings. After one case Fraser Smith unsuccessfully proposed at an Annual Meeting that his fees be not paid, alleging that he had been actuated by prejudice in advising that there were grounds for expelling Fraser Smith from the Club. I have found no evidence that Francis ever rode or owned horses. However he did run on one occasion. That was in 1880 in the Veterans Flat Race during the Civilian Athletic Sports. He was unplaced off a twenty yard start. T.C. Hayllar won off thirty-five yards.\n\nHe was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the China Association and the Navy League, and in 1895 accepted the Presidency of the British Mercantile Marine Officers Association. He was also a member of the Gun Club and the Rifle Association. He joined various literary and debating societies. He supported Dr. Cantlie in the formation of the Odd Volumes Society in 1893 observing that he had been connected with many similar ventures during his thirty-three years of residence.\n\nHe was an inveterate lecturer, his subjects ranging from Jesuitism in 1872 through maritime and Asian affairs to the theory of British Advocacy in 1897. He was still lecturing in the year of his death. He was said to be an entertaining, clear and simple lecturer though the China Mail said that his chief fault as a public speaker was \"inartistic redundancy\".\n\nIn 1889 at a meeting of the Literary Society he expressed hope for an elected Legislative Council and objected to heads of departments being members of the Executive Council. In 1893 at the Odd Volumes Society on the subject \"What does Hong Kong want\" he gave the answer “public spirit”, and attacked incompetent officials and harmful legislation.\n\nIn 1899, again at the Odd Volumes Society, he disagreed with the view of an earlier speaker that the British Nation was more vulgar than others and deficient in imagination and gave his own view that the British were disliked by others because of their national self-complacency and arrogance which resulted from the accomplishment of great deeds.\n\nHe played chess and kept open house in his chambers for chess players at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesdays. In 1894 he was involved in a living chess tournament organised to raise funds for the Union Church and held in the grounds of the Hon J.J. Keswick at East Point. In 1897 he took part in the founding of the St. Cecilia Society established to cultivate a taste for music and was its President.\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "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": 210829, "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": 180, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "163\n\nThe boys were received into the home of Dr. Legge's father in Huntley, Scotland. Here they attended the parish school. While Dr. Legge was going about England and Scotland telling about his work in China, the Rev. Mr. Hill, minister of the chapel at Huntley, superintended the general and religious education of the boys. As sometimes happens to young people who find themselves in an alien culture, they responded to the expectations and subtle pressures of their hosts and were baptised in October 1847.\n\nTheir baptism created great interest in England and Scotland and was widely reported. The fact that the boys were baptised in the same church from which William Milne, the first Principal of the Anglo Chinese College, had gone forth to China, made their baptism seem particularly significant.\n\nA report of the event notes: “A deep hush pervaded the whole of the vast assembly, which the occasion had brought together. Hundreds of eyes glistened. Hundreds of hearts thrilled with emotions of love and praise.\"\n\nNot only did it raise the expectations and vision of England, but it also acted in a similar manner on the boys themselves. Dr. Legge states that \"they were full of schemes for the benefit of their countrymen — thinking and talking of the various ways in which they can render the knowledge they have acquired available to others.\"\n\nNot long after their baptism, Dr. Legge took them on a trip through England preparatory to their return to Hongkong. The trip was intended to increase interest and support for the work in Hongkong.\n\nThe boys made a triumphal tour down from Scotland, thronged Manchester, to London. Everywhere public meetings were held. Crowds thronged to see and hear the young men. With these living examples of the success of his school, Dr. Legge found it easy to raise funds to support a theological class to be opened in connection with his Hongkong school.\n\nMeeting followed meeting, excitement followed excitement, and climax followed climax. Both Dr. Legge and the boys found\n\nPage 180\n\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210858, "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": 209, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "192\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nnor Bigler.\n\nThe Chinese account says: \"We charged him to see the Governor face to face and to tell him again the truth about us, and to endeavour, by supplicating words, to induce him to use his powerful influence in persuading the American miners to abide by the law which the legislature had passed, allowing foreigners, Chinamen as well as others, to work in the mines on the payment of a tax.\"\n\nTo create a favourable climate Tong A-chick took with him on his visit to the Governor \"shawls of rarest pattern, rolls of silk of costliest texture, and some 70 handkerchiefs of the choicest description.\"\n\nTong A-chick reported back to his compatriots that he had been hospitably received and entertained. Indeed the Governor had requested that the Chinese present another letter stating their case. He promised to answer it by a speech or proclamation on their behalf. \"When we heard this, we were much rejoiced, and believed our sorrows were nearly at an end.\" The rejoicing was premature.\n\nThey drafted another letter and sent it by A-chick to the Governor. His Excellency found it unacceptable and drafted a version of his own. The Chinese, however, found that \"the words were not our words, and that we cannot say them with the truth of honest men, and they contradict what we have already said.\" Despairing of the Governor's support, they published the original letter they had sent for his approval.\n\nIn this letter they stated that the miners had been provoked to drive out Chinese from their claims by the Governor's original message against them, the unfavourable report of the Committee on Mines and Mining Interests, and the resolution passed at a public meeting at Sacramento, the state capital. All these had been circulated extensively among the miners, feeding their animosity against the Chinese.\n\nThe letter protested that the Governor had not followed the advice of the legislature, which had passed a bill levying a tax of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210863, "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": 214, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "197\n\ndisturbance. Tong A-chick was in charge. Some of the combatants of the previous night were present. They were from the E Shing Society which was a bitter enemy of the Yeung Wo Association, of which Tong A-chick was one of the directors.\n\nThey questioned his impartiality. Tempers flew, threats were made, and blows exchanged. The climax came when a group of armed men rushed into the meeting from the street attempting to break it up. A-chick sought the nearest exit, a window. Flying through it, he landed on a sheet iron awning which collapsed with a terrible clatter.\n\nHis unceremonious exit and consequent clatter stopped the turmoil inside the building, but it roused the neighbourhood.\n\nIn due time the police arrived. The whole lot were hauled into court for disturbing the peace and riotous behaviour.\n\nThe E Shing group tried to claim that it was all due to the presence of Tong A-chick, who had tried to act as mediator. He, as usual, ably defended himself, “reciting every circumstance of the occurrence in a clear and impartial manner, in the English language, with which he was perfectly conversant.”\n\nOccasionally the associations were given a favourable notice in the press. In 1853 a band of desperadoes had been harassing the countryside. A Company of Rangers had captured the leader of the gang, a man named Joaquim, and thus brought an end to the terrorising.\n\nTong A-chick, as representative of the Chinese district associations, presented a cash gift to the Rangers in appreciation. The San Francisco Herald commented: “The Chinese here, although in no manner bound, have with commendable liberality come forward with this contribution of $1,000 in token of their appreciation of the Rangers' services. They have proved themselves in this city on many occasions a liberal and public-spirited people.”\n\nTong A-chick as leader in the Chinese community during its first decade in California guided it through a difficult period. His", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210876, "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": 227, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "210\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nIn the meantime the minister, the Rev. J. L. Poore, was concerned about the Chinese who had flocked to Australia in search of gold. What disturbed the Rev. Mr. Poore was the isolation of these people. He could communicate with them only through an interpreter or the strict limitations of pidgin English, neither very effective methods for introducing them to the Christian religion.\n\nHis evangelistic interest had already prompted him to send for copies of the New Testament from Hongkong.\n\nHaving received 2,000, he was in a quandary as to how they should be distributed. If he gave them out to the immigrants as they landed from the ships, they would not likely add them to the heavy packs they had to carry to the goldfields. As he pondered the best way to dispose of the Testaments, Poore chanced upon a shipping notice that two Chinese evangelists had arrived carrying letters of introduction addressed to him.\n\nAfter locating them, he found them of “undoubted piety, possessed of considerable literary attainments\". Ho A-low, particularly, was a scholar in his own language, able to translate from English to Chinese and vice versa, and a fluent and correct English speaker.\n\nHaving found them, he then did not know what to do with them. The problem was financial; that of knowing how to support two Chinese evangelistic workers. The Congregationalists were building a church and were already in debt. He decided upon a bold move. He wrote a statement of the needs of the Chinese, the opportunity suddenly presented to meet the needs and the duty of the Christian in this regard. He then sent his appeal to all Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Congregational and Baptist ministers in the area inviting them to meet and discuss the problem. There was a unanimous response.\n\nThe spirit of the meeting was exhilarating. “All were cordial and welcomed the young men with joy; all agreed that something must be done.” A provisional committee was named to arrange for a public meeting. Circulars were issued. The Mechanic's Institute, where the meeting was held, was packed to capacity with", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210893, "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": 244, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "227\n\nThe whole matter was one that was not really for public discussion and the chairman suggested it be dealt with by the Standing Committee of the chamber. After some discussion this mode of dealing with the matter was approved.\n\nHo A-mei may have been a little bold in speaking up at his first meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, but he was not one to shrink from expressing his opinions. His outspokenness received the approval of the press, which in its comments on the emigration resolution said: \"It was a novelty that it was put forward, not without ability, fluency and clearness by a Chinaman. The fact is reassuring, as an indication of the interest in public events which is being developed amongst the Chinese.\"\n\nHo A-mei, as \"a Chinaman,\" was to speak out about public questions on many other occasions.\n\nHO DABBLES IN THE REALTY BUSINESS\n\nHo A-mei's link with the distant past of Hongkong was a housing scheme he was promoting in 1895. The scheme was financed by the wealthy Li Sing family of Hongkong. They had purchased through a Hongkong-based company, Fuk Tin, the remaining rights of the Tang clan in the area between Laichikok and Shamshuipo. There are also references to the Fung Fuk and Tin Fuk firms in connection with the deal.\n\nThe Tang's claim to the land extended back many centuries, most likely to the Sung dynasty, when members of the family first came into the region. There is well-substantiated evidence that the family once owned Hongkong Island, British Kowloon, much of New Kowloon, Tsing Yi Island and a substantial part of the New Territories.\n\nThe original grant had been broken up through the centuries. It was divided among various branches of the clan, portions had been sold outright to others, certain tracts had been perpetually leased with the Tangs retaining their right to annual payments.\n\nThe Tang family received no compensation for their claim for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210895, "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": 246, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "229\n\nsought out by a reporter of the Hongkong Telegraph for an interview on the housing to be built on the land of the Fuk Tin Co in Cheungshawan.\n\nThis was not the first plan to develop the area. In 1864, an enterprising member of the Tang family arranged with certain other clan members to develop their holdings along the foreshore. The documents relating to the proposal state: \"The lessors' intentions are to invite people to settle thereon, and erect boatbuilding sheds, houses and shops thereon, in order to open up the place for trade, so that some income may be derived therefrom by them to turn it to account.\"\n\nThe owners did not have the capital to develop the area so as to attract those who had been dislocated by events in China or by the clearance from the Tsimshatsui area of Kowloon after British occupation. The owners of the land were happy to make terms with one who was ready \"to superintend the work as first founder of the place.\"\n\nThe income from the family houses, boatbuilding sheds, rope works and the use of the shore for breaming junks was to be managed by the lessee. The kaifong of the place was to be allowed a certain part of the income for hiring watchmen and meeting other public expenses. The balance was to be divided into two equal shares, one for the descendants of the ancestor Tang Shek-cho, the other for the developer, Tang Fu-kowk, alias Tang Chi-nam. The agreement concluded with the pious hope that after the making of the lease \"may the inhabitants be in prosperity and make good profit! May the source of the wealth be multiplied!\"\n\nIn 1876, Tang Fu-kowk, the promoter, acquired title to improvements members of the clan had made at Laichikok. These consisted of a flour mill with two water dams, an improved stream called Tit Lo Hang (Blacksmith's creek) and a vegetable plantation.\n\nAt the time of the interview with Ho A-mei in 1895 there was a severe shortage of Chinese housing in Hongkong. Even before the plague of 1894 struck it had been in short supply. To control", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210902, "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": 253, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "236\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nan population towards him.\n\nThis hostility surfaced publicly in the convening of a meeting in 1878 to pass resolutions regarding the increase of crime. It was this meeting that provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to place himself before the public through a letter he sent to the newspaper setting forth the Chinese side of the events which took place at the meeting.\n\nIn due time, we shall discuss this, but first as a general background for all A-mei's public activities, we might refer further to the letter of \"Chinese\" we previously quoted. The writer possibly might have been Ho A-mei himself, though his practice seems to have been to sign his own name to public letters. He was not the kind of person to hide his opinions behind a pen-name.\n\n\"Chinese\" maintained that the situation at the time he was writing (1878) was not quite as bad as he had described. There had been some changes of late years, for \"we are not handled so roughly as before.\"\n\nHe thought the changes were brought about by discussion in the press of the place of the Chinese in the Hongkong community and a growing sense of justice and fairplay displayed by government officials in their treatment of the Chinese.\n\nSuddenly, however, Chinese hopes for more improvements were given a dash of cold water by the remarks of Mr. Lowcock, an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council.\n\nDuring a debate on the appointment of a Chinese as interpreter to the Governor and Colonial Secretary, he had said that “it would be almost dangerous for a Chinese to hold a confidential position.\" The \"Chinese\" writing the letter interpreted this to mean: \"We Chinese, without one exception, are all treacherous and dangerous.”\n\nThere was for him, however, one bright feature. Governor Hennessy had defended Chinese integrity. His Excellency observed: \"I should be very sorry, if because he is a Chinaman, a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210903, "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": 254, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "237\n\nChinaman living in his Colony who has become quite an Anglo-Chinese, it should be said to him, 'No', because you are a Chinaman, no matter how well you know English, you must take service under the Chinese Government... It was your misfortune to be born a Chinese.”\n\nThese sentiments were not welcomed by the majority of the foreign community. \"Truth,\" in replying to the letter written by “Chinese,” reminded the community that the Government was being paid by British taxpayers \"to represent British Imperial interest, not as your correspondent truly remarks, as a Chinese representative or to look at affairs from a Chinese point of view.”\n\nFrom the distance of years and changed attitudes, the Governor's remarks seem eminently fair and appropriate. But before they could be regarded as such the Chinese had to play a careful game, and the European community generally resisted any accommodation.\n\nThe European, though at the top of the heap, felt insecure and frightened. He was always suspecting some nefarious conspiracy was at work to topple him.\n\n“Truth” reflects this when he remarks on “the lengths to which a Chinaman will go, the stratagems to which he will resort, to cause injury to his opponents and the sleuth-hound like pertinacity with which he watches his every business and concern in order that he may cause him loss of name or money.”\n\nThere was always the fear the Chinese resident in Hongkong would be “got at\" by someone who would prod or intimidate him to challenge the position the foreigner had carved out for himself in China.\n\nWith this brief review of some of the tensions between the Chinese and foreign population in Hongkong, we can better understand the events of the public meeting of October 1878, and the activity of Ho A-mei as a public figure.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210904, "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": 255, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "238\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nCHINESE PROTEST AT BEING KEPT OUT OF MEETING\n\nHo A-mei as a public figure participated in a number of important and interesting affairs which illustrate the strained relations between the foreign and Chinese portions of Hongkong's population during the closing decades of the 19th century.\n\nThe first such occasion was a public meeting held in October 1878.\n\nFor the Chinese it was the first such meeting they attended in numbers with the intention of active participation. The Chinese view of events at the meeting was set before the English reading public in a letter Ho A-mei addressed to the editor of the Daily Press. This letter marked his first appearance as a leader among the Chinese in Hongkong. His involvement in public issues affecting the Chinese continued for the next twenty years or until his retirement in 1898.\n\nThe meeting on which the letter comments had various tones and overtones, currents and sub-currents. Its stated purpose was to pass a resolution concerning the low state of security in Hongkong and the frequency of robbery and assault. Behind it was a large part of the European portion of the community who hoped the resolutions passed at the meeting would discredit the administration of the Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy.\n\nGovernor Hennessy had introduced humane measures for the treatment of criminals, had abolished flogging and had improved conditions in jail. Many attributed the increase in crime to these reforms.\n\nThe complaints, however, were only a symptom of a deep dislike the foreign community had taken towards its Governor. Sir John had come to Hongkong with a record of favouring the local population in the colonies he had governed and of introducing measures to elevate them to a more equal status with the expatriate colonials, a policy not welcomed by the colonials. These principals, as they were applied in Hongkong, were labelled by the press as \"Hennessy's pro-Chinese policy.\" He believed that the\n\nPage 255\n\nPage 256", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210905, "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": 256, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "239\n\nChinese should have a more consultative role in government, class legislation should be abolished and Chinese leadership should be encouraged.\n\nThe Chinese feared the public meeting would be manipulated to openly condemn Sir John and thus impede the implementation of his policy. The anti-Hennessy group feared the Chinese would vote en bloc to frustrate their intended objective for the meeting.\n\nIn this atmosphere of mutual distrust it was inevitable the meeting would encounter difficulties unless handled in a fair and diplomatic manner. This did not happen, and the meeting deepened the mistrust between the two sides.\n\nThe affair aroused a great amount of newspaper comment. Ho A-mei presented the Chinese version in an attempt to balance that given by the colonialists. As an early presentation of the Chinese side of an issue appearing in the English language press it is worth quoting in full. It was published in the October 16, 1878 issue of the Daily Press.\n\nHo A-mei wrote: \"I would like to say a few words on the treatment I and the large number of Chinese received who were present at the public meeting on October 7.\n\n\"I wish also to point out that the Chinese who were there were not, as some people have said, ‘shop coolies’ and the like, but that nearly all of them belonged to the better classes and those who have large stakes in the welfare of the colony.\n\n\"On Europeans finding the City Hall nearly filled with Chinese, some of them called out ‘d...d Chinaman, turn them out’. I then heard some say, ‘Let us have the meeting elsewhere to prevent the Chinese coming’. After being formally opened, it moved to open air. There was a general struggle to get to the cricket ground and when we (Chinese) arrived there, we found a ring already formed of foreigners.\n\n\"Some of us attempted to get into the ring, but were roughly handled and pushed back. The promoters of the meeting were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210906, "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": 257, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "240 \n\nCARL SMITH \n\nthen asked to allot a space for us, but this was peremptorily refused. We were obliged to stand outside the ring. \n\n\"As we did not know nor could we hear what passed in the ring, we asked that any resolution put to the meeting should be explained in Chinese, so that those of us who did not know English might understand its meaning. Mr. Ng Choy, who was there, was good enough to convey our wishes to the Chairman, but when we heard that our reasonable request was refused, we all left and took no part whatever in the proceedings of the meeting. \n\n\"It has been said that printed slips containing a translation of the resolution in Chinese were circulated. I and many of my friends never received one copy. I have made some enquiry and have found one; it contained only some of the resolutions. The translation is so bad that I could scarcely make out its meaning. \n\n\"Of our right to take part in that meeting, there cannot be the least doubt. In fact we were invited by the promoters to take part and attend. Anticipating our presence, and believing that a great majority could not know English enough to understand its proceedings, the promoters had properly provided an interpreter for the occasion. And yet when we requested that the substance of a resolution should be rendered into Chinese to the Chinese audience, it was absolutely refused and thus our presence was entirely ignored. No great affront could have been offered to us. \n\n\"It has been attempted to make the public believe that we (Chinese) who went to the meeting had bound ourselves to oppose the resolutions proposed and at the signal of one or two gentlemen to outvote the Europeans. This is a gross insult to our intelligence. Is it probable that we should submit ourselves to be led by the nose by any one man? \n\n\"I think we are equal in intelligence and common sense to those foreign gentlemen at the meeting. It may with more truth be said that they had pledged themselves beforehand to support the resolution than to insinuate that we were bound to oppose them. It may be an interesting question that of the many foreigners who so readily supported the resolution, how many did understand their", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210907, "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": 258, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "real meaning and vote according to their firm convictions.\n\n241\n\n\"And yet when we asked that the resolutions be explained in Chinese, so that we might judge for ourselves and vote conscientiously, it was unceremoniously refused. I leave to the impartial public what to think of this.\"\n\nHe signed his letter \"Ho Kwan-sun, Late Haikwan (Customs) Banker, Swatow\".\n\nThere were few in the community of that day who could be called impartial. The Chinese were only in the first stages of an awareness of their importance for the general welfare of Hongkong. This, in turn, produced a feeling that they should have a voice in matters of general public concern. The foreign community for its part could not believe the Chinese had a fundamental loyalty to the interest of Hongkong. They feared that the Chinese in Hongkong would join forces with corrupt officials in China and block what foreigners considered the proper expansion of commerce and undercut British prestige and power in the East.\n\nThis first attempt of Chinese and foreigners to unite in an open meeting on a public issue served to drive the two groups farther apart, at least for a time.\n\nHOW THE CHINESE WERE\n\nKEPT OUT OF THE MEETING\n\nThe public meeting called for October 7, 1878, to discuss “public insecurity\" was the first held in Hongkong at which there was a large Chinese delegation. From the standpoint of promoting better relations between the various sections of the community it was not a success. Ho A-mei told the Chinese side in the letter he wrote to the Daily Press. In it he related how the Chinese had had no opportunity to express their views.\n\nThe Europeans, however, who were able to speak out at the meeting, made it lively. Much of the interchange occurred after the Chinese had left; however, the remarks made point to the reason the Chinese were treated as they were.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210909, "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": 260, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "243\n\nAfter this complication was dealt with, a vote was called on Francis' amendment. Only the proposer and seconder voted for it. Then the original resolution was put to the meeting. To this there was one additional opposition vote; all others voted for it.\n\nAt this point, Ng Choy, speaking for the Chinese, called out: \"The Chinese cannot hear what is going on.” To which the chairman replied: \"Why do they not come forward? We must go on with the meeting,” ignoring the fact that there was no room for anyone to come forward.\n\nNg Choy then asked for the resolution to be put again. Again he was rebuffed, the chairman replying: \"I cannot put up a resolution which has been carried; we must go on with the meeting.\"\n\n\"It is not fair,\" protested Ng, \"the Chinese do not understand what is going on.” To which Lowcock, a member of the Legislative Council replied: “We cannot help it. I wish every Chinaman understood what was being said, but we cannot speak Chinese.”\n\nWith this the Chinese walked off the field.\n\nAfter their departure, Forbes proposed a resolution hitting more directly at the Governor's administration, stating: \"What is needed is firm and unfettered administration. Flogging in public is the only means of deterrent. It should be reinstated.'\n\n**\n\nGranville Sharp seconded the motion with a rambling, pompous and involuted speech. He thought the Chinese who had been present were not true representatives of their community. He said: \"I am able most thoroughly and heartily to protest against this party character being thrown into this loyal meeting. Gentlemen, I don't know of anyone in Hongkong who has had more to do with intelligent Chinese merchants than I up to within this day last month. I am able most thoroughly to say that resolution which was first proposed and the resolution which is now before you, have the entire and full concurrence of the most respectable and intelligent members of the Chinese community. It is quite right that in undertaking any inquiry of this kind we should guard against selfish motives.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210910, "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": 261, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "244\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nHe then upheld the honour of the foreign merchant: “I think we may with truth say that our merchants in China are not hard and unreasonable men. I believe in no part of this world can a body of gentlemen be found showing so large an amount of consideration and kindness towards each other, and towards the weak, the poor, the sick, and the bereaved, as has been manifested for half a century past by the wealthy, and often times by the unfortunate, merchants in China.”\n\nThen he exposed the sensitive point in the foreign residents' attitude towards the Chinese. \"We are surrounded by a native population of 100 to one, and it is only by a preservation of that superstitious veneration for the prestige of the British character by which we are enabled to keep the masses of China in check. The progress of education among them is greatly calculated to break down that prejudice and reverential fear with which they regard all things foreign. They are becoming more and more familiar with us, and as a consequence in some degree there is a growth of that contempt which is proverbial. But our danger is not from the natives by whom we are surrounded, but from the masses of the Kwangtung province, which has been truly described by Keswick to be the most violent and the most demoralised of the whole Chinese empire.\"\n\nSharp finally concluded with the assurance that, “This is not a mutinous meeting, it is an orderly, quiet, constitutional meeting.”\n\nT. I. Bowler, one of Hongkong's characters, saw a plot behind the conduct of the Chinese at the meeting, saying: “As it is evident that attempts have been made to cause dissension, I move, that this meeting views with annoyance and displeasure the efforts which have been made to bring about dissension between the Chinese and Europeans.\" The chairman declared the motion out of order.\n\nThe Chinese reaction to the entire proceedings, as voiced by Ng Choy, was one of regret. He wrote to the newspaper: \"Many public meetings have been held since the Colony was established, but I think this was the first public meeting that my fellow countrymen ever attempted to take part in. I am sorry that a little more consideration...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210911, "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": 262, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "245\n\neration was not shown us.”\n\nThere would be opportunities in the future for the two sections of the community to meet and discuss public issues. It was a gradual and slow process for the two to overcome mutual distrust and accept each other with respect.\n\nWHEN THE CHINESE CALLED ON THE GOVERNOR\n\nHo A-mei was a member of a deputation of prominent Chinese which called upon the Acting Governor, the Honourable Henry Marsh, in January 1883. He was one of the three Chinese who spoke, though Dr. Ho Kai monopolised the meeting with a lengthy prepared speech.\n\nThe deputation created considerable controversy. It released for public airing brooding tensions within both the Chinese and foreign sections of the community. It is true that it did not take much to arouse controversy. In those days, even as now, feelings could be stirred up over rather insignificant matters. But some of the discussion arising out of the 1883 visit to the Officer Administering the Colony concerned long-standing problems in Hongkong, some of which still trouble us.\n\nA secondary issue was the qualifications needed by the person who should represent the Chinese on the Legislative Council. To this honour Ho A-mei had aspirations. The issue, already under discussion, peaked because of the manner in which Ho Kai represented, or rather, as it was claimed, misrepresented the views of the Chinese in his speech.\n\nThe deputation was the first official expression of Chinese public opinion since the departure of Governor John Pope Hennessy from Hongkong. Those who had been his bitter critics hailed the advent of Marsh as administrator as opening a new page in Hongkong's relation to the Chinese community. But joy over the change did not lessen antagonism towards Governor Hennessy. The Chinese deputation provided an opportunity for the old objections to Governor Hennessy's policies to be reviewed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210925, "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": 276, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "259\n\nstorm.\n\nIn commenting on the hawker problem, Dr. Ho Kai had said: \"This nuisance I feel sure is widely felt by many residents in this colony, and will, if not removed, be the occasion of much complaint and perhaps another public representation to Your Excellency. Of course, none of us grudge the poor fellows a means of livelihood. Still we cannot see why people should render their occupation a serious inconvenience to their fellow townsmen. Besides we must not forget the interests of the small shopkeepers, who have to pay heavy rents and taxes simply to be out-competed in their line of business by their brethren of the street.\" This spurred the police to take action. The day after the meeting a large group of hawkers were arrested and fined for obstruction and creating a nuisance. It was stated that this was only the beginning of the crackdown.\n\nA representation was made to Dr. Ho Kai that these measures were not what the Chinese community favoured. He was charged with not adequately presenting their true views on the matter.\n\nDr. Ho Kai replied through a letter to the press in which he acknowledged that his remarks were “too brief and not clear and might be a cause of hardship to the poor, unfortunate hawkers.”\n\nHe said he felt he needed to render an explanation as a respectable Chinese gentleman had written to him pointing out that he had not expressed the sentiments of the whole delegation. The gentleman may have been Ho A-mei, though Dr. Ho Kai does not say so. At any rate, a few days later A-mei voiced the same charge with some heat at a public meeting at Tung Wah Hospital. At the time of the delegation, however, he had only made a few remarks, expressing \"his concurrence with the views expressed by Dr. Ho Kai.” In the light of subsequent events, he must have soon had second thoughts about his concurrence.\n\nIn his letter of explanation, Dr. Ho Kai confessed he had not consulted all the members of the deputation but only a few of them. To correct misunderstandings he set forth the real meaning of his remarks, writing: “No doubt all Chinese merchants feel the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210926, "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": 277, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "260\n\nCARL SMITH\n\ninconvenience of hawkers but hesitate to speak up for fear the authorities would deal too harshly. This fear seems to have been partially realised.”\n\nHe suggested that \"leniency combined with firmness and discretion will do more for the removal of this nuisance than harsh measures.” On the other hand, “a harsh policy will be at once an injustice to them and injurious to the Colony, as it will throw a large number of men out of work, and may be the means of augmenting the numbers of the lawless.\" If leniency was not shown and consideration given to Chinese views on the matter, Dr. Ho Kai feared \"that in the future the Chinese will be more backward than ever in stating their complaints publicly.”\n\nAll in all the deputation had the appearance of being an exercise in futility. This, at least, was a view expressed in the press. The writer felt \"some other influence besides a desire to inculcate in the entire community the true principle of decorum, piety and virtue, had been at work to manufacture the pretentious deputation.\"\n\nThe cynical conclusion drawn was that it took place because \"Dr. Ho Kai was anxious to deliver a prepared speech, and that the majority of gentlemen forming the deputation came for fashion's sake.”\n\nThe deputation, with all its troubles, was yet another step in the groping of Government and of Chinese to create ways of communication with each other. With every attempt some lesson was learned.\n\nHOW A-MEI RETRIEVED HIS PLACE AT THE TOP\n\nHo A-mei clashed with Dr. Ho Kai over the doctor's remarks about hawkers during the visit of a Chinese deputation to the acting Governor in January 1883.\n\nA half year later there was another encounter between the two over Dr. Ho Kai's representation of Chinese interests at a public meeting called to discuss a suitable memorial for the late Governor.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210927, "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": 278, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "261\n\nnor, Sir Arthur Kennedy.\n\nBoth incidents reflect inner tensions within the Chinese community and the difficulty Europeans had in recognising which leaders of the Chinese had the support of the majority.\n\nThe Europeans favoured those Chinese who were most thoroughly Anglicised. These were such men as Ng Choy, Ho Kai and Wei Yuk, all of whom had been educated in Britain. The Chinese, on the other hand, were inclined to feel that men who had been elevated to a position of leadership by the Chinese community itself were better representatives.\n\nThe Honourable Ng Choy had been able to straddle this difference, keeping a foot on both sides. Ho Kai and Wei Yuk, however, at the time of the controversy, were young and inexperienced and the majority of the leaders of the Chinese community resented their being pushed to the front by the Europeans.\n\nWhen the news of Sir Arthur Kennedy's death reached Hong Kong, a public meeting was hurriedly convened to discuss a suitable memorial to him. The organisers issued an invitation to all sections of the community. They arranged for Dr. Ho Kai to be the spokesman of the Chinese.\n\nIn his remarks at the meeting he promised the support of the Chinese community to the proposal for a statue of Sir Arthur Kennedy. He also asked to make additional comments expressing the desire of the Chinese to have a fitting memorial for Sir Richard Macdonnell, Sir Arthur's predecessor.\n\nThe chairman rightly suggested that the two objects were different and as the present meeting was to consider only the honouring of Kennedy's memory, the matter of a Macdonnell memorial should be left for discussion at some later time by those interested in the project.\n\nDr. Ho Kai had dutifully fulfilled his obligation to the Chinese community when he raised the point; however, he did not mention a further desire of the Chinese to honour Sir John Pope", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210931, "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": 281, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "264\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nAfter the Tung Wah meeting, Dr. Ho Kai published a letter explaining his absence. He gave three reasons: “(1) I am unaccustomed to attend any public meeting, however important, on Sunday, except in connection with religion. (2) I am not a member of Tung Wah Hospital and have never once in my life set my foot within its precincts. (3) I have had no official notice of the meeting.\"\n\nThe first two reasons were not likely to further endear him to the general Chinese community which had no reason to be especially sympathetic to Christian convictions and it prided itself on the Tung Wah Hospital.\n\nFor the moment Ho A-mei seems to have emerged on top as regards his position in the Chinese community vis-a-vis Dr. Ho Kai.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210942, "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": 4, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "274\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\ncollection is to be allocated by auction to the highest bidder on the 19th of the Fifth Month on the occasion of the sacrifice. Payment is to be made in public to the incoming manager, who is to keep it and raise an interest on it. This should be followed annually.\n\n5. The manager is to pay all taxes and expenditures for the sacrifice and hand over the balance to the incoming manager for the next year for safe keeping.\n\n6. Expenditures for the sacrifice are budgeted annually at 10 taels and 8 mace of silver dollars [i.e. 15 silver dollars]. Items to be offered in sacrifice are to include a roast pig, a cooked banquet, fruit, two suits of sacrificial clothings, three tables of food for the feast for the evening on the day of the sacrifice, and two tables for the following morning. Expenditure should include also [payment for] the master of ceremony, and the musicians [for the wind instruments]. The leader of worship from the heung should also be included. [It is unclear if the heung was required to provide a leader-of-worship or to pay for one.]\n\n7. On those occasions when the villagers hold watch at night in anticipation of extraordinary events [各鄉之虞], and the meeting is held in the Po Tak Temple, all expenses are to be taken out of the common fund. [It is not at all clear what the phrase 各鄉之虞 means. It could refer to keeping watch in anticipation of, e.g. disorder, or simply to a late meeting at the Po Tak Temple.]\n\n8. On those occasions when an honest impeccable person from any of the heung meets with unjustifiable disaster, the shan-sz of the alliance [yeuk] are all to put forward their names to vouch for him. However, if the circumstances are unclear, or if the incident is not unjustifiable, this rule does not apply. No-one is to pose any obstacle to this. [It is not clear if the \"heung\" included only those that were parties to the alliance, but it would seem from the context that they did.]\n\n9. It is inevitable that petty theft will occur. If the thief is from this alliance [yeuk], he is to be subjected to collected comments [kung-i] in a gathering. If he is an outsider,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211001, "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": 63, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "38\n\nWith two governments claiming jurisdiction over it, the Walled City fell between two stools, as one undertook minimal administrative responsibility to avoid diplomatic embarrassment, the other none at all. The result was a near vacuum of administrative function and authority.\n\nAfter Chinese officials departed in 1899, the City's population was much depleted. Some of the original inhabitants stayed on. Their landownership was terminated by the Hong Kong government, which, in turn, granted them 5-year leases. The leases were necessarily short because of the awkward political circumstances. The government was in fact reluctant to grant land leases for any but public purposes and the Protestant Church became a major beneficiary of the situation, receiving several short-term leases to operate schools and charities in the City. In 1906, the Anglican Holy Trinity Church converted the former San-sheng (Three Saints) Temple into a chapel, the T'ien-kuo chiu-tao t'ang (Heavenly Kingdom Chapel). Sermons given every Wednesday and Sunday evening seem to have attracted many women and children from the neighbourhood, who might have attended as much for reasons of faith as for the entertainment.\n\nThe Church also obtained the lease of an official building to operate an old people's home, called the Kuang-yin yuan, and an alms house. Later, these were turned over to the Chinese Christian Churches Union which also ran a home for widows and orphans, known as Eyre's Refuge, in the large compound. In 1908, the Holy Trinity Church converted the former hsun-chien's office into a primary school, the T'ien-kuo A (Heavenly Kingdom) School, operating it until 1936. For some time around 1931, the Church's youth groups also held their activities there.\n\n52\n\nThe former Lung-chin Communal School was also put to good use. Between 1900 and 1905, it was the Land Court's office. Then the Secretary for Chinese Affairs took it over to run a free secondary school for over 300 students with funds from the Hou-wang Temple nearby. At one time, a public dispensary shared the premises. In this way, the schools and other charities, besides meeting the spiritual and material needs of the City's inhabitants,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211085, "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": 146, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "121\n\nof Chinese public opinion in Hongkong.”\n\nPerhaps it was unfortunate that Dr. Ho Kai assumed the responsibility of speaking for the Chinese before he had become thoroughly reacquainted after his long absence with the Chinese community in Hongkong. In terms of intimate knowledge of Chinese affairs and opinion in Hongkong, Ho A-mei was eminently more qualified to represent the Chinese, but other factors handicapped him as a candidate for a seat on the Legislative Council,\n\nWHEN THE CHINESE HAD TO CARRY A PASS AND LANTERN\n\nHo A-mei's long residence in Hongkong was periodically punctuated by his participation in public meetings and discussion of controversial issues. There was the City Hall meeting of 1878 to discuss public security, and in 1883 the Chinese delegation to the Governor and the Chinese meeting to discuss a statue in memory of Governor Macdonnell.\n\nIn 1895, only a few years before Ho A-mei retired from Hongkong, he chaired a meeting held at Tung Wah Hospital to air the grievances of the Chinese against the requirement for them to carry lanterns and passes when on the streets during certain hours.\n\nThe eventual abolition of these requirements was an important step in the slow process of improving relations between the Chinese and foreigners.\n\nAs background for Ho A-mei's part in pushing for the repeal, it is necessary to review the circumstances under which the 1857 ordinance setting forth these rules was enacted and also to refer to the discussion regarding “class legislation” at the time Governor Hennessy was attempting to introduce a policy of fairer treatment of the Chinese in Hongkong.\n\nThe original ordinance \"for better securing the peace of the Colony\" was enacted as an emergency measure at a time of crisis when the foreign community was gripped by fear and panic. It contained a clause that the Governor in Council could at any time", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211090, "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": 151, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "126\n\nnese and to provide for the better Security of the Residents of the Colony.” Ordinance 18 of 1888 brought together measures for \"The Regulation of the Chinese.\" It contained the light and pass requirements.\n\nHo A-mei, who was a student of the Anglo-Chinese College, must have experienced the troubled time of 1856 and 1857. Forty years later, as a prominent leader of the Chinese, he chaired a meeting held to request the Government to repeal the measures enacted when he was yet a youth.\n\nSTORM OVER PLAN TO ABOLISH\n\nTHE LIGHT AND PASS LAW\n\nHo A-mei, educated in the 1850s at Dr. Legge's school in Hong-kong, became in later life a leader in the Chinese community. As such, he participated in many public affairs.\n\nIn December 1895, he chaired a protest meeting against the strict enforcement of the light and pass regulations. They required Chinese out at night after a certain hour to carry lanterns and passes. These regulations became Hongkong law in 1857 during a time of crisis. It was the opening period of the second Sino-British conflict which extended from 1856 to 1860.\n\nAt the time the rules were enacted they were regarded as emergency measures to guard against arson and other subversive activities by agents sent to Hongkong by the Chinese authorities at Canton. After the emergency was over, the requirement for Chinese to carry lights and passes was not suspended. It remained as law but was enforced spasmodically.\n\nSince the rules applied to only one section of Hongkong's population, the Chinese, it was labelled by some as “class legislation.” As such, a growing number of Chinese began to resent them, not only for the inconvenience they caused, but on the principle they were discriminatory and humiliating. It was felt that they implied that the Chinese as a group were lawless and treacherous.\n\nThis resentment surfaced when Sir John Pope Hennessy be-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211097, "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": 158, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "133\n\nIn the opinion of the speaker, carrying a lamp was no check to crime. The measures for securing a peaceful community lay elsewhere. He asked: \"How can a lamp prevent robbery? Cannot a thief carry a lamp? Is it because one case of robbery with violence has occurred in the course of a few years that the lamp law has been enforced?\" He clearly felt the law did not achieve its purpose.\n\nCurtailment of crime could not be expected from carrying lamps and passes. This was the responsibility of the police. Ho A-mei said bluntly: \"I think the police are more to blame, because they failed to arrest those who committed the robbery. (Applause). The police do not give us sufficient protection; that is why we have our own district watchmen, in Wing Lok Street for instance, and yet we have to pay for the police as well.”\n\nThe speaker then launched out to describe the way the regulation had affected business since a policy of rigid enforcement had been inaugurated: \"Considerably fewer people visit the eating houses at night and, of course, as the business decreases so the supply of sharks' fins, etc, by the Nam Pak Hongs decreases; in fact, there is a general deadlock in every branch of trade.\" The enforcement not only curbed social activities, it also had adversely affected business.\n\nHe suggests that if no action on the matter was forthcoming from the Hongkong Government, then the matter must be put directly to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, “and we must ask that in future all ordinances passed in the Colony shall have a general effect and that they shall not aim at the Chinese alone.”\n\nThe meeting had been called to rally support for Mr. Ho Tung's petition against the regulations. No reply to the petition had been received, and Ho A-mei said that he had heard “that it was suggested to the Government that the movement was only an agitation on the part of a few members of the community, and that the petition was signed only at their request.”\n\nThis the speaker denied. “But, I say, Gentlemen, you did not sign the petition simply at the request of Mr. Ho Tung; you signed it in the public streets knowing what the contents were.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211098, "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": 159, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "134\n\nHe rose to the defence of Ho Tung. \"Gentlemen, you must not think that this is an agitation on the part of Mr. Ho Tung. He has taken part in the matter simply out of public spirit.”\n\nNot every Chinese was in sympathy with the protest movement. These Ho A-mei rebuked: \"I say those persons are not Chinese ... simply because they are not affected they stand by and laugh, they ought to be condemned. (Applause). We do not say that the Government does not respect us, but some of the Chinese do not respect themselves. (Applause).\" He may well have meant these barbs against Dr. Ho Kai, the Chinese representative on the Legislative Council.\n\nIn concluding his speech Ho A-mei acknowledged that he may have been carried away in his remarks by the passion of the moment and that not everyone would be pleased with what he had said: \"My expressions may have been too strong in some cases; the police, for instance, might not like some of my expressions, and I may be mistaken in some points.\" He then called for an open airing of views. “I ask you to express your opinion on the subject... This is a public meeting, and I ask you to come forward and speak in the interest of the public.\"\n\nThe response to this plea was a speech by Mr. Ho Tung. He opened by disclaiming that the meeting was called at his instigation, not for any personal reason. Though it was nowhere directly stated, it seemed that Ho Tung had been subjected to arrest and humiliating treatment by the police for not observing the light regulation, and for this reason had got up the petition against it.\n\nHo Tung noted Dr. Ho Kai's absence at a public meeting to discuss a matter which affected the whole Chinese community: “I thought Dr. Ho Kai would have attended as the representative of the Chinese in the Legislative Council, as we wished him to come here and express his views, and I am surprised that he is absent.”\n\nHo Tung maintained that there was at times a necessity for legitimate protest against unjust measures, in spite of the fact that \"some people may think we must subject ourselves to every ordinance that the Government might think fit to pass.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211100, "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": 161, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "136\n\nIn spite of Ho A-mei's plea for an open airing of views, no speaker succeeded Ho Tung. Apparently they felt their sentiments had been adequately expressed. When the Chairman, Ho A-mei, stated that inasmuch as there were too many present for all to sign the petition at that time, he would call for a hand vote. The account of the meeting stated “everybody in the room held up a hand.\" The Chinese appeared to be no longer divided on the issue, unanimity prevailed.\n\nThe meeting was another important step in the struggle for equal treatment by Chinese living under a colonial administration.\n\nWHEN THE PRESS DISAPPROVED OF PROTESTS\n\nSeveral issues were raised by the English language press in Hongkong in its comment on the speeches made by Ho A-mei and Ho Tung at a public meeting to protest against the light and pass regulations. The meeting was held at the Tung Wah Hospital in December 1895.\n\nTopics discussed as a result of the meeting were the effects of an English language education on the Chinese, the necessity of using a firm hand in dealing with protests, the principle of freedom of speech and a new look at the relation between the Government and the Chinese population of Hongkong.\n\nIn discussing English language education the editor of the China Mail did not miss his chance to downgrade the Chinese. He informed his readers that \"one of the stock arguments against teaching the English language to Asiatics is that it is so very apt to make them lose their heads.\"\n\nTo make his point he cited the old adage: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He claimed: “The Chinese have already so much faith in themselves and all their ways, that when they do begin to learn any new thing, they often too confidently begin to run before they know how to walk. Sometimes even running is not good enough, and they try to fly. This is especially amusing when they try their 'prentice hand at speechifying, airing their views before", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211101, "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "137\n\npublic meetings, fomenting agitations in regard to liberty of the subject and such things as the average Chinaman will never be able to discuss with safe familiarity for several generations to come.\n\nHe admitted there might be exceptions to his sweeping indictment. “A few there are among the Chinese who are quite at home in these essentially Western matters; but very few indeed, and to their credit be it said they have discretion enough to see that their day is far off. These master-minds of regenerate China had no share in the ludicrous proceedings at the Tung Wah on Sunday.\" Did he specifically have in mind Dr. Ho Kai?\n\nAs for those who did \"speechify\" at the meeting, in the editor's opinion, they had made fools of themselves.\n\nThe paper called for stern action against the two main speakers. It took particular exception to the remark made by Ho A-mei that any legislation or Government action that is directed against the Chinese exclusively should be resisted. It suggested that “if the Government fails to make an example of a man who publicly promulgates this sweeping doctrine, then we shall consider that the Government fails in its duty. A maxim like that must be taken seriously and crushed forever.\" The writer sees in the words of Ho A-mei the seeds of revolt and the breakdown of British authority.\n\nIn his remarks, Ho A-mei had called for more police vigilance. It was not the light and pass regulations that were needed to prevent criminal activity, but more detection and prevention by the police. The China Mail rose to the defence of the law-enforcers and charged A-mei with \"laying calumnies against the police.\" In fact, according to the editor, \"there are mis-statements enough in his speech to brand him forever as a man not fit to be allowed to speak in public.”\n\nAnd as for Mr. Ho Tung, his speech \"should remove him from the roster of Justices of the Peace.\" The writer saw him as a dangerous rabble-rouser who should be checked before he caused greater damage to British authority. “Apart from the absurdities in which he wallowed, he gave utterance to sentiments which can", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211102, "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": 163, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "138\n\nhave no other effect than that of inciting his hearers to defy any law in the Colony.\n\nIn our day it is difficult to think of that much-honoured, decorated, revered and praised “grand old man of Hongkong,” Sir Robert Ho Tung, being so maligned by a Hongkong editor. However, when these words were published in 1895, Ho Tung was only on the way to making his multi-millions. This was one of his first appearances in a public meeting which attracted the notice of the English press.\n\nThe vitriolic journalist then gave the well-worn advice to dissidents: \"If you don't like it here, go elsewhere.\"\n\nHe did not expect his advice to be heeded, for Hongkong Chinese, he claimed, found \"it pays them best to live in any country except their own, under any government except Chinese. That is why Mr. Ho Tung and Mr. Ho A-mei stay in Hongkong, and glad they ought to be for the privilege; they would not be allowed to talk such screeching rubbish in any other country.\"\n\nThe editor was ready to give Ho Tung his marching orders. “Let Mr. Ho Tung go to Canton and try to hold a public meeting and say what he thinks of the officials of his own country and state his reasons for not trusting himself and his business in their grasp, and if he does not care to go, it would do this Colony no harm to send him there.\"\n\nIf the Hongkong Government had followed the advice of the China Mail, it might have lost forever one of its most famous sons.\n\nA regular columnist of the Mail, who styled himself “Brownie,” expressed a more moderate opinion than the editor. He felt that “after making all allowances for the translation of Mr. Ho Tung's remarks, I am inclined to exonerate that gentleman from any seditious leanings, and can only marvel at his appearance and attitude at the Tung Wah's meeting.\" He intimated that it would be well for the young Ho Tung to avoid getting mixed up with Ho A-mei and his party.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211105, "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "141\n\nOf the issues raised in the editorial comments on the Chinese protest meeting chaired by Ho A-mei, English language education and the consultative process are still Hongkong concerns.\n\nHOW AN OBNOXIOUS LAW WAS ABOLISHED\n\nThe China Mail in commenting on the protest meeting against the light and pass regulations held in 1895 emphasised the theme of sedition and the threat to internal security. It approved the warning the Governor had given the speakers.\n\nThe Telegraph, however, upheld the principle of freedom of speech and the right of the Chinese to express their opinions. Its editorial was colourful and strongly worded.\n\nToday the English language press seldom openly attacks a Government official. Journalism in Hongkong is much too polite and gentlemanly for this. The Chinese press, however, has its own subtle way of ridiculing public servants.\n\nThe Telegraph spoke out boldly in criticising the tone taken by Governor Robinson in his remarks to the Directors of Tung Wah Hospital. In its opinion, what was needed was a “Government gag.”\n\nIt stated that \"His Excellency Sir William Robinson is badly in need of an automatic patent safety gag, so arranged as to shut everybody's mouth as soon as there is any occasion for absolute freedom of speech. We have seen many ebullitions of petty resentment on his part... but we have seldom seen such a determined onslaught on the divine right of freedom of speech as the one hinted at so plainly threatened is the word, for it rather more than hinted ---- in his recent address to the Tung Wah Committee”.\n\nThe Governor had probably spoken \"off the cuff\". If he had given the matter more careful consideration, he probably would have expressed himself in a less abrasive manner. However, his words reflected a popular method of dealing with Chinese. One did not listen, discuss nor bargain. With the backing of superior power, one told them what was expected of them.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211121, "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": 182, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "157\n\nthat the cruisers might become involved in some incident which would impinge on British sovereignty,\n\nA consul in Hongkong could supervise the collection of duties less expensively and more efficiently, but their request was consistently opposed by the Hongkong Government and foreign merchants.\n\nWHEN A BLOCKADE HITS OPIUM SMUGGLING\n\nIn 1874 a petition signed by eighteen Chinese merchants and the resolutions of a public meeting held by the European community in Hongkong were sent to England.\n\nBoth protested against what was termed \"the blockade of Hongkong.\" They pleaded with Her Majesty's Government to take decisive action to stop what they believed to be the deliberate harassment of Hongkong by China.\n\nThe Chinese petition, drawn up with the assistance of Messrs. Caldwell and Brereton, solicitors, was originally handled in a hush-hush manner. It received no publicity and copies were not given to the press, though it was sent to a few influential residents.\n\nWhen, about a month after the petition had been submitted, the editor of the China Mail saw a copy, he immediately drew the public's attention to it.\n\nHe questioned the secrecy which had surrounded it.\n\nIn that day suspicion was the usual reaction to activities within the Chinese community. The editor laid it down thus: \"Either the Chinese are working with us or they are not. If they are, they must learn that the surest way of bringing their complaints to the notice of the executive is to make them as public as possible.”\n\nThe reason for avoiding publicity may simply have been to prevent the Chinese authorities from learning of it.\n\nIt was later stated that when they did hear, two mandarins were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211124, "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": 185, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "160\n\non the peaceful and forbearing policy of late years adopted by Your Majesty's Government towards China authority, have entered upon a course of open hostility to the trade of the Colony by causing trading junks proceeding to Hongkong to be overhauled and seized by Chinese war vessels; ostensibly for the purpose of collection or protecting the Imperial revenue, but really as your petitioners know, to injure the trade of this port and enrich themselves with the plunder so acquired; until emboldened by impunity, they have established a complete blockade of the harbour... so that every Chinese vessel proceeding to Hong-kong is liable to seizure, and many such junks are daily seized and taken to Canton ... to be there sold or confiscated.\n\nThe result was most harmful to Hongkong, for “the terrorism produced by such acts and the injury and oppression consequent thereon have inflicted the greatest detriment to the trade of the Colony and materially checked its progress.\"\n\nIn all the words and arguments issuing out of Hongkong, smuggling was seldom or never mentioned. But the status of Hongkong as a free port and the facilities it provided for contraband trade were the roots of the measures China took to protect its revenues. This both the Chinese and foreign merchants, who profited from the trade, were reluctant to admit publicly.\n\nThe foreign community supported the petition, but few believed it would produce the desired results. It was, however, one way to bring the attention of the Home Government to the situation in Hongkong. It was generally felt that the local Government was not taking a firm enough stand nor pressing its case with sufficient urgency.\n\nThe Chinese in their petition did not refer to the question of a Chinese consul in Hongkong. But a month after it was submitted, a public meeting was held to protest against the \"blockade.” At this meeting, attended almost totally by foreigners, the matter of a Chinese consul in Hongkong was brought up.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211125, "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": 186, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "161\n\nBLOCKADE FINDS A CHAMPION\n\nThe Chinese petition to the Queen concerning the evils of what was called the Chinese “blockade” of Hongkong was followed by a public meeting held at the City Hall in September 1874, to draw up resolutions to present to the Government in Britain.\n\nThe meeting began with the calamitous forecast by the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Mr. James Greig, that Hongkong's junk trade was threatened with complete extinction and the acts of China in patrolling the waters near Hongkong were an outrage.\n\nHe proposed the first resolution: \"That this meeting regards with feelings of amazement and alarm the organised invasion by the Hoppo of Canton of the freedom and sanctuary of the port and harbour of Hongkong.\"\n\nThere was one person at the meeting who had not been carried away by the ground-swell of indignation which pervaded the mercantile section of the community.\n\nThe unofficial member of the Legislative Council and senior partner in Hongkong of Jardine, Matheson and Company, Mr. James Whittall, stated his opinion that the commerce of Hongkong was not suffering from the blockade.\n\nIndeed, he claimed that trade had improved after some recent sluggishness and was as large as it ever had been.\n\nFurthermore, China had a perfect right to levy and collect duties on cargoes.\n\nSeveral speakers questioned the accuracy of Mr. Whittall's estimate of the progress of Hongkong trade. One drew attention to the Harbour Master's report for the previous year which showed a decline in junks entering and leaving the harbour.\n\nBut Mr. Whittall stood firm. He reminded the meeting that his company did a very large business and he ought to be fully acquainted with the situation.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211127, "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": 188, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "163\n\nhe himself had opposed the appointment, but perhaps the matter should be reconsidered.\n\nHe made the positive suggestion that the Hongkong Government and the Chinese authorities discuss together the problem of smuggling and the methods China employed to collect its duties. He stated, however, that he was still opposed to having a Chinese in Hongkong with the position of a consul.\n\nAs far as the \"blockade\" was concerned, Mr. Whittall remarked that \"many of the Chinese merchants had said to him that they were perfectly satisfied with the present arrangements. It was a protection to the honest merchants and only a disadvantage to the dishonest man.\"\n\nNo view was presented by a Chinese. The foreign and Chinese communities were still too separate to discuss public issues together.\n\nIn the published newspaper account of the meeting, it is stated that there were about two hundred present from every sector of the community. A list of some seventy-five names is given.\n\nAmong them, there is only one Chinese, Ng Moon-koon. He was, I believe, the same as Ng Man-kwan, one of the leading Chinese opium dealers.\n\nMr. Whittall's statement about Chinese opinion on the matter did not go unchallenged. The senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, Mr. Phineas Ryrie, had apparently been gathering Chinese views. He reported that \"some dozen\" had told him it was hurting the trade. He did not specify whether the dozen were from the honest or the dishonest class of traders referred to by Mr. Whittall.\n\nThe remarks of the Jardine taipan may have influenced others at the meeting, for when the vote on the resolution was taken, there were seven against it.\n\nHis views having received such a cold reception, Mr. Whittall,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211132, "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": 193, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "168\n\n\"We would hope that the almost unanimous voice of the meeting and the tone and manner in which its views would be expressed would have an effect, not only upon the immediate subject of the meeting, but the worldwide China question.”\n\nA few days following the meeting, Mr. David Welsh wrote a letter to the Daily Press supporting Mr. Whittall's unpopular position.\n\nIn introducing his opinions, he took up Mr. Sharp's theme of cries of distress. Mr. Welsh suggested that, “in a war of opinion, a good cry is more than half the battle. This was made painfully evident at the public meeting. The cry of Hongkong blockaded is a good one, and almost every person came to the meeting prepared to vote for resolutions framed in that sense, notwithstanding their extravagance, and that the movers of the resolutions gave not one shred of evidence in favour of what they proposed.\"\n\nThe final resolution of the meeting provided for a wide distribution of its results. They were of course to be sent to the proper Government authorities.\n\nCopies were also to be provided to the Chambers of Commerce in Britain and to all Members of Parliament and other prominent figures.\n\nBritish officials in Canton, Peking and London did not share the strong views of the meeting. Their position was more moderate and no definitive action was taken to break the “blockade.”\n\nSTRIKING A HARD BARGAIN ON TRADE WITH CHINA\n\nOfficials responsible for political relations between Britain and China were less emotional than Hongkong residents about the issues of a Chinese \"blockade\" of the harbour and the appointment of a Chinese consul. As diplomats their perspective was broader.\n\nThey recommended that a report formulated by a commission appointed in Hongkong to study the blockade should not be made", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211133, "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": 194, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "169\n\npublic. Its conclusions were considered not acceptable and its tone would have aggravated differences between China and Britain.\n\nIn December 1873, the Governor of Hongkong had appointed a three-man commission to investigate the alleged interference by China with the trade of Hongkong. Its members were Phineas Ryrie, a businessman and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, H. G. Thomsett, the harbour master, and M. S. Tonnochy, his assistant. They submitted their report in April 1874.\n\nThe General Chamber of Commerce requested a copy, but it was told that as the Colonial and Foreign Offices were still considering the report, it could not be released to the public.\n\nThe merchants felt that the Government was deliberately withholding the findings of the commission. To draw attention to their views, which were similar to those expressed by the commission, the merchants encouraged a group of aggrieved Chinese to petition Her Majesty. They then followed this up with their own public meeting.\n\nThe commission had taken the position that the method China was using to enforce its revenue collection was seriously hurting Hongkong trade. The main premise of the report, that China had encroached on Hongkong's sovereignty, was rejected by the representatives of the British Government at Canton and Peking.\n\nAlthough the Foreign Office in London, Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister in Peking, and Sir Brooke Robertson, Her Majesty's Consul at Canton, were not in complete agreement about the various points raised by the commission, they all agreed that the commission had greatly overstated the case.\n\nIt was conceded that the employment of a low type of foreigner by the Chinese was objectionable, that in the nature of the case there must have been some violation of Hongkong waters when a junk was being chased by cruisers, and that no doubt there had been instances of squeezing.\n\nIn commenting on the report of the commission, Sir Brooke", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211138, "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": 199, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "174\n\nWhen in July 1891, the appointment of a Chinese consul was made public, the expatriate community was angered at the manner in which it had been sprung on them. Without prior notice, the Governor had laid the notice of the appointment before a meeting of the Legislative Council.\n\nThe writer of the newspaper column \"Fragrant Waters Murmur” described the despatch announcing the appointment as \"made in the truest Imperial style, regardless of colonial feeling or opinion.\"\n\nHe further claimed, “that this, the Imperial will, was flashed upon the amazed residents without the slightest previous hint being given from any official source.\"\n\nHe expressed strong objections to an Imperial policy of this kind, particularly in view of the financial demands the Home Government made on the Colony. According to \"Brownie,” the author of the column, local opinion felt that, “if Hongkong is called to pay £40,000 a year as a contribution to the defence of the Empire, it is entitled to be consulted in matters which immediately concern its interests.\n\nToday if Britain takes unilateral action on certain matters affecting Hongkong, such as agreements regarding landing rights for airlines at Kai Tak, there are local murmurs about unfair treatment.\n\nIn order to air the question and to have a basis for formulating a position in response to the announcements, the merchants wished to have made public the correspondence on the matter.\n\nConsequently, at the next meeting of the Legislative Council, Mr. Whitehead, an unofficial member, after due notice asked: \"Will the Government lay upon the table copies of all recent correspondence on the subject of a Chinese consul to Hongkong and also copies of the correspondence on the same subject in the years 1868 to 1876?”\n\nThe Officer Administering the Colony, who was presiding, was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211139, "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": 200, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "175\n\nnot able to satisfy the request. Somewhat apologetically he stated that \"as far as this Government is concerned, they would willingly lay on the table all this correspondence, and as the matter is one which appears to have been dealt with on Imperial grounds, I thought it better to request by telegram permission of the Secretary of State immediately I received notice of the question, but I have not yet received a reply. Therefore I must postpone the question to the next session.”\n\nMr. Whitehead was not to be put off so easily. He attacked from another quarter: \"Your Excellency, in Lord Knutsford's despatch of May 21 he refers to his despatch of March 26 and His Excellency Governor Des Voeux's reply. Would it be possible for the Government to lay this correspondence on the table?”\n\nHis Excellency felt unable to comply as in his opinion the question of Mr. Whitehead related to the entire correspondence on the matter and his action in regard to this was dependent on instructions from London.\n\nMr. Whitehead stated his reason for pressing his request. A public meeting was to be held the following week to pass resolutions on the matter. The recent correspondence would be of great value in determining how best to challenge the official reasons given for the appointment.\n\nThough Mr. Whitehead had asked for the correspondence from 1868 to 1876, they were in fact not needed as the Chamber of Commerce had copies of these. Before the meeting they were published in Hongkong newspapers as background information for those attending.\n\nThe Governor suggested that the meeting be postponed until he had received a reply from London to his request to make the correspondence public.\n\nIn concluding the exchanges, Mr. Whitehead complained of the way in which Hongkong was being treated: \"It is on the face of it a most arbitrary proceeding on the part of the Imperial Government, and cannot be justified in any way.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211140, "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": 201, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "176\n\nBefore the public meeting could be held, the Home Government changed its mind about the appointment.\n\nTHE DAY AN ADMIRAL TRIED TO STEAL THE SHOW\n\nIn an attempt to solve the blockade question, Sir Brooke Robertson, the British Consul at Canton, suggested in 1878 that a European be appointed as Chinese Consul in Hongkong. He could check on cargoes of junks and make reports to the Customs authorities in Canton.\n\nIn this way the Chinese could exercise better control over the collection of duties on goods shipped in and out of Hongkong on Chinese vessels. Presumably he would not be prone to engage in all the irregularities allegedly practised by all Chinese officials.\n\nHongkong, however, resisted such an appointment and the matter was dropped at that time.\n\nThe Opium Agreement between Britain and China signed in September 1886, provided for a Chinese Maritime Customs collecting station at Kowloon. The Hongkong Government unofficially condoned the residence of its Commissioner, a British national, in Hongkong.\n\nIn view of this arrangement and the easing of the tensions created by the Chinese blockade of Hongkong, the appointment of a Chinese Consul for Hongkong continued to lay dormant.\n\nIn 1891, however, the Colonial Office suddenly informed Hongkong that a Chinese Consul had been appointed for the port. There was an immediate outcry of indignation. The opposition hauled out the same arguments they had used against any arrangement with China that would have assisted it in collecting customs duties.\n\nIn an editorial comment, the China Mail stated that the arrangement made with China for the Imperial Customs to collect its duties directly had been mutually beneficial, for \"smuggling had been discouraged and legitimate trade promoted, and the Col-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211143, "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": 204, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "179\n\nIn an article in a Shanghai paper, the author contended that China was not a civilised nation in the European sense of the term. He explained the difference: \"She has a high civilisation of her own, but she has methods of governing her people which are barbarous to us, and which would give a Chinese Consul in Hong-kong a power over his fellow countrymen which is repugnant to our ideas.\"\n\nOn the other hand, the author was not satisfied with his own country's policy. He charged it with absolutism. He objected, as did Hongkong, to the arbitrary way the Foreign Office imposed its will on Hongkong without prior consultation.\n\nIt was his view that, “absolutism is getting shabby and worn out, at any rate in English-speaking communities, and any minister with a spark of appreciation of modern sentiment, not to mention common courtesy, would have communicated his intentions beforehand to those principally affected and allowed them to state their objections, even if he subsequently overruled them.”\n\nThe Hongkong protesters did state their objections in resolutions which were to be discussed and approved at a public meeting. The resolutions embodied the arguments that had been advanced over the years.\n\nA Chinese consul would make it more difficult to govern the Chinese. One resolution stated that, “the appointment will have a bad effect on the resident Chinese population, weakening their sense of the power and authority of the English Government, setting up in their midst a rival authority to which they will be encouraged to appeal to on all possible occasions.\n\nThe consul would become a rallying point for anti-foreign feeling. The foreign community in China was uneasy and one resolution read thus: \"That in the face of the recent recrudescence of strong anti-foreign feeling... throughout the Empire, it is most unfortunate that a centre should be set up around which any feeling of that sort existing among the heterogeneous mass of Chinese collected in the Colony must necessarily gather.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211144, "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": 205, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "180\n\nWhen the Foreign Office suddenly revoked the appointment, the meeting was cancelled and the resolutions were never discussed.\n\nCONSUL ISSUE BECOMES A BATTLE FOR FACE\n\nSoon after the notice of the appointment of a Chinese consul to Hongkong was put before the Legislative Council in July 1891, an announcement was issued for a public meeting to discuss the matter and pass resolutions.\n\nThe organisers of the meeting wished to get the support of the Chinese merchants and compradores and pressure was exerted to ensure their attendance.\n\nTo counteract this, Ho A-mei published a letter in the Chinese press urging his countrymen not to become the pawns of the expatriate merchants.\n\nA translation of his letter appeared in the China Mail. It was inserted by the editor to show the foreign community “how little can be said in favour (of the proposal) by its supporters.”\n\nIn his letter Ho A-mei made three main points: that China should have the same privilege as other nations, that the Chinese in Hongkong can be trusted, and that the Chinese should support the appointment of a consul out of national pride.\n\nChina deserved the same rights as those extended to other nations. If they had consuls in Hongkong, why not then the Chinese? Were they any different?\n\nChina and England were friendly nations. Therefore, there was no reason why China should not be treated as any other country which had commercial treaties with China. If they were entitled to have someone to look after their trade, so should China. There should be no question about it: \"The Colonial Office ought naturally to sanction it in accordance with precedents in similar cases.\n\nThere was, therefore, no reason for Britain to seek the views of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211152, "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": 213, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "188\n\nclude the Chamber of Commerce in this?” \n\nIn its opinion Hongkong need not fear that a spy was needed to discover these soft spots they were so obvious anyone could see them. \n\nAfter the appointment was withdrawn, the anxieties of those who had so strongly opposed it were alleviated. Four years later, in 1895, the fear of undue influence of Chinese officialdom on Hong-kong affairs was again aroused at the inauguration of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce under the leadership of Ho A-mei. \n\nA CHAMBER TO GIVE CHINESE AN IDENTITY \n\nIn 1895 a building for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce was opened. Ho A-mei was chairman of the organising committee. The opening was the fulfilment of a long-felt need within the Chinese community. \n\nThere had been a need for a proper meeting place for the leaders of the community. Previous centres had not been altogether satisfactory and there had been agitation for something like a Chinese Town Hall for a number of years. The new building of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was expected to meet this need. \n\nThe demand for a public meeting place attested to the fact that through the years there had emerged out of the heterogeneous collection of Chinese who had settled in Hongkong from various villages and districts recognised leaders, community organisations and a distinct identity. \n\nBoth the leaders and the organisations were an important part of the history of the Chinese in Hongkong and the struggle for visible signs of self-identity. \n\nThe Chinese who came to Hongkong after the British occupation were, on the whole, an unruly lot. \n\nThe officer in charge of Census and Registration describes the state of affairs: \"The arrival of the British fleet in the harbour", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211156, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "functions.\n\nA nineteenth century Chinese account of the Chinese community in early Hongkong states that the donors, Loo King and Tam A-tsoi, \"judged the people in public assembly.\"\n\nIn 1851 the temple management was broadened. At that time the shopkeepers and firms subscribed to repair and probably to enlarge the structure. They elected a committee.\n\nFor some years the temple on Hollywood Road with its adjoining Kung Soh (public meeting hall) served as an official centre for the Chinese community. With the opening of Tung Wah Hospital in 1872 a new focal point for community identity emerged.\n\nTUNG WAH OFFICIALS UPSET EXPATS\n\nThe formal inauguration of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce Hall in 1895 was the culmination of many years of discussion and planning for a proper meeting place for the Chinese community to discuss matters affecting its welfare.\n\nFrom 1873 to 1895 these meetings had been held at the Tung Wah Hospital. Earlier still, community leaders had met at the Kung Soh or meeting hall beside the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road.\n\nA notice in the Daily Press of January 2, 1873, mentions the move to the new Hospital: \"The old Joss House Court the Kung Soh, in the Hollywood Road, — has, we hear, been given up in favour of another building not far off.\"\n\nThe article describes how the court functioned: \"It seems that there a vast number of disputes are settled, and that it is an understood rule that matters should be brought to the cognisance of the proper authorities only if they cannot be arranged in this manner.\n\nWe understand the committee of the Chinese hospital is the same body of men who head the kaifong, and that they discuss municipal and semi-political matters in the hall of the hospital.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "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": 211158, "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": 219, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "194\n\nResponsibility for the general welfare of the Chinese in Hong Kong was assumed by the hospital directors past and present.\n\nTheir espousal of Chinese causes led them into conflict with certain European interests. It was felt they wielded too much influence over the Chinese. Their connections with Chinese authorities also caused alarm.\n\nMany aspects of life and business of the Chinese in Hong Kong were connected with China, hence, there were many occasions when it was necessary to correspond and negotiate with Chinese officials.\n\nThere was sharp criticism in the English language press against the committee for taking upon itself matters which were considered to be the proper concern of the Hong Kong Government.\n\nBecause of this, a public meeting was held at the hospital in 1875 to discuss whether it was “advisable to have a Kung Soh or Town Hall built so as to separate the functions of the committee from that of the general community in order to avoid further criticism.\" There was no consensus of opinion on the matter.\n\nTwo years earlier, the Registrar General, who was responsible for relations between the Government and the Chinese, had asked the Tung Wah Hospital Committee to select two men from each district of the city to serve as headmen of the district watchmen.\n\nThe Committee had demurred stating it would like to see a separation of their duties as the committee of the hospital and as leaders of the kaifong. The Governor agreed that a separation was desirable.\n\nOne of the difficulties was that if the functions of the two groups were to be separated, as most felt should be done, the kaifong needed a proper meeting place.\n\nAt the time of the discussion concerning the desirability of separating hospital matters from general community affairs in 1875, the Chinese submitted a petition to the Government asking", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211163, "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": 224, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "199\n\nteenth century.\n\nThe initial intention was for the entire community to unite on a proposal for the celebration, but it ended with the Chinese going their way and the foreigners another way.\n\nThe Chinese were able to agree about the manner in which they wished to permanently mark the event. The expatriates were torn by different factions each promoting its own project.\n\nThe manner in which the jubilee plans were handled illustrate the difficulty of uniting a community rigidly adhering to social and racial distinctions.\n\nIn the British Parliament the question was raised as to whether the Government was going to initiate plans for the celebration by the nation. The Government spokesman replied that “all celebrations of this kind will probably possess greater value so far as they arise from the spontaneous action of the public.” The local Government shared this view.\n\nEventually, after the Jubilee Year had opened, an informal meeting was held by a group of citizens and an unofficial committee was organised to discuss plans.\n\nOne of the committee, Mr. Paul Chater, who was also an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, announced that at the next meeting of the council on February 11, 1887, he would put to the Government the question: \"Whether it is the intention of the Government to co-operate with the public in celebrating Her Majesty's Jubilee Year in a manner befitting the occasion.”\n\nThere was criticism that the unofficial committee had heretofore acted in a semi-private manner and had not taken the public into its confidence. There was general approval, however, of Mr. Chater's move, for, as an editor commented, \"his question will effectively set the ball a-rolling, and public action will no doubt follow.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211164, "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": 225, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "200\n\nJUBILEE JOY HAS A SOUR START\n\nFunds for a hall for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was opened in 1896, were raised as a part of the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887.\n\nHongkong's planning for the jubilee was officially launched by a question raised in the Legislative Council in February of the Jubilee Year by Mr. Paul Chater, an unofficial member.\n\nIn the opinion of the China Mail it was none too soon: “We have been waiting and watching for many weeks for some sign on the part of the Government or on the part of the committee who, we understand, had taken the matter in hand, but we have waited in vain, and we are thankful to Mr. Chater for saving us the trouble of losing our patience.”\n\nHongkong was lagging far behind the rest of the British Empire in formulating plans. In India, the date for the celebration had already been fixed, and the home country was a-bustle with preparations.\n\nThere had been some preliminary discussion in Hongkong by a small group of concerned loyal subjects. Their action, however, was criticised by the editor of the Daily Press.\n\nThe journalists of that day were always quick to object to efforts of small groups to manage or control Hongkong affairs. The editor felt that this group was presumptuous for privately taking an initiative regarding the jubilee.\n\nPlanning, the editor contended, should be a thoroughly open and public matter. Although he expressed approval of Mr. Chater's move to query the Government regarding its intentions, he felt that it would have been preferable first to have had an open meeting to discuss what projects were most popular with the general public. Such a meeting could have then appointed a committee which would have been representative of all sections of the community. This committee could then have been entrusted to co-operate with the Government in formulating plans for the cele-\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211165, "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": 226, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "201\n\nbrations.\n\nIt was the editor's opinion that, \"the matter is far too important to be left to any self-constituted or semi-private committee.”\n\nHe had his own suggestion as to who should assume leadership:\n\n\"While not wishing to question the good intentions and public spirit of the gentlemen, we would venture to suggest that there are certain members of the community whose position naturally indicates them as the proper parties to take a lead on an occasion of this kind.\n\nHe proposed that the Acting Government, the Chief Justice, or the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, or perhaps all three of them, call a public meeting.\n\nIf these gentlemen took the lead, it need not mean that those who had already been discussing the matter would be crowded out, for they \"could doubtless find a place on the committee.” As such they would be in a much better position, “having been regularly appointed and instructed, they would be able to act much more effectively.\"\n\nBut even a committee properly appointed and instructed was no guarantee that things would run smoothly.\n\nSuch an important project should engage the whole community, \"for unless the demonstration be of a thoroughly popular character, heartily joined in by Her Majesty's subjects of every rank and station, it would be better to have no demonstrations at all.\"\n\nHerein was the danger posed by the self-constituted committee: \"We need hardly say that nothing could be more calculated to render the affair unpopular than for a small clique to assume the direction of affairs without any authority from the community at large.\"\n\nHongkong in the nineteenth century was very sensitive about cliques. Their all-pervasive presence disrupted community har-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211170, "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": 231, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "206\n\nMr. Chater proceeded to introduce a project he felt worthy of the occasion.\n\nWhat stimulated his imagination were the possibilities for “our picturesque little valley of Wongneichong, so admirably adapted by nature for a park.”\n\nHe knew the valley well, for he was perhaps Hongkong's most enthusiastic and successful racehorse owner. Between his first appearance at the Happy Valley track in 1865 until his death in 1925, he never missed a meeting.\n\nAs for the park, it was true that the Government had appropriated $25,000 for the construction of a park to be named Bowen Park several years earlier, but little had been done.\n\nMr. Chater asked: “Do you not think this is a fitting opportunity for pushing on this much needed park and of naming it after Her Most Gracious Majesty, Victoria Park?”\n\nHe was sure that it would be a project of which the good Queen would approve as it would be \"so beneficial to all the residents of her densely populated little Colony of Hongkong.”\n\nAfter this long introduction, Mr. Chater put the question: “As there is a general desire on the part of the community of Hongkong to celebrate Her Majesty's jubilee year in a fit and appropriate manner, I wish to ask whether the Government would co-operate in any movement made by the public for the purpose?”\n\nThe presiding officer Sir George Phillippo, the Chief Justice, replied on behalf of the Acting Governor who was ill and not able to attend the meeting of the council: \"In answer to the question, I am requested by His Excellency the Acting Governor... to say that the Government is prepared to co-operate with the public of Hongkong in celebrating Her Majesty's jubilee year in a manner befitting the occasion, and is ready to take into consideration any definite proposal on the subject that may be made to it in accordance with the wishes of the community.”", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211171, "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": 232, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "207\n\nHere lay the difficulty, however, to get the community to agree on a definite proposal.\n\nThe presiding officer volleyed the ball back into the court of the community. He explained that there had been no move by the Government to propose definite plans because \"His Excellency considers that any steps that may be taken with this object would no doubt be more fully appreciated by Her Most Gracious Majesty if they were the spontaneous act of the loyal community of Hongkong,\" though he definitely wished to reassure the public that the Government was ready to co-operate.\n\nHidden in the phrase \"spontaneous act\" was the seed of the muddle Hongkong got itself into over the jubilee plans.\n\nBehind the scenes there had been planning strategy to promote a particular scheme. The plan for the park had the backing of influential people. Many, however, considered it inappropriate and wished to promote their own proposals.\n\nThere was some delay in holding a public meeting after the Government announced that it would wait for the public to make suggestions.\n\nMr. Chater had raised the question in the Legislative Council on February 11, 1887. At the time Hongkong was caught up in racing fever.\n\nIn those days the annual race meeting was restricted to three ordinary days and one off day during the last week of February. The days preceding were busy ones for owners, riders and punters. Many felt it obligatory to attend the early morning practice runs at the track.\n\nMany of the leading figures of the community were absorbed in these preparations and had little spare time for arranging a public meeting.\n\nMr. Chater had one of the largest stables in association with his partner, Mr. Hormusjee Mody.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211172, "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": 233, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "208 \n\nThere was only time in those busy days for a committee to meet on February 17 to pass a resolution that read: “A public meeting should be convened upon Wednesday, March 2 at 4.30 pm, and the Chief Justice shall be asked to preside. All members of the community are invited to attend. The meeting will be held at the City Hall.\" \n\nAfter Mr. Chater's question and the Government's reply, \"Brownie,\" the writer of the regular China Mail column “Fragrant Waters Murmur,” expressed the hope that \"some scheme for celebrating Her Majesty's jubilee will be harmoniously arrived at, and that it will reflect credit upon the community of Hongkong as well as be a permanent good to the Colony and a worthy record to our Queen.\" \n\nUnfortunately, it produced discord rather than harmony. It resulted in the Chinese holding their own meeting on March 28, when harmony did reign. That meeting decided to raise funds for a building for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce. \n\nWHEN EXPATS WAXED OVER GLORIES OF SOVEREIGN \n\nOn March 2, 1887, a public meeting was convened at the City Hall to pass resolutions concerning Hongkong's celebration of the Golden Jubilee year of Queen Victoria. \n\nFive resolutions were passed and several amendments were proposed. The proposer of each resolution gave a speech as did its seconder. It was an occasion upon which Hongkong's would-be Demosthenes could display their oratorical skill. \n\nThe anticipated celebration was one in which national pride could luxuriate. In that day loyal Britons took pride in the worldwide Dominion of the Empire. The occasion was an opportunity for the expatriates in Hongkong, an outpost of that Empire, to express their patriotic sentiments, \n\nIn the nineteenth century imperialists did not question the right of \"civilised nations\" to impose their rule over what were considered the less advanced peoples of the world. The \"white man's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211173, "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": 234, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "209\n\nburden\" to bring enlightenment and civilisation to the dark and backward corners of the world was a serious obligation.\n\nBehind the justifying idealistic philosophy for imperialism were hard economic facts. Expanding industrial production demanded larger markets. The world must be opened up both as a source of raw materials and as an outlet for the manufactured product. If this meant subjection of weaker powers, so be it. It was all in the high cause of progress and civilisation.\n\nToday we are critical of these attitudes and practices of Western powers toward African and Asian peoples. In that day British imperialism was in its heyday. Britannia ruled the waves; the sun never set on the Union Jack. The triumphant posturing of the British lion was acclaimed with enthusiasm.\n\nThese attitudes lay behind the words of the speakers at the public meeting.\n\nIn his introductory remarks the chairman, the Chief Justice Sir George Phillippo, spoke of the high regard in which Her Majesty Queen Victoria was held by the whole world.\n\nIn making his remarks he followed a well-known practice of speakers, to state it is unnecessary to say what they then proceed to elaborate on at length. So he begins: “It is unnecessary for me to dilate at length upon the many virtues Her Majesty possesses, and that she has shown both in her public and private life.”\n\nHe then proceeded to speak of her worldwide reputation as a virtuous woman and sovereign: \"They are well known to you as they are to every member of the British community and to nearly every member of the civilised world (applause).”\n\nOther matters he said he would not mention, but proceeded to do so, were, \"that during the whole of these 50 years during which Great Britain has advanced in the most remarkable way, Her Majesty has been at the heart of affairs, and that during the whole of that time she has shown herself from girlhood upwards to be one whose virtue we must all admire, as a loving daughter, as a most\n\n: \n\n+", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211177, "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": 238, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "213\n\na hall for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce which was eventually opened by Ho A-mei in 1896.\n\nTHE JUBILEE SQUABBLING GOES ON AND ON . . .\n\nHongkong got itself into a muddle attempting to decide on a permanent memorial to mark the celebration of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee year.\n\nA public meeting was held at the City Hall on March 2, 1887, to formulate plans for the celebration. At the meeting it was decided to create a park in the Wongneichong valley to be named after the Queen. Both before and after the meeting many objections were raised to the scheme, which was eventually abandoned.\n\nAt the meeting, the chairman, Sir George Phillippo, in his introductory remarks mentioned a number of proposals that had already been put before the public.\n\nHe referred to an institution to be located in London to display and promote the products of the Empire. A year or so before the Indian and Colonial Exposition had been held. The various possessions of Great Britain had sent examples of their natural resources and products to it.\n\nIt was such a success that plans were put forward for something more permanent. The jubilee seemed an appropriate time to promote such an undertaking.\n\nAt the time, the British people were basking in the extent and importance of their empire. Its many colonies and dominions were rich in raw materials to feed the industries of the United Kingdom.\n\nThe multitude of people of different races under its rule were regarded as an inexhaustible market for the manufactures of the home country.\n\nIn recognition of the financial importance of Britain's possessions the plan for an Imperial Institute in London was launched.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211178, "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": 239, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "214\n\nIts purpose as stated in its Charter of Incorporation was \"to provide for the scientific and technical investigation of raw materials, more particularly those produced within the Empire; with a view to their commercial utilisation, and to supply information respecting the production, commercial employment and value of such materials.”\n\nThe Institute was promoted by the Prince of Wales with the express approval of his mother the Queen. The interest of the Prince and the Queen had been well-publicised throughout the Empire.\n\nThere were those in Hongkong who felt Hongkong could best express its appreciation of the achievements of the fifty years of Her Majesty's reign by making a contribution to a project she had personally endorsed. Others were more reluctant, pointing out that Hongkong had little to benefit from such an institution as it had no valuable natural resources and few industries.\n\nIn view of a general lack of enthusiasm for the Institute, the chairman of the public meeting, in mentioning a subscription to it as a possible way in which Hongkong might commemorate the jubilee, was careful to point out that the residents need not feel under pressure to support the scheme.\n\nHe pointed out that \"Her Majesty with that graciousness which has always characterised her does not wish to force any measure down the throats of any community who are opposed to it, and she is quite willing, as I understand it, to sanction an institution of any kind which will be of service to her peoples in the different colonies.\"\n\nWith these remarks he more or less dismissed the scheme. But the idea was not to be put aside so easily.\n\nIt had a strong advocate in Mr. John Joseph Francis, Queen's Counsel. He seized the opportunity to amend a motion made by Mr. A.P. MacEwen to put the idea before the meeting again.\n\nMr. MacEwen's resolution was twofold: \"That the form of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211179, "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": 240, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "215\n\ncelebration take the form of a permanent institution of some description to be called by Her Majesty's name, and of a fete and general rejoicing.\n\nMr. Francis wished to amend this by striking out the first clause concerning a permanent institution and substitute for it: \"A liberal subscription to the institute for the United Kingdom, India and the Colonies which is now being formed in London.\"\n\nHe then gave his arguments in support of his amendment. He was fearful that Hongkong would not be able to raise enough money to establish by itself an institution worthy of the occasion.\n\nHe pointed out that a very large sum would be needed to purchase ground, put up buildings and provide a proper endowment for an institution in Hongkong. He believed: \"If we are not to put up something worthy of the Colony, we had better do nothing of the sort.\"\n\nHe suggested that the expenses for the fete and rejoicings be paid out of a Jubilee subscription fund and that the balance be sent as a contribution to the proposed institute in London.\n\nThe chairman then had a hurried consultation with Mr. Francis: After it Mr. Francis stated that he had been asked to change his amendment as his designation of a particular project was premature.\n\nA definite proposal for a permanent memorial was to be placed before the meeting in a later resolution.\n\nIn deference to the chairman's opinion, Mr. Francis rephrased his amendment to read: \"That the celebration take the form of a fete and general rejoicing and a liberal subscription to some public purpose.\"\n\nMr. Francis could then, if he wished, propose an amendment to the resolution naming a permanent memorial when it was put. In the amendment he could name the project he favoured.\n\nPage 240\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211180, "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": 241, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "216\n\nThe Honourable Phineas Ryrie, a long-time resident and senior member of the Legislative Council, spoke against the amendment of Mr. Francis. He opposed sending to England any funds raised in Hongkong.\n\nHe admitted that a few years before he had not opposed sending a substantial contribution to help Irish famine sufferers, but the present object was of a different nature.\n\nThroughout his many years in Hongkong he had contributed liberally to many subscriptions. He had great faith in Hongkong's ability to raise funds for causes that had a popular appeal.\n\nHe was sure that: \"We are good enough in this Colony to subscribe for a memorial to Her Majesty the Queen, and we should do so.\n\nAt this point the chairman interrupted. He informed Mr. Ryrie that his remarks were out of order. He had been speaking to a specific proposal, while Mr. Francis' amendment, after he had rephrased it, was general.\n\nThe amendment proposed by Mr. Francis was then put before the meeting. It was rejected. Mr. Francis did not raise the question again.\n\nThe fourth resolution was that of Mr. Chater proposing that the permanent memorial of the jubilee year be a park in the Wongneichong Valley to be called Victoria Park. After some other suggestions were discussed, the park scheme was approved by a small majority. Many at the meeting, however, abstained from voting.\n\nThis did not settle the matter however. After the public meeting there was continued opposition to the decision. Demands were made that it be rescinded.\n\nThe Chinese went off and held their own meeting and adopted a plan more to their desires. Amid all the confusion new proposals were advanced and old ones revived.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211181, "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": 242, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "217\n\nA letter appeared in the Daily Press endorsing the idea of a contribution to the Imperial Institute. The correspondent claimed that a contribution from Hongkong could benefit both the donor and the project: \"If Hongkong can help to prevent (the institute) being a failure, it would be rendering an invaluable service to the Empire, and a double service to the Colony.\"\n\nThe double benefit, for Hongkong would be that of promoting the Colony's trade and of “getting us out of our mess.\" The mess, of course, was the inability of the community to express common agreement on a memorial. It was making the people of Hongkong look foolish.\n\nHe suggested to the proposer and the seconder of the park project that they withdraw their motions, for surely “they will not miss the chance that withdrawing their proposal would give them of making a friend of the Queen as well as remaining (signed) 'Friends of the Governor'.”\n\nAgain, the proposal met little response, but Hongkong's lack of interest did not materially impede the project. Other sections of the Empire were more liberal and enthusiastic.\n\nIn May, 1888, the Queen granted a charter of incorporation to the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies and India and the Isles of the British Seas. A building was erected in South Kensington.\n\nIt served as a centre for scientific research and a bureau of economic resources for the Empire. In 1962 a new building was erected and the name changed to the Commonwealth Institute.\n\nHOW SPORT CAME TO THE VALLEY\n\nIt was usual for a planning committee to predetermine the agenda for public meetings in the Hongkong of the nineteenth century.\n\nIt was decided that at the public meeting on March 2, 1887, to plan Hongkong's observance of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211182, "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": 243, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "218 \n\nresolution specifying a permanent memorial would be introduced.\n\nThe memorial, which had been approved by a small majority of the planning committee, was the one Mr. Chater had mentioned in his remarks to the Legislative Council in February when he first raised the question of what Hongkong should do. He suggested that the improvement of Wongneichong Valley would make a suitable memorial.\n\nMr. Chater had the honour at the public meeting to table the resolution that the Hongkong community express its regard for their sovereign by creating a park to be called Victoria Park. He was quite aware there were those who opposed the scheme but felt there was enough support to carry the resolution.\n\nInfluential people were behind the scheme. The leaders were those who had occasion to frequent the Valley for racing. Any improvement to the surroundings would make their visits more pleasant.\n\nMr. Chater, of all Hongkong residents, was perhaps the most loyal supporter of the Jockey Club. East Point was nearby. Any enhancement of the valley would please Jardines. It was always well to have the support of the princely Hong.\n\nThe idea of improving the Valley was not new. The need to do something about it was clear almost as soon as the town of Victoria was established.\n\nThe Valley contained the largest area of level ground on the north side of Hongkong Island. To some it seemed the ideal site for the business centre of the new settlement.\n\nIt was soon found, however, to be a death trap for Europeans. Those who chose to build there were decimated by fever and soon the houses on the hills around were abandoned.\n\nThe fever was attributed to \"miasma\" rising from the low-lying damp ground in the valley. Today we know the cause was the bite of the malaria-carrying mosquito which bred in the stagnant pools", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211186, "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": 247, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "222\n\nerect bridges at the crossing of the brook, for these purposes the surplus funds of the meeting will probably suffice.”\n\nFrom the beginning Hongkong races were a paying proposition.\n\nSome forty years later at the time of the Queen's Jubilee there seemed an excellent chance that again marked improvements would take place in the Valley, enhancing the setting for the annual race meeting.\n\nFailure to take into account the interests of the whole community, particularly the Chinese, however, defeated the effort.\n\nWHY THE CHINESE OPPOSED VICTORIA PARK\n\nWhen Mr. Chater rose at a public meeting in March 1887, to propose that as a permanent memorial of the Queen's Golden Jubilee a park be formed at Happy Valley, he spoke confidently of its advantages. Nonetheless, he may have had some qualms about its popularity as it had already provoked strong opposition since he first mentioned it at a Legislative Council meeting in February.\n\nIn affirming his confidence in the proposal, he said: “I feel sure if this park be carried out and completed it will be a source of great pleasure to the European community of Hongkong; it will be a very agreeable drive and a pleasant lounge in the afternoon.”\n\nUnfortunately those of the community who owned horses or carriages for a drive or had the leisure to \"lounge\" in the afternoon were a small proportion of the total population. These were activities seldom indulged in by the Chinese.\n\nMr. Chater admitted they might not view the project in the same way as Europeans. But in justification he said: “I am equally sure the Chinese community will also approve of and appreciate it in the course of time.”\n\nFollowing Mr. Chater's remarks on his resolution and the seconding speech by the acting Attorney General, Dr. Ho Kai rose to speak. His views may be regarded as those of the Chinese community.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211187, "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": 248, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "223\n\nnity; at least he was the only Chinese to speak at length at the meeting.\n\nHe proposed to amend Mr. Chater's resolution by striking out the reference to a park and in its place substitute the words “a charitable institution of some kind be established and named after Her Majesty, the exact nature of such institution to be left to the decision of Her Majesty herself.\"\n\nHe hoped this would block a decision on a park, and open the way for a project that might have the support of the Chinese. He stated his objections to the park, giving three reasons why it was not acceptable.\n\nHis first objection was that the Government had already stated its intention of creating such a park. It had been on the agenda of the Legislative Council several times, and as he pointed out, \"the money has been voted for it and revoted.”\n\nIf the Government was going to do it, let it carry it through. It was not appropriate that, \"when the Government undertakes to do a certain work for the community to come in and take credit for it and say 'We have done this.'\n\nIntroducing a bit of irony into his remarks, Dr. Ho Kai said: “If it is the general desire of this community to adopt as a memorial to Her Majesty's Jubilee any work which has been undertaken by the Government, then I say, let us dedicate to her our grandest and costliest and greatest one, and that is the Tytam Water Works.” (Applause).\n\nNo, it would not do to foist off a second-hand project as a memorial from the public. As Dr. Ho told his audience: \"What we want, gentlemen, is something quite new, something which the community will carry out without the assistance of Government and something more in harmony with the occasion.\"\n\nThe next objection was of a delicate personal nature. It concerned the late Governor's connection with the proposed park. Two years previous at an official ceremony Sir George Bowen had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211188, "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": 249, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "224\n\nturned the soil in the Wongneichong Valley for a park. The incipient park already bore his name.\n\nGovernor Bowen was one of Hongkong's unpopular administrators. He was regarded as pompous with an over-developed sense of his own importance.\n\nThis antagonism towards him may possibly have been one reason why the park had received support as a memorial gesture. It would be an indirect expression of the public's disapproval of its late administrator if he were deprived of having his name perpetuated in Hongkong by a public amenity.\n\nDr. Ho Kai reminded the meeting that if looked at in another way the change of the name from Bowen to Victoria was not entirely complimentary to Her Majesty. It was rather like, as he expressed it, offering her \"cast off shoes.\" This remark was greeted with loud applause.\n\nDr. Ho Kai reserved his most serious objection last. It was he said \"a class objection.\" The park would not be welcomed by the Chinese.\n\nThough he did not say so openly, it meant that the community could not expect the Chinese to assist in this aspect of the plans for the jubilee.\n\nThe park would be too far from the centre of town. Not only the Chinese but other less affluent sections of the population would find it too remote.\n\nDr. Ho Kai admitted that for residents near the park and those who liked to take long walks the park would meet a need, but, on the other hand, for the great majority of people living in the town the park would be quite useless, at least for some time to come.\n\nThere were suggestions that circumstances might change. “We speak of having tramways, of the Praya extension, and of connecting east and west, but in regard to this I may use the words of Mr. Chater and say that Government does not undertake these", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211190, "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": 251, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "226\n\nquestion was asked, where then would the memorial be to mark the fact the Golden Jubilee was celebrated in 1887.\n\nIt was suggested that if the plan was executed some special object such as a pillar, gateway or statue should be put up. If the public did not take up the suggestion \"perhaps one of our merchant Princes might in the course of time, be moved to complete the scheme of the Park by their crowning it with the representation of the Royal Lady whose name it bears, and whose name is also borne by the city in which we live.”\n\nIt is interesting to note that today a statue of Queen Victoria stands in Victoria Park.\n\nCOMMITTEE STEPS DOWN\n\nFollowing the public meeting of March 2, 1887, an editorial in the China Mail noted that, “a large section of the residents of Hongkong seems to have gone quite crazy over the Queen's Jubilee celebrations.”\n\nAs evidence of the public lunacy it pointed to the absurdity of everyone promoting his own pet scheme. None of them, in its view, was properly thought through or presented with sufficient detail. It characterised them as \"humorous and perplexing, as well as ill-timed and ill-digested.\"\n\nThere was little enthusiasm for the decision of the meeting in raise money for the formation of a park in the Wongneichong Valley to be named after the Queen. Proposals were still being thrust upon the public in the hope that the park scheme would be dropped.\n\nThe correspondence columns of the newspapers were flooded with letters on the topic. There were calls for a new public meeting in order to rescind the decision of the recent meeting. The charge was made the voting had not been representative of public opinion as a substantial number of those attending had abstained from casting their vote.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211191, "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": 252, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "227\n\nThe chairman of the public meeting had attempted to avoid these difficulties. He sensed that the community was about to launch itself into a stormy sea if it decided too quickly on a project.\n\nHe suggested that they might like to have more time to consider the matter. If so, he said he would be quite willing to entertain a motion for the meeting to be postponed until there was sufficient time for mature reflection. Or, as an alternative, if there was no wish for another meeting, the official committee which was to be named could be instructed to ascertain the views and wishes of the whole community.\n\nThese suggestions were wise, and much discord would have been avoided if they had been heeded.\n\nFollowing the meeting, one writer listed all the schemes which had come to his notice. He had heard of \"the enlargement of the already too large City Hall, of the removal of the Clock Tower to another site, of transporting the Dent Fountain to Wongneichong (to be buried there, perhaps) and of its replacement by a statue of the Queen in front of the City Hall, the addition of a ballroom to Government House, of a statue of the Queen anywhere or everywhere, of a subscription to the Indian and Colonial Institute, of the balance of subscriptions for a fete and rejoicings being handed over to the local charities, of a high school for girls, a home for the Protection of Young Girls, and (most wonderful of all) of a Poor House.\"\n\nTo put his own stamp of foolishness on the affair, the writer said: \"It has likewise been breathed softly, but not yet openly proposed, that a Home for Decayed British Merchants who have subscribed regularly for charities for say twenty years back might be suitable, as it seems likely to be a necessary mode of celebrating the historical event of Her Majesty's jubilee.\"\n\nA few of the proposals are of special interest because they reflect some of the social problems of the period. Two of them were concerned about the needs of girls in Hongkong.\n\nThe proposal for a middle school for girls would satisfy an", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211194, "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": 255, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "230\n\npublic meeting, had to be abandoned after the official committee wrote to the Government about it.\n\nIn order to get an estimate of the cost to the public to complete the park, the committee asked \"to be furnished with a plan of the proposed park, with an estimate of probable cost and what proportion Government was willing to contribute.”\n\nThe Government rejected the offer of assistance from the public. The committee was reminded of the reply the Governor had given back in February, when the question of the jubilee was first raised.\n\nThe Government expected the public to initiate its own plans for the celebration. Now, however, it appeared the community was looking for a Government decision before it acted. The public should plan and carry through its own scheme independent of the Government.\n\nAs for the park, the committee was reminded it had already been approved by the Secretary of State as a Government venture, therefore, “His Excellency thinks it would not be right for him to suggest any alteration of that original proposal which was estimated to cost $25,000 and will be carried out as soon as the financial position of the Colony warrants the expenditure.”\n\nThe committee had little alternative but to resign, as it was impossible in the face of the Government's position to carry out the mandate given them to create a park as a jubilee memorial.\n\nCHINESE GO AHEAD WITH THEIR OWN MEMORIAL\n\nAs Hongkong's expatriates plunged into confusion over their plans to observe the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, the Chinese moved steadily forward with plans for their own project and bringing it to fruition.\n\nOne major reason the foreigners had reached an impasse was because they had not included the Chinese in the initial planning for the celebration. The co-operation of the Chinese was essential\n\nPage 255\n\nPage 256", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211197, "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": 258, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "233\n\nThe speaker believed that the meeting was with him in a desire to express appreciation “of the kindness of Her Majesty.” He set before them the means of doing so. He proposed the Chinese put up a building for a Chamber of Commerce.\n\nSuch an institution, he maintained, was not only much needed, but indispensable, because \"Hongkong was the entrepôt for the commerce of Asia; and yet the Chinese had no place where they could discuss matters relating to commerce and trade in particular, and also hold public meetings.\"\n\nBesides a hall the building would contain a free library and a reading room where both Chinese and English books and periodicals would be available. The library would be named after the Queen,\n\nWhile the Portuguese and even the Japanese had a meeting place, the Chinese had none. To them it was a disgrace that there was no hall where they could hold official receptions and celebrate public events.\n\nThey were holding their meeting in the Tung Wah Hospital. The Chinese had used it as a meeting place since it was opened, but it was only out of necessity. They did so \"because they had subscribed to it, and had no other place to go, but it was really a Chinese hospital and not a place for meetings to be held.\"\n\nIt would take time to build a suitable hall. As a temporary measure it was proposed to use a building next to the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road.\n\nIn presenting the plan, Ho A-mei reviewed some of the past history of a search for a site for a meeting hall. During the administration of Governor Hennessy the grant of a space in the Chinese Recreation Ground was sanctioned, but it was cancelled by his successor, Governor Bowen.\n\nAt the time, the Registrar General had told them that if they really wanted the site they could probably get it if they pressed for it. But this did not seem advisable as the site was far from ideal.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211199, "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": 260, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "235\n\nAnother speaker rose to suggest that it would be appropriate to have a statue of one of the Chinese gods in the library. He suggested that of Tze Tso, the founder of Chinese literature. Ho A-mei objected. There were Chinese temples for the gods. The proposed building was not a suitable place for them.\n\nThe chairman of the meeting then suggested that as there seemed to be no opposition to the proposal, it be formally placed before the meeting.\n\nHo A-mei proposed: \"That the celebration of the Queen's jubilee, by the Chinese residents of this colony, take the form of the building of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and Public Library and Reading Room.” Mr. Wei Yuk seconded it and the meeting unanimously approved it.\n\nA committee of thirty-seven was chosen. The president was Ho Kwan-shan (Ho A-mei), the vice-president was Wei Yuk, the treasurer Lee Yuk-hang (Li Shing), and the secretary Ho Yuk-shang (Dr. Ho Kai)\n\nThe meeting ended amid satisfaction over the harmony that had prevailed. With enthusiasm the committee set about its task of soliciting funds.\n\nCHANGING FACE OF CHINESE SPORT\n\nThe decision by the Chinese to mark 1887, the jubilee year of Queen Victoria, by building a hall for a Chamber of Commerce, as reported in the Daily Press, “really put an extinguisher on the projected Victoria Park.”\n\n\"The coup de grâce to the scheme\" came when the acting Governor informed the committee that he could not approve of the public taking up a project which had been accepted as a Government scheme by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.\n\nTwo letters which appeared in the press before the project had to be abandoned are interesting commentaries on life in Hong Kong at that time.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211200, "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": 261, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "236\n\nOne correspondent devoted his letter to reasons why the park scheme was useless. He explained that had he been at the meeting: \"I might have been tempted to abandon my customary reserve and lift up my voice to protest.\" As an alternative, he was presenting his views in the correspondence column.\n\nHe objected to labelling the scheme a park: “A park without trees is an anachronism.\" But given the fact that it would be a vast lawn where cricket, football, and tennis could be played, the question remained as to who would use it.\n\nIn the writer's opinion, \"not the gilded youth of our gay city,\" why travel to Happy Valley when the cricket ground (now Chater Park across from the Hilton Hotel) was within steps of their offices? Furthermore, next to the cricket ground at the seaside was the Victoria Recreation Club with a gymnasium, facilities for swimming and boating, and, perhaps the greatest competitor to Happy Valley, \"the seductions of the Boathouse bar.\"\n\nHe did concede that the ground at Happy Valley might be used for the occasional game of football, but otherwise it was not likely to pull sportsmen away from their more convenient facilities in Central. Otherwise, what one could expect to see at play in Happy Valley was \"a handful of European schoolboys and a few ragamuffins of the lower order of Chinese.”\n\nThe ground would hardly see the swirling skirts of females playing games. In the first place, a genteel lady would not disport herself on a public playing field. And in the second place, they had had since 1884 their own Recreation Club on the Peak Road as well as the lawns of their own homes for games of tennis and croquet.\n\nUse of the proposed park by Chinese could be ruled out because, in the opinion of the writer, \"they are not a playing people as playing people are known in the West.\" The sporting activity of Europeans appeared to the Chinese to be undignified and not in keeping with propriety.\n\nAnyone who would expect to find “young Chinese gentlemen", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211203, "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": 264, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "239\n\nAs evidence he said: \"We have only to watch the amusements of the juveniles on some level bit of ground to mark how ready they are to discard the old games of shuttlecock and kite flying for the more exciting amusement of cricket or leap frog.”\n\nHe observed: \"During the season of our athletic sports it has often touched me to see how eager are the Portuguese and Chinese to imitate our own youngsters in racing and jumping, and how ingeniously they turn the Tanks in Bonham Road into happy hunting grounds.”*\n\nHis formula to nourish a healthy and vigorous population in Hongkong was to provide them literally with “a wide field.\" A prescription that is still valid.\n\nAs an example of civic endeavour to provide recreational facilities, he cited the movement in England promoted by Miss Olivia Hall and Lord Brabazon to convert neglected graveyards into playgrounds.\n\nHe concludes with the pious remark: “Let us strive for such improvements in our own Hongkong and the blessings of posterity will rest upon us.”\n\nJUBILEE MEETING GROWS TENSE\n\nAND GETS OUT OF ORDER\n\nThe first public meeting to consider plans for Hongkong's celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee was followed by a separate meeting of the Chinese and two meetings by the Europeans. The two expatriate meetings illustrated the need to adhere to parliamentary procedure in conducting a meeting.\n\nNeither meeting successfully settled the issue for which they were called. Instead they added to the confusion of the community in its attempt to formulate plans for the Jubilee.\n\nThe chairman of the first public meeting had been the Chief Justice. Under his direction it had proceeded in an orderly fashion, even though its decision regarding a park as a memorial to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211204, "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": 265, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "240\n\nQueen had to be abandoned.\n\nInability to proceed with the agreed plan resulted in the two subsequent meetings. These were chaired by the Honourable Phineas Ryrie. Many of the difficulties which resulted can be attributed to the manner in which he conducted the meetings.\n\nIt is not a simple matter to keep a meeting in order and progress towards its goals when the atmosphere is charged with tension created by strongly held opinions and personal ambitions. The meetings chaired by Mr. Ryrie were like this.\n\nA good chairman is not only fair and impartial but also firm and decisive. He gives room for free expression of opinion but does not permit the meeting to digress into irrelevant matters or get muddled in improper procedure. To do this he must adhere to accepted parliamentary rules.\n\nMr. Ryrie was a public spirited man who had long — perhaps too long — been prominent in public affairs. He was the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council and therefore a natural choice for chairman. His handling of the meetings, however, suggests he may have been tottering into old age. He was a man of decided opinion and also irascible, a dangerous combination.\n\nAs senior partner of the firm of Turner and Company, he belonged to the small interlocking circle who sat on the boards of the leading companies and institutions in Hongkong. As such, he had presided over many meetings. These, however, were usually quite routine and required a minimum of parliamentary skill.\n\nIt was a different matter to chair a meeting in which there were strong differences of opinion accompanied by a feeling of frustration over the mess in which the community was increasingly getting itself involved.\n\nThe main business of the meeting was to decide on another memorial now that the idea of a park in the Wongneichong Valley was no longer feasible. Before the meeting people who wished to have a scheme considered were asked to submit them in writing.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211205, "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": 266, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "241\n\nOnly one letter was received. It was from Dr. Patrick Manson who proposed building a sanitarium at the Peak for the sick and convalescent.\n\nThe meeting started inauspiciously. It had been called for 4.30pm at the City Hall. When the hour arrived there were only four or five people present. Obviously they could not proceed. Half an hour later there were sufficient present to begin. The attendance, however, was far below that of the first meeting.\n\nOn looking around it was noted that high-ranking government officials had decided not to attend the meeting. They had become somewhat wary of public meetings. They found themselves in an embarrassing position due to their presence at the previous meeting when a plan had been adopted which reflected badly on Hongkong's regard for Governor Sir George Bowen.\n\nThe Governor was on leave and it was not expected his appointment would be renewed. Rumours, however, reached Hongkong after the meeting that he was to sail for the East. It was not clear whether he was returning as Governor of Hongkong or for some other purpose. As it turned out, his term was not renewed. At any rate, prudence dictated that Government officers should avoid meetings which reflected the local animosity towards Sir George.\n\nAfter the opening formalities, the letter of Dr. Manson was read. The chairman then asked for an expression of opinion on the sanitarium scheme. No one responded, instead Mr. W. E. Crow, a government pharmacist, introduced the idea of a public library and reading room,\n\nFollowing Mr. D. R. Crawford's seconding of his proposal, Mr. Crow asked for clarification on a point of procedure. Would Dr. Manson's project be voted on before his own, or would his be voted on as an amendment to Dr. Manson's? The chairman ruled that as Dr. Manson's proposal had not been seconded and Mr. Crow's had, it was the latter which should be voted on.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211209, "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": 270, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "TEMPERS FRAY AND WILLS CLASH AT \n\nJUBILEE MEETING \n\n245 \n\nIt takes some ability to properly manage a meeting where temper are short and wills clash. The chairman of the public meeting held on April 12, 1887, to make plans for the Jubilee of Queen Victoria was singularly inept in steering the course of the meeting.\n\nThe meeting was split over a decision as to what permanent memorial should mark the event in Hongkong. Three ideas were put before the meeting, a sanitarium at the Peak proposed by Dr. Patrick Manson, a library and reading room suggested by Mr. W. E. Crow, and a contribution to the Colonial Institute in London advocated by Mr. J. J. Francis.\n\nThe institute scheme received little support. Mr. Francis, therefore, threw his support behind the sanitarium. There was a general opinion that the meeting did not have sufficient information to decide on any proposal, therefore Mr. Francis suggested that a committee of five be appointed \"to confer with Dr. Manson, communicate with Government, and prepare and submit for approval at a subsequent meeting a detailed scheme for a convalescent home at the Peak to be named after Her Majesty.”\n\nTo Mr. Fraser-Smith this seemed to be tackling the problem the wrong way. He asked: “If it would not be well to get the feeling of the meeting to whether they approve of Dr. Manson's proposal.\"\n\nThe chairman assured him that they would be doing so if they voted on Mr. Francis's resolution to appoint a committee. Mr. Fraser-Smith burst in to contradict him: “I beg pardon, you are not. You are getting substantive resolution of quite different character.\"\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211211, "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": 272, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "247\n\nAt this point the Anglican Bishop, the Right Reverend J. S. Burdon, calmly addressed the meeting with the voice of reason. He remarked: \"I have very grave doubts whether any public meeting gathered here is ever likely to come to any definite resolution.” This would seem to have been a fair estimate of the mood of the assembly.\n\nHe proposed that a representative committee be appointed to collect all the probable schemes with all facts necessary for their implementation. The schemes with detailed plans could then be presented to the public in written form and considered at a later meeting. He thought there probably would be only three institutions submitted for consideration, Dr. Manson's sanitarium, Mr. Crow's library, and his own pet scheme, an institution for female education. There was as well, he added, the suggestion of a statue of the Queen. His effort to steer the meeting into less troubled water was greeted with applause.\n\nMr. Stewart-Lockhart endorsed the bishop's suggestion. The meeting should be adjourned at this point as it seemed to be at a deadlock, for, as he summed it up: \"There was a question as to whether a resolution had been carried or not. Some were under the impression someone had counted wrong and others that he had counted right.\" An adjournment would allow feelings to cool, proceeding with the meeting would only further inflame them.\n\nThe chairman's wisest act during the course of the meeting was to see the sense in the proposal for an adjournment. Accordingly, he seconded the motion. It was unfortunate, however, that before doing so, he did not take up the Bishop's suggestion and have a committee appointed to receive and consider plans.\n\nThe next meeting was set for four days ahead. With fortune smiling, tempers would have cooled, proposals would have taken on solid form, and community feeling would have become more harmonious. The interval between the meetings was, however, perhaps too brief for this to happen.\n\nThe chairman, Mr. Ryrie, was criticised in the press for his inept handling of the meeting. It was reported that an attendant", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211212, "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": 273, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "248\n\nhad been heard saying as he left: “Anything more idiotic than a public meeting in Hongkong I never saw.\" The editor felt the whole affair had been a ridiculous farce reflecting little credit on the common sense of the community.\n\nIt was also reported that the published account of the meeting upon which I have based my account gave but \"a faint idea of the vast amount of meaningless talk and the playing at cross purposes which took place.\"\n\nThe paper was particularly critical of Mr. Ryrie's refusal to have a recount on a disputed vote. It pointed out that he himself had spoken in support of the motion, then when the vote on the motion he had supported was challenged, he paid no heed to a request for a recount or a statement regarding the number of votes cast.\n\nThe editor graciously excused Mr. Ryrie from \"a desire to catch a vote by a trick, rather than to hold the scales fairly and impartially.\" He believed that “in the case of Mr. Ryrie, whose love of fair play is proverbial, it is impossible to draw such an inference, and we are driven back on the supposition that the extraordinary course he adopted was due simply to testiness of temper.\"\n\nThe news writer regretted that Bishop Burdon's suggestion of a committee to consider plans was not adopted. He viewed as remote the possibility that the next meeting would arrive at a definite opinion regarding a memorial. A committee would have been able to give considered deliberation to each scheme, as it was, he said that \"a scheme would likely be adopted by a 'flukey' vote.\"\n\nNot only Mr. Ryrie but also Mr. Crow came in for criticism. In the 1880s there were strict social divisions in Hongkong. Stepping out of one's place upset the social order. One newspaper correspondent intimated that Mr. Crow had been presumptuous in speaking out at the meeting to propose his suggestion for a memorial.\n\nAt public meetings it was customary that resolutions and remarks were made only by well-established community leaders.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211213, "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": 274, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "249\n\nMr. Crow did not qualify. He was young. His position as a Government pharmacist did not put him in the same circle as the business taipans and senior government officials. The letter writer, in advocating a committee and the consideration of only written proposals, remarked: “It will never do to let any boy in the place get up at every meeting and have his crow.”\n\nThe writer himself had his own favourite scheme, but he modestly poses as one who knew his proper station. He said he would like to have spoken at the meeting on behalf of a girls' school, but had not because, “although an old resident, I am not a person of enough influence to put myself forward as its advocate at a public meeting, nor do I happen to be a ‘cocky' individual anxious to make my voice heard.”\n\nHe intimated that unless a proposer was a man of influence his proposal was unlikely to receive support: \"My idea may be good or bad in itself, but I do not wish to weaken it through its being advocated in a public meeting by a (signed) 'Nobody'.”\n\nWith such sentiment being expressed, it was unlikely the next meeting would be able to rise above snobbery, personal feelings and petty animosities.\n\nMUDDLED THINKING CLOUDS\n\nJUBILEE MEMORIAL ISSUE AND PUBLIC HAS TO DECIDE\n\nA meeting held on April 16, 1887 made no further progress towards reaching a decision on a suitable memorial for the Queen's jubilee than the meeting held four days earlier. At the conclusion of the meeting matters were still at a stalemate, even though there had been long speeches in support of the various proposals and the usual involved debate over procedure.\n\nThere was fear that this example of poor management, divided public opinion and display of petty feeling would be used as an argument against granting Hongkong citizens the privilege of more direct participation in the Government. There were demands being made at the time to allow the residents to elect a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211216, "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": 277, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "252\n\nThere was still, however, one more proposal before the meeting, that of the statue. It was defeated. This left Dr. Manson's sanitarium proposal as the only one not rejected outright. But the meeting was at an impasse because of the tie vote.\n\nIt was now time for those who desired a committee to again come into their own. Mr. Lister spoke: “I have now much pleasure in proposing a small committee to inquire into the details of Dr. Manson's scheme and report at a subsequent meeting.”\n\nMr. Sharp proposed the names of six men to serve on the committee. One of the persons named begged off, saying he could not possibly spare the time. Mr. D. R. Crawford was suggested as a substitute. He also declined as he was leaving the Colony shortly. Another name was put forward, but at this point the meeting suddenly dissolved.\n\nThe reporter who covered the meeting for the Daily Press thought: \"Probably it was the general impression the committee was appointed, but this is a matter of more surmise as the motion was never put.\n\n**\n\nThe whole affair seemed to be about to melt away, leaving behind a bad taste and a smudge on Hongkong's reputation. This would have been a dismal admission of civic incompetence as well as an insult to the Queen.\n\nAs a way out, the Daily Press suggested that a plebiscite be held. Voters on their ballot could select the scheme they wanted and suggest twelve names for a committee to carry out the most widely accepted proposal. Or, if it seemed there was no possibility of the public being able by this means to come to a decision which represented a majority, the Legislative Council should take the matter in hand and invite the public to co-operate.\n\nAfter the meeting, the China Mail column \"Fragrant Waters Murmur,\" as an expression of general dissatisfaction over the state of affairs, suggested \"the erection in a conspicuous position of a broken column, copies of the entire correspondence to which the subject has given rise to be deposited in a receptacle in the base.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211217, "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": 278, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "253\n\nof the column to bear no other inscription than the simple and expressive one of 'Muddle'.\n\nThe following extract from a letter which might have ended up in the receptacle below the column reflects the ridiculous level to which the affair had descended. Appearing in the Daily Press, it pummeled the pretensions of a previously published letter filled with \"p's\" by a person posing as “Public.”\n\n\"The pleasurable Peak-palace - Public's inappropriately and pretendedly predicted pauper-pack pandemonium preconceived by our preciously punctilious pulse-patting physician as a perquisite for the poor-pocketed, passes no particular peril from the pappy and peculiar publicity pictured and Pressed in it by that poppy-pated, pompous and pucka poltroon, Public, in his pyrotechnic but puzzling but platitudinous and ponderous passage.\"\n\nThe editor appends to this word play the note: \"This is really too much! We positively decline to find space for any more of this alliterative rubbish.”\n\nFortunately for the sanity of Hongkong it was spared another public meeting. The suggestion of a plebiscite was successfully carried out. The eventual result was the statue of the Queen now to be seen in Victoria Park at Causeway Bay.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211266, "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": 327, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "302\n\nMind Landscapes enables C. C. Wang to describe the challenges he faced to see paintings in a land without public museums; \"There were no good museums in China at that time and you couldn't see the work of a contemporary painter in a museum or gallery. But since they had to be mounted or remounted, they could be seen in a mounter's shop. Suzhou was famous for its mounters. They would paste the paintings to be mounted on the walls of their shops, and if you walked around every few days, you could always see new paintings.” (p. 15).\n\nMr. Wang also talks about his teachers and how he was able to view various private collections: \"For me, as well as for painter-scholars of the past, friendships with other painters and collectors were extremely significant. Each new meeting meant a new collection to see. In those days private collectors were never publicly displayed. To see a particular painting you had to know the owner.” (p. 17).\n\nWhen the great Chinese Imperial Collection was being prepared for the London Exhibition at Burlington House in 1936, C. C. Wang was a consultant and had a chance to study all those great paintings another significant step in his development into a connoisseur-collector-painter.\n\nCollecting as well as creating paintings soon became young Mr. Wang's principal preoccupation. However, he supported his collecting and his family by some real estate ventures because he was not able to make enough money through the sale of his paintings.\n\nThe story of C. C. Wang's journey to the West (New York) and attending classes at the Art Students League, his explorations of modern Western art and his artistic evolution is marvelously told through well written prose of Jerome Silbergeld, Professor of Art History at the University of Washington in Seattle.\n\nProfessor Silbergeld comes to his subject with a deep knowledge and background in classical Chinese painting and provides a sinological, art historical perspective of C. C. Wang's work. But the author does not avoid his role as contemporary critic, analyzing the relationship of the artist and modern art. When C. C. Wang's breakthrough to his mature style comes in 1971-2, the author allows the events to unfold like high drama. Moreover, throughout the text, the artist is permitted to state his own views on the elements of his art such as line, color, composition, dots, texture,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211358, "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-1988", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "50\n\nBut Mr. Scholfield stuck to his opinion. \"I would not give a single thought to it. The only thing I would think of was the ten cents I would receive at the end of the day.\"\n\nWhen the resolutions proposed by Mr. Bowley were put to the meeting, only Mr. Scholfield voted against him. He told the meeting that if the suggestions were to be implemented it would mean money **and would depend on the maintenance of the opium revenue**. If that was stopped, what would they do?\" Up to that date Hong Kong had depended upon the income from the opium trade to finance itself, now there was heavy pressure from the Home Government to abolish the traffic in opium.\n\nThe editor of the Daily Press commended the small group of Hong Kong expatriates who were concerned about social problems, though his views were expressed in the colonial attitudes of the day.\n\nFar removed from the centres of civilization and surrounded by people alien to us in manners, customs and ideas, there is a natural tendency to lose that sense of communal responsibility which is steadily developing in the land from which we spring. It is well, therefore, that we have in our midst some whose interests are not limited by sport or commerce to remind us of the thoughts and aspirations of our more progressive fellow countrymen at Home.\n\nProposals of the Sanitary Board 1919\n\nMr. Bowley was a member of the Sanitary Board and used his position to try to get passed some regulations on child labour. He used a back door approach by proposing that the regulations be based on sanitary grounds. As the name of the Board suggests such concerns came within its province.\n\nOn the 19 March 1919 Mr. Bowley had posed the following question, **Does the Medical Officer of Health consider it desirable in the interests of public health of the Colony that the ages, hours and conditions of employment of women and children in factories, workshops and work-places in the Colony should be regulated and controlled?** The Medical", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211359, "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-1988", "page_number": 75, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "51\n\nOfficer, Dr. Hickling, replied that the matter needed a full investigation, and for a beginning certain broad lines might be laid down. She suggested as such (1) the conditions which would constitute overcrowding in work places, (2) the ages at which children be admitted to factories, and (3) regulation of the hours children worked.\n\nAt a meeting of the Sanitary Board on 2 April 1919 Mr. Bowley said that though previous to the meeting he had submitted his intention to place before the Board resolutions concerning overcrowding in factories and child labour, he thought it would be better if the Board first appointed a sub-committee to investigate conditions and thresh the problem out before definite suggestions were placed before the full Board.\n\nMr. Bowley was the natural Chairman for the committee as he had shown special interest in the problem and was acquainted with the corresponding legislation on the subject in England, America and the British Colonies, and as the Chinese section of the community would be chiefly affected by such regulations, Mr. Chan Kai-ming and Mr. S. W. Tso were appointed along with the Sanitary Department's Medical Officer, Dr. A. D. Hickling. As the regulations would be dealing with the working conditions of women and children, it was appropriate that Dr. Hickling, a woman, be on the committee.\n\n―\n\n―\n\nAt a meeting on 27 May, the sub-committee submitted its recommendations. An amendment was proposed to Section 16 of the Public Health and Building Ordinance of 1903 that children under the age of fourteen be prohibited from working in any factory for more than ten hours a day exclusive of meal times and that children under thirteen not be employed in any occupation likely to be injurious to their “life, limb or health, regard being had to his or her physical condition”. The committee also proposed an addition to Bylaw sub-section 13 of Section 16, that factories be regarded as overcrowded and therefore a danger to health if there was less than 250 cubic feet for every person employed, or during overtime after six p.m., 400 cubic feet per person.\n\nThe Sanitary Board had the power to require factories to provide adequate ventilation, cleanliness and latrine accommodation. There was no statutory definition of what constituted overcrowding hence the resolution included such a definition.\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76\n\n52", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211363, "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-1988", "page_number": 79, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "55\n\nDr. Hickling suggested that the space required for each worker should be put at twenty square feet floor area. This suggestion was accepted. Another minor change was made by eliminating the word \"overtime\" in reference to work after 6 p.m.\n\n6\n\nThe editor of the Daily Press, in commenting on the proposals of the Sanitary Board, reviewed some of the steps which had led up to them: Miss Pitts' talk, followed by Mr. Bowley's statements at the meeting of the Church of England Men's Society. Their efforts were seen as examples of the good results \"that may flow from the discussion of matters of public concern by private individuals, and should encourage interest in local affairs\". The editor was confident the proposal would appeal to British pride, \"For every Briton in Hong Kong whose pride of race is based upon his country's efforts on behalf of humanity must hope that the resolutions passed by the Sanitary Board will be endorsed by the Legislative Council\". He believed that the enlightened members of the Chinese community would have no objections to them, as, in his opinion, they were extremely modest and were submitted in the interests of public health.\n\nThe editor recognised that the root of the problem lay in the Colony's educational efforts, but he contended that no matter how many schools were provided, there would not be enough “unless we are willing to educate the whole of South China\". A policy of unrestricted immigration made it impossible to make school attendance either compulsory or free.\n\nThe editor restated the views of Mr. Alabaster that it was better for the children to accompany their parents to work, so long as their little bodies are not strained beyond their endurance, as they would thus be both physically and morally better off than left to their own devices, and their earnings provided them with more food than they otherwise would have. He did advocate that some restriction be placed on the load they carried, as this responsibility could not be left to the parents' discretion.\n\nCase of Child Labour before the Magistrate\n\nApril 1920\n\nThe principles in the agitation for child labour laws had been a missionary and a solicitor, but in April 1920 a doctor publicly took up", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211494, "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-1988", "page_number": 210, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "186\n\ncollection of books, and also a repository of natural and scientific productions. In the Library, every valuable book extant in Chinese, and every foreign publication regarding China and its inhabitants, should have its appropriate place...3\n\nMeetings followed at monthly intervals at which addresses were given on various aspects of Chinese history and culture by members of the local foreign community. Membership increased gradually and soon included many individuals whose names are remembered today as important figures in nineteenth century Chinese affairs, including Sir Robert Hart, Dr. S. Wells Williams, W. H. Medhurst, and Alexander Wylie. On July 20, 1858, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland approved their request for affiliation. That same year the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society began its ninety-year publication span.4\n\nHowever, Rev. Bridgman's health soon failed and he passed away in Shanghai in 1861. The society lost its momentum and passed through what one writer described later as a \"period of suspended animation\". It regrouped in 1864 under the presidency of Sir Harry Parkes who was followed two years later by George F. Stewart, U. S. Consul General in Shanghai.\n\nFrom the beginning the society accepted donations of books and journals, which were dutifully listed in the annual reports, but the lack of permanent facilities prevented the establishment of a formal library. At first, the society used the meeting rooms of the Shanghai Library which was housed in the Masonic Hall on Ningpo Road. From there it moved to the new Masonic Building (1869) and then the Commercial Bank Building on Nanking Road (1870), before finding a permanent home on Museum Road the next year.5\n\nAlexander Wylie, the noted sinologist and supervisor of the London Missionary Society's printing office in Shanghai, amassed a personal collection of both Chinese language books and books in Western languages concerning China which he urged the Royal Asiatic Society to purchase, as he was returning to England for home leave. After much deliberation, a public appeal, and a generous donation from the Shanghai\n\n17\n\nPage 210\n\nPage 211", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211599, "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": 14, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "hope to catch up soon, with the aid of the Editorial group which includes Dr. Betty Wei, Dr. Thomas Lau and myself!\n\nFinally, a word of thanks to our printers, Messrs Yee Tin Tong, and especially to their Mr. Henry Law who is the soul of courtesy and cooperation.\n\nEvents in China\n\nI turn now to a world event which it was impossible to ignore, especially in Hong Kong. Like other associations in Hong Kong, the RAS Council felt it had a plain duty to write to the British Government, leading Parliamentarians and other influential figures in public life, expressing concern for Hong Kong's future in the light of the repressive action taken in Beijing in May-June 1989. A copy of this letter was sent to all local and overseas members of the Society, and many of us circulated it more widely among friends or sent copies to persons who they felt ought to know that a letter had been sent.\n\nBoth as President and as an individual, I received a number of responses from Members at home and abroad. These were all supportive of the action taken by the Council. I regret to have to say, however, that there was no response from the Foreign Secretary's Office, to whose head the letter was addressed, not even a printed acknowledgement slip, despite a courteously worded reminder enclosing a copy of the original letter. Surely two copies could not have gone astray?\n\nIn my personal capacity as President, I also sent a private submission to the Basic Law Drafting Committee last autumn, before the period allowed for submissions expired. It gave my own statement on how this Society has been able to operate without let or hindrance, fear or favour, and relying upon the open, willing cooperation of others for almost thirty years, and how essential it was for us, and Societies like us, to be able to continue operating in this way after 1997. A copy of this letter has been tabled at this meeting, and the text will be annexed to this report when it is published in the appropriate number of the Journal,\n\nThe Council\n\nYou will have noted that David Gilkes has been nominated as President for the coming year. No other nominations have been received, and this is a very appropriate appointment in view of his 23 years on the Council\n\nxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211791, "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": 206, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "181\n\nof the Olympic Theatre or Royal Olympic Theatre which was located at the back of the Shanghai Club, in the southern part of the Settlement. It had a dress circle and there is even mention of a \"second circle\".\n\nI.\n\nFinally we come to the last of the godown theatres, the Lyceum Theatre which was stated to be situated at Peking Road (ex Consulate Road), 104 The proprietors were the big firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co which had a hong on the corner of the Bund and Peking Road, 105 This was the scene of the 1864-1865 and 1865-1866 seasons.\n\nJ.\n\nEvidently the existing situation was highly unsatisfactory. This was realised as early as 1852 when, at a Public Meeting on September 25, a Committee was formed at the instigation of the Shanghai Library that was looking for more appropriate accommodations. This Committee was to study the possibilities of “erecting a Building for an exchange and reading room\". 106 In December a prospectus was issued by the Committee in which it was suggested that in the so called \"Public Institution”, “a large room might be fitted for the Theatre, already under comparatively disadvantageous circumstances one of the most popular amusements we have\", All these plans came to nothing, however, so in 1864 an epilogue to a theatrical evening gave vent to feelings of discontent:\n\n* 107\n\nLadies and gentlemen, our course is run 'T is yours to gild our quickly setting sun For if upon your frowns that sun should set This theatre must be advertised \"To Let'. Shorn of its glory, prestige and renown Like our poor selves 't will be a mere godown. Not that the Drama in this wealthy port\n\nTo such an humble bounty pray be led And build a lasting structure in its stead\". 108\n\nApart from the inconvenience of securing a suitable godown every year, there was a great deal of capital loss involved. Each time a warehouse had to be fitted up at considerable cost (about 2,000 Taels in 1865; a Tael was worth approx. 6/7 in this period; in addition to the rent of Tls", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211997, "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": 412, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "387\n\nWith this in mind the people of our Yeuk, all joining together in a meeting, showed a spirit of mutual assistance and unanimity. A notice was pasted up in red characters, and young men began to practice martial arts. Action was taken to guard against bandits and precautions were taken against thieves. Severe rules were agreed. Should any outsider now loiter about or enter our premises, or any outside bandits form gangs, or anyone break into houses to rob and steal, then they will at once be captured and investigated. Every detail will be uncovered. Patrols will capture bandits, and send them to the Magistrate for interrogation, and there will be no question of influence getting them off.\n\nThereafter bandits from outside will not dare to cause trouble here: within the Yeuk the people will be happy and live in auspicious peace. Then in the future we will see fine customs; they will spread everywhere. Everyone will sing and dance, as the sun rises in peace: every family will enjoy a common happiness as in the times of Yao. Thus it is written.\n\nA public announcement by the community of ... Yeuk.\n\nKuang Hsu... Year, ... Month, ... Day.\n\n[Note: punctuation in the translation basically follows that in the transcription]\n\n犯約服罪式\n\n立服罪人〔^姓名]口後不敢復爲非禮之等情因〔^口〕係不守法有鄉犯規竊得[^姓名]物[“幾多]小因彼〔姓名〕拿得贜眞證確今悔遇自身求免送官按情願徑衆公罰日後永迎約束規條如有復行非禮之時任案公送官法徵此係並服約束亦不敢挾盖陪害等情恐口憑立並服數據照\n\n【從read經,東read諫〕\n\nExemplar of a Document by which someone confesses a crime against the rules of the Yeuk\n\nThe writer of this document [... name], who confesses his crime, will hereafter not dare to commit anything improper again. The reason is that, on [... date] I did not obey the law, but was guilty of breaking the rules of the Heung, and stole things [... quantity, [... name], and also because I was captured by [... name], with the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212021, "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": 436, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "411\n\nJerome Silbergeld, Mind Landscapes: The Paintings of C.C. Wang, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington Press (Seattle and London), 1987. 132 pp. + plates, bibliography, index.\n\nC.C. Wang is certainly one of the most intriguing Chinese artists of the later twentieth century. His life chronicles cataclysmic changes many Chinese have endured and his path - artist, collector, connoisseur, businessman, and exile - was rarely clear. He was continuously called upon to redefine his relationship with China and the West as he traveled, explored, and matured.\n\nHaving been born into a Suzhou family of mandarins in Imperial China in 1907 and having had a traditional Chinese education till the age of 14 assured young Wang the basis for blossoming into a twentieth-century version of the literati. But young Wang longed for a Western-style education, into which he switched at age fourteen, and from which he went on to study law in Shanghai at China's distinguished Suzhou Law School. But his art education, which started as he learned to read and write, was carried on simultaneously and ever more seriously. Over time, he had many art teachers and, indeed, became a teacher himself at an early age.\n\nMind Landscapes enables C.C. Wang to describe the challenges he faced in seeing paintings in a land without public museums: \"There were no good museums in China at that time, and you couldn't see the work of a contemporary painter in a museum or gallery. But since they had to be mounted or remounted, they could be seen in a mounter's shop. Suzhou was famous for its mounters. They would paste the paintings to be mounted on the walls of their shops, and if you walked around every few days, you could always see new paintings,\" (p. 15).\n\nMr. Wang also talks about his teachers and how he was able to view various private collections: \"For me, as well as for painter-scholars of the past, friendships with other painters and collectors were extremely significant. Each new meeting meant a new collection to see. In those days, private collections were never publicly displayed. To see a particular painting, you had to know the owner,\" (p. 17).\n\nWhen the great Chinese Imperial Collection was being prepared for the London Exhibition at Burlington House in 1936, C.C. Wang was a consultant and had a chance to study all those great paintings — another", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212459, "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": 13, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "I also have to report that there has not been much progress on the Photographic Survey being carried out in conjunction with the Cathay Camera Club. It was intended there would be a series of publications, the first of which was to cover Shaukeiwan. Photographs have been taken and some members have volunteered to assist in the collation of photographic and written material. I understand that there will be a meeting quite soon to move this project forward, initially by holding a slide show to remind ourselves what photographs we have available. The Council considers that the basic idea is still a good one and we would very much like to see some progress made this year.\n\nA great deal of the events noted above would not take place unless there was a Council of energetic members who are prepared to put time and effort into making those events successful. We are a harmonious Council, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have served over the last year, all of whom I see are prepared to stand again next year with the exception of Dr. Thomas Lau, who has regretfully decided to stand down due to pressure of other commitments. Dr. Lau is in charge of the Public Records Office and he assures me that the Society's all-important link with that office will continue. The organisation of the Society does not of course entirely depend on Council members; we often need volunteers to help in many activities and it is heartening to see that such requests through the newsletter are generally met.\n\nThis report would not be complete, I believe, unless there was some reference to the future. The past year has seen some momentous events world-wide, and here in Hong Kong we are fully aware that there will be significant changes: in fact, they are already happening. This society is not, of course, a political one: nevertheless, if there are aspects which will have some effect on our activities, then clearly we will need to take notice, and respond accordingly. Our strength lies in the body of our membership, and the ability to look beyond our immediate environment. With the continuous opening up of China and the prospect of further dialogues, there is no reason why this society should not continue to extend its interests into regions across the border. We are not, of course, the only society in Hong Kong to try and stimulate interest in this way. There are other societies which are around, and in the last year or two, members may be aware of the Asia Society and the Royal Society of Asian Affairs: the former is based in New York and carries out a high-profile lecture programme, some of which are conducted here: the latter is based in...\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212647, "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": 201, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "182\n\nIt was a group loosely attached to the University of Hong Kong and NOT a public society. By 1957, this small Team had visited and examined several previously-known sites. Several new members were enrolled, among them Robin and Elspeth Maneely, John Llewellyn, Gerald Moore, and John Walden. By the end of 1957, nine more members were enrolled, among them Dr. Chiu Tze-nang, Mr. (now Dr.) J. Hayes and Dr. Albert So. Total membership now stood at 19.\n\nMore sites were visited, such as Potoi Island, High Island, Picnic Bay (Lamma island) and Tai Long (Lantao Island). In 1958, four more members joined the Team, including Mr. B. Williams.\n\nIn 1958, the administrative responsibility for the Team had passed from the Institute of Oriental Studies to the Department of Geography and Geology (at the request of Professor Drake), and with this change, Professor Davis became the Head of the Team and its committee.\n\nThroughout 1958, the Team was very active. Several sites on Lamma Island were visited as well as Cheung Chau, Tai Long, Shek Pik, Castle Peak, and Soko Islands. An excavation at Man Kok Tsui was undertaken.\n\nIn 1964, Mr James Watt joined the team and became the Secretary of the committee.\n\nAfter 1964, the Team activity appeared to decline. Some members became inactive, others left Hong Kong. By the end of 1966, it became apparent that the Team could not continue its work in the old way.\n\nFour active members of the Team James Watt, Bernard William, James Hayes, and Solomon Bard met in January 1967 and agreed that a public society should be formed from the Team, to be called the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, and that the assets of the Team should pass on to the new Society. The first meeting of the new Society was held in May 1967.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212737, "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-1992", "page_number": 46, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "31\n\nA native of China generally, whose chief characteristics are: sobriety, frugality, and industriousness; having a burning desire for male offspring, an insatiable appetite for public notoriety, and a terrible affinity for lucre; a being who is perfectly willing at all times, and in all places, to worship the God of Wealth, Ts'ai Shen, or any other particular god or deity, as well as all the known and “unknown\" gods and his own ancestors, as far back as he, or somebody else, may be able to have traced them, but more especially any of them who may have acquired wealth or fame in any age.\n\nPatronage and Name Dropping, and Incidental Anecdotes\n\nHe appears never to have missed an opportunity throughout his long life in China to pay his respects by calling on the local county, provincial and even national mandarins. A number of these officials were referred to thereafter on more than one occasion as 'friends' or 'officials with whom [Mesny] had conferred.' The one he most prided himself on was his 'intimacy' with the Chinese senior statesman, Li Hung-chang, by whom he would appear to have been tolerated, but only just, though with the normal Chinese courtesies.\n\nMesny knew the importance of patronage and name-dropping, especially in China: this we can see from the two and a quarter pages he devoted in one of his Miscellanies to the momentary meeting with a Manchu hereditary prince; his obituary of Tso, etc. He was as obsessed with his affiliation and rapport with the Chinese as he was about females, and at every possible opportunity he managed to name-drop and rub home his kindred feeling for the Chinese together with descriptions of their reciprocation in kind. Mesny refers with pride on a number of occasions to Chinese 'sworn brothers.' He disclosed these individually either without ever referring to them again or in some instances he simply mentioned their names in passing during descriptions of his journeys. One such blood brother was Chang Kuang-chun (or -chin) who in about 1874 was an Expectant ta-t'ai of Szechuan, and a Metropolitan literary graduate [Chin-shih] of the Tao Kuang reign. Another was Chang Ping-tang, the Military Secretary to the C-in-C of the Szechuan Force. Elsewhere in the Miscellany he claimed to have two Chinese sworn brothers, one a literary and the other a military undergraduate whom he had met whilst travelling in a provincial town in Kueichou. He met", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212875, "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-1992", "page_number": 184, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "169\n\nfamily in the present generation and after:\n\nOur ancestors first came to live in Tsuen Wan about 235 years ago [1740]. Two brothers came from Chik Sek Market of Shi Kwan Tong sub-district (heung) of Hoi-fung County to Lai Chi Kok in Kowloon. Later, one brother moved to Sha Tsui (Yeung Uk Village), Tsuen Wan. Our founding ancestor was first buried on Tsing Yi Island, but because the authorities wished to develop that part of the island into a dockyard his remains were reburied in a formal grave at Fa Shan, Tsuen Wan. His wife was, and still is, buried at Hau Tei of Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan. It has been found that both these ancestral graves have ever brought good fortune to our clansmen.”\n\nThis letter was sent in response to my enquiry about the settlement of the lineage in Tsuen Wan. I had not realized it would be a catalogue of information on founding ancestors and their graves, ending in the statement that the graves were responsible for the flourishing condition of the lineage today!\n\nAlarm and Indignation at Official Notices\n\nSometimes, there were more direct examples of the kind, originating in the posting of official notices on site. When old graves on Tai Mo Shan were being inspected and registered by our land staff in 1980, notices were posted which were guaranteed to upset their owners. One of the many affected parties, the Tang clan of Wang Toi Shan Village in the Pat Heung, sent in a very strongly worded letter to the Office:\n\nWe refer to your notice posted at the ancestral graves of our Tang clan at Sze Fong Shan, Tai Mo Shan summit, stating that the burials were in violation of public health regulations. Descendants of the clan called an urgent meeting at which it was resolved to make strong objections. The Tang clan are indigenous villagers of Wang Toi Shan in the Pat Heung, and have a history [of settlement there] which is older than the Hong Kong Government. The ancestral graves in question date back to more than a century ago, and were repaired in the 31st year of Kuang-hsu [1905], as shown by the tomb inscriptions. The prosperity of our clan is attributed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212942, "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-1993", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\nHONG KONG BRANCH\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1993/94\n\nThis is my third report to members since I took up the Presidency in March, 1991, and I have found that one of the difficulties of presenting a report at an annual general meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society is that it is sometime before it is in the hands of the members, since it is customary for it to be printed in the Society's journal; and due to the inevitable time lag between the date of the annual general meeting and the publication of the journal many of the events and problems of the Society may therefore be a somewhat distant memory, when read by all members up to two years later. I think therefore that in future it would be appropriate to distribute the report to all members (as you realise only about 60, or about one-tenth, of our members actually attend an annual general meeting) and subject to approval by the incoming Council I would propose that this report together with the financial report and any points arising out of this annual general meeting be circulated to members within the next three months.\n\nI propose this because it is apparent that the Royal Asiatic Society's profile within the community has increased over the last year or so in various ways and I think you will agree with me that in these accelerated changing times it is important that all members should not need to rely on reports which may appear in the newspapers. In the last year for instance the Society has been asked to appear twice before the LegCo Panel on Information Policy, once to discuss the relocation of the Public Records Office and once to exchange views on management of Government information and documents in the light of the proposed data protection law and there are other policy matters, not so controversial, which all members should be aware of, matters which are not able to be elaborated upon in the newsletter.\n\nI think also it will improve the Society's communication not only within the membership but also will assist in obtaining new members. Inevitably in Hong Kong the turnover in members is large and for newcomers to our Society it does take time to establish what exactly we do.\n\nSo what have we done in the last year? Besides the annual general meeting and dinner, we have had no less than 13 lectures and 14 local visits, and one trip to Guangzhou, and looking back through our records I cannot find a year when so much activity has taken place.\n\nix", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213038, "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-1993", "page_number": 106, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "86\n\nwas to promote the responsibility of District Committees, by requiring their 'joint charge and control over the whole range of the labours carried on by their individual members.' The medical mission work in China was already distinguished by local financial support and greater reliance was being placed on the local committee for hospital management and administration. Given these factors, the reply of the LMS Board of Directors is understandable.\n\nThe Chinese subscribers, 21 of the richest men in Hong Kong, therefore guaranteed a sum of $2,000 per annum for the lady doctor's salary, but added a condition: that she be available to treat the women of the subscribers' families in their own homes. As well, she would be required to spend her first year learning Cantonese in Hong Kong (rather than in Canton, where LMS language training was established), so that she could mix socially with the Chinese ladies and introduce to them Western hygiene and health care. Negotiations took several months, agreement reached in February, 1903, the delays attributed by the LMS Hong Kong Secretary, Mr. Pearce, to the inability of Dr. Ho to arrange a meeting of the subscribers. More likely, since the subscribers' money was essential, the delay was tactical, Dr. Ho certainly having been able to arrange their support very quickly initially.\n\nFor Dr. Gibson, pursuit of the project was important, because he feared that the Tung Wah Hospital, having introduced some Western medicine and by now handling obstetric cases, would threaten the viability of the Alice Hospital and thereby, the mission enterprise in Hong Kong, saying:\n\n·\n\n+\n\nI feel confident that the Directors of the LMS do not wish that our Missionary Institution should be behind a purely heathen Institution in making provision for the relief of suffering.\n\n18\n\nHis vision was at all times expansionary, having set up a clinic in Kowloon in 1901, in order to bring Western medicine to a wider public. In the event, he was obliged to accept a lady doctor on terms other than he would have wished. The repercussions of this were to affect the development of the service offered by the new AMMH and lead to the resignation of the lady doctor in 1909. From that point, supervision was fragmented until 1925, when Dr. Annie Sydenham took over the maternity hospital.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213054, "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-1993", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "102\n\ngovernment midwives. The Civil Hospital improved its standards as it was required to provide the clinical training facilities for the University. The Chinese subscribers, who had so generously supported the development of the LMS hospitals, gained and strengthened their power on its committees, but were involved also in these secular developments. The death of Dr. Ho Kai in 1914 coincided with staff shortages and restricted finance for the hospital, as war clouds gathered, making it harder to regain the lead. On the resignation of Dr. Sibree, the impetus for leadership and innovation was lost by the AMMH, although demand grew. It was not restored until the arrival in 1925 of Dr. Annie Sydenham, who, as a long term incumbent, was in a position to introduce preventive and outreach programmes. By this time, the initiative and future form of the service had passed into secular hands, those of the Chinese Public Dispensaries and the Hong Kong Government.\n\nNOTES\n\n1LMS Eastern, South China Box 15, 1903, No 274 Mrs Stevens, (Matron of the Alice Memorial Hospital) to Mr Cousins, 24 April 1903\n\n2Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1884 29/84, Par 39-42 Dr Ayres' opinion could be seen as either to support the policy of separation of medical services for the Chinese, or, by suggesting the attendance of Western doctors, to be promoting increased influence over the Tung Wah Hospital. At the same time, the Civil Hospital was a general hospital, with no separate maternity area, and its role was to provide primarily for the non-Chinese community. The relationship between the Tung Wah Hospital and the Hong Kong Government is analysed in Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989)\n\n3Daily Press, 27 April, 1897\n\n4Mrs Steven's Report 1891-99\n\n5LMS South China Box 15, 1901 No 263 Dr Gibson to Mr Cousins, 1 February, 1901\n\n6Mrs Steven's Report 1901 Alice Hospital Archives Copy\n\n7May to Lyttelton, 21 July, 1904, #291 CO129/323\n\n8LMS Box 12, 1892 No 212 Report of the Annual Meeting of the Finance Committee, enclosed with a letter from Dr. Burton, 19 April, 1893\n\n9LMS 1908 Box 17, 1908 Memorandum from Dr Gibson to LMS Directors, 26 March, 1908", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213091, "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-1993", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "140\n\nnot see the graves. About the use of lime as a disinfectant it appeared that this was being understood by the public, for Lowson added in an annotation to the July 16th entry that 'the lime which had been supplied to Laichikok and graveyard was brought over to Hong Kong and sold at high price to the Chinese in the streets. Or, was he talking about corruption and a black market?\n\nThe relationship between Lowson and Cantlie would seem to be strained at this stage. Cantlie made himself look ridiculous by writing to the Sanitary Board that the insanitary conditions in Victoria Town had nothing to do with the Epidemic. He was openly challenged by Major James in a letter to the Hong Kong Weekly Press. They made up afterwards. After they died together on July 21st, Lowson wrote: 'At this time he had ceased to be simply causing trouble and angry because he had not been taken more notice of but he began to see our side was right.'\n\nJuly 17th\n\nA meeting of the Permanent Committee Lockhart, myself and others A warm discussion arose and I had to tell Lockhart and Francis that they were both damned cowards as they were afraid to go near the plague cases They wanted many things done which were simply impossible When I called them damned cowards old Ayres backed me up and there was some scene May did not say much but silently agreed with us\n\nLowson knew that by calling Lockhart and Francis cowards to their face he could not expect to get any recognition for his work. He put down on this entry in bold letters: CMG strip. Also, 'that settled the question of future honours as neither would forgive me and they were bitter enemies for years.' In those days he could indeed expect the CMG, as the Order of the British Empire which later becomes the normal award for civil servants was not instituted until the reign of George V. However, he received some other rewards as we shall soon see.\n\nJuly 19th\n\nGovernor really played the bloody ox Feeling very bitter and strained at this time as Governor and Lockhart felt everybody was thinking them nonentities and fools and they had a very bad time It was entirely their own blame\n\nI think we have had enough of the bickering. Lowson ended the diary", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213338, "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-1994", "page_number": 160, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "142\n\nThe Society's archive, which is currently held under Mr. David Gilkes' arrangements in the Main Library of The Chinese University and comprises papers on the formation of the Branch together with most of our Council Minutes over the years, is another source of information for our historian. Venues can be ascertained from these papers.\n\nIf Ian Diamond, Hong Kong's first Government Archivist and our former Hon. Secretary and Vice-President, will forgive me for mentioning it here, the venue that I best remember was the small room in the Public Records Office used for our Council meetings in the early 1980s (when Ian was on overseas leave we went to the \"Bull and Bear\" across the road!). A portrait of Her Majesty the Queen hung, as a scroll painting, on the wall; but as the years went on, the scroll became considerably the worse for wear, browning and curling in at the sides. We used to comment on this quietly periodically, but nothing happened. Finally, at one Council meeting, from the chair, and meaning no disrespect to Her Majesty, I took the bull by the horns and in a loud voice asked Ian when he was going to \"remount the Queen\"; whereupon the meeting became somewhat disorderly.\n\nThe Future: Post 1997\n\nTurning from past to future, at the time of writing, our Society is just as active and energetic as in the past; but with 1997 just around the corner, it is only natural for us to wonder what will happen thereafter. I remain of the view that we have a valuable role to play; but as in other Asian countries - and despite the hoped-for continued participation of a small nucleus of local Chinese who will remain dedicated to the work and ideals of the RAS - it is likely that it will, as hitherto, continue mainly to be set among and directed at Hong Kong's expatriate community. There will be a difference here, too: for as has already been happening in recent years, this will more and more be composed of transients, with far fewer long-term non-Chinese residents than in the long post-war period. There will, correspondingly, be an even greater need for the RAS to provide more \"cultural bridges\" to the local community. Thus, the study of Asia - and of Hong Kong and China with it - will surely continue to be (in Professor Drake's words) the Society's main \"Heritage and Task\".\n\nHowever, the likely change in expatriate membership may cause problems in recruiting some of the leadership and expertise upon which", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213412, "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": 8, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\nHONG KONG BRANCH\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1995/96\n\nThis is the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Society since its re-birth in 1960, and it gives me great pleasure to report to you on the events and activities of the previous year, i.e. the 35th Anniversary Year.\n\nBefore doing so however I would like to say one or two things about the Society's history, current situation and some thoughts on the future. The Royal Asiatic Society was originally conceived in the United Kingdom in the early part of the 19th century in 1825; it was conceived because it was recognised that in view of the spread of commercial and other activities in the near and Far East there was a need to fulfil a desire by many to form a structure whereby the history and social aspects of those countries in which the United Kingdom had an interest could be studied in more detail. The early membership of the Society was therefore made up of leading academics and politicians who were known to be experts in their subject, and who were keen to bring that knowledge to a wider public. A building was leased in the centre of London where members could meet, a library was built-up and lectures at periodic intervals were well attended by the standards of the time. If you now visit the Royal Asiatic Society in London you can do so at their bought premises in Queen Anne's gate. It still has monthly lectures, and it has a really splendid library, which not only houses some very rare books but also a fine array of interesting journals from many parts of Asia, including I was pleased to note our own Society's journals.\n\nThe Royal Asiatic Society in London, however, did not confine its aspirations to the United Kingdom; it spread its wings far and wide and Royal Asiatic Societies sprung up in a variety of interesting places, particularly in the main cities of India, and the Malaysian Peninsular, in addition to some other countries in the near East. The Hong Kong Branch was founded in 1847, only six years after the foundation of the colony, and later on Australia, and New Zealand founded Royal Asiatic Societies. Shanghai had one and in fact had a building on the Bund with a splendid library, and you can, if you persevere, see the books in a...\n\nVII", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213889, "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": 241, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "215\n\nnegotiations with Chen Jiongming as “Canton needs the salvage of a large and united body of influential men\" and they all \"begged me [Lu] to form the Merchants' Association at once”. \"All urging me not to leave things as they were\", emphasised Liu, and they were \"offering to support whole-heartedly the scheme of government that I might propose\"\n\nImmediately after Liu's return to Hong Kong in late March, Liu Zhubo announced an organizational charter for a \"Business Maintenance Committee\". This committee was to raise a loan of $3,000,000 for the new Canton Government. To put up the sum, Liu proposed two methods to recruit adequate subscribers. The committee would either include a membership of 300 merchants with subscription fee of $10,000 or a membership of 30,000 with a subscription fee of $100. This charter was actually published and distributed in Canton and Hong Kong\n\nWith everything in place, Chen Jiongming broke with Sun Yat-sen in June 1922. During the incident, Sun's residence was bombarded. Sun fled to a gunboat and, from Hong Kong, he escaped to Shanghai\n\nChen Jiongming's co-operation with the Hong Kong merchants, however, proved to be a very short one. Sun returned to Canton in January 1923 with the military support of the Yunnanese and the financial support of the Siyi men from Hong Kong\n\nBack in Canton, Sun faced the familiar problem of trying to organize a government without adequate money and with no real command over military forces. To prevent the guest armies from mutiny, Sun had to provide a daily maintenance expense of $20,000 to $30,000 to the armies. Added to this problem was Sun's inability to collect tax in the province. Almost all the existing organizations for tax collection were non-functioning in the face of the guest armies who divided Guangdong into spheres of influence.\n\nImmediately upon his return, Sun called for a meeting with the merchants in Hong Kong. Fifty overseas returned merchants in Hong Kong, led by Li Yutang, met Sun Yat-sen in the Cement Factory of Guangdong. In response to Sun's call for financial support, Li made a public speech.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214410, "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": 268, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "234\n\nit to the nearest river, washed all the sea salt away with the flowing water and then dried it by the above mentioned method. And so his tea will go to England, and being well roasted, will give a fine brew. And as it is well known that the English are not interested in the aroma of the tea, but in its colour, there is the hope, through this bit of speculation, of acquiring not only fine profits but a fine reputation.\n\nDon't think however that it's only speculation that occupies the minds and constitutes all the activity of the local population. There is a club here with a good library, which orders many journals; on top of this there is a reading room - a small public library, established and maintained by a few private individuals; finally there is a branch of the London Asiatic Society, which has monthly meetings and publishes its reports. I was invited on the 8th November (new style calendar), to a meeting of the Society, where among the outside visitors there was quite a number of ladies. The President of the Society, Sir John Bowring, who had been in Russia, had in the past expressed the view, that the \"Russian Government was so jealous, that there had never been an instance of even one single person being sent to the Peking Mission, who could speak another language, apart from his native Russian, and this was with the specific aim of preempting the possibility of communicating to Europe information acquired in Peking.\" Now one of the members of the Society, Mr. Shortred proposed to rectify this view and pointed to me as someone who had been at the mission and who could supply positive information. I replied, that the Russian Government had never had any such thought in mind, that on the contrary it, itself, even tried to disseminate information, received from Peking; that previously, mainly students from seminaries, where although other languages were taught the predominant language was Latin, had been selected for the mission; but that more recently people were being sent there from theological academies and universities - places of higher learning where everyone acquires a basic knowledge of several European languages. As for the view of Mr. President, it is very possible that soon after their return from Peking the members of the mission that he had seen were in no condition to converse freely in any European languages, simply because they had no practice in ten years, even though each one of them read and probably wrote one of the European languages. Sir John Bowring stated, that since the time he had been in Russia, much had undoubtedly changed there. Incidentally it is worth noting that Sir John Bowring is himself regarded as a great linguist. He", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214552, "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": 410, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "379\n\nmeeting place where candidates from the two provinces could stay while attending imperial examinations. An opera hall was added in 1830 and it became a centre for Beijing opera masters including Mei Lanfang. The hall was restored in 1992 and the site also houses a small opera museum. We watched a very lively performance of excerpts from famous Beijing Operas, the highlight of which was the Monkey King in Journey to the West defeating a rapid succession of opponents through brilliant acrobatics and martial arts.\n\nOn Monday, our final day, we visited the former Legation Quarter, now called Dong Jiao Min Xiang. This quarter had long been the place where tributary visitors, such as Mongols, Tibetans and Vietnamese stayed, and during late Qing times became a virtual \"state within a state\".\n\nDr Ting guided us on a walk which began at St Michael's Church, in Taijichang Street (formerly known as Rue Marco Polo) and built by French Vincentians in 1901. Inside the church is simple and modest with some of its services still conducted in Latin. We went on past the sites of the Russian Embassy and the former British Embassy, as well as the present Beijing Municipal Government offices, the Supreme People's Court and the Beijing Public Security Bureau. There still exists one interesting road sign, Rue Hart, named after the famous founder of the Imperial Maritime Customs, Sir Robert Hart.\n\nOur visit to Beijing ended with a brief look at the antique market Liulichang (Glazed Tile Factory) an area named after a pottery which, in Ming times, produced tiles for the roofs of the Forbidden City. It had been famous for centuries for its old book shops, pictures, rubbings, jewellery, bronzes and porcelain and for some years now it has been revived as an antique market, (but one has to bargain very hard to get a good price).\n\nWe returned to Hong Kong on Easter Monday afternoon having visited a capital undergoing both revival and development, with room for both Matteo Ricci and Nina Ricci, for both the study of history and plans for a future based on past experience; and for both the tranquillity of the Fa Hai Temple and the boisterous artistry of the Monkey King. We look forward to further insights in Qingdao during Easter 1999.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214599, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1999", "page_number": 14, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "himself a Hongkonger at heart and one of us. He helps the Branch in many ways albeit at a distance.\n\nWe are sorry to have to report the death of Sir Robert Black, at the age of 93. Sir Robert was Governor of Hong Kong from 1958 to 1964. While serving in the Colony he was Patron of the RASHKB and, on one occasion, he even chaired a Branch meeting. This was the first time a governor had chaired such a meeting since the days of Sir John Bowring in the middle of the 19th century. Sir Robert was also our first Honorary Member, a position he held until his death.\n\nWe also regret having to record the passing of member Jeanne Bromfield, in May 1999 in England. She, together with husband Tony and family, lived and worked in Hong Kong, as a teacher, from the 1950s until relatively recently. She attended RAS functions regularly.\n\nWe are also sorry to have to record the passing of RAS member Dr Alan Birch who taught at the University of Hong Kong for many years. He made a major contribution to local history and many students passed through his hands. His monuments are around for all to see.\n\nMembership drive and public relations\n\nRealising that if our Society wishes to attract new members it is not desirable to hide our light under a bushel, some emphasis has been placed on public relations. This has included appearances by members on television and radio, on both English and Chinese programmes, and reports in the press. A number of our members have also been engaged by other societies to lecture to their memberships. In such cases they usually take the opportunity to mention the RAS. We must also thank RAS Member Sydney Cowell who sent out details of the RAS to a number of his colleagues and friends. As a result, new RAS members were recruited.\n\nWe are grateful to Council member Julia Chan who arranged for a RASHKB exhibition to be held in the foyer of the Main Library of Hong Kong University. This attracted considerable attention among staff, students and visitors. Plans are being laid for similar exhibitions to be held at other venues in the Territory.\n\nxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214604, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1999", "page_number": 19, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "May, 1999, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, after which he gave a talk entitled: 'Hong Kong: From Memory Lane to Post 1997 Handover'\n\nRASHKB Library and finance\n\nBoth our Honorary Librarian, Julia Chan, and our Honorary Treasurer, Robert Nield, have prepared their own 1999/2000 reports which they will present at this Annual General Meeting. I thank them for their assistance and for the special expertise that they bring to our Council. Our RASHKB Library is on permanent loan to the City Hall Urban Council Library and we thank the City Hall and its staff for all their assistance during the past year.\n\nAccommodation\n\nWe also owe a debt of gratitude to PricewaterhouseCooper, who have helped us in various ways. With their offices situated in the heart of Central District, for example, they have provided us with very convenient accommodation for our Council and committee meetings. Similarly, we are grateful to the Public Records Office, at Kwun Tong, for providing us with storage space for our publications and for other assistance rendered by them during the past year. We are also indebted to the Government Leisure and Cultural Services Department for permitting us to use the City Hall accommodation for lectures which are run as joint RASHKB/Leisure and Cultural Services functions.\n\nThe Council\n\nAlthough a number of decisions have to be taken outside Council (because of the time factor) by individual office bearers or a few together, the majority of the important decisions are taken in Council. This meets every six weeks or so with a longer break over the summer. During the past year the Council has consisted of Doctors Elizabeth Sinn and Michael Lau, both Vice Presidents, Robert Nield, Peter Halliday, Julia Chan, Valery Garrett, Bob Horsnell, Tim Ko, and May Holdsworth. Doctors Patrick Hase, Joseph Ting, Peter Barker, and Janet Lee Scott have also been members of Council while the Reverend Carl Smith, Honorary Vice President, and Sarah Parnell have been co-opted on to the Council.\n\nxviii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215135, "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-2000", "page_number": 231, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "188\n\ncopy which was corrected in 1900. Earlier versions do not, apparently, show the two Obelisks. It seems then that the two Obelisks were erected in their present forms at the end of the 19th century. I was, however, told by a Chinese Chief Inspector of the Royal Hong Kong Police, at the informal meeting organised by Chatwin, that at one stage in his career the Chief Inspector had served in the Tai Tam district. There he had met an elderly, retired police officer who informed him that, before the two concrete Obelisks were constructed, two timber obelisks stood in about the same places. This is purely oral history and, although it may well be true, I have not been able to trace anything more about them. Joseph Aspdin did not invent artificial Portland cement until 1824, in Britain. It would take time for its use to spread around the world. This meant that if obelisks were erected in the middle of the 19th century, in Hong Kong, they would likely have been made of some material other than cement concrete.\n\nThe two beacons were probably used by shipping, then, as navigational aids when entering the Bay, and sailing on into the Harbour, to avoid hazards or for use in times of bad visibility. In a Government Antiquities and Monuments Office paper a master mariner, Mr A Davidson, is quoted as saying that following the courses of the two Obelisks, 'in line,' results in a course which clears a patch of rocks lying across the entrance to Tai Tam Bay. These rocks, he states, are now lighted (Antiquities and Monuments Office, 1980).\n\nBearing in mind that just about all useful records from the Government Harbour Master's Office and the Public Works Department were lost during the Japanese occupation (1941 to 1945), it has not been possible to trace who erected the two Obelisks although attempts have been made to do so (Lack, 1994). It could have been the Public Works Department. It could have been the Royal Navy itself through its Royal Naval Dockyard. Until the late 1950s this was situated where Admiralty is today, in Central District. If it was the Royal Navy one would have thought there would have been some marking on the Obelisks, such as the Admiralty fouled anchor. One would also perhaps have expected the concrete finish of the Obelisks to have been better although they have stood the test of time.\n\nCould the Obelisks have been used for other purposes? Sometimes two sets, each comprising two beacons, are erected to clock ships in a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215166, "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-2000", "page_number": 262, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong\n\nwhen the new Technical Institute was opened. Although we had wire netting screens to protect the Technical College windows in the 1950s, demolition teams still managed to break a few panes of our glass after they had beaten gongs as warnings and blasted away at 12 noon every weekday.\n\nIt was great getting back to my old stamping ground at MHTI, in 1970. I have always considered the four years I spent setting up and serving as Principal of the Morrison Hill Institute as one of the most satisfying periods of my career. I had splendid staff. Nevertheless, equipment was far more basic then than that used today. TIs were a new venture for Hong Kong. For us, it seemed, at times, almost a spiritual search for the mountain top.\n\nBut moving on. In the latter part of the 1960s, it had become obvious that one technical institute was not going to be sufficient to serve Hong Kong's industry which, before China started opening up in December 1978, was largely fairly basic manufacturing. As a result, the Technical Institute Committee, of the Industrial Training Advisory Committee (ITAC) (on which I sat), endorsed our proposals that five TIs were required with a further three coming on stream later, making a total of eight.\n\nAlthough many were dissatisfied with the pace of development, with Kwun Tong and Kwai Chung Institutes as proposed by the Education Department only coming into being in 1975, the Government Public Works Department wanted to delay the completion of the new buildings. The then new Governor, the late Sir Murray MacLehose, held a meeting in Government House in early 1972. He soon let it be known ‘..... there would be two more technical institutes by 1975'.\n\nAnd there were. Lord MacLehose, as he later became, was a man of action.\n\nCarrying on from there, the Haking Wong and the Lee Wai Lee Institutes came on stream in 1977 and 1979 respectively, although the latter was not entirely completed until 1980. Extensions were made to these institutes at later", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215173, "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-2000", "page_number": 269, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "231\n\nTHE HKBRAS VOLUNTEERS\n\nDAN WATERS\n\nThe RAS Volunteers really began in the summer of 1991 when a meeting was held over lunch in a restaurant in Wan Chai. This was attended by Professor David Lung, Chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board, Mr Alex Yip, then Executive Secretary of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, and Dr Dan Waters, Council member of the HKBRAS.\n\nLeading on from there, volunteers were invited from among HKBRAS members and from the membership of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects. The response was reasonably good and some 20 odd members, from both societies, submitted their names. The first get-together and briefing was held in May 1992, in the old Museum of History in Kowloon Park.\n\nThose present included historians, architects, surveyors, a civil engineer, lawyers, and others, many with a wealth of local experience. In addition, there were a few members who were interested and just wanted to tag along, help where they could, and learn something in the process.\n\nAt that first briefing, the Volunteers were split into four or so groups and the intention was for each group to operate independently. Assignments were provided by the Antiquities and Monuments Office and generally consisted of inspecting, surveying, researching, and writing up reports on various buildings, both Chinese and Western. Preparatory work was carried out for consideration by the Antiquities Advisory Board concerning the grading of buildings and the Volunteers made recommendations. The research frequently necessitated visits to the Public Records Office, libraries, and similar institutions.\n\nAlthough a great deal of useful work was undertaken, progress was not entirely satisfactory. With a group consisting of, say, four persons, there was sometimes difficulty in agreeing dates when all participants could meet. Then, on the agreed date, possibly there were some who did not turn up. Because of such factors, enthusiasm and numbers of Volunteers unfortunately gradually dwindled.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215740, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 39, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "like to thank our friends at the Antiquities and Monuments Office, the Public Records Office, and elsewhere, for their support and assistance.\n\nTo end this report, however, I would like to pay a special tribute to the Rev. Carl Smith, our Honorary Vice President. His contribution to the history of Hong Kong is immense. His articles illuminate nineteenth century Hong Kong in a way no other historian has managed. He has been a guide, mentor, and friend to two generations of local scholars. I am personally greatly honoured by having Carl as my friend and advisor, and I am very happy to have this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to him on any number of matters. Carl has been a stalwart supporter of the Society since the early 1970s. He is the longest serving Member of Council, having served as a Councillor for over 25 years, under five Presidents, for many years as Vice-President. He asked to retire from Council a couple of years ago, but Council was extremely unwilling to let him go, and created a new post of Honorary Vice-President for him, so that he could continue to serve but without holding down any post. Now, alas, his new responsibilities in Macau make it impossible for him to attend Council on a regular basis, and he has indicated that he feels he must now step down, and I have, very reluctantly, agreed. However, it is open to Council to invite anyone it sees fit to attend Council, and Council has agreed to extend a long-term invitation to Carl to attend Council whenever he is free and available to do so, and we will continue to send him copies of all our papers. I sincerely hope we will thus continue to receive his advice regularly, even if he is not able to attend every meeting. However, Council feels that this is an inadequate expression of our gratitude to Carl for his services both to the cause of scholarship in Hong Kong, and to the Society in particular, and we have decided to make him an Honorary Life Member of the Society, as being the most public statement available to us of our esteem and regards. Thank you, Carl!\n\nPATRICK H. HASE\n\nPRESIDENT\n\nMARCH 2003\n\nXXX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215917, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 216, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "150\n\n\"The public image [of the Society], first of all there's the name Royal. I was a true American,\" said Smith. “I was an advocate for dropping the Royal in recent years but most of the others didn't agree with me, so that's all right. And the other is that yes, we are, we do have a lot of western people because we're English-speaking and our programme, I'm talking for myself now...is to help people appreciate and understand Asia.'\n\nSmith asks me what I think of the \"Royal\" and I tell him that it is a bit off-putting because it can be perceived that the RAS is a rather exclusive and maybe even stuffy organisation.\n\n\"This is personal, one thing I did not like about the RAS is they met, when I first joined, at the Hong Kong Club. At that time, there weren't too many Chinese members at the Hong Kong Club and I thought, I really don't like this, that we're meeting at a place that had a history, up until then, of being the centre for the western big people, and it wasn't a place that some Chinese would feel very comfortable going into.\"\n\nTalks are now held once a month, on average, at City Hall and anyone can walk in and listen. The RAS also holds visits to local and overseas historical sites about once a month.\n\nSmith had been vice-president from 1976 until 1997, but because he knew he would not want to take up the presidency in the future, but wanted to continue to be active on the Council, he took up his current title, honorary vice-president. Smith's first article for the journal appeared in Vol. 11, 1971.\n\n\"I would say my present contribution is as the oldest serving Council member, and the person that has been on the Council the longest time, that I would present some historical continuity...I can say we did that in such and such a year, and this and that.\n\nSmith is a very entertaining interviewee. The American comes up with the funniest things. He is easy to talk to and very helpful, and wonderful at volunteering information.\n\n\"The British just think we Americans are rather crude, outspoken,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216058, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 357, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "291\n\n+\n\nIn early December 1881 Hudson Taylor convened an informal missionary conference at Zhenjiang to discuss the crucial and imperative need to increase their numbers in order to accelerate the pace of converting China. This was an on-going problem raised and discussed by Protestant missionaries across China down the years. The staff and language students from the Missionary Language School at Anqing, another city on the Yangzi, were invited to attend the Zhenjiang conference as were missionaries of the American Episcopal Church.\n\nIn 1900 Mr Absolom Sydenstricker and his wife were both Presbyterian missionaries living in Zhenjiang, together with their daughter Pearl who was eight. During the first months of the Boxer troubles they refused to flee, then in July of that year when conditions had worsened they were compelled to escape to Shanghai, to return a year later. Life for a growing young woman was fairly circumscribed with the white population limited to the few in the consulates, other missionaries and a dozen or so men working with British and American companies. Pearl left in 1917 to marry Mr Buck, an American missionary and academic interested in China's rural economy, at Nan Suzhou in Anhui. Pearl's mother died in Zhenjiang several years later and was buried in what was then known as Zhenjiang's foreign cemetery. In 1920 Pearl's father sold their house and moved to Nanjing. Pearl Buck spent in all some forty-three years in China, and her writings brought Chinese social inter-relationships, especially those of the peasants, to western readers, possibly the first to achieve a world-wide circulation leading to many a westerner's first fascination about China. She wrote many a book and chaired many a public meeting telling people, mainly in the US, of the enduring spirit and resilience as well as the wretched lives lived by Chinese peasants and of the threat from Japanese Imperialism. Her best known works include The Good Earth, and a translation of the Shuihu Ji, 'All Men are Brothers', one of China's most popular pieces of literature. Her parents' family house in Zhenjiang, at the present day address of 6 Runzhou Shan Lu, is now one of the leading tourist attractions, for Americans in particular, despite being part of a semiconductor factory.\n\nIn May 1905 Hudson Taylor, freshly back from recuperation in Europe, stopped by Zhenjiang on his way to Changsha, where he visited the graves of Maria [his first wife who had died there in July 1870] and his children in the little cemetery among the hills. He, himself,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216129, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 428, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "362\n\nMay 1859 after the departure of Sir John Bowring, but was revived with the approval of the parent Society in London and reconstituted as the Hong Kong Branch in December 1959 under the active patronage of the Governor, Sir Robert Black. It is currently very active and is in a sound financial position.\n\nThe Library\n\nSimilar to other branches, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society set up a collection of books within its field of interest, relating to Asia and its culture. As a result of the merger with the Medico-Chirurgical Society, it had the benefit of inheriting all the books from this Society.\n\nThe Society in Hong Kong was not as fortunate as its Shanghai counterpart where the Government, in 1868, provided a site for its building at a nominal rent and later granted it in perpetuity to the Society.2 For many years, the Hong Kong Branch did not have any permanent site, and thus its collection moved from place to place.\n\nIn the early days, in 1849, as allowed by the then governor Sir S. G. Bonham, the collection was housed in a room at the Supreme Court building where the Society had its meetings. In 1859, when the Society ran into difficulties, the, by now, valuable collection of 400 books was placed in trust with the Morrison Education Society (formed in Canton in 1835) which, from 1855, had also kept its library in the Supreme Court house. In November 1869, when the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Colony to open the first City Hall, the Morrison Education Society presented its own library as well as that of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society to the first City Hall Public Library to serve as the reference collection. This laid the corner stone for the future relationship of the Society with the Hong Kong Public Libraries which eventually would become the permanent home for the Society's collection. In fact, following the resuscitation of the Hong Kong Branch in 1959, the President's first annual report stressed the need for ‘a meeting place of our own where we can build our Oriental library which should fill a special need'3 and expressed the hope that some accommodation could be made available in the City Hall. However, this was not realized until after several movements of both the Society and the collection.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216265, "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-2003", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "During the last year, Council had the opportunity of meeting with the current President of the parent Society in London. I hope that this can be taken further during the year.\n\nThe Library of the Society\n\nOur Honorary Librarian, Miss Julia Chan, will be reporting separately on the present position with regard to the library. In general, the state of our Library is excellent, and the number of users is rising.\n\nOur website, which has proved to be of the greatest value in advertising the Society, is currently being up-dated and improved. I urge all Members to check the new format out! I would like to repeat what I have said before, and to thank Moody Tang for all her help in maintaining and up-dating the website. This is a heavy job, which Moody does extremely well. Thank you, Moody!\n\nFriends of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong, in the United Kingdom\n\nI have, in each of the last few years, reminded Members of the existence of our sister Society in the United Kingdom. This useful body allows Members moving from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom to continue their interests in the culture and history of the Hong Kong area, as well as providing a social venue where they can continue to meet up with old friends who, like them, have moved from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom. As to what the Friends do, I will shortly read an Annual Report on their activities sent to us by the Chairman of the Friends, Mr David Gilkes.\n\nHonorary Fellows of the Society\n\nDuring the year, Council agreed to change the title of Honorary Member of the Society to Honorary Fellow of the Society, since it was felt that this title more accurately indicated to the general public what the Society intends by the grant of the position. Council grants Honorary status to people it considers have deserved recognition by the Society, either because of their outstanding contribution to the development of the study of Hong Kong, and its history and society, or for their outstanding support and dedication to the work of the Society, or both.\n\nxxiv", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216281, "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-2003", "page_number": 40, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "of medical history in Hong Kong for our Journal. The Shanghai Library was also offered Honorary Institutional membership during Patrick Hase's trip to Shanghai,\n\nThe Arnold Graham Collection has now been fully processed and catalogued. It was sent to the Conservation Unit of the Hong Kong Central Library for fumigation in April 2003. The Collection comprises a total of 423 volumes, with 361 volumes in English and 62 volumes in Chinese. Since they are of historical and intrinsic value, the whole Collection has been moved to the Rare Book Room. A white round label with the initials ‘A.G.' indicating Arnold Graham is adhered to the spine of each book for easy identification.\n\nAt the Council meeting on 22 September 2003, it was resolved that borrowing privileges of Honorary Institutional Members be modified. One membership card will be issued to the Secretary of each of the Honorary Institutional Members and the membership card could be lent to any member of that Institution, but only to one member per month. Each member of that institution would be allowed to borrow only one book at a time for a period of 1 month. Regular members could borrow 3 items at any one time for 2 months with a maximum of 10 items.\n\nTalks of RAS speakers have been recorded in tapes for years. In order to better preserve the content, it was decided that these tapes be digitized if permission is granted by the speaker. The Hong Kong Central Library has kindly offered, for free service, to digitize these tapes since they are produced by the Library. The digitized version will be mounted on the Multimedia Information System, available for convenient access in the Public Libraries via the System. Since retroactive consent of previous talks could not be obtained, it was agreed that while these tapes will be digitized for preservation purpose, the CDs will be placed in the HKBRAS Rare Book Collection, available for use in the Library but not for loan. To date, 6 records (10 tapes) from 1988 to 1994 were digitized, available for listening in the Hong Kong Public Libraries via their Multimedia Information System; 34 records (37 tapes) are in preparation and 38 records (39 tapes) are pending for digitization. There are a total of 78 records (86 tapes).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216291, "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-2003", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "that the tower might have been a lighthouse, silo, Martello tower, fort, folly or a windmill. However, our President, Dr. Patrick Hase, and HKBRAS Council Member and local historian, Mr. Ko Tin-keung, have identified the structure as an old Imperial Maritime Customs Post built probably in the latter half of the 19th century. It was leased by the Hong Kong Milling Company from 1905 to 1925. AMO is looking for a volunteer to carry out further research. Is anyone interested?\n\nEarly Modernist Buildings\n\nThe Executive Secretary (Antiquities & Monuments), Dr. Louis Ng would like us to draw up a list of early modernist style (Bauhaus, International, Art Deco) buildings still remaining. Examples include the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (1941), Wan Chai Market (1937) and the Vice-Chancellor's Residence, HKU (1950). If anyone knows of any such buildings please let me know the address. When I have got a list together I will organize a field trip to assess them.\n\nGovernment Policy on Built Heritage Conservation\n\nGovernment is now reviewing the policy on built heritage conservation and is consulting the public. A Consultation Document (Executive Summary) can be picked up at the AMO Reception Desk, 136 Nathan Road, Tsimshatsui. Comments and views should be sent to the Home Affairs Bureau by 18 May 2004.\n\nNew Members\n\nI would like to welcome the following new members of the Volunteers :-\n\nName/Interests\n\nDebbie Levin/Local history and culture\n\nJonathan Luk/Cemetery surveys\n\nThomas Foo/Cemetery surveys\n\nWe look forward to meeting our new friends at our next get-together.\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216514, "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-2003", "page_number": 273, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "225\n\nOBITUARY\n\nIan Diamond, M.B.E., F.I.M., M.A., Hon. Fellow, HKBRAS (1924-2004)\n\nOur former Hon. Secretary and Vice-President Ian Diamond, died recently at his home in Adelaide, aged 80. He was also an Hon. Fellow of our Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, an honour he greatly prized.\n\nIan was educated at St. Peter's College, Adelaide, and at the University of Adelaide (M.A.). After working as an archivist in Australia, he went to the then British Colony of Fiji where he served from 1958, establishing and running the Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission until he transferred to Hong Kong in 1971 to set up the Public Records Office there.\n\nIan's service to the RAS was noteworthy. He was our Hon. Secretary 1974-78, Councillor 1978-82, and Vice-President 1983-85, when he retired from the service of the Hong Kong Government. He then returned to his native Australia, with his wife Ishbel, another fine contributor to the good of Hong Kong during their stay in the former Colony.\n\nFor much of Ian's time on the RAS Council, it used to meet in his office in the Public Records Office, then located on the first floor of the Murray Road Multi-storey Car Park at Lambeth Walk. This was but a stone's throw from the appropriately named Bull and Bear, which served as our meeting place when Ian was on overseas leave and his office temporarily unavailable to us.\n\nIan was determined to record the remaining old buildings in Hong Kong, before the developers moved in. Together, Tony Rydings (our Hon. Librarian), Rev. Carl Smith, Dr. Solomon Bard, and Ian completed a photographic survey of fast disappearing parts of the old urban area. Ian did the researching, surveying, and note-taking, and Tony was the main photographer, with timely help from the Photographic Group of the South China Athletic Association.\n\nThe recorded areas included the historic Western District of Hong Kong Island and (later) Yaumatei in Kowloon. Out of the over 2,000", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]