[ { "id": 207758, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 146, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES ON FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF TAIPING LEADERS 131\n\nCARL SMITH'S ADDITIONAL NOTE\n\nCarl Smith has added to the text of the article appearing in Ching Feng the following note on the family of Li Tsin-kau and their services to the Hakka Church of the Basel Mission in Hong Kong and in Sabah.\n\nLi Tsin-kau, otherwise known as Lee Sik-sam, died 8 April, 1885, aged sixty-two. On the letters of administration issued to his widow Ho Lai-yau, the value of his estate was estimated at $400. His assets consisted principally of a small house beside the Basel Society's Church and Mission House in Sai Ying Poon, which he had purchased in 1878 for $480. He sold a portion of the lot in 1878 for $370.\n\nLi Tsin-kau's wife was baptized in Hong Kong in 1861 and died there 21 September, 1888, leaving four surviving children. The family property after her death was conveyed by Li A-cheung, an interpreter, Li Shin-en, a missionary and Li En-kyau, unmarried to their brother Li A-po, a trader.\n\nThe eldest son of Tsin-kau, A-lim, had died in 1864 “in trouble with the police\". A-po, the second son was betrothed in 1865 to Kong Oi-fuk from Lilong. She was a student in the Basel Society Girl's Boarding School at Hong Kong, and he was a student of their Boy's School at Lilong.\n\nThe third son, A-cheung studied at Hong Kong Central School (Queen's College) and in 1871 was given the prize for best scholar. After leaving school, he entered Government service, beginning as a charge-room interpreter for the Police, but in 1875 was transferred to the Magistracy as a clerk. Three years later he was promoted to Second Interpreter in the Magistracy. In 1882 he was offered the position of Interpreter to the Kingdom of Hawaii. Like his brother he had married one of the students of the Girl's Boarding School in Hong Kong, Tshin Then-tet. She accompanied him to Hawaii.\n\nIn 1883, the Rev. Frank Damon, who was in charge of Chinese Christian work in Hawaii, visited Hong Kong. In a report of his visit published in The Friend (New Series, Vol. 33, No. 2, p. 9) he expresses his pleasure in meeting \"the venerable and interesting father of our Government interpreter in Honolulu, Mr. Lee Cheong. A brother and sister are engaged in teaching here, while another brother is missionary to his countrymen\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211445, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 161, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "137\n\nMy Father\n\nMy father was born on 30 October 1878, in Cha In Village, Nam Long, See Dai Doo, Heong Shan District in Kwangtung Province. He was generally known by his 'milk name', Ping Yip #4. His marriage name was Poo Kau and his adult name was Ying Tung. He was the third son and youngest of six children born to grandfather by his first wife. When Grandfather married again, his second wife reportedly favoured her own son, Ping Lim, who was five years younger than Father.\n\nAfter the family business failed, and Father's two older brothers moved to California, Grandfather went to Hawaii and sent for his wife and Ping Lim, leaving Father in the village. Feelings of deprivation and poverty during this period left a lasting imprint on Father's attitude towards life. He worked hard, conserved what he earned, nurtured a great ambition, and in time, he appreciated and loved his own children. Meanwhile, as a child in the village, his days were devoted to the study of the Classics in the ancestral hall under the strict tutelage of a teacher, Li Chich-hsiang, who had been hired from outside the village to instruct 20 to 30 boys. Father recalled how he was made to kneel on sand or was hit on the head with a piece of wood when he did not learn his lessons well. This kind of discipline did not enhance his self-esteem and he expressed a wish that he be either very brilliant or so stupid that he would not know enough to be concerned by his mediocrity.\n\nIn 1892 at the age of 14, Father sailed for Hawaii, in the company of First Paternal Aunt Yim. They landed first in San Francisco where they transferred to a whaling vessel for Honolulu. Father probably attended public school before entering the Christian Boarding School for Oriental Boys, later known as Mills Institute, which was then located at Chaplain Lane, off Nuuanu Avenue, near the original site of Love's Bakery. This school was founded in 1892 and was administered by Rev. Francis W. Damon and his wife Mary, both of whom had come from missionary families and both of whom had command of fluent Cantonese. Father studied hard and became one of Rev. Damon's favourite students. These early years must have been a pleasant period, for later\n\n* See Registration Record. Chinese Consulate, 1911.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211446, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "138\n\nin life, he would recount childish pranks. For instance, in order to remember English words, they would use Chinese words of similar sounds, as ga dang MÎ for G.D.... Or, they would sneak out to buy fresh bread. On one occasion, a student had to hurriedly hide a loaf of bread under his shirt when he saw the Rev. Damon approaching, even though it was burning hot. Another time, the boys set up the room of a friend in the old See Dai Doo Building on Smith Street to resemble a wake, with an effigy of a dead man stretched out amidst burning candles and incense. When their friend returned, he was so shocked that he became ill.\n\nWith two boys in private school, Grandfather could not afford to pay their full fees, so Father had to turn to his older brothers for help. In a letter dated 22 February 1897, First Uncle advised Father not to give up his schooling and asked what the tuition was. At that time, First Uncle was working in a bank and had been joined by his wife. Second Uncle had finished middle school and was looking for an office to start his practice in San Francisco. In June of that year, First Uncle was able to send 75 dollars towards Father's tuition, but the amount was not so much as Grandmother had expected. Second Uncle wrote on 29 July 1897 that he could not help, but encouraged Father to continue with his schooling. He felt that Father was more fortunate than he to be able to have help from Grandfather. In the autumn of 1897, Father was admitted to Grade II of the Punahou Preparatory School, located at 73 S. Beretania Street, and was registered as Chan Yin Yip,* after he had passed an entrance examination and was considered of good moral character. The principal was Samuel F. French. Two report cards, signed by F. W. Damon as 'guardian', indicated that in the full term Father had perfect attendance and received A's for Arithmetic, Language, History and Penmanship, with a general average of 94; that in the winter term, he added French and Rhetoric to his schedule but did less well, earning a general average of 90. Three receipts show tuition for the term ending 17 December 1897 to be seven dollars and fifty cents; for the term ending 8 April 1898 to be six dollars and fifty cents; and the term ending 21 July 1898 to be five dollars.\n\n* See Oahu College Pamphlets, 1893-1900, Public Archives, Honolulu.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211450, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "142\n\nThe plague continued in the city and the Board of Health was advised by the medical profession to burn all buildings that might harbour plague-carrying rats, a measure Hong Kong had successfully taken to prevent its spread. C. K. Ai gives the following account of what happened in his autobiography. On 20 January 1900, the Board of Health ordered the Fire Department to burn a building on Beretania Street between Nuuanu and Maunakea Streets, with two engines on guard to contain the fire. Unfortunately the wind direction shifted, sending sparks onto two wooden stables belonging to the Kaumakapili Church which was located on Beretania near Maunakea, spreading the fire through Chinatown in spite of help from volunteers to douse the fire. The police drove the residents out of the danger zone, down Kekaulike Street, along Queen Street, to Kakaako where emergency camps were set up. By two o'clock that afternoon, all Chinatown was in flames. Fortunately no lives were lost, but it was a pitiful sight.\n\nFather learned from Grandfather that 300 stores, both wooden and brick, were destroyed. Luckily, the conflagration just missed Wong On Tai, Yuen Chong and Kwong Li Yuan, but they were forced to relocate nevertheless. Father, Aunt Yim and her husband were sent away to a camp in Kalihi, where my Mother and her family were also confined. In his letter dated 20 February 1900, Ping Lim gave graphic description of the insensitive way in which the Chinese were evacuated and of their strong feelings of degradation. Further news to Father came from Yim Goon Siu who voiced his resentment against the 'white bandits' who 'chased' all 'foreigners', Japanese and natives, young and old, male and female, to the camps in Kalihi and Kakaako. When the block in which Mills School was located was quarantined following the death of several Chinese working for the Pantheon Stables nearby, the Rev. Damon had already moved his students to an island owned by Samuel Damon near the 3-mile pumping station in Moanalua. Ping Lim was thus free to visit and take food to the family when they were first interned in Kawaiahao Church in Kakaako, and to send mail to them when they were moved to Kalihi. During this period, according to First Uncle, the 'white bandits' took similar action in San Francisco by sending the Chinese away from Chinatown, and he was not permitted to send to Hawaii medical supplies which Father had ordered for a friend, although the supplies had been purchased from 'white' people.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211452, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 168, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "144\n\nlater he told Father that quarantine was over and the demand for rice was now greater than the supply and that it was a good opportunity to make some money. He suggested that First Uncle send 200 bags of rice to Honolulu if, in his judgment, the prices seemed right. Father also thought of dealing in cars and tobacco, but Grandfather learned the quarantine was extended to these products so that it would be impossible to send them into or out of the islands.\n\nAs early as 7 December 1899 Father had begun to look for other employment and thought of applying to Bishop Bank which Samuel Damon had bought from Bishop. On 12 December 1899, Grandfather promised to get in touch with Ho Fan and the Rev. Damon about contacting Samuel Damon about it. Ho Fan was a receiving teller at the bank and was empowered to make loans. He was therefore considered a person of some influence. Samuel Damon happened to be away at that time, but when he returned on the 20th, Grandfather suggested on 26 December that it would be better if Father wrote to Ho Fan and the Rev. Damon himself. On 26 March 1900, Grandfather informed Father that business was so slow with the bank that it was not hiring. Soon afterwards, on 9 April, Father was notified that Ho Fan had been to Wong On Tai to urge Father to return to Honolulu to work at the bank. There is no record of when Father went back to Honolulu, but it must have been after 19 April 1900, when Man Sing was for sale. The starting salary at the bank for Father was 25 dollars a month. For the next nineteen years he served the bank faithfully, under George Carter, an irascible 'boss' who might have been well-meaning but who gave Father many miserable moments. We were more than surprised, yet touched, when he attended Father's funeral.\n\nFather's next important step was to choose a suitable wife. Outstanding among the usual considerations for selecting one, an important feature was that his wife would have unbound feet, a decision which Second Uncle heartily approved of in his letter of 21 October 1900. Mrs. Leong Yau, a good friend of Mother's, was the matchmaker. She arranged not only to be photographed with Mother, but also to walk with her by a designated place so that Father could be there to have a good look at her, unknown to Mother, of course. I understand that Father was too shy to take a good and long look. Mother was considered fortunate to be chosen by the son of a merchant and by someone working for a 'haole' firm. My parents", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]