[
    {
        "id": 208653,
        "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": 110,
        "title": "RAS-1979",
        "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n83\n\nfruits of yesterday's work were so alluring, a general scramble took place from the ranks with the result that, in the melee, only British succeeded in getting the plums. However, Father Keelan contrived to disguise himself as British and got a job. This incident shows how much the question of food affects even civilized people. Rumors of repatriation. During the night, a drunken Japanese soldier was seen prowling around our apartments, and it was only with difficulty that he was persuaded to go away.\n\n26—No more volunteers wanted for loading food. Instead, the Japanese have secured coolies for the work. It seems yesterday that the British did too good a job in loading: or rather, they tried to load the goods in the wrong places, with the result that the goose that laid the golden eggs is now dead. A new system at the Canteen. Cards are distributed, or rather drawn as lots, and one will not need to wait so long in line as hitherto.\n\n27—It is reported, or rumored, that some Russians are due to arrive in Camp. The British have evidently gotten fed up on their cooks and today they ousted the crew and signed on a new batch of helpers in the galley. The British have been very slow to get organized and there is much complaint in their quarters, and much envy of the American kitchen which is now functioning as smoothly as could be expected under the circumstances. Not, of course, that we are entirely satisfied with our present chefs, but we are watching events. As we were able to bring with us from our House only a very limited supply of Mass wine and candles, we are now using the very minimum for Mass, and we estimate with extreme care, and counting the drops, to get some two hundred Masses from an ordinary bottle. Father Meyer had some tiny spoons made for measuring out the wine and water. We likewise use only one candle at Mass, as we don't know how long we are going to be here. The British are very downcast at the news from Singapore, and we are all hoping for some kind of release, whether repatriation or otherwise. Originally our apartments had a number of electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, electric ranges, and so on, and today the Japanese took inventory of all these. We understand that one dollar U.S. now brings $8.00 Hong Kong on the \"black market\" and large denomination Hong Kong bills bring only 70 per cent of their value.\n\n28 Our Sunday evening songfest was in the charge of the Rev. Mr. Higgins, with Father Allie at the piano and Father Moore at",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938",
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    {
        "id": 210818,
        "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": 169,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "152\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nDutch parentage from Malacca, who soon became dissatisfied and left for a more adventurous life at sea; J.H. Moore, born in Macau, who left after a few years, married a beautiful 15-year-old girl from Malacca and then took up newspaper editing and some unprofitable business ventures at Malacca and Singapore; and a student from overseas, William Hunter, an American.\n\nHunter's reminiscences of his days at Malacca indicate he enjoyed them. He studied hard, for it is no easy task for a foreigner to acquire competency in written and spoken Chinese. He enjoyed the companionship of J.H. Moore. When not studying they took long walks, explored the countryside, observed the ways of the people, joined in the excitement of local festivals and shared in the homely life of the missionary staff of the college.\n\nHe studied at the college for 18 months. He had arrived a boy of 12, he left a confident young man of 14. He returned to Canton where he continued studying under the direction of the Rev. Robert Morrison, but he also began learning the business of the counting house and godown. The firm to which he was apprenticed went into liquidation and Hunter returned to New York. But the \"China bug\" had bitten him, and when an opportunity came to return to China in 1830 under the patronage of Russell and Company, he eagerly accepted it.\n\nThis firm had a long history in China trade. Its roots go back to 1789; it took on the name Russell and Co in 1824. It was the largest of the American firms operating in China. It finally failed in 1891, though some members of the firm reorganised in Hongkong as Shewan, Tomes and Co. The latter is still operating in Hongkong.\n\nOne gathers from his reminiscences and references to him by others that he was a pleasant, agreeable, but not an aggressively ambitious person.\n\nWhen Hunter was visiting one of his former business associates in England, a young son of the family met him. Later he described Mr. Hunter as \"a handsome, courteous man with a brown face and white moustache, like a fine type of Anglo-Indian, and speaking Chinese for our amusement with so soft a voice that I have often",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
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    },
    {
        "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",
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    },
    {
        "id": 210877,
        "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": 228,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "211\n\nsome 500 interested people and twice as many had been turned away for lack of room.\n\nIt was time to act. After an impromptu huddle of the dignitaries on the platform during a momentary lull in the proceedings, Mr. Poore announced that a second meeting would be held in a larger building at which the two Chinese would be designated for their work. Mr. Poore later observed that he had been careful not to alarm the Episcopalians with any suggestion of an act implying ordination to a particular ecclesiastical office. He used the term Scripture reader or lay agent to refer to the two young men.\n\nThere were some sour notes struck in the general community. One newspaper sneered at attempts to convert Chinese. Another tried to discredit the qualifications of the young men. In reporting these matters, Mr. Poore noted that the criticisms backfired. They attracted the attention of the community to the meeting and provoked curiosity and interest.\n\nThe Attorney General volunteered to be the main speaker. In his address he reassured his hearers that he had examined and cross-examined the candidates. For Mr. Poore there could have been no better confirmation of his efforts: \"It was a triumphant vindication, and, coming from such a quarter, admitted of no cavil.\"\n\nTo top it all, the committee had been able to secure the services of a missionary from China to accompany and supervise the newly appointed Scripture readers. Mr. Young, the missionary, had been stationed at Amoy. He was able to talk with the Hokien-speaking Chinese and the two young men with the Cantonese.\n\nThe team was sent off to the goldfields at Castlemaine. Here the Christian community had just built the first church in the town. After the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Young and the two Scripture readers, a meeting was held. Mr. Poore, who was present, reported: \"Meeting admirable, speeches good, great pressure of people, many could not get in... The whole Christian community seems to be pervaded with a tender concern for their salvation.”",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    }
]