[ { "id": 204286, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 54, "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\n50\n\nTHE MORRISON LIBRARY AN EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY COLLECTION IN THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG\n\nDOROTHEA SCOTT. A.L.A.\n\nTHE HISTORY\n\nThe history of the Morrison Library goes back to 1806 when the members of the English Factory in Canton unanimously decided to establish a Library by subscription \"comprising a moderate collection of works of acknowledged value and respectability; together with an annual contribution of all the most desirable new publications, which are at present, generally either not imported at all, or multiplied by unnecessary repetitions. . . It would be a library. . . far surpassing in extent, variety, and adaptation to general use, any collection that has hitherto been in possession of, or attempted to be formed by, any European in this country\". The president of the select committee of members of the Factory granted a \"very commodious\" room for a library and by 1832 it contained 1600 different works in about 4000 volumes and a catalogue was published.\n\nThe Library flourished until the withdrawal of the charter of the East India Company in 1834 and the break-up of the English factory.\n\nJust about this time, on the 1 August, 1834, occurred the death of the Rev. Robert Morrison, D.D., the first protestant missionary to China and well-known scholar. A circular dated 26 January, 1835 was distributed among the foreign residents in Canton and Macao suggesting the formation of the Morrison Education Society to carry on the work he had started and to be a \"testimonial more enduring than marble or brass\". The idea received considerable support, twenty-two signatures to the circular were obtained, the sum of $4,860 was subscribed and a provisional committee consisting of Sir George R. Robinson, bart., Messrs. William Jardine, David W. C. Olyphant, Lancelot Dent, John Robert Morrison (Robert Morrison's son who had succeeded his father as Chinese Secretary and Interpreter to His Majesty's Commission in China) and the Rev. E. C. Bridgman was formed to act until a general meeting of the subscribers in China could be convened to form a board of trustees.\n\nThe Chinese Repository, a monthly magazine in English, had been founded in 1832 by Morrison and Bridgman. It gave its support to the foundation of the Society and in the number for June 1835, it published the details given above, saying, \"We have been led to make these remarks by a desire to suggest to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204296, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 64, "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\n60\n\n5\n\n8\n\nThe Memoirs of Morrison have already been quoted. They are invaluable for data concerning his own life; they also give the reader a very vivid picture of life in Canton and Macao during the early years of the nineteenth century and of the difficulties in making contacts with the Chinese at that time. Of the works published by Morrison himself there remain only two copies of his Horae Sinicae, one published in London in 1812 and one in 1817. It consists of translations of miscellaneous pieces from the Chinese, \"San-Tsi King, The Three Character Classic; on the utility and honour of learning\"; \"Ta-Hio: The Great Science\" usually now known by James Legge's translated title \"The Great Learning\" \"Account of Foe, the Deified Founder of a Chinese Sect\"; \"Extract from the Ho-Kiang\"; \"Account of the Sect Tao-szu\"; \"Dissuasive from Feeding on Beef\" and \"Specimens of Chinese Epistolary Correspondence\". \"The Dissuasive from Feeding on Beef\" is of no value from the standpoint of Chinese literature, but Morrison remarks how popular was its use for teaching Chinese characters to small children and says, \"the influence of this popular production is so great that many Chinese, perhaps one in twenty, some say one in ten, will not eat beef\". \"It was issued first as a Buddhist tract preaching the virtues of vegetarianism and the characters were arranged to form a picture of the poor ox whose sad story it relates. I have been unable to come across a copy of the Chinese original in Hong Kong but have found just a very few very elderly Chinese gentlemen who recall having seen a copy in their youth.\n\nparallel_drawn\n\nThe 1817 edition is bound with Urh-Chih-Tsze-Tëen-Se-Yin-Pe-Keaou: Being a parallel drawn between the two intended Chinese Dictionaries: by the Rev. Robert Morrison and Antonio Montucci. This book is dedicated to Sir George Staunton by Montucci to whom he appeals to be an adjudicator in his criticisms of Morrison's methods in compiling his dictionary. The name of Montucci (1762-1829) as a sinologue has almost been forgotten now and his own projected dictionary was never published.\n\nUnfortunately no copy of Morrison's main work to which he devoted so much of his early life in China, the complete Bible translated into Chinese, exists in the Library; none is mentioned in the printed catalogue. Presumably because it is in Chinese a copy was not included. The University Library is fortunate in possessing a copy presented by the London Missionary Society.\n\nQ\n\n三字經\n\n.大學\n\n三教源流\n\n***\n\n* 太上老君\n\n10 戒食牛肉歌", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205223, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 179, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "173\n\nBENHAM, Miss M. E. M. Harcourt Health Centre, Morrison Hill Rd.,\n\nBENT, Miss Dora\n\nBERTOVICH, Miss R. C.\n\nBERTUCCIOLI, Dr. G.\n\nBEVERIDGE, R. J.\n\nBIRNBAUM, Mrs. S. D.\n\nBLACK, D.\n\nBLACKMORE, M.\n\nBLAKER, D. J. R.\n\nBLUE, A. D.\n\nBOAK, C. D.\n\nBOARD, D. B. M.*\n\nBONSALL, G. W.\n\nBORDWELL, J. H.\n\nBORGEEST, G.\n\nNethersole Hospital, Bonham Road, H.K.\n\nR.D. No. 1, Box 220, Masontown, Pa., U.S.A.\n\nItalian Embassy, Tokyo, Japan.\n\nUniversity Press, Hong Kong University, Pokfulum, H.K.\n\n7, Braga Circuit, Kowloon,\n\nLong Acre, Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland,\n\nDept. of History, H.K. University, H.K.\n\nc/o Gilman & Co., Ltd., P. O. Box 56, H.K.\n\nChief Engineer, M.V. \"World Yuri\", World Wide (Shipping) Ltd., c/o Cornes & Co., C.P.O. Box 158, Tokyo, Japan,\n\nDept. of Modern Languages, H.K. University, H.K.\n\nc/o Education Dept., Battery Path, H.K.\n\nFlat 4-B, 3 University Drive, Pokfulum, H.K.\n\nP. O. Box 25, H.K.\n\nP. O. Box 1058, H.K.\n\nBORRELL, Rev. Bro. O. W. St. Francis Xavier's College, 45 Sycamore Street, Kowloon.\n\nBOXER, Prof. B.\n\nBRAGA, J. M.\n\nBRAUN, F.\n\nBREUIL, Mrs. N. du\n\nBRITTON, Mrs. N. M.\n\nBROMHALL, J. D.\n\nBROOKS, D. E.\n\nBROWN, Miss B.\n\nBROWNE, H. J. C.\n\nBRUCE, Robert\n\nBRUUN, F.\n\nBUNGER, Dr. Karl\n\nDept. of Geography, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, Michigan 48824, U.S.A.\n\nP. O. Box 951, H.K.\n\n8 Kotewall Road, 4th floor, H.K.\n\n86, Main Street, Stanley, H.K.\n\n6 Peel Rise, The Peak, H.K.\n\nFisheries Research Station, The Fish Market, Island Road, Aberdeen, H.K.\n\nRadio Hong Kong, Mercury House, H.K.\n\nMedical Rehabilitation Centre, L254 Kwun Tong, Kowloon.\n\nc/o Butterfield & Swire, Union House, H.K.\n\nThe British Council, Gloucester Building, H.K.\n\n908 Takshing House, H.K.\n\nConsul General, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1, Duddell Street, H.K.\n\n* Life Member\n\nPlease notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207164, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 235, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n229 \n\nthe building was blessed. There were then 540 pupils in fourteen classes. The first matriculation class was formed in 1933.\n\nWith the beginning of the European War in 1939, the Government interned enemy aliens on the College premises. The Japanese used it as a hospital. The Brothers re-occupied the buildings after the liberation of Hong Kong, but from 1949 the British Army took it over for use as a hospital. During these periods the College was housed in temporary quarters.\n\nToday the school is under the direction of Brother Raphael Egan. There is a student body of some 1,500, the greater majority being Chinese, though there is still in the student body a number of Portuguese boys. They continue the contribution this part of Hong Kong's population has made to the history of the school.\n\nOther Schools in the Area\n\nNorth of Boundary Street between Waterloo Road and La Salle Road is Oxford Road. In one block there are six Middle Schools: Pui Shing Middle School, Tung Wah Hospital No. 1 College, Ying Wa College, Moral Training English School, Jockey Club Government Technical School, and Bishop Hall Jubilee School. Maryknoll Convent School opened in 1936 is nearby at the corner of Boundary Street and Waterloo Road.\n\nOf these schools, three have roots in Hong Kong's early history. While the association of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club with education through financial support is of recent origin, the Race Meets were a prominent feature of Hong Kong life from early days.\n\nYing Wa College continues the tradition of the Anglo-Chinese College established by the missionaries Robert Morrison and William Milne at Malacca in 1819. In 1843 it was moved to Hong Kong by the Rev. James Legge. The school was closed in 1856. It had been organised and conducted by representatives of the London Missionary Society. In 1914 the Society opened a school in Kowloon bearing the Chinese version of the English name, of their former school: Ying Wah, that is 'Anglo-Chinese'.\n\nThe Tung Wah No. 1 College opened in 1962 is a part of Tung Wah Hospital efforts to provide education for under-privileged children. This programme began in 1880 when a Free Primary School was opened in the Chung Wah College premises adjoining the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road. A school under the direction of the Temple Committee had been operated on these premises for many years previous. A lot had been granted by", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210811, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "145\n\nPerhaps the break between 1856 and 1914 does not strictly qualify the present Ying Wa College for the title of the oldest in Hongkong, but it can legitimately claim the tradition of the school founded in 1818.\n\nThe Anglo-Chinese College opened at Malacca was the result of the labours of two missionaries of the London Missionary Society, the Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison and the Rev. Mr. William Milne. Dr. Morrison was the initiator of the project and raised most of the funds. The Rev. Mr. Milne was its first Principal.\n\nIt was a very ambitious project, as it was envisaged that it would be a meeting place for the language, philosophy, literature and science of the East and the West. Its student body would be composed of both Europeans and Asians.\n\nDr. Morrison expressed his hope for the school as follows: \"God grant that it may prosper, that it may be an honour to my country, and a blessing to China; and thus unite in its name, and in its benefits, the West and the East; and finally blend in peaceful intercourse the extremities of the world, the islands of Britain and Japan.\"\n\nUnfortunately the early death in 1822 of the Rev. Mr. Milne prevented the college from fulfilling Dr. Morrison's dreams. A succession of men were principals after Mr. Milne, and it seemed that with each the school progressively declined. It faced many problems, one of the principal ones being the proper language of instruction.\n\nMany of the boys had Malay mothers. Their fathers were often Fukienese. The additional task of mastering a third language, Mandarin, was formidable.\n\nThere is an interesting account of the foundation stone laying of the college building in 1818. It was written by Abdullah, a Moslem youth who taught Mr. Milne the Malay language.\n\n\"Mr. Milne received instructions from his society to provide a building for the college... When everything was ready Mr. Milne", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210812, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 163, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "146 \n\nCARL SMITH \n\ninvited all the important people and white men in Malacca, \n\n+ + \n\nう \n\nto a gathering at six o'clock in the morning. Assembling there they buried their contributions of money, altogether $70 or $80, in a hole scooped out in a stone below the door. Then they all raised the door into position and Mr. Milne, coming forward and striking it with his hand, declared that the place was the Anglo-Chinese College.\" \n\nAbdullah must have been at the edge of the crowd unable to see clearly what was put into the hole in the foundation stone. Seventy or eighty dollars would not likely have been buried. What probably was buried was a few token coins which were often placed in foundation stones. \n\nA-FA: SEEDS OF THE TAIPING REBELLION \n\nThe first full-time Chinese student of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca was Liang A-fa. There is no evidence that he was a particularly brilliant scholar, but the college was always proud to claim him as a former student. \n\nHe was a native of Ko Ming District in the province of Kwangtung. His previous education had consisted of a few years at his village school. He began his education late, at the age of 11, and when he was 15 he left the village to learn a trade in the city of Canton as village schools usually provided only a rudimentary education. If one had hopes of being a scholar, attendance at an advanced academy or instruction by a private tutor was the usual procedure. \n\nLiang A-fa, in spite of the few years of study when an adult at the Anglo-Chinese College, never developed a proper classical style of writing. This, however, did not discourage him from composing and printing Christian tracts. Sometimes he would have a scholar revise them to make them more literary. \n\nAfter learning the block cutting trade in Canton, he was engaged by one of Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison's assistants to carve blocks for the printing of a Chinese translation of the New Testament. Such work for foreigners was not looked on with favour by Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "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", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210824, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 175, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "158\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nBritish Plenipotentiary, informed them that missionaries would not be welcomed at the Treaty Ports. British officials felt missionary efforts to convert Chinese would provoke the hostility of the mandarins and hinder the proper development of commerce and trade with foreigners.\n\nSir Henry maintained that the treaty extended only to commercial relations between Great Britain and China and not to religious activities.\n\nDuring the discussion about the Anglo Chinese College some of the missionaries were rather critical of Dr. Morrison and his work. This deeply hurt his son, John Robert Morrison, who had been invited to attend the Hongkong meeting by the Mission Society's directors in London. This did not please some of the missionaries in the field, for the young Mr. Morrison was not a missionary but had the office of Chinese Secretary in the Government. A disinterested observer who attended the meetings remarked: \"Indeed it seemed to be the studied purpose of some of them to cast discredit on Dr. Morrison by all means. John Morrison was affected to tears on learning of the way in which some of them spoke of his father.\"\n\nFortunately there was a peacemaker present, W.H. Medhurst, the observer remarked. “If it had not been for him, I fear there would have been unpleasant consequences.”\n\nThe outcome of all the troubled waters was that Dr. Legge was authorised to reopen the school in Hongkong, with four pupils in temporary quarters.\n\nFINDING A HOME FOR A COLLEGE\n\nIt was no easy task reestablishing the Anglo-Chinese College in Hongkong. A new student body had to be gathered, a site for a building obtained, the building erected, the new financial support arranged.\n\nThe Rev. James Legge, Principal of the school, had brought with him from Malacca only one student, an orphan boy he had taken into his family. Mrs. Legge had under her care a Chinese girl", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210853, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 204, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "187\n\nsoon the pet of the pious section of the San Francisco community.\n\nEveryone was impressed with this suave, intelligent and seemingly religious young Chinese gentleman. The Rev. Albert Williams, founder of the First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, after meeting A-chick, reported that \"his answers to questions touching matters of Christian doctrine are intelligent and satisfactory. He is associated with his uncle, accompanying him in a mercantile venture, and will remain in this city. I have much hope, that through his instrumentality we may bring the gospel more directly to bear upon his interesting country.” A-chick was viewed as a potential medium for missionary endeavour.\n\nSoon after A-chick's arrival, a Bible class for Chinese was organised by a Presbyterian Elder. Its first members were A-chick \"and his companions.” Among these was Lee A-kan, a former classmate at the Morrison Education Society School in Hongkong.\n\nIt was realised, however, that if the Chinese in San Francisco were to be reached by the church, it was not enough to have classes for them in English. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was asked to send a Chinese-speaking missionary to San Francisco.\n\nThe Board sent the Rev. William Speer.\n\nMr. Speer had been in Canton for about three years, returning to the United States in 1849. His wife Cornelia Breckenridge and an infant daughter died within a few months of each other and are buried in the Protestant Cemetery at Macau near the grave of Dr. Robert Morrison.\n\nAfter his arrival in San Francisco, Mr. Speer began looking up the Chinese who had been connected with missionary churches or schools in China. He called on Tong A-chick. By then the young man was already in a position of leadership in the Chinese community and was recognised as a man of wealth.\n\nOf the meeting Mr. Speer remarks: “A-chick is regarded by the American community here as a man of more than common ability-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210871, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 222, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "205\n\n\"There were, of course, the usual crowd common to native processions present. Following those on foot came 100 riders in official robes, two abreast, followed by a detachment of native troops from the camp near the Arsenal, provided by the colonel, who was a friend of the deceased gentleman. Then came Chinese musicians and the town band, and then what is not often seen except in funerals of the highest officials, bands of Buddhist nuns and bonzes as well as Taoist priests.\n\n\"After them came the chief mourners in sackcloth, while surrounded by a white panoply, screened from the gaze of the crowd, walked the sole surviving son of the deceased. Then came the coffin on a red bier with a dragon's head in gold and red, and after it some 200 chairs containing the female friends and relatives of the family and over 80 carriages.”\n\nOur story of Tong Mow-chee, alias A-chick, has taken us far from the lad of 11 taken by his father to meet his future schoolmaster, the Rev. S.R. Brown in 1839, but his position of wealth, influence and honour had its foundations in the schoolrooms of Macau and Hongkong.\n\nFROM A HONGKONG CLASSROOM TO ALTAR OF HEAVEN\n\nClosely associated with the Rev. Dr. Legge throughout his life in Hongkong was Ho A-sun, or, as he was also known, Ho Ye-tong. Actually they had first met when Mr. Legge first arrived in Malacca. By trade Ho A-sun was a book block-cutter. He was one of some half dozen people Dr. Robert Morrison had sent from Canton to work at the Ultra-Ganges Press the London Missionary Society established in Malacca.\n\nIt was at a time when the Chinese authorities were strictly enforcing the prohibition against Chinese being employed by foreigners at Canton. Only those who had been granted special permission were allowed to work for the foreign traders. For this reason the printing of Morrison's translation of the Bible in Chinese at Canton could only be done secretly and at some risk to the Chinese printers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213205, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 27, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "6\n\nMissionaries and religious institutions\n\nThe Rev. Karl Friedrich August Gutslaff - or as he became known in his later life Rev. Charles Gutzlaff was a colourful and significant figure in the introduction of Protestant Christianity among both the overseas Chinese and those who lived in China. He was born in Pomerania in 1803 and came to the Dutch East Indies as an agent of the Netherlands Missionary Society in 1827. He severed his relationship with the society and became an independent missionary agent. To secure funds for his work he successfully publicised the missionary cause in Europe and America. His books, articles and letters aroused much interest and some controversy. Critics regarded his assessment of the prospects for the easy and immediate conversion of China as too visionary, but this did not prevent a large number of sympathetic supporters from forming societies to undergird his work,\n\nBefore settling in Macao in 1830, Gutzlaff was in Singapore and Bangkok. He was an able linguist and mastered a number of Chinese dialects. When hostilities broke out between Britain and China in 1838, the English employed him as an interpreter. During the British occupation of Chusan he was appointed a magistrate, and on the untimely death in Hong Kong of John Morrison the son of the Rev. Robert Morrison, Gutzlaff succeeded him as the Chinese Secretary of the British Superintendent of Trade in China and the Hong Kong Government. He remained in this well-paid post until his death in 1851. His official duties did not prevent him from continuing his missionary activities.\n\nGutzlaff was convinced that China should be converted by Chinese. To further this he organised the Chinese Union in 1844. Its members were converts who were given a somewhat brief course of instruction and then, carrying bundles of tracts and scriptures, were sent to spread the Christian message in the interior of China. The scheme was imaginative, but Gutzlaff did not have the time nor practicability to supervise it closely; consequently, some of his trainees used it for their own enrichment. They pocketed the travel allowance, while sheltering in Kowloon or their home village, and then resold the Christian literature back to the publisher, and submitted false reports of their evangelistic achievements in China. Nonetheless, the Union made its impact on China, particularly providing Christian elements for the ideology of the Tai Ping rebellion in China in the 1850s.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214823, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "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": 238, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "204\n\nEarth Gods and Tree Spirits\n\nBesides the gods of Buddhism and Taoism worshipped in the village temples, there were also the gods of each locality. In the villages of the Hong Kong Region, in addition to whatever temples had been erected to the deities, it was usual for there to be several earth gods in each village, and in each of the streets in the local market centres. These animistic spirits were equally sought out by the village people.30 Besides the regular acts of worship performed at the shrines, with their supplications and thanksgivings, it was common practice to place children, especially boys, under the protection of a temple deity, an earth god or a tree spirit during the uncertain years of childhood, in order to secure protection against the many dangers that beset young lives. If a tree died or had to be felled, the protégés were transferred to another protector, with the appropriate ceremonies of disengagement (recognition of and thanksgiving for favours bestowed) and adoption at each place.31 Either Buddhist or Taoist priests were required for such rituals.\n\n31\n\nChinese Women and Religion\n\nFinally, it should be noted that Chinese women are considered to be more religious than their menfolk. As Rev. Dr. Robert Morrison's biographer observed in the last century:\n\n46\n\n'...their nature is much more religious than that of the men...it is they who visit the temples. The incense pots which smoulder before the placid countenance of Buddha are filled and kindled by them; they burn ten sheets of paper to the men's one....The men can do without worship, the women cannot.”32\n\nFrom my observations in Hong Kong and elsewhere, I believe this to be as true of today's worshippers as when it was written one hundred years ago.\n\nNOTES\n\nWilliam Frederick Mayers, The Chinese Reader's Manual (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1874) called them \"The Three systems of Doctrine (or Religion)\" and stated that they “constitute the recognized systems of religion,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]