[ { "id": 204394, "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": 26, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "NESTORIAN CROSSES\n\n17\n\nHe himself was the son of a Christian mother and he had a Christian wife, both from the Kerait tribe in north-eastern Mongolia, whose king had been converted by Nestorian missionaries in A.D. 1007. The era of communication between the Mongol Khans and the Popes and Princes of Europe commenced. At the end of the 14th century Bagdad was sacked by Tamerlane, as also were Aleppo and Damascus. He savagely attacked the Syrian Christians many of whom fled to the inaccessible mountains of Kurdistan, where they have lingered to the present day.\n\nIt was the break-up of the ancient Syrian Church. About which Harnack writes:\n\nThe Syro-Persian Church deserves our unqualified sympathy. It was the only large Church which never enjoyed the official protection of the state. It maintained the traditions of Antiochene exegesis, it translated the works of Christian antiquity into Syriac with great assiduity... It also assimilated Greek philosophy and science which it transmitted to the Arabians. At the present day it is crushed, impoverished, and down-trodden, but it can face its downfall with the consciousness that it has not lived in vain, but upon the contrary that it has filled a real place in the history of civilization.\n\nClaudius Rich visited the remnants of this Church in the mountains north-east of Mosul in 1820, including the 4th century Convent of Rabban Hormuz in its rocky gorge, and left a graphic description of the austere life and primitive worship of the dusky monks pursuing their manual labour in the remote solitude.10\n\nHenry Layard made a more extended visit to the same region a few years after the great massacre of the Assyrian Christians in 1842 by a fanatical Turkish Bey, when the threat of a second attack was already impending. He saw the ruined homes and churches, and the bleached bones still lying at one of the worst scenes of massacre; and he attended the simple worship and sacrament of the people a few days before a second indiscriminate massacre took place. He described with approbation the 'unadorned and imageless walls', the 'simple and primitive rites', 'the hospitality and simple manners of the priests'\n\n* Adency, op. cit., p. 495.\n\nHarnack, The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Vol. 2, p. 150.\n\n10 C. R. Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, London, 1836.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205269, "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-1967", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "24\n\nII. KUAN-FU\n\nJEN YU-WEN\n\nWhere was Kuan-fu Ch'ang? It can be definitely identified with no other place than the eastern side of the Kowloon Peninsula. For several hundred years from Sung to mid-Ch'ing Kuan-fu was the official name of the area, while Kowloon was the vernacular name used by the local people. To avoid confusion, we must carefully differentiate Kuan-fu Ch'ang from Kuan-fu Tsai (stockade), Kuan-fu-shan (mountain) and Kuan-fu hsun-ssu (sub-district).\n\nKuan-fu Ch'ang meant Kuan-fu Field, one of the four salt-producing fields in the Tung-kuan District amongst the thirteen fields of the whole province of Kwantung in the Sung Dynasty. The area of the Field covered not only the entire peninsula but also the nearby islands, including the present Hong Kong. It was under the administration of an office in the stockade called Kuan-fu Tsai, the present so-called Kowloon Walled City. During the last years of the Emperor Tu Tsung (1265-75) the administrator of the field was Yen I-chang of Kaifeng, Honan Province, who had the engraved stone made at North Fu-t'ang in 1274, less than three years before the royal visit to Kuan-fu.6\n\nMy interpretation is that the name Kuan-fu has a political and economic meaning: “Kuan\" means Tung-kuan District and \"fu\" means rich. The field was thus christened by officialdom to signify the rich resources of Tung-kuan. Or else, it might signify the riches of the Emperor, for Kuan Chia was a popular term for the emperor. Anyway, it could not be a natural name and it may be inferred from this that the name of Kuan-fu Mountain, which was a long range of mountains with many hills, was adopted from the Kuan-fu Ch'ang and not vice versa. Researches into the Gazetteer of Hsin-an District, the writings of some historians and maps furnished by the Public Works Department of the Hong Kong Government lead to the conclusion that the Kuan-fu Mountain was along the western side of the Kowloon peninsula (see Plate 12). There were a number of hills of various heights inside the area and the highest, the rocky peak west of Ma-tau-wei Road, reaches a height of 405 feet. On the plain and in the valleys at the foot of the hills were separate salt-producing fields. Certainly, there were other such fields all over the Kuan-fu", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205299, "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-1967", "page_number": 61, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "54\n\nL. G. AUMER\n\nfrom piracy there. The mountains offered more security and this group established themselves in the remote Grass Field Village. In fact, this spot in the valley was then already occupied by people bearing the surname Ng. What form the contact between these original settlers and the intruders took is not clear, but evidently, as time passed by, the Ng were pushed off, and resettled themselves on an island in the Rocky Harbour area.11\n\nThe first Lau group in Grass Field Village seems to have constituted an extended family — one particular man is referred to as the founder of the village. He was of the 15th generation.12 The founder had two sons, one of whom moved out of the place and settled at Clear Water Bay. The progeny of the remaining son ramified in several offshoots. The village now consists of four hamlets inhabited by distinct lines of descent. Two branches have moved away to other areas; to Three Fathoms Cove in a northerly direction, and to the Yuen Long area in another part of the New Territories.\n\nThe Grass Field people, then, constitute a localized major lineage. As such they form part of a kin unit of a higher order, for which I would propose the designation 'clan'. In fact, a Grass Field villager is not usually able to establish his proper kinship relations with other villagers, at least not with those who are members of other main segments. In order to do this, he has to consult a kinsman with special knowledge or a genealogy book, which used to be kept in most villages. By these means he has a theoretical possibility to trace his actual relations through the genealogical links in the patrilineal line of descent. This will motivate the use of the term 'lineage'. The greater kin unit will, besides the Grass Field people, comprise the segments that resettled in other areas as well as the people living in the village of origin in Sai Kung, and the relatives, in all respects distant, in Mui Yuen in Kwangtung. Theoretically, other Lau descent lines, unknown to Grass Field people, would be included.\n\nBefore the Japanese Occupation fairly regular demonstration of kinship bonds took place when people from the Three Fathoms Cove and Clear Water Bay branches returned to Grass Field for common ancestor worship. There were, too, frequent contacts with the village of origin in China before the establishment of the People's Republic; delegates took part in ancestor worship", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209958, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "The white dews drop down on the fragrant but leafless trees; the sombre vapours rise up from the enchanted hills and valleys; and the zephyrs soften with their sweet breath the gloom that overshadows the earth.\n\nIt is now, while seated beneath the tented canopy of the proud ships provided for our reception, that I recall with tears the days that are past: I have left my very home; my heart grows cold; my robe flutters; I am as a man pierced with a dagger.\n\nI gaze upon yonder royal white city, on the high cliffs, while the shadows of evening gather round it. There it stands, lonely as a palace built upon a rock.\n\nThe sun has disappeared beneath the waves, but lingering eyes still turn to it with straining fondness. The southern stars that gleam upon its snow-white walls look beautiful and bright as glittering flowers.\n\nAnd now I weep with bitterness, and as I sink upon my pillow, the splendid town is present to me still. I behold even in my sleep the fragrant incense urn dispensing its thousand gushing streams [a footnote explains that Hong Kong in Chinese signifies ‘Urn of Fragrant Streams'] over the mountains, while the city's white abodes seem glittering in the morning sun.\n\nIt is thus I treasure in my sorrowing soul the loved remembrance; it is thus my mourning heart clings to departed happiness, as the tendrils twine themselves around you airy cliffs.\n\nThe scene is changed. The bright moon issues from the parting clouds, and spangles with her light the feathery bamboo and the shrubby jessamine, that overarch the islet's thousand habitations; and soon the silent morning sun starts from his golden sleep, and sheds a liquid lustre on the rocky steeps that bear aloft a thousand glittering and spacious mansions.\n\nYet on this spot erewhile were only to be seen the hovels of the roving fishermen. Where are they? gone like the swallows of departed autumn!\n\nThus I record in the above lines my uncontrollable regret when leaving your Empire and returning to Canton, on board", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212912, "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": 221, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "206\n\ncups and plates and rewarded us with magnificent Orders of Chivalry. We usually found some acquaintance in the ports or fellow missionaries. Aden was a coaling port where a ceaseless stream of labourers carried basket after basket of coal on board. We had to keep port-holes shut to keep the coal dust out. At sea we had a good deal of freedom and were taken on exploratory trips to such places as the engine room. Here we saw the huge pistons of the steam engine driving the propeller shaft and walked down the tunnel in which it turned to the very end. The heat was terrific.\n\nIn 1934 leave was up and my father and I returned early to get me into school in September. The two of us travelled by the scenic route, first on the Canadian Pacific ship, the Duchess of Bedford which we boarded at Liverpool and which took us across the Atlantic to Montreal. Then by Canadian Pacific Railway for three days and four nights across Canada to Vancouver. That was a glorious journey. The first day was through pine forests and by lakes. The second was across endless prairie country and the third through the Rocky Mountains. At the back of the train there was an observation coach from which we had an excellent view of the scenery. Each evening beds were made up and each morning they were folded up.\n\nFrom Vancouver we sailed on another Canadian Pacific ship, the Empress of Asia to Shanghai a long journey which must have included a stop in Japan. A funny thing about sojourns with my father was that he introduced me to simple gastronomic delights. During my convalescence in the Matilda Hospital from appendicitis it was kippers and on the trans-Pacific trip it was celery, curry and Worcestershire sauce in the soup to prevent sea sickness. All have been favourites ever since! And he patiently read from The Swiss Family Robinson each evening.\n\nChefoo Schools\n\nFrom Shanghai we took a coastal steamer north to Chefoo. Chefoo is the name of a small village on a bluff of land connected to the mainland by a sand spit. The school was called after this village though the town, in which it lies, is now called Yentai after the nearby walled city dating from the Ming Dynasty. The China Inland Mission had established primary and secondary schools for European and American children from all over China. There were about 100 children in the primary school,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215807, "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": 106, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "39\n\npart of the year (May to August). In fact, it rained about two out of every three days during the months of June and July, with June having a better than 40 per cent chance of experiencing three or more consecutive days, and even a 25 per cent chance of having at least an entire week, of rain.\n\nIn a largely undeveloped place like Hong Kong during the war, heavy rains falling on land usually translated into mud. Thus far in the war, both sides had already experienced the difficulty of moving across mud in various theatres. In Hong Kong, only the urban areas had all-weather roads, so its roads and terrain outside of the urban areas were trafficable only during periods of dry weather.10\n\nThen one must remember that 75 per cent of Hong Kong was mountain. By the nature of their sloped sides and rocky terrain, mountains are already difficult to traverse in good weather. In times of bad weather, mountains are even harder to negotiate, especially if they have been stripped of vegetation. This was the case with Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. As the war dragged on, supply shortages of everything became acute. Whereas coal was the preferred fuel for industrial and residential use, the increasing difficulty of importing this item into Hong Kong forced people to switch to firewood. This resulted in the felling of trees throughout the territory, thus depriving the mountains of the foliage that anchored their soil, and increasing the chances of erosion and landslides.\n\nMachinery was the epitome of the Allied arsenal, and embodied from its factories, to its logistical functions, and finally to the fighting machines on the frontline. But machinery was also very susceptible to the weather. In Hong Kong, with its high rainfall and lack of all-weather roads outside of the city, construction activities would be needed to improve its roads for the vehicle-oriented Allies. But construction would be curtailed during periods of heavy rainfall.\n\nWithout a suitable system of roads, the Allies would be unable to take full advantage of their superior mechanised transport in Hong Kong. The necessity of supporting China with a strong LoC inland from Hong Kong would have taxed its inadequate roads past their limit. Estimates for the portion of supplies landed each day that could be transported inland to support the Chinese amounted to no more than 25 per cent,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]