[ { "id": 205510, "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": 52, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "The Hankow Steamer Tea Races\n\n47\n\nat around £7.7.0. and £6.10.0, a ton. She left Hankow on 20th May at 1.20 p.m., passed the Red Buoy at 6.35 p.m. on 22nd May and the Tungsha lightship at 2 a.m. on 23rd May. She arrived in Singapore at 10.30 p.m. on 28th May, loaded 1,600 tons of coal and left at 9 a.m. on 29th May. She was reported at Gravesend on 22nd June and docked in London shortly thereafter. A lengthy discussion broke out on whether or not difference in time should be accounted for. With the difference, the trip from Tungsha Lightship to Gravesend took 30 days, 2 hours and 36 minutes. Neglecting the 8-hour difference, the time was 29 days, 18 and a half hours.\n\nThe \"Glen\" vessels were out of the race that year as their new vessel Glenogle arrived in Hankow too late. However, she loaded a full cargo of some 5,206 tons of tea at £4 per ton and went home on a consumption of 37 tons of coal at 14 knots, although she was claimed to be capable of 16 knots on 120 tons of coal a day.\n\nIn 1883 Glenogle loaded 4,900 tons at £4.10.0, and left Hankow on 20th May at 11.30 a.m. Sterling Castle loaded at £5.10.0 and left on 22nd May at 3.15 a.m. after loading 5,000 tons. Glenogle passed Woosung on the evening of 22nd while Sterling Castle passed on the afternoon of 23rd. At Singapore, Sterling Castle arrived at 1 p.m. on 29th May and Glenogle at 2.30 p.m. on the same day. They both left Singapore at about the same time early on 30th May, after loading 1,800 tons and 1,600 tons of coal respectively. Sterling Castle arrived at Suez on 12th June and at Gravesend at noon on 22nd June. Glenogle arrived at Gravesend at 3 p.m. on 26th June or 291/4 days from the Tungsha lightship, which was faster than in 1882.\n\n1884 saw a revival of “Glen” supremacy as Sterling Castle had been sold to Italian interests. Glenogle carried the flag. She left Hankow at 6 a.m. on 18th May after loading 5,300 tons of tea at £5 per ton, and the Red Buoy, Woosung at 4 p.m. on the 20th May. She arrived at Singapore at 11.15 a.m. on 27th, loaded 1,500 tons of coal and left at 6 p.m. on the same day. She arrived in London on 26th June after a somewhat slow trip, largely occasioned by losing a blade from a propeller 280 miles from Singapore. Later races were between \"Glen\" vessels and the China Mutual vessels Oopack and Moyune, but the speeds were lower and the China tea trade itself had passed its zenith. In 1885 the fastest vessels had been requisitioned by the British Government as armed merchant cruisers owing to a war scare with Russia.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206993, "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": 64, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "DOGS AND HORSES IN ANCIENT CHINA\n\nCAROLE MORGAN*\n\nAny mention of horses and dogs in connection with China immediately brings to mind noble steeds and miniature pugs. But horses and dogs had been known in China long before T'ang sculptors created their masterpieces and T'ang painters sent diminutive pets romping through their pictures. It is the aim of this paper to show what part these animals played in ancient Chinese society.\n\nOrigins\n\nIt is generally accepted that dogs are the oldest domestic animals known to man. Although it is difficult to determine what breed of dogs were actually known to the ancient Chinese (see hunting dogs) the bones of an animal very similar to the Australian wild dog or Dingo were found in some of the earliest prehistoric graves excavated in Northern China.1 As in other parts of the world it is assumed that dogs first attached themselves to prehistoric Chinese settlements and were then gradually accepted as part of the human household. Proof of the casual nature of the relationship between dog and man may be found in the fact that although classical Chinese literature refers to a creator of horses (Lu Pu-wei in Lu Shih Ch'un Ch'iu) no creator of dogs is ever mentioned.2\n\nBones of horses have also been found in prehistoric graves. To date, the earliest bones discovered were those of a large horse (Equus Sanmensis) unearthed at Chou Kou T'ien, in the same grave but in a later strata, as those of Peking man.3 This discovery led to the conclusion that the horse is indigenous to China and not imported from Central Asia as was previously supposed. It may even be possible that horses were exported from China to neighbouring countries. One author, Erkes, claims that the word for horse in such East Altaic languages as Korean and Mongolian was derived from the Chinese word for horse, ma.\n\nThere is a gap in our knowledge of China between the Paleolithic and approximately 4000 B.C. during which time Equus Sanmensis\n\nMrs. Morgan is a doctoral candidate at the Sorbonne, the subject of her thesis being animals in ancient China. The text is based on a talk given to the Hong Kong Branch, RAS, on 27th May 1974.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208829, "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": 286, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "OVERSEAS ORDINARY MEMBERS\n\nKNEEBONE, Mrs. Susan, c/o 65-79 Riverside Avenue, South Melbourne 3205, Victoria, AUSTRALIA.\n\nKRAMERS, Dr. R. P., c/o Ostasiatisches Seminar, Der Universitat Zurich, Muhlegasse 21, 8001 Zurich, SWITZERLAND.\n\nLEIMAN, Mrs. R. M., 14-17 Nishi-Azabu, 4-chome, Minato-ku, TOKYO 106, JAPAN.\n\nLEIMAN, Mr. R. M., 14-17 Nishi-Azabu, 4-chome, Minato-ku, TOKYO 106, JAPAN.\n\nLIU, Prof. Ts'un Yan, F.R.A.S., c/o Dept. of Chinese, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., AUSTRALIA.\n\nLOVELL, Mrs. Hin-Cheung, 2 Dunbar Walk, SINGAPORE, 15.\n\nLU, Mrs. Sylvia, Rangoon, Dept. of State, Washington, D.C., 20520, U.S.A.\n\nLYNCH, Rev. Francis M. M., Maryknoll Centre House, 120 San Min Road, Ist Sect., Taichung City 400, TAIWAN.\n\nMACLEAN, Mr. Roderick, c/o The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, Denmark House, SINGAPORE 1.\n\nMATHIAS, Dr. John R. G., 36 Bradbury Court, St. John's Park, Blackheath, LONDON, SE3 7TP, UNITED KINGDOM.\n\nMCCOY, Dr. John, Division of Modern Languages, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850, U.S.A.\n\nMORGAN, Mrs. Carole, 5 Avenue Vion Whitcomb, Paris 75016, FRANCE.\n\nMYERS, Mr. John T., Dept. of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, U.S.A.\n\nNUTTER, Baroness Joanna Von, 3802 Castle Rock Drive, MALIBU, California 90265, U.S.A.\n\nREDFERN, Mr. O'Donnell S., Maison de la Foret, Chemin de la Becassiere, 1290 Versoix, SWITZERLAND.\n\nROMER, Mr. J. D., 11, Cecilia Road, Preston, Paignton, Devon, TQ3 1BD, GREAT BRITAIN.\n\nSELWYN, Mr. J. B., 26 Fairway, Merrow, Guildford GUL 2XJ, Surrey, UNITED KINGDOM.\n\nSMITH, Dr. Ralph B., School of Oriental & African Studies, Malet Street, LONDON, W.C.1., UNITED KINGDOM.\n\nSTEEDS, Mr. David, Dept. of International Politics, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UNITED KINGDOM.\n\nSTOKES, Mr. John, 427 Banbury Road, Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM.\n\n259", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209327, "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": 230, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "216\n\nFABER, Mrs G.A.G. FAWCETT, Mr B.C. FRASER, Mr A.P. GALVIN, Mr J.A.T.\n\nGEORGE, Mr Timothy J.B. GIEDROYC, Mr Michael J.H. GOLDNEY, Miss C.M. HARDEN, Mrs Guy T., Jr. HAYDON, Mr E.S. HECHTEL, Mr F.O.P. HOWARTH, Mr Richard H. HUGHES, Mrs Marion HURT, Miss Evelyn J. INGLES, Miss Jean M. IRETON, Mrs Polly H. JOHNSTON, Mr James J. JORDAN, Dr David K. KIDD, Mr S.T.\n\n7\n\nKNOWLES, Miss Moria G. KNOWLES, Mrs W.C.G. KURATA, Mrs Lucien LANCHESTER Mrs G.W. LAUFER, Mr E.M. LAUFER, Mrs B.M. LI, DR Choh-Ming LINDSAY, Mr T.J. LOTHROP, Mr Francis B. MANSFIELD, Miss M.B. MICHAELIONES, Miss E.O. MILL, Major C.S., USMC MILLER, Mr Carl F.O. NICHOLS, The Hon. Mr E.H. O'BRIEN, Father J.R. PLAG, Rev. Albrecht POLAND, Mr Thomas D. RITCHIE, Mr Douglas J. ROBINSON, Prof. K.E. ROTHE, Mr Ulrich. SINFIELD, Mr G.HC. SPERRY, Mr Henry M. STEVENS, Mr Keith G. SWIRE, Mr A.C.\n\nTILL, The Very Rev. Barry TURNER, Sir Michael WARD, Miss Janet E.A. WELCH, Mr Holmes H. WHITELEGGE, Mr D.S. WOLF, Mr John\n\nORDINARY OVERSEAS MEMBERS\n\nANDERSON, Dr Eugene N., Jr.\n\nBARR, Mr J.W. BEVERIDGE, Mr R.J. BOND, Mr Michael W. CHAR, Mr Tin Yuke CHINN, Mrs Caroline Lee CLARK, Mrs A.T. COOPER, Dr Eugene\n\nDE FAZIO, Mr & Mrs M.F. EASTON, Ms. Linda\n\nFESSLER, Mr Loren FITZGIBBON, Mr Desmond GARD, Dr Richard A.\n\nGILMAN, Ms Claudia\n\nGOODRICH, Prof. L. Carrington\n\nHARRISON, Prof, B.\n\nHEMMING, Miss Janet M. HODGSON, Mr A.F.\n\nHODGSON, Mrs Kirsty Hamilton HOGAN, Mr James HUYSMAN, Mr J.\n\nKNEEBONE, Mrs Susan\n\nKRAMERS, Dr R.P. LIU, Prof. Ts'un Yan LU, Mrs Sylvia MACLEAN, Mr Roderick MATHIAS, Dr John R.G. McCOY, Mr John\n\nMORGAN, Mrs Carole MYERS, Mr John T. PARR, Mr M.J.\n\nREDFERN, Mr O'Donnell S. REID, Mr A.J.H. SCHWARZER, Mr C.A. SELWYN, Mr J.B. SMITH, Dr Ralph B. STEEDS, Mr David\n\nSTOKES, Mr John\n\nSTRAUCH, Dr Judith STURM, Prof. Fred Gillette VILLIERS, Dr John WATSON, Dr James L. WICKBERG, Professor Edgar", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209733, "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": 390, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "368\n\nORDINARY OVERSEAS MEMBERS\n\nMORGAN, Mrs. C.\n\nMYERS, Mr. J.T.\n\nPARR, Mr. M.J.\n\nREYNOLDS, Prof. W.A.\n\nREYNOLDS, Mrs. J.\n\nSCHWARZER, Mr. C.A.\n\nSELWYN, Mr. J.B.\n\nSMITH, Dr. R.B.\n\nSTEEDS, Mr. D.\n\nSTOKES, Mr. J.\n\nSTRAUCH, Dr. J.\n\nSTURM, Prof. F.G.\n\nVILLIERS, Dr. J.\n\nWATT, Mr. J.\n\nWICKBERG, Prof. E.\n\nWILLIAMS, Miss S.\n\nWILSON, Miss E.\n\nPage 390\n\nPage 391", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "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": 210803, "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": 154, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "137\n\nimprove beef output by identifying pasture species and cattle husbandry practices suitable for Hainan (Nelson and Ayres, 1984).\n\nIn 1981, Gaopoling Model Cattle Farm was established in western Hainan with finance from Guangdong and technical input from New South Wales. Two specialists (an agronomist and a livestock manager) were seconded to Gaopoling Farm for a three-year period to provide day-to-day technical input necessary for the implementation of the model farm programme by working side-by-side with Chinese counterparts.\n\nWhen the project commenced, Gaopoling Farm consisted of little more than the land resource, a 60-member workforce and 1,200 cattle. Pastures were poorly utilized with shepherds avoiding scrub areas (60 percent of farm) and concentrating cattle on open grassland. Cattle were in poor condition, calves unthrifty, and steers took 4 to 5 years to reach mature weight.\n\nUsing these basic resources, the model farm was developed through a programme of adaptive research in the initial years to identify correct practices and farm development in following years based on research results. From experiments in species adaptation, fertilizer needs and sowing methods, recommendations were made for each soil type. Using these, an extensive range improvement programme was undertaken as a commercial enterprise, and by Year 3 about 843 ha were developed.\n\nFirst-level husbandry practices were demonstrated initially with a 50-cow nucleus herd, and a recording scheme was commenced to monitor comparative performance of “improved” versus “traditional” cattle management. As sown pasture became available, cattle were moved from sheds to open range. The effects of better nutrition and better husbandry practices are reflected in animal performance with cow liveweight increasing by 20 percent, calving rate by 50 percent, calf growth rate by 90 percent compared with traditional husbandry on native rangeland. In terms of beef output, weaner steers grazing fertilized stylo pasture at 2 beasts per ha reached adult weight in two years, instead of the five taken under the old management system.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212908, "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": 217, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "202\n\nBeach, though I do remember seeing their diving boat there washed up high and dry after a typhoon.\n\nThe village had not changed much when I first visited it after the war. The walk up to the bungalows was past the market and through the narrow lanes with their shops selling fishing tackle, torches, salt fish, groceries and other odds and ends. We passed the power station of the Cheung Chau Electric Company which thumped away at night, though we never had electricity in our bungalows.\n\nThe village was confined to the narrow isthmus so that once you left this behind and climbed up you found yourself among small hills and scattered bungalows. I can remember the building of the community hall which was used as a chapel and meeting place. The only sound round the bungalows were the wind in the trees and the waves on the beaches and rocks. From the one that we used most often there was a magnificent view over towards Ling Ting Island. On our last visit in 1938 we were able to see the Royal Navy's motor torpedo boats travelling at fantastic speeds with a most impressive roar.\n\nThe Mission Compound at Fatshan\n\nCheung Chau was for holidays but our real life was in Fatshan. We lived in a spacious house, known still as the White House, on the edge of the compound and adjoining a small creek and paddy fields. When I saw the house again in 1987 it had shrunk! The mission contained a hospital and nurses training school, a primary and secondary school with workshops for the boys which were years ahead of their time. Nearly all the staff were Cantonese but a doctor, the head nursing sister and a few of the teachers were from England. Only the English knew English but they were all taught Cantonese full time for two years on arrival. I often regret that I was unable to enjoy this period of study. This time was sufficient for students to learn not only to speak but also to read the classics, or the Bible, and write speeches or sermons depending on your calling missionary or Hong Kong Government Cadet.\n\nAs children our first language was Cantonese and we always used this among ourselves. We spoke to our parents in English. When we were on leave in 1933 my sister and I slept in the same bedroom and after the lights were out used to chatter away in Cantonese, much to the amusement of the relatives listening outside the door.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215470, "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-2001", "page_number": 247, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "196\n\nto climb up to it.\n\nBeing an official Royal Asiatic Society group, coupled with Brian's immense knowledge, experience and influence, had a number of advantages. One of these was being able to go inside the Kyichu Lhakhang, a 7th century temple, noting the obvious Buddhist nature of the place but also the significant differences from the Chinese temples that most of us were more used to. It seemed to be much calmer, generally less busy.\n\np.m.\n\nThe high valley walls meant that the sun left us at about 4:45 and so photography became a bit of a challenge. But once again the children and older people were very accommodating about being flashed at, or waiting that much longer for correct exposures and shutter speeds to be estimated.\n\nBy the time we hit the shops of Paro High Street it was completely dark. On our way up the valley we had seen the orderly row of shops, about 30 or 40 of them, all looking the same but all looking inviting nonetheless. What was a surprise, however, was that they were virtually all the same - well stocked with the goods they had to offer, but I couldn't help wondering why one would use any one of them as opposed to another. As I still wanted my post cards, I was delighted to find a store that stocked them. I also wanted a small book to write notes in, so I asked the young lady behind the counter, very slowly and clearly: ‘Do you have a writing book?' I was most surprised when she answered in perfect and accent-free English: \"You mean a note book? What about this one here?' I did not want to sound patronising, but I had to ask her if everybody in Paro spoke English as well as she did, to which she replied: 'No, most of them are uneducated.' Well, there you have it.\n\nI was very ready for dinner, after which, on returning to the hotel, I was delighted to find out that some kind soul had already turned on the electric heater in my room.\n\nHa Haa\n\nThe destination for the second day was Haa, the principal town in Bhutan's western Haa Province. The road from Paro would take us", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215489, "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-2001", "page_number": 266, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "215\n\nthey were a bit more accurate, and secondly, being faster, the trajectory of the arrows need not be so high. Arrows were whizzing past us at just about head height. It reminded me of the old line: 'Do people get killed here often?', to which the reply is: 'No sir, only once.' \n\nThe Wangdi Dzong was built in 1638, and that in Punakha in 1637. Both are massive structures and it can only be wondered at what effect all this building activity had on the local economy and employment market. Perhaps similar to the time in England when vast stone cathedrals were going up, many at the same time. More comparisons to mediaeval England and building methods were to follow, but first there was dinner and bed.\n\nDay 9 brought us to what for me was the absolute highlight of the entire trip. So overwhelming were the sights and sounds that faced us that I knew neither what to write, nor how to write it. As I am afraid you will find out on the following pages, however, I soon found some words - although it is impossible to capture anything more than a few personal observations.\n\nWe knew already that the usual ‘no hats, no scarves, no cameras’ rule applied, and this was in many ways a blessing - we were indoors mostly, it was fairly warm, and the absence of a camera meant that I was not distracted by apertures and shutter speeds. Immediately inside the first courtyard, the atmosphere struck like a blow in the face. Red-robed monks standing about in twos and threes; a deep horn blowing its long steady notes somewhere off-stage; sounds of many heavy footsteps on bare wooden floors; a small crowd cheering somewhere from within a building; a stone mason chipping a hole in a flagstone; men carrying impossible loads of stone on their heads, on their backs or in their arms, up an equally impossibly steep flight of stairs into an inner sanctum (whether they were doing so to gain merit, or because they were contract Indian labour doing what Bhutanese chose not to do we did not manage to find out). Something was clearly happening. No - Something Was Clearly Happening.\n\nThis was, after all, the beginning of Day One of a four-day festival, one that has been going on for so many centuries that it is now by no means clear what it is all about. The triumph of the Bhutanese over the marauding Tibetans. The triumph of Buddhism over evil. Whatever it", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215561, "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-2001", "page_number": 338, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "288\n\nCape Collinson Lighthouse\n\nThe light at Cape Collinson was established on 1st March 1876, the year following the other two lighthouses. The reason for being later was that its apparatus was mistakenly sent to the Cape of Good Hope. The illuminating apparatus was fixed Dioptric of the Sixth Order. The focal plane of the light was 200 feet above mean sea level, and in clear weather it could be seen for a distance of eight miles. This lighthouse showed a white light on the bearings from N. 22 W. by East to S. 22 E. Ships heading for Victoria Harbour from the North and the Eastward were thus able to avoid Bokhara and Tathong Rocks, also the rocks outlying Sy Wan Bay by keeping the white light in sight. It also showed a red light from S. 22 E. by West to N. 22 W.20\n\nWhen all three lighthouses were first in operation, vessels entering Hong Kong harbour were adequately provided with navigational aids. Gradually, as time passed, lighthouses were required to display their own distinguishing characteristics and to repeat these at shorter intervals for more frequent observation as the speeds of steamships increased. In the beginning of the 20th century an 18-knot ship could travel over a quarter of a mile every minute. The older optics that revolved at the speed of four minutes per revolution were replaced by new ones revolving at 15 or 20 seconds. This was made possible by floating the lantern in a mercury bath causing it to revolve with minimum friction. This new technique was installed in lighthouses built in the 1890s.\n\nNew lighthouses\n\nIn 1892 and 1893, after much discussion and negotiation between Hong Kong and China, lighthouses were built on the two best sites initially chosen to light the approaches to Hong Kong: namely on Gap Rock and Waglan.\n\nAs early as 1867, before the building of the first lighthouse in Hong Kong, Commander Reed, a naval surveyor, was instructed to investigate suitable locations for lighthouses to cover the port approaches. He proposed Waglan Island and Gap Rock, small islands to the south of Hong Kong Island en route to Singapore. However, as neither of the proposed locations was within Hong Kong waters, these recommendations were not pursued.21", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215640, "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-2001", "page_number": 417, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "369\n\nThere was plenty of time apart from these formal occasions to look around Jehol. Macartney is full of admiration for the parks and countryside. He describes the West Park in the following words:\n\nIt is one of the finest forest scenes in the world, wild, woody, mountainous and rocky, abounding with stags and deer of different species, and most of the other beasts of chase not dangerous to man. In many places immense woods, chiefly oaks, pines and chestnuts grow upon perpendicular steeps and force their sturdy roots through every resistance of surface, and of soil, where vegetation would seem almost impossible. These woods often clamber over the loftiest pinnacles of the stony hills, or gathering on the skirts of them, descend with a rapid sweep, and bury themselves in the deepest valleys. There, at proper distances, you find palaces, banqueting houses and monasteries (but without bonzes) adapted to the situation and peculiar circumstances of the place, sometimes with a rivulet on one hand gently stealing through the glade, at others with a cataract rumbling from above, raging with foam, and rebounding with a thousand echoes from below or silently engulfed in a gloomy pool or yawning chasm. The roads by which we approached these romantic scenes are often hewn out of the living rock, and conducted round the hills in a kind of rugged staircase and yet no accident occurred in our progress, not a false step disturbed the regularity of our cavalcade, though the horses are spirited, and all of them unshod.\n\nAlthough Lord Macartney was unable to establish a close rapport with the first Minister who accompanied them, the journal, nevertheless paints a picture of them having an enjoyable and interesting time, in contrast to the usual descriptions of the visit which concentrate on the refusal to perform the kowtow and instead to go down on bended knee, an alternative which, after some discussion, was accepted amicably when it was agreed that it was sufficient to go down on one knee, but not to kiss hands.\n\nFinally the Embassy party left for 'Pekin' on 20th September and arrived on the 26th after an arduous journey, Macartney himself being", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215814, "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": 113, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "46\n\nspeeds of at least 64 knots (1 knot equals 1.15 miles per hour). Unlike hurricanes in the Atlantic, Pacific typhoons can occur at any month, although most take place from May to October. Compared to the other weather factors that could influence a Hong Kong operation, a typhoon is more intense, more mobile, and more unpredictable. Even the USN lacked the means to predict the movement and intensity of a typhoon. If one was spotted by reconnaissance, the need to code and decode messages or to maintain radio silence meant that such information would be outdated by the time it was received. Typhoon tracking was very sketchy during the war, and remained so for decades thereafter.\n\n22\n\n'It is a memorable experience to watch a big typhoon, but it is better to do so from a well-built house than from a ship at sea.\n\n+23\n\nThe power of a typhoon is beyond the ability of most people to gauge. Its sustained winds can reach 130 knots, while periodic gusts can exceed 150 knots. Rain accompanying a typhoon strikes early (usually when the centre of the typhoon is about 250 nautical miles away), late (the heaviest rainfall occurs after the passage of a typhoon's centre), and hard. The last refers to the horizontal motion of typhoon rains, which hit like knives or bullets, and could cause damage, destruction, injury, and death. The energy released by only a small-scale typhoon during a 24-hour period is equivalent to that of almost 500,000 atom bombs, or about 20 billion tons of water.\n\n24\n\nTyphoons tend to weaken once they reach land, but that doesn't mean people are out of danger. On the contrary, for most people the danger has only begun. To give an example, in September 1937, Hong Kong was struck by one of the most powerful typhoons ever to visit the territory. Gusts of up to 145 knots were recorded, six inches (15 cm) of rain were dumped on the territory in just two days, and sea levels rose 15 feet (4.57 meters). Hong Kong's fishing community suffered the worst of it. Of the 3,500 junks and sailing craft present, 1,255 were sunk and 600 seriously damaged. The death toll from these losses totalled some 11,000.\n\n25 That was about one per cent of Hong-Kong's population at the time.\n\nIn the Tai Po area of the New Territories, the carnage was even more frightening. Tidal waves of up to 30 feet (over nine metres) in height formed at Tolo Channel, crashed onto its shores at adjacent Tolo", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]