[
    {
        "id": 204434,
        "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": 66,
        "title": "RAS-1962",
        "content_text": "CHIN-SHA R.\n\nMEKONG R.\n\nSALWEEN\n\n104\n\nCHIA\n\n708\n\nZI\n\nTANG TZE\n\nYAO\n\n21:20\n\nYAC\n\nSPOL\n\nPAI\n\n...\n\nTA\n\nY\n\nTA/LARVA\n\nYI\n\nVUA TÂY HÀNH TÀI\n\nAN\n\n#\n\n#.\n\nMUL\n\nMIA\n\nTA\n\nMIAO\n\nY:\n\n...\n\nMIAO\n\nMITAC\n\nMIAO\n\nYIMIAO\n\nMIA\n\nHUL KELAQS\n\nPUAY!\n\nMIAO\n\nSHAMMAD Y40\n\nAMA\n\nMIAO\n\nZKK\n\nTUACHIA\n\nTUNG'AQ\n\n...\n\nYAO\n\nTUNG\n\nMIAO\n\nCHUANG\n\nYAO\n\nHUANG\n\nCHUANO\n\nBURMA\n\n**1\n\nWe are Man barbarians and have nothing to do with Chinese titles\". Actually, these \"barbarians\" were proud enough to bear Chinese titles later, but this statement in the Eighth Century B.C. showed what manner of people occupied the Yangtze valley at this date.\n\n1 Friedrich Hirth, The ancient history of China to the end of the Chou dynasty, New York, 1908, 120-123.\n\nBURMA\n\nTHAILAND\n\n\"NAM\n\nSHANGHAI\n\nSHA\n\n971\n\nSHONGKONG\n\nCHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE\n\nTAIWAN\n\nISLAND\n\nKAO-3\n\nNYNHVH)\n\n...\n\nI\n\nISLAND\n\nDISTRIBUTION OF NON-HAN ETHNIC GROUPS\n\nIN SOUTH CHINA\n\n500\n\n17\n\nKMS.\n\nK. WIENS\n\n55",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f",
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    },
    {
        "id": 204448,
        "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": 80,
        "title": "RAS-1962",
        "content_text": "CHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE\n\n69\n\nTable II lists the numbers of people in each ethnic group distributed by provinces in south and central China. In brief, the T'ai-related groups lead with some 10 million people at present. They are followed by the Tibeto-Burman related group with some 8.4 million, followed by the Miao-Yao related group with about 3.4 million. The greatest concentration of minorities in any one group is among the Chuang in the Tai group. The Chuang live in a compact body numbering some seven million in Kwangsi. The Miao, however, are the most widely distributed of all ethnic groups, being found in significant numbers in every province of south and central China except Kiangsi, although their chief strength is in Kweichow. Yunnan, by all odds, is the most complex province ethnically. Of the 30 national minorities listed by the Census for 1953, some twenty-four are found in Yunnan. This Census apparently may need considerable revision when the minorities are scrutinized more closely. Thus, it listed only 90,000 so-called T'u-chia, which was proclaimed to be a newly discovered ethnic group hitherto confused with Han Chinese and Miao because of their degrees of acculturation. A personal check by Fang Jen revealed over 300,000, and a still more detailed check in subsequent years disclosed that actually these were 549,000 that should be so classified and, from their original cultural traits, they belonged in the Yi-related group. They occupy an area in northwest Hunan.\n\n44\n\nThe Yi comprise so many sub-groups under different names (there are 40 sub-tribes in Yunnan alone) that confusion is understandable. In northwest Yunnan such sub-groups of the Yi as the Na-khi or Na-hsi and Li-su live in the region between the great bends of the Chin-sha river and the Burma border. In the western part of this region are the Nu, Tu-lung, and Ching-p'o, occupying parts of the Salween and Mekong drainage of north Yunnan. Farther south in the drainages of these rivers are the related La-hu and A-ch'ang. The Pai people, in a solid bloc on the plain of Erh Hai (Lake Erh), have been thought by some writers, including this one, to be a T'ai-related people, but are listed by Bruk as a Yi sub-group. In the west bank region of the Red river of Yunnan are the sub-group known as the Han-yi. The Yi proper are scattered over the three southwestern provinces,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 204652,
        "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-1963",
        "page_number": 133,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE \n\n119 \n\nThe restriction about navigation beyond Ichang was abolished after the Sino-Japanese War by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, and three years later the indefatigable Little had the satisfaction of taking his Leechuan from Ichang up to Chungking, the first steamer to navigate the Upper Yangtse. The Leechuan was a twin screw, wooden, steam launch only fifty-five feet long, and too small to carry any cargo. Little acted as his own captain and chief engineer, and the Leechuan had to be pulled up the strongest of the rapids by trackers. Two years later, however, a larger paddle steamer Pioneer, built by Little and a group of associates, made the first commercial passage to Chungking. The Pioneer was built by Denny of Dumbarton, and was 180 feet long, 60 feet beam over the paddle boxes, and had a draft of 6 feet. She carried 150 tons of cargo and many deck passengers, and took seven days between Ichang and Chungking on her first trip. There is a photograph of her in Gleanings from Fifty Years in China by Archibald Little (Philadelphia, 1908), p. 141. Shortly afterwards the Pioneer was commandeered by the British government to bring British subjects down the Yangtse during the Boxer troubles, and she finished her career as H.M.S. Kinshi, the headquarters ship of the Senior British Naval Officer on the Yangtse.\n\nIn that same year of 1900 the British river gunboat Woodlark, which was 145 feet long, by 23 feet beam, but had a draft of only 3 feet, also reached Chungking, and in the following year Woodlark and her sister ship Woodcock reached Sui Fu, 100 miles beyond Chungking. It was in the December of that year that the first of many serious accidents occurred on the Upper Yangtse, when the German steamer Suichsiang went on the rocks at the Tungling Rapids, 36 miles above Ichang, and was a total loss.\n\nThe Yangtse has its source in Tibet, not far from the headwaters of the Yellow, Mekong, Salween, and Irawaddy Rivers. When this became known to Europeans it became the ambition of many travellers to go up the Yangtse as far as possible, and then to cross over the Himalayas into Burma or India. This journey had a fascination for Europeans very similar to that exercised by the Nile and Niger over their fathers and grandfathers. The naval expedition of 1861, which went up the river as far as Yochow, landed three Englishmen there who intended to follow the river to its source in Tibet, and then cross over the Himalayas into India. Captain Blakiston, Lieutenant Saral, and Doctor Barton of",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
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    },
    {
        "id": 207780,
        "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": 168,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "A ROAD TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN WEST CHINA 1942-46 153\n\n4. Addition of centrifugal fan blowers to give some supercharge to the engine. These were belt driven from the engine front drive pulley. They were obtained as part of an American-designed and manufactured producer gas kit and were about the only components which stood up to the service required. The amount of petrol used for starting was small and a charcoal truck would normally use about 2 gallons for a 500 km. 3-4 day run. It was thus possible to haul 1000 km. tons with a minimum use of imported fuel and maximum use of the local resources.\n\nConclusion\n\nThe physical and quantitative part of the Units' transport work has been outlined in this paper. It is hoped that this record can be made more accurate and detailed by further research. If the transport work had not been done, many would have died who were cured. However, perhaps equally valuable was the training given and example set by the Western members in terms of systematic maintenance and driving care. The image, held by many Chinese at that time, of the Westerner as missionary, doctor, educator, or businessman; one who in general gave directions for others to carry out, was somewhat changed by the sight of young men working with their Chinese colleagues and employees, greasing steering, repairing engines and coaxing recalcitrant trucks over the roads of West China. It was an educative experience for all those involved and showed the value of practice over precept in the establishment of efficient working methods.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 These included a 26 hour, 606 mile drive from Lashio to Rangoon to clear medical supplies from the docks, 7 trucks loaded with medical supplies as part of the last convoy out of Rangoon on March 6, 1942; and a group of members, attached to Dr. Seagrave's Medical Unit, made the trek out of Burma to Assam in the party commanded by General Joseph W. Stillwell. Medical work with Chinese and Indian troops and civilians coming out of Burma into Assam continued there until the end of 1942.\n\n2 It is appropriate to mention briefly the direct medical work of the Unit. This consisted mainly of Mobile Surgical Teams (MST) attached to Chinese Army hospitals and treating military and civilian patients. These teams usually consisted of about eight people: two surgeon/physicians, one anaesthetist and two nurses, a dispenser, a handyman/mechanic and a business manager/quartermaster. The first of these MST was stationed at Walchow in Kwangtung in mid-1942 when forces were concentrated for a projected attack on Hong Kong. Most of the MST worked in Yunnan and the Salween front.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
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    },
    {
        "id": 207790,
        "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": 178,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "LAND AND RIVER ROUTES TO WEST CHINA\n\n163\n\nValley. A tea committee was formed whose findings were favourable, and experimental tea gardens were opened at Jaipur in Upper Assam. By 1859 over 4,000 acres were under cultivation, and the industry was assured of a bright future. Ample British capital was available for expansion, the British public's appetite for tea seemed inexhaustible; but scarcity of labour was a serious handicap. Assam was thinly populated, and the planters were dependent on Bengalis, who took a long time to get acclimatised. The idea of importing Chinese labour by the overland route was suggested, as at this time Chinese labour was considered indispensable to economic development in the tropics, and the Indian government was sympathetic. There were several possible land routes between India and West China, some passing through Burma, and Article 9 of the 1862 Commercial Treaty between Britain and Burma allowed entry into British territory from the Burmese side. The tea planters, however, failed to recruit Chinese workers, and blamed their lack of success upon the difficulties and hardships of the overland routes. This led to pressure on the government to improve the major land routes, and to several expeditions across the debatable borderlands between India, Burma, and China.\n\nFrom the 1860s until near the end of the century, therefore, there was rivalry between British commercial circles in India and those in China, over access to West China. In addition to these two approaches, from India and from the Yangtze, there were others from the south; by the Mekong or Red River from Indo-China, and by the West River from Canton and Hong Kong. Anglo-French colonial rivalry was acute during the second half of the nineteenth century, especially in the Far East. The French were keen to find and exploit a trade route to West China; and while Britain was investigating routes from Burma, the Yangtze, and the West River, France was investigating possible routes from the Mekong and Red Rivers.\n\nAs became widely known by the end of the century, and suspected by realists before then, West China and its borderlands comprise some of the most difficult regions of the world in which to build roads or railways, or in which to improve river navigation. There are high mountain ranges divided by deep valleys, densely forested in many places; and all the great rivers—the Yangtze, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Red River, and Salween—are seriously impeded by rapids",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212698,
        "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": 7,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "CONTENTS\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT.\n\nARTICLES:\n\n1 Keith Stevens A Jersey Adventurer in China: Gun Runner, Customs Officer, and Business Entrepreneur and General in the Chinese Imperial Army, 1842-1919 ... Vii\n\nP.H. Munro-Faure - Behind the Front Lines in Burma, The Marches of the Salween Border, 1942-1944... 113\n\nWei Peh Ti A Peek Backwards into the Jewish Community of Shanghai. 149\n\nJames Hayes - Old Chinese Graves from the Tsuen Wan District of Hong Kong's New Territories ... 164\n\nDavid Faure An Exploratory Study of Pingshan, a Hakka Village Cluster to the East of Shenzhen ... 180\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nDavid Faure - China Resurgence of Folk Religion in Western ... 193\n\nDenis Bray - Growing up in China: Lecture to the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, 14 May, 1993 ... 199\n\nP.H. Hase Bandits in the Siu Lek Yuen Yeuk ... 214\n\nAlvin P. Cohen First Meeting of the Warring States Working Group, University of Massachusetts ... 216\n\nBOOK REVIEWS ... 218",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212819,
        "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": 128,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "BEHIND THE FRONT LINES IN BURMA THE MARCHES OF THE SALWEEN BORDER\n\n1942-1944\n\nP.H. MUNRO-FAURE*\n\n113\n\nI had lost what was left of my worldly possessions in a fire which had unfortunately destroyed one of the temples at Chin Ya and so I took the opportunity of a period of leave in India to refit. By August I was back in Kun-Ming.\n\nYunnan province is recognised by all to be one of the provinces in China least affected by western ideas. It is a remote province, appointment to which in the old imperial days was considered by Chinese officials a form of banishment, indicating imperial disapproval. Until 1254 the semi-independent Shan kingdom of Nanchao shut off communications between China and Burma. In that year the capture of Talifu, the Shan Capital, by Kublai Khan extended Chinese control westwards to the Burmese border, where however through the centuries the March Barons, or Shan Sawbwas, continued to behave as independently as they might, sometimes affecting allegiance to the overlord in the East and sometimes to the overlord in the West, the kingdom of Ava.\n\nUnlike the British policy of indirect rule, which leaves the population in the Shan States on the Burmese side of the border under the administration of their own princes, with some restriction regarding the imposition of the capital sentence, the Chinese policy has been to displace the tribal chieftains by Chinese magistrates. With a few minor exceptions on the immediate border there are thus no Shan Sawbwas left inside China. As for the tribal people, they are gradually driven by the encroaching Chinese into the remoter regions and out of the valleys onto the mountain slopes: they are suffering the fate that awaits weaker peoples in the rough and tumble of natural selection.\n\nIn 1855 a great Mohammedan rebellion, known as the Panthay rebellion, broke out and a Mohammedan ruler set himself up in western Yunnan, styling himself the Sultan Suleiman. The Chinese recovered his capital again, Talifu, in 1873, put the city to the sack and destroyed\n\n*This is the fourth and concluding extract from Lt Colonel Munro-Faure's memoirs (Editor)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212822,
        "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": 131,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "116\n\nAmerican air forces based in China and to the extensive establishments supplied to train and equip the Chinese Expeditionary Force, as the army which had been built up in Yunnan by the Chungking government to assist in driving the Japanese out of Burma was called.\n\nI was sent to Kun-ming to see about giving assistance to the Myosa of Kokang, prince of a small Burmese border state. The longest unnavigable river in the world, the Salween, rises in Tibet, flows through China, and enters Burma at about the level of Bhamo. For a stretch the river flows from east to west; to the north of it the territory is still China, to the south lies Kokang. The river then leaves China altogether, bends south, and lower down at Kunlong receives the Nam Ting flowing in from the east. The Nam Ting forms the southern boundary of Kokang, while the mountain-tops that divide the Salween watershed from the next river to the east form the state's eastern boundary. The stones marking this boundary were set up in 1898 as a result of the agreements made at that time. Kokang also spreads across the Salween to the territories of the large Shan state of North Shenwi, of which Kokang is actually a sub-state. The greater part of Kokang though is sandwiched between the Salween and China. Kunlong is the site of one of the most frequented of the Salween ferries, and it is down the valley of the Nam Ting that the projected railway from Kun-ming to Lashio, connecting China with Burma, will run. The embankments to carry the line had been nearly completed before the Japanese advance into Burma put an end to the work. To the south of the Nam Ting are situated the Wa states, inhabited by wild head-hunting tribes.\n\nThe Myosa of Kokang was a most loyal subject of the British crown, and because of that loyalty he was to suffer great injuries. When the Japanese advanced up the length of Burma in 1942, the British troops, who were covering the western flank, that is the flank towards India, withdrew into India. The civil administrative staff of the Shan States also withdrew to the west, while the Chinese armies, on the eastern flank,\n\n\"One British administrative officer, Evans, withdrew from Kengtung, away to the south of Kokang, into south-west Yunnan. He had established cordial relations with the Chinese troops there, and with their assistance organised local levies, drawn from the dispersed ranks of the Burma Rifle regiments; he used these to wage a small campaign of his own against the enemy until he was killed during an assault on a position manned by Siamese troops. He died unknown, unsupported, unrewarded, but not unsung, because at a time when throughout the East the British star was thought to have set for all time, this lonely man left a record of British pluck which will long be remembered on the border.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212823,
        "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": 132,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "117\n\nwithdrew partly into India and partly back into Yunnan. Kokang was left high and dry. Undaunted the Myosa from his own funds purchased what weapons he could from the retreating Chinese troops and the disbanded men of the Burma Rifles, who had been instructed to disperse to their villages with their weapons, which were to be retained for local protection until the British returned. He acquired several hundred rifles, a small stock of ammunition, and a few Bren guns, and organised his own force, the Kokang Defence Force. Fortunately the prowess of the force, which could scarcely have proved high in the face of the battle-trained troops of Japan, was not put to the test. The Japanese advance stopped at the Salween, a convenient barrier on which to consolidate their East Wall in Burma.\n\nThe Myosa, left thus in a most dangerous situation, in the front line, as it were, of the Allied positions, applied to the nearby ally, China, for assistance. The Chinese who were themselves receiving equipment from America for their forces in this part of the world, could spare him no equipment, but undertook to train officers for his force. The quality of the training so provided will grow evident as this story unfolds.\n\nIn 1943 the Myosa made the journey to Kun-ming to apply to the British authorities for assistance and it was at the British Consul General's* house in Kun-ming that I met him. I saw an alert slight figure, young looking and brisk for his 45 years, dressed in a western suit of Palm Beach cloth. He looked Chinese, but I believe there is also an admixture of tribal blood, possibly Shan; there is, of course, a good deal of intermingling throughout all that border country. The prince spoke Burmese and Chinese, but very little English: though his schooling on the border had probably been rough and ready, he possessed in a strong degree that charm, which goes with a courtesy so cultivated that it becomes natural and can conceal the aptitude for decision based on a habit of command. The prince was accompanied by his son, a capable young man in his early twenties, who had been educated at the Princes' School in Taungyi and spoke excellent English. The Myosa explained to us, his son serving as interpreter, the difficulties of his position, the trouble he was having with Chinese troops, a battalion of whom had been stationed in Southern Kokang, and the hope that we might be able to come to his support. We discussed the situation and the nature of the\n\n*Strangely, he had been the Consul at Kiu Kiang in 1927, from whose house we retired to the warships",
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    {
        "id": 212828,
        "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": 137,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "122\n\nIn the air the intention was then to apply to the Chinese for permission for a British party to proceed overland from Kun-ming with supplies for the parachute party. The Salween front was really the Chinese front, but in view of the lack of information from that front and its apparent entire quiescence it was thought to be not unreasonable to establish a small British party there, whose first duty would be to organise guerilla-work among followers of the loyal Myosa. To arrange a parachute expedition of this kind took time; the selected personnel had to be trained in parachute work, wireless equipment had to be prepared, and an initial list of stores collected; also we had to wait for suitable weather. The party was not dropped in until early in December.\n\nIn that mountainous country it was difficult to discover a flat stretch on which to drop the parachutists and the place where they did eventually land was four miles inside the Chinese border. They walked, without interference, over the border to the first village in Kokang, where they met and were welcomed by the circle-headman; then the local Chinese troops heard of their arrival and not unnaturally expressed astonishment. At the time they were dropped in, the Commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force had been informed, but it took some time for the news to trickle down to the Chinese troops on the border. The parachutists were provided with identity papers in English and Chinese issued by the South East Asia Command, but the drop used was, of course, unknown to the local Chinese. Of this they made much play and for a few days the wires were hot explaining the situation. Pending clarification the parachute party was held in friendly detention, and when the situation had been cleared up they were provided with a Chinese escort for their protection. In the meantime the application was made in Chungking for permission for the British party from Kun-ming to go through to Kokang. Towards the end of December I returned to Kun-ming and recommenced the work of collecting material and personnel for the trip.\n\nIn early January 1944 we heard from Chungking that the necessary permission had been granted. I called on the general commanding the Rear Headquarters in Kun-ming of the C.E.F., who however had no knowledge of it. I was thus kept waiting more days, and meanwhile the parachute party reported that they had found the Chinese so uncooperative that they had decided to find their way out to Paoshan where they would meet me and explain all their difficulties. Eventually my party was allowed to leave for a town down the Burma road, where the Headquarters of the C.E.F. was stationed. The British Assistant Military",
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    {
        "id": 212833,
        "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": 142,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "127\n\nAlthough modern methods have reduced the danger of infections in the field, — plague, meningitis, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and small-pox all yield to inoculations or drugs — that still left typhus and the most dangerous disease to us, the deadly cerebral malaria, which lurked in these border valleys. Apart from the hazard of wounds and accidents, to be left without a doctor in such a situation was not too pleasant.\n\nAt Tetang we were provided with an escort by the Nth Division, a Central Government Division, and we were instructed to call on one of their battalion headquarters on this side of the border to surrender our pass. Two days later, on arrival at these headquarters, I called on the colonel. I had already learnt that the main Chinese defence line here was well back from the Salween, not in Burma, but on the Chinese side of the boundary. The Japanese had small posts along the Salween, so that in Kokang we should be between the two forces, with only the Salween to separate us from the enemy. I began to take a close interest in the width of the river and the speed of its current.\n\nThe battalion commander said that he would give us an escort and that the officer in charge of the escort would arrange with the local population for any services we might require in Kokang. One of the chief complaints of our parachute party, when they had been in Kokang in December, was that the escort provided by the Chinese acted to prevent the local inhabitants speaking freely to them; so I now explained to the colonel that in Kokang we would make our own arrangements direct with the natives, but I would, of course, keep him informed of all our movements. In view of our need for further supplies we were anxious to have a 'drop' as soon as possible, and as at the moment the only level place of which we knew was just inside China, where the first parachute party had been dropped, I asked the colonel whether he would have any objection to our receiving it there. He readily agreed and undertook to provide the necessary covering party. It should be remembered that during the next few months we were at no time more than a night's march from the Japanese; but the situation was not as dangerous as it may sound because we could expect to receive at least a few hours' notice of any unusual movement by the enemy.\n\nSo we moved forward of the Chinese defence line into the valley next to Kokang, set up our W/T, and passed signals to arrange for the sortie. We went out to prepare the signal fires, and Stan showed me the clump of cactus thorn near which he had landed; the site of the long thick spikes",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    {
        "id": 212834,
        "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": 143,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "128\n\nthat serve as leaves in this plant threw a new light on the perils of parachuting. The weather was propitious and the sortie a success. The supplies included a small proportion of gifts with which we were able to show our appreciation to the battalion commander, whose troops had provided most welcome assistance. On completion of the sortie I despatched Stan up the valley to enter Kokang further south towards Sincheng, where the Myosa's brother had his headquarters, and more especially to search for a suitable dropping zone inside Kokang, and not too near the Salween. Jack had already gone on into Kokang to Nancha, the place where the parachute party had stayed, and shortly after I broke camp to join him.\n\nMany paths over the mountains connect China and Burma throughout the length of the border; passage is unrestricted and along these paths the Chinese people are gradually infiltrating, circulating as hawkers, establishing their little shops, or cultivating a small plot of land. In Kok-ang the population was very mixed as it is all along the border country. Over half the population was now of Chinese blood; up on the mountains were many Lihsaw and Palaung villages. The Chinese distinguish between ‘Land' Shans and 'Water' Shans, Han Payee and Shui Payee; one meets them all through Western Yunnan and Eastern Burma, and Kokang had a proportion. There were also occasional Was and Kachins. The best description of all this country is to be found in Maurice Collis' Lords of the Sunset; and Where China meets Burma, a book written by a government official's wife, Beatrix Metford.\n\nOver a third of Burma is occupied by the hill people; they number three-and-a-half millions, and are governed by their chieftains and princes on the British principle of indirect rule; the princes come directly under the Governor of Burma and not under the corrupt clique of professional politicians, who have formed the core of the Burmese legislative assemblies during the past few years. The unit of control under the chief is the circle, which contains more or fewer villages, each under its own headman. The system has many feudal features well adapted to these conservative and primitive people. Nancha, where we stayed for a time, contained the residence of the circle headman of that district, a dear old gentleman, who could neither read nor write, but employed a Chinese writer for the purpose. The writer had married one of his daughters, as often happens, and lived in one wing of the house. The better houses are built round the four sides of an inner courtyard; the pack animals, the cows, and the pigs, may be housed on the lower",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    {
        "id": 212837,
        "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": 146,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "131\n\nwith him.\n\nThe marriage customs are many and curious. We happened to be passing a village on the day of a wedding and were invited to see the communal dancing; the ceremony included inspecting the bride and groom in bed by the fitful light of torches. It seems that immediately after the feast the lucky couple retire to bed and are there visited by all and sundry to an accompaniment of the sort of joking which does not appear in print. The custom of men seizing their brides in mock raiding attacks, staged for the purpose, is also common. During one such attack, until we discovered what it was about, we thought that we were being sniped at by the Japanese.\n\nNancha is high up the mountain, some 6,000 feet, overlooking the Salween, which here flows at 1,000 feet above sea level. The river itself was out of sight in the bottom of the valley where it ran between steeply-sloping banks. Across the valley on the mountain on the far side a mile away we could see in the bright sunlight the villages occupied by the Japanese. Their system of garrisoning was not continuous; they had one or two central posts, and from these they would man one or other of the lesser posts. Through my glasses I could see the posts; trenches with grass huts screened in the jungle nearby, and the ubiquitous Japanese flag. They were sited where the path entered the village high above the river: a mile away as the crow flies, to reach Nancha from one of those villages would take the best part of a day.\n\nFrom Nancha, Jack left to reconnoitre the Salween ferries, while I moved on more slowly as I wished to study the country and make friends with the people; we took three days to reach the Lihsaw village of Hsintang. Despite the small size of our party our progress was triumphal: the young women were shy and kept out of the way; the men were still cowed and not sure of their position; but the old women everywhere came out to greet us. They met us with gifts of bananas, brought up from the hot valleys below, chickens and eggs, neatly done up in long tubes of plaited rice-straw; and being of Chinese blood they prepared tea for our refreshment and invited us indoors to drink it. They said, \"We have not seen you Englishmen for a long time. Where have you been for the last two years? We have waited for you a long time, and now conditions are so bad that they are no longer to be borne. But you have at last returned and set our minds at ease.\" This blind confidence was very touching: may Britain long prove worthy of it.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212838,
        "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": 147,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "The mule track wound along the mountain side. Looking backwards, or forwards, you could sometimes see the green waters of the Salween glistening in the sun far below. At one point, the place was pointed out to me where Chu Ko Liang had built a fort on a knoll commanding both track and river. He was the able counsellor of Liu Pei, who in the time of the Three Kingdoms mounted the throne of Shu (Szechuan) in the second century of our era. Liu Pei stood 7 ft 5 in high; 'He could see behind his back, his ears reached to his shoulders, and his hands to his knees. He possessed the invaluable power of creating a good first impression and was able to keep his countenance under the most trying circumstances.' He sent Chu Ko Liang on an expedition to the south to subdue the border tribes. Chu Ko Liang is said to have penetrated to Burma: 'He made use of the famous device of \"wooden oxen and running horses\" as a means of transport. What the device was nobody now knows.' (From A Chinese Biographical Dictionary by H.A. Giles.) Legend relates that it was Chu Ko Liang who first thought to keep down the numbers of the wild Wa tribesmen by teaching them to bury a human head in each field at the planting of the spring crop; the plan worked all right until the Wa discovered that a Chinese head was equally effective in propitiating the gods, after which they looked beyond the tribal limits for the supply of heads.\n\nSmall side streams ran into the Salween, and each time we crossed one of these the path dropped several thousand feet, almost to Salween level: it would then rise steeply again up the mountain. Down there the hollows were very hot and steamy; the vegetation tropical and thick; higher up it was cool in the shade and many great trees spread their branches over the mountain slopes. We saw few large wild animals: the commonest I believe is the bear. The inhabitants say there are three kinds of bear; the pig bear, the dog bear, and the cow bear. I saw one pig bear in captivity; it had a thick black coat, little pig eyes, and must have weighed about 300 lbs. Tiger, elephant, panther, wild pig, wolves, sambur and barking deer also exist; the lovely Amherst and Stone pheasants, bamboo partridge, jungle fowl, hare, duck, snipe and quail. But we had no time for any of these; later, when our numbers had increased, one of our Gurkha wireless operators used to go out sometimes to shoot for the pot.\n\nNews of our arrival had gone ahead. As we moved along the headmen came out to welcome us; they prepared food for us and were disappointed",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
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    },
    {
        "id": 212839,
        "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": 148,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "133\n\nif we did not stay. They were not merely glad to see us because we were British; they hoped we would be able to arrange reimbursement to them for the cost of feeding the Chinese troops. At Nancha I had been most embarrassed by my large escort, which even after the subtraction of the men who were sent to accompany Stan on his reconnaissance, still numbered twenty; they ate at the headman's table and, when I offered to pay, the situation became difficult because it set a precedent inconvenient to the Chinese. Percy refused to allow me to pay, and I had to get around it by making a gift to the headman of some packets of needles that I had brought from India. Needles were very scarce and correspondingly valuable, and these particular packets had got wet when a truculent bullock had kicked off my box into a river, the day before we reached Nancha.\n\nAt the moment the Chinese troops in Kokang did not number many. The battalion had long since been withdrawn from the south, where the Japanese had established a bridgehead across the Salween at Kunlong. Of the fifteen other ferries in Kokang, six faced north across to Chinese territory. Over there the Chinese maintained guerilla forces behind the Japanese lines, and they had small guards on this side at the ferries, perhaps a hundred men in all. These troops sometimes brought in their own rice, of which Kokang was short, but they relied on the headmen to produce the rest of their supplies, cooking oil, vegetables, salt, and pork. In Kokang they fed better than in China, a small advantage which no one could begrudge them in view of the terrible hardships the Chinese troops had to endure, but it came hard on the Kokang villages. I was glad to learn that nominal prices had been fixed by the Chinese, after our arrival, though at much below current market costs, and that at any rate sometimes these were actually paid. The Chinese also called for free transport from the villages, and at Nancha the headman frequently had to produce plain clothes, taken off the backs of the all too scantily clothed people, for the use of Chinese troops crossing the river to join the guerillas on the far side. There, as in Eastern China, most of the guerillas were disguised as local inhabitants. There was nothing I could do about all this, except to suggest to the headmen that they carefully keep any receipts issued to them by the Chinese officers for supplies taken.\n\nIn Burma before the war paper rupees had largely displaced silver coins; but in these conservative border districts paper was not welcome, and silver coins were preferred. Of course, the paper money of the Burma",
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    {
        "id": 212842,
        "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": 151,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "136\n\nme whether I was afraid I would be arrested and carried off in the same way! It was because of the Lopez incident that for a long time some of the most useful men in Kokang, intimidated by Chinese threats, did not dare to work for us.\n\nAt Hsintang we occupied the thatched wooden building which the people of the village had erected for Lopez and in which he had been surrounded and arrested. It had two stories, with three small rooms on each floor, and packed into these rooms were no less than twenty beds, in layers. Though small, the building could thus house the whole of our party. All the furniture was made of bamboo, the beds, the steps leading to the upper storey, the stools on which we sat, and the table off which we ate. In the centre room below, Lopez had installed a mud fireplace, where of an evening we lit a fire, because here we must have been somewhere about 7,000 or 8,000 feet up and the nights were bitterly cold. The chimney, a hollowed bamboo over which we had to throw water every now and then, was unsatisfactory and the smoke hung about the top floor to the discomfort of those trying to sleep above.\n\nOur wireless was a great asset; it made such a contrast to the isolation which had been our lot when in eastern China. We could send and receive signals, and by laying the headphones in a tin basin, we could make a near-enough imitation of a loud-speaker to sit by and listen when the news came in. It was about this time that the Japanese made their desperate attack on the British at Imphal in an attempt to cut the railway, which supplied General Stilwell's Chinese divisions; in this attempt they were to exhaust themselves, and open Burma to reoccupation by the Allies. A little later General Wingate's second l.r.p.g. - long range penetration group - operations were launched. We were later to discover that the withdrawal of Japanese troops from all along the Salween to meet Wingate's threat offered an explanation of why they failed to raid across the river to disperse us.\n\nStan rejoined us, reporting that there was no flat territory in central Kokang, but that he found a hill slope which would do well enough as a dropping zone. The slope was near the large village of Lunghtang, two days march south, and we prepared to move there. The country became more open; the jungle on the mountain slopes was replaced by long grass. We passed herds of brood mares, with their young. The Myosa in the past had been the contractor for the supply of mules to the Burma Government; we were passing the breeding centres. A lonely",
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    {
        "id": 212843,
        "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",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 152,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "137\n\njackass stood tethered near the herdman's hut, on a knoll from which he could proudly survey his young.\n\nAt Lunghtang Jack rejoined us; he had followed the Salween and inspected all the ferries, except those around Kunlong, where the Japanese had established their bridgehead. During the past two years they had on several occasions raided from Kunlong as far north as Tawnio, putting the villages to fire. Kokang south of Tawnio was practically deserted and the mule tracks overgrown; there were no Chinese troops, but the Japanese were watched by standing patrols of the Kokang Defence Force.\n\nThe Salween at this season was low; in long stretches the current ran slow and the river could be crossed; the ferries were marked on the map at places, where tracks led down to the water. The width of the river, of course, varied; in the rapids where the water rushed through it might be no more than 100 feet, elsewhere generally nearer 300 feet. There were no boats; the method of crossing was to cut down a number of bamboos, lash them together, and paddle across. At the northern ferries small parties of Chinese troops watched on our side; the Japanese could be seen on the far side; but after the river left China to turn south, there were no more Chinese troops, and the ferries were watched by unarmed village levies, obviously ineffectively. The Japanese used the same system on their side, and at one ferry Jack had been able to shout over and hold a brief conversation with the two Kachin watchers on the far bank. At certain of the northern ferries shots were frequently exchanged between the Chinese troops, assisted by men of the K.D.F., and the enemy; and sometimes the Japanese would roll a gun up and lob some shells over; at other times it would be a trench mortar. On certain sections of the muletrack it was unwise to move by daylight.\n\nI sent Jack back to Hsintang where we had picked up some useful contacts, mostly thanks to Lopez' earlier work. Opposite Hsintang the Kachin tribes appeared ready to help, and we hoped we would be able to get people through onto the Burma road to watch Japanese movements, and so to facilitate Wingate's operations; if we could at the same time destroy some Japanese dumps so much the better.\n\nWhile at Hsintang I had been visited by one of the staff officers of the Nth division. I had with some difficulty persuaded him to allow our agents to cross the Salween at the ferry, which led most directly to the friendly Kachins and where the Japanese watch was not strict. We had",
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    {
        "id": 212844,
        "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",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 153,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "138\n\nconcerted a system of secret signs by which the Chinese troops watching the ferry could recognise our men; it was all unnecessarily complicated because with Jack there the Chinese, when in doubt, could quickly inform themselves; it was in fact part of their policy of making things as complicated as possible, the policy of obstruction.\n\nMeanwhile Stan was supervising the clearing of the d.z.; we hired men from the village to cut down trees and to burn off the long grass. At Lunghtang the mountain slope was less steep; we looked down into the small valley of a stream, which ran into one of the larger tributaries of the Salween at an angle, so that the far ridge interposed between us and the main river. Thus the fires which we would light at night on our d.z., to guide the aircraft, would be screened from the view of the Japanese posts on the far side.\n\nLunghtang was a large village off the beaten track, and because of that it had grown larger; people had migrated from the troop nuisance on the more popular tracks. There were really three separate villages, grouped near each other; rice terraces had been cut out of the slopes below, and in other less level fields maize and the opium poppy were planted. The water supply was not good; it was led in by a ditch which had been dug a long way, following the contour of the mountain. The water also drove a series of wooden hammers for polishing rice. The method was ingenious; a log, scooped hollow at one end, was balanced so that when water poured in from a bamboo spout and filled the hollow, that end became too heavy and dropped. The drop would tip out the water, whereupon the other end, to which the hammer was attached, dropped down with a thump and the hammer fell into the small hole, scooped out of stone in which the rice was held. The movement repeated itself without end. The circle headman was a close relative of the Myosa; he was a heavy opium smoker and at first was cautious in his attitude towards us, but later gave us much help, information about local politics, and good advice.\n\nI decided to establish our headquarters at Lunghtang. The headman selected a site, to one side and above the villages, to which we could lead clear water from the mountain through split bamboo channels. The water was first to serve the kitchens, then the wash-houses, and finally it would flow through and flush out the latrines. We were very pleased with our water-works. The walls of the buildings were made of bamboo lath and mud plaster; the roofs were thatched. There were quarters and",
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    {
        "id": 212846,
        "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",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 155,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "140\n\nthough that description is scarcely fair to him. I do not think he was really disloyal to his elder brother, the Myosa; he had merely been caught in a situation which was beyond him. He was a weak character, the Chinese had terrified him, and he was as butter in their hands. I was concerned for our protection; though Lunghtang was ten miles back from the Salween, apart from the unarmed village watchers at the ferries, and an odd post of the K.D.F., there was nothing between us and the enemy. I asked the Puppet to let us have twenty men of the Defence Force. We would arm them, train them, and retain them as our personal bodyguards. He could not refuse.\n\nDuring his reconnaissance Stan had investigated the state of the Defence Force. They were about 200 strong at Sincheng, to watch the Japanese opposite the Kunlong bridgehead; their arms consisted half of British and half of Chinese rifles; they were desperately short of ammunition; their training was poor. I arranged with the Puppet that after training the bodyguards he would send us his five Bren teams for a course and for equipping with new guns, as most of those they had were damaged. Later we would train a platoon at a time, and equip them with further rifles and light automatics. I hoped also to find men of the guerilla type for use in trans-Salween operations, but these men would mostly have to be recruited from the tribes across the river, so that they could return to operate on their own ground.\n\nThe controversy between Tommy and Sten guns had settled itself. I had been for standardising on Stens, but Jack and Stan were both used to the Tommy and insisted on carrying one; I carried a Sten, which with its clip weighed 5 lbs against their 10. I noticed one day a Tommy had been loaded on the pack animals and on going up the line found Stan carrying a Sten! An extra 5 lbs makes a lot of difference when you are marching up and down mountains! Jack too soon fell into line and we made presents of our Tommy guns to the Puppet, who already had one or two. I also arranged to replenish his ammunition supplies.\n\nThe country people were poorly clad; no new cloth had come in for several years. We were able to include in our supplies some bolts of cloth, Shan pants, jerseys, and rubber shoes; they were originally intended as gifts for those across the Salween who worked for us, but we soon found they dared not receive such gifts because the Japanese, when they saw anything new, immediately realised that it came from their enemies, and concluded that those who wore it were helping our",
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    {
        "id": 212852,
        "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",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 161,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "146\n\nanother. At about this time too I received a signal from Jack, who was doing most useful work across the Salween, that despite our previous agreement the Chinese were refusing to allow his agents to cross, unless they held a pass issued by the Headquarters of the Nth Division at Tetang. That meant a week's delay in each instance, and also it involved making public the names of our agents — the Chinese are not noted for security. So now I made a signal to our Headquarters, and the next I heard was that the Chinese had withdrawn their troops entirely from the ferries in question.\n\nJack himself crossed the river with a small party; but he found he could not proceed far. The Japanese kept a tab on all movement; at uncertain times their men would pass through villages, check the inhabitants and their pack animals. Any discrepancies had to be explained. Moreover, the Kachins were terrified lest the Chinese troops should cross over into their territory. It seemed that in 1942 when the armies retreated from Burma, there were a number of incidents between Chinese troops and Kachins, questions of women, taking food, pack animals, and all those difficulties which do arise on a retreat. The Chinese troops had left a bad reputation. The Kachins had killed some of them and they now feared, should the Chinese return, that they would take vengeance. The situation was difficult and we were unable to develop our plans.\n\nIn April we were joined by an American officer and his radio operator; from the first we had suggested that an American officer should join our party, and we were delighted when he arrived. He went off to join Jack across the Salween for a while. His operator stayed with us and was a great asset to our group. He had led a most interesting life in the States 'following the horses.' We learnt much about American race tracks, American girls, and other things. He would keep the campfire party at night amused for hours on end. At about this time too we ran short of \"imported\" food; things like butter, jam, sugar and tea. During the sorties that month our people had forgotten to include any in the containers, a lapse most unpopular at our end and the subject of lengthy and uncomplimentary comment, after the fashion of soldiers. But our racing expert now produced some American B ration, a large tin of butter, and another of jam, some cheese, some incredibly white caster sugar, such as we had not seen in months, and even a tin of pickles. It was all most welcome.\n\nAs will be imagined we were much dependent on the working of our",
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        "id": 212854,
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        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 163,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "148\n\nboiled water for the coffee was needed. I had hired mules and muleteers for the trip from our circle headman, to avoid the delay caused by changing animals daily on the way. The rains were just starting and I was anxious to get through before the mule tracks became impassable. We moved by short cuts through the mountains. In many places the track was less than a foot wide; it would slope outwards towards the edge, where the mountain fell away almost sheer. When it was raining, and the path slippery, I did not like it; I often got off my pony and walked. But the pony was very sure-footed; he would scramble like a cat over the more slippery places, and after a time I got used to it and no longer bothered to dismount. It was so uncomfortable to come back to a wet saddle.\n\nThe Chinese Expeditionary Force had commenced to attack across the Salween north of Kokang towards Tengchung and Lungling. As we followed the Salween to Paoshan we could hear the sound of the shelling. At several places we came across small Sino-American battle patrols, waiting to cross the river and join in, and when I struck the Burma road, south of Paoshan, the Americans kindly gave me a lift in a jeep. At Paoshan the lorry sent from Kun-ming to meet us was waiting.\n\nOur party in Kokang were short of cigarettes, sugar, and flour, and it was the intention to buy a stock of these in Paoshan, load them onto my mules, and send them back with Rogue. On our way out we had not once been asked for a pass by the Chinese troops; indeed we had none. I left Rogue in the hands of the British Assistant Military Attaché at Paoshan, who thought he would have no difficulty in getting passes for the return passage to Kokang. But he was mistaken; the passes were refused. Three weeks later when I left Kun-ming for India Rogue was still waiting for his pass and our people in Kokang were still waiting for their supplies.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215634,
        "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": 411,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "362\n\nwhich once made up Gondwanaland, with tree-ferns massing in the stream bed. It seems that the entire world is coming eventually to Cornwall.\n\nTom's in-depth knowledge of the flora of western China in particular was illuminating for us. He explained that whereas much emphasis is put in the protection of rainforests internationally, in fact small \"islands\" of temperate conditions and vegetation within the tropics, where unique species exist, are also vulnerable: a single fire, for instance, could break the growth cycle for trees. Collection of seed is of great importance, but Chinese taxonomy is underfunded (compared to botanical research for medical purposes) and collection for propagation abroad is illegal according to CITES. Another of his legacies to the future will be a naturalistically planted Far Eastern temperate woodland, with acers, viburnums, sorbus, gordonia, and the rare Taiwania.\n\nTom also delighted and surprised the group by being able to take us to see a specimen of the camellia named after HK Governor Alexander Grantham, and another of Camellia hongkongensis, plus a Hogplum (Choerospondias), which he said grows around reservoirs in Hong Kong. Full marks for being the only garden visited to have a direct Hong Kong connection, and to Tom for his thoughtfulness in pointing it out.\n\nAmong great gardens, that of Caerhays Castle is one of the greatest, particularly for oriental plants. The gardens are set spectacularly on a hillside cupped around the castle, with their back turned to the little beach and bay nearby and the sea winds, and are filled with some of the oldest specimens of rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias in England. The architect of the gardens was John Charles Williams, “one of the towering figures of the Edwardian age” (M. Campbell-Culver). By the time he died in 1939, he had the best collection of rhododendrons in the country, and he had been responsible for crossing for the first time the two most important types of camellia, C. japonica (from Japan) and C. saluenensis. The latter had been discovered by George Forrest in the early part of the 20th century in the Salween area of China, and Williams was an early recipient of seed. The resulting hybrids, C. x williamsii, are now some of the most highly regarded of all, being hardy, profusely flowering, and tidily shedding their dead blooms. (The original",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]