[ { "id": 204477, "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": 109, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "98\n\nJ. W. HAYES\n\napproval. This authority, with powers of discretion, was given to the D.O. to help preserve the traditional way of managing land within the clan, and to provide a cheap and impartial arbiter in case of dispute.\n\n13 In Shek Pik village the TSUI, CHEUNG, HO and CHI clans owned 1.1, 0.39, 0.55, and 0.04 acres of agricultural land in 1898. With the exception of the HO clan, they were intact in 1959. The TSUI tso probably dates from the fifteenth generation, and is therefore three hundred years old. The FUNG clan in Fan Pui owned 9.2 acres in 1898 but this was sold in 1953.\n\n14 At Fan Pui I dealt with a disputed case of ownership in which the defendant stated that eight lots totalling 9,581 square feet of agricultural land had been specially set aside as joss and oil fields (shen you tian). Fields are also set aside for the worship of earth spirits. At Cheung Kwan O village in 1898 the two clans of CHAN and NG administered 1.41 acres of agricultural land under the name of a to tei wui. The rentals were originally devoted to the maintenance of the to tei or earth spirit who looked after the village, but for many years the revenue has simply gone to the clans. Many other cases are known at Mui Wo and Tung Chung.\n\n15 See Chapter III (iii) and (iv) of H. B. Morse The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1908) which is based on an article by Byron Brenan \"The Office of District Magistrate in China” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society XXII, (1897-98), 36-65, and incorporates his own wide experience of China and her officials in the course of over thirty years' service in the Imperial Maritime Customs. Brenan himself (1847-1927) had served in China from 1866 and was H.B.M.'s Consul-General in Shanghai 1898-1901. Of the district magistrate Brenan wrote, \"The magistrate is the unit of government; he is the backbone of the whole official system; and to ninety per cent of the population he is the Government\"; op. cit. p. 37.\n\n16 Papers 1899 p. 583.\n\nThe text of the stone tablet outside the Tin Hau temple at Kat O, referred to elsewhere in the article, uses this picturesque phraseology. Contrasting their sorry lot beside the power of the yamen officials they had written in their petition to the Viceroy \"We, civilians, whose lives are cheap as ants... who are we to start a lawsuit against the district yamen's worms?\" An interesting feature of this inscription is that it follows the customary form of Ch'ing document in which reference is made in the text to other papers, by summary or quotation, instead of the western method of adding enclosures. See John K. Fairbank, Ch'ing Documents, an introductory syllabus, (Harvard University Press 1952) p. 21.\n\n18 When I asked an old gentleman who graduated sau choi in 1896 about extortion and venality among magistrates, he replied in distinctly extenuating tones \"Some did; but then they had so many people to look after\". He observed that there were some rich districts in Kwangtung in which a magistrate had to do nothing to obtain money as it came rolling into the Office in the way of presents, inducements, additions to land and other taxes etc., whilst there were others which were so poor that the magistrate could squeeze very little from them even if he tried very hard. This is curiously echoed in Morse, Trade and Administration p. 92 “In Kwangtung we (the Imperial Maritime Customs) have regularly applied to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206505, "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-1972", "page_number": 53, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TSUNGLI YAMEN\n\n47\n\nreach far enough' but also that he may not be able to be well acquainted with barbarian affairs. The acting imperial commissioner and governor Hsueh Huan, ought to continue to be responsible for managing affairs properly. As regards Tientsin and Shanghai, whoever manages all the business ought to copy the practice of the provinces in sending separate reports, and through these great officials keep the Tsungli Yamen regularly informed in order to avoid discrepancies. As regards Kirin and Heilungkiang, Russians have in the past crossed our boundaries and occupied our territory. Successive military governors have concealed this information and not reported it with the result that after a lapse of time we can no longer prevent it. We wish to request that instructions be sent to these military governors truthfully to report on the situation along the frontiers and not allow them to gloss over the facts in the slightest.\n\nFor matters involving China and foreign countries everything must be reported monthly to the Tsungli office for examination. Furthermore, in the particular port of Tientsin, in future trade will only be in the import of goods and there will be no large-scale export of goods. If, after a certain length of time, trade does not prosper the foreigners will decide to leave in disappointment. We propose that when the right time comes the situation should be reviewed in case we can abolish the trade superintendency and so discharge redundant officials.\n\n3. As regards the customs revenue of the newly added ports, we request that separate instructions be sent to the provinces that they choose upright and honest local officials and put them in charge in order to increase the revenue. We observe that hitherto in levying duties on foreign commodities the practice was that the full amount should be remitted to the capital. The customs officials looked on this as a source of self-enrichment. Embezzlement and smuggling and a hundred malpractices flourished, and were a great hindrance in the collection of customs revenue. Now, since twenty per cent of the duty on foreign commodities is to be withheld it is all the more necessary to clear off the account as soon as possible so as to avoid complications arising.\n\n[Note: The rest of point 3 is concerned with detailed regulations about the administration of the new ports opened to foreign trade. Anyone doing research into the origins of the offices of Superin-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206507, "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-1972", "page_number": 55, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TSUNGLI YAMEN\n\n49\n\nof trade at Tientsin and to the imperial commissioner at Shanghai to draft, in conjunction with the governors-general and governors of the provinces concerned, regulations to govern the payment of expenses involved in transporting revenue silver collected at the ports to the Board [of Revenue] and also for the salaries of customs inspectors, and clerks, for stationery and other items, and then to memorialize requesting permission to put them into effect, in the hope that this will speedily clear the withheld portion [for the payment of the indemnities] and lead to the eradication of abuses.\n\n4. In each province where foreign affairs are dealt with your servants recommend instructions be sent to the Manchu garrison commanders, the governors-general and governors that they should keep each other informed in order to avoid discrepancies. We note that hitherto, in the management of affairs involving foreign countries, because the Grand Council has not issued copies of memorials submitted and edicts respectfully received, the governors-general and governors have also not communicated with each other. Originally this was in order to maintain secrecy and to prevent leakage of information. Now, however, since instructions have been sent to the provinces, to the superintendent of trade and to the imperial commissioner that they should regularly report to the Tsungli Yamen at the capital, the Manchu garrison commanders, the prefect of Peking, and the governors-general and governors should regularly inform each other of whatever they ought to do, and only then will there be no discrepancies at all. Moreover, when one province manages affairs satisfactorily another province can copy it, when this province manages affairs unsatisfactorily that province can be on its guard against it. We note that in the second month of the ninth year of Hsien-feng, Ho Kuei-ch'ing, the former governor-general of Liang-Chiang memorialized that:\n\nhitherto all matters have been memorialized secretly, and that the authorities do not keep each other informed, and that there are no files which can be consulted. It has reached such a point that colleagues in the same office are not fully informed. As a result numerous discrepancies and complications have arisen. This certainly is a great source of abuses. Your servant requests that instructions be issued that those concerned should notify each other so that there is uniformity in this matter.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209292, "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": 195, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "BRO. TSUNG LAI SHUN IN MASSACHUSETTS\n\n181\n\nThe entry for the following year is identical, with the three addresses changed to \"34 Bay street.\" For 1875-6 it is simply:\n\nLaisun Chan, Chinese commissioner of education, house 34 Bay street\n\nThe following incomplete newspaper extracts indicate the effect that our brother had on the daily life of Springfield residents just over a hundred years ago.\n\nCHINESE RESIDENTS RECALLED, THE LAI-SUNS AND THEIR CHILDREN.\n\nA Picturesque and Interesting Family Who Lived in Springfield 25 years Ago. They Now Dwell in Shanghai.\n\nMany of the older residents of the city, and not a few who are unwilling to consider themselves old yet, will recall Mr Lai-Sun, the Chairman, who with his wife, and six children made his home in Springfield about 25 years ago. Mr Lai-Sun came to this city as a member of the commission appointed by the Chinese government to take charge of the Chinese youths who were to be educated in this vicinity. The head man of this commission was stationed in Hartford, but Mr Lai-Sun, acting as guardian for several of the young Mongolians, came to this city and homes were found for his wards in this neighbourhood.\n\nThis remarkable and picturesque family (for they continued to wear their Chinese costumes and to live up to many of their racial customs) are recalled just now by the news of an honor which has recently been bestowed upon one of the daughters by the Chinese government. The woman in question (who is now Mrs N.P. Anderson, living in Shanghai) will be remembered as Miss Annie Lai-Sun. She has recently been given an “imperial tablet” as a recognition of her services to the Chinese people in establishing a branch of the Red Cross society for work among the wounded during the recent war between China and Japan. Just what this tablet is we are unable to say, a copy of the Daily China Times containing a description of the memento and its significance having failed to reach this office. Our informant concerning the presentation of the tablet is Revd R.G. Keyes of Water... who roomed with Mr Lai-Sun when the latter was a student in Hamden college in Clinton, N.Y., about 50 years ago. Mr Keyes is now in communication with Mrs Anderson and his mention of the tablet suggests that it was a testimonial which brings a great honor to its recipient.\n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209659, "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": 316, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "294\n\nG\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nIn 1884 Brenan was H.B.M. Consul at Chefoo. His position in 1880 is not clear from papers to hand, but he appears to have been making official visits to various places on the China Coast.\n\n* China, Imperial Maritime Customs, Reports on trade at the treaty ports for the year 1879. Shanghai, 1880, p. 246,\n\nIbid., p. 247. It was on behalf of one of Thomas Piry's grandsons that this volume of the trade reports was consulted, leading to the discovery of the two letters to W. Keswick.\n\n& Ibid., p. 246.\n\nTHE VILLAGE WATCH IN THE\n\nHONG KONG REGION\n\nBefore 1899 most New Territories villages of any size had watchmen or constables employed by the elders to enforce local rules, and in the bigger villages these may have had permanent employment. Lockhart wrote of “kang fu (kaang foo) or village constables, who are appointed by the village, and paid out of contributions made by the villagers according to the extent of their holdings in land\". He continued, \"Their duty is to keep watch, especially at night. They have the power to arrest, which is deputed to them by the gentry and elders of the village\". Writing four years after the transfer of the New Territories, another official, F. H. May, added a qualification: \"The so called Police really only village watchmen formerly and still in some instances employed by the villagers were only responsible for prevention of larcenies between villagers. They were not held responsible for robberies by outsiders which were supposed to be beyond their power to prevent\".2\n\nThe village watch was still a feature of the local security arrangements in the 1960s. Baker gives an account of it in the Sheung Shui villages of the northern New Territories in the 1960s, whilst Watson mentions it in his book on the Man lineage of San Tin, in an adjoining area. My own notes, which follow, made at Nga Tsin Wai, the last surviving village of central Kowloon, in the mid 1960s also offer some information on the subject.\n\nBefore and after 1899, this old walled village* had an office\n\nthere was no wall as such, but the houses all faced inward, giving the same effect as an enclosure.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210868, "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": 219, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "202\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nHOW A-CHICK CLIMBED TO THE TOP IN SHANGHAI\n\nAfter his return to China, Tong A-chick, or Tong Mow-chee as he began to call himself, in some sense rode on the coat-tails of his younger and more prominent brother, King-sing.\n\nIn 1862, Mow-chee was employing his language skills as head linguist at the Shanghai Imperial Customs Office. King-sing had preceded him there but had left to seek better prospects.\n\nAt this time their father died and Mow-chee retired for the usual mourning period. Assessing his future prospect in Chinese Government service as not good, he did not return to his job after the mourning period ended.\n\nThe position he had held was a good one, but did not offer many opportunities for advancement, as higher offices in the Chinese Government were generally open only to those who held an official degree. Though he took steps to remedy this by purchasing a degree, he felt prospects in the customs were not bright. Later, when he had more wealth, he purchased the degree that entitled him to wear the peacock feather, and finally the button of the second rank on his hat.\n\nTong King-sing had become compradore at Shanghai to Jardine, Matheson and Company in 1863. In 1870, after leaving Hongkong, Tong Mow-chee through his brother's influence took charge of the Chinese business of Jardine's shipping office at Tientsin.\n\nIn 1872, King-sing was recruited by Viceroy Li Hung-chang to manage the newly created China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company. Though backed by private capital, it was under the control of the Chinese Government. The compradoreship of Jardines at Shanghai thus became vacant. It was natural that Tong Mow-chee should come down from Tientsin to take his brother's place.\n\nIn 1877 Tong King-sing was commissioned to develop the Kaiping coalfields for the Chinese Government. Mow-chee assisted...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211419, "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-1988", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "111\n\nTwo other physicians, one Japanese trained in Japan and one American trained in the United States, were also denied entry. Butterfield and Swire contested this decision in court; the court not only ruled against the company, but also made it pay a fine. Uncle felt he had to return to private practice because he had a family to support, even though he would have liked to study for two more years, and decided to go back to Shanghai where Western medicine was becoming more accepted among the Chinese residents.\n\nAlthough Uncle was proficient in Chinese, in preparation for an imperial examination (I believe this was one of the last imperial examinations held) for students who had studied abroad, he sought tutoring in the language and in the use of interjections. He passed the examinations and, according to Toby, he was awarded the degree of chü-jen. However, as I recall it, Father told me that Uncle received the degree of chin-shih; but would have been awarded a higher honour if his Chinese had been a little better. We have a copy of a photograph of him and the other recipients in their ceremonial caps and gowns taken in Peking. For Uncle, his family and his clansmen, it was an honour indeed and there was much rejoicing when he returned to Shanghai. His one regret was that he could not see clearly the Kuang-hsu Emperor (1875-1908) during the ceremonial awards, for although near-sighted, he was not allowed to wear his glasses in the imperial presence.\n\nOut of a sense of civic duty, Uncle served as medical officer for both the Customs Service and the Post Office in Shanghai, from 1916 until 1925 when he retired. When we visited him in 1919, his home was on Hankow Road. He later invested in real estate in the Chapei district and moved to Darrock Road, but all of his real property was taken over by the Japanese, and then by the Communists. When the Japanese invaded Shanghai, Uncle and Aunt moved south to live in Macau where he had become a Portuguese citizen earlier, and also in Hong Kong where he owned another home. When the war ended, they returned to Shanghai to live with their second son, Ting Hing R (Charles), and in 1948 visited with Toby in Taiwan for several months. When the Communists took over, they did not dare venture out of their home. Uncle died in 1953 at the age of 83, and Aunt a half year later in 1954 at the age of 81.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]