[
    {
        "id": 211681,
        "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-1989",
        "page_number": 96,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "71\n\nof the boatswain's whistle the Union Jack was hauled down, while the sailors presented arms and the civilians stood to attention: then we all stooped to collect our chattels, and the party in single file, laden as if returning from an especially successful jumble sale, passed over the Bund under cover of an additional guard detailed from the hulk. A surprised and now silent crowd of Chinese looked on with enquiring eyes at the strange procession, as it moved up the gangway, round the hulk, and on to H.M.S. \"Wyvern\", which had been brought alongside.\n\nWhile this withdrawal took place at Butterfield's hulk, a similar retreat was in progress from the other point of concentration further up the Bund, across Jardine's hulk, to H.M. gunboat \"Scarab”. The small group of American residents in Kiu Kiang had withdrawn to their own ship several days before.\n\nThe two warships cast off and anchored in mid-stream. The evacuees numbered three dozen males of several nationalities and various walks in life. With proverbial hospitality the Navy set about finding berths for them all; I was lucky to be detailed to one of several houseboats which had made fast alongside,\n\nThese motor-houseboats were designed for travel along the creeks and canals that formed an extensive inland water system throughout the Yangtze valley. Business men were thus able to visit in comfort the numerous cities of central China, to discuss affairs with their Chinese agents and dealers, check stocks, arrange remittances of funds through the native banks, and survey the market. The convenience was great in a country entirely devoid of motor roads. The boats were also ideal for week-end shooting trips. In season, the countryside teemed with game: snipe, woodcock, every species of duck and teal, geese and bustard; hare, hog-deer, quail, bamboo-partridge the best eating-bird of the lot and the king of them all the magnificent Chinese pheasant.\n\n―\n\nJ\n\nM.H.B. \"Hsun Si\" was a typical craft of her kind. She was fifty feet long and drew four feet of water. Right forward over the companion-way stood the small wheelhouse, where the \"laodah\"* sat to steer. Down\n\n* \"Laodah\". Name by which chief member of the Chinese crew was called. Translated literally it meant \"old great one” — generally old in skulduggery and great in prevarication. As a class, delightful. They would blandly fleece the unwary on coal, firewood, kerosene, cleaning materials, and market purchases; and more especially on mops, which would wear out at a phenomenal rate. But the real \"clean-up\" would occur during the annual overhaul, which often led to a change, but not for the better, of laodahs.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215607,
        "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": 384,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "334\n\ncremation after a few years in a coffin grave. This paper concentrates on columbaria in municipal cemeteries in Hong Kong, and contrasts the conservative designs of the public sector with the more expressive solutions of private providers. It contains the statistics about numbers of 'cremains' stored in niche walls and columbaria that I had obtained from cemetery managers, whose co-operation was invaluable. The statistics should be regarded as indicative rather than precise.\n\nDeath has to be planned for as much as life. Storing the dead is a sensitive issue, for the family as well as the state. The worldwide story of columbaria through the ages is one waiting to be told, although sporadic information is to be found in the key texts on cemetery history such as James Curl's A Celebration of Death (1993) and Silent Cities (K.T. Jackson and C.J. Vergara, 1989). Columbaria pose an intriguing challenge to contemporary architects and some of the resulting designs can make for striking and imposing contemporary landscape artefacts. Compared with cemeteries, columbaria are much more focused and inward looking. Cemeteries have the advantage of being outdoors, with all the distractions of the fresh air, the sky, distant views, maybe trees and even some landscaping - though this is rare in Hong Kong, an exception being sections of the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley. Landscaping was a fundamental part of the design of new private cemeteries that I visited in Guangzhou.\n\nHow will cyberspace supplement and perhaps supplant the material memorial space of cemeteries and columbaria? Cemetery managers I interviewed in Guangzhou were already thinking about this.\n\nTeather, E.K. (1998). Themes from complex landscapes: Chinese cemeteries and columbaria in Hong Kong, Australian Geographical Studies 36(1): 21-36.\n\nIn this paper, I tried to break away from the straightforward description and painstaking attempt to understand the social and belief systems that underpin cemetery layout and ritual. I tried to capture a little of the contrasting landscapes, symbolisms and moods of four of Hong Kong's cemeteries: Diamond Hill Urn Cemetery (1931); Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery (1915); sprawling Sandy Ridge Cemetery on the border with Guangdong Province (1950); and St. Raphael's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Lai Chi Kok (1946).",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]