[
    {
        "id": 209770,
        "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": 29,
        "title": "RAS-1983",
        "content_text": "SO KON PO (M): NOTES FOR THE VISIT MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY, 26TH NOVEMBER 1983\n\nThe Hong Kong Government's Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (1960) describes the area as follows:\n\n\"This locality is centred around the Government Stadium (KV101659) with a disused cemetery and a cottage resettlement area, known as Ching Man Tsuen or So Kon Po Resettlement Area (ER***H) on the slopes around that stadium.\n\nAn adjoining locality, which includes several sports grounds and a large Government garage north of So Kon Po, is known as Caroline Hill.\"\n\nAs will be seen from Revd. Carl Smith's notes (which follow), this notice gives no idea of the interesting history and development of So Kon Po. A small traditional rice-growing Chinese hamlet in 1841 its main livelihood extinguished by early British expropriation of its paddy fields, along with those of Wong Nai Chung village in the adjoining Happy Valley, to prevent sickness among the new settlers it later saw other farming ventures under different owners, and industrial ventures connected with Jardine Matheson's activities at East Point, close by. After a second take-over of private land by Government in the 1920s it experienced conversion to large scale recreational use, with the Government Stadium and several other recreational grounds and facilities.\n\nThis covering note is, however, more concerned with other aspects of human activity in this still picturesque valley, for it contains a number of, by now, well established institutions. These exemplify the varied strands of Hong Kong's life, and the influences which have been brought to bear on our community over the years.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 209771,
        "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": 30,
        "title": "RAS-1983",
        "content_text": "There are at the present time:\n\n(a) So Kon Po Cottage Resettlement Area — this comprises Wesley Village (Methodist Church of Hong Kong with the Hong Kong Government's Housing Department) and other adjoining areas under the sole charge of Housing Department. Already housing 1,700 persons in 1955, at their peak (1966) the authorized population of these areas was around 3,000 persons. Wesley Village, built in 1954, now has only 52 houses with about 240 residents.\n\nThe Cottage Areas mostly dated from the early 1950s and preceded the multi-storey resettlement estates that, in turn, have been superseded by the modern, comprehensively planned low-cost public housing estate complexes. Religious and community bodies assisted with the provision of cottages and amenities. Wesley Village is one of the last remaining examples.\n\n(b) The Confucian Middle School a privately funded establishment exemplifying the Confucian ethic with its emphasis on human relationships and the preservation of a strong ethical (moral) element in education and social conduct. The school stands in the grounds of the Confucius Hall of Hong Kong (1935). Interesting and valuable information on the background and history of this and related Confucian organisations in Hong Kong is contained at pp 10-13 of The Journal of Confucius, Vol. 2, October 1983.\n\n(c) The Race Course Fire Victims' Memorial — a granite-built terrace with two pavilions and a large memorial, exemplifying the Buddhist concern with easing life in purgatory and the hereafter through commemoration and the performance of rites to ease unquiet spirits of persons who had died in accidental circumstances. This Memorial is built in an area still called \"Coffee Gardens\" (咖啡園), after a nineteenth-century coffee plantation on the site.\n\nPage 30\n\nPage 31",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v",
        "rank": 0
    }
]