[ { "id": 205406, "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-1967", "page_number": 168, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n161\n\nVISIT TO PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST IN THE\n\nABERDEEN AREA OF HONG KONG ISLAND\n\nAs mentioned in the President's Report printed at the beginning of this volume, this visit took place on 1 April 1967. Nearly 150 members took part, despite the threatening weather, and were rewarded for their persistence by being caught in the open by the first recorded hail-storm for twenty-seven years. The notes prepared for the visit are reproduced here.\n\nI. AN EARLY HONG KONG MILESTONE\n\nOne of the early granite milestones of Hong Kong has recently been re-discovered near Aberdeen. It is located on a forgotten and now disused stretch of the original military road from Town to Aberdeen, opened in the first few years after the establishment of the Colony in 1841. It was brought to light through information given by Mr. TONG Kai (), aged 45, of Pokfulam Village. Mr. TONG used to live in the hut which has been built on the site of the milestone. One-third of the stone is actually embedded in the outer wall of the house. This section of the road was only part of the new round-the-island road system.\n\nThe annual Colonial Reports on Hong Kong for 1845-46 mention the road. Eighteen miles out of twenty-three were reported completed in the 1845 report. Work had begun on the remaining 5 miles by the time the 1846 report was ready for signature. \"For purposes of military protection as well as Police, and for the general traffic and internal communications of the Colony,\" said the report, \"this road is essential\". The circular road was not wholly ascribable to the English engineers, as some part of it had already been made by the Chinese and was improved and enlarged.\n\nSo far as is known, it is the only survivor of the milestones on this route. When G. R. Sayer wrote his Hong Kong, Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age published by the Oxford University Press in 1937, there were still six of them in situ—the third and fourth starting from town towards Stanley and the second, third, fourth, and fifth along the road to Aberdeen. This is the only one I have been able to trace, except for one at the Upper Tai Tam Reservoir on the old road to Stanley.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207976, "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-1977", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S Report TREASURER's Report THE LIBRARY\n\nCONTENTS\n\nPage\n\n1\n\n6\n\n10\n\nTRANSACTIONS :\n\nBrunei: A Historical Relic - LEIGH WRIGHT\n\nBehind Japanese Barbed Wire: Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong 1942-1945 - G. C. EMERSON\n\nA Journey to Yenan 1946 - W. A. REYNOLDS\n\nARTICLES:\n\nTwo Essays on the Ch'ing Economy of Hsin-An, Kwangtung - J. T. KAMM\n\nUnder Altars - K. G. STEVENS\n\nSocial Organization and Ceremonial Life of Two Multi-Surname Villages in Hoi-p'ing County, South China, 1911-1949 - YUEN-FONG WOON\n\n\"Little Fujian (Fukien)” Sub-Neighbourhood and Community in North Point, Hong Kong - GREGORY E. GULDIN\n\nReprinted ARTICLES:\n\nCheung Chow - Long Island - W. J. HINTON\n\nMemories of the District Office South, Hong Kong - W. SCHOFIELD\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nNotes for the Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Tai Mo Shan, 3rd April 1976 — (I) L. B. and S. L. THROWER (II) JAMES HAYES\n\nNotes for the Visit to the Tang Family Graves, 11 December 1976 - DAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES\n\nRoyal Asiatic Society Visit to Tsuen Wan, 10th December, 1977 - A Village War'. JAMES HAYES\n\nThe Rural History Project in Yuen Long and Field Notes on the Social History and Fung Shui of Kam Tin - J. T. KAMM\n\nBean Skim, A Product of Blood and Sweat\n\nFour Chinese Banks Fail, Partners Blame Head\n\nTwo Letters From Wartime China\n\nA Further Note on Feng Yun-Shan and Gützlaff - Jen Yu-wen\n\nReptiles New to Hong Kong - J. D. ROMER\n\nThe Public Botanic Garden of Hong Kong\n\nBirds of Tai Mo Shan - MICHAEL Webster\n\nOccurrence of the Birds - J. D. ROMER\n\n12\n\n30\n\n(55)\n\n85\n\n101\n\n112\n\n130\n\n144\n\n179\n\n(185)\n\n199\n\n216\n\n218\n\n220\n\n228\n\n232\n\n234\n\n236\n\n237\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208703, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 160, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "142\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nwhatever food for the Club which could not be bought in the market.\n\nFather Meyer in October notes that the money exchange rate for the U.S. dollar was HK$7.50, although the official rate given by the banks was only HK$4.00. He opined that this difference came about because the U.S. dollar had become a sort of \"super currency\" for South China because the Chinese considered it much safer than their own.\n\nDuring the \"post occupation\" days when everyone in Hong Kong was trying to put the pieces together again, the U.S. Navy was a great help to Father Meyer, particularly Father Hargreaves who often stayed at the Maryknoll House in Stanley. Father Don Hessler, who had volunteered to remain in the Internment Camp with Father Meyer in order to care for the people not repatriated on the Gripsholm, was recalled to the U.S. after Father Tennien's arrival in Hong Kong to take over the Stanley House. Father Don had organized a school for the children of Stanley Village, and continued to work for the warders and prisoners in the jail. He and the Carmelite Sisters also took care of the Japanese internees who had been transferred to the barracks on the tip of the Stanley peninsula. They found 12-15 Catholics among them. General Festing, who was in charge of the Japanese internees, was a Catholic and very helpful to the Sisters and to Father Hessler. There were some 8,000 Japanese internees and Father Meyer had been toying with the idea of asking Maryknoll to send Japanese-speaking Maryknollers to take care of them. He himself would have done this but his time was completely taken up with the organization of the Catholic Club in town, and organizing Catholic Action Groups. The Club opened on October 19—Armistice Day. It served 1,722 meals that day. Catholics made up 20 per cent of those who patronized the Club in order to eat something other than barracks' and ships' rations.\n\nFather Tennien arrived to take over Stanley on November 26th. His first report on the House was: \"Not bad considering most of the homes and institutions in Hong Kong, although the flooring had been pulled up. Open fires for cooking in the rooms had blackened all the walls but did not damage them.\" He held off on major repairs due to the almost impossibility of getting materials, and the inflated cost of labor at the moment. Government was selling", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208716, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "146\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nManila, would have made the journey more comfortable. Another early visitor was Father John Smith of Kong Moon mission, just returning from the States. Apparently his stay at home had made him careless and he had not been on the Hong Kong streets very long before he was \"taken\" by several urchins who successfully \"lifted\" his fountain pen while pretending to fight over the privilege of shining his shoes.\n\nEarly in April, Father Tennien returned to Shanghai after a visit to Hong Kong. At this time, Father Brack recovered a goodly number of articles which the Carmelite Sisters had managed to save from looters by storing them in their convent. Among these were books, vestments, an adding machine and some typewriters, together with a lot of stationery. They had also kept in their convent a large wooden crucifix and two large statues, both the beautiful handwork of Brother Albert, to be replaced in the Chapel.\n\nIn addition to the ravages caused by the Japanese on Stanley House, another enemy moved in and inflicted more damage. This enemy was white ants, and they did a rather thorough job on much of the woodwork that had remained otherwise intact.\n\nWe learned that national currency was getting to the point where one \"weighed\" it rather than \"counted\" it. A big shopping spree in Shanghai or Canton required hiring a coolie or ricksha to carry enough bundles of paper currency to pay the bills. At the same time, prices in Hong Kong were outrageous; a cheap white suit costing HK$160—over ten times the pre-war price!\n\nA Korean Dominican priest, Father Ri, stayed at Stanley while working with Japanese political prisoners now detained in the Stanley jail where the British and American internees spent the war years.\n\nIn May, Archbishop Zanin, Apostolic Delegate to China, arrived by plane from Shanghai for a conference with more than a dozen Ordinaries of South China, including our four Ordinaries.\n\nBishop Paschang arrived at Stanley for the conference, with a Van Dyke beard. Only his episcopal rank saved him from the customary Stanley practice of removing beards by force!\n\nOur jeep made five trips into Hong Kong in one day. Sometimes it must carry nine passengers with baggage, but without it, we would be lost.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211612, "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": 27, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "2\n\nfor 1959 and 1972 when he was on leave). After the Kwong Chow was demolished, these events were held in the Ying King Restaurant, in Wanchai. Many architects, engineers, surveyors, Public Works Department staff, and contractors attended these functions. Speeches were made, and all present, at a given moment, paid their respects by bowing three times to a portrait of Lu Pan.\n\nBut a builder's life is not all brandy and shark's fin soup. Steep, rugged, rocky Hong Kong is not ideal terrain for many projects. In the early days of the Colony, when roads and reservoirs were built (the first reservoir, at Pok Fu Lam, was completed in 1864), there was little in the way of mechanical equipment. It was not until 1962 that the first crane was used to construct a building, the Hilton Hotel (originally named the American Hotel).\n\nEven today, for structures up to 150 metres high, the ubiquitous bamboo, which typifies an exemplary man's life in that it grows tall, straight, and yet is flexible and versatile, with rings marking important achievements in a person's career — is still used for scaffolding. It bends rather than breaks and is about one-third the price of steel. Bamboo is, or has been, also used for making (among other things) chipboard, woven bed mats, furniture, water pipes, fishing rods, summonses for secret-society meetings, and Chinese medicine. In addition, bamboo shoots provide a tasty dish.\n\n10\n\nAlthough some old building techniques, like bamboo scaffolding, are still in use, many have long since disappeared, along with the ancient structures built using them.” A few of the latter are, however, still left.\" These include \"walled\" villages, such as Kat Hing Wai at Kam Tin, and the 600-year-old, three-storey Tsui Shing Lau at Ping Shan in the New Territories. This was built in a geomantically favourable location to placate the God of Literature and originally had seven floors. But the upper part was damaged in typhoons. This Man Pat (its local name) Pagoda was built to improve the performance of the Tang clan of Ping Shan in the imperial examinations. Academic results indicate the edifice proved effective.\n\nIn the urban area, Victoria Prison, off Arbuthnot Road in Central, which was completed in 1843, is said to be the oldest jail still in use for that purpose in the Commonwealth. Hangings used to take place there (the last in Hong Kong was at Stanley Prison on November 6, 1966),", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214762, "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-1999", "page_number": 177, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "141\n\nMonday fifteenth. Contact Canadians who have positions at foot of Bennetts. They are very helpful bringing us hot tea and helping us in our digging. Am now in the army without a doubt and under the orders of Major Baillee of E Battalion Winnepeg Grenadiers with hqrs at Wanchai Gap. More heavy bombing of Aberdeen harbour, heavy casualties to Naval personnel caused by explosions of torpedoes and depth charges.\n\nTuesday. Japs attempt landing at Lye Mun but party wiped out by six inch guns. Heavy shelling by Japs of Wanchai Gap and Stanley bombed. Driving the staff car into HK I have a lucky escape as a stick of bombs meant for the Thracian in Deep Water Bay drops on the road just behind me.\n\nWednesday. Hennessy goes to Canadian hqrs on Col Sutcliff's staff. Intense bombing and shelling of island defences. One stick aimed at us misses. Another day of hard work and very little food. During the night enemy warships shell the island and shrapnel shells burst right over our heads giving us an uncomfortable time. Two cruisers and one destroyer had been seen the previous night. One six inch shell of British make struck the AIS and knocked a large hole in the wall of MTB repair shop, also completely writing off my car.\n\nThursday. Enemy succeeded in landing on island last night and forced their way into Happy Valley despite heavy casualties. Scots and Canadians fail in attempt to drive them out. Japs in large numbers assisted by fifth columnists. Landing covered by intense artillery and naval bombardment. News muddled and rumours of all kinds are rife.\n\nFriday nineteenth. News still confusing but Japs push into Wong Nei Chong Gap. My positions were designed against attack from the West not East and we have to improvise a new line. Lt Campbell takes a party of men to go to the assistance of Canadians trapped in Wong Nei Chong, their place being filled by Chinese volunteers. Major Giles RM arrives with a small party. Eventually the Chinese go, much to our relief, as they are much too jumpy. Junior now in charge of Bennetts with Giles and myself commanding a sector running from the foot of Bennetts to Mt Nicholson. Situation very tense and we spend a sleepless night. Pours with rain all night and bitterly cold. Everyone soaked through and half dead by the morning as we had no protection against", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]