[
    {
        "id": 210407,
        "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-1985",
        "page_number": 14,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "Necessary to bring our Society and its activities to public attention. To this end, we have been assisted by media interest. We have to thank the South China Morning Post for an article on the Society which appeared in the Sunday Post Herald in November, 1985, just before our 25th anniversary celebration. There have also been a number of radio interviews on Commercial Radio and RTHK by our Hon. Secretary, Robyn McLean, our Council member, Elizabeth Sinn, and myself, as well as notices placed in the TV and Entertainment Times.\n\nTours\n\nWe have always been aware that members of the Society have been interested in overseas tours. Experience has shown that these are best arranged for the Society by a member of Council, but because they are busy people this is not always possible. Towards the end of last year we arranged for a questionnaire to be distributed to members on this subject. Some 45 affirmative replies were received indicating a continued strong interest in this area of activity. The matter was debated in the Council where there was divided opinion. Some members considered that we should not arrange tours through a commercial operator because expressed dissatisfaction, with or without reason, with the tour could affect the Society adversely; whilst others felt that this possibility was remote and outweighed by the service rendered to members. The Council voted to carry out one tour this year on a trial basis, and one will probably be organized for September. I wish to thank all members who responded to the questionnaire, and am sorry we have not yet made a written response to keep them informed.\n\nRecently another opportunity has presented itself, this time for a Guangdong tour under the auspices of the curator of the Fat Shan Museum. A 2-day guided tour is suggested. If successful, it is hoped that this will be the first of several of the kind. In this connection, the Council is grateful to Dr. David Faure for his initiatives and arrangements. Dr. Anthony Siu is also arranging a visit to Nam Tau (Shenzhen) soon.\n\nThe Hong Kong Museum of History\n\nxiii",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211782,
        "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": 197,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "172\n\nstationed in Shanghai during the 1860s were nearly always open air ones. But sometimes a theatrical company co-operated with one of the bands, like the Amateur Burlesque Company on June 29, 1864. Otherwise, performances took place on the Bund, or Embankment, along the river, which was the favourite promenade of the foreigners as well as the most prestigious section of the Settlement. Records have come down to us of concerts by the French 101st regiment in March 1861 (“By permission of Colonel Pouget [who was the commanding officer of the regiment JH] we are authorised to state that the band of the 101st regiment will perform every Sunday and Thursday (weather permitting) before the headquarters of General De Montauban at Messrs Rémi, Schmidt & Co. [this was in the French Concession JH] between the hours of 3 and 4”*. Further concerts by the Rhenish Band and the band of the 67th regiment in June and July 1864 provided entertainment which “the residents evidently appreciated (...) large numbers (...) congregating during the performances”.67\n\nProfessional musicians\n\nFrom time to time professional musical artists visited Shanghai, and, as with the travelling dramatic companies, 1864 and 1865 were a golden age for the public. In the first decades of the twentieth century Shanghai was honoured with recitals by, to name just a few, Feodor Chaliapine, John MacCormack, Fritz Kreisler and Amelita Galli-Curci, but during the fifties and sixties it was only the lesser gods that came to the city. In fact, hardly any one of the artists in this period can be traced in contemporary reference works. This does not mean, of course, that they could not have been capable musicians able to provide enjoyment during an evening. That such was not always the case, though, has already been shown by the criticism drawn by the performance of Prof. Shonbrun, which led the Herald to state that \"in this remote place we have so few opportunities of hearing really good music that we hunger for it and can ill brook disappointment\".68 But then there were Messrs Desvachez and Grossi whose concert in February 1865 had \"called for favourable comment at the hands of our music critic\".69\n\nYet, bearing in mind the conditions of travel in the 19th century, it is amazing enough that European musicians were at all willing to undertake an Asian tour with only very uncertain financial prospects.\n\n\"The first public concert (properly so called) that has ever been given",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    }
]