[ { "id": 204709, "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-1964", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "3\n\nThe expedition to Tung Chung produced a new inspiration for the Society's activities, mainly the idea of our admirable Hon. Secretary, Mr. R. E. Lawry. It is proposed to hold a symposium during weekends to discuss the social organisation of village life and other aspects of life in the New Territories. A programme has been arranged for the weekend May 9th-10th, particulars of which have already been supplied to members. This extension of our activities is in accord with the avowed objects of the Society for it is our aim to direct attention not only to the cultural and literary heritage of the part of Asia in which we live, but also to practical pursuits such as its natural history, fauna and flora, and the lives of the people around us.\n\nA particularly noteworthy and important work of the Society is the production of the Journal, the fourth volume of which may be expected this summer. The Journal, built up on the meticulous standard of editorship set up by Mr. Cranmer-Byng and the Editorial Board of which, until his departure earlier this month, he had been Chairman, has already achieved a well-deserved reputation among the productions of learned societies in the same field. The contributions which come from non-members as well as members are sufficiently varied in nature and interest to appeal to the specialists as well as to the general reader. The Society may well be proud of its Journal and grateful to Mr. Cranmer-Byng and his colleagues for their splendid work and achievement.\n\nThe Financial Statement of 1963, which the Honorary Treasurer will present to you, shows a capital account of £1,699.10.0 and an apparent excess of income over expenditure of HK$2,947.26. The real position in the matter of income, however, is that the annual subscriptions from members during 1963 amounted to $6,177.91, while the expenses amounted to $7,459, leaving a deficit of $1,282. This deficit is met by recourse to income from the small capital investment fund, the greater part of which was established by the generosity of an anonymous donor, when the Branch was revived, for the purpose of establishing a library and for other capital expenditure necessary for the future activities of the Society and not for meeting current expenses. For the small annual subscription of $20, members receive, in addition to the benefit of the meetings during the year, a free copy of the Journal, which is sold to the public for HK$12. To place the Society on a sound", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205054, "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-1966", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "4\n\nplace as Hon. Secretary he kindly introduced Miss Michaeliones, also of the British Council, who consented to take the position and was duly appointed. Mr. Lawry was not only a veritable god-send as Hon. Secretary but has been the mainstay of the Council and the pivot around which the activities of the Society revolve. Without his aid the Society would have found it very difficult to overcome the obstacles which it experienced in the early years. For the first two and a half years of its existence the rooms of the British Council were the Society's home, for, through the generosity of the British Council and the good offices of Mr. Lawry as its Representative, the rooms were placed at the disposal of the Society for its meetings free of charge, together with all their amenities and staff and the services of a projectionist with the necessary equipment for illustrating the lectures. On behalf of the Society I wish to express our deep appreciation to Mr. Lawry and to the British Council and their staff for all they have done and are continuing to do in support of the Society. Mr. Lawry's work was far beyond that of an Honorary Secretary. He has played a major part in building up the Society to its present flourishing position. He was largely responsible for initiating, inspiring and organising various activities of the Society, particularly our very successful excursions including the Macau tour last December and the symposium on the New Territories, which he organised in conjunction with Dr. Marjorie Topley in 1964 and which was one of the Society's most fruitful achievements. As I worked with Mr. Lawry more closely than anyone else, no one knows better than I how much the Council relied and the Society depended on Mr. Lawry and his ever-willing and devoted work. When the time comes I hope we shall have another opportunity to wish him and Mrs. Lawry god-speed and success in his future career.\n\nThe Hon. Treasurer's Report shows an excess of income over expenditure amounting to $1,915.96. The fact, however, still remains that last year, as in each of the previous years, the income from annual membership subscriptions fell short of the expenditure, though last year the deficit was only about $400, much less than in previous years. The deficit each year has been met from income from a small capital investment and from sundry small sums such as the proceeds of the sale of journals. In order to place the finances of the Society on a surer basis the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205705, "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-1969", "page_number": 11, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1968\n\nOn the retirement and return to Britain of Mr. O. P. Edwards of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank the accounts have been kindly audited by Mr. N. N. Chan of Butterfield & Swire (H.K.) Ltd.\n\nMembers will note that there is an excess of Income over Expenditure amounting to $6,970, compared with a deficit amounting to $738 in the previous year. This has largely been brought about by the increase in sale of publications, which this year amounted to $6,118 (against $1,708 last year). Such a high figure for the sale of publications cannot be expected for the future since this year's figures include the sales of 2 Journals (1967 and 1968) and the full effects of the sales of the brochure on the 1966 Symposium and Sir Lindsay Ride's booklet \"The Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao\". There is therefore no room for complacency, and it will be noticed that once again annual subscriptions do not cover our total expenditure, the shortfall being covered by bank interest, income from investments and the sale of publications.\n\nIn December 1968 the 125 shares in the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (London Register) were sold at a profit of $9,981 and are responsible for the large current account balance ($23,736). The proceeds of this sale have since been re-invested in buying 400 Hong Kong Electric and 400 Lane Crawford, the latter now showing a gratifying increase in market value together with a rights issue of 50 shares. There has also been a recent bonus issue of 133 shares in the China Light & Power. The cost over market value of 6% Commonwealth of Australia 1977/80 can be attributed not only to the low market value of this stock but also to the effects of devaluation.\n\nThe Society is expected to meet heavy expenditure in the forthcoming year. The 1969 Journal with offprints will call for an amount of $8,000 to 9,000, and it is expected that Volume I of the Journal will be reprinted in the near future, calling for another $3,000. Members are strongly urged to assist in increasing the membership of the Society not only to help towards the cost of this high anticipated expenditure but also to obtain a more satisfactory income over expenditure for the future.\n\nD. A. GILKES,\n\nHon. Treasurer.\n\n28 April, 1969.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206691, "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": 239, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS \n\n233 \n\nKorea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society-richly deserves the reward of seeing the wildlife of the Republic of Korea better protected in the future. This is, after all, the ultimate aim of books like this. \n\nHong Kong, 1972. \n\nMICHAEL WEBSTER. \n\nASIAN URBANIZATION: A HONG KONG CASE-BOOK edited by D. J. Dwyer, University of Hongkong Press. HK$60. \n\nTHE squalid living conditions which are typical of the bulk of Hongkong's housing have been a major focus for research at the University of Hongkong over the years. Overseas scholars have failed, unfortunately, to take much note of the lessons of the Hongkong situation. Asian town planners, too, have neglected to profit by the rich experience of Hongkong in attempting first to rehouse an immigrant population in a war-ravaged city and then to come to grips with the problem of holding a balance between what the Government could do to alleviate slum squalor without completely undermining the private entrepreneur in the housing market. \n\nThis work draws together a number of papers which represent a bid by a combination of geographers and civil servants to discuss the background to urban living problems in this colony. The studies also include a provocative contribution by a lawyer and an interesting essay by a town planner (who is also a qualified architect) to round off the discussion. \n\nHalf the papers were delivered first at a 1968 symposium, and this clearly has presented some headaches for the editor. The various chapters straddle, not always comfortably, the straightforward, simple narratives necessary to spark off seminar discussion while attempting to retain an academic approach based on original research. \n\nHowever, the volume is more coherent in style and more effectively drawn together than is usual with books of this sort, which is a tribute to the editor's labour. But much of the information is dated because of the time-lag in getting this work out. \n\nIn many ways, the most interesting pieces have been put together by two civil servants. Pryor's effort to apply techniques developed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206936, "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-1974", "page_number": 7, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "1\n\nPRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1974\n\n(Covering the period March 26, 1973 — March 25, 1974)\n\nI am pleased to report this evening on the activities for the past year of this Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The local branch of the Society was founded originally in March 1843, but unfortunately collapsed with the death of its Hon. Secretary in 1859, and despite all efforts it failed to revive. It was not until 1959, a hundred years later, that a group of people who had become concerned at the shortage of cultural opportunities existing in Hong Kong at that time, decided to bring the Society back to life, to provide a milieu for the study of Hong Kong, China, and adjacent areas. This met with considerable local enthusiasm and support. Many scholars — historians, anthropologists, sociologists and natural scientists, to mention a few examples — have given talks to the Society, presented papers at our symposia (papers often based on original research), and helped to organise field trips. The Hong Kong Branch, in its new form, has now completed its fourteenth year.\n\nBoth the Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Librarian have submitted separate reports, and the Hon. Treasurer will presently explain the mysteries of the balance sheet to us. I therefore propose to concentrate on our programme, membership, and plans for the future.\n\nTHE PROGRAMME\n\nDuring the year we have had ten lectures, one followed by an extraordinary general meeting, and two invitations: one to Dr. Dale Craig's music workshop to learn about Chinese music, and one to a lecture held by the newly-formed Ceramics Society on March 18, and delivered by Mr. Soame Jenyns, formerly Deputy Keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. We organised four visits to local places of interest, and one overseas, to Laos; and we held one week-end symposium.\n\nThe symposium was the first event of the year, and was devoted to “The fauna of Hong Kong\". It was organised by Professor Brian Lofts, head of the Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong, who also arranged two associated field trips. On the Saturday...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207628, "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-1976", "page_number": 16, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1975\n\n(Covering the period April 7, 1975-April 1, 1976)\n\nThis has been another active twelve months for your Society. I start my Report with a review of the programme and will then turn to matters concerning publications, the Art Centre, Library, Membership, and the Photographic Survey which has been one of our more recent ventures.\n\nDuring the period we have organised nine lectures, 2 excursions to places of local interest, and one tour abroad, to Burma. We have arranged two film shows, one recital and a symposium — the seventh in our series. Most events were well attended.\n\nLectures and films related to the regions of China, contemporary and traditional, Vietnam, India, Korea and Hong Kong. The year started last April with a lecture on changing patterns of merchant organization in late Ch'ing China given by Dr. Wellington K.K. Chan, a visitor from the United States, and also in that month we arranged our first excursion, to Macau, where members, guided by Dr. Leigh Wright, visited Chinese temples and toured the Museum and colonial cemetery. In May and June our focus was on Peking opera. In May, Dr. Rulan Pian, visiting professor in music at Chung Chi College, spoke on musical elements in the opera; and in June Dr. Chiao Chien explained revolutionary opera as a means for transmitting values and political ideas. The arts were further represented in June with a demonstration of Kathak dancing by a well-known expert Mr. Satyanarayana Charka; and in July and August we showed films--one on Chinese paintings and one on music. Another film dealt with the excavation of a Silla tomb of 5th century Korea.\n\nIn August Sir John Addis, formerly Ambassador to China, described a visit to Ching-te Chen; and in September a talk was given on Brahman ritual by Professor Fritz Staal. Also that month James Hayes, our editor and one of our vice-presidents who in his professional life is District Officer Tsuen Wan, led members to visit his area. The focus was on the past-historical places, the present, as well as the future of the area--development plans. Following, in October, a discussion was conducted by Drs. Graham and Elizabeth Johnson, both anthropologists working in Tsuen Wan", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209353, "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": 10, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "demand by other cultural societies like ourselves. St. John's Cathedral Hall was used occasionally but is not very satisfactory for our purposes for acoustic and other reasons. Towards the end of our year we were most fortunate in obtaining permission from the Government Information Services to use their excellent and very comfortable theatre. I express our great appreciation of this facility: long may we continue to enjoy it.\n\nPublications\n\nDuring the year papers from our 1980 symposium at Robert Black College entitled \"The New Territories and its Future\" were published by the Society. Dr. Alan Birch, who organised the symposium, was also the editor. Mr. Rydings, our Hon. Librarian, produced a second edition of the library catalogue and I take this opportunity to thank them both for their efforts on behalf of the Society. Mr. Rydings has tabled his separate library report but I would like also to thank those who have donated books during the year: Dr. James Hayes, who has given us many books in the past as well as those during this year, and also purchased several volumes to add to the library; and Lady Maclehose, who presented a rare 1933 tourist guide to Kashmir and seven old and also very rare maps of India and Kashmir.\n\nIn October, our 1981 Journal, edited by Dr. David Faure (currently on sabbatical leave in Cambridge), was published and distributed to members. Publication of the 1980 Journal was still beset with problems, this time on the printing side and because of changes at our printers, Ye Olde Printerie. This volume, the last to be edited by Dr. James Hayes, is now in the process of being printed, I am happy to say, and should be distributed shortly. I said last year that the 1980 Journal would probably be the last to be printed under the personal supervision of Mr. Y. F. Lam of Ye Olde Printerie, and indeed this is to be the case, and I repeat our thanks to him for his devoted interest over the past twenty years his firm has undertaken our printing.\n\nPhotographic Survey\n\nWork on the photographic survey has been in abeyance for most of this year as Tony Rydings and Ian Diamond, who have \n\nX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210660, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "them as Hon. Secretary to our Society. The departure of both ladies was suitably marked by a cocktail reception and presentations on behalf of our membership.\n\nI am relieved and thankful to report that both posts were immediately filled by two other ladies who are contributing in the same dedicated manner. Mrs. Anita Wilson, who with her husband John is a current member of the Society, took over from Mrs. McLean as Hon. Secretary, whilst Mrs. Sharon Bruce took up the Assistant Secretaryship. Both she and her husband Phillip are long standing members.\n\nSymposium on the Future of the Society\n\nIn my past two annual reports I touched on the possibility of holding a seminar to discuss the present and future of the Society in Hong Kong. We, as well as other local groups, will be affected in one way or another by the Sino-British Agreement ratified in December 1984 which arranges for the return of Hong Kong in June 1997 and its establishment as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is, in any case, desirable to take stock of our position now, to ensure that we are organized to meet the needs of the present transitional period and the changes which are evolving in this vibrant and progressive city.\n\nThe seminar has taken time to arrange because Councillors have been more than usually busy in the interim, but preparations are now well in hand, and it will now be held on Saturday 9th May, 1987. Our member, Mr. Ian Deane, with some assistance from myself and others, has nearly completed the arrangements for this important event. A special feature of the preparations has been a detailed questionnaire to which over 120 members responded, giving many valuable comments and suggestions. The Vice-Chancellor of Hong Kong University, Dr. Wang Gungwu, has kindly agreed to give the keynote address and other prominent speakers are likely to assist. Background papers will be distributed to members before the meeting in order to make the best use of the time available. They will cover such subjects as our organization, programmes and financing, the possibility of a bi-lingual operation, whether a change in the name of our Society is in order in preparation...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210957, "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-1987", "page_number": 19, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "ciation go principally to Dr. Elizabeth Sinn as Chairman of the Programme and Activities Committee, and to our speakers and tour leaders. As a gesture of the Society's appreciation, all our speakers have been invited as guests to attend this evening's dinner, an innovation that I hope will become a regular feature of this important event in our calendar.\n\nBack-up Organisation\n\nThe Hon. Secretary and Assistant Secretary have been very busy during the year, coping with the paper work associated with new membership and support services and with the many enquiries and arrangements connected with our programme of activities. In this regard we owe special thanks to Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Bruce. They provide an efficient service to members and to the Council, and keep us all informed through the Newsletter which is now a regular feature. Mrs. Bruce and her husband Phillip, a co-opted Councillor, have made a special effort to provide information on publications and to improve sales. Whilst this is proving very successful in earning revenue, it does involve Mrs. Bruce in a lot of extra work. In consequence, the Assistant Secretary's monthly salary will be increased in line with work done on behalf of the Society, backdated to 1 January this year.\n\nThe heavier burden of secretarial work apart, the new wave of interest shown in the Society in the past three years made it necessary to review our organisation in order to keep up with demand. We found that it was no longer possible to make all arrangements through and by the Council, as hitherto. At the same time we were also concerned with the Society's situation in changing times and needed to consider how, together with the rest of Hong Kong, we could best prepare ourselves for the future, especially in these transitional years before the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997. This led to the Symposium on the Society's Future held on 9 May last year.\n\nSymposium on the Society's Future\n\nThe symposium was attended by over 70 members, justifying the organisers' belief that such an event would be well supported. In addition, a detailed questionnaire sent to all members before", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211292, "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": 8, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 17 March 1989\n\nThe year has seen a continued great increase in membership, a fuller and more varied programme of activities, more sales of our stock of publications, an improved (but still not satisfactory) financial situation, and a start to the work of the several new committees set up following acceptance at last year's AGM of recommendations stemming from the Symposium Report on the Future of the Society. Thanks to Phillip Bruce, I am also happy to table the Society's new brochure.\n\nI have fought unsuccessfully my tendency to be long-winded: but truly there is much to report, and I believe it will be of interest to those present tonight and to the wider audience reached through the Journal.\n\nMembership\n\nOur Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Bruce, reports that there are currently around 700 Local Members, plus 116 Overseas Members and 5 Institutional Members. There has thus been another big increase in the past year, with 41 since 1st January 1989 alone. The gains obviously greatly offset the losses, but there have been about 50-60 deletions owing to departures and longstanding non-payment of annual fees. The local \"Ordinary\" membership includes 129 Joint Members (258 persons), as well as 104 Life Members and 10 Student Members. Approximately three-quarters of the local membership lives on Hong Kong Island.\n\nProgramme\n\nDuring the year, the Activities Committee, continuing under Dr. Elizabeth Sinn's energetic and imaginative leadership gave us a record-breaking 11 talks, 8 local visits, one outside tour to Foshan, Guangdong, and a Chinese Dinner at City Hall and a Cocktail Party besides the Annual Dinner after the AGM. A full list of these events follows:\n\nProgramme Events\n\nApril\n\n9\n\n16\n\nTour of St. John's Cathedral (organiser: Mrs. Doreen King)\n\nDiscovery Central (tour: organiser Phillip Bruce)\n\nPage vii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211588, "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": 3, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "Page 8\n\n# ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, HONG KONG BRANCH PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1989-90\n\n## Summary\n\nThe past year has seen momentous events in China, and in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Those in China naturally concerned us most. The Council met specially to consider and send a letter of concern to the British Government following the Tienanmen Square massacre.\n\nHere in Hong Kong, the Society continued to arrange as many talks and local tours as possible. We know that there is a great demand for places on local tours, and have therefore done our best to arrange events for which there need be no limitation on numbers. These included large-scale visits to places on Hong Kong Island, and to the site of the replacement airport at Tung Chung. On the latter, well over 200 Members, their families and friends were able to participate.\n\nTwo publications have been received from the printer this year. The book, The Turning of the Tide: Religion in China Today, in association with Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, was published at the end of 1989, and Vol. 27 of the Journal is now in print. Our current Hon. Editor, Dr. Patrick Hase, taking over the work already done by Professor David Faure, has promised the 1988 issue over the Summer. A start on the 1989 volume has also been made.\n\nThe Council continues to work through its committees and office bearers. The Activities Committee is the busiest of those established a few years ago, following the 1987 Symposium on the Future of the Society in Hong Kong, but the others are in being and take action as and when appropriate.\n\nMembership continues to grow, and communication becomes increasingly important. Thanks to Anita Wilson, the Newsletter keeps us all in touch with the programmes and provides other information of interest to Members.\n\n## Membership\n\nMrs. Bruce, our Assistant Secretary, tells me that 119 persons have\n\nPage 9", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211600, "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": 15, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "and his contacts with higher academic circles gained through his lengthy tenure of the post of Bursar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I am happy to hand over to him. As for myself, I have served for seven years, and felt it was time to move on. As it happens, there are two vacancies on the Council this year, the other being created by David Faure's departure from Hong Kong. This enables movement from the membership onto and within the Council, and onto the Committees, which is surely in the overall interest of the Society. Dr. Dan Waters and Dr. Joseph Ting have agreed to serve as Councillors, and Dr. Elizabeth Sinn has been nominated to the second Vice Presidency.\n\nThere will also be a change of Hon. Librarian. Mr. Peter Yeung of the Special Collections Sub-Library of the University of Hong Kong Main Library is handing over to his colleague Mr. Wan Yiu-chuen. We are most grateful to Mr. Yeung; but I must also thank Peter for his work on the Library Collection since he took up the post in 1985, his last contribution being to update the Additions catalogue. He has always been a good friend and colleague.\n\nI shall continue on the Council as there is a place for Past Presidents resident in Hong Kong.\n\nConcluding Personal Remarks\n\nAs the retiring President I am permitting myself a few observations on the Society in this, my last Report.\n\nWith benefit of hindsight, I now think we were off-track a few years ago, when we held the 1987 Symposium on the Future of the Society, in presuming that in order to survive the transition to the Hong Kong RAS and prosper after 1997, the Society must gradually become more Chinese in its membership, leadership and practice.\n\nAll the signs now point to a smaller reservoir of truly “local” membership and a much larger number of expatriate short-term transients of all nationalities (including overseas Chinese, many of them former Hong Kong citizens). In this changing community, towards which we have already been gradually moving over the last few years, the need will be for an English-speaking Society that is capable, as we have been to date, of explaining Hong Kong and Chinese culture to successive waves of newcomers. Thereby, we can continue to meet a definite need in the\n\nxiv\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213336, "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-1994", "page_number": 158, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "140\n\nbeing much lower. One reason for this may be connected with our public image. In the past, our leadership has been closely tied to the Hong Kong \"establishment\", and in tone and membership the Society itself was outwardly and distinctively British. We were probably more interested in learning and passing on information about China to other expatriates than in encouraging local Chinese membership. We could be snobbish and certainly inward-looking, and with very little difficulty could easily degenerate into a cosy little club of people who all knew each other and were mutually comfortable in the association of like with like.\n\nBy degrees, as Hong Kong changed, and as the knowledge of English widened to include a very large school population being educated up to secondary level and above, the Council had become more concerned with encouraging Chinese membership, especially as the Shanghai Chinese element mentioned above had diminished with the passage of time. We had thought of going bilingual, as one or two other of the local cultural societies had done from time to time. We also wondered whether we should change the Society's name by dropping the \"Royal\" prefix; though this has never been a bar to the continued existence, and undoubted success, of the RAS Branches elsewhere in Asia.30 These and other topics were discussed at length during a well-attended Symposium on the present and future state of the Society held in 1987, carefully prepared and largely motivated by the coming reversion of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.11\n\nFollowing the Symposium, there was a gratifying and considerable increase in membership, perhaps due to the re-energizing of the Society that took place then, and the number and quality of its programmes. However, to this day, there has been no great interest among the English-speaking Chinese public in becoming members. The fault may of course lie in ourselves, through being too British. Yet we have usually prided ourselves on being friendly and outgoing, especially in the last decade; and our venues have been popular and easily accessible ones, like the Urban Council's lecture rooms in the High Block of the City Hall in the Central business district and the lecture room at the Hong Kong Museum of History in Kowloon Park. Partly offsetting this discouraging trend, it should be noted that the Council and its working sub-committees have always included keen Chinese members who contribute much to the Society and its work.\n\nT", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213413, "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-1995", "page_number": 9, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "municipal library. For some reason which I have not been able to fathom South Korea has a Royal Asiatic Society - founded about thirty years ago and very flourishing it is.\n\nThe Hong Kong Branch however after its foundation in 1847 did not survive for very long and due to internal dissensions collapsed in 1859, not to be resuscitated until 1960 at the initiative of one of our past Presidents, Dr. J.R. Jones. It was resuscitated very much on the basis conceived by the founders, i.e. monthly lecture, an annual journal, the occasional symposium and publication. The one thing we do not have is our own building and permanent office, but to a certain extent we have overcome this since our library is very well housed in the Urban Council facilities on the 3rd floor of the High Block at the City Hall. In the past few years, however, the Society has added and expanded on the activities originally conceived by its founders, i.e. we have arranged a considerable outreach programme whereby we visit not only many places of historical interest, within Hong Kong, but travel to nearby places which has helped to put our perhaps rather narrow perspectives into a larger context. We have also arranged exhibitions, and we are now consulted on many aspects about Hong Kong, its history, the preservation of buildings, and other areas in which some expertise by our members is perceived to be important. In the last year for instance our members have been consulted by the Hong Kong Government, the Hong Kong Tourist Association, the British Broadcasting Corporation and an Australian Radio Station. We publish and provide a useful platform for our members to publish. In short we have expanded our activities and enlarged our fields of interest into wider fields than our founders originally conceived.\n\nThese developments are I feel to the Society's advantage. They have kept the membership up to a reasonable level with a good cross-section of nationalities. They have enhanced the Society's public profile, and they have given a strong basis for the Society to move forward confidently through 1997.\n\nThe above is of course a rather potted history of the Society but I think it is important to remind ourselves of the Society's background, because quite clearly we have entered changeable times and they are not likely to go away in the foreseeable future. Your Council has in the last year reviewed the society's activities and its objectives, in the\n\nviii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 } ]