[
    {
        "id": 206245,
        "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-1971",
        "page_number": 62,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "56\n\nHONG KONG EDITOR\n\nmiles away round yon corner to the South! I ran down there for a day, to recruit, last week, and there, one walks by permission of these Celestial exclusives ashore, viz. on an island, called (I don't exactly know why) - Dane's Island. It is about 3 miles in circumference, and has a triple-peaked hill on it about as high as Arthur's Seat in Edin[burgh] which I mounted; and you can understand the titillating pleasure I derived from discovering a resemblance the most remarkable between the view from this hill and that from Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine! The absence of a fine City and bridge was all (quite enough, you will say!) and was compensated by a river-reach (in like situation, i.e. immediately below you) occupied for the length of two miles with full 50 gallant Ships of 1500 tons and downwards. The rest of the view the character of the country -- the distribution[?] of the water the mountainous horizon-bore a great resemblance to that on the Rhine\n\n+\n\npersons\n\nSociety here is at the very lowest intellectual ebb-and is thus unencumbered by that pretension and affectation which the half-educated and half-literary disgust you with..... whether they infest the walks of literature, science, art, or anything else. We are so far, therefore, much to be envied. I discover however ominous indications in certain editorial labours of certain here who actually arrange the types for two weekly newspapers imagine if you can, what a Canton Newspaper ought to be! Apart though from what seems, and of course is, mere banter in this - we are as a community perhaps the least enlightened, the least informed, and the most vain, and the most unamiable in our intercourse together, that ever existed of its size. An American missionary who conducts our \"Monthly Repository” excellently well-is a marked but almost solitary exception. The rest of us, unless there be some \"singular few\" who like myself think of all this in secret and are unknown, are to a Man engrossed in business — Oh most dreadfully engrossed — it beats every bondage of lucre I ever beheld; mammon rules not only in the office, but at the dinner-table, and no doubt over the sleepers' dreams; not a moment of life spared to one hearty thought of any other topic that might interest liberal Englishmen\n\nand, more shocking than all, not a moment of the 24 hours (I desire not to speak uncharitably and therefore only deplore what I fear to be generally not untrue) given to the consideration",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208997,
        "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-1980",
        "page_number": 159,
        "title": "RAS-1980",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n127 \n\nand gong, and a chi lin dancing, go over to greet the car. More fire crackers are set off to frighten away any evil spirits still around. The bridegroom gets out, dressed in a Western dinner jacket, white shirt with elaborate red-edged ruffles down the front, followed by other relatives, and then the bride. She is dressed in the traditional red kwa—a two-piece jacket and skirt made of satin and elaborately sequinned and embroidered, and hired for the day from a shop in Taipo. On her feet are red wooden-soled clogs with red plastic uppers, in her hair red ornaments, and carrying a pink feather fan. \n\nBefore she steps out of the car, two old women go to meet her. One is carrying a pair of black fu in a bamboo sieve to indicate the bride has older unmarried brothers or sisters or to indicate male dominance? This is carried over the bride's head as she progresses to the house. The other old lady places two bamboo sieves, with red painted circles in the centre, one after the other on the ground for the bride to step in as she walks. The sieves are rolled vertically over each other in a ceremonial fashion, and don't actually make contact with the ground until they are horizontal. The procession moves slowly towards the houses, the bride stepping in the sieves with each step, and following the chi lin, cymbal and gong players and the groom. When she reaches the groom's house, she steps over hot cinders in the doorway. She goes into the house to the back room which is their bedroom, and sits on the bed, with other female relatives and friends. The other villagers and guests then queue up through the house to take turns to peer through the window and doorway into the bedroom, to watch a first glimpse of the newcomer to the village. All the while, the mah jong and Chinese music continues. \n\nDaam, the Chinese term for a dowry, have been exchanged a week before the wedding. After negotiations between the match-maker and the two families, the proper amounts of money, food and livestock etc have been given to the bride's family by the groom's. The marriage has already been registered. \n\nAt 12.45 while the mah jong and music continues, men are seen going into the chi tong to light candles and incense in preparation for the actual ceremony of ancestor worship, which forms an important part of the marriage ceremony. On the altar in the chi tong is a large selection of edible items, including plucked and cooked chickens, pieces of pork, bowls containing sweetmeats etc,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 209607,
        "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": 264,
        "title": "RAS-1982",
        "content_text": "242\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\n1 Dec. 1852 - first performance of amateurs under new management.\n\n12 Feb. 1853 — Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Twice Killed\" farce (John Oxenham, 1837) \"Slasher and Crasher\" farce (J. M. Morton, 1848)\n\n19 Mar. 1853 meeting at Victoria Theatre for purpose of forming a Corps Dramatique to arrange for another performance at an early date.\n\n20 Apr. 1853 \"Animal Magnetism\" farce (Mrs. E. Inchbald, 1758)\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" farce\n\n19 May 1853 last night of season of Victoria Amateurs.\n\n\"Time Tries All\" dramatic drama (J. Courtney, 1848) \"Toothache, or The Prince and the Chimney Sweep\" farce\n\n1853/54 27 Oct. 1853\n\nMeeting at Victoria Theatre of those interested in theatricals to make arrangements for the coming season. (I found no notice of any performance for this season).\n\n1860/61 3 Jan. 1861 \"Still Waters Run Deep\" (T. Taylor, 1855)\n\n1861/62\n\n1862/1863\n\n29 Jan. 1861 new theatre, Hong Kong Amateur Theatre, performance by officers and gentlemen who have organized this establishment:\n\n\"A Bachelor of Arts\" (P. Hardwicke, 1853) \"A Nice Firm\" (T. Taylor, 1853)\n\n25 Feb. 1861 performance of Gentlemen Amateurs Mon. last.\n\n28 Mar. 1861 theatrical season drawing to close. Appreciation to the Committee. Difficult to see how the Amateur Theatrical Company could have managed without aid from the garrison.\n\nDec. 1861 - first performance of season:\n\n\"Cool as a Cucumber\" (M. W. B. Jerrold, 1851) \"The State Secret\" (A. Snodgrass, 1821, or T. E. Wilks, 1836) in same commodious erection as served so well for last year's performances,\n\n23 Jan. 1862 second public performance of Hong Kong Amateur Theatre:\n\n\"Not a Bad Judge\" comic drama (J. R. Planche, 1848) \"The Critics\" facetious tragedy (Sheridan, 1779)\n\n1862 season\n\n\"Cramond Brig\" (W. H. Murray, 1826)\n\nDec. 1862 The theatre a reproduction of last year's design. \"Uncle Zachary\" comic drama (John Oxenford, 1860) \"Fearful Tragedy in Seven Dials\" (Charles Selby, 1857)",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p",
        "rank": 0
    }
]