[ { "id": 210787, "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": 138, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "121\n\nBritish Navy stationed at Hong Kong which eradicated free-booting from the China coast. Equipped with the newest steam gun-boats designed for navigation in shallow water, the British commenced a blitz on piracy in 1863, and in a short period rousted the privateers from their haunts in Hainan's shallow river estuaries. To prevent a revival of piracy, the Guangdong provincial government was provided with similar gunboats officered by Englishmen, to patrol the waters surrounding Hainan,\n\nRestoration of trade\n\nThe quashing of piracy led to a rapid restoration of trade between Hainan and the mainland, which in turn, aroused for the first time the interest of foreign merchants in this unknown island which had previously been dismissed as merely a sanctuary for pirates and banditti. This interest resulted in the opening of K'iungchow as a treaty port in 1876 and the development of a thriving trade with Hong Kong. A steamer link with the British colony was established and Hainan produce was ferried on the regular service. Raw sugar, vegetable oils and livestock (cattle, pigs, ducks, chickens and frogs) were the chief exports, while betel nut, copra, rattan, sisal hemp, hides, tallow, medical herbs and incense timber were shipped in small quantities (Henry, 1886; Moninger, 1919). Unfortunately, Hainan did not escape the baneful effects of opium which became the island's principal import (Henry, 1886), its use being justified in warding off the deadly malaria endemic throughout the island (Swinhoe, 1872a).\n\nWith the flurry of business activity, companies formed with foreign and Cantonese capital mushroomed everywhere in Hainan, each striving to secure as large a share as possible of the agricultural and mineral resources of the island. Unfortunately, Hainan did not surrender its untapped wealth easily, and the harshness of the tropical climate sent most enterprises quickly into bankruptcy. Those that did succeed were large, well-financed operations such as the K'iu Hing Kunz Sz, a large plantation near Nada involved in the production of rubber, coffee and tobacco (McClure, 1922). Even this company with over 20,000 rubber trees and 300,000 mature coffee bushes experienced hardship mainly caused by labour shortages, although these may have been", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211516, "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": 233, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "209\n\nof the words in Cantonese, which sound similar to words meaning “more sons\". This custom was, however, unknown in the Sha Tin or Sha Tau Kok areas.\n\nThe hot air balloons made by the villagers are made in this way. Firstly, suitable green bamboo is found, cut, and shaved to provide a flexible but tough strip of bamboo skin (see plate 2). This is bent round to form a hoop, with the green skin facing inside, for maximum strength, and bound together with twine. This hoop of bamboo forms the rim of the balloon, and it is stiffened by ribs of thin wire, tautened with wire wound around the centre point. Once the rim is complete, it is carefully glued to the open end of the balloon proper (see plate 3). The balloon proper consists of sheets of rice paper glued together to form a cylinder open at the base and closed in to a conical shape at the top. The balloon has no struts except for the single rim hoop. The balloons can be from 15 to 30 feet in height depending on the amount of time, effort, and cash expended: the diameter of the rim, however, has to increase with any increase in size, which makes the larger balloons awkward to handle.\n\nMeanwhile the motive power of the balloon is prepared. Previously, this was a ball of shredded rags of hemp cloth or kapok bound tightly with thin wire. The ball was soaked with peanut oil. The oil-soaked ball was then set in the sun for the oil to concentrate by evaporation. Once it had concentrated it was soaked with oil again, and again set to concentrate. This was repeated until the whole ball was filled with a soft, tallow-like fatty substance, the concentrated essence of the oil. Nowadays, the ball is made of cotton waste and is soaked in diesel oil or some other commercial oil, for greater convenience.\n\nThe completed balloon, and the oil-soaked ball, are taken out to a site outside the village, away from houses which might be at risk from fire (see plate 4). A small fire is lit on the ground, and the balloon is held over it by a group of the village youths. As the fire warms the air inside the balloon, it slowly rises up and the wrinkles in the balloon skin smooth out (see plate 5). As this process goes on, the \"tail\" of the balloon is attached to the centre of the wire struts at the rim: this tail is a long string, up to 100 yards long, with firecrackers attached, or else strings of fire balls — smaller versions of the oil-soaked ball prepared earlier. These have to be carefully held by village youths to ensure they are free", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213276, "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": 98, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "78\n\nstar or a god shrine decorated with 'prayer flags' (). All these have the power to protect the occupants.\n\nAlso, just inside the front door of the flat, the electric light, symbolising the sun, is always switched on. Dark rooms oppress. Brightness stimulates chi and transforms yin to yang. A chandelier can distribute chi around a room. Conversely, a room cluttered with objects will obstruct the flow of chi.\n\nThe flat in this case study faces Victoria Peak, which towers over Tai Ping Shan (Hill of Great Peace) District. The flat also faces (approximately) 'compass south'. Fung shui south, namely 'Red-bird Aspect' (a Chinese constellation in the southern sky), is not always true south. An old Chinese proverb states:\n\nEven with 1,000 taels of gold, it is not easy to buy a house facing south.\n\nIt is believed by many that houses, temples, graves, and the Emperor on his throne should all face sunny south (Tatlow, 1993: 9). The south is pure, auspicious, and warm. In short, it is yang. With the south-westerly monsoon (actually, it mostly blows from the south-east, the direction that most typhoons come from) blowing in the summer, and the north-easterly monsoon in the winter, no one quarrels with this assumption. A flat facing south is thus warmer in winter and cooler in summer. This helps promote harmony among family members. Some Chinese believe people living on the south side of a building have better chi than those living on the north side. The latter are said to be less intelligent, less successful, and lack the vitality of their neighbours who live facing 'sunny south'. For a person who was born during the cold of winter, it is even more important for him or her to live in a building facing the warm spirits of the south (Tatlow, 1993: 9).\n\nBut, having said all that, it must be pointed out that in the Sha Tin district, in Hong Kong's New Territories, out of 60 villages or hamlets, only two or three face due south. Facing south is more important in the north, where bitterly cold winds blow, than in the sub-tropics, where other factors, such as the back-up of a mountain or copse, may have to be considered.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213314, "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": 136, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "116\n\nPoon, Clement and May Fung, 'Plenty More Fish to Fill the Tanks of Mong Kok', Hong Kong Standard, 26 November 1994,\n\n'Race-Day Rites to Exorcise Sha Tin Jinx', South China Morning Post, 3 May 1987\n\nRam, Jane, 'Asia Conjures Wind and Water to Boost Business', International Management, July/August 1987\n\nSaw Puay Lim, \"The Force is With Them', Sunday Morning Post Magazine, August 1990\n\nStewart, Rob, 'Can Your Business do Without the Feng Shui Edge?', Executive, November 1995\n\n'Superstitions Rife. Survey Reveals', South China Morning Post, 11 December 1989\n\nTatlow, Dermot, 'Safe and Sound in Domain of the Yellow Emperor', Sunday Morning Post, 7 March 1993\n\nTse, Patricia, 'Banking on a Grand Design and Good Luck', South China Morning Post, 28 May 1990\n\nWan, Melanie, 'Fungshui Experts not what They Used to Be', Hong Kong Standard, 19 August 1985\n\nWesley-Smith, Peter, Identity, Land, Feng Shui and the Law in Traditional Hong Kong, Law working paper series no 5, University of Hong Kong, 1992\n\n'What Pyramids and the River Thames have in Common', International Property Review, undated\n\nWoo, Anthony, 'The Tao of Technology', Asia Magazine, c. 1995\n\nLetters to the Editor of the South China Morning Post\n\nChan, C.W., 'Safety Concern', 24 June 1990\n\nHo, Eugene, 'Fung Shui and a Lesson from Science', 25 May 1987\n\nWebb, Richard, 'In Defence of Fung Shui', 10 July 1991\n\n'Unlucky Bank', 21 September 1991", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214558, "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-1998", "page_number": 416, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "385\n\nRev. Wright provided the text for Allom's China and wrote a short piece entitled The Fortress of Terror, Dinghai. He claimed that 'during the British descent upon the coast of China, nowhere was the destruction of life and property greater than at Dinghai. Every hill on the coast in the vicinity of Dinghai was crowned with a battery of apparent strength; some of them too elevated to be effective. At the entrance of a defile, watered by a rivulet flowing from the valley of Chae-hu [sic], and on an eminence about two hundred feet above the level of the bay, stood one of those deceptive structures, misnamed \"The Fortress of Terror,\" in which the Chinese so lucklessly reposed entire confidence, when the British fleet cast anchor in the roads beneath. No troops, however armed or disciplined, could have acted with more eminent personal gallantry, than the Tatar garrison of the fort of Terror, yet none ever encountered a more signal overthrow.\n\nWright described Zhoushan as an agreeable scene, with every hill cultivated to its summit, every valley, from the mountain's foot to the river's margin with industry and fertility, producing a large surplus for the enrichment of the labourers. These productions, including rice, cotton, seed potatoes, coarse tea and candles made from the seeds of the tallow tree, were conveyed along canals in barges. The roads of Zhoushan were not constructed for the convenience of visitors, the gratification of travellers, or the mere objects of pleasure.\n\nIn describing the city of Dinghai, Wright noted that it did not stand upon the marshy ground but on the sloping side of the Yongdong Valley. It was surrounded by a brick wall twenty-six feet in height, sixteen in thickness, and six miles in circuit, with four entrance gates corresponding exactly with the four cardinal points. The city was intersected by open sewer canals, the streets were narrow and paved, and intersected by canals along the middle.\n\nBetween 1841 and 1844 the Westmoreland Regiment served with the British force during the campaign to capture and hold the Island of Zhoushan. The assault on and occupation of Zhoushan during the First China War was one of many along the coast of Southern and Eastern China. It culminated in the Treaty of Nanjing [Nanking] in August 1842 under terms by which occupation forces held on to several places until the treaty was fully implemented, Zhoushan being one. There was a school of British opinion at the time which strongly believed that we", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215597, "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-2001", "page_number": 374, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "324\n\nJapanese were able to demand the formal opening of Chongqing to steamers, and a clause to this effect was embodied in the Treaty of Shiminoseki. By this treaty, under the favoured nation clause, the Chongqing and the Upper Yangzi became open to the world and Little immediately applied to the then British Minister, Sir Claude Macdonald [of the later Boxer Siege fame], who encouraged Little to proceed and promised energetic support. Little ordered a twin-screw steamer to be built in Shanghai, fifty-five feet long and ten feet beam. It steamed at nine knots, and though he would have preferred a larger and more powerful vessel he had to cut his coat according to his cloth. This was the Leechuen.\n\nHe left Yichang on 15th February 1898 for the 500-mile voyage through the Gorges, ascending some 500 feet during the journey to Chongqing. The story, told by Archibald Little in his Through the Yangtse Gorges,2 describes the most frightening moment when at dusk in the Scissors Gorge, making about six knots they bumped over a sharp rock that cut through the inch planking, broke two hardwood frames and sent water spouting up over the saloon floor. Fortunately they soon spotted a steep patch of sand on to which they ran the boat. Then, overnight, they stuffed cotton, white lead and tallow into the cracks; nailed blankets down with planks all over and by dawn had stopped the leak sufficiently to be able to get under way again. The rock had only newly fallen from the cliff above and had been unknown to the pilot. They reached Chongqing eleven days up from Yichang and the only photograph I have seen of the Leechuen during her epic journey is a very fuzzy snap of high cliffs with the Leechuen amidstream, a not so large speck, her billowing smoke being almost twice her size.3\n\nTwo British gunboats, H.M.S. Woodcock and H.M.S. Woodlark, made the same journey fifteen months later in May 1899, and then, in June, the first merchant steamer, Pioneer, followed them up to Chongqing.\n\nWe now turn to William Mesny. In 1878 and 1879 he travelled across south-west and central China calling on the most powerful and influential officials and gentry, advising them to adopt modern means for developing the riches of the country and bettering their conditions.* Mesny was a Jerseyman who spent most of his life, from first setting foot in China in 1861 until his death in Hankou in 1919 endeavouring to make his fortune. He was never backward in relating how he had the ears of many of the most influential Chinese of the day and although", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215642, "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-2001", "page_number": 419, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "371\n\ndescriptions of it paint a vivid picture in inland China, of towns, villages, farming and husbandry at the end of the eighteenth century and put life to the many pictures and engravings of that period.\n\nIt was on this inland journey that Macartney was able to collect his tea plants. He says in his own words:\n\nI must not omit that the Viceroy (they had been joined by the Viceroy from Canton) observing our curiosity about everything relative to natural history, allowed us to collect seeds and fossils as we came along, and to take up several tea plants in a growing state with large balls of earth adhering to them, which tea plants I flatter myself I shall be able to transmit to Bengal, where I have no doubt that by the spirit of patriotism of its Government an effective cultivation of this valuable shrub will be undertaken and pursued with success.\n\nNo doubt the hard balls of earth were wrapped in the same casings of matting in which plants arrive from China to this day.\n\nSo far as opium is concerned, rather oddly, I cannot find that it came up in conversation at all although by then the illicit trade was well established and its use had been banned by Imperial edict some sixty years before.\n\nDr. Dinwiddie, who had accompanied the Embassy to Peking, took the plants to India on Jackall, together with tallow and varnish plants as well as some silkworm eggs, all of which were delivered to Dr. Roxburgh, superintendent of the East India Company's botanical gardens in Calcutta. Some years later indigenous tea plants were discovered growing in Assam and it is tea from these which seems more like the tea that we are now accustomed to drink. Whether there was any hybridisation between the two species I cannot say. Certainly Chinese tea retains its distinctive characteristics.\n\nThe journal of the Embassy's adventures in China is a fascinating and extraordinarily detailed account and description of a way of life and scenery which has largely disappeared. Present day Chengde is a shadow of the Jehol described by Macartney with pagodas, temples", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]