[ { "id": 211937, "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": 352, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "327\n\nNaam-Bin (\"South Side\") and Bak-Bin (\"North Side\"). Bak-Bin includes only two villages: Shui Tau and Shui Mei. Naam-Bin includes Kat Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Wing Lung Wai, Ko Po, Kam Hing Wai, Tsi Tong Tsuen, Tai Hong Tsuen and Kam Tin Shi. The division into Naam-Bin and Bak-Bin corresponds to the geographic location of residence as well as to agricultural and ritual activities. The village patrol corps of Kam Tin were also organized in terms of Naam-Bin and Bak-Bin.\n\nB. The Village Guard System\n\nThe village guard system continued well into the 1960s. It used to be called cheun-ding, but later was called ji-wai-deui. There was one for Naam-Bin and one for Bak-Bin. The Naam-Bin guards consisted, more or less, of two men from each of Tai Hong Wai, Wing Lung Wai, Kat Hing Wai and Ko Po. The Bak-Bin guards were from Shui Tau and Shui Mei. The guards worked in two shifts, the first from 8 p.m. to midnight and the second from midnight to about 5 a.m. The Naam-Bin village guards patrolled the area reaching Au Tau to the west, gwai-waan to the east, Wong Chuk bei to the south, and the river before Pak Wai chyun to the north. Sha Pui Leng (Sa Bui Leng) was within the scope of their protection. The villagers of this village paid levies to the corps, but none of them were members.\n\nThe village corps was rewarded by levies on sweet potato and rice crops. They charged 10% on potato. Before harvest, one in ten rows (laar) of the potato had already been allocated to the village guards. The rate of the levy on rice was a prescribed amount some tens of catties on each mu of cultivation. When the villagers' paddy fields suffered loss from theft, they got compensation from the village corps responsible for its protection. The corps would compensate in full the estimated loss.\n\nIn earlier times the head of each village corps was selected by bidding. Each candidate would offer a certain quantity of rice (guk) which he would give back to the member villages. But in the case of the head for the year 1954, who I interviewed, he was appointed by the elders. This was because few people wanted the post.\n\nAround 1954 there was government involvement in the village guard system. \"The police station asked us to organize [village corps]”. There were more than ten guards, armed with 6 guns. The guards also had passes issued by the police. They were also given used uniforms for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212123, "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-1990", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "42\n\ndisasters. the second is for those who died because of plague. The final reason is to thank the benevolent governors Wang Lai-ren and Zhou You-de of the beginning of the Qing dynasty. In my opinion, all these reasons can be integrated into the first one.\n\n(d) Chan Wing-hoi \"The Tangs of Kam Tin and their Jiu festival\", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29 (1989) 302-375, a rich and detailed account of the lineage, its temples and villages, and the festival which draws them together.\n\nDr. Faure gradually switched his interest to the Pearl River Delta while Prof. Tanaka, as I was told, is now looking at Sichuan province. Talk on publishing a book on Hong Kong Jiao festivals has been going on for years by members of the \"Research Circle of the Regional Society of Southern China''. In 1990, the editorial board of the society set up a schedule to compile a book focusing on the Jiao festival. It is expected that papers on various aspects will be completed by the end of April 1991. (Correspondence from the society dated 28.12.1990)\n\nSchipper, Kristofer M., \"The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies\" in Wolf, Arthur P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), 324,\n\nFor example, according to Chan Wing-hoi, villagers of Shek O celebrated their 16th Jiao in 1986 (Chan, 78). The Dengs in Kam Tin claimed to have celebrated their Jiao since 1684 (Tanaka, 918).\n\nSee for instance Basel Mission Archives, doct. Al-6, No. 51 (1869), and doct. Al-7, No. 51 (1870) and Der Evangelische Heidenbote, July 1867, in which a missionary describes how he was forced to go to the Magistrate to get his support before he could avoid having to pay his share of the Jiao expenses. All these cases are from Hsin An County. The Sha Tin poem will, it is hoped, shortly be published by Dr. P.H. Hase.\n\nThese two series are part of the 15 series of historical documents collected by Dr. D. Faure and others in the New Territories. Copies of the collections are kept in the libraries of CUHK, Hong Kong University, Sha Tin Regional Council Library, and Institute of Oriental Culture, Tokyo University.\n\n31\n\nTanaka Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China] (Tokyo Univ. Press 1985), 608. Jiao festivals celebrated by the powerful communities in Hong Kong like Kam Tin, Ha Tsuen, Lung Yeuk Tau etc., were all performed by the Zhengyi Taoist group, led first by the late Master Lin Pei and now by Master Chan Kau. Another Zhengyi Taoist group is led by Master Chan Wah. However, many Taoist priests work for both groups. There are also other Taoist groups who performed for the Jiao festivals, like a Cantonese group which performed for Ho Chung and a Heklo group for Cheung Chau. In 1983, four out of five Jiao festivals were performed by monastery Taoists. It is not clear whether it was because of tradition or out of economic reasons. A comparison of the two Taoist groups has yet to be made.\n\n14 Choi Chi-cheung **Sho matsuri no jinmei risuto ni mirareru shinzoku ban'i” [Kinship as seen in the name lists of Jiao festival] Bunka Jinnú Gaku 5 (1988): 131, table L. 35 **Shinshi men\" [Section of Believers] in Fanling Wenxian (Historical Literature of Fanling) vol. 8. This brief account records details of the arrangement of the Jiao area, including the contents of couplets, names of deities invited, location and direction of matshed stages, and the sacrifices prepared etc.. See n. 32 for the depositories of Fanling Wenxian.\n\n36 See (1972) Lin Chuan [Lam Tsuen] Xiang Taiping Qingjiao huiyi jilubu in Dapu [Tai Po] Wenzian [Historical Literature of Tai Po] vol. 1. (see n. 32 for depositories)\n\n37 Tanaka Issei's three books, all published by the Tokyo Univ. Press are: Chugoku Saishi Engeki Kenkyu [Ritual Theatres in China] (1981), Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China) (1985), and Chugoku Kyoson Saishi Kenkyu: Chihogeki", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213479, "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": 75, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "43\n\nTHE PEKING OPERA\n\nD.H. LIU\n\nIt may sound strange to many that the Peking Opera originated, not from Peking, as it is generally believed, but from the obscure county towns of Huang Po (黄陂) and Huang Kong (黄冈) in the Hupeh Province on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. From its early beginning as local, folk song amusement of surrounding areas, it gradually gained popularity and traveled beyond the provincial boundary to Peking where it settled down and prospered during the reign of Emperor Chien Lung (A.D. 1751-1795)\n\nAs the troupe travelled on its way to Peking, it absorbed many of the methods and techniques of different theatrical groups, notably, the K'un Chu (昆曲) and the Hwei Ban (徽班) with one sole dogma it has persistently adhered to the original dialect of the Hupeh Province in its performance up to the present day.\n\nThe Stage in the Early Times:\n\nAt the beginning, the stage was a very simple structure with no proper sitting arrangement for the audience. People would sit around a square-shaped table with two persons on each side. I remember that, when I was a boy, the first theatre we had in Yienta (烟台) where I was born, was called the Tan Kwei Tea House (谭家祠茶馆). People went there to watch the opera and at the same time, enjoy a cup of tea. Why not? People were out to enjoy themselves. I still remember how people would enter the theatre and leave it at will. You sat at the table watching the play, drinking Chinese tea and cracking melon seeds, all at the same time. You will say that this would divert the attention of the audience from what was going on on the stage. Why worry? If the actor or actress was good, the audience, of course, would automatically stop drinking tea and pay close attention to the stage!\n\nI still remember that, in those happy days, the theatre waiters would throw a hot towel to you from a distance of ten feet to wake you up when you were tired. What a wonderful idea!\n\nPage 75\n\nPage 76", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214898, "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": 313, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "287\n\nfive, offshore islets but, due to silting up over the years, they became part of the mainland. Mysterious caves within the mountain shelter altars dedicated to Buddha, different gods and genies based upon popular beliefs held by the area's inhabitants. Today, these caves still serve as religious sanctuaries. The mountains are also a valuable source of red, white and blue-green marble. At the foot of the mountains, skilful marble carvers create a great variety of objets d'arts.\n\nOur fifth day was spent in Hoi An. About 15 miles southeast of Danang, this charming old town was once a flourishing port and meeting place of eastern and western cultures in central Dai Viet under the Nguyen lords. Hoi An was originally a seaport in the Champa Kingdom; by the 15th century it had become a coastal Vietnamese town under the Tran Dynasty. In the beginning of the 16th century the Portuguese came to explore the coast of Hoi An. They were followed by the first western traders in the area. Then came the Chinese, the Japanese, the Dutch, the British and the French. In the early 1980s, UNESCO and the Polish Government took the initiative and funded a restoration program to classify and safeguard Hoi An's ancient quarters and historic monuments. The old town area borders the Thu Bon River to the South of the town. Le Loi Street was the first street to be built, about four centuries ago. The Japanese quarter with its covered bridge, Japanese style shops and houses followed half a century later, then came the Cantonese quarter a further 50 years later still.\n\nHoi An's ancient past is superbly preserved in its architecture. The old quarter is a fascinating blend of temples, pagodas, community houses, shrines, clan houses, shop houses and homes. One of the most remarkable historical architectural examples is the Japanese covered Bridge. Built by the Japanese community in the 17th century, the bridge's curved shape and undulating green and yellow tiled roof give the impression of moving water. Some pagodas and 20 Chinese clan houses stand in the centre of the ancient town. The clan house has been the meeting place for many generations of the same clan. Here they recall their origins and worship their ancestors. The Chinese migrant community built most of the temples and houses here over a span of 40 years, between 1845 and 1885.\n\nThe most characteristic examples of Hoi An's architecture are the old houses along Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. These elongated houses", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 } ]