[ { "id": 204252, "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-1961", "page_number": 20, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n17\n\nEnglish was the most eminent. A new era in Sinology opened with Edouard Chavannes and Paul Pelliot at the turn of the century, by whom the pattern for present day studies was set.\n\nAt this time too (1898) the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient was established in Indo-China, and the thorough and many-sided work of the French scholars in South-east Asia commenced, which included the superb achievement, still in progress, of the conservation of Angkor,\n\nSpace does not permit to treat of the studies in Indonesia and Malaya, in Japan and Korea.\n\nBut in closing mention must be made of two special subjects, which affect all countries: Buddhism and Oriental Art.\n\nIt is hard to realize that there was a time when Buddhism was unknown to the West. The study of Buddhism commenced at the beginning of the nineteenth century with a young Hungarian scholar who set out for the East to find the origin of the Magyar race, which he rightly divined was connected with that of the Turks. His travels brought him to the Tibetan-Himalayan borderland, where he settled in the little village of Kanum in the Upper Sutlej valley to study Tibetan Buddhism. It is interesting to note that it was with the Tibetan branch of Buddhism that the study of Buddhism commenced. Later the great studies of the Sanskrit and Pali Canons began, and later still of the Chinese Canon, in which Japanese scholars have played a very great part. At the present time the Tibetan Canon and the mystic forms of Tibetan Buddhism are receiving great attention.\n\nThe study of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Persian, Tibetan and Cambodian art is now receiving great attention. The last century saw a beginning in all these directions. Through the fundamental books of the pioneers, the magnificent collections in museums, the improvements in modern photography, and the facilities in travel, the finest examples of oriental art are now open to all. Persian miniatures, Moghul architecture, Indian sculpture, Chinese porcelain, Japanese temples, Angkor Wat and Borobudur are now well known.\n\nBut a final word must be said: he who would understand the East must be deeply religious. This does not refer to any particular church or sect of religion, but to the religious spirit diffused through all.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204278, "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-1961", "page_number": 46, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n42\n\nTIBET AS IT WAS\n\nA lecture delivered on February 9, 1961. HUGH RICHARDSON, C.I.E., O.B.E.\n\nTibet as it is is too\n\nI am going to talk about Tibet as it was. tragic, moving and lamentable a topic for a present talk. But I shall describe Tibet before its old civilisation and culture, its ancient form of government, its religion, its liberty and indeed its individuality were swept away. I must forget for the moment this outrage and try to recreate a little of the easy-going, friendly, contented country that I remember. Obviously I cannot cover the whole of Tibet's past in this very short time.\n\nYou may notice that I have not called it secret or mysterious Tibet. Of course there was plenty that was strange and little-known in the country; but to any foreigner who was living there it was hospitable and open. Many of the strange things became intelligible, and the mystery, although it was there, fell into its place.\n\nNow it is true that the idea of a rather baleful mystery was for quite a long time fostered by the policy of deliberate exclusion. But the latter is comparatively recent—it only began at the end of the eighteenth century. Before that foreigners were not specifically barred from Tibet. The occasional traveller or trader was kept out by the nature of the country, but anyone who was determined and courageous could find his way in. If the names of Antonio Daldarada, Stephen Caccella, Borazzio della Tenda and Ippolito Desideri as yet mean nothing to you, there is much enjoyment in store for you when you do make their acquaintance. They were missionaries in Tibet, mostly Jesuits, from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth. Their accounts are excellent reading, especially that of Desideri; and they all found a kindly welcome. Though they worked very hard, they made hardly any impact on the well-established Tibetan religion and on Tibetan conservatism.\n\nConservatism was the dominant characteristic of the country. It was largely due, I think, to its geographical situation and to its natural defences, of which the Tibetans have long been conscious and proud. A very old hymn in praise of their country, at least as old as the eighth century, describes it as \"in the centre of snowy mountains, the source of great rivers, a lofty country, a pure land.\" In that lofty country, behind the barrier of mountains, the Tibetans kept alive their peculiar civilisation, traceable in their own records from the seventh century. There were, of course, plenty of changes and developments in the course of thirteen hundred years, and some influences entered from outside. But every importation was assimilated and transmuted into a Tibetan form.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204279, "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-1961", "page_number": 47, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n43\n\nUntil the Tibetan form of government was abolished in 1959, it was possible to trace its ancestry back through thirteen centuries and to find there the seeds of institutions that one could see in operation with one's own eyes. The script and the language have changed very little in the course of these thirteen centuries. The script, which was borrowed from India in approximately 640 A.D., can still be seen in inscriptions of about a century later. Any literate Tibetan today can read those inscriptions and can understand them pretty well except for a few archaic words.\n\nBut I suppose the greatest example of conservatism and mystery in the eyes of the outside world is the supremacy of religion, as seen in the rule of the Dalai Lama. This, however, is a fairly recent development. Buddhism reached Tibet in the seventh century; as you know, it came both from China and India, but the Indian stream eventually proved the stronger. In less than two hundred years after its introduction, Buddhist monks were holding office as chief ministers of state. The kings, it is true, were laymen, but Buddhists were already powerful officials. Then there came a setback of two centuries, after which religion resumed its rise in importance. The great monasteries acquired larger and larger estates and more and more temporal influence. Indeed, for about seventy years, at the time of the Yuan dynasty, a religious leader was made viceroy of the country. This was never fully accepted by the lay princes and very soon there was a return of supreme power to secular hands. It was not until 1640 (a thousand years after Buddhist religion reached Tibet) that, with the help of the Mongol Khan in the Kokonor, the line of Dalai Lamas emerged as the actual rulers. Although their role as reformers of the church had begun two centuries earlier, other lines of incarnate Lamas in Tibet, which exercised great influence until they were suddenly swept away in 1640, could trace their ancestry to the early years of the twelfth century. That is why I have described the Dalai Lamas as relative newcomers.\n\nThe rule of the Dalai Lamas, after a first brilliant appearance in the hands of a figure known as the Great Fifth, faded out. There was a period of seventy years when the laymen resumed sway and there was even a lay king. Though religious power was restored in 1750, for a century Tibet was ruled not by Dalai Lamas but by monastic regents acting for minor Dalai Lamas who died at an early age four times in succession. The system of supreme personal rule by the Dalai Lama, both temporal and spiritual, was only firmly restored by the thirteenth incarnation—that is, the predecessor of the present Dalai Lama.\n\nSo you see there was nothing static about the Tibetan system, nor was it a simple one. There have been a whole series of adjustments and balances. The Dalai Lamas, for example, although they are in theory autocratic, are in fact the creation", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204280, "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-1961", "page_number": 48, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Vol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nORASHKB and author\n\n44\n\nof the religious system. They have always had to walk carefully in their relations with the vested interests of the orthodox church, represented principally by the abbots of the three great monasteries, Drebung, Sera and Ganden, which housed among them 25,000 monks and were known as the Three Great Pillars of the State.\n\nThen there were rivalries between one sect and another; there were rivalries between great monasteries of the same sect; there were even rivalries between colleges within the same monastery; and there was a subtle distinction between monks and abbots in the monasteries and the monastic administrative officials of the Tibetan Government, who were a sort of monk civil service. There was a parallel lay civil service, so that if there was, say, a Chief Secretary who was a monk, he was balanced by another who was a layman. Such civil monastic officials were rather a special breed and looked on with some suspicion by the people in the monasteries. There was also an undercurrent of jealousy of the monasteries' power on the part of the displaced lay nobles, who recalled quite clearly the tradition of their past greatness. They had still a leading part in the administration and in general they were more progressively minded than the monks; in fact, I should say that the monks usually lagged a generation behind the progressive laymen.\n\nYet in spite of all these factions and divergencies of feeling, there was remarkable agreement, really remarkable agreement, of the whole people in their complete devotion to their faith and in an affectionate veneration of their ruler. Religion quite simply was all in all to every Tibetan: there were no dissenters and no critics. Every Tibetan without complaining took his place in the social set-up. This was partly due to his acceptance of the teachings of Buddhism with its doctrine of karma and partly to his conviction that by doing so he was serving his Dalai Lama. All the actions and policies of people and government were viewed in the light of the effect that they would have on religion. Church and state really were interchangeable terms.\n\nThe monasteries and the monks played an important part in the social life of the country; they were bankers, landlords, and, to some extent, school-masters. It is of course quite easy for the Westerner to adopt an attitude of intellectual superiority and say that religion was the opiate of the people. It is possible to point to idle, worldly, and comparatively worthless individuals among the monks: so indeed it was possible during the Middle Ages in Europe. On the other hand, also as in the case of the Middle Ages, one can point in Tibet to churchmen who were sincere, devout, saintly, and profoundly learned. I am convinced that there was no conscious exploitation of religion by the Tibetan church.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204281, "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-1961", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nORASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n45\n\nThe geographical isolation of the country resulted in a peculiarly isolated culture. Government, religion, social customs all developed in their own secluded world. In that world many qualities which we are apt to describe and look on as primitive were present and survived until very recent times; I mean characteristics like simplicity, honesty, confirmed religious devotion, obedience, leisure, contentment, and kindness.\n\nNowadays it is a fairly common contention in certain circles that a feudal upper stratum oppressed the Tibetan populace. But that ignores, for one thing, the fact that there was a very considerable body of yeoman farmers who held land directly under the Tibetan Government and worked it themselves with their own families and with the help of their friends, in the good old English system of exchanging services. There were of course bad landlords as there are everywhere; bad landlords included monks and laymen. But the difference between rich and poor in Tibet really was a very small one; it was not a money economy at all, and the difference, either social or economic, between a rich man and a poor man was in no way comparable to what you may see in many of the world's great cities. Income from exports was more than enough to buy all essentials from the outside world. There was a three-year reserve of grain, sometimes more. The people ate a good deal of meat and their standard of living was certainly higher than what I have seen in any Indian village.\n\nOne of the most obvious products of oppression is discontent, and no traveller in Tibet before 1950 that I can think of has described the Tibetans as anything but cheerful and contented. Heinrich Harrer, whose name and book, Seven Years in Tibet, you doubtless know, is probably the only Westerner who has actually worked as a landless Tibetan labourer. He did it not as a social experiment, but from the sheer necessity of keeping alive. He has told me, and I think he may have written it in his book, that his life as a labourer was easy and he was treated extremely well. He has also given evidence of the touching kindness of the Tibetans, particularly of the poor, but of the rich as well. Now it is quite true that the Tibetans have from time to time been described as inhospitable in their dealings with large explorers' parties; but that was due to fear of such parties as a spearhead of Western penetration. To anyone in want they have the most wonderful warm-hearted generosity. In so many ways, certainly in their character, they really provide an example for the Western world.\n\nThese were some of the valuable assets that were swept away in Tibet as it was. There is a great deal more that could be said about the very pleasant peculiarities of living in that country, about the exhilaration and the occasional difficulties of travel in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204282, "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-1961", "page_number": 50, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nORASHKB and author\n\n46\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nthe majestic highlands, where there were no motors, indeed no vehicles of any sort. There was the simple and quiet village life and the more sophisticated leisure and gaiety of society in Lhasa. I remember years of deliberate, protracted, shrewd but friendly business negotiations with the Tibetan Government. I remember very well their frequent and elaborate ceremonies, which were not just Lord Mayor shows, but were treated with grave attention as an essential part of the well-being of the State.\n\nQuestions and Answers:\n\nQ: How large was the population of Tibet when you were there? A: The population of Tibet has never been properly counted, but some people put it down at three million, some at one million, and some at a great many more. I think that three million is about right.\n\nQ: How many of those were in Lhasa?\n\nA: In Lhasa about 25,000 laymen and 25,000 monks.\n\nQ: Do all the monks believe in reincarnation or only some of them?\n\nA: It is an absolutely essential part of their faith.\n\nQ: Does the term \"monk\" have the same meaning as the term \"lama\"?\n\nA: Lama means a superior being and it is usually used as a term of politeness for a learned man and it is the essential title of an incarnate lama.\n\nQ: Was it prohibited for ordinary women to wear the skirts worn by noblewomen?\n\nA: No. All women wear the same kind of skirt. It's part of a tunic-like garment, which has no sleeves. A blouse is worn underneath. I don't know the proper description of a dress of that sort, but the skirt anybody may wear, and the apron any married woman may wear and usually does wear. Only on very terrible occasions like the death of a Dalai Lama do they do without their apron. Women's dress basically is all the same pattern. The materials differ with regard to workmanship.\n\nQ: Was it prohibited for women to wear the double apron, one in back and one in front?\n\nA: The Tibetans only wear one in front. Possibly it is a Mongol habit to wear two.\n\nQ: How do they choose their incarnations?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204283, "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-1961", "page_number": 51, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nORASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n47\n\nA: They look for a child who was born some time after the death of the last incarnation. The monks -- perhaps it is the administrative monks or some other lama from the monastery -- will go out and conduct a search quietly. They ask in villages whether any children have been born who have shown exceptional precocity or skill, and then they go through them carefully. If they find one they think is right, they conduct tests, during which he is supposed to pick out some property that belonged to him in his previous life. With some of the lesser lamas they are not so strict about the tests. They simply like to find somebody who is precocious. Sometimes, just as in India, they find children who say that they remember being born before in a certain place. Since they don't go about these tests until the child is 3, 3½ or 4, they can really see whether he has exceptional characteristics.\n\nQ: What is the difference between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama?\n\nA: That's one of those terribly complicated affairs. Let us start with this: Tibetans believe that the superior deity, if you can put it that way, is Adibuddha, who projects himself in the form of five Dhyani-Buddhas. They are the Buddhas of Contemplation and they live on the plane of the spiritual. The Dhyani-Buddhas project themselves in the form of five Dhyani-Bodhisattvas. The Dalai Lama in theory represents one of these Bodhisattvas, Avalokita-Chenrezig. The Panchen Lama in theory represents one of the Dhyani-Buddhas, Amitabha-Hod-dpag-med. You may have heard the view that the Panchen Lama is more spiritual than the Dalai Lama. The fifth Dalai Lama had a very learned teacher, and when he died the fifth Dalai Lama said: \"My teacher must have been an incarnation, and as he was so learned, he must have been the incarnation of my spiritual, my Dhyani teacher.\" That is why some people say that the Panchen Lama is superior spiritually to the Dalai Lama. But the Tibetans have an answer to everything — which may be rather metaphysical hairsplitting — and the answer is this: that as the Panchen Lama represents the world of contemplation, he is untrue to his nature if he takes any part in temporal activities. The Dalai Lama, being an incarnation of the Dhyani-Bodhisattva, who works on the worldly plane to redeem and to teach, is allowed to do what he likes.\n\nQ: How do the Tibetans make tea?\n\nA: You know what Tibetan tea looks like in the brick — it's very coarse and full of twigs and great thick leaves. They just take a chunk off that and put it into a long tube-like funnel, pour in hot water, and break it down a bit. Then they start pounding it into a pulp. That goes on for quite a long time,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204284, "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-1961", "page_number": 52, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n48\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nand makes a kind of extract of tea. They put that into another mixer, added a good chunk of butter, some soda, and some salt, and go on pounding until they get a well-mixed soup. It is excellent provided that the butter was good to begin with.\n\nQ: Is it true that some monks can move objects by sheer thought?\n\nA: Marco Polo described a contest between various religious personages at the court of the Great Khan at which they were put through their paces to see who would be the best chaplain to the Crown. He chose the Tibetans because their representative could make a cup rise from the table to his mouth. That was quite a long time ago and I haven't seen it done myself, but that's the story.\n\nQ: Is there any truth in the story of an operation to open the \"third eye\"?\n\nA: None whatsoever. The book which describes it is an utter fraud. It was written by somebody who had never been out of England.\n\nQ: Are the roofs of the Kumbum Monastery really gold?\n\nA: Unfortunately I have never been there but I have read accounts of it, and quite obviously it is a little bit too modern. You can have dances put on for a sum of money. But I assure you that the golden roofs in Tibet proper, although they are not pure gold, are well-coated in the stuff.\n\nQ: Is it true that Tibetans place no importance on gold and jewels, despite an abundance of them underground?\n\nA: There are certainly some gold mines in Tibet, but nobody knows whether the resources are very great. It isn't quite true to say that they don't place any importance on gold and precious stones—they like them very much. They use them as the principal offerings in religious places. All the butter-lamps are made of gold in the holy places; the scene in the holy of holies, the cathedral in Lhasa, is quite fabulous. The main image, behind large iron-mesh curtains, is surrounded by huge gold butter lamps, all blazing with butter—a wonderful sight.\n\nAlthough Tibetans used to dig for gold, it became rather an imposition, because the peasant would dig it out and then the landlord would come and say \"This is my gold\", so in general they stopped digging. Tibetans did not use much money of any sort—it was mostly barter.\n\nQ: Is there capital punishment in Tibet?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204409, "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-1962", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "32\n\nG. FINDLAY ANDREW\n\ntravelling for some days over the broad plains of the Kokonor and the first trade centre we reached was the small market town of Tangar. We both had to replenish our cash supply but unfortunately the smallest piece of silver the Scot had was an ingot of some ten taels weight. I took the problem along to the blacksmith smithy in the east gate of the small city. The smith took the ingot and nonchalantly tossed it on to the fire. When sufficiently heated he took it from the fire and laid it on the anvil and commenced to chisel off the required piece of about three taels weight. When old Jock saw the sparks begin to fly he got very excited and jumped in all directions trying to catch them under the firm impression that his precious silver was being dissipated before his very eyes. Of course in the large cities the cash shops had their own silver shears and it was only in the smaller centres that the blacksmith was called upon to act as the travellers' friend in such exchange transactions.\n\nIn the former Tibetan province of Amdo, on the Kansu Tibetan border lies the large lamasery of Labrang. In the days of which I write, the Living Buddha who presided over the destinies of this very large lamasery was Kia Muh Yang. He was reputed to be the owner of a mountain of silver which had been created by the molten silver offerings of the faithful being poured into one solid lump. Thus when the Buddha set off on one of his periodic journeys, all he had to do was to load pack animals with pieces hacked out from the side of his mountain and his finance problems were solved! In another connection, the same practice obtained in the neighbouring lamasery of Kumbum where the gold offerings were melted and poured down the roof of the temple that housed the sacred figure of Tsong Kaaba, the reformer of Lamaism whose birth-place the shrine marks. I wonder whether either the Silver Mountain or the Golden Roof exist to-day?\n\nThe handling of sycee had its own particular problems, perhaps the main one being the assessment of the standard of purity on which subsidiary currency exchange rates were fixed. I shall never forget my feelings when on a certain occasion I opened the boxes of a large consignment of silver which I had received from a Moslem war-lord. Inside was the queerest mixture imaginable of everything approximating to silver either in the form of ornaments or coins. There were bracelets, rings,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204411, "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-1962", "page_number": 43, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "34 \n\nG. FINDLAY ANDREW \n\ncamped till about midnight. Then making our way down the mountain side we came to a large field in the centre of which some of the war-lord's men started digging. It was not long before they uncovered the first of several large earthenware crocks full of silver, mostly the fifty ounce \"shoes\". Each crock was wired to the next. By daylight we had the whole of the sycee boxed in the cases we had brought with us and shortly after sun-up we had the pack-animals loaded and were on our way home. One very pleasant remembrance of the incident was the spirit of integrity that was evidenced in the whole deal. Under the peculiar circumstances we naturally had to accept the weights and standards that were given us at the place of take over. But when we were able to check-up at the provincial capital we found no discrepancy. \n\nI purposed using this consignment of silver to purchase some coarse barley, cultivated on the Tibetan border and which was the only grain available and in very limited quantities. However, we hit a snag when the people of the district (half-breed Tibetans) insisted that payment must be made in silver dollars of standard value. It seemed for a time as though we had reached an impasse, until, acting on a hint, I found in the local arsenal machinery for a mint which our far-sighted War-Lord was planning for this backward province of the North-West. We found dies and stamps to mint the impressions which we made in moulds from the dollars of all provinces and regions. The only difference between our production and the originals was that our content was of uniform standard. The only dollar we were unable to copy was the Sun Yat-sen dollar where the impression goes through and comes out in relief on the other side. We even produced Hong Kong dollars. In all we minted and uttered two hundred and thirty odd thousand silver dollars. What alloy we used was white brass. This episode had an interesting sequel some ten years later when, one evening, I found myself dining with Dr. T. V. Soong, then Minister of Finance. Among the guests was Yu Yu-ren, then President of the Examination Board. This office was responsible for the disciplining of officials. Pointing at me, Dr. Soong said to Mr. Yu, “You ought to put this man behind the bars. He comes to our country and without Government charter or licence he issues our currencies and mints our coinage\". \"Excuse me \",", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204438, "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-1962", "page_number": 70, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "CHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE\n\n59\n\nmen among these people shape their hair into a single forward-pointing horn has not changed since the time of the Later Chou (A.D. 951-960), an amazing adherence to a cultural trait that must have had a deep-seated significance now possibly lost in the mist of antiquity. According to Eric von Eickstedt, the Lolo legends, their sphere of economy and their language and culture point unquestionably to the northeastern part of the Tibetan high plateaus as their early habitat. This would be the area of eastern Chinghai Province.\n\nInstead of moving eastward as the Miao did, the Yi moved southward to their stronghold region of the Ta-liang mountains in the southwest of Szechwan. From here they appear to have spread eastward along the Ta-liang mountains and the western part of the Nan-ling mountains into Kweichow, as well as southward into the Yunnan plateau. Although the earliest habitats of the Yi are shrouded in mystery, their European-type features and pastoral traditions point to at least a Central Asiatic origin. Fiercely warlike, they have created a much larger Yi cultural sphere by capture and enslavement and ultimate absorption of numerous other peoples, Han and non-Han, to their language and way of life. Strongly caste-conscious, the noble clans have maintained a racial purity distinguished from the lower castes of assimilated or enslaved people. The former are known as Black-bone Yi, the latter White-bone Yi. At least until 1950 the Black-bone Yi in their Ta-liang mountain strongholds continued to exercise virtually exclusive control over their own affairs.*\n\nIn contrast to the Miao, Yao and Yi, all of whom are fond of the cooler climates of the high mountains, the T'ai ethnic groups all are addicted to lowland, streamside valley locations. Since they occupied a much more productive type of land, they were able to develop a superior type of economy and a stronger type of political organization. Thus, we find that the T'ai have historically been great state-builders, from the period when they occupied the entire Yangtze valley to their present seat of power in Thailand. They are no doubt among the earliest occupants\n\n* Eric von Eickstedt, Rassendynamik von Ostasien (Race dynamics of Eastern Asia), Berlin, 1944, 175-176.\n\n* Lin Yuch-hua, Liang-shan Yi-chia (The Yi people of the Liang mountains), Commercial Press, Shanghai, 3-5, 9, 13.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204442, "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-1962", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "CHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE\n\n63\n\nAmong the Wu-man or Yi people, settlement tends to be more sedentary than among the Miao and Yao, although where forests existed, fire-field cultivation also has been practised. Dry-land crops such as corn, buckwheat, wheat, barley, beans and (since its relatively recent introduction) white potatoes are the main crops. In the higher altitude, horses, sheep and cattle, including yak, are raised on the grasslands. Hunting and fishing are practised where feasible. The material culture includes wooden houses with shingle or slat roofs, but traditionally, beds are on the floors with skin or felt bedding. Clothes of felt or coarse wool accompany the use of leather shoes and leggings. The hair of the noble men (Black-bone) is worn in a forward pointing horn. The beard is plucked out. Weapons include cross-bows, shields, armour, bows, swords and lances. As with the Tibetans, the Yi use milk, butter and tea.12\n\nThe Yi possess their own writing, but the written language has been used mainly for religious or superstitious purposes rather than for ordinary communications. Sorcery is a strong part of their religion, and animal sacrifices are made in connection with it. Divination is accomplished through the use of plant stalks. In the social organization are signs of an early matriarchal system which is reflected in the significant status of women in Yi society. A caste system of nobility and commoners differentiates them from most other non-Han tribes of southwest China.13\n\nAn interesting amplification of the Yi social system as well as those of the Wa or K'a-wa † and Ching-p'o 景颇 is provided by Alan Winnington14 who purportedly travelled under Chinese Communist auspices in western Yunnan in 1956. Although the book parrots the Communist line in making overmuch of Communist achievements and in vilifying the Kuomintang handling of the minorities problems, there is much useful information if the reader is careful to discard the chaff. The purported intention of the writer was to investigate slavery and this no doubt limited his observations of tribal society. Concerning the Black-bone Yi, Winnington found that, without a central administration among them, each family was a law unto itself. Nevertheless,\n\n12 Ibid., 50.\n\n13 Ibid.\n\n14 Alan Winnington, Slaves of the Cool Mountains, Lawrence and Wishart, Ltd., London, 1959.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204449, "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-1962", "page_number": 81, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "70\n\nHEROLD J. WIENS\n\nbut their main concentration in a solid bloc is in the Ta-liang mountains southwest of I-pin district of Szechwan.\n\nMore closely related to the Tibetans, the Ch'iang live in the west fringes of the Szechwan basin east of K'ang-ting city. The chief areas of Tibetan settlement are almost all in the Tibetan plateaus, though politically the areas are divided among five provinces in addition to Tibet proper and not counting now-abolished Sikang province. These are Kansu, Chinghai, Yunnan, Szechwan and Kweichow. Since Sikang has largely been incorporated into Szechwan, the latter now contains over 700,000 Tibetans, whereas Yunnan has some 67,000,\n\nAside from the Chuang who constitute about seventy per cent of the total population in what is called the Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region, other T'ai-related groups are widespread especially in Yunnan and Kweichow. The T'ung occupy a solid bloc of territory joining three provinces: southeast Kweichow, northern Kwangsi, and western Hunan. They are related to the Shui who live in the southeast corner of Kweichow. The Pu-yi (also called Chung-chia) are a T'ai-related group in southwest Kweichow. In central Kweichow they live intermingled with the Miao, and they constitute the majority of the country people around the provincial capital of Kuei-yang. The T'ai proper have settled in the southern half of Yunnan where they are divided into two branches: the Hsi-shuang pan-na T'ai and the Te-hung T'ai. The former of these branches constitute \"Twelve pan-na or basin 'states'\", whence their name. The latter are close relatives of the Burma Shan people. Also related to the T'ai more distantly are the Li people of Hainan Island, with their heartland in the Li-mu (\"mother of the Li\") mountains that dominate the southern half of the island. Some Miao also are found on Hainan, having been imported during the Ch'ing dynasty to make poison arrows in the campaigns against the Li.20\n\nThe Miao are a very scattered group and only in two regions do they form compact settlements: eastern Kweichow and southwest Hunan. In Szechwan they live along the Kweichow borderlands. In Kwangsi they have settled in small groups in the centre of the province. In almost all regions the Miao have\n\n20 Hsu Sung-shih, Yueh-chiang liu-yü jen-min, 122-123.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204452, "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-1962", "page_number": 84, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "CHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE\n\nTABLE 1\n\n73\n\nCHINA'S MINORITY POPULATIONS IN ORDER OF SIZE,\n\n1. Chuang\n\n2. Wei-wu-erh (Uighur)\n\n3. Hui (Dungan)\n\n4. Yi (Lolo, etc.)\n\n1953\n\n5. Tsang (Tibetan)\n\n6. Miao\n\n7. Man (Manchu)\n\n8. Meng-ku (Mongol)\n\n9. Pu-yi\n\n10. Ch'ao-hsien (Korean)\n\n11. Tung\n\n12. Yao\n\n13. Pai (Pai-man)\n\n14. Ha-sa-k'e (Kazakh)\n\n15. Ha-ni\n\n16. T'ai\n\n17. Li\n\n18. Li-su\n\n19. Tu-chia\n\n20. She\n\n21. K'a-wa (Wa)\n\n22. Kao-shan (Malay-Polynesian)\n\n23. Tung-hsiang\n\n24. Na-hsi (Na-khi)\n\n25. La-hu\n\n26. Shui\n\n27. Ching-p'o (Singpho, Kachin)\n\n28. Ko-erh-k'e-tzu (Kirghiz)\n\n29. T'u (Mongor)\n\n30. Ta-kuan-erh (Daghor)\n\n31. Mo-lao\n\n32. Ch'iang\n\n33. Pu-lang (Palaung)\n\n34. Sa-la (Salar)\n\n35. Ngo-lo-ssu (Russian)\n\n36. K'e-lao\n\n37. Hsi-po (Sipo)\n\n38. Mao-nan\n\n39. A-chang\n\n40. T'a-chi-k'e (Tadjik)\n\n41. Wu-tzu-pieh-k'e (Uzbek)\n\n42. Nu\n\n43. T'a-t'a-erh (Tatar)\n\n44. O-wen-k'e (Evenki)\n\n45. Pao-an\n\n46. Yü-ku (Sara Uighur)\n\n47. Peng-lung\n\n48. Tu-lung\n\n...\n\n7,000,000\n\n3,640,000\n\n3,559,000\n\n3,250,000\n\n2,775,000\n\n2,511,000\n\n2,418,000\n\n1,463,000\n\n1,247,000\n\n1,120,000\n\n712,000\n\n665,000\n\n567,000\n\n509,000\n\n481,000\n\n478,000\n\n360,000\n\n317,000\n\n300,000 *\n\n286,000\n\n210,000\n\n200,000\n\n155,000\n\n143,000\n\n139,000\n\n133,000\n\n101,000\n\n70,000\n\n53,200\n\n44,100\n\n43,100\n\n35,600\n\n35,000\n\n30,600\n\n22,600\n\n20,800\n\n19,000\n\n18,400\n\n17,700\n\n14,400\n\n13,600\n\n12,700\n\n6,900\n\n6,200\n\n4,900\n\n3,800\n\n2,900\n\n2,400\n\n2,200\n\n450\n\nO-lun-ch'un (Orochun)\n\n50. Ho-che (Nanai)\n\n* Found by Fang Jen in 1955 to be 300,000, but Bruk listed 49,000.\n\n† From April 19, 1957 issue of Kuang-ming Daily News.\n\n† An estimate.\n\n§ Collectively including the So-lun (4,900), T'ung-ku-ssu (Tungus: 1,205), and Ya-k'u-te (Yakut; 137).\n\nHere is the revised response in HTML format using Markdown table syntax for the table:\n\n \n Order\n Minority Population\n Population (1953)\n \n \n 1\n Chuang\n 7,000,000\n \n \n 2\n Wei-wu-erh (Uighur)\n 3,640,000\n \n \n 3\n Hui (Dungan)\n 3,559,000\n \n \n 4\n Yi (Lolo, etc.)\n 3,250,000\n \n \n 5\n Tsang (Tibetan)\n 2,775,000\n \n \n 6\n Miao\n 2,511,000\n \n \n 7\n Man (Manchu)\n 2,418,000\n \n \n 8\n Meng-ku (Mongol)\n 1,463,000\n \n \n 9\n Pu-yi\n 1,247,000\n \n \n 10\n Ch'ao-hsien (Korean)\n 1,120,000\n \n \n 11\n Tung\n 712,000\n \n \n 12\n Yao\n 665,000\n \n \n 13\n Pai (Pai-man)\n 567,000\n \n \n 14\n Ha-sa-k'e (Kazakh)\n 509,000\n \n \n 15\n Ha-ni\n 481,000\n \n \n 16\n T'ai\n 478,000\n \n \n 17\n Li\n 360,000\n \n \n 18\n Li-su\n 317,000\n \n \n 19\n Tu-chia\n 300,000 *\n \n \n 20\n She\n 286,000\n \n \n 21\n K'a-wa (Wa)\n 210,000\n \n \n 22\n Kao-shan (Malay-Polynesian)\n 200,000\n \n \n 23\n Tung-hsiang\n 155,000\n \n \n 24\n Na-hsi (Na-khi)\n 143,000\n \n \n 25\n La-hu\n 139,000\n \n \n 26\n Shui\n 133,000\n \n \n 27\n Ching-p'o (Singpho, Kachin)\n 101,000\n \n \n 28\n Ko-erh-k'e-tzu (Kirghiz)\n 70,000\n \n \n 29\n T'u (Mongor)\n 53,200\n \n \n 30\n Ta-kuan-erh (Daghor)\n 44,100\n \n \n 31\n Mo-lao\n 43,100\n \n \n 32\n Ch'iang\n 35,600\n \n \n 33\n Pu-lang (Palaung)\n 35,000\n \n \n 34\n Sa-la (Salar)\n 30,600\n \n \n 35\n Ngo-lo-ssu (Russian)\n 22,600\n \n \n 36\n K'e-lao\n 20,800\n \n \n 37\n Hsi-po (Sipo)\n 19,000\n \n \n 38\n Mao-nan\n 18,400\n \n \n 39\n A-chang\n 17,700\n \n \n 40\n T'a-chi-k'e (Tadjik)\n 14,400\n \n \n 41\n Wu-tzu-pieh-k'e (Uzbek)\n 13,600\n \n \n 42\n Nu\n 12,700\n \n \n 43\n T'a-t'a-erh (Tatar)\n 6,900\n \n \n 44\n O-wen-k'e (Evenki)\n 6,200\n \n \n 45\n Pao-an\n 4,900\n \n \n 46\n Yü-ku (Sara Uighur)\n 3,800\n \n \n 47\n Peng-lung\n 2,900\n \n \n 48\n Tu-lung\n 2,400\n \n \n 49\n O-lun-ch'un (Orochun)\n 2,200\n \n \n 50\n Ho-che (Nanai)\n 450\n \n\n* Found by Fang Jen in 1955 to be 300,000, but Bruk listed 49,000.\n\n† From April 19, 1957 issue of Kuang-ming Daily News.\n\n† An estimate.\n\n§ Collectively including the So-lun (4,900), T'ung-ku-ssu (Tungus: 1,205), and Ya-k'u-te (Yakut; 137).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204453, "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-1962", "page_number": 85, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "74\n\nHEROLD J. WIENS\n\nTABLE II\n\n(Population in 000's) Provincial distribution of South China peoples\n\n \n \n Szechwan\n Kwangsi\n Kweichow\n Yunnan\n Hupei\n Chekiang\n Fukien\n Kiangsi\n Kwangtung\n Hunan\n \n \n Chuang\n \n 6,445\n 43\n 1\n \n \n \n \n 18\n \n \n \n Molao\n \n 116\n 14\n \n \n \n \n \n 1\n \n \n \n Maonan\n \n 14\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Pu-yi\n \n 1,233\n 479\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n T'ai\n \n \n 439\n 1,333\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n T'ung\n \n 360\n 1,425\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shui\n \n 84\n 204\n \n \n \n \n \n \n 378\n \n \n Li\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 469\n \n \n \n Miao\n 453\n 150\n 1,233\n 70\n \n \n \n \n 21\n 72\n \n \n K'e-lao\n \n \n 41\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Yao\n \n 358\n 14\n 1\n \n \n \n 14\n 28\n 14\n \n \n She\n \n \n \n \n \n 25\n 96\n 52\n \n 2\n \n \n Tibetan*\n \n \n \n 713\n 67\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ch'iang\n 36\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Nu\n \n \n \n 13\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Tu-lung\n \n \n \n 2\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ching-p'o\n \n \n \n 102\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Yi\n \n \n 275\n 1,852\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ha-ni\n \n \n \n 481\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Li-su\n \n \n \n 317\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Nakhi\n \n \n \n 143\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n La-hu\n \n \n \n 139\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Achang\n \n \n \n 18\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Pai\n \n \n \n 567\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n T'u-chia\n 549\n \n \n \n 1,123\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n K'a-wa or Wa\n \n \n \n 286\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Peng-lung\n \n \n \n 3\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Pa-lang\n \n \n \n 35\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Kao-shan\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (found only in Taiwan 200,000)\n \n \n \n Ching\n \n 4\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (Vietnamese)\n \n \n \n 2\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n* In Tibet proper and in the Chamdo region there is an additional Tibetan population of about 1,274,000.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204561, "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-1963", "page_number": 42, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "PRINTING IN CHINA\n\n37\n\nin the desert beyond Tun-huang, which Lao Kan subsequently dated around A.D. 98 or a little later. This confirms the date of 105 given for the announcement of the invention to the throne in the biography of Ts'ai Lun in the Hou Han shu. The technical processes included:\n\n(a) the fashioning of seals out of metal, stone, and clay;\n\n(b) the taking of rubbings (or inked squeezes) of inscriptions on bronze and stone.\n\nSeveral bronze seals have been found in Shang sites, and many later ones made of bronze, ivory, horn, stone, pottery, jade, and iron. They were cut both in relief and in intaglio. Known as yin, the seals were generally small; their purpose was a proof of genuineness. (The woodblock, yet to appear, was large and its purpose was reduplication.)\n\nAs to inked rubbings, these make their appearance during the 5th and 6th centuries; by 649 three professionals were appointed to the T'ang court. They were called T'a shu shou. Chinese scholars love to own copies of prized inscriptions; so the making of rubbings became a popular pastime.\n\nBy the year 640, after the T'ang had consolidated the empire, and achieved victories everywhere, except in Korea, China entered upon a period of material prosperity and cultural advance. It is small wonder that in the ensuing century printing should have developed. The demand must have been very great for elementary texts, dictionaries, copies of the canon, histories, Buddhist sutras, almanacs, etc.\n\nOne must mention here the interesting hypothesis of Robert Shafer [Journal of the Oriental Society, v. 80, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1960), pp. 328-329] that the printing block originated in Tibet. This may be true; but was it first used for literature, or for some other purpose, such as textiles? The authors of both the Chiu T'ang shu (196 A/la) and the Hsin T'ang shu (216 A/lb), writing of the early years of the Tang dynasty, state categorically that the Tibetans had no writing. So do the writers of the Tibetan annals, covering the years 650-747, found by Pelliot at Tunhuang. (Cf. the translation of J. Bacot and Ch. Toussaint in Documents de Touen-Houang relatifs à l'histoire du Tibet.)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205010, "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-1965", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n109\n\nof Buddhist Tantrism\" with a discussion of the mystic's approach to what is 'experience.' When he treats the concepts of 'reality' and 'spirituality' his reference to S. Freud's 'super-ego' for the Tibetan yid i.e. 'mind,' lacks persuasiveness, but admittedly this is not part of the main argument. Comparisons with Hegel and Kant as well as the Sanskrit sources and their interpretation could not be checked for this review. Apart from referring, among others, to Bertrand Russell and Karl Jaspers, the author seems to agree repeatedly with William S. Haas's The Destiny of the Mind. Taken as a whole, this broadly conceived study is valuable food for thought to the informed philosopher.\n\n\"Three Impressions of Bamian\" by Alastair Lamb is an exciting introduction to the sculptures, caves and wall paintings of this Buddhist monastic cave complex in Afghanistan. The views and pictures of three visitors to Bamian are compared: Charles Masson in 1832, Vincent Eyre in 1842 and Lamb himself in 1958. The picture section comprises altogether thirty-two plates, mostly photographs. The main features of Bamian are the Buddha colossi of 120 and 175 feet in height respectively, the \"giants of Gandhara sculpture.\" Bamian is taken as “a gigantic demonstration of the great extent of contacts between China, India, Iran and the Mediterranean which flourished from the foundation of the Roman Empire to the period of the T'ang Dynasty.\" The various early domes in Bamian cave architecture are treated in some detail and described as \"convincing proof of the strong Western influence in the Buddhist architecture of Afghanistan.\"\n\nThaung Blackmore presents a comprehensive view of the \"Founding of the City of Mandalay by King Mindon\" in 1857. Though some ancient Burmese customs such as myosade, i.e. human sacrifices at the foundation of a city, were given up, the construction of Mandalay was still mainly influenced by traditional concepts, in particular by astrology.\n\nWalter Hochstadter is a very outspoken fighter for the \"Real Shen Chou,\" as he sees him. Under the heading of \"Popular Conceptions of Shen Chou's Style\" he particularly criticizes Professor Osvald Sirén. Hochstadter lists seven points which are useful to establish a major painter's work, the main one being brushwork. He arrives at the conclusion that only two works", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205011, "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-1965", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "110\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nof Shen Chou, comprising thirteen album leaves, are existing and known today. A detailed discussion of these two works is presented as well as five good reproductions.\n\nChang Kun's \"An Analysis of the Tun-huang Tibetan Annals\" is based on the published editions of the Tun-huang materials. He classifies some important Tibetan expressions under the eight headings of \"Introduction, Ruling House, Officialdom, Government Operations, Territorial Division, Border Regions, Subjugated Territories and Foreign Countries.\" In addition, he presents in this scholarly work a long list of \"Royal Residence and Sites for Councils,\" an index of \"Places and Peoples\" and an index of \"Tibetan Personal Names.\"\n\nA very outstanding feature of the volume is that as much as 150 pages (pp. 175-329) are used for reviews. Well-known scholars, nearly all from Hong Kong, discuss an interesting range of books on Asia from 1955 to 1961.\n\nIn addition, a \"Far Eastern Bibliography\" lists the titles of the articles in thirty-five journals of European languages dealing with the Orient, mostly of the year 1958. Studies contained in another twenty journals, this time in Chinese and Japanese languages, are given as well and are indeed a most helpful guide to the state of research in Asia. The comparatively young Journal of Oriental Studies thus contains a wealth of minute information on research and by undertaking this troublesome work sets an example to other, often older, journals concentrating on Asia.\n\nUnder separate cover, there has been published by the Hong Kong University Press an \"Index to Volumes I to V, 1954-1960\" to the Journal of Oriental Studies. The articles are listed according to their authors as well as their titles and subject matter, the book reviews according to the names of the authors and of the reviewers. The Index is helpful for reference, especially to the numerous valuable book reviews in the Journal.\n\nK. Bünger", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205115, "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": 71, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "66\n\nHERBERT FRANKE\n\nChinese artists of the tenth and twelfth centuries respectively. One does not even have to look at reproductions of his paintings to see how Chinese he is; the titles of his paintings alone show this. \"Mountains in Rain\", \"A Grove of Leafy Trees in Mist and Rain\", \"Clearing after a Spring Rain over the Mountains\" -- all these and many other titles suggest strongly that Kao stayed strictly within the Chinese tradition.21 In this connection another phenomenon must be noted. These foreigners not only seem to have lost their national background but also their religion. When we read, for example, the poems written by a Nestorian Önggüt in Chinese we do not find any Christian elements, nor is there any hint to Islamic faith in the poems of writers like Sa'd ad-Daula. Nothing could, of course, prevent these authors from, say, praising Allah in Chinese or writing a Christian hymn. And there was also nothing and nobody to prevent them from continuing to use their native language as a literary medium. The Mongol Government remained, on the whole, tolerant towards foreigners and foreign languages. But it seems as if the attraction of Chinese civilization was so strong that foreigners residing in China tried hard to be acknowledged by the Chinese intelligentsia as their equals. Or must we ascribe this phenomenon to a hostility of the Chinese who did not care to preserve literature written in foreign languages? There may have been poems written in Persian or Turkish in Yüan China, but if so, they certainly did not survive. There are certain indications that later Chinese nationalism under the Ming may have wiped out any traces of foreigners. In 1269 a new script for the Mongol language had been invented by Phags-pa Lama, a script that was meant to supersede the Uighur-Mongol script. The use of this new script, the so-called square script which was based on the Tibetan alphabet, was made obligatory by Imperial decree, and also used for printing Mongol books. But only fragments of one Mongol book printed in the Phags-pa script have survived, fragments of a Buddhist text (Subhāsitaratnanidhi) that have been found in Turfan. The Yuan dynastic history contains some data on the translations of Chinese works into Mongol. Apart from Buddhist scriptures at least seven works, some of them quite lengthy, were translated and printed, and nine more have at least reached the MS stage. But not a single one of these printed books and manuscripts has survived, with the possible exception of the bilingual Chinese-Mongol Classical Book of Filial Piety (Hsiao-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205116, "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": 72, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "SINO-WESTERN CONTACTS\n\n67\n\nching) which may be, however, an early Ming print of the late fourteenth century.22 One thing is certain: there has been virtually no lasting influence of foreigners on intellectual and artistic life in China under the Mongols. The non-Chinese intellectuals tried to become Chinese and to make the Chinese forget their non-Chinese, Western or Near Eastern origins.\n\nIn the East-West direction, the situation is different. Here we see China as a cultural center from which all kinds of influences spread west and reached Central Asia as well as Near Eastern countries. It is out of the question even to try to enumerate the many cultural elements that found their way into Western Asia and even to Europe. I shall have to confine myself to just a few examples, which do not even pretend to be representative — they have rather been selected for showing the variety of fields where Chinese influences were absorbed, sometimes with a lasting effect. It should be mentioned here that some scholars suggest that the invention of gunpowder and printing in Europe are due to a stimulus diffusion spreading from China. These things are hard to prove, in particular because there are missing links. The Islamic civilizations of the Near East, for example, never adopted printing. Books in Arabic, Persian, or Turkish were, until quite recently, always copied by hand. But in Central Asia, book printing by xylograph became fairly common. The Tibetans had, at a comparatively early date, taken to printing, and Uighurs as well as Mongols had printed books at least as early as the thirteenth century. The various expeditions to Central Asia at the beginning of this century brought to light many examples of early Uighur and Mongol prints. Some of these prints, if not most of them, were Buddhist. Their printers were probably Chinese, because usually there are Chinese paginations and Chinese characters used for identifying the woodblocks of individual texts.\n\nAnother field where Chinese influence in Central Asia and beyond turned out to be strong was institution and bureaucracy. It is surprising to see that even after the Islamisation of Eastern Turkestan (middle of the fourteenth century), Chinese institutions survived, although direct contacts with China proper were neither frequent nor intensive. There is, for example, an unpublished Mongol document in Kyoto from which we can see that the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205130, "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": 86, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM\n\nRelations with Tibet\n\n81\n\nJust as Buddhism was used by the Japanese to serve political ends in China, so it was used by the Chinese to serve political ends in Tibet. After the collapse of the Ch'ing Dynasty the Tibetans considered themselves to be an independent nation. Successive Republican governments therefore endeavoured to persuade them that they were one of the five races of China and that Tibet was Chinese territory. In a rather poor hand Buddhism was one of the better cards. That is, the Chinese could argue that Tibet was bound to China by a common religion. This was not altogether factitious. For example, one of the rites for the dead most commonly performed by Chinese monks, the fang yen-k'ou, was partly of Tibetan origin. Mountains like Omei and Wu-t'ai Shan had long been equally sacred to Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims, and had provided the venue for a Sino-Tibetan syncretism. A visitor to Wu-t'ai Shan in 1911 wrote: \"The most curious feature of Buddhism on the Wutaishan is the amalgamating of Chinese Buddhism and Lamaism... doctrines borrow from one another in habits and arrangements... The structure of the temple is, for the greater part Chinese, but the form of the pagodas is mostly Indo-Tibetan. The interior, too, forms a mixture of Chinese and Tibetan. Chinese and Tibetan idols stand side by side, Tibeto-Mongolian inscriptions are next to Chinese ones, Tibetan butter lamps, praying cylinders, also boards on which the monks throw themselves for prayers, all such things are seen here in Chinese temples. In their services, too, one style blends with another.\"24\n\nBoth\n\nAlthough lama temples enjoying Manchu patronage were to be found in Peking and a few other Chinese cities, the indigenous Chinese Tantric sect had been suppressed in the Ming Dynasty. During the Republican period some Buddhist devotees became interested in reviving it, or rather in reintroducing Tantrism from Tibet and Japan, where it had been preserved intact. To them, as to some Europeans of that time, Tibet was a land of precious secrets, which they resolved to learn. It is difficult to ascertain the relationship between this personal interest and government policy. Which came first? How did each stimulate the other?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205131, "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": 87, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "82\n\nHOLMES WELCH\n\nThe earliest manifestation of the Tantric revival was perhaps a school of Tibetan studies that operated in Peking 1924-1925. Founded by T'ai-hsü and headed by his disciple Ta-yung, its purpose was to prepare people for further study in Tibet. Only a single class was graduated, most members of which got no further than the Tibetan borderlands, but at least three reached Lhasa: Fa-tsun, Neng-hai, and Ch'ao-i. They returned to China in the early 1930's.25\n\nFa-tsun became the principal of the Sino-Tibetan Institute outside Chungking. This had also been established by T'ai-hsü (in 1931) and had the same goal as his school in Peking — to prepare people for study in Tibetan monasteries but unlike the earlier school it received a government subsidy. It was perhaps the only Buddhist institution to enjoy this privilege during the Republican period.\n\nThe government displayed an even more open concern when in December 1936 the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission inaugurated a program for the exchange of Chinese and Tibetan monks. Two of the former were to be selected annually by the Chinese Buddhist Association and sent to Lhasa for five years' study, while two Tibetan monks were to be chosen by \"the local government of Tibet\" for study in China. Tibetans were brought not only to study, but to teach. Early in 1937 the Nationalists invited Shirob Jaltso, an eminent Tibetan scholar who was persona non grata in Lhasa, to deliver a series of lectures at five Chinese universities. \"This was the first time a Tibetan instructor had been provided for Chinese university students.\"26 Shirob, the Panchen Lama (also persona non grata in Lhasa), and several other Tibetan monks who resided in China at this period were accorded every courtesy (and presumably ample subsidies) by the Chinese Government. Some received official posts.27\n\nLhasa did not reciprocate. Rather naturally, it gave no political role to the Chinese who had been sent to strengthen its ties with the \"motherland.\" Nonetheless they were able to pursue their religious studies and to carry on other activities agreeable to all concerned. One of my informants, for example, had become interested in Buddhism as a young man. Although he came from a poor family in Nanking, he got to know Lü Ch'eng at the Metaphysical Institute (Nei-hsü Yuan). Lü urged him to go to", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205132, "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": 88, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM\n\nL\n\n83\n\nTibet so that he could learn the language and some day return to translate Tibetan books. In 1933 he was given a scholarship at the Chinese Tibetan Language School, which moved in January 1934 to Chungking. There he became the disciple of a lama on the faculty. After completing the two-year course, he entered the Central Political University, which had been set up by the Kuomintang to train cadres. After a year and a half the government selected him to go to Tibet for further training.28 He lived for eight years at the Drebung Monastery outside Lhasa—the largest monastery in Tibet and probably in the world—and received a high ecclesiastical degree. His final years in Lhasa were spent running a school for Tibetan children and working in the Tibetan office of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, so that he kept his dual role of monk and political agent. This is not to imply that there was anything sinister in what he was doing. It was simply that the Chinese Government had enabled him to pursue his interest in Buddhism for their own purposes, which he naturally expected to serve.\n\nThe presence in China of an increasing number of Tibetan lamas2 and monks returned from Lhasa further stimulated interest in Tantrism among the Chinese laity. In November 1935 a group of devotees set up the Bodhi Society in Shanghai to promote the translation and study of Tantric texts. The Panchen Lama was president and the members included some high-ranking ex-officials.30 This society was one of the regular stops on the lecture tours of the lamas and Lhasa-trained monks.\n\nAmong the most active of the latter was Neng-hai (see p. 11) who had been a Nationalist general before he had taken the robe. About 1938 he became the abbot of the Chin-tz'u Ssu in Chen-tu, which until then had been a typically Chinese monastery. Neng-hai changed the daily ritual and routine to incorporate Tibetan elements. He also started a scriptural translation institute that published Tibetan books in Chinese. Since some 250 monks were usually in residence, this monastery might have exerted a wide influence towards the \"Tantrification\" of Chinese Buddhism if it had been able to carry on after 1950.\n\nRelations with Theravada Buddhists\n\nThe Japanese and Tibetans were Mahayana Buddhists with whom it would be natural for Buddhists in China, who were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205144, "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": 100, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF BUDDHISM\n\n11 Yin-shun, T'ai-hsü, p. 213.\n\n12 Eastern Buddhist 3.2 (July-September, 1924), 190.\n\n95\n\n13 Chinese lay devotees went to Japan to learn Tantric Buddhism from Shingon masters. Chinese monks went for academic study (two in 1936 and two more in early 1937; see Chinese Year Book 1937, Shanghai, 1937, p. 73.\n\n14 That is, the Chung-jih fo-chiao hui. At about the same time the Sino-Japanese Tantric Association (Ching-jih mi-chiao hui) was established. See Chinese Year Book 1937, p. 73.\n\n15 Takada, p. 14.\n\n16 Takada, p. 24-36, lists a total of eleven temples established between 1876 and 1937, but on p. 14 he speaks of ten temples having been set up before 1937 and of forty-nine (not forty-six) being in operation as of December, 1942. It seems clear that he does not include temples that have gone out of operation, like those in Nanking and Changsha (see note 2), and possibly those in Fukien. The only temple outside Shanghai that survived from the era before 1937 was the Honganji temple in Hankow, established 1906, which in 1942 had 1,200 Japanese and 150 Chinese parishioners.\n\n17 For example, in 1942 at the original Honganji temple in Shanghai the number of Japanese parishioners was 4,930 and the number of Chinese was zero. This temple was obviously not engaged in missionary work, but exclusively in serving the Japanese community.\n\n18 Two officers of the Ching-an Ssu in Shanghai are said to have been arrested and in Canton the abbot of the Liu-jung Ssu, T'ieh-ch'an, was executed.\n\n19 H. G. Quaritch Wales, \"Buddhism As an Instrument of Japanese Propaganda\" Free World 5.5 (May 1943), 428.\n\n20 Takada, p. 1, states that the alliance was set up in April 1937 in accordance with the policy formulated in October 1938. Perhaps the first date is a misprint.\n\n21 Takada, pp. 1, 4, 5. The changes in the bureaucratic status of the Great Harmony Religious Alliance appear to have been as follows. After being set up under the military authorities, it was transferred to the liaison office of the Central China Liaison Office of the Office for the Resurgence of Asia (Koain), which had been set up in December 1938 directly under the Cabinet in order to formulate policy on and handle relations with China. In April 1942 the Alliance was placed under the supervision of the Foreign Ministry through its representatives in Shanghai. In November 1942 it seems to have been returned to the Office for the Resurgence of Asia, when the latter was integrated into the Ministry for Great East Asian Co-Prosperity.\n\n22 Takada, pp. 24-36.\n\n23 The most significant absentee was Yüan-ying, the national head of the Chinese Buddhist Association (Shanghai, 1929).\n\n24 H. Hackmann, A German Scholar in the East, pp. 118-119. John Blofeld, who visited Wu-t'ai Shan in 1937, describes a monastery with several hundred monks where \"the main pavilion... was arranged in the Chinese way, but many services were held in a smaller building where purely Tibetan rites were performed\" (Jewel in the Lotus, London, 1948, p. 97).\n\n25 Fa-p'u, a disciple of Ta-yung, is stated to have reached Lhasa and earned a ko-hsi degree. Yin-shun, T'ai-hsü, p. 17.\n\n26 Chinese Year Book 1937 (Shanghai, 1937), p. 73.\n\n27 Shirob Jaltso, for example, was a member of the People's Political Council (1938-1949); an alternate member of the Kuomintang Sixth Super-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205145, "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": 101, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "96\n\nHOLMES WELCH\n\nvisory Committee (1945-1949); and a vice-chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (1947-1949).\n\n28 Probably he was not one of the two monks sent to Tibet for study earlier in 1937 (see p. 11).\n\n29 An interesting account of one such, Dorje Rimpoche, from Chamdo, who visited Hong Kong in 1935, is given in J. Blofeld, The Wheel of Life, London, 1959, pp. 40-56.\n\n30 The leading spirit of the society was Ch'ü Yang-kuang, formerly governor of Shantung and Chekiang and Minister of the Interior. This Bodhi Society (P'u-ti hsüeh-hui) had no connection with the Bodhi Society (P'u-ti She) established by T'ai-hsü in 1918.\n\n31 Chinese Year Book 1935-36, Shanghai, 1935, p. 1514, Huang was the editor of the Chinese Buddhist, \"an English magazine which was to link up China with foreign Buddhists.\" It ceased publication before he died in 1933.\n\n12 It was a common practice for Chinese monks to take their ordination vows a second or third time in order to strengthen their commitment to follow them, or in order to draw inspiration from an eminent ordaining monk. Hence, from the Chinese point of view, receiving the Theravada ordination meant supplementing, not replacing the Mahayana ordination.\n\n33 Their names were Pei-kuan, Teng-tz'u, Hsing-chiao and Chüeh-yuan. They were supposed to remain in Thailand four years. See Chinese Year Book 1936-37, Shanghai, 1936, p. 1446.\n\n34 Their Chinese religious names, followed by their Theravada names, were: Hsiu-lu (Kondanna), Wei-chih (Bhaddiya), Hui-sung (Vappa), Fa-chou (Mahanama), and Wei-huan (Assaji). Their later histories would make an interesting study in acculturation. Wei-huan disrobed within a few months and returned to China where he married. Eventually he became the principal English interpreter for the Chinese Buddhist Association established in Peking in 1953. Fa-chou married a girl of Dutch descent and eventually became a lecturer at the University of Ceylon. Hui-sung, who stayed longest, became mentally deranged. Wei-chih, after disrobing, went to Singapore, where he died during the war. Hsiu-lu, after disrobing, went to India where he pursued his studies at Santiniketan and/or Nalanda. Only the information about the first two is reliable. Another moot question is who sent them to Ceylon in the first place. Their Sinhalese hosts believed that they had been selected and sent by T'ai-hsü; and it is true that he acted as their guarantor (see Yin-shun, T'ai-hsü, p. 404). But another Chinese source states that their group was \"formed by the Chinese Buddhist Association in accordance with the proposal made by the Pure Karma Buddhist Association,\" both of which were housed in the same building in Shanghai. See Chinese Year Book 1936-37, p. 1446.\n\n35 Liao-ts'an (Dhammakiti) who went to Ceylon in 1945 returned to China about 1953 with Fa-fang's ashes, disrobed and became an instructor in Pali at the Chinese Buddhist Institute in Peking.\n\n36 Today many Theravada Buddhists have a very different attitude and publicly advocate tolerance and respect for Mahayana Buddhism. In 1956 the fourth Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists voted to abolish even the use of the terms \"Theravada\" and \"Mahayana\" (see Report of the 4th World Buddhist Conference, Kathmandu, no date, p. 2). There are some Theravadins, however, who even today believe that the world would be a better place if Mahayana was removed from it.\n\n37 He had gotten the information at first hand from Liao-ts'an (Dhamma-kiti) who had heard the complaints of members of the 1936 group. They are stated to have been novices (sha-mi) when they left China and the Theravada ordination they received on May 6, 1936 was also, apparently, the novice's ordination. Hence there would have been more justification for withholding the respect due to bhikkhus than in the case of Liao-ts'an and his fellow monk, who came in 1945. More information is needed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205601, "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-1968", "page_number": 143, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "138 \n\nNOTES AND QUERIES \n\nsaid to have been of the Buddhist faith and to have lived in China in the early part of the eighth century; or to one of their patriarch-successors. These sects share a common ideology, have the same goals, and some have a similar system of rank and appointments, even possessing the same rank-names and terms of address. Some of these sects are, like Hsien-t'ien Tao, vegetarian, that is to say they demand a permanent vegetarian diet (and also sexual abstinence) from their rank-holders; and some, generally speaking the more recent off-shoots, are non-vegetarian. It is only the vegetarian sects which are organized through vegetarian halls. \n\nSome of the other sects operating in Hong Kong today and recognised by Hsien-t'ien Tao to be related to it are P'u-tu Men: \"The Salvation Sect\" and Kuei-ken Men: \"The Sect of Reverting to the Root [of Things],\" which are both vegetarian; and T'ung-shan She: “The Fellowship of Goodness\", which is non-vegetarian and was particularly active in the period leading up to the founding of the Chinese Republic and immediately afterwards. \n\nThe ideology of these sects is known by Hsien-t'ien Tao rather confusingly as Hsien-t'ien Ta-tao: \"The Great Way of Former Heaven\". It is syncretic, incorporating elements from a number of sources but most importantly from Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, and from Taoism, and the Yin-Yang cosmology which received general acceptance by the Chinese in traditional times. In combining all these elements however Great Way ideology, as we will refer to it here, produces an original synthesis: a system of ideas distinct from any other. The religion divides time into three major epochs, or cyclical periods, during each of which it is supposed that Absolute Truth comes into the world, is taught by a major Buddha and other distinguished sages, and then, unless men have made efforts to prevent it, becomes distorted and finally disappears. The disappearance of Truth from the world is followed by a major catastrophe (there might also be minor, localised disasters during each period due to minor Truth distortions). All sects in the group believe we have already passed through the first of these periods which was followed by a great flood; some believe we are in the second period now (dominated by Sakyamuni Buddha) which will be followed by a great fire unless we act to prevent it; and a few believe we are actually in the third period which will be followed by a wind catastrophe (interpreted by the sect Kuei-ken Men as an atomic war). It is in this final period that the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206073, "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-1970", "page_number": 153, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "148\n\nS. F. BALFOUR\n\nthey made the primitive links in the chain of commerce before the foreign traders from India and Persia arrived about the 4th century A.D. In the present state of archaeological knowledge we do not know how far east this early trade route spread. It may have linked up Japan and Korea for instance. It seems certain that it spread to the Tonkin delta, down the coast of Annam and possibly to Malaya, Java and Sumatra. Very likely, also, is the existence of the trade routes inland by the great rivers throughout South China and Tonkin. There is unfortunately no Chinese historical record of this trade.\n\nThe Chinese accounts of aboriginal life in South China are very indefinite and unsatisfactory. In very early times (in the book of Chuang Tzŭ and the Book of Rites) the South of China was called Nan Yüeh or South of the Mountain Barrier. Texts of the Han dynasty give in greater detail the geographical divisions of the coast. The South of Fukien was called Ou, Fukien Min Yüeh, Kwangtung and Kwangsi South Yüeh and the western part of Kwangsi with the Tonkin delta Lo Yüeh or Ou Lo. These divisions cannot be taken as based on any real knowledge of racial distinctions. A few texts give us a meagre description of the natives. The Han history describes the inhabitants of Min Yüeh as \"cutting the hair short, tattooing the body, possessing neither towns nor villages but living in valleys of bamboo, expert at fighting on the water but of no use on land, having neither chariots nor horses nor bows and arrows.\" We also know that in 180 B.C. Chinese traders were forbidden to sell iron to the natives of South Yüeh which indicates that they were using stone weapons. Another text of the Han history connects the people of South Yüeh with those of Lo Yüeh or Tonkin by saying that \"they are both of the Mi tribe\". It is tantalising that in spite of much account of battles and biographies of chieftains the Chinese historians have left no real description of aboriginal life. Such was their dislike of barbarians that they either ignored them completely or wrote about them as if they were pure Chinese.\n\nAccording to the San On topography the tribe of Yao, a people of Sino-Tibetan stock affiliated to the Miao, existed to the north of our region some 200 years ago. They live now in Kwangtung and Kwangsi besides other places such as Hainan Island. They tattoo their bodies and use stone implements. They", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206074, "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-1970", "page_number": 154, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH\n\n149\n\nalso wear headdresses and tails to resemble dogs and they have a legend about their descent from a dog. This legend, as reproduced in the later Han history, is as follows. An emperor who wished to subjugate a certain chieftain offered his youngest daughter in marriage to anyone who would bring him his head. After this proclamation one of his pet dogs brought a man's head and laid it in front of the throne. It proved to be the head of the enemy. The princess then insisted that she should be married to the dog and the Emperor was forced to comply. The princess was taken by the dog to a stone fortress in a mountain in Hunan. There she changed her mode of living, discarded her Chinese clothes and wore a strange head-dress. She bore six children. They made bark clothes which they dyed with various grass juices. They cut them with a tail behind. They lived in the mountains. Their descendants multiplied and are known as the Man I\n\nMan and I are Chinese terms for barbarians. Man, as we have seen, is applied locally to the Hoklo, but it can represent a barbarian of South China in general. It generally represents Tibetan or western barbarians. When Chao T'o, one of the chiefs of the Canton estuary, made himself independent in the Han dynasty, he called himself \"King of the Man and I\". Since the Yao have the same dog myth as the Man I, there is a likelihood that this people were partly composed of Yao and partly of Indonesian stock.\n\nIt is only possible to take such broad distinctions as the Chinese historians allow. There were in ancient South China two types. One the \"dragon myth\" peoples, primarily in Fukien, using boats with eyes painted on the bows, and designated by many names Min Man Tan and so on with the radical for serpent or dragon. The other a mountain people with a \"dog myth\" stretched from the confines of Tibet to South China and included the Yao. The former may be of Indonesian and the latter of Tibetan stock.\n\nOne problem must still be mentioned. The presence of a very early Negrito population in South China is suspected. Negrito dwarfs are still found in Cochin China, the Malay States, the Philippine Islands, and Formosa and in the history of the Liang dynasty occurs the following text:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206667, "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": 215, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n209 \n\nat Castle Douglas. It was a very large building as befitted the size and importance of the Press, and can be seen on the old photographs on view in the entrance corridor at University Hall. \n\nAn account by the Rev. Fr. Leon Trivière states: \n\nThe press used 67,899 matrices, which shows how much work was carried on at this house. Thousands of examples of catechisms, prayer-books, works on dogma and morality, spirituality and meditation, the pastorate, canon law, sermons, catechesis, liturgy were brought out. These books were published in 28 languages: Chinese, Annamite, Latin, French, English, Chamorro, Tibetan, Laotian, Malay, Tho (Cao-Bang), Cambodian, Japanese, Thai (Chau-Laos), Banhnar, Portuguese, Kanaka, Lolo, Tagalog, Yap, German, Italian, Siamese, Kanao, Korean, Dioi, Palau, Spanish and Ainu. Notable among the publications of Nazareth Press was an amazing collection of dictionaries printed in twelve languages. A certain number of them were honoured by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, and sought after by great Universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, London, etc. ...or by famous Libraries specialising in Oriental Languages. Numerous works by missionaries attached to the École Française d'Extrême-Orient, the Académie Stanislaus and other bodies engaged in scientific research, were printed at Nazareth \n\nNazareth House. Considerable building alterations and additions were made to Castle Douglas by the Mission, including, some years after its occupation, an extensive reconstruction of the original building which was in danger of collapsing. The additions included dormitory accommodation, a chapel, a library and the printing house. The new House was first used in May 1896 and the chapel was blessed in October of that year. A life of prayer and work on editing, translating, printing and proof-reading was inaugurated at the former Castle Douglas, and was to continue until the Japanese Occupation in 1941-1945. The house continued to be used by the Fathers in those years, but printing stopped. Work began again after the war; but with the establishment of the People's Government at Peking in 1949, continental China was soon closed to foreign missionary effort, and in 1953 the Central Council in Paris decided to give up Nazareth House. It was bought by the University of Hong Kong in 1954, to be used as a Hall of Residence for students.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206788, "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-1973", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "PERSIANS, ARABS IN T’ANG CHINA\n\n59\n\nManichaean whose doctrines were proposed to the court in A.D. 694.5 There were students from Japan, who, after enjoying a few years of study on Chinese classics, preferred to remain in China permanently. There were also aristocratic Tibetan youths sent by their parents for traditional Chinese scholarship. There were Khoten painters who later became great masters in Chinese artistic circles. There were Sogdians, who introduced polo to the Chinese. Above all, there were Persians and Arabs, whose activities and contributions had tremendous influence on T'ang political and social history.\n\nI\n\nMany Persians, Arabs and others lived in Tang China. The Turks, Uighurs, Tocharians, Sogdians, Koreans and Japanese for the most part lived in Ch'ang-an and the Chams, Khmers, Javanese and Singhalese in Canton. Persians and Arabs, however, were also to be found in these two places and in Yang-chou and Ch'üan-chou as well. All these foreigners in the early Tang period shared the same kind of life as the T'ang Chinese. In A.D. 714, the T'ang government had to establish a special office known as Shih-po-ssu (Superintendent of Customs) to look after the foreign affairs in Canton and in other cities along the coastal region.\n\nForeigners in T’ang China were not all law-abiding. Uighur nationals sought out Chinese businessmen and young Chinese wastrels and made shady deals with them in the capital. Persians and Arabs, on the other hand, would lure young beautiful Chinese girls to become part of their possessions and even engaged in the slave trade in Canton. Also, some of them would purposely encourage those Chinese who were in need of money to pledge their land, furniture and sacred relics for ready cash.\n\nThe Chinese pawn-shop came into being in late T’ang period and this kind of practice is believed to be the embryo of the modern pawn-shop. The moneylenders' business was regarded as a plague in the beginning of the ninth century and the emperor had to issue a decree in A.D. 822 prohibiting such practice or every Chinese in the Empire would be in debt.7 The Turks were as notorious as the others. A Turk stabbed a Chinese merchant to death in broad daylight and was rescued by his Fan-chang (Sheikh) without any...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206902, "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-1973", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n173\n\na fish-scale design all over the dress. But neither points out that the shiny most bluish satin simulates the metal of the armour and the scales simulate the plates of the armour. The back-flap is cut into strips and they obviously look and are arranged like tail feathers; feather-strips are hanging down from various parts of the costume. The generals bristle and ruffle their feathers with every movement, and while fighting they look like an enormous flustered phoenix in attack.\n\nMost opera costumes have so-called water-sleeves of white thin silk attached to the actual sleeve. They are like cuffs, open at the seam, and when they hang down, they almost reach the floor. These sleeves play a very important part in the technique of acting. Miss Halson only describes a few sleeve-movements like: using the sleeves to hide in embarrassment, or thrown up in bewilderment, that they are used as a muff in winter and as a fan in summer. Scott explains 100 different sleeve-movements and tells by which character they are used: e.g. in T'ou hsiu the two sleeves are flung out together, to the right, whilst the face looks left, which symbolizes making a decision or anger and is only performed by the Ching I or demure young woman. I would like to add that these sleeves are found in Chinese costumes already as far back as the Han dynasty about 2,000 years ago. The cuff was not added to the sleeve, but the sleeve itself was very long. It can still be seen in the blouses worn by Tibetans. In the art of Chinese dancing, the flowing of the sleeves are such an important part, that movements are often only directed to produce the desired flow. It expresses the Chinese love for flowing lines, very well known from their brush-strokes. Actually in both books I feel the absence of linking the descriptions of the appearance with its cultural background.\n\nAll faces are made up in Peking Opera. Older people and middle-aged ones have a natural make up, young men and women have the middle of their face powdered white, cheeks and eye-lids are deep magenta. But the most striking are the multi-coloured painted faces. They are only for male parts: warriors, generals, ministers and officials. Miss Halson suggests an origin for these: branded criminals tattooed their scars to disguise the marks. This is very far fetched. Her second explanation is that the actors wanted their faces to stand out. Any make up is of course to this end; but she did not hit the simple truth. Masks were used before the great step forward was taken when, recognizing the disadvantages", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206941, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "6\n\nsuch facilities. Our representative on the Arts Centre Management Committee is Mr. David Gilkes, our Hon. Treasurer, who reports that because of the constantly increasing costs of building in Hong Kong (currently about 35% a year) and because of difficulties in fund-raising (always a problem with cultural projects in the Colony) building is not likely to start until April 1974. The Society is of course keeping an eye on developments. Because of this delay we are not now proposing to raise our subscription rate from $30 to $50 until January 1976 (we had originally intended to raise it in 1975). At present we continue to be extremely grateful to the British Council for the facilities they provide to us, both in the use of an office for Council meetings of the Society, in clerical assistance, and in housing part of our library. We are also grateful to Hong Kong University for the various facilities they provide, including housing more than half our library collection.\n\nIn early December the Arts Centre held an exhibition at the City Hall at which constituent-member Societies each had a space to demonstrate their own activities or display examples of their work. Mr. Tony Rydings, our Hon. Librarian arranged our own exhibition most effectively and provided show cases. One of the items we showed was our Tibetan scroll obtained from the late Mr. F. A. Nixon, a former member of the Society (you will see from the Hon. Librarian's report that we are also indebted to him for a large donation of books from his estate). We also had samples of our Journal and symposium publications on display. A book was provided for people who wanted further information on the Society, to write their names and addresses. Nearly 100 people expressed interest and all were sent information.\n\nMEMBERSHIP\n\nOur membership increased this year, probably due to the interest shown in the Society at the Arts Centre exhibitions and to the Laos tour. At this time last year membership stood at 555. It is normal, in this very mobile community, for us to have our gains and losses during the year. During the last annual period we lost eight members through resignation, one through death, and thirty-two did not renew their membership: thus there were forty-one losses in all. Again I would urge members to avail themselves of that useful facility, the banker's order: both useful to our treasurer who has to chase up tardy members to discover if they have", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206999, "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": 70, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "64\n\nCAROLE MORGAN\n\nParafilaria Multipapillosa, in which the parasite buries itself under the skin causing blisters which ooze blood on bursting.45) After two unsuccessful campaigns Li Kuang-li finally sent a number of Ferghana horses back to the capital in 101 B.C.; the Emperor hoped that their arrival would coincide with the beginning of an auspicious Age of the Dragon for his people.46\n\nHunting Dogs\n\nThat dogs were associated with hunting from very early times may be deduced from the fact that most words for hunting such as lie (lie) the usual term for hunting, shou (*) a winter hunt and huo (*) a bird hunt were all written with the radical for dog.47\n\nThat a good hunting dog was expensive is illustrated by a story from the Lu Shih Ch'un Chiu (L.S.C.C. 24.6) An eager hunter, dissatisfied with the performance of his dog, could not afford to replace it because the cost of a new one would have ruined his family.\n\nIt is difficult to determine which breeds of dogs were actually known in ancient China. The greyhound, a very old kind of dog, is shown on some Han stone reliefs and a small statuette of a snub-nosed mastiff, its tail curled over its back was unearthed from a Han tomb.43 This dog is believed to be in the lineage of the Tibetan wolf (Canis Niger) which also bred the Roman molossus, the Saint Bernard, the Newfoundland, the bulldog and the miniature breeds of China such as the pug so popular in T'ang times.49\n\nThere is obviously very little graphic material available from pre-Han times. The earliest hunting scene known to date is found on a Chou bronze the so-called “100 animal “dou” (‡a)” showing a hunter and his dog surrounded by various wild animals. But because none of the animals are drawn to scale (the dog is the same size as a neighbouring rhinoceros) and the smallness of the drawing conditioned by the smallness of the vessel (24 cms) it is impossible to determine the dog's breed.50\n\nAnother, somewhat later Chou bronze, also depicts a hunting scene. Here we see four dogs, but again, for reasons stated above, they offer no conclusive proof as to breed.\n\nIf we turn now to linguistic evidence we see that the Shuo Wen gives a long list of names for different dogs but the definition of these names tells us almost nothing about the animals themselves.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207242, "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-1975", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "2\n\nwhich followed his talk. In May, Mrs Carole Morgan talked on Dogs and Horses in Ancient China, a subject for which she is preparing a doctoral dissertation for the Sorbonne in Paris, and also in May we were invited by the Hong Kong History Society for a cultural evening. It was an Indian occasion, with a talk by Mrs Raj Ghose on Buddhist Art, followed by curry at the Gaylord Restaurant in Kowloon and a film on Rock Carvings. In October we invited Mrs. Raj Ghose back to talk to the Society and her subject was Tibetan Iconography. In September we had a talk by Miss Helen Perrell on Mandarin Squares, and in October our members were invited to the Fung Ping Shan Museum of the Hong Kong University to hear a talk on the museum given by the curator, Dr. Michael Lau, to University staff. In January Mr. John Myers, another doctoral candidate, for the University of Pittsburgh, talked on his field research into Chinese spirit-medium cults in Hong Kong's urban area. Mr. Myers is currently with the anthropology section of the Sociology Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.\n\nThree other talks have been organised so far this year, all on China. One, also in January by Professor Cheng Te-k'un, scholar of international renown in the field of Chinese archaeology and art, was on Chinese export ceramics, and was illustrated with beautiful slides. In February Professor Hsieh Chiao-min talked on contemporary problems in modern Chinese geography. Professor Hsieh is on sabbatical leave from the University of Pittsburgh and honorary visiting professor in the Geography and Geology Department, University of Hong Kong. Finally in March Professor Noah Fehl, Chairman of the Department of World History of the Chinese University and a long time resident of Hong Kong, talked about the work and thought of the philosopher/scholar Tsou Yin, who matches Aristotle in period of time and some of his ideas. All our talks drew good size audiences and from the variation in their constitution from lecture to lecture it would appear that our policy of variety to suit different interests is a correct one. During the period, then, we were fortunate in being able to borrow the talents of many visiting and resident scholars.\n\nEXCURSIONS\n\nMr. James Hayes, one of our Vice-presidents was as usual active in organising many of our excursions during the period. In", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207793, "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": 181, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "166 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nIn 1868 T. T. Cooper, a British merchant in Burma, came to Shanghai and attempted to improve on Blakiston's feat. His venture was partly financed by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. Cooper went up the Yangtze to Chungking, and then overland to Chengtu, the capital of Szechwan. Here he received permission from the Governor General to travel on through Szechwan and Tibet to India; but he met such determined opposition and hostility from the lamas on the Tibetan border, where he was imprisoned for five weeks, that he was forced to turn back. \n\nIn the following year, Sir Rutherford Alcock, British Minister at Peking, sent Robert Swinhoe of the China Consular Service to investigate trade prospects on the Upper Yangtze. Vice-Admiral Keppel, R.N. was making a survey of the river, and Swinhoe's party, which included Alexander Michie and Robert Francis of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and two naval surveyors, travelled to Ichang on H.M.S. Opussum. This was the first time a steamship had reached Ichang, and the Chinese pilot refused to go any further. A junk was hired for the passage through the Gorges to Chungking, and soundings and surveys taken en route. The surveyors, however, gave an unfavourable report on the feasibility of steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze. They particularly commented on the force of the current, lack of suitable anchorages, intricacy of navigation because of the changeable channel, and so on. They also thought descent would be even more difficult than ascent. The chief engineer of Opossum described a sample of coal obtained half way between Ichang and Chungking as resembling good anthracite in appearance, but requiring large furnaces and a long time for combustion. \n\nThis was the most thorough navigational survey of the Upper Yangtze, and many of the factors militating against steam navigation between Ichang and Chungking were investigated and made known. The bed of the river falls 470 feet in the 360 miles between the two places, and this fall of one and a third feet per mile is the cause of the strong currents and rapids in this section of the river. The most difficult stretch is the first half of the Upper River between Ichang and Wanhsien, where the most difficult rapids and gorges are encountered. The Ichang Gorge begins five miles above Ichang, and then come the Ox Liver and Horse's Lung Gorges, and the Hsintan Rapid immediately after the latter. The most spectacular", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207922, "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": 310, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n295\n\nThere was a 'fleshy body' in Anking in Central China. It had been placed in a large earthenware k'ang filled with willow charcoal and left for three to four years. The corpse was then gilded and set up beside an image of the Buddha, Sakyamuni7.\n\nThe shrivelled and varnished body of a Taoist priest named Sun (), who died in 1703 aged 94, was enshrined in a glass case in the Grotto of the Immortals in the east side of the lower Court of the Temple of either the Jade Emperor or, as stories vary, of the Three Sovereigns on T'ai Shan in Shantung. He had lived in the temple nearby for some sixty years under the religious title of Chen Ch'ing and was known as \"the Immortal\". Apparently he felt divinely inspired, and slowly starved himself to death; he became just skin and bone sitting cross-legged. He had requested his fellow priests not to inter him but instead to leave him in a vacant room. This they did, and he remained withered but not decayed as a relic for future generations of believers. One could see, apparently, only the bare bones of his arms and legs. His face had been replaced by a mask in his likeness and all that remained on his hands was skin and nails.\n\nIt was not only monks who had their bodies preserved. In 1878 Reverend MacKay, a missionary in Taiwan, wrote of a Chinese girl who died of consumption not far from Tamshui, North of Taipei. Someone in the neighbourhood more gifted than the rest announced that a goddess was present, and her wasted body immediately became famous. She was given the title of the Virgin Goddess, (Sien Lu Niu in Fukienese) and a small temple was erected and dedicated to her. Her body was immersed in salt and water for some time, and then placed in a sitting position in an armchair with a red cloth around her shoulders and a wedding cap on her head. Seen through the glass of the case in which she was placed she looked to MacKay, with her black face and teeth exposed, very much like an Egyptian mummy. Before many weeks had passed, hundreds of sedan chairs were to be seen bringing worshippers, especially women, to her shrine, and rich men sent presents to adorn the temple. Another preserved body of a female was exhibited in a temple near Fenchow in Szechuan. She was a Buddhist devotee who died there in a sitting position: being Tibetan she was particularly worshipped by the local aborigines?.\n\nThe most recent example of a 'fleshy body' has been the mummification of the corpse of the Buddhist monk, Yueh Chi Fa Shih", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208771, "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-1979", "page_number": 228, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n201 \n\nIt would seem incongruous that Na T'o, a Muslim who would abhor idolatry, should be venerated by the Chinese and it would be interesting to know what the Malays themselves would think of such a practice; that is of course, assuming that they even know of his existence. The Chinese, however, see no incongruity in having a Muslim on their altar, and in some areas, particularly around Kluang, he is especially treated with the respect and constraints due to another religion. As a Muslim, he is never disturbed on a Friday and never offered pork. \n\nThe only other case so far noted of a Muslim appearing on a Chinese altar was heard from a Chinese from Sian who recalled a deity in North China, the Wei Wei Ts'ai Shen (✯✯1⁄2§i†), said to be the Mohammedan god of wealth, depicted dressed in a Tibetan high-crowned cap. Wei Wei, he thought, was probably derived from the Arabic, and, it was claimed that Muslim Chinese offered beef at his altar. Wei Wei however, is possibly a local variant of Hui Hui, the usual Chinese term for \"Moslem”. \n\nThe second cult is that of Miss Lin (✯✯✯) whose image is to be seen on Chinese temple altars only in Southern Thailand. Her legend explains all. Left alone by the death of her parents in her home village near Ch'aochou in Eastern Kwangtung province of South China, she followed her only living relative, her brother, down to a village near Songkla in the far south of Thailand where he worked in the fields. When she arrived she found to her disgust that her brother was just about to marry a Muslim girl and be converted to Islam. She attempted without avail to persuade him not to do either. A Chinese god carver in Bangkok added, with disgust, he even gave up eating pork! \n\nThe sister knew she could not live with her brother and his wife and in a desperate moment threw herself into the river Patani and drowned herself. The brother, despite being filled with remorse, to demonstrate that he, as a convert, was more devout than born believer, went ahead with his plan to build a mosque and even went as far as to bury his sister beside the site chosen for it. As the last brick was laid lightning struck and destroyed the mosque without harming the sister's grave. However, the brother refused to believe that it was divine retribution for his denial of his parent's gods. Twice more he built, and twice more lightning struck. Only then did he accept the message and renounce Islam. Realizing that his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208999, "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": 161, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\nCHINA AND THE BEHOLDER \n\n129 \n\nBeing on the spot in China does not mean that one knows what is taking place on the spot. I learned this in May. I arrived in Peking on May 6, 1980. Both then and on the day of my departure, May 19, my host was informative, helpful and kind to me. We said goodbye only after he had helped me through exit formalities with the passport control officers. \n\nMy host is in charge of foreign relations at the Institute for Research on World Religions in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His name is Kao Wang-chih; he teaches Sanskrit, Tibetan, and other subjects. Although we tacitly avoided discussing Tibet, we discussed everything else, particularly coöperation between his institute and the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard, with which I have long been connected. \n\nMr. Kao knew of my work on Chinese Buddhism and Taoism. In Peking he took me to see two Buddhist monasteries: the Ta-yüan Ssu which I found crowded with Chinese and the Kuang-chi Ssu, which was closed to the public for renovation. At the latter he introduced me to its abbot, Ming-chen, who was seventy-nine years old and as fine a Buddhist monk as I have ever met. \n\nMr. Kao told me about his institute's plans for research on Taoism. What he did not tell me was that on May 6—the day of my arrival—a weeklong conference of the Chinese Taoist Association, its third conference in twenty-three years, had opened in Peking. I did not learn about this until June 30, a month after my return to Boston from China. A friend sent me the FBIS report about an English-language broadcast from Peking on May 13, the day the Taoist conference ended. This broadcast means that there was nothing in the least secret about the conference. I could have heard about it by listening to Peking radio when I was in Loyang. But I did not bother to listen to the radio. Therefore I was on the spot but did not know about what was happening on the spot. \n\nThis reminds me of the experiences of a close friend and colleague. He lived in Peking and Shanghai 1974-76 as a Canadian student. In 1979 he made three trips to China, first as an interpreter for the Toronto Symphony, second as the interpreter for a China Friendship tour-group, and third on his honeymoon. In July and August 1979 he travelled in China with his wife. He went to places", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209832, "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-1983", "page_number": 91, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "69\n\nA word needs to be said about the term 'Chinese'. Within China now live a number of ethnic groups. In addition to the Han majority, there are Manchus, Mongolians, Tibetans, and so on. Linguistically, the word 'Chinese' is usually made to refer to the language of the Han group. A number of dialects are found within the Han language, the ones of most interest to us in our study being Cantonese, Mandarin, and to a lesser extent, Amoy. The great majority of the loans described in our study have entered English from these three dialects. In a small number of cases, e.g. Lama, Manchu, Cathay, we have extended the word 'Chinese' to cover non-Han languages used in China. A few loans described in our work have entered English through another language, as in the case of tycoon ultimately from ta-ta or 'great Mandarin' and soya ultimately from shi-yu which were borrowed through Japanese.\n\nWe have excluded from our list of loans those words which refer only to individual persons and specific geographical locations. Our selection is based on the meanings of the loan words in the borrowing language, and not on their originals, which may be the names of people or of places. For example, the source for Bohea Wu-i is the name of a mountain range transliterated 武夷 according to its Amoy pronunciation, and the name of a city Nanking has given rise to nankeen the name of a kind of cloth. In the case of Confucius and Mao, these combine readily with other elements to form words which refer to a philosophy, an ideology, or even a style of clothing, e.g. Confucianism, Mao jacket.\n\nWe have taken care only to choose those words which are in general use, and have excluded the 'jargon' associated with various specialized fields, e.g. wu tsai or ‘five colours' connected with the study and appreciation of Chinese porcelain, or ping, shang, qu, ru used to refer to the tones in Chinese linguistics.\n\nThe loan words chosen for discussion in our study have been selected according to the following criteria:\n\n(1) they occur in books and periodicals published in Hong Kong or abroad within the last three decades (up to 1983).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209948, "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-1983", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "185\n\nThe quality of its paper suggests a work from the Tibetan or post-Tibetan occupation of Dunhuang. The manuscript comprises: the end of Chapter 25 (columns 1 to 5) on omens drawn from howling dogs; Chapter 26 (columns 6 to 22) which deals mainly with omens drawn from canine excrement and the beginning of Chapter 27 (columns 23 to 27) on sounds produced by the ghosts of dead soldiers.\n\nBut before embarking on a study of the manuscript itself a few words must be said about Chinese divination in general and the restrictions placed on oracular material in Tang and Song times.\n\nAccording to the Tang Code of Law, ownership by private individuals of astronomical charts and instruments, of divination diagrams and oracular works, carried a penalty of two years of corvée1. That local authorities in Dunhuang were conversant with the law is shown by an incomplete copy of the Tanglü Shuyi, in the Pelliot collection, in which both the crime and its punishment are specifically mentioned. But Dunhuang was an outpost in the far Northwest of China and disregard of the law in such a remote place may have been easier than at the capital.\n\nThere may also be another explanation for the fairly large number of astronomical and oracular texts among the Dunhuang manuscripts. From 781 to 848 the city was occupied by the Tibetans and thus not under Chinese jurisdiction. Quite possibly, the ban on private ownership of oracular works, if not actually lifted, was allowed to lapse, which may have encouraged Chinese scribes to increase their output. Divination methods were not only copied from existing Chinese sources; efforts were also made to adapt alien omen lore. Often such efforts were limited to the insertion of cyclical characters into a foreign system but, at times, and for reasons that escape us, totally irrelevant material was also included in these adaptations. The resulting manuscripts, though puzzling, are extremely interesting. Where a number of manuscripts on the same subject have survived it is sometimes possible to trace the source of extraneous material by comparing different versions of the same text. But, as we have seen, there is no other manuscript on dog divination in the Dunhuang", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209950, "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-1983", "page_number": 209, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "187\n\nBut this is not the only vexing problem in Chapter 26. Column 16 introduces a new divination system into which omens from the previous section keep intruding; while from column 18 to column 22 the text becomes increasingly obscure. This points to some confusion, either in the scribe's mind or in the material he was copying.\n\nWhat is clear is that this passage deals with offerings which, as a rule, do not form part of Chinese divination. In this connection, an analogy with another divination system also found among the Dunhuang manuscripts, may serve to illustrate the point. Both Tibetan and Chinese versions of a divination method based on the cawing of crows have been found. In the Tibetan version, the crow serves as the messenger of a powerful deity; in cases of unfavourable omens attempts are made to placate the god with appropriate offerings. Since the Chinese do not share that belief no offerings are mentioned in the Chinese texts; yet in our manuscript the passage from columns 18 to 22 appears to suggest offerings to deflect misfortune and another type of offering is alluded to in column 27.\n\n(column\n\nHad it been possible to identify the Shuozhou 19), some light might have been shed on the matter; as the text now stands it defies translation. One can only note some Buddhist overtones such as the plea (column 19) to abstain from dog meat because dogs too are part of the cycle of deaths and rebirths; and the recommendation (column 22) to release something living in order to gain merit.\n\nThe last chapter in P. 3106 is entitled: \"Portents from sounds\"; column 23 explains that these sounds are all produced by the ghosts of dead soldiers. Since both chapters 26 and 27 deal with omens drawn from canine behaviour there is a tendency to assume that chapter 27 follows suit: in other words that these ghosts express themselves through howling dogs, which is my understanding of the text. But I am aware that this reading is based on circumstantial evidence and that other interpretations are possible.\n\nWith these ghosts, at least, we are on familiar ground. The Chinese belief that those who died far from home were doomed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209956, "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-1983", "page_number": 215, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "193\n\n* Shi Boxuan (Yuan dynasty) is the compiler of two books: the Sishu Kuanku 190 and the Guankui Waipian 7 lumped together as Kuankui in the Gujin Tushu Jicheng. See Bu Liao Jin Yuan Yishu Wenzhi WIGxARK ed. Shangwu, Taipei, 1966, pp. 28, 56.\n\n1차\n\n* Jing Fang (77 to 37 B.C.) was a famous Han philosopher and presumed author of a number of oracular works. Most of these are still listed in the Jingji Zhi, Chapter, part 3, section zi of the Suishu.\n\n\"The Liji refers to the ritual dismembering of a dog in connection with the annual Nuo exorcism. The animal's remains were then buried in front of the main gate of the capital. See S. Couvreur, Le Liji, Imprimerie de la mission catholique, Ho Kien Fu (1913), vol. I, p. 352.\n\n12 The charm, faintly visible near the end of column 22, may represent a model of an \"astronomical\" charm.\n\n\"Peach wood was thought to possess magical properties as early as 544 B.C. (D. Bodde, op.cit. pp. 128 ff.) while the wood of the tong tree was associated with the miraculous birth of the hero Yiying. See M. Granet, Danses et légendes de la Chine antique, Presses universitaires de France, reprint edition 1959, vol. II, p. 428.\n\nB. Laufer \"Bird divination among the Tibetans\", in Toung Pao, vol. XV (1914) p. 4, note 1. \"The Study of Tibetan divination is as wide as it is ungrateful and unpleasant for research”.\n\n* The same omen is found in the Gujin tushu jicheng, vol. 26, j.174, p. 1b, column 7.\n\n\"The prohibition against leaving the house for three years is mentioned three times in the Gujin tushu jicheng. It applies: when a pack of dogs howl in neighbourhood streets; when such a pack howls in city markets and, unless obeyed, portends death for a man who has (accidentally) been spattered with dog urine. Op.cit. pp. 1a,b.\n\n* The contradictory omens in brackets show that other dog divination systems were known at the time.\n\n18 The Gujin tushu jicheng has \"against a palace door\" op.cit. p. 11b, column 11.\n\n** \"Dreadful disasters\" instead of \"of the inhabitants will be harmed” Ibid.\n\n\"The last four characters of this column make no sense. \"Mu is probably an error for the numerator mei.\n\nAN ODE ON HONG KONG COMPOSED BY THE MAYOR OF CANTON IN 1845\n\nP. BRUCE\n\nA charming ode was published on December 13, 1845 by the Friend of China newspaper. It gives a rare Chinese view of the development of the young colony of Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210631, "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": 238, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "219\n\nmanuscripts of the same period - Tang Dynasty, though not on Christianity. One roll, being part of a translation of a “Bible” of Buddhism by the famous Chinese monk Hsuan Tsang, was written in Chinese; the other in Indian, Tibetan or Sanskrit language on unknown matters. They were found in the same stone room in Tun-Hwang as the \"Gloria in Excelsis Deo\". I got them last year in Sian. In view of the fact that all manuscripts in Tun-Hwang have gone abroad, I know these two rolls of written language, though incomplete, are valuable.\n\nHave you collections of such objects? please let me know and I will send you what I have.\n\nYours faithfully,\n\nS. T. HAN\n\nIn 1933 Mr. Nixon showed the two fragments to the well-known scholar Wang Hsien-tang who was then Head of the Shantung Provincial Library. As a result Mr. Wang wrote to Mr. Nixon the following letter:\n\nCopy\n\nTo: Mr. F. A. Nixon\n\nPostal Commissioner, Tsinan, Shantung.\n\n\"This is a Scripture truly written by men of the Tang Dynasty; with regard to the Tibetan or Brahma Scriptures, as no study of them has been made by me, I am not in a position to give evidence.\"\n\nWang Hsien-tang,\n\nChief of the Shantung Provincial Library, Tsinan, 1933.\n\nAlso in 1933 Mr. Nixon showed the fragments to Professor F. S. Drake who was then on the staff of Cheeloo University, Tsinan, Shantung, and Professor Drake identified the text in Chinese characters.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210632, "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": 239, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "220\n\nacter as part of the Maha-pradjina-paramita-sutra. Subsequently, on Professor Drake's advice, Mr. Nixon had his two fragments mounted on scrolls in order to protect them.\n\nIn April 1963 the Council of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society asked Mr. Ma Meng, Principal of the Language School in the Institute of Oriental Studies at the University of Hong Kong, Mr. H. D. Talbot, Lecturer in the Department of Geography of this University and myself to advise Mr. Nixon on the best way to ensure the safety of his two fragments for the future. We asked the advice of Professor F. S. Drake, Professor of Chinese in this University, and together with him, and a member of his staff, Mr. Lo Hsiang-lin, we examined the two fragments. These are:\n\na) One manuscript approx. 17¾\" × 9\" written in Chinese characters. This is a fragment of the Maha-pradjina-paramita-sutra. According to Mr. Lo Hsiang-lin, who has had some experience in these matters, the calligraphy, colour of ink, texture of paper etc. of this MS. give it the look of a genuine T'ang dynasty manuscripts.\n\nb) This consists of one section of 9″ × 11½\" followed by two sections of 18½″ × 11½″ followed by one section of 9¾\" × 11½\". The writing is Tibetan. It is on the same quality of paper as the fragment in Chinese.\n\nMr. Nixon, although still quite active, is now in his eighty-sixth year, and he is anxious that these fragments should be examined by experts and that, if they are found to be genuine, arrangements should eventually be made for their permanent safekeeping where they can be consulted by scholars. We have advised Mr. Nixon that these conditions cannot be fulfilled in Hong Kong and that the British Museum is the right and proper place to give an opinion on his fragments and to advise on their eventual safekeeping. We have promised Mr. Nixon that we will write to you on his behalf.\n\nMay we therefore ask if you would be willing to receive these two fragments for examination and let Mr. Nixon have your opinion?", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210633, "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": 240, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "221\n\nion on them. If you agree to receive them can you please suggest the safest way for the Society to send them to you.\n\nMeanwhile the two fragments have been photographed in the Museum of Chinese Art at the University and one positive copy (enlarged to the size of the original) has been made of each section of the Tibetan text and of the one section of the Chinese text and these photographs have been given to Mr. Nixon. The negatives remain in the possession of the Department of Chinese at the University.\n\nYours sincerely,\n\nsgd.)\n\nJ. L. Cranmer-Byng\n\nSenior Lecturer in History, University of Hong Kong\n\nHon. Editor, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society\n\ncc: Mr. F. A. Nixon, O.B.E.\n\nHong Kong Club\n\nHong Kong\n\n(2)\n\nJ. L. Cranmer-Byng, Esq., Department of History, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG.\n\nDepartment of Oriental Printed\n\nBooks & MSS., British Museum, LONDON, W.C.1.\n\n26th July 1963\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210634, "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": 241, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "Dear Sir,\n\nI have examined the fragment of ch. 494 of the Ta pan-jo po-lo-mi-to ching (Maha-prajna-paramita sutra) which you forwarded to Mr. Gardner on behalf of Mr. Nixon. It is undoubtedly a genuine document from the Tunhuang monastic library. I was extremely fortunate that Mr. Dzo Ching-ch'uan, who has worked on these manuscripts in Paris, came to London the other day, and was kind enough to give a second opinion. He considers that it is either 8th or 9th century, but certainly no later. The top and bottom have been trimmed, but it is impossible to say whether in modern times or not. Some of our documents were trimmed before the 10th century.\n\nThe Tibetan document we consider to be later, from the type of paper, but we are not able to comment on the text. I have taken the roll personally to the India Office Library, and they will write separately.\n\nThe fundamental work on paper, calligraphic style, dating sequences, etc., has yet to be done. Among the Tunhuang documents scattered throughout the world there are several hundred of the same title as the Chinese fragment. This one is average to good, with a greater variation of characters in the column than is usual.\n\nYours Sincerely,\n\nsgd.\n\n(E.D. Grinstead)\n\nAssistant Keeper\n\nThe scroll is described in our catalogue as follows:\n\n大般若經\n\n大般若波羅蜜多經卷第四百九十四第三分善現品 第三之十三三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯\n\n1\n\n44×24公分 卷軸 敦煌殘卷共 26 行行17字\n\nThe text of the scroll is reproduced in Plate 14.\n\nJames Hayes", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212034, "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": 449, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "424\n\nthe collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and written text by Craig Clunas, this work is an attractive volume for general readers interested in Chinese furniture.\n\nRobert Ford, Captured in Tibet, Hong Kong, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, reprint of 1957 edition. 266 pp. Index, Photographs. This is a reprint of a highly readable account of the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1950, with an additional introduction by the Dalai Lama. The author, seconded by the British Army as a radio communications officer to the Tibetan Army, spent a year as a prisoner of the Red Army.\n\nChristmas Humphreys, A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism, London: Curzon Press, 1984. Paperback reprint, 1987. 224 pp. Little more than a dictionary, this book will be of help to English-readers who need a quick reference to Buddhist terms in Sanscrit, Chinese, or Japanese.\n\nRobin Hutcheon, First Sea Lord — The Life and Work of Sir Y.K. Pao, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1990. 170 pp. Index, Photographs. A short commissioned biography written by the former editor of the South China Morning Post, this book is attractively presented with a number of photographs. A definitive study of the shipping and property giant, Sir Y.K. Pao and his phenomenal accomplishments, both in Hong Kong and worldwide, is still required.\n\nNigel Cameron, The Chinese File, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1990. paperback, 246 pp. Illustrations. First published in 1958 by Hutchison and Co. in London for an English readership, this book has been reprinted by Oxford University Press in Hong Kong. By now, the author is a well-known prolific writer in the territory. Cameron's observations as a serious traveller in China before he became a specialist, on such various topics as the Great Wall, the Minorities, the Deep South, and Sian, are interesting and enlightening.\n\nValery M. Garrett, Mandarin Squares, Oxford Images of Asia Series, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1990. 66 pp. Bibliography, Glossary, Index, Illustrations. In addition to delightful descriptions of the embroidered squares from court robes of the Qing officials, popularly known by Western collectors as Mandarin Squares, Garrett has presented in this most attractive volume in very simple terms how the Manchus came to the Chinese throne and how young men were trained to become officials.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212139, "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": 81, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "58\n\nTibetans and were preparing to advance over the Pamirs to confront the Arabs. The stage was being set for the decisive clash between the two rival empires in 751, which resulted in an Arab victory over the Chinese forces at the battle of the Talas. Indeed, it is possible that Hsüan-tsung, by showing favour to the Nestorians in China at this time, was attempting to bid for the support of Christians generally in the territories ruled by the Moslem Arabs. Men of affairs like Chi-ho, coming and going between China and Mesopotamia, could supply useful information at the very least, and might even be able to foment a Christian insurrection against Moslem rule, if properly encouraged.\n\nAt any rate, by 745 the emperor and his advisers were no doubt well aware of the extent of the territories under Arab rule, and knew that Persia, the homeland of the Nestorian missionaries, was not the same as Syria, Ta-ch'in, where Christianity originated. It was more logical to connect the 'teaching of the scriptures' with the country of its origin. For the Nestorians, the new name had advantages, too. Like the Nestorian monasteries, the fire-temples of the Zoroastrians in China were also called 'Persian monasteries', and the new term distinguished Persian Christians from Persian fire-worshippers. It also reflected the true importance of the Syrian Christians in the Nestorian church. Before the collapse of the Sassanian empire, it was reasonable to speak of a 'Persian' church. In fact, from earliest times the Syrians of northern Mesopotamia dominated the Nestorian church, and now that Persians and Syrians were alike subject to Arab rule it was closer to the truth to label the Nestorian church Syrian rather than Persian.\n\nA New Image: the 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching'\n\nIt is clear from Hsüan-tsung's decree of 745 that the Nestorian identity found on the Sian tablet, the 'Syrian brilliant teaching', was adopted later than 745. Although the Nestorians' 'Persian monasteries' were now to be renamed 'Syrian monasteries' there is no hint in the decree that the familiar expression 'teaching of the scriptures' was to be replaced. Some time after 745, but no later than 781, when the Sian tablet was set up, the Nestorians decided to replace the uninteresting term 'teaching of the scriptures' with the striking, original, and far more evocative expression 'brilliant teaching'. They chose a term which, besides its general appropriateness as a term for Christianity, further distinguished the Christians from the practitioners of other faiths. Buddhists, Taoists, Manicheans, Zoroastrians, and Christians", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212455, "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-1991", "page_number": 9, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "would be surprised how many members have actually published a book over the last two or three years or are going to publish in this forthcoming year. We are a society whose members get consulted on a variety of matters from the Urban Council when they set up the Hong Kong Museum of History, to the Hong Kong Government when seeking assistance for the grading of historical buildings for the Government Antiquities Advisory Board, and by the Legislative Council inviting us to make representations on the Council elections and even from abroad by people who want to know for instance about how Chinese junks are constructed; we even have applications from persons who wish to work for the society full-time but unfortunately they wish for remuneration! So although we are inclined to look back, historically, we are a Society whose members consist of people from all walks of life and who take an active forward-looking interest in Hong Kong and events which are likely to affect the future well-being of the Society,\n\nAll this may sound too self-congratulatory and in some ways it is: there are of course some problems, but before coming up to them I would like to briefly outline what we have actually done to justify our existence over the last year. First and foremost there is the Journal. The 1989 Journal was published recently and if you do not have your copy please see the Assistant Secretary. I think you will agree with me that it is full of interest and is up to the high scholarly standards we have come to expect. For this we have to thank not only all contributors but particularly our Editor Dr. Patrick Hase. He has toiled long with spectacular results: but even so we are asking him to toil even harder to get out the 1990 Journal and we are hopeful this will be published later this year.\n\nThe next area I wish to highlight is the Programme: the Society has a Programme Committee under the able Chairmanship of Mr. Peter Leeds and arranges a variety of talks and visits: for the last year there have been the following talks:\n\nFather Louis Ha\n\nDr. Graeme Lang\n\nMs. J. Bresnihan\n\nMr. Peter Lee & Judy Bonavia\n\nDr. Patrick Hase\n\n150th Anniversary of the Catholic\n\nChurch in Hong Kong\n\nRise of a Refugee God\n\n(Wong Tai Sin)\n\nGovernor John Pope Hennessy\n\nTibetans and Tus\n\nNew Territories Poetry and\n\nFolk Song\n\nviii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212456, "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-1991", "page_number": 10, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "Mr. David Sheil Mr. Michael Kirkbride Mr. Yip Cho-hong\n\nMr. Philip Bruce (twice)\n\nand Mr. David Mahoney\n\nDr. James Hayes Mr. K. Leung\n\nMr. Tao Ho\n\nMr. Charles Walker\n\nTibetan Rugs\n\nHong Kong: a Landscape History Preparing for the Future: Our First\n\n15 years in the Antiquities Office Second to None: The Hong Kong Volunteers and the Battle of Hong Kong\n\nTsuen Wan: 1887 to 1987\n\nCivilians Under Japanese\n\nOccupation\n\nWestern Market\n\nEric Lidell\n\nThere have also been the following trips/tours over the last year since I last reported. Dr. Patrick Hase and Dr. Graeme Lang organised a trip to Wong Tai Sin, and three visits have been organised by Mr. Philip Bruce namely the Bogue Forts in the Pearl river Delta, the Colonial Cemetery and Chek Lap Kok in conjunction with Mr. Bill Meacham (again and probably the last), Mr. John Wilson organised a trip to the Shing Mun Redoubt in keeping again with the Society's sights on the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong. Dr Patrick Hase and Mr. Philip Bruce did not also forget to look after our gastronomical and liquid desires since the former organised our annual Chinese dinner at the City Hall, and the latter our resuscitated Christmas cocktail party at the Volunteer Officer's mess at Beaconsfield house. Since the new year we have also been well taken care of by a visit to the South Side of Hong Kong Island organised jointly by Mrs. Rosemary Lee who took us to the war cemetery at Stanley, Mr. Michael Kirkbride who expanded on Keteleeria Trees, and Colonel Douglas Fox who showed us how the South side of the island and Stanley Fort in particular was fortified in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Colonel Douglas Fox also led a very successful trip to Stonecutters Island. This was followed in quick succession by a tour to more of the remote parts of Lamma Island led by our honourary secretary Mr. David St. Maur Sheil. And more recently we had a very successful if rather wet trip to Xiamen, organised by Mrs. Anita Wilson and Mrs. Rosemary Lee, and a very comprehensive tour of Tsuen Wan led by Dr. James Hayes. To all these organisers may I extend our thanks and sincere appreciation.\n\nOur local tours are very popular as many members, who were not able to get on some, found: the Council is very conscious of this problem,\n\nIX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212853, "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-1992", "page_number": 162, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "147\n\nwireless. We had small hand generators for charging the batteries, but our skeds were so heavy, that even though we hired coolies to turn the generators in relays for fourteen hours a day, we could not keep our batteries up. So it was proposed to drop a \"chorhorse\" to us, a small petrol machine which would do the job. That was the one container we never found. The package was heavy, it broke away from the 'chute, and must have dived into the earth, where it probably buried itself a good many feet. We did not get our \"chorhorse\" till my relief arrived with a large mule train overland from Kun-ming.\n\nThe dropping of money was an anxiety; there was a tendency to overload the containers, and a proportion broke away and crashed to earth, burying and scattering a jumble of bent silver rupees. I kept the responsibility for money in my own hands, and on the whole we lost remarkably little thanks to the innate honesty of the simple natives, who helped us to collect the scattered treasure. They did not like accepting the bent dollars in payment; but I had to insist; we had too many on our hands, and after all they contained the same amount of metal.\n\nI was due for relief before the rains; the officer sent for the purpose was a well-known young Tibetan explorer. Let us hope he will some day add to his books by giving us an account of his adventures in Kokang; they were not few. Although in my time, the Japanese had on several occasions put us in a state of alarm, by advances from Kunlong, so that we once dispersed to hideouts in the hills, they never actually chased us. That was fortunate for though we had hired mules from the Puppet, we were by no means mobile. My successor, however, had a different experience which should be well worth the relating.\n\nAs for the Myosa, his case was referred to the highest authorities, and the British insisted on his release, without trial. He was flown over to India where he went to recuperate in a hill station. I cannot tell you the end of his story, because I do not know it myself. We must leave him in his bungalow on a hill top in India.\n\nIt was mid-May of 1944 before I could start on my return journey. I took Rogue with me, and Lao Teng. The Americans had kindly given us a case of C ration; for each meal there was a tin containing five biscuits, two lumps of sugar, coffee powder for two cups, and four glucose candies; and a second tin with vegetable hash, vegetable stew, or hash and beans. It was all excellent, and saved time cooking; only", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212970, "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-1993", "page_number": 38, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "17\n\n++\n\nVery often, we designate terms such as “family”, “social class”, \"teachers\", \"experts”, “democrats”, “Tibetans”, “Chinese”, “Americans” etc to delineate a social aggregate. It is because members in a group share some functional commonality, ascribed or achieved. They share some norms and beliefs which bind them together. They hence behave in a way as expected from a member in that particular group. If face is bounded by the three elements of status, role performance and moral conduct, then there is no reason why a group cannot have the right to a face basing on the status, role performance and moral conduct of its members in general.\n\nFurthermore, if members in the family share the same properties, status, prestige, outlook, surname, moral codes and a face in an ascribed manner, then there is no reason why members in a nation, sharing the land, the physical features, the economic achievement, political rights and so on, cannot share a face as well. The picture seems that there can hardly be any argument against leaving open the limit to the size and scope of a social aggregate within which its members can share a face. Face, theoretically speaking, can be societal, racial, national, continental and if interaction opens up among planets, planetary.\n\nWhile a global face may appear surreal, the hypothesis upon the presence of a nation's face may not. In fact, some scholars have found that an individual's sense of self may vary according to the prosperity or poverty of the nation to which the individual belongs (Volkan, 1985: 231). If an individual's face correlates with an image of self, as in Goffman's definition, then there is reason to believe in a relation between an individual's face with the fortunes of the nation in which he is embedded.\n\nPeople may share a sense of self, rising and falling, insofar as their nation does so. People may share a face, prestigious or notorious, dignified or unscrupulous, if that is what their nation appears. Images of nations are nothing new in the social sciences. Many scholars have already studied them. What is awaited from scholars is the research on a nation's image with a focus on the concept of face.\n\nMoreover, a nation's face does not seem to be an irrelevant topic of study and particularly regarding China. King and Myers have pointed out that the primary source of identity of people in the country has gradually shifted from family or village to nation. They have reported Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek as speaking of a nation's face and the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213298, "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": 120, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "The author's informant said that, according to his sources, about 50 per cent of Chinese buyers in Canada are concerned about fung shui, although they may not engage a master. They may bring along a knowledgeable friend to advise or the buyer will request pertinent information from the agent.\n\nAuthor Sarah Rossbach, who lives in the United States, was a fung shui student of Beijing-born Lin Yun. He founded the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist Temple in Berkeley, California. Rossbach is now a fung shui consultant. Yet she admits many people prefer to be billed for 'design services' rather than for 'geomancy'. The title, 'environmental consultant', too, is often used (Konclus, 1991:6).\n\nThe author's Chinese godson, who lives in the United States, says that there is more interest in fung shui in large cities like New York and Los Angeles. In such places a few Westerners employ fung shui at official openings of shops and stores.\n\nAmong Caucasians, the aim in the West is usually for fung shui to provide 'tranquility' and Westerners make adjustments to buildings and their interiors so that 'good order' prevails. Everyone, inwardly, needs to live in balance with their environment and the universe. Fung shui appeals to many because it is a form of cosmology within the grasp of common man. As one lady responded to the author: 'Yes I'm a Scot, a Celt. I believe in that sort of thing.'\n\nConclusions\n\nNow is the time to try to pull some of the themes discussed in this paper together, even if, with much fung shui doctrine, what some people call 'jungle sensitiveness' can be seen to prevail. Many principles cannot be measured with a tape measure or weighed with a balance.\n\nAlthough forms of geomancy are not uncommon in countries around the world, Chinese fung shui is more complex than most geomantic doctrines. While much may not be amenable to scientific explanation, as Bard writes, Chinese fung shui is certainly not the superstition of an unsophisticated people (Bard, 1988:104). The aim is, basically, to harmonise elemental forces and create environments, in the home, workplace or in the afterlife, free of discord. A great deal is based on the\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213387, "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": 209, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "197\n\nClarke, Samuel R. Among the Fathers in South West China, London China Inland Mission, 1911 (Tarpett Reprint Cifeng-wen Publishing)\n\nCoates, Austin, China Races, Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, 1983\n\nCochran, Sherman, Big Business in China. Sino-foreign Rivalry in the Cigarette Industry, 1890-1940, Cambridge (Mass). Harvard University Press, 1980\n\nCochran, Sherman, and Winston Hsieh, eds. One Day in China, May 21, 1936, New Haven Yale University Press, 1983\n\nCohen, Paul, Christian Missions and Their Impact to 1900, in Cambridge History of China 10, Part I, 543-90\n\n— China and Christianity, the Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Antiforeignism, 1860-1870, Cambridge (Mass). Harvard University Press, 1963\n\nCohen, Warren I, The Chinese Connection. Roger S Greene, Thomas W Lamont, George E Sokolsky and American-East Asian Relations, New York Columbia University Press, 1978\n\nCollins P M. Siberian Journey Down the Amur to the Pacific, 1856-1857, edited by Charles Vevier, Madison University of Wisconsin Press, 1962\n\nCollis, Maurice, Foreign Mud, London Faber and Faber, 1946\n\nCooper, Thomas Thornville, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce in Pigtail and Petticoats, or An Overland Journey from China Towards India, London John Murray, 1871\n\nCorbett, Charles Hodge, Shantung Christian University (Cheeloo), New York United Board for Christian Colleges in China, 1955\n\nCox, E H M, Plant-Hunting in China. A History of Botanical Exploration in China and the Tibetan Marches, London Collins, 1945 (Hong Kong Reprint Oxford University Press)\n\nCravath, Paul Dreman, Letters Home from the South Sea Islands, China and Japan, 1934, Garden City printed at the Country Life Press, 1934\n\nThe Cree Journals, The Voyages of Edward H Cree. Surgeon RN as related in his private journals 1837-1856, Exeter English Webb and Bower, 1981 (published in the United States as Naval Surgeon)\n\nCressy, C B, China's Geographic Foundations, New York McGraw Hill, 1934\n\nCressy-Marcks, Violet Olivia, Journey Into China. New York Dutton. 1942 (Feb/938C)\n\nCronin, Vincent, The Wise Man from the West, London Hart Davis, 1955\n\nCrow, Carl, Handbook for China, Shanghai Kelly and Walsh. 1933 (Hong Kong Reprint: Oxford University Press)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214243, "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": 101, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "64\n\nMaritchi [or Marici Deva], [a Sanskrit term for the Indian mythological form of Parbati, the wife of Siva]; and Ma-yeh, the mother of Sakyamuni, The Buddha, the whole being confused by devotees who tend to describe them all as Chun-t'i, with the legends of Maritchi and Cundi producing an inextricably involved and perplexing picture.\n\nImages of Marici are present in both the Ta Pei Ssu and the Pi-yun Ssu and in both temples he, rather than she, is portrayed as a standing Buddhist deity with eight arms and with three faces. The face facing forward is of a benign human with hooded eyes commonly seen on Tibetan images. He has a third eye in the centre of his forehead. The other two are faces of a pig and of a human. He is dressed in colourful robes and a five-leaf Buddhist crown, and is barefoot.\n\nThe association between Chun-t'i and Kuan Yin goes back to the original relationship in Buddhism of Chun-t’i with the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who promised to save mankind and bring them to deliverance before they, the two bodhisattvas, Chun-t'i and Avalokitesvara themselves entered Nirvana. Marici has the face and eight arms of Chun-t'i, and is one of the six manifestations of Avalokitesvara who is concerned especially with humans, rather than the deities and demons. Chun-t'i in the form of Avalokitesvara is a male deity, though Tantric sects, giving her an entirely different role left her feminine.\n\nLegends about Chun-t'i usually include stories of her valour in battle. According to the Ming novel The Deification of the Gods [Feng-shen Yen-i], from which many of the beliefs of folk religion devotees have evolved, Chun-t’i was summoned to Heaven during the legendary period of Chinese history when the heroes and Immortals were emerged, in order to acquire the necessary skills to take on K'ung Hsüan, one of the contestants for the dynastic throne. This was because she had attained the required degree of perfection on Earth. She found herself whisked aloft in a rainbow, and having acquired the skills necessary she reappeared in a cloud of fire with twenty-four heads and eighteen arms and, throwing a silken cord around her adversary's throat, she turned K'ung Hsüan into a one-eyed peacock on which she rode off to the Western Heavens.\n\nImages of Chun-t'i show her with four or nine pairs of arms, each", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214244, "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": 102, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "65\n\nhand holding a precious object including a rosary, cudgel, jar, spear, pagoda, golden arrow, halberd, or bell, etc. and it is therefore not surprising that the images of Chun-t'i on the altars of both Buddhist and folk religion temples portray her with eight or eighteen arms and hands, the main two hands being held palms pressed together before the chest in prayer. The uppermost hands hold discs of the Sun and Moon respectively and the remainder, individually, hold various attributes including a seal of office, a sword, shield and fly switch. She is variously represented with three heads though predominantly she is depicted with one head with three faces one of which is that of a sow. Chun-t'i again often has a third eye in the centre of her forehead, usually a Taoist form but attributed to her Indian origin as a metamorphosed caste mark. She is generally portrayed sitting on a lotus throne in the same posture adopted by the Buddha and, in one of her poses, also by Kuan Yin P’u-sa. According to Werner the legend explaining the third face being that of a sow and the creatures supporting the lotus also being pigs relates how one of the abbesses of the Semding monastery in Tibet in whom the goddess Chun-t'i was believed to be successively incarnated, had an excrescence resembling a sow's ear at the back of her head.\n\nIn northern and central China in Tantric Buddhist temples, the Lamaist goddess Maritci, portrayed in a chariot drawn by seven pigs is identified as Chun-t'i; in the south however, where Tantric Buddhism hardly penetrated, images identified as Chun-t'i are said by priests, should devotees enquire, to be the Brahmanic cult of Maritci. However, in Tibetan and Mongol [Tantric] Buddhism Tou-mu is a common deity with her three eyes and many arms; she is considered to be an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva known throughout China as Kuan Yin and this doubtless explains the confusion with Kuan Yin in central and southern China. She has been identified as Tou-mu Yuan-chün, the main deity in the T'ai Sui Hall in the Jade Emperor temple in Tainan, where she is flanked by two Tantric aides, Ch'ieh-ch'ih and Yao Ya.\n\nIn her Taoist form she is portrayed seated on a lotus, again of Indian origin, which in a number of temples rests on the back of a tortoise which in turn rests on three or seven pigs. Most likely this is no more than a reflection of the tale in the Feng-shen Yen-i in which one of the disciples of Tou-mu, Shui-huo Tung-tzu, who changed into a tortoise, bore off Tou-mu to the Western Heavens.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214253, "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": 111, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "74\n\nhim by priests he has been regarded by some foreigners as the patron deity of monks: he was and still is, however, the protector of the Buddhist Law before whom lots were drawn during the selection of the new abbot.\n\nSkanda, son of Shiva and brother of Ganesh [Tunhuang fresco] is a major protector, a destroyer of demons and a god of war, identical with Karttikaya.\n\nWei T'o in Japan is known as Idaten, whilst in Tibetan and Lamaist Buddhism he is known as Skanda: Wei T'o T'ien-shen ## [or in transliterated Chinese: Ssu-chien-t'o].\n\nAlthough the image in the Ta Pei Ssu is labelled in Chinese, Wei T'o; the well-produced and colourful Chinese guide to the Hall of the Bodhisattvas produced in Taiwan gives the title in Chinese as Wei T'o and in English as Skanda. Skanda according to Werner is the Hindu mythological god of war, usually known as Karttikaya. He is represented riding a peacock, holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.\n\nHe has numerous appointments, all protective. Originally he was one of the Thirty-two Generals under the command of the Four Celestial Kings - Ssu Ta T'ien-wang (see 23 below). One such appointment is his rôle as Commander of the Heavenly Hosts, the head of the Heavenly Guard [one of the Twenty or Twenty-four Devas], the protective spirit or spirits of Buddhism and its sanctuaries. In the biographies of Hsüan Tsang, Wei T'o is described as the leader of all the kuei-shen [minor deities], and was charged by the Buddha who was at that moment on the point of entering Nirvana, with the protection of the Law.\n\nOfficially he is neither a Buddha nor a bodhisattva though commonly he is referred to as the latter and it is often claimed that for his zeal he was promoted to bodhisattva when he became the commander of the Four Diamond Kings [Chin-kang: see below]. His title would appear to be the Chinese form for the Sanskrit term \"Veda\", the body of sacred writings brought to India by invaders and from which Hinduism developed. However, it is generally said that his origin is uncertain even though, for example, Vitasoka, the younger brother of King Asoka", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214304, "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": 162, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "126\n\nSian and Lanchou where once more they remained for a while. Here people were more hostile. The area already barren was also suffering from a drought. Clark decided to move south towards the Tibetan border where the situation was more favourable; however, before they could do so the Indian surveyor of the party had set up his instruments on a local peak known to the local population as the seat of the deities controlling the wind and rain. The locals saw him carrying out mysterious incantations on the top of their holy mountain and believing that he was the cause of the drought they beat him to death. This was the end of the expedition, which promptly returned to Peking.\n\nClark took the large collection of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and botanical specimens back to the US National Museum in Washington and in 1912 a book embodying the results of the expedition was published by T. Fisher Unwin in London under the joint authorship of Clark and Sowerby entitled Through Shen-Kan. This was the start of Sowerby's fame as a scientist and explorer and for the next twenty or so years he continued his collecting expeditions, financed by Clark, with the specimens being sent to the US National Museum.\n\nOnce more we have no idea what he did between the end of the Clark expedition in 1909 and the end of 1911, apart from getting himself married. In late 1911, one year after the revolution which brought the Republic into being, he took part in what came to be known as the Shensi Relief Expedition. The expedition's task was to rescue and lead to safety as many foreign missionaries as possible. Setting out in December 1911 they trekked to Sian where the whole area was in a state of political upheaval following the overthrow of the dynasty. Bandit hordes were rampaging and had taken over much of the countryside. After a number of hair-raising experiences they were successful, returning to safety and Peking in early 1912. He was twenty-seven at the time.\n\nHe described this in some detail in an appendix to P H Kent's The Passing of the Manchus, published in London in 1912 by Edward Arnold. The appendix, written in the third person was pseudonymous, though a note at the bottom of the page reveals that originally it had been written by Mr A de C Sowerby for the Peking and Tientsin Times.\n\nHe returned to Tientsin where his family had been taken to safety from Taiyuan and from which he planned to set out into the peaceful areas of Manchuria to explore and continue his collecting of specimens. He made four separate expeditions into Manchuria and parts of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214552, "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": 410, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "379\n\nmeeting place where candidates from the two provinces could stay while attending imperial examinations. An opera hall was added in 1830 and it became a centre for Beijing opera masters including Mei Lanfang. The hall was restored in 1992 and the site also houses a small opera museum. We watched a very lively performance of excerpts from famous Beijing Operas, the highlight of which was the Monkey King in Journey to the West defeating a rapid succession of opponents through brilliant acrobatics and martial arts.\n\nOn Monday, our final day, we visited the former Legation Quarter, now called Dong Jiao Min Xiang. This quarter had long been the place where tributary visitors, such as Mongols, Tibetans and Vietnamese stayed, and during late Qing times became a virtual \"state within a state\".\n\nDr Ting guided us on a walk which began at St Michael's Church, in Taijichang Street (formerly known as Rue Marco Polo) and built by French Vincentians in 1901. Inside the church is simple and modest with some of its services still conducted in Latin. We went on past the sites of the Russian Embassy and the former British Embassy, as well as the present Beijing Municipal Government offices, the Supreme People's Court and the Beijing Public Security Bureau. There still exists one interesting road sign, Rue Hart, named after the famous founder of the Imperial Maritime Customs, Sir Robert Hart.\n\nOur visit to Beijing ended with a brief look at the antique market Liulichang (Glazed Tile Factory) an area named after a pottery which, in Ming times, produced tiles for the roofs of the Forbidden City. It had been famous for centuries for its old book shops, pictures, rubbings, jewellery, bronzes and porcelain and for some years now it has been revived as an antique market, (but one has to bargain very hard to get a good price).\n\nWe returned to Hong Kong on Easter Monday afternoon having visited a capital undergoing both revival and development, with room for both Matteo Ricci and Nina Ricci, for both the study of history and plans for a future based on past experience; and for both the tranquillity of the Fa Hai Temple and the boisterous artistry of the Monkey King. We look forward to further insights in Qingdao during Easter 1999.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215469, "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": 246, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "in Paro. This is housed in the circular Ta Dzong, a former watchtower built in 1649 by the first governor of the Paro valley to safeguard the main dzong from inroads by Tibetans. The museum is well stocked with a great deal of Buddhist artefacts, including a number of *miraculous footprints*; a whole floor dedicated to postage stamps, for which Bhutan is famous in the world of philately; copper teapots and spittoons, the latter being for the use of betel-chewing monks during religious ceremonies; and costumes and coins. Having been frustrated at the hotel, I still wanted to buy some post cards. I saw some, together with other articles for sale, in a glass cabinet that was being guarded by three members of the museum staff. However, I was told that I could not buy any as nobody had the key to the cabinet. It transpired that this was only to be used by the official responsible for collecting the cash, and she had been taken ill and gone to distant Thimpu for treatment. The poor thing could have derived some comfort from the knowledge that her three minions were guarding her stock-in-trade against all comers - especially those that wanted to buy things.\n\nPerfect posers\n\nFrom the museum there were spectacular views up and down the Paro valley from its floor at 7,000 feet to the surrounding mountains, some of which, snow-capped, reached 17,000 feet. And it was up the valley we went to look at the ruined Drukgyel Dzong. Originally built in 1647 but destroyed by fire in 1951, this was one of the many fortresses designed to counter the frequent Tibetan invasions. Our visit included a wander round the village, where we found for the first of countless times to come how willing the people are to be photographed. It almost seemed as though they automatically adopted perfect poses and groupings, even very small children, because they knew that better photographs would be the result. I regretted later, when my films were developed in Hong Kong, that they could not also advise on apertures and exposures. Maybe this will come.\n\nWith a glance up to the sharp and snowy peak of Jhomolhari, Bhutan's second-highest peak at over 24,000 feet, we set off again down the valley for afternoon tea and bickies at the Eye of the Tiger Lodge. Sipping our refreshments we could gaze over the valley at the famous Taktsang Monastery (the Tiger's Nest), perched 3,000 feet above the road up a cliff face, and be thankful that we did not quite have the time", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215479, "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": 256, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "205\n\nend burns down multi-storey building. How? Please tell me how, when I had been trying hard with a naked flame to set light to a piece of wood?\n\nI was not in bed for long. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of the floor, heart a-pounding. About a foot above my head, on the wall, was a \"thing\" with black legs about two inches long - and it was moving! As I did not have my wife with me I had no alternative but to try and deal with it myself. Rustling up all the courage I could muster, I approached it step by step. I was happy to see that it had not moved any further. Perhaps it was also frightened of me. In fact, it could not have moved at all. In fact, it was three electric wires poking out of the wall - the site of a future reading light. The “movement” was caused by the flicker of the candle. Feeling rather like St. George having at least tried to slay the dragon but rather glad that nobody had been there to witness his attempt, I once more got back into bed.\n\nBacon hallucinations\n\nThe following day started with a welcome lie-in - breakfast at 7:30 a.m. This was a buffet of porridge, congee, hard-boiled eggs, toast, honey and coffee. I had to attribute the strong smell of sizzling bacon to the hallucinations I had suffered the previous night.\n\nThe first stop was the nearby Jampey Lhakhang, a temple dating from its first construction in 659, making it one of Bhutan's oldest, although some additions are as recent as the last century. The sun had risen and, yet very cold, the day was warming up. But there was still frost on the ground reflecting in perfect outline the intricate silhouette of the building as the sun cast its shadow. The photographers amongst us were surprised to find, on Day 5 in Bhutan, the first indication of somebody who was unwilling to be photographed. This old gentleman, on his way to his morning devotions, turned out to be the only reluctant subject on the entire trip. Perhaps he himself was a tourist, or maybe he had missed the briefing from the Bhutan Tourist Authority.\n\nHaving inspected the temple complex inside and out, we were distracted by loud and continuous shouting coming from a little way below us. A riot? Amongst these charming and friendly people? Or another invasion by the Tibetans, those charming and friendly people", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215484, "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": 261, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "210\n\nSomewhat of a surprise\n\nA group of 15-year-old girls took a very giggly interest in us and were keen to talk to us using their excellent English. They must have been accustomed to the usual banal questions from tourists: Were you born here? Where do you go to school? Do you study English at school? But there was one answer that we were not prepared for. Question: 'Do you find English easy?' Answer: 'Oh, somewhat.' Somewhat?? Forsooth!\n\nSome of the paths between the houses were cobbled, the trees had been recently pollarded, and the stream was rushing along, reminding us that we had to do likewise. A couple of hours had us back at the hotel, wondering if there would be electricity or would they have to turn on the generator again, with its engine sounding like that of a Spitfire. I don't know about the others, but I managed to get my wood-burning stove going. I had found the secret! I asked a member of the hotel staff to come and do it for me. This she did in a trice with the aid of some candle wood. This is the natural wood of the candlewood pine, or blue pine, and once lit it flares into life with happy ferocity.\n\nOne of the highlights of Day 7, a Saturday and the day we started heading back to Paro, was to be a visit to the remote and beautiful Phubjikha Valley, one of the few sites in Bhutan where the rare black-necked cranes winter over from their summer home on the high Tibetan plateau. We had not been en route for more than five minutes before there was a loud cry from the back of the 'bus. 'Cranes!!!' The engineers amongst us became excited for a moment, but the cranes turned out to be the black-necked variety and they were pecking at the ground not far from the road, stocking up for the long flight home. It is remarkable that these creatures make a long flight every year and always come back to the same spot in Bhutan. But Brian and Felicity do that as well, so it can't be that remarkable.\n\nOur route took us back over the 11,835 feet Yutong-la pass and down to Trongsa, where the Trongsa Dzong was awaiting our inspection, from the inside this time. Originally built in 1543, but repaired and added to many times since, this fortress occupies an extremely commanding position, perhaps as well if one's job is to collect taxes and generally subdue the neighbouring population. And it still exercises", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215486, "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": 263, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "212\n\nPARTNER. ALWAYS USE PROTECTIVE MEASURE.'\n\nThe next day started with a quick drive-past, with a photo opportunity, of the Punakha Dzong, said to be Bhutan's most holy. The first king was crowned there in 1907. This commanding fortress stands on shingle banks at the confluence of the Mo and Pho rivers. Its situation certainly makes it picturesque, but also vulnerable. A flash flood ten or so years ago caused extensive damage which is still being repaired. The sad thing is that this deluge was probably not an isolated flash flood at all, but the first of many - the result of the effect of global warming on the frozen Tibetan wastes. Anyway, by command of the king no expense is to be spared in the restoration work, as we would see later.\n\nTomorrow was to be the start of a major festival, and we were to return to see it. The festival invokes Bhutan's principal deity and protection for the country in the coming year; it also marks the beginning of spring. But for the moment we had other things to see further up the Mo. People were drifting past in threes and fours in the opposite direction, including some members of the Laya tribe. I guess we could have appeared to them as no less unearthly than Princess Leia herself from Planet Alderaan. Our 'bus had to stop right next to a group of Laya, having to give way to some more fortunate people descending to the dzong in a vehicle. These Laya, a Bhutanese nomadic tribe, comprised mainly very old women and very young children and were, we were told, just coming to the end of a three-day trek to get to the following day's festivities. Quick as a flash, the old crones in the walking party whipped out from beneath their vestments some shining \"jewelled\" necklaces with which to tempt the wealthy tourists. They did not make a sale that day, but I felt it was only a matter of time before their family assets would be disposed of to some tourist or other in this manner. I also guessed that if one of us happened to take a shine to their shoes, they too would have instantly had a price attached. (Some of their shoes, more like embroidered felt boots, were indeed very fine.)\n\nStill no bacon\n\nIt was with mixed feelings that I also saw a large pig, foraging by the roadside - the first I had seen in Bhutan. I happen to like pigs very much, but a very large part of me was wondering (again) if there would", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215489, "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": 266, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "215\n\nthey were a bit more accurate, and secondly, being faster, the trajectory of the arrows need not be so high. Arrows were whizzing past us at just about head height. It reminded me of the old line: 'Do people get killed here often?', to which the reply is: 'No sir, only once.' \n\nThe Wangdi Dzong was built in 1638, and that in Punakha in 1637. Both are massive structures and it can only be wondered at what effect all this building activity had on the local economy and employment market. Perhaps similar to the time in England when vast stone cathedrals were going up, many at the same time. More comparisons to mediaeval England and building methods were to follow, but first there was dinner and bed.\n\nDay 9 brought us to what for me was the absolute highlight of the entire trip. So overwhelming were the sights and sounds that faced us that I knew neither what to write, nor how to write it. As I am afraid you will find out on the following pages, however, I soon found some words - although it is impossible to capture anything more than a few personal observations.\n\nWe knew already that the usual ‘no hats, no scarves, no cameras’ rule applied, and this was in many ways a blessing - we were indoors mostly, it was fairly warm, and the absence of a camera meant that I was not distracted by apertures and shutter speeds. Immediately inside the first courtyard, the atmosphere struck like a blow in the face. Red-robed monks standing about in twos and threes; a deep horn blowing its long steady notes somewhere off-stage; sounds of many heavy footsteps on bare wooden floors; a small crowd cheering somewhere from within a building; a stone mason chipping a hole in a flagstone; men carrying impossible loads of stone on their heads, on their backs or in their arms, up an equally impossibly steep flight of stairs into an inner sanctum (whether they were doing so to gain merit, or because they were contract Indian labour doing what Bhutanese chose not to do we did not manage to find out). Something was clearly happening. No - Something Was Clearly Happening.\n\nThis was, after all, the beginning of Day One of a four-day festival, one that has been going on for so many centuries that it is now by no means clear what it is all about. The triumph of the Bhutanese over the marauding Tibetans. The triumph of Buddhism over evil. Whatever it", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]