[ { "id": 205069, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "20\n\nJOHN 1. NOLDE\n\nof the six Englishmen, no one can deny that they did venture into the country-side in December, 1847, and that their bodies were found in the river several days later. But no one knows exactly what happened. They may have brought the attack on themselves by an ill-considered use of fire-arms, or they may have blundered into some kind of inter-village, or inter-clan, feud. In any case, we don't know that they were murdered simply because they were foreigners.\n\n30\n\nAs to the events of 1849, it may well be that they were organized not so much to keep the foreigner out of the city per se but to prevent serious rioting and looting within the city, which, the authorities well knew, could, and probably would, be turned against themselves. The presence of the barbarian with his goods and gold within the walls would attract every villain and trouble-maker for miles around.\n\nThe problem of the 1840's was the same as that which existed in the previous two decades: the continuing erosion of Imperial authority.\n\nChinese documents, most of them un-official, suggest a pattern of turmoil and tumult even exceeding that of the 1820's and 1830's. Triad outbreaks occurred in 1843 in the districts of Tung-kuan and Hsun-teh. In the latter, in December, \"above a hundred were killed and several hundred wounded\".31 Hsiang-shan district witnessed a serious Triad disturbance in 1844, as did P'an-yu in 1845.32 A high Chinese official, home on leave in Hsiang-shan reported that brigands ran wild in the White Cloud Mountains northeast of Canton and that the authorities were unable, or unwilling, to act.33 In 1846 the yamen of the prefect of Kwang-chou was attacked and looted.1⁄4 So serious had the situation become by that year that the Governor-General called a meeting of his chief advisors to discuss the matter. Apparently little was done, for it is reported that in 1847 a bandit chief in Hsiang-shan had gathered together more than 10,000 men and had established a \"puppet government\".35 One account notes that in 1847 and 1848 members of unlawful societies in hundreds and thousands, \"carrying tents and armed with swords\", were terrorizing the districts north of Canton.36 At the height of the \"entry\" crisis of 1849, Governor Yeh Ming-ch'en reported to Peking that should the foreigner be permitted to enter the city troublemakers", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205498, "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": 40, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "CHINESE RELIGION AND RURAL COHESION\n\n35\n\nAlthough religious sects are said to have been involved at times in political rebellion, one wonders how efficient they were in military operations. They certainly encouraged excessive bravery. Members of the White Lotus were said to be morbidly unafraid of death, but this would not necessarily make for efficiency, of course.4 Presumably, in selecting leaders for military manoeuvres, less emphasis would have to be placed on religious qualifications—“degrees”—and more on war-like skills. This might sometimes have led to rivalry within the sect; the type of person attracted by sectarian ideology and religious skills would not necessarily be an efficient military leader (unless he were himself a retired military leader), and might have to take a back-seat. A strong ideology, although knitting people together, encouraging bravery and sanctioning militant action, might bring its own problems for military success. The records I have seen show there were sometimes conflicts over ideological interpretations: the “work” to be undertaken by a sect at a particular time. Some local leaders planning rebellion in the name of Heaven were declared unorthodox by others, and the action was not supported by all divisions of the sect.\n\nThe Nien was certainly militarily successful for parts of its career, but little evidence is given that it was in fact a sect: an organization with an ideology and rituals. Although it is said to be an offshoot of the White Lotus, there is no information on religious meetings or ritual materials. It may be that the Nien was in fact a secret society rather than a sect: an organization using religious elements to support an ultimate secular aim rather than one taking up a secular cause to support an aim ultimately religious.49\n\nSecret Societies\n\nSecret societies have a form of organization which might have been more efficient, or less inefficient, for rebellious purposes than the majority of religious sects. The group usually known in English as Triad societies, which have a similar form of organization and ritual, and were strong in Fukien and Kwangtung, had in the nineteenth century, rebellion as their major goal; their motto was “Overthrow Ch'ing, restore Ming”. Religion appears to have always been confined largely to their rituals of initiation, and a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205499, "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": 41, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "36\n\nMARJORIE TOPLEY\n\ncentury ago, used for the purpose of making rebellion into a sacred task.\n\nSecret societies have not had independent and systematic ideologies or any system of religious qualifications for membership, or priestly hierarchy for leading them in their tasks. Their ritual brotherhood among members has often involved exacting obligations but they have had no extensive \"kinship\" system as have many of the sects.\n\nMore is known about the rituals and organization of the Triad societies than the majority of sects in the nineteenth century and I do not propose to deal with such matters in detail here.50 It should be pointed out however that they also organised themselves under lodges in different areas (often symbolised by different colours) and appear also to have had difficulties in maintaining integration of their organization in various parts of the country. The evidence suggests that, on the whole, secret societies cut across the organization of lineages and also drew in mainly the poor and weak members of lineages which were differentiated.51 They did not offer salvation in the next world and do not appear to have looked forward to a millennium in this and they did not offer residence for the unattached, at least in village life in China. They drew in more men than women. Membership not only offered an opportunity to participate in a movement for changing the dynasty but the societies also, when not rebelling, often offered facilities for mutual aid in ordinary life.\n\nOne might imagine that even these groupings would need leaders with some education when organizing rebellion, however, and it may be that their more successful efforts involved some pooling of efforts with sects; sects perhaps providing leaders of education and with \"magical\" powers, and societies, leaders with more practical skills and with a larger contingent of ordinary peasants.52\n\nInter-village Defence against Societies and Sects\n\nIt is said that creating conditions of poverty and disruption in rural life was one of the methods used by militant groups to get members. At any rate a form of inter-village organization to resist sects and societies has been noted in the literature. Hsiao", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206001, "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": 81, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "76\n\nDAFYDD EMRYS EVANS\n\nof Hong Kong to exercise its powers in the district progressively decreased. But though it is commonly felt that Taipingshan was effectively governed by Triad societies and former T'ai Ping rebels, there is little evidence forthcoming. It is a curious fact, however, that for a period of some 40 years from the late 1840's there were remarkably few dealings in the whole of the land in Taipingshan registered in the Government Land Office. Under the Ordinance No. 3 of 1844, all transactions concerning land were required to be registered and, indeed, on the whole were registered for there were certain real benefits to be obtained. Why then are there no transactions concerning Taipingshan land registered?\n\nThe simplest answer suggests that there were no transactions to be registered but this is easily rejected for owners must have died, transferred their property, mortgaged it or sub-let it. Obviously these things must have been done yet, in the case of 44 lots, there were no registered dealings at all for a very long period, extending in most cases until the 1880's21. In the case of a further 18 lots22, there were no registered dealings over this period after about 1848. Two other significant features eventually came into Indian (mostly Muslim) hands and remained there, forming what must have been a noticeable Indian quarter23. One family, that of a man called Mahomet Arab, who first bought property in the area in the 1840's, retained it for nearly 100 years. The other feature is the movement of European ownership. In the 1840's, a number of Europeans did own lots in Taipingshan (and Europeans who could afford nothing else, such as discharged soldiers, did live there) but they sold up during and around that time24. However, it is also very noticeable that one European, Daniel Richard Caldwell, bought several lots in Taipingshan on several of which licensed brothels stood25. Caldwell's connections, even when in the employ of the Government, with the underworld were notorious and this Taipingshan property was retained by his family (his widow was Chinese) until the 1890's.\n\nBut, apart from the Indian quarter (which probably was left alone) and Caldwell's brothels (which probably paid 'cumshaw' or protection money anyway), Taipingshan became a Chinese town in which it seems little attention was paid to official requirements such as the registration of land transactions and much else. When in the 1880's, after the Land Commission's Report of 1886-1887, it was realised into what a parlous state the Land", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206681, "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": 229, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n223\n\nSECRET SOCIETIES IN CHINA: IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. Jean Chesneaux, Hong Kong: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1971.\n\nSecret groupings which make use of religious conceptions and symbols have frequently attracted the interests of observers, and many have written up their experiences or impressions. In recent years they have also attracted the theoretical and analytical attentions of scholars, not only of students of religion, but also social scientists specialising in politics, economics and even military history. This is because of the common although by no means exclusive association such groupings have with the poorer levels of society, the harsh social or physical conditions in which they often emerge, and the uprisings against the establishment which they organize or in which they participate from time to time.\n\nMany theories about their origins have been suggested by those working within the Marxist framework of analysis, and social rather than cognitive factors are given the main emphasis. But the whole problem of causality, and of what such groupings are really trying to achieve is very complex. We are not yet very far ahead in our understanding of such matters in comparative world terms. For this reason one welcomes any new book on the subject and particularly one dealing with groupings which have operated against such a rich and varied cultural and social background as China. In 1971 Current Anthropology published a bibliographical, comparative, essay on 'crisis cults' as they were termed by the author, but China received scarcely a mention. One reason may be that the material is often scattered and unsystematic, although there are a few notable exceptions dealing with particular groups. Here, in this book the author brings together some of the material in an easily readable form.\n\nA number of sources of information are used including eye-witness accounts, those of former members and of people in close contact with them, 'mandarin' sources, and accounts of such outside observers as missionaries, journalists, consular officials etc. Sections of the book include a detailed discussion of the Triad, one of the better documented secret societies and known of course in Hong Kong through the press and the excellent fact-providing work on the subject by Morgan (1960) published by the Hong Kong Government, and now sadly out of print. A 'few other societies' are also described and discussed, some very briefly indeed, and an attempt...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206684, "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": 232, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "226\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nship or admission. It seldom attracted the intellectual, and although as the author points out, for their members 'their rites, secrets, oaths of initiation . . . made a powerful contribution towards the consolidation of (an autonomous) order', the ultimate goal was the establishment of new political leadership rather than a new political order. Many of these groups, notably the Triad, were also involved in the offensive as well as defensive art of 'boxing' and would appear to be perhaps more suited to militant and military pursuits. These groups had no millennial dreams, their ultimate objective was the overthrow of the Ch'ing in later traditional times, and Sun Yat-sen used them for just this purpose.\n\nAll this is important if we are also to understand differences today between different kinds of secret or semi-secret organizations found in places like Hong Kong. And what the author fails to mention is that the messianic groups may still be studied, and their investigation is relatively more easy than that of the non-messianic groups which are generally illegal. The messianic groups still attract intellectuals, and still retain their long-ranged goals: the millennium. They do not accept the new 'millennium' of present-day China although some leaders are conscious of similarities with their own independent goals. All this again could do with closer investigation. They still take in the aged and poor and in terms of Hong Kong and other overseas societies often perform useful services. For here is a paradox: in dealing with 'contradictions' at certain times and in certain conditions, the messianic organizations have done much to absorb the discontented and provide alternative satisfactions. And a point connected with this: messianic groups were not always concerned with radical change, even in traditional times, and were not always living in a state of emergency. To some extent this latter point also applies to the non-messianic groups too. The Triad for example appears to have provided mutual aid of an economic and social kind to its members, and we still await more precise information on the particular circumstances as well as processes by which the militant banner was raised by both kinds of group. Groups like the Triad however, have at any rate gradually lost their religious motivations and rituals in contemporary society. With the achievement of their grander political aim they have lost their common purpose and deteriorated into protection rackets, albeit still occasionally with mutual aid facilities for members. But they have only immediate ends in view. It is true and important as the author", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206734, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "5\n\nour application for acceptance as a constituent Society was agreed by the Arts Centre, and we will have a nominated member of our Council on its Management Committee on all future occasions it meets to discuss plans for facilities.\n\nThe two tours held during the year were organised by two of your officers. One, to the Chinese University, was arranged by Mr. D. A. Gilkes, Honorary Treasurer. The other, to places of historical interest in the Pokfulum area, was arranged by Mr. James Hayes, Vice-President and Honorary Editor. Both events appear to have been very successful.\n\nIn November we had our 5th symposium which took place as usual at The Hong Kong Club--one of the few moderately priced places appropriate for this kind of event in Hong Kong. The subject was \"Hong Kong: Chinese Tradition and the Development of a Town\" and papers were read by people either actively involved in original research, or in the practical aspects of their subjects. It was accompanied by an exhibition of photographs arranged with the kind help of the City Hall staff, and an exhibition of ritual paraphernalia connected with Triad Societies, provided by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in conjunction with a paper read by one of its officers. The very useful material emerging at this symposium will be published in our brochure series. The material from our previous symposium on the botany of Hong Kong is in process of publication, and this coming week-end we will have our 6th symposium, on Hong Kong Fauna, organised by Professor B. Lofts of the Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong.\n\nSince the end of the last calendar year several other events have already taken place and might be mentioned here. The first meeting of this year, at which Mr. James Watt of your Council spoke on recent archeological discoveries in China, was attended by our Patron, Sir Murray Maclehose and Lady Maclehose. A very successful tour to Thailand was organised by Mr. Smithies, who has been our Honorary Secretary for the past financial year. It was preceded by a panel presentation on Thailand in which Mr. Smithies participated, together with Mr. James Watt, and the Royal Thai Consul General. Nineteen members and their guests attended the tour itself, which took place over the Chinese New Year in February. I am pleased to report that the event was a great social success, those taking part organising a party on their return.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207665, "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": 53, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "38\n\nDOUGLAS W. SPARKS\n\nTeochiu syndicates based in Thailand and Hong Kong. It is unfortunate, however, that the public media in Hong Kong has perhaps over-emphasized Teochiu involvement and helped create the impression that many Teochiu are involved in drugs and organized crime. Teochiu control of international heroin production and distribution in Asia can be related to two factors:\n\n(1) Teochiu involvement in drug trafficking in China, particularly in Shanghai, prior to 1949 and the gradually established monopoly of the Hong Kong trade by Teochiu syndicates after 1949 (McCoy, 1972:224-229);\n\n(2) the successful functioning of long established Teochiu international commercial networks in Southeast Asia.\n\nMost Teochiu businessmen are of course engaged in legitimate trade within Hong Kong and with Southeast Asia.\n\nWith regard to the so-called triads in Hong Kong, I have been told that Teochiu triads are much more controlled and hierarchically organized within areas in which they operate compared with other ethnic triad organizations; such as the Cantonese 14K triad which tend to be splintered into local level groups with little, if any, control or co-ordination from higher levels. Needless to say, the highly organized nature of Teochiu criminal groups is partially a function of interethnic dynamics and hostility in Hong Kong. The question arises as to the role of Teochiu triads at the \"street level\" in the maintenance of Teochiu solidarity and ethnic boundaries. No definitive answer can be given as my research was not concerned with criminal organizations, but it would seem that Teochiu criminal networks, regardless of the fact that non-elite Teochiu are “victims” of triad extortion, etc., do provide a potential source of assistance in conflicts with members of other ethnic groups (and their triads) and with the police. Ethnic based criminal syndicates in all societies function as alternative authority structures to which some people, perhaps thinking that the \"legitimate\" governmental structure is irresponsive, turn when their immediate resources and contacts are insufficient in coping with a particular problem. The successful functioning of Teochiu criminal organizations is probably partially a result of strong feelings of ethnic identity and solidarity among many Teochiu and is in itself a probable contributing factor in the maintenance of Teochiu solidarity.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208804, "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": 261, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "234\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nIn providing this detailed and thoughtful account, the writer has done an immense service to the present governments of Malaya and Singapore — indeed of the region — as well as to students of Chinese society old and new. It is of greater value because of his own personal involvement in the business of government and in the fact that, as stated in his preface (p. xiii), he had the enthusiastic support of police officers of all ranks and officers of the Chinese Affairs Department throughout Malaya and Singapore who conducted enquiries, collected information and translated documents. It is doubtful whether this work could be done again — it is mentioned that many of the police documents of the last colonial period have been destroyed and we should be deeply thankful that Blythe was available to undertake it at the time he did.\n\nT\n\nThe book is well produced, on good quality paper with solid binding and clear large type. The 18 illustrations are as notable as the contents.\n\nHong Kong, May, 1980.\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\n'Friendly Societies are very good,' said Mr. Van Dyke. “But I am referring to secret and dangerous Societies.\"\n\n'These qualifying names are purely arbitrary,' said Tek Chiu. “All Chinese Societies are professedly good, and they, all of them, are just what members choose to make them. There is no fixed principle according to which you can draw a distinction between those that are exclusively benevolent and friendly, and those that you call secret and dangerous societies.'\n\n'Is the Broken Coffin Society entitled to be called friendly, or is it justly designated secret and dangerous?'\n\n'It is justly designated secret and dangerous. It is the fault of our Triad Society, certainly, that such a dangerous and criminal clique is not exterminated at once. Such bad sets of men are like bad teeth that ought to be pulled out. But because a man has a bad tooth in his head, he should not be prohibited from eating.\"\n\nLamont continues: A Chinaman is a social being—a tool rather than a member of his community. If he were to cease living a social life, he would cease to be a Chinaman. The Chinaman abroad lives a large part of his being in the 'hoey. The hoey unites men more closely even than the sons of one father in a family. So powerful is the bond of this Freemasonry of China, that if two brothers in a family belong to different hoeys their relationship in such a set of circumstances is more distant than is that which subsists between those members of one hoey who are not relatives in the ordinary sense at all.\n\nTek Chiu's view, that Chinese societies are what members choose to make them, can also be found in Leong Gor Yun's Chinatown Inside Out (New York: Barrows Mussey, 1936), especially Chapter Two.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209855, "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": 114, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "92\n\n3.\n\n4.\n\nThese speak a different language from the other three races. They have a history of having migrated ages ago from the Yangtse valley, and economically are pioneers, opening up inferior lands, and doing all quarry work. They occupy the eastern and northern islands, and are often called \"Chinese Scotchmen”. For this reason Scottish regiments here are called “Hakka ping\" (Hakka soldiers). Nearly all regimental servants here, I believe, are Hakkas: formerly the Hakkas were anti-Manchu and often joined Triad Societies. As such, they gave vigorous assistance to the British in 1857-61, and the connection with the Army has been kept up.\n\nHoklos, a Cantonese nickname for the coast peoples of Northeast Kwangtung; it means \"men of Hok1\", meaning Fukien. Most come from the area around Swatow and Swabue. Their language is very widely different from both Cantonese and Hakka: as different as German from English. They are fishermen, grasscutters, limekiln and saltpan workers. Their major settlements are at Tai O, Pingchau, Cheung Chau, Taipo (by the District Officer's island), and probably others. They are migrating here steadily, and many appear in court for offences of all sorts. A major reason behind the migration is probably that the coastal areas from which they come are suffering erosion and losing soil: the collapse of the Hoi Luk Fung Soviet Republic is another factor: finally, piracy is no longer as profitable as it was.\n\nPolitical divisions\n\nThe Ladrones or \"Pirate Islands\" of which Hong Kong and its outlying islands are part were so named by the Portuguese pioneers of sea trade to the East. They are shared unequally between China, Britain and Portugal. In China they are administered by the nearest district magistrates, of Hoifung, Po On, Chungshan, Sanwui, and Toishan districts. Macao has only two or three nearby isles. The British Islands are divided between the District Officer, North, and the District Officer, South, so that the latter is sometimes called \"Lord of the Isles\". I had that job for nearly 3 1/2 years.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210862, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 213, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "196\n\nCARL SMITH\n\n\"nese language to watch over the proceedings.\"\n\nThe effective discipline maintained by the associations within the Chinese community and their benevolent activities outweighed the danger of their usurpation of the functions of the officially constituted institutions to maintain law and order, so that, in spite of the apprehension they aroused, they were permitted to continue their activities.\n\nToday the Committee of the Six Companies represent the conservative, wealthy portion of the San Francisco Chinese community. In recent years their recognised control has been challenged by an influx of youth with Hongkong Triad Society background. This challenge to community authority has produced many problems in San Francisco's Chinatown with an upsurge of extortion, gang fights and murder.\n\nEven in A-chick's time the authority of the associations did not go unchallenged by other groups. An incident occurred in 1855 in which A-chick as community leader tried to act as peacemaker. A meeting with this end in mind was convened, but in the course of the meeting, Tong A-chick had to leave unceremoniously by leaping from a second-storey window.\n\nA street fight between two rival secret societies led up to the incident. The Hung Shun Tong Society was the established group, but its power was challenged by the E Shing Society. When the members of one of the rival groups wanted to enter a Chinese place of entertainment which was controlled by the other group, they were refused admission. The reason given in the newspaper account was \"because they spoke a different dialect from the proprietors of the house.\"\n\nThe next night the two groups were out in force with axes, knives, bamboos and bottles. The Hung Shun Tong could rally more fighters and routed the weaker E Shing group.\n\nThe fight occurred just below the quarters of the Canton Merchants Association rooms in Sacramento Street where a meeting had been called to investigate the causes of the previous night's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212943, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "Lectures:\n\n1993\n\n16 April\n\n14 May\n\n11 June\n\n9 July\n\n15 October\n\n30 October\n\n19 November\n\n26 November\n\n9 December\n\n1994\n\n21 January\n\n18 February\n\n11 March\n\n21 March\n\nChinese Opera Di S.Y Chan\n\nGrowing Up in China Mr Denis Bray\n\nNew Territories Poetry and Song Di Patrick Hase\n\nThe Li Family of Hong Kong Mr Frank Ching\n\nChinese Festivals in Hong Kong. Dr Patrick Hase based on video taken by Mr. Peter Lee\n\nMult-culturalism and Asia Asian Arts Society of Australia Dr. James Hayes\n\nEmigration from Hong Kong Dr. Elizabeth Sinn\n\nLaw as a Foreign Language Professor Derek Roebuck\n\nTriad Societies in Hong Kong Mr. Ip Pau-fuk\n\nWilliam Mesney. Mr Keith Stevens\n\nChinese Clothing An Illustrated Guide Mis Valery Garrett\n\nEternal Serenity Meaning of Architecture of the Chinese Buddhist Monastery Di Puay-peng Ho\n\nAncient Chinese Gold Dr Simon Kwan\n\nCrossing the Taklamakan Desert Mr Charles Blackmore\n\nVisits:\n\n1993\n\n3 April\n\n2 May\n\n22 May\n\n5 June/September\n\n25 June\n\n3 July\n\n30 September\n\nExhibition of paintings by Nancy Woo - Fung Ping Shan Museum, HK University\n\nJewish Cemetery\n\nMer Yung Tang Collection of Paintings by Chan Dai Chien Chinese University Art Gallery\n\nMarine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui (two visits)\n\nJapanese Tea Ceremony - Fung Ping Shan Museum, HK University\n\nPicnic and outing to Yuen Tun Village Civil Aid Services Camp, Tar Lam Chung\n\nWo Hang Village to see making and letting off of paper balloons (Moon Festival)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215332, "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": 109, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "57\n\nnot orthodox spirits shen\n\nbut dark spirits. Yinshen, the ghosts of those who have died a violent death before their due date.\n\nChinese usually describe this group, in English, as the 108 Martyrs. They are never portrayed as images and tend to be regarded more as public worthies, folk hero \"ethnic group\" ancestors rather than deities. The tablet is very similar to the ancestral tablet and simply states that it is the 'Tablet to the One Hundred and Eight Brothers'. It is venerated and although the spirits of the brothers are occasionally asked for advice by devotees they are not usually prayed to for major requests or protection, although in Java in one temple the tablet was prayed to by seafarers before they set out on a long journey. Their festival, simple and not in any way lavish, is generally celebrated on the 15th day of the tenth lunar month, though in Singapore it is held on the 3rd of the eighth lunar month.\n\nThe question is, who were the One Hundred and Eight Brothers? Three separate versions of the story of their demise have each been recounted with great solemnity, conviction and confidence by temple keepers in Java, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, and even in a Chinese temple in Bali. In Penang the story centres on a junk-load of Hainanese immigrants heading for South-east Asia which never arrived. One version claims that they were mistaken for pirates and wiped out by the 'French' [sic] navy off Annam or the 'British' off Malaya again having been mistaken for pirates. Another version suggests that they were all drowned during a typhoon off the southern tip of what is now Vietnam, and yet another that they were annihilated by Chinese government forces off the Leizhou peninsular immediately north of Hainan when, again, they were mistaken for pirates.12 The third story is that they were the original immigrants from Fujian province who arrived in Hainan to settle but all died in Hainan from disease or at the hands of the aborigines. A twist to the version heard in Penang claimed that the typhoon which sank the junk in the South China Seas drowned all but one of the one hundred and nine aboard, one small boy being saved after days of drifting on wreckage. He then died in Malaya at a ripe old age.\n\n12\n\nOne hundred and eight is a secret symbolic number used by secret societies, and one of the Triad gangs in British Malaya was known as the 'One Hundred and Eight Society.' with a devotee in Seremban", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]