[ { "id": 205507, "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": 49, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "44\n\n# THE HANKOW STEAMER TEA RACES\n\nT. J. LINDSAY*\n\nClipper ships, with their vast spread of canvas, racing home with the season's China teas have earned the admiration of artists and the narrative skill of many authors. But the steamer tea races from Hankow have attracted much less attention. Endurance of the crews aloft in clippers catches the imagination more than the endurance of the stokehold gangs, and the development of reliable and fast ocean-going steamers is not as picturesque a subject as that of the sailing ship.\n\nNevertheless, at the time, the annual steamer tea race from Hankow caused excitement enough in Far Eastern waters. Although steamers also sailed laden with tea from Foochow and from Japan, it was the race from the centre of China, with the first hazardous leg down the Yangtsze to Woosung, that held the public interest. Until 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, the Clipper ship could hold its own with the steamer service to China via the Cape. But the much shorter route afforded by Suez, which cut across the wind routes and so was suitable only for steamers, meant the end of sailing vessels in the high-value cargo eastern trade.\n\nThe steamer tea races resulted in a reduction of transit time from Hankow to London from sixty-one days in 1870 to thirty-one days in 1883 (see Table I), although in later years a few more days were added to the passage. The account of the races in the following pages covers the eleven-year period from 1877 to 1887.\n\nEvery year in the beginning of May came Hankow's short period of excitement and glory. The tea buyers from Shanghai and England, the chuszes,† arrived to pit their wits against the Chinese\n\nMr. Lindsay joined Butterfield and Swire in Shanghai in 1933. He studied Chinese in Peking in 1934, served in Shanghai and Tsingtao, and was interned in Shanghai during the Pacific War. He was transferred to the firm's Hong Kong office in 1949 and was Staff Manager until he retired in 1966. He was a Councillor and Hon. Treasurer of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society until his retirement, and is M.A.\n\n† The newspapers use chaszes without characters. Matthews Dictionary gives ch'a shih (*) as the name for tea-tasters. The tea-taster was usually the tea-buyer, so perhaps the phrase \"tea-merchant\" would best cover it.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212182, "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": 124, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "101\n\nignorance. The cook, on the other hand, a tall northerner from Tientsin, would blanch at the first sound of the siren and bolt like a rabbit to his hole; and our little amah, a timid soul, would stand and weep in a corner. At one time we got quite worried about her, because whenever there was a raid her temperature went up; she, however, recovered her normal poise when she followed her \"missy\" to the quieter atmosphere of Wuhu.\n\nDuring all this period the Chinese commercial community watched the attitude of the foreign residents and judged of the progress of the war from what they read into their movements. The war had naturally resulted in a severe restriction of credit and we were all concerned with the collection of outstanding accounts. One foreign business man, who controlled a large upcountry organisation, maintained that his wife's continued residence in Nanking inspired his Chinese agents with such confidence that they continued to remit funds, so that he estimated her presence was worth several lakhs to the firms by whom he was employed. This is one aspect liable to be overlooked by Consuls, who order their nationals at short notice out of a place in the hope of avoiding international complications.\n\nWhether because they grew tired of the discomforts of a bucolic existence, or of the expense, or whether it was because they found that the part of the town in which they used to live had escaped the attention of the enemy bombers, it was a fact that many Chinese, who had left Nanking in August, returned in October, and many of the shops which had closed their doors reopened.\n\nThe question of provisions became easier again, and some enterprising compradores even replaced exhausted stocks by railway from Tsingtao, or by motor lorry from Shanghai, though to cover the risk of loss en route they found it necessary to raise their prices from two to three times. Butter was a problem, until we discovered that while the number of milk consumers had fallen off heavily the number of cows had remained static, and the surplus of cream thus available produced excellent fresh butter. The dairies in Nanking existed for the convenience of the foreigners as the Chinese themselves do not consume milk or milk products. In more recent years, however, Chinese have taken to tinned milk, particularly for infants, and by this indirect approach are to a small extent developing a taste for cow's milk.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212214, "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": 156, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "133\n\n1935, and probably exceeds 30,000 today\n\nthe Japanese secured a\n\nsecond seat in 1927 and since that date, with one or two exceptions, the proportion of Foreign Councillors has been five Britons, two Americans, and two Japanese,''\n\nIt was from amongst the managers of the large firms that the foreign Municipal Councillors were selected, by a process of back-stage negotiation. There was, it is true, a form of straw vote through which nominations could be contested, but as the large firms could swing the votes that process was not democratic in operation. In point of fact the suggestion that the Council was a democratic body had long been discarded. The Council represented the interests of the large firms and, while it had to explain its actions to the foreign land-renters of the Settlement, it preferred, as such committees will, to avoid having to make explanations, by doing its work away from the limelight. That was, indeed, a necessary precaution, in so far as the delicate political negotiations in which it was frequently involved with the Chinese, and Japanese, authorities were concerned.\n\nThe Council was an international body, a diminutive League of Nations, incomparably more effective, though on a small scale, than that larger body at Geneva. The comparison lends it international significance and underlines the importance that men, who are appointed to such positions of responsibility, should be carefully selected.\n\nOn the expiration of my home leave I was appointed to Shanghai, where I arrived in July 1939. The betrayal of Czechoslovakia that Spring had increased international tension, and a series of incidents was bringing it home to the optimists, who had so cheerfully accepted the Japanese influx, that their early anticipations were so much smoke. Apart from a number of local outrages, including the bayonetting of a Briton, named Tinkler, inside the grounds of his own mill, there was the case of the British Military Attaché, who had been arrested in May in Kalgan, and was still held incommunicado, the mob attacks on the British consulate at Tsingtao, the heavy bombing of British property and shipping at Ichang, and the degrading treatment to which British nationals were being exposed at the barriers, erected by the Japanese to the exits of the British Concession in Tientsin.\n\nI was sitting on the verandah of the Country Club one day in September, after a game of tennis, when the boy called me to the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212475, "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": 29, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "ports. He received a lot of honours from many countries including a baronetcy and other decorations from Britain and China. He was said to have been a “leading expert in insurance, shipping and the import and export business,” and also \"director of eighteen of the leading companies in Hong Kong and Shanghai, chairman and largest shareholder of a number of them.\" We know little of the details of his investments in the modern business in Hong Kong, Canton, or Shanghai, but we understand that he had an investment in some guandu-shangban enterprises and had close relations with Chinese officials. He was probably a multimillionaire by the turn of the century. It was known that when he worked in Jardines, he had been the manager of Jardine's affiliates, the Hong Kong Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. and the Canton Insurance Co., Ltd. He had invested in refined and raw sugar in Shanghai and most of the Yangzi and northern ports of China. He owned a lot of landed properties in Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Tsingtao (Qingdao), and London. He was a director of Humphreys Estate and Finance Co. Ltd., Hong Kong Reclamation Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong Hotel Co., Ltd. at the end of the nineteenth century.\n\nLaw Pak Sheung was the first comprador to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank when it opened in 1865, and remained the chief comprador until his death in 1877. Law came from the port of Whampoa in Canton. His life in Hong Kong proved very successful. He was an organising director of the Tung Wah Hospital from 1869 to 1871. It became the leading Chinese charitable institution in Hong Kong.\n\nPage 10\n\nLaw died in 1877. He had interests in at least five businesses as mentioned in his will. He might also have had other business interests which were in the name of his sons or other relatives. The five firms mentioned in the will were a ship chartering office, a store, a gold dealer's shop, a native bank, and a general trading company. These he left to his third son Lo Hok Pang (Luo Hepeng), who succeeded him as comprador. In 1879, two years after the death of Law Pak Sheung, his son was said to have had connections with Chinese banks and had invested in a number of firms. He was regarded as one of the leading businessmen in the Chinese community; this was in addition to his position as a comprador. Law might also have had business interests in Canton or elsewhere which were not mentioned in his Hong Kong will. The testator's shares in insurance companies and a Chinese newspaper are signs of one who has moved away from strictly Chinese business enterprises, though the insurance shares were not large, but these were", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212868, "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": 177, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "162\n\nIt was clear when I gave the Ezekiel Abraham Memorial Lecture in 1987 that strong feelings still remained,\n\nKranzler, 745.\n\n7 The Hankow Daily News July 13, 1917,\n\n1.\n\nStatistics differ. Even the Encyclopaedia Judaica gives different numbers on different pages. Without scrutinizing temple rolls, it is difficult to ascertain the number of Jews in Shanghai at a given time, but it can be estimated to be less than 2,000 from 1920 through the early 1930s.\n\nDavid Kranzler gave the following figures: On 25 March, 1934, there were 1,671 Jewish adults and children in Shanghai (881 male and 790 female), including Sephardic Jews as well as the Ashkenazi community. A little more than ten years later, 14,245 persons (8,283 male, 5,962 female) were classified as Jewish refugees in Shanghai in November 1944. Of these, 8,114 had come from Germany, 1,248 from Poland, 3,942 from Austria, and 236 from Czechoslovakia. Between 1939 and 1946, there had been 418 births, 366 marriages, 104 divorces, and 1,726 deaths among the Jewish population in Shanghai.\n\n40 Hans and Lala Diestel, respectably bourgeois before the Japanese occupation, ground assorted grains in their living-room by hand, using a Chinese millstone, selling the meal to the Red Cross for cash. Later on, they operated a factory making shoes, employing Jewish refugees. 'There was never any problem with raw materials,” related the indefatigable Mr Diestel, who was born in Tsingtao, 'because the Japanese thought that I was German.' Betty Peh-t'i Wei, Shanghai, Crucible of Modern China, Hong Kong, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, 252.\n\n\" Conversation with Ezekiel Abraham in Hong Kong. Also, see Joseph and Lynn Silverstein, 'David Marshall and Jewish Emigration from China', China Quarterly, (London 1979).\n\n12 The New York Times, 27 February, 1983.\n\n13\n\nOld Chronicle of Hong Kong November 1870.\n\n14 Hong Kong Telegram 4 May, 1904. Shanghai dispatch.\n\n15\n\nWei, 252.\n\n16 The China Mail, 24 September, 1918,\n\n17\n\nI am sorry that I have lost the date of this issue of the Hong Kong newspaper.\n\n10 His will was probated in Hong Kong in 1886.\n\n19 Left Sassoon and Company 21 January, 1891\n\n20\n\nMerchant. His will, witnessed by Hardoon, was probated in 1893.\n\n21 The obituary in the South China Morning Post. 8 August, 1979, identified Mrs Ezra as Mozelle Robinson Ezra of Shanghai. Edward Ezra and Mozelle Sopher were married in 1907\n\n22 People's Daily (Beijing), 15 October, 1991, 2.\n\n21\n\nChinese sources insist that he worked as a door keeper. At least he had control over accessibility to the boss\n\n24\n\nComplaints included members riding to services on the Sabbath and High Holy Days rather than travelling on foot", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212915, "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": 224, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "209\n\n1935 was a memorable year because it was the Silver Jubilee of King George V. The British Consul in Chefoo put on a great fair to which we all went. Here we were given bank notes specially drawn for the occasion, which entitled us to rides and ice cream and so forth. The bank notes were so attractive that I could not bring myself to spend them all and kept some for years.\n\nFrom time to time ships of the Royal Navy called at Chefoo and there would be sure to be some entertainment. Sometimes it was open day on the ship, once they dressed up as pirates and came ashore on our beaches and gave us a party there. We also played football against them. The main port for the Royal Navy was Wei Hai Wei, some sixty miles down the coast. Chefoo was the summer home for the American fleet, who would have come up from the Philippines, and who also took us on boating expeditions to nearby islands.\n\nHolidays at School\n\nAfter two years in the Prep School I was old enough to go to the Boys' School. The transfer took place during the summer holidays which I was, like many others, spending at school. As I said, children came to these schools from all over China. Most were children of missionaries but businessmen also sent their children there. Some came from nearby Tsingtao or Tientsin or Shanghai. These children could go home for the month-long summer holidays and some even went for the two weeks at Easter. A party of us came from Hong Kong and South China and, as it would take us ten days to get to Fatshan, we only made the journey once a year during the two-month long winter holidays. Others came from so far away in Yunnan Province that they never went home. So there were always a good many children in the schools during the holidays. These holidays were made very enjoyable times for us. In the summer it would be swimming and tennis. In the winter some went skating but at all times the staff would think of amusements and games, hobbies and outings which came in great variety.\n\nIn 1937 my father had planned a trip to Peking but the outbreak of hostilities with the Japanese prevented this. Instead my mother came to Chefoo for the summer holidays and we all stayed at the Missionary Home. This was a simple hostel where we had our meals and slept but that was about all. There was an Anglican church nearby and I recall the atmosphere of peace and reverence at my first Evensong there. During", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213246, "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": 68, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "47\n\nthat of the New World Hotel. A soap factory was built on Shaukiwan Marine Lot which the company purchased at a Crown Land Sale in 1890 (DP 29 June, 6 August 1890) In a series of articles on Hong Kong Industries published in the Hong Kong Telegraph the writer chides British reluctance to invest capital in Hong Kong and cites the soap factory as another case in which German enterprise had outstripped that of the British (HKT 10 September 1895)\n\nAt the time of the forced liquidation of German firms in 1914 the partners of Blackhead & Co were F H Hohnke, then of Hamburg, E H Thiel and J E Danielsen. Hohnke had been a partner since about 1888. At about the same time a son of the founder joined the firm. After Germany acquired the concession at Tsingtao, Mr Hohnke went there to open a branch of the firm (DP 7 March 1905).\n\nGerman Watchmakers\n\nCharles Weiss, Gaupp and Co\n\nThe first shopkeeper in Hong Kong with a German-sounding name was Charles Weiss. Aberdeen Street second in the list of foreigners on the China coast published in the Chinese Repository in 1845 gives his nationality as German. In May of the previous year he advertises himself as \"Charles Weiss, Chronometer and watchmaker from London and Geneva, Oswald's Hill opposite Gibb, Livingston and Co.\" This would be in the vicinity of the present Aberdeen Street (FC 24 May 1844) Two months later he moved a bit down hill to the corner of Graham and Wellington Streets (FC 24 July 1844) His brother Alexander A took charge of the business in 1853 during a temporary absence of Charles (FC 6 July 1853). Charles left Hong Kong permanently in 1856 and transferred his business to Henni Vaucher, formerly of Canton (FC 2 June 1856) Henni Vaucher was either French or Swiss; he had been a clerk in the watchmaking firm of Bovet Brothers and Co at Canton from 1851 to the time he took over Charles Weiss's business. He died of chronic diarrhea a year after moving to Hong Kong (FC 6 Nov 1857).\n\nLouis Heermann was an assistant in the shop of Charles Weiss from the year 1854. After the shop was closed upon the death of Henni Vaucher, Mr Heermann opened his own store on Queen's Road in February 1858 (FC 1 Feb 1858). While in his shop notice Mr Heermann calls himself", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214367, "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": 225, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "191\n\nindustry. It was common, so it claimed, for construction teams to hold Taoist rituals, including the sacrifice of oxen before work began.*\n\nOn the other side of the coin, according to the Bureau of Religious Affairs, about 200 Taoist temples have been re-opened to the public in China since the 1980s and seven Taoist provincial associations have been established. One of these temples is the former Taoist Cheng-i sect centre, the Heavenly Master Sect temple [T'ien-shih Miao] on Dragon and Tiger Mountain, Lung-hu Shan, in Kiangsi province. It was burned down in 1945 and work on rebuilding it did not begin until 1983. This consisted of the renovation of the main hall and the re-sculpturing of the images of the San Ch'ing, the Three Pure Ones, and fourteen other clay statues. Other sites nearby have also been renovated, including the Shang Ch'ing Palace, where the Immortals lived, and the Lien-tan Ch'ih, the Furnace [where pills of immortality were made]. It is interesting to read that both local and central authorities donated more than half a million yuan towards the project.\n\nAbout the same time as the iconoclastic campaign began, a ban was also imposed in Tsingtao, the port in southern Shantung, on the manufacture, sale and burning of funeral objects in a bid to curb a resurgence in superstition.\n\n...\n\nDespite all of these reports of the destruction of illegal temples and the crackdown on superstition, my daughter and I during the years 1995-1997 have visited a number of temples both urban and rural in remote areas of China as well as in cities and towns which, without doubt, fall under the category of superstitious religious establishments. We have not only been guided to several such temples by policemen but also in one instance we found the local party cadre actually lived with his mother inside a small popular religion temple. The only instance where a member of a temple staff had reason to explain that an activity was banned because it was superstition happened in the suburbs of Shanghai. When we asked why there were no oracular blocks on the altar with which to obtain the deity's answers to questions posed by devotees, we were told by the temple guardian that this particular practice was superstition and not permitted, whereas other routine rituals seen in temples in Hong Kong and Taiwan were. A Chinese scholar recently explained that in his view illegal temples are the structures built without permission because local State authorities have not had the quid pro quo erection of a village school, crèche or health centre paid for by the villagers with the same sum funded for the project as\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214502, "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": 360, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "329 \n\nBITS OF BROKEN CHINA: \n\nTHE RAS VISIT TO NORTH-EAST CHINA IN SEARCH OF COLONIAL REMNANTS 15TH TO 21ST OCTOBER 1999 \n\nROBERT NIELD \n\nThat I led a group of 25 people to the Shantung Peninsula and successfully brought 18 of them back to Hong Kong was, I have to say, a major achievement - and one of which I am very proud. \n\nMy part in this trip dates from an earlier RAS China visit, that to Ningpo, Chusan and Dinghai in 1998. Even as long ago as that, the ever-resourceful Geoffrey Roper had already largely planned a visit that would take in an inspection of the remains of German influence in Tsingtao, and of the British presence in Chefoo and Weihaiwei. During the boat trip back to Ningpo from Dinghai I discussed Geoffrey's plans with him, and innocently suggested that it would rather complete the set if the trip also took in the former Russian and Japanese possessions over the water in Dalian and Port Arthur. And there the matter rested. \n\nMany months later, by which time I had totally forgotten my “helpful\" suggestion that torpedoed Geoffrey's careful planning, it came about that he, unfortunately, could not lead the trip himself - and he asked me if I would volunteer for the job. Never having organised anything like this before, and having no idea of what was involved, in my blissful ignorance I said that I would be happy to oblige. \n\n:: \n\nMy job as a professional accountant (a partner in a very large firm, no less!) involves me sitting at the top of an enormous pyramid of very capable and industrious people, such that more often than not completed pieces of work are presented to me for my review. It came as a major shock, therefore, to find out how much work is involved in putting together what, for the people who accompanied me, was hopefully six pleasant and relaxing days exploring interesting places. \n\nI was sure that everything \"would be alright on the night\" - and sure enough, more or less it was. But only with the significant help of \n\nPage 360\n\nPage 361", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214503, "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": 361, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "330\n\nthe team that formed around me to make sure that I did not leave everything to the night before we were due to leave. The team comprised Dr Peter Barker, Sarah Parnell and Michael Broom - and of course Elace, the representative from Swire Travel who was our contact point with the local agents and guides on the ground in China. In fact, there were further significant contributions from many of the tour members. I hope to have given full credit to all of them on the text that follows.\n\nPeter's contribution was, in a way, the greatest. His heavy travel schedule meant that he could not attend any meetings that might have been called to discuss progress. However, this made him feel that he was always missing something, so every time he returned to Hong Kong he had the effect of reminding me that nothing more had been achieved since the last time he contacted me. Once real planning got under way, Mike, Sarah and I met a number of times, and we decided to take one area each for the purposes of research and itinerary setting. Mike volunteered for Tsingtao, Sarah took Chefoo and Weihaiwei, leaving me with Dalian and Port Arthur.\n\nThis arrangement worked well, and we each managed to put together some notes and extracts from various sources, which I put together as a handout for the tour members. A copy of this booklet, \"Bits of Broken China,\" is available in the RAS Library and may be a useful source of reference for people planning a similar trip.\n\nWhat now follows is a description of what we saw, from the perspective of the person fortunate enough to have been the tour leader. The notes below certainly do not pretend to be in any way a history of the places we saw; there are many far more learned and authoritative places to look and people to talk to in order to gain such information. Nevertheless, I hope this brief article shares with its readers some of the fun that was had in making the whole thing possible.\n\nGetting Settled in and Briefed\n\nThe mid-day flight from Hong Kong got us to Qingdao in the late afternoon. Why is it that all travelling that is done by \"a group\" seems to be far more complicated and time-consuming than for the same number of people travelling independently? Be that as it may, by the time", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214504, "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": 362, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "331\n\nwe had met Howard Song, the excellent local guide, and \"Mr White' the bus driver, and had arrived at the hotel (The Qingdao Shangri-La), checked in and been allocated rooms, it was already dinnertime. No problem, as all that had been planned for that day was dinner - a Chinese banquet style dinner in the hotel.\n\nMike, Sarah and I were able to brief the tour members on the story so far, how the trip had been planned and what we were going to see. I think that such a formal briefing had not been done on earlier trips but it seemed to have been well received. Following that, tour member Carol Tan, a Research Fellow at the University of Hong Kong, gave a talk on \"British Jurisdiction on Chinese Soil\" - an interesting and useful explanation of how the legally-minded British went about establishing the necessary legal framework in the many territories that came under their control. Particular reference was made to Hong Kong and Weihaiwei.\n\nTsingtao - A German Home from Home\n\nTsingtao is already well known for the remaining wealth of evidence of German influence, perhaps the most famous being the Tsingtao Brewery. The problem facing us in organising this leg of the trip was not so much what to include, but what to leave out. Arriving, as we did, on a Saturday ruled out the brewery. Visitors are normally welcome, but only during the hot summer months does beer production continue seven days a week, so as to satisfy the thirst of all who depend on the brewery's products. The port area would have been interesting, to see what is left of the original German plan for its mighty naval base. Chiao-chou Bay would also have been interesting, to go and imagine the sights that first faced the German fleet when it arrived in the area. For those with strong stomachs, I have heard that the sewer system is still a masterpiece and a tribute to German organisation and engineering. But all these had to be left out owing to time constraints.\n\nHow the plan worked out was to split the city into two parts - the \"downtown\" area, with its official buildings; and the former military and residential area, with its remaining villas and barrack buildings.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214506, "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": 364, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "333\n\nroad from the Town Hall and to the right of the small public gardens. The building is still in use as a court house, and so access is allowed but only as far as the entrance hall.\n\nAlong Hu Bei Road from the Town Hall we found the former German Police Headquarters, again still in use as a police station. Compared with the vast majority of other German buildings in Tsingtao, this delightful and typically German small town-hall-like building is now looking a little dilapidated, with broken windows and peeling plasterwork. Outgrown, like the Town Hall, the police station also has an extension - but little effort has been made to match the design of the original.\n\nThe end of Hu Bei Road led us into Railway Station Square. The old German railway station building serves as the main entrance to the present-day station and is a lovely example of its kind. Unfortunately, it has been added to by a ghastly and enormous blue glass thing that has nothing whatsoever in common with its illustrious forebear.\n\nAcross the square from the southeast corner is the former Bahnhof (Station) Hotel. Impressive from a distance, but rather run-down when seen at closer quarters. Perhaps this is a project that some German hotel company might consider taking up one day - to restore it to its former glory.\n\nThe flavour then changed from the secular to the religious, with a visit to the two main churches in Tsingtao. The Protestant (Lutheran) Church, near the junction of Long Jiang Road and Su Jiang Road, again is in excellent repair and is clearly treasured by the city authorities. Built partly of granite and partly of rendered brick, the church contains a plaque that records that the foundations were laid on 19th April 1908 and the church opened on 23rd October 1910. A trip up the commanding clock tower is worthwhile, if only to inspect the wonderful mechanical clock and bell-striking mechanism.\n\nThe Catholic Cathedral of St Michael is an imposing twin-towered structure just to the west of An Hui Road. On any visit to China, one must always be prepared for odd things to happen. We arrived to find the cathedral was \"closed for lunch\"! Our inspection was limited", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214507, "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": 365, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "334\n\ntherefore to the outside of the building, which is of neo-gothic design. Although built in the 1930s, long after Germany ceased to hold sway over Tsingtao, the cathedral was built largely with German money. However, before it was completed the money supply was drastically reduced by the incoming Nazi government. Hence the inside, had we been able to see it, would have shown such incongruous features as flat ceilings instead of the vaulted and beamed roof that the outside would suggest. Legend has it that during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, two over-zealous Red Guards climbed the towers with the intention of removing the crosses from the top, but they fell to their respective deaths before completing their mission. As the cathedral is in a very narrow street, it is not possible to get a good camera angle unless one walks somewhat away from the front, down to the street to the left, where a lively street-market gives interesting and contrasting foreground possibilities - the whole looking rather medieval. In fact, the street market is worth a visit in its own right, being very extensive and lively. A chopper seller (as used in Chinese cooking and violent crime) was being very vocal at the time we were there.\n\nHills and beaches - the east of the city\n\nWe had organised a picnic lunch from the hotel. Given that time was tight we did not want to spend an hour or so hidden away in a restaurant. Instead, we took our picnic lunch up Qingdaoshan Hill, formerly Bismarck Berg. Access to the hill was somewhat unusual, being through a small museum on Jing Shan Road. The museum was in fact closed, but our guide managed to navigate us through and out of the back door, whence up the hill. A look-out post at the top gives good panoramas of the city and out to sea. The picnic lunch was adequate, but Philip Bruce appeared to be very pleased that he had brought his tin of sardines from the Co-op in Worthing.\n\nFortified and refreshed, our next mission was to find any remains of the German cemetery. Its location was clear enough from the many old maps that we had between us, but the guide was not hopeful of finding anything of interest. And so it turned out, or almost. The cemetery is now Baihua Park, and is remarkable for a reason that cannot be much further removed from cemeteries. On entering the park we noticed a wedding couple, and another - and another. There must have been upwards of 30 or more newly married couples wandering around", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214511, "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": 369, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "338\n\nthere does not seem to be much more of interest in that direction. On the seafront at the foot of the hill to the east is the former Chefoo Club building. Now a restaurant, but with apparently some residential facilities, the main structure has been well preserved. I think I have seen a similar building at the bottom of Quay Hill in Lymington in Hampshire - at least, this one would be very much at home there.\n\nFurther along the seafront to the west, and just inland from the front, is the site of the main former British residential and business area. A number of solid Brighton-like houses still stand along the front, where waves crashing over the sea wall complete the British picture. Inland for a block or two are many buildings that would have housed businesses as well as the houses of the less well-to-do. These buildings are very suggestive of the bustle that once took place in this small outpost. One was dated 1930, according to a carved stone plaque on its wall.\n\nIn Chefoo as well as Tsingtao (and later in Dalian) it was a great help to have Tess Johnston and Deke Erh's wonderful book \"Far from Home”, and to try to spot as many as possible of those buildings that feature in its beautiful photographs.\n\nTowards the eastern end of the long beach is a group of buildings that once housed the famous Chefoo School, a boarding school for English boys from all over North China. Next to this, rather incongruously, is a small military establishment that houses a 1950s-looking bomber and a motor torpedo boat in its front yard. Nearby, a number of other well-preserved and very English buildings could have housed the more wealthy and influential residents and their families and servants.\n\nDinner that night was in the splendid and luxurious Government Guest House, a modern complex standing in its own spacious grounds at the far eastern end of the city. The service here was the best we experienced on the whole trip - as one might expect of people trained to look after visiting dignitaries from the capital. The food, also, was what one would expect from such an establishment - and not to my somewhat unadventurous taste at all. We were treated to such delights as braised crunchy silk worms, boiled fish stomachs and wobbly sea", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214525, "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": 383, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "352\n\nGerman governor's residence,Tsingtao (by Mary Painter)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214526, "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": 384, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "Tsingtao railway station, with ghastly extension\n\nPage 353", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214527, "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": 385, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "Lutheran church. Tsingtao", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214528, "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": 386, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "A beachful of brides, Tsingtao - with hunting lodge behind\n\nPage 355", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214529, "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": 387, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "356\n\nBreaking the beer budget,Tsingtao", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214984, "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-2000", "page_number": 80, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "36\n\nAll those interested in joining were told to report to Weihai Wei where they were housed in the barracks of the previous British-officered colonial regiment of Chinese, as the buildings were still in existence. Weihai Wei, located on a bay on the north coast of the province of Shandong, was formerly the HQ of the Chinese Northern Fleet. The British lease of this was signed on 1 July 1898 on the stipulation that the British could lease it as long as the Russians held Port Arthur, the port on the other side of the Gulf of Zhili. Weihai Wei was the summer station of the British Asiatic Squadron, known as the China Fleet. Later, after Qingdao [Tsingtao] had been taken from Germany, this was used as it had better port facilities, railway and roads.\n\nOn arrival at the recruiting centre, each prospective recruit received a medical. He could be rejected, amongst other reasons, for having trachoma [an eye disease], tuberculosis, venereal disease and bad teeth. Between 30% to 60% were rejected as medically unfit mostly due to eye troubles, which is not surprising in a region known for its summer sandstorms and dust. Lyn Macdonald, in her book Somme mentions that some labourers were recruited from the Chinese prisons. I, personally, would not consider this correct, as the authorities would interview each candidate and, if found to have a criminal record, would be rejected. With the large number applying why would they recruit prisoners, who may cause unnecessary trouble? Daryl Klein mentions that some coolies were recruited from Shandong and comprised men of differing work backgrounds, namely farmers, carpenters, brickmakers and bricklayers, dressers, weavers, brass-smiths, black-smiths, bakers, stonemasons and ex-soldiers. Nowhere does he mention ex-prisoners.\n\nIf the above tests were passed, the men were given serial numbers, which, with their names, were written down in romanised letters and Chinese characters. Difficulties arose if the men did not know their names or surnames. He may say that he lives in a family village and offer the village surname as a suggestion or simply give his nickname, but most knew their mother's surname because of the Chinese custom of exogamy. Problems also arose when trying to ascertain the recruit's address, for similar reasons.\n\nA bracelet, stamped with his number, was securely fixed to his wrist. As this was considered degrading this system was eventually discontinued.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216412, "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-2003", "page_number": 171, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "121\n\n176,243 grt. Built in 1907 in Dumbarton, Scotland as CULNA for British India S.N. Co. Ltd. In 1923 bought by Ryuoh Kisen K.K. of Dairen, Manchuria and re-named RYUJIN MARU. Japanese flag. She was to be salvaged from the Tan Rocks however on 13th April 1942, when to the south of the Bungo Strait between Kyushu and Shikoku, to be torpedoed and sunk by U.S.S. GRAYLING SS-209 (Lieut. Commander E. Olsen).\n\n1*2,549 grt. In 1915 built at Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong for China Navigation Co. Ltd. (Butterfield & Swire). From 2nd August to 5th December 1922 ashore at Swatow, there blown by a typhoon. Eventually in May 1948 to be sold for breaking up.\n\n19PRO ADM 116/2843. Report 158/197 dated 6 November 1931.\n\n20770 tons. Built shortly after the Great War. Three 4.7\" guns.\n\n214,400 tons. Launched in October 1911. Eight 6\" guns.\n\n223,802 grt. Built in 1919 for Osaka Shosen K.K. On 31 May 1944 to be torpedoed and sunk to the west of the Kuril Islands by U.S.S. BARB SS-220 (Lieut. Commander E.B. Fluckey).\n\n233,001 grt. A new ship, built in 1931 by Scotts at Greenock for China Navigation Co. Ltd. (Butterfield & Swire). Between the World Wars there was a great demand for a passenger service between Shanghai and destinations to the north such as Tsingtao, Wei-Hai-Wei, Chefoo and Tientsin. The ship had been especially built for this trade with twin screw steam turbines to give 16 knots, and her cabin accommodation was luxurious. For winter service her bow was ice strengthened.\n\n241,765 grt. Also built by Scotts but rather earlier, in 1905. She too served on the Shanghai/Tientsin route but was reaching the end of her useful life. In November 1933 to be sold for breaking up in Shanghai.\n\nPRO ADM 116/2844. 158/1559 dated 24 June 1932.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216474, "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-2003", "page_number": 233, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "183\n\nVISIT TO MACAU MUSEUM OF ART. 26 OCTOBER 2003\n\nA splendid day was enjoyed by the 28 participants on a visit to Macau on Sunday, 26 October 2003. Organised and led by the very knowledgeable and enthusiastic Council Member Jason Wordie, the purpose of the visit was to see the exhibition of George Smirnoff's watercolours, drawings and oil paintings at the Macau Museum of Art and to explore some of the places shown in the paintings. We were most fortunate to be joined for the day by Smirnoff's younger daughter, Nina Bieger, who remembers well the time her family spent in Macao in 1944 and 1945, when she was a child. Her memories, graciousness, and answers to our many questions added greatly to the pleasures of the day, making it a unique occasion. George Smirnoff was born in 1903 in Vladivostok. Educated as an engineer and architect, he worked in Harbin and Tsingtao. In 1939, he escaped to Hong Kong from the turmoil of Japanese-occupied northern China. Then, in 1944, with Hong Kong occupied by the Japanese, he and his family found refuge in Macau, where fortunately for posterity he was commissioned by Dr. Pedro José Lobo to paint a series of Macao scenes. These were the works we saw in this exhibition commemorating the centennial of Smirnoff's birth.\n\nCésar Guillén-Nuñez, who curated the first exhibition of Smirnoff's works in Macau almost twenty years ago, gave a brief introduction on the paintings themselves. When we left the Museum, we were each delighted to be presented with a hardcover copy of the exhibition book as a gift from the Museum, showing all of Smirnoff's works of art on display and giving fascinating historical information on his life.\n\nThe book proved very useful when, after an excellent lunch at the Club Militar, Jason led us on a 3-hour walk through the back streets and parks of Macau to see many of the locations shown in the watercolours. It was amazing that many of the scenes had changed very little in the nearly 60 years that have passed since they were painted. And the time passed very quickly as we listened intently to Jason's explanations and Nina's recollections.\n\nOur heartfelt thanks to both of them for such a memorable day.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]