[
    {
        "id": 207898,
        "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": 286,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n271 \n\nwere properly cared for. For the poor, coffins were provided and a place of burial found. Thus through the years a number of free cemeteries were administered by Tung Wah. The Hospital itself was built on a site of an old cemetery and the bodies which were unearthed in the preparation of the site were reinterred in another spot, the care of which became a responsibility of the Hospital.\n\nIn the case of death of large numbers in disasters such as fire, typhoon, or explosion, the Hospital provided a place for the remains of the victims, erected an appropriate memorial, and saw that religious rites were conducted to appease the spirits. In these activities they were assuming some of the functions of the U Lan Procession Committee which was first organized in 1857, being composed of representatives of four districts: Chung Wan (Central), Sheung Wan (Lower Bazaar); Tai Ping Shan and Sai Ying Poon. Later Ha Wan (Wanchai) was also represented. The major responsibility of this committee was to arrange for the annual religious ceremonies to propitiate the spirits of the dead, particularly those who had died violently.*\n\nAnother aspect of Tung Wah's concern not only for the sick but also for the dead and their mourners are the Pavilions where farewell observances for funerals can be held. One such is on Pokfulam Road just above the Hong Kong University sports field.\n\nThe Committee assumed responsibility for the transmission of the remains of Chinese who had died overseas. These were shipped to Hong Kong usually by such overseas Chinese institutions as the \"Six Companies\" in San Francisco. Tung Wah in turn would arrange for their transmission to the home place of the deceased for burial. They also performed the same service for those who died in Hong Kong and whose survivors wished them to be buried in China. At times it was customary for the overseas community to wait until there had occurred a sufficient number of deaths to warrant a mass removal of the bodies from their temporary resting place in a local cemetery for transhipment to the authorities at Tung Wah. The Committee would insert notices in the local Chinese press when a shipment of remains was received to notify relatives of the arrival with a request that arrangements should be made for their final disposal.\n\n* See also p. 219, and reference, for the U Lan Procession Committee.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207901,
        "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": 289,
        "title": "RAS-1976",
        "content_text": "274\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nTung Wah as a Political-Judicial Institution\n\nThe Tung Wah Hospital Committee is of particular interest in the relation of a Chinese community to a Colonial Government. It performed an important function in providing self-identity to the community during the early years of the Hospital's history.\n\nThis function is related to the development of social control within Chinese society. In general, there are two levels of such control: central, from the top, represented by the Emperor and supported by the gentry and literati, and local control. In the countryside, local control was represented by clan organization and village councils. In mixed communities, such as cities, some market towns, and fishing villages (such as Cheung Chau - see J.W. Hayes, \"Cheung Chau, 1850-1898\", JHKBRAS, 3(1963), pp. 13-23), by Temple Committees and Kai Fongs.\n\nThe local village organization based upon clan could not be operative within urban Hong Kong with a mixed population drawn from various areas and Chinese language groups. Direct central control in the form of Mandarin officialdom was obviously impossible in a place under British control. To fill the vacuum, institutions grew up which were similar to those found in urban and commercial centres in China: commercial and craft guilds, street associations (Kai-fong), and temple committees. The 1872 Hong Kong Directory lists three Chinese organizations, possibly in the order of their importance: the Chinese Hospital Committee (Tung Wah), the Man-Mo Temple Committee (or, as given in the Chinese designation, the Kai-fong), and the U Lan Procession Committee.\n\nA Chinese article published in translation in 1876 (China Review) gives an account of the origin of these institutions. In 1847, only a few years after the establishment of Hong Kong as an urban centre, two wealthy and prominent members of the community, Loo Aking, the alleged leader of the major criminal syndicate in Hong Kong, and Tam Achoy, a respectable businessman who had lived previously in Singapore and acquired his wealth in Hong Kong initially as a contractor, were connected with the Man Mo Temple. Both had been in Hong Kong since shortly after its occupation by the British. Their association in the building of the Man Mo Temple illustrates the thesis set forth by Mr. Lethbridge that during the early years of Hong Kong's history, the presence of strong Triad Society organization served as a buffer against social control by a foreign government which often seemed to the Chinese as \"bizarre, erratic, at times even hostile, aggressive, and cruel\".",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210766,
        "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": 117,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "100\n\nCHAN WING HOI\n\nNOTES\n\nBesides \"three-day jius\", there are more elaborate “five day jiu” celebrations in the New Territories.\n\nThe annual ritual takes place typically in Chiu Chau, Wai Chau and Hoklo settlements to make offerings to uncared-for dead spirits.\n\n1 The oldest dated object in the Tin Hau Temple, which housed the main god of the festival, was about one hundred years old. I shall refer to this again later.\n\n6\n\nThere could have been more than one \"chairman\".\n\nProbably part of the golf club, or otherwise a similar establishment.\n\nTanaka Issei 田仲一成, Chugoku saishi engeki kenkyū 中国祭祀演劇研究 (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo 1981) p. 891.\n\n7 The Fuk-Wai-Chiu immigrants had their own gods and their operas in the Tin Hau festival. According to Tanaka, eleven or twelve gods other than Tin Hau were sacrificed to (op. cit., pp. 891-3). One of them, the Daai Wong Paak Gung of Naam Bin Chyn, is attributed by Tanaka to the Hoklo residents. Tanaka also points out that the Fuk-Wai-Chiu members of the organizing committee were alone responsible for a special part of the festival, that is, the performance of Wai Chau and Chiu Chau operas.\n\n8 Piu-sik are usually carried on frames at a height far above that of the audience in a parade. Because of the rain during the procession this time they stood in a lorry instead.\n\nAbout half of the gods sacrificed to in the Tin Hau Festival, including the Fuk-Wai-Chiu deity mentioned above, were not found among the spirit tablets in the jiu festival.\n\n10 \"Picking green\". In this case the two lions competed in capturing a bank note hanging near the entrance to the house.\n\nGlossary\n\nChoi Paak Lai 蔡伯勵\n\nchoi-cheng 採靑\n\nDai Wong (Ye) 大王(爺)\n\nba-wong-dei 霸王地\n\nChiu Chau 潮洲\n\nbaai-chaam 拜懺\n\nBaak Mou Seung 白無常\n\nBaak-gung 伯公\n\nBak Dai 北帝\n\nBao'an 寶安\n\nbui 杯\n\nbin-ngaak 匾額\n\nChai Wan 柴灣\n\nChan Wa 陳華\n\nCheung Chau 長洲\n\nDaai Si (Wong) 大士(王)\n\ndaai-gat 大吉\n\ndiu-lau 碉樓\n\nDongguan 東莞\n\nfa-laam 花籃\n\nfa-paai 花牌\n\nFaaigou jeungdaai ...",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    }
]