[ { "id": 210042, "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-1984", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "photographs with accompanying text will follow Hong Kong Going and Gone, published in 1980.\n\nSome Problems\n\nA number of problems have beset us during the year. First, the important matter of where we can hold our talks. After the GIS theatre was closed to all outside groups, we used the American Library premises in United Centre for a time. Well provided, and conveniently located for the subway, bus and taxi services, it was a disappointment to learn that the Library's own activities precluded its further use. We then turned to the Museum of History in Kowloon Park, whose excellent facilities partly outweigh the inconvenience for members accustomed to our long-standing practice of using the Hong Kong side of the harbour. We are very grateful to the Curator and his staff for their assistance.\n\nSecond, we had to decide what to do with our Library after the Hong Kong Arts Centre advised constituent members (of which we are, or were, one) that it would be revising the basis of their participation in the organization. Thereby, it was clear that we would have to withdraw, and so lose the library accommodation. Our library, despite its size and content, has been little used over the years, and in the circumstances the Council authorized an enquiry via the Hong Kong Library Association for an appropriate home. In the event, the most suitable expression of interest came from the Urban Council Library Services. The Chief Librarian has now been authorized by the Urban Council to accept our library on long loan, under certain conditions, which include retaining its identity and making it available for reference and research in what will be Hong Kong's largest public library, the new Kowloon Central Library due to open in July 1985.\n\nThird, we have been faced with a falling membership and a diminished return from sale of publications. The phenomena are directly connected, as I shall show below. Fourth, in the longer term we have to consider very carefully the future of the Society in today's changing Hong Kong. I shall deal with both these considerations in the concluding sections of this address.\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210050, "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-1984", "page_number": 21, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY\n\nREPORT FOR THE YEAR 1984-85\n\nA small number of new books and periodicals have been added to the collection this year. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian on request.\n\nNews of major importance is the impending relocation of the collection. The premises in the H.K. Arts Centre, which we have been sharing with the Lady Kotewall Library, are full to overflowing. Furthermore, the Society's affiliated membership of the Arts Centre has recently lapsed due to a change in their policy. For this reason alone, we would have been unable to continue renting the accommodation. Therefore, the Council has agreed with the Urban Council to move the collection to the new Kowloon Central Library which is due to open in September 1985. Stocktaking and packing of the books is taking place while I write this report and so there will be a short period during which access to the collection will be difficult. The books and periodicals will be housed in the stacks rather than on the open shelves but a catalogue will of course be readily available. I hope that the move will in fact increase the use of the collection which has been badly under-utilised in the past.\n\nFinally I shall be handing over to Mr. Peter Yeung this year. Mr. Yeung is in charge of the University of Hong Kong's Special Collections, which includes the Hong Kong Collection and he may already be familiar to some members.\n\nMarch 1985\n\nV.E. MORGAN Hon. Librarian\n\nPage XX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210405, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "we would have to withdraw and thereby lose our library space. After enquiry through the Hong Kong Library Association, the Council decided to accept an offer from the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Public Libraries, to house our collection in the New Kowloon Central Library on long loan and under certain conditions which included retaining its identity and making it available for public reference.\n\nThe removal proceeded smoothly, and our collection is now on the shelves of the reference section of the Kowloon Central Library. Books are still available for loans to members on production of an updated membership card (now being issued) and, for reference only, to members of the public. A number of Council members attended the opening on 9th September 1985 by Lady Youde. Thanks are due to our Hon. Librarian Mr. Peter Yeung for the considerable work involved in the transfer.\n\nIn the course of making the transfer arrangements and viewing our library in its new home, it became obvious to us how much loving care and effort had been put into its management by our former Hon. Librarian, Mr. Tony Rydings. He deserves our renewed appreciation for this major contribution to the work of our Society.\n\nAdministration\n\nAs stated last year, we have found it necessary to provide more administrative support for the Council. The trend for councillors, and particularly the office bearers, to be increasingly burdened in their own career posts has continued. Following the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future and the increased commitments arising therefrom, it has become essential to have an efficient back-up system and the services of a competent executive assistant secretary. Without them, as I said last year, hopes for increased membership, improved sales of publications and general progress were clearly illusory; in fact, would not materialize. I am glad to say that, in the past year, we have made progress in this important area. A word processor and ancillary equipment have been purchased and an increased salary provided for our assistant secretary with our Hon.\n\nxi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210412, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 19, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1985-1986\n\nThe collection of the Royal Asiatic Society Library comprising 1,551 volumes of books and bound periodicals, 58 pamphlets, 5 photo-albums, 1 roll of microfilm and 1 reel of tape-recording was transferred from the Arts Centre and the University of Hong Kong Library to the Urban Council Kowloon Central Library. The library materials are on permanent loan to the Urban Council Public Libraries and kept in the closed stack of the Kowloon Central Reference Library for home borrowing by members of the Royal Asiatic Society and for public use in the Library after its opening on 9th September 1985. A card catalogue is provided for the ease of the use of the collection.\n\nA small number of new books and periodicals have been added to the collection by exchanges and donations. Twenty-eight monographs and some issues of T'ien Hsia (FF) were purchased during the reporting year.\n\nMarch 1986\n\nxviii\n\nPETER YEUNG Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210662, "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": 13, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "Publication Stock\n\nHitherto the Society's stock of publications was kept at the University of Hong Kong and latterly at Bethanie, in a section occupied by the University Press. However, in May 1986 we were asked to remove the stock to make way for a rearrangement of the University's accommodation in the building. The impending crisis was averted by the Law Librarian Mrs. Felicity Shaw's kindness in allowing us to hold stock in the basement pending finding another home. This was achieved in July when the Government Archivist, our council member Dr. Thomas Lau, agreed to hold our stock in the Public Records Office. I am most grateful to Felicity (an RAS member) and Thomas for their timely assistance.\n\nThe Library\n\nAs members will recall, in 1985 the Council decided to place our large and valuable collection of books and periodicals on China and the Far East on permanent loan with the Urban Council Libraries, to be housed in the new Kowloon Central Library at Homantin, Kowloon. Wherever one places the collection it is necessary to advertise its existence, in order to ensure that it will be used. The Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, takes various measures to this end periodically. On our part, we have written to some twenty local tertiary educational institutions whose students would wish to know of our library and its contents, enclosing copies of the library catalogue. This publicity, repeated at intervals, is bound to pay off eventually. In the past year, the Chief Librarian reports 18 enquiries, and that 37 books were consulted.\n\nSir Edward Youde\n\nThe Governors of Hong Kong have always been closely associated with our Society; as Patrons of the Hong Kong Branch re-established in 1959-60, and as Presidents of the first China (Hong Kong) Branch in 1847. Our first President was Sir John Davis, scholar, sinologue and a founder member of the parent society in London in 1823. In this connection I have to remind members of the sad event that occurred last December when we lost our current Patron, Sir Edward Youde, who died suddenly whilst on duty.\n\nPage xii\n\n¡", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210666, "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": 17, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nFOR THE YEAR 1986-1987\n\nThe Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Besides gifts from Dr. Hayes, the Library has received gifts from Mr. David Liu, Mrs. Valerie Garrett, and Mrs. M.L. Winkler. Mr. Walter Greenwood has also donated to the Library his article in manuscript entitled \"John Joseph Francis, citizen of Hong Kong: a biographical note\". The Council is considering including it in the next issue of our Journal. Nearly all the books in the last two years have been catalogued and shelved in the Kowloon Central Library. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian on request.\n\nThe Library has donated two items of its duplicates to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library, and made an offer of permanent loan of McMullen Bills of Lading to the University of Hong Kong Libraries.\n\nRegarding the usage of the Society Library, Mrs. Barbara Luk, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council Public Libraries wrote: \"As at 28.2.87, there were 18 requests for information, 17 of which were from members of the Society. A total of 37 books were consulted during the year.\" To maximize the use of the Library, Dr. Hayes has sent the Catalogue of the Library to about twenty librarians, with his covering letter giving a brief description of the Library. The Kowloon Central Library is planning to have an exhibition of books from our Collection in the coming September to make the general public more aware of the Library.\n\nThe Council is looking into the question of insurance for books in the Society Library.\n\nMarch 1987\n\nxvi\n\nPeter Yeung\n\nHon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210963, "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-1987", "page_number": 25, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "# HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT\n\nThe Society Library has acquired in total 102 valuable titles through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Among them, 84 titles were donated by Dr. Hayes and 18 titles were purchased for the Library. Dr. Hayes has also kindly lent his set of Hong Kong Naturalist to the Library for photocopying to complete our gaps.\n\nAn exhibition entitled Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was jointly presented by the Society and the Urban Council Public Libraries in the Kowloon Central Library in the period between 18 November and 1 December 1987. Two talks on the history of the Society and the Collection were delivered by Dr. J. Hayes and Mr. P. Yeung respectively.\n\nStatistics show that there is an increase of the usage of the Library. As at 29 February 1988, there were 44 requests (compared with 17 last year) for information. A total of 100 volumes (37 last year) of books were consulted. Seventeen volumes of books were lent out for home use by Society members.\n\nMarch 1988\n\nXV\n\nPeter Yeung\n\nHon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211296, "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-1988", "page_number": 12, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "in Rev. Carl Smith's articles reprinted in the 1986 Journal. His accounts of 19th century Cantonese entrepreneurs like Ho A-mei show that Chinese energy and enterprise was fuelled and sustained by the opportunities opened by colonial Hong Kong, and remind us that what we see and marvel at today has also happened yesterday.\n\nWe have another publication nearing completion. This is the book entitled The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today which is a collection of papers by authors with first-hand knowledge of the subject and edited by one of our members, Professor Julian Pas of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.\n\nLibrary\n\nMembers will have noted the greater expenditure on our library in the year's accounts. We are continuing the RAS tradition of building up a fine reference library of books on China. At a time when such books are in increasingly short supply, as reflected in booksellers' rising prices, the financial value of our collection grows from year to year.\n\nSince 1985, the Library has been kept at the Kowloon Central Library, as part of the reference collection there. The advantage of housing it in a public library is that more people can use it, but the disadvantage from our members' viewpoint is that most of them live on Hong Kong Island. Their use of the RAS Collection is undoubtedly limited thereby, especially as the Kowloon Central Library is not located on or near an MTR station. I have therefore discussed with the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, the possibility of moving it back to the Island when an opportunity occurs. Mrs. Luk tells me that this can be done when the City Hall's Hong Kong Central Library is replaced on the same or another site in the 1990s, and that she is willing to do so at that time. I have written to her subsequently to formalize this request.\n\nAn allied problem is the availability of the collection. Under normal library policies, access to the stacks (the shelves where the books are kept) is very limited. This is the case at Kowloon Central Library, where books other than ours are kept in the same section. On the other hand, the books are ours, and our members should have better access to them, instead of being confined to the catalogue and making a requisition. Mrs.\n\nXi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211308, "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-1988", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY\n\nREPORT FOR THE YEAR 1988-89\n\nAs usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 138 titles in 144 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. It is noted that there is a gradual increase in the number of books in oriental languages. Dr. J. Hayes is still the most generous donor to the Library. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can contribute more to the building up of our collection. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request.\n\nFrom the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.4.88 to 21.2.89 is noted as follows:\n\n1. No. of requests for information : 76\n\n2. No. of books consulted : 115\n\n3. No. of borrowers (RAS members) : 3\n\n4. No. of books checked out (by RAS members) : 5\n\nFor the convenience of the majority of members, the Council would seek the possibility of moving the Library back to Hong Kong Island.\n\nMarch 1989\n\nPeter Yeung Hon. Librarian\n\nxxiii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211598, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 13, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "The Library's value to members of our Society, as well as to the general public, lies in the fact that the only other collections of such books in Hong Kong are held by the Universities and are not accessible to the public at large. The RAS Collection is available to Members and, for reference only, to the general public, and since 1985 has been located in the new 12 storey, custom-built Kowloon Central library, opened in that year.\n\nHowever, this location is not convenient for most RAS members, the majority of whom reside on Hong Kong Island. Also, the stacks where our books are held are not directly accessible for free consultation and browsing, because other private collections of books are held in this section of the Library.\n\nIn response to our expressions of concern, the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries has promised that our Collection will return to the Island in the early 1990s, when the present City Hall Library will be expanded or replaced. The books are then expected to be housed in a new reference library where most of them will be kept on open shelves.\n\nIn this joyful expectation, the Council continues to expand the Collection, and has earmarked $10,000 for expenditure in 1990-91.\n\nPublications\n\nAs mentioned in the opening Summary, this year has seen the publication of two items, the 1987 Journal and the book of papers on China and Hong Kong, The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today.\n\nI wish to thank the Chinese Temples Committees for a generous grant of half the publication costs from the Chinese General Charities Fund, and Oxford University Press for agreeing to publish in association with the Society and for all help rendered in the final stages of production.\n\nProfessor David Faure had to relinquish the editorship of the Journal when he left Hong Kong to take up a post at the University of Indiana. He had contributed much to the Council and the Society, not only through his impeccable scholarship and hard work, but also through his sterling personal qualities which we all grew to appreciate. Dr. Patrick Hase has taken over the half-completed 1988 Journal which we hope can be published by the Summer, and is putting material together for 1989. We\n\nxii", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211609, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "HONG KONG BRANCH\n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY\n\nREPORT FOR THE YEAR 1989-1990\n\nAs usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 215 titles in 251 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. Among 121 gift titles, 119 titles were donated by Dr. J. Hayes. Other donors were Mr. Phillip Bruce and Mrs. Eveline Caldwell. New additions will be made known to members through the RAS Journal.\n\nArrangement has been made that members may also borrow books from the City Hall Library.\n\nFrom the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.3.89 to 9.3.90 is noted as follows:\n\n1. No. of requests for information\n\n2. No. of books consulted\n\n3. No. of borrowers\n\n4. No. of books checked out\n\n: 90\n\n: 112\n\n: 14\n\n: 21\n\nMr. Wan Yiu Chuen will stand for the election for the Hon. Librarian this year. He is now working in the Special Collections, University of Hong Kong Libraries and has ample experience both in public and academic libraries.\n\n22nd March 1990\n\nxxiii\n\nPETER YEUO Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212070, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "reference for those who wish to study this part of the world. For those who have not got the back issues I am sure you will find them of interest and you can obtain them by contacting the Assistant Secretary. In addition there may be some of you who have aspirations to publish their research work and if you think that it could be suitable for our Journal, I hope you will contact Dr. Hase. Long articles are of course welcome but even short notes about Hong Kong history or some other aspect which you think might be of interest are also very much appreciated.\n\nFinance\n\nThe Treasurer, Mr. Robert Nield, will give a detailed report shortly. You will notice that the finances are in reasonable shape, but the overall situation does need to be watched. The new annual subscription from 1st January 1991 is $250, as agreed at the last annual general meeting and it is hoped to keep this rate for another year.\n\nThe Library\n\nAs you will see from the report of Mr. Y.C. Wan, our Hon. Librarian, our Library collection has continued to increase through donations and purchases, mainly through the efforts of Dr. James Hayes. The Library, as many know, is kept at the Kowloon Central Library, as part of the reference collection there. Recently I had a meeting with the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, Mrs. Barbara Luk, and I am pleased to report that subject to unforeseen circumstances it is anticipated that sometime in 1992-1993 it will be possible to move it to the City Hall Central Library into a special collection room, part of which will be specifically set aside for the Royal Asiatic Society. This is indeed good news and I hope that by this time next year I will be able to report further progress. The Library is becoming a fine reference source of books on China and I do strongly urge you to make use of it: clearly a move to the City Hall area will make it that much easier for members to gain access.\n\nOther Matters\n\nAt the beginning of each Journal you will read these words \"The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was originally founded in 1847 but ceased to exist in 1859. It was revived in 1959 with the\n\nPage xi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212079, "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": 21, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "# ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH\n\n# LIBRARY\n\n# REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1990/91\n\nThe stock of the Library grew considerably this year and there are 1,627 books in the collection. 131 new titles (in 148 volumes) were processed and added to our collection housed in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library. Among them, 90 titles were purchased through Dr. James Hayes from local bookstores, in Australia and Britain. Most of them are out-of-print, if not rare, items which cannot be found in local libraries. The remaining 41 titles were received as gifts. Dr. James Hayes again contributed 25 titles to the Library. Other donors included Dr. G.H. Choa, Mr. Eric Peter Ho, Dr. D.D. Waters and Mr. Ian Diamond.\n\nAs reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library in the period from March 1990 to January 1991 is as follows:\n\n| Category | Number | \n| ------------------------------- | ------ | \n| 1. No. of requests for information | 84 | \n| 2. No. of books consulted | 136 | \n| 3. No. of borrowers | 16 | \n| 4. No. of books checked out | 20 | \n\nMembers might like to know that they can also check out books from the City Hall Reference Library, though only 2 books were checked out in the same period. Following the up-grade of the City Hall Public Library into the central library in Hong Kong Island in, we hope, mid-1992, our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Library where our members would find the Library more accessible.\n\n21st February 1991\n\nY. C. WAN\n\nHon. Librarian\n\nXX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212466, "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": 20, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "# ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY\n\n# HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY\n\n## REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1991/92\n\n97 new titles, of which 78 titles in English and 19 titles in Chinese, were added to the library collection this year bringing the total number of titles available in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library to 1,724. All of them were received as gifts and donors included Dr. James Hayes, Rev. Carl Smith, Dr. Alan Birch and Mr. Nigel Cameron. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can take a more active role in contributing to the building of our library collection. An addition list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request.\n\nAs reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of our library collection in the reporting year is as follows:\n\n \n 1. No. of requests for information\n 160\n \n \n 2. No. of books consulted\n 165\n \n \n 3. No. of borrowers\n 3\n \n \n 4. No. of books checked out\n \n \n\nI reported last year that our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Public Library following its up-grade to the central library in Hong Kong Island in mid-1992. Yet, I was later informed by the Chief Librarian that there were unexpected delays in the programme. It is highly likely that the anticipated move would not be able to take place in the near future. I will keep in touch with the Urban Council Public Libraries Office to monitor further development.\n\nMarch 1992\n\nI\n\nxix\n\nY. C. WAN Hon. Librarian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212703, "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": 12, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "Chinese Painting & Caligraphy\n\nArmoured Cars in the Battle of Hong Kong\n\nTC Lại\n\nArren Leung\n\nInheritance and the Chinese Lineage\n\nHugh Baker\n\nFrom the Common Por\n\nJames Watson\n\nNo Environmental Myopia at Mai Po\n\nDick Irving &\n\nDavid Melville\n\nFeng Shut\n\nDavid Shru\n\nThe Woman as a Symbol in Judaeo-Christian\n\n& Hindu Buddhist Traditions\n\nCaroline Muar &\n\nRajeshwari Ghose\n\nGood lectures however can rarely be carried out unless there is a reasonable venue and the technical aspects are in place. Fortunately, as members will know we have an excellent relationship with the Urban Council which not only sponsors our talks, but provides us with a very well fitted out room, and I would like to record our sincere thanks for the council's unstinting co-operation.\n\nI would now like to turn to the second of our area of activities; the Journal and the Library. To produce an annual journal as we do is a very time-consuming business and throughout the history of the Society we have been particularly fortunate to have had a line of very distinguished editors, Professor Crammer-Byng, Professor James Lui, Dr. James Hayes, our immediate past president, Dr. David Faure, and one who has done it since 1982, Dr. Patrick Hase. We do owe a great deal to Patrick who assures me that the 1990 Journal will be out very shortly, (we are waiting for the final version of the 30th anniversary lecture given by Dr. Wang Gungwu) and the 1991 Journal will, it is hoped be out by the end of the year.\n\nLast year I reported to you that I hoped to be able to report more encouragingly on the move of the Library from its present location in the rather inaccessible Kowloon Central Library, to a special collection room in the reorganised City Hall Central Library. I am pleased to say that this is now likely to happen in the foreseeable future probably by the end of the year. This is something we have been working on for sometime and it is particularly gratifying that it is now becoming a reality: our thanks go to Mrs. Barbara Luk, Assistant Director Museums and\n\nX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212946, "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": 14, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "in these issues has recently been sent on the above lines.\n\nTurning to other activities I would like to place again on record our thanks to all those volunteers who have assisted in grading ancient buildings in Hong Kong for the Antiquities and Monuments Office. This project has been going on for two years and I understand has made significant inroads and according to Mr. Peter Chan, Curator (Historical Buildings), their reports and work are very professional. Our thanks are also due to those members who sit on the Antiquities Advisory Board and particularly to Dr. Dan Waters who co-ordinates all these efforts.\n\nOn the administration side all of us have a good deal to be grateful for; keeping a list of members, and ensuring that they pay their subscriptions are we know thankless tasks but without them a Society such as ours would soon die; Mrs. Sharon Bruce, our Assistant Secretary does a superb job here, and so does Mrs. Anita Wilson on the newsletter, without which nothing would happen; also our Secretary, Mr. David Sheil who somehow manages to produce coherent minutes of our Council meetings from his Lamma Island outpost. I will leave Mr. Robert Nield, our Treasurer to explain our finances to you; you will, I hope find them in good shape, and whilst a Society such as ours should not boast that it has made a profit on the Stock Exchange, the fact is we have.\n\nTwo of the most important academic activities of the Society are the build up of the Library and the publication of the Journal. Last year I reported that the Library, under the capable direction of our Librarian, Mr. Y.C. Wan, would be moving from its location in the rather inaccessible Kowloon Central Library to a special collection room in the re-organised City Hall Central Library. Together with new acquisitions during the last year this is now likely to happen in the foreseeable future. Not only that, it is liable to be input into the Urban Council's data base, and therefore computerised. This is indeed very good news and I hope that when the Library does move it will be utilised more than it is now: it is a very fine collection.\n\nThe publication of the Society's Journal is one of the most arduous tasks; editors of journals are a wonderful breed and our editor, Dr. Patrick Hase is no exception; indeed his patience with late contributions and sub-standard publishers is a model. It is therefore with some relief that I report that the 1990 Journal was finally published earlier this month and there is no doubt that it is fully up to the high academic standards of the ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213327, "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": 149, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "131\n\nwas intended to build up a library collection of books on Asia. It has been an abiding personal interest, for I have at all times been instrumental in adding to it. Although modest in size, it contains a good stock of works on Asian subjects in Western languages, with a major emphasis on China. Over the years, our books have been housed in various places: in the British Council; in the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wanchai after its completion in 1972; and for almost a decade from 1985, in the new Kowloon Central Library. They are now back again on Hong Kong Island, in the City Hall Main Library.\n\nPlacing the collection in Kowloon turned out to be a big mistake. In the past, expatriates who lived on Hong Kong Island talked and thought of Kowloon almost as though it was on another planet.* One might have hoped that two harbour tunnels, cross-harbour buses and the Mass Transit Railway would have altered old perceptions and prejudices. However, during the ten years the Library collection was kept in Kowloon, few of our members found the way there, or made much use of the book retrieval service provided for them at the City Hall Library. As it turned out, after computerization of our membership records in the mid-1980s, most of our members did live on Hong Kong Island, and the old views of Kowloon had apparently persisted. Still being added to yearly, the Collection is now housed on the 9th floor of the re-modelled City Hall High Block and is under the care of the Urban Council Library staff there.\n\nHonorary Editor\n\nI was Honorary Editor of the RAS Journal between 1966 and 1980, responsible for producing fourteen annual issues for the years 1967-1980 inclusive, as well as a number of the Society's Symposia Brochures—the published papers of those presented at symposia devoted to special subjects. I much enjoyed editorial work, and benefited from the many friendships it brought with it. One among them was with the late Professor Luther Carrington Goodrich of Columbia University, whom I first came to know in 1967, after asking him for a note on Ming cannon found in Hong Kong and sending on details of newly discovered pieces. He forwarded other contributions to the Journal thereafter; and once, when lagging in my editorial work, he had sent a \"chaser\", urging me to put a bomb under our printer. Of course, I had to reply that the bomb needed to be placed under me, as the guilty party.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216130, "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-2002", "page_number": 429, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "363\n\nIn 1957, with the generous support of Mr. R.E. Lawry (Honorary Secretary), the British Council in Gloucester Building became the home of the Society where it held its meetings and lectures to members. The Library's collection was accordingly kept in the British Council's Library. But shortage of space soon became a problem which necessitated the splitting of the collection. Mr. H.A. Ryding, the then Hong Kong University Librarian as well as the Society's Honorary Librarian, extended an offer to house some of the rarer volumes and the growing stock of exchange periodicals. This unsatisfactory division of the Library persisted after the closure of the British Council Library in 1975 when all the books were moved to the Public Records Office Library with the kind permission of the Government Archivist, while the periodicals (current and bound volumes) and pamphlets were sent to the Hong Kong University Library.\n\nIn 1977, when the Society joined the newly built Hong Kong Arts Centre as a constituent member, it was able to rent a small room for use of members and place its growing collection in the Kotewall Library within the Centre. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is a privately funded body dedicated to the promotion of culture and performing arts. Its focal position for the arts in Hong Kong together with the great efforts of the Honorary Librarian, Mr. Ryding, resulted in a spectacular increase in the use of the Library. The collection also grew rapidly through enthusiastic contributions from members. Unfortunately, in 1985, prompted by financial considerations, the Arts Centre reorganised and the Society had to move.\n\nWith the help of the Hong Kong Library Association, the Society's Library found a new home in 1985, on permanent loan to the Urban Council's Kowloon Central Library, the newest and largest addition to the Urban Council's Public Library Service at that time. The event was marked with an exhibition, in November 1987, of the Society's collection of books on China and Hong Kong with a supporting series of talks to publicise the valuable collection. A catalogue of the exhibited collection was also compiled and published for the occasion.4\n\nIn 1994, recognising the need for a central location for members to use the books effectively, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council, Mr. Michael Mak, agreed to members' petition to relocate the books to the Reference Library at the Hong Kong City Hall, when the High\n\n363", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216134, "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-2002", "page_number": 433, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "367\n\nunique collection will be able to serve a much broader scholarly audience in the pursuit of Asian studies and scholarship.\n\nNOTES\n\n1. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 1, 1961, pp.1.\n\n2. President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, 1962, pp.3.\n\n* President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 4, 1964, pp.8.\n\n* Dr. James Hayes, the then President, selected a collection of books for an exhibition jointly presented by the Urban Council Public Libraries and the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Library between 18 November and 1 December 1987. A Catalogue of Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was also compiled and printed, and was available free to the public at the exhibition.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]