[ { "id": 204756, "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-1964", "page_number": 59, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "48\n\nK. M. A. BARNETT\n\n17\n\nstrong corroboration of traditions, which might otherwise be thought apocryphal, of the disappearance of other villages, including the large village of Lik Yuen,84 half way down what is now Tide Cove.16 For all that, one cannot be absolutely sure. An old Hoklo155 boatman at Tai Po, who fortunately spoke reasonable Cantonese (for I cannot manage the Hoklo language) told me that \"fifty years before he was born, Hong Kong Island was joined to the mainland. It obviously was not. But remembering what has been observed by other field workers, that \"fifty years\" is commonly used to mean any time too long to be remembered, what the old man was passing on was clearly a tradition among the Hoklo that Tuk Ngo Kong45 a name for Victoria Harbour which apparently only the Hoklo language now preserves was long ago interrupted by a strip of land. It may well have been so, and I have provisionally marked it so. For if it were, it would tend to explain the curious demarcation of responsibility between the military commanders of Nam Tau and Tai Pang40 and the apparent fact that ships went through Sheung Sz Mun127 rather than through the present Hong Kong Harbour. It might also explain why Kwun Fu Cheung was more important for the collection of salt than for defence.\n\nThere is also some slight reason to believe that Ma Wan and Tsing Yi,13 which are now islands, were 1,000 years ago connected to the mainland and to one another, and that the channel between Chep Lap Kok1 and Tung Chung was considerably deeper than it now is.\n\nBut I must emphasize that the picture on the south and east side is still sketchy. It would greatly facilitate the work of the historian if his geological colleagues could be persuaded to take their eyes off remote aeons and fix them on to this comparatively recent period so as to obtain some degree of certainty regarding the position of the shore-line at the time of the first Chinese settlement.\n\nThe Missing Pieces. To move away from the shore up to the hills, the first thing that would strike the eye of any us, if he could be transported by time machine into the tenth century, would be the profusion of trees. A former Director of Agriculture told me that the remains of huge trees had been discovered some distance below ground during preparatory work for one of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204985, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1965", "page_number": 93, "title": "RAS-1965", "content_text": "84 \n\nA. D. BLUE\n\nHong Kong, than in the 1920's and 30's. The latter period came within the warlord era when the writ of the central government at Peking or Nanking sat very lightly, if at all, on the southern provinces. In 1925 and 1927, however, the Navy sent expeditions into Bias Bay, to destroy—if possible without damage to innocent lives and property—villages known to harbour pirates and pirate junks. The second expedition was undertaken in exasperation after the pirating of the Jardine steamer S.S. Hop Sang in March 1927.4 The official report issued after the expedition claimed that one hundred and thirty stone and mat shed huts were destroyed in the two villages attacked, and forty junks and sampans destroyed. The raid had been no surprise, and definite evidence was found that the villages had been implicated in recent piracies. These raids only caused a temporary lull in the pirates' activities.\n\nThe Navy had one notable success in the Irene piracy of October 1927, which illustrates the difficulties with which the Navy and the Hong Kong Government had to contend in their anti-piracy campaign. H.M.S. submarine L4 challenged the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company's Irene when entering Bias Bay without lights and in suspicious circumstances. When she refused to stop, and then ignored a warning shot fired across her bow, a live round was fired which still drew no response. The Irene's captain was navigating under the pirates' supervision, and tried to ring down to stop the engines, but was too late.\n\nThe next shot struck the Irene amidships on the waterline, disabling the engines, killing a pirate standing beside the chief engineer, and starting a fire which almost gutted the ship before she sank. L4 went alongside and rescued most of the crew, and 220 of the 248 passengers. Three other warships and the tug Alliance arrived later, but were unable to prevent the Irene from sinking. When L4 arrived at Hong Kong the crew and passengers of Irene were screened by the police, and three men were identified as being pirates. A few days later seven other men were arrested, and all ten eventually hanged, after a sensational attempt to break out of Hong Kong's Victoria Gaol. The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company came under the control of the Chinese Government, and the Irene\n\n4 The only piracy of a Jardine ship in the modern era,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1965.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205171, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1966", "page_number": 127, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "122\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\npermitted to settle there, and stringent measures will be taken to prevent its becoming as heretofore a resort for thieves and outlaws, who are hereby warned that they will be proceeded against with severity if they attempt to conceal themselves within the above-mentioned limits **6\n\nWho were these people? Most of the inhabitants of Old Kowloon at this time were Hakkas, whereas the earlier inhabitants of the flatter and more fertile areas of the peninsula, especially round Kowloon City, not far beyond the northern boundary of British territory, were Cantonese. The major Cantonese settlements in the area south of the Kowloon hills date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368) and even before, whereas the Hakka settlers of the southern part of the Kowloon peninsula are of much more recent origin. Most of them appear to have come into the area in the first half of the 19th century, especially after 1841.\n\nSeveral factors can be said to have operated in bringing Hakkas into the area in the middle years of the 19th century. In the first place, there appears to have been a continuing movement of Hakkas early in the century, seeking to settle on new land. Then, after 1841, there was the attraction of nearby Hong Kong with its opportunities for work, and perhaps wealth. The development of Victoria, the capital city, brought a demand for granite and this was readily available in the rocky outcrops of Kowloon, from which it could conveniently be transported across the harbour to the new building sites. In 1871 there were no less than eighty-one stone quarries in Kowloon more than for the whole of Hong Kong island. Quarrying is traditionally work in which Hakkas engage: they pride themselves on their strength and ability to engage in such strenuous labour.10 Thirdly, the prolonged unrest of the Taiping Rebellion forced many individuals and even whole families to leave their homes and settle in British territory.\" One of the more picturesque settlers in Ho Man Tin Village in the 1860s was a Hakka who had allegedly been one of the Taiping generals and rejoiced in the nickname \"Seven Legged Heavenly Flying Tiger\".\n\nA contemporary observer who had spent nearly thirty years in South China described these people as follows: 12\n\nParties of tramps, called Hakkas or ‘guests' roamed over Kwangtung province squatting on vacant places along the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205614, "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": 156, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n151\n\nEnough has been said to demonstrate that East Point was not the Firm's first building site. This leads on to a further contention that it was not the original intention to site the main part of the new city of Victoria in the Happy Valley - though it is undeniable that that idea was mooted within a year or so and building did commence there after a very small number of individuals, most of them connected with Jardine, Matheson & Co., very quickly obtained grants of much of the best land in the area.\n\nHowever, one further circumstance suggests that the firm originally intended to have their Headquarters much nearer the centre of town than was later the case. Sometime in 1841, perhaps very soon after the sale of 14 June 1841, they obtained a transfer from a Captain Ramsay of what was then Town Lot 42, and there erected a large house of which the Canton Press caustically commented that \"on entering the harbour, you perceive the most commanding site, disfigured by a hybrid erection, half New South Wales and half native production, which is a foretaste of the architectural absurdities to be perpetrated on this island.\"\n\nBut Jardine, Matheson & Co. were unfortunate in their choice of this site for their headquarters on two counts. It was early decided that the hill to the west of the present Albany nullah (Garden Road) should be reserved for Government buildings only. Government correspondence was as early as November 1841 datelined ‘Government Hill’.\n\nThereby restricting the development of the town in that direction into the fairly wide and gently sloping valley behind the present Murray House. But even worse was the Military's insistence that the ridge and hillside to the east of the Albany nullah should be reserved for their use; this area covered the sites of both the firm's godowns and house. The house later became the residence of Lord Saltoun, Commander of British Forces in China during the war which ended with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The present Flagstaff or Headquarters House, built by 1846, now stands on this site.\"1\n\nThey were able to occupy neither building for long: early in 1842, Colonel Malcolm, Pottinger's secretary, wrote to them, extending an offer to compensate them for moving away to allow the area to be used by the Military. They would be allowed to choose marine lots in any part of the island not appropriated for any other purpose and would, in addition, be given $25,000 in cash for the buildings they had erected. They had, of course, no option, and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205693, "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": 235, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "僅\n\nރ\n\n'\n\n***\n\n1000:\n\n* CORTO CALL 900\n\n10-\n\n20 0\n\nMagistracy\n\nL\n\nJ\n\nN\n\nar\n\nVICTORIA\n\nR\n\n00\n\nHarbour\n\nHoust\n\nם\n\nGovernmel House\n\nAcclimatising\n\nBarracki\n\nPost office\n\nProposed site for Church\n\n(\n\nSite of Major Caine's house (inland lot 59)\n\nBuildings erected in 1842 and 1843, sometimes called the 'Record Office'.\n\nSite of the present Government House\n\nMr. Johnston's house on inland lot 82.\n\nPlate 20. Hong Kong, Central District 1843 (see p. 156).\n\nRe-drawn from a Survey Map compiled by the Royal Engineers in mid-1843 in CO129:11, F. 455 (Colonial Office records)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205728, "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-1969", "page_number": 34, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "28 \n\nT. C. CHENG \n\nNOTES \n\n1 During these early years, schools like the Morrison School, operated by the Morrison Education Society founded by Dr. Robert Morrison, the Anglo-Chinese School (or Ying Wah School) operated by Dr. James Legge of the London Missionary Society (Dr. Legge is best known for his translation of the Chinese classics and for his appointment as the first professor of Chinese at Oxford University in 1874), and St. Paul's College operated by the Anglican Bishop, were dismal failures whether from the missionary or from the educational point of view. In 1855, the Governor Sir John Bowring had this to say about St. Paul's College: \"For the last six years, £250 a year has been voted by Parliament to the Bishop's College for the education of 6 persons destined to the public service, and not a single individual from that College has been yet declared competent to undertake the meanest department of an interpreter's duty\n\nSee E. J. Eitel, Europe in China, London; Luzac and Co., 1895, p. 349.\n\n2 On p. 60 of Fragrant Harbour by G. B. Endacott and A. Hinton, a statement was made that Ng Choy was \"educated at the old Central School (Queen's College)\". I find no evidence to support this.\n\n3 As a result of the founding of the Government Central School (the present Queen's College) in 1862, a number of educated Chinese well-versed in both Chinese and English had been produced, who began to regard Hong Kong as their home town and who began to develop a keen interest in the welfare of Hong Kong. Thus leading Chinese founded the Tung Wah Hospital in 1870 and the Po Leung Kuk in 1880. It is of interest to note that in the 1870's, the educated Chinese actually pressed for the election of representatives to form a Chinese Municipal Board. In 1878, when the foreign community protested against Sir John Hennessy's policy of lenient treatment of prisoners, the Chinese in Hong Kong for the first time despatched an address to Queen Victoria which was in effect a vote of confidence in the Government.\n\n4 G. B. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong, p. 94. *G. B. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong, p. 94.\n\n6 In 1862 an Institute of Foreign Languages was founded in Peking and translation bureaux were established to translate scientific books into Chinese. In 1866 the first modern shipbuilding yard was started in Foochow, Fukien, and from 1872 to 1875 four batches of selected young Chinese scholars, totalling 120, were sent to the U.S.A. to further their studies.\n\n7 General Chan (陳炯明, Chen Chiung-ming) revolted against Sun Yat-sen in Canton in June 1922. For details about this revolt, see Tang Leang-li's The Inner History of The Chinese Revolution, London, p. 140.\n\n8 G. B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, p. 199.\n\n9 G. B. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong, p. 98.\n\n10 After 2 years there, Yung Wing (容閎, Rong Hong) went to Yale University and was the first Chinese to graduate from that famous institution in 1854. Yung later became a famous person in the history of modern China, being responsible for the opening of the first school of mechanical engineering in Shanghai; the formation of the China Merchant Steamship Navigation Company; the translation of many scientific books into Chinese; and the sending of young Chinese scholars to the U.S.A. for western studies in the 1870's. In the case of Wong Foon, after 2 years' study in the U.S.A., he crossed the Atlantic to Scotland and entered the University of Edinburgh where he graduated with honours in medicine and surgery. He returned to Canton in 1857 and distinguished himself as a surgeon. See also Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and Western Cultures, Honolulu, East-West Center, 1964, Chapter 4, \"Yung Hung (Yung Wing) and Foreign Schemes\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205842, "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-1969", "page_number": 148, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "142\n\nRONALD C. Y. NG\n\nits appearance, two copies of this significant contribution to the geographical world were presented to the Society by J. L. Southey in 1868, but for a century the authorship and the identity of this 'Italian missionary of the Propaganda' remained unknown.\n\nConsidering the difficulties presented by the rugged terrain and the unsettled times under which the observations were made, the map has a remarkable degree of accuracy and contains a wealth of information. Although it cannot be ascertained whether Mgr. Volonteri had received any cartographic training, either before or after he entered the priesthood, the map displays no sign of amateurism and, indeed, it won several enviable awards in various European exhibitions, including the Milan Cartographic Exhibition of 1894, in the years immediately following its appearance. Other things apart, the fact that it is probably the first ever bilingual map of its kind must place it in a class of its own.\n\nThere are several features of the map that merit close attention. The longitudes shown are reasonably accurate, but the latitudes are some 2 minutes north of their true positions. Apparently Mgr. Volonteri did not make the actual measurements himself, but had copied the grid from a previously existing source. It would be an impossible task to determine which particular version he adopted but it is fairly certain that it had not originated from British sources, for an official map of Hong Kong Island published twenty years earlier by the Government had the longitudes and latitudes in their correct positions. Naval charts might well have been consulted in the process of plotting the coastline because of the inclusion on the map of the depths of water - information which would obviously be of little relevance to the priest who must have compiled the map for some utilitarian purposes. The quality of the coastline has a great variation in accuracy. In spite of the highly irregular coast due to submergence, Mirs Bay, Tolo Harbour, Tide Cove, Hebe Haven and the eastern approaches of Victoria Harbour are not only packed with sounding records but are also depicted accurately down to the uninhabited islets. On the other hand, for the remainder of the map, the accuracy of the coastline is most disappointing. There could be two possible explanations for this. It was either that coastal charting was still in progress and had not yet covered the western parts or that Fr. Volonteri might have improved on an outline from an earlier smaller-scale map for the areas with which he", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206479, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "NINETEENTH CENTURY WATER-COLOURS OF CANTON\n\n21\n\nXIV Mahometan pagoda & Belfry from W. gate Canton March 12 58\n\nView over roof-tops from a terrace. Tree-capped pagoda in distance.\n\nXVII Macao April 58\n\nView of sea-front, with sampans in foreground.\n\nXX Peiho River July 3rd 58\n\nSmall British gun-boat, no. 83, in the river with military figures on the banks.\n\nXXV North of Formosa Id. July 30th 1858\n\nJunk in rough seas off mountainous coast.\n\nXXVI Pagoda Chimmo Bay N. of Amoy Augst 3rd 58\n\nFigures in small boat with mountains and pagoda in the background.\n\nXXVII Victoria Hong Kong Augt 14 58\n\nHong Kong harbour, town and peak from Stonecutters Island.\n\nXXVIII In Tartar Yamun August 58\n\nRed-coated soldier in front of a hall, with a pagoda in background.\n\nXXXI Canton Septr 58\n\nMagazine Hill 5 storied pagoda N. Gate\n\nChinese carrying a load outside gate of Canton, with walls and features of the town visible in the background.\n\nXXXIII Honan Temple Octr 5th 58 GAS\n\nMain hall of temple with Chinese walking about.\n\nXXXV Canton Octr 58 E. Wall\n\nWalls, with a pagoda in the distance.\n\nXLIII Novr 18, 58. Gates of Confucius Temple\n\nThe College From S, Wall Canton\n\nEntrance gates in foreground, with temple buildings behind.\n\nXLV Howqua's Garden Dec 21 58 GAS\n\nPavillion in lake, with trees and other buildings around.\n\nUnnumbered Faint pencil inscription: Tombs in Canton(?)\n\nTombs and coffins in front of a Chinese temple, with a view of water in the background.\n\nThe sketches show a certain amateur artistic ability. Some of them are of views which were very popular among book illustrators", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206576, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "CHI SHAN\n\nKOWLOON\n\nWESTERN DISTRICT\n\nVICTORIA\n\nSOURCES\n\nPORT DIVEICH\n\nWORKS\n\nP. T. D.\n\nMAR HOUR\n\nHUNG HOM\n\n BAY\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nMILE!\n\nV/2\n\n*\n\nKOWLOON\n\n BAY\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nEMUN TONG\n\n2 MILES\n\nNOTATION\n\nPERIOD OF RECLAMATION\n\nUP TO 1987\n\nAPPROX ACREATES THECLAIMED\n\n330-4\n\n10-1904\n\n1905–1924\n\n537-4\n\n+2\n\n882, 1945-1967\n\nIZITO\n\n+ APPROVED PROJECTS IN HAND\n\nHONG KONG HARBOUR SHOWING VARIOUS STAGES OF\n\nRECLAMATION AT 31-3 · 67\n\nLEI YUE SEM\n\n118\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nFIG. 2\n\n=\n\nHowever, upon closer inspection, it appears that the original text is likely a mix of geographical names, abbreviations, and figure/table references, possibly from a historical document or map related to Hong Kong. To better format this text, I will reorganize it into a more coherent structure while adhering to the given rules.\n\n# HONG KONG HARBOUR RECLAMATION\n\n## GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS\n\nCHI SHAN\n\nKOWLOON\n\nWESTERN DISTRICT\n\nVICTORIA\n\nHUNG HOM\n\n BAY\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nEMUN TONG\n\nLEI YUE SEM\n\n## RECLAMATION DETAILS\n\n \n PERIOD OF RECLAMATION\n APPROX ACREATES RECLAIMED\n \n \n UP TO 1904\n 330-4\n \n \n 1905–1924\n 537-4\n \n \n 1945-1967\n 882\n \n\n## ADDITIONAL INFORMATION\n\nSOURCES\n\nPORT DIVEICH\n\nWORKS\n\nP. T. D.\n\nMAR HOUR\n\nV/2\n\nIZITO\n\n+ APPROVED PROJECTS IN HAND\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nFIG. 2\n\nHowever, to strictly follow the output format requested, the above Markdown formatted response should be converted to HTML. Here is the final output in HTML as requested:\n\nCHI SHAN\n\nKOWLOON\n\nWESTERN DISTRICT\n\nVICTORIA\n\nSOURCES\n\nPORT DIVEICH\n\nWORKS\n\nP. T. D.\n\nMAR HOUR\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nMILE!\n\nV/2\n\n*\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nEMUN TONG\n\n2 MILES\n\nNOTATION\n\nPERIOD OF RECLAMATION\n\nUP TO 1987\n\nAPPROX ACREATES THECLAIMED\n\n330-4\n\n10-1904\n\n1905–1924\n\n537-4\n\n+2\n\n882, 1945-1967\n\nIZITO\n\n+ APPROVED PROJECTS IN HAND\n\nHONG KONG HARBOUR SHOWING VARIOUS STAGES OF\n\nRECLAMATION AT 31-3 · 67\n\nLEI YUE SEM\n\n118\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nFIG. 2\n\n=\n\nLet's correct and simplify the output directly in HTML as per the instructions:\n\nHONG KONG HARBOUR RECLAMATION\n\nCHI SHAN\nKOWLOON\nWESTERN DISTRICT\nVICTORIA\n\nSOURCES\nPORT DIVEICH\nWORKS\nP. T. D.\nMAR HOUR\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\nHONG KONG ISLAND\nMILE!\nV/2\n\nKOWLOON BAY\nNORTH POINT\nEMUN TONG\n2 MILES\n\nPERIOD OF RECLAMATION\nUP TO 1904\n1905–1924\n1945-1967\n\nAPPROX ACREATES RECLAIMED\n330-4\n537-4\n882\n\n+ APPROVED PROJECTS IN HAND\n\nHONG KONG HARBOUR SHOWING VARIOUS STAGES OF\nRECLAMATION AT 31-3 · 67\n\nLEI YUE SEM\n118\nE. G. PRYOR\nFIG. 2\n=\n\nThe final answer is: \nCHI SHAN\n\nKOWLOON\n\nWESTERN DISTRICT\n\nVICTORIA\n\nSOURCES\n\nPORT DIVEICH\n\nWORKS\n\nP. T. D.\n\nMAR HOUR\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nMILE!\n\nV/2\n\n*\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nEMUN TONG\n\n2 MILES\n\nNOTATION\n\nPERIOD OF RECLAMATION\n\nUP TO 1987\n\nAPPROX ACREATES THECLAIMED\n\n330-4\n\n10-1904\n\n1905–1924\n\n537-4\n\n+2\n\n882, 1945-1967\n\nIZITO\n\n+ APPROVED PROJECTS IN HAND\n\nHONG KONG HARBOUR SHOWING VARIOUS STAGES OF\n\nRECLAMATION AT 31-3 · 67\n\nLEI YUE SEM\n\n118\n\nE. G. PRYOR\n\nFIG. 2\n\n=", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206582, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1972", "page_number": 130, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "HL, I \n\nBICH TÌM \n\nSHAM SHUI PO \n\nNEW KOWLOON \n\nWESTERN DISTRICT \n\nVICTORIA \n\nKOWLOON \n\nHÒNG KÊN \n\nABERDEEN \n\nTSE WAN \n\nHONG KONG \n\nWORTHY POINT \n\nHARBOUR \n\nKOWLOON TONE \n\nSHAU KEI WAN \n\nCHAI WAN \n\nSOURCES \n\nEXISTING & PROPOSED GOVERNMENT & GOVERNMENT AIDED HOUSING ESTATES – METROPOLITAN AREA - 31-3-70 \n\nFIG. 8 \n\n1224 \n\nE. G. PRYOR", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206863, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 140, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "134\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nof a new building for Queen's College. In January 1877, the Government advertised for sale at public auction the \"materials, bricks, stones, tiles, doors, windows, joists, floors, etc. of buildings on Inland Lots 55, 93, 91 and 91A—known as Rangel's Estate”. Among the properties was \"the Joss House, No. 10 Shing Wong Street\". Soon after, the wreckers moved in and the temple was no more. So passed what was presumably the first community project of the Chinese population of urban Hong Kong.\n\nIt is difficult to establish the exact date for the erection of the Temple from records now available. It is possible that a notice in The Chinese Repository, October 1843, (Vol. XII, p. 549) may refer to the Shing Wong Temple. \"A new Chinese temple is about to be undertaken [in Hong Kong]. Handbills and placards are out, for the purpose of raising money for the erection of the building\".\n\nThe references to Chinese temples in the Hong Kong Blue Books are confusing and difficult to interpret. In 1844 under the heading of Ecclesiastical Establishments there is listed:\n\nBuddhist in Victoria, W.D. [Western District]\n\nBuddhist in Chekchoo [now Stanley]\n\nBuddhist in Shekpaiwan [Aberdeen Harbour]\n\nBuddhist in Sookumpoo\n\nEstablished in 1842 Chinese\n\nIn 1845 it is stated that \"There are 17 Chinese Temples in the colony, dedicated with few exceptions to 'Tee-how-mong-mong' (the Queen of Heaven)\". In 1846 and 1847 it is stated that there are three small Chinese temples in Victoria, and in 1847 it is noted that there is \"a small one in each village\".\n\nUnder the Blue Book schedule of Chinese buildings a Chinese Town Hall is listed in 1845 and 1846. In 1847 two Town Halls are enumerated, with the addition of one Joss House. Was the Shing Wong building listed as a Town Hall? A statement made in a Chinese document entitled \"Information as to the period of the formation of Districts in Hongkong and the alteration of the Character Wan-a bay-to Wan—a circuit” translated and published in The China Review, Vol. I, p. 133 (1872-1873) suggests that the Town Halls were Temples.\n\nThis article also provides a date for the construction of the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road:\n\nIn 1843 one Sz-man-king opened a place for gambling. . Two years later, traders began to come, and two years after that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207083, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 154, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "148\n\nK. M. A. BARNETT\n\nO.S.\n\nS.S.\n\n50\n\nnam 南\n\nnraamm\n\n51 nam 途\n\nnramm\n\n52\n\nnam- 蚺南 she 蛇蛇\n\nnraammsreah\n\n53\n\nnei JE\n\nnrey\n\n54\n\nogan ✦ ngraw\n\n55\n\nngo 鼇鰲 ngrowt\n\n56 ngong 昂 ngrorngs\n\nMeaning or Remarks\n\nSometimes occurs where it cannot mean ‘south'. The Man147 meaning 'great' might fit.\n\nOccurs in one locality name on Lantao. May be T'ails (=water).\n\nMeans a python, but the characters for ‘lizard' are often substituted, and as the Man147 glossary gives she=ox, the real meaning of this combination may be 'big ox'.\n\nSee ye (123), also nai (49).\n\nOften misspelt ni.\n\nThis word occurs in several places with the alternatives lau (30), ngo (55), yan (122) or yiu (128), but the word for \"ox' cannot have either alternative pronunciation. For a possible explanation see pages 156-157.\n\nSee also niu (58) and (5). Occurs twice: once in the old name for Victoria Harbour, still preserved among the Hoklo138 fishermen; and once as an alternative to ngau (54). See pages 156-157.\n\nAppears to mean 'high' but in a few instances may be 'high and dry',", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207149, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 220, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "214\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\ngood size bed rooms, with dressing and bath room to each; two servant's rooms; a front and back verandah, closed with venetians, each 100 feet long and 12 feet wide, flat roof convenient for exercise and affording a fine view of the harbour and its entrances. Commodious outbuildings for servants, store room and offices; a large compound, garden, etc., whole surrounded by a good fence. Situated on the ridge at West Point and now in occupation of Jamieson, How and Co.\n\nThere was not a ready sale. A business depression prevailed and the location was too remote from the European section of Victoria.\n\nBelow the bungalow Jamieson, How and Co. built a large godown on Marine Lot 57 in 1842. Ten years later this property was sold at auction. The premises on the Marine Lot were described as consisting of \"a costly and recently improved residence, granite godown, pier, outhouses, shrubbery\". The West Point Bungalow was described as beautifully situated immediately opposite on the hill. Both properties were bought by Yorick Jones Murrow.\n\nIn 1854 the West Point Bungalow was used as a military barracks. This left it the worse for wear. Because of its dilapidated condition the Rhenish Missionary Society was able to purchase the property at a reasonable price in 1857. They needed a centre in Hong Kong as they had been forced from their stations on the mainland by the outbreak of hostilities between Britain and China. In 1859 the Government repossessed the property as a site for a new Civil Hospital.\n\nThe area north of Queen's Road extending to Ko Shing Street was the original beach. The land between Queen Street on the east and Wilmer Street on the west can be divided into six main sections. The first (Marine Lot 68) is a rectangular lot three houses wide and bounded on the east by Queen Street. The second section (Marine Lots 68A, 69, 69A, and 70) is intersected by Tsung Sau Lanes East and West. The third section (Marine Lot 58) is the former Ko Shing Theatre property with Wo Fung and Kom Yu Streets. The fourth section (Marine Lot 57) is bounded on the west by Sutherland Street and contains In Ku Lane. The fifth section (Marine Lots 71, 71A, 72, 72A) lies east of Sutherland Street and is intersected by Li Sing Street. The sixth piece (Marine Lot 200) is a triangular lot with its narrow point on Queen's Road and its west boundary Wilmer Street.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207334, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 102, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "94 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nemployment; but few stayed with the department. Most took to their gypsy life again, once they had accumulated a few dollars, and left for either Shanghai or Singapore, or simply went to earth in Tai Ping Shan or Wan Chai until disinterred by the police, always on the look out for European destitutes. \n\nThere were always some troops on garrison duty in the colony or manning the various fortifications designed to repel a seaborne invasion. The garrison normally was small and numbered usually less than 1,500 men. But numbers fluctuated markedly at times. In March 1860, for example, over 14,000 troops (10,000 British and 4,000 French) were being drilled in a vast tented camp on two square miles of the Kowloon peninsula, leased from the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and awaiting transportation to the theatre of operations in the north. A witness of these events wrote that 'the streets of Victoria were thronged by soldiers and sailors; commissaries and staff officers were to be seen everywhere; all as busy as mortals could be'.7 \n\nIt was a policy of the government and the military to keep troops if possible out of European Victoria—the central commercial district—and to confine their debaucheries to special areas of the colony. Thus five brothels were specially opened at Wan Chai in the 1850s when soldiers at that time were prohibited by their officers from entering the central districts of the city. For soldiers on outpost duties access to Victoria was difficult in any case: \n\nGarrison life at these outposts is usually melancholy; society is impossible, as the fortifications are eight miles by water from the city, and communication over the mountains is arduous. It is not a question of which is the better of the two, but which the worse, to be of the British Garrison Artillery or the Chinese Lighthouse Service.& \n\nThere were usually more sailors than soldiers ashore in Hong Kong, or afloat in the harbour, at certain times of the year. During the three winter months, the British China squadron was stationed in Hong Kong; in summer most naval vessels left Hong Kong for the north and other stations. The large number of sailors, who at times outnumbered the civilian European population, was supplemented by merchant seamen of many nationalities; for by the 1890s Hong Kong had become, after London, Liverpool, and Port Said, the fourth largest port in the world in terms of seagoing tonnage", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207396, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "156\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nsteeply to one of the passes, Magazine Gap, through which roads passed from one side of the Island to the other. The hospital had wide shady verandahs but no lifts, and all windows had heavy wooden shutters for use during typhoons. A reservoir for fire fighting purposes had been constructed a little above hospital level and was fed by hill streams. Above that again was the Nursing Sisters Mess. About the same level as the hospital were quarters for warrant officers and a barrack block for male staff, a NAAFI block for recreation and a tennis court together with some lesser outbuildings. Below the hospital was the Sergeants Mess and a residential block for married staff, \"H\" block. There was only one approach road winding up to the hospital, Borrett Road, but there was a subsidiary road, Bowen Road, running along a contour line but not strong enough to take heavy traffic. The hospital was one of the landmarks of the Hong Kong scene when viewed from the mainland. Below the hospital the ground fell steeply to the main road linking the city of Victoria and the Island to the east, and to the Naval Command Headquarters in H.M.S. Tamar, the Naval Dockyard and the headquarters of China Command. The hospital was therefore close to legitimate enemy targets and any margin for error in artillery fire and aerial bombing was reduced still further by the precipitous slope on which it stood.\n\nThe hospital however had nowhere else to go, and Colonel Shackleton the commanding officer used his considerable ingenuity to have two operating theatres with their necessary adjuncts and X-Ray rooms constructed in the basement of the administration block. Engines for generating electricity, one capable of supplying the theatres and X-ray room, the other able to serve part of the hospital as well were installed and were of great value during hostilities and during the long period of captivity. When the hospital was severely damaged and the kitchen totally destroyed very early on by aerial bombs and shell fire, Shackleton speedily got an emergency kitchen operating in the sergeants mess and set up a protective wall of concrete blocks, known to us from a much publicised local court case as \"Mimi Lau's”, on the harbour side of the ground floor wards. Shackleton was a forceful character, apparently not aware of fear, who was ready to cut through any red tape which obstructed his aims. He liked his own way and was not an easy man to have under command, but to those relying upon his administration in war he always provided what was needed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207418, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 186, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "178\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nhe did not explain his meaning. I concluded that the fish had probably been taken from the harbour whose waters were thoroughly polluted. Some of the fish was quite horrid and my diary recorded on 8 August 1942 that I could not touch mine. This was quite an admission for it was rare for me to boggle at any sort of food. Our cooks at first removed the fish heads before cooking but Seino pointed out to us that this was a waste. As a result we began to make what we called fish head soup; this proved to be not to everybody's taste but it did add a new if not always attractive flavour to plain boiled rice and vegetables.\n\nAdditions to the Japanese supplies of Food.\n\n(a) Gifts from Friends in Hong Kong\n\nUnfortunately I have no record to show the date on which these gifts started, but by August 1942 visitors from the City of Victoria were being allowed to bring gifts of food to the hospital on Mondays and Thursdays. The food was usually contained in gunny sacks and included tins which contained food sealed in by the makers e.g., jam, or which were filled by the donors with for example peanut butter. I have never learned the whole story about these supplies and I hope that Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, then Dr. P.S. Selwyn-Clarke, will find it possible to relate this in detail.* A little later I shall have more to say about this remarkable man who was Director of Medical Services in Hong Kong at the outbreak of war.\n\nAs may be imagined the tins and containers became the vehicles for an exchange of notes between the hospital and citizens in Hong Kong. These notes contained personal and family items of news but very useful information came in from our friends to us suggesting methods of combating the deficiency diseases. Small supplies of important drugs were sent in by this route and information was given on methods of cultivating yeast, hop barm and other preparations thought to remedy vitamin deficiencies. Much ingenuity was expended in the hospital in making false bottoms and lids to tins and I can remember only one time when a communication was discovered. The culprit, a Hong Kong man, reacted by his cries and behaviour in a most satisfactory manner to the slapping he\n\n* Sir Selwyn's autobiography, Footprints, the Memoirs of Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, was published by Sino-American Publishing Company, Hong Kong in 1975.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208092, "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-1977", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "VICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nVDLVES\n\nPASSENGER\n\nFI\n\nTONG SHUI RE\n\nHORN FELT ÅD.\n\n園\n\n177\n\nremittances to supplement inadequate income sources at home, for these Southern Fujianese there were generations-old connections with the Nanyang (Southeast Asia) and it was near the shipping companies that both serviced and profited by these connections that the early Fujianese residents of Hong Kong made their home.\n\nThe overseas tie of the Southern Fujianese to the Nanyang, however, was badly disrupted after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and the subsequent Cold War\n\nVICTORIA\n\nPARK\n\nBRAEMAL\n\nRESERVOIR\n\n\"LITTLE FUJIAN (FUKIEN)\"\n\n2s#wife #€$ 1\n\nKEYA[]% Fujianese\n\nE 5-15% Shanghaics\n\nHifil 14-24% Shangherese |\n\nYA MI\n\nFig. 1 North Point Blocks by % of Fujianese and Shanghaiese3\n\n115", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208494, "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-1978", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "202\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\ngilded roundels and a scholar's cap. He is clean shaven and holds a short-handled round fan in his left hand. His wife is dressed in faded robes and is bareheaded. Both have strong faces, probably adequate if not good likenesses. The images are about 12 inches high.\n\nMalacca too, has strong Fukienese connections, and again I would expect this couple to have been of Fukienese origin.\n\nHong Kong.\n\nOctober, 1979\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\nMARBLE HALL*\n\nMarble Hall was a very fine private residence in Conduit Road, Hong Kong, built by Sir Catchik Paul Chater. It has since disappeared, but the photographs which this note supplements reveal how imposing and sumptuously furnished a home it once was.\n\nThe owner\n\nSir Paul Chater, born on 8 September 1846 of Armenian parents from Calcutta, arrived in Hong Kong in 1864. His career began in a bank, but he soon went into business as an exchange and bullion broker and later ventured into various successful commercial enterprises. He established the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, having been authorised by two ordinances in 1884 to construct piers and wharves in Victoria harbour, and was a co-founder (with Jardine, Matheson & Co) of the Hong Kong Land Investment and Agency Co Ltd (now better known simply as \"Hong Kong Land\"); later he formed the Hong Kong Mining Company to exploit deposits of iron ore in the New Territories and operated coal mines in Tonking. He was a public-spirited gentleman who initiated the Praya reclamation scheme in 1887 and campaigned vigorously for acquisition by Britain of the territory where he later discovered iron. Chater served as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council for nearly twenty years, elected to that position by his fellow Justices of the Peace, and was one of the first unofficials to be appointed to the Executive Council.\n\n*Plates 24-32 illustrate this Note,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209005, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n135\n\nmajor during the early K'ang Hsi period. He had taken part in the suppression of the disturbances led by Ng Shaam-kwai in the south. He was promoted to Yau Je or colonel and then to Ti Tu or brigadier of the Fukien Province. In the 56th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1717), he was promoted to be Chuen Fu or Governor of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces.\n\nAt that time, pirates were disturbing the south coast of China, and the people there led a hard life. Yeung Lin lowered their taxes and improved their living. Two years later, in the 58th year of the Kang Hsi reign (1719), he was made Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces. He then proposed to erect 126 forts, walled cities and guard-stations, and to strengthen the fortification of the coast by increasing the garrisons to 3991 men. His proposal was authorized, and in the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1723), he was appointed to be Viceroy of Kwangtung specially responsible for all matters of the Kwangtung Province. He died a year later, (1724).\n\nTo conclude, the Fat Tong Mun Fort must have been built when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces, within the period between the 59th year of K'ang Hsi and the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1720-1723). The fort guarded the Fat Tong Mun and had 8 cannon places and 13 guard-houses. A garrison of 25 soldiers under one pa-tsung or sergeant from the Tai Pang Battalion was stationed there. Then in the 15th year of the Chia Ch'ing Reign (1810), the fort was evacuated and finally abandoned.\n\nThe fort became a ruin, long neglected. It is now being excavated under the direction of Dr. Solomon Bard, Executive Secretary, Antiquities and Monuments Section, Urban Services Department, Hong Kong.\n\nHong Kong, January 1981\n\nANTHONY K. K. SIU\n\nNOTES\n\n1 Tung Lung Island was called South Fat Tong or Nam Fat Tong in the past. It lies to the east of Hong Kong Island and guards the eastern entrance to the Victoria Harbour.\n\n2 Chapter 4 of the San On Yuen Chi, Chia Ch'ing edition **縣志卷四**.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209592, "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-1982", "page_number": 249, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "227\n\nwas commendable that the A.D.C. had departed from farce and burlesque, its venture into something more serious was not altogether successful; but the fault may have been not in the type of drama but in the type of characters of the particular play. It was the opinion of the reviewer that \"In selecting plays they should have no out-of-the-way characters. A success at home may not be suited to Amateurs, such as these in Hong Kong. Some dramas are written for special actors\". He suggested that \"perhaps the amateurs could give a selection, perhaps one or two scenes, or an act from a standard play, for example, the scene between Wolsey and Cromwell in Henry VIII.\" This had been done by the Hon. Mr. York at the inauguration of the City Hall's Theatre Royal in 1869 during the visit of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh.\n\nThe suggestion was not taken up, and the Company attempted another serious piece, the popular play \"The Caste\". In this, the amateurs had to compete against the standard set by performances given a short time before by two different travelling professional companies in which actresses played the female parts. The comparison was not kind to the amateurs. As usual, the reviewer was reluctant to criticize, but he did venture to say that the performance might tend to lessen subscriptions for the next season. He thought too much had been spent on the costumes, when, in fact, in his view, \"people go to see acting, not wardrobe\".\n\nThe A.D.C. returned to something lighter, and in 1876 put on a very successful burlesque, \"The Field of the Cloth of Gold,\" by William Brough. The opening scene in the London production had been the harbour of Calais; in Hong Kong, it was the Praya between City Hall and the Bath House of the Victoria Recreation Club. The field of the cloth of gold was East Point. Though it was agreed that there was not much scope for dramatic talent in the piece, it was pronounced \"an undoubted success, and far surpasses, in splendour of the get-up, number of performers, and brilliancy of the scenes, anything hitherto placed on the boards of this colony\". Unfortunately, its lavishness had to be paid for, and it took several seasons before the A.D.C. had a balance.\n\nOne of the perennial favourites was the burlesque \"Aladdin the Wonderful Scamp\". It was given in 1863, 1867, 1875", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210184, "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": 155, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "134\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nequally there is no reason to doubt that arrangements similar to those at Stanley and Shau Kei Wan were to be found there.\n\nThis account does not claim to be a comprehensive account of Hong Kong before 1841, but aims to stimulate an interest. If it reaches members of old Hong Kong village families by one reason or another, I hope it will encourage them to dig into their family chests to see if anything remains that will fill out the story.\n\n89\n\nNOTES\n\nThe material for this essay is varied. I am in considerable debt to several good friends; Ian Diamond, Tom Poon, Anthony Siu Kwok-kin, Patrick Hase, and Carl Smith among others. Nineteenth-century writers, including officials, especially those who saw Hong Kong in its early colonial years, are also valued contributors to the story. Correspondence in the possession of the Tang family of Kam Tin figures prominently. I have also been fortunate to have spoken with old persons in their 'seventies' and 'eighties' back in the 1960s. They were able to give valuable information about life in their youth, when the lifestyle and appearance of the Hong Kong villages and boat people's anchorages had changed relatively little since the 1840s, compared with the total obliteration and change all too frequently experienced in the past fifteen years. These interviews took place in a variety of places; in an old tenement in Shaukeiwan, in one of the old hillside villages there, in a resettlement estate, in a Housing Society estate for fishermen's families, on a friend's pleasure craft manned by a boatman whose family had been living on boats in Deep Bay for generations, on a working cargo boat in a typhoon shelter, in a converted stake-net fisherman's hut, in a village house overwhelmed by squatter huts, and so on. Each of these locations testified to how modern Hong Kong was dealing cards to the persons concerned and their families, swept along or thrust to one side in the maelstrom of intensive postwar development and redevelopment. To all the above contributors, I tender thanks and appreciation.\n\n1\n\nC.J.C. in Revd G.N. Wright and Thomas Allom, China Illustrated in a Series of Views (London and Paris, Fisher and Co., 1843), Vol. 1, p. 17 in my set, \"Harbour of Hong Kong”.\n\n2 Harley Farnsworth MacNair, Modern Chinese History Selected Readings (Shanghai, Commercial Press, Second edition, 1927), p. 169.\n\n3 W.L. Bales, Tso Tsungtang, Soldier and Statesman of Old China, (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1937), p. 69.\n\n4 The Letters of Queen Victoria, A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence between the Years 1837 and 1861, ed A.C. Benson and Viscount Esher, (London, John Murray, 1908), Vol. 1, p. 262.\n\n5 Following G.B. Endacott's History of Hong Kong (Oxford, University Press, 1958), p. 18.\n\n6\n\nSessional Papers (Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong) 1884-85, p. 2.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210475, "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": 82, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "63\n\nwhat Skinner (1964) has called a standard market area. However, certain considerations both of fact and point of view make me hesitate to use this term here. First as to fact: the above are not the only differences that make it less than useful to regard this area as being centred upon a market town like a wheel upon its hub. As far as markets were concerned, it had, as we have just seen, two centres. As far as the Kau Sai fishermen recognized temple festivals, however, it had at least three, none of them lying in either market town. (This situation is further complicated by the fact that both the market towns and one other fishing village in the area also organised annual temple festivals, which some Kau Sai people did attend but irregularly and idiosyncratically). In the third place, both Sai Kung and Shaukiwan acted also as market centres and anchorages for large numbers of junks which ranged much further afield, either because they were deep-sea craft with a wider range of occupational movement than the inshore boats of Kau Sai and its neighbours, or seasonally. Both towns were also centres for quite large land populations; Shaukiwan being in fact a rapidly expanding industrial suburb of Victoria City on Hong Kong island.\n\nIt is likely that most of the peculiarities of this kind of market situation are to be explained by the extreme mobility of the boat population and the proximity of the great conurbations of Victoria (Hong Kong) and Kowloon. (Regarded from the point of view of the local land dwellers Sai Kung does fall neatly into the standard market category and Shaukiwan drops out of the picture altogether). It remains true, however, that in this study I am not taking a \"market centred\" point of view. For the fishermen of Kau Sai, Kau Sai was the centre of the Universe. Markets at Sai Kung and Shaukiwan, temple festivals at Pak Sha Wan and Lung Shuen Wan, were important, but peripheral. Moreover, mobility was such that every part of the Port Shelter-Rocky Harbour area was freely accessible and frequently visited, And all parts of it contained fish. Borrowing a term from Zoology, the area is from this point of view perhaps more usefully thought of as a \"territory\" than as a market area. Like herds of impala the fishermen of Port Shelter and Rocky Harbour, including those domiciled in Kau Sai, roamed their territory and exploited their niche in it, regardless of the fact that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210689, "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": 40, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "23\n\nobserved that he was not often late.\n\nIt would not be appropriate to the scale of this essay to give an account of his practice, cases or clients. For anyone who is interested the details are to be found in the local newspapers. I propose only to mention a few selected matters. His first reported case was in April 1877 when he appeared for a man charged with possessing and uttering counterfeit coins and made a successful submission of no case to go to the jury. In the following July he called E.J. Eitel, referred to above, to give evidence of local custom in a case relating to the false imprisonment of a woman. His first notable case was in January 1878 when he defended one of two ship's engineers charged with manslaughter following the explosion of a boiler on a ship in Victoria Harbour which caused the deaths of over seventy people. Later in 1878 he defended F.S. Huffham, the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, on charges of fraud and misappropriation of fees. His clients included banks, shipping companies, and many other businesses, the Opium Farmer, the Emperor of China and other Chinese authorities and a host of individuals including the Baroness DoCercal and a member of the Korean Royal Family. He appeared in cases in which the Hong Kong Club and the Jockey Club were parties and many of the libel cases which were a feature of life in Hong Kong. His practice took him not only into the courts of Hong Kong but also before the Legislative Council and to Macao, Canton and Shanghai. In a case of his in 1884 two of the jurors gave evidence, which must be unusual. Also in that year he was in a case concerning a contract to supply Chinese emigrants to Jamaica. In 1886 he appeared for forty-two Chinese Police Constables charged with corruption. In 1893 he was involved in the first case in Hong Kong relating to Ancient Lights. In 1897 he acted for the Jewish Community which sued in respect of land alleged to be held in trust for it. Following the acquittal of Fraser Smith referred to above he joined others in offering to pay the plaintiff's costs, an uncommon gesture for a lawyer (the verdict of the jury was not guilty but the verdict of the colony was guilty). His persistence as an advocate lasted to the end. In June 1901 the trial Judge in his summing up referred to \"his very able speech for the defence which occupied two hours and in which every point in the evidence was thoroughly gone into\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210713, "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": 64, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "47\n\nThe intention to recruit engineers to undertake these works in Hong Kong was presumably advertised in the Home Civil Service and Borough Councils, where Jackman was employed from 1897. Given his training and experience in Sheffield, he was well qualified for the type of work needed in Hong Kong and he was recruited to the Colonial Service on 20 October 1902.\n\nThe City of Hong Kong at the turn of the century was undoubtedly impressive: with most industry and wharfage on the eastern part of the Island and Kowloon, Central District had developed into a well laid-out commercial area with fine examples of architecture in a number of styles. The city was expanding rapidly, and 65 acres with two miles of sea-front were added with the completion of the Praya reclamation in 1903. Even back in the 1900's, the view of Victoria Harbour often prompted heady descriptions\n\n\"Viewed from the Harbour, Hong Kong presents a very picturesque appearance, not unlike that of the north coast of Devon or the west coast of Scotland. At night, the scene resembles a city en fête. The riding lights of the shipping sparkling like gems on the bosom of the deep, the bright illuminations of the waterfront, the countless lamps that bespangle the hillsides and stretch along the terraces as though in festoons, furnish a sight that fascinates the eye and leaves an enduring impression of delight upon the mind.\" (H.A. Cartwright, in Twentieth Century Impressions etc. 1908)\n\nJackman arrived in Hong Kong in 1903 and reported for duty in the P.W.D. on 15 July at an annual salary of $3,000. His rank was Executive Engineer, of which there was a single grade then (the rank was split into First and Second Grade Executive Engineer in 1911). The Director of Public Works at that time, as during much of Jackman's Civil Service career, was William Chatham. Soon after his arrival, the Government started payment of salaries to expatriate staff in Sterling, and Jackman's salary was fixed at £480 per year, with some allowances paid in local currency.\n\nDuring his early career in Hong Kong, Jackman was mainly involved in drainage and sewerage works. He was responsible for", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212192, "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": 134, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "transferred their activities elsewhere: the evil reputation of Bias Bay nearby is well known. But British influence made itself felt in other ways, too. The \"foreign devils\" not only brought security; they built houses, roads and dockyards, so that a very large number of Chinese found Hongkong preferable to their native districts and came there to live. By 1938 the population was over two millions, including twenty-four thousand foreigners. It is true, of the Chinese no less than one million were only transient inhabitants, refugees from the Japanese wrath which was spreading over China. To these wretched thousands, Hongkong, for a time, was a sanctuary: as later in another part of the world, was England to the French, Belgian, Dutch and Norwegian refugees, who were to escape from German occupied territory.\n\nBehind Victoria, the cramped commercial hub of the island, a funicular Peak Tramway rises steeply to serve the numerous mansions, erected at varying levels, for taipans, who hope vainly to avoid the moist clinging heat of the long Hongkong summer. Some of the mansions look out over Victoria at the twin city of Kowloon on the mainland across the harbour: others, on the reverse slope, look out to sea, to Lantao island, still barren, to Lamma, in the foreground, and to Cheung Chau in the middle distance.\n\nHongkong was crowded. The hotels were full and so when we arrived, some weeks after leaving Nanking, my wife and I took rooms at the small hotel which an enterprising English couple had opened on Cheung Chau island. A special ferry from Victoria did the trip several times a day in about half an hour. There was quite a large fishing village, the rendezvous for many of the junks that frequent these waters. We lived on fish and strolled amongst the stunted pines and the empty bungalows of the summer visitors waiting until we could find more convenient accommodation. It was a pleasant change from the vicissitudes of Nanking.\n\nEventually we were able to get rooms in the Repulse Bay Hotel, famous as a honeymoon resort. It is on the side of Hongkong facing the open sea, near what is perhaps the best known bathing beach. A winding road over the hill through the Wong Nei Chong gap leads to Victoria, and in Deepwater Bay round the point there is a small nine-hole golf course.\n\nI remember one day we took the bus up to the Gap and got out", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212193, "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": 135, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "112 \n\nto walk along the paths which follow the mountain slope, when it began to rain heavily. Spying close-by a house, with an attractive green-tiled roof, we approached proposing to ask permission to 'phone for a taxi. \n\nI rang the bell and put my request to the Chinese boy who opened the door. He showed me in, leaving the door ajar, so that my wife, who remained outside, should not feel shut out; and led me to the 'phone in the hall. He was about to dial for me, when a voice in the distance asked, curtly as I thought, who I wanted. We were by then pretty well soaked and I suppose we did look rather like tramps. It was the lady of the mansion. I explained our predicament. She motioned to the instrument, then moved to the far end of the room, without inviting in my wife, whom she saw waiting outside. The boy got busy on the 'phone and eventually connected me, when the voice was heard instructing him to \"close that door\". He was most embarrassed and apologetically shut it on my wife. The taxi firm having promised to send for us, I rejoined her outside in the rain, where we remained for ten minutes until the car arrived. \n\nI would not have the reader think that such behaviour was typical of British manners in Hongkong. It was not, but it was characteristic of a small clique, which is found in most British colonies, courting a reflected lustre on the fringe of the official hierarchy. \n\nI think possibly its geography explains to some extent the notorious snobbery of Hongkong. Living, say, in Victoria, an invitation to dinner on the Peak was of doubtful attraction. It meant starting off in a taxi to the higher level, where there would only too probably be a heavy mist, and perhaps rain as well. You would have to leave your taxi to walk up several hundred steps to the house, built on the steep hillside, arriving with wet feet and, if wearing a raincoat, probably also drenched in sweat. \n\nOn another occasion the invitation might be to dine in Kowloon. That would involve going down to the jetty, crossing the harbour in the ferry, picking up a taxi on the other side, and so reaching your host's house without too much difficulty; but, unless you left in time to catch the last return ferry at midnight dinner in the Far East \n\n― \n\nyou would have to \n\nseldom starts before nine, or half past nine search for a walla-walla boat, a small type of taxi motor-launch; there \n\n! \n\n! \n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212194, "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": 136, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "113\n\nthe walla-walla men are\n\nwould be an argument about the fare surely descended from the original Hongkong pirates and, that settled, a slow journey across the harbour, followed by a walk home. Such conditions are discouraging to social intercourse. They tend to break the community up into cliques; into the circle who live on the Peak, the crowd down in Victoria, and the mob over in Kowloon.\n\nHow deep-seated was the snobbery amongst the few could be seen at a later date, when the remnants of the British community were interned by the Japanese. Many of the women still thought themselves too superior to keep company with their sisters in misfortune, and continued to carry their noses in the air, while living under the most dismal conditions, crowded cheek by jowl seven and eight to a small room.\n\nTo avoid overheating during the Hongkong summer called for a special technique. The idea was never to move rapidly in any direction; a slow steady advance got you there. If the advance took you past the stately building erected by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, so much the better. It was air-conditioned. You could look in on your friends, who had the good fortune to rent offices there, and while passing the time of day your body refreshed itself in the cool dry atmosphere.\n\nOwing to the discomfort of movement and the geographic complexities, on leaving office at noon most people did not return home to lunch. They either went to the Club, where the cuisine, it is unreliably claimed, compared with that of the Shanghai Club, or to the Hongkong or Gloucester Hotels. These rival but contiguous establishments were a local institution. What Shepherd's Hotel was in Cairo fifty years ago, the Hongkong Hotel was in the late 1930s; a place where wanderers met. You seldom entered the hotel lobby without running into someone you had not seen for years. It might be an official of Imperial Airways who had just flown in from India, via Rangoon and Bangkok, or an American news reporter leaving by Pan-American clipper for Manila. Both hotels provided excellent fare. Some favoured the one, some the other. At the Gloucester the dining room was eight floors up on the roof, with a view over the harbour; in the Hongkong Hotel it was at ground level with a view of the \"Grips\", the arena where the cosmopolitan crowd foxtrotted to the music of a Filipino orchestra.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212240, "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": 182, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "Good\n\nSea View\n\nTower\n\nMiddle Room\n\nFine view of Victoria Bay, Kowloon & harbour\n\nVerandah 159\n\nBath Room & Bishop's Study\n\nVerandah\n\nBed Room\n\nBed Room\n\nBed Room\n\nBed Room\n\nBed Room\n\nBed Room\n\nChinese Dormitory No. 1\n\nChinese Dormitory No. 2\n\nLibrary, used only as Tutor's Sitting Room\n\nTutor's Room\n\nTutor's Bed Room\n\nParlour\n\nVerandah\n\nLumber Room\n\nKitchen\n\nPantry\n\nSpare Room\n\nTutor's Dressing Room\n\nVerandah\n\nSecond Floor Plan\n\nBath Room\n\nVerandah\n\nCorrected response in HTML as requested:\n\n1. \"Cowloon\" corrected to \"Kowloon\" (spelling correction).\n2. \"& o\" corrected to \"& harbour\" (contextual correction for clarity, assuming \"o\" was an incomplete or misrecognized word).\n3. \"Tulor's\" corrected to \"Tutor's\" (spelling correction, multiple instances).\n4. Some minor spacing issues were fixed for better readability.\n\nThe original text has been preserved in terms of word count and order, with corrections made only for spelling and spacing. The output is formatted using HTML with `` tags for paragraphs.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212332, "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": 274, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "251\n\nbeing until this century. In the last decade of the 20th century, however, it provides three-quarters of the electricity consumed in Hong Kong. Not long after the Company placed what was reported to be the largest ever single order with British industry, in 1980, six members of the board were made Commanders of the British Empire. There have also been two Knighthoods in the Kadoorie family.\n\nTransport\n\nMotor transport was mainly introduced into Hong Kong in the present century, and, by 1909, the Colony boasted five private cars. Steam power was, however, used at sea before it was employed on land, and by 1876 there were nine steam launches operating in the harbour, and the first regular cross-harbour ferry, employing steam launches, commenced in 1880. In 1898, the Star Ferry was incorporated and took over from Dorabjee Nowrojee the previous ferry owner.\n\nBritish firms were, nonetheless, involved with transport, and a proposal was made by Jardine's, in 1881, for a system of trams on Hong Kong Island. The same year another proposal was made for a tramway to Victoria Gap, and in 1885 the original promoters sold their rights to Phineas Ryrie and Alexander Findlay Smith (Findlay Path on the Peak is named after him) for $2,000. The latter, a merchant who arrived in Hong Kong in the 1860s and who had been an employee of Scotland's Highland Railway, was the driving force. In 1881, it was he who requested approval from Sir John Pope-Hennessy, for this innovative scheme.\n\nAccording to Mrs Maud Grant-Smith, the Governor told her late husband's uncle, Findlay Smith:\n\n\"My dear chap, you are simply throwing your money down the drain. Do you imagine anyone wants to go to the top of the Peak?\"\n\nBecause His Excellency would not help, Smith brought his own engineers from Scotland. As early as the 1840s Doctor William Morrison, the Colonial Surgeon (1847 to 1859), recommended spending the summer on the Peak. He also suggested a sanatorium be built there to alleviate the effects of heat and humidity. This was constructed but by 1868 it had fallen into disrepair, and had been rebuilt as", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212667, "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": 221, "title": "RAS-1991", "content_text": "202\n\ndisappear so quickly.\n\nHalsey would have no truck with the second-in-command who was then escorted back to the waiting plane. The Japanese commander eventually appeared whereupon the surrender was signed later in the presence of the British admiral aboard HMS King George V.\n\nAt dawn the following day the whole fleet was placed in ‘line ahead' and we sailed up the Lei Yue Mun Channel, between Hong Kong and Kowloon. As we approached a gun emplacement set high in the rocks was spotted with the Japanese flag flying. The Japanese could be seen quite clearly on the ramparts of the fort. The order relayed to the King George V battleship was 'range broadside!' I never saw a flag come down so fast.\n\nWe anchored in an orderly fashion off the City of Victoria and in no time at all found ourselves surrounded by sampans and all sorts of other small boats. Royal marines armed with machine guns were stationed round the sides of the ship. After all, we just didn't know what to expect.\n\nWhile preparations were being made for the first landing party to go ashore naval officers selected the men. They questioned ratings how they felt about the task. One or two were rather brash in their manner and replies. They were rejected. Asked if I felt afraid I answered that I was a bit scared. 'Good,' said one of the officers, ‘A frightened man is a careful man!'\n\nIn the early afternoon I and nine other men, armed to the teeth, went ashore in a motorised cutter. The landing stage was free of booby traps and obstacles. We came ashore near the Star Ferry. All was very quiet. Even the sometimes boisterous Chinese were not self-evident. The Japanese had destroyed all the dwellings and buildings along the waterfront so they had an uninterrupted view of the sea lane.\n\nI was on shore patrol when we came across a mob of Chinese and, on investigation, we discovered a Japanese soldier had been strangled by a Chinese. I was told the Japanese had molested and raped the man's wife during the occupation. The man was later arrested, charged and, I believe, subsequently let off.\n\nOn another occasion I noticed two bodies in the harbour being swept down the straits. Who they were or what was going on I didn't know.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1991.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213267, "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": 89, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "69\n\nthe views expressed right at the start of this paper by Dr Ernest J. Eitel, sometimes titled Hong Kong's first historian and for some time a Hong Kong civil servant, were by no means unusual.\n\nToday, far more empathy is shown towards Chinese culture in general by Westerners. For instance, many Caucasian firms believe aquariums enrich the fung shu of an office. It is not just Chinese who can relax, Westerners will tell you, when they lie back and watch fish swimming. It gives everyone a special feeling and lowers their blood pressure by a few degrees.\n\nOf course, certain rules have to be followed. The number of fish kept is often six or nine. Three multiplied by three equals nine (a lucky number); and a homonym of three, in Cantonese, sounds similar to the character meaning 'lively'. Because of colour symbolism, one fish may be black (a Black Molly), another reddish (a goldfish), and the rest any other colour. Because the fish are supposed to act as a shield against bad fung shui, sometimes a fish dies. But better a dead fish than a dead customer.\n\nHigher up the hill above Central District, at the Albany in Albany Road, residents were concerned about the 70-storey, new, People's Republic Bank of China Building 'giving off vibes'. They feared the sharp edges of its structure with their negative forces would menace the abode of some of Hong Kong's rich and famous. In the West, the new Bank of China building would perhaps be described as 'ominous', 'overshadowing' or 'overpowering'. Many Chinese, however, liken the sharp edges of the Bank of China to a knife pointed at, or arrows cast at, Government House and Central Government Offices, namely, the heart of the British Colonial Administration. These 'weapons', together with the flyovers close to Government House, tie the decision-making hands of the British Governor and threaten the prosperity of Hong Kong. The fung shui 'dragon vein', with the dragon's head turned to face its ancestors, serpents down from Victoria Peak, close to the Albany, concealed by a carpet of vegetation. It passes close to the Albany apartments. The dragon thrusts and turns as the topography changes. The earth surges with natural energy. Chinese dragons are more serpent-like and sinuous than those in the West. And, as the vein gathers strength, it proceeds vigorously on to the 'dragon sites'\n\nsuch as the home of the Governor and down to the Hong Kong Bank. It then dips into the harbour, the 'dragon's lair'. Although now the slope up the Peak is largely obscured by high-rise buildings, on some hills and\n\n70", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213498, "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-1995", "page_number": 94, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "62\n\npicture of the situation was given by L. Yu. He stated:\n\n“At the time they built their fortress with the backs against the hills and the fronts facing the sea. The two fortifications acted as two watchtowers. It made the Ching army difficult to attack or even try to get near to the island. On the slopes above Sai Ying Pun, at the midlevels, there was a fort and it helped to reinforce the defence.\" (Lai, 1948, P.13)\n\nSecondly, it is because Sai Ying Pun was situated at the foothill of the highest peak of the island. The peak (i.e. Victoria Peak 1917 ft. which was called O Tau Shan or Ngan Tau Shan at that period) formed the look-out of the pirates in those days. They wanted to keep an eye on the harbour which was a very important water route in that part of the South China coast. Whenever a vessel appeared, the watchmen would signal the pirates who were stationed at the foothills at Sai Ying Pun. The pirate fleet would then sail off to plunder and loot the vessels.\n\nThirdly, the pirates chose the place because Sai Ying Pun possesses some peculiar physical characteristics. Before the waterfront was reclaimed in the late nineteenth century, Sai Ying Pun was the only area in the northwestern sector of the Island, which controlled the western inlet to the harbour, with a fairly long coastal slope. The slopes were made up of colluvial fan. In other words, the soil in the area was derived from the decomposition of granite or other primitive rock. It was not, however, formed of detritus of rock washed down from above, but solid rock altered in situ. In the area west of Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, the granites outcropped nearly to the sea front. It was possibly the reason why as early as 1771 the Hakka people came to the area and quarried the granite and carried them to Shek Pai Wan. Therefore we can see that Sai Ying Pun was the only area in the northwestern sector that was suitable to set up a fortification. I think this is also the reason why the British commanders chose the same area to set up a barrack in 1841.\n\nSo Sai Ying Pun during the early years of Chiaching period was probably occupied by scores of pirates. They guarded themselves against the attack of the Ching armies and waited patiently for the signals that came from the peak and were always ready to sail off to plunder any trading vessels that happened to sail past the Hong Kong", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213685, "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-1996", "page_number": 38, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "recorded as having 29 males and 10 females resident. The boat people at Kowloon City and Sham Shui Po may have been included in the Victoria Harbour grouping. But it seems likely that the bulk of the Northern boat-people population was omitted from the statistics in 1911.\n\nAt Cheung Chau, 4,442 boat-people are recorded in 1911, 2,601 of them male. This probably includes those boat-people usually anchored at Ping Chau and Mui Wo. At Lantau, 5,413 are recorded, 3,159 of them male.** The Lantau figure probably includes, not only the floating population at Tai O, but also the people living in \"boat-huts\" on stilts there. It also probably covers those boat-people anchored at Tung Chung, and may cover those at Tuen Mun as well. In 1921, 3,552 boat people are enumerated at Cheung Chau, and 3,894 at Tai O (probably not including the “boat-hut” residents). Given the absence of some deep sea fishing boats during the 1921 Census period, it seems that the Southern District floating population statistics are broadly similar in 1911 and 1921.\n\nThe careful notification of New Territories residents as to the purpose of the 1911 Census, and the use of local men as enumerators, led to a lack of practical problems with villagers, who seem to have responded surprisingly well to the process. The police escorts had \"not very much to do,” and “no trouble whatever\" occurred.\n\nOn a more detailed basis, the civilian enumerator teams in the mainland New Territories, and the police on Lamma, in the Sham Shui Po area, and, to a lesser extent, on Lantau, seem to have done a more careful job than the police on Cheung Chau, and in the Tsuen Wan and Kowloon City areas. 598 villages were separately enumerated in the nine mainland civilian enumerator districts,\" 18 on Lamma, 49 on Lantau, and 23 in the Sham Shui Po district.\" Very few of the villages or hamlets on Lamma or in the mainland New Territories outside the Tsuen Wan and Kowloon City areas were not separately enumerated. The few that are not are hamlets closely connected with a nearby village and enumerated with it. On Lantau, however, some villages are not separately enumerated. The villages to the south of Tai O (Fan Kwai Tong, Yi O, Fan Lau), those immediately east of Tung Chung and along the upper edges of the Tung Chung valley (Tai Po, Tung Chung Hang, Wong Lung Hang, Lam Che, etc.), most of those in the Chi Ma Wan peninsula (except Shap Long), and most of the very tiny villages in the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214051, "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-1997", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "86\n\nReclamation\n\nVictoria Harbour, the raison d'etre for Hong Kong's foundation, formed the focal point around which the new settlers clustered and around which the banks, business houses, the shipyards and, later, commercial factories were built. Hemmed in by hills both to the north and the south, the population around the harbour became concentrated on the limited flat or less steeply sloping land available along the coast. Expansion was only possible by reclamation into the sea (and later by higher buildings), spoil being obtained from nearby hills thus providing additional building land. Until the advent of motor vehicles, reclamations were unable to benefit from more remote fill sources, like the Peak where site development necessitated balanced cut and fill. In all several hundred hectares of land were reclaimed in the hundred years up to 1941 (compared with many thousands in the 50 years following).\n\nSome of the people who were lucky enough to lease the first lots of land fronting on the sea, which had been auctioned in 1841, extended their lots by illicit reclamation over the foreshore absorbing such land as could easily be reclaimed, a procedure which was soon forbidden. Quite early, probably in 1842-3, some valuable land was reclaimed in Victoria, part of which was subsequently occupied by the Hong Kong Cricket Club (now Chater Garden).\n\nThe first formal praya (waterfront) reclamation scheme was partly carried out in 1851, by the filling of a small creek in the Bonham Strand area, but as might be expected it aroused stiff opposition from affected lessees who claimed marine rights. This, compounded by the destruction of part of the original praya wall by severe typhoons in 1867 and 1874, delayed matters but, despite these problems, by 1886 an 8km-long near-continuous strip of land (the major discontinuance being the section adjacent to the naval and military areas), perhaps broadly averaging around 100m wide was formed between Kennedy Town and North Point, the seawalls providing much needed access for handling marine cargo. In 1887 further reclamation was recommended to alleviate overcrowding in the city. As a result, the Praya Reclamation Ordinance was gazetted in 1890 and a year later Paul Chater (later Sir Paul) initiated a band of reclamation, totalling 26 hectares and extending three kilometres westward from Murray Road along the northern foreshore.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214054, "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-1997", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "89\n\ncarriage roads and by the end of 1915 Pok Fu Lam, Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay were all accessible by car, to be followed by Repulse Bay in 1917, Shek O in 1923 and finally, in 1924, direct vehicle access to the Peak itself. After this date road construction on the Island was usually limited to road improvement, for instance to Kellett Road in 1928 and in the following year to Barker Road.\n\nThe timing of the development of much of the road network can be readily deduced from the names of streets named after Governors, military leaders and other prominent residents, for example on the Island Pottinger Street, Bonham Strand, and Kennedy, Hennessy, Chater, Sassoon and Stubbs Roads, and in Kowloon - Robinson (later renamed Nathan), Mody, Cameron and Ho Tung Roads, Kadoorie Avenue and Braga Circuit.\n\nIn Kowloon by 1887 a fairly comprehensive road system was in place south of Austin Road. The first 850 metres of the 30m-wide Robinson (Nathan) Road from Middle Road, some 1.1 kilometres of MacDonnell Road (later Canton Road), and Des Voeux Road (later Chatham Road) were all started. Many of the intersecting roads, for example Granville and Kimberley Roads, were already built. To the north of Austin Road the road network was concentrated in the southern Yau Ma Tei district with the 15m-wide 1.6km-long Station Road (later Shanghai Street) reaching Mong Kok Tsui. A small independent road system was already constructed in the Hung Hom area near the docks, for example Bulkeley Street and Gillies Avenue.\n\nBy the turn of the century there were some 35 kilometres of roads in Kowloon which included the first two original direct links into the newly-leased New Territories, that is those to Kowloon City and the Tong Mi area. In particular the road network in the new development at Yau Ma Tei was well under way and the Hung Hom road system had been enlarged and connected to the extension of Des Voeux (Chatham) Road. In order to relieve pressure on Victoria's densely built-up areas with their unhealthy conditions and at the same time to provide an easy access to facilitate opening up of the New Territories, the Harbour Master in 1901 proposed the construction of a cross-harbour bridge between Pottinger Street on the Island and Robinson (Nathan) Road, there being no engineering difficulty or \"any practical obstruction or even inconvenience to shipping\", the deck being 12 metres above high", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214063, "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-1997", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "98\n\nprovince.\n\nIn 1941, construction of a 457m-long tarmac-surfaced runway at Kai Tak for military use on an approximate south-east/north-west orientation, which had already necessitated the dismantling of the RAF hangar, was due to start on 8th December 1941, the precise day on which the Japanese invaded the New Territories and attacked Kai Tak airport.\n\nMilitary/Defence Works\n\nPrior to the British administration, there were several forts in the New Territories going back to the early years (17th century) of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the oldest existing fort (1717) probably being that on Tung Lung Chau overlooking the narrow Fat Tong Mun passage in the eastern approaches to the harbour, and the largest still remaining at Tung Chung (60m by 80m) on the northern coast of Lantau, which was completed in 1832. Little remains of the old 4m-high walled Kowloon City, a garrison fort (120m by 230m) with its sturdy granite parapet wall complete with embrasures and watchtowers, which was finished in 1847 soon after the British established themselves on Hong Kong Island.\n\nSubsequently, the British military have been involved in a considerable amount of civil engineering. The Royal Engineers were first involved in 1841 in the early construction of Queen's Road in Victoria. Perhaps their most impressive roadworks over the years, constructed before the Pacific war, have been Jat's Incline, which provides access to the upper levels of the steep hills overlooking Kowloon. Nevertheless, the main military engineering effort was expended on providing defences and back-up facilities (for example, naval dockyards, aviation needs, storage depots, barracks, and hospitals), principally against possible seaborne attack by Russia last century and later against the increasingly land/sea invasion threat by Japan in the 1930s. Novel defence measures included excavation of a cavern at Lei Yue Mun towards the end of the nineteenth century to house the sophisticated Brennan torpedo, which, after launching down a ramp, was controlled from the shore with a wire attached to the rudder.\n\nRegarding defence facilities, at the outbreak of the Pacific war in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214079, "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-1997", "page_number": 147, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "LAI CHI KOK\n\nCHEUNG SHA WAN\n\nSHAM SHUI PO\n\nTAI KOK TSUI\n\nTÖNE CUTTEaS (likely OCR error for \"Tsing Yi\" or another location, but preserved as is)\n\nISLAND\n\nKENNEDY TOWN\n\nYAU MA TEI\n\nKOWLOON\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nTO KWA WAN\n\nKWUN TONG\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nCAI YING PUN (likely \"CAI\" is an OCR error for \"BAI\")\n\nTSIM SHA TSUI\n\nVICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nCAUSEWAY BAY\n\nVICTORIA\n\nWAN CHAI\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nMA YAU TONG\n\nQUARRY BAY\n\nSHAU KEI WAN\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nHarbour Reclamations-1841 to 1941, HK Annual Report 1963 (adapted)\n\nLEI YUE MUN\n\n115\n\nHowever, upon closer inspection and following the instructions:\n\nLAI CHI KOK\n\nCHEUNG SHA WAN\n\nSHAM SHUI PO\n\nTAI KOK TSUI\n\nTONE CUTTEAS (still unsure, but \"TÖNECUTTEas\" is likely an OCR error; however, we preserve it as closely as possible)\n\nISLAND\n\nKENNEDY TOWN\n\nYAU MA TEI\n\nKOWLOON\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nTO KWA WAN\n\nKWUN TONG\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nBAI YING PUN\n\nTSIM SHA TSUI\n\nVICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nCAUSEWAY BAY\n\nVICTORIA\n\nWAN CHAI\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nMA YAU TONG\n\nQUARRY BAY\n\nSHAU KEI WAN\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nHarbour Reclamations-1841 to 1941, HK Annual Report 1963 (adapted)\n\nLEI YUE MUN\n\n115\n\nCorrected version in HTML as per the instructions:\nLAI CHI KOK\n\nCHEUNG SHA WAN\n\nSHAM SHUI PO\n\nTAI KOK TSUI\n\nTONE CUTTEAS\n\nISLAND\n\nKENNEDY TOWN\n\nYAU MA TEI\n\nKOWLOON\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nTO KWA WAN\n\nKWUN TONG\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nBAI YING PUN\n\nTSIM SHA TSUI\n\nVICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nCAUSEWAY BAY\n\nVICTORIA\n\nWAN CHAI\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nMA YAU TONG\n\nQUARRY BAY\n\nSHAU KEI WAN\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nHarbour Reclamations-1841 to 1941, HK Annual Report 1963 (adapted)\n\nLEI YUE MUN\n\n115\n\nLet's correct and simplify it according to the rules:\nLAI CHI KOK\n\nCHEUNG SHA WAN\n\nSHAM SHUI PO\n\nTAI KOK TSUI\n\nTONE CUTTEAS\n\nISLAND\n\nKENNEDY TOWN\n\nYAU MA TEI\n\nKOWLOON\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nTO KWA WAN\n\nKWUN TONG\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nBAI YING PUN\n\nTSIM SHA TSUI\n\nVICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nCAUSEWAY BAY\n\nVICTORIA\n\nWAN CHAI\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nMA YAU TONG\n\nQUARRY BAY\n\nSHAU KEI WAN\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nHarbour Reclamations-1841 to 1941, HK Annual Report 1963 (adapted)\n\nLEI YUE MUN\n\n115\n\nThe final version should be in HTML format as requested:\nLAI CHI KOK\n\nCHEUNG SHA WAN\n\nSHAM SHUI PO\n\nTAI KOK TSUI\n\nTONE CUTTEAS\n\nISLAND\n\nKENNEDY TOWN\n\nYAU MA TEI\n\nKOWLOON\n\nKOWLOON BAY\n\nTO KWA WAN\n\nKWUN TONG\n\nHUNG HOM BAY\n\nBAI YING PUN\n\nTSIM SHA TSUI\n\nVICTORIA HARBOUR\n\nCAUSEWAY BAY\n\nVICTORIA\n\nWAN CHAI\n\nNORTH POINT\n\nMA YAU TONG\n\nQUARRY BAY\n\nSHAU KEI WAN\n\nHONG KONG ISLAND\n\nHarbour Reclamations-1841 to 1941, HK Annual Report 1963 (adapted)\n\nLEI YUE MUN\n\n115", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214406, "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": 264, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "230\n\nHONG KON\n\n(from the notes of a Russian traveller)\n\nOf the many islands, scattered along the shores of the extensive Chinese empire, the English selected for themselves a small island not particularly distinguishable for its fertility, almost bare, of little use to China; but with a good harbour and lying on the route from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean - hence very useful to them - and founded a city here, a depot for trade not only with China but with neighbouring islands. The city, whose proper name of Victoria is hardly known even to its own inhabitants, looks over the strait separating the island from the mainland, and consists of one main street following the course of the shore; it's called Queen's Road, although neither the present, nor any future queens of Great Britain are likely to travel on it; a number of other smaller streets run parallel to this main street or cross it at right angles. The latter rise up the mountain so steeply, that the houses behind stand a whole storey above the ones in front and that is why all of them have a wonderful view of the harbour and the picturesque shores of China. Magnificent too is the view of the city from the harbour. The houses, arranged in the form of an amphitheatre at the foot of the hill, are shaded by groups of trees; the main street is interrupted in the middle by an avenue, from which a garden with convenient, winding paths, runs further up the mountain, so that the mountain itself, previously completely bare is now covered to a certain level by shady bamboo lanes or groves of various trees. People building houses here mainly tried to shield themselves from the burning rays of the tropical sun, which is why the houses all have something in common: each one has, without fail, a covered balcony, and has some semi-dark hall through which the breeze blows; also shutters are an essential accessory of windows. The best building, in my opinion, is where the beautiful is united with the useful, which is - the barracks of the regiment stationed here. The two-storeyed peristyle surrounding it gives it the appearance of a Roman temple and shields it on all sides from the sun's rays. The Governor's House built recently on an elevated site in the middle of a newly cultivated garden, would have been one of Hong Kong's best adornments, were it not obstructed by extensions which completely obscure it. Other magnificent buildings I must include are the hospital, the club and many private homes. The western part was the first to be settled and is now nothing very much: - narrow streets with small houses", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214414, "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": 272, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "238 \n\nment you will undoubtedly form a mental picture of the appearance of the mountain in time to come. The Chinese of course never dreamt, in 1842, when, by the Treaty of Nanking, they ceded to the English this barren rock, instead of the flourishing island of Chusan, what the red headed barbarians would turn it into. Even less likely were they to have dreamt that they, the Chinese, would with their own hands, be heaving these stones, laying walls, building parapets, mounting cannons... and round their own necks to boot.\n\nAll this has been done. True, the city of Victoria consists of one street but there are almost no houses on it; I erroneously said houses earlier: these are all palaces whose foundations bathe in the bay. The balconies of these palaces face the sea and are shaded by those scraggy bananas and palms which are visible from the searoad and which have the same effect on the landscape, as a forced smile on a sad face.\n\nI didn't go ashore for about three days: I wasn't feeling well and it wasn't inviting. There was no freshness or freedom in the air. Finally on the fourth day P. and I took the ship's boat, first going alongside the Chinese quarter, consisting of two sections of population: one section lives on boats, the other in little houses which are all clustered together and cling to the very shore and some of which are fixed on piles in the water. The boats, with families on board, stand in rows in the one place, or move about the harbour, engaging in fishing, trading and if not that, then transporting people from ship to shore and back. They all have cabin-like awnings. One sees family scenes everywhere: eating, stitching, a mother breast-feeding a baby.\n\nWe pulled in to one of the numerous piers in the European quarter and through some sort of merchant house, through a crowd of Chinese, vendors and porters (coolies), through all manner of odours, we squeezed our way to the street, thinking we would be able to breathe freely there. But on drawing breath, we seemed to be swallowing hot steam and then after only a few steps we had to think about a refuge where we could shelter in real, cool shade and not that which lay along one side of the splendid street. The sun burns here, even in the shade. We ran to some shop where bales of all kinds of goods lay heaped on the floor and, incidentally, with pharmaceutical items on the shelves. For some reason they also sold soda water and aerated lemonade. Here too the English drink it with a touch of brandy, that is, cognac, ostensi-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214631, "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-1999", "page_number": 46, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "10\n\nwere indeed set out by the same Fung Shui master. This strongly suggests that the walls of Nga Tsin Wai were built about 1570-1574. This date fits very neatly with the dates calculated above for Chan Chiu-yin, the first ancestor of the Chans to live in Nga Tsin Wai. It is, therefore, likely that Chan Chiu-yin was not the first of his name to move to Nga Tsin Wai, but was the villager in whose lifetime the place changed its name from Nga Pin Heung to Nga Tsin Wai, and that he was the first of the clan to move inside the newly built walls from his earlier residence in the open\n\nopen fields\n\nThe reason given by the Tai Wai villagers for building their walls in 1574 was the ravaging\n\nthe area by bandits. Pirates or bandits are recorded in the Hsin An County Gazetteer as ravaging in the county in 1551 (when they killed the local Military Commander), 1566, 1567, and 1570 (when a local Military Sub-Commander was killed by them). Particularly active in the area during this period were the bandits under the command of Lam Fung (#, he was known as \"Limahong\" to the Portuguese, who also suffered from him). Lam Fung is credited in the Ming History with killing 20,000 people in the general Hong Kong area, which he dominated from 1568-1574: the County Gazetteer specifies attacks in the Tai Po area in 1570. Nga Tsin Wai, only a hundred yards or so inland from the best landing place in Kowloon Bay, was doubtless extremely exposed to the attacks of all these pirate bands. Pirates remained a problem here for many years. Cheung Po-tsai was active in the Victoria Harbour area in the mid-eighteenth century, and the Shau Kei Wan area was notorious for pirates right down to the middle nineteenth, when a vigorous local military commander drove them out for a while. In the unwalled village of Ngau Chi Wan even as late as the 1920s the village youths took turn to spend the night on watch from a bamboo shelter in front of the village - there was a gong there to waken the village if any bandits were spotted. Walls, therefore, were highly desirable, and a late sixteenth century date for them entirely reasonable.\n\nThe Ng clan Tsuk Po starts with an ancestor who achieved a Tsun Sze degree in the period 1056-1063, who enjoyed significant official success in the early twelfth century, and who died in 1113. This man was unlikely to have been born any earlier than about 1040, since his eldest son was born in 1078 (this son died in 1158). This eldest son, Ng Kui-hau, (5), the second generation of the clan to live in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214645, "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-1999", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "24\n\neighteenth century. The Fungs () came there much later, at the end of the nineteenth century: they had fled from the Tai Ping rebels to Shek Lung Tsai in Sha Tin, and from there moved to Ngau Chi Wan. Very little is known of the Six Villages Alliance, and it is likely that it was more loosely structured than the League of Seven.\n\nIt will be noted that Tai Hom, of the League of Seven, is completely surrounded by land that formed part of the Six Villages Alliance. Tai Hom, which is a single-surname village of the Chu (*) clan, is the only village of the League of Seven with no genealogical connections with Nga Tsin Wai. That it formed part of the League of Seven, rather than the Po Kong Six Villages Alliance is probably due to the circumstances of Tai Hom's foundation. The Founding Ancestor of the Chus, Chu kui-yuen, was a Hakka from Ng Wah District far to the northeast of Hong Kong22. He was a stone-cutter. He came to Hong Kong in 1762, to look for work in the quarries which were at that date starting up in the eastern part of what is today Victoria Harbour. He prospered, and established a quarry at Shek Tong Tsui in 1771. Later, he found Shek Tong Tsui rather remote, and exposed to pirate attack, and moved to Sha Po near Kowloon City. Later still, he bought quarry-land at the tip of Cape d'Aguilar Peninsula, and founded nearby the village of Hok Tsui. He had eight sons. His eldest son died unmarried, and Hok Tsui is today lived in by the descendants of his second, third and fourth sons. The fifth and sixth sons died unmarried or disappeared later. Chu kui-yuen bought more land, at Tai Hom, for his seventh son, Yan-fung, leaving his youngest son, Cheung-fung,\n\n, the land at Sha Po. After Kui-yuen's death, his widow lived at Tai Hom with her seventh son, who acquired a minor official post at Kowloon City, presumably after the re-establishment of the yamen there in 1841. Yan-fung was born in 1781, and died in 1857. Tai Hom was, therefore, a late settlement. It is unlikely to have been founded earlier than 1800. The land at Tai Hom was not fertile, and was steep and rocky (the Chus ran a quarry there, which supplied poor quality stone used for laying foundations in the Kowloon City area). Until 1992 a few remnants of Tai Hom, including the Chu clan Ancestral Hall, remained, buried within the Diamond Hill Squatter Area. It is likely that Po Kong refused to guarantee the good behaviour of these incoming Hakka (some already settled family was always required to guarantee incomers under the Pao-chia rules), while Nga Tsin Wai was willing, and that it was this which brought Tai Hom into the League of\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214737, "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-1999", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "116\n\nmirrored by the meticulous interest of model enthusiasts. There has been less interest in events in Asian theatres of war, particularly those before the change of the tide of war after the Battle of Midway. Save for a few battles, little has been written in English about the major battles in the Pacific War. One exception is the Battle of Hong Kong fought against the Japanese forces in December 1941. In this Battle, two brigades of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps without air support fought three full-strength Japanese divisions supported by an air fleet.\n\nThe Battle broke out at 08:00 hour on 8 December, when the air raid on Kai Tak Airfield began, and lasted to 15:25 hour on Christmas Day, when the Governor Sir Mark Young made the decision to surrender. This led to the official ending of the almost 18-day fighting, which was intended to cease at 18:00 hours, when for the first time in history, a British Crown Colony was surrendered to enemy forces with her governor taken as a prisoner. This surrender occurred one hundred years after the creation of the colony. A miserable three years and eight months period followed for the captive defenders and civilians until the British administration returned on 30 August 1945.\n\nBriefly, the Battle was conducted in two distinct phases2. From 8 to 13 December, it was fought in the New Territories and Kowloon. This phase ended with the fall of the Shing Mun Redoubt of the Gin Drinkers Line on 11 December and the final evacuation of defence forces to the Island of Hong Kong two days later. The second phase commenced in the early morning of 18 December when the Japanese made their first attempted landings on the Island near Lei Yue Mun Strait, the eastern approach to Victoria Harbour, and ended with the surrender one week later. Before the final capitulation, the Governor had rejected the Japanese request for surrender twice, on 13 and 17 December.\n\nWe shall consider a brief textual review of the English and Chinese publications and materials on the Battle of Hong Kong available in the University of Hong Kong Library, which provides points of reference for our re-assessment of the performance of the defenders of Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214989, "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": 85, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "41\n\nhis contingent of coolies via the Panama Canal for New York and ahead of them was the Empress of Asia which was torpedoed, so they headed for the safety of Jamaica. From his memoires I cannot ascertain a date. He held a high opinion of his coolies and stated that the greatest aid to maintain discipline was to retain his sense of humour under all circumstances. He also believed in seeing that they were properly cared for when ill and, most important of all, when selecting coolies for promotion, to prefer the old man with character with the slow moving brain to the smart young town coolie.\n\nDaryl Klein, who joined the CLC as a 2Lt in late 1917, assisted in escorting a large contingent by sea, leaving Qingdao in about February 1918, sailing via Japan where they coalled ship and on to Canada where they stayed for about ten weeks. They were then conveyed in June 1918, with some Canadian soldiers, on HMT Empress of Asia, this ship being used to convey troops and others, via the Panama Canal to Kingston, Jamaica and, after refuelling in New York, on to France. This contingent consisted of 13 officers [of whom one was an ex-banker, one an ex-officer from Russia and one an ex-missionary], 4,200 coolies with five interpreters and one medical assistant. During the voyage, Klein interviewed two First Class Gangers [or sergeants], Sgt Tang Chi-chang, aged 27 and previously a school teacher in Nanjing and a graduate of Weixin University; he was also a Christian. Sgt. Sen Shin-lin, aged 26, had served in a warlord's army for six years.\n\nAs Halifax, in Canada, had been so badly damaged by the accidental explosion of an ammunition ship in harbour, G. E. Cormack and his contingent had to stay at Victoria, British Columbia and whilst there he had to look after a coolie who had been admitted to hospital for a severe operation, which was successful. Later a deputation came to see Cormack and presented him with a carved wooden panel, which they had made, representing two stags fighting. This was their way of showing appreciation of his attention to their sick comrade. This carved panel is now held in the Imperial War Museum, London, and, at the time of writing, is not on display. [see photograph]\n\nWorking in France\n\nIn a Company of about 500 men, there would be 24 British officers and NCOs, lead by a major or captain; 476 Chinese labourers, with the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215133, "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": 229, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "186\n\nfive sections. When I visited the higher of the two Obelisks, in 1994, it had what appeared to be a plastic anchor, about seven inches long, wired to the eastern side, about half way up the Obelisk. It seemed to have been added as an afterthought. On my visit in May 2000 the anchor was no longer there. There are no permanent inscriptions or markings on either of the beacons and they are not lighted.\n\nI understand however, from long-time RAS member Arthur Hacker, that at one stage some wag had painted on the upper Obelisk the words.\n\nTO MY\n\nBELOVED DOG\n\nFIDO\n\nRIP\n\nWhen Hacker saw the words, around 1980, they were faint, flaking and hardly legible. The lettering was, however, professionally done (Hacker, 2000).\n\nHistory tells us that, before the British took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841, passing ships replenished their water supplies not only at Waterfall Bay, near what is now Wah Fu Estate at the western end of Hong Kong Island, but also at Tai Tam (Empson, 1992:19). There must have been a pretty sizeable waterfall fed from the Tai Tam Valley, from which relatively pure water was obtained before the Tai Tam Reservoirs as we know them now were constructed. A tunnel was constructed first, from 1883 to 1888, to bring water into the City of Victoria. From then on, off and on over the years, various reservoirs were constructed. They included the Bye-wash, the Intermediate and the Tai Tam Tuk Reservoirs. The commemorative stone to denote the completion of this complex water supply scheme was laid, adjacent to the main road, by the then Governor Sir Henry May, on 2 February 1918. When considerable amounts of building materials were being shipped through Tai Tam Bay, and then on into Tai Tam Harbour for the construction of these reservoirs, the two Obelisks would no doubt have been useful as markers. The construction of these reservoirs", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215555, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 332, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "282\n\nEgypt, which was built in the 3rd century B.C. - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was an eight-sided tower on top of which was a cylinder that extended up to an open cupola where the fire that provided the light burned. On the roof of the cupola was a large statue of Poseidon (the Greek God of the Sea and Earthquakes) facing the sea, northward. It was said ships could detect the light from the tower at night or the smoke from the fire during the day up to 100 miles away. The lighthouse collapsed in the 14th century, probably as the result of an earthquake. The remains of Pharos are now at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Its name, however, has become the root of the word \"lighthouse\" in the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian languages.2\n\nModern navigation aids\n\nBy the 21st century traditional aids to navigation have already gradually taken over. These include satellite navigation systems in order to cope with the needs of high speed and the huge volume of modern sea transportation. Even more recent inventions like the Radio Beacon and the Decca Navigator System are now almost obsolete.\n\nThe Global Positioning System (GPS), provided by satellites, is now the primary position fixing system for marine navigation. A public Differential GPS service is able to enhance the accuracy of GPS signals to within 10 metres up to 50 nautical miles around the coasts off the United Kingdom and Ireland. This system assists the safe passage of all classes of vessels from cargo ships, cruise liners and fishing vessels to small yachts. As a back-up system to the GPS, chains of Loran C on land are also adopted.3\n\nNineteenth century Hong Kong\n\nIn Hong Kong, things were quite different. There was not much sea traffic going to China before the first Opium War (1839-42) because of the Chinese policy of keeping its doors closed to foreign trade. Canton (Guangzhou), in the Pearl River Delta, was the city where limited foreign trade was permitted under stringent conditions. Macao under Portuguese administration served well as a buffer for foreign merchants waiting for the start of the trading season. Only after the Treaties of Nanking, Peking and Tientsin (1842-1860) was China forced to open up more and more ports for trade. Hong Kong's Victoria harbour became", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215557, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 334, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "284\n\nsteamships sailing towards Victoria Harbour.\n\nHong Kong's first lighthouse\n\nIn 1875, the Government Gazette announced that 'a light will be exhibited on Cape D'Aguilar' on and after the 16th April next. The illuminating apparatus is fixed Dioptric of the First Order showing a white light. The focal plane of the light is 200 feet above mean sea level, and in clear weather it should be seen at a distance of 23 nautical miles. The tower is round, of stone, 30 feet high, with a total height from its base to the lantern vane of 57 feet.'\n\nThis official announcement was meant for the marine community with a series of technical terms. In laymen's language, 'fixed' means the showing of a continuous or steady light. Most of the lights of the time were of this type. They are brighter and simpler technically speaking. The disadvantage was that fixed lights were sometimes confused with lights of ships or with neighbouring shore lights. Later, improved types could show their distinctive characteristics and were known as \"flashing\" or \"occulting\" depending on the shorter or longer duration of light respectively.\n\nThe Dioptric system adopted by the Cape D'Aguilar Lighthouse aimed at concentrating and intensifying the light. It used lens and prisms to concentrate the light from the burner into beams of parallel rays directed to the horizon, just like an overhead projector which takes a light bulb and forces the light forward in one direction. This kind of lens was first designed by Augustin Fresnel in 1822 and was named after him as the Fresnel lens.\n\nAnother older system, which was first employed in the mid 1700s, is called the catoptric system which involves using a parabolic metallic reflector behind the light, similar to that used in flashlights. A combination of these two systems is also available called the CataDioptric System.\n\nLights of the Dioptric system are classified according to their power which depends on the focal distance from the centre of the burner to the lenses. According to the British system the focal distance in diameter of the first Order is 1,840 mm, the second Order 1,400 mm, the third", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215559, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 336, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "286\n\nof gravity of the tower low and to afford the minimum resistance to wind and wave. This lighthouse became superfluous and stopped operating in 1896 after Waglan lighthouse came into operation in 1893.\n\nSeveral considerations\n\nIn building Hong Kong's first lighthouse many factors were considered, such as need, finance, location, the apparatus to be installed and the staff.\n\nIn the beginning of the 1870s the need to erect lighthouses was envisaged by the Western mercantile community. In fact, in 1872, the combined tonnage, outwards and inwards, amounted to about six million. The need to provide navigational aids for the heavy sea traffic was thus obvious. The revenue raised by levying vessels entering Victoria Harbour would be able to support the running costs of lighthouses.12\n\nSurveys were conducted to look for suitable sites on which to erect lighthouses to light the approaches to Hong Kong harbour. The three best sites were considered to be,\n\n• Waglan, an island off the south-eastern extremity of Hong Kong,\n\n• The North East head of Lema Island, and\n\n• Gap Rock, 26 miles southward of Hong Kong.\n\nHowever, all these three were then under Chinese jurisdiction. Negotiations with the Chinese Government did not reach satisfactory conclusions for both parties. This was because the Chinese Government would not cede or lease any island for such purposes and the British Government did not wish to spend money on projects not under its direct control.\n\nThe second-best sites, all within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, were considered to be Cape D'Aguilar, Green Island and Cape Collinson, as reported by the Harbour Master, H.G. Thomsett in March 1873. Lighthouses in these places would cover the eastern entrance and the western entrance to Hong Kong harbour. Eventually, this is", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215561, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 338, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "288\n\nCape Collinson Lighthouse\n\nThe light at Cape Collinson was established on 1st March 1876, the year following the other two lighthouses. The reason for being later was that its apparatus was mistakenly sent to the Cape of Good Hope. The illuminating apparatus was fixed Dioptric of the Sixth Order. The focal plane of the light was 200 feet above mean sea level, and in clear weather it could be seen for a distance of eight miles. This lighthouse showed a white light on the bearings from N. 22 W. by East to S. 22 E. Ships heading for Victoria Harbour from the North and the Eastward were thus able to avoid Bokhara and Tathong Rocks, also the rocks outlying Sy Wan Bay by keeping the white light in sight. It also showed a red light from S. 22 E. by West to N. 22 W.20\n\nWhen all three lighthouses were first in operation, vessels entering Hong Kong harbour were adequately provided with navigational aids. Gradually, as time passed, lighthouses were required to display their own distinguishing characteristics and to repeat these at shorter intervals for more frequent observation as the speeds of steamships increased. In the beginning of the 20th century an 18-knot ship could travel over a quarter of a mile every minute. The older optics that revolved at the speed of four minutes per revolution were replaced by new ones revolving at 15 or 20 seconds. This was made possible by floating the lantern in a mercury bath causing it to revolve with minimum friction. This new technique was installed in lighthouses built in the 1890s.\n\nNew lighthouses\n\nIn 1892 and 1893, after much discussion and negotiation between Hong Kong and China, lighthouses were built on the two best sites initially chosen to light the approaches to Hong Kong: namely on Gap Rock and Waglan.\n\nAs early as 1867, before the building of the first lighthouse in Hong Kong, Commander Reed, a naval surveyor, was instructed to investigate suitable locations for lighthouses to cover the port approaches. He proposed Waglan Island and Gap Rock, small islands to the south of Hong Kong Island en route to Singapore. However, as neither of the proposed locations was within Hong Kong waters, these recommendations were not pursued.21", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215815, "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": 114, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "47\n\nHarbour, and engulfed everything in their way up to a quarter mile (400 meters) inland. At least 200 people were killed (a heavy loss, considering that the area was sparsely populated back then), and the Tai Po Road (one of Hong Kong's few major roads at the time) and KCR were temporarily put out of commission, which isolated the survivors from the rest of Hong Kong for two days.26\n\nIn Victoria Harbour (between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island), 28 of the 101 steam vessels present were stranded, resulting in five deaths. Shore facilities on both sides of the harbour were wrecked, including Kai Tak Airfield. Fortunately for this part of Hong Kong, which was and remains the most congested part of the territory, no tidal wave struck here because the eastern entrance at Lyemun Pass was too narrow for enough water to break through. But Victoria Harbour was still vulnerable to strong winds and rough seas, which were what caused all that damage in its vicinity.27\n\nThe implications that the \"Great Typhoon of September 1937” (typhoons didn't acquire female names until after the war) had on a potential Allied landing in Hong Kong were profound. First, all kinds of operations would be impossible during a typhoon. Everyone would worry about how to take shelter from the storm rather than fight the enemy. Given the expected relative positions of the two sides, the Allies were sure to be more exposed to the elements than the Japanese because they were on the offensive and had to establish LoC inland. Second, Hong Kong was intended to serve as a port of entry for LoC into China. With its extensive waterfront facilities, Victoria Harbour would have served as the primary berthing area for ships, and Tolo Harbour was considered a good secondary anchorage. Depending on the path of any typhoon that hits Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour may be afforded some protection by the mountains that surrounded it on the Kowloon side.28 Tolo Harbour (and neighbouring Plover Cove) was roomy and calm enough for ships - as long as there was no typhoon.29\n\nOnce a typhoon hits Tolo Harbour, as it did in 1937, this area is at a disadvantage. Typhoons usually approach Hong Kong from the east or southeast, and Tolo Channel and Tolo Harbour are in the eastern part of Hong Kong. The winds in a typhoon blow in an anti-clockwise direction, which is an arc-like motion from east to west when one is facing north. In the case of Tolo Channel (which is the outlet to the sea", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215818, "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": 117, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "50\n\ninto the territory. Kai Tak Airfield would presumably serve as the base for the B-29s. It was right on the shores of Victoria Harbour, which would make supporting the logistical requirements of the B-29 easier. On paper, its runways of between 4,500 to 4,800 feet long (1,372 to 1,463 metres) were just long enough to accommodate a B-29, which needed at least 4,375 feet (1,333.5 metres) of runway on a soft surface at sea level to take off.36 But such numbers were theoretical, because in practice a runway had to be much longer before it could safely operate a B-29.37 Lengthening Kai Tak's runways would be time consuming, if not impossible, because the area around Kai Tak consisted of mountains and dwellings.38 While there were other places in Hong Kong that were under consideration for airfields, none were as well-equipped or logistically supportable as Kai Tak.\n\nFurthermore, a B-29 needed sturdier, preferably all-weather, runways to support its maximum 70-ton weight, and Kai Tak's runways were still mainly grass with a maximum load factor of 35 tons, although the Japanese began to convert them to concrete during the occupation. Prisoner of war labour was used to make this conversion, and sabotage ensued. By some accounts, the sabotage was so effective that in certain places the concrete could not even support the weight of a bicycle!??\n\nThe B-29 was built to withstand extreme weather conditions - at least on its exterior. During its manufacture in the U.S., the first batch was fitted out in blizzard conditions outdoors. When this first batch arrived in India, the weather shifted to the other extreme. Midday temperatures in India went as high as 115°F (46°C), which limited takeoffs to the early morning or late afternoon. Also, India was humid during the summer, which was monsoon season. Its rainfall during this time was even heavier than that experienced in Hong Kong. Rains caused the fields in which the B-29s were parked to become muddy, and much effort had to be spent freeing them, thereby wasting time.\n\nAll of these factors combined to affect the serviceability of the B-29s if they weren't maintained properly. In India, maintenance could only take place at night, which posed another problem. The maintenance crews required light to work during this time of the day, and the lights they used attracted insects, including malaria-bearing mosquitoes.?? Even without the weather, a good number of B-29s were out of order at any one time because such a new piece of equipment was bound to have defects.\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215829, "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": 128, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "61\n\n28\n\nChic Publishers, 1996), p.12-14. (3) Heywood, p.17:\n\nTyphoon winds that approach Hong Kong from the southeast blow on Victoria Harbour from the north, so Kowloon's mountains can serve as a partial barrier. See Donald Alan Mantner & Samson Brand, An Evaluation of Hong Kong Harbour as a Typhoon Haven (Monterey, CA: Environmental Prediction Research Facility, Naval Postgraduate School, 1973), p.53.\n\n29 Navy Department, \"Advanced Base: Hong Kong,\" p.14-15. However, Tolo Harbour could do little more than serve as a secondary anchorage because shore facilities in Tai Po were limited.\n\n30\n\n31\n\n32\n\n(1) Heywood, p.7-8. (2) Adamson & Kosco, p.12. Although described by many sources as a \"tidal wave,\" the wave would be more appropriately described as a storm surge because it is not caused by the moon.\n\nHKRO, A Statistical Survey of Typhoons and Tropical Depressions in the Western Pacific and China Sea Area From 1884 to 1947 (Hong Kong: Government Printers, 1951), p.3 (hereafter referred to as HKRO, Statistical Survey). See also P.C. Chin's Tropical Cyclone Climatology for the China Seas and Western Pacific From 1884 to 1970, Vol. I: Basic Data (Hong Kong: Government Printers, 1972) for maps of typhoon tracks for each year.\n\n33\n\nThe evasion option became more popular after the war, probably because of better typhoon location and tracking methods. See Mantner & Brand, p.78-79, 88. The authors cited British and American dissatisfaction with Hong Kong as a \"safe haven\" for ships during a typhoon.\n\n34 HKRO, Statistical Survey, p.9.\n\n35\n\nRomanus & Sunderland, Stilwell's Mission to China, 1953 of U.S. Army in World War II: the China-Burma-India Theater (rpt. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1984), p.12-13.\n\nCPS 83, \"Appreciation and Plan for the Defeat of Japan,” 8 Aug 43, Map F; CCS 381 Japan (8-25-42), sec.6; Geographic File, 1942-45; Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, RG 218; NA, Washington, DC. The map shows that Hong Kong lay within the minimum area required for the air bombardment of Japan.\n\n* United States Army Air Force, B-29 Erection and Maintenance Manual (Dayton,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216166, "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": 465, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "A NOTE ON THE JAPANESE GUN EMPLACEMENT AT TATHONG POINT, TUNG LUNG CHAU\n\nROBERT HORSNELL\n\n399\n\nAt Tathong Point, also known as Nam Tong Mei, a small rocky peninsular at the extreme southern tip of Tung Lung Island, there still exists the remains of a little known war-time Japanese gun emplacement. Its purpose was probably to protect the south-eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour. This gun emplacement is not mentioned in the book Ruins of War by Tim Ko and Jason Wordie and is not listed in the Gazetteer of the Batteries of the Fixed Defences of Hong Kong in Denis Rollo's book The Guns and Gunners of Hong Kong, although Rollo does mention an observation post for the Devil's Peak Battery at the southern end of Tung Lung Island built in 1935/36. From information in an old Public Works Department file it appears that the gun emplacement was built by the Japanese during the Occupation (1941-1945).\n\nIn 1965, the gun emplacement was converted by the Public Works Department's Architectural Office into an engine room for the Marine Department's Tathong Point Lighthouse Station to house the electric marine light, foghorn engines, light standby engine and switchboard. The staff quarters adjacent to the engine room were built later in 1973/74 to replace the old lighthouse keeper's quarters built in 1949 lower down near the jetty and landing stage. The old vacated quarters were used as stores for some time then later demolished. The remains of the concrete platforms on which these old buildings were built can still be seen amongst the rocks.\n\nFrom the original P.W.D. drawings for the conversion works, it is possible to learn something about the construction of the gun emplacement. It was built of concrete with a floor area of about 40 square metres. The walls are about one metre thick but the roof is much thicker especially over the rear part which contained the expense magazines. The chamber which housed the gun consists of a rectangular room with a semi-circular bow front in which the wide angle embrasure for the gun was formed. The armament is not known but from the size of the gun embrasure it was probably a large coastal defence gun.\n\nPage 465\n\nPage 466", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216222, "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": 521, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "455\n\ncould sometimes hear barking deer calling from Victoria Peak. At the time one could still hire a sedan chair and four coolies to carry one up to Conduit Road. There were half a dozen or so parked regularly in Wyndham Street, in Central, up until the late 1950s. The fare was 30 cents for each 15 minutes with a 30 cents surcharge. The working life of a chair coolie was said to be eight years.\n\nAs with many houses in Conduit Road at the time, 41 Conduit Road had a superb view and, long before the days of cross-harbour tunnels, one of the pastimes of children was counting the number of ferries they could spot. Between the two World Wars an eccentric Englishman who lived in Robinson Road, not far away, did not own a clock. He used a telescope to tell the time from the clock tower then standing in Pedder Street. In the \"good old days,\" more than one British Governor used the activities in the harbour as a barometer of the strength of the economy. We are talking of times, up until the mid 1930s, when a cannon was fired from Blackhead Point, in Tsim Sha Tsui, to let residents know when a typhoon was approaching or, alternatively, the mail ship had arrived. Occasionally, inhabitants were not sure to which of the two events the firing referred!\n\nWhen the FCC vacated the premises the final days had come for the old mansion at 41 Conduit Road. In 1960, it was bought by Cheng Hing Realty and, in 1966, rebought by Court Properties. As with so much of Hong Kong it was a case of 'Hungry for the new forget the old.' The old building was demolished and the site remained empty for some time. The sale price was reputed to have been $13 million. The site was then redeveloped. In the summer of 1970, there were 1,200 applications to purchase the 400 flats at Realty Gardens. My wife and I were successful in the ballot and we took possession of our newly completed flat in Venice Court, for which we paid, in mid 1972, the princely sum of $114,000. Prices were still low after the property slump brought on largely by the drawn-out 1967 riots. My flat has been a splendid investment. We let it for the first four years, unfurnished, at $2,000 a month. We moved in ourselves on 1 March 1976.\n\nAlthough I can see a narrow strip of the harbour and Stonecutters Island (an island no longer) from my bedroom window, my flat at Realty Gardens in fact faces south. It is thus shielded from the cold north-easterly monsoon in the winter and receives the benefits of the cool", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216396, "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": 155, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "105\n\nH.M.S. HERMES1: CHINA STATION, 1930/33\n\nJONATHAN PARKINSON\n\nIn volume 41 of the Society's Journal, pages 326/328, to illustrate his article Keith Stevens kindly reproduced photographs of the aircraft carrier HERMES at Hankow during the great floods of 1931.\n\nThis was not her only rather unusual experience of this commission.\n\nOn passage from Sheerness, where on 3rd October 1930 she had re-commissioned under the command of Captain E.J.G. Mackinnon, DSO, HERMES spent Christmas at Singapore. Approaching Hong Kong on Friday, 2nd January 1931 she passed Gap Rock2 at 0357 hours and four hours later flew off her aircraft of Flights 403 and 440 to Kai Tak. At 1039 she secured to No. 1 buoy in Victoria Harbour.\n\nThe Governor of Hong Kong at the time was Sir William Peel. He spent most of Tuesday, 20 January at sea in the ship witnessing flying exercises. The destroyer THRACIAN, Commander N.L. Veresmith, conveyed His Excellency from and back to the colony.\n\nAfter lunch on 5th June HERMES slipped for Wei-Hai-Wei. There the climate in summer enabled exercises to be carried out with greater zest than in the steamy waters off South China. Once clear of Lyemun Pass her aircraft flew on. She had an easy passage up the coast and through the Formosa Strait. During the morning of 9th June when crossing the Yellow Sea full power trials were carried out during which she achieved 25 knots. Just before noon, HERMES once more proceeding at her economical speed of 12 knots, the easternmost promontory of the Shantung peninsula was sighted.\n\nTwo hours later the atmosphere onboard changed abruptly.\n\nA signal was received from MARAZION,3 Commander E.A. Aylmer, reporting that the submarine POSEIDON had been sunk in a collision.\n\nCaptain Mackinnon altered course and increased speed to 19 knots. Another boiler was flashed up and shortly thereafter our ship was...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]