[
    {
        "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": 211200,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1987",
        "page_number": 261,
        "title": "RAS-1987",
        "content_text": "236\n\nOne correspondent devoted his letter to reasons why the park scheme was useless. He explained that had he been at the meeting: \"I might have been tempted to abandon my customary reserve and lift up my voice to protest.\" As an alternative, he was presenting his views in the correspondence column.\n\nHe objected to labelling the scheme a park: “A park without trees is an anachronism.\" But given the fact that it would be a vast lawn where cricket, football, and tennis could be played, the question remained as to who would use it.\n\nIn the writer's opinion, \"not the gilded youth of our gay city,\" why travel to Happy Valley when the cricket ground (now Chater Park across from the Hilton Hotel) was within steps of their offices? Furthermore, next to the cricket ground at the seaside was the Victoria Recreation Club with a gymnasium, facilities for swimming and boating, and, perhaps the greatest competitor to Happy Valley, \"the seductions of the Boathouse bar.\"\n\nHe did concede that the ground at Happy Valley might be used for the occasional game of football, but otherwise it was not likely to pull sportsmen away from their more convenient facilities in Central. Otherwise, what one could expect to see at play in Happy Valley was \"a handful of European schoolboys and a few ragamuffins of the lower order of Chinese.”\n\nThe ground would hardly see the swirling skirts of females playing games. In the first place, a genteel lady would not disport herself on a public playing field. And in the second place, they had had since 1884 their own Recreation Club on the Peak Road as well as the lawns of their own homes for games of tennis and croquet.\n\nUse of the proposed park by Chinese could be ruled out because, in the opinion of the writer, \"they are not a playing people as playing people are known in the West.\" The sporting activity of Europeans appeared to the Chinese to be undignified and not in keeping with propriety.\n\nAnyone who would expect to find “young Chinese gentlemen",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522",
        "rank": 0
    }
]