[ { "id": 204366, "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-1961", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n130\n\nLACEY, J. A.\n\nLAI, T. C.\n\n-\n\nLANYON-ORGILL,\n\nDr. P. A.\n\nLAW Chung Kam ·\n\nLAWRY, R. E.\n\nLEE, Harold\n\nLEE, J. S.-\n\nLEE, The Hon. R. C.\n\nLIDDELL, Mrs. M. LINDSAY, Mrs. B. E. LINDSAY, T. J. -\n\nLIU, D. H.-\n\n-\n\nLIU, James J. Y. LIU. Dr. Tsun-Yan\n\nLLEWELLYN, J. LOBATO, Dr. P. G. LOTHROP, F. B. LUM, Miss Ada -\n\nMA Meng\n\nMcBAIN, E. B. McCOY, W. J. MCCRARY, M.\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K.\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n+\n\nDept. of Extra-Mural Studies, H.K.U.\n\n-\n\n-\n\n-\n\n·\n\n-\n\n·\n\n+\n\n·\n\n·\n\n-\n\nL\n\n1701 Beach Drive, Victoria, B.C., Canada.\n\nVictoria Heights, 43-A, Stubbs Rd. Flat\n\n1-A, H.K.\n\nThe British Council, 133 Gloucester Building, H.K.\n\n604 Edinburgh House, H.K.\n\n74 Kennedy Road, H.K.\n\nLee Hysan Estate Co. Ltd., 604 Edinburgh\n\nHouse, H.K.\n\n10-F Headland Road, H.K.\n\n364 The Peak, Severn Road, H.K.\n\nButterfield & Swire, H.K.\n\n1 Mercury Street, 1st fl., Causeway Bay, H.K.\n\nFlat 14, 16-18 Conduit Road, H.K.\n\n83 Sincere Terrace, Grd, fl., Tai Hang Rd.\n\nH.K.\n\nDept. of Geography & Geology, H.K.U.\n\nP.O. Box 144, Macau,\n\nPeabody Museum, Salem, Mass., U.S.A.\n\n142 Boundary Street, Kln.\n\nInstitute of Oriental Studies, H.K.U.\n\nGeo. McBain & Co., S.C.M.P. Building, H.K.\n\n·\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K,\n\n-\n\n25-A Robinson Road, Top fl., H.K.\n\nMcDOUALL, The Hon. J. C. S.C.A., Connaught Road C., H.K.\n\nMcGRATH, D. B.\n\nMACK, A. M. -\n\nMcKERNESS, Miss J.\n\nMANEELY, R. B.\n\n+\n\nT\n\nL\n\n+\n\nMARQUAND, R. A. -\n\nMARTIN,\n\nRev. Canon E. W. L.\n\nMELLOR, B.\n\nMILLER, P. M. -\n\nMOK Shu Wah\n\nMORGAN, L. G. MOU Jun Sun\n\nMOYLE, G. C. -\n\nNETHERCUT, R. D. - NEWBIGGING, D. K. NIXON, F. A. NG, Peter Y, L. ·\n\n-\n\n-\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K,\n\n-\n\n-\n\nH.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K.\n\n5 Magazine Gap Road, H.K.\n\nDept. of Anatomy, H.K.U.\n\n104 Paramount Apt., 2 Shan Kwong Rd.\n\nHappy Valley, H.K.\n\nSt. John's College, H.K.U.\n\nRegistrar, H.K.U.\n\nW\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K.\n\n+\n\n-\n\n-\n\n-\n\n21 Cochrane Street, 1st fl., H.K.\n\nColonial Secretariat H.K.\n\nDept. of History, New Asia College, 6 Farm\n\nRd., Kln,\n\nJardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., H.K.\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K.\n\nJardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., H.K.\n\nRoom 42, Hong Kong Club, H.K.\n\n+\n\nDept. of History, H.K.U.\n\nNOBLE, H.\n\n-\n\nYing Wah College, Bute Street, Kln.\n\nO'CONNELL, Miss S. -\n\n-\n\nU.S. Consulate-General, H.K.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205185, "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": 141, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "OLD BRITISH KOWLOON\n\n135\n\n24 With regard to the quantities of firewood brought on foot into Kowloon from as far afield as Sha Tin, see Sessional Papers 1903 p. 209 which list 66,521 loads of firewood, each estimated at 70 piculs (approx. 93 lbs.) as being carried over the hills in 1902. The Sham Shui Po Kaifong, through operating the Mo Tai (A†4) temple's public weighing scales, got its revenue from the vegetable and livestock market there. Much of the produce sold there crossed the harbour to Hong Kong. (See the Registrar General's Report for 1907 in Sessional Papers 1908, p. 194. Other information supplied by elders). I am also informed by Mr. WAI Tau Shue (b. 1885) that in his youth the Kowloon Lok Sin Tong levied a small weighing charge on each load of firewood sold in the Kowloon City market. In each case the proceeds were supposed to swell public funds for charitable work. For social advancement see the career of WONG Lan-shang described in this article.\n\n25 The Third or Kowloon Police Magistrate was not appointed until 1925 (Colonial Estimates 1924-1926). For an example of police assistance in an emergency see the press reports of the two big fires at Hung Hom village on 11 and 16 December 1884 (Hong Kong Daily Press).\n\n26 See Report from the Hong Kong Land Commission of 1886-87 on the History of the Sale, Tenure and Use of the Crown Land of the Colony published in Sessional Papers 1887 pp. XXVI-XXVII.\n\n27 Between 1853 and 1862 the Hong Kong government paid village elders as tepos (18) in an endeavour to enlist their services in the public interest. See G. B. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong 1841-1962, Hong Kong; University of Hong Kong Press, 1964, pp. 37-38. The Colonial Estimates for the period, under Registrar General's department, show that payment was not extended to the elders of the Kowloon villages acquired in 1860.\n\n28 Eitel, p. 160.\n\n29 See, for instance, pp. 8 and 9 and note 40 of my typescript article \"Some villages in the North Western Part of the Kowloon Peninsula in 1898” presented to the International Conference on Asian History held at the University of Hong Kong, August 30-September 5, 1964. See also note 37 below.\n\n30 The temple was re-erected in Shantung Street Kowloon in 1927 on a site provided by Government which also gave a grant of $6,000 towards the reconstruction. The rest of the money required for the new building was supplied by the Kwong Wah (Tung Wah group) Hospital, to whom the management of the temple was entrusted.\n\n31 Shui Yuet Kung (KA) is an alternative name for a Kwan Yin temple. See S. Wells Williams, Tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton Dialect, Canton; Office of the Chinese Repository, 1856, p. 650. See also E. T. C. Werner, A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology, New York; The Julian Press, 1961, pp. 225-227.\n\n32 See E. T. C. Werner, China of the Chinese, London; Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1920, pp. 196-197, and S. Wells Williams, Tonic Dictionary under p. 308 and p. 581 under A.\n\n33) E. J. Hardy, John Chinaman at Home, London; T. Fisher Unwin, 1905, p. 86. See also W. Stanton, The Chinese Drama, Hong Kong; Kelly & Walsh, 1899, pp. 5-6 for a brief description of the position in \"China and in the villages of Hong Kong\".\n\n34 Robert Morrison, A View of China for Philological Purposes. Macao; Hon. E. I. C. Press, 1817, p. 105.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205411, "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-1967", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "166\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nheld office for many years on the main advisory bodies representing the Chinese community in the Colony, including the District Watchmen's Committee, the Tung Wah Hospital Committee, the Chinese Public Dispensaries Committee and the Po Leung Kuk.15\n\nSir Show-son CHOW's son, Mr. CHOW Yat-kwong, J.P. has kindly given permission for members to visit the house in the New Village which contains the family's ancestral hall,\n\nIII. THE Hung Shing Temple And AP LEI CHAU\n\nThe Hung Shing Temple, The Hung Shing Temple at Ap Lei Chau, judging by the temple bell, dates from the 18th century.16 It appears to have been enlarged in 1847 and some wall-tablets show that it was given a major repair in 1888. The present building dates from that time or earlier. Its origin is uncertain because it is not clear who built it in the first instance. Records show that the Ap Li Chau land population was \"no more than two or three families of Hakka grass cutters\" before 1841, so that we must look elsewhere for the builders. It could have only been built and supported by the joint efforts of the local (i.e. Aberdeen) land people and boat population. The former only amounted to a few hundreds before the British came, but the boat population was probably as considerable before 1841 as after, e.g. 415 boats and 2,243 persons at the 1856 census18 and 424 boats and 4,130 persons in 1866.19\n\nThe temple is interesting in that it has old-style flagpoles still standing in front of the building. Old prints frequently show this kind of pole; but though a few bases can still be seen nowadays in Hong Kong, Macau and the New Territories these could be the only ones left with the poles and their basket-like tops still in place.\n\nAp Lei Chau before 1911. The present land settlement on Ap Lei Chau was founded in the early decades of British rule. By the mid-1860's there were 60 houses there, which implies that several hundred residents were living on the island at that time.20 By 1897 the number of residents was 1,123 rising to 1,437 at the Colony Census of 1911.21 This population gained its livelihood to a great extent from concerns directly associated with the fishing industry, such as boat-building yards, ship chandlers and rope and sail works, and from provision shops and general stores that also catered for the fishermen's daily needs.22 There was very", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205714, "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": 20, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "14\n\nT. C. CHENG\n\nAnother advance was made in 1904 when several prominent Chinese, led by Dr. Ho Kai and Mr. Chau Siu-ki (the late father of Sir Tsun-nin Chau), collected the necessary funds, and, also with a land grant from the London Missionary Society, started the Alice Memorial Maternity Hospital, the first maternity hospital in Hong Kong.\n\nIn 1907 when the Chinese started another hospital, along the lines of the Tung Wah Hospital, in Kowloon the Kwong Wah Hospital Dr. Ho Kai was the motivating force and he became the Chairman of the first Board of Directors of the new hospital. In this important venture, he had the staunch support of the Honourable Wei Yuk, his Chinese colleague in the Legislative Council, and Lau Chu-pak, both of whom served as directors of the first Board.\n\nHaving received a western education himself, Dr. Ho Kai was very keen to spread such education among the Chinese youth. Apart from being an active member of the governing body of Queen's College, he and other Chinese leaders, including Tso Seen-wan, founded St. Stephen's Boys College in 1902. In 1901 a number of leading Chinese, including Dr. Ho Kai and Mr. Tso Seen-wan, had submitted a petition to the Governor setting forth their view that a need had arisen for a Chinese High School run on western lines. The fees were to be sufficient to keep the school without cost to the Colony. In such a school the sons of influential Chinese parents could be trained for public service and be instructed in all that was best in both British and Chinese cultures. The scheme was approved in principle and the Church Missionary Society stepped in to help and established St. Stephen's Boys College on Bonham Road. In 1928 it moved to its present site in Stanley with extensive playing fields. It has catered to Chinese children from wealthy homes and has tried to establish something of the tradition of the English public school. It has since occupied a unique and important place in Hong Kong as an exempted and independent school.\n\nIn addition, Dr. Ho Kai was a very far-sighted land developer. Just before he died, he and Au Tak,13 a prominent merchant who was a director of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1908, formed the Kai Tak Land Development Company to plan the development of the area in the neighbourhood of the present Kai Tak Airport,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205716, "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": 22, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "16 \n\nT. C. CHENG \n\nDr. Ho died in September 1914 at the age of 55 leaving over ten sons and daughters by his second wife who was a Chinese. \n\nThe fourth Chinese to serve on the Legislative Council was Wei Yuk, son-in-law of Mr. Wong Shing. He had another name Wei Bo-shan17 and Po Shan Road is named after him. He was born in Hong Kong in 1849 of a wealthy family, his father, Wei Kwong, being compradore to the Hong Kong branch of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China (now the Mercantile Bank Ltd.). After many years of Chinese studies under private tutors, he entered the Government Central School. In 1867, at the age of 18, he proceeded to England to attend the Leicester Stoneygate School. In 1868 he went to Scotland and studied for four years at the Dollar Institution. After a European tour, he returned to Hong Kong in 1872 and then worked in China for a short period. When his father died in 1879 he succeeded him as compradore to the bank. He was a very public-spirited citizen, well-known for his charming manners and pleasant personality. In 1880 he was elected a director of the Tung Wah Hospital and in 1887 became its Chairman. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1883. \n\nWei Yuk's appointment to the Legislative Council was additional to and not in replacement of Ho Kai, and came about as follows. \n\nDuring 1894, the Governor, Sir William Robinson, forwarded to the Secretary of State a petition signed by the Honourable Messrs. Thomas Whitehead, Paul Chater, Ho Kai and other residents in the Colony, asking for unofficial membership in the Executive Council; \"free election of representatives of British nationality in the Legislative Council\"; \"a majority of such representatives in the Legislative Council\"; and freedom of the official members to vote according to their conscientious convictions.18 \n\nThe Secretary of State, Lord Ripon, criticized the petitioners' demands as lacking in clarity on the ground that the petitioners \"asked for the free election of representatives of British nationality without reference to the qualifications of the voters\". Thus if the petitioners intended that only those from the British Islands should vote and be eligible for election, this would exclude the Chinese who comprised nine-tenths of the entire population. He dismissed the claim to have a majority of elected representatives,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205719, "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": 25, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCILS\n\n19\n\nan outstanding job in these difficult times in enlightening the Chinese masses and in explaining to them the purpose of the Government measures. For these invaluable services he was later presented with a gold medal and a letter of thanks from the general public of Hong Kong.\n\nWei Yuk was also a far-sighted person, for it was he who first seriously pursued the idea of constructing a railway from Kowloon to Canton and thence to Peking. He spent large sums in furtherance of the scheme which failed, however, owing to the obstacles placed in its way by officials in China.21\n\nWei Yuk served on many Government and public committees. While not being noted for long speeches, he was always clear and precise in expressing his views and advice. He retired from public service in 1917 at the age of 68. For his invaluable services to the Colony, he was awarded the C.M.G. in 1908 and knighted in 1919. He died in 1922.\n\nWhen Sir Kai Ho Kai retired in February 1914, his place in the Legislative Council was filled by Lau Chu-pak, who was born in Hong Kong in 1866. He was a brilliant scholar at the Central School and in 1885 was the first boy to be awarded the Stewart Scholarship.22 After leaving the Central School, he was for a time chief clerk at the Hong Kong Observatory. Later he became a tea merchant and amassed a fortune. He was a generous benefactor of education and helped financially many poor children to complete their schooling. With Ho Fook, he was co-founder, in 1900, of the Chinese Merchants Bureau which was renamed in 1913 the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Before he was appointed to the Legislative Council, he was for many years an active member of the District Watch Force Committee, the Sanitary Board, the Board of Education and the Council of the University of Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk in 1903, a founder-director of the Kwong Wah Hospital in 1907 and Chairman of Tung Wah Hospital in 1909/1910. In January 1909 when a powerful committee was nominated, with the Governor Sir Frederick Lugard as Chairman, to raise funds to start the University of Hong Kong, Lau, Dr. Ho Kai and Wei Yuk were all members of the Committee.\n\nLau Chu-pak's concern in education was demonstrated in 1916 when he suggested, in a Legislative Council meeting, that the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206281, "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-1971", "page_number": 98, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "92\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nwhen tensions developed between the western powers and the Imperial Government of China. If they had not cut themselves off entirely from their place of origin but tried to keep up their relations with clan and family, they exposed themselves and their family to the charge of playing traitor to Chinese interests. However, their financial connections with foreigners pulled them to identify with the foreign cause. They usually tried to have it both ways, walking the thin line, but in periods of crisis they were forced into accommodation with the foreigners if they were to protect their financial investments.\n\nLi Leong, one of the brothers, died in 1864, leaving his property in a family trust, which was later divided into five shares. The leadership of the clan then devolved upon Li Sing, although many other members of the family are in the Hong Kong records — so many, in fact, that it is a difficult task to establish exact relationships. But it is the name of Li Sing which appears in the various lists until his death in 1900. He was one of three trustees who held title to the Queen's Road Temple in Wanchai in 1869. The same year he was one of the organizing members of the Tung Wah Hospital. Other members of the family have continued the tradition of Li Sing as community leader down to the present day.\n\nOne of the organizing directors of Tung Wah Hospital was Ng Yik Wan alias Ng Chan Yeung of the Fuk Lung opium firm. The founder of the family in Hong Kong was Ng Yü who first appears on the records in 1858 when the Fuk Lung opium shop was the successful bidder for the opium monopoly. He was secured by Loo Aqui who had held the monopoly in an earlier period. The Fuk Lung firm was made up of five members, all from the Tung Kwun District of Kwangtung. One of them was Shi Sing Kai, one of four named in a petition to Government in 1878 which resulted in the organization of the Po Leung Kuk. Ng Yü, the head of the Fuk Lung firm, died in 1870 leaving his property under the management of his son Ng Kai Kwong alias Ng Pat Shan alias Ng Po Leung who was the sole beneficiary of his father's estate. Ng Kai Kwong died in 1884 leaving three minor sons to inherit his property.\n\nAnother of the founding Directors of Tung Wah was the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206282, "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-1971", "page_number": 99, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\nTiuchau merchant, Ko Mun Wo\n\n93\n\nalias Ko Cho Heung\n\nof the Yuen Fat Hong. He was the founder of the firm which established itself in Hong Kong about 1858 and developed an extensive business in the importation of rice from Siam. It soon became one of the wealthiest Chinese firms. In 1881, Ko Mun Wo was the sixteenth highest rate payer, and when he died the year following, the value of his estate was estimated at $163,000. After his death the business was continued by his four sons.\n\nTang Pak Yeung\n\n16\n\nalias Tang Kam Chi was the youngest member of the first Tung Wah Hospital Committee. He was a merchant in the chartering firm of Kwong Lei Yuen. He had received an English language education. He was not a large property owner, nor does his name appear in other lists of the elite.\n\nTHE COMPRADORES GROUP\n\nThe compradores were an important new class which arose in the nineteenth century in the port cities of China. A recent study by Yen-p'ing Hao entitled The Comprador in Nineteenth Century China, Bridge between East and West (Cambridge, Mass., 1970) shows how influential this group became in providing capital for the introduction of modern forms of communication, industry, mining, banking and journalism in the late Ch'ing Dynasty. The origin of the compradore system is in the Co-Hong organization through which China channelled all trade with foreigners before the opening of the Treaty ports in 1843. The compradores were recruited from the Canton and Macao area. A large majority of the most influential compradore families were from the Heung Shan District near Macao. When the foreign firms came to Hong Kong they brought with them their compradores. As trade increased on the China coast, the compradores were provided with an opportunity to accumulate considerable capital. This they invested in real estate and in Chinese commercial firms.\n\nThe late Ch'ing Dynasty was often in financial difficulties. One method of raising income was through the sale of official degrees. The compradores and merchants of the port cities, who formed a newly-created bourgeois nouveau riche group within", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206286, "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-1971", "page_number": 103, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n97\n\nof attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.\n\nWe have mentioned Dent and Company (it failed in 1867) and Jardine, Matheson and Company as the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside Jardines. The Bank was organized in 1865, and as we might expect its first compradore, Lo Pak Sheung alias Lo Chung Kong, was on Tung Wah's organizing committee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son Lo Hok Pung (alias Lo Sau Ko)(44). Unfortunately, the son overcommitted himself in several speculative ventures, and not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a million dollars of the Bank's assets; at least that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for unwise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the _Uet Po_ newspaper in 1885. Within a year, this had been spent, and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping Chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.33\n\nIn the field of shipping, the P. and O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. They established a branch here in 1845. Their compradore was Kwok Acheong# alias Kwok Kam Cheung. The newspaper notice of his death states that he \"originally belonged to... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti....\"34 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers of Hong Kong, having organized a provisioning system for the Army and Navy at the time of the first Sino-British War. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. and O. Company disposed of their shipwright and engineering department in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s, which provided keen competition to the European-controlled", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206301, "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-1971", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "112\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nHe only appears once on our élite lists. In 1872 he was a member of the General Committee of Tung Wah Hospital. He was a member of the Masonic Order in Hong Kong. His first four children, a son and three daughters, were baptized at St. John's Cathedral, but his venture into the opium trade marked his departure from the Christian community. He later took on two concubines and was survived by six sons. His eldest son George Chan Su Kee was the first Chinese to be married in a civil ceremony at the Registry Office in Hong Kong.\n\nIn this group of Chinese who came under the influence of the missionaries, with the exception of Chan Tai Kwong, we find certain repeated patterns. They received an English language education at mission schools and their sons were usually educated abroad. Almost without exception they served a time as interpreters in the Hong Kong Government. Most of them were interested in journalism. The first four Chinese appointed to the Legislative Council were from this group, their service covering the years 1882 to 1914. They were either blood relations or intermarried, until their family structure forms a complex of inter-relationships. Several of them served the Chinese nation in high posts of responsibility. They were the most significant of the several groups that provided a Chinese élite in Hong Kong before the turn of the century.\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nWith the establishment of Tung Wah Hospital, the Hong Kong Chinese had a structure with which they could handle the problems that were peculiar to the Chinese community. They had also a representative élite leadership through whom they could make representation to government and to whom government, in turn, could turn for advice on problems affecting its relationship with the Chinese community. Although criticism arose concerning the operation of the Hospital Committee, charging it with exercising too much power and in effect forming an unofficial Chinese Legislative Council alongside the British administration, in general both parties - the Chinese community and the Government found the Hospital Committee representative of responsible leadership and hence a helpful bridge between the two groups. With the appointment of a Chinese member to the Legislative Council in 1880, Chinese leadership was in-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206304, "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-1971", "page_number": 121, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n115\n\n1864, at St. John's Cathedral, Hong Kong, there were two Chinese witnesses, Ho Tsun Shin (father of Ho Mooey) and Ng Akwong (presumed brother of Ng Achoy and the former student of the Presbyterian Mission School).44 See biographical notice written by Wu Ting Fang, The Daily Press, 28 Aug., 1905.\n\n45 Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and Western Cultures (Tokyo, 1963), pp. 49-50.\n\n46 The Daily Press, 2 Feb., 1874. A biographical notice of Wang Tao appears in A. W. Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (Washington, DC., 1943), p. 836.\n\n47 The Daily Press, 20 Feb., 1864.\n\n48 Wah Tsz Yat Po, 7 Aug., 1902. Details of the life of Wong Shing are from various references to his activities in the reports of missionaries in the Archives of the London Missionary Society.\n\n49 For a biographical account of Leung Tsun Tak see my article “Commissioner Lin's Translators”, The Chung Chi Bulletin, No. 42 (June, 1967), pp. 32-35.\n\n50 For a more extended biographical account of Wei Akwong see my article “An Early Hong Kong Success Story: Wei Akwong, the Beggar Boy”, The Chung Chi Bulletin, No. 45 (Dec., 1968), pp. 9-14.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206325, "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-1971", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "136 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\ncensus 13 of the 76 Chinese enumerators were district watchmen; in the 1901 census 5 out of 107 were. In the 1906 census the 120 enumerators were shown round the blocks (census sub-divisions) by district watchmen. They also gave help in the 1911 census, and in the 1921 one the bulk of the force was placed at the disposal of the commissioner of census, who wrote 'each Chinese watchman engaged was in charge of two sections; they helped clear up misunderstandings and kept a check on enumerators'. The Committee was thanked on many occasions by government for its public service; it was praised for the help it rendered to the police during the riots which occurred in 1894 during the great epidemic of plague. The Committee did all it could to help its sister organizations the Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk. Thus district watchmen were always employed on special duties at the Tung Wah Hospital during outbreaks of plague and the Chinese Public Dispensary Committee used Watchmen to prevent the dumping of bodies in the streets. The Po Leung Kuk's two principal detectives were serving district watchmen at the turn of the century. Co-operation was easy because most members of the District Watch Committee had served or were serving on the committees of the Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk. In 1895 head district watchmen were paid $240 a year, assistant head district watchmen $180 and watchmen from $84 to $96. \n\n18 For examples of police corruption in nineteenth century Hong Kong see numerous references in Norton-Kyshe, op. cit. \n\n19 After a distinguished academic career at Edinburgh University, J. H. Stewart Lockhart became a Hong Kong Cadet in 1878; Registrar General in 1887; Colonial Secretary in 1895. In 1902 he was appointed first Civil Commissioner of Weihaiwei and retired from this post in 1921. Among his numerous publications there are several of sinological value. See particularly: 'Contributions to the Folklore of China', China Review, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 352-353 and vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 37-39; also 'Some Chinese Folk-lore', Folk-lore, vol. 14, 1903, pp. 292-298. Lockhart was local secretary in Hong Kong of the International Folk-lore Society. \n\n20 In 1892 new rules were drawn up under Ordinance No. 13 of 1888, with the advice of the Committee, for the regulation and guidance of the watchmen. 'Copies of these rules have been distributed among the contributors of the District Watchmen's Fund, by whom more interest seems to be evinced in and more assistance asked from the force than formerly': See Report of the Registrar General for 1892. Lockhart also persuaded two Chinese newspapers—the Tsun Wan Yat Po and the Wai San Yat Po—to publish weekly lists of cases brought before the magistrate by the District watchmen for the information of subscribers to the District Watchmen's Fund. Lockhart realised that publicity was good for the Committee: he saw that they got it. The report of the Registrar General/Secretary for Chinese Affairs always contained a section on the District Watch and news about members was given: deaths, resignations, appointments, etc. \n\n21 Wei Yuk (1849-1921) was the son of Wei Kwong, compradore to the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China. He was educated at the Government Central School in Hong Kong and in 1867, at the age of 18, became a pupil at the Leicester Stoneygate School and in 1868 of the Dollar Institution, Scotland. He returned to Hong Kong in 1872 to become assistant compradore in the Chartered Mercantile Bank. He succeeded his father on the latter's death in 1879. Wei Yuk married the eldest daughter of Wong Shing (Huang Shêng). He was the fourth Chinese to be appointed to the Legislative Council, the other three being Ng Choy (Wu Ting-fang), Wong Shing and Ho Kai. He was knighted in 1919. During his public career he served on all the commissions appointed by government to inquire into matters affecting the Chinese. Ho Fook (1863-1926) was the younger half-brother of Sir Robert Ho Tung, reputed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206407, "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-1971", "page_number": 224, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "198\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nROPE-MAKING AND DYEING/\n\nCALENDERING ON AP LEI CHAU, HONG KONG\n\nEditor's note. The following Note describes a visit to Ap Lei Chau in March, 1971 with several members of the Ap Lei Chau Kaifong, namely Messrs. Tam Wah, Tam Keng-fat and Yue Yiu-wah.\n\nWe first visited the shop, Kwong Po Wah (**), at 141 Main Street where Mr. Yue's father, Yue Kou, aged 73 and born on Ap Lei Chau, was waiting for us. Pre-war, Mr. Yue had operated a dyeing manufactory whilst his elder brother, Yue Yip, had operated a rope manufactory.\n\nMr. Yue explained to us how the glazing or calendering part of the dyeing was carried out. The only visible sign of this activity was a large cut-granite slab. (See Fig. 1).* This had been the top part of the equipment. It had been obtained from Kowloon City, where there were many dyers and had been brought by boat and then carried by four coolies to his shop. The lower part, now destroyed, consisted of a wooden block of lai chee wood and a wooden roller of the same wood. (See Fig 1). The cloth, measuring two or three (up to 30 feet) in length and 2.4 ft in breadth was wound round the roller. A man stood with a foot on each end of the granite block and, holding on to a specially made wooden frame with his hands, moved it over the roller.\n\nMr. Yue had not learned this trade from his father but from a partner whom he had financed. They did not buy cloth to sell retail but operated whenever persons brought white cloth to them for dyeing. At that time it was customary to dye dark blue or black. This was a part-time activity, and Mr. Yue supplemented it by rearing pigs and chickens and cultivating fruit trees.\n\nHis elder brother, Yue Yip, had been a rope-maker at a long level platform behind and above the shop, Kwong Po Wah. This space, known as Ta Lam Lo (T), is now occupied by squatter huts. The area was long and wide enough to provide a working space 300 feet by 15 feet. One-sixth of it had a thatch made of palm leaves (). This was to provide cover for storage of materials and completed goods.\n\nRope-making was of two kinds: using mit lam (*) for the trawling ropes of trawlers and wong ma lam (*) in com-\n\n* On p. 197.\n\n† Ap Lei Chau with Aberdeen has always been a home base for a fishing fleet.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207104, "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": 175, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES\n\n169\n\nSouth and North of this country; later, when the number of descendants became very many, we lived apart in the two waais T'aai Hong and Kat Hing; round both of these waais were built tall walls and deep ditches were dug round them. We think that the idea of doing this by our ancestors, was to protect our houses and guard them against robbers only. When during the 25th year of Kwong Sui of Ts'ing dynasty, on Kei Hoi year, i.e. A.D. 1899, the Government of Ts'ing leased the South part of Sham Chan to the British Government, in that time, the Ts'ing Government did not inform the people of this beforehand, so when the British army arrived, the ignorant people of the country were inflamed by some persons and arose to resist them, the people of our waais being afraid to be disturbed, in order to avoid them they shut the iron gates firmly. The British army suspecting that bad characters were hiding inside, then assaulted and made the gates open. After they went into the Waai, they understood that the people inside were all good men and women, so did not give them any bad treatment, but just had the iron gates taken away. Now, the 26th descendant, Paak Kau, represented the people of these waais to petition the Hong Kong Government, asking the Government to bring the matter before London, and have the iron gates returned, and re-hung as before. All the expenses were paid by the Hong Kong Government. We also thank H.E. the Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs for his presence at the ceremony; from this can be seen the deep kindness and great virtue of the British Government, and shows that our people are pleased and sincerely submitted, therefore we specially carve the above on the tablet, in order to remember and never forget this kindness.\n\nGreat Britain, May, 26th, 1925\n\nChinese Republic 14th year, on Yuet Hoi year the \"yuen\" 4th month, 5th, the lucky day.\n\nwe carved.'\n\nAnother ancient wall in the South district is Naam T'eng (†4) where the silver came to and where Tang Naam had his house. It is to be found to the South of Kat Hing Wai, but no houses are left inside. The North district, Pak Wai, has two villages, Shui T'au (\"The head of the stream\") and Shui Mei ( ) “the end of the stream,\" Tang K'ei Fong ( ) and Tang K'ei Wah ( ) both from T'aai Hong Tsuen were the first persons who lived in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207134, "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": 205, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n199 \n\norder to re-grant the area to the individual section holders. The Governor in Council cancelled the re-entry respecting the Temple site in 1928, and a new lease as Inland Lot 2705 was obtained by the parties who had purchased it in 1923. This time they were designated as trustees for the Kwong Yut Tong (...). Of these trustees, Ng Tsz Mei about 1930 is listed as head of a construction company; and Ng Wah, head of the Sang Tai firm, died in 1950.” \n\nThe Lo Pan Temple \n\nThis is, to my knowledge, the only temple erected to Lo Pan, the God of Carpenters, in Hong Kong. It is, suitably, a fine temple, and still in the ownership of the Kwong Yut Tong or 'Hall (Association) of Extended Gratification'. This clearly takes a close interest in its upkeep and is responsible for the annual ceremonies on the birthday of the saint which falls on the 13th day of the 6th moon each year. \n\nThe Kwong Yut Tong of Hong Kong was incorporated under the Companies Ordinance on 14th September 1962. Among the objects listed in its Memorandum of Association are the following— \n\n(a) To take over the management, assets and liabilities of the unincorporated association known as the Kwong Yut Tong of Hong Kong. \n\n(b) To commemorate our great teacher Lo Pan and to bring \n\nto light his teachings and to improve building business. \n\n[In one breath!] \n\n(c) A clause to the effect that the company will deal with all the property of the association, including sale, except Nos. 15-16 Ching Lin Terrace, named the \"Lo Pan Sin Shih Memorial Hall and Public Office\" which shall not be sold or mortgaged. \n\n(d) To explain and expand the Building Ordinance and Regulations of the Colony for the information of the members of the Association. \n\nAll the office bearers at the time of the incorporation and since have been building contractors or persons connected with the trade. \n\nFortunately for historians and other interested parties, the temple is full of tablets commemorating its origins and later repairs. Among these, the earliest dated the year of Kuang Hsu (1884-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207889, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1976", "page_number": 277, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\nVISIT TO TUNG WAH GROUP OF HOSPITALS' MUSEUM,\n\n2ND OCTOBER, 1976\n\nThe Tung Wah Group of Hospitals is one of Hong Kong's leading Chinese voluntary bodies. The Hospital was established in 1870. Its services then comprised medical, social and educational work that has been continued and extended to the present day,\n\nThe Tung Wah Museum contains an excellent collection of materials and is well worth a visit. It is located in the Old Hall of the Kwong Wah Hospital, Kowloon, established between 1908-11, which itself is an interesting and historic building.\n\nThe visit to the Museum was made by courtesy of the Chairman of the Board of Directors 1976-77, to whom the Society is indebted. For Members' guidance, the exhibits in the Museum may be listed as: --\n\n(a) Presentation and Commemorative Boards (horizontal)\n(b) Presentation and Commemorative Boards (vertical)\n(c) Furniture\n\n(d) Books and Other Records pertaining to the Hospital\n(e) Photographs of past Tung Wah events\n\n(A) Other presentation items.\n\nItem (a), of which there are many examples, are all donated; some by previous directors or by senior officials and associations in China in appreciation of charitable work carried out by Tung Wah e.g. raising money for flood and famine relief.\n\nItem (b), also well-represented, usually includes presentations by directors or leading citizens of Hong Kong at the time of the establishment of, or major repairs to, the various Tung Wah buildings. They include presentations by other community organizations, like the Kaifongs of Hung Hom and Yaumati, also in Kowloon.\n\nItems (a) and (b) are always dated.\n\nItem (c) comprises furniture presented at times of building or major renovation, which again carry names and dates.\n\nItem (d) includes the early reports of the Hospital in English/Chinese over the past 100 years, and there are other valuable", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207896, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1976", "page_number": 284, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n269 \n\nthe overlapping of Committee members for the two institutions. By 1908 eight such schools attached to temples were managed by the Hospital Committee. When in that year the Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council vesting the property of the Man Mo Temple in the Tung Wah Hospital, the schools became a legally recognized part of the Hospital's activity and responsibility. \n\nAfter the establishment of Kwong Wah Hospital it likewise assumed charge of the school attached to the Tin Hau Temple on the Public Square at Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. \n\nAll of these schools were free schools for the poor. They provided a traditional Chinese basic primary education. With the gradual introduction of modern educational methods and text books into China, the schools operated by Tung Wah also changed, and eventually middle school education was offered. Tung Wah's contribution to education merits detailed study since it will shed useful light on the general history of education in Hong Kong. \n\nReligious aspects of Tung Wah \n\nFrom its foundation Tung Wah explicitly stated that it was not a religious institution, but on the other hand it had its religious aspect. This is in keeping with the fact that most areas of Chinese life are reinforced by some kind of transcendent authority. Or as it is expressed in the General Rules of the Hospital, \"Chinese in their custom generally respect spirits\". The Rules then proceed to state that patients expect the protection of spirits, and that hospital servants are made dutiful through fear of the spirits. \n\nMost trade and business guilds have a patron deity. As a medical institution Tung Wah gave place of honour to the patron of medicine. To honour him the Regulations of the Hospital contained the following provision: \n\n+ \n\nNo image \n\nAll members of all ranks in the Hospital shall be present in the Grand Hall between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on the 1st and 15th day of each month to worship the Patron Saint (Shen Nung), so as to show that they are pure, upright and honest. An image of him will be kept, and we shall only write and post up his title to show that we respect him as if he were there.* The meeting Hall of the Hospital was built along the traditional lines of a Chinese Temple, as witness the building we are visiting today. There was a central hall containing an altar table with \n\n* One Hundred Years of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals 1870-1970, Vol. 1, p.12, Rules 11 and 12.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208768, "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-1979", "page_number": 225, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "198\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\n* The evacuation of the South-east coast of China was carried out from the 1st year to the 7th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1662-1668). It was because of the disturbances of pirates and the followers of Koxinga (Cheng Shing-kung) along the coasts of Kwangtung and Fukien. The disturbances were so large that the Ch'ing Army could not stop them. The government evacuated fifty li from the coast. The lands were abandoned in order that the pirates and the followers of Koxinga could not obtain supplies from them. (see my article: \"The Chow Wang Yi Kung Chi of Kam Tin\", published in the Wah Kiu Man Fa of Wah Kiu Yat Po for 13th September 1976 綿田之周王二公祠,原载1976年9月13日華僑日報文化版)\n\n+\n\n* In the O Mun Kei Leuk ME 1800 edition, it was recorded, \"During the 7th year of Yung Cheng reign, there were forts erected on the two hills. This strengthened the guards of the Tai Yue Shan Shuen”. The Tai Yue Shan Shuen was probably at the place of Tai O today. The forts on the \"two hills\" are most likely to be the Kai Yik Fort on its south-west and Tung Chung Fort on its east. This shows that the Fan Lau Fort was probably rebuilt and refortified in the 7th year of the Yung Ching reign.\n\n19 See my article: \"A Short History of the Pirates of Hong Kong before 1842\", published in Volume 8, No. 4 of the Kwong Tung Man Hin 廣東文献(1979).\n\n11 see Chapter 13 of San On Yuen Chi\n\nChapter 81 of Kwong Chow Fu Chi A\n\n**** 1819 edition and\n\n1879 edition.\n\n12 Chapter 12 of San On Yuen Chi (1819) stated, \"During the K'ang Hsi reign, it was because of robbery and piracy along the south-east coast that the Ch'ing government evacuated the coastal regions. Later, with the surrender of the pirates, the Ch'ing government extended the coastal boundary. More forts and guard-stations were set up. Those of outstanding importance were the Kai Yik Fort on Lantau Island, the Nam Tau Fort, and the Chik Wan Fort.\" The book was written in 1819, and the famous pirate Cheung Po-tsai had surrendered in 1810. This shows that the fort was again under the control of the Ch'ing government after 1810.\n\n14 1a Chapter 130 of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi 4 1822 edition recorded, \"Tai U Shan, an island which lay in the midst of the sea, was a place where foreign ships anchored. There were only two inlets for the anchoring of these ships: they were at Tai O and Tung Chung. At that time, Tai O was guarded by a garrison of thirteen men. There was already the Kai Yik Fort under a Tsin Tsung (lieutenant) of the Tai Pang Battalion.\" The book was published in 1822. This proves that before 1822, there was the Kai Yik Fort guarding the south-west tip of Lantau Island.\n\n14 see Armando M. De Silva's article, op. cit.\n\n15 also called Tung Chung Hau in the past.\n\n10 To the south-east of the valley is the Sunset Peak (Tai Tung Shan 大東山); the Lantau Peak (Fung Wang Shan 凤凰山) lies to the south-west.\n\n17 Sheung Ling Pei Village is one of the largest villages in the Tung Chung Valley. It is situated to the east of the Tung Chung Walled City.\n\n18 Ha Ling Pei Village, an adjacent village to Sheung Ling Pei Village, is situated to the west of the Tung Chung Walled City.\n\n19 See my article: \"Distribution of Forts and Guard-stations on Lantau Island during the Late Ch'ing period\", JHKBRAS vol. 18: 1978.\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208786, "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-1979", "page_number": 243, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "216\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nIn the event, it was decided to wait until after the villagers were able to move to the new houses being constructed as a replacement of the existing village. These were due for completion in March 1979. Accordingly the de-vegetation and site formation works have been scheduled to begin thereafter.\n\nMarch 1979\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nTHE NAM PAK HONG (南北行) COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION OF HONG KONG\n\nThis history of the Nam Pak Hong Association, which appears to have been prepared by one of its leaders in the 1960s, is included with the consent of the Association. The translation was made available by the courtesy of the Director of Home Affairs.\n\nForeword\n\nThe Association was established in 1868 (i.e. the 7th year of the reign of Tung Ch'ih in the Ch'ing dynasty). In its early years, it was well managed by capable office-bearers, thus safeguarding the interests of our trade and members. Later, owing to change of circumstances, the senility and death of many able office-bearers without suitable successors, the Association's affairs got into a mess. By 1920, there remained only seven members, who were divided in action; nor did they maintain close contact. The situation further deteriorated by 1940.\n\nOn 6.10.41 Mr. Tong Ping-tat, Manager of the member firm, the Nam Tai Hong Co. Ltd., convened a meeting of over a score of members, including the Wah On Hong, the Yuen Lee Hong, the San Fung Hong, the Kin Tye Lung, the Wah Fung Hong, the Hau Tak Hong, the Yue Wo Loong, the Wing Hing Hong and the Kwong Sun Hong Ltd., to discuss the promotion of the Association's functions and the enlistment of more members. It was not until several such meetings were held and sub-committees formed, that the Association's functions were gradually restored.\n\nDuring the Japanese occupation which began on 25 December 1941 the Association did not cease functioning; its membership was then increased to 21 firms.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208787, "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-1979", "page_number": 244, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "4\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nWork of the Association in its early years\n\n217\n\nSoon after the port of Hong Kong was opened [again] in the last year of the reign of Hsien Feng in the Ch'ing dynasty (1860-61), there used to be a Nam Pak Hong Street (later renamed Bonham Strand West). At this favourable location our predecessors set up firms dealing in native products from south and north China. The following firms were among those then established one after another: the Kwong Mau Tai Hong and the Woo Kee Hong of Mr. Chiu Yue-tin, a celebrity of Kwangtung origin, the Hau Fung Hong of Mr. Lo Chor-san, the Hop Hing Hong of Mr. Lau Lo-tak, the Siu Fung Hong of Messrs. Fung Ping-shan and Kwong Tsz-ming, the Kwan Mau Hong (in Wing Lok Street West) of Mr. Li Sau-hin, the Wah On Hong of Mr. Chan Yue-fan, the Yue Wo Loong of Mr. Chan Sik-nin, the Yuen Fat Hong of Messrs. Ko Mun-wah and Chan Chun-chuen, celebrities of Chiu Chau origin, the Yuen Sing Fat Hong, the Kam Yue Fung Hong and the Kam Sing Lee Hong of Mr. Choi Si-kit, the Yue Tak Sing Hong and the Kwong Tak Fat Hong of Mr. Chan Tin-san, the Kin Tye Lung of Messrs. Chan Wun-wing and Chan Tsz-tan, the Ng Yuen Hing Hong of Mr. Ng Lei-hing, a celebrity of Fukien origin, the Chui Tak Loong Hong of Messrs. Wu Ting-sam and Wong Ting-ming, the Hau Tak Hong of Mr. Kwok Yim-sing and his brother(s), the Yi Tai Hong and the Lee Yuen Cheung Hong of a business group of Shantung origin. With the exception of Messrs. Chan Yue-fan, Chan Sik-nin and Kwok Yin-sing, all the aforesaid gentlemen have now deceased.\n\nIn 1868, with the concerted initiative and efforts of the said Messrs. Chiu Yue-tin, Chan Chun-chuen, Fung Ping-shan, Choi Kit-si, Chan Tin-sau and Wu Ting-sam, the Nam Pak Hong Association was founded in Bonham Strand West near its junctions with Wing Lok Street and Queen's Road. Then the objectives of the Association were to promote members' welfare and market prosperity, to assist the police in the maintenance of law and order in the neighbourhood and to formulate plans for the prevention of fires and alleviation of disasters. On the first floor of the Association building was the office, where regulations and business rules of the Association were decided, Directors and Managers of the Association mutually elected, and monthly meetings held. For the first term, the Chairman of the Board of Directors was Mr. Chiu Yue-tin and the Manager was Mr. Lau Lo-tak. The latter mana-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209008, "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": 170, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "138\n\n7. Sha Lo Wan\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nBuilt in 1774, repaired in 1852, 1925* and 1975*. Bell 1774.\n\n8. Tung Chung-inside the Fort but now ruined. No information.\n\nKwan Tai Temple\n\n—\n\n1. Mu Wo (Man Wu Temple) Built in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1901 and 1960*. Bell 1961\n\n2. Lo Wai, Pui O— no longer in existence No information.\n\n3. Tong Fuk - No information. No bell.\n\n4. Tai O Market\n\nKwun Yam Temple\n\nBuilt in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1741, 1835, 1852*, 1903*, 1959* and 1975*. Bell 1741.\n\n1. Fan Lau- ruined, no information.\n\n2. Tsin Yu Wan near Yi O — ruined, no information.\n\n3. Keung Shan\n\nBuilt in 1910, repaired in 1964 and 1970. Bell 1756, was originally in one of the Pak Tai temples in Kowloon.\n\nHau Wong Temple 侯王廟\n\n1. Shek Pik-Inundated by Shek Pik Reservoir in 1960.\n\n2. Po Chue Tam, Tai O - Built in 1699, repaired in 1877* and 1966*. No bell.\n\n3. Tung Chung-Built in 1765, repaired in 1878, 1910*, 1962* and 1978. Bell 1765\n\nWah Kwong Temple\n\nHang Mei, Tai O — Built in the Ch'ing Dynasty, repaired in 1896, 1954 and 1973. No bell,\n\nSaam Shan Kwok Wong Temple\n\nSan Shek Wan\n\nYuen Tan Temple\n\nNo information.\n\nShek Mun Kap, Tung Chung no longer in existence. No information.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209221, "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-1981", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "110\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nThe Chairman seeing that the meeting was getting beyond his control announced that there would be no further discussion and declared the meeting closed. Pandemonium broke out. The meeting began to take on an angry tone. Some, fearing trouble, slipped out. The crowd was standing on its feet shouting for a vote and began to press forward in a threatening manner toward the long table at which the Chairman and his supporters sat.\n\nAt this point Mr. M. K. Lo arose and eventually quieted the crowd sufficiently for his voice to be heard. He asked permission of the Chairman for the use of the hall for a few minutes. He pointed out the irregularity of closing a meeting without taking a vote to ascertain the sense of the meeting on the issue under discussion. He suggested that as the Chairman had closed the meeting, a new Chairman should be elected who could then take a vote. His idea was warmly approved. Backing down, the original Chairman, after some hesitation, then reopened the meeting and asked for a vote. By a show of hands the meeting overwhelmingly expressed its support for the Bill. The organiser skulked away chagrined and shaken.\n\nMeetings of Anti Mui Tsai Society and of Labour Unions\n\nIn a spirit of jubilation the Anti Mui Tsai Society convened a delayed general meeting on January 15, 1923 to follow up the success in thwarting the hopes of the merchants who had called the Kai Fong meeting at Tung Wah. It unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Bill, though it noted that the Ordinance had excluded suggestions for an employment bureau and an industrial home. It expressed surprise that at the recent Chinese Chamber of Commerce meeting three of the representatives of the Protection Society on the joint draft committee for the Bill had spoken in opposition to it. These were Messrs Wong Kwong-tin, Ip Lan-chuen and Wong Ping-suen.\n\nThe meeting of the Anti Mui Tsai Society was followed a few days later by a meeting of three hundred delegates from 154 labour guilds of Hong Kong at the Chinese YMCA. Mr. So Chui-chung, the Chairman of the Chinese Seamen's Union, was elected Chairman. In his remarks to the meeting he reminded his listeners that they had methods to bring their grievances before their employers, but servant girls had no such opportunity. It was therefore, he said \"the duty of Labour to second efforts of people interested in abolition.\"\n\nDr. Yeung Shiu-chuen as a representative of the Anti Mui Tsai", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209462, "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": 119, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "97\n\n* For Fang Han-ch'i, see Note 10. Li Ming-jen\n\n\"I-pa-ssu nien Hsiang-kang pa-kung yün-tung\" (\"The Strike in Hong Kong in 1884), Li-shih yen-chiu (Historical Studies), 1958:3 (March, 1958) 89-90.\n\nLloyd E. Eastman, \"The Kwangtung anti-foreign disturbances during the Sino-French War\", Papers on China, 13 (1959) 1-31,\n\nLewis M. Chere, \"The Hong Kong Riots of October 1884: Evidence for Chinese Nationalism\", JHKBRAS, Vol. 20 (1980), p. 54.\n\n* Chinese Prisoners, Papers respecting the confinement and trial of Chinese prisoners in Hong Kong 1857 (155, Sess. 2) XLIII, Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers (Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1971) Vol. 24: China, pp. 151-188. For a narration of the event see James Pope-Hennessy, Half Crown Colony: A Hong Kong Note Book (London: Jonathan Cape, 1969), pp. 55-58.\n\nMarsh to Parkes, 4th October, 1884, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., 2nd February, 1885: CO129/224. Marsh to Parkes, 6th October, 1884, Telegram enclosed in F.O. to C.O., 9th December, 1884: CO129/219.\n\nTsungli Yamen to Parkes, 10th October, 1884, enclosed in F.O. to C.O., 13th December, 1884; ibid.\n\n**For Paou-chong, see Ordinance No. 13 of 1844; for Tepo, see Ordinance No. 3 of 1853; for the Registrar-General, see Ordinance No. 7 of 1846. The Registrar-General's duties were redefined by Ordinance No. 6 of 1857, and again by Ordinance No. 8 of 1858.\n\nFor the Chinese elite, see Carl Smith's works cited in Note No. 59. See also his \"An Early Hong Kong Success Story: Wei Akwong, the Beggar Boy\", Chung Chi Bulletin No. 45 (December 1968), pp. 9-14; \"English-educated Chinese Elites in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong\", Symposium Paper, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, (November 1972), pp. 65-96; and H.J. Lethbridge, \"A Chinese Association in Hong Kong: the Tung Wah\", \"The Evolution of a Chinese Voluntary Association in Hong Kong: The Po Leung Kuk\" and \"The District Watch Committee: The Chinese Executive Council of Hong Kong?\" in his Hong Kong: Stability and Change.\n\n**Marianne Bastid, \"The Social Context of Reform” in Paul A. Cohen and John E. Schrecker, ed., Reform in Nineteenth Century China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976), pp. 117-127; 118.\n\nLi Tak Cheong was a director in 1872, chairman in 1883, and a hip-li in 1873 and 1884. Ho Amei was chairman in 1882 and a hip-li in 1883. Leong On was a founding chairman, and chairman again in 1877 and 1887, and was a hip-li in 1872, 1878 and 1888.\n\n**Ho Kai's father, Ho Fuk Tong and his brother-in-law Wu T'ing-fang were both founding chi-shi.\n\nSee Note No. 34.\n\nMarsh to Derby, 24th March, 1886, Despatch No. 91: CO129/225.\n\n**This refers to a meeting called by Europeans in Hong Kong to discuss the rise of crime which they believed resulted from the leniency of the new Governor Hennessy. Some of the Chinese leaders however supported him and the meeting developed into a confrontation between Europeans and Chinese residents in Hong Kong. See James Pope-Hennessy, Verandah (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.), pp. 203-205. This was also fully reported in the Daily Press and China Mail throughout October 1878.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211764, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "154\n\n19\n\n, at Law Fong) are believed to have entered the area after 1700. See Map of Ta Kwu Ling.\n\nIt is interesting to note that, of the 21 villages in the Ta Kwu Ling area, seven are purely Punti, nine are purely Hakka (including two of originally Punti but now Hakka speaking Mans), but five are of mixed Punti and Hakka residents, including the large village of Chau Tin (which has only a tiny handful of Hakka residents), Fung Wong Wu, Kan Tau Wai, and Law Fong, and Tong Fong which consists partly of Punti speaking Mans, and partly of Hakka speaking Mans.\n\n+\n\n1\n\nYeung, and Ng, at Fong Wong Wu; Siu, and Ho, at Chau Tin; Wong, at Kan Tau Wai; Pang, and Au, at Tai Po Tin; Fu Lau, (and others) at Wo Keng Shan; Yiut, at Chuk Yuen; Chan, and Yiu, at Law Fong (Luofang); Chau at Wang Kong Ha; Yeung, and Kwu, at Sai Ling Ha (Xilingxia), and others.\n\n21 The temple bell, of Chien Lung 21 (1756) was donated by \"all the faithful people of the Ping Yuen Hap Heung...\n\n...to stand for ever before the altar of the Lady Tin Hau*. Faure, Luk, Ng, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 670. The only earlier dated item in the temple, a Cloud Gong of 1727, was donated by a single family from Ping Che, Faure, Luk, Ng, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 661. The temple continued to be owned and controlled by this group of villages. Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Oxford Univ. Press, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 104 is incorrect in saying that the temple was owned by Ping Yeung. In the Block Crown Lease, the Manager of the temple was Man Shan-fung, of Ping Che. The Tong Fong people, although closely related genealogically to the Ping Che people, were not part of the Ping Yuen Hap Heung, and did not take part in the Ta Tsiu.22 Faure, op. cit., p. 103.\n\n+\n\n+\n\n23 The four managers at the time of the Block Crown Lease were Tang Hung-wai (a houseowner of Loi Tung), Chan Shing-pong, called a houseowner of Ping Yeung in a District Office report of 1979), Man Ying-shau (probably a villager of Ping Che, a relative of the houseowners Man Ying-kei, Man Ying-wai, and Man Ying-fat), and Chung Choi-wah (a houseowner of Man Uk Pin). These died in 1938, 1926, 1925, and 1942 respectively, according to a report made to the District Office in 1979. The abbess, Wong Tik-yuen, was appointed a manager in 1926, but she died in 1931. After the War, the lack of managers caused trouble on a number of occasions. A temporary manager was appointed in 1968. In 1979 the Chairman of the Sha Tau Kok Rural Committee and others were appointed as managers, although he, as a Lin Ma Hang villager, had no connection with the nunnery. This seems to have been with a view to rebuilding the nunnery. This proposal has led to a string of vigorous complaints from the elders of the six villages with shares during the last three years, but the situation remains, at present (1991), unresolved.\n\n24 See Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, op. cit., pp. 100-127, for a discussion of the Yeuk.\n\n25 The only alternative was a dangerous, difficult, and often impassable waist-deep ford, as the 1896 Kwong Fuk bridge tablet makes clear. See Faure, Luk and Ng, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 298.\n\n26 See Robert G. Groves, \"The Origins of Two Market Towns in the New Territories\", Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Symposium Report, 1964, pp. 16-20, and Alice Ng Lun Ngai-ha, \"Xianggang Xinjie xushi zhi xingqi yu shuailao: Dabuxu yanjiu\" [The Foundation and Decay of Market Towns in the New Territories of Hong Kong: A Study of Tai Po], in Chinese Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1985, pp. 633-655. The very widespread support for the Tsat Yeuk can be gathered from the list of donors shown on the Kwong Fuk bridge tablet, Faure, Luk and Ng, loc. cit.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213053, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1993", "page_number": 121, "title": "RAS-1993", "content_text": "101\n\nthat he had been reinstated as a lecturer, but in 1916 he resigned that position, since the Chair of Surgery had been established, and could only be held with clinical rights at the Government Civil Hospital. Why Dr. Gibson was treated as Mr. Pearce said 'shabbily', is not known, although in Dr. Mitchell's eyes, there had been no necessary connection between the LMS and medical education, and he had warned against any expectation of a linkage.\" The effect, however, was to remove the students from the institution of the Alice, and with it, the main rationale justifying the exclusion of the lady doctor from general medical work. By this time, maternity work had grown and lack of work was no longer an issue. 94\n\nThe AMMH was most important in the establishment of Hong Kong's maternity service for several reasons: first, the resources set up were both hospital-based and domiciliary, and therefore set the parameters for subsequent development, which included hospitals, maternity clinics, and government midwives attending home births. Secondly, under the umbrella of the LMS, the place of Western medical practice amongst the Chinese people was strengthened, demand increasing in the post-World War I decades. Thirdly, female doctors acquired a primary role in service provision and thereby a career pathway for Chinese women as doctors and midwives was opened. That pathway was to extend to general nursing, although even until the 1930s at the Alice Hospital, male dressers, supervised by female European nurses, were needed to work in male wards. Fourthly, a service which was accessible to all classes of Chinese women was set in place. That is, poor women were looked after on the basis of need, whereas the wives of the wealthy Chinese subscribers were entitled to care in terms of the Lady Doctor's contract. The outcome was a service that was, as much by default from the power play between Dr. Gibson and Dr. Sibree as by intention, culturally appropriate to the Chinese community. That is, status differentials were recognised, and at the same time, the level of qualification seen as adequate for a public health-oriented service was selected, analogous to the level of training for the Chinese doctors.\n\nThe lack of continuity in the service left a gap which, with greater recognition of need, was filled by secular agencies, as the Chinese Public Dispensaries Committee set up a maternity home in Wanchai in 1919, run by Dr. Alice (Sibree) Hickling, followed by the Tsan Yuk Hospital in 1922. The Tung Wah and Kwong Wah Hospitals improved their maternity service, and domiciliary care was the province of the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1993.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213994, "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": 63, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "29\n\nway while working\n\nMore accidents happen when scaffolding is being dismantled than when being erected. Most trades have their written and unwritten rules and, with bamboo scaffolding, it is generally accepted that, whoever erects a scaffold, then the same scaffolders should also dismantle it. The argument is that the craftsmen who put it up know the peculiarities of the scaffold and they are in the best position to take it down. There have been disputes between main contractors and scaffolding subcontractors resulting in the latter walking off the job. In the end, in most cases, the main contractor had to relent as no-one else was prepared to take the scaffold down.*2\n\nDeities\n\nFor all employers and employees in the building industry, Lu Pan is worshipped as a general deity. His birthday is celebrated on the 13th day of the Sixth Moon. In addition, the patron saint for bamboo scaffolders, performers in opera troupes, goldsmiths and silversmiths, and incense and funeral-paper shop staff, also worship Wah Kwong (Hua Kuang). He is sometimes described as the God of Fire.* As one mature scaffolder proudly told the author, 'We have three sz foo masters [sic].' He included, of course, Yau Chao Shi, who was mentioned at the start of this paper, as well as Lu Pan and Wah Kwong.\n\nThe last is said to have defied the Heavenly Jade Emperor's order to destroy all bamboo opera stages on earth as punishment for an opera performance that had insulted his Majesty. As a result, Wah Kwong gained the undying gratitude of scaffolders. It is important to remember that Wah Kwong is a powerful, cleanshaven god with a third eye in his forehead. He often has a piece of gold in his hand. He is a destroyer of demons and is rarely prayed to by individuals, but, more likely, by groups. There is a temple dedicated to Wah Kwong in Tai O, a small market town and fishing port to the west on Lantau Island. There is also an effigy of Wah Kwong Sz Foo in the Lit Shing Kung (“temple”), adjacent to the Man Mo Temple, in Hollywood Road.*34 Master Wah Kwong's birthday is observed on the 28th day of the Ninth Moon,*35 The author has, however, been told by scaffolders that the birthday of Wah Kwong is on the 18th day of the Ninth Moon. The author has, however, been told by scaffolders that the birthday of Wah Kwong is\n\n75", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213995, "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": 64, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "30 \n\non the 18th day of the Ninth Moon. \n\nBamboo scaffolders seldom use a rule. They set the spacing of the bamboo members by their eye, without the use of blueprints or plans. To do this, so many believe, they are assisted by Wah Kwong's third eye. Scaffolders, however, will usually submit a sketch to a client if they are going to erect, say, a matshed to house opera performances. \n\nIn the past, incense, fruit and pork were offered up to both Wah Kwong and Lu Pan on an altar at the time of starting work (hoi kung) on a building project. Such rituals are frequently still carried out today. When the author asked the mature scaffolder mentioned earlier, who said scaffolders had three masters, whether he would be going to the Lu Pan Temple in Kennedy Town on the Sage's birthday (the 13th day of the Sixth Moon), which was due to be held the following day, he replied that he would not. But his employer would be going. The old scaffolder said, however, that he would be attending a dinner to honour Lu Pan, when everyone would pay their respects. The author recalls attending these annual dinners, from 1955 to 1972, on a regular basis.37 \n\nConclusions \n\n36 \n\nSome people prophesied, in the 1950s, that the end had come for scaffolding and that western style metal scaffolding would take over. Although there has been a move in that direction metal has by no means taken over. In fact, the switch to metal scaffolding has been faster in places like China and Singapore than in Hong Kong. Bamboo is light and flexible and has many advantages, especially for smaller jobs. These include 'Cantilevering out', from high up on a building, to erect, say, a signboard. \n\nIn addition to the trade having its ups and downs, and being on the slow decline, bamboo is significantly cheaper. At mid-1997 prices single-layer bamboo scaffolding costs about HK$20 per square metre, double-layer bamboo scaffolding HK$36 per square metre and metal scaffolding HK$80 per square metre. Such figures are given only as a rough comparison. Prices vary, to some degree, depending on the job in question. For example, especially with metal scaffolding, the taller the scaffold the more expensive it will be.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 } ]