RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 194 MCCRARY, M.* McELNEY, B. S. McFADZEAN, Prof. A. J. S. McKEIRNAN, Sister Agnes MCKEIRNAN, V. Rev. M. J. + L McKENNA, Sister M. P. MCLEVIE, J. G. MEFFAN, Mrs. I. E. MEIJER, Dr. M. J. MICHAELIONES, Miss E. O. L = MIDDLEBROOK, R. W. MILBURN, K. MILLER, A. C. MILLER, C. F. O.* MOLTKE-HANSEN, Mrs. O. MOSLER, Mrs. M. MOYLE, G. C. NEILD, Mrs. C. NEWBIGGING, D. K. NG, Dr. Ronald C. Y. NICHOLS, E. H. NIXON, F. A.* NOLDE, Prof. J. J. NORONHA, J. E. + + - - 25-A Robinson Road, Top floor, H.K. Johnson Stokes & Master, Hong Kong Bank Building, H.K. University of Hong Kong, H.K. Maryknoll Sisters, Waterloo Road, Kowloon. St. Peter in Chains Catholic Church, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon. Maryknoll Sisters, Waterloo Road, Kowloon, Dept. of Education, University of Hong Kong, H.K. 92 Kitano-cho, 2-chome, Ikuta-ku, Kobe, Japan, Consulate General of the Netherlands, Room 1505, Central Building, H.K. c/o The British Council, 1, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds 2, England. 165, East 66th Street, New York 21, N.Y., U.S.A. Marine Dept., 102 Connaught Road, C., H.K. 34 Kennedy Road, Block C, 9th Floor, H.K. c/o Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, C.P.O. Box 255, Seoul, Korea, A-4, Repulse Bay Mansions, 117 Repulse Bay Road, H.K. 3, Macdonnell Road, Flat 602, H.K. 64 Mile, Taipo Road, N.T. 1201 Manson House, Nathan Road, Kowloon. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 70, H.K. c/o School of Oriental and African Studies, London, W.C.1, England. 11, Queen's Gardens, Old Peak Road, H.K. Room 63, Hong Kong Club, H.K. Dept. of Chinese, The University to the College of Arts and Science, The University of Maine, Orono, Maine. c/o W.F. Bollmeyer & Co., (H.K.) Ltd. 408, Yu To Sang Building, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 227 MCKEIRNAN, V. Rev. M. J. MEFFAN, Mrs. 1. E. MICHAELIONES, Miss E. O, MIDDLEBROOK, R. W.* MILBURN, K. MILLER, A. C. MILLER, C. F. 0.* MOLTKE-HANSEN, Mrs. O. MOSLER, Mrs. M. MOYLE, G. C. MUNN, Mrs. Elizabeth NEILD, Mrs. C. NEWBIGGING, D. K. NG, Dr. Ronald C. Y. NG, Peter P. K. NICHOLS, E. H. NIXON, F. A.* NOLDE, Prof. J. J. NORONHA, J. E. O'BRIEN, Dr. J. P. OLIVER, J. R. ORR, Jain C. OU, Miss G. + + - + St. Peter in Chains Catholic Church, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon. 92 Kitano-cho, 2-chome, Ikuta-ku, Kobe, Japan. c/o The British Council, 1, St. Mark's Avenue, Leeds 2, England. 165, East 66th Street, New York 21, N.Y., U.S.A. c/o Marine Dept., 102 Connaught Road, C., H.K. 34 Kennedy Road, Block C, 9th Floor, H.K. c/o Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, C.P.O. Box 255, Seoul, Korea. A-4, Repulse Bay Mansions, 117 Repulse Bay Road, HK. 3, Macdonnell Road, Flat 602, H.K. 61 Mile, Taipo Road, N.T. c/o Taikoo Dockyard, Quarry Bay, H.K. 1201 Manson House, Nathan Road, Kowloon. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 70, H.K. 164 Prince Edward Road, 1st Floor, Kowloon. 304, Man Yee Building, H.K. 11, Queen's Gardens, Old Peak Road, H.K. Room 63, Hong Kong Club, H.K. c/o Dept. of Chinese, The University to the College of Arts and Science. The University of Maine, Orono, Maine, U.S.A. c/o W.F. Bollmeyer & Co., (H.K.) Ltd. 408, Yu To Sang Building, H.K. Sandy Bay Children's Orthopaedic Hospital, Sandy Bay, H.K. c/o Supreme Court, H.K. 17 Crown Terrace, 3rd Floor, Bisney Villas, H.K. c/o French Consulate General, P. O. Box 13, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS 13 two temples are alike. The interior decoration and content of temples tend to reflect their keeper's foibles, whims and beliefs, and whilst some temple keepers offer special rituals, others are thoroughly disinterested and their temples often bare and ill-kept and bereft of any spark of life. Rural temples are considerably barer than their urban equivalents. In some, poverty is stark and all that can be seen is a well-nigh empty hall, with an ash container for incense sticks and perhaps a paper plaque or two, with possibly an image and, if it is at all possible, electric illumination even in fairly remote areas. At the other end of the scale some of the urban temples are cluttered with objects of every kind, with the cool courtyard being used as a social gathering place. Incongruities abound such as, not uncommonly, sweaty vests drying on hangers suspended from the front edge of the altar, and the blaring gramophone record of church bells which greeted several surprised Westerners when they entered a small temple in Kowloon. Many temples have private courtyards for use by the keeper and his family. Visitors touring the Far East frequently compare the spacious, light and clean Thai Buddhist temples with Chinese folk religion's dark and grimy temples. Many Chinese Buddhist monasteries and temples, not usually on the itinerary of tourists, are also bright and clean whereas the religious edifices in which folk religion deities dwell and which are visited by tourists in Hong Kong central and Kowloon, appear quite forbidding. Traditional folk religion temples consist of a single-storey building with windowless outside walls and one large dark, cavernous entrance, through which one can see oil lamps flickering in the gloom. Inside the temple the altars at the far end of the dimly lit halls may contain a single deity, a small group of deities or hosts upon hosts of them. Clouds of incense with its soft fragrance adds to the eerie dimness and in time blackens the gods. It also makes one's eyes water! One aspect obtrudes during certain seasons - open drains in the older traditional temples. The basic urban, village and coastal traditional temple is a one-roomed “box”. It can be a traditional building (Illustration 4) or a simple old cottage. It might even be an old two or three bedroomed two-storey house or, if the founder has been fortunate with his sponsors, it will be a purpose-built construction. The main doorway of the basic traditional temples at the front is normally the only entrance. It has large inward-opening doors ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT ... 1 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT 6 HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT. TRANSACTIONS: Folk Medicine in Borneo: Diagnosis and Cure-Stephen Morris 10 Another Look at Land and Lineage in the New Territories, c. 1900-Edgar Wickberg 25 ARTICLES: Religious Response to Modernization in Taiwan: the Case of I-kuan Tao-Hubert Seiwert 43 The Public Records Office of Hong Kong-A.I. Diamond 71 Hong Kong and China in the village World-David Faure 75 The Chinese Church, Labour and Elites and the Mui Tsai Question in the 1920's-Carl T. Smith 91 Residential Mobility and Kinship Ties among Urban Chinese Families in Hong Kong-Lee Ming-kwan 114 Education as a By-product of Fish Marketing-T.A. Acton 120 Juan Yuan's Management of Sino-British Relations in Canton, 1817-1826-Wei Peh-t'i 144 The Hong Kong Origins of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Address to Li Hung-chang-Alice Ng Lun Ngai-ha 168 REPRINT: Bro. Tsung Lai Shun in Massachusetts 179 NOTES AND QUERIES: The Yung Muk Tong Factories in Macau-David Faure 185 Letters from World War II-David Faure 187 Traditional Funerals-Patrick Hase 192 Notes on Rice Farming in Shatin-Patrick Hase 196 Funeral pots from an Ancestral Grave-David Faure 206 BOOK REVIEWS 207 MEMBERSHIP AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 1981 211 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 68 1968).   HUBERT SEIWART Cf. Holmes Welch, The Buddhist Revival in China. (Cambridge, Mass. Cf. Y. Raguin, "Buddhismus auf Taiwan", in Buddhismus der Gegenwart, ed. by H. Dumoulin (Freiburg 1970) pp 113 – 116. a "Taoism' (by A. K. Seidel), in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia, p 1042. For example, the Taoist Association of the Republic of China is run mostly by laymen who try to get rid of many of the more "vulgar" practices of religious Taoism and to restore the intellectual tradition of former times. These efforts seem not to be supported by many of the Taoist priests, possibly since they make their living by performing these practices. 10   See for example G. G. H. Dunstheimer, “Religion et magie dans le mouvement des Boxeurs”, in T’oung Pao, 47 (1959) pp 323 - 367; G. Miles, "Vegetarian Sects", in The Chinese Recorder, 33 (1902) pp 110; D. H. Porter, "Secret Sects in Shantung", in The Chinese Recorder, 17 (1886) pp 1 – 10, 64 – 73; M. Topley, "Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century", in JHKBRAS 8 (1968), pp 9 - 43. 11 Cf. Wing-tsit Chan, Religioses Leben im heutigen China, (München, 1955) pp 109-156. T'ai-pei-shih 12 Such a healing-cult is treated by Wang Chih-ming Chi-lung-lu ti i-ko min-su i-sheng he t'a-ti hsin-t'u-men (unpublished B.A. thesis, National Taiwan University, Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1971) 13 An example of this is the Sheng-hsien-t’ang community in Taichung. The publications of the revelations of the mediums of this temple are distributed and read everywhere in Taiwan. 14 Some sects (e.g. Li-chiao), however, are copying Buddhist or Taoist ceremonies and dress so that it is difficult to decide whether the performers are priests or laymen. 16 Some of the "new religions” are treated in Hsiao Ching-fen, “The current situation of new religions in Taiwan", Theology and the Church, 10:2 – 3 (Tainan, 1971) pp 1 -- 28; 10 I-kuan is actually derived from a passage in the Confucian Analects (IV, 15). 17 The popular name is Ya-tan chiao. Other names are Tien Tao chiao, K'ung-tzu chiao, Ta Tao chiao, Lao-mu chiao 4. Cf. Tung Fang-yüan, Tai-wan min-chien tsung-chiao hsin-yang (Taipei 1976) p 123. 18 Tung, op. cit., p 123f. According to Su Ming-tung, T'ien-tao kai-lun (Kaohsiung, 1979) p 197, there are more than 300,000 followers of I-kuan Tao in Taiwan today. Li Shih-yü, Hsien-tsai Hua-pei mi-mi-tsung-chiao (Chengtu, 1948, repr. Taipei, 1975) p 32. 20 It seems certain, however, that the I-kuan Tao has followers outside Taiwan, esp. in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. In contrast to Taiwan, in these places the sect is not forbidden by the government and can operate openly (cf. Su Ming-tung, op. cit., p 198f). For the propaganda of the Communist government ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m # THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S ## CARL T. SMITH ### Introduction The events leading up to the passage by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923, entitled, “An Ordinance to Regulate Certain Forms of Domestic Service" interested me as an historian of the Hong Kong Protestant Church. It was the first time Chinese Christians in Hong Kong had worked as a group on a social question. Previously individual Christians had written or spoken about public issues, but the organisation of the Anti Mui Tsai Society in 1921 was the first major effort of a large body of Chinese Christians to campaign for social change. Of added interest was the enlistment of the labour unions to support its efforts and the active part women took in the campaign. Dr. Sun Yat-sen in planning the Revolution of 1911 had received the support of secret societies and other groups whose members were from the labouring class. After the revolution some of these elements began to organise as modern labour unions. In the 1920's their desire to express themselves, gain benefits and be recognised as a political force was strengthened by the success of the Russian revolution. Communist organisers were particularly active in Canton. In February-March 1922, the Seamen's Union conducted a successful strike in Hong Kong. At the same time that labour was asserting itself, there were efforts by women to change their traditional status in Chinese society. One of the features of the fight against the practice of buying domestic servants was the support given by the Chinese members of the recently organised YWCA under the leadership of Mrs. Ma Ying-piu. The mui tsai question involved the misuse of young girls and the conduct of their mistresses. It was to be expected, therefore, it would attract the concern of enlightened women. Other than the organisation of the wives of the Directors of the Po Leung Kuk (Society for the Protection of Women and Girls) as a committee to visit the Society's Home and check on its management, there was no active participation by women on the side of those who wished to preserve the system. ### I Page 105 Page 106 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1930'S 93 position and their work often depended on the social and economic status of the person who had bought them. In the nature of the case, some were sexually exploited by the male members of the family. Some were treated very cruelly by their mistresses. If they were attractive, they were often taken by the head of the family as a concubine. Everyone acknowledged that, like all social institutions, there were abuses in the system, but the traditional view was that its advantages outweighed its negative side. There were several arguments to support this view. Only the poor sold their children. If they could not sell them, many would be killed off as infants. Their lot in a foster home was much better than it would have been in their natural home. They were fed, clothed, and when of proper age, a marriage was arranged for them with a suitable partner. Everyone benefited by the system: the child who escaped death or starvation, the natural parent who was lifted out of poverty, at least for the moment, and the purchaser who acquired a servant. In Chinese society, it had long been an unquestioned aspect of the social order. The buying and selling of human beings did not sit well with the English conscience of the latter half of the nineteenth century. However, most colonists felt it was best to leave undisturbed the modus vivendi which had been established in Hong Kong between British law and moral standards and Chinese social practice. After some eighteen years on the bench in Hong Kong, Chief Justice John Smale, not long before his retirement in 1881, openly stated that, in his opinion, the practice of buying and selling children for domestic servitude was a form of slavery, and hence its continued toleration in a British colony was a blot on the honour of England. He received support from anti-slavery groups in England, but his views were not generally welcomed in Hong Kong, either by the Chinese or expatriates. There was some stir over the question for a short time, and then interest in it died away, not to be re-aroused until the question again came to public attention in 1917. 1917 - The Question Raised Mr. C. G. Alabaster, in defending a client charged with kidnapping, raised a legal point regarding the status of children purchased as servants. The report of the case focused the attention of the English ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 95 discussion as to whether the mui tsai system was a form of slavery. The case awakened the conscience of several expatriates. Among these were Colonel John Ward and Lieutenant Commander Haselwood and his wife. Col. Ward on his return to England was elected a Member of Parliament. He used his position to bring the question before the House of Commons. The matter roused the interest of liberal groups in England. Not satisfied with the answer given by the Government spokesman that there was no slavery in Hong Kong, the question continued to be raised in 1920 and 1921. Parliamentary Questions and Answers In November 1920, Sir Alfred Yeo and Mr. Myers raised the question in the House of Commons. In reply, Col. Amery, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies stated, Slavery does not exist in Hong Kong. The Colony's law does not recognise the custom whereby girls are transferred on payment from parents and guardians to another household, usually for purposes of domestic service, as conferring any right or title on the employer against the girl. There was evidence that girls were frequently ill-treated, in which event, they would be protected by the law in the same way as children living with their parents. He said he thought it best to aim at gradual reform in cooperation with enlightened Chinese. It was suggested that the Hong Kong Governor "should persuade prominent Chinese to form a Society for the protection and improvement of the condition of these girl domestics". This was considered a much better way to deal with the problem than introducing a system of compulsory registration. The Hong Kong Government had advised the Colonial Office that it regarded registration as impracticable.2 In January 1921 a question was again raised regarding "this nefarious traffic in human beings". The questioner was referred to the answer given in the previous discussion in November that "there is no slavery in Hong Kong". Another Member then asked, "Is the honourable Government aware that answer given on November 4th was very unsatisfactory to those people who have information on this matter, and would he make inquiry into the allegation that slavery is carried on under British rule?” The Under Secretary was adamant, "I have made full inquiry. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 97 large number of coolies and members of local labour guilds. An unusual feature was a group of interested Chinese ladies. The Chairman, Mr. Lau, listed a number of questions that had been put by various individuals. He and Mr. Ho Fook put the following before the meeting: 1. Is it a fact that servant girls are brought up for prostitution? 2. Are servant girls slaves? 3. Are servant girls kept for the sexual purposes of their masters, who, when tired of them, sell them? 4. Has the Chinese Government passed any law to abolish the practice of keeping servant girls? 5. Can owners of servant girls ill-treat them as they please? The Chairman proceeded to comment on the questions. The first concerned purchase of girls, to be trained as prostitutes. A distinction should be made between two kinds of purchasers of girls; one bought them for domestic service, the other for prostitution. The first group are respectable people who are jealous of their good name and do not wish to be linked with those who purchase girls for prostitution. As to mui tsai being slaves, slavery does not exist in China, furthermore these girls have never been regarded as slaves by the Chinese. The speaker put forth the thesis that there are safeguards in the system to prevent the girls being sexually exploited. Parents are allowed to visit them periodically and thus would know if the child had been misused. If a master wishes to take his servant girl as concubine he must obtain the consent of his wife, the girl and her parents. If the girl had been seduced by her master and then married out, and the husband of the girl finds out her virginity has been taken by her former master, the old master would lose face before his relatives and friends, to say nothing of the views of his wife and concubines. Some masters secretly took on a servant girl as a concubine setting her up in her own establishment and later recognizing any children she bore as legal heirs. In other cases when the wife discovered what had happened, she often made it so miserable for her husband that he was forced to return the girl to her parents accompanied by a liberal bribe for silence. The only attempt of the Chinese Government to abolish the system was an effort by the Canton Commissioner of Police Chan King-wa soon after the establishment of the Republic. The girls were ordered to be handed over and were placed in a large hostel especially built for the purpose. Mr. Lau Chu-pak said the scheme failed because the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m The Chinese Church, Labour and elites and the Mui Tsai question in the 1920's 99 abuses, why, he asked, had the question never been raised by officials of the Government Cadet system who had studied Chinese language, manners and customs in Canton. "Surely these men's experience and knowledge of the system is not inferior to those of Mrs. Haselwood." Mr. Ho suggested the Chinese organize a society among themselves to deal with any problems there might be in the system, "why cannot we Chinese take up the matter ourselves by forming a society with a strong committee of management for purpose of enlightening and educating the masses in their duty towards the servant girls, and securing proper power to prosecute the cases of cruel treatment of these girls?” Some passion was injected into the meeting when after Mr. Pun Yat-ki vividly described three cases in which cruel punishment was inflicted on servant girls, Mr. Ho Kom-tong, the brother of Ho Fook and Ho Tung, excitedly shouted that Mr. Pun and his informant should be charged with accessory to the crime for not reporting the offending master to the authorities. His remarks brought both loud applause and vehement cries of protest. Mr. Chung Wen-sang arose to appeal to the meeting "to stop these unpleasant disputes". Dr. Yeung Shiu-chuen was the main speaker for those who advocated abolition of the mui tsai system. He contended that persons who commiserated with the girls who came into their households were "rare mortals". Girls were always badly treated, and the Po Leung Kuk and Secretary for Chinese Affairs had little influence in alleviating their condition. To claim that there were no complaints was a failure to understand the pressures under which the girls lived, for "many had been wronged by their masters but had not the courage to lodge complaints with the authorities, under the impression that if this were discovered, their lives would be made even more unpleasant." Rather than attempt to counteract the accusation the English had brought against the system and regard them as a slur on the Chinese people, the problem should be honestly faced. It should be admitted that it would cause the degeneration of the Chinese as a race, for "how could servant girls be expected to train their children properly since they had been denied education and proper treatment." Dr. Yeung pleaded "in the interest of humanity, the prestige of China and posterity, and also to keep pace with the advancement of civilization" that the meeting take steps to secure the emancipation of servant girls and to put them on an equal footing with others. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAJ QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 101 might otherwise starve or live in extreme poverty by providing it with food, shelter and clothing. It benefited the parent of the child by providing him with money so he could sustain the other members of his family. The manifesto claimed, however, that this was not charity, because "in charity the dispenser must show sacrifice and the character of the recipient must be preserved". The parent who sells his daughter is devoid of charity, and anyone who buys is helping to destroy one of the most sacred of human bonds. To call the system charity is in the opinion of the manifesto "hypocritical and absurd”. The proponents of abolition were very sceptical that propaganda would convince owners of the girls to improve their situation, "To promote a society of mui tsai owners for prevention of cruelty without assisting those liable to ill treatment to liberate themselves is like formation of a league of cats in the interest of the mouse". The Anti's, as we shall see, had no hesitation, however, about using a barrage of propaganda to promote their own cause. They were firmly convinced that the only way to prevent ill-treatment of mui tsai was by the abolition of the system, not through a society for their protection. They set forth several proposals to bring this about. All documents of sale should be cancelled. The purchase price previously paid would be regarded as an advance to the parents of the girl and she should continue to work for a period to be determined by a commission appointed by Government. A temporary industrial home should be established to train the girls in self-support. Into this home could be admitted young children whose former owners may have found them troublesome to keep or difficult to manage. It would also be a home for those self-supporting girls who were temporarily out of work. Gradually former mui tsais would become hired servants or factory workers. To aid them in finding suitable jobs an employment agency should be established. When the documents of sale are cancelled the mui tsai should be informed they are now "yung mui”, that is servant girls. Until the girls had served out the time determined by the commission they should be under the supervision of inspectors, "preferably of the gentler sex". In conclusion the manifesto made an appeal to the better nature of its readers, It is the duty of a civilized community to raise its fellow citizens out of a state of degradation and oppression. When those who have a claim to our sympathy happen to be helpless ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 102 CARL T SMITH little girls of tender age living amongst strangers and in where to them is a strange country, no denial of succour is possible without outraging our feelings of humanity." Instructions from Colonial Office to Hong Kong Government In March 1922 it was announced in the House of Commons by Mr. Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the Government of Hong Kong had been instructed by the Colonial Office to consult with both the Prevention Society and the Anti Mui Tsai Society in order to draw up a scheme for abolition. Already the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Hong Kong had been in consultation with the Secretaries of the two societies and both groups were in the process of selecting seven of their members to consult with him. Canton had forged ahead of Hong Kong, for the same issue of the paper which carried Mr. Churchill's remarks reported an item from the Canton Times that the President of the Southern Government had issued a proclamation abolishing the mui tsai system. The Women's Union of Kwangtung were ready to establish an industrial institution to train them. News of progress toward abolition both in Hong Kong and Canton produced an air of elation at the first annual general meeting of the Anti Mui tsai Society held on March 26, 1922, at the Chinese YMCA. Mr. J. M. (Joseph Mau-lam) Wong, an Anglican and compradore of Messrs A. S. Watson and Co., presided. On the platform were members of the Executive Committee. These included Mrs. Ma Ying-piu (1872-1957), wife of the founder of the Sincere Co., member of St. Stephen's Anglican Church and a founder of the YWCA. The Society had invited Mr. Hui Chien, the President of the Supreme Court of Canton and a member of the Society, to address the meeting. At the last minute he was unable to attend but sent to represent him two associates from Canton. One of them read the remarks he had intended to give to the meeting. In these he observed that the Southern Government at Canton had taken steps to abolish the system, but it would find it much easier to do so if Hong Kong also moved in this direction. Since its formation the Society had vigorously promoted its cause both in Hong Kong, China and in Great Britain. It had the active assistance of Commander and Mrs. Hazelwood, who after retirement ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 103 to England had continued the campaign to bring the Hong Kong situation to the attention of the British public. The Haselwoods and other interested people had enlisted the support of the Anti-Slavery and the Aborigine Protection Society, the Industrial Committee of the National Council of Women of Great Britain and Ireland, the Women's Committee of the Fabian Society, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, the League of Nations Union, as well as Members of Parliament. In Hong Kong a team of volunteer lecturers had spoken in churches, schools, the YMCA, the YWCA, and labour unions. One of the members had paid for the services of a professional lecturer to address passengers on boats travelling between Hong Kong and Canton. Literature was produced both in English and Chinese. All the Parliamentary questions and answers were translated and sent to the Chinese press, along with original articles and correspondence with Members of Parliament, philanthropists and societies abroad. Locally, a literary competition had been held. The winning entry, a ballad, had been published and distributed both in Hong Kong and throughout China. The cost was underwritten by two wealthy contractors, Mr. Li Ping (probably a Roman Catholic) and Mr. Lam Woo (1869–1932) a founding member of St. Paul's Anglican Church and an Executive Committee member of the Society. A magazine of some 400 pages published by the Society contained articles treating the question in various literary forms. At the time of the meeting 1,370 members had enrolled in the Society. On instructions from the Colonial Office the Governor of Hong Kong issued a proclamation on April 14, 1922 stating: Slavery is not allowed to exist in the British Empire, and therefore it must be understood that mui tsai are not the property of their employers. Those of them who wish to leave their employers and who have reached the age of discretion must be allowed to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs who will consider their cases. Girls are warned that they must not leave their present employment until they have some employment to go to for fear they should fall into the hands of procuresses. Masters and mistresses are specially warned against any attempt ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 104 CARL T SMITH to prevent mui tsai from seeing the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The fourteen member committee composed equally of members from the Protection Society and the Anti Mui Tsai Society met with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Mr. Hallifax, to formulate suggestions for drafting a Bill for the abolition of the mui tsai system. In June 1922 their report was sent to London with a comment by the Governor that he did not think the suggestions were an altogether satisfactory solution. The members of the Committee representing the Anti Mui Tsai Society were: Mr. Joseph Mau-lam Wong (1897 - 1869), compradore of Messrs. A. S. Watson and Co. Mr. Charles Graham Anderson (1889 – 1949), a Eurasian, manager of the International Savings Society of Hong Kong, also newspaper reporter. Ngan Kwan-yu, Government vernacular teacher of the Gap Road School later Head-master, Congregational Church Primary School, Ladder Street. Hung To-fei ― Rev. Wong Oi Tong (1888 – 1941), for forty years pastor of the Rhenish Church, Bonham Road. Dr. T.P. Woo (1878-1941), medical practitioner. Dr. Yeung Shiu-chuen (1878 – 1950), dentist. All were members of Protestant Churches. The members of the committee representing the Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai were: Mr. M. K. Lo (later Sir Man-kam Lo) (1893 - 1959), son of a compradore of Jardine, Matheson and Co. and son-in-law of Sir Robert Ho Tung. He was a solicitor. Mr. Tsun-nin Chau (1893 – 1971), son of a shipping and insurance magnate, Chau Shiu-ki. A cousin of Sir Sik-nin Chau. By profession a barrister. Mr. Wong Kwong-tin (1879 - 1936), son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. He was a Supreme Court Interpreter when young, later Manager and Director of Kai Tack Land Investment Co., Manager of China Specie Bank, Manager of Chinese Stock Exchange, etc. A Roman Catholic. Ip Lan-chuen (1865 ...), one of founders of Chinese ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 105 Chamber of Commerce, Secretary of Chamber for many years. Managing Director of Kwong Man Loong Firecracker Co. Tse Ka-po, also known as Simon Tse Yan ( — 1966), son of compradore of Banco Ultramarino, Macao. Established Po Kee Shipping Co. Compradore for Nippon Yusen Kaisha. A Roman Catholic. Son-in-law of Mr. Ho Kom-tong, a brother of Sir Robert Ho Tung. Wong Ping-suen (1873 - 1942), member of a wealthy land-owning, merchant-compradore Hong Kong family. Compradore of Mackintosh, Mackenzie and Co., and P. & O. Steamship Co. Tong Shau Shan, manager of the San Tak Hing Lok firm on Des Voeux Road. After much hedging for a number of years, the Colonial Office determined to push the Hong Kong Government into drafting a bill for the abolition of the mui tsai system. The concerted efforts of concerned groups in England and the Anti Mui Tsai Society in Hong Kong were producing results. The Secretary of State minuted a despatch on March 21, 1922 instructing his under secretary that in writing to the Governor of Hong Kong, “A fairly full answer should be drafted explaining the difficulties, but making it clear that the abolition is going to be carried into effect. There is to be no nonsense about it and no sham. One year would be a reasonable time to allow”. 10 The Governor was not happy with these instructions, particularly after the Chinese he depended on for advice raised strong objections to passage of the Bill. He felt himself threatened. The Colonial Office had not been altogether satisfied with his handling of the Seamen's strike earlier in the year, and now it appeared they were repudiating the position he had promoted that it was not wise to radically change the mui tsai system. The best policy, in his opinion, was to advocate the correction of certain abuses and this could well be left in the hands of the elite Chinese establishment in Hong Kong. Governor Stubbs took a very serious view of the implications of the opposition to the Ordinance. In a letter to a Colonial Office official in September 1922, while on leave, he said: It means that the Chinese for the first time are setting themselves against the Government. That is the beginning of the end. I told you the other day I believed we should hold Hong Kong for another fifty. I put it now at twenty at the most. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 107 son-in-law of Ho Tung T. N. Chau, a barrister Li Wing-tin Simon Tse Yan, also known as Tse Ka Po Fung Ping-shan, donor of the Fung Ping Shan Library building at Hong Kong University Chau Yu-ting, a wealthy import-export merchant Yung Tse-ming, compradore of the Chartered Bank Ho Wing, son of Ho Fook, adopted son of Ho Tung and compradore of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Wong Ping-shuen, and Ip Lan-chuen Wong Ping-shuen advocated a slow approach, "The time was not yet ripe for drastic action. Conditions in China had to be radically changed before it would serve any useful purpose to legislate on the question". The Secretary of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ip Lan-chuen, contended that Hong Kong was too close to China to attempt abolition at this time. Li Po-kwai, the Chairman, vividly portrayed the dangers to the mui tsai if she were released from servitude at the age of eighteen. She would do "mad and silly things" which would lead to her downfall. Chow Shou-son spoke out as "being dead against the Bill". If left alone the custom would die out in time as had the practice of foot-binding. After making his speech in Chinese, for some reason he shifted to English to conclude it, saying, “It is the opinion of the Chinese community and the Chinese people generally that the system should not be abolished”. Mr. M. K. Lo interjected a moderating tone into the discussion when he reminded the meeting that it would have been better if the Chamber had expressed opposition to abolition sooner and more clearly, instead of keeping relatively silent until the Government had drafted and introduced a Bill. Mr. Wong Kwong-tin objected to the Ordinance because it did not provide protection to the owners of mui tsai and was therefore grossly unfair. He gave a warning to the British Government they should be very careful in interfering with an old Chinese custom which had become an unwritten law. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 111 Society was asked to address the meeting. He presented a review of the efforts of the Society to induce the Government to abolish the system. In concluding, he congratulated the men for having called the meeting as it showed that labour unions in Hong Kong were interested in questions other than those of strikes and increases of pay. One of the labour speakers was Miss Wong Wai-chu, a teacher. She, like Mrs. Ma, was interested in the part women had in maintaining the system: Owing to weakness of the weaker sex, the system had become a permanency. The owner of a mui tsai was usually a pampered woman, one who beat the girl on the slightest provocation. Confucius said, "Do unto others as you would be done by". It was an inadvisable state of affairs to be dependent on others for the performance of any duty which one was capable of performing oneself and this appeared to be a failing of the weaker sex, who used mui tsai for tasks which they could do themselves. If Chinese women wish to raise their status to the same plane as men, they should not allow their children to be employed as mui tsai. In the end of the meeting a resolution was passed supporting the passage of the Ordinance. A committee was appointed to consider and suggest any amendments to the Bill that might be desirable.14 Passage of the Bill At the second reading of the Bill on February 8, 1923, The Hon. Mr. Chow Shou-son referred to those in favour of the Bill as having been undoubtedly "actuated by generous motives and lofty ideals, but I am afraid that their burning zeal has not permitted them to study the problem with calmness and impartiality which the importance of the subject demands." He saw no wisdom in haste, "I do not keep, and have never kept, any mui tsai, but this does not blind me to the unwisdom of trying to sweep away in a day the custom with its good points."15 His Excellency the Governor wished to disassociate himself from "the venomous attacks which have been made on the whole Chinese population of the Colony by ignorant persons at home who seem to assume that because a system is liable to abuse it is therefore essentially bad." He informed the Council, however, there was no turning back, "I have definite instructions from the British Government that the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUT TSAT QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 113 represented the majority view of the Chinese community toward the mui tsai system. Whatever the truth of this conclusion their efforts supported by concerned groups in Britain had finally moved a reluctant Colonial Office to instruct the Hong Kong Government to abolish the system. NOTES Daily Press, August 23, 1917. 1 2 ibid. November 9, 1920. 3 South China Morning Post, November 9, 1920. Daily Press, January 25, 1921. 6 South China Morning Post, August 1, 1921. Text of manifesto published in ibid. October 13, 1921. 7 Daily Press, March 22, 1922. 8 Reported in ibid. March 27, 1922. 9 Mui Tsai in Hong Kong and Malaysia — Report of Commission, issued by Colonial Office. H. M. Stationery Office, London, 1937. Microfilm Colonial Office Records in Public Records Office, London: CO129/474, p. 211ff. 11 CO129/478, p. 759, September 16, 1922. 12 ibid. 13 Daily Press, December 30, 1922. 14 ibid. January 20, 1923. 15 ibid. February 9, 1923. 16 ibid. February 16, 1923. 17 ibid. February 19, 1923. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m THE HONG KONG ORIGINS OF DR. SUN YAT-SEN'S ADDRESS TO LI HUNG-CHANG 169 building up a wealthy nation and a powerful army, and to their laws for social reforms. I also discerned the essentials of current events and changes, and the means of maintaining peaceful relationship with other countries. In addition to the medical training and earlier schooling he received in Hong Kong, by "education abroad", Sun was referring to his schooling in Hawaii. The first Western school which Sun attended was Iolani, and it was an elementary school run by the Church of England in Honolulu, whose staff, except for one Hawaiian, was entirely British. After his graduation from school in 1882, he spent less than a year in a high school, Oahu College, run by American Congregationists and Presbyterian missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands. He was sent back to his native village, Ts'ui-heng, by his brother in the summer of 1883 and enrolled shortly afterwards at the Diocesan Home, a school set up by the Church of England in Hong Kong. The next year he entered the Central School, the first government secondary school in Hong Kong, now known as Queen's College. No record is available as to the class he entered. According to an article in Vol. 37 of Yellow Dragon, the school magazine, Sun entered the school under the name Sun Tai Tseng (Ti Hsiang), at the age of eighteen. He left in 1886 to join the Canton Poh Tsai Hospital as a medical student and then transferred in early 1887 to the Hong Kong Medical College for Chinese. The college was affiliated with the newly established Alice Memorial Hospital, which was set up by Ho Kai, a civic leader in Hong Kong, in memory of his wife. For the next five years, Sun studied under the general supervision of Ho Kai and two Scottish physicians, Dr. Patrick Manson and Dr. James Cantlie. He graduated in 1892 at the age of twenty-six, two years before he wrote the petition. Thus from 1883 to 1892, except for the interval of about half a year in 1886 when he joined the Poh Tsai Hospital, Sun received a major part of his secondary education and then his medical training in Hong Kong. The schools which he attended, the Diocesan Home and the Central School were Anglo-Chinese schools. Since the 1880s, the Hong Kong Government's educational policy had been directed towards the encouragement of the learning of the English language and Western knowledge, and these schools offered subjects such as those referred to by Sun in the opening of his letter. Yet the impact of school upon the mind of a youth like Sun might go much deeper than knowledge obtained from learning in class. The environment or "culture" of the school itself played perhaps a more significant ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 13 + Dr. Gregory Paul Jordan. The practice became Drs. Anderson and Partners. At the time of the First World War Dr Grove changed his name to Frederick Pierce Grove and served with the British Army. In spite of his former German sounding name he must have been a British citizen. He died in May 1929 in Hong Kong aged fifty-five (Katherine Maddock, Hong Kong Practice, Drs. Anderson and Partners, Hong Kong 1984, Drs. Anderson and Partners, p. 28, 64) Taverns, Boarding Houses, Cafes and Hotels German merchants and professionals met at the Club Germania for eating, drinking and entertainment. At the other end of the social spectrum the crews of German ships in the harbour frequented the taverns and boarding houses for the same purpose. Some of the taverns had names which would immediately attract their attention and, hopefully, then patronage, as they found their land-legs on the walk from the wharf to the tavern area on Queen's Road West. The German Tavern had the longest history. It is first mentioned in 1858, a year before the German Club was organised. It closed in 1910. Its first proprietor Andrew Rudigan was in charge for a very short time. He died in 1858, aged twenty-six. He was succeeded by Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Petersen, who held the licence for spirits for the tavern intermittently until his death in 1896, aged sixty-four. After his death his widow May was in charge for a brief period. She was his second wife and was Chinese. Three of their children were baptised in the Chinese To Tsai Church. His first wife was an English woman, a native of Bristol. She died in 1878, aged twenty-eight, from the effect of taking cajiput oil (DP 5 Jan 1878). In 1883, Mr. Peterson was charged by the Inspector of Nuisances for keeping two pigs in his kitchen without a licence. The defendant pleaded that he had only kept them there for a few days and had had them slaughtered as soon as he could arrange it (DP 20 Feb. 1883). There may have been pigs in the kitchen, but soon after the tavern opened there had been preaching in the back room. We have already noted the reference of the Rev Philip Winnes to the services held there. Petersen for some years was associated with another German, Peter Henry Schmidt, a licensed boarding house keeper who was in the business of recruiting crews for merchant vessels. In 1875 the licensing board ================================================================================