RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 56 HONG KONG EDITOR miles away round yon corner to the South! I ran down there for a day, to recruit, last week, and there, one walks by permission of these Celestial exclusives ashore, viz. on an island, called (I don't exactly know why) - Dane's Island. It is about 3 miles in circumference, and has a triple-peaked hill on it about as high as Arthur's Seat in Edin[burgh] which I mounted; and you can understand the titillating pleasure I derived from discovering a resemblance the most remarkable between the view from this hill and that from Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine! The absence of a fine City and bridge was all (quite enough, you will say!) and was compensated by a river-reach (in like situation, i.e. immediately below you) occupied for the length of two miles with full 50 gallant Ships of 1500 tons and downwards. The rest of the view the character of the country -- the distribution[?] of the water the mountainous horizon-bore a great resemblance to that on the Rhine + persons Society here is at the very lowest intellectual ebb-and is thus unencumbered by that pretension and affectation which the half-educated and half-literary disgust you with..... whether they infest the walks of literature, science, art, or anything else. We are so far, therefore, much to be envied. I discover however ominous indications in certain editorial labours of certain here who actually arrange the types for two weekly newspapers imagine if you can, what a Canton Newspaper ought to be! Apart though from what seems, and of course is, mere banter in this - we are as a community perhaps the least enlightened, the least informed, and the most vain, and the most unamiable in our intercourse together, that ever existed of its size. An American missionary who conducts our "Monthly Repository” excellently well-is a marked but almost solitary exception. The rest of us, unless there be some "singular few" who like myself think of all this in secret and are unknown, are to a Man engrossed in business — Oh most dreadfully engrossed — it beats every bondage of lucre I ever beheld; mammon rules not only in the office, but at the dinner-table, and no doubt over the sleepers' dreams; not a moment of life spared to one hearty thought of any other topic that might interest liberal Englishmen and, more shocking than all, not a moment of the 24 hours (I desire not to speak uncharitably and therefore only deplore what I fear to be generally not untrue) given to the consideration ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 93 VI. Some of the events A series of Taoist rites followed the opening ceremony on the afternoon of the first day. Repeated three times a day on the three days of the celebration were the small processions to make offerings (haang-chiu), and the chanting of the scripture for repentance (baai-chaam). Each day had its additional unique rites. The ones most important to the villagers, according to my experience in the New Territories, included the procession on the main day, posting the list of participants, and the concluding offering to the ghosts. The procession on the main day at Shek O included a variation from other jiu processions I had seen: it was a procession carrying Tin Hau's image. It started around 1:30 in the afternoon when the rain had become less heavy after continuing for the whole morning. The procession included a lorry carrying flags commemorating the present and previous celebrations, the image of Tin Hau held by a "lucky and knowledgeable” women in another lorry, two lion dance groups, a lorry carrying the two pairs of piu-sik, a more-than-thirty-strong Chiu Chau ceremonial music group and many local villagers. The procession first went to pay respect at the Tin Hau Temple. It then went uphill to a place called Shek O Saan Jai (Shek O small hill) and went down again. It was greeted by women holding incense sticks outside their homes. Two women even walked up to the image of Tin Hau. Many families made offerings on tables set up outside their houses. Then the procession started for Tai Long Wan. The rain abated, and later I overheard the comment, “It was raining, but the rain stopped once Tin Hau came out." When they arrived there at about 2:30, there were many local villagers waiting, mainly women. Inside the village a table of offerings had been prepared for the Tin Hau. Villagers came individually to make offerings of incense. Then the priests and ritual representatives went to make offerings at the places of two earthgods. I was told that one of the two worshipped was the old earthgod and the other the young earthgod. Before the procession departed, the two lion dance groups performed choi-cheng outside the Tai Long Wan residents' association where there were boxes for the incoming mail of each house. The procession returned to Shek O without going to Hok Tsui because there was not enough time. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 227 A. DUMAS: "Camille" T: Drama C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: The drama Camille, an English adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' "La Dame aux Camélias" was, in the eyes of the Commercial Record (5.5.1865) "singularly unfitted for the powers of the performers. Miss Rose EDOUIN acted with her usual ability but as the heroine is a character almost impossible to render we must not object where we cannot praise”. Miss Jenny NYE starred in the farce Which is Which? written by a member of the company, Mr. GILL, who himself was a “capital low comedy actor”. 28.3.-5.4.1865 J.B. BUCKSTONE: "The Flowers of the Forest" (1847) T: Musical drama (3 acts) J.B. BUCKSTONE: “Isabella or Woman's Life" (1834) T: Drama (3 acts) D.W. JERROLD: "Black-eyed Susan" (1829) T: Musical drama (3 acts) T.J. WILLIAMS: "Nursery Chickweed" (1859) T: Farce (1 act) "Kenilworth", possibly by A. HALLIDAY and F. LAWRANCE (1858) T: Burlesque "Mr. and Mrs. Peter White", anon. (1854) T: Farce (1 act) "Rob Roy”, Numerous pieces with this title are listed in HED. i.a. by W.H. MURRAY (1818) and C.H. HAZLEWOOD (1864). C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: More than the Herald, the Record went into a rather detailed description of the Lewis season. Thus about Flowers of the Forest it wrote that there was "an energy of revenge predominating all through the play while the occasional glimpse of pathos, combined with the jovial jocularity of the gipsys, tone down the otherwise tragic situations. Miss Rose EDOUIN, Miss NAYLOR and Mr. CRESWICK acted with power and well restrained manner“, Mr. CRESWICK “possesses great dramatic force and expresses himself well. His manner is somewhat stiff, but appearances before larger and more requiring audiences will obviate this habit", "His voice is good but somewhat monotonous of lone" (SCR 5.5.1865). 8.4.1865 (Sat) W. BROUGH: "Perdita" (1856) T: Burlesque (1 act) J.B. BUCKSTONE: "A Lesson for the Ladies” (1838) T: Comedy (3 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Rose Edouin's benefit R: NCH 22.4.1865: no review, 11.4.1865 (Tue) J.B. BUCKSTONE: "A Dead Shot" (1827) T: Farce (1 act) J. KENNEDY: "Sweethearts and Wives” (1856) T: Burlesque (3 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 237 COYNE, Joseph Stirling (1803-1868) "Binks the Bagman" (13.12.1843). P: 8.10.1857 "Duck Hunting" (29.9.1862). P: 30.3.1864; 4.4.1865 "The Infanticidal Farce or Did you ever Send your Wife to Camberwell?" (16.3.1846). P: 21.2.1856 **Urgent Private Affairs** (7.1.1856). P: 5.5.1858 CROSS, John C (d 1810?) The Golden Farmer or Harlequin Ploughboy (28.6.1802). P: 8.10.1857 DANCE, Charles (1794-1863) **Delicate Ground or Paris in 1793** (27.11.1849). P: 13.2.1864 "The Dustman's Belle" (1.6.1846). P: 9.2.1858 DANVERS, Henry (??) **A Conjugal Lesson** (3.7.1856). P: 26.3.1857 DIBDIN, Thomas John (1771-1841) **The Birthday** (16.3.1799). P: 9.2.1858 DUMAS, Alexandre fils (1824-1895) "Camille" (English adaptation of 'La Dame aux Camélias') (1852; London: 1858). P: 27.3.1865 EDWARDS, Henry Sutherland (1828-1906) **The Goose with the Golden Eggs** (with A. Mayhew) (1.9.1859). P: 13.2.1863 FITZBALL, Edward (1792-1873) "The Daughter of the Regiment" (30.11.1843). P: 15.4.1865 GILL, W.B. **Aurora Floyd Burlesqued**. P: 19.4.1865 "Which is Which?". P: 27.3.1865 GORE, Catherine Grace Frances (1799-1861) **A Good Night's Rest or Two in the Morning** (19.8.1839). P: 21.2.1856 HALLIDAY, Andrew (1830-1877) "The Area Belle" (with W. Brough) (7.3.1864). P: 30.9.1865 HARDWICKE, Pelham: See C. Mathews HARRIS, Augustus Glossop (1826-1873) "The Rose of Castille" (Music by M.W. BALFE) (29.10.1857). P: 8.10.-14.10.1864 HAZLEWOOD, Colin Henry (1823-1875) ? "Aurora Floyd or the First and Second Marriage" (21.4.1863). P: 26.11.1864; 17.4.1865 ? "Lady Audley's Secret" (25.6.1863). 142 P: 28.12.1864 "Rob Roy" (19.6.1864). P: 28.3.-5.4.1865 JERROLD, Douglas William (1803-1857) "Black-eyed Susan or All in the Downs" (8.6.1829). P: 28.3-5.4.1865 JERROLD, M. William Blanchard (1826-1884) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 241 Aurora Floyd Burlesqued: W.B. Gill; 19.4.1865. The Babes in the Wood: J.H. Byron; 17.4.1865. A Bachelor of Arts: P. Hardwicke; 10.2.1858, 8.5.1865. Betsey Baker; J.M. Morton; 23.3.1853. Binks the Bagman: J.S. Coyne; 8.10.1857. The Birthday: T.J. Dibdin; 9.2.1858. Black-eyed Susan: D.W. Jerrold; 28.3-5.4.1865. Bombastes Furioso: W.B. Rhodes; 28.1.1851, 5.5.1858. The Boots at the Swan: C. Selby; 14.12.1865. Box and Cox: J.M. Morton; 15.5.1854, 18.2.1857. The Bride of Abydos: H.J. Byron; 22.10.-28.10.1864. Bullrick at Kroll: N.N.; 28.3.1864. Camille: A. Dumas Jr; 27.3.1865. A Capital Match: J.M. Morton; 23.4.1857, 3.12.1864. Charles the Second: J.H. Payne; 16.3.1858. Cinderella: H.J. Byron? T. Taylor?; 12.11.-18.11.1864, 28.4.1865. The Colleen Bawn: D. Boucicault; 25.4.1865. A Conjugal Lesson: H. Danvers; 26.3.1857. Conrad and Medora: W. Brough; 12.E.-18.E.1864. Cool as a Cucumber: M.W.B. Jerrold; 26.3.1857, 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864. Crinoline: R.B. Brough; March 1863; 16.3.1863, 1.4.1864. The Daughter of the Regiment: E. Fitzball? 15.4.1865. A Dead Shot: J.B. Buckstone; 11.4.1865. The Debut: N.N.; 1.4.1864. Delicate Ground: C. Dance; 13.2.1864. Diamond cut Diamond: W.H. Murray; 12.12.1850. Done on both sides: J.M. Morton; 10.2.1858. The Dragon of Wantley: H. Carey & J.F. Lampe; 26.1.1852. Duck Hunting: J.S. Coyne; 30.3.1864, 4.4.1864, The Dustman's Belle: C. Dance; 9.2.1858. Faint Heart never won Fair Lady: J.R. Planché; 8.10.-14.10.1864, 14.12.1865. A Fast Train! High Pressure!! Express!!!: J.M. Maddox; 8.3.1854. A Fearful Tragedy in the Seven Dials: C. Selby; 15.2.1860. Fitzsmythe of Fitzsmythe Hall: J.M. Morton; 26.3.1863. The Flowers of the Forest: J.B. Buckstone; 28.3.-5.4.1865. Fra Diavolo: H.J. Byron; 15.10.-21.10.1864. The Frantic Husband: N.N.; 26.4.1865. The Golden Farmer: J.C. Cross? B. Webster? 8.10.1857, A Good Night's Rest: C.G.F. Gore; 21.2.1856. The Goose with the Golden Eggs: A. Mayhew & H. Sutherland; 13.2.1863, 17.2.1863, 26.4.1865 The Governess (Die Gouvernante): T. Körner; 28.3.1864. Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw: J.M. Morton: 2.6.1859. The 'Green' Bushes: H.J Byron: 30.9.1865. A Hard Struggle: J.W. Marston; 12.11.-18.11.1864. The Harvest Home: A.F.F. von Kotzebue; 28.3.1864. The Haunted Inn: R.B. Peake; 6.5.1852. The Heir at Law: G. Colman the Younger; 21.4.1851. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 362 associated with lion dance groups. The ritual representatives held incense burners, but the joss sticks in them were not lighted from the beginning to the end of the procession. Mr. Dang Jik-Wai, an elder of Tai Hong Wai, with an outsider who had lived in Kam Tin since shortly after the war and was employed by the rural committee, led the procession. Mr. Dang had a list on a piece of paper of the gods to worship. The procession left the main ritual area where the participants had been waiting since the end of the rite of posting the Memorial. They first stopped at the Wa-Bou altar for the God of Earth and Grain at Shui Tau. From there they proceeded to the Tin-Hau Temple at Shui Mei and worshipped at the Temple, and two nearby altars for the God of Earth and Grain. The procession then turned south to Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall at Shui Tau, and worshipped at the Ancestral Hall, and at the Hung-Sing Temple. Next they worshipped at another altar for the God of Earth and Grain of Shui Tau, the Yi-Dai School (i.e. Man-Cheung Temple), and the altar for the God of Earth and Grain for the Mui Jai Yun section of the village. They entered Kam Hing Wai and worshipped at the san-teng, the earth god's place at the former village gate, as well as the altar for the God of Earth and Grain. The party proceeded to Kam Tin Shi, where they worshipped at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. They intended to enter Yau-Leun Tong to worship too. But it was locked and no one in the procession had the key. So they made the offerings at the door. They then entered Sa Bui Leng and worshipped at the ruin of a former san-teng and the god of the well. They continued the procession to Ko Po, where they worshipped the God of the well, the God of the village gate, and an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. The procession turned back and continued towards Kat Hing Wai, where they worshipped at its altar for the God of Earth and Grain outside the village wall, and then entered the village and worshipped at the san-teng. The procession then took Kam Sheung Road to the san-teng (?) of Naam-Teng. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 village and its inhabitants. The dancing teams would perform at the opening of ancestral halls, schools and village offices, or when a wealthy villager built himself a new house. They were part of the ritual performances at the main festivals, at the re-installation of ancestral tablets after reconstruction of a lineage hall, or during the re-dedication of deities following a major repair to a local temple. They carried out other important functions, also. If plague menaced the village, in an old local customary practice, the lion or unicorn dancers were sent with Taoist priests in procession around the neighbourhood to dispel the threat. And if the village was threatened with attack, the strong and brave lion dancers under their respected instructors formed the core of the defence. Furthermore, the dance teams were a principal means for maintaining and extending a village's status and prestige. As part of the training, youths and boys would be instructed in how to carry out the dancing steps, and also how to perform some of the basic martial arts. In discussing unicorn dancing with two village friends from Tsuen Wan, it was emphasized that the beasts (meaning in practice their human performers) had to follow kwai kui. For instance, there was a correct way to enter a building, and how to worship at a temple, and how to behave when meeting another unicorn. If the right decorum and etiquette was not observed when this happened, it could lead to a fight. This aspect, that of lai or decorum, was the most important to be taken into account in training and performance. Boys learned the art of cooperating together, and discipline was imposed, especially self-control. This was needed during the tense excitement generated by the accompanying drumming and gonging during the dance sequences, and particularly on festival days when the element of competition was well to the fore. The dancing was exhausting for mind and body, and relays of boys took turns to dance inside the at times stifling mask and body of the "animal". Self-control was an important requirement for the participants. "We won't put up with uncontrolled temper”, a Kaifong friend said on one festival occasion when a dance team was performing, "If a lad can't keep it, he gets put out of the dance group"." Thus, in these various ways, the village dance team constituted one of the principal means of giving practical effect to Confucian teaching. To conclude this account of traditional instruction and entertainment, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j Maymyo 1941 GUERILLA TRAINING* P. H. MUNRO-FAURE 135 The shortage of British shipping along the China coast became more marked during 1940 and 1941. The vessels built for this traffic, generally between three and four thousand tons in measurement, with comparatively shallow draft, were particularly suitable for use in the Persian Gulf and along the shores of North Africa. Many had been taken to serve as transports in those seas. Moreover, the Admiralty, sensitive to the dangers threatening the peace of the Far East, had directed such larger ocean-going vessels as still were available not to proceed west of Singapore. Consequently there was pressure on the remaining cabin space, and I was fortunate to obtain a berth in a small coaster, which took seven days to reach Hongkong from Shanghai, as against the usual four. Hongkong was very quiet, a state of affairs not to be attributed to an entire absence of females. It was remarkable how many had succeeded in avoiding the order to leave the Colony. I had to wait a whole week for a passage to Singapore, where formerly berths on a dozen different ships would have been offered in the time. This gave me an opportunity to look around. Friends took me out to Deep Water Bay, where we sunbathed on the beach, and drank our tea on the club verandah, looking out over the little golf course. High up on the hill towards Wong Nei Chong Gap I could see the green tiled roof of the house where my wife and I, only three years previously, had been caught in the rain. I wondered whether the lady of the mansion was one of those who had contrived to remain behind. In the evening we drove round to the next bay and bathed from the Lido, a steel and concrete building of pleasing design housing a restaurant, and bathing booths. The hot weather had set in, but here a cool breeze blew down a gully on the hillside into the windows. I had always liked the place because of its informality. You could eat your dinner, and dance and talk, in shorts, and so keep cool, as compared with the stricter etiquette of the Gloucester and Hongkong Hotels, or the Repulse Bay Hotel, or even the Peninsular Hotel across the harbour, where several nights a week you were required to don “black ties”. *This is the third part of the Memoirs of Col. P H. Munro-Faure. See Editor's Note, p 61, vol. 29, and Plate I ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 64 which this path ended was naturally called by this same name. But among the Hakkas, the Island of Hong Kong or rather this northern portion of it, is to the present day called by the same name "Kwantailou" (Eitel, 1895, P.134) As early as 1841, a shoreline road was planned in the northern part of the Hong Kong Island. It was pegged out by the Chinese labourers and made to connect Sai Ying Pun to East Point, a distance of nearly four miles. It was finished in early 1842 and was named Queen's Road. The road was so cut as to leave generally enough space between it and water and at a safe height above sea-level for the erection of godowns. The possession and occupation of the Island in the first instance was largely due to military reasons, especially as the Chinese mainland was so near at hand. There were two Chinese forts on the tip of Kowloon peninsula. Military establishments were therefore quickly set up on the northern coast in order to prevent the Chinese from recapturing Hong Kong. In the early days of February 1841, the navy had already laid claim to Navy Bay (Belcher's Creek) lying due east of the bluff then known as Belcher's Point and was already running up store houses on the sloping foreshore. The Army had established two camps on the northern shore, one on Cantonment Hill (later known as the Victoria Barracks and the Seven-and-six Penny Hill) and other at Sai Ying Pun, on the long slope which now carries on its shoulders the Hong Kong University and at its foot, the old Reformatory Building (Sayer, 1937, P. 99) and above the present Pokfulam Road. On the site in Third Street where the St. Louis School now stands was a small battery, called the West Point Battery or Elliot's Battery. (A similar battery, East Point Battery or Pottinger's Battery was mounted on the site of Wellington Barracks) The barracks at that time were of a more or less makeshift nature. Owing to unstable political situation, it was said that Lord Saltoun, then Commander-in-Chief, would not take upon himself to erect permanent and suitable barracks and officer quarters for the troops. The soldiers were encamped in flimsy structures of bamboo, cane, palm leaves and canvas. The so-called barracks at Sai Ying Pun were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 218 the ground. Unobserved, I saw through a latticed window at the back of the hall the younger monks coming off duty from their performance next door. They were walking along happily, chatting and joking, just as young people would do anywhere, and pulling snacks from deep within their flowing robes. Returning my attention indoors, I saw that the wooden floors were also, in their own way, a work of art. Onto the pressed mud floor had been laid three-by-nine-inch joists, over which, cross-wise, had been placed two-inch thick planks. And over this second layer was a third, also two-inch planks, laid at right-angles. This last would eventually become the floor and would have the feel of polished marble when finished. In the so-called civilised world, with so many obvious technological and other advantages over an undeveloped country such as Bhutan, would it be possible to use traditional skills, methods and materials to rebuild one of our national treasures if it were destroyed? I very much doubt it. It was most moving to see such skill and attention to detail. Then a workman's mobile phone rang. Brother, can you spare me a dance? It was time to return to the viewing place as the monks were about to do their traditional dance. I don't know about you, but I don't normally associate monks with dancing. I was intrigued. Crossing the courtyard again, the sense of Something About To Happen was greater than ever. Some of the people wandering about were clearly important officials. They were wearing very smart gos, but the traditional white shawl in these cases had red designs on it, and they had extremely fancy woven footwear to boot. More to the point, they were carrying large shiny swords. All Bhutanese gave them an extremely wide berth. I thought it wise to do the same. The viewing balcony was more crowded by now, even some other tourists. (Apart from ourselves, foreigners had been very few and far between during our trip - almost to the extent that some of us were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 14. Intrepid HKBRAS members climbing up to the Parsee Cemetery, Dane's Hill, Canton. 177 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 178 15. Parsee Picnic House, Dane's Hill, Canton. ================================================================================