RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 150 BOYD, J. D. I. BRAGA, J. M. - BREUIL, Mrs. N. du BROMHALL, J. D. BROOKS, D. E. BRUUN, F. - A-1 9th Floor, 2 Oaklands Path, H.K. - P. O. Box 951, H.K. 86, Main Street, Stanley, H.K. Fisheries Research Station. The Fish Market, Island Road, Aberdeen. Radio Hong Kong, Rodney Block, G/F., Wellington Barracks, H.K. 908, Takshing House, H.K. BURKHARDT, Col. V. R. - 86, Main Street, Stanley, H.K. BYRNE, D. J. - CALCINA, P. G. * CHAN, Dr. H. C. - CHAN, Hok-lam CHAN, Leonard + CHAU, Hon. Sir T. N. *- CHAU, Wah-ching CHENG, T. C.. CHEONG-LEEN, Hilton + c/o China Light & Power Co., Ltd. Argyle St., Kowloon. Commercial Investment Co., Ltd., Union House, 12th Floor, H.K. Bank of Canton Building, H.K. c/o Department of History, Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. c/o Pâzer Corporation, G.P.O. 323, H.K. 8, Queen's Road, West, H.K. English Department, Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. United College of H.K., Bonham Road, H.K. G.P.O. Box 584, 310 Yu To Sang Building, H.K. CHESTERMAN, Prof. W. D. 4 Felix Villas, Pokfulum, H.K. CHEUNG, O. CHING, Henry CHING, Joseph - CHIU, Miss B. T. CHIU, Ling-yeong CHOA, Dr. G. H. CHOW, Edward T. CLARK, Mrs. N. E. COHN, Dr. A. J. - COLE, M. 1002, Alexandra House, H.K. 9, Village Road, 1st Floor, H.K. c/o U.S. Consulate-General, 26 Garden Road, H.K. Department of Botany, The University, H.K. 167, Yee Kuk Street, 3rd Floor, Shumshuipo, Kowloon. Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulum, H.K. 3 Village Terrace, Happy Valley, H.K. 71, Peak Road, H.K. 116, Leighton Road, Lei Shun Court, 6th Floor, "F", H.K. 16, Conduit Road, 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-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 7 # MEMBERSHIP As a result of reorganisation in the British Council this year we have made alternative arrangements for much of our clerical work to be done. We are happy to have obtained the services here of Mrs. Rowena Lack, member of the Society, and we are grateful to the British Council for continuing to let us use their premises as a venue for our clerical work. Owing to the changeover, however, membership figures are not easily comparable with those of last year which were up to the actual A.G.M. Here I have them up to December 1974 which in a sense is more logical since our membership year runs by the calendar. So in looking at our present figures of 565 against last March's 610 it would be misleading to see this as a drastic drop. In fact we have had 135 new members up to December. The break-down of the 565 is: 37 overseas life members, 55 local life members—many have converted from ordinary to life membership over the year—46 overseas ordinary members and 427 ordinary local members. # CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FUTURE All our extra activities have brought, as I said, more work. As you will see from our Hon. Librarian's report which he has tabled tonight, his own time has been very much taken up with the photographic survey which we consider, as things stand at the moment, a priority to the library itself which has no permanent home of its own. Our Hon. Secretary has also been involved with this project and both have spent many week-ends tramping Hong Kong and poring over photographs and arranging the exhibition for you tonight. (We are also grateful to the City Hall Management for lending equipment for this exhibition). All of us find increasingly, too, our own professional commitments increasing in the more complex Hong Kong in which we now live. It was for this reason we requested your permission to expand our Council at an Extraordinary General Meeting on March 3, and we are very pleased to welcome our new members—the two additionally voted and one replacement for Mr. Watt. It is hoped that with this expanded Council we will be able to meet all our commitments to provide you with a varied programme this coming year. So far several events have been planned by the past Council for the new period: Dr. Wellington Chan in April—on Chinese Patterns of Merchant Organisation—and a trip to Macau Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d MERCHANT ORGANISATIONS IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINA; PATTERNS OF CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT WELLINGTON K. K. CHAN* In recent years, a growing number of scholars have begun to re-assess the conventional wisdom about institutional ossification in late traditional and early modern China. The new view is that the Chinese economic and social institutions of this period had great resilience and flexibility, and that the men who ran these institutions demonstrated a good deal of ingenuity for purposeful change. Such a re-assessment can be supported by examining the pattern of institutional developments in the various types of Chinese merchant organisations during the late Ch'ing. Merchant organisations represented some of the most influential economic and social institutions in Chinese society. Several times in its long imperial era, new organisations were created and existing ones improved upon in response to changing environmental conditions. These institutional changes were particularly active during the nineteenth century, because the Chinese merchant community, for reasons of domestic troubles and foreign trade, was itself undergoing major and rapid changes. One index to gauge these changes was the trend towards broader based institutions. These catered to wider economic and social concerns than the traditional commercial guilds (called under various names such as hang-hui, kung-so, t'ang, chao, kung, ko and tien), which had narrow and particularistic interests. Traditional guilds remained powerful, however, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Indeed, following the defeat of the Taipings, guilds in many areas experienced vigorous growth because new ones were needed to re-establish the internal market system ravaged by the rebellion. Yet, in 1903, when the central government * Dr. Chan is Assistant Professor of History at Occidental College, Los Angeles. The author wishes to express his appreciation to the American Council for Learned Societies and the Harvard-Yenching Institute for their generous financial support which made possible the writing of this paper. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1975 (Covering the period April 7, 1975-April 1, 1976) This has been another active twelve months for your Society. I start my Report with a review of the programme and will then turn to matters concerning publications, the Art Centre, Library, Membership, and the Photographic Survey which has been one of our more recent ventures. During the period we have organised nine lectures, 2 excursions to places of local interest, and one tour abroad, to Burma. We have arranged two film shows, one recital and a symposium — the seventh in our series. Most events were well attended. Lectures and films related to the regions of China, contemporary and traditional, Vietnam, India, Korea and Hong Kong. The year started last April with a lecture on changing patterns of merchant organization in late Ch'ing China given by Dr. Wellington K.K. Chan, a visitor from the United States, and also in that month we arranged our first excursion, to Macau, where members, guided by Dr. Leigh Wright, visited Chinese temples and toured the Museum and colonial cemetery. In May and June our focus was on Peking opera. In May, Dr. Rulan Pian, visiting professor in music at Chung Chi College, spoke on musical elements in the opera; and in June Dr. Chiao Chien explained revolutionary opera as a means for transmitting values and political ideas. The arts were further represented in June with a demonstration of Kathak dancing by a well-known expert Mr. Satyanarayana Charka; and in July and August we showed films--one on Chinese paintings and one on music. Another film dealt with the excavation of a Silla tomb of 5th century Korea. In August Sir John Addis, formerly Ambassador to China, described a visit to Ching-te Chen; and in September a talk was given on Brahman ritual by Professor Fritz Staal. Also that month James Hayes, our editor and one of our vice-presidents who in his professional life is District Officer Tsuen Wan, led members to visit his area. The focus was on the past-historical places, the present, as well as the future of the area--development plans. Following, in October, a discussion was conducted by Drs. Graham and Elizabeth Johnson, both anthropologists working in Tsuen Wan ================================================================================