RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r HONG KONG BEFORE THE CHINESE 45 is one important point to be cleared up. The Chinese are highly skilled farmers. Their techniques of land-winning and of irrigation change landscapes. So, alas, does their age-long war against trees. But since A.D. 900 the topography of this territory has been changed not only by human technique. There has also been a gradual, small, but identifiable and, I believe, measurable tilt of the surface of the earth along the axis of the four high peaks (the two on Lantao,37 Tai Mo Shan and Ng Tung Shan104) which has altered and is still altering the coast line. I leave it to geologists to say whether this is a necessary effect of what happens when the subsidence of a long straight shore meets a range of hills parallel to the shore (in which case it will be reproduced at many points of the Chinese coast), or whether it is a local peculiarity. It would also be interesting to fill in some of the chronological gaps and find out whether the two clear cases of recent river capture13 took place before or after the Chinese settlement. Until these gaps are filled up, I do not claim that the details of the shore line indicated on the map are authoritative, but they are not far wrong for the northwestern part of the territory, which was the part first settled by the ancestors of the Man94 and Tang.44 You will observe that the present Castle Peak and the mountain attached to it on the north42 were at that time an island, separated from the mainland of the New Territories by a sea channel which in A.D. 900 was probably very shallow but navigable. The traditions of the oldest villages leave no room for doubt that there has been a general uplift in excess of 5 metres in this area. The red line approximately follows the present 5 metres contour. The ground on both sides of the navigable channel was swamp, probably mangrove swamp, dotted about with small islands and intersected by creeks and streams. The first fort of which there is written record was known as Tuen Mun Chan141 and was almost certainly located at a point I have marked on the map,138 about three miles north of the present location called Tuen Mun.141 It would be an advantage if all doubts could be settled by excavation on the site, which can be seen even from the ground (and more clearly still from the air) to have contained old earth-works and possibly buildings. It will be noticed that the present Sham Chun120 River had a much shorter course at that date, and the northern half of what ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r NOTES AND QUERIES 149 An expert could say what the ranges of such cannons were, but after you have landed at the pier and walked to the fort, you will appreciate that it is 1,200 yards from the coast. It is unlikely that guns in the fort could be really effective at this range, so that one questions the wisdom of its planners in placing it so far from the sea, if it was meant to be a work of coastal defence. What of the garrison? In the later Ching period there were at least three military installations on Lantau at Tung Chung, Tai O and Fan Lau, another on Cheung Chau, and a considerable number of troops in the Kowloon Walled City. These were all sedentary garrisons drawn from the Tai Pang (Mirs Bay) battalion of the Chinese regular forces, which was scattered in forts and guard posts all over the eastern and southern part of the Sun On district, of which the present Crown Colony of Hong Kong formed the major part. The garrison at Tung Chung was commanded by a subordinate officer and probably consisted of a score or two men who were very likely without modern weapons. Writing in 1903 Dyer Ball said of the Chinese military forces that "matchlocks, gingals, bows and arrows, spears and lances are still the weapons of many". Their military efficiency was probably very slight. A missionary, who wrote an interesting account of the San On district for the last number of the transactions of the old Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1859, has an amusing description of the guard post at the Shatin Pass. However, they probably had a deterrent value, but owing to the poor state of local communications at that time, they were much too far away to assist if anything happened elsewhere on Lantau, particularly on the south side, though their influence was felt there. When the local leaders of the Pui O community (South Lantau) rebuilt the Hung Shing temple there in 1875, they persuaded the garrison commander at Tung Chung to make a contribution. In the commemorative tablet recording the event he is styled Fu Ye, a respectful form of address for this subordinate officer. To bring these rather rambling notes to a close, the fort was used after 1898 as a police station. The District Officer who recovered the cannons for the fort has left a vivid picture of his occasional magisterial visits there about 1920: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 154 NOTES AND QUERIES 1626 the Manchus were stopped in their tracks at Ning-yüan by the foreign artillery. But this setback was not to last very long. They saw the usefulness of these weapons and set about casting some themselves. These proved effective in the conquest of the northern frontier (1643-44) and in the years to follow as their armies plunged on down across both the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers to Kwangtung and Kweichow. Columbia University L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH NOTES 1 In this I have consulted Mr. C. N. Tay of the American Museum of Numismatics, New York City. 2 The inscription on the cannon is given below. This cannon was found lying on open ground in the Tsiu Keng sub-district in the northern part of the New Territories. It was reported by Mr. R. E. dos Remedios, Senior Land Assistant in the District Office, Taipo in August 1966. The cannon was completely exposed and must have been in this condition for a long time. It is not clear how it came to be there. * This cannon, which was mentioned in passing in the note on the Tung Chung Fort, at p. 148 of Vol. 4 of the Journal (1964), was dredged from the sea in 1956, either from Kowloon Bay in the course of work on the extension to Hong Kong airport or from Fat Tong Mun (otherwise called Joss House Bay) in the approaches to Hong Kong Harbour—sources differ. It is now mounted with a plaque in Chinese and English outside the Central Government Offices (East Wing), Hong Kong. It was heavier than the one recently discovered; 300 catties as compared with 300 catties. The Chinese inscription, which is much the same, is also given below. 4 An insight into the happenings of these troubled times is preserved in the family record of the Tsui (徐) clan formerly of Shek Pik on Lantau island, to which their ancestor had removed in the 16th Century. The family came from Mong Ngau Tun (望牛墩) in Tung Kwun district (東莞) where they had settled in the Sung dynasty from Kiangsi province. There was fighting in Tung Kwun against the Manchus after their success in the North. The record which gives no precise date for this occurrence, though it must have been within a few years of the change of dynasty in 1644 — reads — Sau Yeung-kap, a civil officer, and Li Shing-tung, a general, instigated an uprising against the new dynasty in Tung Kwun. As the revolt gathered momentum, oxen and horses were killed for food, and rice and corn became as expensive as pearls. For miles, one could see nothing animate; the fields were covered with dead bodies. In some places, human flesh was eaten by the starving people, and piles of human bones filled the ruined houses. A detachment of the Manchu army was sent to besiege the district city, then occupied by the rebels. In the conflict that ensued, human beings were massacred as though they were ants, and law-abiding people and bad characters alike were destroyed. Fortunately, our clansmen, then living at Mong Ngau Tun, escaped this calamity. However, many of our former neighbours and fellow-natives in Ming Ka Lane lost their lives and [as the record says in another place] all the dispensations of the previous dynasty were regarded as scrap paper. (I am grateful to Mr. Gilbert Louie for this translation. Ed) Readers will note that Li Shing-tung (Li Ch'eng-tung) is mentioned in Prof. LO Hsiang-lin's Additional Note where he is described as Governor of Kwangtung. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT 83 overlooking various approaches in connection with the maritime defence of the Chu Kong estuary.2 In the past vessels proceeding towards Canton from northerly points used two main routes. The first was an inner route through Fat Tong Mun1 into Kowloon Bay by way of Lei Yu Mun, after which a stop was made near the present day Kowloon City. Vessels then proceeded through what is today's Hongkong harbour towards Kap Shui Mun. Continuing northwestwards, they negotiated the inner Tai Yu Shan passage towards Lung Kwu island, using for their landmark Castle Peak (1, Shing Shan) the same landmark that Sung sailors used centuries ago to pinpoint the then bustling emporium of Tuen Mun, located near its base. From then on, ships continued towards their destination, stopping either at Lin Tin or at Nam Tau with a final clearance at Fu Mun. A second approach used by vessels was to raise their landfall at Pak Tsim, Yung Hai, or at Tam Kong (see page 87 for these places), and thence to proceed through the Sam Chau Mun picking up the twin-peaked heights of Fung Wong Shan, the highest point in the Tai Yu Shan, as a navigational landmark. On this bearing, ships entered the estuary of the Chu Kong at a point below Fan Lau fort. From Fan Lau they set course for Lung Kwu, before continuing up the estuary to Fu Mun and then to Canton. The importance of Fan Lau to the Chinese coastal defence system lies in its location athwart the entrance of the Chu Kong estuary. The headland of Fan Lau too, made an excellent navigational landmark for ships approaching the estuary. Fan Lau fort The fort is sited on high ground about 235 feet above sea level. The exterior dimensions are 155 feet by 70 feet. The stone walls vary from 3 to 7 feet in width depending on the extent to which the existing walls have crumbled (plate 7). The height of the walls also varies, being higher at the southern end facing the sea than at the northern end. The area inside the fort covers no more than 7,380 square feet (123 feet by 60 feet). The smallness of this area suggests that the structure was a small outpost fitting the description of “guard-station" rather than "fort", although it appears on a map in the Kwong Tung Tung Chi as the Tai Yu Shan pao tai (*: literally "Tai Yu Shan gun terrace"). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT 85 Lau, meaning "division of flows" and the name of that point on the southwestern tip of Tai Yu Shan, describes accurately and specifically the abrupt change of colour of the sea off the point, from a clear green to a muddy brown, as any traveller from Hong-kong to Macau can attest. The name Fan Lau is not only appropriately but propitiously applied. In fung shui the confluence of streams or sea currents is considered auspicious (conversely, a site flanked by forking streams is not considered lucky). Fan Lau, situated as it were at such a confluence, is considered a lucky site; hence the presence of a fort, a temple, and a settlement. Conditions must have deteriorated in the Chu Kong estuary some sixty years after the return of Ch'ing control in 1669, for we hear of the garrisoning and reinforcement of troops in Tai Yu Shan in 1730 to shore up existing coastal defences there. "In the 7th year of Yung Cheng (1730) forts were constructed on two hills, to deploy garrisons for their defence and to reinforce the troops garrisoning Tai Yu Shan, thus forming an angle similar to that made by the horns of an ox, to serve the exterior defence of Macau and the Boca Tigre". The Kai Yik Kok fort must have been one of the two strong points mentioned, the other being probably the fort at Tung Chung. The analogy between the location of the fortifications of the estuary and the shape of an ox's horns is interesting. A glance at a map of the Chu Kong estuary would show Macau (in reality, the Heung Shan district forts) and Fan Lau to be the tips of those horns. Both these strategic areas cover the entrance to the estuary. The Boca Tigre (Fu Mun19) at the apex of the near-isosceles triangle formed by these three points, served as the pivotal central fortification. We know too, that the Fan Lau fort was designated as the administrative boundary between the San On District and the Heung Shan District on the other side of the estuary from Fan Lau. A map of the Chu Kong estuary in the O Mun Kei Leukaz depicts the Kai Yik Kok fort with the accompanying caption “San Heung Fan Kai” (***), meaning "This is the dividing boundary between the San On and the Heung Shan districts". It is very likely that some of the fort's soldiers were allotted plots of land for their own use. Another interesting possibility is that the soldiers and officials appointed to preserve law and order came from the very ranks of rebels and pirates who had previously Page 90 Page 91 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 86 ARMANDO M. DA SILVA defected to the government cause, and that as a reward, their land holdings were recognized officially by the government. This is a very Chinese approach to the problem of pacification. The Cheng 鄭 family of Fan Lau claims to have ancestral connections with Cheng Lin Fuk 鄭連福 and his son, Cheng Yat 鄭一, both notorious pirates from Tai Yu Shan, who terrorized the Chu Kong estuary during the latter half of the 18th century. The Cheng family still owns the land nearest to the old fort, which may suggest that this family had ancestors who were also on the government side (plate 10). The garrison could not have existed for long without food and it is reasonable to suppose that the padi fields of Fan Lau supported the soldiers from the fort (plate 11). There are reasons for believing that the Kai Yik Kok fort may have pre-dated the Coastal Withdrawal of 1662, and that it may have been a Ming rather than a Ch'ing fort. Some confirmation of this is afforded by a series of nautical charts in the Mo Pei Chi (A). The preface to this work is dated 1621, but it was not presented to the throne until 1628. However, it has been shown that the charts almost certainly date from the first half of the fifteenth century. Many of the place-names in that section of the charts pertaining to the Chu Kong estuary are identifiable when checked against similar or equivalent place-names found in the maps of the 19th century editions of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi, San On Yuen Chi, Heung Shan Yuen Chi and O Mun Kei Leuk, but the reader must be warned on two points. First, place-names may differ in both pronunciation and orthography in different sources. Yung Hai is written as 容海 on the Mo Pei Chi charts, but as 雍海 on the maps of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi. A second point to remember is that adjoining districts on one island are not infrequently depicted as separate islands. The Kwong Tung T'ung Chi carries a map of the San On district, for instance, which marks Tai Yu Shan, Tung Chung and Kai Yik Kok fort as separate islands, whereas the last two places are in fact both located on Tai Yu Shan. It is obvious that the place-names on these maps serve not so much to pin-point localities as to mark well-known landmarks and stopping places. Navigation in these waters depended not on nautical instruments, but on the experience of pilots familiar with key channels and navigational landmarks, such as headlands and mountain peaks. *Plates 12 and 13 also relate to this article. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT 87 Using the Ching dynasty maps from the District Gazetteers and the Provincial Gazetteer, I identify the places on the Chu Kong estuary section on the Mo Pei Chi charts as follows: (see map 4)— Po Toi Shan 蒲胎山 an island south of Hongkong. Now written 蒲台 Tung Keung Shan 東姜山 Yung Hai Shan 翁鞋山 Fat Tong Mun 佛堂門 Pak Tsim 北尖 Lang Tin Shan 小溪山 + ++ Tam Kon islands 檐桿 Yung Hai 湧鞋 or Hai Chau 鞋洲 retains the same name, Fat Tong Mun 佛堂門 retains the same name, Pak Tsim 北尖 as the "outer Lintin", Ngoi Ling Tin 外伶仃 as the "inner Lintin”, Ting Lin 伶仃 "Lantau", Tai Yu Shan 大嶼山 "Fan Lau", Kai Yik Kok 雞翼角 Nam Tin Shan 南停山 Tai Kai Shan 大溪山 Siu Kai Shan 小溪山 Kwun Fu Chai 宮富寨 + present day "Kowloon City", Kau Lung Shing 九龍城 Tung Kwun Sor 東莞所 District of Tung Kwun, Tung Kwun Yuen 東莞縣 Heung Shan Sor 香山所 District of Heung Shan, Heung Shan Yuen 香山縣 The absence of any mention of the San On district (新安縣) on the charts is significant. It is highly improbable that the compilers of the charts would have deliberately omitted or accidentally overlooked that district. Now, we know that the San On district was detached in 157310 from the Tung Kwun district to form two separate districts, the Tung Kwun and the San On districts, a circumstance which confirms the suggestion that the Mo Pei Chi charts were drawn at least before the creation of the San On district. If this were the case, the Kai Yik Kok fort must also be dated before 1573, which would make it a Ming dynasty fort. Between 1805 and 1810 control of the Chu Kong estuary slipped from the forces of the government. A new pirate leader, Cheung Po-tsai 張保仔 became master of the seas around Tai Yu Shan. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 88 ARMANDO M. DA SILVA A legend has grown up around this man, and most coastal Tin Hau temples today claim association with him. According to local tradition, Cheung was a lavish patron of the seafarer's temples which, in turn, probably supplied him with shipping intelligence. This pirate was reputed also to have constructed a number of forts, in reality armed camps, and village tradition has it that the Kai Yik Kok fort was once occupied by Cheung's men. There are reasons to believe this may be so. In 1809 a strong Chinese government fleet, assisted by six Portuguese lorchas11 from Macau on loan to the government, ambushed Cheung's pirate fleet at Tung Chung bay12. Cheung fought his way out of this trap only to surrender to the government after he had received peace overtures from the Provincial Governor. In the grand Chinese tradition of rewarding enemy defectors, Cheung was promptly made a paid government official and installed as chief customs collector in Macau. If Cheung's fleet was able to assemble at Tung Chung bay, which was dominated by a much larger fort, it follows that Cheung may have also controlled the second, but smaller, Tai Yu Shan fort at Fan Lau. In 1815 the Chinese government, alarmed at the presence of foreign opium boats in the Chu Kong estuary, again began fortifying the coast. Existing forts were strengthened and new coastal strong points were constructed as part of a design to establish full and total control over the estuary. The fort at Fan Lau appears on a contemporary coastal defence map of the Chu Kong estuary. This map, in the 1864 edition of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi, was drawn in 1821 or 1822. The Fan Lau fort was conspicuous enough to warrant a brief mention in the sailing directions of a foreign commercial guide on China published after Hong Kong was founded. The relevant passage reads, "Lantau, the largest island in the estuary below the Bogue is about 15 miles long and 5 in its greatest breadth; its peak is about 3000 feet high, and is the loftiest summit in this region, but foreigners have never been to the top. It has several villages on its shore, and a fort, called Shek Sun pau toi ☎✯✯✯ on its S.E. side. The village Tyho on its eastern shore* has given name to the whole island on our charts, but it is usually called Tai Yu Shan. * The compiler was evidently confused between E. and W., as Shek Sun and Tai O (Tyho) are at the west end of Lantau. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT $9 i.e. great island, by the Chinese; the town Toongchung on the north shore opposite Chulocock I. is the largest on the island" On the other hand, it seems by this date that the fort was already abandoned since one of the British officers who came out to China for the hostilities of 1841-42, has this to say of it in an account of his experiences: 14 At the S.W. part of Lantou (sic) we saw, on a height, the remains of an old walled fort, supposed to have been one of the haunts of the famous Coxinga, the pirate However, the fort could not have been abandoned for very long since a repair tablet inside the Tin Hau temple at Fan Lau dated the 2nd summer month of the 25th year of Chia Ch'ing (11th June -9th July, 1820) records contributions by officers of the 21 as it is described thereon. Both these records can only apply to the Fan Lau fort.'5 When the Hong Kong Government surveyors arrived at Fan Lau in 1904 after the New Territories were ceded to Britain, they found the fort still abandoned. In the Block Crown Lease Survey, it is described as "old fort, ruins, waste".16 It had probably not been re-occupied since the early part of the 19th century. It can now be argued that the Kai Yik Kok fort is a Ming dynasty fort built sometime before 1573, possibly abandoned, but rebuilt again in 1730, captured by pirates and re-taken by govern-ment forces sometime between 1810 and 1815, and then refurbished, refortified, and garrisoned until some time before 1841-42, by which time it was already again abandoned. NOTES 1 Also known to the villagers as Yuen To Shan (#ll) or "the hill from which to watch the arrival of distant boats". There is a level spot high above the village, which, according to tradition, was used by observers to watch for incoming vessels proceeding up the Chu Kong or Pearl River estuary. 2 The locations of these various strongpoints can be plotted from the text and maps in the Coastal Defence sections of the 1864 edition (map circa A.D. 1822) of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi the 1819 edition of the San On Yuen Chi M £ M ; the 1827 edition of the Heung Shan Yuen Chi ₺ 4B #; and the 1800 edition of the O Mun Kei Leuk * 1938 #. The last three works contain maps of varying dates from earlier editions. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 90 ARMANDO M. DA SILVA It will suffice here to say that the exterior defence of the Chu Kong estuary consisted of a series of forts, customs-stations and guard-posts in the Lo Man Shan 老萬山, Kai Pong 鷄澎, Sam Chau Mun 三洲門, Ngoi Ling Ting 外伶仃, and the Tam Kon ## groups of the outer off-shore islands. The civil administration ruled from Nam Tau, the district city of the San On district. The military administration was centred at Tai Pang, on the western arm enclosing Tai Pang Hoi (Mirs Bay). The civil administration operated on a north-south axis, as against the east-west axis of the military coastal defence system. This is understandable when one realizes that the military could facilitate their control of the coast-line by establishing easy communications by water running the length of the coast-line from strongpoints on strategic head-lands and the offshore islands. 3 For the Chinese characters of place names of some locales in the vicinity of Tai Yu Shan see map 3. For names of places within the present territory of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960). 4 So far as I know there has been no published study of this fort by Hongkong's local historians, except for a brief mention in one work which states that Kai Yik Kok fort was of Ch'ing dynasty date. Lo Hsiang-lin, Hongkong and its External Communication before 1842, (Hongkong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963) p. 172. 5 The principal ingredients of this cement are clam and oyster shells which are crushed and burnt to produce slaked lime. The lime is then mixed with fine sand to produce a holding cement. Shells and fine sand are common to many local beaches and are, apparently for this purpose, used in lime kilns. 6 San On Yuen Chi, kuen 22, under section on Coastal Defence reads: 看復界後海絮籹寧而設險更捻周密雖今之汎地 及設兵皆與舊制不同而大嶼山雞翼角炮臺南頭 炮臺赤濘炮蠱最為餓要 7 Fan Lau is also known as Shek Sun meaning "boulder growths", a reference to the numerous residual boulders at Kai Yik Kok, 8 Luis Gomes, Monografia de Macau (Macau, 1951), a Portuguese translation of the O Mun Kei Leuk p. 70. "No 7° ano de long Tcheng (1730) construiram-se fortalezas nas duas montanhas, distribuiram-se as guarniçoes para a sua defensa e foram reforçadas as tropas que guarneciam Tai-U-San formando assim como que um angulo semelhante ao que e constituido pelos chifres dum boi, para servir de defensa exterior de Macau e o Boca Tigre", 9 J. J. L. Duyvendak, "Sailing directions of Chinese voyages" T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938) pp. 230-237; and "The true dates of the Chinese maritime expeditions in the early fifteenth century", T'oung Pao, vol. 34 (1938), pp. 341-412. 10 The district of San On (新安) was formed in the sixth year of Lung Hing (隆慶) ie. 1572-73, Fourteen years later, in 1587, the San On district gazetteer was written by Yan Tai-kon (縣太君), the District Magistrate. Various editions followed. The latest edition was published in 1819. This gazetteer provides the best primary source of information on pre-British Hongkong. Chapters (kuen) XIV and XXII deal with Coastal Defence. These are chapters of special interest to historical geographers. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d FAN LAU AND ITS FORT 91 11 A lorcha is a specialized fighting craft from Macau that combined a Western-style hull (for speed and maneuverability) with Chinese batten sails and rigging (for easier sail-handling and disguise). 12 Charles F. Neumann, History of the Pirates (š), who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, (London, John Murray, 1831) P. 58. 13 J. R. Morrison, A Chinese Commercial Guide (Canton, Office of the Chinese Repository, 1848) pp. 70-71. 14 The Last Year in China to the Peace of Nanking as sketched in Letters to his Friends by a Field Officer actively employed in that Country (2nd edition, revised, London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans 1843) pp. 51-52. 15 There is, in addition, the possibility that the fort had a temporary garrison in 1834 see the imperial directive given respecting defence and patrolling at Lantau and Macao quoted by J. L. Cranmer-Byng in his brief note "An old fort at Tung Chung on Lantao Island” in J.H.K.B.R.A.S. Vol 3 (1963) pp. 144-145. 16 Hong Kong Government. New Territories Administration. Block Crown Lease Demarcation Districts 322 and 327, Shek Sun village, Lantau Island. BIBLIOGRAPHY CITED J. J. L. Duyvendak, "Sailing directions of Chinese voyages", T'oung Pao vol. 34 (1938), pp. 230-237, "The true dates of the Chinese maritime expeditions in the early fifteenth century", T'oung Pao vol. 34 (1938), pp. 341-412. Luis B. Gomes, Monografia de Macau, Macau, 1951. Hongkong Government. A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hongkong, Kowloon, and the New Territories, Hongkong, 1960. Lo Hsing-lin, Hongkong and its External Communications before 1842. Hongkong, 1963. J. R. Morrison, A Chinese Commercial Guide, Canton, 1848. Charles F. Neumann, The History of the Pirates who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, translated from the Chinese original, London, 1831. Ch'ing dynasty work: Chinese Sources Mo Pei Chi (AA) A.D. 1621 The provincial Gazetteer of Kwangtung: Kwong Tung Tung Chi (♬✯ ih sk) 1864 edition The District Gazetteers for the following: San On Yuen Chi (%) 1819 edition Tung Kwun Yuen Chi ✯✯✯) 1797 edition Heung Shan Yuen Chi (3) 1827 edition O Mun Kei Leuk (39 1932) 1800 edition ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH 173 the Chinese took place. Where was the island which the Portuguese called Ilha da Veniaga or "island of trade" and which was the centre of the foreign trading community? It has been very plausibly argued that it was at Ling Ting the Solitary Island in the estuary, but there is no local tradition or Chinese text confirming it. My own impression of the events is that the Portuguese built their fort in the neighbourhood of Castle Peak Bay and with their superior ships and artillery tried to dominate the foreign trade by controlling the entrance to the Canton estuary and by compelling the ships which put in at any of the natural harbours between Fat T'ong Mun, or at any rate K'ap Shui Mun and T'un Mun, to recognize their suzerainty. Another text says: "T'un Mun had long been the collecting place of foreign trading ships. In the reign of Ching Tê the Feringhis of the west under pretext of sending tribute infested our shores. Their actions were beastly and poisonous. They kidnapped children and ate them etc. These two texts are from inscriptions on a temple to a famous civil officer named Wang Hung who organised the attack on the Portuguese fleet and fortress. He was remembered with such gratitude by the local people he protected that he has received minor canonisation and is worshipped in our region. After describing the outrages of the Portuguese the inscription goes on: “All this came to the ears of Wang Hung who was enraged. He raised an army which he commanded personally, risking his life and exerting himself to the utmost. His efforts in conceiving the winning strategy in recruiting local craft and in teaching them to fight were crowned with success. He saw that the foreign boats were big and relied solely on their sails to move about. At that time the south wind was strong and he ordered the wrecks of some foreign ships to be filled with firewood and combustive oil and sent them on fire towards the Portuguese who were burnt or drowned. The people then attacked with a loud shout and gained the victory, totally exterminating their enemies." The Topography places the site of this final onslaught at Kau King Shan just above Castle Peak Bay. The Portuguese present at this battle were in some eight or ten ships and included Jorge Alvares, the discoverer of T'un Mun, 29 J. M. Braga in Tien Hsia of May 1939, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 156 JAMES HAYES the regular army and militia during the South African War 1899-1902 and was reorganised as the Territorial Force (TA) in the Army Reforms of 1908. This movement influenced events in many colonies, and in the future Dominions of Canada and Australia. Hong Kong was thus no exception to the rule, particularly as, in her case, there were recurrent times of insecurity and uncertainty in the years to come. — Another factor in the emergence of Hong Kong Volunteers at various times, and especially in its continuous manifestation from 1893 onwards, was the concern shown for Imperial Defence. Besides being an important port for the trade of and with China, Hong Kong was a naval base for coaling and refitting warships and was considered to be a vital link in the defence and maintenance of communications with the eastern parts of Britain's far-flung empire. In the 1880s there was much talk of its security which led first to the construction and arming of new batteries for coast defence at much cost—the Lei Yue Mun Fort dates from this time—and in the late 1890s the demand for the lease of the New Territories was made partly on defence grounds. This concern is reflected in the 1893 Volunteer Ordinance which made provision for two different bodies, the ordinary Volunteers—already well known to Hong Kong—and the Coast Defence Volunteers, who are here mentioned for the first time. (This Act also made the Hong Kong Volunteers subject to the Army Act whilst on active service in the same way as the Volunteers in England, and placed the Corps under the supervision of the Military Authorities).12 Imperial Defence was also later responsible, in 1902, for the conversion of the Corps, then comprising a field battery, machine gun and infantry companies, into garrison artillery which led to dissatisfaction among members and some resignations.13 The final stimulus at the end of the century was the enthusiasm and inspiration derived from being part of the British Empire which reached its emotional and material zenith in the decade between Queen Victoria's Silver and Diamond Jubilees in 1887 and 1897. An echo of this time remains in the Great Queen's 11 S.P., 1884-85, p. 83. 12 Section 18 of No. 6 of 1893 and Han., 1893, p. 70, 13 Twentieth Century Impressions, p. 277. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 174 SUNG HOK-PANG used to help his grandfather in the fields, working like the farm labourers and he was much beloved in Kam Tin. In the 15th year of Ka Hing A.D. 1810 the coast of San On was repeatedly attacked by a large fleet of pirate ships, and the district magistrate asked for sanction from the throne to move the fortress then existing at Fat T'ong Moon near Lyemun to Kau Lung (Kowloon) city. This was granted, but money to do the work was scarce. The magistrate went to Tang in his difficulty: Tang said, "The hill round Kau Lung are full of large stones. Why not explain to the local masons that they should work on such an important matter for their country, for low wages." The magistrate, knowing that Tang had a great gift of persuasion with the country people, begged him to undertake the task. Tang was successful, the stone masons agreed to do what he suggested and when the fort was finished Tang wrote four big characters Chan Hoi Kam Tong. Chan to guard, Hoi the sea, Kam the city was built by strong metal, T'ong hot water; i.e. the water in the city moat is like boiling water that no enemy would dare to cross. These characters were carved on a large stone tablet which was built in the wall of the fort; unfortunately it is no longer to be seen. The public dispensary outside the Kowloon city wall now occupies the original site. Another useful public work that Tang Yin Yuen was responsible for, was the rebuilding of Man Kong Shue Yuen, the high grade school for San On district. This building was originally inside the West gate of the capital city of San On, and owing to the low-lying ground it was most unhealthy for the teachers and students. A desirable site was inside the South gate but objections were raised by a native of the town who declared the land to be his own property. Tang went to law on his own responsibility, and when the district magistrate declared himself unable to give judgment he took the case to a higher court. He won and the new building was completed in the 11th year of Ka Hing A.D. 1806. A new name was given to the school, Fung Kong Shue Yuen, and Tang carved yat ch'an pat yim, "not soiled by a particle of dust” over the top of the main door. Before he died Tang wrote in his will that he hoped one day one of his descendants would teach in the school and help to train good citizens. This wish was granted in 1904 when his great grandson Tang Wai Man went to teach in the school where he stayed seven years. Tang Ying Yuen helped to compile the "History of San On," and his house is still to be Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 152 W. SCHOFIELD used by villagers occurred in 1931, when a man applied for a matshed permit for a small area in the middle of the beach at Tai Wan village on Po Toi. I took a launch there to see the place and found he had picked the centre of an area on which were a large number of poles used by the villagers to support bamboos for drying nets and similar purposes: so after a few enquiries I told the applicant he could not have that place. (That was the day I found a fine shouldered stone adze-head on the path above the village at the 150 ft. contour). Another very different case was that of a house built on a levelled site on a low hill above Muk Min Ha, Tsun Wan: the contractors mishandled the levelling so badly that the earth fill was nearly all washed down into the village and raised its lanes by 2 or 3 feet, making a fearful mess: this was about 1926. During my term of office the resumption of the Shing Mun Valley for reservoir construction was carried through, the D.O. North doing the actual negotiation, which was long and difficult. The problem was where to resettle the five displaced villages, and before a site was found enquiries were made in all directions, even as far afield as North Borneo. Some village elders were sent there to see the area offered, but their report was very adverse; there were too many corrupting influences there to suit their people — all Hakkas — who naturally wished to bring up their children in proper surroundings, not among brothels, opium dens and spirit shops. One of the quietest parts of the District was the area of the Lyemun and Hang Hau peninsulas, where the traditional ways of life were kept going, and people rarely dealt in land, or brought their disputes to me. Hang Hau peninsula was served by only two good lines of communication; the Hang Hau ferry from Shaukiwan, connecting with a launch that ran from the east side of the Hang Hau isthmus to Saikung, and a solidly built Chinese paved road running along the ridge north and south down the peninsula. On Nam Tong, by the Fat Tau Mun, stands a fort with a gun platform on the south rampart for light artillery; this was said to have been a pirate stronghold originally. West of this fort lay some old deserted fields, which at the time of my visit were being tilled by a squatter. I suggested to him that he might become a regular land-owner and start paying Crown rent, but apparently the rent suggestion frightened him off, for next year the land was deserted. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 156 W. SCHOFIELD on the ridge.* Further afield, on the Hang Hau peninsula, is the paved road referred to above, which runs as far as Ha Yeung: and on Nam Tong, commanding the strait, is the robbers' stronghold with its gun platform. Porcelain near its gate looked fairly modern, from what I remember. Remains of a similar kind can be found on the other islands of the Southern District. Just above the village of Shek Sun at the west end of Lantau stands a Dutch fort built about 1610, rectangular in plan. A few cannon balls and other relics have been found in it, but it is very overgrown and needs clearing if any research is to be done there, or sightseers enabled to visit it. The old fort and cannon protecting the small yamen were repaired when E. W. Hamilton was D.O., I think between 1927 and 1929: I remember that one room in the yamen was inscribed shu shat (library). Another relic of old coast defences, close to Tai O, is the old Chinese guard station already referred to, outside Po Chu Tam creek, and quite ruined. On the south coast, near Shek Pik, a very ancient rock carving on a cliff was found quite recently. In the outlying islands are three interesting structures: one is on the North Soko island, where in a small valley on its south coast are two converging lines of megaliths. The other two are on Sha Chau, one a stone burial chamber on the south isthmus in the form of a 'kistvaen,' the other a ruined guard station on the flat area northwards of the chamber, with an earthwork protecting the landing place to eastward. No doubt there are many other places of interest, especially temples and their contents: one of the finest is the Pak Tai temple in Cheung Chau, with its coloured relief showing the local ferry boat nearing the pier in Hong Kong harbour. Lastly, there is one place of much interest with which I had to deal in 1917 or 1918. The Tang grave at Hau Tei, beside Tsun Wan, made in the Sung dynasty, was naturally affected by the new Castle Peak motor road and a projected reclamation of the shallow sea area beyond it. The Tang elders come to the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, where I was 2nd A.S.C.A.,† and partly I think on my suggestion the hill of the grave was made into a public park, so as to preserve its surroundings and outlook. The grateful elders presented me with a 'fung shui' map of the grave site for my efforts on their behalf; and the good influence of their virtuous ancestor continues to augment the prosperity of their descendants, and of Hong Kong generally, if there is anything in 'fung shui'! * See Mr. Schofield's note in JHKBRAS 9 (1969): 154-156. † Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 CONTENTS EDITORIAL - PRESIDENT'S REPORT - HON. TREASURER'S REPORT - THE LIBRARY - Page 1 3 9 12 Articles : The Reform of Military Education in Late Ch'ing China, 1842-1895 -- RICHARD J. SMITH 15 41 Altar Images from Hunan and Kiangsi KEITH STEVENS Is Face the Same as Li? — A critical note on Agassi and Jarvie, 'A Study in Westernization' MARGARET N. NG 49 0 Ancestors in the Spring -- The Qingming Festival in Central China GÖRAN AJMER - 59 (83 The Politicization of Chinese Craft Organization in Post World War II Hong Kong - EUGENE COOPER Shiwan Pottery Explored-FREDRIKKe Skinsnes ScollaRD 101 Village Government in China [1933]—C. MARTIN WILBUR 113 Woodblock Printing, an Essential Medium of Culture Inheritance in Chinese History — DAVID H. S. CHAU 175 NOTES AND QUERIES: = 国 - Missing Maps: Sowerby's "Sport & Science on the Sino-Mongolian Frontier" - H. A. RYDINGS Brook's Gecko Found in Macau - J. D. ROMER Mud Skis or Scooter, Deep Bay, Hong Kong The Saintly Guo- KEITH STEVENS - The Immortal Fan - KEITH STEVENS Ancestral Images - KEITH STEVENS StevENS Marble Hall Peter Wesley-Smith Distribution of Forts and Guard Stations on Lantau Island during the late Ch'ing period - The Cannons on the Wall of the Tung Chung Fort, Lantau Island, Hong Kong - The Fat Tong Mun Fort (or the Tung Lung Fort) - - 190 191 · - · 192 - - 193 - ANTHONY K. K. SIU First Record of the Pelobatid Frog-J. D. ROMER Two Bibliographical Notices JAMES HAYES BOOK REVIEWS - - - 198 200 - 202 205 607 (09 - 211 - 213 214 V Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 205 DISTRIBUTION OF FORTS AND GUARD STATIONS ON LANTAU ISLAND DURING THE LATE CH'ING PERIOD Lantau, an island which lies to the west of Hong Kong Island, has an area of about 55.55 square miles. Situated at the entrance of the Pearl River estuary, the island enjoyed a strategic location in the past, especially during the late Ch'ing Dynasty. The position was reflected in the construction of forts and guard stations or shuen (屯) overlooking Tuen Mun 屯門. During the K'ang Hsi period (1662-1722), the island was fortified with a fort at Kai Yik Kok 雞翼角, known as the Fan Lau Fort 汾流砲台 or Tai Yu Shan Fort 大嶼山砲台; and with two guard stations; one at Tai O 大澳, the Tai Yu Shan Shuen 大嶼山汎; the other at Tung Chung 東涌, the Tung Chung Hau Shuen 東涌口汎. During the Chia Ching period (1796-1820), more forts and guard stations were constructed, partly because of the coming of the Europeans. Thus in the 22nd year of Chia Ching's rule, the Tung Chung Walled City 東涌城 was constructed, and a guard station with two forts called the Shek Tse Fort 石子砲台 was founded on the coast to its front. Later guard stations were established at Tai Ho 大蠔, Sha Lo Wan 沙螺灣, and at Mui Wo 梅窩. The military force on the island consisted of a Shau-pe 守備 or major, with his headquarters at the Tung Chung Walled City. Under him were 4 Tsin-tsung 千總 or lieutenants, 7 Pa-tsung 把總 or sergeants, and 5 Ngai-wai 外委 or corporals. They were in command of 691 soldiers, of whom 195 were infantry and 496 garrison soldiers. This force also manned guard-stations at the Kowloon Walled City 九龍城寨, Shum Shui Po 深水埗, Tsing Lung Tau 青龍頭, Cheung Chau 長洲, Tsing Yi Tam 青衣潭, Ping Chau 坪洲, Po Toi 蒲苔, Kap Shui Mun 急水門, and at Yung Shu Wan 榕樹灣. From this force 215 soldiers were in garrison on Lantau Island. The following shows the distribution of garrison soldiers in various forts and guard-stations on the island: Tung Chung Walled City: 100 garrison soldiers under 1 Shau-pe, 1 Pa-tsung, and 2 Ngai-wai. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 207 Kwong Tung To Shuet ✯✯ Tung Ch'ih Period (1862-1874) edition Kwong Tung Hoi To Shuet ✯✯ ✯ 1889 edition Kwong Tung Yu Ti To Shuet ★★★★ 1889 edition Kwong Tung Yu Ti Chuen To ★★★LAN 1909 edition Of course, we cannot be certain that all these troops were actually in post. Hong Kong. 1979. ANTHONY K. K. SIU THE CANNONS ON THE WALL OF THE TUNG CHUNG FORT, LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG* Six old muzzle-loading cannons, each fixed to a cemented base, can be seen on the wall of the Tung Chung Fort: two on the west and four on the east. They all carry inscriptions, of which only four are still legible. The inscription of the eastermost cannon is illegible, due to severe weathering. The second has an inscription which shows that it was cast in the eighth moon of the 14th year of the reign of Chia Ching (1809), serial number Ching 80, weighing 1,000 catties, and cast by the Master of the Man Shing Furnace (£+0‡^^÷ 日鑄造,靖字第八十號,一千斤砲一位,匠頭萬盛爐鑄造). As far as we know, during this 14th year of the reign of Chia Ching, the famous pirate Cheung Po-tsai had a very strong influence on Lantau. At that time, Pak Ling, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, was responsible for suppressing him and his gang. He ordered the casting of cannons and mounted them along the coastal regions, such that the area became strongly fortified. The cannons that he ordered to be cast bore the serial number of 'Ching, and were cast by the Man Shing Furnace of Fat Shan.2 It may be surmized that because of this strengthening of the forts and guard-stations in this region, Cheung Po-tsai finally surrendered in the 15th year of the reign of Chia Ching (1810),3 Thus, one can see that the cannon had played an important part in the suppression of the pirate Cheung Po-tsai. * This note is illustrated by the author's photographs at Plates 33-40. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 209 NOTES 1 Ip Lam-fung's Legends of Cheung Po-tsai. 2 Lo Hsiang-lin's Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Chapter 7. 3 'Ching Hoi Fan Kee', recorded in Chapter 33 of the Tung Kwun Yuen Chi. 4 'Ching Hoi Fan Kee' #2, recorded in Chapter 33 of the Tung Kwun Yuen Chi. 5 Yik Shan, General of Border Pacification, by Imperial Appointment before 1841. 6 Choi Sheung-ah, Minister of Constant Support from the 21st year to the 25th year of Tao Kang (1841-1845). 7 Kay Kung, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi from the 21st year to the 23rd year of Tao Kang (1841-1843), 8 Leung Po-shcung, Governor of Kwangtung from the 21st year to the 22nd year of Tao Kang (1841-1842), Hong Kong, March 1979. ANTHONY K.K. SIU THE FAT TONG MUN FORT (OR THE TUNG LUNG FORT) Fat Tong Mun ¶ is a main waterway which lies to the east of Hong Kong. The north part is occupied by the peninsula of the Tin Ha Shan 田下山半岛, known as the North Fat Tong 北佛堂; and the South Fat Tong is an island called the Tung Lung Island today. It is the main waterway for entering Canton (Kwongchow). During the early Ch'ing Dynasty, a fort known as the Fat Tong Mun Fort was erected on the south Fat Tong. We now call the fort 'the Tung Lung Fort', after its present name. The fort lies on the NW of the island; on a promontory, with cliffs facing north, south and east. To the west, the promontory slopes gently towards the post-war Nam Tong village settlement, with paths linking the fort with the village. The fort occupies an area of about two thousand square feet. It is formed by four rubble walls, about eight feet high. It has an entrance which faces north. According to Mr. JAO Tsyng-i's record, the arch of the entrance could still be seen during his visit to the The author's photographs illustrating this note are at Plates 41-42. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 210 NOTES AND QUERIES fort in 1923. However, it is now ruined. The whole area is covered with shrub and mangrove. Before the Ming Dynasty, there was no military post on the island. It was not until the late Ming Period that a guard-station or shuen, which was administered by the commander of the Nam Tau Walled City, was set up.2 Before then, the area had only patrol-boats, probably stationed at Tun Mun.3 During the early Ch'ing Period, because of the increased strength of the pirates along the coast, more forts and guard-stations were set up. The Fat Tong Mun Fort on the Tung Lung Island was erected during the K'ang Hsi period (1662-1727)3, and a garrison of 25 soldiers under one pa-tsung or sergeant Tai Pang Battalion✯ was stationed there.6 The fort remained a strong outpost along the east coast of Hong Kong for nearly a hundred years. Then, in the 15th year of the Ch'ia Ching rule (1810), the fort was evacuated and finally abandoned.7 A new fort was built at the place of the present Hong Kong Marine Police Headquarters at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. The fort remains in ruins till now. Hong Kong, 1979. SIU KWOK-KIN NOTES 1 See note 4 of Mr. JAO Tsung-i's Kowloon in Historical Records of the Sung Dynasty九龍與宋季史料, 饒宗頤著 2 Chapter 8 of the San On Yuen Chi, K'ang Hsi edition, records, "In the 19th year of the Man Lik Period of the Ming Dynasty, guard-stations were established at Fat Tong Mun, Tor Ling Ngor Kung O, Kowloon, Tun Mun, Kap Shui Mun, Tung Sai Chung, Ngor Kung Tau, Chak Wan, Lo Man Shan and Long Pak." In the same chapter, it is also recorded, "Six guard-stations were set up during the Ming Dynasty. They were Fat Tung Mun, Lung Shun Wan, Lok Kat, Tai O, Long To Wan, and Long Pak. These guard-stations were administered by the commander at the Nam Tau Walled City." Thus, we know that the Fat Tong Mun Guard Station was established in the 19th year of the Man Lik period of the Ming Dynasty; but the fort must have been built at a later time. 3 Chapter 5 of the Cheong Wu Chung Tuk Kwun Mun Chi records, "Patrol boats from Nam Tau were stationed at Tun Mun. Some sailed through Fat Tong Mun to the region as far east as Tai Pang." The book was completed in the 32nd year of the Chia ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 211 Ching period of the Ming Dynasty (1553). From this, we can see that, at that time, there was no fort nor guard-station at Fat Tong Mun. 4 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 早期海盜略，原載廣東文獻第八卷，第四期。. 5 Chapter 4 of the San On Yuen Chi, Ch'ia Ching edition, ★★★✰ recorded, "North Fat Tong is an isolated island, A fort is erected during the K'ang Hsi period, for the protection of the waterway against the pirates." This proves that the fort on Tung Lung Island was erected during the K'ang Hsi reign. 6 See Chapter 13 of the Kwong Tung Hoi Tu Shuet. 1889 edition ★***, and Chapter 73 of the Kwong Chow Fu Chi, 1879 edition 廣州府志。 7 Chapter 125 of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi, Tao Kuang edition £ A records, "In the 15th year of the Ch'ia Ching rule, Viceroy Chin Mun Fu ✰✰ suggested to have the Fat Tong Mun Fort abandoned, and rebuilt near the Kowloon Walled City, Viceroy Pak Ling ordered the Magistrate of the San On District 4 to carry out the suggestion. The Fat Tong Mun Fort was under the command of the officer commanding of the Tai Pang Battalion ***. The fort stood on an isolated island, two hundred li from the Tai Pang Walled City, and forty li from the Kowloon guard-station. There were no villages on the island that could assist in protecting the region. Thus the fort had to be removed to the Kowloon City Region." Chapter 14 of the Kwong Chow Fu Chi, 1879 edition АЯ, and the Genealogy of Tang's of Kam Tin, New Territories of Hong Kong, 香港新界錦田鄧氏族譜 have the same record. 8 See Note 6, Chapter 8 of Professor LO Hsiang-lin's Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Chinese edition, 1959 -AS- 一八四二年以前之香港及其對外交通，羅香林著. FIRST RECORD OF THE PELOBATID FROG LEPTOBRACHIUM PELODYTOIDES BOULENGER IN HONG KONG It is indeed gratifying to find-in an area as small and zoologically well studied as Hong Kong-any amphibian not previously known to be part of our fauna. Not only does the discovery of Leptobrachium pelodytoides add another species, but represents a genus new to the known fauna of Hong Kong. The first specimens found here, and subsequently identified, are nine tadpoles collected by Dr. Frank F. Reitinger and Mr. Jerry K. S. Lee at an altitude of about 853 metres on Tai Mo Shan in the New Territories on 30 November and 7 December 1974. However, it was not until two adult frogs were found by Mr. Phillip J. Bishop ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 Plate 41. View of the Fat Tong Mun Fort (photo taken in August, 1978) Plate 42. A corner of the wall of the Fat Tong Mun Fort (photo taken in August, 1978) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 48 REVS. J. SMITH AND WM, DOWNS ports, visas and so on, and on their return the bus which they had boarded took them only as far as Repulse Bay Hotel. From there they began walking to Stanley, and they had not gone far when the command rang out: Halt!. They saw no one in the gathering darkness and continued on, when suddenly a bullet whistled over their heads. Some British Tommies on sentry duty stopped them and demanded their credentials. These having been verified they were allowed to proceed, none the worse for their experience. During these eventful days, Father Toomey did great work in visiting the Prison, on occasional sick calls. He also went to Point d'Aguilar where volunteers were holding an advance position. He was likewise at the Fort on the Hill when it was being bombed by the Japanese planes. While at the Prison he attempted to visit the interned Italian Fathers, but was not allowed. However, he managed to have delivered to them a Mass kit or two with the necessary supplies. At the Carmelite Convent just below our hill, Father Hessler said daily Mass for the Sisters and later on remained with them during the actual fighting at Stanley. As the days wore on in the second week of the war, things began to get pretty "hot" around Stanley. An occasional shell whistled overhead, reports came in that the Japanese landed in Hong Kong and were even now converging on the Tytam reservoir just to the east of us; in fact, they were even said to have captured a red brick house close by. Finally, on the twenty-second of the month, without warning, eight of the Royal Engineers' coolies who were standing just outside our garage on the west of the house, were wounded by machine gun bullets fired from across the valley. Also a little beggar girl who used to come frequently for food received a flesh wound. We brought them all into our house and laid them on the floor and did what we could for them, bandaging up their wounds. Just across this valley the British had built some ammunition dumps and had placed there an anti-aircraft battery or two. These batteries fired at enemy planes in the beginning but eventually we heard them no more and no doubt they were removed elsewhere, for now the Japanese were in possession of this hill. As a measure of safety we moved our kitchen away from this western exposure and also kept away as much as possible from that end of the house. Page 75 Page 76 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 51 nest from the spurt of British fire at that point. Then almost instantly a Japanese shell could fall dangerously close, but the machine gun would continue to sputter. But the time came when they ceased to sputter. Perhaps they had moved their positions, or perhaps were silenced. The British had some mobile guns in the roadway leading to the Prison, and the flash from their muzzles could be easily seen. Fortunately, all during this time no bullets struck our house, it being on an eminence out of the range of fire, but the Carmelite Convent below was in the very midst of the battle. Its walls were pelted with machine gun and rifle bullets, but by the great mercy of God no one was either injured or molested, save Father Hessler, and the extent of his punishment was merely a slap or two in the face on Christmas morning. At midnight, the battle seemed to be raging fiercely, and we could hear distinctly the blood-curdling yells of the attacking Japanese as they swarmed down the road past the Convent and reached the defending positions. So it must have been when the American savages attacked a frontier outpost when the world was not quite as civilized as it is supposed to be today. As the night wore on, the din of battle seemed to grow less and less. The defenders were slowly yielding ground, and the Japanese advanced towards the Prison and the Fort, so that when dawn began to break, the firing became more desultory, and the Japanese were in possession of Stanley Village and St. Stephen's Hill. They were not yet in the Prison, nor had they attempted the assault of the Fort, some distance out on the Stanley promontory. On Christmas Day, needless to say, there were no Midnight Masses at Stanley to herald the birth of the new-born King, but as there seemed to be a lull in the battle raging all around us, we began saying our Masses at about five o'clock, on the portable altars in the corridors. We used but one candle, and even with that, we were in trepidation lest that tiny flame draw the fire of some lurking soldier. Some of us managed to say our three Masses, others two, and still others but one, while a few never got the opportunity, for about seven o'clock in the morning, there was a great hubbub at our front entrance, and we soon heard the sound of crashing glass. Most of us got as far as the second floor and tried to figure out what was happening. Finally, Father Meyer went down to the front entrance and there saw a group of Japanese soldiers who had gotten ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 58 REVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS and he helped others to loosen theirs, at least to some extent. Some, though, spent the whole night with hands tied, but how they managed I do not know. Later the marks on their hands showed for weeks. To cap it all, poor Father Bauer still had dysentery, and Father Madison also developed a similar malady. Well, we used the water jar, which so fortunately had been left in the garage. Thus passed our first night in the garage—the Christmas night of 1941. Altogether we were thirty-four—a Bishop, a Salesian Seminarian, Brother Bernard, two laymen, Mr. Brown and Michael, and Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., Szeliga, the Polish Salesian, Toomey, Troesch, Meyer, Downs, Keelan, Quinn, Bauer, Reardon, Callan, Allie, Madison, Gaiero, Siebert, McKeirnan, Walter, Moore, O'Connell, Tackney, Knotek, O'Connor, C. M., Charles Murphy, from Scarboro Bluffs, Canada, and our Brothers Michael, Anselm, Lawrence, Thaddeus and William. Dawn finally came, and we welcomed the new day. Fortunately for us the weather was mild, and despite the fact that all except Father Szeliga slept without their cassocks, and some just in trousers and underwear, we felt no ill effects, except a natural stiffness in our joints and bones from the hard floor. The ominous silence of the preceding night continued, and we began to wonder if in reality the war was over or what was brewing. Later we learned that an armistice had been agreed upon about five o'clock Christmas afternoon, though at Stanley sporadic fighting continued until around seven, when the few men still defending the prison surrendered. On receiving telephonic instructions from Hong Kong the big guns at the Fort also ceased firing and the Fort was soon in Japanese hands. As the morning wore on we began to think of food and drink since we had nothing in our stomachs since eleven o'clock the preceding day, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. The sentry peeked in from time to time, and whenever he did so we always managed to turn our faces towards him and slip our hands back into their nooses. About ten o'clock we tried to make signs to the sentry that we were hungry and thirsty but to no avail. Finally, after repeated representations and the offering of a very valuable wrist watch by Father Toomey, the sentry handed in through the crack in the door, his canteen which was about half full of water. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 198 NOTES AND QUERIES * 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) + * 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. 19 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). 11 see Chapter 13 of San On Yuen Chi Chapter 81 of Kwong Chow Fu Chi A **** 1819 edition and 1879 edition. 12 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. 14 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. 14 see Armando M. De Silva's article, op. cit. 15 also called Tung Chung Hau in the past. 10 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. 17 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. 18 Ha Ling Pei Village, an adjacent village to Sheung Ling Pei Village, is situated to the west of the Tung Chung Walled City. 19 See my article: "Distribution of Forts and Guard-stations on Lantau Island during the Late Ch'ing period", JHKBRAS vol. 18: 1978. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 20 See note 13. NOTES AND QUERIES 199 21 See Ch'ing Hoi Fan Kei recorded in Chapter 33 of the Tung Kwun Yuen Chi ★★ 1911 edition. 22 Chapter 125 of Kwong Tung Tung Chi (1822) stated, “The Shek She Fort of Tung Chung Kau, Tai U Shan, was built in the 22nd year of the Ch'ia Ching reign (1817). It was proposed and built by Viceroys Cheung Yau-koot and Yuen Yuen.' Chapter 130 of the same book recorded, "In the 22nd year of the Chia Ch'ing reign, Viceroys Cheung Yau-koot and Yuen Yuen proposed to build eight guard-houses at Tung Chung Hau, and two fortresses, seven guard-houses, and an ammunition store at the foothill of the Shek She Shan. The proposal was carried out by Pang Chiu-lun, Reserve Prefect of Kwong Chow Fu. The eight guard-houses at Tung Chung Hau were those inside the Tung Chung Walled City. The two fortresses, with seven-guard-houses and an ammunition store at the foothill of Shek She Shuen formed the Shek She Fort of Tung Chung Kau. 23 See Wong Pui Kai's "Tung Chung of Tai Yue Shan", published in Volume 86 of Tai Fung Pun Yuet Kan, ⭑「大公報·文教半月刊」第八十六期。 24 Chik Lap Kok Island lies to the north of Tung Chung Bay. The island is famous for the production of granite used in building purposes. 25 See note 22. 26 See my article: "The Cannons on the Wall of the Tung Chung Fort", JHKBRAS vol. 18: 1978. 27 See note 22. 28 The stones of the wall had been taken away by the monks of Tai Tong Tsai ## for the building of the Ma Wan Chung Bridge. It is now called the Lai Luk Bridge. 29 See note 22. TWO EXAMPLES OF CHINESE RELIGIOUS INVOLVEMENT WITH ISLAM Although Chinese folk religion and Islam have next to nothing in common, two examples of Chinese reaction to Islam are afforded to us in present day South East Asia; one in Singapore and Malaysia where the image of Muslim appears on Chinese altars, and the other in Thailand where a local Chinese folk religion cult has developed around a Chinese girl who killed herself because her brother was being converted to Islam. Chinese immigrants brought their beliefs and their gods with them to South East Asia, but one further and special deity has been added to their pantheon. This is a Malay, depicted on the altar as having a very dark skin, often jet black, and wearing the Malay ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 134 NOTES AND QUERIES insurance against Indonesian official accusations of racialism and idolatry. The temple staff believed, said the temple keeper, that Indonesian moslem officials would not dare throw out an image of the former President. It is interesting and no doubt connected, that the image was in a Chinese temple in the birth place of the former President. The image, illustrated at Plate 18, regrettably does not bear much resemblance to President Sukarno. Hong Kong, 1981 KEITH STEVENS MORE ABOUT THE TUNG LUNG FORT* The Fat Tong Mun Fort or the Tung Lung Fort 東龍砲台 is situated on Tung Lung Island 東龍島. As recorded in the San On Yuen Chi, Chia Ch'ing edition***, it was erected during the K'ang Hsi period, for the protection of the waterway against the pirates.2 However, as the K'ang Hsi Reign of the Ch'ing Dynasty lasted for sixty-one years (1662-1722), I wonder when it was actually erected within that period? From the book Ch'ing Cho Hoi Keung To Shueta, published between 1727-17333, the following points bearing on the Fat Tong Mun Fort are mentioned: 1. In the San On County, four forts, namely: the Tor Ling Fort 沱泞砲台, the Fat Tong Mun Fort 佛堂門砲台, the Nam Tau Fort 南頭砲台, and the Tai Yu Shan Fort 大魚山砲台, were newly erected. 2. These forts were erected when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung Province. 3. The Fat Tong Mun Fort was provided with eight cannon places and thirteen guard-houses. 4. There were no fixed number for the garrisons at the forts. Soldiers were sent to guard them as required. In the Kwangtung Tung Chi✯✯5 and the Ch'ing Shi Ko✯or 3, it was recorded that Yeung Lin was a Shau-pei. See also JHKBRAS 19 (1979): 209-210. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 135 major during the early K'ang Hsi period. He had taken part in the suppression of the disturbances led by Ng Shaam-kwai in the south. He was promoted to Yau Je or colonel and then to Ti Tu or brigadier of the Fukien Province. In the 56th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1717), he was promoted to be Chuen Fu or Governor of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces. At that time, pirates were disturbing the south coast of China, and the people there led a hard life. Yeung Lin lowered their taxes and improved their living. Two years later, in the 58th year of the Kang Hsi reign (1719), he was made Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces. He then proposed to erect 126 forts, walled cities and guard-stations, and to strengthen the fortification of the coast by increasing the garrisons to 3991 men. His proposal was authorized, and in the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1723), he was appointed to be Viceroy of Kwangtung specially responsible for all matters of the Kwangtung Province. He died a year later, (1724). To conclude, the Fat Tong Mun Fort must have been built when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces, within the period between the 59th year of K'ang Hsi and the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1720-1723). The fort guarded the Fat Tong Mun and had 8 cannon places and 13 guard-houses. A garrison of 25 soldiers under one pa-tsung or sergeant from the Tai Pang Battalion was stationed there. Then in the 15th year of the Chia Ch'ing Reign (1810), the fort was evacuated and finally abandoned. The fort became a ruin, long neglected. It is now being excavated under the direction of Dr. Solomon Bard, Executive Secretary, Antiquities and Monuments Section, Urban Services Department, Hong Kong. Hong Kong, January 1981 ANTHONY K. K. SIU NOTES 1 Tung Lung Island was called South Fat Tong or Nam Fat Tong in the past. It lies to the east of Hong Kong Island and guards the eastern entrance to the Victoria Harbour. 2 Chapter 4 of the San On Yuen Chi, Chia Ch'ing edition **縣志卷四**. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 136 NOTES AND QUERIES 3 Map of the East Coast of the Kwangtung Province, in the Ch'ing Cho Hoi Keung To Shuet 清初海疆圖說之粵東海圖說篇 The book was prepared in the Reign of Yung Cheng (1723-1735). * Chapter 43 and Chapter 255 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, 1864 edition 阮元廣東通志卷四十三及卷二百五十五 5 Table 37 of Ch'ing Shi Ko * In the 12th year of the K'ang Hsi Reign (1673), Ng Shaam-kwai led an uprising against the Ch'ing Government. The uprising was suppressed in the 20th year of K'ang Hsi (1681). Some of his followers turned to piracy on the south coast of China. 7 Chapter 255 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, 1864 edition * As recorded in the Map of the East Coast of the Kwangtung Province, in the Ch'ing Cho Hoi Keung To Shuet, within 16 coastal counties of the Kwangtung Province, a total of 41 forts, 312 cannon places and 618 guard-houses were erected when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Province. Of these, 4 forts, 32 cannon places, and 74 guard-houses were erected in the San On county. * He was appointed as Viceroy of Kwangtung Province in the 1st year of the Yung Cheng Reign (1723). The Province of Kwangsi was then under Kung Yuk-sun, as Governor. 10 See my article The Fat Tong Mun Fort (or the Tung Lung Fort) in Volume 18 of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch Royal Asiatic Society. DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPLES ON LANTAU ISLAND AS RECORDED IN 1979 Lantau Island lies to the west of the Island of Hong Kong. Before the Sung Dynasty, the people living there were mainly of the Yiu tribes. Then came the refugees of the Southern Sung. The population increased during the Ming Dynasty; and many of the temples on the island were first built at this time. During the first year of the K'ang Hsi reign of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the people living in the coastal areas had to move back to the interior, because of the policy called the "Evacuation of the Coast". Seven years later, in the eighth year of the K'ang Hsi reign, they were allowed to come back. However, like many houses, some of the temples decayed during their absence. From then on the population increased rapidly, with people flocking to the area. The local temples were rebuilt and repaired. The temples listed below are in existence in 1979. Though some ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 138 7. Sha Lo Wan NOTES AND QUERIES Built in 1774, repaired in 1852, 1925* and 1975*. Bell 1774. 8. Tung Chung-inside the Fort but now ruined. No information. Kwan Tai Temple — 1. Mu Wo (Man Wu Temple) Built in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1901 and 1960*. Bell 1961 2. Lo Wai, Pui O— no longer in existence No information. 3. Tong Fuk - No information. No bell. 4. Tai O Market Kwun Yam Temple Built in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1741, 1835, 1852*, 1903*, 1959* and 1975*. Bell 1741. 1. Fan Lau- ruined, no information. 2. Tsin Yu Wan near Yi O — ruined, no information. 3. Keung Shan Built in 1910, repaired in 1964 and 1970. Bell 1756, was originally in one of the Pak Tai temples in Kowloon. Hau Wong Temple 侯王廟 1. Shek Pik-Inundated by Shek Pik Reservoir in 1960. 2. Po Chue Tam, Tai O - Built in 1699, repaired in 1877* and 1966*. No bell. 3. Tung Chung-Built in 1765, repaired in 1878, 1910*, 1962* and 1978. Bell 1765 Wah Kwong Temple Hang Mei, Tai O — Built in the Ch'ing Dynasty, repaired in 1896, 1954 and 1973. No bell, Saam Shan Kwok Wong Temple San Shek Wan Yuen Tan Temple No information. Shek Mun Kap, Tung Chung no longer in existence. No information. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUIRIES 139 Fuk Tak Temple ** Tai O Market- No information. The number of temples found in each area is as follows 1. Mui Wo-2 6. Tsin Yu Wan-1 11. Sha Lo Wan-1 2. Pui O-4 7. Yi O-1 12. Tung Chung 3 3. Tong Fuk-2 8. Tai O-7 13. Tai Pak - 1 4. Shek Pik-3 9. Keung Shan- 1 14. Nim Shue Wan-1 5. Fan Lau-2 10. San Shek Wan-1 15. Chak Lap Kok-1 Hong Kong, March 1980 ANTHONY K.K. SIU THE KOWLOON WALLED CITY The Kowloon Walled City was situated to the north of the present Kai Tak Airport. It had been the most important military base in Hong Kong during the later Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911). At the beginning of the Ch'ing period, there was no walled city. In the 7th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1668), there was only a watchpost, called the 6, recorded as having thirty guards. Fourteen years later, in the 21st year of Kang Hsi (1682), the number of guards was reduced to only ten, and the post was turned into the Kowloon guard-station. This Kowloon guard-station, with only ten soldiers, was still in existence up to the 16th year of the Chia Ch'ing reign (1811) 1 During the 15th year of the Chia Ch'ing reign (1810), the Fat Tong Mun Fort # was evacuated, and a new fort was built on the coast of Kowloon. This was the Kowloon Fort #. Its garrison was forty-eight men, under one pa-tsung and one ngai-wai. After the 22nd year of the Tao Kuang reign (1843), Hong Kong Island was under British rule. In order to strengthen the fortification of Kowloon, a walled city was built in the 27th year of Tao Kuang (1847). This was the Kowloon Walled City * See JHKBRAS 19 (1979)· 209-210. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 141 (1810), General Chin Mun-fu ***** suggested that the Fat Tong Mun Fort be abandoned and be rebuilt near the Kowloon guard-station ✯ ✯ A Viceroy Pak Ling T✯ ordered the Magistrate of the San On County 觚 ***◊ to carry out the suggestion. Chapter 175 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, Tao Kuang edition KKAR £&4-4*+ states, "The Kowloon Fort Aate lies 290 # E west of the Tai Pang Battalion 4. It was guarded by one pa-tsung and one ngai-wai with 48 guards." 5 After the Opium War, the Chinese were defeated, and Hong Kong was ceded to the British. In the 23rd year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1843) Ke Ying was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces **** and Wong Yan-tung & was Governor of the Liang Kwang-tung ✯✯✯. They proposed building the Kowloon Walled City. The work was completed in the 27th year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1847). * See Chapter 13 of the Kwangtung Tao Shuet, Tung Chih edition ŁATÁRUK+ which records. "The Kowloon Walled City was under the command of a fu-cheung ## or brigadier of the Naval Forces of the Tai Pang Battalion. Under him was an extra ngar-wai who guarded the Walled City with 150 men. There were 75 men under one tsin-tsune for lieutenant guarding the Kowloon Fort; and one ngai-wai-tsin-tsung ††or sub-lieutenant leading 15 men guarding the Kowloon Coastal Guard Station ALDA. * See Chapter 73 of the Kwangchow Fu Chi, Kuang Hsü edition ANA££*TE and Kwong Tung Hoi Tao Shuet, Kuang Hsü edition 張之洞廣東海圆說. * See my article 'The Old Cannons found in Hong Kong' in Volume 8, Part 2 of Kwangtung Man Hin REÆ : RKARXUŁ^ËZI * The Old Yamen is now occupied by the CNEC Grace Light School. TUEN MUN FROM CHINESE HISTORICAL RECORDS 2 Tuen Mun1 lies in the western part of the New Territories. The highest mountain in this area is the Tuen Mun Shan ₺F2 which reaches a height of 582.9 metres. To the east of the mountain is the Tuen Mun Bay, also called the Castle Peak Bay lying to its east, and the Lantau with Kau King Shan A Island lying to its south. Tuen Mun Bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides, thus forming a good typhoon shelter from the strong easterlies. It is also the waterway for entering the Chu Kiang i or Pearl River estuary of the Kwangtung Province. The Bay had been an important harbour for the Persians, the Arabs and the people from India, Indo-china and the East Indies. Their trading fleets had to anchor and gather at Tuen Mun before entering the Chu Kiang. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v of the charitable work done by the Kadoorie family in this field. A cheque for $500 was sent in appreciation to Mr. Horace Kadoorie on behalf of the Society. K 26th November 1983 about 35 members took part in a visit to the Soo Kon Poo district of Hong Kong Island where we visited the Buddhist Memorial to victims of the Race Course fire in 1918, the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital and the Confucian Middle School. December 1983 and March 1984 - two separate groups of members visited the Narcotics Museum of the Narcotics Bureau, RHKP, in Police Headquarters, Arsenal Street, under the kind arrangements of Mr. K. W. J. Lloyd, Chief Inspector of Police. 28th January 1984 about 70 members went by boat to the Ch'ing Dynasty fort on Tung Lung Island, and passed by the Tin Hau Temple at Fat Tong Mun and the former Chinese customs station at Junk Island on the return journey. Lectures 29th March 1983 Mr. Nigel Cameron, the author and art critic, gave an interesting illustrated talk on "Hong Kong Art: the Quiet Revolution". 14th April 1983 — Ms Elizabeth Sinn of the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong spoke about "The Strike and Riot, Hong Kong 1884", an interesting local side effect of the Sino-French war over Vietnam. 25th April 1983 Professor Daffyd Evans, Head of the Department of Law, University of Hong Kong, spoke about the wills made by some Chinese in early British Hong Kong in an interesting talk entitled "Fearing Verbal Words, or Chinese Testaments in British Hong Kong". 25th May 1983 Professor Daniel Kwok, professor of History at the University of Hawaii and visiting professor, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, gave a stimulating talk entitled "Confucianism and Modernization: Reflections of Antipathies and Sympathies". This dealt with ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 136 enticing, wholesome meals to nurture Father back to health. Communication with her was interrupted by the Second World War and after 1949, and it was during these intervening years that she died, followed later by the death of Uncle Tin Suk, from injuries he had suffered falling down a well. Ging Heen, the only offspring of Uncle Tin Suk, is also now deceased. The details regarding his wife and children are not known to us. Uncle Pong sent for Aunt Pong and their first child in 1922, and they lived with us temporarily until they bought a home on Lusitana Street. They sold this home in 1932, during the Depression, in order that Aunt Pong and the eight children could manage life easier in Shekki. They left the same time Mother, Dora and I did, on the Empress of Japan. Later, before the Second World War began, Aunt Pong sent the children back to Honolulu, two by two. Left with two of them, she was not able to return until the end of the war. The family settled in the neighbourhood store operated by Uncle Pong at the corner of Kaukini and Fort Streets, on property owned by us. This property was later condemned by the city to enlarge Kawananakoa School. Uncle Pong died from diabetes and Aunt Pong from cancer. The Pong children are: Helen Wai Hing married Long Wa Lui Violet Wai Lin married Mun Git Chan Ella Wai King married Joseph Loui Ernest Dung Sun married Wai Quon Yee Herbert Cheong Fat married Dimmie Kam Lily Wai Chiu married Stanley Chang Claron Ah Hoon married Pacita Tan Richard Kwock Hung married Kwei Fong Miu My Jong grandparents and their children are all gone now. My Mother's health began to deteriorate following a bout of shingles and she passed away on 20 November 1974, after being incapacitated for about a month as a result of a stroke. Although I still feel the loss of those I love, I am comforted by, and hold on to, the many memories that are intertwined with their caring, nurturing, and warmth. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 151 he believed what he frequently said, 'To be poor is hell'. He never gave up hope for the better and, in his usual cheerful manner, would advise us, 'Cheer up, the worse is yet to come'. He had such thrifty habits that he would not buy anything, including real property, unless he had the cash to pay for it. He never realized his ambition to be an independent businessman, in spite of his plan to operate an importing business, in preparation for which he had bought a piece of land on Fort and Kualini Streets and had built a small store on it. When he died at the age of 41, he left a modest estate consisting of a home, an income property, stocks and cash. This enabled Mother, courageous and unselfish, to raise and educate their children without the necessity of us having to forgo schooling in order to support the family. A caring husband, a warm and loving father, son and brother, a helpful neighbour, an honest and upright citizen, a religious man, always striving to better himself and others - this was Father, taken away at the prime of life, with no opportunity to see his children grow up to maturity, or to accomplish what he had hoped for, or to enjoy any leisure that he so well deserved. I feel his deep love whenever I think of him and recall these verses so often read to us from The Children's Hour. I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down into the dungeon In the round tower of my heart. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moulder in dust away! My Mother Maternal Grandfather, Jong Sun Lup, came to Hawaii under contract as a plantation worker in 1878 and Maternal Grandmother, Chang Shee, joined him a few years later, probably in 1885, bringing with her their first-born, Jong Tin Yau. Mother was born on 23 April 1887. Three ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 396 was frequently invaded by the Wo Chao, i.e. the Japanese pirates. Tai Yu Shan lies on the south coast of Kwangtung Province, and was an important military base against the Wo Chao. During the Wan Li Reign, the Nam Tau Chai #9, i.e. the Nam Tau Naval Battalion, with six guard stations, was created. One of them was at Tai O ✰ on Tai Yu Shan." In 1521, the Ferangi, i.e. the Portuguese, invaded Tuen Mun P¶. In 1522, they were defeated by the Ming troops which lies on the north coast of Tai Yu Shan, at Sai Chao Wan 15 between Tai O and Sha Lo Wan. At that time, there were nine settlements on the island: Kai Kung Tau O, Sha Lo Wan, Tung Sai Chung, Tai Ho Shan (now known as Lantau Peak), Mui Wo, Lo Pui O 螺杯澳 (now known as Pui O) and Tong Fuk 唐復、16 Dynasty, In the 1st year of the Kang Hsi Reign of the Ching, the coastal areas, especially the Kwangtung, the Fukien and the Chekiang Provinces, were frequently disturbed by pirates. Thus the government imposed the Coastal Evacuation. It was only in the 8th year of the Kang Hsi Reign (1669) that the coastal restriction was abandoned, and people were allowed to return to settle on the island. There were no fortifications then. In the early part of the Yung Cheng Reign, Yeung Lin, the governor of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces built the Fan Lau Fort on the west tip of the island. The fort was known as the Kai Yik Fork. It consisted of eight cannon places and twenty barracks." Later, in the Chien Lung and the Chia Ching + 19 periods, owing to the increasing influence of the pirates and the foreigners, the Tung Chung Hau □ guard station was created. In 1817, eight more barracks were built at Tung Chung Hau," and two forts were built at the foot of the Shek She Shan. These two forts, with seven barracks and an arsenal, together were known as the Shek She Fort HWS." In 1831, the Tung Chung Walled City 東涌寨城 was built at the foot of the Sheung Ling Pei Shan 上嶺皮山。20 After 1841, the Tung Chung Walled City and the forts remained as important military bases. Besides, guard stations were established at Tai Ho, Sha Lo Wan and Mui Wo. These remained in position until 1898, when the New Territories and the adjacent islands were leased to the British. After that, they were redundant.2 After the coastal restriction was abandoned, five villages were resettled, namely: Tai O, Tung Sai Chung, Lo Pui O, Shek Pik and Mui Wo." In the Chia Ching period, more villages were created, there were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 174 teams should decide to be active at the same time. Of course, it was always possible, once China had Allies who would unquestionably win the war, whatever happened, that the negative policy might be overdone: should that happen, I am myself convinced, it would not be in accordance with the inclination of the frontline troops, if we can take those who passed through our school as typical, or of guerilla generals. The idea of catching the Japanese by a mine, which might explode when those who had set it were many miles away, appealed immensely to the Chinese mind; but the urge was subject to the necessity of not drawing too heavy a retaliation onto the local population. The Japanese expected the local population to inform them of guerilla movements in the vicinity and inferentially any successful guerilla exploit was due to collaboration with guerillas and punished accordingly. Actually, of course, the population supported the guerillas so long as the guerillas did not make life too difficult by attracting too much Japanese retaliation. The guerillas depended, not only for success, but for mere existence, on the intelligence of Japanese movements provided by the local population. When it came to carrying out an operation; for instance, the capture of a small fort, the Chinese much preferred to capture it by guile. The Japanese garrison, who like all soldiers preferred to be waited on to doing anything themselves, would have a Chinese coolie to carry water from the well, a Chinese cook to prepare their meals, a boy to sweep out the quarters, and they would allow hawkers selling vegetables and such things to come in with their wares. These Chinese might be in the employ of the guerillas to a man. These Chinese, who as a nation are perhaps the best judges of character in the world, would soon learn all the weaknesses of the garrison and could make their plans accordingly; but the plan would have to take account of possible retaliation on the civilians involved, and might entail their entire removal from the district. On the other hand, in retaliating, there was a limit beyond which it did not pay the Japanese to go; in their own peculiar way they realised the advantage of attracting the population to their point of view. It resulted in a sort of balance being struck where the Chinese could judge just how far it was wise to go in carrying out any given policy of sabotage or more direct attack. I have heard criticism of the trade which was allowed to flow between free and occupied China. At Chin Ya we were on one of the main roads over which this commerce passed. Every day you could see strings of coolies, or rickshaws, going towards the Japanese lines laden with tea, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 202 disappear so quickly. Halsey would have no truck with the second-in-command who was then escorted back to the waiting plane. The Japanese commander eventually appeared whereupon the surrender was signed later in the presence of the British admiral aboard HMS King George V. At dawn the following day the whole fleet was placed in ‘line ahead' and we sailed up the Lei Yue Mun Channel, between Hong Kong and Kowloon. As we approached a gun emplacement set high in the rocks was spotted with the Japanese flag flying. The Japanese could be seen quite clearly on the ramparts of the fort. The order relayed to the King George V battleship was 'range broadside!' I never saw a flag come down so fast. We anchored in an orderly fashion off the City of Victoria and in no time at all found ourselves surrounded by sampans and all sorts of other small boats. Royal marines armed with machine guns were stationed round the sides of the ship. After all, we just didn't know what to expect. While preparations were being made for the first landing party to go ashore naval officers selected the men. They questioned ratings how they felt about the task. One or two were rather brash in their manner and replies. They were rejected. Asked if I felt afraid I answered that I was a bit scared. 'Good,' said one of the officers, ‘A frightened man is a careful man!' In the early afternoon I and nine other men, armed to the teeth, went ashore in a motorised cutter. The landing stage was free of booby traps and obstacles. We came ashore near the Star Ferry. All was very quiet. Even the sometimes boisterous Chinese were not self-evident. The Japanese had destroyed all the dwellings and buildings along the waterfront so they had an uninterrupted view of the sea lane. I was on shore patrol when we came across a mob of Chinese and, on investigation, we discovered a Japanese soldier had been strangled by a Chinese. I was told the Japanese had molested and raped the man's wife during the occupation. The man was later arrested, charged and, I believe, subsequently let off. On another occasion I noticed two bodies in the harbour being swept down the straits. Who they were or what was going on I didn't know. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g YET MORE ON THE MAN THE EMPEROR DECAPITATED WONG WING-HO 179 I was interested to read, in Volumes 28 and 29 of the Journal, material on folk-tales from the New Territories relating to Ho Chan, the late Yuan Guangdong Warlord, and early Ming Minister of the Left, collected by Dr. D. Faure, Dr. J.W. Hayes and Dr. P.H. Hase. In 1991, while working as a Research Assistant in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, I collected a further folk-tale of a similar character, very similar, in fact, to the ones collected by Dr. D. Faure at Kat O and by Dr. J.W. Hayes at Kei Ling Ha. Because of the interest of these folk-tales, this version is printed here. Translation of Notes of an Interview with Mr. Yeung Fuk-sham (楊福杉) of Ha Ling Pei Village, Tung Chung, Lantau, 5th July, 1991. Fuk-sham is of the Yeung surname, of Ngau Hom Village in Tung Chung. She is now 65 years of age. At age 24, she married Lei Fuk-hei (李福喜), of Ha Ling Pei Village. Fuk-sham said that her husband's grandmother frequently told her this tale. The Ho family was originally very wealthy. When the old city was built (the fort at Tung Chung), the imperial court called on Ho, the Minister of the Left, to provide the funds. However, Ho was unwilling to provide them - if he had been willing, the old city would have been big enough to take in the sites of Upper and Lower Ling Pei Villages. It is because Ho, the Minister of the Left, was unwilling to provide the funds that the old city is its present size. It is also because of this that the Fung Shui and gravesites of the Hos lost their effectiveness, though the influence of the city. If the site of the city had been able to include Upper and Lower Ling Pei Villages, then the Fung Shui of the Hos would still be extremely good. Because the city is small, when the cannon fired, the explosive power was very great, and the ancestral tablets of Minister Ho were toppled over by the blast. Ho, the Minister of the Left, was executed by beheading at the orders of the Emperor. The Minister was accustomed to go each morning to Court, and to return home every evening. However, his mother was ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 98 province. In 1941, construction of a 457m-long tarmac-surfaced runway at Kai Tak for military use on an approximate south-east/north-west orientation, which had already necessitated the dismantling of the RAF hangar, was due to start on 8th December 1941, the precise day on which the Japanese invaded the New Territories and attacked Kai Tak airport. Military/Defence Works Prior to the British administration, there were several forts in the New Territories going back to the early years (17th century) of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the oldest existing fort (1717) probably being that on Tung Lung Chau overlooking the narrow Fat Tong Mun passage in the eastern approaches to the harbour, and the largest still remaining at Tung Chung (60m by 80m) on the northern coast of Lantau, which was completed in 1832. Little remains of the old 4m-high walled Kowloon City, a garrison fort (120m by 230m) with its sturdy granite parapet wall complete with embrasures and watchtowers, which was finished in 1847 soon after the British established themselves on Hong Kong Island. Subsequently, the British military have been involved in a considerable amount of civil engineering. The Royal Engineers were first involved in 1841 in the early construction of Queen's Road in Victoria. Perhaps their most impressive roadworks over the years, constructed before the Pacific war, have been Jat's Incline, which provides access to the upper levels of the steep hills overlooking Kowloon. Nevertheless, the main military engineering effort was expended on providing defences and back-up facilities (for example, naval dockyards, aviation needs, storage depots, barracks, and hospitals), principally against possible seaborne attack by Russia last century and later against the increasingly land/sea invasion threat by Japan in the 1930s. Novel defence measures included excavation of a cavern at Lei Yue Mun towards the end of the nineteenth century to house the sophisticated Brennan torpedo, which, after launching down a ramp, was controlled from the shore with a wire attached to the rudder. Regarding defence facilities, at the outbreak of the Pacific war in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 250 Gun Club Hill Barracks in Kowloon was silenced in this way by British guns on Hong Kong island. The Fortress System By the 1930s the operation of batteries had become immensely sophisticated and complicated, difficult for a layman to understand. The old 19th century arrangement of individual battery range and position finders was improved by a new arrangement known as the Fortress Range Finding System. Under this system the range of vision and of precision was greatly extended by a series of what were known as Fortress Observation Posts to cover targets within range of the guns. These transmitted bearings and ranges gained from observation to a central Fortress Plotting Room where the target, such as an enemy vessel, was tracked on a chart known as a Fortress Plotter. The co-ordinates of the target were then calculated or computed on a mechanical device known as a predictor which made allowance for the time in flight of the shell and the movement of the vessel assuming it had not realised it had been observed and taken evasive action by changing course. The co-ordinates were then telephoned or telegraphed to the individual batteries which then possessed all the information necessary to engage the enemy, even though the target might be so far away as to be invisible to the Battery Commander. The data could also be relayed directly to the guns where it was displayed on electrically operated dials. In Hong Kong as part of reorganisation and modernisation of the Hong Kong defences a Fortress Range Finding system was developed consisting of three Fortress Plotting Rooms at Stanley Fort, Mount Davis and Tytam Gap, also ten Fortress Observation Posts all connected to two Fire Commander's Posts which in turn, were connected to the Commander Fixed Defences who had his Coast Artillery Headquarters in the underground Operational Headquarters in Victoria Barracks known as Fortress HQ, nicknamed the "Battle Box". The Fortress Plotting Room at Stanley Fort is located in an underground bunker below an old Signal Station, Block 3, opposite the Officers' Mess. Remains of a plotting table and predictor still can be found inside. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 251 The Stanley Battery The 9.2 inch three gun battery at Stanley Fort was probably one of the most modern of its kind in 1937 in spite of the fact that the guns were second-hand, having come from the batteries at Devil's Peak and Mount Davis. The Mark X 9.2 inch 28 ton Breech Loader was the premier coast defence gun at that time and was used extensively in all major defences. In the UK it was sometimes railway-mounted so that it could be moved about together with its ammunition wagon. Rail-mounted guns, before being fired, had to be secured with heavy iron guys known as chain pickets to stop them toppling over from the force of their recoil. In fixed guns like those at Stanley Fort, the recoil was absorbed by a spring accumulator mounted to the rear of the gun. The Mark X had been developed from the Mark IX in 1899. It had a single motion breech mechanism with an electrical or percussion firing mechanism. Its maximum range was 29,200 yards, which meant that the upper gun at Stanley, which was mounted on a traverser, could reach targets in Kowloon and also the Lema Islands to the south of Hong Kong. The weight of the Mark X B.L. including breech assembly was 28 tons, and the weight of the cradle mounting nearly 130 tons. As previously explained, the guns were transported from their old batteries by sea, as the roads would not have supported such heavy axle loads. The transportation of the guns and the construction of their huge concrete bases would have been carried out by civilian contractors, but the actual installation of the guns would have been undertaken by the Royal Artillery using a special portal crane known as a gantry crane. The installed guns would have been disguised with huge camouflage nets draped over them, and protected from the weather when not in use by canvas tarpaulins. The concrete gunhouses built over the two lower guns by the Japanese were probably not bombproof casemates and would only have given the gunners protection from the weather and from strafing by enemy fighters. Judging by old photographs of the gunhouses, the arc of fire must have been severely restricted. The Stanley Battery, situated at the south-east corner of the peninsula, was made up of three gun emplacements and a large number of magazines, bunkers, and other battery support buildings spread over a fairly wide area. Most of these structures are still in existence. Page 285 Page 286 ================================================================================