RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f CONTENTS EDITORIAL PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1961 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1961 TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH, 1961-1962: Nestorian Crosses and Nestorian Christians in China under the Mongols - F. S. Drake Currency Problems in a Cycle of Cathay - G. Findlay Andrew - 26 The Buddhist Career - Holmes Welch - 37 Chinese Seals - T. Y. Li - 49 Some of China's Thirty-five Million non-Chinese - Herold J. Wiens - 54 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898 - James Hayes - 75 Excavations at Man Kok Tsui on Lantau Island - Elspeth Maneely - 103 A New Archaeological Site in Hong Kong - M. W. Welch - 109 Review Article: Britain and China by Evan Luard - Colina Lupton - 115 NOTES AND QUERIES - 122 LIST OF MEMBERS - 127 Responsibility for opinions expressed in articles published in this Journal rests with the individual contributors and not with the Editorial Committee. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 75 THE PATTERN OF LIFE IN THE NEW TERRITORIES IN 1898 J. W. HAYES, M.A.* In 1898 Great Britain signed the Peking Convention which gave her the lease of the New Territories for 99 years. The world has made such material progress since that time and urban Hong Kong has itself seen so many changes that it is difficult for us to-day to imagine the rural part of the Colony as it then was, without roads or wheeled transport other than the wheel-barrow, with inhabitants who knew nothing of cars, aeroplanes, or weapons of mass destruction. But having made this effort, we must think back further still if we wish to obtain a proper appreciation of the situation, as James Stewart Lockhart told the Hong Kong Government in 1898. At the end of his report on the New Territory, as he styled it, he said "Under Chinese rule enterprise has been at a discount, and progress has been at a standstill for centuries. The San On district of to-day must be much the same as it was four or five hundred years ago". The report is a valuable first-hand account of the area as it was in the year of its acquisition and covers the points in which Government would be most interested such as topography, communications, trade and natural products, population, industries and the existing civil government. It also gave its author's recommendations as to how the New Territory should be governed and looked after in future. This article, whilst making use of Lockhart's report, tries to give the background which he, of course, would take for granted. It does not pretend to deal with every part of the backcloth but only touches on those parts which seem worth mentioning for their share in fixing life in its accustomed mould: the village, the people themselves and their history, the clan system, ancestral worship, education, the district government, the background of affairs elsewhere in the province, the prevalence of disturbance and epidemic, popular religion: all factors which made for integration or disruption in a life that could never have been easy. * Mr. Hayes has been an administrative officer with the Hong Kong Government since 1956. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 76 J. W. HAYES The New Territory comprised an estimated 376 square miles of hill and plain situated on the mainland of China and a number of offshore islands, large and small, some of which were inhabited and some were not. For the purpose of this article it is sufficient to say here that in 1898 it was primarily an agricultural district consisting of a few broad valleys and many pockets of farm land among the hills or at their foot, both on the mainland and on some of the larger islands, with a few market towns here and there. The emphasis was on agriculture, though there were a few small industries in operation. Village life was bounded by the two rice crops in summer and autumn and the winter season, when most land lay fallow; and by the occasional visit to the market town, often two or three hours away and over the hills, always on foot, and frequently laden with produce and livestock to sell or exchange. 3 It goes almost without saying that this small slice of territory, only half the size of San On District which was one of the smaller administrative districts of the Kwangtung Province, and 1,500 miles from Peking, was an insignificant part of the Chinese Empire. However, despite its minute size and remoteness from the central provinces and the seat of government it was fundamentally Chinese and essentially Confucian in its component parts, two features which are worth emphasising. One of its former District Magistrates made an observation covering both these points in a Confucian discourse which he contributed to mark the restoration of a school at Kam Tin in 1744 when he wrote "In this era of prosperity culture has spread to even this remote place near the sea. Here the Book of Poetry is read as early as sunrise".4 The integrated life in which everything under Heaven has its place and plan is a recognisable feature of the Confucian code which was evolved and formulated in an agricultural society ever 2,500 years ago. A study of the daily life and background of New Territory people in 1898, which was also placed in an agricultural setting, though one based on the cultivation of rice and not of wheat, leaves me with the impression that the high degree of mental and environmental integration attainable within a Confucian framework had certainly been attained here. Life was lived generation after generation according to a set pattern. The disciplined life imposed upon an agricultural community ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 78 J. W. HAYES being made of blue or sun-dried bricks. The door posts and lintels are of dressed granite slabs with tiled roofs on rafters made of China fir. The floors are generally concreted, and frequently paved with red brick or with granite. Well built and handsomely decorated temples exist in all the important villages, and in many places large and expensively constructed buildings, in which the ancestral tablets are kept, were seen. As usual in China the streets are narrow and paved with large slabs of stone. Such drainage as exists is on the surface, underground drains never being used in Chinese villages. In their surroundings and the generally peaceful life they led, everything conspired to make the people of the New Territory a conservative-minded and generally amenable body, and Lockhart said of them, "Taken as a whole the inhabitants may be regarded as an industrious, frugal and well-behaved people". It may be appropriate at this stage to mention who they were. He found 161 Punti or Cantonese villages with a population of some 64,000 persons and 255 Hakka villages, most of them smaller and more remote than the Cantonese ones, with a population of 36,000 people. He also mentions the boat people, of whose numbers he was unable to obtain an estimate. He does say, however, that they formed a class by themselves and were looked down upon by the land population. Neither Punti nor Hakka are native to the district or to the province. The former, says Lockhart, are supposed to have come from the provinces bordering on the south of the Yangtse river and made their way to South China during the early periods of Chinese history. They were firmly established in the south during the time of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1278) and, as he observes, it is a fact that most of the Punti inhabitants easily trace their descent from ancestors who were settled in the San On district in that period, or elsewhere in the Kwangtung province. The Hakka, or "strangers" as the term signifies, are, he says, supposed to be descended from the Mongols and to have reached the southern provinces when the Mongol dynasty was overthrown about the middle of the 14th century. They are regarded by the Punti as aliens, and speak a dialect quite distinct from the Cantonese. They are a hardy and frugal race and are generally found in the hill districts. As a rule, Cantonese and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 80 J. W. HAYES an honest livelihood without difficulty. Few signs of anything approaching destitution were seen, and only a few beggars were met "." The reason for this general standard of well-being was undoubtedly the universal ownership of land. Whether Punti or Hakka, most families in every village owned some fields of their own, some more as a matter of course and some less, and because of the joint succession to ancestral property by all male descendants in the direct line, nearly everyone had a joint and undivided share, a stake, in the land. There was also clan land, which could be farmed out to poorer members. In land matters, the clan had priority over the individual. This was reflected in Chinese deeds of sale or mortgage which, if the New Territory is anything to go by, appear to follow the same form in Kwangtung as in far Shantung.11 Where a sale was contemplated, a reason had always to be specified, and the land had always to be offered in the first place to all relatives, which in fact meant practically anyone inside the clan, before being offered to an outsider. Mortgages were more common than sales and were redeemable at any period after the original mortgage, so that land need not pass outside the clan forever. There is no doubt that this tight rein on sales assisted the general preservation of the clan and the village and was a powerful factor in the continuance of a static and integrated life. These matters were regulated by the clan elders in conformity with immemorial custom. To meet clan needs, amongst which was the proper worship of ancestors as well as the needs of the living, such as education of the young and the care of the old, certain fields and houses were set aside in trust, and the trust so created was known as a tong or tso. These are commonly found in the New Territory, and many were registered at the land settlement which followed the grant of the lease to Great Britain. The tso is the more closely connected with the clan. Anyone can form a tong, but a tso is definitely a clan affair, and of the nature of a serious ancestral trust.12 It is set up to ensure that property is not divided or disposed of without due thought and is designed to circumvent the acts of foolish or spendthrift descendants, in the interests of all that the Confucian system holds most dear: the rearing of sons, giving them a proper education, seeing that forebears are duly respected in a fitting manner, assisting with ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 82 J. W. HAYES 10 standing in loco parentis to the people of his district. An instance of this outlook is a proclamation issued by the Canton Viceroy in April 1899 in which he told the people of the New Territory that the English government had agreed that "the people are to be treated with exceptional kindness ".10 On the reverse side of the medal the magistrate could also, like his followers in the tribunal, use his authority to evil purposes and be referred to as being as (fierce as) a tiger" 如虎 or a dog-official"35 whose extortions and venality were a byword 44 in the district.1 C4 + 17 In his government the Magistrate was usually assisted by an indoor and outdoor staff. The former might consist of personal adherents from his own home district who followed him from post to post, and partly of local personnel of the tribunal or yamen4 such as a legal adviser, secretaries, and land clerks, whose local knowledge it would be difficult to dispense with. All these were entirely dependent upon the magistrate for their livelihood, and upon what they could pick up in the course of their duties. To maintain his position and put food into the mouths of the members of his personal staff and their families the magistrate was given an inadequate salary by government. There were in addition the outdoor staff which comprised a considerable number of police, watchmen, runners and the like, who may have been paid by Government despite what Lockhart says to the contrary, but used their opportunities as they came, In the San On district the Magistrate's yamen was at Nam Tau, which lies beyond the northern or further shores of Deep Bay on the far side of the Nam Tau peninsula. This was the district city where the treasury, jail and examination halls were also situated. It also contained a Confucian temple. The seat of government therefore lay outside the borders of the New Territory which, however, was served by several of his subordinate officers. He was assisted by an assistant magistrate10 whose office was at Tai Pang north-east of Mirs Bay and outside the New Territory and two deputy magistrates, one of whom was stationed within the walled city of Kowloon. They had power to make arrests and conduct preliminary enquiries but were bound to refer most cases to Nam Tau for final decision. The Kowloon deputy, like his colleagues, had a lock-up for detaining persons pending trial and there was also one each for the local ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 84 + + J. W. HAYES or to a general council, made up of representatives of the different Tung. Each council of the Tung contains representatives of the villages which make up the Tung. In addition to a council of a Tung there is a general council for the whole of the Tung Lo or Eastern Section, which is practically that portion of the district of San On contained in the map attached to the Convention. This general council is styled the Tung Ping Kuk or Council of Peace for the Eastern Section. It has its council chamber at the market town of Sham Chun, which is regarded as the centre of the Eastern Section. If the decision of the council of the Tung, or of the General Council is not regarded as satisfactory, an appeal lies to the magistrate of the district.24 Villages must occasionally have made their own rules. There is an interesting survival of these written on a wooden board which hangs in one of the side rooms of the Yeung Hau Wong temple at Tung Chung on Lantau Island, which is dated in the third moon of the nineteenth year of the Kwong Shui reign (1893). The text refers to the passing of the good old days and lays down measures to deal with offenders. For stealing crops, cutting down pine and bamboo trees, for letting pigs or buffaloes graze on other people's fields, there were fines in cash a proportion of which went to the person who caught the culprit. He was to be escorted to the Heung council office, and should he refuse to pay after a hearing there, he was to be taken before the magistrate. It was drawn up by the Tung Chung Hap Heung or all the villages of the Tung Chung 東涌合鄉 valley. A few words on the elders and gentry may be appropriate here. An elder was an older villager whose character, influence, and senior generation in the clan entitled him to a say in its affairs. He was more to the fore in the remoter villages of the district, which were generally the poorer ones, and could not afford to support literati, as they are sometimes styled, which is what the gentry really were in the Chinese context. These were persons of considerable influence who came generally from the larger, richer villages of the plains, which had one or more village schools where the elements of a classical education could be obtained. In course of time, by dint of hard study at home or in Canton, the cleverer among the local scholars, after successful ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 86 J. W. HAYES Despite the presence of troops, military posts and police of two types in the Territory, besides the assistance of the local kuk, the magistrate's power to prevent crime appears to have been limited. Piracy, in particular, was rampant at different times, and ranged from the anti-dynastic activities of Koxinga in the mid-seventeenth century on behalf of his former masters the Great Ming, (which occasioned the removal from the coast) through the widespread depredations of large pirate bands at the beginning of the nineteenth, to the milder but still disconcerting activities of the period under review. It is necessary to emphasise the prevailing unrest, since until quite recently the only striking difference between the New Territory in 1898 and the territory we know to-day was the imposition of the pax britannica. Until the British Government got into the saddle and established its police stations and patrolling launches, the people were subject to piracy, robbery and other forms of violence as from time immemorial. The Governor mentioned specifically in a despatch to the Secretary of State in April 1899 that “the (Tai Po) district is well known in Canton (i.e. to the Viceroy) to be turbulent, that to the N.E. of Mirs Bay being noted for piracy, and so ill-disposed that I am informed no Customs Official dares to land there except with the support of a revenue cruiser”.30 He probably had this from Lockhart, his main source of reliable information at this time. Of course, the local population were sometimes not averse to such efforts themselves, and as a British Consul wrote at the time "The old free-booting spirit still survives among many who are now apparently peaceful traders and fishermen [of which] we occasionally get startling proofs in some unexpected daring act of piracy on the high seas or along the coast".31 Smuggling was also common, whether of salt or opium.** Looking outside the district to the province and its capital city Canton, the political scene, as revealed by the Trade Reports to the Foreign Office of consuls in the several British treaty ports of Canton, Amoy, Samshui and Pakhoi was the reverse of satisfactory. Though written by a succession of men of obviously varying temperament and outlook they reveal a sad state of affairs. Everywhere there were disturbances which the civil authorities were slow, or incapable to correct, and clear signs that the dynasty was held to have exhausted its mandate from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 88 J. W. HAYES 36 Disturbances apart, the common people preferred to be left to themselves. They rarely had anything to do with the magistrate and his followers and preferred it that way. The magistrate, in his turn, was glad to leave routine affairs to the local tribunals. The price paid for these attitudes was the prevalence of crime. Poor communications were no help. The magistrate was often rendered powerless by unrest and disturbances of all kinds. Robberies and descents on shore by pirate gangs could take place with impunity since, even if help came, it invariably arrived far too late. Crime might eventually be punished but it was seldom prevented. No one would inform on disturbers of the peace for fear of reprisals or being entangled in the meshes of the law. Commenting on coastal piracy in 1897 Consul Brenan wrote, "The boat people never attempt to effect an arrest; there would probably be bloodshed and they would then be involved in judicial proceedings almost as unpleasant for themselves as for the pirates. They are thankful enough if they can get rid of their dangerous passengers, and persuade them to go off and try their fortune elsewhere"** However, it is only fair to state that the people of the district were also apt to create trouble among themselves, especially when circumstances conspired to make life difficult as in the dry season. This was especially true of the more closely populated agricultural areas, with villages in close proximity to each other, often sharing the same water supply for their fields and personal needs. The volatile Cantonese temperament is not suited to a cautious settlement of complicated personal problems: it is easier by far to fly off the handle and strike an attitude than to sit down and think. Hence difficult situations often were made intolerable by proximity and a quick temper, and clan fights were not uncommon, especially in the Yuen Long area. Hostilities between southern villages were well known at the time.** A tablet in the Tin Hau temple at Miu Kong, Tsuen Wan, refers to the death of seventeen male villagers by armed conflict between this village and Shing Mun Pat Heung in three years of intermit-tent strife which began in 1861. To these disturbances between the Punti villagers can be added a general antipathy between Hakka and Punti which sometimes erupted into violence and was still smouldering after the Hakka rebellion thirty years before."" 38 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 90 J. W. HAYES in the area, where presumably they would be seen by the worshippers who congregated there in large numbers at festival times. FE There is a spirited account of a dispute between tenants and a new and rapacious landlord at Kat O in 180243 which was complicated by the clerks of the yamen who, obviously for a consideration, deluded their magistrate and were in collusion with the landlord. The tenants petitioned no less a person than the Viceroy of the Two Kwang provinces in his yamen at Canton and his instructions, relayed through the Governor and Prefect, are set out in stone so that justice could be done, and seen to be done, ever after. Everything worthwhile, every precedent or decision of importance, seems to have been set forth on stone: to ensure compliance44; for observance by both parties45; 'to follow the judgment';46 for fear that this would be forgotten as time goes by, thus leaving endless troubles in the future47; for the general information of the people48 and so forth. The tablets were either set up by the people, or as in most of these cases, by order of the magistrate with the written approval of the Viceroy; by the community of Tung Chung, Sai Chung, Keung Shan etc.; by the fishermen of Peng Chau since approval had not been given for the erection of a tablet by the Viceroy49, (later given by the magistrate); by the Inspector General and like cases.49 K 46 44 Perhaps to compensate for the severities and uncertainties of this life the inhabitants of the District fortified themselves by a devotion to religion that was marked by its generous diversity. To the usual galaxy of gods such as Tin Hau6, Kwun Yam 觀音, Hung Shing 洪聖, Kwan Tai 關帝, Pak Tai 北帝, Tam Kung, and Yeung Hau Wong, they added local officials who had acted as their benefactors and anyone else who took their fancy. Whilst there may be some who are not so well known and whose memory has faded in the minds of the people, the two who have left an indelible mark in the New Territory are WONG and CHOW, successive Viceroys of the two Kwang provinces who were responsible for obtaining the cancellation of the edict of 1662 which ordered all inhabitants of coastal areas to remove50 inland in order to deny their assistance, forced or otherwise, to the pirate bands which were attacking the new dynasty in the name of the Ming ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 92 J. W. HAYES wrote a prayer for divine help to the city god of Nam Tau after a dark mist resembling the shadow of a black dog haunted womenfolk in the third moon of the third year of Ch'ung-cheng (1630): and the magistrate LI Ho Shing wrote the "Lamentations" or odes and addresses burnt in sacrifice, when a severe typhoon hit the district city in the fifth moon of the twelfth year of K'ang-hsi (1673); this was preserved among the literary works recorded in another chapter of the history. There is no mention of later imitations. Besides this preoccupation with spirits of all kinds and a general disposition to ensure against all possible acts of ill will on their part which was, one almost thinks, a by-product of the bad times and the uncertainties which usually surrounded the Chinese peasant and his city counterpart, there was a regular and intense devotion to the ancestors of the clans which was carried on through the centuries. This, of course, was Confucianist, as opposed to the Taoist and animist forms of religion to be seen inside temples and on the fields and hillsides. There is no doubt that the clans were kept together by the regular attention that was paid to the ancestral duties and the particular reverence accorded to the first ancestor who had settled in the village. I have already explained how, on the material side, management of land by the clan for the clan assisted in keeping both land and people together. On the spiritual plane the ancestral duties had the same effect. At the heart of the clan was the ancestral hall.52 Here the soul tablets of past generations were ranged in rows on an altar: these can still be seen in a few ancestral halls to-day, notably at Ping Shan and Ha Tsuen, two villages of the TANG clan, whose green and gold tablets date back to the Sung dynasty. Most villages in the New Territory, large or small, appear to have had ancestral halls at the time of the lease. Many of them are standing to-day and I have traced the presence of others which have mouldered away since 1898. Each clan had its own hall and here its members gathered to perpetuate its corporate identity on occasions like births, weddings and funerals, and regularly each year at the New Year festival. 53 As an adjunct to the tablets in the ancestral hall, the graves of ancestors were also the subject of regular attention by the villagers, particularly the grave of the first ancestor and his wife.54 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 94 J. W. HAYES land and the clan. The popular religion too, was but an ephemeral thing, something to meet the needs of the moment; something too that was not so respectable as the austere worship which fell within the Confucian canon. In short, the impression left by the brief excursion into the past which forms the basis of this article has left me with the firm impression that Confucianism was the dominant influence over people and government in the New Territory in 1898. I hasten to point out that in itself this is not in any way surprising: but in view of the remoteness of the area and its late settlement by Chinese of different race with their undoubted absorption of earlier inhabitants this impression of its pervasiveness and brooding presence everywhere in the Territory at this time is probably worth restating. NOTES As far as possible the notes are designed to supplement the text and not to be a necessary part of it. I have used local source material which has come to my notice during a tour of duty as District Officer South (1957-60) and Islands (1961-62) when I have been in a favourable position to hear of, find and utilise whatever happened to come my way, besides the authorities cited in these notes. I have scarcely used the District History, the San On Yuen Chi (⛧人元誌, last edition 1820, but reprinted by Kwong Tung Printers, Canton, in 1933) nor Mr. Lo Hsiang-lin's Hong Kong and its external communications before 1842 which uses the District History extensively. (It is good to know that a translation of the latter is in the Hong Kong University Press and will appear shortly, so making available in English part of the District History). I ought also to say here that this is my first excursion in the field of Oriental Studies, with all that this implies. I wish to thank Mr. Lo Chi Chung of the District Office for his valuable help. A Cantonese form of romanization has been used throughout. 1 James Haldane Stewart Lockhart (1858-1937) became a Hong Kong Cadet in 1878. He was appointed Colonial Secretary in 1895, the post he held at the time of his Report (8th October 1898) for which he received the thanks of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. He was created C.M.G. in 1898 and K.C.M.G. in 1908. In 1902 he became first Commissioner of Wei Hai Wei, a territory of 285 square miles on the coast of Shantung with an estimated 330 villages and a population of 124,000 which had been leased to Britain in 1898. He remained in this quiet backwater for the next twenty years. Lockhart was a sinologue of some note in his day and wrote a Manual of Chinese Quotations (Hong Kong, Kelly and Walsh, 1903), The Currency of the Far East, 3 vols (Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., 1895, 1898) and a monograph, The Stewart Lockhart collection of Chinese copper coins, (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1915). Page 105 Page 106 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 96 5 J. W. HAYES See a tablet in the Chow-Wong School at Kam Tin. * Papers 1899 p. 188. * Papers 1899 p. 188. 'Lockhart's figures, given in Appendixes 3 and 5 to his Report are not exact, and he has emphasised his sketchy estimate of the land population "in default of any reliable statistics possessed by the Chinese Government" and said he had been unable to obtain even an estimate of the boat people Papers 1899 pp. 187,189. Taking areas within my own detailed knowledge I have found that villages established long before 1898 have not been included in the returns or else have been linked with other villages without special mention, The population figures for the Islands, in particular, are not above suspicion and are probably greater than shown in Appendix 5. * Papers 1899 p. 189. Papers 1899 p. 189. 10 Universal ownership was clearly shown by the land survey which followed the lease of 1898. This was carried out by surveyors and staff on loan from the Government of India, and was followed by a registration of titles which was enlivened by land courts which sat to determine possession in disputed cases. The survey sheets and the Crown Rent Rolls which form the schedules to them can be found in the District Offices of the New Territories Administration and they are a valuable record of land ownership and land classification at the time of the lease. At Shek Pik and Fan Pui in 1958 out of sixty-six families four owned between 3-4 acres, nine between 2-3 acres, nineteen between 1-2 acres, fourteen owned between a half to one acre, twelve owned between a quarter to a half, and eight between 10 to 25 acres. Except a few late arrivals, therefore, every family owned land of its own. The position was much the same as in 1898. The same was true of Wei Hai Wei, of which Johnston wrote Lion & Dragon, p. 148, "Whatever the faults of the Chinese social system may be there is no doubt that in Wei Hai Wei it very largely accounts for the complete absence of pauperism (though no one is rich) for the orderliness of the people (nearly everyone has a stake in the land and has nothing to gain and everything to lose from disorder), for the uninterrupted succession of father and son in the homesteads, and for the long pedigrees attested by family graveyards and ancestral tablets". 11 See Johnston Lion and Dragon pp. 134-54. I have compared customary deeds of sale and mortgage from the New Territory between the years 1898 and 1958 with those cited by him and find that they invariably follow the same form (see especially Johnston pp. 144-145). These deeds are known as white deeds (as in Ching times) and had not been put through the formal process of registration in the District Office which would turn them into legal documents; or, as formerly in Ching days, in the Magistrate's yamen when they became red deeds (RI #). They were common until the Pacific war and even now are occasionally known to be drawn up in addition to the Memorial registering the conveyance in the Land Office. To select an example at random here is one from Shek Pik on Lantau Island dated the second year of the Republic (1913) which reads ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 98 J. W. HAYES approval. This authority, with powers of discretion, was given to the D.O. to help preserve the traditional way of managing land within the clan, and to provide a cheap and impartial arbiter in case of dispute. 13 In Shek Pik village the TSUI, CHEUNG, HO and CHI clans owned 1.1, 0.39, 0.55, and 0.04 acres of agricultural land in 1898. With the exception of the HO clan, they were intact in 1959. The TSUI tso probably dates from the fifteenth generation, and is therefore three hundred years old. The FUNG clan in Fan Pui owned 9.2 acres in 1898 but this was sold in 1953. 14 At Fan Pui I dealt with a disputed case of ownership in which the defendant stated that eight lots totalling 9,581 square feet of agricultural land had been specially set aside as joss and oil fields (shen you tian). Fields are also set aside for the worship of earth spirits. At Cheung Kwan O village in 1898 the two clans of CHAN and NG administered 1.41 acres of agricultural land under the name of a to tei wui. The rentals were originally devoted to the maintenance of the to tei or earth spirit who looked after the village, but for many years the revenue has simply gone to the clans. Many other cases are known at Mui Wo and Tung Chung. 15 See Chapter III (iii) and (iv) of H. B. Morse The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1908) which is based on an article by Byron Brenan "The Office of District Magistrate in China” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society XXII, (1897-98), 36-65, and incorporates his own wide experience of China and her officials in the course of over thirty years' service in the Imperial Maritime Customs. Brenan himself (1847-1927) had served in China from 1866 and was H.B.M.'s Consul-General in Shanghai 1898-1901. Of the district magistrate Brenan wrote, "The magistrate is the unit of government; he is the backbone of the whole official system; and to ninety per cent of the population he is the Government"; op. cit. p. 37. 16 Papers 1899 p. 583. The text of the stone tablet outside the Tin Hau temple at Kat O, referred to elsewhere in the article, uses this picturesque phraseology. Contrasting their sorry lot beside the power of the yamen officials they had written in their petition to the Viceroy "We, civilians, whose lives are cheap as ants... who are we to start a lawsuit against the district yamen's worms?" An interesting feature of this inscription is that it follows the customary form of Ch'ing document in which reference is made in the text to other papers, by summary or quotation, instead of the western method of adding enclosures. See John K. Fairbank, Ch'ing Documents, an introductory syllabus, (Harvard University Press 1952) p. 21. 18 When I asked an old gentleman who graduated sau choi in 1896 about extortion and venality among magistrates, he replied in distinctly extenuating tones "Some did; but then they had so many people to look after". He observed that there were some rich districts in Kwangtung in which a magistrate had to do nothing to obtain money as it came rolling into the Office in the way of presents, inducements, additions to land and other taxes etc., whilst there were others which were so poor that the magistrate could squeeze very little from them even if he tried very hard. This is curiously echoed in Morse, Trade and Administration p. 92 “In Kwangtung we (the Imperial Maritime Customs) have regularly applied to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 100 J. W. HAYES exerts itself with unprecedented vigour and hardihood in local affairs. No dispute arises but one or more of these social pests thrusts himself forward between the contending parties, and no fraud on the revenue or wholesale extortion is free from their similar influence". Lockhart (through Governor Blake) says that the New Territory's literati "have hitherto lived by irregular "squeezes" from the people" and he blamed the opposition to British rule to them and to "gamblers and bad characters banished from Hong Kong" and not to the people who were incited by the gentry and elders. See Papers 1899 pp. 520 and 554. 26 Papers 1899 p. 194. 27 Papers 1899 p. 554. 28 Arthur H. Smith Village Life in China (Edinburgh, Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, about 1900) p. 121. 29 These affected the coastal and riverine regions of Kwangtung. See C. F. Neumann's Translations from the Chinese and Armenian with notes. 1. History of the pirates who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, (London, John Murray 1831). This includes, pp. 97-125, a very interesting account of an enforced stay of eleven weeks and three days with the pirate fleet in 1809 by Richard Glasbrooke, the mate of an East Indiaman. The pirates spent a considerable time on and near Lantau, which must have suffered from their depredations. The clan record of the HO family of San Tsuen, Pui O, on the south side of the island mentions pirate raids and a decision to fortify the village with walls which can still be seen, with several embrasures for cannon. Piracy continued until a much later date. The Cheung Chau police station was attacked and burnt in 1912, necessitating its removal and enlargement, one of the Cheung Chau ferries was pirated in 1923, and in 1925 a band of sixty robbers from the Delta entered Tai O by way of Po Chue Tam creek, killed a woman and made off with young men and a fair amount of booty without any difficulty. The Police Station is situated at the other end of the town and knew nothing of the attack until it was over. See Administrative Reports, District Officer, New Territories 1912, 1923 and 1925. 30 Papers 1899 p. 528. 31 Foreign Office Report 1606 on Trade of Canton 1894. 32 Salt was smuggled into China from Tai O as the government monopoly and price ring made it profitable to do so. See also Enclosure D to Sir Matthew Nathan's despatch No. 59 of 11 January 1905 in Correspondence relating to Kowloon-Canton Railway which mentions rice smuggling from Shum Chun and Deep Bay into Hong Kong. The export of rice from China was forbidden, and checked by the Imperial Maritime Customs. **F O Trade Report No. 1778 for 1895. 34 F O Trade Report No. 1983 for 1896. 33 Papers 1899, p. 540. Brenan, with his thirty-two years' service wrote feelingly "The Chinaman is happiest who never sees an official, who does not even know the name of one". J N CBRAS XXXII (1897-98) 37. 31 Foreign Office Trade Report for Canton No. 1606 for 1894. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 102 J. W. HAYES there are sometimes several. As a general rule they are small buildings, but the major clans have constructed large high spacious buildings with several courtyards and side rooms. Among the largest in the New Territories are the ancestral temples of branches of the TANG clan at Ping Shan and Ha Tsuen near Yuen Long. These are fine and impressive buildings but are not, unfortunately, kept in good repair. Much of the opposition to the British troops in 1898 was planned in the ancestral hall at Ha Tsuen. Beside the Ping Shan hall there is a school/library building, now used as a private residence. 53 The reason is always said to be lack of funds though I suspect a lack of leadership is also a prime factor. The clan usually waits until something is seriously wrong, by which time it is often too late; a storm completes the ruination. There seems to be some truth in this as I have found newly built ancestral halls in several villages, e.g. the CHEUNG ancestral hall at Lo Wai, Pui O which was rebuilt in 1960 on a new site, the old one having been in ruins for twenty years. 54 Clan worship at the graves still goes on, but is much more informal than in 1898. Mr. TANG Kiu-fong of Fui Sha Wai, a retired schoolmaster, previously quoted, who was born in 1894, tells me that when he was a boy the ceremony was taken very seriously. Everyone wore the long robe, elders were carried to the graves in sedan chairs, and male members of the clan were drawn up in ranks by generations and worshipped in strict seniority, under the direction of a master of ceremonies. 55 These ancestral obligations often imposed considerable inconvenience and up to several days' travel for the whole family. Mr. CHEUNG Yau of Tai Ping village, North Lamma, (b. 1883) tells me that his grandfather settled on Lamma Island from his native village of Wai Tau in the Lam Tsuen valley in the present Tai Po district. Ever since he can remember, and until old age interfered with visits a few years ago, he has gone back to his ancestral village at least three times a year, as dictated by custom. For the first twenty-five years there was no railway and his family used to go by junk to Kowloon and walk the rest of the way, children included. Others went further afield. Mr. LAM Shue Chun, Chairman of the Peng Chau Rural Committee, told me that his family went regularly to their ancestral village of Nam Leng Wai in Po On, north of the border, and were interrupted in their journeys first by the Japanese and latterly by the Communists. He has been twice since 1942 and an uncle has been visiting fairly regularly up to last year. The family travelled to Kowloon by junk, then used the railway and had a long walk from Sham Chon Market. Sometimes there was no need to go from home as contact had been lost with the ancestral village which was too far away. 56 They were full at any time. There is an interesting count of travel on the Colony's border roads and the Shum Chun ferries taken 11th and 12th December 1905 in Enclosure E to Despatch No. 59 in Correspondence relating to Kowloon-Canton Railway already quoted. The first was a market day, when the count of persons, with and without goods, roughly doubled the figures for the second, or ordinary day. On the two main ferries, for instance, the count on December 11 was with goods 1126, without goods 1379 and on the Shum Chun-Sha Tau Kok road 521 and 1302. On the day following the figures were 468 and 1124, and 158 and 550 respectively. At New Year and the two grave festivals the number must have been very much increased. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 124 NOTES AND QUERIES and by aboriginal tribes. Is it too far to strain coincidence to think that these fragments may represent household articles brought to Lantau by the remnants of the Sung court and army during their wanderings in this remote corner of Kwangtung in the period of their final defeat in this region and afterwards when they sought refuge on Lantau? This is a tempting hypothesis which has yet to be proved. It is difficult to say whether the finds were located together in one place or were scattered over a larger area. Investigation on the site shows that they might all have come from one hilltop facing the sea, in which case they might have come from a burial, though no bones, or fragments of bone were found. It is also possible that they came from a temporary dwelling site. It is hard to say because this area has been used for burials by the Shek Pik people for hundreds of years and differentiation of what are commonly known as bone pots (kam taap) and household utensils is difficult: many small fragments of this very common production were found all over the hillside where the other finds were discovered. POSTSCRIPT Since this note was written more fragments of porcelain have been found, and a puzzling feature is that there are tiny fragments of many pots. Could they come from a temporary living site and represent breakages? It is difficult to say. J. W. HAYES, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 129 EWING, Miss E. FABER, Mrs. Audrey FABER, S. E. FEARON, Joseph FITZGIBBON, Desmond J. FOORD, Dr. Roy D. FRIEDMAN, Jack - FUNG, K, S.- + FUNG, Hon, Ping-fan- - - GABBOTT, Francis Ridyard GAIFFIER D'HESTROY. Baron P. de GALVIN, J. A. T. GIBB, Hugh GIEDROYC. Michal GILES, R. - GOLDNEY, C. M. Miss - J 9-A, Cameron House, 40 Magazine Gap Road, H.K. 10, Cooper Road, Jardines Lookout, H.K. 1, Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong. 41, Thorny Road, Thornhill, Cumberland, England. c/o P.W.D. Central Government Offices, H.K. C4 Ridge Court, 21 Repulse Bay Road, H.K. American Consulate-General, Garden Road, H.K. c/o Hang Tai & Fungs Co., Ltd. 20, Queen's Road, C. Bank of East Asia Ltd. 10, Des Voeux Rd., C. P. O. Box 232, Hong Kong, + Belgian Consul-General, 105 H.K. & Shanghai Bank Building, Hong Kong. c/o G. B. Godfrey, Esq., Jardine House, 13th floor. c/o Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn., Hong Kong. Vantage House, Tai Po Road, Kowloon. c/o Crown Lands & Survey Office, P.W.D., Hong Kong. c/o Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn. H.K. GOOD, Major Donald Arthur CRE Hong Kong, British Forces Post Office GOTTSCHALK, Ernst GUADAGNINI, Dr. Piero + I, H.K. 6, Macdonnell Road, Apt. 15, Hong Kong. Italian Consul-General, 705 Chartered Bank Bldg. Headquarters Land Forces, Hong Kong. HALLIDAY, Lt. Col. P. A. T. HARMAN, Anthony Lisle HARRISON, Prof. B. HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J. C.B.E, HAYWARD, G. W. HEDLEY-SAUNDERS, Mrs. Joanne HELLBECK, Dr. H. 7 T - Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn., Hong Kong. Dept. of History, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong. -c/o The Supreme Court, Hong Kong. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. Economic Survey Section, 804, Man Yee Building, Hong Kong. 11-B, Bowen Road, Hong Kong. c/o German Consulate-General, 1 Duddell Street 4/F. : : ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1962 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1962 TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH, 1962-1963: The Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau The Development of Printing in China and its Effects on the Renaissance under the Sung Dynasty Flowers of Hong Kong (with six coloured illustrations) Recent Changes in the Chinese Language The Old British Legation at Peking, 1860-1959 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets - LINDSAY RIDE - PAGE 1 - L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH 7 - B. T. CHIU - 36 - MA MENG - 44 - J. L. CRANMER-BYNG - 51 - J. W. HAYES - 60 European Navigation on the Yangtze - A. D. BLUE - 88 Kashmir Holiday - CLIVE ROBINSON - 107 BOOK REVIEWS - 131 NOTES AND QUERIES - 136 LIST OF MEMBERS - 149 Responsibility for opinions expressed in articles published in this Journal rests with the individual contributors and not with the Editorial Committee. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 70 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG The life of a young attaché is described by Freeman-Mitford in all its facets; fun and boredom together. By mid-June the temperature in the Legation was between 95° and 107° Fahrenheit, so the majority of its members moved out to the Western Hills and took up residence in part of the Pi-Yün Ssu, the Temple of the Azure Clouds, the most beautiful of all the temples in the Western Hills. But even then he had to ride to the Legation (a distance of about 12 miles) from time to time to 'copy despatches'. Even while in the Western Hills it was not all sightseeing, as his teacher went with him, and Mitford had to press on with his Chinese studies. However, he contrived to ride out to the Great Wall and to visit the Ming Tombs and the Summer Palace (the I-Ho Yüan) among other places. Not all was heat and perspiration. By the end of October he was writing: "Outside, the rain is falling fitfully and the wind blowing a hurricane; it moans and howls dismally through the courts and cranky buildings of the Legation, piercing its way into all sorts of odd nooks, and routing out old bells that jangle in a harsh and discordant way from the quaint eaves, as if they were angry at being disturbed in their dusty dens. Doors are creaking and timbers groaning in every direction, and the windows threaten to burst in, but the stout Corean paper holds good, though it gets stretched and flaps unpleasantly like loose sails in a calm, and on the whole I confess I prefer glass. Every now and then, as the storm abates for a while, I hear the tap, tap, tap, of the watchman's bamboo as he goes his rounds. In short, we are working gradually into winter."13 The rest of his letters are principally concerned with snow and ice, and on 25th November he mentions that they are sending off the mail that day "in the hopes that it will yet be able to leave Tientsin for Shanghai before we are finally shut out by the frost from all communication with the outer world." However, in winter there were compensations. A skating rink was fixed up inside the Legation; food was more enjoyable because there was now plenty of game—hares, pheasants, wild duck, and venison; and also by now pears and grapes were available. In February 13 Ibid., 163-4. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 88 CHEUNG CHAU 1850-1898 INFORMATION FROM COMMEMORATIVE TABLETS J. W. HAYES, M.A.* * Cheung Chau is a small island situated just over five miles west-south-west of Green Island at the western end of Hong Kong harbour. It is adjacent to the southern side of the much larger island of Lantau from which it is separated by a strait of just under one mile. The island is two and a quarter miles long at its greatest extent, but takes the form of a three-ended dumb-bell, each of whose arms radiates for roughly a mile from the low beach area on which the town is built. The three arms reach a height of about three hundred feet, the northern being the highest and rockiest. The other two are flatter and more fertile, especially that to the south-west where most of the agricultural land is situated. The total area is 592 acres (0.92 square mile), of which 91.07 acres were registered as cultivated land at the turn of the century.* There are no large areas of cultivated fields, as most of the fertile land lies in small valleys cutting inwards from the coastal beaches or on low plateaux in the hilly areas of the island. Because of its small size and its low features, there is a general lack of perennial streams and this has always posed a problem for farmers and townspeople, though strangely enough it has never stopped them from staying there. The main anchorage is at Chung Wan facing due west, which together with Sai Wan to the south-west has attracted fishermen as a home port for hundreds of years. It is not an entirely safe anchorage as recent typhoons have shown, but, again, this does not seem to have deterred fishermen from operating from the island. The census of 1911, taken a decade after it had passed under British rule, gave a land population of 3,244, mostly Punti, and a floating population of 4,442.* * Mr. Hayes has been an administrative officer with the Hong Kong Government since 1956. His article entitled "The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898" appeared in Vol. 2 of this Journal. The notes to this article are printed between pages 100-106. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 90 J. W. HAYES (1878-9 and 1906-7), stands in the street outside the Fong Pin hospital12 telling how it came to be established; and the third, in an old house in Tai Shan Street, commemorates the establishment and repair of a defence office in the 2nd and 10th years of T'ung-chih (1863-4 and 1871-2). The three tablets give information about the island population towards the end of the Ch'ing dynasty and, for instance, tell something of the various sections of the community, especially those where local leadership and authority rested; their links with other parts of the San On district and the Kwangtung province; their relations with the district government and other officials, civil and military; and the way in which such local communal needs as a hospital, schools, and a defence corps or local militia were met. The nucleus of Cheung Chau society seems always to have been the community of fishermen and shopkeepers, the two being interdependent to a great extent though separated by many basic differences. There has, in addition, always been a farming community, but it has ever taken a third place. A hundred years ago it is likely that the majority of the land dwellers were connected with the island's shops, as proprietors or fokis, and in subsidiary trades and occupations associated with the three main sections of the community. Cheung Chau also served as the market town for over a dozen villages on the central and southwest coast of Lantau, the largest of which was Shek Pik with a population of 363 in 1911, and for the inhabitants of the outer islands. The Fong Pin tablet states that there were two hundred shops in the 1870's, from which it can be deduced that Cheung Chau was a flourishing commercial centre at that time. This is borne out by the house in which the defence association tablet was found, which is long, narrow and surprisingly large, with a small open courtyard in the middle. It has changed very little in the last hundred years, like many other houses in the town which date from this period and before. In this urbanized community local power lay with two groups: the members of the WONG Wai Chak Tong*** of Nam Tau and Cheung Chau; and the larger traders and shopkeepers. The two were probably intermingled to some extent, in that some Tong members would be business men, but more investigation ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 92 J. W. HAYES 14 philanthropic work, probably one of many such, since the Po On tablet (1866) also mentions that "our Tung Kwun natives are flowing in for business". The lists of donors on the various tablets in temples and old buildings underline Cheung Chau's business and kinship links with the outside world. The local members of the WONG Wai Chak Tong seem to have maintained close contact with their parent body in Nam Tau; and, in much the same way, persons who had come to Cheung Chau to farm or do business, and had prospered during their stay, kept in touch with their families and friends in San On, Tung Kwun, Wai Chau, or from whichever district of the province they happened to come. Relations with the minor officials in the immediate area also seem to have been close, as one might expect. The officers of the Tai Pang (Mirs Bay) battalion of the regular land forces, which was scattered in forts and guard posts throughout the eastern half of San On, seem to have contributed quite often to various repair schemes, whilst the salt, stamp, and Customs posts on the island automatically became victims for the collection of funds.15 17 1G Some of these contacts were useful when it came to collecting subscriptions and also when it was necessary to contact or bring pressure upon the district government; in this case the district magistrate of San On, whose yamen was at Nam Tau, the seat of their own WONG Wai Chak Tong. Fortuitously, the tablet in the defence bureau provides an instance of an approach to the district government. Four graduates, three of them almost certainly members of the Tong, and the managers of four large shops, besides other persons, petitioned the district magistrate WU16 when piracy and lawlessness threatened the lives and property of island people in the Hsien-feng reign (1851-61). It is interesting to note that they did not request the magistrate for direct assistance, but asked only that he issue a public notice urging the people of Cheung Chau to unite and provide "brave and strong village guards" for the defence of their island. One of the reasons why the magistrate was approached when this security organisation was being debated was very likely because his permission was required to raise and arm any body of men for defence purposes.18 Page 105 Page 106 ¦ F ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 94 J. W. HAYES Otherwise, the local leaders do not seem to have requested the magistrate's permission to carry out their various projects or even to have invoked his assistance. In the case of the repair of the Po On study in 1866 they seem to have acted without consulting the yamen. Again, there is no mention of the district magistrate on the tablet commemorating the establishment of the Fong Pin hospital in the years 1872-78, though this act seems to have owed much to an enlightened and energetic military official LAI Chun-pin, who was commander of the Kowloon garrison at the time.19 According to the tablet LAI stated: "I happened to be stationed in Kowloon in the ting-ch'ou year (1877-8) of the Kuang-hsü reign and was so pleased to hear about this man (CHOI Leung) that I paid a visit to him. I found him to be a merchant with an untiring devotion to philanthropic works, so I compiled a subscription book urging contributions by officials, gentry, scholars and merchants to help make this scheme a success. The names of the donors on the commemorative tablet show that LAI had cast his net wide, but he did not secure the district magistrate, even as a subscriber. Whether the magistrate knew officially of these proceedings is not known, but perhaps the sponsors did not inform him. Had they done so, particularly in respect of schemes for a poor house-cum-hospital and a school, both public amenities for which he had a measure of personal responsibility by virtue of being district magistrate, he would probably have been obliged to show his interest in one form or another." Perhaps he chose to ignore them as it was likely that he had lost face by LAI's actions; or he may well not have known what was going on. A considerable degree of self-help seems therefore to have been both necessary and unavoidable in isolated communities like Cheung Chau. Whilst the district government might take an interest in local schemes, it could not be expected to do much more; partly because of poor or inconvenient communications, but principally because there was very little money available to assist deserving projects.1 Local communities were expected to help themselves, and to set aside the means whereby an institution could be perpetuated and the structure kept in good repair. Cheung Chau was no exception to this general requirement, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 96 J. W. HAYES popularity with businessmen and others, and of the degree of wealth and general prosperity there in the middle of the last century: since district associations, like present day Kaifong in the urban area, can only operate effectively (and, indeed, come into existence) inside a community which possesses prosperous elements. The district associations must also have been a useful counterpoise to the political dominance of the WONG Wai Chak Tong. The association for natives of Tung Kwun is the largest, richest and probably the oldest of the Cheung Chau societies. It seems to have been established in the fifth year of Chia-ch'ing (1800-01) and in 1898 owned five shops, office premises and an ancestral hall which had been in existence for at least forty years, judging by an incense holder dated the ninth year of Hsien-feng (1859-60). Members and destitute persons of Tung Kwun origin could receive relief assistance from its funds and contributions, with which the Po On study, the ancestral temple, and later three large communal urn graves were also managed. Practically all the way from the cradle to the grave the member and his children could benefit from the operation of his association.26 The association laid emphasis on social cohesion and the observance by its members of the customary proprieties. There was the traditional feast for all members every year at the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the first moon, on which day the managers for the new year were elected, and the yearly worship of Kwan Tai, the god of war and patron god of the association, on his birthday on the thirteenth day of the fifth moon, when each subscribing member received a share of roast pork. Confucius' birthday and the two grave sweeping festivals were also celebrated by members gathering together. Other commemorative tablets existed until only a few years ago which would have provided useful information about two other similar associations of long standing; those of people from Wai Chau and Chiu Chau (combined) and from 惠州及潮州 Sei Yap. One in the Wai Chiu clansmen's office was turned out 27 during repairs after Typhoon Mary in 1960 and not replaced; and what was probably the foundation stone of the Yik Sin Tong, an association for Sei Yap natives, was taken down and T J I ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 98 J. W. HAYES rested with the senior members of the WONG Wai Chak Tong, as it does today. It controls the old defence bureau which is rented out and the proceeds added to the association's funds. Very little information is at present available concerning its history beyond the fact that it existed in the Ch'ing period*1 and that it had a close connection with the members of the Tong, who were its principal patrons and sponsors. Two other instances of communal enterprise remain to be mentioned. There was, before the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, an organisation of local leaders known as the Kaifong##, which is now represented in most things by the Cheung Chau Rural Committee. The Kaifong had an informal constitution and its leaders were generally those persons who were already playing a leading part in the affairs of the four old district associations. The Kaifong had a general concern in Cheung Chau affairs whereas the district associations may be said, in the best sense, to have had a sectional interest. The history of the Kaifong is less easy to trace than that of the associations, very likely because it was a less tangible body. However, it seems to have existed before 1898 because the land registers list a club house or kung soA which was described as public property. This must have been built and administered by somebody and the Kaifong is the most likely candidate. In the early part of this century the building probably housed a school and is known to have served as a headquarters for the town's watchmen.* These were both likely activities for a Kaifong, and it is probable that it ran these and other central services before the British lease. Presumably, too, it administered CHOI Leung's Fong Pin hospital, which the registers describe as an asylum* and as public property. But whilst I am satisfied that there was a Kaifong on the island before 1898 which organised various functions on behalf of the whole community, there is, as yet, no information as to the date of its origin, though there is one clue which takes its history back another twenty years at least.*2 This was the provision of what are still known, to-day, as kaifong junks or kai to*. These are cargo vessels which are managed by prominent persons for a group of financially interested ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 100 J. W. HAYES NOTES The notes are intended to amplify the text. The subjects of the longer notes are chosen rather arbitrarily and represent my particular interests, J. W. H. 1 A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. (Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960) p. 88. 2 Crown Rent Rolls, District Office Islands, New Territories Administration. * Under the Convention of Peking signed on 9th June, 1898, *Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, hereafter styled Sessional Papers. (Hong Kong, Noronha & Co., 1911) p. 103 (22) and (26). This article is mainly concerned with the land population, but for a good short description of the life, work and general background of the boat people, see G. N. Orme "Report on the New Territories 1899-1912" in Sessional Papers 1912, pp. 53-55. 5 The help of the Chairman, Vice-Chairmen and members of the Cheung Chau Rural Committee in tracing and gaining access to these tablets is gratefully acknowledged, and the great assistance given with transcription and translation by Messrs. LO Chi-chung, LEUNG Kun-siu and LEW Pang-fei, my former colleagues in the District Office. * I have translated shue-shat as study, rather than school, since it was intended for the private use of members and their children and not for outsiders. The association became known as the Tung Kwun Wui So on 16th September, 1926 (see Land Registers), previous to which it had been registered as the Po On Shue Shat. I have presumed that with such a name, a school was operated as well as the office and ancestral temple. (See note 26 and text to which it refers.) For the distinction between the names Po On and San On see Notes and Queries, p. 146 below. The character inscribed on this tablet is a simplified form of the character. Local trades included shipbuilding: see Orme's report in Sessional Papers 1912, p. 55. — * The number of Cheung Chau shops subscribing to the various schemes recorded on the tablets is as follows: Po On study (1866) 38; Defence Office (1863-70) 66; Fong Pin hospital (1878) 98, and Tin Hau temple (1879) 125, from the 200 odd mentioned in the Fong Pin preamble. * Many shops are mentioned on the tablets, but they are all listed by their business names and not by the names of the owners, in which custom the Chinese does not follow the English. 10 The Tong has a substantial genealogical record, last produced between eighty and a hundred years ago and printed from stone blocks on hand-made bamboo paper. I am indebted to Mr. WONG Shing Yip of Cheung Chau who very kindly let me see his copy. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 102 J. W. HAYES 36 shops from Hong Kong, 28 from Peng Chau and 15 from Tai O contributed to the Po On study (presumably all or mainly of Tung Kwun origin); a few outside shops sent donations to repair the Tin Hau temple; hardly surprisingly no outside shops contributed to the Defence Bureau; but the subscriptions for the Fong Pin hospital came from a wide area and the list included over 20 shops and 40 individual persons (including 2 tongs from Tung Kwun and Hok Shan), from Canton, Pun Yue, Tung Kwun, Nam Hoi, Shun Tak, Macau, and other areas of the province, Most of the temples still contain tablets and other dated items which record their repair from time to time. However, the series is far from complete and many tablets have been lost. A typical instance is the loss of commemorative tablets from the Tin Hau Temple at Tai Shek Hau (the local place name). A prominent citizen remembers seeing a whole row of them fronting an outside wall when he was a young man, about thirty years ago, but they have now all vanished without trace. 15 For mention of these Cheung Chau posts see the following tablets: salt (Tin Hau and Fong Pin), stamp (Tin Hau and Fong Pin), customs, e.g. tax on kerosene (Fong Pin). There was also a customs post on Lamma (Fong Pin), and there were various patrol boats (both tablets). The officer in charge of the military post on Cheung Chau is mentioned on the Tin Hau tablet, whilst the Fong Pin tablet lists eight officers of the Tai Pang battalion. 16 Only the defence bureau tablet gives donors their official ranks, though comparison with others shows that some of the graduates are mentioned there without their titles, i.e., persons mentioned in these tablets may also have been graduates. A comparison of the Tong's genealogical record with the names on the tablets is at first sight disappointing. The genealogical record does not record titles for the later generations, i.e. those of the generation whose names appear on the tablets. An additional confusion is that the clan generation names may not have been used on the tablets where business or personal names may have been recorded instead. However, I think we can be fairly certain that most of the WONGS on the tablets belonged to the Tong. 17 I have translated "WU" as "petitioned the district magistrate". 18 See Kung-Chuan HSIAO Rural China; Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century, (Seattle, University of Washington Press 1960), pp. 294-306 for defence organisations in this period. 19 His precise title was described on the Cheung Chau tablet as 城鎮 *which was probably the equivalent of colonel. A few years later he presented a large painted wooden commemorative tablet to the Hau Wong temple outside Kowloon City, on which his rank is described as tsung-ping or brigadier-general (see Ralph L. Powell The Rise of Chinese Military Power 1859-1912 (Princeton University Press, 1955) pp. 15 and 367). "The brigadier-generals were semi-independent, yet their units were scattered and practically sedentary," ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 104 J. W. HAYES There were also examination titles among the organisers and subscribers to the defence office. There were three scholars, who held higher grades of the hsiu-ts'ai or first degree by examination. One was a kung-sheng, another a sheng-yüan, and the third held the grade of lin-sheng, all normally obtained by additional examinations by a literary chancellor appointed from Peking to examine hsiu-ts'ai in the provinces, though occasionally granted for merit. Another was a wu-sheng ±, a military hsiu-ts'ai, an officer by examination, not purchase. These four were WONGs, almost certainly members of the Tong. A fifth, named TSUI, was a tu-szu or first captain and was probably a serving military officer in the locality. The final title is ching sheng #. Of these various degree and title holders sixteen were named WONG *. The coincidence is probably too great to be accidental and the number of purchases testifies to the Tong's wealth, whilst the presence of genuine scholars, probably from the Cheung Chau branch, and the genealogical record, confirm its gentry status in the late Ch'ing period. There is no doubt that the main Tong was well entrenched and able to exert an "interest" with the district ruler and perhaps also with the prefect and viceroy at Canton. 23 HSIAO illustrates the slight degree of local control on another island, Ch'a K'eng, off the coast of Sun Wui district, Kwangtung, in Rural China, pp. 344-348. For his views on the effectiveness of imperial control see pp. 320-322 and pp. 316-320 for the role of the gentry in local affairs. CH'U, op. cit., chapter 10, also examines the problem in general. Krone's article (see note 22), apparently written from long, first-hand knowledge of the western part of San On shows that the district magistrate and his deputy and sub-magistrates had little control over the population (see especially p. 81), and perhaps wanted it less, e.g. "... the Mandarin of Fuk Wing (a sub-magistrate) confided to me, in a conversation that I had with him that he had nothing to do but to eat, to drink and to smoke”, though over 200 villages were in his charge. 24 The district association is of considerable antiquity in China. They were known in Sung times: see J. Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-76 (London, Allen and Unwin 1962) p. 222; see also Y. K. Leong and L. K. Tao Village and Town Life in China (London, Allen and Unwin 1915) pp. 78-9 for "the guild of co-provincials" and H. B. Morse, The Gilds of China (London, Longmans, Green 1909) pp. 35-48 for the provincial club with a mercantile bias. 25 With consequent language difficulties. See R. A. D. Forrest (a former Hong Kong Cadet Officer) "The Southern Dialects of Chinese", Appendix No. 1 to V. Purcell The Chinese in South East Asia (Oxford University Press 1951). 26 The word "member" may have too strong a connection with the modern club where one pays an entrance fee and monthly subscriptions. In fact, one was born into membership of these early district associations and participated in their activities by subscription, as required. Mr. LEUNG Yau (see note 28) confirms this for his own association, the Wai Chiu. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 106 J. W. HAYES 30 The Tung Kwun association note book says that there was a Po On Wui Sor ★ ★ ƒ in the Ch'ing dynasty, but since this had always led to confusion their association (the Po On Shuc Shat) was renamed the Tung Kwun Wui Sor in the 12th year of the Chinese Republic (1923). 31 A tablet (1953) in the Free School says that this institution dates back to 1921 and local leaders say that the kung sor was rebuilt at this time. The old kung sor was also known as the hon kaam lau ★ ★# or watchmen's building. ** On the other hand it is unlikely that it predates the defence bureau (1863-70) as this would have been a suitable subject for the Kaifong to organise (there is no mention of it on the tablet). 33 Mr. LEUNG Yau recalls that there were two Kaifong junks operating a daily service between Cheung Chau and Hong Kong before the lease (1898). One left Hong Kong (Sai Ying Pun) at 11 a.m., whilst the other left Cheung Chau at the same time. Both were sailing junks and took three hours to make the journey under good conditions and the whole day if otherwise. They were subscribed and run by a number of local gentlemen for public use. A steam Kaifong vessel was bought with public subscriptions in 1910. Administrative Reports, District Officer, New Territories, 1910. & 34 There are now eight district associations on the island for natives of the districts of Po On; Tung Kwun; Wai-Chiu combined ✰✰ *#; Sei Yap ("The Four Towns') i.e. Toi Shan 4, Sun Wui. Hoi Ping, Yan Ping; Ng Yap ♣ (“The Five Towns") i.e. Hok Shan plus the towns of Sei Yap, Shun Tak: Chung Shan ✈ and Chiu Chau (separate), the four last named formed since 1945, all offering a variety of social, educational and charitable services to members. 35 HSIAO, in his interesting and lengthy study of rural China in the 19th Century, does not deal specifically with the internal organisation of the market towns. The market town of Tai O at the south west end of Lantau island (land population 2248 in 1911) would provide an interesting local comparison, though material is not so readily available as for Cheung Chau. I hope to write a similar outline account at a later date. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 144 NOTES AND QUERIES these removals, again from long established locations and substantial houses, is also said to have been mainly on fung shui grounds following a long period of decline, reduced births, infant deaths, and other difficulties. These removals all took place within the last fifty years, that is, within the period of British rule in the New Territories, and it would be interesting to know if there were similar cases in other districts during this period. It is, of course, extremely likely that these periodic removals were a feature of village life in the past. J. W. HAYES. AN OLD FORT AT TUNG CHUNG ON LANTAO ISLAND If you take a ferry-boat from Hong Kong to Lantao and land at the bay of Tung Chung it is worth while looking at the old fort which still exists near the hamlet of Lung Ching Tau. The walls are still in good preservation and inside there is a broad gun-platform with six cannon in position, one of which has an inscription on it showing that it dates from the middle of Chia-Ch'ing's reign. It is known that a fort and garrison was maintained at Tung Chung during most of Chia-Ch'ing's reign (1796-1821) when a large and successful fleet of junks manned by Chinese pirates terrorized the coasts of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. There is documentary evidence that a fort was constructed at Tung Chung in the twenty-second year of Chia-Ch'ing's reign (1817).1 In 1834, during the few months when Lord Napier was Superintendent of British Trade at Canton and relations between the two countries were very strained, the fort at Tung Chung was again mentioned in Chinese documents. The Governor-General of the two Kwangs at that time, Lu K'un, in a 'memorandum' to the throne submitted at the beginning of 1 See Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Chinese text (Institute of Chinese Culture, Hong Kong, 1959) footnote on p. 236. An English translation of this book published under this title in May 1963 omits the footnotes. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 153 GOTTSCHALK, E. GREEN, Mrs. M. GUADAGNINI, Dr. P. - 6, Macdonnell Road, Apt. 15, H.K. 3, Barker Road, H.K. Italian Consul-General, 705, Chartered Bank Building, H.K. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de 5, Coombe Road, H.K. HARMAN, A. L. HARRISON, Prof. B. HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J. * HAYWARD, G. W. + HEDLEY-SAUNDERS, Mrs. J. - HELLBECK, Dr. H. - HENSMAN, Dr. Bertha + HERRIES, M. A. R. D'HESTROY, Baron P. de Gaiffier HINDMARSH, R. H. HO, Hung-pong HO, Kuang-chung HO, Teh-kuei HOFFMAN, Mrs. D. P. - HOGAN, The Hon. Sir M., Kt. HOLMES, Hon. D. R. HORSMAN, Miss A. M. HOWORTH, J. F. + c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. Department of History, H.K. University, H.K. c/o The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. Economic Survey Section, 804, Man Yee Building, H.K. 11-B Bowen Road, H.K. c/o German Consulate-General, 1 Duddell Street, 4th Floor, H.K. Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., H.K. Belgian Consul-General, 105, H.K. & Shanghai Bank Building, H.K. 228 Wang Hing Building, H.K. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. 2, Wallace Way, Rornie Road, Singapore, (11). 10 Tai Hang Road, 2nd Floor, H.K. 36 Macdonnell Road, Flat 7, Lindo Court, H.K. Chief Justice's Chambers, Supreme Court, H.K. Commerce and Industry Dept., Fire Brigade Building, H.K. Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulum, H.K. HSIA, Tung-pei c/o Leigh & Orange, Room 2013 Union House, H.K. 131-B, Wanchai Building, 8th Floor, 131 Wanchai Road, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v CONTENTS OF VOL. 1 (1960/61) The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task, F. S. Drake; Birds of Hong Kong, A. M. Macfarlane; Flowers of Hong Kong (with one coloured illustration), B. T. Chiu; The Knight Errant in Chinese Literature, James J. Y. Liu; Tibet As It Was, Hugh Richardson; The Morrison Library, Dorothea Scott; Buddhist Sources of the Novel Feng-Shen Yen-I, Liu Tsun-yan; Buddhist Organizations in Hong Kong, Holmes Welch; Chinese Burial Customs in Hong Kong, B. D. Wilson; Notes and Queries. CONTENTS OF VOL. 2 (1962) Nestorian Crosses and Nestorian Christians in China under the Mongols (illustrated), F. S. Drake; Currency Problems in a Cycle of Cathay, G. Findlay Andrew; The Buddhist Career, Holmes Welch; Chinese Seals, T. Y. Li (illustrated); Some of China's Thirty-five Million non-Chinese, Herold J. Wiens; The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898, J. W. Hayes; Excavations at Man Kok Tsui on Lantau Island (illustrated), Elspeth Maneely; A New Archaeological Site in Hong Kong (illustrated), M. W. Welch; Review Article: Britain and China, Colina Lupton; Notes and Queries. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r JHKBRAS LIST OF REPRINTS AVAILABLE Mail orders to: Hon. Librarian, Box 13864, Hong Kong Volume I (Prices are in Hong Kong Dollars) F. S. DRAKE. The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task. 7 pp. $1.40 No. of copies in stock A. M. MACFARLANE. Birds of Hong Kong. 9 pp. $1.80 10 B. T. CHIU. Flowers of Hong Kong. 3 pp. $0.60 7 JAMES J. Y. Liu. The Knight Errant in Chinese Literature. 12 pp. $2.40 10 HUGH RICHARDSON. Tibet as it was. 8 pp. $1.60 10 DOROTHEA SCOTT. The Morrison Library. 18 pp. $3.60 999 LIU TSUN-YAN. Buddhist Sources of the Novel Feng-Shen Yen-I. 30 pp. $6.00 10 HOLMES Welch. Buddhist Organizations in Hong Kong. 17 pp. $3.40 9 B. D. WILSON, Chinese Burial Customs in Hong Kong. 9 pp. $1.80 7 Notes and Queries. 3 pp. $0.60 10 Volume II F. S. DRAKE. Nestorian Crosses and Nestorian Christians in China under the Mongols. 15 pp. 4 plates (2 color). $4.60 11 G. FINDLAY ANDREW. Currency Problems in a Cycle of Cathay. 11 pp. $2.20 11 T. Y. LI. Chinese Seals. 5 pp. 2 col. plates. $2.00 HEROLD J. WIENS. Some of China's Thirty-five Million Non-Chinese. 21 pp. $4.20 15 JAMES HAYES. The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898. 28 pp. $5.60 11 Elspeth MANEELY. Excavations at Man Kok Tsui on Lantau Island. 6 pp. 2 plates. $1.80 COLINA LUPTON. Review article: Britain and China. 7 pp. $1.40 3 11 11 Volume III B. T. CHIU. Flowers of Hong Kong. 7 pp. 6 col. plates. $4.40 25 MA MENG. Recent Changes in the Chinese Language. 9 pp. $1.80 26 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r Volume III (contd.) No. of copies in stock J. L. CRANMER-BYNG. The Old British Legation at Peking, 1850 - 1959. 28 pp. 2 plates. $6.20 J. W. HAYES. Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets. 19 pp. $3.80 CLIVE ROBINSON. Kashmir Holiday. 5 pp. 2 plates. $1.60 Volume IV E. W. ELLSWORTH. Journal of Occurances at Canton, 1839. 33 p. 2 plates. $7.20 K. M. A. BARNETT. Hong Kong before the Chinese. 26 pp. $5.20 25 15 24 18 76 HO TICKON. Introduction to Chinese Painting. 3 pp. $0.60 78 J. W. HAYES. Peng Chau between 1798-1899. 26 pp. 1 plate. $5.50 80 V. R. BURKHARDT. Hong Kong Butterflies. 9 pp. 7 Col. plates. $5.30 75 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG & A. SHEPHERD. A Reconnaissance of Ma Wan and Lantao Islands in 1794. 15 pp. 5 plates. $4.50 53 D. LESLIE. Forke's Translation of the Lun Heng. 8 pp. $1.60 37 F. B. L. George Chinnery 1774-1852, Artist of the China Coast. 5 pp. $1.00 130 Knight BiggerSTAFF. University of Hong Kong: The First 50 Years, 1911 - 1951. 3 pp. $0.60 21 T. C. LAI. The Art of Chinese Poetry. 3 pp. $0.60 A. ST. G. WALTON. An Introduction to the Birds of Hong Kong. 2 pp. $0.40 220 21 22 E. MANEELY. Asian Perspectives. 2 pp. $0.40 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG. A Collection of Chinese Books from the Royal Society now in the Library of Leeds University. 1 p. $0.20 J. W. HAYES. The Tung Chung Fort. 4 pp. $0.80 C. Y. NG. Some Notes on Tung Chung. 3 pp. $0.60 K. M. A. BARNETT. Loan-words in the Chinese Language. 2 pp. $0.40 31 19 19 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1963 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1963 JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON 1839 Introduction Notes PAGE 1 6 9 E. W. ELLSWORTH L. T. RIDE AND J. L. CRANMER-BYNG TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH, 1963 - 1964 : Hong Kong Before the Chinese Introduction to Chinese Paint-ing ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: Peng Chau between 1798 and 1899 Hong Kong Butterflies A Reconnaissance of Ma Wan and Lantao Islands in 1794 Review Article: Forke's Trans-lation of the Lun Heng- - K. M. A. BARNETT 42 HO TICKON 68 J. W. HAYES 71 V. R. BURKHARDT 97 J. L. CRANMER-BYNG AND A. SHEPHERD - D. LESLIE + 105 BOOK REVIEWS PRESENTATIONS AND ADDITIONS NOTES AND QUERIES List of Members 120 128 143 146 155 Responsibility for opinions expressed in articles published in this Journal rests with the individual contributors and not with the Editorial Committee. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON 35 are the vessels of war who could alone defend the place. But it is doubtful if Mr. Commissioner will allow matters to get to such a length. If they do, the Governor of Macao intends to defend it to the last extremity. He has ordered all the inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 50 to hold themselves in readiness to be called upon to carry arms. We hear of three more vessels from the east coast, the Corsair, Amelia, and Anna. There are yet there the Lord Amherst, Henry Clay, and Lady Hayes. Letters from Chumpee to the 30th have been received. 13,800 chests were delivered and no more vessels were there but the Lady Grant and Mahmoodie were in sight in their way up. It is said they have on board near 200 chests and when they are discharged we shall see if the Commissioner intends to break his word again. Weather rainy; have not had a fine day these ten days past and it is very cold for this season of the year, thermometer at 60° to 63°. Wrote to Captain Gilman and Mr. Sturgis at Macao gave the letter to the Compradore to be forwarded. Sunday, 5 May 1839 Some of us at last to be released but 16 foreigners are to be detained in Canton till the opium business is all settled. Under certain restrictions and surveillance any foreigner except 16 can leave Canton. This is by permission received yesterday from the Commissioner. Ships at Whampoa can be loaded and unloaded and leave Whampoa, but no ship can come in. In the morning the Kwang Chow Foo, the Chung Hup and the Kwang Hup with attendants on horseback rode into the Square and to the Point and ordered all the military guard to withdraw from the boats, and the boats to break up the line of circumvallation with which we have been surrounded six weeks this day. The Hong coolies also broke up their encampment on the edge of the walk and retired from below the Company's arch leaving however 70 who have stationed themselves in the middle of the Square to guard the 16 foreigners and prevent their escape. The Hong merchants have also retired from beneath the Company's verandah and things begin to look as before. No ships boats can go to or come from Whampoa yet, neither can our pleasure boats be allowed to be put into the water. But licenced passage boats are permitted to go daily as before with passengers. In the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 71 PENG CHAU BETWEEN 1798-1899 J. W. HAYES, M.A. I The object of this and previous articles is to recover as much of the pre-1899 past of the Hong Kong region as possible, with special reference to the nineteenth century. What materials for a history of the life and times of the people still exist? Locally there are occasional stone tablets commemorating the repair of temples or the settlement of an important local dispute. They mostly belong to the latter part of the nineteenth century. Some eighteenth century ones have survived but early tablets are generally rare because local people have a habit of getting rid of them when the temple is repaired once more. If not actually thrown out, they are taken into the yard and eventually broken up by children, or taken away to serve as impromptu table tops and seats or as chopping boards for vegetables. Then there are the numerous horse-shoe shaped graves which stud the countryside, practically all of which have dated tablets. Many of those still legible date from the late CHING period (1644-1912), but time and exposure to the elements have often done their worst, especially where a family has died out and the grave is no longer visited every year. There is the mute evidence of the countryside itself, where land long fallow and houses mouldering into the ground testify to a more populated past, often at a considerable distance of time from the present. Written records include clan genealogies. These seem to be fairly widespread, though fewer in number than before the Japanese war. In the remoter and poorer areas, where the clans are small and poorly educated, they often amount to no more than a list of names without even dates of birth and death; but those of the larger clans are often printed and include all kinds of interesting information, such as lists of property, honours and posts held by ancestors, clan rules, etc. A few land-deeds from the CHING period also turn up from time to time, but, like the genealogies, they have suffered from damp and the consuming desire of white ants to know more of their local history. It has also to be remembered that land-deeds had to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 72 J. W. HAYES be shown for inspection to prove ownership at the land settlement which followed the British lease and, though opinions differ on this point, many old villagers have said that their deeds were handed in to the Government and not returned. This would, in part, account for their being in very short supply today, at any rate throughout the area with which I am familiar; that is the islands and the Sai Kung and Clear Water Bay districts. Following widespread enquiry over a number of years, I am convinced that another factor of great importance in explaining their scarcity is the Japanese occupation of the Colony in 1941-45. Many villagers say that their papers were destroyed at that time, in many cases by themselves, since they feared the questions which might result if the Japanese authorities got their hands on them. The less they knew the better, was the prevailing view, and therefore many families destroyed their papers, to our present loss. Fortunately, to set against this background of loss and decay, there are the valuable records of the land settlement carried out within a few years of the lease of the New Territories to Britain in 1898. These consist of records of a ground survey, carried out mainly to a scale of thirty-two inches to the mile, in which individual lots are set down and numbered, and their ownership listed in an accompanying schedule certified as correct by an officer of the Land Court.2 These constitute a modern "Domesday" of all titles to land in the leased territory. Their usefulness to the historian is obvious and apart from their intrinsic value as a contemporary record they provide many clues to the past and enable detailed checks to be made on some of the persons and organisations whose names appear on commemorative tablets and others dated items such as furniture and fittings, which are to be found in the many temples which dot the countryside. There are also the recollections of elders, particularly those over eighty years of age, who were young men at the time the territory changed hands. The memories of the oldest men are sometimes good and when this is the case they can do a great deal to fill in the bare bones of the land records and the genealogical trees. Since certain changes overtook the region within the first decade of British rule,3 their testimony is of the greatest importance to a realisation of manners and attitudes and an understanding of the system of civil and military administration which obtained ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 74 J. W. HAYES fishermen and with all those who live close to the sea in South China. A commemorative tablet let into the wall is dated 1798.10 It may record the actual foundation of the temple, though this is not certain as the temple bell is dated six years earlier." The tablet has no introductory preamble, as is usual," and simply states that persons from the two districts of Tung Kwun ✯E and San On, described as ± subscribed money for the work. A list of 218 names follows, of which 26 appear to be those of shops or businesses, and the other 192 those of private individuals. No indication is given as to the addresses of subscribers, and it is therefore impossible to state with certainty that they were all Peng Chau people, though some of them must have been, or to say which of them were land people and which of them fishermen. It is more than likely that both groups participated in the project. This was certainly the case with the next full-scale repair in 187813 where the fact of co-operation is established beyond any doubt, because the entries on this second tablet are more precise and it is still possible to check names with old inhabitants. With the establishment of the temple, Peng Chau's place as a permanent base for fishermen was probably assured, since this would have set the seal on its popularity. Religion has always played an important part in the lives of the boat people and it was probably as much a long-term attachment to the temple as economic ties with local shopkeepers which kept the fishermen there. There was another popular Tin Hau temple at nearby Nim Shu Wan, now in ruins. Throughout the nineteenth century therefore, and into the twentieth, the island continued to be a base for many sea-going and local fishermen. As such, it was important enough to be one of the places where, by order of the San On magistrate, tablets were set up in the middle of the Tao Kwang period (1834) for the information of the fishing population.14 The Peng Chau tablet, which is situated just outside the Tin Hau temple, records a petition which went as high as the Viceroy of the two Kwang provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and eventually resulted in a directive that no more fishing boats should be commandeered in order to capture pirates. Special craft were ordered to be built for the purpose instead. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 76 J. W. HAYES Of these various groups of fishermen the trawlers were by far the most important. As has been said above, the Peng Wo Tong was organised from among them and does not appear to have included the fishermen from the smaller Tanka craft. This group seems to have based itself on Peng Chau for at least fifty years, and in all probability for a much longer period, between the formation of the Tong in 1857 and the destructive typhoon of 18th September 1906 which is said to have hit them very hard as many boats were at sea during the sudden storm and were lost. They were tied to the island by their links with the shopkeepers and wholesale fish dealers, or laans as they are known locally,20 The trawlers caught all kinds of fish and salted them in brine21 pending a return to harbour. There was a comparative lull in their fishing season between the Tin Hau festival in the third moon and the end of the seventh moon, when they returned to Peng Chau, gave their boats and tackle a thorough overhaul, allowed themselves the luxury of a holiday on land, and participated in religious activities which included the inevitable season of Chinese opera. The opera performances lasted for about five weeks, by tradition overlapping the end of the third moon and the beginning of the fifth. There is no doubt that these trawlers and their crews added considerably to the bustle and prosperity of the island. Besides the Tanka there were also Cantonese families who made their principal livelihood from fishing. I spoke to one old man of seventy-three (born 1891) whose whole life had been spent, as was his father's before him, "on the surface of the sea” ✯❀ as he put it. This family were Puntis from Tung Kwun and my informant said he was the fifth generation on Peng Chau. There is no doubt that they were land people, but they earned their living from the sea using small boats called and operating several stake nets at various points round the island's coast. They fished mostly by day in the waters round Peng Chau, to which they returned at night-fall. There were over twenty of these boats when my informant was a boy. Beside the Cantonese fishermen, there were also some Hakkas with, at that period, as much interest in the sea as the land. The first ancestors of the CHUNG family came to Peng Chau at the beginning of the nineteenth century. An account of their ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 78 J. W. HAYES six parts sea", an exaggeration which none the less makes its point.24 Hardly part of the fishing fleet as such, but a contribution to Peng Chau's sea-faring activity was the recovery of coral from the sea bed. The coral was used in the production of lime which was required in the building trade for making mortar. This was a major undertaking by the end of the century; it was, in fact, the largest in the New Territories at the time its numbers were reported in 1901.25 Twenty junks each carrying eighteen men and sixty boats each carrying six men, that is 720 men between them, were said to have been engaged in this work which took place within three square miles of sea between Peng Chau and Nei Kwu Chau, the present Hei Ling Chau leprosarium. Fishing, and the recovery of coral for the lime kilns, was such a large scale enterprise in Peng Chau waters at this time that, as two elders have put it to me on different occasions, you could walk on boats as far as the adjacent shore of Lantau, a distance of almost a mile. The land dwellers on Peng Chau were of two kinds: Cantonese, whose principal outlet was business, and Hakkas who had settled down to farm there in the decades before and after 1800. The history and origins of the latter are well-defined by family graves and the recollections of their present descendants but the influx of the Cantonese, and the time and manner of their coming — because in many cases they probably came and went without making a permanent settlement — is more of a mystery. Chinese land deeds of the Ching period are often useful since they sometimes uncover facts not recorded in the earliest land records of the British administration. I have seen such a deed dated 188226 which records the transfer of a shop from one party to another. Naturally this is a common enough transaction, but this particular deed provides interesting information about land ownership on Peng Chau at an earlier date. It relates how the CHAN Yan Hop Tong ✰✰ of San On district had, at a prior but unknown date, leased land sufficient to build ten houses to the CHAN Yee Ka Tong of Tung Kwun district, who in turn sold one shop built on this land to another person. There are actually two differently worded deeds of the same date relating to the same shop and the same transaction, and they Page 90 Page 91 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 80 J. W. HAYES of these persons also appear on the large temple bell presented in 1792. All six donors of this bell were CHANs, all related, and these two are listed as the sons of two elder CHANs. One would expect the members of a tax-lord Tong to subscribe liberally to local projects. Indeed, they could hardly avoid doing so, since they would certainly be asked and could not refuse without loss of face. Therefore it is possible that these CHANs did belong to either the Tung Kwun family or the Nam Tau family which, as I have surmised, may well have been different branches of the same powerful clan. Some of its poorer members may even have settled as shopkeepers on Peng Chau, since when the British took over the New Territories in 1899 persons of this name were prominent among owners of shops and houses in the main street left and right of the one which had been sold in 1882. Perhaps settlement was the only means of collecting the rents from this remote place, which induced the family to send some of its people to live there. It is difficult to get conclusive proof since no members of this clan appear to be left on Peng Chau today and my last suggestion is more conjecture than anything else.28 The CHAN clan were not the only Puntis with an interest in Peng Chau, but with the information at present at my disposal it is impossible to say whether they were the first Cantonese settlers or developers. In 1899 all but one or two shops were run by Cantonese, though Hakkas had been on the island for about a century. Several of the shopkeepers had inherited businesses begun by their grandfathers, which indicates that a measure of stability had been achieved on the island for some time past. However, the merchants and shopkeepers generally may have been less settled and less wedded to Peng Chau than the farming Hakkas. Turning now to these, the LUIs are said to be the oldest, but whether they were actually the first Hakka settlers is an open question. They have fallen on hard times and there are only two separate families left. A man of sixty-four is of the fifth generation, which on the twenty-five year basis of reckoning would give the first ancestor's birth-date as 1800, whilst a thirty year period, which is perhaps more likely, would give 1780. At any rate the family must have come to Peng Chau about 1800. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 82 J. W. HAYES was committed outside their shop. Fearing further complications, the brothers left their native village of Nam Ling Wai nearby, two of them going to Jamaica and the third to Peng Chau. The reason for his selecting Peng Chau is an interesting one. There had been difficulty in finding a bride with a suitable horoscope and a go-between in Yuen Long Market with contacts on Peng Chau had arranged his marriage with a girl of the LUI family. The family were not poor, and by the end of the century had secured a considerable area of fields on the Lantau coast opposite Peng Chau by giving mortgages to incautious or unlucky farmers. Some light on Peng Chau's development in the nineteenth century is given in the tablet commemorating the repairs made to the temple in 1878. Though the total number of subscribers is less than in the 1798 tablet — 181 instead of 218 — the number of shops is greater, and their locations specified. Fifty Peng Chau undertakings were listed, including one factory, though what manufacture it carried out is unknown. Some of the local shops listed on the tablet were quite large concerns by the end of the century. Among their number the San Tai Li business owned six or seven adjoining shops on the east side of Wing On Street, near the present ferry pier. It is said to have handled several lines of business including ship-chandlering and the production of sails and tackle, fishmongering and general dealings with fishermen, grocery and general goods and Chinese medicine. It also owned several junks for cargo and ferry purposes. A WONG of the third generation was managing its affairs in 1899, the business having been started by his grandfather, who was a Cantonese from Shun Tak district. Besides the shops, and the lime kilns, of which there were almost a dozen by 1904, there were at least two boat building and repair yards, and a business which specialised in beaching boats. The repair tablet lists numerous outside subscribers, which indicates the business and social contacts which the island had with neighbouring areas. Eighteen Hong Kong businesses, including seven fish laans, and another seven shops from Shaukiwan, contributed to the fund, and so did shops from Tai Ping, Shek Wan and Kong Moon in the Pearl River Delta. A ferry boat business from Heung Shan, had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 84 J. W. HAYES probably building materials and general goods, including clothing, luxury items and foodstuffs, since Peng Chau produced little more than sufficed for the Hakka farmers who had settled there. In the other direction the boats may have taken salt fish and shrimp paste, and lime for the building trade from Peng Chau's kilns. Peng Chau's development in the nineteenth century and before was assisted by its proximity to the south-east coast of Lantau. The waters in this area, except in the south-west monsoon, are generally calm and are easily crossed by rowing sampans or wind-driven craft. In 1898 there were some half a dozen small villages and hamlets situated along this coast37 which, together with a large settlement on Nei Kwu Chau, used Peng Chau as a market centre, selling their produce and livestock there and purchasing goods of all kinds from the island's shopkeepers. The area east of Tai Pak appears to have been well settled in 1899 by Hakka farmers whose descendants still live there today, but from Tai Pak west to Man Kok the land must at one time have supported a larger population than it did in 1899. The land registers show that many fields were abandoned, and no owners came forward to claim them at the Land Settlement after the lease of the New Territories. Even the claimed land, which in this area was in the minority, was in the course of changing hands, largely by way of mortgage to persons from Peng Chau. A WONG Keng of Peng Chau had recently become the registered owner of sixteen acres situated there and east to Yee Pak and was giving mortgages to other owners. The LAMs of Peng Chau were in possession of many fields at Man Kok and Kau Sat Wan, of which they were the mortgagees. They also held the mortgages of other fields there which belonged to the unfortunate LUI clan of Peng Chau. The large amount of empty fields, unclaimed at the lease, is interesting and the conclusion must therefore be that there were more settlers in this part of Lantau fifty or a hundred years before, and that these persons helped in a small but steady way to increase Peng Chau's prosperity,38 These families had either died or gone away by 1899. In an island community like Peng Chau where different groups found themselves in the course of time committed to joint settlement, and hence to the need to establish a modus vivendi, one of the more interesting relationships is that which subsisted ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 86 J. W. HAYES However, the Cantonese, Hakka and even Hoklo fishermen lived on land and were still landsmen who could live in both worlds. The first two, if not always the third, could cut their own firewood, and grass for breaming, whereas I am led to believe that in the anchorages, which were nearly always in populated places, the Tanka fishermen had usually to buy these necessities from the villagers. The reason usually given for this is that the villagers had planted the trees which supplied the firewood and paid rent to the imperial government or, more often, to some powerful clan.42 A less striking, but equally practical reason, I was told on Peng Chau, was that fishermen did not wish to carry the grass or poles used in breaming their craft, in order to save valuable space. Breaming facilities were not always charged for, it seems, though on Peng Chau a breaming charge of 20 cents per boat was levied by the personnel of the military post before 1899 — the sort of "squeeze" by which soldiers supplemented their pay. The military post seems to have been a late innovation, prior to which no breaming charges are believed to have been levied by Peng Chau's land dwellers. On nearby Cheung Chau the WONG clan owned the main breaming beaches in the main anchorage and in a secondary one at Sai Wan, also much used by the boat people. They charged a fee for their use, part of the proceeds going to the upkeep and ceremonies connected with the clan's main ancestral grave on the island.43 Of course the boatmen could go to some deserted beach, but they were hard to find since villagers were well distributed in the coastal areas and islands by the nineteenth century and there were few areas capable of returning crops left undeveloped.44 In any case, there were no amenities, such as shops and temples, to tempt fishermen to such places; whilst, as Miss Ward remarks in her study of the Kau Sai fishing village in the Port Shelter area of Sai Kung, boat people are not the sea rovers drifting from place to place they are commonly imagined to be, but have been linked to a home base over a long period.45 This seems certainly to have been true of Peng Chau in the period under review. In a mixed community of the small size of Peng Chau it is hardly surprising that no district associations similar to those of Cheung Chau and Tai O were established.46 The Cantonese residents were relatively few in number, whilst the Hakka clans had their own family ties and, at the grave festivals and the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 88 J. W. HAYES credited with the construction of the Yee Chee about 1850. What does appear fairly certain is that the Kaifong originated among the Cantonese shopkeepers and house-owners of Wing On Street, the main, and for long the only, street on the island. The street had a corporate identity which was quite separate from the rest of the island, and this is clearly shown on the 1878 tablet which is at pains to differentiate donors as belonging to either "this street" or "this island". There were one or two of them, rather than one. By the turn of the century, however, Hakka shopkeepers in the main street, the CHUNG clan, who in origin was a leading member of the Kaifong, but this was apparently a recent development. The Kaifong's interests thus became those of the island community at large. It was not necessarily in regular session with meetings once a week or once a month, but is more likely to have been rather sporadic in its activities, active only when it was asked to advise, arbitrate or organise, as the need arose. There was also an association for religious purposes known as the Hung Man Wui. It is mentioned in the 1878 tablet in the Tin Hau temple, when it was among the principal subscribers. One assumes, therefore, that it had many members. It was responsible for the organisation of the various festivals, including the staging of processions and the customary opera or puppet shows, and its directors were chosen by "shaking the sticks" at the temple once a year. Apparently anyone could join and, in theory at least, anyone could be chosen by the gods for the chief posts. I am told that it still exists today, for similar objects. Lest this article should leave the impression of a well-organised and orderly community which lived a peaceful existence year by year in ever growing prosperity, it is as well to call attention to the more uncertain side of daily life at the time under review. The period was characterised by the gradual break-down of imperial control which was reflected in unsettled conditions. The tablets of 1835 recording the fishermen's petition to the Viceroy recalls the presence of pirates, and cargo junks and ferries in the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 90 J. W. HAYES It is hoped that this account of Peng Chau will demonstrate the diversity of settlers and enterprises which appears to characterise even the smaller settlements of this part of the Kwangtung coastline. Peng Chau is a Cheung Chau in miniature, and because of its smaller size a wider treatment than was possible for Cheung Chau can be given, in an article of this length. Again, my intention is to provide no more than an outline, and an indication that, despite their size, such communities could be complex settlements in which traditional lines of division were blurred by proximity and a common environment. NOTES Any statements in respect of Peng Chau and its people which appear to be unsubstantiated are based on information supplied by various elders. I am most grateful for the assistance given by the Chairman of the Peng Chau Rural Committee, Mr. LAM Shue-chun#, and Mr. LO Chi-chung# of the District Office, South, 1 See "The pattern of life in the New Territories in 1898" pp. 75-102 of this Journal, vol. 2 (1962) and "Cheung Chau 1850-1898" in vol. 3 (1963) pp. 88-106. 2 See Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong—hereafter styled Sessional Papers (Hong Kong Noronha & Company, at yearly intervals, in this case 1905) p. 144 in the Report on the work of the Land Court for the New Territories for 1900-1905. 3 See G. N. Orme, “Report on the New Territories 1899-1912” in Sessional Papers 1912, pp. 56-57, for significant changes in wages and the cost of living. 4 A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer 1960) p. 83. In this article characters have not been given for any place names which appear in the Gazetteer, 5 Schedules to the Block Crown Lease for Peng Chau, District Office, South, New Territories Administration. Hereafter styled BCL. 6 Under the Convention of Peking signed on 9th June 1898, 7 Sessional Papers 1911, p. 103(22) and (26). This figure is broken down into 434 males and 208 females, children included. The preponderance of males is noteworthy and may be due, in part, to the number of single men employed in the limekilns. The boat population are not specified separately in the Census returns and cannot be separated from the 4,442 contained in the Cheung Chau district figure. Cheung Chau with Peng Chau and Nei Kwu Chau formed a census district in 1911, but whilst the land population for each place is given separately, the boat populations are not so specified. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 92 J. W. HAYES 19 The Harbour Master's Report for 1906 in Sessional Papers 1907, p. 130, which presumably gives figures for the whole Colony, states that 1,796 native craft were sunk, and in the majority of cases totally lost. The total loss of life, he said, "must have been excessively high, amounting to approximately 5,000, though there are no positive records to show the actual number that perished". The typhoon was not expected, and a few days afterwards a committee was appointed to enquire whether earlier warning could have been given to shipping. A month later its members opined that "reviewing the evidence as a whole, the committee find that prior to 7.44 a.m. on the 18th September 1906 there was no indication of a typhoon approaching Hong Kong... and warning was given as soon as, in the circumstances, was practically possible." The Report of the Typhoon Relief Fund Committee in Sessional Papers 1907, pp. 277-287, gives no information about Peng Chau, though Table 1, p. 283 may include some Peng Chau craft, 20 The system of credit is briefly described on p. 2 of the Report of the Fisheries Department, Hong Kong Government, for 1946-47. "The practice of the laans before the war was to obtain control over the fisherman by granting loans to him for the repairing of his boat, buying of new gear, etc. at certain period during the year. In return the fisherman was expected to market all fish caught through the laan who would make appropriate deductions although, in many cases, the laan would ensure that the fisherman never settled the loan and therefore was never free to market his catch through anyone else." Peng Chau appears to have had several concerns of this type, though they combined their activities in this direction with general shopkeeping. They dealt in a variety of goods and sold also to land customers, besides acting as middlemen for the fishermen's catch and providing them with all their requirements. The big dealers connected with the Peng Chau fishing fleet at the time of the repair tablet of 1878 appear to have been seven Hong Kong laans mentioned on the tablet. This shows that the number of Peng Chau boats was sufficiently large for outside merchants to do business with them, either directly or through the local smaller dealers. One should not, however, take too narrow a view of the fishermen's position vis-à-vis the laan. The same willingness to allow the fishermen goods on credit, and so run up debts and incur obligations which would ensure that they continued to patronise the same shop or laan, was also extended by shopkeepers to the farmers and townspeople. S. Y. Lan op. cit. gives much detail on laans, some of whom were Tankas. 21 For this information see Hong Kong Annual Report for 1899, pp. 14-15, Colonial Reports, Annual, 1899, No. 314 (London, HMSO, 1901). 22 BCL. 23 BCL. 24 Arthur Waley, The Opium War through Chinese Eyes (London, Allen and Unwin, 1958) p. 101. Orme's Report mentions, p. 44, the diversity of the fishing population thus, "The Hoklos, who are a kind of sea-gypsy, only form a very small section of the land population, some 1500 in all, but much of the fishing is in their hands. Of the junk population, the large majority are Puntis (I assume he means Punti-speaking), and of the remainder some Hakka and some Hoklo." 25 Hong Kong Government Gazette, Government Notification No. 557 of 1901. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 94 J. W. HAYES 96 J. W. HAYES Since writing about Cheung Chau I have discovered that the Kaifong there were responsible for a large communal free grave dated the sixth month of the twelfth year of Tung Chi (summer 1873) and repaired in 1901, which takes its history further back than I had imagined; whilst at Stanley * on Hong Kong island the present Kaifong occupies the premises of its predecessor the Sin On Kung Soi2 which were repaired for that body in the twenty-seventh year of Tao Kwang (1847) according to the inscription on the granite lintel over the entrance and a tablet set in the wall outside of the same date. 51 See Administrative Report 1925 of the District Officer, New Territories for a later example, 52 See the Cheung Chau article p. 92, and my earlier "Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898" pp. 86-88 and note 29. In the latter for "HO family" read "CHEUNG family". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 96 J. W. HAYES Since writing about Cheung Chau I have discovered that the Kaifong there were responsible for a large communal free grave dated the sixth month of the twelfth year of Tung Chi (summer 1873) and repaired in 1901, which takes its history further back than I had imagined; whilst at Stanley * on Hong Kong island the present Kaifong occupies the premises of its predecessor the Sin On Kung Sor2 which were repaired for that body in the twenty-seventh year of Tao Kwang (1847) according to the inscription on the granite lintel over the entrance and a tablet set in the wall outside of the same date. 51 See Administrative Report 1925 of the District Officer, New Territories for a later example. 52 See the Cheung Chau article p. 92, and my earlier "Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898" pp. 86-88 and note 29. In the latter for "HO family" read "CHEUNG family". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 120 FORKE'S TRANSLATION OF THE LUN HENG' Reviewed by D. LESLIE2 The Lun Heng of about A.D. 85, is the work of Wang Ch'ung £ (c. A.D. 27-96), one of the most original thinkers of Han China. Many, including Hu Shih and most western scholars, have praised his critical ability. In fact, this praise is not entirely justified. Wang Ch'ung, in this respect, falls far short of the Chou Confucian philosopher Hsüntzu (also Chuangtzu and Hanfeitzu). Han philosophy is generally considered to lack the originality of the classical Chou philosophers, and Wang Ch'ung, as Fung Yu-lan points out, was a child of his time. The most we can say is that he rises head and shoulders above his Han contemporaries in his critical abilities. It is true that Wang Ch'ung demands proofs and verification by experience at all stages in his arguments, but his idea of proof and experience is insufficiently empirical. He does not seek out the facts. He believes some of the weirdest stories (that Duke Ai was changed into a tiger; that Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, was twenty months in the womb; that hares give birth via the mouth). As Marcel Granet has expressed it (in his La Pensée Chinoise, 1934, p. 580), "son scepticisme a quelque chose de livresque". Wang Ch'ung's criticism is always based on pre-conceived postulates. Rather than reject the superstitions of his time, he merely reinterprets them in accordance with these postulates. Herein lies both his strength and his weakness. A good example is his denial (in his chapter 15 and elsewhere) of the many supernatural births accepted by his contemporaries. For, together with this denial, he accepts the factual truth of all the omens that accompanied these supernatural births. Omens, such as signs in the sky or lines in the hand (the Lun Heng incidentally gives the earliest extant reference to palmistry in China), the appearance of weird animals and plants, all mark, he believes, the rise and 1 Lun-Hêng. By Alfred Forke. Paragon Book Gallery, New York, 1962. Pt. I, iv+577; Pt. II, vi+536. U.S.$20.00, 2 D. Leslic is a Research Fellow in the Department of Far Eastern History, Australian National University, Canberra, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 150 NOTES AND QUERIES The Police Station at Tung Chung was in an old Chinese fort, walled in. I heard my cases under a huge tree there and always had to drink a large tumbler of goat's milk provided by the Indian Sergeant in charge. He would have been awfully hurt if I had refused. It might be O.K. with half a pint of rum or whisky, but I had not the heart to do it! J. W. HAYES SOME NOTES ON TUNG CHUNG1 Tung Chung, Eastern Stream, appeared on the historical scene of the region earlier than most other places in the New Territories. The valley acquired its eminence because the last of the Sung emperors was proclaimed there and upheld some sort of a Court in the valley for at least three months in 1278, the last year of the Sung dynasty. Though the place of proclamation cannot be ascertained to be Tung Chung itself, Chinese historians have been tackling the problem from the name Huang Lung Hang*, Yellow Dragon Valley, which refers to the inhabited part of the valley of the Eastern Stream. Historical documents have indicated that a yellow dragon appeared in the sea when the boy emperor was proclaimed and the fact was recorded because it was thought to be a good omen for the fast vanishing dynasty. Apart from legends, there is more vivid evidence of the brief stay of royalty in the area because wherever the fugitive Sungs held court, the people erected temples to remember a loyal courtier, Lord Yeung, a member of the royal household who followed the Court to the very end. Today, we can find three of such Hou Wong temples in our region: Kowloon City, Tai O and Tung Chung. The temple at Tung Chung cannot, of course, be dated as far back as 1278 but it is certain that it was renovated around 1870 and subsequently in 1910 and 1959. There is next to nothing to tell what happened in the region between the fall of the Sung dynasty (1278) and the coastal 1 The above historical note on the Tung Chung area contains material collected by Mr. C. Y. Ng of the University of Hong Kong for his Ph.D. thesis on "Rural Development". A more detailed historical paper on Tung Chung by Mr. Ng is expected to be published next year. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 160 GOOD, Major D. A. - GOODRICH, Prof. L. C. CRE, Hong Kong, British Forces Post Office 1, H.K. 504 Kent Hall, Columbia University, New York 27, New York, U.S.A. GORDON, The Hon, S. S.* Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews, 701 GOTTSCHALK, E. GRAY, Dr. D. E. - Alexandra House, H.K. 6, Macdonnell Road, Apt. 15, H.K. Dept. of Biochemistry, The University, H.K. GUADAGNINI, Dr. P. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de 5. Coombe Road, H.K. Via Buon compani, No. 16, Rome. HARMAN, A. L. HARRISON, Prof. B. HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J.* HAYWARD, G. W. HENSMAN, Dr. Bertha HERRIES, M. A. R. D'HESTROY, Baron de Gaiffier HILL, D. A. HINDMARSH, R. H. HO, Mrs. Hung Chiu HO, Hung-pong HO, Teh-kuei HO, Tickon* HOCHSTADTER, W. HOGAN, T The Hon. Sir M., Kt. HOLMES, Hon. D. R. + HOPKINSON, Mrs. J. E, T ■ H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. Dept. of History, The University, H.K. The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. White Mill End, 5 Granville Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. c/o Jardine Matheson & Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 70, H.K. Belgian Consul-General, 105 H.K. & Shanghai Bank Bldg., H.K. USOM-UD-P, American Embassy, Seoul, Korea. 228 Wang Hing Building, H.K. 11, Briar Avenue, First Floor, H.K. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. 340, King's Road, 3rd floor, H.K. 50, Village Road, Ground Floor, Happy Valley, H.K. c/o Mme. N. du Breuil, 86, Main St., Stanley, H.K. Chief Justice's Chambers, Supreme Court, H.K. Commerce and Industry Dept. Fire Brigade Bldg., H.K. c/o Legal Dept., Central Govt. Offices, H.K. *Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 PIRACY ON THE CHINA COAST 73 official agreement between the two countries to refer to piracy. and Article 52 gave British warships permission, when in pursuit of pirates, to enter any port on the coast. Provision was also made for co-operation between the Royal Navy and the Chinese for punishment of pirates, restoration of stolen goods, and so on, and later treaties and agreements followed the same pattern. Unfortunately, experience proved that the Chinese had undertaken more than they could carry out; and that the provincial authorities were as often unwilling, as unable, to implement the pledges of the Peking Government. The pirates on the coast in the 1840's, 50's, and 60's, included British, American, French, and other foreign renegades, who often worked in league with Chinese merchants in Hong Kong and the treaty ports. The system of ship registry then in force in Hong Kong was even more liable to abuse than the present system, and allowed Chinese shipowners an easy means of claiming the protection of certain foreign flags. This increased the difficulties of the Navy, already hard pressed to distinguish between convoy and pirate, and between pirate, trader, and fisherman. The most famous renegade among the pirates in the 1850's was an American sailor called Eli Boggs, for whose capture the Hong Kong Government offered a reward of $1,000. This was won by an even more famous American sailor, more often associated with blackbirding in the Pacific, than with piracy on the China coast. Captain Bully Hayes, however, made his debut on the China coast, and when that part of the world became too hot for him he moved south to Australasian and Pacific waters. Hayes first appeared in the Far East in 1854 at Singapore, as master of the American barque, Canton. He was then twenty-five years old. After selling the Canton, which did not belong to him, he appeared in Hong Kong a few months later as master of another American barque, the Otranto, which was probably under charter to the famous American house of Russell and Company. In Hong Kong's Victoria Hotel, and in the company of the masters of two Jardine opium clippers, Long John Saunders of the Chin Chin and King Tom Donovan of the Spray, Hayes made the acquaintance of some naval officers, and for the rest of his time on the coast he was a great favourite with the Navy. During ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 74 A. D. BLUE this time he visited Amoy, Foochow, and Shanghai several times, and it was in 1857 north of Shanghai that he captured his compatriot Eli Boggs. Hayes was a guest on H.M.S. Bittern when she attacked Boggs's fleet of between thirty and forty junks. When the junks fled into shallow water out of range of the Bittern's guns, Hayes persuaded Captain Vansittart to allow him to continue the chase in the longboat, and in this he personally captured Boggs. Boggs was taken to Hong Kong and found guilty of piracy. He escaped hanging, however, as no one could be found willing to swear to having seen him commit murder. Hayes helped the Royal Navy on another occasion shortly afterwards, when he was on the steamer, Paoushan, and on this occasion obtained some of the pirates' ill-gotten gains for his trouble. He was a free spender, however, and everything went on a series of parties he gave for the officers and men of the Bittern in Shanghai, after which he left with his port dues unpaid and owing money to Chinese shopkeepers and tailors. This was a favourite trick which he repeated in Australian and South Pacific ports, and his final departure from the coast was in the same vein. He loaded a hundred coolies in Swatow for Australia, before Swatow was legally open as a treaty port, and did a large illegal trade in opium and emigrants. Hayes induced his passengers to pay him their poll tax for Australia as well as their passage money. After passing through Sydney Heads he flooded his bilges to give his ship the appearance of sinking, and then persuaded a tugboat to take the Chinese ashore to safety, by promising it the salvage work on its return. When the tugboat returned, however, Hayes and his ship had disappeared beyond the Heads. The Navy had several spectacular successes against the pirates during this period, on a much bigger scale than those in which Hayes was involved. The most notable were Admiral Sir John Dalrymple Hay's actions against Shap-ng-tsai and Chu-apoo in South China waters in the summer of 1849, in which dozens of pirate junks were destroyed and hundreds of pirates killed. These actions cost the Admiralty £42,000 in bounty money, which was considered far in excess of the risks involved, and were responsible for the bounty system being modified. In spite of these naval successes piracy continued to flourish in South China, and new ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 118 NOTES AND QUERIES half of the century could be made subsequently. This is a job for an historical geographer and I suggest that the Department of Geography in the University of Hong Kong would be the proper place in which to undertake this project. Such a map should then be printed and sold through the University Press. This would be a useful tool which scholars increasingly need as they dig deeper into the history of China's relations with the West in this part of Kwangtung and as the early history of the Colony of Hong Kong is more fully studied. While on this subject of local history I would like to take up a few points concerning the article entitled "A Reconnaissance of Ma Wan and Lantao Islands in 1794" by Mr. A. Shepherd and myself and published in Volume 4 of this journal. At the time this article was written Mr. Shepherd was a Lecturer in the Geography Department of Hong Kong University and I was a member of the History Department there. On page 115, the seventh line from the bottom, we wrote that in 1821 the Kwang-tung authorities were much stricter in enforcing anti-opium regulations. It would have been truer to have said "from 1821 onwards." One of the virtues of Dr. Chang Hsin-pao's recently published book Commissioner Lin and the Opium War is that he gives ample evidence from Chinese sources to show that the Canton authorities had taken energetic and successful measures to prevent opium smuggling in the Pearl River before the arrival of Commissioner Lin in Canton in March 1839. Both Juan Yuan as Governor-General of the two Kwangs from 1817 until 1826 and later Teng T'ing-chen who was Governor-General from 1836 until 1840 took a tough line against Chinese opium smugglers within the Pearl River before Commissioner Lin arrived. I would like to add these few corrections to this article: On page 118 note 25, the name Tung Ku should read Lung Ku or Lung Kwu Chau. In note 26 for Tulse read Hulse. In note 27: the photographs are printed between pages 114-115 and were taken by me in 1963. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the help which we received in writing this article from Mr. James Hayes, Mr. Webb-Johnson and Mr. G. B. Endacott. J. L. CRANMER-BYNG ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 122 NOTES AND QUERIES 2. With the high rates of interest on loans and/or the continuing need over several years to have money ready to pay the instalments in a money-loan association, it is not surprising that people got into difficulties and there are good instances of this in the papers. One man borrowed thirty-four silver dollars from the Tong at the end of 1886, and three years and two months later owed eighty-eight dollars, representing principal plus interest. Of this sum ten dollars had already been paid off by selling land to offset the debt. The remainder was extinguished by the debtor waiving his turn for payment in a money-loan association in favour of his creditor. Yet this experience was not a case of 'once bitten, twice shy' for either side, for in the month following the settlement of his affairs with the Tong he asked it for, and secured, another loan of sixteen dollars "due to dire need of money." This loan was made on the mortgage of more of his inherited farmland. We do not know the sequel. Another villager who had failed to pay his share or instalment in a money-loan association mortgaged a house in pledge and was to lose if he had not paid the money by the end of that lunar year. 3. The Tong was not the only source of money loans available to the Shek Pik villagers. Shops in the neighbouring market centres of Tai O and Cheung Chau would advance credit, or give loans as would two other local Tongs. They were not organizations belonging to Shek Pik, one being composed of merchants from Tai O and the other a family organization belonging to a clan in another village. 4. These papers came from only one of the clans living at Shek Pik and there is reason to think that similar activities were taking place in other clans and amongst other groups of persons in the village. J. W. HAYES A CEREMONY TO PROPITIATE THE GODS AT TONG FUK, LANTAU, 1958 In the course of opening new roads and other works the developers usually run up against feng shui (geomantic influences). This ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 124 NOTES AND QUERIES For the priest the ceremony was to involve two days' work: on the first day of the ceremony and on the last. On the opening day, I was told, he comes to the village and prepares various pots. Into each pot he puts five bamboo sticks. Each of these sticks carries an inscription which he writes especially for the occasion and is then covered with lucky red joss paper. Before being placed in the pot the sticks are dipped in the blood of a live chicken. The priest decides how many pots are required. The pots have then to be placed at various spots in the works area and must stay there until the offending operations have been completed. A procession of village people follows the priest to the places he has chosen to put each pot. With them they bring various articles for worshipping at each place such as candles, incense sticks, joss paper and offerings of food and drink together with chicken and roast pork, and fresh and preserved fruits. Since the object of the ceremony is to appease all the gods who may conceivably be offended by the proposed works, especially the local earth gods, the priest issues a general invitation to them to partake of the offerings. In so doing it is hoped to dispose them favourably towards the village despite the offence given by the works. It is interesting that the ceremony is not connected with either of the two village temples, one of them dedicated to Hung Shing and another inside the village wall dedicated to Kwan Tai (關帝) the god of war and agriculture. It only takes place on the hills and not inside these temples, although the effigies of their gods are taken around with the procession which deposits each of the pots. On the conclusion of the engineering works the priest returns to the village. On this day each family prepares a plate of roast pork and chicken to thank the gods for turning evil away from them during the period of the work. The priest visits all the pots in turn, dismisses the gods and burns the pots. This account is taken from my notes of what was supposed to happen during the ceremony. Pressure of other duties prevented me from seeing the ceremonies on either day... but I did see some of the pots in their appointed stations! A similar ceremony took place at Keung Shan near Tai O in 1960 during the construction of another road, and I know of two similar cases from the Sai Kung district in 1960/61. J. W. HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 132 FUNG, K. S. FUNG. Hon. Ping-fan* GABBOTT, F. R. GALVIN, J. A. T.* GARCIA, A. GARD, Dr. R. A. - GARTNER, J. GEORGE, T. J. B. - GIBB, H. GIEDROYC, M. J. H. GILES, R. GLOVER, Mrs. J. GODFREY, G.- GOLDNEY, Miss C. M. GOODRICH, Prof. L. C. GORDON, K. H. A. - - to Hang Tsai & Fung's Co., Ltd., Room 205 Fu House, H.K. Bank of East Asia, Ltd., 10 Des Voeux Rd., C., H.K. P. O. Box 232, H.K. c/o G. B. Godfrey, Esq., Jardine House, 13/F., H.K. c/o South Kowloon Magistracy, Kowloon. c/o American Consulate-General, 26 Garden Road., H.K. 15 Guildford Lane, Melbourne, Australia. c/o Political Adviser, Colonial Secretariat, H.K. c/o Travellers' Club, Pall Mall, London S.W.1., England. Vantage House, Tai Po Road, Kowloon. c/o Crown Lands & Survey Office, P.W.D., H.K. "Crossways", 49 Christchurch Road, Sidcup, Kent, England. Peninsula Court, Kowloon, c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. 504 Kent Hall, Columbia University, New York 27, New York, USA, Room 601 Marina House, H.K. GORDON, The Hon. S. S.* Room 703 Prince's Building, H.K. GRAY, Dr. Doris E. GUADAGNINI, Dr. P. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de HARRISON, Prof. B. HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. + HAYIM, E. I.* HAYWARD, G. W. HECHTEL, F. O. P. + HECHTEL, Mrs. F. O. P. HENSMAN, Dr. Bertha HERRIES, M. A. R. = - + Dept. of Biochemistry, The University, H.K. Via Buon Compani, No. 16, Rome, Italy. Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. Dept. of History, The University, H.K. The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. White Mill End, 5 Granville Road, Seven- oaks, Kent, England. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. As above. Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. c/o P. O. Box 70, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 CONTENTS PAGE 1 President's Report for 1965 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1965 TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH, 1965-66: A Plea for a Regional Approach to Chinese History: The Case of the South China Coast The Five Great Clans of the New Territories ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: - Sino-Western Contacts Under the Mongol Empire - The Foreign Relations of Buddhism in Modern China * The Hanlin Academy in the Early Ch'ing Period (1644-1795) Old British Kowloon BOOK REVIEWS NOTES AND QUERIES J. NOLDE H. BAKER 6 9 25 H. FRANKE 49 H. WELCH A. L. Y. CHUNG J. W. HAYES - 73 100 120 - 138 159 LIST OF Members - 172 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 THE FIVE GREAT CLANS 45 63 Ibid., In fact there was a second geomancer (of the eighth generation) cooperating in this plan, 64 松柏朗 65 Grant, op. cit., figs. VI(e) and (f). These figures also point to one of the mysteries of the New Territories—the settlement of the very rich upper half of the Lam Tsuen Valley by Hakka lineages, a phenomenon which denies the usual pattern of Punti monopoly of first-class land. 66 Ibid., fig. IV(a). 67 Ibid., fig. I(c), and p. 2. For a map see K.M.A. Barnett, "Hong Kong before the Chinese” in JHKBRAS, Vol. 4, 1964. 68. This moribund market was revived in 1925, and has thriven since 1949. 69 元朗儅爐. 70 大埔舊墟 71 See Robert G. Groves, “The Origins of Two Market Towns in the New Territories" in Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories, HKBRAS, Hong Kong, 1965, p. 17. 72 Ibid., p. 18. 73 For a brilliantly worked out study of marketing systems of this sort see G. William Skinner, “Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China” in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXIV, Nos. 1-3, 1964-5. 74 For some other ways in which they made the markets pay, see Groves, op. cit., page 18. 75 See J. W. Hayes, "The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898", JHKBRAS, Vol. 2, 1962, for an incomplete list of markets operative at the time. Sha Tau Kok and Shek Wu Hui are notable omissions. 76. 77 坑頭村- 78 See, for example, Freedman, op. cit., pp. 66ff, 79***. But they are often more in the nature of 'leaders' than 'representatives', a fact which is recognised in the title by which the villagers more commonly address them HE. 80 The festival of Chung Yeung. 81 Called ch'i l'ong. 82 荃灣. 83 See J. M. Potter, Ping Shan: the Changing Economy of a Chinese Village in Hong Kong, micro-filmed thesis for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1964. 84 or T. 85 As witness an incident a few years ago in San Tin, where, in an adultery case, a man was condemned by the villagers to drowning in a pig-basket in the pond. Timely intervention by the police was all that saved him, 86 Rightly or wrongly the view persists in the rural areas that no contact with authority is good contact. 87 A. 88 FA. They are mentioned under the name of Sia-wu in Chen Han-seng, Agrarian Problems in Southernmost China, 1936. 89 Quite what brought about the disappearance of this institution is not clear to me. Certainly it was not interference from the Government of Hong Kong, as witness the report by J. Russell dated 18th July 1886 and appended ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 46 HUGH D. R. BAKER to "Mui Tsai in Hong Kong", the Report of the Committee appointed by the Governor, in Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1935.- "The most careful inquiry shews that no male children are bought and sold here as slaves or servants. and confirms the statements in the Blue-book that 'Boys are sold to be sons. not slaves' and 'that no such thing as a slave-boy exists in Hong Kong". It might too with truth have been added 'nor in Canton' ". The 1935 Report itself concludes that "there is no evidence of slavery among Chinese males”. 90 ***. 91 蒙養學校. 92 *. 93 It is tempting to link this Sai Man surname with the original name of Kam Tin - Sham Lei - and to postulate a history of enslavement by 岑里 the Tangs of the original inhabitants. There is no evidence to support such a theory, however, and it must be put down to coincidence. 94 趟。 95 Anyway, since the vegetable-growers are mainly immigrants, indigenous men were freed from the land and looked elsewhere for income in addition to the rents from these fields. 96 Perhaps the village of Tai Tau Leng ★★ may be taken as an example. 97 See for instance Freedman, op. cit.; Hu Hsien-chin, The Common Descent Group in China and its Functions, New York, 1948; Arthur H. Smith, Village Life in China, New York, 1899; Lena E. Johnston, China and her Peoples, London, 1923; and many others. 98. A.D. 1662-1723. 99 For more details see Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Hong Kong, 1963, (Chinese version 1960), chapter VI. 100 Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and *, Governor of Kwangtung. For details see the Hsin-an Hsien-chih B of 1819; also Lo Hsiang-lin, op. cit., chapter VI. 101 I have not seen this temple, and believe it to be on the mainland side of the border which runs through the town. 102 It has become very much a part of village life, accommodating a school; while on the ten-yearly occasions of Kam Tin's Ta-chiu Festival it is the physical focus of the ceremonies, and also has importance in that Chau and Wong are the 'patron saints' of the festival, 103 周王二院. 104 In fact, it was only the Tang Clan which was not wholly involved in the venture---those of its lineages on the West side of the New Territories not being included. The whole of each of the other four clans took part. 105 That is the Tangs of Tai Po Tau and Lung Kwat Tau. 106 Burned down in the fire of 1954, and not yet rebuilt. 107 深圳河. 108 The Tangs of Lung Kwat Tau, the Haus and the Lius. 109 The Tangs of Tai Po Tau, the Pangs, and the Mans of San Tin and Tai Hang. 110 J. W. Hayes, op. cit., note 52. 111 "Despatches and other papers relating to the extension of the Colony of Hong Kong", in Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1899. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 THE FIVE GREAT CLANS 47 112 Rth. Sec J. H. S. Lockhart, "Report on the New Territory", Sessional Papers, 1899. 113 Hayes, op. cit., p. 83, quotes Lockhart, but does not give any new evidence, though he mentions other similar informal bodies. 114 八鄉 [115] I am not sure that this was the original purpose of the alliance. 116 Ancestral halls are generally sited outside walled villages for reasons of feng shui. 117 Ho Sheung Heung, Ping Kong, and Kam Tsin. The cannon of this last village was not handed in when British administration began in 1899, and still lies hidden in the corner of one of their ancestral halls. 118 南鄉. 119 That is, in Canton. 120 See J. W. Hayes, "Cheung Chau”, in JHKBRAS, Vol. 3, 1963, note 12; and the same author's "Peng Chau", in JHKBRAS, Vol. 4, 1964, p. 79 and note 27. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 120 OLD BRITISH KOWLOON JAMES HAYES On 19 January 1861 a ceremony took place at Tsim Sha Tsui, a village on the Chinese mainland directly opposite the British Colony of Hong Kong. On that day a mandarin of the provincial government at Canton handed over a paperful of soil in token of the cession of the Kowloon peninsula to Great Britain. In this way a tiny fraction of Chinese territory passed under British rule. It is not the object of this article to give a comprehensive account of the development of Old British Kowloon as the area became known after 1898 when another treaty transferred the adjoining area of Chinese territory to England; for this could not be done within the confines of a short article. Rather, it is my intention to give a short description of the peninsula and then to turn to a more detailed examination of some of its villages, with special reference to the origins of the settlers, their way of life, and their local institutions. What was the Kowloon peninsula like in 1861 when it passed under British rule? A contemporary description reads: 44 The land may be briefly described as being about 2,366 yards in length and 966 in breadth: its surface being extremely rugged from the presence of numerous small hills divided by ravines and patches of marshes and rice fields; rocky and precipitous on its southern and eastern shores and gradual shelving off on its western one to a fine sandy beach. A good idea of the unpromising terrain may be had from a drawing by Lieut. Collinson made from the Kowloon foothills behind Kowloon City about fifteen years earlier (see the illustration to this article). A specialised account of the newly acquired territory was sent home to the British Government. This was the report of the Anglo-Chinese Land Commission of April 1862. Due to the The author is an administrative officer in the Hong Kong Government service. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 122 JAMES HAYES permitted to settle there, and stringent measures will be taken to prevent its becoming as heretofore a resort for thieves and outlaws, who are hereby warned that they will be proceeded against with severity if they attempt to conceal themselves within the above-mentioned limits **6 Who were these people? Most of the inhabitants of Old Kowloon at this time were Hakkas, whereas the earlier inhabitants of the flatter and more fertile areas of the peninsula, especially round Kowloon City, not far beyond the northern boundary of British territory, were Cantonese. The major Cantonese settlements in the area south of the Kowloon hills date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368) and even before, whereas the Hakka settlers of the southern part of the Kowloon peninsula are of much more recent origin. Most of them appear to have come into the area in the first half of the 19th century, especially after 1841. Several factors can be said to have operated in bringing Hakkas into the area in the middle years of the 19th century. In the first place, there appears to have been a continuing movement of Hakkas early in the century, seeking to settle on new land. Then, after 1841, there was the attraction of nearby Hong Kong with its opportunities for work, and perhaps wealth. The development of Victoria, the capital city, brought a demand for granite and this was readily available in the rocky outcrops of Kowloon, from which it could conveniently be transported across the harbour to the new building sites. In 1871 there were no less than eighty-one stone quarries in Kowloon more than for the whole of Hong Kong island. Quarrying is traditionally work in which Hakkas engage: they pride themselves on their strength and ability to engage in such strenuous labour.10 Thirdly, the prolonged unrest of the Taiping Rebellion forced many individuals and even whole families to leave their homes and settle in British territory." One of the more picturesque settlers in Ho Man Tin Village in the 1860s was a Hakka who had allegedly been one of the Taiping generals and rejoiced in the nickname "Seven Legged Heavenly Flying Tiger". A contemporary observer who had spent nearly thirty years in South China described these people as follows: 12 Parties of tramps, called Hakkas or ‘guests' roamed over Kwangtung province squatting on vacant places along the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 124 JAMES HAYES quite frequent. Other families are said to have spoken Hoklo at home as well as Hakka which presupposes previous settlement in Hoklo areas and some intermarriage with Hoklo people. Ho Man Tin village also had settlers who were described to me as 'Wai Chow Punti'*, that is Puntis who, living in what had become the predominantly Hakka area of Wai Chow, had been accepted by the Hakkas as their own people (§ CA). In short there was quite an intermixture of dialect groups in these Kowloon villages. This bears out what the missionary James Johnston writes of the Swatow area of Kwangtung in his China and Formosa (1897):18 44 Whilst these three divisions (Punti, Hakka, Hoklo) of the population are distinctly marked, and kept up from generation to generation, there are frequent intermarriages between them and intermixture of the people in their different localities". Though settling down in the same villages these Hakka settlers did not all come from the same areas. Some of them came to Kowloon from inland districts of the East River, others from Hoklo-speaking districts further up the coast. Thus Hakkas of different geographical origin settled down together in the Kowloon villages; and not all at the same time, but by degrees. Mong Kok was already an established village by 1862: the available evidence points to an 18th century or early 19th century origin. Ho Man Tin, on the other hand, was not mentioned as a village in the Commissioners' Report in 1862, although family backgrounds indicate that it was probably already a hamlet by then.19 Hakkas have always had a reputation for industry, and perseverance.20 These settlers would have needed those qualities to settle in the Kowloon peninsula, where the majority of good agricultural land had already been taken up by the time most of them came to the Hong Kong region and only areas fit for marginal farming were left for them to develop. In consequence, only a few of the families in these two villages owned rice fields and most of them had to be content with vegetable land in the less well-watered upper slopes of the many small valleys which threaded the peninsula. Farming land was scarce. When the father of one of my informants lost his own vegetable land as the result of a confidence trick he had to cease farming and turned ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 126 JAMES HAYES in Chinese territory. The village elders retained much of their authority, though I am not yet in a position to assess the degree to which they were recognised, and to that extent supported, by the British administration.27 Two of my informants recall that stealing crops in their villages was a matter for the village elders. If the offender was an outsider the elders would take him back to his own village and expect his own leaders to deal with him. Failing an agreeable settlement the offender would be taken to the nearest police station. For a long time, it seems, the realities of local power lay with the elders. It is significant that as late as 1895 Eitel was able to write:28 "The Chinese people in town are at the present day under the sway of their own head men (the Tungwa), and the people in the villages are ruled by their elders as much as ever". The same degree of local autonomy existed above the village level where the village organisation was augmented by small regional groupings which were usually based on a temple.29 For example, Mong Kok, Ho Man Tin and adjoining smaller settlements patronised the Kwun Yam [Kuan Yin] Temple (†) at Tai Shek Kwu near Ho Man Tin village. Their fore-bears had apparently built this temple soon after their arrival in the area. It was removed to make way for development in 1926,30 and as the preamble to the commemoration tablet in the new building has it:31 44 "The Shui Yuet Kung Temple was first built at Tai Shek Kwu over a hundred years ago. It was famed for the exact prophesy of its gods and had many worshippers". My informants confirm that it was a very popular temple and consequently well-supported. It was given a major repair about 1908 when all the local villagers and the Yau Ma Ti shop-keepers contributed money towards the project. The temple building stood on top of a rocky feature to which access and egress was by two flights of granite steps each with thirty steps. Local people referred to it as the Tai Shek Kwu Miu (★☎★A). At the beginning of the 20th century the temple was looked after by four managers, (f) as they were styled. One of them was a prosperous villager called WONG Lan-sang (*) a self-made man from Mong Kok village of whom more ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 128 JAMES HAYES another occasion in the lunar year by Robert Morrison, the celebrated missionary, in his View of China (1817):34 "The 2nd moon, 2nd day is the general birth-day of these [tutelary spirits] when at all the public offices, and in various of the streets, plays are performed, and Crackers are let off in great numbers; also decorated rockets. The spectators struggle to obtain the fragments of the last, under the idea that he who obtains it will be fortunate This was a rough sport and sometimes led to minor fights between men of different dialect groups. As Hardy observes, the proceedings on these occasions were invariably accompanied on the side by such delights as gambling stalls, opium divans and the like, and as such they were not welcomed by the police for whom they made extra work and trouble.35 These entertainments were paid for by opening subscription books which the managers took round the villages. The occasional deficit was usually met on application to a well-off village elder. Village people did not have to pay to see the show, but those who subscribed received a big lantern called tang lung36 and could take part in the feast customarily held at this time. I am told that it was not uncommon to set out a hundred tables on these occasions. The temple organisation for this small group of villages could be found at other places in Old and New Kowloon.37 It is interesting to note that villagers were quite clear about which villages belonged to a particular group and which did not. For instance, when I asked one old person as to whether Kowloon Tong village people attended the entertainment at the Tai Shek Kwu Temple, she said immediately: 'It had nothing to do with them; they lived on the other side of the stream'. This indicates the existence of clearly recognised geographical boundaries for each temple group area; and the division of the peninsula into several groups each with its exclusive interests and responsibilities. I have mentioned Yau Ma Ti and its shop-keepers several times already.38 Partly because of its proximity and close economic connection with the Tai Shek Kwu group and partly for its own sake a word about the place is opportune, especially as there was a more developed type of local organisation in Kowloon's growing townships. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 JAMES HAYES type based on the Tai Shek Kwu temple, the kaifongs usually deliberated in a temple. The Yau Ma Ti Kaifong was closely linked with the Tin Hau Temple. This temple was apparently removed from another site in 1876-7743 and it is almost certain that the Kaifong took the lead in its removal and reconstruction. They also took the opportunity to construct a school building to one side of the temple about the same time. These building projects were considerable undertakings and as such were highly creditable to the Kaifong members. Some years later (1888) the Kaifong presented the temple with a large cast iron bell which bears their name. Finally in 1894, the growing wealth of the Yau Ma Ti community enabled the Kaifong to build a separate community office or kung sor (2) on the other side of the temple building. The commemorative tablet recording this event comments: "Yau Ma Ti district has undergone many changes and it can hardly be said that it still remains as it used to be. Consequently there was a need for larger premises in which to handle the affairs of a growing population. As the organisers put it: "Persons who desire that right and wrong can be clearly discerned must help to set up a community office". The tablet concludes: The organisers and donors confidently expect to see the new office uphold justice and righteousness". This temple, school and community office still exist today. They stand on Public Square Street, Kowloon, in substantially the same form as when they were erected in the last quarter of the nineteenth century by the leaders of the Yau Ma Ti Kaifong, to whose enterprise and community spirit they are a fitting memorial. Fortunately we have a good example who spans the two localities considered in this article, the one a group of villages and the other a township. This man, WONG Lan-sang (£), 1878-1935, came from one of the villages. His father was a small farmer whose ancestors had come previously to Mong Kok village from the Wai Yeung region of Kwang Tung. The son is a good Page 130 44 +1 Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 132 JAMES HAYES settlements and missions from the earliest days of the Colony, the Kowloon peninsula must have been the scene of much missionary effort. Five years before the cession of Kowloon Captain Fishbourne wrote:47 44 Missionaries of all the Protestant denominations, English, American, Dutch, Swedish, German, were in the habit of itinerating through the villages in Hong Kong and islands near. ** From various accounts it seems that these missionaries were often well received and, as William Burns wrote on one occasion, some of the local villagers were said to be "very friendly to the new or foreign doctrine".48 One group which made the Hakkas their special field of endeavour was the Basel Mission, a German body which took up work in the Hong Kong region in 1847.49 Although its activities spread gradually over much of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, it also established chapels and schools in Hong Kong, Kowloon, and later the New Territories. One of my informants (b. 1897) has been a member of their church since his earliest years and his father was a member before him. The son has told me that early in this century the Ho Man Tin area was known as "the Christian Valley", presumably because of the sustained efforts made by members of the Basel Mission. The work amongst these people is said to have been conducted from an out-station in Sham Shui Po, a small market town on the north side of the Sino-British frontier of 1860.50 In conclusion, I would like to observe that Kowloon has many points of interest—I have not, for instance, touched on the early commercial and industrial enterprises that were established there in the course of the last century51, and I hope that this short account of various aspects of its history under British rule will encourage others to make their specialist contributions to the study of that hitherto neglected subject: the history and institutions of the Chinese inhabitants of 19th century Hong Kong.52 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 134 JAMES HAYES 11 See, for instance, Rev. R. Lechler's article "The Hakka Chinese" in the Chinese Recorder for September-October 1878 in which he writes (p. 355), "Three thousands (sic) of them came to Hong Kong in 1863, having been taken on board by some foreign vessels, which happened to do business with rice etc., in Tai-foo-san. They were kindly taken care of by the English government and the merchants who collected money, and had mat sheds built for the fugitives until they were able to provide for themselves. I was then intrusted with the funds collected and used to buy rice for daily distribution to these wretched people." It is recorded that 189 families — it is not stated how many were Hakkas and how many Cantonese — came to settle in Hong Kong in 1867. (See the Registrar General's Report in the Government Gazette 14 March 1868). Kowloon seems to have attracted Hakka newcomers from Hong Kong. In his Education Report for 1865 Mr. F. Stewart noted with reference to the Tang Lung Chau district of Hong Kong that "nearly all the Hakka families that used to live here have removed to the Kowloon side of the harbour". (See Hong Kong Government Gazette for 24th March 1866). 12 S. Wells Williams The Middle Kingdom, revised edition, London; W. H. Allen & Co., 1883, Vol. 1, p. 486. 13 See D. Maciver in p.v. of the Introduction to his Hakka Dictionary, Shanghai; American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1905. 14 Report of the Proceedings of the Morrison Education Society March 1863 - March 1864, Hong Kong; London Missionary Society Press, 1864, p. 11. I suspect that the 10,000 is an under-estimate of the number of Hakkas living in the San On District at this time. 15 The names may be translated as "Vantage Point" and "Fields of the Ho and Man families". Ho Man Tin was removed to make way for the Kowloon-Canton railway in 1906 (see Sessional Papers 1907, p. 687) and Mong Kok was submerged by urban Kowloon in the 1920s (see Chapter 5 of The Development of Hong Kong and Kowloon as Told in Maps by T. R. Tregear and L. Berry, Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press, 1959). 16 I am indebted to the following persons for information: Mr. NG Kau (b. 1888); Mr. TANG Yuen-li (b. 1897) and Madam SOLI Lin (b. 1888). 17 In 1897 the population of Ho Man Tin was 297 (180 males and 117 females) and of Mong Kok 218 persons (102 males, 116 females). See Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers for 1897, p. 485. 18 Rev. James Johnston, China & Formosa, The Story of the Mission of the Presbyterian Church of England, London; Hazel, Watson and Viney, 1897, p. 266. 19 In this connection it should be noted that until the census returns of 1897 (see Sessional Papers 1897, p. 485), the population of British Kowloon was given as a whole and not split into individual village populations as was always done for the Hong Kong villages. 20 See Orme, p. 44. 21 "Live stock paid but badly" in 1867. See the Registrar-General's report in Hong Kong Government Gazette, 14 March 1868. 22 Then, as twenty years ago, the same. See The Hong Kong Annual Report 1947, Hong Kong, Ye Olde Printerie Ltd., March 1948, p. 50. 23 S. Wells Williams, Vol. I, p. 172. Twenty years later one of the illustrations in Sir Henry Blake and Mortimer Menpes' China, London; A and C Black, 1909, pp. 119-120 shows the vegetable boats arriving from the Kowloon side. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 136 JAMES HAYES 35 The informants who assisted me with their recollections of the N.W. Kowloon villages in the article mentioned in note 29 above recalled that similar proceedings took place yearly at the Sham Tai Chi or Temple of the Third Prince on the beach at Law Uk, Cheung Sha Wan until it, too, was removed for redevelopment in the mid 1920s. Fights between the various participants, especially Hakkas with Hoklos, were quite common at festival times. 36 See S. Wells Williams, Easy Lessons in Chinese, Macao; Chinese Repository Press, 1842, p. 127. 37 This type of organisation is also common in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Indeed it was apparently found all over China: see Werner's China of the Chinese, pp. 163-165 for a good general description. 38 In 1897 Yau Ma Tei had a population of 8051 (Sessional Papers 1897, p. 485) and by 1907 as much as 17,812 (Sessional Papers, p. 273). The name means Oil and Hemp Ground, though my informants tell me it has an older name Tai Shek Lat (私大石ᑟ) which may be translated as Row of Big Stones. "Lat" is a colloquial word. 39 Hong Kong Government Gazette for 1877, p. 81. 40 See Mr. Chadwick's Reports on the Sanitary Conditions of Hong Kong, Eastern No. 38, printed for the use of the Colonial Office in November 1882, pp. 42-43. Through a printer's error he calls Yau Ma Tei “Yan Ma Ti”. See Sessional Papers 1899 p. 482 for another description of the adjoining area. 41 No evidence of this particular type of activity survives from the Yau Ma Tei district. However a few examples can be cited from the Kowloon City area. Mr. W. Schofield has sent details of a tablet (1828) found pre-war beside a broken bridge near the former Kowloon City rifle range which records the names of officials, shops and passage boats contributing to the work; and a tablet dated December 1895/January 1896 recording the repair of "Temple Road" at Kowloon City is still in existence. A direction stone at the site gives left for Kowloon Tsai and Sham Shui Po and straight on for the Hau Wong Temple. The work was organised by sixteen directors (财事) who are listed on the tablet. 42 For a description of one of these processions see Hardy, p. 280. 43 The inscription above the main entrance also records reconstruction (equivalent of) November/December 1878. 44 The tablet is dated the equivalent of November/December 1894. 45 I am indebted to Messrs. Patrick Wong and Dicken Yang of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs for part of this information. 46 See, for instance, G. T. Lay's account of missionary visits to Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1839 between pp. 279-300 of his The Chinese as they are, London; William Ball & Co., 1841. Rev. George Smith's visits to Kowloon in 1844/45 are described in his A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to Each of the Consular Cities of China and to the Islands of Hong Kong and Chusan, London, Seeley, Burnside and Seeley, 2nd edition, 1847, pp. 72 seq.; and Rev. William Burns' visits from Hong Kong in 1848 are mentioned in James Johnston, pp. 71-74. 47 Impressions of China and the Present Revolution: its Progress and Prospects, London; Seeley, Jackson and Halliday, 1855, p. 24. 48 See James Johnston, p. 71. 49 See The China Mission Hand Book, Shanghai; American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1896, pp. 272-280 for an account, with statistics of the Basel Mission's work in South China for 1893. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 NOTES AND QUERIES 171 Many acres of old rice lands have been converted into vegetable land and we now have a super grade type of land producing vegetables which pay higher prices than padi, and hence result in higher rentals being charged for the land. Recent trends show that agricultural rents are now more often paid in cash. This probably stems from the fact that vegetables are rapidly replacing rice as the main agricultural production in the New Territories. As vegetables are sold on a daily basis through the Government wholesale markets, which pay cash on the day of sale, the farmer finds it easier to offer rent on a fixed cash basis rather than arranging for an indeterminate amount of rent to be paid based on two crops of kuk per year at differing rentals for each crop. Notes 1 In S. Wells Williams, Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, North China Union College edition, Tung Chou, near Peking, China, 1909, good descriptions of the Chinese measurements mau and tau, showing how they vary from place to place, are given on pp. 583 and 804. For tam see p. 751. (In the Wade romanisation used in this dictionary they are spelled mou, tou and tan). Tam shui is not a term to be found in dictionaries as denoting a means of measuring land. 2 This division of land into three classes is taken from the old classification used by the Chinese authorities before the lease of the New Territories. See J. H. Stewart Lockhart's "Memorandum on Land" in Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1900, pp. 266-269. 3 This method of calculating the area of vegetable fields is also common to other areas and was in use in the Kowloon peninsula from at least the late nineteenth century onwards. Again, it would appear that, like the fau, the measurement is variable, even within the Colony. 4 See C. J. Grant, Soils and Agriculture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960, pp. 53-81. Mr. W. A. Taylor, the author of this Note, is Senior Land Assistant in the New Territories Administration, Hong Kong, and has long experience of land work there. In Mr. Taylor's temporary absence this note was prepared for publication by Mr. J. W. Hayes who also added the footnotes. It is an abbreviated version of a longer technical paper, with maps and tables. Addendum It has since been established that rice was grown in four locations on Cheung Chau before the Pacific War 1941-45, but not after. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 177 GARCIA, A. GARD, Dr. R. A. GARTNER, J. GEORGE, T. J. B. - L GIBB, H. GIEDROYC, M. J. H. GIMSON, C, H, - GILES, R. + GLASS, Miss M. A. GLOVER, Mrs. J. GOLDNEY, Miss C. M. GOODRICH, Prof. L. C. - c/o South Kowloon Magistracy, Kowloon. c/o U.S. Consulate General, Garden Road, H.K. 15 Guildford Lane, Melbourne, Australia. c/o Diplomatic Service Administration Office, King Charles St., London S.W.1, England, 74 Kenilworth Avenue, London, S.W.19, England. c/o P.W.D. Hq., 4th Floor, Main Wing, Central Government Offices Building, H.K. c/o Crown Lands & Survey Office, P.W.D., H.K. 14 Braga Circuit, Kowloon. "Crossways", 49 Christchurch Road, Sidcup, Kent, England. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. 504 Kent Hall, Columbia University, New York 27, New York, U.S.A. GORDON, Mrs. Charles R. 118 Pokfulam Road, H.K. GORDON, K. H. A. J Room 601 Marina House, H.K. GORDON, The Hon. S. S.* - Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews, 22nd Floor, Prince's Building, H.K. GUADAGNINI, Dr. P. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G. - HALE, Richard E. - Via Buon Compani, No. 16, Rome, Italy, Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. New Territories Health Office, North Kowloon Magistracy, Taipo Road, Kowloon. The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn., P. O. Box 64, H.K, HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton Road, H.K. HARDEN, Mrs. Guy T. Jr.* 15 Shek-O, H.K. HARRISON, Prof. B. T HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J.* - HAYWARD, G. W. J HEANEY, Robert S. HECHTEL, F. O. P. HENSMAN, Dr. Bertha HERRIES, M. A. R. - Dept. of History, The University, H.K. The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K, 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. White Mill End, 5 Granville Road, Sevenoaks, Kent, England. Deer Park, Greenwich, Conn., U.S.A. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. + - Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. c/o P. O. Box 70, H.K. d'HESTROY, Baron P. de G. Belgian Embassy, 1653 Calle Viamonte, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Patron: H.E. Sir David Trench, K.C.M.G., M.C. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1967: President: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D.* K. E. Robinson, M.A., F.R.Hist.S., J.P. Hon. Secretary: Miss E. O. Michaeliones, succeeded by T. H. Thomas, B.A. assisted by Mrs. K. R. Hunter, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: G. W. Lanchester, B.A., succeeded by D. S. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. J. S. Lee Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A.* Councillors: H. T. Wu, M.A., J.P. R. Bruce, O.B.E., M.A. M. S. Cumming, O.B.E., J.P. * Editorial Consultants ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g EDITORIAL CONTENTS Page 1 4 9 PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1966 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1966 TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH, 1966-67 : Hong Kong Mammals PATRICIA MARSHALL 11 The Travelling Palace of Southern Sung in Kowloon JEN YU-WEN 21 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED : Printing: A New Discovery L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH 39 Expansion and Extension in Hakka Society L. G. AIJMER 42 A. D. BLUE 80 JAMES HAYES 91 REV. MR. KRONE 104 LIN SHU-YEN 138 The China Coasters Land and Leadership in the Hong Kong Region of Kwangtung ARTICLES Reprinted: A Notice of the Sanon District Salt Manufacture in Hong Kong NOTES AND QUERIES: Two Ming Cannon found in Hong Kong The Chan Clan of Tseung Kwan O, New Territories Visit to Places of Interest on Hong Kong Island, 1 April, 1967 BOOK REVIEWS LIST OF MEMBERS L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH LO HSIANG-LIN B. V. WILLIAMS JAMES HAYES 152 158 161 171 189 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g # PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1966 During 1966, the seventh year since its revival in the Colony, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society has achieved a gratifying and encouraging success. It continued to diversify its activities and in addition to the regular lectures, a list of which is appended, it published its sixth volume of the Journal while a most successful Symposium was organised under the Chairmanship of Dr. Marjorie Topley in association with Mr. Ma Meng and Mr. James Hayes who also organised an interesting and instructive tour of the old temples and shrines of the Tai Ping Shan district of the island. The lectures given at the Symposium entitled “The Natural and Supernatural in Chinese Social Life and the Role of some Traditional Conceptions in Hong Kong today" covered a wide variety of subjects on cultural, scientific and practical subjects. The Symposium endeavoured to exploit the rich field which Hong Kong affords for the study of the history, life and customs of the Chinese people and to record the traditional patterns of their everyday life before they die out. In this work Dr. Marjorie Topley and her associates repeated the success of the 1964 Symposium, "Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories". Particularly noteworthy was the number of papers and talks by distinguished Chinese medical experts who took part in the discussions. The Society is under a great obligation to Dr. Topley and Mr. James Hayes for their zeal and hard work and I should like to record our deep appreciation also of the valuable contributions of Dr. Gerald Choa, Dr. F. I. Tseung, Dr. P. M. Yap and Mr. K. M. A. Barnett as well as that of Mr. Timothy Birch of Radio Hong Kong who led the discussion panel. The results of these studies are being edited by Dr. Topley and recorded in a booklet to be published this year which is likely to be as much in demand as that of 1964 which has now been sold out and will have to be reprinted. The annual Journal, of which the sixth volume appeared last year, continues to maintain its popularity as well as the high standard of scholarship and of editorial capacity set at the outset by Mr. Cranmer-Byng and continued last year with great distinction by Mr. Uhalley who, to our great loss, has left Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g We are greatly indebted to Mr. Uhalley for his valuable work, both as Honorary Editor and as a member of the Council. We are most fortunate in having as his successor Mr. James Hayes whose scholarly and popular contributions to the Journal on historical aspects of Hong Kong are well known to its readers. The Journal has now become a valuable publication which members will no doubt find useful to bind for their personal libraries and it has achieved a high reputation among oriental scholars abroad. It is expected that in the coming years there will be a considerable demand for past numbers. Copies of Volume 1 are now already exhausted and consideration will have to be given to reprinting when we have money to do so. The paper on the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao by Sir Lindsay Ride in Volume 3 of the Journal has been in such demand as the best historical introduction for visitors to Macao that it is now being reprinted. It will be on sale soon and we anticipate that it will be speedily exhausted. Now I want to refer to the Council. Of the original members of the Council only two now remain, Dr. Marjorie Topley and myself. Of the two Vice-Presidents of last year, one, Mr. R. E. Lawry, for so many years our Honorary Secretary and a pillar of the Council and of the Society, left last year and is now with the British Council at Cambridge. The other, Sir Tsun-nin Chau, who was a founder member and a life member, finds that he is unable to attend our regular meetings and now has regretfully tendered his resignation. Towards the end of the year we lost one of our most faithful members, Madam du Breuil, who was always an inspiration and a most zealous supporter of the Society. We feel her loss very deeply. During the year the Council filled the vacancy created by the departure of Mr. R. E. Lawry by electing Mr. Robert Bruce, his successor as representative of the British Council, as a member of the Council. I take this opportunity to thank once again the British Council and Mr. Bruce and his staff for their invaluable help and the facilities which they have at all times extended to the Society, and I wish to thank, in particular, Miss Michaeliones who has worthily followed Mr. Lawry as our Honorary Secretary and accomplishes prodigies of work at all times so readily and cheerfully. I wonder if the Society appreciates the great amount of voluntary work that is done on its behalf or the obligation it owes to its Honorary Secretary and Treasurer. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 7 15 & 16 October SYMPOSIUM Natural and Supernatural in Chinese Social Life. The Role of some Traditional Conceptions in Hong Kong today" K 1. Some basic conceptions and their traditional relationship to society" LC 2. Dr. Marjorie Topley Geomancy and the village: some first hand impressions * Mr. James Hayes 3. Chinese traditional medicine and contemporary Hong Kong " Dr. Gerald Choa 4. "The measurement of elapsed time in Hong Kong: the Chinese calendar; its uses and value" 5. CA 6. * Mr. K. M. A. Barnett Some ideas concerning food and diet among Hong Kong Chinese Dr. Gerald Choa Some aspects of fortune-telling in Hong Kong" Dr. F. I. Tseung 7. "Ideas of mental disorder and their practical influence Dr. P. M. Yap Chinese temples in the local setting" Mr. James Hayes 8. 9. Chinese occasional rites in Hong Kong Dr. Marjorie Topley 29 October 10. General question time on subjects arising generally during the Symposium. Panel Chairman: Mr. Timothy Birch Visit to temples and shrines of the Tai Ping Shan district ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g HONG KONG MAMMALS Table 1 Orders of Living Placental Mammals in the World. 1. Insectivora Shrews, moles, hedgehogs etc. 2. Dermoptera Flying lemurs (2 species only). 3. Chiroptera The bats. 4. Primates Lemurs, tarsiers, lorises, monkeys, apes and man, 5. Edentata Slothes, anteaters and armadillos. 6. Pholidota The pangolins (7 species only). 7. Lagomorpha Pikas, rabbits and hares. 8. Rodentia Squirrels, rats, mice, beavers, porcupines etc. 9. Cetacea Whales, dolphins and porpoises. 10. Carnivora Foxes, cats, bears, badgers, civets etc. 11. Pinnipedia Seals, sea lions and walruses. 12. Tubulidentata The aarduark (1 species only). 13. Proboscidea* The elephants (2 species only). 14. Hyracoidea The hyraxes (6 species only). 15. Sirenia* Dugongs and manatees. 16. Perissodactyla Horses, tapirs and rhinoceroses. 17. Artiodactyla Pigs, hippopotamuses, deer, giraffes, sheep, goats, cows etc. Orders in italics are represented in Hong Kong. Those with an asterisk were represented during historical times. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY 73 2 There are indications that this mountain area at one time was inhabited by non-Chinese Yao people; Barnett 1957, p. 261. The present inhabitants, however, are all Hakka- and Cantonese-speaking Chinese, settled here for only about 300 years. 3 The estimated average price for local unmilled rice is (1965) HK$28 per picul for first crop rice. The corresponding figure for second crop rice is HK$36 a picul. 4 Chiu 1964, p. 77. 5 Bot. Report 1906, p. 221. It could be added that a fish hawker is touring the area daily. He is from Sai Kung and his route includes Grass Field Village and Plum Grove Village. There are also other occasional peddlers, trading in food and sweets. Some shops can be found at the mining workers' settlement at Ma On Shan. Fishermen call at the pier there every morning. People from Big Stream Village often take advantage of these facilities. 7 S., D. W. 1900, p. 202f. See also Tregear & Berry 1959, p. 12ff, and Hayes 1966, p. 128f. 8 In a village just outside Canton, "almost all those who went to work on ships were Wongs. This was chiefly due to the functioning of kinship relations in economic life. One who knew of an opportunity in one's own occupation usually recommended it to a kinsman. A Lee already engaged in business in Hong Kong would hire his own relatives as help or recommend them to fellow businessmen who might need help. A Wong in the 'hard labour' business, an activity tightly controlled by secret societies, or in marine work, did the same for his own kinsmen." Yang 1959, p. 73. 9 Lockhart Report, p. 557. Census 1911, p. 103. 10 Skinner 1964/65, p. 202. For further details, see Groves 1965a and 1965b. 11 The Ng people in Plum Grove Village have no connections with the former Grass Field people of the same surname. 12 The coastal area of Kwangtung was the scene of a dramatic mass deportation, executed by the Ch'ing occupants as a counter-measure in the struggle against raiding Ming loyalists. This course of action was carried out from 1661. Eight years later the coastal strip was declared open for settlement and an active policy by the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, A Ke-min, lured immigrants to the waste lands. The main influx of Hakka to the New Territories was in the following decades. If this is correct it may be that the Lau people appeared in this area during the course of this re-occupation. See Hui 1963, p. 89ff. See Hui 1963, p. 89ff. However, Professor Freedman (1967) has quite correctly pointed out that the data are by no means conclusive on the effective evacuation of the area. 13 Skinner 1964/65, p. 37. 14 Freedman 1958, p. 50. 15 In the Hakka village in the Tolo Harbour area, studied by Jean Pratt, at the Chinese New Year 'all the men go to the lineage hall in a village across the valley, where they claim their ancestors lived. Pratt 1960, p. 149. But note supplementary information in Freedman 1966, p. 41; this issue, however, has no bearing on my argument. Similar social ceremonialism seems to have occurred among the Cantonese-speaking Punti population. See Hayes 1962, p. 28. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 78 FRANK, H. A. L. G. AIJMER 1925 Roving through Southern China, (New York and London, The Century Company). FREEDMAN, M. 1958 Lineage Organization in Southeastern China. London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology No. 18, (London, The Athlone Press). 1966 Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung, London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology No. 33, (London, The Athlone Press). 1967 Personal Communication, 2. 1. 1967. GROVES, R. G. 1965a Report of Field Work in Hong Kong, London-Cornell Project, mimeographed. 1965b 'The Origins of Two Market Towns in the New Territories', Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch) n.d. HAYES, J. W. 1962 'The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2. 1966 'Old British Kowloon', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 6. Hong Kong 1963 1964 Hong Kong. Report for the Year 1963, (Hong Kong, Government Printer). Hong Kong 1964 1965 Hong Kong, Report for the Year 1964, (Hong Kong, Government Printer). HSU, F. L. K. 1945 'Influence of South-seas Emigration on Certain Chinese Provinces', Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. v. HUI KIM-BING 1963 'The Lion Rock and the Deserting of the Coastal Strip and Subsequent Re-occupation of the Region during Early Manchu Rule' Hong Kong and its External Communications Before 1842, Lo Hsiang-lin (ed.), (Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Culture). INGRAMS, H. 1952 Hong Kong. (London, H.M.S.O.) IZIKOWITZ, K. G. 1963 'Expansion', Folk, Vol. 5. KUO SHOU-HUA 1964 (Chinese Article), English title: History of Hakka Chinese, 4th edn., Taipei. LEE, R. H. 1960 The Chinese in the United States of America, (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press). Lockhart Report 1899 'Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong', Government Notification No. 204, The Hongkong Government Gazette, Vol. xlv. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 91 LAND AND LEADERSHIP IN THE HONG KONG REGION OF KWANGTUNG IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY* JAMES HAYES This article concerns a fringe area of the Kwangtung Province of South China and deals with land and leadership on the island of Lantau. Lantau or in its Chinese form (L) is the largest offshore island of what, since 1898, has been styled the New Territories of British Hong Kong. Lantau is roughly fifteen miles long by five-and-a-half miles broad. The island takes the form of a mountain range which runs, with breaks, along its whole length on a N.E.S.W. axis. The main peaks of this range are around 3,000 feet high. Most of the cultivated land is situated around the coast and at the time of the British lease amounted to a little less than 2,660 acres; that is, only a few square miles. The main crop was and still is rice, harvested twice in July and November. In 1898 the island possessed one market town (population 2,000) situated at its north-west extremity. This place was a salt-producing centre and a considerable fishing port. There were also about fifty small villages on the island. At a carefully-conducted census taken some years after the lease, four of these villages had populations in excess of 200 persons (the largest 363), another seven had more than 100 inhabitants, whilst the remainder were under that figure. The total land population was then over 6,700 persons, mainly Cantonese. Most of the villages were inhabited entirely by Cantonese or Hakka clans, though some of them were of mixed settlement. There was also a boat population of around 5,500 persons whose craft were based on the market town and other anchorages along the coastline. Before 1898 Lantau was part of the San On (**) district of the Kwangtung province. Though it was not far by sea from the This paper is a slightly amended version of that presented at the XVIIth International Congress of Chinese Studies held at the University of Leeds in 1965. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 92 JAMES HAYES district city it was not under the district magistrate's direct rule but was under the charge of one of his deputies. This officer's yamen was in the walled city of Kowloon and he was responsible for many other villages besides those on Lantau Island. There was no civil officer actually resident on the island before 1898 though one imagines that runners would visit it from time to time to chase in taxes and, perhaps less frequently, to make an arrest. The military authorities were more in evidence. A captain commanded a detachment in the fort at Tung Chung, a large valley in the north-central part of the island, and a junior officer was in charge of another body of troops in the market town, Their presence was perhaps due more to European activities in the local seaways, and to pirates, than to any disturbances likely to take place on the island, especially in the latter half of the nineteenth century when there is no remembrance of internal disturbances.4 The people of Lantau were left mainly to their own devices by the government, military and civil alike. From evidence collected locally it appears that as elsewhere in China the clan and village elders kept the peace in the villages, and the Kaifong (#) or Street Association did the same in the market town and paid for watchmen to bar and walk round the principal streets at night. Anything more serious than minor disturbance and petty crime, e.g. piracies or armed robberies, was reported to the military, though by that time it was usually too late for anything effective to be done. Disputes were settled locally as far as possible. Besides these, the elders handled a variety of duties which, irrespective of the size of the community, were sometimes arduous and complex since much depended on handling individuals so as to produce a fruitful result. They organised small public works of benefit to their communities, such as the digging of a well or the construction of an irrigation dam or a small pier: they managed the local temples and arranged the details and financing of all festivals: they were responsible for finding suitable premises for village schools and engaging teachers; and so on. These persons came forward by a combination of such factors as age, experience, ability, ambition, leisure, wealth, lack of anyone else willing to do the job and so on. However, it is also true to say that they had also to be acceptable in their communities, since without local support and goodwill they could hardly operate.5 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 94 JAMES HAYES persons exercising a similar authority in the course of the century, but I have not yet learned who they were. CHAN FU-SHING (c.1800-60) Chan Fu-shing (c.1800-60) was a Cantonese from the village of Sha Lo Wan on North Lantau. He was the eldest of three sons who were brought there by their mother at the beginning of the nineteenth century from Sai Heung not far from the District City of Nam Tau (about eighteen miles away by sea). The mother was presumably a widow. Why she came to Sha Lo Wan is not known -- perhaps a married aunt or sister lived there but when they did arrive it is more than likely that the family had no land of their own because of the circumstances of their coming and the fact that the oldest village clans claim a depth of settlement that indicates arrival in the 17th century. Family tradition has it that the boy was put to work in a grocery store in the market town of Tai O six miles away. Being able and diligent he made himself indispensable to his employer and eventually became a partner in the business. By this means he obtained the small capital that was essential for speculation. He appears to have used this money to make loans to village people either at the customary high rates of interest -- documents show that 50% per annum was common -- or in return for mortgages of land. He was also able to buy land when the opportunity offered and gradually built up an estate for himself and his descendants. It was not a large one. By the time of the British lease the Chan family, all descended from himself or his brothers, owned 19 acres in and around Sha Lo Wan. Most, if not all of this property, must have come from Chan Fu-shing. It is interesting that almost half these fields were placed in common ownership in two ancestral trusts with one or more managers. This ensured that the land would not be divided into small segments every succeeding generation, and would not be at the mercy of a spendthrift or gambler. By way of an aside, it is, in my experience, unusual -- on Lantau -- for so high a proportion of land to be preserved in this way and this prescience must have been exercised by Chan Fu-shing. The Chans' ancestral hall, used as a village school for almost a century, was also due to Fu-shing and his money. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 96 JAMES HAYES the Pui O group in South Lantau. Unlike Chan, who had been a newcomer, Cheung's family had been settled in the area for upwards of two centuries before his birth and his father possessed a small number of fields which had descended from his ancestors. The Cheung clan, too, was the most powerful in the sub-district. Its members were settled in five of the nine small villages of the group and included one or two degree holders by purchase among its immediate forebears. However, like Chan, Cheung went into business, but not in the market town and not as an errand-boy, but locally and on his own account. He opened a shop in a small house situated outside the main village of the group and stocked it with goods which he brought over by sampan from the nearby island of Cheung Chau, the local market centre and a fishing port. Again like Chan, Cheung had a good head for business and used whatever money he obtained from his shop to loan sums to other villagers. As usual the loans were made for interest at high rates or in return for mortgages of land. The deeds relating to about a dozen of his mortgages have survived in an old account book. One of them, relating to the year 1898, shows that he was capable of lending what was then, to a farmer, the considerable sum of 120 dollars, the equivalent of 90 ounces of silver in one single transaction. As happened more often than not in deals of this sort, this land, consisting of an acre and a quarter of good paddy fields, was sold to him seven years later. Cheung's career developed along much the same lines as that of Chan Fu-shing. He settled disputes over a considerable area, including villages outside his own group, and helped to arrange various public services, including a regular ferry to the nearby market town of Cheung Chau. Again, he also took the lead in managing the affairs of the local temples and in repairing them when this became necessary.10 It is not certain whether he purchased a degree, but he may well have done so because, as has been said, this was the normal thing for a prospering villager to do at this period. KUNG FONG-CHAI (***) The third member of the trio, Kung Fong-chai (c. 1850-1922) was a Hakka from a village a few miles from the market town of Tai O. Like the Cheungs, the Kung family had been settled on ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 98 JAMES HAYES of the population of Lantau Island and when the Hakkas in this part of Kwangtung were generally considered to have been under the general domination of Cantonese.12 In passing, I am inclined to think that this point has been over-stressed. Secondly, it is interesting that all three came from villages and not from the market town. One would have expected that its shopkeepers and tradesmen would, in the aggregate, have been better off than most villagers and that a place which had a population anything from ten to twenty times larger than those of the neighbouring villages ought to have provided more pupils and hence a superior type of teacher; resulting in better-educated boys who were more qualified to become local leaders.13 However, and thirdly, their importance must be assessed against the realities of the social and geographic background of Lantau at this time. There were no wealthy, numerous powerful clans on the island to compare with those living in the mainland area of the present New Territories. The Cheungs were very small fry by comparison with the Tangs of Yuen Long district.14 Apart from the shopkeepers in the market town, some of whom were themselves villagers or were of village descent, the rest of the land population of Lantau were peasant small-holders few of whom seem to have owned more than one or two acres of land and were intent upon making a living from the soil.15 Communications were restricted to village tracks over difficult country or to boat travel round the coast, usually by village rowing boat. The terrain hindered social, economic and political intercourse between the penny-packet group of villages and could only be spanned by energetic leadership, motivated by private interest and backed by personal visitation. Another factor which increases the impact these men made on their communities is what I am convinced, from my later experience must have been the ignorance and massive superstition of most village people at this time.16 Easily paralysed by fear and indecision in times of danger, and harassed by doubt and incapacity when there were important issues to decide, the quality of leadership possessed by the few is high-lighted by the condition of the many. It is not surprising, then, that men of the calibre of the three I have mentioned appear to have handled everything in their sphere of influence. Old men living today still remember the Hakka Cheung Kwong-chuen very clearly and state, with great Page 105 Page 106 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 100 JAMES HAYES Fifthly, land was indirectly of the greatest importance for a man's emergence as an area leader. Through acquiring land other than in one's native village a man became known outside it. If he was a landowner renting out the land and clearly a person of ability and presence the way was paved to an extension of his sphere of influence because the local people would, in time, call on him to assist in solving disputes in which no decision could be reached. In a mountainous island where bad communications resulted in the growth of isolated communities the purchase of land or operation as a money lender was almost the only way in which personal influence could be extended without a charge of unwarranted “interference" being made. This much is obvious on a moment's reflection, but it is not always apparent without personal knowledge of an area and its geographical characteristics. Sixth and last, it is probable that the rural gentry of Lantau Island in the earlier part of the Ching dynasty were similar in origins and career to these men. This closes the main part of the article, but I would like, as a postscript, to mention the external and more formal side of their activities; that is, their relations with other gentry of the whole administrative district and with its civil and military officers. There is a distinct lack of definite information with a local content. One imagines, however, that they would have been on good terms with the officers of the military garrison and the naval patrol vessels that called at the island from time to time, combining with the village leaders and the shopkeepers of the market town to entertain them on certain festivals and on public occasions. By way of a return, the officers contributed to local repair projects such as the reconstruction of village temples and gave something towards the cost of local opera shows and festivals. This much is certain because many repair tablets and commemoration boards show this pattern. Besides, the basic nature of government in rural areas has changed very little to this day, being founded on the creation and retention of goodwill wherever and however possible as true for the Hong Kong government today as for the Chinese district government 70 years ago. The position is much less clear on the civil side. There were usually four councils of local gentry in any administrative district, for the East, South, West and South sections or Tung (M), as ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 102 JAMES HAYES 2 This figure is given in the table at p. 145 in Sessional Papers, i.e. Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, for 1906 (Hong Kong, Noronha & Co., Government Printers) included in "New Territories: Land Court, Report on Work from 1900 to 1905". The figure is for all private lots demarcated, and includes house lots as well as agricultural land. 3 Colony Census of 1911 in Sessional Papers 1911, pp. 103 (22, 26 and 37-38). 4 See Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong in The Hong Kong Government Gazette, 8 April 1899 at p. 541. Also Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JHKBRAS), Vol. 3 (1963), pp. 144-145 and Vol. 4 (1964), pp. 146-150. 5 This information is based on my own extensive enquiries in the Hong Kong region. They corroborate the usual accounts given in many books, among them E. T. Williams, China Yesterday and Today (London etc., Harrap & Co., 1923) pp. 118-136, Chapter VI, "The Village Republic" and E. T. C. Werner, China of the Chinese (London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1920), pp. 161-165, "Local Government”. 6 See p. 12 and notes 15-17 of my "The Settlement and Development of a Multiple-Clan Village" (Shek Pik on Lantau Island) in Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories (Hong Kong, Hong Kong Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, n.d. but 1965), 7 See also my note "Village Credit at Shek Pik, 1879-1895" in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, No. 5 (1965), pp. 119-122, for interest rates of 50% of principal per annum, simple interest, from a money loaning Tong in the same area. This Tong's varied means of doing business are paralleled in the surviving papers showing Cheung Kwong-chuen's agreements with local farmers, * See Ping-ti Ho, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China, Aspects of Social Mobility, 1368-1911 (New York, Columbia University Press, 1962), pp. 33-38, "It would not be an exaggeration to say that in Ch'ing times practically anybody who could afford a little over 100 taels could obtain the chien-sheng title and the right to wear the scholar's gown and cap", p. 34. * For more details of the area see my article "A Mixed Community of Cantonese and Hakka on Lantau Island" in Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories, cited at note 6 above. 10 His name heads the list of twenty-six persons who presented a commemorative red and gilt board on the occasion of the last major repair to the Tin Hau temple at Ham Tin, Pui O dated the equivalent of 15 January 13 February 1915. 11 For a brief account of this village see the article referred to in note 6 above. 12 The Census of 1911 lists 5,694 Cantonese and only 944 Hakka out of an estimated land population of 6,710. See Sessional Papers 1911, p. 103 (22). I have my suspicions about the Hakka figure but have not yet counter-checked by other means. For alleged Cantonese domination see inter alia K. M. A. Barnett, "The Peoples of the New Territories" in J. M. Braga (ed) The Hong Kong Business Symposium (Hong Kong, South China Morning Post, 1957), pp. 261-265, and G. N. Orme's "Report on the New Territories 1899-1912" in Sessional Papers 1912, p. 44 where he says that the imposition of British rule led to the freeing of the neighbours of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 160 NOTES AND QUERIES of Hong Kong, when the latter was studying Chinese in Canton, and in later years, so the villagers say, the two used to claim to be fellow students (同窗) (F). Although in his youth he did not take any of the Imperial examinations, he had some reputation as a literary man and wrote fine characters. He was married to a CHENG (鄭) from the nearby Cantonese village of Pak Kong (白崗), and also had a concubine from a fishing family. His ancestral tablet perversely records the wife as KAN (簡) and the concubine as CHENG (鄭). Both wives apparently lived amicably in Tseung Kwan O, where Chan spent much of his time. At the New Territories survey of 1905 he was recorded as the owner of 2.3 acres of agricultural land and 6 building lots in Tseung Kwan O, and was the manager of the CHAN Hok-yin Tso (陳學賢祖) with 2.7 acres of agricultural land and 2 houses. He also owned 4 shops and a house in Hang Hau market. It was during this period that Hang Hau was at the peak of its prosperity as a porterage town for produce to and from Sai Kung and Hong Kong. According to local gossip he did not pay much attention to business, but smoked opium and lived on the wealth he had inherited from his father. The Yi Hing shop in Kowloon City lost money and had to be sold in about 1930. In spite of this he apparently continued to play a part in the affairs of Kowloon City and of the Lok Sin Tong. NOTES 1 Most of this information was supplied by Messrs. Chan Shui (陳瑞) the village representative and Chan Kin Ming (陳健明) the supervisor of the village school. 2 See S. F. Balfour, "Hong Kong Before the British" in Tien Hsia Monthly, 1936. 3 See Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842 (Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963), Chapter IX for the Tang clan. 4 The three large Cantonese villages of Ho Chung, Pak Kong and Sha Kok Mei, which dominate the three main valleys of the Sai Kung area, also give foundation dates of late Ming or early Ching. For brief notes on Ho Chung and Pak Kong, see my note "Visit to Ho Chung pp. 46-47 of M. Topley (ed), Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories (Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1965), and James Hayes, "Visit to Villages in the Sai Kung District", ibid., pp. 41-42. Hong Kong. 1967. BERNARD WILLIAMS ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 194 GIEDROYC, M. J. H.* GILKES, D. A. GIMSON, C. H. GLASS, Miss M. A. GLOVER, Mrs. J. GOLDNEY, Miss C. M. GOODBODY, D. M. GOODRICH, Prof. L. C. GORDON, K. H. A. 31, Richmond Way, Fetcham, Surrey, England. 5 Goldsmith Road, Jardine's Lookout, H.K. c/o P.W.D. Hq., 4th Floor, Main Wing, Central Government Offices Building, H.K. 14 Braga Circuit, Kowloon. "Crossways", 49 Christchurch Road, Sidcup, Kent, England. c/o H.K. & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Head Office, H.K. 504 Kent Hall, Columbia University, New York 27, New York, U.S.A. Room 601 Marina House, H.K. GORDON, The Hon. S. S.* Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews, 22nd Floor, Prince's Building, H.K. GRANSDEN, J. H. GRANT, I. F. H. GRANT, Mrs. I. F. H. GRAY, Miss Audrey M. GREGORY, Prof. W. G. GRIFFITHS-OWEN, Miss M. GUILLAUME, Baron P. HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G. HALE, Richard E. HALL, Miss Joyce de Dept. of Modern Languages, The University, Pokfulum, H.K. c/o Jardine Matheson & Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 70, H.K. As above. 9A Cameron House, 40 Magazine Rd., H.K. Dept. of Architecture, The University, Pokfulum, H.K. D-12, Bay Court, Repulse Bay, H.K. Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. New Territories Health Office, North Kowloon Magistracy, Taipo Road, Kowloon. The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn., P. O. Box 64, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, H.K. HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton Road, H.K. HANSON, Miss Katherine Universities Service Centre, 155 Argyle St., Kowloon. HARDEN, Mrs. Guy T. Jr.* 15 Shek-O, H.K. HARRISON, Prof. B. Dept. of History, The University, H.K. HAYDON, E. S. The Supreme Court, H.K. HAYES, J. W. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d J. S. Lee THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Trench, K.C.M.G., M.C. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1968: President: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D.* K. E. Robinson, M.A., F.R.Hist.S., J.P. Hon. Secretary: T. H. Thomas, B.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A.* H. T. Wu, M.A., J.P. Councillors: R. Bruce, O.B.E., M.A. (left Hong Kong on retirement in March) M. S. Cumming, O.B.E., J.P. * Editorial Consultants ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d CONTENTS EDITORIAL NOTE PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1967 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1967 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: ✓ Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century MARJORIE TOPLEY The Hankow Steamer Tea Races - T. J. LINDSAY Notes on Hong Kong Libraries in the Nineteenth Century - H. A. RYDINGS Further Notes on the Sung Wong T'oi Being Caught by a Fishnet; On Fêngshui in Southeastern China Fan Lau and its Fort: an Historical Perspective - ARMANDO DA SILVA Plover Cove to Taipo Market: A Study in Forced Migration - MORRIS I. BERKOWITZ Sun Yat-sen and Chinese History - STEPHEN UHALLEY, JR. Review ARTICLE: Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant; Social and Economic Change in a Chinese Village (Jack M. Potter) H. G. H. NELSON ARTICLE REPRINTED: Chinese Street-Cries in Hong Kong J. NACKEN NOTES AND QUERIES: Notes on Some Vegetarian Halls in Hong Kong belonging to the Sect of Hsien-T'ien Tao: (The Way of Former Heaven) MARJORIE TOPLEY and JAMES HAYES Jardine, Matheson & Company's First Site in Hong Kong - DAFYDD EMRYS EVANS Research on Family Values and Culture Change in Hong Kong's Modern Chinese Novels - KLAUS MADING Hong Kong's First Government House - DAFYDD EMRYS EVANS A Reaping Knife from Lantau Island, Hong Kong - JAMES HAYES Itinerant Hakka Weavers JAMES HAYES The Tung Chung Fort (Lantau Island, Hong Kong) - JAMES HAYES BOOK REVIEWS THE LIBRARY LIST OF MEMBERS Page 1 2 6 9 44 56 67 74 82 96 109 119 128 135 149 154 156 161 162 165 168 178 200 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1967 The year 1967 will remain on record as a trying and difficult year owing to the Communist disturbances which broke out in May and made it difficult to hold the monthly meetings. Despite these difficulties the Society continued to flourish. It maintained its membership and held twelve meetings, including the very interesting visit to Aberdeen and old Hong Kong under the guidance of Mr. James Hayes. The list of public addresses attached to this report includes some of the most interesting which the Society have enjoyed, and all maintained the standard of scholarship and interest which have been expected of this doyen of Royal Societies. In the last four years the popularity and, in particular, the value of the Society's work has been enhanced by the weekend symposia and excursions to places of interest undertaken with a view to studying the traditional ways of life of the Chinese, in their historical, social and religious aspects, and to placing on record all the knowledge gained through these researches before it vanishes for ever. The symposia and excursions have been highly popular and very well attended; they serve not only to supply gaps in our knowledge of Hong Kong and of the people amongst whom we live but have resulted in the gathering of material of the highest value which have been recorded so far in two publications of great interest and a high standard of scholarship edited by Dr. Marjorie Topley. The first brochure on the Symposium of 1964 (published in 1965) on "The Aspects of Social Organisation In The New Territories" is now sold out and will certainly have to be reprinted. The second and larger book of 145 pages published in 1967 and entitled "Some Traditional Chinese Ideas And Conceptions In Hong Kong Social Life Today" is now on sale and has already been warmly received and appreciated not only by members of the Society but by scholars and research workers in the field of Asiatic studies abroad. These activities of the Society have been conducted under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Marjorie Topley and Mr. James Hayes, and to them and all the experts who have helped them we owe our deepest gratitude. We look forward to the continuance of their valuable work. At the end of 1967 the membership of the Society stood at 420. We were fortunate in the circumstances when so many left the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d Colony in not losing more than 53 ordinary and two life members in 1967 and to gain 59 ordinary and three life members. It is hoped that, in the year 1969 which will be the tenth year after the revival of the Hong Kong Branch of the Society, we may achieve a membership of 500. The Journal of the Society (which has now reached its seventh issue) covering the year 1966 came out in 1967 under the editorship of Mr. Hayes and has maintained its high standard and interest. From the Hon. Treasurer's report it will be seen that on the working of the year there was a small deficit of $738 due mainly to the doubling of our expenditure this year on the Society's publications, the Journal, the Volume on the 1966 Symposium and the reprinting of Sir Lindsay Ride's article on the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao, from the sale of which we expect to replenish our finances. Our efforts to build up a library available for the use of members have this year shown some promise of success. We have now a collection of over 300 volumes of standard works on China and the Far East including, in particular, works on South China and Hong Kong and a valuable collection of exchange journals. Our collection has been enriched with the books purchased with the generous grant of $2,850 from the Asia Foundation and with about 100 books from the library of the late Colonel Burkhardt and Madame du Breuil generously presented by Colonel Burkhardt's daughter. Our thanks are due once again to Mr. F. A. Nixon who has enabled us to receive from the Fung Ping Shan Museum of the University five albums containing photographs of his collection of Nestorian Crosses which are housed in the Museum. The British Council have come to our aid by kindly providing space in their library for the greater part of our books, while some of the rarer books and reference works will still be kept for the time being in the University Library. The accommodation given to our library by the British Council is the best temporary solution of our library problem until some kind benefactor appears to give us a room of our own with sufficient funds to provide for a part-time librarian. Before the original branch of the Society was wound up in 1859 it had a substantial and valuable library which was presented to the Morrison Educational Society and it was fortunate then in having good friends in its first President — Sir John Davis — and the Chief Justice who provided a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 80 GORAN ALMER position of their ancestral hall into which the dragon of the hill behind is 'crashing' all the time. By way of summing up, we may say that social and economic differentiation is projected on the natural surroundings. The phenomena of nature in their symbolic aspect project back the image of differentiation in the form of rational models concepts of systems of natural influences affecting man and social life. These models can be manipulated by their constructors. They also carry messages that can be communicated between individuals and between groups. NOTES 1 For a somewhat fuller description of the two villages, see Aijmer 1967. Big Stream Village (Dashuikeng) and Plum Grove Village (Meizilin) are in Hong Kong known under the Cantonese designations 'Tai Shui Hang' and 'Mui Tsz Lam'. Grass Field Village (Maoping) is 'Mau Ping'. They can be located with the help of Gazetteer 1960. Standard Chinese is given in pinyin form. Field work was financed by six Swedish funds; I gratefully acknowledge their support. Thanks are due to Mr. James Hayes, Hong Kong, and my wife for comments. 2 Freedman 1966, 118f; 1967; Baker 1965. 3 An alternative to, or perhaps rather a facet of, manipulating was fleeing. Examples of how people broke away from localities considered having bad fengshui have been given by Hayes (1963; 1967). 4 It may be of interest to point out that nets are instrumental in exorcistic ceremonies, when malevolent spirits may be caught or scared away with fishnets. I have this from a Buddhist monk whom I interviewed in Macau in 1965. 5 Census 1911, 103:27. 6 The sources classify Plum Grove land as third class land whereas Big Stream land is rated as second class. In the former place farming is done on terraced fields only. 7 In Plum Grove Village 35 houses were registered in 1906. If we compare this with the population figure of the Census of 1911, we will find that, if in use, each house unit was inhabited by 1.7 persons. This is an amazingly low figure, as we would have expected something around five or more as an average. Even if we allow for the ten men mentioned below, the figure would increase to just about two. The implication of these facts must be a reduction in population, perhaps by way of a lineage segment breaking away to settle elsewhere. In Big Stream Village 77 houses gave shelter to average families of 2.2 persons. Not even male absenteeism, discussed later, can explain this low figure to satisfaction. * Information obtained from the District Demarcation Maps and the 'New Territories Crown Leases of District No. 188' of 1906 and the 'New Territories Crown Leases of District No. 196' of the same year, to be seen at the Tai Po District Office, New Territories, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d ON FENGSHUI IN SOUTHEASTERN CHINA 9 See Groves 1965a and 1965b. 81 10 In an attempt to recover an even earlier period we may assume that at one time all house-units were inhabited by one household each and that the land at the same period had the same acreage as in 1906. If we disregard the possibility of outsiders as landowners we will find that one average household in Big Stream Village owned 0.33 acre whereas the corresponding figure for Plum Grove Village is 0.70, which is more than twice as much as in the former place.* REFERENCES Aijmer, G. 1967 'Expansion and Extension in Hakka Society', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 7. Baker, H. 1965 'Burial, Geomancy and Ancestor Worship', in Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Brochure of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, n.d. Census 1911 1911 'Report on the Census of the Colony for 1911', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1911, Hong Kong. Freedman, M. 1966 Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung, London, The Athlone Press, 1967 'Ancestor Worship: Two Facets of the Chinese Case', in Social Organization, Essays Presented to Raymond Firth, M. Freedman (ed.), London, Frank Cass and Co., Ltd. Gazetteer 1960 A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. Hong Kong, Government Printer, n.d. Groves, R.G. 1965a 'The Origins of Two Market Towns in the New Territories* in Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories Hong Kong, n.d. 1965b Report of Field Work in Hong Kong, London-Cornell Project, mimeographed. Hayes, J.W. 1963 'Movement of Villages on Lantau Island for Fengshui Reasons', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 3. 1967 'Geomancy and the Village' in Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, M. Topley (ed), Hong Kong, Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. * It is hoped to include in the 1969 Journal a note on the occupancy level of village houses in the Hong Kong region in the early 20th Century. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 135 NOTES AND QUERIES NOTES ON SOME VEGETARIAN HALLS IN HONG KONG BELONGING TO THE SECT OF HSIEN-T'IEN TAO: (THE WAY OF FORMER HEAVEN)* On Saturday, March 16, 1968, members of the Society visited four vegetarian halls at Ngau Chi Wan, Kowloon, belonging to a religious sect called Hsien-t'ien Tao. These notes are based on materials provided for the visit, which we have rearranged and expanded slightly, and they include also a brief account of the visit itself. We chose vegetarian halls for our visit because they are, to many members of the public in Hong Kong, less known places of worship than the more popular temples, and the monasteries and nunneries of Buddhism. When we first came across these particular halls in Kowloon and discovered they were of the Hsien-t'ien Tao sect they seemed to us to be an obvious choice for another reason: they follow an ideology standing outside Buddhist and Taoist religion and again far less known to most people in Hong Kong than these faiths. A field study will have to be made before a full account can be written up of either vegetarian halls or of the Hsien-t'ien Tao and its operation in Hong Kong today. These notes are intended to provide the reader with some general outline information and are based on information already obtained by Marjorie Topley here, and in research elsewhere, and by James Hayes in interview with members of these Kowloon halls prior to the visit. The short bibliography of works which we have appended provide more detailed material on the background of this and similar religious groups, and their vegetarian halls in China in traditional times. We refer the reader also to an article by Marjorie Topley elsewhere in this volume on matters of religion in the nineteenth century.† I. THE VEGETARIAN HALL AND ITS PURPOSE Vegetarian halls (chai-t'ang) form part of the organization of more than one Chinese religion. They are found, for example, in * The illustrations to these notes are at Plates 14 to 19. † See pp. 9-43 above. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES AND QUERIES 143 as the landlord claimed back these premises, the home moved temporarily to the Pun Har Tung chai-t'ang at Ngau Chi Wan. In 1946 the Association again raised money to build a home for the aged at Shatin and in the same year the home moved into these new premises. In 1955 Sir Alexander Grantham, then Governor of Hong Kong, visited the Home at Shatin. The sect today appears to attract business men, mainly in traditional-type pursuits and of middle years, and a few school teachers; but its largest contingent is undoubtedly female. Although the District Officer in his comments about talks of vegetarian halls being designed to attract chiefly the well-to-do, the majority of inmates of the halls are certainly in the lower income brackets. One is not certain where the money raised for charity comes from but one might assume, perhaps, that it is largely from lay-members in business and living in their own homes. It is hard to believe that the vegetarian halls make large profits. There are said to be something like 70 halls of this sect in Hong Kong (including the New Territories) today. Those we visited were said to have from about 30-40 permanent inmates and some 20-30 casual residents each, although we have not been able to check these figures to date. One of the spiritual advisors of the ladies living in the halls we visited told Marjorie Topley that the various sects of the religion represented in Hong Kong (excluding the non-vegetarian) had recently been coming together again. Previously they had regarded each other as mutually unorthodox as they sprung from different leaders, but they had decided to sink their differences and work together in their common beliefs. This, interestingly, coincides with a similar campaign for amalgamation underway in Singapore. VI. VISIT TO THE HALLS IN NGAU CHI WAN The following background information was obtained by James Hayes on three of the halls visited by the Society. Our visit to the fourth hall was not on our original itinerary and was in the nature of a surprise. We therefore have no information, unfortunately, on this hall at present. 1. Wing Lok Tung This hall was built in the 20th year of the Chinese Republic (1931-32). It was founded by a female member of the sect who ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 148 NOTES AND QUERIES village to visit the KAM HA CHING SHE to be given a bowl of rice and other food. This is supposed to "help make them stronger and more diligent". (The sects hold masses at which cooked rice is used and which, in Singapore, is certainly handed out to the poor of the area round a vegetarian hall after the service. It may be that the rice handed out in this case is similarly treated to religious rituals and that it is this which gives it its ability to make students "strong" and "diligent"). It is also reported that leaders of the Village Affairs Office of Ngau Chi Wan village are invited to dinner on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, no doubt to keep up friendly relations between close neighbours. The vegetarian halls certainly went to great effort to entertain members of the Society on our visit. Each hall provided us with plentiful, and extremely tasty, vegetarian snacks, fruit, cold drinks and Chinese tea. We would like to record our gratitude to them for their generosity. We would also like to record our gratitude to those in charge of the halls for permitting this visit and in letting us wander at will, and to the spiritual advisor of the inmates and to other male members of the sect who came along to answer our many questions; also to Mr. Tsang Sum of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, Hong Kong Government for much assistance with the visit. SOME WORKS OF REFERENCE 1. The most comprehensive work on sects in general in the nineteenth century and of campaigns against them is J. J. M. de Groot's Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China: a Page in the History of Religions (Amsterdam, Johannes Muller, 1903-4) 2 Vols. It has now been reprinted (legally!) by Literature House Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan, 1963. Many of the sects he mentions are members of the Hsien-tien group. For evidence of this, see: 2. Marjorie Topley, "The Great Way of Former Heaven: a group of Chinese secret Religious Sects", in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. XXVI, Pt. 2 1963, pp. 362-392. "Great Way" ideology is described in more detail in this article, and also the system of ranks and appointments used by several of the sects. The evidence for linking these sects with the well-known White Lotus organization is also discussed. 3. Further details of several sects of the group are provided in articles appearing in the Chinese Recorder. See for example: J. Edkins, "Religious Sects in North China", Vol. XVII, 1886. D. H. Porter, "Secret Sects in Shangtung", Vol. XVII, 1886. George Miles, "Vegetarian Sects", Vol. XXXIII, No. 1, 1902. The relationship among the sects discussed was not however known to these writers at the time. Hong Kong, 1968 MARJORIE TOPLEY and JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES AND QUERIES A REAPING KNIFE FROM LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG 161 Plate 21 shows a locally-made agricultural tool from Pui O Lo Wai, a three hundred year old mixed settlement of Hakka and Cantonese on Lantau Island.* It is said to have been made about thirty years ago. It is very simply made from the fork of one of the lesser branches of a common local tree, the China Fir. A slender blade has been added that could have been made by one of the itinerant blacksmiths who visited Lantau each winter until recent years, or else have been purchased in the shops of the nearby market centre of Cheung Chau. The size of the handle of such a knife could obviously vary from branch to branch though there were obvious minimum and maximum limits dictated by usability. In our example the handle measures approximately 13″ and the blade is 4″ long. Despite appearances the blade is not broken off at the tip but was made with the squared-off end. This knife, together with the more usual type shown at Plate 22, was used to cut the rice stalks in the paddy fields. The first type was — and is generally used for the first crop which is harvested in June and July. This is a wet crop because the fields are not dried out at reaping time as in the case of the second crop (October-November) when the second knife is normally favoured. The construction of the first knife enables the user to gather four or five stalks between the arms of the handle and draw them together, after which a deft flick of the wrist turns them over to be dealt with by the cutting edge of the blade. In cases where the stalks are lying flat or at an angle and may be tough through being wet the advantages of using such a knife are obvious. I do not know if it is in general use on Lantau, or elsewhere in the New Territories. Hong Kong 1968. JAMES HAYES * See my article "A Mixed Community of Cantonese and Hakka on Lantau Island" in Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories (ed. Marjorie Topley) published by the Hong Kong Branch, R.A.S. in 1965, pp. 21-26. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES AND QUERIES 165 he charged two or three cash a chih, with food and a place to sleep as was the custom. That was a lot of money for a man to earn; he could live for a week on one day's labor. At page 53 it is mentioned that a few years later, at or about the Boxer time, the Old Weaver no longer came to the Chu home to weave cloth each winter, and that no one took his place, it being then cheaper to buy British or foreign cloth in the market. 1. For descriptions of hemp spinning wheels from Chekiang see pp. 167-169 of Rudolf P. Hommel's China at Work... (New York, The John Day Company, 1937). Photographs of two such wheels are at pp. 170 and 171. I have not yet come across any such relics from the Hong Kong region. 2. The Hakkas of Hing Ning district, mentioned above, appear also to have played a large part in weaving foreign cotton yarn imported via Swatow. Consul F.S.A. Bourne in his section of the Report of the Mission to China of the Blackburn Chamber of Commerce 1896-7 (Blackburn, The North-east Lancashire Press Company, 1898) at pp. 153-4 mentions them as using foreign yarn for weaving cotton cloth "sent down the Canton East River past Hui-chow Fu to Fatshan where it is dyed black and called ch'ung-ch'ang-ch'ing i.e. imitation long black. This cloth, like that of which it is a copy, is very largely exported to Singapore." 3. For local, i.e. Hong Kong, place names see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960). Hong Kong, 1968. JAMES HAYES THE TUNG CHUNG FORT (LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG) For earlier references in NOTES AND QUERIES see Vols. 3 (1963) and 4 (1964) of this Journal at pp. 144-145 and 146-152 respectively. In late January 1966, I heard of, and spoke with, an old lady aged 90 sui (歲) born on 2nd October 1877. She had spent all her days in the Tung Chung valley, having been born in Wong Ka Wai and married into Sheung Ling Pei village. A series of questions... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES AND QUERIES 167 outside, usually at night. I remember the guns being let off and the drums being beaten on one occasion to scare off a band of pirates. For Tung Chung place names see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960) pp. 75-77. For information on Tung Chung see Robert G. Groves and Kenneth R. Walker "Rice Farming in Hong Kong" an illustrated article with both black and white and colour photographs at pp. 751-763 of The Geographical Magazine January, 1967 and the brief article "Economic Life and the Family" by Ronald Ng in (edited by M. Topley) Aspects of Social Organisation in the New Territories published by the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong 1965. Hong Kong 1968. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d BOOK REVIEWS 175 equally varied. Priests and missionaries; diplomats, consuls, officials and their wives; businessmen; journalists; soldiers and sailors among the foreigners; emperors, Ching officials and literati, Kuomintang and Communist leaders among the Chinese. Chairman Mao has his place (pp 306-308). It is easy to choose items to illustrate the striking nature of much of the contents, and to dwell on how well they illuminate the scene. One might mention inter alia the Rev. Timothy Richard's account of a journey made during the dreadful Shansi famine of 1876 (pp 179-181) and of his encounter with a man in a Shantung village who persisted in repeating the official version that England was a revolted tributary (p 182); the description of the filth of Canton's canals and thoroughfares in 1910 (pp 233-234); a French resident of Peking's comments on the passage through his neighbourhood of a tatterdemalion body of troops from the warlord period (pp 286-287) and the striking eye-witness account of one of the outflanking hill marches of the Red Army against Japanese troops (pp 448-489). The cover given to the thirty year period 1917-49 between pp 261-504 half the volume is justified by the material available to the compiler. The chapter of extracts on Red China 1935-45 (pp 413-456), is particularly good. In the midst of such riches it is pointless to recite choice items from one's own reading that might have gone into the work; though no doubt, like this reviewer, readers will be able to suggest alternatives here and there, such is the tremendous outpouring of works on experiences in China up till 1949. — This reviewer recommends the book to a wide range of readers, specialist and general alike; there is something for all in its 500 pages. Its main contribution is to expose the starkness of China's experience and convey some of the misery occasioned for the common people by both natural and man-made disasters over the period. Thereby the essential background to a better understanding of Mao's China and, indeed, of the desperate self-strengthening movement behind the Cultural Revolution is provided in its true perspective and deeper meaning. Hong Kong, 1968. JAMES HAYES Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 206 GORDON, Hon. S. S.* GRANSDEN, J. H. GRANT, I. F. H. - GRANT, Mrs. I. F. H. GRAY, Miss Audrey M. - GREGORY, Prof. W. G. GRIFFITHS-OWEN, Miss M. GROVE, Mrs. Rosemary + - - + GUILLAUME, Baron P. de HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G. - - HAFFNER, C. HALE, Richard E. + HALL, Miss Joyce Messrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews, 22nd Floor, Prince's Building, H.K. Dept. of Modern Languages, The University, Pokfulum, H.K. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., Jardine House, H.K. As above. 9A Cameron House, 40 Magazine Rd., H.K. Dept. of Architecture, The University, Pokfulum, H.K. D-12, Bay Court, Repulse Bay, H.K. 10A Barbecue Gardens, 171 Milestone, Castle Peak Road, N.T. Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. New Territories Health Office, North Kowloon Magistracy, Taipo Road, Kowloon, Room 1002 Alexandra House, H.K. The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corpn., H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Room 514, H.K. HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. - St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton Road, H.K. HANSON, Miss Katherine • HARDEN, Mrs. Guy T, Jr.* HARRISON, Prof. B. + H.K. J P. O. Box 1209, Porterville, California 93257, U.S.A. 15 Shek-O, H.K. Dept. of History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada, HARTWELL, Sir Charles H. c/o Public Service Commission, Central Government Offices, H.K, HARTWELL, Lady · HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. + HAYIM, E. J.* HAYWARD, G, W. HEANEY, Robert S. HECHTEL, F. O, P. HENSMAN, Dr. Bertha - - As above. The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, 10th floor, International Building, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. British Embassy, Kastelsvej 38-40, Copenhagen. Deer Park, Greenwich, Conn., U.S.A. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. Chung Chi College, Ma Liu Shui, N.T. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Trench, G.C.M.G., M.C. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1969: President: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., J.P. Vice-President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Hon. Secretary: J. L. H. Webster, C.M.G., M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A. H. T. Wu, M.A., J.P. G. A. Bridges, M.A. Commander F. Warrington-Strong, D.S.C.,* R.N. Retd. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d # CONTENTS ## PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1968 ## HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1968 ## TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH 1968 ## Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative and Executive Councils in Hong Kong up to 1941 ### T. C. CHENG ## ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: ### Y ### Militia, Market and Lineage: Chinese Resistance to the Occupation of Hong Kong's New Territories in 1899 #### R. G. GROVES ### Tung Kwu Island; the Type Site of Hong Kong's Older Prehistoric Culture #### W. SCHOFIELD Page 1 Page 5 Page 7 Page 31 Page 65 ### King Mongkut and the Kingdom of Siam #### R. BRUCE ### The Linguistic and Literary Value of Ming Dynasty 'Mountain Songs' #### JOHN MCCOY ### The Chinese Descent System and the Occupancy Level of Village Houses #### H. G. H. NELSON ### Some Notes on Ethno-botany in the New Territories of Hong Kong #### ARMANDO DA SILVA ### The Mapping of Hong Kong #### J. T. COOPER Page 82 Page 101 Page 113 Page 124 Page 131 ## ARTICLE REPRINTED: ### The San On Map of Mgr. Volontieri #### RONALD C. Y. NG Page 141 ## NOTES AND QUERIES: ### Bethesda and the Berliner Frauenverein Für China #### ALBRECHT PLAG ### The Comet of 1532 — #### L. Carrington GOODRICH ### What Inspired Sir John Bowring's Hymn? #### L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH ### Books from the Victoria Library — #### H. A. RYDINGS ### Early Hong Kong Libraries #### J. R. JONES Page 149 Page 150 Page 151 Page 152 Page 154 Page 154 ### Defence Wall at Pass between Kowloon City and Kowloon Tsai — #### W. SCHOFIELD ### Removal of Villages for Fung Shui Reasons. Another Example from Lantau Island, Hong Kong #### JAMES HAYES ### The Occupancy Level of Village Houses in the Hong Kong Region #### JAMES HAYES ### A Pair of Pottery Covered Jars found at Shek Pik, Lantau Island #### JAMES C. Y. WATT ## BOOK REVIEWS ### Kelly and Walsh ## THE LIBRARY, 1968-69 ## LIST OF MEMBERS ### HON. EDITOR Page 156 Page 158 Page 161 Page 163 Page 165 Page 179 Page 183 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d # PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1968 The Society is now in its tenth year since its revival in 1959. Its membership at the end of 1968 was 437 - an increase of 17 over 1967. Despite the loss of 47 members mainly owing to their departure from the Colony, we gained 63 new members including 5 life members, one of whom was already an ordinary member. We have now reached the point where our gains over our losses each year are not great but are steadily maintained. During the year, the Society met fourteen times, at which addresses of a high standard were given both by eminent scholars from overseas and a welcome number of scholars living or working in the Colony. The crowning and most popular activities of the year were the two symposia organized under the chairmanship of Dr. Marjorie Topley. Firstly, in March last year, we had the weekend visit to Chinese Vegetarian Halls of the Sect of Former Heaven in Kowloon. Then, on November 2 and 3, the Branch held a Weekend Symposium organized by Professor D. J. Dwyer of the Department of Geography and Geology of the University of Hong Kong, which had for its subject "The Changing Face of Hong Kong". The programme included six lectures with illustrating exhibits by Professor Dwyer himself and members of the staff of his department and of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, followed by a panel discussion of members' questions. On the second day, there were three field trips under the specialist lecturers for further study of the subject on the spot. The Society is deeply indebted to Professor Dwyer and the specialists who took part in this most edifying and highly successful study, and to those who were responsible for its organization. The Journal of the Society deserves special attention. With Mr. James Hayes as Editor, the Journal has not only maintained its standard of scholarship but has increased in popularity and repute, especially among scholars and readers overseas, and we have built up a valuable library of journals which other societies with similar objects have been keen to exchange for ours. The sale of our Journal last year was more than twice that of the previous year. There is a greatly increased demand for back ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE 41 Most of these cases are summarily dealt with by the village council... But if either of the parties to a case is dissatisfied, he can appeal to a council of a Tung [Tung='cave', translated by Lockhart as division], or to a general council made up of the representatives of the different Tung.... Each council of a Tung contains representatives of the villages which make up the Tung. In addition to a council of a Tung there is a general council for the whole of the Tung Lo or Eastern Section. This general council is styled the Tung P'ing Kuk or Council of Peace for the Eastern Section. It has its chamber at the market town of Sham Chun, which is regarded as the centre of the Eastern Section."47 The organization of the Tung P'ing Kuk may be represented schematically as follows: Tung P'ing Kuk Tung Tung Tung Tung Village Councils Village Councils Village Councils Village Councils Apart from the description above, little is known about the Tung P'ing Kuk. Hayes, setting Stewart Lockhart's description against local material gathered from his own enquiries in the area, accepts that "a form of genuine local self-government existed in 1898"48. Freedman comments: "I have not yet been able to convince myself that I know what tung are."49 It is likely that what Stewart Lockhart described as a system of "local government" was the formal framework of a militia organization. Everything he says is consistent with this interpretation. Militia organizations commonly undertook responsibility for the maintenance of local order. The title of the general council is also suggestive: the character p'ing ('peace') often appeared in the style of militia forces. It is possible to get an idea of the areas of the various tung within the northern district of the New Territory from Appendices III and V of Stewart Lockhart's report. Three of the tung, Sha Tau Kok, Yuen Long, and Sham Chun, seem to have been roughly ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE 59 part of further studies of militia, both within Kwangtung Province and elsewhere in China. It is possible that the approach to militia used in this article could be applied to other, more significant, military organizations as they existed in nineteenth century China. For example, recent studies of the regional armies of Tseng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang indicate that they were, initially, amalgamations of local militia forces.78 A more detailed analysis of these militia could contribute to a greater understanding of the particularistic relationships which appear to have been important in maintaining regional armies as viable organizations over relatively long periods of time. NOTES This article is based upon research in Hong Kong between 1963 and 1965. I am grateful for the financial support provided by the London-Cornell Project for East and South-East Asian Studies. A number of colleagues have commented upon the subject matter of the article during its various stages of preparation. I would particularly like to thank the following for their advice: Dr. Christopher Turner, Dr. George C. Bond, Mr. James Hayes, Professor Maurice Freedman, and Professor Göran Aijmer. A draft of the paper was read to the Sociology Seminar, School of Social Studies, University of East Anglia. I am grateful to my colleagues in this context for their comments. Place names will be rendered according to A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories, Hong Kong Government Printer, Hong Kong, n.d., but published 1960. 2 Brine, Lindesay. The Taeping Rebellion in China: A Narrative of its Rise and Progress. London, 1862, pp. 11-12. 3 Krone, [R]. “A Notice of the Sanon District", Article V, Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, pt. VI, Hong Kong, 1859, p. 71. 4 Freedman, Maurice. Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung. London, 1966, p. 115. 5 The Governor of Hong Kong, commenting upon robbery and piracy during the year 1903, said: "they are the most common offences in the Southern provinces ... the Provincial Authorities do not attempt to deal with such cases until some village is reported as being specially notorious as harbouring robbers, when, if the authorities do not consider them too strong, a force is sent out and as many as possible arrested or the village destroyed." Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1903, Hong Kong, 1904, pp. 348 ff. Freedman, op. cit., p. 112, quotes an account of such an expedition which took place in "about 1870" and resulted in the beheading of more than a thousand people. 6 Hsiao Kung-chuan, Rural China, Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century, Seattle, 1960, p. 503. 7 For a detailed account of these events, see: Wakeman, Jr., Frederic, Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 33 Ibid., p. 113. MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE 61 34 This event has a tangled academic history. The establishment of the association by the twenty-four villages was originally reported in the Chinese Repository (IV, 1836, p. 414), and is quoted by Wakeman (op. cit., p. 63) from that source. It is also quoted by Hsiao (op. cit., p. 309) as an example of inter-village co-operation for the purposes of defence and the maintenance of order. Skinner (op. cit., p. 39, n. 80), quoting from Hsiao, argues its significance for the analysis of standard marketing communities. 35 Wakeman, op. cit., p. 39. 36 Skinner, G. W. "Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China Part II". The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. XXIV, no. 2, February 1965, pp. 207f. 37 Only those aspects of the New Territories most relevant to the argument will be discussed. There is a growing literature about the area which, taken together, gives considerable detail. Freedman, op. cit., p. viii, provides a bibliographical note on published works. 38 The land frontier of the territory begins just north of the Sham Chun river and runs eastward from Deep Bay to the market of Sha Tau Kok. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, the then Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, was deeply opposed to this boundary. "It cuts in two the rich valley of which Sham Chun is the centre, and, while excluding that town, divides the villages in the valley hitherto linked together by family ties and common interests; all these villages regard Sham Chun as their central and most important market, where they dispose their goods and make their purchases" Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts from Papers Relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1899, Hong Kong, 1900, p. 196. 39 Ibid., p. 187. Stewart Lockhart's population estimates cannot be regarded as very accurate. By 1900 he thought the number of villages to be 597. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1900, Hong Kong, 1901, p. 252. The Hong Kong census of 1911 gave the total population of the territory as 104,101. In the Northern District alone, 398 villages were enumerated. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, Hong Kong, 1912, pp. 103ff. On the other hand, as guesses go, Stewart Lockhart's count is by no means disreputable. His estimate of 100,000 is not all that far from the 1911 census figure cited above. Other examples could be given which suggest that his estimates are sufficiently accurate to indicate general magnitudes of population, if not precise numbers. 40 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts..., op. cit., p. 188. 41 This discussion will be confined to that part of the territory which used to be known as the 'Northern District' and will not consider the markets at Sai Kung, Tsuen Wan, Sham Shui Po, and Cheung Chau island. For brief accounts of these, see Hayes, J. W., "The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898"; "Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 11, 1962, vol. III, 1963. 42 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, op. cit., pp. 103f.; Correspondence (December 15, 1903, to February 27, 1907) Relating to the Proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, Eastern No. 88, Colonial Office, London, 1907, pp. 85ff. 43 For example, the marketing schedule of the two Tai Po markets was 3-6-9. That is to say, the markets met on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th and 29th days of each lunar month. The same principle applies to the schedules of each of the other markets. Normally, in specifying a schedule, only the first three days are given. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 62 R. G. GROVES 44 Skinner, op. cit., Part 1, p. 27. The markets of the northern district of the New Territory seem to have been dependent primarily upon Sham Chun, rather than upon several intermediate markets. This may be an example of what Skinner terms a marketing system in a "topographic cul-de-sac". Ibid., p. 21. 45 Baker, Hugh D. R. "The Five Great Clans of the New Territories”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. VI, 1966, p. 31. 46 Freedman, op. cit., pp. 82ff., gives an account of the origins of the Ts'at Yeuk. The character yeuk may be translated as 'covenant', or 'agreement'. The seven covenants' were a confederation of seven groups of villages within the Tai Po marketing area. 47 Papers Extracts, op. cit., p. 192. 48 Hayes, "The Pattern of Life.", op. cit., p. 9. 49 Freedman, op. cit., p. 81. 50 Papers Extracts, op. cit., pp. 201ff. 51 Hong Kong 1963, Hong Kong, 1964, pp. 363ff. 52 Papers Extracts, op. cit., pp. 587-8. 53 The following account has been assembled, somewhat in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle, from two sources: Hong Kong. Correspondence (June 20, 1898 to August 20, 1900) Respecting the Extension of the Boundaries of the Colony, Eastern No. 66, Colonial Office, London, 1900; Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1899. Despatches and Other Papers Relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1900. Specific references will be given only for quotations. 54 Correspondence, op. cit., p. 261. A brief discussion of the activities of the land syndicate mentioned in the preceding paragraph is to be found in Endacott, G.B., A History of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, London and Hong Kong, and Paperback Edition, 1964, p. 265, who says: "The main problem of the take-over was not military but administrative. A land syndicate of Chinese among whom it was suspected Ho Kai [Dr. Ho Kai, a Chinese unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong] was one, had bought land at a fraction of its value by spreading the rumour that the British would seize all land. Blake threatened to restore this property, but the land problem proved too baffling for him to carry out his threat." 55 Correspondence, op. cit., p. 261. Wakeman, op. cit., Chap. V, discusses similar charges made against the British at Canton almost sixty years earlier. 56 One recipient was Liu Wan-kuk, of Sheung Shui. His support for the resistance appears to have been half-hearted throughout. On at least two occasions he protested: "the villages in our Division have no plans. Moreover, our commissariat and arms being insufficient, how can we offer effective resistance? We request your Division [Yuen Long] to decide on the plan of campaign and we will follow your instruction". The dominance of the Yuen Long Division—and of the Tang lineages within it—was to become increasingly obvious as the resistance movement developed. Papers Despatches, op. cit., p. 72. 57 Translated in Correspondence, op. cit., pp. 138ff. 58 Baker, op. cit., pp. 35ff. 59 Correspondence, op. cit., p. 147. 60 Ibid., p. 148. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d CHINESE DESCENT SYSTEM 121 of the two should in fact have proportionately more empty houses than its poorer neighbour22; it is not impossible that the sort of inefficiencies in the descent system that I have described whereby the swelling of a descent line in one generation may leave the next with more house-property than it needs or can redistribute — may account for this anomaly.* H. G. H. NELSON. NOTES 1. Göran Aijmer, "Being Caught by a Fishnet: On Fengshui in South-eastern China", J.H.K.B.R.A.S., Vol. 8, 1968, pp. 74-81. 2. Field data drawn on in this paper are derived from a period of work in Sheung Tsuen, Pat Heung, from June 1967 to October 1968. I was employed as a Research Officer of the London School of Economics, on a project financed by a grant made to Professor Maurice Freedman by the Social Science Research Council. Much of the information from the Hong Kong Government's land records was collected by my wife, whose fare to Hong Kong was provided by the London-Cornell Project for East and South-East Asian Studies, financed jointly by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Nuffield Foundation. I am very glad to acknowledge their generosity. 3. See for example J. E. Spenser, "The Houses of the Chinese", Geographical Review, Vol. XXXVII, 1947, pp. 254-273. 4. Cf. J. W. Hayes, ‘A Chinese Village on Hong Kong Island Fifty Years Ago Tai Tam Tuk, Village Under the Water', in I.C. Jarvie and Joseph Agassi, eds., Hong Kong: A Society in Transition, London, 1969, p. 33. 5. Block Crown Lease, Demarcation Districts Nos. 112 and 114, 1905; various Memorials in Yuen Long District Office; and ‘A-Roll' volume X.14. I am most grateful to the New Territories Administration for their courtesy in allowing me access to the invaluable information contained in their Land Records. 6. The current records conceal the difference between inhabited structures and "house-lots' (Crown Rent being assessed on the site rather than the structure) - a difference of which the villagers are aware. Many of them, when asked how many houses they own, will say, "so many houses and so many lots "(uk-tel_£)". It seems to me possible that some villagers may, in 1905, have been far-sighted ---or fortunate enough to register both their houses and their ruined lots, thereby avoiding the expense and complication of obtaining a New Grant Lot when they wanted to rebuild on an old site. * Groups of houses, bigger and more durable than usual, have also been built as a form of long-term investment (and prestige expenditure) by particularly wealthy men; but their hopes of producing enough sons and grandsons to justify this deliberate over-production of houses are often sadly unfulfilled. * On the subject of this article see also Mr. Hayes' note at pp. 158-160. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d # THE SAN ON MAP OF MGR. VOLONTIERI 147 the characters in such a way that ambiguity or overcrowding was successfully avoided. However, Liang's commendable standard of calligraphy was not matched by his ability to translate and hence the references to the lead mine, Canton River and ‘As far to Canton' were expressed only in English. Was it the intention of Volonteri that these should remain so, or had he overlooked these particular items? This is but a trivial point compared with the fact that in at least three cases the local place-names recorded in English were neglected by the Chinese scribe who, in turn, independently inserted more than twenty references to villages, islands and mountains, unaccompanied by their transliterations. It is of interest to note that practically all these incongruities, like the others mentioned earlier, occurred in western San On, the area which must have been less familiar to both partners. It is not the intention of this introduction to the Map of the San On District to belittle in any way the splendid effort and significant contribution of Mgr. Volonteri, but it is hoped that by pointing out some of the limitations in the information, the value of this magnificent piece of work as a fundamental document in the study of the history and geography of San On could be enhanced. Acknowledgement. The author wishes to express his gratitude to Professor M. Freedman and Professor M. J. Wise for pointing out to him the existence of the Map in the R.G.S. Collection and for commenting on the manuscript; to Brigadier R. A. Gardiner, Keeper of the Map Room, for providing a copy of the original map as well as making available a wide range of cartographic material; to Fr. J. M. Tai, S.J., for locating important sources of reference; and to Mrs. L. Quartermaine, for translating excerpts of the biography from the Italian. REFERENCES* Hayes, J. W. 1962 The pattern of life in the New Territories in 1898. J. R. Asiat. Soc. (Hong Kong) 2. Hong Kong Government 1961 A gazetteer of place-names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. Hong Kong Government Printer. Journal of the Mission of the Propaganda of the Light Kuang-tung yu-ti Ch'uan-tu (Atlas of Kwangtung Province). Chinese text, 1967. * These are given in the form used in the original printing. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 152 NOTES AND QUERIES which they appear. We know, too, that the author did not go to the East until 1849 when he received the appointment of Her Majesty to be Consul in Canton. Now it is entirely possible that Bowring saw an illustration of the church somewhere. Mr. David Keir, author of THE BOWRING STORY (The Bodley Head, Ltd., London, 1962) to whom I submitted this problem, informs me that Bowring visited Portugal in 1815, and may have run across one there. But it is also possible that he had to go no farther than London. "At the Hispano Portuguese Library in Belgrave Square," Keir writes, "there is an illustration of the church." It "is a high pagoda-like building, rising above many steps, with a Cross at its peak. As most churches have a cross on the roof somewhere, it is still inconclusive whether this was the church he had in mind.” “It is also possible (for instance)," Mr. Keir continues, "that he might have been inspired to write the hymn following his visit to the Pena Convent in Portugal - an experience which seems to have impressed him very much, for he writes in his Autobiographical Recollections: 'I also went to the Pena Convent, which towers [note the use of this word] over the highest of the precipices. The rude path, which leads to it, winds round the rugged steep, and if ever there was a spot fitted for those who would withdraw from the world, it is this. Here might misanthropy revel in perfect abstraction for scarcely could any earthly idea enter into that secluded and weather-beaten temple....' Can any reader of the Journal offer any better hypothesis? Columbia University, 1969. L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH BOOKS FROM THE VICTORIA LIBRARY As a kind of postscript to "Notes on Hong Kong Libraries in the Nineteenth Century," which appeared in the last volume of this Journal between pp. 56-66, it may be of interest to record that two titles formerly the property of the Victoria Library and Reading Rooms (1848-1871) have come to light. The first was bought by Mr. James Hayes, our Hon. Editor, from a 'fly-by-night' bookstall in Causeway Bay. This is: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 158 NOTES AND QUERIES they were moving further away from the seashore where their boats and fishing equipment were stored on the beach when not in use. In short, these and other removals of entire village communities in the area during the first three decades of this century should be seen as a triumph of mind over matter, demonstrating the strength of traditional beliefs at that time. Hong Kong, 1968. JAMES HAYES THE OCCUPANCY LEVEL OF VILLAGE HOUSES IN THE HONG KONG REGION In note 7 to his article "Being Caught by a Fishnet: on Fung Shui in South-eastern China ”(JHKBRAS Vol. 8, 1968, pp. 74-81) Dr. Aijmer, quoting averages of 1.7 and 2.2 persons per house-unit in two Hakka villages in Tide Cove in 1911 speaks of this "amazingly low figure" and expects "something around five or more as an average". In doing so, he has touched upon an interesting subject: the occupancy level of village houses in the Hong Kong region in the early 20th century. Elsewhere in this number (pp. 113-123) Mr. Howard Nelson takes up this subject and explains that a low level of occupancy of persons per 'house' is not unusual but normal, and that occupancy should be seen rather in terms of the number of 'houses' per household than the number of persons per 'house'. His definition of 'house' is given at pp. 113-115. During my discussions and investigations in New Territories and Kowloon villages over a number of years I have collected descriptive material from various informants that relates to this interesting topic. What follows is taken from my notes. The term 'house' is used in the sense used by Nelson i.e. a one-roomed dwelling with kitchen in front. First, let me quote a general statement of the occupation position. This is dated 1936 and occurs in a written representation to Government which came from the former Tsuen Wan villages of the New Territories: Most of the houses of the inhabitants of the New Territories are for owners' occupation. Some of these houses were left by ancestors, so even though he is of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 160 NOTES AND QUERIES At the two villages of Old and New Heung Kong Wai near Aberdeen a group of villagers had to come before a Squatter Board in 1893 to help determine and register legitimate holdings. From the information then recorded, and happily preserved, the following facts emerge: (a) the New Village was built entirely by inhabitants of the Old Village; (b) two of the houses in the New Village were built 1860-70 and some earlier, some later; (c) many families owned houses in each village; (d) many families owned 2 or 3 houses; (e) none of the cultivated land in the valley was (1893) owned by outsiders. Elsewhere on the island I obtained and wrote down the following account of house occupation in the small Hakka village of Tai Tam Tuk for the period before this village was removed to make way for a reservoir in 1914: Some of the houses were in a ruinous condition in 1914, which is usually the case in the smaller and poorer villages in South China where frequent typhoons and heavy rains combine to shorten the life of these simply-constructed dwellings. Perhaps in consequence, most families in the village had several houses. For instance, one of my informants, her husband, his parents and his younger unmarried brother shared three houses and one shed, but ate together as one household. These examples seem to bear out Mr. Nelson's reinterpretation of Dr. Aijmer's figures i.e. that at that time (1911) there were about 35 households in Big Stream Village, owning on average 2.2 houses each; and that Plum Grove contained 12 households with 3 houses each.* Hong Kong 1969, JAMES HAYES * Since writing the above I also recall a case at Law Uk, Pui O where, speaking of her early married life there well before 1900, a very old village woman said theirs was "a three table household" with something over 20 persons eating together. It was also a multi-house one. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d NOTES AND QUERIES 161 A PAIR OF POTTERY COVERED JARS FOUND AT SHEK PIK, LANTAU ISLAND The Shek Pik area in the south-western corner of Lantau Island has yielded archaeological finds of more varied interest than any other area in Hong Kong. Before the construction of the reservoir in the valley (1958-62), it was mainly known by the neolithic sites on the raised beach which W. Schofield excavated in the thirties. During and since the building of the reservoir various archaeological finds of comparatively recent periods have been made. The latest of these finds is a pair of earthenware jars with identical blue and white porcelain bowls as covers. They were discovered in February 1968 and February 1969 by James Hayes who had reported all post-war archaeological finds at Shek Pik†. Both pairs of jar and bowl were broken when discovered and the first pair has now been restored by the City Museum and Art Gallery (see Plates 19 and 20). These jars and bowls were located on a sloping hillside west of the former village of Shek Pik Wai (abandoned before the War for sites a few hundred yards lower down the valley). The area had been scoured by bulldozers for 'fill' for the dam and the jars were found in an exposed bank. This was, in fact, the site of the earlier discoveries reported by Hayes. Though located less than a foot away from each other and each about two feet from the surface, the pots were discovered singly as progressive eroding of the bank by rain brought them to light. Mr. WAN On (溫安) of Pui O, South Lantau was with Mr. Hayes on both occasions. The porcelain bowls are the first known pieces of Ming blue and white porcelain reported in Hong Kong, at any rate since the War, although they are a type of trade porcelain which is commonly found in the Philippines and in Indonesia. The bowls have fairly straight slanting sides and high foot-rims. They are decorated on the outside with vertical fern leaves (sometimes identified as plantain leaves) with wavy edges and with a band of floral design round the mouth rim. On the inside they are decorated with a double ring near the mouth and with a lotus flower within a circle in the centre. The lotus flower (Sanskrit padma) is one of the "eight glorious emblems" in Buddhist art † See reference to this article at p. 73 of this issue. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d NOTES AND QUERIES 163 connection with cremation burial was introduced by an "iron-using people influenced by Buddhism”. The present discovery is thus not only of interest to Hong Kong, it also serves to establish cultural links between south China and South-east Asia during the “Proto-historic” period of South-east Asia. It is hoped that this discovery will lead to more systematic work on the archaeology of the Ming period in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, 1969. JAMES C. Y. WATT. + NOTES 1 See J. W. Hayes, "Preliminary Report on the Finds at Shek Pik” at pp. 122-124 of H.K.B.R.A.S. Vol. 2, 1962 elaborated by James C. Y. Watt and J. W. Hayes in "Sung Finds at Shek Pik" in Vol. I of the Journal of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, (1969). 2 These bowls are usually quite shallow with an incised pattern of vertical lines on the outside and often a stamped pattern in the centre. Kilns producing such bowls have been discovered in Wai Yeung county, about 100 kms. east of Canton reports in Kaogu 1962.8 and Kaogu 1964.4. 3 Kaogu 1964.10. See also Kaogu 1962.2 and Kaogu 1965.6. 4 Rosa C. P. Tenazas, A Report on the Archaeology of the Locsin University of San Carlos Excavations in Pila, Laguna. Manila, 1968. 5 Wilhelm G. Solheim II. Archaeological Survey and excavation in Northern Thailand. Preliminary report on excavations at Ban Nadi, Ban Sao Lao, Pimai No. I. Honolulu, 1966. (Quoted by Tenazas, op. cit.) “KELLY AND WALSH” All members of the Branch will have seen books bearing the name of this famous Eastern publishing house, and some may own a few of their many publications over the last century. Dr. J. R. Jones has contributed a note taken verbatim from an old book in his possession, which demonstrates the firm's long history. It reads: Probably the next oldest printing and publishing concern in Shanghai is Messrs. Kelly and Walsh, Limited, formed in 1876 by the amalgamation of two local booksellers, Kelly and Company and F. & C. Walsh. While this firm's main concern is bookselling, it also runs an important printing business, turning out high-class work of every description. It, too, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 174 BOOK REVIEWS tive or sub-administrative area?" So far as the Kowloon school was concerned it served the rural areas immediately east, west, north of and round Kowloon, whose principal villages were linked in yeuk (yueh) (#5) or 'compacts” — though whether the latter were self-organised or instituted by Government is still unknown to me. These villages used Kowloon as a market centre though there were small local markets in some of the yeuk. Together these yeuk do not appear to have constituted either an administrative or sub-administrative area of the county (1) save in the sense that the Kowloon sub-magistrate utilised their existence as a medium of contact and, no doubt, control. Again, whether they had any tuan lien is unknown - though village tradition at Nga Tsin Wai just in front of the Kowloon Walled City has it that, assisted by the Tin Hau goddess from the village temple, whose image glistened with her supreme effort, the villagers 'saved' the City from the Red Turban rebels in the 1850s and their leading elder was given a kung ming (1) by Government in recognition of their part in the defence. In short, the detailed picture remains unfilled but we stand greatly in Mr. Wakeman's debt for having set the scene in such a stimulating and authoritative manner. Hong Kong, 1969, JAMES HAYES HONG KONG: A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF HONG KONG SOCIETY, ed. I. C. Jarvie, in consultation with Joseph Agassi, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1969, pp xxix, 378, illustrated. A symposium such as this might be approached from one of two angles: its theme could be either an exploration of the conflicts within Hong Kong society, or a comparison between the problems of Hong Kong and those of other areas in a similar situation of rapid and profound change. None of the papers in this volume attempts the latter; and those which attempt the former are noticeably more stimulating and more valuable than those which attempt neither. Hong Kong is a place in which a number of almost totally disparate groups, their interests sometimes diametrically opposed (e.g. the indigenous people and the immigrants in the New Territories), coexist in an exceedingly small compass: an opportunity to survey the relationships, often Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d BOOK REVIEWS 177 this field are already much in her debt, and this piece well deserves the wider circulation it will receive from its inclusion here. The contributions of Hayes and Goodstadt contain useful descriptive material; but it is to be regretted that delays in publication have rendered some of the papers much out of date, and caused others to be superseded by their authors' own fuller publications. University of London, 1969. H. G. H. NELSON THE CHINESE IN LONDON, Ng Kwee Choo, Oxford University Press (for the Institute of Race Relations), London, 1968, pp. x, 92, paperback, 15/-d. As Mr. Ng tells us, there have been Chinese in Britain since at least 1814, and it may, therefore, seem perhaps strange that they have escaped study for so long. But it is largely their "non-organisation" which has made them a most evasive, nebulous and difficult subject, so that there is no ready-made framework within which to seek for and organise data; and Mr. Ng in this pioneering work finds himself forced to leap from topic to topic without any systematic progression of ideas or approach. Furthermore, there are, doubtless, aspects of Chinese society in Britain which could not be published without harm to the research worker, his informants and the Chinese community at large, and the knowledge of this must also be a handicap to an author. The criticism of this book, then, that it lacks depth and organisation, should be tempered with the qualification that the author has attempted an extremely difficult task. Mr. Ng divides the Chinese in London into three main groups: long-standing sojourners, largely mariners or ex-mariners; recently arrived (i.e. post-war) restaurant workers; and students, businessmen, nurses, etc. This last group attracts little of the author's attention, while the first is never as clearly differentiated from the second as the division into separate groups would lead us to expect. By and large, it is the restaurant workers who form the subject matter of the book. The first twenty pages provide an interesting historical account of Chinese immigration. There follow chapters on the social backgrounds of the immigrants, on their occupations in Britain, on their employer/employee relationships, on their associations ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 189 HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G. - HAFFNER, C. Hall, J. Unknown. Room 1002 Alexandra House, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Room 514, H.K. HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton Road, H.K. HARDEN, Mrs. G. T., Jr.* - HARRISON, Prof. B. - H.K. 15 Shek-O, H.K. Dept. of History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada. HARTWELL, Sir Charles H. c/o Public Service Commission, Central Government Offices, H.K. HARTWELL, Lady - HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J.* HAYWARD, G. W. HEANEY, R. S. - HECHTEL, F. O. P. HENSMAN, Prof. Bertha HERRIES, Hon. M. A. R. T - As above. c/o The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o Secretariat for Home Affairs, International Building, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. British Embassy, Kastelsvej 38-40, Copenhagen. Deer Park, Greenwich, Conn., U.S.A. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. Chung Chi College, C.U.H.K., Shatin, N.T. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd. P.O. Box 70, H.K. PHESTROY, Baron P. de G. Belgian Embassy, 1653 Calle Viamonte, Buenos Aires, Argentina. HILL, D. A. HILSDALE, Mrs. E. P. HINDMARSH, R. H. HỒ, Mrs. Hungchiu HO, Teh-kuei - HO, Tickon* HOCHSTADTER, Dr. W. HOGAN, Hon. Sir Michael HOLMES, Hon. D. R. - 1633 Compton Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44118, U.S.A. 6387 Bryn Mawr Drive, Los Angeles, Calif. 90028, U.S.A. Room 606 Gloucester Building, H.K. 11, Briar Avenue, First Floor, H.K. Lake Side Building, 13th floor, "B", 259 Gloucester Road, H.K. 50, Village Road, Ground Floor, Happy Valley, H.K. 9, Cambridge Road, 1st Floor, Kowloon. Chief Justice's Chambers, Supreme Court, H.K. c/o Secretariat for Home Affairs, International Building, H.K. Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Trench, G.C.M.G., M.C. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1970: President: Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., HON.LL.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Marjorie Topley, B.SC.(ECON.), PH.D. J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Secretary: J. L. H. Webster, C.M.G., M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., J.P. Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A. H. T. Wu, M.A., J.P. G. A. Bridges, M.A. Commander F. Warrington-Strong, D.S.C.,* R.N.RETD. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 CONTENTS EDITORIAL PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1969 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1969 THE LIBRARY 1969-70 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED : 1 - More on the Yung-Lo Ta-Tien-L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH 11 - Lord Elgin and the Taipings-STEPHEN UHALLEY, Jr. 17 - Hong Kong Cadets, 1862-1941-H. J. LETHBRIDGE 24 - Aspects of Hong Kong Marine Fauna-LAMARR B. TROTT 36 - A Hong Kong Butterfly-COLONEL V. R. BURKHARDT 57 - Chinatown in Hong Kong: The Beginnings of Taipingshan-DAFYDD EMRYS EVANS 63 - Chinese Emigration and the Deck Passenger Trade-A. D. BLUE 69 - Removing Some Barriers to Comprehension: A New Look at Cantonese Expletives-K. M. A. BARNETT 79 - A British Maritime Chart of 1780 Showing Hong Kong—HENRY D. TALBOT 94 - ARTICLE REPRINTED: Hong Kong before the British-S. F. BALFOUR 128 - NOTES AND QUERIES: The J.O.P. Bland Papers-J. L. CRANMER-BYNG 180 - Visit to Old Shau Kei Wan-24th May, 1969-JAMES HAYES 183 - Hemp-JAMES HAYES 188 - Coach Tour of Eastern Hong Kong Island—18th October, 1969-JAMES HAYES 190 - The San On Map of Mgr. Volontieri―JAMES HAYES 193 - A Casualty of the Cultural Revolution-JAMES HAYES 196 - Pile Houses at Tai O, Lantau Island, Hong Kong-10th January, 1937-W. SCHOFIELD 201 - BOOK REVIEWS 216 - LIST OF MEMBERS ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 and last Monday's lecture by Dr. Hu on Flowering Trees. The most popular activities each year are the annual symposia held under the Chairmanship of Dr. Topley and the occasional excursions, such as the tour of Old Shau Kei Wan organised last year by Mr. J. W. Hayes. These tours, as well as being studies in the history and social life of Hong Kong, are popular and prove of great service in bringing members together, giving them an opportunity of knowing each other and welding them into one Society of common interest and purpose. In accord with the objects of the parent society and the principles enunciated by Sir John Davis, we have tried to direct attention to practical projects and to natural history as well as to literary pursuits. Thus, a week-end symposium was organised in 1968 under Professor Dwyer of the University of Hong Kong on the subject of The Changing Face of Hong Kong, and recently another week-end symposium was organised by Professor Thrower, as mentioned above. A record of these studies is being edited and will in due course be published by the Society and so make a valuable contribution to the natural history of the Colony. The Journal of the Society maintains its high academic standard and interest under the Editorship of Mr. J. W. Hayes. The tenth volume is in the press and will be out later this year. Vol. I, which had long been out of print, has now been reprinted and is now available to meet the increasing demand of members and of scholars and readers overseas for a complete set of the Society's publications, which are now becoming very valuable and much sought after by libraries and learned institutions as well as by individual readers all over the world. Our greatest problem is our library, and our great sorrow is that our resources do not enable us to rent a room to house our books, let alone to pay a librarian. The original society in Hong Kong had been granted by Sir George Bonham a room in the old Supreme Court to hold its meetings and to house its library. When the Society ran into difficulties in 1858, it handed over its valuable library of 400 books on trust to the Morrison Education Society, which also kept its library in the Old Court House, and in 1869 the Morrison Society presented its own library and that of the Royal Asiatic Society to the City Hall Library. I feel, therefore, that the Government is not without obligation to the Society in respect of the housing of its present library. In Shanghai ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 and by Professor Thrower. Again it will be seen that the modest subscription of $30 a year, for which apart from the ordinary amenities of the Society members receive a free copy of all the Society's publications, falls far short of the costs of running the Society. The gap is as usual bridged mainly by interest from investments, bank interest and the sale of journals. Our investments at the end of 1969 showed a market value of $52,855 against cost of $43,554. The origin of our investments was the anonymous gift of $10,000 by a friend in 1947 in memory of Arthur de Carl Sowerby, who was the founder and curator of the Society's museum in Shanghai and a great authority on the natural history of China. This was supplemented by a gift of $5,000 by the late Stanley Smith in aid of the Society's funds in 1965. There have been no changes in the Council of the Society during the year except that the vacant office of Vice Chairman in place of Prof. K. E. Robinson was filled by the appointment by the Council under Rule 11 of the constitution of Mr. J. W. Hayes who has been Editor of the Journal since 1966 and whose scholarly contributions to it and his popular tours of historic Hong Kong have been so greatly appreciated. The Council is a hard working body and meets at least once a month, and its activities involve a great deal of time and labour. Every member has his particular function and role to fulfil, apart from his general contribution to the Council work. It has been a great pleasure to work for ten years with such harmonious and hardworking colleagues, and I want to thank them for their loyalty and for the unremitting help they have given me over the last ten years. In resigning at this juncture from the Presidency I do so with great regret, but am happy in the knowledge that the future of the Society is in safe hands. In conclusion I want to thank the British Council for its continued support and for all the services it provides for the Society. I want last but not least to pay tribute to and thank, both on my own behalf and that of the Society, Mrs. O'Hara of the British Council for her willing and ready help during those ten years which all members of the Council have good reason to appreciate. She is an indispensable repository of the infinite details connected with the secretarial work, and her ready and Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 10 willing help has been of great value to me as President and to the Council generally. 13th May, 1970. Lectures in 1969 comprised:----- 20 January Dr. M. W. M. Lau 24 February J. R. JONES The F. A. Nixon Collection of Nestorian Crosses and the Fr. Finn Collection of Finds on Lamma Island Dr. Morris I. Berkowitz The Effects of Resettlement on the Plover Cove Villagers Prof. P. G. O'Neill The No Theatre of Japan Today Mr. K. M. A. Barnett Removing Some Barriers to Comprehension Aspects of Hong Kong Marine Fauna 11 March 8 April 15 April Dr. Lamarr B. Trott 28 April Annual General Meeting. 5 May Mr. Holmes H. Welch 24 May "The Role of Religion in Chinese Life 9 June 11 23 June A Tour of Old Shau Kei Wan organized by Mr. J. W. Hayes. Dr. Hugh D. R. Baker The Chinese Lineage Village: A Pyramid of Kinship Dr. R. K. Murton Wild Life in Hong Kong 29 September Mr. J. C. Y. Watt 23 October 17 November The Use of Jade in Old China "Look Around" Tour on Hong Kong Island organized by Mr. J. W. Hayes. Mr. G. E. Johnson From Rural Committee to Spirit Medium Cult ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1969 - 1970 A further 53 volumes of books were added to the Library during the past year, bringing the total stock to 396 volumes, excluding bound volumes of periodicals, which are mentioned separately below. Of the additions, no less than 43 were gifts, and the Branch is extremely grateful to the following donors: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong (2 publications) Diocesan Girls' School, through Miss M. B. Mansfield (Bentham's Flora Hongkongensis, 1865, and Dunn and Tutcher's Flora of Kwangtung and Hongkong, 1912) Mr. J. E. Noronha (Historic Shanghai, by C. A. Montalto de Jesus, 1909) South China Morning Post, Ltd., through the University of Hong Kong Library (9 volumes) Father Manuel Teixeira (4 of his own publications on Macau) University of Hong Kong Library (18 volumes) Another seven volumes were received through the Hon. Editor, having been sent as review copies to the Journal. Of the above, undoubtedly the most valuable is that by Bentham, which in spite of its publication date remains the primary source on Hong Kong flora. Another interesting addition is a Xerox copy of a rare private publication, Diary of events and the progress on Shameen, 1859 - 1938 by H.S.S. [H. Staples-Smith], made from the original now in the possession of Mr. J. W. Hayes.* The Hon. Librarian took advantage of the sale at the Challenge Bookshop in July to purchase eight titles of Asian interest at reduced prices. The Library continues to receive a number of valuable journals in exchange for its own publications, and a further fifteen volumes of these have been bound, bringing the total of bound volumes * There follows on, from Mr. Ryding's report, part of a letter addressed to me by The Rt. Rev. Gilbert Baker, Bishop of Hong Kong and Macao, dated 29th September, 1969, reproduced here with his kind permission, that provides this identification. The Bishop was then on the staff of Christ Church, Shameen. Ed. (Footnote continued on opposite page) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 15 to 94 (bound in 75). New exchanges were initiated during the year with the Historical Society of Dan Kook University, Seoul, and the Hong Kong Archaeological Society. As the result of an appeal to members for issues of the Hong Kong Naturalist to complete our set, two missing issues were acquired from the Diocesan Girls' School. We are very grateful for these, but we are still looking for some 17 other issues. Shortage of accommodation for the Library of the Branch remains a problem which threatens to become increasingly serious as the stock grows. Not only does the University of Hong Kong Library house the overflow of books and periodicals which cannot be accommodated at the British Council in Gloucester Building, but also the large and growing stock of back numbers of the Branch's journal are stored at the University. This cannot continue indefinitely, and it seems probable that the Branch will have to make alternative arrangements within two or three years. Use of the Library continues to be relatively light, though some slight improvement has been observed. Also some of the books kept for the Branch at the University Library were consulted. As it is intended to produce a complete, revised catalogue of the contents of the Library during the coming year, no supplementary list of publications is included with this report. Hong Kong, 11th May, 1970. Dear Mr. Hayes, H. A. RYDINGS, Hon. Librarian. Now I have received your photostat copy of the Diary of Events and Progress on Shameen. As I suspected, the diary of events is compiled by H. Staples-Smith, who was for many years one of the leading members of the Firm of Deacon & Co., Shameen. I knew him when I first came out to Canton. He was a devoted member and churchwarden of Christ Church and I used to have breakfast in his house after the early service in days soon after I was ordained. He was always most interesting about the early days in Shameen, and I am very glad to have this record. It is of course only a very small side-light on the history of Canton as a whole, but it is well worth having because these memories soon fade and much of the material is probably unobtainable elsewhere. Again with many thanks for your help. Yours very sincerely, GILBERT BAKER, Bishop of Hong Kong and Macao. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 A BRITISH WARTIME CHART SHOWING HONG KONG 133 Lister, R. How to Identify old Maps and Globes (London, 1965) p. 222. Robinson, A. H. W. Marine Cartography in Britain (Leicester, 1962) p. 123, pp. 182-183. 3 The whole matter is extremely complicated. It is not possible to say with confidence whether the mathematical basis of the chart is Mercator's projection or a simple Plain Chart. The mean distance on the chart between 22°N and 23°N is 333.5 mm. Cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, 1910, Vol. VIII, pages 802 and 810. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World Weights and Measures (New York, 1967) page 13. Doursther, H. Dictionaire Universel des Poids et Measures (Brussels, 1940) page 279. Chriss, M. and Hayes, G. R. An Introduction to Charts and Their Use (Glasgow, 1964) page 10. 1936. Taylor, E. G. R. The Haven-Finding Art (London, 1956) Chapter 10. 4 For modern latitudes cf. British Admiralty. Chart No. 2562, Canton River and Si Kiang Delta. British Directorate of Overseas Surveys. Series 231, Sheet 13B, 1968. For navigational techniques cf. Taylor, op. cit. 5 Cf. The Principles of the International Phonetic Association (London, 1949) p. 10. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 188 NOTES AND QUERIES But luckily for them and for me, the prophet's prediction proved to be an invention of his own, and nobody was injured but his own reputation. Hong Kong, May 1969. JAMES HAYES HEMP A few years ago, I wrote about itinerant Hakka craftsmen who came regularly to some of the New Territories villages to weave locally grown hemp-flax into cloth for making clothes (see the 1968 Journal, pp. 162-165). In the course of reading and making further enquiries, more information has become available that may interest readers of my earlier note on this now relatively obscure subject. A few words of background may serve to show that the disappearance of this crop and this craft from Hong Kong in comparatively recent times signals the end of a practice that must have been followed from time immemorial in this region and elsewhere. Hemp constituted the main source of textiles in China until the introduction of cotton from the tenth or eleventh centuries A.D. According to M. Loewe's Everyday Life in Early Imperial China (London, B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1968), the planting of hemp for the coarse raiment in which most of the population was clothed was already one of the farmer's main occupations in the Han time (202 B.C.-A.D. 200) along with another prime necessity, grain for food. Fragments of a short text on husbandry ascribed to Ts'ui Shih (c. 100-170) set out a yearly programme of activities for the farmer and his household and include instructions on the cultivation and use of hemp. Unfortunately, however, despite the use of hemp clothing by the bulk of the Han population, it is of silk fabrics that most is known today. By the late Sung period in the mid-13th century, ordinary people still wore clothes made of hempen cloth since cotton, too, was a luxury, though its use had begun to spread (see Jacques Gernet Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 (London, George Allen and Unwin, 1962, p. 130). The description of the planting, preparation, and processing of hemp that follows is taken from pp. 205-208 of Samuel... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 188 NOTES AND QUERIES But luckily for them and for me, the prophet's prediction proved to be an invention of his own, and nobody was injured but his own reputation. Hong Kong, May 1969. JAMES HAYES HEMP A few years ago, I wrote about itinerant Hakka craftsmen who came regularly to some of the New Territories villages to weave locally grown hemp-flax into cloth for making clothes (see the 1968 Journal, pp. 162-165). In the course of reading and making further enquiries, more information has become available that may interest readers of my earlier note on this now relatively obscure subject. A few words of background may serve to show that the disappearance of this crop and this craft from Hong Kong in comparatively recent times signals the end of a practice that must have been followed from time immemorial in this region and elsewhere. Hemp constituted the main source of textiles in China until the introduction of cotton from the tenth or eleventh centuries A.D. According to M. Loewe's Everyday Life in Early Imperial China (London, B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1968), the planting of hemp for the coarse raiment in which most of the population was clothed was already one of the farmer's main occupations in the Han time (202 B.C.-A.D. 200) along with another prime necessity, grain for food. Fragments of a short text on husbandry ascribed to Ts'ui Shih (c. 100-170) set out a yearly programme of activities for the farmer and his household and include instructions on the cultivation and use of hemp. Unfortunately, however, despite the use of hemp clothing by the bulk of the Han population, it is of silk fabrics that most is known today. By the late Sung period in the mid-13th century, ordinary people still wore clothes made of hempen cloth since cotton, too, was a luxury, though its use had begun to spread (see Jacques Gernet Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 (London, George Allen and Unwin, 1962, p. 130). The description of the planting, preparation, and processing of hemp that follows is taken from pp. 205-208 of Samuel ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 190 NOTES AND QUERIES in the sun, then assorted, and the whitest selected for fine cloth. A partial bleaching is effected on the fibres before they undergo further division, sometimes by boiling, and at others by pounding on a plank with a mallet. When the cloth is finished it undergoes a process of glazing, which is done by a rude machine most effectually. A sort of bed or tray is laid down firmly in the ground, the inside curved or scalloped, and made very smooth. Upon this the cloth is carefully spread; a small cylinder is laid above, and upon that a stone with a smooth face, having the ends turned upwards. A man mounts this stone, and places one foot on each end, giving it a see-saw motion working the cylinder backwards and forwards with great power, and imparting a fine glaze to the cloth, equal to hot-pressing in European factories. It is not known to what part of China this description refers. For details of the plant species and practice in West China and Chekiang see A. Hosie, Three years in West China (London, George Philip and son, 2nd Edn., 1897) pp. 73-74. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES COACH TOUR OF EASTERN HONG KONG ISLAND 18TH OCTOBER, 1969 Colonial Cemetery, Happy Valley This is the oldest of the several old cemeteries at Happy Valley. It was opened on 1st February, 1844, covers 23.75 acres and contains 11,680 graves.* There are many old graves and monuments dating from the mid-19th century, some of them scarcely legible. Military and naval graves and monuments, some of them very large, are much in evidence. They record the deaths of officers and men while stationed in Hong Kong or in Far Eastern waters, and on active service during the China Wars of 1856-1860. Unfortunately, there is no register of prominent burials for easy reference, so we shall just have to look around. * Information provided by the Urban Services Department. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 190 NOTES AND QUERIES in the sun, then assorted, and the whitest selected for fine cloth. A partial bleaching is effected on the fibres before they undergo further division, sometimes by boiling, and at others by pounding on a plank with a mallet. When the cloth is finished it undergoes a process of glazing, which is done by a rude machine most effectually. A sort of bed or tray is laid down firmly in the ground, the inside curved or scalloped, and made very smooth. Upon this the cloth is carefully spread; a small cylinder is laid above, and upon that a stone with a smooth face, having the ends turned upwards. A man mounts this stone, and places one foot on each end, giving it a see-saw motion working the cylinder backwards and forwards with great power, and imparting a fine glaze to the cloth, equal to hot-pressing in European factories. It is not known to what part of China this description refers. For details of the plant species and practice in West China and Chekiang see A. Hosie, Three years in West China (London, George Philip and son, 2nd Edn., 1897) pp. 73-74. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES COACH TOUR OF EASTERN HONG KONG ISLAND 18TH OCTOBER, 1969 Colonial Cemetery, Happy Valley This is the oldest of the several old cemeteries at Happy Valley. It was opened on 1st February, 1844, covers 23.75 acres and contains 11,680 graves.* There are many old graves and monuments dating from the mid-19th century, some of them scarcely legible. Military and naval graves and monuments, some of them very large, are much in evidence. They record the deaths of officers and men while stationed in Hong Kong or in Far Eastern waters, and on active service during the China Wars of 1856-1860. Unfortunately, there is no register of prominent burials for easy reference, so we shall just have to look around. * Information provided by the Urban Services Department. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 NOTES AND QUERIES 193 The barracks are at present occupied by the 1st Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, the old 33rd or 1st Yorkshire West Riding Regiment of Foot, raised in 1702 for the War of the Spanish Succession. It is one of the last surviving regiments of British Infantry to retain its individual identity. The Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. D. W. Shuttleworth, the well-known Army and England Rugger International, has very kindly allowed us to take tea in the Officers' Mess where the Colours and some of the Regimental Silver will be on display. Some officers of the Regiment will be on hand in civilian clothes to act as hosts, to explain the Silver and to answer visitors' questions. Stanley Military Cemetery There are 663 graves in this 2.5 acre cemetery,* some of them dating from the 1840s and 1860s when there was a permanent garrison at Stanley (on the site of the present St. Stephen's Boys School) and others from the 1939-1945 War and the period of civilian internment at Stanley Prison. The cemetery pre-dates even the Colonial Cemetery, having been opened on 21st July, 1843. Note the large grave stones to some soldiers killed by Chinese Pirates in Stanley Bay in the 1840s. Hong Kong, October 1969, JAMES HAYES THE SAN ON MAP OF MGR. VOLONTIERI In last year's Journal (pp. 141-148) Dr. Ronald C. Y. Ng contributed an interesting article on this subject, reprinted by kind permission from the Geographical Journal Vol. 135, Part 2 (June) 1969.* Noting the bilingual nature of the map which used English and Chinese characters for place names Dr. Ng concluded that the document 'was intended primarily for English-speaking users' and described it as 'simultaneously a map and a gazetteer of the District'. * Readers may be interested to learn that the Australian National Library at Canberra has made available for sale Xerox copies of this interesting map from an original copy in their collection. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 194 NOTES AND QUERIES The map was clearly of potential value for any persons travelling in or having business with the District, and Colonial Office documents now in the Public Record Office, London show that it was, in fact, used by British diplomats and administrators during the important negotiations following the Convention of Peking of 6 June 1898, which leased the present New Territories to Great Britain, and before the take-over of the leased area in March-April 1899. On 10 February 1899 the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Henry Blake, sent a telegram to Sir Claude Macdonald, the British Minister at Peking urging him to secure the important market town of Shum Chun, just north of the leased area (an afterthought on the part of local Hong Kong officials) and advising that it could be located on the Missionary map of 1866'. This is clearly a reference to Mgr. Volontieri's map, which includes the date (May 1866) in the descriptive lettering. Again, when Governor Blake wired to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Chamberlain, on 10 March 1899 he advised, in an accompanying 'Memorandum regarding the proposed survey of the Territory in Kwang Tung Province leased by Great Britain from China' (being Enclosure 1 to telegram No. 53): 'There is available a fairly correct map of the country, on a scale of an inch to the mile, prepared by the Jesuit missionary (sic). It shows the coast line correctly; the position of all villages, streams, roads, etc., approximately'. This memorandum was drawn up by the Director of Public Works in Hong Kong with the assistance of Colonel Elsdale, R.E. These passages make it fairly clear that Mgr. Volontieri's map-making efforts in the early 1860s were of considerable assistance to British officials nearly forty years later. The documents quoted above are in CO129/290 in the Public Record Office, London. Hong Kong, 1970. Postscript JAMES HAYES The notice that follows came to my attention recently. It appeared in the Hongkong Government Gazette, 26th May 1866 and is an interesting and valuable addition to our knowledge of this subject, being the original announcement of the project to the Hong Kong public. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 NOTES AND QUERIES 197 took place locally, in the areas just across the Sino-British border at Sha Tau Kok. The villagers of these three places became alarmed for the fate of their cherished Tin Hau image and brought it into British territory for safety. They also brought back two incense burners (†) dated in the 2nd and 3rd years of Kuang Hsü (1876-78) that had been donated by local shops and fishermen in one case and by Lin Ma Hang (A) natives then in Australia (J). The leaders of the three villages then combined to form the Sha Tau Kok Three Villages Tin Hau Temple Building Committee (沙頭角三鄉籌建天后廟委員會) and obtained a temporary building permit from the Tai Po District Office to erect a temple for the image. The temple is situated at map reference KV 140962 at the west end of Kong Ha Village in the Frontier Closed Area. It is under the management of a special trust, the Sam Wo Tong (*) constituting one manager each from Tong To, Tan Shui Hang and Sha Tsui villages. Photographs of this new temple and of the Tin Hau image which inspired such devotion can be seen at Plates 30 and 31. Place names used in this note can be found in A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. (H.K. Govt. Printer, n.d. but 1960) pp. 216-218. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES PILE HOUSES AT TAI O, LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG, 7TH JANUARY 1937 Editor's Note The following details of some of the interesting pile houses or matsheds on stilts that survive in considerable numbers in Tai O Creek to the present day are taken from one of Mr. Walter Schofield's notebooks, under the date given in the heading. Mr. Schofield (1888-1968) served in the Hong Kong Cadet (Administrative) Service between 1911-1938 in various posts, including those of District Officer South, Chief Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs and First Police Magistrate. He was also a well- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 204 BOOK REVIEWS because there is a much greater body of pre-war material than the items included here. This criticism could have been turned away by an indication, beyond the qualifications already made in the introduction, that this was a selected bibliography. The introduction is a useful and stimulating part of the work. Besides explaining how the bibliography has been brought together, and why, it draws attention to some of the lacunae in Hong Kong studies, especially in the social science field. However this is surely as much due to the lack of a social science faculty at the University of Hong Kong until recently and the small size of the faculties in the colleges of the Chinese University, than, as the writers suggest, to 'purposive decisions..... to avoid issues with important policy overtures'. The complaint that nowhere in Hong Kong is there a full collection of Hongkongiana is still, I believe, justified and should be remedied... perhaps to the extent of compiling a master list of books on the subject available in the main Hong Kong libraries. As a publication, it is well produced and printed, though it bears many marks of hasty compilation and checking that were probably due to its issue coinciding with the departure of the joint compilers from Hong Kong. These should be put right on a second issue. And, if I may end on a personal note, I always like to see titles and authors on the spine - it is so much more convenient when looking for a book. Hong Kong, 1970. + JAMES HAYES FOLK RELIGION IN AN URBAN SETTING. A STUDY OF HAKKA VILLAGERS IN TRANSITION. Morris I. Berkowitz, Frederick P. Brandauer, John H. Reid. Hong Kong, Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture, 1969. As the first book-length study of Chinese religious practices in Hong Kong, this report deserves our careful consideration. Studies of Chinese folk religious practices are rare enough, and those of Hakka villagers are still rarer; therefore this general study of Hakka religion is very welcome indeed. The book represents the first of a series of research projects to be conducted by the Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 214 BOOK REVIEWS hopes 'that it will also serve as a reference book for permanent residents, not only those whose interest in local history will be satisfied with what they read in its pages, but those desirous of going back to its sources and judging their value' which they are enabled to do through the bibliography and frequent allusions to other works in the text. There can be no doubt that the author has succeeded in his purpose. This is a book that can be recommended with complete confidence to old residents, new arrivals, and casual visitors alike as being far in advance of anything else of its kind, in or out of print. So much rubbish has been written about Hong Kong that it is a delight to pick up a reference work which is as full and as accurate as wide reading and careful work can make it, and one too which is lively, intelligent, sane, and stimulating. Besides the usual run of information essential to the tourist and useful to the resident, and the descriptive material on the various districts and places of interest, there are interesting general historical sketches of the development and character of Hong Kong and Macau, and brief summaries of the relations of each place with China. Mr. Jones is to be congratulated on such a worthwhile addition to the literature. Members of the Branch will feel gratified that the author has made extensive use of the contents of the Journal since its first number was published in 1961 and that in the bibliography he has commented that the articles on local subjects 'collectively represent an outstanding contribution to knowledge of the history, natural history, ethnology, etc. of the region'. If our efforts assist towards the appearance of guides like this, they represent time well spent in Hong Kong's interests. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES THE CHINESE FESTIVE BOARD Corinne Lamb, 153 pp. illus. Hong Kong, Vetch & Lee, 1970. This reprint of The Chinese Festive Board by Corinne Lamb is readable and informative. She gives a short insight into those pre-war days when living was more leisurely for all classes and food was one of the important things in life. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 222 GUILLAUME, Baron P. de HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G.. HAFFNER, C. HALL, Miss J. Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. Unknown. Spence Robinson Architects, The Atelier, Broadwood Road, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Room 514, H.K. HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. c/o St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton HAMILTON, Bill G.--. HARDEN, Mrs, G. T., Jr.* - HARRISON, Prof. B. HARTWELL, Sir Charles HARTWELL, Lady HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. HAYIM, E. J.* HAYWARD, G, W. HECHTEL, F. O. P. - HENSMAN, Prof. Bertha HERRIES, M. A. R. - - - Road, H.K. 13768 Hower Drive, Saratoga, Calif. 95070, US.A. 15 Shek O, H.K. c/o Dept. of History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada, c/o Public Service Commission, Central Government Offices, H.K. As above. c/o The Supreme Court, H.K. c/o The Colonial Secretariat, H.K. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, H.K. c/o British Embassy, Kastelsvej 38-40, Copenhagen. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. c/o St. Anne's College, Oxford, England. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., H.K. d'HESTROY, Baron P. de G. The Belgian Embassy, 1653 Galle Viamonte, HILL, D. A. HILSDALE, Mrs. E. P. · HỌ, Mrs. Hung-chiu HO, Teh-kuei. HO, Tickon* - HOCHSTADTER, Dr. W. HODGE, Peter HOGAN, Sir Michael - T - Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1633 Compton Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44118, U.S.A. 2762 Woodshire Drive, Los Angeles, Calif. 90028, U.S.A. 11, Briar Avenue, First Floor, H.K. Lakeside Building, 13th Floor, B, 259 Gloucester Road, H.K, 50, Village Road, Ground Floor, Happy Valley, H.K. 9, Cambridge Road, 1st Floor, Kowloon. c/o Dept. of Social Work, University of Hong Kong, H.K. Unknown, * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Trench, G.C.M.G., M.C. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1971: President: Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., HON.LL.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Marjorie Topley, B.SC.(ECON.), PH.D. J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Secretary: Miss E. M. Bellord Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A. H. T. Wu, M.A., J.P. G. A. Bridges, M.A. Commander F. Warrington-Strong, D.S.C.,* R.N.RETD. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g CONTENTS Page 1 1 1 1 PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1970 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1970 THE LIBRARY 1970-71 9 13 ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED: The Taipings at Ningpo: The Significance of a Forgotten Event STEPHEN UHALLEY, JNR. 17 33 The Debate on National Salvation: Ho Kai Versus Tseng Chi-tse-CHIU LING-YEONG 52 Letters from China 1835-36-HON. EDITOR Chinese Voluntary Associations in Southeast Asian Cities and the Kaifongs in Hong Kong-ALINE K. WONG 62 The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong-CARL T. Smith The District Watch Committee: "The Chinese Executive Council of Hong Kong'-H. J. LETHBRIDGE A Brief Report on Sung-Type Pottery Finds in Hong Kong-J. C. Y. WATT A Short History of Military Volunteers in Hong Kong-JAMES HAYES 74 116 142 151 Articles Reprinted: The Colony of Hong Kong-Rev. James LEGGE 172 NOTES AND QUERIES Visit to the Tung Lin Kok Yuen, and other places on Hong Kong Island 194 Rope-making and Dyeing/Calendering on Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong JAMES HAYES 198 Charcoal Burning in Hong Kong 199 What Inspired Sir John Bowring's Hymn?-J. M. BRAGA 203 Ceremonies of Propitiation Carried Out in connection with Road Works in the New Territories in 1960 G. C. W. GROUT & HON. Editor 204 BOOK REVIEWS List of MEMBERS 210 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g ترا 11 May 22 June Dr. Hu Shiu-ying "Flowering Plants of Hong Kong.” Dr. Chiu Ling-yeong +4 Two Views on the Modernization of China." 21 September Mr. Kwok On 7 November 12 December (Talk, Demonstration and Performances) "Puppet Show." Mr. James Hayes (Organiser) Excursion to Tung Lin Kok Yuen, the Tam Kung Temple, Happy Valley and the Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay, Mr. David Gilkes (Organiser) Excursion to Tao Fong Shan, Shatin. (The Christian Mission to Buddhists). Taking into consideration the variation in the popularity of subjects and in the availability of lecturers, the lectures last year were on the whole as well attended as could be expected, and this raises two points of special interest to our Society. One is the availability of suitable halls at the times we want them, and the other the choice of subjects. Regarding the former, it is becoming more difficult to make short-notice bookings of lecture halls in Hong Kong and this is due partly to the increasing demand and partly to long-term block booking by some organizations. This is going to remain a permanent difficulty, and an increasing one too, and the only answer I can see to it is the ultimate acquisition of our own premises, which incidentally would solve one of our library problems as well. Regarding the choice of subjects, popularity of the subject is not the only point taken into consideration by your Committee when arranging the lecture programmes. Our chief aim is to cater during each year for as many tastes among our members as possible, and hence variety of subjects, rather than popularity, is the main criterion. A glance at the above list will, I think, convince you that that is what we are achieving. Your Committee would therefore welcome suggestions or requests from members ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 4 from time to time regarding lecture subjects, and particularly would welcome advance information any of you may have regarding impending visits to the Colony of experts in some branch of Asian affairs, who may be willing to lecture to the Society during their stop-over here in Hong Kong. Other Meetings. In addition to the 10th Anniversary Dinner already referred to, mention must be made of the Annual General Meeting and of the Council meetings. The Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday, 13th May, 1970, in the Hong Kong Club, at which the reports of the President and the Treasurer were received, the officers of the Society and Council Members were elected and the Auditors appointed. The officers and council members elected were as follows: President: Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E. Officers of the Society Vice-Presidents: Dr. Marjorie Topley Mr. J. W. Hayes Hon. Secretary: Mr. J. L. H. Webster, C.M.G. Hon. Librarian: Mr. H. A. Rydings, M.B.E. Hon. Treasurer: Mr. D. A. Gilkes Other Members of Council Dr J. R. Jones, C.B.E. (Past-President). Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E. Mr. H. T. Wu Commander F. Warrington-Strong, D.S.C. Mr. G. A. Bridges During the year, the Council met nine times, and I have much pleasure in informing you that (a) on the 4th May, 1970, Mr. J. W. Hayes was appointed to the vacant Vice-Presidency; (b) on the 29th June, Dr. J. R. Jones, the retiring President, was invited to become an Honorary Member of the Society, an invitation which he honoured us by accepting. This action was taken under Rule 9 which provides that "Persons of eminent attainment, rank or situation or persons who have rendered distinguished service towards ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 5 + + + the attainment of the objects of the Society may be admitted by the Council to be Honorary Members. In the opinion of the Council, and I am sure it will be the unanimous opinion of the Annual General Meeting also, Dr. Jones qualifies for this highest award we have the power to bestow, on all these grounds. (c) on the 12th October, the Council agreed "that should Mr. Hayes succeed in being able to go to the 28th International Conference of Orientalists in Canberra in the early part of January 1971, he would be the Society's Representative." (Arising out of this Mr. Hayes did represent us at Canberra, and on his return gave a talk, 15th February 1971, to the Society on the Conference.) (d) on 14th December, the Council decided that the President should write to the Chairman of the Select Committee of the Urban Council in support of the project that Hong Kong should have a proper museum on a suitable site. This letter was received by the Chairman and his Committee with great pleasure and approval.* Reports by the Hon. Treasurer and the Hon. Librarian, concerning financial and library matters, will be tabled separately later in this meeting. Membership. The total number of members on the books of the Society at the end of 1970 was 501. The number of new members joining during the year was 39 (1 Life Member and 38 Ordinary Members), while our loss in membership was 22 (2 deceased, 20 resigned), making a net gain in membership for the year of 17. The contacts recently made between some of our members either personally or officially and other organizations in the Orient with aims similar to ours, continues. Examples were the visit from members of the Korean branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in November last, and also the contacts recently made between ourselves on the one hand and the 28th International Congress of Orientalists at Canberra, and the National Association of Historians of Asia in Manila,† on the other. * Subsequently a letter was also sent to the Honourable Colonial Secretary: this is reproduced at pp. 7-8. † Attended by the President. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 138 H. J. LETHBRIDGE with a passion for tidiness disliked them intensely. In this case, I suspect, the Registrar General bowed to the will of the Committee. 26 There was a marked tendency for the committees of such associations to grow very large in size-so many affluent Chinese wanted their names recorded as committeemen, and to donate money, without of course doing any committee work. Professor Freedman supplies an explanation for this phenomenon in Singapore: 'Since office-holding occupies a strategic position in the formation of social status, it is not surprising that the structure of associations seems adapted to this function. This adaptation is clear in two features: the elaboration of offices, such that many positions are made available, and the institutional arrangements for filling the offices with the well-to-do', Maurice Freedman, Chinese Marriage and Family in Singapore, London, H.M.S.O., 1957, p. 95. 27 In 1903 the proposed scheme of detectives under the control of the Committee was not approved; but permission was given at a later date, apparently during the First World War and probably because of the shortage of European policemen. 28 In 1938 there were 5 Head District Watchmen, 6 Assistant Head District Watchmen, 26 detectives and 103 uniformed men. The position was approximately the same in 1941. 29 In 1902 the rate paid by Chinese shops was increased slightly and in 1924 it was increased by another 1/4 per cent. 30 Butters writes that the figures which appear annually regarding the cost of living in the report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs are based on information obtained from the District Watch Force. At my request figures were furnished from the same source showing the cost of living of an ordinary labourer': H. R. Butters, Report on Labour and Labour Conditions in Hong Kong, Sessional Papers, No. 3 of 1939, p. 137. Applications from guilds and trade unions to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for permission to hold 'sing songs' were granted conditionally on a district watchman attending the meeting to see that nothing unlawful transpired. See Butters, p. 126. The watchmen were always regarded as a source of information about the Chinese population. When the commission on chair and jinricksha coolies attempted to discover whether there was a secret union of public transport workers, the first people they contacted for information about the matter were district watchmen. See Report of the Commission on Chair and Jinricksha Coolies, Sessional Papers, No. 47 of 1901, p. 56. 31 The Registrar General in his report for 1868 made this quite clear: 'the chief object of the Chinese paying these watchmen is to drive away thieves, the cardinal evil of a shop-keeping population, And it is thought that the watchmen succeed, not only in arresting actual offenders, but also in keeping away those who live by pilfering'. 32 These constables were recruited mostly from Weihaiwei, a territory leased to Britain on 1 July, 1898. 33 These facts are taken from the reports of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for the respective years. 34 See above: note 33. 35 The Lok Sin Tong was an association established by officials and village gentry in Kowloon about 1879 to perform charitable works in the surrounding district. See James Hayes, 'Old ways of Life in Kowloon: The Cheung Sha Wan Villages', Journal of Oriental Studies, vol. viii, 1970, p. 167. The Chung Sing Charitable Society, originally known as the Chung Sing Opera Society, was founded around 1917 by a leading merchant, Tsang Foo. This charity also maintained a free school. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g SUNG-TYPE POTTERY FINDS IN HONG KONG 149 among the sites, will at least be an important step towards an understanding of the overall pattern of early cultural and trade relations between China and South-east Asia over a period of several centuries. This comparative study will, of course, become more meaningful still when the pottery traditions of South China are better known, NOTES 1 A report of the finds at Shek Pik by Hayes and Watt appeared in the Journal of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, Vol. I, 1968, pp. 19-23. 2 Jao Tsung-i: Kowloon in Historical Records of Sung Period, Hong Kong 1959. 3 Lo Hsiang-lin: Hong Kong and Its External Communications before 1842, Chapter on “Last of the Sungs", Hong Kong 1963. 4 According to the survey sheets and land ownership schedules kept in the District Office, Islands, New Territories Administration. 5 WW 1963.1, pp. 27-35. 6 WWTKTL 1958.2, pp. 34-37 and WW 1959.6, pp. 62-71. 7 WWTKTL 1958.2, p. 37. 8 L. and C. Locsin: Oriental Ceramics discovered in the Philippines, Tuttle, 1968. 9 Ku-Kung Po-wu-yuan Yuan-k'an, No. 2, 1960, pp. 121-123. 10 WW 1965.2, pp. 26-31. 11 UKK 1965.6, pp. 287-288. 12 Kuang-chou Hsi-ts'un Ka-yao I-tzu, 1958.9, Wen Wu Press. 13 See, for example, Plate V, KKTH 1956.4. Also Plate XVI (2) in J. C. Y. Watt: A Han Tomb in Lei Cheng Uk, Hong Kong, City Museum Handbook, 1970. 14 WWTKTL 1955.10. 15 See notes on pp. 161-3 JHKBRAS Vol. 9, 1969. 16 KK 1962.8 pp. 414-415 and KK 1964.4 pp. 196-199. WWTKTL = Wen-wu-ts'an-k'ao-tzu-liao WW = Wen-wu KKTH = K'ao-ku-t'ung-hsün KK = K'ao-ku Chinese Names and Terms Nim Shu Wan 稔樹灣 Kai Tak 啟德 Page 165 Page 166 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g A SHORT HISTORY OF MILITARY VOLUNTEERS IN HONG KONG JAMES HAYES* On the occasion of the disbandment of the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps in May 1866, His Excellency, after expressing his thanks for time, exertions and money spent for objects so essentially Public, went on to express his belief that the spirit which originated the Volunteer movement would be found to exist fresher and stronger than before, if any real and urgent necessity were to arise for defending, by force of arms, the rights of the Crown, or maintaining the supremacy of the Law in this Colony. The Hong Kong Volunteers would doubtless in such emergency come to the front again more numerous and efficient than ever! INTRODUCTION There have been military volunteers in Hong Kong for almost as long as there has been a Colony. Hong Kong was occupied in 1841 and the first volunteers were established thirteen years later, in 1854. However, the existence of a Volunteer force does not make Hong Kong unique. In this respect, as is shown below, it takes its place in the great movement which, in its modern re-incarnation, was created by patriotic fervour in the British Isles * Mr. Hayes is a member of the administrative branch of the Hong Kong Civil Service. He is a reserve officer of the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) and has been Hon. Editor of this Journal since 1966. 1 The Hongkong Government Gazette, 26th May 1866, G.N. No. 81. The footnotes to this article are given at the foot of each page. The following abbreviations are used:- Vol — The Volunteer, the current journal of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force published annually since 1950. Y.B. = Year Book of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps 1934-40. S.P. = Printed Sessional Papers of the Hong Kong Government, being papers presented to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Han. Hong Kong Hansard, being the published proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. These were printed in the Government Gazette and the Hong Kong Daily Press. There are bound annual volumes in the library of the Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 152 JAMES HAYES in 1859 and spread outwards through the self-governing and other territories of what became the Commonwealth and Empire. It extended to Britain's Eastern Colonies and to the foreign communities of the treaty ports of China and Japan where, from time to time, various alarms and excursions added self-preservation to the list of factors motivating the continuance or periodic resuscitation of volunteer corps. In Hong Kong the Laws of the Colony early provided for their existence as a constitutional force. A succession of Ordinances established volunteers on a proper basis. The earliest of these was No. 2 of 1862, which was repeated with slight variation in No. 18 of 1882. An important re-modelling was carried out by No. 6 of 1893. This was followed by a Volunteer Reserve Ordinance No. 25 of 1910. Both these Ordinances were replaced by a further Volunteer Ordinance No. 2 of 1920, still modelled largely on the important 1893 Ordinance. Volunteer forces were the rule in the various foreign concessions in China, though save in the larger ones local volunteer forces tended to be formed and reformed whenever events seemed to warrant it. For example, the Shameen Defence Corps was formed after a serious riot in 1884 and was reformed from time to time, e.g. in May 1911 due to the unsettled state of affairs in Canton (see Diary of Events and the Progress on Shameen 1859-1938 compiled by H.S.S. and privately printed about 1938, pp. 19-26). The largest of the China volunteer units was, in time, the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. This originated at two public meetings held in April 1853 and its early doings are described in Chapter XXXV of Lanning and Couling's The History of Shanghai, Part I (Shanghai, Kelly & Walsh, 1921). Interesting details of its development are given here and there in Brigadier J. V. Davidson-Houston's Yellow Creek, The Story of Shanghai (London, Putnam, 1962). As in Hong Kong, the passing of the first emergency resulted in the demise of the Corps. "Enthusiasm for the Volunteer Corps sank to a low ebb, members neglected to turn up for training and it was soon practically defunct" (p. 58). The Corps was again raised in August 1860 with the onset of the Taiping rebels, when 107 volunteers came forward for enrolment (p. 65). However, after the successful operations against the rebels the Corps "wilted and died" and was wound up in 1867 to "pay for its debtor's balance by selling its rifles" although the rifle club continued to function (p. 90). The Corps was again formed in 1870 following the Tientsin massacre and continued in being thereafter, its numbers fluctuating between 250-350 for the rest of the 19th century (pp. 92-93). It then continued to grow in size, like the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, to meet the difficulties of the troubled 1920s and the war with Japan. The number of foreign residents in China is relevant to the size and location of Volunteer Corps. Some figures are given at pp. 292-295 of J. Dyer Ball's Things Chinese or Notes Connected with China, 4th edition, Hongkong, Kelly and Walsh 1903. There were, for instance, 4,424 foreigners in Shanghai (exclusive of those living in the French Settlement) in 1895 and 6774 in 1900. The Hong Kong Census of 1891 listed 10,446 British and foreign residents. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 154 JAMES HAYES account which is intended to provide a factual background to, and trace the major influences on, local volunteering over this long period. DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANISATION (a) 1854-1914 The different motivations, needs and attitudes of changing times provide some of the most interesting aspects of the history of the Hong Kong Volunteer Force. Danger is always a stimulus to volunteer efforts and the first Volunteers owed their origin to a foreign 'scare' occurring at a time of war with Russia and imagined insecurity in Hong Kong. This led the colonial authorities in June 1854 to take the initiative in calling for a corps of Volunteers for the defence of the lives and properties of themselves and their families in the temporary absence of a naval force sufficient to deal with an emergency. (It is interesting that Government called for an Auxiliary Police Force at the same time.) This call lost its magic when the emergency did not materialise and naval protection was restored, and for a few years there were no Volunteers in being.7 Attempts to form a new Corps in 1857 proved an utter failure, the subject was mooted in the press in 1860 without result, and the eventual establishment of a new body of Volunteers on 7 April 1862 can be traced to an enthusiast, Captain Frederick Brine, Royal Engineers, a regular officer who had formed the Shanghai Volunteers in 1861 and went on to form other corps at Hankow and Yokohama. This second Hong Kong corps was disbanded in May 1866. A third Volunteer Corps was formed in May 1878, arising out of the danger of war with Russia the previous year. It was entitled the Hong Kong Artillery and Rifle Volunteer Corps. Endacott gives a succinct account of this body: It numbered 150 by the end of the year, but when the crisis passed interest waned; there were quarrels, and all 7 See Vol, 1954, pp. 17-23 and Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, (Oxford University Press, 1958) pp. 90, 119. 8 Endacott, pp. 119-120. The Hong Kong Volunteers were organised as a battery of artillery with a band and rifle company added within a year see Major Arthur Chapman's article in Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc. (1908) p. 274. ================================================================================ 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-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 158 JAMES HAYES undoubtedly due to the Volunteer Movement and to the succession of small imperial wars in the last 25 years of the 19th century which popularised the Army, and fed the emotional needs of imperial Britain in the Victorian age. Between 1902 and 1914 it was due to the sobering effect of the Boer War and the growing realisation by many of the need to reform and rearm against a possible European enemy. Soldiers, in short, were in the public eye, and Hong Kong was no exception to the general rule. Here, and in the treaty ports, another factor in the popularity of, and support given to, the volunteer corps was the pool of potential recruits provided by the employees of the major European firms, many of whom had attended public schools in Britain and were well suited by their education and sentiment to play a leading part in the volunteer movement. (b) 1914-41 The 1914-18 War saw many Volunteers go off to the War in Europe, and led to increased duties for the Corps due to the need to employ regular forces on active service elsewhere. Numbers dropped and compulsory service was introduced in 1917.18 In 1920, shortly after the War, a new Volunteer Ordinance was introduced to replace those of 1893 and 1910 which regulated the existing Volunteer Corps and Volunteer Reserve. When introduced into the Legislative Council, it was stated to closely follow the old Ordinance, but with a few changes to meet altered times. The Volunteer Force was now "considered desirable for two reasons for defence against foreign enemies, and also in order to assist the Police and regular forces in case of any serious local disturbances'19 (my italics). We are coming nearer our own times in which the present Regiment was called upon in 1966 and again in 1967 to assist with “duties in aid of the civil power” i.e., internal security. The obligation to serve was also to become more serious. Every Volunteer was to be deemed to have engaged himself to serve for a period of three years and if he left before this without showing good cause he would henceforth have to 18 For the war period see Vol, 1954, pp. 58-67 and Endacott, pp. 284-285. See also the Military Service Ordinance, No. 19 of 1917, 19 Han., 1920, p. 15. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 160 JAMES HAYES By 1940 this force had been considerably expanded to include four batteries of artillery and one anti-aircraft battery, seven machine gun or rifle companies, a mobile column consisting of two platoons of armoured cars and three of medium machine guns, a fortress signal company, corps signals and engineers, an Army Service Corps company and others. All these men were recruited as volunteers, although no doubt some of them felt that the pressure exerted upon them by events and by their fellow-men made it easier to fall in with the rest than stay away. At any rate, the Commandant was able to say in 1940 that "the Corps is now as strong as it is ever likely to be".21 The G.O.C., Lieutenant-General E. F. Norton clearly thought they were good in quality as well as in numbers, because in a message dated 30th October, 1940 he said that the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps was "in an eminently satisfactory state of efficiency".22 This was no doubt true despite rapid expansion, but only because, as the Year Books show, its leaders had long been aware of the growing danger from Japan in the east and Germany in the west. In his message for the Year Book of 1936 the then G.O.C. had made a particular point of urging on the drive for volunteers,23 and in the 1937 issue the Editorial emphasized that, however willing, young men were useless in an emergency without previous training.24 Of the drive for efficiency there can also be no doubt. The Commandant's annual report ended with the statement that the headquarters staff of the Corps "had one object and interest..... to make the unit as efficient as possible to take its place beside the regular Army in the defence of the Colony.”25 The expansion of these last few pre-war years contains one feature of great significance: the inclusion of Hong Kong Chinese in the Corps in separate units. No. 4 (Chinese) Company was formed in October, 1937 "with two platoons each of 30 machine gunners"26 and No. 7 Company some time later. The Corps had been slow in this respect; although it is clear from the Com- 21 Y.B., 1940, p. 7. 22 Y.B., 1940, p. 4. 23 Y.B., 1936, p. 6. 24 Y.B., 1937, p. 3. 25 Y.B., 1937, p. 7. 26 Y.B., 1938, p. 47. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 162 JAMES HAYES mentions in despatches.32 On 1st May 1951, H.M. The King was pleased to approve the change of title of the Hong Kong Defence Force to be, in future, the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force and, in 1957, it was accorded the right to carry the battle-honour 'Hong Kong' like those Regular Infantry units that had taken part in the defence of the Colony. The Honour is worn on the Queen's Colour at present carried by The Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers).34 (c) The Post-War Period. The Volunteer Ordinance was re-enacted in 1948, and again in 1951; only this time, for the first time in the history of volunteer soldiering in the Colony, the Corps, now under the new Ordinance styled the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force, had to absorb and train conscripts recruited under the Compulsory Service Ordinance of 1951, as well as volunteer members. The new post-war Volunteer Ordinance of 1948 made a departure in that it created an infantry battalion to be known as "The Hong Kong Regiment", in addition to Force Head Quarters units. Whilst there had been a Machine Gun Battalion before the war it was more a collection of companies than a battalion organisation. As Colonel H. Owen Hughes who was the first C.O. of the new unit remarks, "The essential difference from the former H.K.V.D.C. was our establishment as an Infantry Battalion as opposed to the local formations of pre-war day, when the Corps had no proper Establishment but consisted of a number of independent and mostly support units, developed on an ad hoc basis". The 1951 Volunteer records that strength had crept up from 19 officers and 282 other ranks the previous year to 21 officers and 318 men, but was "still woefully short".36 It was at that juncture that the decision was taken by the Hong Kong Government to introduce a Compulsory Service Ordinance, since volunteers alone could not provide the numbers required. 32 Vol, 1954, p. 111. For war service in Hong Kong and elsewhere. 33 Vol, 1954, p. 111. 34 Vol, 1957, pp. 3 and 11-12. And now on the guidon carried by the Royal Hong Kong Regiment following the reorganisation mentioned in note 3 above. 35 Vol, 1964, pp. 42 and 45. 36 Vol, 1951, p. 31. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 164 JAMES HAYES foreign nationals offering their services and having them accepted, the Rules and Regulations published in 1899 provided (Section 8) that no person was eligible to become a member of the Corps unless, inter alia, he was a British subject. It is interesting that neither the 1920 Ordinance nor its Regulations continued this requirement. It reappeared in the 1933 Ordinance, but only to the extent that all officers had to be British subjects, nothing being said about the men. We have corroboration that there were members who were not British subjects in the 1930s because the Commandant's Report in the 1937 Year Book mentions that 31 Dutch and German members had resigned during the past twelve months because they "were in danger of losing their national status should they continue to serve"39 It is not certain who was the first Hong Kong Chinese to join the Volunteer Corps. As stated above, he would not have had to have been a British subject until 1893. After that date he would have had to have been one and, in addition to age and health requirements, would have also had to be proposed by two members of the particular unit of the Corps to which he sought admission and be approved of by the Commanding Officer of the Unit and of the Commandant of the Corps, with his name, and those of his proposers, posted for not less than five days before admission (Section 9 of the 1899 Regulations). It is unlikely that these rules were designed to keep out Chinese. Indeed the thought that they might join probably never entered the framers' heads. It was not likely that Chinese would have been interested anyway, unlike Europeans other than British subjects, some of whom may have looked back with regret on the free and easy days of early volunteering in the Colony. As it happened, Hong Kong Chinese had more chance of admission than foreigners, as Hong Kong birth provided British nationality; and by this time many sons of the educated, well-established Chinese business families of the Colony would have qualified for entry had they been sufficiently interested in what, after all, would have been a strange environment. The 1920 Ordinance made no stipulations on nationality, which probably explains why a faded picture of the Armoured Car Company in 1926, shown at the Centenary Exhibition in 1954, features the late Sir Man- 39 Y.B., 1937, p. 6. Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 166 JAMES HAYES four or five years after the end of the war, after a period of not unexpected lack of interest in any kind of soldiering, it is recorded by Colonel H. Owen Hughes that an evening spent in the Cricket Club brought forward a whole platoon (No. 1 Platoon of No. 1 Company) "many of whom had held a Commission in the War"46 Many of the Volunteers of this time had also served pre-war in Volunteer units elsewhere, and their records of service make interesting reading. As time went on, too, several generations of families, Portuguese, Eurasians, Chinese and also some Europeans with either a home or family continuity in the Colony through business or professional interests, provided several generations of volunteers. This is particularly true of the last 40 years, and many of the present generation of volunteers can give the names of fathers, uncles and cousins who have been volunteers, not just during the period of conscription, but stretching back into the inter-war and even to the pre-1914 period. An interesting study could be made of the social composition of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Hong Kong Volunteers, at different periods in their history, to relate recruitment to the various racial groups and classes of persons available and to establish, what, if any, barriers were raised to the entry of any of these at any time. DRESS AND EQUIPMENT (a) Dress. Few photographs have survived from the earlier days of volunteering in Hong Kong. Of two that are mentioned in our records, one is of Volunteers in the 1860s and was shown at the centenary exhibition in 1954.47 Another dates from the 1880s and was sent by H. H. Read, mentioned above, with his letter to the Commandant for the Year Book for 1937. Some light on dress at this period is shed by the Rules and Regulations of 1882 (but not, unfortunately, by those promulgated in 1862). Section 27 of the 1882 Rules and Regulations state that "the uniform of the Corps will consist of a blue cloth Tunic with * Plates 11-20 illustrate this article. They relate to the middle period of Volunteer history, 1895-1932. 46 Vol, 1964, p. 42. 47 Vol, 1954, p. 239. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 168 JAMES HAYES it too could be brightened up pre-1914 in that, as Major Stewart writes 'shirts, boots and socks we provided ourselves. In the matter of shirts each man was free to follow his own individual choice, and thus a 'shirt-sleeves parade' provided a colourful and variegated spectacle',50 The First Schedule (Second and Third Appendices) to the 1920 Ordinance lists the uniform for officers and members respectively and for the first time kilts, sporrans, Balmoral caps and Highland garters appear in the list of items provided, in this case for a Scottish Company. This list is repeated in the 1933 Ordinance, again in the Second and Third Appendices to the First Schedule, only this time the kilts for the Scottish Company are specified as being "Gordon" instead of "khaki serge". It is also recorded that members of the Anzac Company were to be issued with a "Hat, Felt. Service dress..... 1". These items of equipment continued, more or less, until the outbreak of war in December 1941. Many photographs in the Year Books show the Corps' appearance at that time. In accordance with this pattern of regulation, the 1948 Ordinance and the 1951 Ordinance continued to specify items of clothing whilst at all times, there have been instructions issued by Commanding Officers on the subject. As early as the 1882 Ordinance, it was stated (Section 30) that “special dress regulations will hereafter be issued". Unlike the other ranks, officers had to provide and maintain their own uniforms and appointments at their own expense until the 1920 Ordinance. This, for the first time, included an allowance to be paid to each officer on his first appointment as an officer in the Corps (Section 9(1) of the Volunteer Regulations of that year), since repeated in later Ordinances or Regulations. (b) Weapons and Equipment It is not intended here to give a recital of this important aspect of Volunteer history, but only to give a few facts from the middle period, by way of illustration. In the 1880s the batteries were equipped with 7 pounder RML guns and the machine gun company with Maxim machine guns which were the weapons 50 Vol, 1954, p. 54. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 170 JAMES HAYES supplied as Commandant.56 This trend intensified in the period after 1893. Indeed, in general terms, the 1893 Ordinance marks the transition from a private army to a public body subject to full military discipline and supervision and official financial scrutiny. This did not mean that public funds were to be spent lavishly on the Volunteer Corps. In the 1930s the Year Books speak rather wistfully of the fact that the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps was not treated so generously by its Government as were the Volunteers of the Colonial Governments of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, and did not have 'a fairy godmother' such as the Shanghai Volunteer Corps possessed in their Municipal Council57 (though in fairness it should be stated that their economies were more prosperous than Hong Kong's at this time). For instance, the need for a new Headquarters was pressing at this period and negotiations with Government were slow but had by February 1936 reached the stage when, as R. S. M. Parkinson observed sardonically at the Sergeants' Mess Annual Dinner 'they could confidently expect the building up within the next decade'.58 Like other departments of the public service, the Volunteers had to present their case for funds and take their turn in the queue. This account is no more than an introduction to the subject, which is large and important enough to deserve a full-length study similar to those of regular regiments of the British Army by professional military historians such as C. T. Atkinson, S. H. F. Johnston, and Marcus Cunliffe. However, even a short article demonstrates that Hong Kong Volunteers have a long and interesting history which in its military, community and social aspects is so much interwoven with the development of the Colony at large. Finally, Volunteering is required to generate its own momentum. In the pages of the pre-war Year Books, the post-war Volunteer Magazine and the letters and reminiscences of former Volunteers, there is abundant evidence of the spirit which has 56 Endacott, p. 209. 57 Y.B., 1935-36, p. 7 and 1938, p. 8. 58 Y.B., 1938, p. 35. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g NOTES AND QUERIES 197 lawsuit after one of them had tried to keep the temple and its profits for himself. The eight fongs, or branches, of the Tai clan take it in turn, for periods of one year, to manage the temple which, it would appear, has had a not inconsiderable revenue from worshippers, especially in the past. The present manager has a brother, and his next turn in charge will be 16 years from now. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES K K 20" 4-11" 9" Granite Slab (from example found on Ap Lei Chau) Wooden Stand (from verbal description) K Handle (from verbal description) FIG. 1. Calendering equipment used by a dyer on Ap Lei Chau. (See the following page) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g bination with rattan NOTES AND QUERIES 199 () for net frames only. The ropes were usually up to 20-28 in length and could be even 30+ ★, in which case the rope was turned round and carried part of the way back the rope road. Mr. Yue recalled that the first type of rope had been used by trawlers up to and through the Japanese Occupation but had stopped shortly after the Liberation. The second type had been made and used in local fishing craft up to his brother's death some 7-8 years ago. The ropes were twisted from three strands, so that there were three stands with handles at one end of the rope road and a single one at the other. Up to ten persons were employed in the work. Unlike dyeing, this business had been in the Yue family for several generations as both Yue's father and grandfather are reported to have engaged in this work. There were several pools at Ta Lam Lo filled with sea water and lime in which the ... was soaked for 10 days to soften it and preserve it. If fresh water was used salt had to be added. There is still some rope-making on Ap Lei Chau at a place beyond the Kwun Yum temple but the material used is nylon and wire. This place had also been used to manufacture the other kinds of rope in the earlier period and was known locally as Lam Lo Mei (44), being subsidiary to the main area. A short description of the calendering process is given at p. 190 of the 1970 Journal. This dates from the 1860s, and probably relates to Central China, Hong Kong, April 1971. JAMES HAYES CHARCOAL BURNING IN HONG KONG In his compendious work on China published in 1878 Archdeacon Gray of Canton wrote: "As coal is not used for domestic purposes, charcoal is in great demand, and charcoal-burners are to be seen daily on the hills. The hillsides of Pun-yu, Fa-yune, and Tsung-fa -districts of Kwun Tung- are studded with their fires; and on the slopes of the Lew-Shan range of mount- Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g NOTES AND QUERIES 203 in the upper Aberdeen reservoir area, known to me, that may also have been connected with charcoal burning. It would assist if walkers who come across pits of this nature would be kind enough to report them to me, with a map reference, in order to build up information on this little known subject. One last point. Herklots asks why kilns are located so high up on the hill sides. Village people have reminded me that there is no point carrying wood down to a kiln when it is easier to put the kiln near the wood supply and carry the charcoal down to the village or the shore. Hong Kong, 1970. JAMES HAYES WHAT INSPIRED SIR JOHN BOWRING'S HYMN? Prof. Carrington Goodrich's reference to the hymn "In the Cross of Christ I glory" (Notes & Queries, JHKBRAS Vol.9(1969) pp.151-2) is interesting and although it shows that John Bowring wrote the hymn before he ever visited Macao, the tradition of a very close connection with the ruins of Macao's San Paulo is a very strong one. I have personally heard from two very knowledgeable persons that Bowring was a great admirer of the old church: Mr. Henry Hyndman was a local resident who was particularly interested in the personalities of old Macao. He was born in 1828, educated in Macao and then Singapore, and worked in Hong Kong and Shanghai before he retired to Macao. In the final stages of his life (he lived to be 98 years old) it gave him great pleasure to talk about the people he knew, among whom was Sir John Bowring, who visited Macao frequently from 1849 to 1859. Mr. Hyndman recalled seeing the English visitor at the foot of the ruins and of how, later, after he was Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John's name came to be associated with the hymn. In 1927 to 1928, Sir Cecil Clementi, then Governor of Hong Kong, used to visit Macao and on one occasion at dinner in the residence of the Governor of Macao, Sir Cecil spoke of his youth ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 232 GREGORY, Prof. W. G. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de HADDOW, Dr. I. F. G. - HAFFNER, C. HALL, Miss J. - Dept. of Architecture, University of Hong Kong, H.K. Flat 5, Abermor Court, May Road, H.K. Unknown. Spence Robinson Architects, The Atelier, Broadwood Road, H.K. Secretariat for Home Affairs, International Building, H.K. HALLWARD, Miss C. L. J. - c/o St. Stephens Girls' College, Lyttelton Road, H.K. HAMILTON, Bill G. 13768 Hower Drive, Saratoga, Calif. 95070, U.S.A. c/o Dept. of History, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, Canada. HARDEN, Mrs. G. T., Jr.* - 15 Shek O, H.K. HARRISON, Prof. B. HARTWELL, Sir Charles HARTWELL, Lady HAYDON, E. S. HAYES, J. W. - HAYIM, E. J.* HAYWARD, G. W. HECHTEL, F. O. P. HENSMAN, Prof. Bertha HERRIES, M. A. R. HICKS, Miss Catherine M. HILSDALE, Mrs. E. P. HO, Mrs. Hungchiu HO, Teh-kuei HO, Tickon* HOCHSTADTER, Dr. W. HODGE, Peter HOLMES, Hon. D. R. - - c/o Public Service Commission, Central Government Offices, H.K. As above. c/o The Supreme Court, H.K. Room 129, Lee Gardens, Hysan Avenue, H.K. 41, Island Road Deep Water Bay, H.K. White Mill End, 5 Granville Road, Sevenoaks TN13 7, England. 10 Branksome Towers, May Road, H.K. c/o St. Anne's College, Oxford, England. c/o Jardine, Matheson & Co., H.K. 2, Ava Mansions, May Road, H.K. 2762 Woodshire Drive, Los Angeles, Calif. 90068, U.S.A. 11, Briar Avenue, First Floor, H.K. Lakeside Building, 13th Floor, B, 259 Gloucester Road, H.K. 50, Village Road Ground Floor, Happy Valley, H.K. 9, Cambridge Road, 1st Floor, Kowloon. c/o Dept. of Social Work, University of Hong Kong, H.K. Secretariat For Home Affairs, International Building, H.K. * Life Member Please notify the Hon. Secretary of any inaccuracy ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, K.C.M.G., M.B.E., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1972: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A. Hon. Secretary: M. Smithies, M.A.(Oxon), M.A.(Calif). Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) G. A. Bridges, M.A. James C. Y. Watt, M.A. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1971 · HON. TREASURER's ReporT FOR 1971 - THE LIBRARY, 1971 - - TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH Chinese Medicine and its Contribution to Modern Medical Science (A Lecture given on 16th November, 1971) DR. F. I. TSEUNG - Some Nineteenth Century Water Colours of Canton and the Far East (A Lecture given on 15th December, 1971) P. H. COLLIN - Raja James Brooke and Sarawak: An Anomaly in the 19th Century British Colonial Scene (A Lecture given on 18th January 1972) -DR. L. R. WRIGHT ARTICLES: The Establishment of the Tsungli Yamen: A Translation of the Memorial and Edict of 1861 — J. L. CRANMER-BYNG Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart: Colonial Civil Servant and Scholar- HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE A Historical Review of Housing Conditions in Hong Kong DR. E. G. PRYOR Traditional Chinese Regional Architecture: Chinese Houses LINDA F. SULLIVAN · - Page 1 6 9 12 20 29 41 - - 55 89 130 The Origins of Hong Kong's Central Market and the Tarrant Affair Dafydd Emrys Evans Archaeology in Hong Kong and South China (1938) — W. SCHOFIELD ― Three Chinese Deities: Variations on a Theme KEITH STEVENS NOTES AND QUERIES - Who Hoisted the Union Jack? DR. J. R. JONES China's Earliest Printing—a Note a Note L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH - - Unusual Trees in Hong Kong: the Canton Water Pine SHEN DZE-CHIA A Note on Agricultural Change in Hong Kong AIJMER - Letting Go the Wooden Goose JAMES HAYES 150 - · 161 169 196 - 197 - 198 GORAN - 201 207 - 207 - 213 Programme Notes for the Visit to Pokfulam, Hong Kong Island, 29th July, 1972 - JAMES HAYES - BOOK REVIEWS - ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h the help they have rendered to the Society in its learned and cultural activities: 20th January 15th February 15th March 27th April 19th May 18th October 17th November 15th December Professor L. Carrington Goodrich "The Ming Biographical Project" Mr. James Hayes An informal talk on the scope and activities of the 28th International Congress of Orientalists held in Canberra in January 1971 (illustrated with slides). The Rev. Carl T. Smith "The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong”. Dr. Hui-Ching Lu "T'ai Chi Chuang: Its Principles and Practice", (illustrated by a 15 minute film show). Professor Woodbridge Bingham "The People of T'ang China as we know them today". Dr. F. I. Tseung "Chinese Medicine and its contribution to Modern Medical Science". Mr. M. J. Smithies "Village Mons of Bangkok Province" or "The Survival of Good and Bad Ghosts Beyond the Traffic Jams", (illustrated with slides). Mr. P. H. Collin "A British Officer in China, 1857-58", (illustrated with slides). Council: During the period under review your Council met nine times and, naturally, much of the business dealt with was of a routine nature. There were however in addition a few important matters of general interest which called for the consideration and action of your executive body and these are now mentioned separately here. Hon. Secretary. On the departure of Mr. J. L. H. Webster from the Colony (as foreshadowed in my last Report), Miss E. M. Bellord, also a member of the staff of the local British ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h NOTES AND QUERIES “LETTING GO THE WOODEN GOOSE” 207 LI Mau-ying (*), posthumous name Man-kan (††), an official of the Sung dynasty who graduated chin-shih in 1226, was given an estate on Lantau, one of the larger islands of the Hong Kong region.* His rights continued through succeeding dynasties but were mostly extinguished at the land settlement that accompanied the lease of the New Territories to Britain at the end of the 19th century. A curious story is linked with the Li's ownership of their Lantau estates, indicating that this grant of land may have been given in a novel fashion. According to a villager of Sha Lo Wan, Lantau Island (1913-1962) who had an interest in local tales, the emperor was so pleased with Li that he told him to put a wooden duck on the sea and that he could have whichever land it touched. There is an echo of this in Cecil Clementi's minute to the Colonial Secretary of 16th June 1904 in a file about the Tang clan's claim to Tsing Yi Island (CSO1903/8551).† Without there being any apparent reason or preparation for making such a statement—probably because a whole section was omitted by the copier—one paragraph suddenly states 'For the method of "letting go the wooden goose" see minute of this date in N.T. 7466/03'. This file is unfortunately no longer in existence. Can any reader explain this 'system' of deciding upon which land to include in a grant? Hong Kong, 1972. JAMES HAYES PROGRAMME NOTES FOR THE VISIT TO POKFULAM, HONG KONG ISLAND, 29TH JULY, 1972‡ Today's visit is to a part of Hong Kong island that has not been subject to the same amount of change as other districts. Even today * For the Li family see Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963 (this is a part-translation of the Chinese version published in 1959), p. 73 and plate 20 and his article "This Sung Wang T'ai and the Location of the Travelling Courts by the Sea Shore in the Last Days of the Sung" in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. III, No. 2 (1958) at p. 212 (English text) and note 29 (Chinese text), with Plate XI. † Located in the Public Records Office of Hong Kong. ‡ Printed here for the convenience of members who were unable to join the party on this occasion. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 212 NOTES AND QUERIES with offices, belonging to Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, whose Chinese style, Tai Ku (★‡) 'Great and Ancient', gave rise to the name, Tai Ku Lau (= House) by which it was known to local Chinese. Its proper name was "Clanmore".† It was not a healthy site, probably the reason why the Company decided to sell the property. Father Trivière writes: The Fathers, upon arrival, had taken measures to improve sanitation. These included general hygiene, drainage, the felling of trees, the cutting back of bush, the planting of eucalyptus and camphor trees, thanks to which an improvement in the situation was expected, bringing with it the gradual disappearance of malaria. Unfortunately, things turned out otherwise. The French fathers were not successful in driving out malaria. It was, in fact, malaria which drove them out. The original house is no longer to be seen, but we shall walk round the site. At this point, I had hoped to show Members the fine waterfalls inside the Dairy Farm property opposite Tai Ku Lau, but the Company regrets that it is unable to grant entry because of restriction imposed as part of measures against animal disease. We shall return to the buses for the Wah Fu Estate (Hong Kong Housing Authority; 56,000 persons) and the Hong Kong Waterfall. This is featured in G. R. Sayer's book, Hong Kong: Birth, Adolescence & Coming of Age, published by Oxford in 1937. Sayer was a Hong Kong Administrative Cadet Officer, who served here for many years pre-war. The flow of water in the waterfall stream was affected by the construction of the Pokfulam Reservoir (1863 and enlarged in 1876 or thereabouts) and the waterfall may be seen in its former dimensions only after heavy rain. Plans are in hand to convert the area into a public garden and sitting out area. Hong Kong, July, 1972. † Jarrett. A sign post on site has 'Claymore'. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h BOOK REVIEWS 236 student can afford, or indeed wishes, to carry Cordier and his successors around, and yet needs a handy reference. Hong Kong, September, 1972 JAMES HAYES MANDARIN PRONUNCIATION EXPLAINED WITH DIAGRAMS. Raymond Huang. Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. It is truly unfortunate that the book under review fails to do what it was intended to do. The expressed goals are important, and students and teachers of Chinese do indeed need a pronunciation guide of the type proposed in the present volume. However, the book is marred by some basic mistakes which effectively destroy its credibility and negate its value as a guide for beginners. From the text and references one can deduce that the author is a trained phonetician and that his knowledge of English phonetics is very good. But it is also obvious that he did not give the same attention to Chinese. As a result his articulatory description of Chinese is full of errors, the Chinese-English contrasts are unreliable, and the overall product is more harmful than helpful. As a minor example, in discussing Mandarin tones the author has confused the 5th tone as marked in Mathews' Dictionary (all of which are reflexes of entering tone forms in final -p, -t, and -k, still distinctive in some Mandarin dialects) with his own 5th tone which is the modern Mandarin unstressed, atonic form. Thus (p. xxvi) he marks the question particle ma as 5th tone in his system because it is often toneless, but he notes that the 5th tone does not occur in modern Peking Mandarin and seems to imply that this is why Mathews' Dictionary marks this character with 4th tone. Historically this particular form was not in the entering tone category and would never be marked 5th tone in Mathews. Huang's comments simply compound confusion on the matter. But a much more flagrant error is his attempt to describe Mandarin initial stops and affricates as contrasting on a voiced-voiceless axis. Thus, the author tells us that the Wade-Giles initial consonant pairs p p', t t', k k', ch ch', ts ts' contrast in the same way as English p b, t d, k g, ch j and ts dz. If this were actually true, one of the major stumbling blocks would be removed from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r The Hong Kong Branch of the Asiatic Society Royal Asiatic Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, K.C.M.G., M.B.E., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1973: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Professor Ma Meng, M.B.E., B.A. Hon. Secretary: Miss M. G. Knowles, B.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) G. A. Bridges, M.A. M. Smithies, M.A.(Oxon), M.A.(Calif). James C. Y. Watt, M.A. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 5 our application for acceptance as a constituent Society was agreed by the Arts Centre, and we will have a nominated member of our Council on its Management Committee on all future occasions it meets to discuss plans for facilities. The two tours held during the year were organised by two of your officers. One, to the Chinese University, was arranged by Mr. D. A. Gilkes, Honorary Treasurer. The other, to places of historical interest in the Pokfulum area, was arranged by Mr. James Hayes, Vice-President and Honorary Editor. Both events appear to have been very successful. In November we had our 5th symposium which took place as usual at The Hong Kong Club--one of the few moderately priced places appropriate for this kind of event in Hong Kong. The subject was "Hong Kong: Chinese Tradition and the Development of a Town" and papers were read by people either actively involved in original research, or in the practical aspects of their subjects. It was accompanied by an exhibition of photographs arranged with the kind help of the City Hall staff, and an exhibition of ritual paraphernalia connected with Triad Societies, provided by the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in conjunction with a paper read by one of its officers. The very useful material emerging at this symposium will be published in our brochure series. The material from our previous symposium on the botany of Hong Kong is in process of publication, and this coming week-end we will have our 6th symposium, on Hong Kong Fauna, organised by Professor B. Lofts of the Department of Zoology, University of Hong Kong. Since the end of the last calendar year several other events have already taken place and might be mentioned here. The first meeting of this year, at which Mr. James Watt of your Council spoke on recent archeological discoveries in China, was attended by our Patron, Sir Murray Maclehose and Lady Maclehose. A very successful tour to Thailand was organised by Mr. Smithies, who has been our Honorary Secretary for the past financial year. It was preceded by a panel presentation on Thailand in which Mr. Smithies participated, together with Mr. James Watt, and the Royal Thai Consul General. Nineteen members and their guests attended the tour itself, which took place over the Chinese New Year in February. I am pleased to report that the event was a great social success, those taking part organising a party on their return. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 8 7 May 4 June Professor Chu-tsing Li "The Chinese paintings in Nelson Gallery" (illustrated with slides). Professor Winston Hsieh "The Canton Delta Project" 17 September Professor P. B. Harris 6 October "The Republic of virtue: Maoism and Rousseauism considered" Mr. James W. Hayes (Organizer) Visit to Cape D'Aguilar, Hong Kong Island. 12 November Mr. James Lethbridge "Duellists in nineteenth century Hong Kong". 10 December Dr. Hugh Baker "On how to worship oneself in ancestor worship". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 136 NOTES AND QUERIES A few months after the festive opening of the temple, "The Joss House Committee" received from Government the grant of a lot adjoining the temple for the erection of a school. Sometime between 1860 and 1865 a small building was built on the rocky hillside just below the Man Mo Temple. It was near Circular Pathway and Ladder Street. In the Hong Kong Rate lists its name is given at one time as "Sam Young” Miu and at another time as "Sam Sing" Miu. The 1878 Rate has the notation "removed". This is clearly another temple. Eitel states that the Tai Wong Temple in Spring Gardens was in existence at the time of the British occupation of Hong Kong. If so, title to the Queen's Road East property on which it is built was not obtained until 1847. Lee Fun-wei, a compradore, then obtained a Crown Lease for Inland Lot 257. In 1852, Lee Muy, "carer of Joss House", was witness to the transfer of a nearby house. He may be the same as Lee Amoy, "formerly a butcher, but now of no occupation”, who obtained a court order in 1864 prohibiting Lee Fun-wei from selling or further mortgaging the temple property. In the following year the two parties exchanged properties. Lee Amoy conveyed to Lee Fun Wei a lot with five houses and in return received Inland Lot 257 with "Joss House, dwelling house and building erected thereon". Lee Amoy immediately mortgaged the temple property to Delfino Noronha, a Portuguese printer, for $1,500. The mortgage remained unpaid, and in 1869 Noronha sold the temple to a committee composed of Tam Achoy, Ho Asik, and Lee Yuk Hang. It thus passed out of the private ownership of the Lee family to the representatives of the Chinese community. If Eitel's statement is correct, that the temple on Queen's Road East at Spring Gardens was in existence before the British occupation of the Island, its proprietors the Lee family may have been settled in the Spring Gardens area, now better known as Wanchai, before the occupation. When Crown Leases were issued for land in this area in 1847, several members of the Lee family secured lots. A notice of the Hung Shing Temple at Ap Lei Chau written by Mr. James Hayes appears in Vol. 7 of this Journal. The date of the bell in the temple is given as 1773. As we have noticed Eitel states the temple was built about 1770. Information on when and by whom it was built is given in a court case reported in The China ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 184 BOOK REVIEWS However, Mr. da Silva has much to offer us, and I hope will go on to develop his earlier work, taking further, among other good things, his interesting study of the terms used in agriculture and land use, extending them into the other dialects of the area in which some at least may have originated, and developing their connection with the cosmology of the peasant universe. I hope, too, that he will return to Hong Kong to trace for us the continued process of erosion of the traditional coastal pattern of life in a South Chinese island.* Hong Kong. March 1974. JAMES HAYES * Interested readers may wish to know that Mr. da Silva wrote on the Fan Lau fort (on Lantau) in the 1968 Journal, and some notes on Ethno-botany in the 1969 issue. VILLAGE AND BUREAUCRACY IN SOUTHERN SUNG CHINA. Brian E. McKnight, University of Chicago Press, 1971, pp. xi, 219. As its title indicates, this book is concerned with local administration in Sung China. Using the Sung Hui Yao Chi Kao, an official repository of imperial documents, and the collected papers of Sung officials, annalistic histories, local gazetteers and other miscellaneous works, Dr. McKnight describes the structure and staffing of village administration in this period. These sources enable him to recreate an otherwise little known aspect of Sung times; government at the village and sub-prefectural (hsien) level. Local administration in the Southern Sung was carried out by employing local residents; at first by obliging members of higher-class families to serve for limited periods and, by the end of the dynasty, by employing persons for long periods. The latter were often professionals paid either by individual families or from the income of endowed estates and chosen from among the clerks in the local government offices. The author provides a useful preface that deals with his sources and their limitations, and an introduction that places the governmental and social aspects of the Southern Sung period in the perspective of earlier practice and later developments. Besides any ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r BOOK REVIEWS 185 value that the book possesses for other Sung specialists, it also provides students of Ming and Ch'ing government structure and society with much useful background. However, the title is rather misleading since the work concerns itself more with sub-administrative systems and government reactions to systems' problems than with villages or personnel. The villagers are seldom brought into the discussion and the village officers, whether unpaid members of local families or hired professional clerks, do not appear until the concluding pages; and then only the former group is described in general terms. Since the work is, as Dr. McKnight states in his preface ‘a descriptive analysis of the institution of village services', a narrower and therefore more accurate title should have been selected. Studies of this sort must always keep the human element well to the fore. In this book the problems of local communities and the attitudes and responses of peasants are not always sufficiently discernible, perhaps because they are not readily available from the source material. It is otherwise a useful work which provides a great deal of detail on the sub-bureaucratic systems of the Southern Sung, their underlying problems and partial solutions. Hong Kong, 1973 JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, K.C.M.G., M.B.E., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1974: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Hon. Secretary: A. I. Diamond, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Helga Werle, Phil. sin. cand. (Munich) F. Geoffroy Dechaume, Consul General for France James C. Y. Watt, M.A. K. A. Westcott, B.A., Dip.Ed. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 CONTENTS Page PRESIDENT'S Report for 1974 · 1 HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1974 · 8 THE LIBRARY, 1974 · 10 TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH: · 12 The Paper Chase-Archives and the Public Records Office of Hong Kong (A lecture given on 7th January, 1974) - A. I. DIAMOND · 28 Adventurers in Hong Kong: the Marquis de Morès and David de Mayréna (A lecture given on 29th March, 1974) - HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE · 58 Dogs and Horses in Ancient China (A lecture given on 27th May, 1974) CAROLE MORGAN · - ARTICLES: · - The Craft of God Carving in Singapore- KEITH G. STEVENS · - "Oh for the Joys of England": Lt. Orlando Bridgeman's Letters from China and Hong Kong, 1842-1843– ROBIN MCLACHLAN · - Father Ernesto Gherzi, S. J., 1886-1973—G. J. BELL · 68 Notes on the Sources of De Mailla, Histoire Générale de la Chine-Richard Gregg Irwin, with Introduction by L. Carrington Goodrich · 76 The Monuments of Vientiane and Luang Prabang (Report of the RAS Tour to Laos, 23-24 January, 1974)— MICHAEL SMITHIES · 85 The Hong Kong Region: its place in Traditional Chinese Historiography and Principal Events since the Establishment of Hsin-an County in 1573....-JAMES HAYES · 108 REPRINTED ARTICLES · 136 Place Names of Hong Kong and the New Territories (1958) K. M. A. BARNETT · 160 Legends and Stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in (1935-38) (continued) SUNG HOK-PANG · - NOTES AND QUERIES · 188 The European Grave on Shek Kwu Chau, Hong Kong JEAN MOORE · - "Fung Shui" Woodlands-L. C. SHEN · 190 Unusual Trees in Hong Kong: the Cassia Bark Tree- L. C. SHEN · 191 Traditional Farming Techniques and their Survival in Hong Kong-P. L. SIAK · 196 Programme Notes for Visits to Places of Interest in Hong Kong and Kowloon, 1974: Kennedy Town, Old Wanchai, Old Western District, the Diocesan Boy's School and La Salle College, and Ceramic Factory and Sam Tung Uk, N.T. JAMES HAYES, CARL SMITH, HELGA WERLE et. al. · - BOOK REVIEWS · 235 LIST OF MEMBERS · 245 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 deity in Hong Kong, particularly among the boat-people. There are many temples dedicated to her in the Colony. This particular temple is believed to date from the Sung Dynasty, and with the nearby rock-carving, dated 1274, provides a popular place for pilgrimages. These three last trips were organised by our Vice-president, Mr. James Hayes, who has an extensive knowledge of the history of Hong Kong, particularly its rural areas. The ten lectures covered a wide variety of subjects. The first lecture of the year was delivered by Professor Murray Groves, head of the Sociology Department, University of Hong Kong. Professor Groves had lived in New Guinea and worked there as an anthropologist, and he talked about a sea-faring people, the Motu, and their musical styles. His talk was illustrated with slides and tape recordings. The second talk was about Chinese paintings in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art: a Gallery of international reputation, situated in Kansas, and housing one of the major comprehensive collections of oriental art in the U.S.A. The talk was delivered by Professor Chu-tsing Li, Research Curator of the Gallery, and was illustrated with slides. Later in the year, Professor Winston Hsieh of Missouri University, talked to us about the Canton Delta Project which he is currently heading. The Canton Delta has great significance for scholars of Chinese social organization, urban studies, foreign trade, revolutionary movements and overseas emigration, and it is particularly rich in Chinese and Western source materials. The project is interdisciplinary and we look forward to hearing more about its activities. In September Professor P. B. Harris, who heads the Political Science Department of the University of Hong Kong talked to the Society on "Maoism and Rousseauism", and in November Mr. Henry Lethbridge of Hong Kong University's Sociology Department described the exploits of two adventurers extraordinary who visited Hong Kong in the late 1880's: David de Mayréna, soi-disant King of the Sedangs in Indo China, and the Marquis de Morès. Both died later in mysterious circumstances. Mr. Lethbridge specialises in the social history of Hong Kong, and participated in our symposium last year on "Hong Kong: Chinese tradition and the growth of a town”. Dr. Hugh Baker, who also participated in our first symposium which I organised in 1964 on “The Social Organization of the New ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1973-74 During the year ending 31st December 1973, the Library received a number of valuable gifts, whilst other important items were obtained by purchase. The largest donation was of twelve books from the estate of the late Mr. F. A. Nixon, to whom the Library was already indebted for the gift during his lifetime of its most valuable possession, a Chinese manuscript scroll from Tun-huang, as well as the four albums of photographs of the Nixon collection of Nestorian crosses (for both of which see the Library catalogue, p. 38), and other items. Another benefactor was our Honorary Editor and Vice-President, Mr. James Hayes, who presented five books on Chinese language learning. Also from Mr. Hayes the Branch purchased eleven volumes of works relating to China, all out-of-print and ranging in publication date from 1879 to 1957. These had been on offer to the University of Hong Kong. With these examples before them, it is hoped that other members may be encouraged to offer relevant titles to the Library, either for purchase, or better still as gifts. Last year's report mentioned the intention to issue annual supplements to the printed catalogue of the Library. Owing to pressure of other business the Librarian was unable to complete the supplement for 1972, but it is now hoped to issue a supplement combining the additions for both 1972 and 1973 in the near future. This will be distributed free to all members who are resident in Hong Kong. The intention of providing members with a catalogue is to encourage use of the Library. Unfortunately this remains at a very low level, and whilst we are very grateful to the British Council for providing accommodation for a part of our collection, in the hope that its central location would make it easier for members to use the books, it seems that until the Branch has something more closely resembling a club room or headquarters of its own the Library will remain a hidden asset. The bookcase at the British Council, now holding 222 volumes, is completely full, and all recent additions ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 The Hong Kong Region: Its Place in Traditional Chinese Historiography and Principal Events since the Establishment of Hsin-an County in 1573 James Hayes* Hsin-an is a coastal county The edge of a coat is called pien, edge or border. A coat always starts to get worn at the edge: an article begins to wear at the edge. In the same fashion, if an officer is posted to a border district, his responsibilities are ten or a hundred times as heavy as his colleague's in an interior district. It is therefore very difficult to understand people who belittle such government posts, These lines are taken from an inscribed tablet dated autumn 1847 commemorating the opening of the Lung-ching charitable school (i-hsüeh) in the Kowloon walled city. They were from the brush of the then magistrate of Hsin-an, Wong Ming-ting, an officer who believed in the burden of his responsibilities. This article seeks to examine the historical background of the Hong Kong region as seen in Chinese traditional historiography,1 and to describe the main events of the local situation over the course of some three hundred years. A recapitulation of this kind may be useful, because Hong Kong's past is still inadequately recorded in English (or yet in Chinese), and is too easily imagined, or glossed over, as being of no consequence. The region does possess a considerable and interesting history; though to gain the necessary perspective this has also to be seen in the context of the historiography of the neighbouring counties of this part of Kwang-tung. Ideally, this statement should be set against an account of the peoples and settlement of the area, but to provide an authoritative description here would be to lengthen this article to double its size if anything like justice were to be done to the course and com- *Mr. Hayes has been an administrative officer in the Hong Kong Civil Service since 1956 and is a Vice President and Hon. Editor of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch, R.A.S. 1 As defined in Chapter VII, 'Formal Classification' of Charles S. Gardner, Chinese Traditional Historiography, (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1961). The full references to other works cited in the footnotes will be found at the end of the article. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 THE HONG KONG REGION 109 plexities of local settlement and the absorption of the aboriginal dwellers of the area in the past thousand years. For a general account, readers are referred to the works by Lo Hsiang-lin (1959, 1963), K.M.A. Barnett, (1957, 1967) and the earlier writings of Krone (1859), G.N. Orme (1912) and S.F. Balfour (1941) cited in the references to this article. Introduction* For present purposes the Hong Kong region is defined as the present British Crown Colony of Hong Kong (403.7 square miles)1 and the immediately adjoining parts of Kwangtung province with which there has been intermittent official concern following the establishment of Hong Kong 134 years ago. This takes in the districts round the market town of Sham Chun north of the present Sino-British frontier, occupied by British troops between 16th May and 13th September 18992, and the areas of Mirs and Bias Bays to the east of the Colony that were often visited by British naval forces in their suppression of piracy in local waters during much of the 19th century and well into the 20th3. (See map). At the time the British occupied Hong Kong island in 1841, the whole of this area, less Bias Bay, formed part of the Hsin-an district of the Kuang-chou prefecture of Kwangtung province. The place names and geographical features of the region are shown in many contemporary and earlier Chinese sources, whilst the large scale European map produced in 1866 by Msgr. Volontieri, an Italian missionary of the Propaganda, provides rather more local detail4. In time the British came to occupy a greater part of Hsin-an district. Their occupation of Hong Kong island in January 1841 was converted into possession by the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. British territory was extended by the lease in perpetuity of Kowloon under a deed dated 20th March 1860 and the cession of the same area by article VI of the Convention of Peking 24th 1 CR1971, p. 204; this figure includes recent reclamations. 2 See Groves, pp. 52-55. 3 For the early period see Fox and Dalrymple Hay. Two expeditions to Bias Bay in March and September 1927 were noted in AR1927, K16: and as late as 1947 piracy in Mirs Bay kept Hong Kong fishermen in port; CR1947, p. 46. 4 The KTTS of 1865 provides more detailed maps of Hsin-an and its adjoining areas than are given in the district and prefectural histories (HNHC and KCFC); see the general chart at pp. 1-2 of the opening volume. For the Volontieri map, which includes Chinese characters, see Ronald C. Y. Ng (1969) pp. 141-148 and Hayes (1970) pp. 193-196. * For the place names of Hong Kong see A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960: hereafter styled Gazetteer. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 CHAN TSUEN TƯỞNG CƯ HẢI P I SHEK KI PEARL RIVER DELTA MACAU НАМ ТАЏ تي PAD-AN HSIEN ĮPRESENT. KOWLOON. AWELSHIN MAVEN T TAM SHUI TAI PANG x GHUM CHUN ISHA TAG KOK AHAS PAY Таг YUEN LONG * KAM TIN PING SHAN CASTLE PEAK TSUẸN WAN SHA TINKUNGA SAI L KOWLNOW CITY TING CHEUNG x נל SHA WAMLINE LINGAU TAU KOK SHA LÓ WANTE TRUNG CHUNG LANTAU ISLAND PUI 01 PENG CHAJ „MUT WO ISLAND ITẠI TAM TUK SHEK PIK ABERDEEN. (CHEUNG CHAU LAMMA, ISLAND AP LET CHAU BELŞ BAY до +2 110 LO MAN SHAR TAM VON SHAN (LEMA ISLANDS) MAP OF HONG KONG REGION JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 112 JAMES HAYES This recital tells its own story. Hsin-an hsien was not one of the glories of the prefecture. In that useful compendium on the Kwangtung province, the Kuang-tung K’ao-ku Chi-yao of 1893, only the counties of Nan-hai, P'an-yu and Tung-kuan were singled out for mention in the section dealing with the customs and traditions of the Kuang-chou prefecture. These entries speak of the elegant dress and manners of Nan-hai, of its literary and cultured atmosphere, and of how every palace examination brought forth the names of successful local candidates; of the profusion of foreign and local products, and the native and foreign merchants, stationery and itinerant, and the immense shipping of the port.1 Tung-kuan found fame as the ancient examination centre for the province; but no other place is mentioned. In scholars' eyes, the two metropolitan districts of Nan-hai and P'an-yu completely eclipsed the country and coastal districts of the prefecture like Hsin-an and another late creation, Hsin-ning, established in 1498-1499.2 As late as 1745 the district magistrate of Hsin-an when composing an inscription for the repair of the Chau Wong memorial school at Kam Tin, styled it as a place where the Book of Poetry was read as early as sunrise; and culture had spread even to this remote place near the sea. The Kuang-tung K’ao-ku Chi-yao, a typical work of Chinese historiography, lovingly compiled, was the work of four Hunanese who had long been employed in the province as huan or officials and mu-fu or private secretaries to senior mandarins. It deals, in 46 chuan, with the wide variety of subjects usually found in district gazetteers and other works on administrative geography. Those chüan dealing with subjects on a geographical basis included material, arranged by prefecture and district. Hsin-an is included whenever, in the opinion of the compilers, there was anything in its records that warranted an entry.4 As in the chuan on customs and tradition the entries for Hsin-an in other chüan are much fewer than for the older hsien of the 1 KTKKCY 4/1, 2 KTKKCY 1/1 and KCFC 7/4. 3 Tablet dated Ch'ien Lung 10th year, 1st moon, lucky day, inside the building. 4 There is, of course, no shortage of books dealing with Kwangtung and its many localities under similar heads, and in providing their Hsin-an material the compilers did not set out to provide a compendium of all that had ever been included in the successive editions of the standard works on the Kuang-chou prefecture and the hsien of Tung-kuan and Hsin-an, but rather a selection of important material. The KTKKCY seldom provides material after the end of Ming (1644), ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 114 JAMES HAYES Two other famous graves are listed for the Hsin-an district, one of them dating from the Sung period and the other from the Ming. The first concerns that ancestor of the Tang clan who married a princess of the Sung royal house. The second is the epitome of the local uncertainty and danger that seems to have threatened its inhabitants down the centuries. This entry dates from the 11th year of Chia Ch'ing in the middle of the Ming period, but similar instances could be quoted from any dynasty. It commemorates two patriots named Yau and Leung who bravely resisted bandits and were buried together in one grave mound.2 The old records are useful for another reason. They help to remind us that the outer areas of the prefecture, such as Hsin-an, though of little general interest to scholars for their lack of history and culture, were important for officials in the scheme of coastal defence, a subject which engrossed the attention of many writers. The importance of the islands springs not from their size or the number of their inhabitants, fields, boats or fisheries, but from their position on the seaways, commanding communications between all parts of the Kwangtung coast and the entrance to Canton, the capital of the province and the centre of the local and foreign trade for over a thousand years. They had to be garrisoned and patrolled in the days of sail because they harboured pirates and could provide supplies of food and water for pirate fleets and those of troublesome outsiders, including 'barbarian' Japanese and Western vessels.3 The reason for establishing the commandery at Nam Tau in the first Ming emperor's reign, and for elevating it to district status in the first year of the Wan Li reign was the insecurity of which local inhabitants complained and, probably the more decisive factor, the official emphasis on coastal defence in the twin interests of trade and internal security. A point that is often overlooked is that the seaways were far busier in the last century and before than they are today. European accounts of entry into local waters often mention seeing large fleets of fishing junks in the islands, and 1 KTKKCY 15/2. See also Sung in JHKBRAS 13, 1973:121-124. 2 KTKKCY 15/2. 3 KTKKCY 30/3 states 'There were two kinds of pirate on the sea in the Ming period; our own robbers and those of outside barbarians'. + e.g. Collingwood p. 16 ('As we approached the coast, great numbers of junks, with mat sails and two masts, appeared the high poops of which gave them the strange aspect of plunging headlong into the water') and Des Voeux II:204 (at Lamma Island.... there was visible a very large number of fishing junks packed closely together"). Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 116 JAMES HAYES indicates that the main users of the outer islands through the centuries were probably outsiders, and not Cantonese. Hsü points out that Fukien people use the character yue (shữ) to mean a small island, and use the characters chou and shan for larger ones: whereas the Kwangtung people rarely use yue for this purpose. He cites this, together with the use of the homophonous character for 'fish' in the name for Lantau given in the Ta Ch'ing I T'Ung Chih of 1738, to suggest that the persons who first gave the island this name were either fishermen or pirates from Fukien. There may be something in what Hsü says, because Giles', Eitel's and Wells Williams' dictionaries all support the Fukienese usage of 'Yue'.1 Hsü states that the 36 'Yue' round Tai Yue Shan, mentioned in the older Chinese local sources,2 are islands of this kind, and derive their name in this way. The use of these important local seaways by turbulent Fukienese seamen helps to explain official concern with security. I shall conclude this section on Hsin-an in Chinese historiography by doing what the Chinese histories do not do; considering the outer islands as settlements and, for the purposes of this article, showing their former connection with parts of present-day Hong Kong. Most of the Hsin-an and adjacent islands are shown on the 1:20,000 British maps of the Hong Kong area, published in 1948 but based on earlier mapping. They have not been included in the latest maps, now issued in full3 because since 1949 it has no longer been possible to land survey parties on or overfly adjacent Chinese territory, to the disadvantage of all geographers and historians. By the late 19th century, it seems, their settled inhabitants were mostly Hakkas who had strong economic ties with Hong Kong island, Cheung Chau and Tai O on Lantau. Many women came on marriage to Hong Kong and the inner islands, especially to Lantau. Private property also linked the islands and the mainland, in that some of them belonged in whole or in part to the Wong clan of Nam Tau and Cheung Chau. These connections were 1 Giles, p. 593; Eitel, p. 919; Wells Williams, p. 819. The last named states 'An islet which has level arable land at the foot of its hills; applied to many islands on the coast of Fukien'. 2 e.g. TMITC chuan 79. 3 Cooper, p. 137. 4 See Hayes 1963: 90-92 for this major local lineage. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 118 JAMES HAYES to play havoc in it. The Japanese wo-jen had been particularly active. In 1571 the small walled town of Tai Pang on Mirs Bay in the northeast of the district had sustained a siege of over forty days by Japanese pirates equipped with scaling ladders.1 The district gazetteer gives an account of the troubled times at the end of the Ming period, which brought much misery and suffering to the people of the district, since famine accompanied the disturbances.2 These disorders lasted for a considerable time. It is reported that Tai Pang was held for nine years against all comers by a band of soldiers.3 The clan record of the Tsui family of Shek Pik contains a vivid account of the disasters of the time, as it affected their relatives and friends in their old home near Tung-kuan city which was the centre of an unsuccessful revolt against the new dynasty. These disturbances extended to the present New Territories. A former officer of the Ming, Li Man-wing, held this area on his own account between 1647 and his surrender to the new dynasty in 1656, and the walls and moats of the principal villages of the Tang clan in the New Territories are said to date from this time. The land presented a pitiable sight in these years: there was much burning and pillaging and many of the inhabitants fled. During this time, it was said, "The ground was covered with bones, in the day time nothing could be heard but the hum of flies, and at night the voice of weeping." The evacuation of the coast in the early years of the K'ang Hsi reign between 1662-1669 followed soon after these prolonged miseries and had a profound effect on the lives of the population and on the pattern of future settlement. Under instructions from Peking, the provincial authorities required the evacuation of the coastal areas of Kwangtung. The provinces of Shantung, Chekiang, Kiangsu and Fukien were also affected to varying degrees.7 This measure was in accordance with a five-point plan to deal with the pro-Ming ruler of Formosa, Cheng Ch'eng-kung, suggested by one of his former lieutenants 1 IHNHC 13/7. 2 HNHC 13/8-9. 3 HNHC 13/9-10. 4 JHKBRAS, 7 (1967), p. 154. 5 Sung Hok-p'ang in HKN, VIII, No. 2:107-108. 6 ibid, presumably a quotation from the Tang clan's genealogical record. The YCKC has a lengthy entry on the disorders of this troubled time, chuan 4/46-60. 7 Hsieh Kuo Ching, pp. 585-593. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 120 JAMES HAYES the order rescinded:1 and it was remembered centuries later by the manufacture and sale by pedlars of images of the two men, as recorded for the Yuen Long district of the New Territories at the end of the 19th century.2 Wherever it touched the lives of men the Evacuation is recorded in the histories of the districts, prefectures and provinces to which they belong. And as in the Hsin-an district, it appears that persons of other parts of the Kwangtung province erected temples to Governor Wong Lai-yam, and in some cases jointly to him and one or other of the viceroys of the time.4 I have already explained the effect of the Evacuation upon the pattern of settlement. Had there been none, it is conceivable that the number of Hakkas in the region would have been much less than the 44,375 recorded at the 1911 Hong Kong census, amounting to almost half the then rural population. However, it is also possible that the Hakka influx might have come in any case, leading to pressure on the land and to the 'wars' that occurred elsewhere in the province between the two groups. The useful summary of Hakka origins and history given by Lo Hsiang-lin in Thirty Years of Tsing Tsin Association encourages this view. Under the title K'o-chia Yuan-liu K'ao, it details Hakka migration to the south and their distribution in Kwangtung. Without the Evacuation, however, Hakka immigration into this area might not have been assisted by the government as it was after the order was rescinded.7 6 1 HNHC 7/17 lists three, styled "Wang Hsun-fu Tz'u", two of them in our region, at Sha Tau Hui and Shek Wu Hui; besides the "Chou Wang Erb-kung Shu-yuan" at Kam Tin (not listed but see Sung, HKN, VIII, Nos. 3-4:207, and Sung 1939). 2 Hayes, 1962, p. 91 and note 50. 3 See e.g. the statements included in the gazetteers for the Kuang-chou and Ch'ao-chou prefectures of Kwangtung: KCFC 80/20-29, and CCC, chüan 2 of the Ta Shih-chih/12-15. 4 Besides the Hsin-an temples already mentioned, see e.g. the eight in Shun-te county noted in the prefectural gazetteer, KCFC 67/23. 5 pp. 1-106. 6 See especially the maps opposite pp. 34 and 56. Also Lo 1965, with its records of the movements of forty lineages. 7 See HNHC 9/1, Lo, 1963 p. 104 and the reference to the rehabilitation work in Hummel, p. 777. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 The Manchu dynasty was at its strongest and most prosperous from the middle years of the K'ang Hsi reign on until late in the Ch'ien Lung period. This enabled the country to recover and consolidate after the disasters of the late Ming and the troubled period of transition to the Ch'ing; but it is necessary to remember that throughout these years Hsin-an remained a border region receiving new settlers. In the present New Territories this period saw many newcomers settle in old villages or found new ones. Besides the rehabilitation of old fields, there was apparently much new land to be opened for the taking. When the first ancestor of the So clan of So Uk, Kowloon, arrived in 1739 he called his new home Mau Tin Tsuen or Village of the Rough Grass Fields; and his descendants long used this name before 'So Uk' came into common usage.1 Life for all these persons was hard, and although the empire was in good hands, it seems likely that inhabitants of these coastal areas of the southeast were often subject to attack from marauders. The Ho family of San Tsuen, Pui O, Lantau say that a founding ancestor was killed by pirates; by calculation from the clan record,2 about the year 1710. This obliged villagers to site their settlements with care. In this period of resettlement and consolidation several of the Lantau villages, though getting a living from the sea, were by design located at some distance from it. It is only in more recent times, say the present elders, that they moved to lower sites nearer the shore.3 From time to time, pirates became a particular menace, and it was not possible for the authorities to ignore their activities. A period of especial distress began for the people of Hsin-an, Tung-kuan and other coastal counties in the later years of the Ch'ien Lung reign. The genealogy of the Cheung clan of Pui O records: In the 53rd and 54th year of Ch’ien Lung, a Tung Kuan man, Tam Ah-che became a sea robber. He robbed and killed, burned houses, in great measure, took away the men as slaves and women also. The local officials and soldiers would not dare to face these robbers.4 The Cheungs and other villagers later took steps in their own defence. The village council held a meeting and decided to turn 1 Hayes, 1970, p. 158. 2 Ho-shi Ts'u-pu; in manuscript. 3 Removals on feng-shui grounds are excluded from this statement. 4 Chang-shi Ts'u-pu; in manuscript. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 122 JAMES HAYES the settlement into a fortress to guard against marauders. This involved construction of a walled enclosure, built of stone, and the replacing of the existing wooden gateway by a stone structure on the advice of the writer of the clan record, then an old man. As the positioning of the wall and its main gate was of great importance, for geomantic reasons as well as military considerations, a message was sent to Shing Mun* to invite a man named Cheung Lam-to, presumably a noted geomancer and perhaps a distant relative, to advise on the siting and on auspicious days for carrying out the work. The record ends: Work began on the 13th day of the 8th moon of the 8th year of Chia Ch'ing, and the gate was fixed on the 16th day. All the village men and women co-operated in the work which took a month to complete. Other areas of the Delta suffered in these years. In 1789, the 54th year of the Ch'ien Lung reign, an official of Hsiang-shan, the district in which Macau is situated, led an expedition in person against a considerable pirate known as the "wave-leveller".1 The scourge continued in the Delta and riverine areas of Kwangtung for over twenty years, and reached its worst proportions in the years 1807-1810. An interesting account of an enforced stay of eleven weeks and three days with a pirate fleet in 1809 was given by Richard Glasbrooke, the mate of an East Indiaman, who was captured by them. This fleet spent a long time on and near Lantau which probably suffered from their levies and depredations. One of these pirates, Cheung Po-tsai, is remembered today in the Hong Kong region, where local stories link many places with his activities.3 With the help of the Macau authorities whose squadron fought a sea battle off Lantau in January 1810, Cheung was blockaded in the shallow waters of the bay of Hsiang-shan and was induced to capitulate with over 270 junks, 16000 men, 5000 women, 7000 swords and jingals and 1200 guns.4 1 Waley, 1956, p. 176. 2 Neumann, pp. 97-125. 3 Lo, 1963, pp. 106-118. See also the Ch'ao-lien of Hsin-hui gazetteer pp. 281-284 and Centenary History of Hong Kong, pp. 12-14. Cheung's memory lingers strongly in the region, though most attributions are unsubstantiated and many stories are probably apocryphal. 4 Montalto de Jesus, pp. 231-248: he calls him Ĉam Pao Sai or Chang Pao. *In the Tsuen Wan sub-district of the New Territories. See Gazetteer, pp. 147-148. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 124 JAMES HAYES Local people were placed in a difficult position when pirates or, in periods when China was at war with Britain and her allies, imperial war junks occupied their anchorages. At least two such instances occurred in the 1850s. In February 1857 two British vessels attacked war junks at the Chinese naval anchorage of Tung Chung on Lantau where there was also a fort and permanent garrison. The local population which had probably taken no part in the fighting had to make its peace with the squadron the day after it had burned the junks and dismantled some of the batteries on shore. An offering of two bullocks and some pigs, was sent with a letter from the elders begging the commander to spare their settlement.1 The same thing happened at Tai O, also on Lantau, in November 1854, when an expedition was sent to deal with pirate junks that had fired on the chartered steamer Queen, an American naval vessel. After shelling and an attack by the boats of the squadron, the pirate junks and storehouses were destroyed. An American naval officer, Lieutenant G. H. Preble, captured a pirate flag, inscribed with characters which, he wrote, 'state it is the flag of Lue-ming-suy-ming of the Hong Shing-tong Company, Chief of the Sea Squadron, and that he takes from the rich and not from the poor, and his flag can fly anywhere'. Local people did not see him in quite this light, for Preble records that ‘no sooner had we destroyed the piratical vessels, than a large fleet of fishing junks came into the Bay rejoicing and anchored'. These persons had to drive off a pirate attempt to take and make off in their boats during the night. The next morning a deputation of the chief men of the village came on board his steamer 'with a present of chickens, pork, fish, etc.'2 In this period, as at an earlier time, villagers took what measures they could to protect themselves from such villains. In the larger places like Cheung Chau, it was apparently possible for local people to prevent their being taken over by pirates as had happened at Tai O. As I have described in another place, their leaders established a Security Bureau in the early 1850s and repaired it when trouble again threatened some years later. In the villages 1 Illustrated London News, 9th and 16th May 1857, pp. 463, 473-474. 2 Szczesniak, pp. 262-266. Another account of this expedition is given in Tronson, pp. 61-62. He calls the place 'Tyhoo', and Preble, 'Tyho'. 3 Hayes 1963. Cheung Chau itself had previously been thought to harbour pirates; see CO129/6, No. 26 of 21 June 1844, in PRO London. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 126 He went on to say, JAMES HAYES During my time in Kowloon territory, i.e., from 1893 to 1901, piracies were so common that we regarded it as extraordinary if a day passed without one. Indeed, it was the daily routine for junk masters to report at the Customs Station that they had been pirated and all of their cargo looted. Customs duty was 'practically confined to chasing pirates and smugglers', and Arlington states that 'at one time I had no less than sixty pirates chained to old cannon to prevent them from escaping pending their transfer to Canton for trial'.* Whilst some villages were blameless and the victims of raids and assaults, there were others whose innocence was doubtful. Arlington mentions one case in which pirates had disappeared with an entire cargo consisting of 250 huge vats of indigo weighing as much as 500 lbs each vat, besides 100 head of cattle and 500 pigs, of which there was no trace when a Customs cruiser arrived on the scene only two hours after the piracy was reported by signal at Cheung Chau. It was, he says, 'a safe bet that the pirates came from these villages, and had secret places to hide their booty where it was safe from discovery'.2 The villages in question were on the mainland but he does not say where. In the wider area, the reports of the British Consuls on the trade of Canton, Amoy, Sam Shui and Pak Hoi in the 1890s—all save the second within the Kwangtung Province—reveal a disturbed situation. One Canton report comments, "The old free-booting spirit still survives among many who are now apparently peaceful traders and fishermen, of which we occasionally get startling proof in some unexpected daring act of piracy on the high seas or along the coast.3 His colleague's report from Pak Hoi was more down-right. 'Piracy 'Piracy is in the blood of the race. A glance through the year's diary shows a monotonous record of petty coast raids, hoverings of pirate junks (which still terrorise the neighbouring coastline) and robberies of every degree of dignity from the sacking of the larger pawnshops to the plunder of a returned emigrant from the Straits or Sumatra',4 Arlington's evidence shows that the Hong Kong region was scarcely better in these respects than any other. Thus it is not 1 Arlington, p. 171. 2 Arlington, p. 163. 3 FO Report 1606. 4 FO Report 1983. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 128 JAMES HAYES be feared, but internecine wars are almost always raging between some or other of the villages: and these wars, although often arising from trivial causes, are not mere temporary quarrels, but are often long-continued and sanguinary'.1 He gives a description of these feuds, and relates one example in which the District Magistrate, even with a force of 1,000 men, was unable to restore peace, and could not even save his face without the mediation of a neighbouring village. The device that secured this, Krone comments, had no influence at all upon the dispute, fighting being carried on afterwards just as before".2 There are several documented examples of intervillage and clan wars from the mainland New Territories at this time which indicate that Krone was not exaggerating the situation in mid century. Halls to 'martyrs' killed in these struggles were provided in at least four local temples, each containing memorials to slain heroes. These are to be found in the temples at Shek Kong (Pat Heung), Miu Kong (Tsuen Wan), Lam Tsuen, and Yuen Long (Shap-pat Heung). The Tsuen Wan memorial tells of a three year feud between the Tsuen Wan villagers and Shing Mun Pat Heung, beginning in the first year of the Tung Chih reign (1862-1863) and ended only after eventually successful mediation by elders of neighbouring villages. During this time, the Tsuen Wan villages—their men being outnumbered according to the tablet—were invaded and left in ruins, and 17 local men were killed in the prolonged struggle.3 Baker gives other local and contemporary examples of these clan wars taken from genealogies and village tradition in the northern New Territories. He also draws attention to the feuds that occurred within local lineages, including frequent fights between the Ping Shan and Ha Tsuen branches of the Tang lineage. These persisted into the British period. In 1921, in his administrative report for that year, the District Officer North mentions trouble that 'assumed very serious proportions' over water rights between 1 Krone, p. 114. 2 Krone, pp. 125-126. 3 The hall at Miu Kong is entitled the I-yung Tz'u (義勇祠) and that at Yuen Long the Ying-yung Tz'u (英勇祠). In the Pat Heung temple the tablet is in the Ching-chung Tz'u (清忠祠). At Lam Tsuen there is no named hall, but a side room contains a tablet bearing the characters jang hsiang ch'ang sheng lu wei (...). 4 Baker, 1968, pp. 167, 183 and 187. 5 Baker, 1968, p. 188 and Baker 1965, pp. 39-41. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 130 JAMES HAYES However, despite the foregoing recital of disturbances over the years, many old persons in the Hong Kong region who were born between 1875 and 1900 have told me that their early years were very peaceful. This serves as a reminder not to telescope time and place too readily; and not to confuse occasional excitements with the regular rhythm of rural life. Nor too readily to deduce from them that there was a deterioration in institutions at the local level, as at the centre, in the later 19th century—a point made by Rhoads Murphey in his study of China's modernization.1 POSTSCRIPT There are two other happenings that must be mentioned in this survey of events. One, the establishment and rise of Hong Kong from 1841 on, and its effect on the surrounding and adjacent territory, I do not intend to treat with here.2 The second, rural depopulation, though it might appear to have some connection with the first, is in fact a separate phenomenon. Linked to over-population, malnutrition and disease, it is important enough to warrant a concluding notice.* The problem of depopulation early intruded itself into my village studies through the preoccupation with feng-shui noted in many places, so much of it linked to a reported decline in the numbers of local populations. I have encountered this in many villages on Lantau Island3 and in other parts of the old Southern District, in places as far distant from Lantau as Pak Lap on High Island in the Sai Kung District, and Ho Pui with Muk Min Ha in Tsuen Wan. These have also claimed depopulation in the 19th century and after. In the northern New Territories the well-known Tang clan of Kam Tin records a similar loss of population;4 whilst at Lin Ma Hang, a large village on the present Sino-British frontier,5 a stone tablet dated in 1893 was erected to detail the geomantic 1 Murphey: 27-30. 2 The first is well-documented, the second scarcely at all, though discussed in Potter 1968. 3 See JHKBRAS 3, 1963: 143-144; JHKBRAS 9, 1969: 156-158 and Hayes 1967:22-30. 4 Sung in HKN, VII, Dec. 1936:256. 5 See Gazetteer: 214. Especially as, in Hsin-an, it is not to be linked with devastating Taiping campaigns and official retribution, nor with Hakka-Punti wars on the scale that occurred in some parts of the province, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 132 JAMES HAYES BIBLIOGRAPHY In English Alabaster, Chaloner Grenville, The Laws of Hong Kong, 3 vols., Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers, 1913. Arlington, L. C., Through the Dragon's Eyes, Fifty Years' Experiences of a Foreigner in the Chinese Government Service, London, Constable, 1931. Baker, H. D. R., 'The Five Great Clans of the New Territories', in JHKBRAS, 5, 1965: 25-47. A Chinese Lineage Village, Sheung Shui, London, Frank Cass, 1968. Balfour, S. F., 'Hong Kong before the British being a local history before the British occupation', Shanghai, T'ien Hsia Monthly, Vols. 11-12, 1940-41; 330-352, 440-464. Reprinted in JHKBRAS, 10, 1970: 134-179. Barnett, K. M. A., 'The Peoples of the New Territories' in J. M. Braga (compiler), Hong Kong Business Symposium, Hong Kong, South China Morning Post, Ltd., 1957, pp. 261-265. 'Hong Kong before the Chinese', 'Technical Revolution in 900 AD' and 'The Riddle of the Hakka', Hong Kong, South China Morning Post, 24-26th April, 1967. Collingwood, Cuthbert, Rambles of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China Sea, London, John Murray, 1868. Cooper, J. T., 'The Mapping of Hong Kong' in JHKBRAS 9, 1969: 131-140. Des Voeux, Sir G. William, My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland and Hong Kong, London, John Murray, 1903, 2 vols. Eitel, E. J., (revised and enlarged by Immanuel Gottlieb Genähr), A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, 2 vols., Hong Kong, Kelly and Walsh, 1910-1911. Fox, Grace, British Admirals and Chinese Pirates 1832-1869, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1940. Franke, Wolfgang, An Introduction to the Sources of Ming History, Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaysia Press, Singapore 1968. Fu, Lo-shu (Compiler), A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations (1644-1820), 2 vols., Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1966. Giles, H. A., A Chinese English Dictionary, Second Edition, revised and Enlarged. Shanghai, Hong Kong, etc., Kelly and Walsh, 1912. Groves, R. G., 'Militia, Market and Lineage: Chinese Resistance to the Occupation of Hong Kong's New Territories in 1899', JHKBRAS, 9, 1969: 31-64. Hay, Sir John C. Dalrymple, The Suppression of Piracy in the China Sea, 1849, London, Edward Stanford, 1889. Hayes, J. W., 'Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets', JHKBRAS 3, 1963: 88-99. 'The San On Map of Mgr. Volontieri' in JHKBRAS 10, 1970: 193-196. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 THE HONG KONG REGION 133 Hayes, J. W., 'Old Ways of Life in Kowloon: the Cheung Sha Wan Villages" in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. VIII, No. 1, January 1970: 154-188. Ho, Ping-ti, Studies on the Population of China, 1368-1953, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1959. Hsieh, Kuo Ching, 'Removal of Coastal Population in Early Tsing Period', The Chinese Social and Political Science Review, XIII, 1929: 559-596. Hummel, Arthur W. (Editor), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912), Taipei, Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, 1967. Reprint of the first edition, Washington, United States Government Printing Office, 2 vols., 1943. Krone, Rev. Mr., A Notice of the Sanon District. C.B.R.A.S. Transactions VI, 1859: 71-105. Reprinted in JHKBRAS 7, 1967: 104-137. Lo, Hsiang-lin, 'The Sung Wang T'ai and the Location of the Travelling Courts by the Sea-shore in the Last Days of the Sung' in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. III, No. 2, July 1956. -, (and others), Hong Kong and Its External Communications before 1842. Hong Kong, Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963. An English version, abbreviated, of the Chinese edition of 1959. Mayers, W. F., Dennys, N. B. and King, C., The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. A Complete Guide to the Open Ports of these countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hong Kong and Macao. London, Trübner & Co., Hong Kong, A. Shortrede & Co., 1867. Murphey, Rhoads, The Treaty Ports and China's Modernization: what went wrong? Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies, No. 7, Ann Arbor, 1970. Montalto de Jesus, C. A., Historic Macao, International Traits in China Old and New. Macao, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged, 1926. Neumann, C. F., Translations from the Chinese and Armenian with Notes: 1 History of the Pirates who infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810, London, John Murray, 1831. Ng, Peter Y. L., The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih, A Critical Examination with Translation and Notes. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (1644-1842). Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1961. Ng, Ronald C. Y., 'The San On Map of Mgr. Volontieri. On the Centenary of the Copy in the R.G.S. Collection', London, Geographical Journal, Vol. 135, Part 2, June, 1969: 231-235. Reprinted in JHKBRAS 9, 1969: 141-148. Orme, G. N., Report on the New Territories for the Years 1899 to 1912. in Sessional Papers 1912. Perkins, Dwight H., Agricultural Development in China 1368-1968. Chicago, Aldine Publishing Company, 1969. Potter, Jack M., Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant, Social and Economic Change in a Hong Kong Village. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1968. Schofield, Walter, Personal Communications, 1958-1968. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 134 JAMES HAYES Sung Hok Pang, 'Legends and Stories of the New Territories, Part III, Kam Tin', The Hong Kong Naturalist, in six instalments between December 1935 March 1938. 'Ts' in Fuk (), being an account of how part of the coast of South China was cleared of inhabitants from the first year of Hong Hei (4) 1662 to the 8th year of Hong Hei 1669', The Hong Kong Naturalist, Vol. IX, Nos. 1 and 2, November 1939, pp. 37-42. Szczesniak, Boleslaw, The Opening of Japan. A Diary of Discovery in the Far East, 1853-1856 (by Rear Admiral George Henry Preble. U.S.N.). Norman, Arizona, University of Oklahoma Press. Tronson, I. M., Personal Narrative.... London, Smith, Elder, 1859. Waley, Arthur, Yuan Mei, 18th Century Chinese Poet, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1956. Williams, S. Wells, A Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1874. OFFICIAL REPORTS Annual Departmental Reports from 1946 on, published by the Government Printer, Hong Kong. [ADR] Administrative Reports, being annual departmental reports, 1909-1940, published by the Government Printer under this head, and bound together in series in the library of the Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. [AR] Earlier annual reports by departments bound into Sessional Papers (Papers presented to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong), printed in Hong Kong by the Government Printer and available in the library of the Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. [SP] Annual Colony Reports from 1946 on, published in Hong Kong by the Government Printer, [CR] Hong Kong Hansard. The proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong were published in yearly volumes under this title from the early 1890s on, by a number of publishers, and the Government Printer after the Pacific War. [Hansard] In Chinese Chang lineage of Pui O, South Lantao, Hong Kong ********* * Family Record A. Copied in manuscript in the 1930s from an earlier version. Chang lineage of Pui O, South Lantao, Hong Kong **4❀❀**❀ **, Family Record (not identical with the above as it came from another branch of the family) ✯✯✯✯. In manuscript. Last compiled in 1927. Chin Wen-mo (preface) #. Gazetteer of the Hsin-an District ### 13 chuan, revised edition, 1688. [HNHC 1688] Chou K'uang B, Ch'eng Yeh-chung and others. Summary of historical researches on Kwangtung ★★***. 46 chuan, 1894. [KTKKCY] ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 246 LIFE MEMBERS: ALLEYNE, Mrs. E. L. LIST OF MEMBERS - University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. ASOME, Mr. & Mrs. M. J. - 42, Conduit Road, Flat 7B, H.K. BELL, G. J. BOARD, D. B. M. BONSALL, G. W. - CALCINA, P. G. CARLSON, Miss R. E. CATER, Jack - CHAMBERS, J. W. CHAN, Alfred T. CHENG, T. C. - CHOA, Dr. Gerald H. CHUN, Miss Oy-Ling - CLARKE, Rev. Cyril S. CRONE, Dr. D. L. - DJOU, G. G. - EMERSON, G. C. - EVANS, Mrs. P. J.- EVANS, Paul J. — FABER, Mrs. Audrey FEHL, Prof. Noah E. - FRASER, A. P. - FRY, R. A. - FUNG, Sir Kenneth Ping-fan, O.B.E., J.P. GORDON, The Hon. Sir S. GORDON, K. H. A.. HARDEN, Mrs. Guy HAYES, J. W. c/o The Royal Observatory, Nathan Road, Kowloon. c/o Education Dept., Lee Gardens, Hysan Avenue, H.K. The Library, University of Hong Kong, H.K. Commercial Investment Co. Ltd., Union House, 12F, H.K. c/o Education Dept., Lee Gardens, Hysan Avenue, H.K. 8, Mount Kellet Road, The Peak, H.K. c/o Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Rd., H.K. Coronet Court, 14th floor, “H”, North Point, H.K. United College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. Medical & Health Dept., Lee Gardens, Hysan Avenue, H.K. St. Paul's Convent School, Causeway Bay, H.K. Sailors & Soldiers Home, 22, Hennessy Rd., H.K. 16A, Bellevue Court, 41, Stubbs Road, H.K. c/o American International Assurance Co. Ltd., A.L.A. Building, 17th floor, 1. Stubbs Road, H.K. 1, Lower Albert Road, H.K. 33, Tung Tau Wan Road, Stanley, H.K. Ray-O-Vac International Corp., 604, Chartered Bank Building, H.K. 10, Cooper Road, Jardine's Lookout, H.K. Dept. of World History, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. c/o Binnie & Partners, 1717 Star House, Salisbury Road, Kowloon. Office of the Commissioner of Rating & Valuation, 1, Garden Road, H.K. 2705-2718, Connaught Centre, H.K. c/o Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons, St. George's Building, 24th floor, H.K. 501, Marina House, H.K. 15, Shek-O, H.K. 7, The Albany, H.K, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 256 LIST OF MEMBERS ORDINARY MEMBERS: GREGORY, Prof. W. G. Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. GROVES, Prof. Murray C. - Sociology Department, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. GUILLAUME, Baron P. de - c/o Banque Belge pour l'Etranger, S.A., GUTLON, Mrs. Audrey HAFFNER, Christopher HALLIDAY, P. E. HALLMARK, D. S. HARGROVES, Mrs. Josephine L. T. HAYES, Mrs. Holly Edinburgh House, H.K. 39, Conduit Road, Flat 202, H.K. Spence Robinson Architects, The Atelier, Broadwood Road, H.K. Flat 507B, 19 Homantin Hill Road, Kowloon. P.O. Box 387, H.K. Apt. C-2, 152, Tai Hang Road, H.K. 5/B, Garden Mansions, 157, Austin Road, Kowloon. HAYWARD-MAY, Mrs. A. - Flat C, 10, Wong Nei Chong Gap Road, H.K. HEATHERINGTON, Mrs. E. Bellevue Court, Flat A-2, 41, Stubbs Road, H.K. HEFFNER, Mrs. S. F. HERRIES, Sir Michael HICKS, Miss Catherine M. CHIU, Mrs. Họ Hung HALLAM, Miss Judith W. 14, Guildford Road, H.K. c/o Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd., P.O. Box 70, H.K. c/o Cathay Pacific Airways, Union House, H.K. 11, Briar Avenue, 1st floor, H.K. 2F, 10 Happy View Terrace, Happy Valley, H.K. HOCHSTADTER, Dr. Walter 9, Cambridge Road, 1st floor, Kowloon. HODGE, P. HOFSTETTER, Mrs. M. - HOLMES, Sir Ronald, C.B.E. HOLMES, Miss J. HOPKINSON, Mrs. J. E. HORSTMANN, Mrs. Charlotte HOTUNG, Eric E. HOWNAM-MEEK, R. S. HSIA. Tung Fei HUANG, Y. C. Dept. of Social Work, University of Hong Kong, H.K. 3, Wood Road, 6th floor, H.K. Public Services Commission, Colonial Secretariat, H.K. 26, Kennedy Road, H.K. 12, Mt. Nicholson Gap, H.K. 104, Ocean Terminal, Kowloon. 10, Stanley Street, H.K. c/o Commercial Management Ltd., P & O Building, 17th floor, H.K. P.O. Box No. 20027/1. Hennessy Road Post Office, H.K. Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd., Jardine House, H.K. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.B.E., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1975: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Hon. Secretary: A. I. Diamond, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Helga Werle, Phil. Sin. Cand. (Munich) F. Geoffroy-Dechaume, Consul General for France K. A. Westcott, B.A., Dip.Ed. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. H. J. Lethbridge, B.Sc.(Econ.), B.Sc.(Soc.), Dip. Criminology Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. D. H. Liu ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT TREASURER's Report THE LIBRARY: and the Library Rules TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRANCH : I Page 1 9 13 16 A Hong Kong Spirit-Medium Temple-JOHN T. MYERS Merchant Organisations in Late Imperial China: Patterns of Change and Development-WELLINGTON K. K. CHAN 28 China's Economic Planning and Changing Geography—CHIAO-MIN HSIEH 43 ∞ NOA 48 61 71 88 ARTICLES: Incident between the Hong Merchants and the Super-cargoes of the British East India Company in Canton, 1811—J. L. Cranmer-BYNG The Great Plague of Hong Kong-E. G. PRYOR Notes on Chiuchow Opera-Helga Werle Condition of the European Working Class in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong-HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE The Employment of Foreign Military Talent: Chinese Tradition and Late Ch'ing Practice-RICHARD J. SMITH 113 The Pacific Oyster Industry in Hong Kong-BRIAN MORTON AND P. S. WONG Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: the Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945- DONALD C. Bowie NOTES AND QUERIES: ... The Pottery Kilns at Wun Yiu, Tai Po-J. W. HAYES The Noon Day Gun-CARL T. SMITH The German Congregation in Hong Kong until 1914-CARL T. SMITH 139 150 291 292 292 295 Boat People's Ceremonies observed from Island House, Tai Po-D. AKERS JONES 300 The RAS Photographic Survey in Hong Kong—H. A. RYDINGS 311 Chief Marshal T'ien, patron of the stage, of musicians and wrestlers-East and South East China-K. G. STEVENS 303 Chang Yu-tang and an old Hanging Scroll from Cheung Chau-FRANCIS S. Y. SHAM AND JAMES Hayes Hung Hom: an Early Industrial Village in Old British Kowloon-Carl T. SMITH AND JAMES HAYES Typhoon Preparations in 1903 BOOK REVIEWS 318 324 327 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 2 which followed his talk. In May, Mrs Carole Morgan talked on Dogs and Horses in Ancient China, a subject for which she is preparing a doctoral dissertation for the Sorbonne in Paris, and also in May we were invited by the Hong Kong History Society for a cultural evening. It was an Indian occasion, with a talk by Mrs Raj Ghose on Buddhist Art, followed by curry at the Gaylord Restaurant in Kowloon and a film on Rock Carvings. In October we invited Mrs. Raj Ghose back to talk to the Society and her subject was Tibetan Iconography. In September we had a talk by Miss Helen Perrell on Mandarin Squares, and in October our members were invited to the Fung Ping Shan Museum of the Hong Kong University to hear a talk on the museum given by the curator, Dr. Michael Lau, to University staff. In January Mr. John Myers, another doctoral candidate, for the University of Pittsburgh, talked on his field research into Chinese spirit-medium cults in Hong Kong's urban area. Mr. Myers is currently with the anthropology section of the Sociology Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Three other talks have been organised so far this year, all on China. One, also in January by Professor Cheng Te-k'un, scholar of international renown in the field of Chinese archaeology and art, was on Chinese export ceramics, and was illustrated with beautiful slides. In February Professor Hsieh Chiao-min talked on contemporary problems in modern Chinese geography. Professor Hsieh is on sabbatical leave from the University of Pittsburgh and honorary visiting professor in the Geography and Geology Department, University of Hong Kong. Finally in March Professor Noah Fehl, Chairman of the Department of World History of the Chinese University and a long time resident of Hong Kong, talked about the work and thought of the philosopher/scholar Tsou Yin, who matches Aristotle in period of time and some of his ideas. All our talks drew good size audiences and from the variation in their constitution from lecture to lecture it would appear that our policy of variety to suit different interests is a correct one. During the period, then, we were fortunate in being able to borrow the talents of many visiting and resident scholars. EXCURSIONS Mr. James Hayes, one of our Vice-presidents was as usual active in organising many of our excursions during the period. In ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 3 April he arranged a visit to old Wanchai, one of the oldest districts of British Hong Kong. Under the name of Ha Wan or "lower bay” it was one of the 5 bays or "circuits"-a terms used in the 1850s and 1860s to describe the residential and commercial areas largely developed by the new Chinese population of the island. Places visited included the Pak Kung Shrine in Star Street, established before the war and probably upward of 70 years old; the Hung Shing Temple, one of the oldest of the area, perhaps even existing as a shrine before the British occupation; the Sui Tsing Pak temple housed in several dwellings in a terrace and of the late nineteenth century; the Yuk Hoi Kung Temple to Pak Tai, God of the North and of early origin; and various terraced houses and individual buildings. In May Mr. Hayes arranged another excursion to the Diocesan Boys' School-D.B.S.-and La Salle College. D.B.S. originated in 1869 with the Diocesan Home & Orphanage for English, Eurasian Chinese and other scholars, male and female and had links with an earlier body, the Diocesan Native Female Training School of 1860-58. In 1900 the Diocesan Girls' School opened and DBS no longer took girls. The school moved from Bonham Road to its present site in 1926. La Salle dates from 1932 but its connection with Catholic Education in the Colony is much longer. The La Salle brothers had already a record of 42 years work at St. Joseph's College in Hong Kong. In June Mr. Hayes organised a visit to old Western District which included tea in a traditional tea-house. The original Chinese tea house was a place where many kinds of tea were served together with tim sham, small tidbits or literally "to point to the heart". It is gradually being replaced by new establishments usually combining a Chinese restaurant with tea-house business. Later, in July, a visit to a tea-house was also arranged to hear typical Cantonese music and "southern songs” traditionally played to clients of such establishments and also sadly disappearing in modernising Hong Kong. During the June visit to Western, many shops for traditional crafts and wares were visited or observed. Many have since been pulled down in this area scheduled for urban renewal. In July, Miss Helga Werle, a member of our Council, arranged with a colleague, a visit to Aplichau the small island-just still an island-off Aberdeen. Members visited the Hung Shing Temple, probably built in 1773; and the Shui Yuet Kung Temple (Shui Yuet is another name for Kuan Yin) probably dating from the early days of Aplichau town developing in the 1850s. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d in early April too. Looking ahead we already have ideas for other events-lectures, and, I know, Mr. Hayes has plans for more excursions. We also have another symposium in mind and the possibility of a further overseas trip possibly for next Christmas. At this point I should mention that so far nothing more has been heard from the China Travel Agency about our hopes for a trip to Mainland China. We share the same uncertainty as other cultural and professional associations who have also applied. Finally, in closing I would like to thank the British Council for continuing to help us, Mrs. Margaret O'Hara for all her past clerical work and ready assistance to office bearers and members over the years; and to all members of the Council and all our lecturers and organisers who have helped with our programme this year. As more has been done, so my report has become longer, but I close now hoping our activities have met, and will continue to meet with, your satisfaction, April, 1975. MARJORIE TOPLEY ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS IN 19TH CENTURY 107 of the underdog Portuguese or Eurasian communities. The one social event that united—for one evening—all classes of European was that great Scots tribal festival, the St. Andrew's Day Ball. Celebrated on November 30, it ushered in the Hong Kong season, a season that closed with the Volunteer Ball.* The St. Andrew's Day Ball was open to any Scot or his friends who could afford the price of a ticket. Held in St. George's Hall, a spacious ball-room within the City Hall edifice, it was attended normally by over a thousand adults. Although an Army chaplain inquired plaintively: "Why should pig-iron turn up its nose at ten-penny nails (in Hong Kong)?" for one evening at least status distinctions between retailers and wholesalers were partially ignored, although the proceedings were always dominated by the chieftains of Jardine, Matheson and Co., the patriarchal Scottish hong, The European lower orders were excluded not only from the more amusing social life of the colony, they also had little say in its government. In 1885, for example, the total number of ratepayers was eighty-two: from this small group the unofficial members of the Legislative Council normally were elected or chosen. The pong-paân were thus totally unrepresented in this, a British colony. Their names, moreover, are not found on the lists of Justices of the Peace, Special Jurors, and those of members of official and other important committees. They were of course sworn in on occasion as common jurors. Why did the European lower orders experience such treatment from the well-to-do and influential? Partly, it was a consequence of social attitudes formed in the homeland: Victorian notions about the ordering of social classes and occupational groups, such as are analysed in Thackeray's The Book of Snobs. However, in early Hong Kong another notion was also prevalent: the view that there were 'dangerous classes', a term that connoted the lumpenproletariat, a class of persons spawned in the new industrial cities of Europe, 'those who had so miserable a share in the accumulating wealth of the industrial revolution that they might at any time break out in political revolt as in France'.32 Predictably enough, working-class Europeans were often viewed with some suspicion; there was fear that middle-class control over them would cease to prevail in certain For the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force see James Hayes' article in this Journal Vol 11, 1971: 151-171. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 292 NOTES AND QUERIES tablets showing a major repair or reconstruction in 1897-98 and 1925-26. A large Roman Catholic chapel, now in ruins, once stood close by. It is shown as being in existence in Father Volonteri's 1866 map of the San On District—see JHKBRAS Vols 9 & 10 (1969 & 1970), pp. 141-148 and 193-196 respectively—but unfortunately receives no mention in Father Ryan's The Story of A Hundred Years. The Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (P.I.M.E.) in Hong Kong 1858-1958. Hong Kong 1975 JAMES HAYES THE NOON DAY GUN The following extract from the Hong Kong Daily Press, January 3, 1870, is not without a historical and for present day residents faced with an increase in our defense contribution—topical interest: It is interesting and just to note that the renewing of the twelve o'clock gun firing is due to liberality of Mr. Magniac of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Company, who when the Home Government ceased to provide this small return for the heavy Military Contribution forwarded annually from this Colony, purchased a gun, etc., and had it fixed up at Messrs. Jardine's, where it is fired daily. NOTE: Herbert St. Leger Magniac was admitted a partner in the firm of Jardine, Matheson and Company, July 1, 1862. Hong Kong, 1975 CARL T. SMITH THE GERMAN CONGREGATION IN HONG KONG UNTIL 1914 A note on "Bethesda" and the "Berliner Frauenverein für China” by Pastor Albrecht Plag appeared in vol. 9 (1969) of this Journal. He there asks where Bethesda was located. Early maps of Hong Kong and a search of title in the Land Registry indicates it occupied the site of the present Mid-levels Police Station on the north side of High Street at its junction with Bonham Road. The original lot extended down to Hospital Road. The plot consisted of two Inland Lots numbered 624 and 607. Page 300 Page 301 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d Site 10 ** ל3 11 12 : .. 16 • 1. 17 : Site 20 22 > 29B J 29C * 30A : ** : = ** 33 34 41A 43A 45A + 46A + by NOTES AND QUERIES 299 Tenement houses at nos. 62-72, Po Hing Fong, Temples, etc. at intersection of Pound Lane and Tai Ping Shan Street. Corner of Hollywood Road and Tank Lane. Possession Point. Possession Street. Schedule 2 : Street lamps in Lower Albert Road. +4 Dairy Farm building, Lower Albert Road. Shing Wong Street. Junction of Bridges and Shing Wong Streets. Carpenter's booth in Shing Wong Street. No. 115 Caine Road. Poon Yau Hoy Mansion, 99 Caine Road, No. 47 Staunton Street, Letter writer's booth, Peel Street. Nos. 61-69 Caine Road. No. 49 Elgin Street. Schedule 3 Ohel Leah Synagogue, Robinson Road. House at junction of Robinson Road with Seymour Road. Site 49 52 56 : 68 : ** Old Police Quarters, 150-156 Caine Road. Ying Wah Terrace. The following persons, to all of whom the thanks of the Society are due, have been involved in this project: R.A.S. Subcommittee on the Photographic Survey A. I. Diamond J. W. Hayes H. A. Rydings C. T. Smith H. Werle Preparation of Schedules A.I. & I.R. Diamond J. W. Hayes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 312 NOTES AND QUERIES The Deputy Commander at Taipang was the highest ranking officer in the locality of Kowloon during the Ch'ing Dynasty. At that time, the headquarters was set up within the Kowloon Walled City. This office, which also served as a garrison, still existed before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, but had been converted into a Home for the Aged run by a Catholic Mission. In accordance with the [Kwangtung] military system adopted in Ch'ing Dynasty, there were altogether 6 battalions of armed forces under the Kowloon garrison commander. The reason why the Kowloon headquarters was named the Taipang Garrison is that the geographical name of Kowloon was once alternatively called Taipang Shan (⚟) and was politically under the sovereignty of Po On (then San On) District Magistracy.* Besides, there is also a very good harbour by the name of Taipang Bay located at the southeastern part of Po On District and east of Kowloon. In Taipang harbour the water runs to 5-10 fathoms deep where large warships can cast anchor. It was partly due to the importance of local coastal defence and partly due to the necessity of civil administration that such a garrison was established at Taipang Bay. The post of Deputy Commander was normally held in a 3 years' term; and among all the previous commanders, General Cheung was the most important in terms of historical significance. Cheung Yuk-tong, alias Hon-sang,† was born in Wei Yeung District, Kwangtung, and for many generations the Cheung's family lived in the Peach Garden in the capital town of the Wai Yeung District. In the 4th year of Hsien Feng (A.D.) (1853) he was appointed as Deputy Commander at Taipang, being promoted from staff officer at the Chin Shan Checkpoint [near Macao]. For four successive tours of service, in all a total of 13 years Gen. Cheung had been holding this post, and in those days the local inhabitants enjoyed a very peaceful time. It was not until the 5th year of Tung-chih reign (1866) that General Cheung retired from the military service at the age of 72. When the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula was ceded to Britain as a consequence of the signing of the Peking Treaty he was still in office. As the Treaty was signed by the Imperial Court, *This is not so, but the Taipang garrison force served in and controlled Kowloon and district. Except where stated footnotes are supplied by James Hayes. † ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 318 NOTES AND QUERIES everlasting as the Southern Mountain (a classical allusion symbolizing the “realm of longevity”). Providence has showered blessings of prosperity upon the family and bestowed her posterity with divine qualities. Here are gathered the young and the old to offer her their greetings and celebrations. May she live long like the evergreen pine-trees. Her descendants, who devote themselves to academic studies or engage in husbandry, have come forth with their fervent blessings of the "Nine Similes" [a psalm from the Book of Poetry].* Your mother, sitting in the North Hall, is presented with auspicious peaches [the "fruit of longevity" in Chinese legend]. She radiates with the spirit of the Dragon and the vigour of the Horse. Assembled at this Birthday party in this sumptuously decorated hall are honourable guests, all from noble and dignified families (Scribbled by Sun Ying-suet). Hong Kong, 1976. FRANCIS SHAM AND JAMES HAYES HƯNG HȮM (£): AN EARLY INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE IN OLD BRITISH KOWLOON. British Kowloon was ceded in March 1860. Its population at that time was around the few thousand mark, and its growth was steady over the next twenty years. In 1881 the population numbered 9,021. Thereafter the population rose sharply and by 1897 it was 26,402, of which 19,202 were male, (Sessional Papers 1897, p. 485). The increase in the Kowloon population from 1860 on may be attributed to the establishment of industrial and manufacturing concerns, that undoubtedly owed their existence to the presence of nearby Hong Kong, then making great strides towards its establishment as a great entrepôt and commercial and financial centre. Among them the Hong Kong Whampoa Dock Company set up its yard at Hung Hom in the 1860's, the Cosmopolitan Dock began at *The "9 Similes" (*) from the Book of Poetry() (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 如山如阜,如同如陵,如川之方至,以莫不增, (6) (7) (8) 如月之恒,如日之升,如南山之壽,不騫不崩, (9) 如松柏之茂,無不爾或承 [FSYS] ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 324 NOTES AND QUERIES site to which it was removed in 1929. The first, and larger, of these was the Kwun Yam Temple already noted, with its associated public buildings. The bell and the earliest presentation boards (*) are dated 1873-74. The main entrance of the temple was rebuilt in 1889-90, and the undated Kung Sor (公所) or public office built onto one side of the central structure may also be attributed to this time. A separate clinic or public dispensary building was added in 1910, according to a memorial tablet of that year, which bears the names of very many subscribers. The second of the Hung Hom temples is almost as old as the first. According to a plaque recently placed inside the building by the Chinese Temples Committee, this Pak Tai temple dates from the 2nd year of Kuang Hsü (1876-77) when it was built at the eastern end of Ching Chau Street, Hung Hom, but as stated above, was later removed for development. The oldest dated items in the present building are a bell dated 1893 presented by a Wo Hing Tong (*) and a set of incense burners dated 1901-02 presented by 'the whole community of Hung Hom Dockyard Village (紅磡澳通圍). This temple development, and the basis it provided for local community effort, is reminiscent of the similar developments in Yau Ma Tei reported in this Journal some time ago.† The Kaifong (街坊) or neighbourhood organisation centering as in Yau Ma Tei on a local temple is credited with these community services; references to a Kaifong school and a volunteer fire brigade are also available. This self-help and enterprise of the local community, was, however, not a new phenomenon but one created to a pattern long familiar in Chinese urban communities. Hong Kong, 1976. CARL T. SMITH JAMES HAYES HONG KONG: TYPHOON PREPARATIONS IN 1903 Readers will recall Mr. A. J. S. Lack's article 'Yaumatei Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong, 1903-1915' in the 1973 Journal. The following description is of interest in this connection. It is taken from the Memoirs of Robert Dollar, pp. 55-56 published privately in America in 1927, and describes a visit to Hong Kong in 1903. Ed. Commonly styled in Cantonese, + JHKBRAS, 6, 1966: pp. 129-131. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d BOOK REVIEWS 345 Rebellion. This book in English is the fruit of voluminous earlier work in Chinese, and therefore represents a synthesis of all Mr. Jen's previous researches and writing on this subject. Its quality is such that it attracted the award of the John King Fairbank Prize from the American Historical Association last year (1975). For Western readers, the first part of the book, which takes the story up to the capture of Nanking in 1853, is probably the most fascinating since it describes the origins and development of the movement. It is, in hindsight, incredible that a Christian pamphlet picked up in Canton and neglected for years in a country home should have been the instrument whereby a great empire was almost toppled and approximately 20 million persons lost their lives, in the course of 15 years of struggle affecting most of the 18 provinces of China Proper at one time or another. The book brings out the drama of the movement as it traces the fortunes of the principal actors and their leading adversaries. The sufferings of the people are also depicted, experiencing, as they often did, the disruptions caused by the march and counter-march of opposing forces, the ravages of the Imperial Forces upon the recapture of cities and the action of other parties quick to seize advantage from the ensuing disorder and uncertainty. This work is, in general, a continuous narrative history, packed with new information and insights into the conditions and thinking of the time. It is, as the author has told me, a history of the Taipings as they saw themselves and as it happened. For these reasons, and because so much of a scholar's life and energies have gone into its making (with the editorial assistance of Adrienne Suddard whose name appears on the title page and in the author's preface) this book is a worthy monument to a momentous period in recent Chinese history, and a classic of its kind. That Mr. Jen is an avowed partisan of the Taipings does not lessen its importance. Hong Kong, 1976. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q # SAI KUNG, THE MAKING OF THE DISTRICT AND ITS EXPERIENCE DURING # WORLD WAR II ## DAVID FAURE'* ## INTRODUCTION The traceable history of Sai Kung District begins in the eighteenth century. At that time, the whole of Hong Kong, * ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This article records and analyses the findings of a research project into the oral sources available for the history of Sai Kung, conducted by members of the Oral History Project Team of the Centre for East Asian Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Thanks are due to many people for the successful completion of this project. Mr. Colin Bosher, former District Officer, Sai Kung, suggested it in the first place, and Mr. S.J. Chan, the present District Officer, gave his advice and encouragement most generously. Professor Chen Ching-ho, former Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, took a most understanding attitude towards research on local history, and his kindness made possible not only this project, but also several other projects concerning the history of the New Territories. At every stage, the staff of the Sai Kung District Office and members of the Sai Kung Rural Committee helped in many and varied ways. The kindness of Miss Carrie Tsang, Miss Joyce Nip, Mr. Lei Yun Shou, J.P., Mr. Chung P'oon, Chairman, Sai Kung Rural Committee, and Mr. William Wan, must be especially acknowledged. Between November 1980 and August 1981 many residents of Sai Kung and neighbouring districts kindly agreed to be interviewed by the research team and their student assistants. For the record, their names and the dates of these interviews are appended to this report. As always, Dr. James Hayes and Dr. Patrick Hase offered kind and sound advice, and made available their own research notes for consultation. Father Sergio Ticozzi provided information on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Sai Kung. Mr. K.M.A. Barnett generously gave us his time to discuss numerous issues that arose in the interviews. Thanks are also due to the Sai Kung Rural Committee and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for providing financial support for this project, and to Mr. Deacon Chiu, whose generous donation to the University made its grant possible. At different times, the following students at the Chinese University assisted: Cheng Shui Kwan, Kwok Po Nei, Lam Loi, Lau Kwan Yau, Lee Lai Mui, Lui Shuk Yee, Ngo Yin Ling, Tang Chan Yiu, Tsui Lai Yi, and Wong Yue Leung. Miss Cheng Shui Kwan and Miss Lee Lai Mui worked on this project from the start to its completion, and their contribution to the project is immense. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1976: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: A. I. Diamond, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Helga Werle, Phil. Sin. Cand. (Munich) F. Geoffroy-Dechaume, Consul General for France K. A. Westcott, B.A., Dip.Ed. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. H. J. Lethbridge, B.Sc.(Econ.), B.Sc.(Soc.), Dip. Criminology Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. D. H. Liu G. W. Bonsall, M.A., M.L.S. Filled vacancies during the year B. A. V. Peacock, M.A. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q CONTENTS Page PRESIDENT'S REPORT TREASURER'S REPORT THE LIBRARY ARTICLES: · Reflections on the Comparative Study of Modernization in China and Japan - RICHARD J. SMITH · The Teochiu: Ethnicity in Urban Hong Kong - Douglas W. SPARKS · Interethnic Interaction-a matter of Definition: Ethnicity in a Housing Estate in Hong Kong DOUGLAS W. SPARKS · "Patterned Bands" in the New Territories of Hong Kong - ELIZABETH L. JOHNSON · A Hawaiian King Visits Hong Kong, 1881 - TIN-YUKE CHAR · In Search of the Chinese Name for "Li Sun"-TIN-YUKE CHAR · Chan Lai-sun and his Family: a 19th Century China Coast Family - CARL T. SMITH · Notes on Friends and Relatives of Taiping Leaders - CARL T. SMITH with Additional Notes by JEN YU-WEN · Operation and Maintenance of a Road Transport System in West China 1942-46 — W. A. REYNOLDS · Land and River Routes to West China - A. D. BLUE · In the Path of the Ancient Mon: Pagan, Pegu and Nakom Pathom - MICHAEL SMITHIES REPORT: · A Report on Social Research in the New Territories of Hong Kong, 1963 - MAURICE FREEDMAN NOTES AND QUERIES: · Visit to Tung Wah Group of Hospitals' Museum, 2 October 1976 — CARL Smith and JAMES HAYES · Political and Pugilistic Freemasonry? - Y. F. LAM · Sandal Wood Mills at Tsuen Wan - JAMES HAYES · Chinese in the Volunteer Forces of Hong Kong — James HAYES · A Missing Chinese Library? - JAMES HAYES · Notes on Ho Chung-a 19th Century Artist in Kwangtung - CHUANG SHEN · Chinese Preserved Monks - KEITH STEVENS · Preliminary List of the Baker Collection of New Territories Genealogies in The British Library — H.G.H. NELSON · The Occurrence of Troides Helena (Linn.) in Hong Kong - J. CAREY-HUGHES AND J. B. PICKFORD Page 1 6 10 12 25 57 81 92 107 112 117 135 162 179 191 262 281 282 283 284 285 292 297 301 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1975 (Covering the period April 7, 1975-April 1, 1976) This has been another active twelve months for your Society. I start my Report with a review of the programme and will then turn to matters concerning publications, the Art Centre, Library, Membership, and the Photographic Survey which has been one of our more recent ventures. During the period we have organised nine lectures, 2 excursions to places of local interest, and one tour abroad, to Burma. We have arranged two film shows, one recital and a symposium — the seventh in our series. Most events were well attended. Lectures and films related to the regions of China, contemporary and traditional, Vietnam, India, Korea and Hong Kong. The year started last April with a lecture on changing patterns of merchant organization in late Ch'ing China given by Dr. Wellington K.K. Chan, a visitor from the United States, and also in that month we arranged our first excursion, to Macau, where members, guided by Dr. Leigh Wright, visited Chinese temples and toured the Museum and colonial cemetery. In May and June our focus was on Peking opera. In May, Dr. Rulan Pian, visiting professor in music at Chung Chi College, spoke on musical elements in the opera; and in June Dr. Chiao Chien explained revolutionary opera as a means for transmitting values and political ideas. The arts were further represented in June with a demonstration of Kathak dancing by a well-known expert Mr. Satyanarayana Charka; and in July and August we showed films--one on Chinese paintings and one on music. Another film dealt with the excavation of a Silla tomb of 5th century Korea. In August Sir John Addis, formerly Ambassador to China, described a visit to Ching-te Chen; and in September a talk was given on Brahman ritual by Professor Fritz Staal. Also that month James Hayes, our editor and one of our vice-presidents who in his professional life is District Officer Tsuen Wan, led members to visit his area. The focus was on the past-historical places, the present, as well as the future of the area--development plans. Following, in October, a discussion was conducted by Drs. Graham and Elizabeth Johnson, both anthropologists working in Tsuen Wan ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q and living in a resettled village, on their field observations relating to urban development. In November we had a talk on diplomatic systems in East Asia as part of general philosophies of state by Dr. Frank W. Ikle and in December Dr. Ralph Smith, a visiting historian specialising in Vietnamese society at the School of African and Oriental Studies spoke on the Cao-Daist and Hoa Hao religious sects. Another visitor to Hong Kong—visiting professor in anthropology at The Chinese University—Professor Francis L. K. Hsu, spoke to the Society in January giving his views about Chinese motivations and values and comparing them with Western values and motivations as he sees them. In February we held our symposium: this time on Architecture and the development of Hong Kong. We were fortunate enough to obtain the kind services of Mr. Tao Ho here, a well-known local architect and designer, who gathered a team of experts to talk on problems of community and town planning, building, mass transit and the historical development of ethnic clusters in relation to building. This was very well attended and there was some lively discussion. We look forward to seeing the papers in publication: Mr. Ho is presently editing them for the Society. The last lecture of the period was given by Professor Daffyd Evans of Hong Kong University who spoke on early European residents in Hong Kong. We look forward to seeing some of these talks in print in the Journal. Foreign tours are now an established feature of our annual programme. This period included a tour of Burma guided by Mr. Michael Smithies, a former Secretary of your Society, now resident in Indonesia, who has led past tours so successfully. It was organised this end by Ms. Helga Werle of your Council. This was also a very successful venture and I understand that it has been followed by a reunion of tour members who are anxious to have more of the same. For the future: Ms. Werle and Mr. Smithies, and also Dr. Leigh Wright are offering tours abroad—to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Indonesia, Korea, and Borneo—dates will be decided on the basis of majority response to several offered to members in a recent circular. A visit to Tai Mo Shan is also planned for this weekend (April 3), and will include the Shing Mun or Jubilee Reservoir. Talks and notes will be given on history and ethnography of the area, plant and insect life, and birds of upper Tai Mo Shan—by Dr. James Hayes. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 4 Branch's collection of books and periodicals. Once again we must acknowledge our gratitude to the Representative of the British Council who has allowed us to keep part of the collection in the Council's Library since 1968. The rather unsatisfactory division of the Branch's library between two locations continues, all the books now being housed in the Library of the Public Records Office by kind permission of the Archivist, Mr. Diamond, and the periodicals and pamphlets in the Library of the University of Hong Kong, and here we would also like to acknowledge our thanks. Membership The figure for membership I had last year for December 1974 was 565; consisting of 83 overseas, including both life and ordinary, membership; 55 local life members, and 427 ordinary local members. In December 1975 the figure stood at 613, consisting of 114 overseas (life and ordinary) members, 139 local life members and 360 local ordinary members. Many members changed to life membership during the year. Generally speaking we have had a gain in membership taking into account losses of membership owing to resignations on leaving Hong Kong, and deaths of which there were three. This figure very sadly included Dr. J. R. Jones who died in January. Dr. J. R. Jones Dr. J. R. Jones was our first president, holding office from 1959 when the Society was resuscitated after a period of 100 years, by Dr. Jones, myself and Mr. Cranmer-Byng now in Canada and first Editor of the Journal, until 1969 when he was succeeded by Sir Lindsay Ride. Dr. Jones did much to encourage the growth of our membership, indeed he signed his last form as proposer of a new member only a few days before his death. Also, one of his last acts was to present a bound set of the Journals of the North China Branch of the Society—a Branch of which he was also an active member and organiser for many years; and he has also left us some other books from his collection. Members of your Council attended Dr. Jones' funeral and a wreath was sent on behalf of the Society, whilst Dr. Hayes was one of the pall-bearers. The Photographic Survey The Photographic Survey has made good progress during the year and a substantial part of the Western District of Victoria had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 68 DOUGLAS W. SPARKS is the name given to the festival—the Hoi Luk Fung festival is known as the festival for the King of Hades (E) while the Teochiu festival is called the Yue Lan () Festival. The purpose of this festival, to placate the souls of those who died as orphans, in war, as children or who were murdered, and who are released from hell during a certain period during the seventh lunar month, is the same in both ethnic group's festivals. Hoi Luk Fung have told me that formerly in China they used the same name to refer to the festival as now. This festival was known throughout China and was not unique to either Teochiu or Hoi Luk Fung. These ethnic groups have chosen to emphasize this particular festival in Hong Kong and the performance of the festival as a public ritual has become synonymous with Teochiu ethnic solidarity and distinctiveness. That Hoi Luk Fung have chosen to retain their own name for the festival is indicative of the underlying hostility and rivalry between the two ethnic groups. In almost every other respect the festivals are identical—the physical layout of the temporary buildings, hiring of professional monks or priests to chant sutras during the festival, ritual paraphernalia, etc. The two festivals are held at the same location several weeks apart and, although it would save both effort and money, the two groups build and then remove identical temporary structures to house the opera group, monks, offices and auction items and massive figures of gods. There is absolutely no cooperation or communication between the two groups during the preparations for the festival, which last several months and require huge sums of money and a tremendous amount of physical labor and planning. The local Teochiu and Hoi Luk Fung communities are sorely taxed by the necessity to donate large sums to the festival organizations in order to put on the festivals. Fund raising is a complex matter for the festival organizations and is successful only because of the great enthusiasm and support for the festival within the local community. Yet no leader in either group would suggest that they join efforts in order to produce a really outstanding festival. The festival organizations see themselves in direct competition in terms of producing the most expensive, best and most organized festival. As one Teochiu leader said to me, this competition is primarily a matter of prestige. I was told that for a long time, during the formative period of the festival organizations, there was no clear winner, but that now the Teochiu ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 90 ELIZABETH L. JOHNSON loom does not appear to have been part of the inventory of Han Chinese material culture, this leads one to speculate that the Hakka may have learned the technique through contact with pre-Han people in the hill areas of Kwangtung where they settled. This is, at least, one possible explanation for their use of this technique. NOTES 1 The research reported here was done in Kwan Mun Hau Village, Tsuen Wan, during 1975-76, following my dissertation research which was done in the same village in 1968-70. The work was supported by the Joint Centre on Modern East Asia, at York University in Toronto. 2 Recent research reports on Tsuen Wan include: Graham E. Johnson, "Leaders and Leadership in an Expanding New Territories Town", The China Quarterly, March 1977, pp. 109-125. Elizabeth L. Johnson, "Women and Childbearing in Kwan Mun Hau Village", in Women in Chinese Society, Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke, eds., Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1975. An exhibit of patterned bands, and Szechwan peasant embroideries, was held at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology from April 15-June 15 of this year, with the title "Chinese Peasant Textile Arts: Kwangtung and Szechwan Provinces". The exhibit was prepared by the students of Anthropology 431. 3 I wish to express my gratitude to my informants in Kwan Mun Hau Village, who not only introduced me to the subject of patterned bands but were also very patient in supplying me with information about them. I should also like to thank my very able research assistant, Jennifer Woon Chi-yee. 4 Dr. James Hayes has raised the interesting question of whether the bands used on these occasions would be woven in the colour and style of the wife's or the husband's village or would always be red (a lucky colour). Unfortunately I cannot answer this question without further research. 5 Some of the mountain songs were learned while others were sung in a kind of spontaneous repartee between two groups, often of men and women. The form of the wedding and funeral songs was learned, but the content varied according to the feelings which the individual singer wished to express. 6 See: James Hayes, "Itinerant Hakka Weavers", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch. Vol. 8, 1968, pp. 162-165. Aijmer, in his article "Expansion and Extension in Hakka Society” (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 7, 1967, pp. 42-79 (p.48)) mentions home weaving of fabrics, but this was apparently not done in Tsuen Wan, at least in recent memory. 7 For a general study of this phenomenon, see Aijmer, op. cit. 8 G. W. Skinner states that this was also true of Szechwan peasant embroideries. G. William Skinner, "Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China, Part I" The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. xxiv, no. 1, November 1964, pp. 3-44 (p.40) Page 105 Page 106 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 132 CARL T. SMITH The fourth son, Li Shen-en alias Li Syong-kong, was baptized in Hong Kong in 1859. Following the footsteps of his father, he served as Catechist in the Sai Ying Poon Hakka Congregation from 1883 to 1888. He then emigrated to Sabah, North Borneo, where, under the auspices of the Basel Missionary Society, he organized a congregation of Hakkas. He married Lin Loi-kyau, a daughter of Rev. Lin Khi-len. She was a teacher at the Girl's Boarding School at Sai Ying Poon from 1882 to 1894. Li Tsin-kau had one daughter, Li En Kyau, born in 1860 and baptized as an infant. She attended the Sai Ying Poon School and also taught there from 1877 to 1902; in addition, she did volunteer church work among the women. The services rendered by the several generations of the Li family to the congregations and schools of the Basel Society well repaid the initial interest and attention given to the young Li Tsin-kau when he first turned up in Hong Kong in 1853 as one displaced because of his connection with the leader of the Tai Ping movement. Details of the family are largely taken from Archives of the Basel Society and a mimeographed Geschichte der Hongkonger Gemeinden kindly lent to me by Mr. James Hayes. JEN YU-WEN'S ADDITIONAL NOTES Professor Jen Yu-wen (MX), the eminent and lifelong historian of the Taiping rebellion, has kindly added the following notes: (1) Feng & Gützlaff Aside from this account [i.e., from the Hong Kong Register, 27th September 1853], there were a few others alleging that Feng, having been taught and baptized by Gützlaff, was a member of his Chinese Christian Union (4). Nevertheless, I find great difficulty in believing this story. First, there is no documentary evidence supporting it. Secondly, a careful checking on the time that Gützlaff founded and promoted the Union since 1844 does not permit Feng, who went to Kwangsi with Hung Hsiu-Ch'üan also in 1844, to come to Hong Kong to establish any relationship with Gützlaff, as Feng was at the same time busy running the affairs and directing the activities of the God-worshippers' Association in Kwangsi. There is no persuasive evidence that Feng and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 Other field workers, both British and American, are likely to follow them. 4. My own work would have been impossible without the generous help of many officers of the New Territories Administration; I should like to thank them collectively, expressing my gratitude in particular to the District Officer Tai Po and his staff. I have also the pleasure of thanking many officers in other branches of the Government; among them my thanks go especially to Mr. K.M.A. Barnett, Mr. J.W. Hayes, Mr. K.W.J. Topley, and Mr. P.K.C. Tsui; I am in the debt of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, the Department of Co-operative Development and Fisheries, various officers of the Courts, and the Colonial Secretariat Library. To my host in Tai Po, Mr. Tsang For-piu, I am specially obliged. I should like also to thank my colleague Dr. Marjorie Topley for much guidance and several teachers at the University of Hong Kong whom I had the privilege of consulting. 5. In what is to follow I shall discuss the general background to social research in the New Territories, report on some of the problems I have myself looked into, and suggest what further work could be done (and how it might be done) to promote the interests of both scholarship and administration. 6. Until the advent of the Communist regime in China the New Territories did not interest social scientists. (It can also be argued that they were of little interest to anybody outside the New Territories Administration). Chinese scholars could not be expected to concern themselves with territory under British rule, while scholars from the West were far too preoccupied with China to consider the claims of a stretch of the Chinese countryside which, from their point of view, was no more than the railway route into Kwangtung. And of course it must be remembered that the number of social scientists working on Chinese themes was, before the Second World War, extremely small. Since 1949 the New Territories have come increasingly to be appreciated as a field for research: they have been politically accessible and have had the advantage of offering for study perhaps the best living example (however much affected by British rule and modern changes) of traditional Chinese country life. So far three anthropologists have completed field studies in the New Territories: Miss Barbara E. Ward, from London, who was primarily concerned with Tanka fishermen in the Sai Kung area (and who will probably be revisiting the New Territories this ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 194 MAURICE FREEDMAN summer); Miss Jean Pratt from Cambridge, who studied a Hakka village in the neighbourhood of Tai Po; and, most recently, Mr. Jack Potter, from Berkeley, California, who has just completed a study of one of the major Tang settlements in Yuen Long District. All these may be called community studies, for they attempted to give rounded accounts of the lives of the people they investigated. The results of the three studies, when they are fully published, will provide a useful sample of traditional communities in the New Territories, for they cover both fishing and agriculture and range from relatively unsophisticated Tanka, through a small, and in some respects isolated, Hakka settlement, to one of the old centres of Punti power. In addition to these field studies the work of another anthropologist, Dr. Marjorie Topley, has dealt with the New Territories in a general way in regard to aspects of their economic life. 7. The gaps in knowledge and understanding of New Territories society are in part filled by the results of investigations carried out by other kinds of scholars. I have in mind particularly the work done by geographers and historians. The field studies by Dr. T.R. Tregear and Dr. C.J. Grant are too well known to call for my comment. At the moment further geographical field studies are in train; for example, Mr. Ronald Ng, a graduate student at the University of Hong Kong, is engaged in an investigation of the Tung Chung valley which promises to bring in much new material on the social aspects of agriculture. As for history, I may mention the work of Mr. J.W. Hayes, formerly a District Officer in the New Territories; he has produced two studies, one dealing with the New Territories as they were just before British rule, the other on Cheung Chau, which illustrate very happily how the work of the social historian and that of the anthropologist can complement each other. 8. But when the fruits of all this work are put together they will still leave out of account much that is important. The New Territories can no longer be regarded as simply a rural appendage to urban Hong Kong, an area where traditional Chinese village life has, because of the accident arising out of diplomacy in the nineteenth century, been fostered by British administration, a museum conveniently arranged for the benefit of antiquarians. The population has changed to what extent is demonstrated by the admirably conducted and analysed census of 1961. Modern industry has not ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 197 to the problem of ensuring law and order by means of administra-tive, legal, and police measures which in effect left people as much as possible to their own devices. But however much an adminis-tration may seek to preserve traditional institutions and modes of behaviour and very superficially the pre-war New Territories Administration resembled a Chinese form of Government—it inevitably produces some changes which spring from the framework of its own rules. One change immediately brought about in the New Territories was the removal of political and economic power from certain clans, mainly in the west, which, under the Chinese regime, had exercised control over considerable areas by virtue of their access to the government and their tax privileges. More fun-damentally, however, the new regime set into decline a system of local leadership which had hitherto rested on principles inherent in imperial Chinese society. 13. At the edge of China the county of San On (about three-fifths of which became the New Territories in 1898) was not remarkable for producing scholars, but, as an integral part of the Empire, it sent its men into the examinations and, as a result, furnished the country with some administrators. I have not yet had the oppor-tunity of checking the examination quotas operating at the end of the century, but at its beginning—I do not have the source by me as I write there was a quota of eight graduates at each three-yearly examination at Canton for San On, and an additional quota of two for the county's Hakka population. (In the last decades of the Empire, moreover, the sale of examination equivalents was very common; the number of titled scholars in San On was therefore likely to be considerably greater than that suggested by examination quotas). According to Lockhart, who surveyed the New Territories in 1898, there were about 150 sau ts'oi* in the county. See J.W. Hayes, "The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, 1962, p. 11. Those who studied for the examinations were com-paratively few, and they were almost certainly members of clans, and families within these clans, which, by reason of their riches and connexions, were in a privileged position. But the idea was widespread that all respectable men (a category including all the farmers) were eligible to offer themselves for examination and, ultimately, to assume administrative office. And there existed many schools in the countryside to set children going on the ladder ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 208 MAURICE FREEDMAN own region. (See his History of Chinese Civilisation, in Chinese, Taiwan Chinese Book Company, 1956, pp. 57-60. Hsiao, op. cit., pp. 345ff., translates a large part of this section of Liang's book but fails to indicate that Liang makes modern rural independence rest historically on heung yeuk). 29. Early British reports on the New Territories speak not only of yeuk but also of tung, ‘cave', a term which in some contexts may be translated as a valley. When the social history of the New Territories comes to be written the significance of the groupings going under the names of heung, yeuk, and tung will need to be carefully gone into. (See Hayes, op. cit., pp. 9-12, 14, 25 for statements based on Lockhart's material. I am myself sceptical about some of Lockhart's data on local organisation and local tribunals, but I have not yet marshalled enough historical material to be able to enter into a debate on these topics). For the moment, confining ourselves to the data, such as they are, on yeuk, let us consider the kinds of leadership which were implied in the old system of inter-village relationship. Rich and powerful clans, of which the Tang were a supreme example, were—the paradox is superficial—so tightly connected with officialdom that they could act independently of it and use their power to dominate their neighbours. (In one account I received of the founding of the Tai Po new market the ability of the Man to establish a rival to the Tang market was attributed to the 'pull' they were able to exercise, through a high Man official, at Canton. There was a limit to the influence which any one clan or clan grouping could exert on the state, for officialdom played off one local power centre against another). But dominance could be expressed in some contexts as leadership, for up to a point weaker communities were content to be guided and instructed by stronger, making use of their favours vis-à-vis officialdom, looking to them for protection against other strong communities, and submitting their disputes to them for mediation. (The Man of Tai Hang got themselves into this position of leadership; they had something to offer to the other six yeuk). Past a certain point, however, dominance became oppression, and then the weaker communities might band themselves together. The leaders of such unions (except when, as in the case of the Ts'at Yeuk, a relatively powerful clan took a hand) were not gentlemen but country people (farmers and small business men) whose claims to prominence rested on their economic substance and ability as organisers and spokesmen. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 253 modern buildings, the banks, the cinemas, and the daily shopping, the country town still has many of the characteristics of the place it was in former times when the market was held only on certain days of the month and formed the only means by which people in different parts of the area kept in regular touch with one another. Marriages, business deals, and politics were and remain important elements in the body of transactions which the country town stands for. But not all the issues are to be prejudged; it may be that as the town grows in size and economic significance it develops an urban autonomy, and a kind of small-townsman emerges whose interests and values are no longer so tightly correlated with those of the villager. The town of Yuen Long, for example, may prove to have gone far in this direction already, and the advent of new business men into the market towns, some of them with bases in the city, may point the way to an increasing tendency for the small urban areas of the New Territories to set themselves up as independent social entities with their own mechanisms of internal order (chambers of commerce, kaifongs, and trade associations). It is for this reason that I hope that one of the two students from London who will be arriving in the New Territories in the autumn will be able to concentrate on a market town and its relations to the countryside. There is of course another kind of market town in the New Territories: the one which depends on fishermen and in which, as a result, there has traditionally been a social cleavage between the buyers and the sellers, such that the town has not been under the control of the people of the surrounding area. Such a town fell within the scope of Miss Ward's study. An outstandingly interesting example (especially attractive because its historical background has been explored in a paper, now in press, by Mr. Hayes*) is Cheung Chau; it should certainly be borne in mind for future investigation. It offers the promise of our being able to see the results of a long period of tight urban organisation, resembling very strikingly, I suspect, the kind of urban settlement built up by Chinese emigrants in many parts of South-East Asia. 93. I have been brought by questions of urban organisation to touch on fishermen. The Tanka were the first group of the New Territories population to be studied by an anthropologist, and there is little likelihood that fishermen, whether land-based or boat people, * "Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets" in JHKBRAS, 3, 1963: 88-99. — Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q NOTES AND QUERIES 263 Chinese reports on e.g. the work and accounts of the Man Mo Temple in Hollywood Road which has long been associated with the Tung Wah Group. Also Chinese medical works and journals. Item (c) comprises photographs of Tung Wah occasions over the past seventy years and more; but mostly modern. Item (f) includes presentation items from directors and others, including pieces of stoneware and porcelain. All told, though still not, in my view, fully representative of all Tung Wah activities over the past hundred years, the Museum contains an impressive and interesting collection of exhibits and reflects great credit on the Hospital. Carl T. Smith's notes of the history and work of the Hospital follow this brief introduction to the Museum and its contents. Hong Kong, 1976, JAMES HAYES NOTES ON TUNG WAH HOSPITAL, HONG KONG These notes are not a comprehensive history of the Tung Wah Hospital group. For this the reader is referred to the following books issued by the Directors: Development of the Tung Wah Hospitals 1870-1960; One Hundred Years of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals 1870-1970 and The History of Education of Tung Wah (1963). Of particular interest is Henry James Lethbridge's article, "A Chinese Association in Hong Kong: The Tung Wah", Contributions to Asian Studies, 10, 1973, pp. 144-158. In it he views the Hospital as an important social organization of the Chinese community and draws attention to the efforts of Government to relate to that community through the Hospital Committee. The present notes underline the thesis developed by Mr. Lethbridge. Every community has certain institutions of particular significance in such areas as education, religion, culture, business, politics and society. Seldom perhaps has one institution overlapped so many of these areas as Tung Wah Hospital. It has been some 107 years since the first Chinese Hospital Committee was formed—during these years the Hospital has played varying roles. This means that it can be looked at in different ways. A past, present or expectant member of the Board of Directors might give one story of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 274 NOTES AND QUERIES Tung Wah as a Political-Judicial Institution The Tung Wah Hospital Committee is of particular interest in the relation of a Chinese community to a Colonial Government. It performed an important function in providing self-identity to the community during the early years of the Hospital's history. This function is related to the development of social control within Chinese society. In general, there are two levels of such control: central, from the top, represented by the Emperor and supported by the gentry and literati, and local control. In the countryside, local control was represented by clan organization and village councils. In mixed communities, such as cities, some market towns, and fishing villages (such as Cheung Chau - see J.W. Hayes, "Cheung Chau, 1850-1898", JHKBRAS, 3(1963), pp. 13-23), by Temple Committees and Kai Fongs. The local village organization based upon clan could not be operative within urban Hong Kong with a mixed population drawn from various areas and Chinese language groups. Direct central control in the form of Mandarin officialdom was obviously impossible in a place under British control. To fill the vacuum, institutions grew up which were similar to those found in urban and commercial centres in China: commercial and craft guilds, street associations (Kai-fong), and temple committees. The 1872 Hong Kong Directory lists three Chinese organizations, possibly in the order of their importance: the Chinese Hospital Committee (Tung Wah), the Man-Mo Temple Committee (or, as given in the Chinese designation, the Kai-fong), and the U Lan Procession Committee. A Chinese article published in translation in 1876 (China Review) gives an account of the origin of these institutions. In 1847, only a few years after the establishment of Hong Kong as an urban centre, two wealthy and prominent members of the community, Loo Aking, the alleged leader of the major criminal syndicate in Hong Kong, and Tam Achoy, a respectable businessman who had lived previously in Singapore and acquired his wealth in Hong Kong initially as a contractor, were connected with the Man Mo Temple. Both had been in Hong Kong since shortly after its occupation by the British. Their association in the building of the Man Mo Temple illustrates the thesis set forth by Mr. Lethbridge that during the early years of Hong Kong's history, the presence of strong Triad Society organization served as a buffer against social control by a foreign government which often seemed to the Chinese as "bizarre, erratic, at times even hostile, aggressive, and cruel". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q NOTES AND QUERIES POLITICAL AND PUGILISTIC FREEMASONRY?* CHINESE FREEMASONS 281 Door front of a house in a Chicago China Town street. The Chinese inscription on the glass panel: +##NR% (literally: China Hung Mun Peoples' Governing Party). "Hung Mun" is a branch of Chinese martial art (kung fu); "Peoples' Governing Party" is probably what Freemasons are known to be by this organisation in Chicago. This photograph was taken by Y. F. Lam, P.M. 428 and 493, S.C. during his U.S.A. tour in May, 1976. Mr. Lam continues: I am indebted to my good friend, James W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., currently Town Manager and District Officer, Tsuen Wan, N.T. and Editor of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, who provided me with a relevant and interesting excerpt from a book entitled Ex-Chief Inspector Kenneth Andrew, Hong Kong Detective, published by John Long, London 1962. It runs: * Reprinted, with permission, from the "1975-1976 Year Book and Proceedings of the District Grand Lodge of the Far East". Mr. Y. F. Lam is, of course, our Member and Printer. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q NOTES AND QUERIES 283 From Eastern No. 88, Correspondence relating to the Kowloon-Canton Railway (London, Colonial Office, 1907), Enclosure D in No. 59, Governor Sir M. Nathan to Mr. Lyttelton, 11 January, 1905. "Tsun Wan-Two passage boats ply daily between Hong Kong and Tsun Wan; the number of passengers carried each way averages about 60. The principal goods carried are rice, pineapples when in season, grass and wood in connection with the 24 sandal-wood mills, worked by water power, and situated in the various valleys of the Tsun Wan district." From G.S.P. Heywood, Rambles in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh, Ltd., 2nd Edition 1951, p. 19. "Tsun Wan has several local industries; silk-weaving is carried on in an up-to-date mill next door to the primitive and unhygienic sheds where noodles are made from powdered beans. In the valley running up into the hills to the south-west of Tai Mo Shan there is a village consisting entirely of watermills, where wood is ground up for the manufacture of joss sticks. This picturesque place is easily reached from the road; the path starts at the bridge about half a mile beyond Tsun Wan, near the 9th milestone, and follows the stream upwards, first on one bank and then on the other. The first watermill is reached in 5 minutes' walk from the road, and beyond are a dozen more little houses perched on the sides of the valley, each with its waterwheel busily turning. For a small tip the owner of one of these mills will show you inside; the atmosphere is thick with fragrant dust, and through it you can dimly see great stone-headed hammers pounding away at the aromatic wood."* Hong Kong, 1974. JAMES HAYES CHINESE IN THE VOLUNTEER FORCES OF HONG KONG In my article "A Short History of Military Volunteers in Hong Kong" (Volume 11 of this Journal, 1971: 151-171) I mentioned the uncertainty which surrounded the membership of the successive volunteer units by local Chinese (pages 164-5 refer). I suggested that it was possible that the late Sir Man-kam Lo was the first or among the first to join, in the 1920s. * Plate 26 illustrates this Note. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 284 NOTES AND QUERIES Since then, I have seen a notice which makes it clear that Hong Kong Chinese joined the Volunteer Movement at least 30 years before this time. In a speech made by Dr., later Sir James, Cantlie, then Dean of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, on 23rd July 1892, on the occasion of the presentation of diplomas to the first two members to qualify (one was Sun Yat-sen), he pointed out that students of the college were the only Chinese then enlisted in the recently reorganised 'Reserve Force of Hong Kong' (See G. Stokes, Queen's College 1862-1962, Hong Kong n.d.). Hong Kong, 1976. JAMES HAYES A MISSING CHINESE LIBRARY? In order to compile his book Eighteen Capitals of China (Philadelphia and London; J.B. Lippencott Company, 1911) Dr. William Edgar Geil, the celebrated American traveller and author stated in his preface: (p.x) “With the aid of viceroys, governors, Hanlin scholars, librarians, booksellers, we have gathered a large collection, out of which selections by leading scholars have been translated, and a few specimens are given, to let the readers see the old style of book. Local proverbs in themselves have never been brought together on our scale; and to choose from a mass of new material which would fill three volumes has been a difficult task.' It would appear from the introduction penned by the famous American sinologue missionary and teacher, Dr. W.A.P. Martin, that this literary material was collected on the spot, at each capital, comprising ... "their topographical treasures, a mass of literature destined to form the basis of a Chinese Library" (p. viii). Also that, as for one of Dr. Geil's former books on China, on his journeyings along the Great Wall, Martin had helped to put his materials in shape (p.viii). Does anyone know of the present whereabouts of this valuable collection which presumably was taken back by Dr. Geil to his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania where, according to Who Was Who in America, he was born, lived and died (1925). Hong Kong, 1977, JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1977: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: A. I. Diamond, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., D.M., LL.D., J.P. (Past President) Helga Werle, Phil. Sin. Cand. (Munich) K. A. Westcott, B.A., Dip.Ed. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. H. J. Lethbridge, B.Sc.(Econ.), B.Sc.(Soc.), Dip. Criminology Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. D. H. Liu G. W. Bonsall, M.A., M.L.S. B. A. V. Peacock, M.A. B. C. J. Shaw, B.A., Ph.D. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n PRESIDENT'S Report TREASURER's Report THE LIBRARY CONTENTS Page 1 6 10 TRANSACTIONS : Brunei: A Historical Relic - LEIGH WRIGHT Behind Japanese Barbed Wire: Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong 1942-1945 - G. C. EMERSON A Journey to Yenan 1946 - W. A. REYNOLDS ARTICLES: Two Essays on the Ch'ing Economy of Hsin-An, Kwangtung - J. T. KAMM Under Altars - K. G. STEVENS Social Organization and Ceremonial Life of Two Multi-Surname Villages in Hoi-p'ing County, South China, 1911-1949 - YUEN-FONG WOON "Little Fujian (Fukien)” Sub-Neighbourhood and Community in North Point, Hong Kong - GREGORY E. GULDIN Reprinted ARTICLES: Cheung Chow - Long Island - W. J. HINTON Memories of the District Office South, Hong Kong - W. SCHOFIELD NOTES AND QUERIES: Notes for the Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Tai Mo Shan, 3rd April 1976 — (I) L. B. and S. L. THROWER (II) JAMES HAYES Notes for the Visit to the Tang Family Graves, 11 December 1976 - DAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Tsuen Wan, 10th December, 1977 - A Village War'. JAMES HAYES The Rural History Project in Yuen Long and Field Notes on the Social History and Fung Shui of Kam Tin - J. T. KAMM Bean Skim, A Product of Blood and Sweat Four Chinese Banks Fail, Partners Blame Head Two Letters From Wartime China A Further Note on Feng Yun-Shan and Gützlaff - Jen Yu-wen Reptiles New to Hong Kong - J. D. ROMER The Public Botanic Garden of Hong Kong Birds of Tai Mo Shan - MICHAEL Webster Occurrence of the Birds - J. D. ROMER 12 30 (55) 85 101 112 130 144 179 (185) 199 216 218 220 228 232 234 236 237 Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1977 (Covering the period April 1, 1976 — March 31, 1977) During the past year your Council has endeavoured to arrange a full and varied programme of events and we hope that everybody has found something to interest and enjoy. Altogether there have been 14 lectures, three local excursions and two foreign tours, all events being well attended, although not always by the same people. Let me briefly summarise these events. In May 1976 Professor John Fairbank, a leading authority on modern Chinese history and Asia's relations with the West, visiting from Harvard, came to talk to us about contemporary China studies. He also asked us about studies of Hong Kong and China being conducted from here at that time, and was pleased to find many of our own members active in this field. In June, Dr. James McGough, an anthropologist, at that time with the University of Hong Kong, talked about his own research on Chinese marriage carried out in Taiwan, and in July Professor Robert Bruce, an old friend and former member of the Council, discussed relations between the United States and East Asia. In August Mr. Brian Peacock, Curator of Hong Kong's Museum of History and also a Council member, talked on Hindu-Buddhist Settlement and Trade in Ancient Kedah, Malaya; and in October members visited the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals' museum, under the able guidance of Carl Smith and James Hayes. Carl Smith also provided very comprehensive notes on the Hospital which will be published in a later issue of the Journal. Also in October Dr. Peter Wesley-Smith gave a very thought-provoking talk on the convention for the lease of the New Territories. This stimulated much discussion. In November, in preparation for the Sri Lanka tour, Ms. Minette de Silva gave an introductory talk, illustrated with slides, of the various places tour members would be visiting and things they would be seeing on the tour. Also in November Professor Cheng Te-k'un returned to us again to lecture, this time on Chinese Nature Painting, and in December Dr. Leigh Wright, a member of your Council, gave a lecture in preparation for the other foreign tour, to Borneo, which he led in February. A visit to the Tang family graves was organised by David Liu and James Hayes in December. The Tang lineage is the oldest and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 3 generously gave up his Saturday afternoon to conduct the three parties of members, and we are pleased to welcome him as a guest to dinner tonight. In March Mr. Lapierre, a noted journalist, lecturer and author, known internationally perhaps most for his book "Paris Burning", showed a documentary film about India and Pakistan on the eve of independence and the conspiracy leading to Gandhi's assassination in January 1948. This lecture was held at the Union Church and Mr. Dennis Rogers, pastor of the Church, who was to act as our projectionist as he had on many occasions, died on the day of our meeting. We will miss him very much both for his help, and his enthusiastic attendance at meetings as a member of the Society. Our last lecture of the year was on March 14, when Charles Grant, Professor of Geology and Geography at the University of Hong Kong, talked about the changing coastline of the Canton Delta, the delta of the Pearl River. Professor Grant is also arranging a symposium later this year on old maps of Hong Kong. Several other events have already been planned for the first part of the next year. Two are Mr. Emerson's talk on the Japanese Occupation with a related tour of the Stanley prison area occupied by the internment camp; and Mr. Michael Stevenson's talk on the organization of Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. Publications Dr. James Hayes has been working hard to bring your Journal up to date on publication and during the year the 1974 issue was distributed. The 1975 Journal is now in print and will be distributed shortly—we hope at the end of April. The 1976 Journal is coming on well and several items have already been received and prepared for printing. They include the unpublished 1963 Report on Anthropological Fieldwork in the New Territories by the late Professor Maurice Freedman. Professor Freedman did much to open up the New Territories to anthropological research, and his observations in the Report still have influence on research choices of students working in the area today. During the year Professor Brian Lofts' illustrated symposium on the fauna of Hong Kong was published and well reviewed. We have also been fortunate in obtaining the help of Mr. Geoffrey Bonsall, Director of the Hong Kong University Press, who joined the Council as a result of a vacancy during the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n year. He has taken over much of the work of distribution of our publications in Hong Kong. Membership Local paid-up ordinary members of the Society numbered 290 at the beginning of March; there were 33 overseas ordinary members, and altogether 172 life members: that is we have a membership of nearly 500. During the year we have 19 resignations, 4 deaths, and 16 notices returned with "address unknown" marked on them. May I remind you to please let us know if you are changing your address or leaving Hong Kong during the year. Hong Kong nowadays is too large for us to know all our members personally and be aware of their movements within and outside the Colony, unless they let us know themselves. Library Our Library stocks have continued to grow during the year, details being provided by Mr. Tony Rydings, our Honorary Librarian, in a separate report tabled this evening. I acknowledge with gratitude gifts of books from Father Teixeira, Prof. Carrington Goodrich and Dr. James Hayes. I also would underline Mr. Rydings' comments about the scanty use made of this library, although it is very conveniently placed in the town. I think you would find it worth paying a visit to see just what we have, for yourselves. Arts Centre As a result of tonight's voting we will be leaving the Arts Centre. I would like to say here that we have enjoyed our association with it and the publicity it has helped to bring to the Society. We will continue to observe its progress with considerable interest and we are glad that we have been of some help in supporting the project financially, even though our contribution has been very modest in terms of the enormous sums required to bring it to completion. I would also like to thank our treasurer, Mr. David Gilkes, for the great amount of time he has given to representing this Society on the Arts Centre committee, and like him we all regret that we are not financially in a position to avail ourselves directly of the services which will undoubtedly benefit Hong Kong's public as a whole. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1976-1977 This has been another good year as regards growth of our library, though not so spectacular as the previous year in which we received the gift of our former President's bound set of the Journal of the North China Branch, in 71 volumes. The largest single addition has been a set of the Lingnan Science Journal, comprising 10 complete volumes, now bound, and 6 incomplete volumes, covering the greater part of the life of this important title. This was purchased through the alertness of Dr. J. W. Hayes. Other purchases were made by the Hon. Librarian both in the U.K. and in Hong Kong, the latter including one title from the library of the late Dr. J. R. Jones, which was dispersed by auction in October. Gifts have been an important source of accessions, and include items from Dr. L. Carrington Goodrich, Dr. J. W. Hayes and Father M. Teixeira. The Library has benefited from the disposal of a large number of duplicates of both books and periodicals from the University of Hong Kong. The main recurrent sources of additions to the library continue to be our exchange arrangements with other societies and institutions, and books sent for review to the Hon. Editor of the Journal. As at 31st December the number of items in the Library, with comparative figures for the previous year, were: 1976 1975 Books 448* 420 Pamphlets 48 46 Bound periodicals 435 in 837 390 in 783 317 *including 39 in Chinese The Library also contains a valuable Chinese scroll, four albums of photographs of the Nixon collection of Nestorian crosses, the McMullen collection of waybills, and two microfilms. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 66 J. T. KAMM Finally, a word on economic development. Equilibrium in the tenancy system in no way implied stagnation in the economy. We have already noted the benefits which tenants derived by extending the surface value. The clans, restricted in the amount of rent-value collected, expanded economically into two areas, regulation of trade and monopolization of tax collection. It was at the level of periodic marketing that the landlord clans "reasserted control” over the tenants' surplus; moreover, the landlords were able to extract increasingly large amounts of revenue, as taxes, while both trade and agricultural production increased. In this way, perpetual tenancy gave impetus to the rise of taxlordism, which we shall consider in the next essay. NOTES 1 Hugh Baker, Sheung Shui, A Chinese Lineage Village, p 8. 2 See, for instance, the Kwang Tung Nung Yeh Kai-K’uang Tiao-ch'a-pao-kao Shu Hsuan-pien (*), Vol. I, p 185. 3 Hung ch'i represented officially recognized ownership of land. Pai ch'i (é) denoted unregistered ownership, mortgage, and the like. Tenants might possess pai ch'i, or they might not. 4 It is very difficult to give a realistic estimate of the amount of land worked by tenants in the early nineteenth century. Existing records (including Government CSO reports, sessional papers and cadastral surveys) suggest a very high degree of tenancy. A survey taken by Potter in 1960 indicates a tenancy rate of 83% in Ping Shan (); this coincides with my observations in Kam Tin. 5 Extension of the Boundaries of the Colony, p 52. 6 In the first tally of cultivated land conducted at the beginning of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 4039.567656 mow of land were liable to the payment of taxes. By 1819, this amount had shrunk to a total of 3815.94836965 mow. (Hsin-An Hsien-chih, ch'uan 8). Lockhart, in the Extension papers, writes of the land registers: "The land registers of the district, which ought to be a reliable guide, are worse than useless, as they contain not more than half of the land under cultivation." (p.48). 7 See Tung-Kuan Hsien-chih (*), ch'uan 39, for an account of the problems raised by this situation. In the early years of British administration, officers were often informed by cultivators that plots of 3rd class land (see below) were exempt from tax in certain areas. 8 Kwang-chow Fu-chih ( ), ch'uan 4:46b-47a. 9 Hsin-An Hsien-chih, ch'uan 2. 10 James Hayes, "Old British Kowloon", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 6, 1966, gives some data on Kowloon. The Hakka Tangs of Pat Heung apparently arrived in the neighborhood of Kam Tin during the migration years. 11 Wan Lo, “Communal Strife in Mid-19th Century Kwangtung” Papers on China from the Regional Studies Seminar, p 93. See also N.B. Dennys (ed), The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (1867), pp 20-22. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 179 32. Before we left the higher ground, however, the most striking feature of the walk was, suddenly rounding a bend of the path and topping a rise, to be confronted with a low roaring noise which some of the party thought was jet engine noise but which turned out to be the din of the Kwai Chung section of Tsuen Wan New Town! This was a noise that accompanied us along much of our foothills walk thereafter. 33. The final stretch took us from the main stream above Lo Wai to Chuen Lung. It was marked by pine forests sowed, we were told by aeroplane, and by various large rocks and boulders. One of these was known locally as the Frog Stone (...), a name that it is claimed was given to it by the founder of the Tung Po To monastery at Lo Wai, the famous monk Mou Fung (***) who was fond of walking in the area, giving names to rocks whose shapes touched his fancy. Hong Kong, 1976, 1978. JAMES HAYES BOOKS CITED: Bourne, F. S. A., The Lo-Fou Mountains, An Excursion (Hong Kong, Kelly and Walsh, 1895). Davis, S. G., The Geology of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1952). Dingle, E. J., China's Revolution 1911-1912 (London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1912). Giles, H. A., The Civilization of China (London, Williams and Norgate 1911). Henry, B. C., The Cross and the Dragon (N.Y, 1882). Heywood, G. S. P., Rambles in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Kelly and Walsh, second edition 1951). Pitcher, P. W., In and About Amoy (Shanghai and Foochow, The Methodist Publishing House in China, 1909). ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY---VISIT TO THE TANG FAMILY GRAVES ON SATURDAY, 11TH DECEMBER, 1976 The Tang family is the oldest, largest and most famous of the New Territories' Chinese lineages. It has been settled in the area for just over 900 years and has a long history of local dominance. It has also produced many famous scholars and officials in the tradition of large, wealthy Chinese lineages. Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 180 NOTES AND QUERIES A visit will be made by coach to five of the oldest graves belonging to the family and, in addition, to a school in Kat Hing Wai at Kam Tin to see some of its heirlooms. Quite a bit of walking is involved and lady members are advised to wear flat shoes for comfort and ease of movement over hill paths. The visit will start from the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier at 11 a.m. Members are advised to catch the regular ferry from the Central Terminus, Hong Kong (35 minutes by ordinary ferry, 20 by hover ferry). Please check ferry times with HK Yaumatei Ferry Co. (Tel. 5-220393) and make your own arrangements. Otherwise, come by car and park locally, allowing plenty of time to find parking space (try the western end of Yeung Uk Road, in the area of the Yeung Uk Road Sports Ground, in the same road as the pier). Members are advised to bring a picnic lunch. The visit should end between 5--6 p.m., back at the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier. The tour will be limited to two buses and members and their friends are invited on a first-come-first-served basis. Please telephone names to Mrs. Kam at 12-403396 (District Office, Tsuen Wan). Programme notes will be available on the day. DAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES Joint Organizers 29.11.76 THE TANG (4) CLAN IN THE NEW TERRITORIES AND ITS OLDEST GRAVES According to the genealogical record kept by the Tang clan at Kam Tin, it originated from a branch settled in Kut Shui County (*) of Kiangsi Province during the northern Sung period (960-1126).* It all started when one of the ancestors by the name of TANG Fu-hip (###) passed through this part of Kwangtung on his way to his new official assignment as the magistrate of Yeung Chun County () after he had successfully passed the imperial examination and was awarded the chin-shih degree during the reign of Hsi Ning (1068-1077). * With the exception of "Kiangsi” romanizations used in this Note are in Cantonese. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 185 dogs. We observed those at the first but actually visited those at the second, which were close to our path back to Wang Chau. The first of these sites is particularly well placed and the outlook and general air of peace and perpetuity on a most beautiful sunny winter day were unforgettable. Alas for permanence! Though not itself in danger, the land to the rear of the second grave is threatened by a plan to establish a borrow area for development projects requiring soft fill. This would cut into the hills and remove features that are considered by the Tangs to threaten the good geomantic qualities of the grave. Consequently, a number of the persons who had earlier met us at Kam Tin were waiting there patiently to explain the position to us, obviously hoping for our support, and several members of the party walked with them to the ridge behind to see the land and hear their views, as courtesy required. All told, this visit was a memorable one. The Society is most grateful to the elders of the Tang family for their courtesy, hospitality and assistance with the day's arrangements. Hong Kong, 1978. JAMES HAYES Grave No. 3 is Plate 50 of LO Hsiang-lin and others' Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842 (Chinese version, 1959) and Plate 35 of the English version (1963). Grave No. 5 is at Plates 51-53 of the Chinese version and Plates 36-37 of the English. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY VISIT TO TSUEN WAN SATURDAY, 10TH DEC., 1977 ‘A VILLAGE WAR' A. NOTE ON THE VISIT In the 1860's, an ill-natured three-year struggle took place between villagers of Shing Mun, where the Jubilee Reservoir now is, and of Tsuen Wan. A good deal of damage was caused on each side, and many lives were lost. Fortunately, the descendants of the combatants are still living in this area, and it is possible to reconstruct the details of the struggle and to view some interesting relics ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 186 NOTES AND QUERIES relating to it. The tour will include a visit to the Tin Hau Temple at Miu Kong, Tsuen Wan, where there is a memorial to the war and a tablet to the Tsuen Wan villagers who were killed. Also to the Kwan Tei Temple at Kam Tin, where part of the Shing Mun villagers were resettled in 1928, which contains a tablet to the Shing Mun villagers killed in the struggle. From the Tsuen Wan ferry pier, the party went first by coach to the Shing Mun reservoir, sometimes called the Jubilee Reservoir because of its completion at the time of King George V's jubilee year (1935). A picnic lunch on one of the vantage points with barbecue and sitting out facilities was followed by a talk by Dr. James Hayes, Tour Leader, on the history and livelihood of the former villagers who lived in the valley for nearly 300 years before their removal in 1928 for the reservoir project. After lunch, the party moved to Kam Tin where the main body of the Shing Mun people moved in 1928. Here our intrepid and helpful bus driver got into difficulties in a confined space between a USD refuse trailer and the gate to the school compound. He was rescued by the action of a group of Members who dismantled a tied up, projecting hawker cart whilst, with characteristic energy and flair, Professor Tony Reynolds directed the driver, conjuring up visions of problems expertly handled many years ago in far Yenan!* After this episode, we were welcomed by the village representative Mr. Cheng Siu-fong (*) and the Headmaster of the Shing Mun New Village School, Mr. Cheung Sze-man (X). We were entertained to tea in the school which has an interesting history. It bears the same name as the old school at Shing Mun Tai Wai built for the villagers by their leaders very many years before their removal in 1928. After the move to Kam Tin it was reprovisioned in the ancestral halls and in 1958, under a subsidized village school building programme supported by the Education Department and New Territories Administration, it transferred to the present six classroomed school building. Over tea our hosts told us something of the village history after the move to Kam Tin. The main difference was in livelihood, because their agricultural holdings by purchase and rent were only a fraction of those held at Shing Mun, inevitably since Kam Tin had been long densely settled by the Tang clan and later inhabitants. * See his article at pp 43-54 of this Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 193 For the general background the reader is referred to pp. 419-433, 697-700 of Kung-chuan Hsiao's monumental study of late imperial China Rural China: Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century (University of Washington, Seattle, 1960). Also to Chapter X of Frederic Wakeman Jr.'s Strangers at the Gate, Social Disorder in South China 1839-1861 (University of California Press, 1966): 'Class and Clan' 109-116. It is of interest that as late as 1905 and 1908 villagers of Honam Island, Canton were fighting out their feuds on the campus of the Canton Christian College, the future Lingnan University: see Lingnan University by Charles Hodge Corbett (New York 1963) p. 40. The self-government of Chinese villages existing alongside what A. R. Colquhoun styles ‘a long common frontier' with 'centralised autocracy', i.e. the situation which allowed this kind of independent action to subsist, is interestingly handled in his China in Transformation (London, 1898): 238-288. Hong Kong, December 1977. C. MOVE OF THE SHING MUN VILLAGES* JAMES HAYES The Shing Mun villages of Shing Mun Lo Wai, Pak Shek Wo, Pei Tau To, Shek Tau Kin, Fu Yung Shan, Nam Fong To, Tai Pei Lek and Ho Pui contain about 855 Hakka Chinese, mostly named Cheng but having among them also Cheung's, Ko's, Lo's, Tang's and Tsang's. In a hollow in the hills about two miles broad by two and a half long, formed by Tai Mo Shan, Grassy Hill and Needle Hill, and sloping from Lead Mine Pass southwards to Pineapple Pass and Tsun Wan, the inhabitants of these villages own 180 acres of agricultural land, 1180 acres of forestry rights and 42 acres of pine-apples. The whole of this area will have to be evacuated, and after careful search in co-operation with the villagers, suitable sites have been found to accommodate them at Kam Tin, Wo Hop Shek, Nam Shui Po, Tsat Sing Kong, Ping Kong, Fung Yuen (Yue Kok), Shek Ku Lung, and Pan Chung, and to these it is proposed to move all the inhabitants of the Shing Mun valley above Pineapple Pass. Details of the transfer are as follows:--- * Taken from the Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1928. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n LIFE MEMBERS: FABER, Mrs. A. FAULKNER, R. J. FAWCETT, B. C. - FRAZER, A. P. + FREMANTLE, A. - FRY, R. A. FUNG, Mrs. L. · FUNG, Sir Kenneth Ping Fan, O.B.E., J.P. - GAFF, Mrs. J. LIST OF MEMBERS - GOLDNEY, Miss C. M. ■ - GORDON, K. H. A. 241 10, Cooper Road, Jardine's Lookout, Hong Kong. University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. H.K. & S. Banking Corp., P.O. Box 64, Hong Kong. Binnie & Partners, 1717 Star House, Kowloon. Condert Bros., Alexandra House 31/Fl., Hong Kong. Office of the Commissioner of Rating & Valuation, 1 Garden Road, Hong Kong. 17, Magazine Gap Road, Flat 5A, Hong Kong. 2705-2718, Connaught Centre, Hong Kong. Wilfred, Flat 6, 110 Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong. c/o Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Queen's Road, C., Hong Kong. 3910 Connaught Centre, Hong Kong. GORDON, The Hon. Sir S. - c/o Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons, St. George's Building, 24/F., Hong Kong. HARDEN, Mrs. Guy T.- HAYES, Dr. J. W., J.P. HAYIM, E. J., C.B.E. HECHTEL, F. O. P.. HO, Tickon HONEY, Dr. N. R. · - HOPKINSON, Mrs. J. E. HOWARD, W. J. HOWNAM-MEEK, R. S. HOYNINGEN-HUENE, Baron Ture Von HU, Dr. Shih-Chang HUNG, Chiu-Sing HUI, Miss Wai Haan IU, Miss S.- - · 15, Shek-O, Hong Kong. G + + 7, The Albany, Albany Road, Hong Kong. 41, Island Road, Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong. 10, Aigburth Hall, May Road, Hong Kong. 50, Village Road, G/Fl., Happy Valley, Hong Kong. Flat F20, Fairmount Gardens, 39A Conduit Road, Hong Kong. 12, Mount Nicholson Gap, Hong Kong. P. O. Box 20704, Causeway Bay Post Office, Hong Kong. Commercial Management Ltd., P. & O. Building 17/F, Des Voeux Road, C., Hong Kong. 9A, Stanley Beach Road, Hong Kong. 210 Tin Hau Temple Road, C1 15/F, Hong Kong. Yuet Ming Building, 17/F, Flat B, King's Road, Hong Kong. Dept. of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. Matron, Grantham Hospital, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1978: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: B. C. J. Shaw, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Helga Werle, Phil. Sin. Cand. (Munich) A. I. Diamond, M.A. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. D. H. Liu G. W. Bonsall, M.A., M.L.S. B. A. V. Peacock, M.A. J-L Domenach iii ================================================================================ 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 4 Hong Kong Museum of History invited members to the screening of three Korean films at the City Hall. The films concerned the art and archeology of important sites in Korea. In September we were again concerned with Hong Kong History when Dr. Alan Birch, Reader in History at Hong Kong University, spoke on Hong Kong 1937-45: Conquest and Liberation. Also in September Dr. Marilyn Grayburn, lecturer in Indian Archeology, University of Cleveland Museum, spoke on 5,000 years of the Indus Valley Civilization, and in October Mr. Lawrence Tam, Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and himself also an artist of repute and teacher of Chinese Art History, spoke on the Shek Wan Pottery of Kwangtung Province in connection with an exhibition current at the City Hall Museum. In December Mr. Henri Vetch, a long standing member of the Society, spoke of his experiences in Peking where he worked as publisher between 1920-1951, when he was imprisoned for three years by the Communists. In January an interesting talk was given by Dr. Wen Hsiang-lai, a neurologist and neurosurgeon as well as authority on acupuncture. He spoke of his recent experiments at the Tung Wah Hospital in the use of electrical stimulation using acupuncture points and needles in connection with drug addiction. And finally Dr. William Parish gave a talk in February on "Status and Power in Kwangtung Villages under the People's Republic." Dr. Parish is associate professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. Both local excursions and overseas trips are a regular feature of our activities and in December Dr. James Hayes arranged a visit to Tsuen Wan where he talked about local temples, rural organization and traditional inter-village feuding. The Society is continuing its programme of cultural tours abroad with a ten-day visit to Kashmir and Kathmandu starting later this week. The trip has been arranged by Dr. Brian Shaw. Where possible we deal directly with hoteliers and pass on group discounts and commissions directly to members travelling. Your Council has been investigating the feasibility of mounting future tours to Afghanistan; the Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Taxila sites; Ladakh Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan; Dr. Shaw will again be looking into this possibility. Dr. Leigh Wright is also looking at the possibility of a tour to the old Straits Settlements. Now that the Chinese authorities are encouraging travel with. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 in China we have taken steps to initiate a Society tour to major cultural areas particularly Luo yang (Long Men caves), the Gong Xian caves and Anyang (all in Henan), Da Tong; Tai Yuan and the Yun Gang caves (all in Shansi) and Sian. It seems unlikely that a visit can be arranged before early 1979. Meanwhile interested members can visit Kwangchow and/or Kweilin by joining the regular tours offered by major travel agencies in Hong Kong. Publications During the year the Journals for both 1975 and '76 were published and distributed, and Dr. Hayes, our editor, has already assembled most of the material for the 1977 Journal. We are very fortunate to have Dr. Hayes as our editor. Editing requires a great deal of time and work and despite his own heavy responsibilities as Town Manager for Tsuen Wan he has continued to work to bring our Journals up to time on publication. This has been no mean effort. I would also like to take this opportunity of congratulating Dr. Hayes on the publication of his own book based on his Ph.D. thesis and entitled The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911: Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside, The Photographic Survey Work is also continuing on our intended publication of a book of annotated photographs of Hong Kong, in connexion with the Photographic Survey project of the Society. For the benefit of our more recent members, this survey was started in 1974 with the object of making a photographic record of Hong Kong as it appears today and before all the older buildings disappear beneath the swell of redevelopment. This record includes not only buildings but also street scenes and shots of such everyday sights—but for how long one cannot say—as hawkers' stalls, small workshops, fortune-tellers' booths. Such things have of course been photographed before, but rarely with full documentation of date or place. Work on the Survey has been greatly delayed since the departure in 1976 of Mrs. Edmunds who was responsible for organizing the files of prints and negatives. We have been fortunate, however, in finding two new volunteers to take over: Mrs. Mona Davies and Mrs. Maurisette Mellor, to both of whom I take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude. The collection is now taking shape. Nine schedules have ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1977-1978 At long last the ambition of having our library in one accessible location has been achieved: the books previously kept at the Public Records Office and the bound volumes of periodicals kept at the University of Hong Kong were moved to the Library of the Arts Centre just before Christmas, and the collection was ready for use at the beginning of the New Year. Revised regulations, mainly reflecting the change of location, were approved by the Council on 16th November, 1977. It is hoped that the comfortable surroundings and longer hours of opening will encourage members to make greater use of this facility. The collection has continued to grow at a satisfactory rate. The three sources of accessions are gifts, purchases, and exchange of publications with other societies and institutions. In the first category, special mention must be made of the generous donation by Mr. Stephen S. F. Hui of the following three important volumes: The Chater Collection: pictures relating to China, Hong Kong, Macao, 1655-1860... by James Orange. London, 1924. Present day impressions of the Far East... Editor-in-chief: W. Feldwick. London, 1917. Twentieth century impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai and other treaty ports of China... Editor-in-chief: Arnold Wright. London, 1908. After these have been rebound and catalogued, they will be available for consultation. Dr. J. W. Hayes has also kindly continued to donate books, and we are grateful to have received a copy of McClure's Migration and survival of the birds of Asia from Mr. F.O.P. Hechtel. Over 30 volumes have been purchased during the year, many being older books on the Far East which are becoming increasingly difficult to find at reasonable prices. The number of bound volumes of periodicals has also grown. At the time of the move to the Arts... ================================================================================ 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 TWO BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES 213 I have come across two interesting references in my reading that others may wish to know of. Sybille Van Der Sprenkel, Legal Institutions in Manchu China (University of London, The Athlone Press, 1962) with reference to E. Alabaster's Notes and Commentaries on Chinese Criminal Law and cognate topics... London 1899, mentions additional notation on "the author's copy (now in Cambridge University Library) intended no doubt for publication in a revised edition" (fn p. 72). Henry Lethbridge, Hong Kong: Stability & Change (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1978) mentions "Lockhart's personal copy of Johnston's Lion and Dragon in Northern China [London, John Murray, 1910] which is now in my possession", and observes that it "testifies to Lockhart's painstaking scholarly interest in Chinese society, for the book is heavily annotated and commented upon and clearly much read and pondered over" (p. 7). Hong Kong, 1980 JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1979: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: B. C. J. Shaw, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Helga Werle, Phil. Sin. Cand. (Munich) A. I. Diamond, M.A. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. D. H. Liu B. A. V. Peacock, M.A. P. K. Cavaye, B.A., Dip.Ed. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 CONTENTS Page vii President's REPORT TREASURER's Report THE LIBRARY ARTICLES: 1 The United States and the Question of Hong Kong 1941-1945 · CHAN KIT-CHENG 1 The Chinese Maritime Customs Remembered: An Appeal for Oral History on Hong Kong — LUKE KWONG 1 The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-1946 - REV. JAMES SMITH and REV. WILLIAM DOWNS, M.M. 27 Religion in a Chinese Town: Chinese Religion Rediscussed (Review Article) — JULIAN F. Pas 149 Religious Life in Present-Day Taiwan: a preliminary report JULIAN F. PAS NOTES AND QUERIES: 176 Copying Hong Kong's Historical Inscriptions — ALICE NG, BERNARD LUK, DAVID FAURE 192 · A Study of the Ch'ing Forts on Lantau Island (from Chinese Sources) - ANTHONY K. K. SIU 193 Two Examples of Chinese Religious Involvement with Islam KEITH STEVENS 199 The Temple of the Supreme Ruler, near Sung Wong Toi, Kowloon 202 (213 The Nam Pak Hong Commercial Association of Hong Kong 1868-1968 JAMES HAYES 216 BOOK REVIEWS 227 LIST OF MEMBERS 235 More Notes on Tsuen Wan - JAMES HAYES Disturbance of Fung Shui on Tsing Yi Island 1977-78 JAMES HAYES · V Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 which drew a great deal of stimulating discussion: Leadership and Ideas in Singapore since 1945. Altogether then, there were twelve lectures during the year. Excursions During June, Dr. James Hayes, the very busy Town Manager of Tsuen Wan, and editor of your Journal, organised an excursion to his district. During preparatory work for the redevelopment of Northern Tsuen Wan various religious institutions came to the notice of his department, which was also able to discover more information about others. The group attending the excursion visited a Buddhist monastery, where they had a vegetarian lunch; another religious establishment for the so-called "Three religions"; the Holy Mother Yiu temple, in a squatter area; and a temple to a sect established to help opium addicts and which has branches also in Singapore. Another local excursion is planned for March 29 to Macao, with the help of Dr. Leigh Wright of your Council. It plans to take in visits to places not on the usual itinerary of tourist visits, such as the Theatro Pedro V. There will be a Portuguese lunch and information on the places visited will be given by Father Texeira who has helped us on past occasions. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking him for his generous help to the Society. This visit should be a 'must' for those who like old architecture, churches, cobblestone streets as well as archives and libraries. Excursions to neighbouring territories and states also remain an important part of the Society's activities each year. Some twenty-two members visited Kashmir and Kathmandu (with an unscheduled but very interesting overnight stop at Amritsar) during last Easter, under the leadership of your Hon. Secretary, Dr. Brian Shaw; and it was possible to make a refund to each participant of over two hundred dollars as a result of various economies. A further group of twenty will be leaving this Easter for Darjeeling and Sikkim; and in July a smaller number will go to Ladakh (“Little Tibet”). Some members expressed interest in proposed visits to Central Java and to sites in Thailand, but the numbers were not sufficient to make the trips feasible last year. Our requests to Peking concerning visits to cultural sites in Central China have unfortunately not yet received a favourable response, but our efforts will continue during the coming year. For ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 the future we hope it may be possible to organise a small group to visit cultural sites in Thailand (e.g. Chiangmai, Pimai, Sukhothai and Ban Chiang). December might be particularly convenient in view of the projected Hong Kong-Chiangmai direct service by Thai International from April 1. Another small group may be able to visit South Korea at Easter 1980, in cooperation with the Korean Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Plans for these visits have to be made many months in advance and many members have found it necessary in the past to withdraw after initial arrangements have been made. Some sixteen members, for example, withdrew from the proposed Darjeeling-Sikkim visit after payment of deposits which were fully refunded. But this entailed a substantial amount of rearrangement of aircraft, hotels, ground transport, and so forth. Although recent and forthcoming excursions are arranged on a 'break even' basis for the Society, they are at considerably less cost to participants than for individual travel; and it may be necessary to consider levying some non-refundable service charge in future to protect the Society's financial interests. I would like to thank Dr. Shaw for all the time and effort he has put into these excursion arrangements and I am sure those who have participated would wish me to do so. Janie Thomas of Urbis Planning Design has also offered to include interested members of our Society in a trip she is planning for later this year to Shanghai and Peking. All except our very recently joined members have been circulated with information about her proposals. Publications Work continues for our proposed publication of photographs with text of old Hong Kong buildings. Many of the buildings photographed — by members of your Council and friends — have since been demolished. Mr. Tony Rydings has played a very active role in this project together with Mr. Ian Diamond. We are now, so to speak, on the home stretch in this publication project with approximately three-quarters of the text assembled and the photographs in place. We would like also to thank Dr. Solomon Bard, Executive Secretary, Antiquities and Monuments Section, Urban Services Department, for much material assistance with the project. The 1977 Journal is now being distributed to all members, and Dr. Hayes has already submitted a draft list of contents for the 1978 issue which promises to have a great deal of interesting and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 NOTES AND QUERIES 213 The Villa was opened in 1936. Regrettably, the hope and promise of the occasion was within little more than a decade dashed by disease, war, and the change of government in mainland China. In the first two years, many of the inmates died, probably from malaria, though the reason given by elderly persons was that the local earth and water were unfavourable. Their death certificates, signed by the Inspector from Tsuen Wan Police Station, are still retained in the Villa. The Japanese occupation of South China and then Hong Kong followed soon after and had a disrupting effect upon member patrons in Kwangtung and their financial condition, and upon the Society and its activities. It also curtailed recruitment of inmates. The Villa had not recovered from the effects of the war when the influx of refugees from China in the late 40s further worsened its situation. The Villa was quickly overrun with squatters who now occupy most of the building. Only the main hall, which is kept locked, and some rooms at the rear portion of the Villa, which are lived in by no more than 10 elderly ladies, are free from families who have no connection with the latter or the Society to which they belong. The Villa and its property became the subject of dispute. It was sold some years ago to a development company after Court action, but objections to the sale have come in. A number of elderly persons in Hong Kong who are active in the "Three Religions" could still maintain an interest, but from the sidelines.* Tsuen Wan, December, 1978. JAMES HAYES LOCAL REACTIONS TO THE DISTURBANCE OF 'FUNG SHUI' ON TSING YI ISLAND, HONG KONG, SEPTEMBER 1977-MARCH 1978. I recount below, with photographs, the reactions of a long-settled community of Hakka villagers to the disturbance of fung shui in the course of engineering site investigation works on Tsing Yi island, Hong Kong. Two main events occurred: firstly, interference with a fung shui hill by a bulldozer crew; secondly, the death/illness of villagers at a later stage. * The villa was resumed and cleared in 1979 for the redevelopment of North Tsuen Wan. It was not possible for it to remain owing to the extensive site formation required in its vicinity. Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 216 NOTES AND QUERIES In the event, it was decided to wait until after the villagers were able to move to the new houses being constructed as a replacement of the existing village. These were due for completion in March 1979. Accordingly the de-vegetation and site formation works have been scheduled to begin thereafter. March 1979 JAMES HAYES THE NAM PAK HONG (南北行) COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION OF HONG KONG This history of the Nam Pak Hong Association, which appears to have been prepared by one of its leaders in the 1960s, is included with the consent of the Association. The translation was made available by the courtesy of the Director of Home Affairs. Foreword The Association was established in 1868 (i.e. the 7th year of the reign of Tung Ch'ih in the Ch'ing dynasty). In its early years, it was well managed by capable office-bearers, thus safeguarding the interests of our trade and members. Later, owing to change of circumstances, the senility and death of many able office-bearers without suitable successors, the Association's affairs got into a mess. By 1920, there remained only seven members, who were divided in action; nor did they maintain close contact. The situation further deteriorated by 1940. On 6.10.41 Mr. Tong Ping-tat, Manager of the member firm, the Nam Tai Hong Co. Ltd., convened a meeting of over a score of members, including the Wah On Hong, the Yuen Lee Hong, the San Fung Hong, the Kin Tye Lung, the Wah Fung Hong, the Hau Tak Hong, the Yue Wo Loong, the Wing Hing Hong and the Kwong Sun Hong Ltd., to discuss the promotion of the Association's functions and the enlistment of more members. It was not until several such meetings were held and sub-committees formed, that the Association's functions were gradually restored. During the Japanese occupation which began on 25 December 1941 the Association did not cease functioning; its membership was then increased to 21 firms. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 234 BOOK REVIEWS In providing this detailed and thoughtful account, the writer has done an immense service to the present governments of Malaya and Singapore — indeed of the region — as well as to students of Chinese society old and new. It is of greater value because of his own personal involvement in the business of government and in the fact that, as stated in his preface (p. xiii), he had the enthusiastic support of police officers of all ranks and officers of the Chinese Affairs Department throughout Malaya and Singapore who conducted enquiries, collected information and translated documents. It is doubtful whether this work could be done again — it is mentioned that many of the police documents of the last colonial period have been destroyed and we should be deeply thankful that Blythe was available to undertake it at the time he did. T The book is well produced, on good quality paper with solid binding and clear large type. The 18 illustrations are as notable as the contents. Hong Kong, May, 1980. JAMES HAYES 'Friendly Societies are very good,' said Mr. Van Dyke. “But I am referring to secret and dangerous Societies." 'These qualifying names are purely arbitrary,' said Tek Chiu. “All Chinese Societies are professedly good, and they, all of them, are just what members choose to make them. There is no fixed principle according to which you can draw a distinction between those that are exclusively benevolent and friendly, and those that you call secret and dangerous societies.' 'Is the Broken Coffin Society entitled to be called friendly, or is it justly designated secret and dangerous?' 'It is justly designated secret and dangerous. It is the fault of our Triad Society, certainly, that such a dangerous and criminal clique is not exterminated at once. Such bad sets of men are like bad teeth that ought to be pulled out. But because a man has a bad tooth in his head, he should not be prohibited from eating." Lamont continues: A Chinaman is a social being—a tool rather than a member of his community. If he were to cease living a social life, he would cease to be a Chinaman. The Chinaman abroad lives a large part of his being in the 'hoey. The hoey unites men more closely even than the sons of one father in a family. So powerful is the bond of this Freemasonry of China, that if two brothers in a family belong to different hoeys their relationship in such a set of circumstances is more distant than is that which subsists between those members of one hoey who are not relatives in the ordinary sense at all. Tek Chiu's view, that Chinese societies are what members choose to make them, can also be found in Leong Gor Yun's Chinatown Inside Out (New York: Barrows Mussey, 1936), especially Chapter Two. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 237 FABER, Mrs. Audrey, 10 Cooper Road, Jardine's Lookout, HONG KONG, LOCAL LIFE MEMBERS FAULKNER, Mr. Raymond J., 423 Holland House, Ice House Street, HONG KONG. FREMANTLE, Mr. Adam, Coudert Bros, Alexandra House, 31/F, 20 Chater Road, HONG KONG, FRY, Mr. R. A., Office of the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation, 1 Garden Road, HONG KONG. FUNG, Mrs. Leatrice, 17 Magazine Gap Road, Flat 5A, HONG KONG. FUNG, Sir Kenneth Ping-Fan, O.B.E., J.P., Fung Ping Fan & Co. Ltd., 2705-2718, Connaught Centre, HONG KONG. GAFF, Mrs. Jennifer A. Wilfred Flat 6, 110 Repulse Bay Road, Repulse Bay, HONG KONG. GILKES, Mr. D. A., J.P. The Bursar's Office, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NEW TERRITORIES. GOLDNEY, Miss C. M., c/o Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Queen's Road, HONG KONG, GORDON, Mr. K. H. A., 48 Mount Kellett Road, HONG KONG. GORDON, The Hon. Sir S. S., c/o Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons, St. George's Building 24/F, HONG KONG. HAYES, Dr. James, J.P. 7 The Albany, Albany Road, HONG KONG. HAYIM, Mr. E. J., C.B.E., 4th Island Road, Deep Water Bay, HONG KONG. HECHTEL, Mr. F. O. P., Flat 10 Aigburth Hall, May Road, HONG KONG HO, Mr. Tickon, 50 Village Road, G/Fl., Happy Valley, HONG KONG. HONEY, Mr. N. R., c/o Medical and Health Dept., Lee Gardens, Hysan Avenue, HONG KONG HOPKINSON, Mrs. I. 12 Mount Nicholson Gap HONG KONG HOWARD, Mr. W. J., P.O. Box 20704, Causeway Bay Post Office, HONG KONG. + HOWNAM-MEEK, Mr. R. S., 7A, Conway Mansion, 29 Conduit Road, HONG KONG. HOYNINGEN-HUENE, Baron Ture von, 9A Stanley Beach Road, HONG KONG. HU, Dr. Shih Chang, 210 Tin Hau Temple Road, Flat C1, 15/F., HONG KONG. HUI, Miss Wai Haan, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG + HUNG, Mr. Chiu Sung, Yuet Ming Building, 17/F, Flat B, King's Road, HONG KONG. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 200 on to a melon? Would an onion bulb live if it was fixed on to green vegetables?" The mother said they could not. Thereupon, he said to his mother, "In that case, I cannot live". He told his mother what had happened. She cried, saying, "Yes, they can live". However, that was too late. He shook his head, told his mother to bury his head outside the door, and his body on the road, and died. After some time, a small bamboo grew where the head was buried, and a big bamboo grew where the body was buried. In the wind, the small bamboo often brushed against the roof of the mother's house. Angry, the mother cut off the small bamboo with a knife. The end of the bamboo suddenly flew into the sky, and hit the emperor's bed. The big bamboo, however, often said, "Kill the emperor, kill the emperor". Passers-by found that very strange. Later, the emperor knew about it, and sent some people to listen to the bamboo. Those people heard many voices talking inside the bamboo: there were people in every section of the bamboo, and they said, "Don't be afraid, when the bamboo is so big that it bursts, we shall come out. There are many of us. We shall go and kill the emperor. We do not fear anything; we only fear being burnt to death." These people reported to the emperor what they had heard, and the emperor came up with a scheme. He sent some people there, pretending to be blind. They carried oil on their bodies. They pretended to have difficulty walking, and they fell by the bamboo. When they fell, they poured oil on the bamboo, and set it on fire. As a result, the people in the bamboo were burnt to death, and they became ants. [Li-tsu she-hui li-shih tiao-cha (Peking: Min-tsu, 1986), pp. 100-101.] The similarities seem obvious, but I cannot explain them. Kat O villagers also knew about the fung shui of the Hoh family's gravesites. A village elder of Kei Leng Ha, near Saikung, was also able to name some of these sites (courtesy James Hayes for this piece of information). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 201 I would like to add two more passages to this note, both of which came my way after I wrote the above. The first passage was kindly given me by James Hayes, who was given it by Mr. Ho Kei Fook, of Kei Ling Ha village, born in 1928, and educated (1937-1941) in the neighbouring village of Tseng Tau, previously village representative, and Vice-Chairman of the North Saikung Rural Committee. The second passage I came across in Ch'en T'ieh-erh5, "Huang Hsiao-yang yu Pai-e t'an" (Huang Hsiao-yang and the White Goose Pond), in Kuang-tung wen-hsien chi-k'an vol. 15 no. 2 (1985) pp. 60-62. Passage 1 "It is said that in the Ming dynasty there was this man Ho Tsoh Shing who obtained a wonder book. The book recorded thirty-six grave sites at the mouth of the dragon. [The family] buried there would achieve great wealth for its descendants and even produce an emperor. Ho Tsoh Shing was already an official at court, holding the post of Minister of the LeftE. But his mother did not have the good fortune to support this achievement. When his wife was pregnant, his mother scolded her saying, 'My son is an official at court many mountains and seas away, so how is it that you are pregnant?' The daughter-in-law said, 'He comes back every night'. What happened was that every night Ho Tsoh Shing rode home on a bamboo-rigged flying horse, and early in the morning he rode the flying horse back to court. The daughter-in-law said, 'If you don't believe me, you can hide by the courtyard tonight and watch him as he comes in'. [This the mother did] and saw that that was what really happened. The horse stopped at the courtyard, and the mother, being curious, rode on it. The horse could not fly, because it was bogged down by the woman's breath. When Ho Tsoh Shing rose the next morning to go to court, the horse was still bogged down by woman's breath. So immediately, he went to cut some bamboo to rig another horse to fly to court. He was late. The emperor was in his court calling the rolls. When he came to Ho Tsoh Shing's name, Ho answered from the outer court [in such a loud voice] that it shook the emperor. The emperor then suspected that Ho Tsoh Shing was scheming to take the throne, and other officials also made many comments. They found out that Ho Tsoh Shing possessed the thirty-six grave sites at the dragon's mouth. When this was known, Ho Tsoh Shing was killed by the emperor, and the fungshui was to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 205 12 On this particular type of tenancy, see John Kamm, "Two essays on the Ch'ing economy of Hsin-an, Kwangtung Province”, JHKBRÁS 1977, pp. 55-84, and James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911, Folkestone, Kent, England, 1977, pp. 50-53. 13 Ints. Mr. Wong 22.6.81, Mr. Lam Kaap Shau 8.6.81, Mr. Cheung Kau 26.6.81, Mr. Cheung 26.6.81, Mr. Cheng Yung 10.7.81, and Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81; Hugh D.R. Baker, Sheung Shui, A Chinese Lineage Village, Guildford and London, 1968, p. 172. 14 Father Sergio Ticozzi, 12.5.81, quoting from Giovanni B. Tragella, Le Mission Estere di Milano, Nel Quadro Degli Avvenimenti Contemporanli, Milan 1950-1963, vol. 1, pp. 274-275, vol. 2, pp. 85, 89, and 314. Int. Father George Carusso, 20.5.81. 15 Ints. Mr. Lok Tak K'ei 17.7.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81, Mrs. Lau 14.6.81, and Mr. Tse Kw'an 16.11.80. 10 Int. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81. Mr. Yau's term for "moorage inlet" was "siu wan t'au". Cf. also the type of market James Hayes refers to as "coastal market centres" in his Hong Kong Region, p. 37. 17 Documents on this case are included in Kuan T'ien-p'ei, Ch'ou-hai ch'u-chi (1836, n.p., Taipei reprint, 1968) 2/26a-33a, 56a-74a, 80a-99b. Kuan was Naval Commander-in-Chief for Kwangtung from 1834 to 1841. C. Fred Blake, in Ethnic Groups and Social Change in a Chinese Market Town, Hawaii, 1981, p. 46 note 8, states "Lung Shuen Wan was a traditional outpost for the Chinese imperial navy's regulation of eastern approaches to the Pearl River. I wonder if perhaps Lung Shuen Wan was the original 'coastal market centre' in this area?" Elsewhere (loc. cit. and p. 95) he points out that the Lung Shuen Wan Tin Hau Temple retained the patronage of the Pak Kong and Sha Kok Mei villagers, despite the greater convenience of the Tin Hau Temple within Sai Kung Market. 18 These are figures of shops as registered in the Block Crown Lease (DD215, DD224). It is more than likely that these were shop spaces rather than shops, and in the event that a shop might take up more than a shop space, there were fewer shops in Sai Kung and Hang Hau in the early 1900's than noted here. For comparison, in 1905, Yuen Long had only seventy-four shops and Tai Po Market twenty-three large and fifteen small ones. See James Hayes, Hong Kong Region, p. 36. 19 Ints. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 15.5.81, Father George Carusso 20.5.81, Mr. Lei Kan 19.6.81, Mr. Ue Shun Hing 10.7.81. 20 Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 15.5.81. 21 Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Madam Chiu I Mooi 7.5.81, Mrs. Foo, née Lei, 28.6.81. 22 Mrs. Kong Lei San Kiu 21.6.81. Mr. Cheung Kin Wa 10.6.81 of Taai Fung Nin (opened c. 1933) in Sai Kung Market remembered that the shop used to slaughter a pig each day to sell to the boat people. 23 Mr. Chan Kei Shang 28.5.81, Mr. Chan Shou 19.6.81. 24 Mr. Hoh King 6.5.81, Mrs. Lei née So 20.6.81, Mr. Lei Yau 13.11.80, Mr. Cheung Ming Shing 8.6.81, Mr. Lai Foh 8.5.81. Mrs. Lei used to obtain piglets from Kam Lei Loi in Sai Kung Market. It took six to seven months to fatten them, and two dollars to have each pig carried back to Sai Kung Market. She also had rice and pig feed (chiefly rice husk) from Kam Lei Loi on credit. Kam Lei Loi was a butcher's cum general store, where her husband worked. 25 According to Mr. Yau T'aam Shang, 15.5.81, the interest rate in Sai Kung Market was 5 cents per dollar per month, i.e. 60 percent per annum. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1980 President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: B. C. J. Shaw, B.A., Ph.D. (Succeeded temporarily by Dr. Wright in July 1980) Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editor: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Hon. Librarian: H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: A. I. Diamond, M.A. L. R. Wright, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. D. H. Liu Mrs. Lea Fung P. K. Cavaye, B.A., Dip.Ed. Hugh Gibb, M.A. B. A. V. Peacock, M.A. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CONTENTS (Cont'd.) A Tun Fu ceremony in Tai Po district 1981 - JUDITH STRAUCH - 147 Lychees of Tsang Shing county, Kwangtung — JAMES HAYES - 153 Local Reactions to the disturbance of Fung Shui on Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong 1978-80 - JAMES HAYES - 155 Another missing library - JAMES HAYES - 157 Yet another library — JAMES HAYES - 158 A missing Chinese library - H. A. RYDINGS & JAMES HAYES - 159 Maryknoll in China, with W. J. Howard's letter to the Hon. Librarian - JAMES HAYES - 162 Library of the North China Branch, R.A.S., Shanghai - H. A. RYDINGS - 164 BOOK REVIEWS - 166 The popular culture of late Ch'ing and early twentieth century China: book lists prepared from collecting in Hong Kong - JAMES HAYES - 168 A bibliography of Taoism in oriental languages - WILLIAM Y. CHEN - 184 A short glossary of Geomantic Terms - CAROLE MORGAN - 209 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 to be a particular casualty, and regret that I did not get round to acknowledging his work, which I now have pleasure in doing. By the same token, I wish to thank Ed Wickberg for very kindly proof-reading much of the 1979 Journal during his sabbatical year at the Centre of Asian Studies. After my 1978 experience, I hardly dared to acknowledge his help, but am glad to do so now! One regret is that I hardly managed to get a good book review section going during the whole period, and never did get down to producing a local publications section. It shows up the weakness of my "one man approach" to the work. This was occasioned partly by the scrappy way in which I got the work done as time and energy left from my labours in Tsuen Wan and elsewhere allowed, and partly by my own liking for doing the whole job. Taking a broader and more impersonal view of the Journal over this period, and indeed since its inception twenty-one years ago, it has made its own unique contribution to the research and recording of Hong Kong history and society. In this sense, it has surely helped what one might call the Hong Kong balance sheet. Despite the devoted intentions of the Hong Kong Heritage Society and other bodies, it is simply not possible for Hong Kong to keep many of its historic buildings, given the rights attached to private ownership, the exceedingly high value of land, and the formidable cost of running a business enterprise. The recording work done by the Society and others of its kind helps in some measure to offset the losses that occur through the destruction and replacement of old buildings.* Beside being my final Journal, this is also the last for our Honorary Life Member and printer, Mr. Y. F. Lam (***) of Ye Olde Printerie. It is fitting that he and I finish our joint association with the Journal together. I cannot imagine editing and producing it for all these years without his enthusiastic persistence, patience, and, above all, friendship. Finally, I have handed over to David Faure, whose knowledge, energy, zeal and efficiency are of a high order. He has proved this by getting out the 1981 issue before I had finished this one! The Society is fortunate to have enlisted his interest and services. September 1982 JAMES HAYES * Our published work includes Hong Kong, Going and Gone, 1980. ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 Membership Total membership of the Society on February 28 was 539 which breaks down as follows: 5 honorary members, 114 local life members, 309 local ordinary members, 69 overseas life members and 42 overseas ordinary members. Changes in membership between March 1979 and February 1980 were: 21 resignations, mainly departures from Hong Kong; 4 deaths; 7 notices returned, presumed resigned; 23 unpaid members, presumed resigned; and 33 new members. The Journal The Hon. Editor, Dr. James Hayes, has written his own short report on progress and problems with the Journal (see footnote). As Dr. Hayes says, and as anybody who has lived in Hong Kong for any length of time will realise, his official duties as Town Manager and District Officer Tsuen Wan are of a particularly demanding nature at present, and this has affected the speed of publication of the Journal. We have received a number of enquiries about delays from members, and concerning which journal they may expect to receive. Essentially, you receive those Journals for the years in which you were a member of the Society, but you may, of course, always purchase those for years your membership does not cover. The present situation is that vol. 18, that is for 1978, is expected from the press within several months, and 19, for 1979, is well advanced. Besides distributing free copies of our Journal to members, we do, of course, sell our publications. I would like here to record my thanks to Mr. Tony Rydings and to Mr. Geoffrey Bonsall of the University Press for their work on distribution of publications, and to Mr. Bonsall again for distributing the Journal to members. The Hon. Editor has had special problems this year owing to the demanding nature of his official duties as Town Manager and District Officer Tsuen Wan, which have been intensified by the tight programme of land recovery, clearances and village removals for the construction of the Mass Transit Railway and its associated development. This has made finalization of the Journal slower than usual. He regrets the delay but reports that an advance copy of Volume 18 (1978) will be available for perusal at the AGM. It is expected from the printer in the early summer. Dr. Hayes will also provide a note for Members on the contents of Volume 19 (1979) which is advanced and expected to be finalized before his annual leave in August this year, making a late 1980 publication date likely. He hopes that the valuable contents of the two journals will in some measure make up for their delayed appearance. J.W.H., March, 1980. xiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 The Photographic Survey In addition to the Journal, we are pleased to announce that a publication entitled Hong Kong, Going and Gone will appear during this year. It consists of a selection of 85 photographs from our photographic survey project, with accompanying text pointing out some of the architectural and historical features of the items depicted. Order forms will be sent to members nearer publication date. The photographic survey has continued during the year with the cooperation of the Antiquities and Monuments Section of the Urban Services Department, and especially Dr. Solomon Bard. Work on the Western part of Hong Kong Island's urban area has been completed; over 200 buildings and other sites have been photographed, and in addition various important locations elsewhere in Hong Kong have been covered. The total number of prints on file is in excess of 2,000. A good deal of clerical work in making these photographs fully accessible remains to be done and the organizers of the survey, Tony Rydings, Ian Diamond, Carl Smith, and Dr. Bard, are always glad to hear of volunteers with time to spare for this task. The Library Mr. Tony Rydings, Hon. Librarian, has tabled a separate report but I would like to comment on certain points. One is the steady but selective increase of our stock of books and periodicals and their protection by suitable binding or re-binding. Our library now forms a very important collection in Hong Kong of works for research into all sorts of matters concerning local history and other specialist studies. Many of our books are difficult to find in other local collections — certainly those available outside the Universities. I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Arts Centre where the main part of the collection is located to see what we have, or better still, the purchase of our library catalogue and supplements. The other point is that quite a few items in our collection come from donations by members and friends of the Society. This year I would like to add my thanks in particular to Miss Pauline Young, and Dr. James Hayes, and to the British Council, with which we have been associated in one way or another for some several years. Their contributions are gratefully accepted. xiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 # THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH # ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY # REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1979-1980 It will be seen from the income and expenditure account to be presented by the Hon. Treasurer that expenditure on the Library, itemised as "Purchase of Books", shows a substantial increase over the previous year. Part of the amount shown in fact represents the cost of binding the many volumes of periodicals which we receive in exchange for our own Journal. These form a valuable part of our library, and will be a lasting asset in years to come. The number of volumes purchased totalled 27, compared with 35 in the previous year, but donations increased from eight to 18 volumes, of which 13 were from the British Council. Other donors included Dr. J. W. Hayes, and Miss P. Young, and to all of these our thanks are due. These additions brought the size of the collection as at 29th February 1980 to: | Category | Number | | ----------------- | -------------- | | Books* | 605 | | Pamphlets | 49 | | Bound periodicals | 565 in 427 vols| | Total | 1,081 | *including 39 in Chinese. Two new exchange arrangements were initiated, as a result of which we shall receive the Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs and Ching Feng. Use of the Library continues at an improved, but still modest, rate. Only a few members appear to appreciate the wide range of materials in the collection, in which nearly everyone should find something of interest. 17th March, 1980. xviii H. A. RYDINGS Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS 33 14 Because of the exorbitant rents for such accommodation, temples in shop houses and flats in Hong Kong are few and far between. In Singapore and Malaysia, temples in shop houses are very common indeed, though they are becoming less so as the years pass and rents in urban areas rapidly rise. 15 Occasionally such a temple may be a converted private house, as in the many examples in Lo Wai village, Tsuen Wan, but more often it is a purpose-built but inexpensive hut. 18 Temples containing images of the Buddhist deities Di Zang Wang, Milofu, and Guan Yin are not necessarily specifically Buddhist, as all three of these deities nowadays are also extremely popular deities in folk religion temples. 17 Mahayana is Northern Buddhism and Theravada or Hinayana is Southern Buddhism. 18 "Illegal" is a Hong Kong term for buildings which have been built on Crown Land often by squatters without Government land control or planning permission, but which have been permitted to remain standing under sufferance. In practice, they are temporary structures put up without permission, occasionally ramshackle though more often they are well-built timber, weather-board, and corrugated iron buildings, clean and well-proportioned. (Illustration 17). Some have stood for such a length of time as to have been gradually converted to concrete and brick. All are labelled on the side in rough daubs of paint with the bureaucratic abbreviations and digits prefixed by "TEM" (= temporary) affixed by squatter control staff of the Housing Department. 19 Demons are well known to Chinese to be unable to go around corners and must travel in straight lines, hence these inner doors to prevent the demons from entering the temple. The inner doors originally were opened exclusively for influential people. 20 See also James Hayes' information at JHKBRAS 6 (1966): 129-130. 21 In overseas Chinese areas, this kind of large street shrine is still very common and, in Singapore alone, some four to five hundred exist in all kinds of nooks and crannies. For a Hong Kong example, see JHKBRAS 14 (1974): 203. 22 Chu is one of the 28 Constellations (= xiu). ** See pp. 111-113 of the Hong Kong Government's publication Rural Architecture in Hong Kong (1979) for this pagoda. 24 In Imperial times, such masts were always to be seen outside the local magistrate's yamen. 25 Chinese bells have no internal tongue clapper, being tolled by an external blow with a wooden mallet. 26 For the Evacuation of the Coast, see Lo Hsiang-lin and others, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842 (Hong Kong, 1963) Chapter VI. 27 For background, see Jen Yu-wen's article "The Southern Sung stone-engraving at North Fu-t'ang" in JHKBRAS 5 (1965): 65-68. 28 Government action is through the Chinese Temples Committee, serviced by the Trust Funds Section of the Home Affairs Department. 29 Temples according to this Ordinance include Miao (廟), Si (寺), Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, Guan (觀) and Dao Yuan (道院), and nunneries An (庵). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 36 JIANN HSIEH migration patterns. First, in the early Ch'ing Dynasty, Hsin-an Hsien (*) (a district including Hong Kong and Kowloon) was deeply affected by a security policy of "chien-chieh" (†) (literally, "to clear up the border") and, therefore, became somewhat depopulated. Thereafter, during the later part of the Ch'ing Dynasty, many Hakka were encouraged by the government to migrate to the depopulated areas, which included the present day New Territories. They came with their families, possessions, and tools for reclaiming the land, and formed so-called single-surname villages, i.e., villages based on localized lineages, in the resettled area (Davis, 1962:331; Aijmer, 1967: passim).4 Second, the Hakka immigrated to Hong Kong or via Hong Kong to other Southeast Asian areas after 1842. Hong Kong especially, with its continuous urban expansion, attracted many Waichow Hakkas to work in the stonecutting and building trades (Hayes, 1977:151-158). Before the Second World War, migration was provoked mainly by population pressure, but sociopolitical disorder was another important factor (Lo, 1933:63). Evidence for this is to be found in Ch'en Ta's (1939:63) study of the relationship between land and population in Fuchien and Kwangtung; in Huang Chih-lien (1972:64) and in my research done in Singapore (Hsieh, 1977:42). As for the migration pattern at this time, although there were then relatively fewer political barriers than today to put a brake on migration, most migrants moved from rural places to urban areas, or even entered into a completely different socio-cultural setting in a foreign land; they were people who took risks. As a result, cases of migrants moving with their whole families or even with a whole lineage—as happened in the Ch'ing Dynasty—do not figure prominently. Anthropologists had designated this pattern of migration as "chain-immigration" (Hsieh, 1977:41). It was the most common pattern of overseas Chinese migration to South East Asia: people emigrated gradually from their native places, relying on intertwining kinship networks, each individual clinging to the others. However, the picture is quite different when we examine those who migrated to Hong Kong after 1949. This migration constitutes the third stage. Data from my interviews show that more than 95 per cent of the present leaders of the Waichow voluntary associations were born in China and immigrated to Hong Kong after that ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 PERSISTENCE & PRESERVATION OF HAKKA CULTURE B. ENGLISH 51 Aijmer, G. 1967 "Expansion and Extension in Hakka Society." Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 7:42-79. Anderson, R. T. 1971 "Voluntary Association in History." American Anthropologist, 73(1): 209-222. Banton, M. ++ 1968 "Voluntary Associations: Anthropological Aspects." In D. L. Sills, (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 16, pp.358-379. New York: Macmillan. Ch'en, T. 1939 Emigrant Communities in South China. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh. Coser, L. A. 1956 The Functions of Social Conflict. Illinois: The Free Press of Glencoe. Davis, S. G. 1962 "The Rural-Urban Migration in Hong Kong and Its New Territories." Geographical Journal, 128(3): 328-333. Fallers, L. A. (ed.) 1967 Immigrant and Associations. The Hague: Mouton. Foster, G. M. et al (eds). 1978 Long-Term Field Research in Social Anthropology, Studies in Social Anthropology. New York: Academic Press. Freedman, M. ++ 1960 "Immigrations and Associations: Chinese in Nineteenth Century Singapore." Comparative Studies in Society and History, 3(1):25-49. 1961 "Overseas Chinese Association: A Comment." Comparative Studies in Society and History, 3(3):478-480. 1963 "A Chinese Phase in Social Anthropology." The British Journal of Sociology, 14(1), Gamble, S. D. 1929 Peking: A Social Survey. New York: George H. Doran. Hayes, J. 1977 The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911. Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside. Hamden, Conn., Archon-Dawson. Heidhues, M. F. S. 1974 Southeast Asia's Chinese Minorities. Hawthorn, Australia: Longman. Hodder, H. W. 1953 "Racial Groupings in Singapore." Malayan Journal of Tropical Geography 1:25-36. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 HONG KONG RIOTS OF OCTOBER 1884 55 have not considered that history to be of any great significance to anyone outside the Colony it is hardly surprising that it has not received the attention which it really deserves. The lack of appreciation for Hong Kong's importance is especially evident when we look at the events of the Sino-French War. The Hong Kong Volunteers were expanded and rearmed in the years before and after the War. No doubt the 1884 riots3 assisted the process but James Hayes' "Short History" does not give the period of the war more than a passing notice indicating that the Sino-French War occurred and had some side effect on Hong Kong.* In his Laws and Courts of Hongkong James Norton-Kyshe did briefly discuss the riots, but he paid surprisingly little attention to the Peace Preservation Ordinance which was inspired by them. Since the secondary material for this period in Hong Kong's history is so limited, any study of the period of the 1880s has to lean heavily on the equally scarce primary materials available outside the Colony. In this area the records of the Public Records Office in London are most helpful, but they can provide only the official version of the events. They seldom contain information on the motives of the participants, and are severely limited by the nature of government reports. Though newspapers are frequently very poor sources of primary information, in this case the firsthand reports of the English language Hong Kong Daily Press are probably the most valuable source of information about the events which occurred there in the fall of 1884. Unfortunately the English press in Hong Kong, because of the prejudices of the reading public for which it was produced, is not a very good source of information about the Chinese community in the Colony. Many of the reports in the English press were colored by the prevailing attitudes of the European community toward the Chinese. However, this prejudice makes it just that much more important when the papers depart from those attitudes because that departure should indicate that something had occurred to alter the opinions of the reporters. As we will see, that is precisely the case with the editors of both the Shanghai-based North China Herald and the Hong Kong Daily Press in 1884. What is really needed, and what is simply not available outside Hong Kong, is primary material which would enable us to ascertain what really were the motives of the Chinese participants in the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 64 LEWIS M. CHERE It is because these questions cannot be answered yet, and because they are so significant for a better understanding of the development of Chinese nationalism, and the history of the European presence on the China Coast, that this article has been written. In answering these questions I believe that scholars of Hong Kong's history will be performing a service for all scholars of Chinese History, as well as proving that events in Hong Kong really have been of much more significance than they have previously been given credit for. NOTES 1 G. B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, 2nd ed. (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 208-9. 2 Geoffrey Robley Sayer, Hong Kong, 1862-1919: Years of Discretion ed., with additional notes by D. M. Emrys Evans (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1975). * * Endacott, p. 209. 4 James Hayes, "A Short History of Military Volunteers in Hong Kong," Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 11 (1971): 151-71. * James William Norton-Kyshe, The History of the Laws and Courts of Hongkong. 2 vols. (London: T. F. Unwin, 1898), 2:376-67. + + For the problems which Britain's involvement caused her, see my forthcoming "Great Britain and the Sino-French War: The Problems of an Involved Neutral, 1883-1885", Selected Papers, The Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, 1980. * See the Census of Hong Kong for 3rd April, 1881, published in the Hongkong Government Gazette, 11th June 1881. There were then 91,452 men out of a total Chinese population of 150,690. • Endacott, p. 209; Parkes to Granville, no. 226 October 15, 1884, Great Britain. Public Records Office. FO 227/2715, pp. 12-15. • For more complete information on the Sino-French War see: Lloyd E. Eastman, Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy During the Sino-French Controversy, 1880-1885 (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1967); Henry McAleavy, Black Flags in Vietnam: the Story of a Chinese Intervention (New York: Macmillan, 1968), Ella S. Laffey, "Relations Between Chinese Provincial Officials and the Black Flag Army, 1883-1885," (PhD dissertation, Cornell University, 1971); or my own "The Diplomacy of the Sino-French War (1883-1885): Finding a Way Out of an Unwanted, Undeclared War," (PhD dissertation, Washington State University, 1978). 10 A translated copy of the poison proclamation is in FO 227/2714, pp. 35-7; for Chang's defense of it see FO 227/2715, pp. 10-12. 11 North China Herald, October 8, 1884, reprints an account from the Straits Times. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 122 BARBARA E. WARD traditional past, and at the same time we can watch the details of the processes of rapid social, economic, and cultural change that come with commercialization, emigration, immigration, and urbanization. All these things and many more are still here, alive, going on all round us, new. Thus social anthropology, like social history, has opportunities here which do not exist anywhere else. Here it is not yet quite too late. But—and this is the final reason why the New Territories are so important to-day—even here it very soon will be too late. Even if the year 1997 was not looming so close, the New Towns are; and older people are dying, and younger people are emigrating (as they always have, but now because their wives and children go with them, usually with a greater desire to stay away). I guess we have about five more years—perhaps ten. That perhaps ten. That is why I am so excited when I hear of donations of money for New Territories research, why I am so thankful that Tam Yue-him and David Faure have launched their oral history project, and so delighted that administrators like James Hayes, and Chan Sui-jeung and Patrick Hase who are here to-night are in the positions they are in, and are not only willing but exceptionally able to advise and guide and take part—the British have a long tradition of scholar officials too! So now I come to my fifth and final point, and back to our cultural heritage and the opportunities we still have to record it, and, if you will allow me, my own part in the enterprise. I said earlier that so much study has been done that we probably already know a great deal more than we know. In other words, one of the things that is most badly needed at this stage is for someone to go right through all the already existing material and try to put it together. The job is not a small one, for it must cover the whole mass of unpublished and documentary material as well as the published books and articles in several languages, but it would be immensely worthwhile. It would have two main aims. The first, which might be called the academic aim, would be to discover exactly what our existing historical and sociological knowledge really is in order both to locate the gaps and to prevent overlapping wasteful reduplication of effort. Talks are already in progress on this important matter: you have heard about the oral history project; in my turn I am in touch with several established scholars both here and overseas, one ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 146 NOTES AND QUERIES To the north of Chun Fa Lok on the mainland side are Kwai Chung 葵涌 and Chin Wan 淺灣.* Kap Shui Mun 急水門 lies to the south-west. South of the Kap Shui Mun is the Yeung Shun Chau 仰船洲? Judging from the position shown on the map, Chun Fa Lok's location is probably the same as that of Tsing Yi Island today. And from the present day maps of Hong Kong, we can find the name Chun Fa Lok on the east coast of Tsing Yi Island. I have twice visited the present Chun Fa Lok on Tsing Yi Island, once with Dr. James Hayes, and found that the huts there belong to one family, surnamed Chung. They came here a few decades ago, after the Second World War. Now, they are the second generation here. I was told that before the present reclamation there was a pier quite close to the village, and the seashore in front. Nothing about Chun Fa Lok itself is recorded in the local histories, but in the San On Yuen Chi, 1819 edition, it is recorded, 'In the 12th year of the Chia Ch'ing period of the Ming Dynasty, pirates called Hui Chat-kwai and Wan Chung-sin 溫宗卷 invaded Tung Kwun county. Ku Sing 顧晟, a military officer of Tsin-wu † rank, tried to capture them at Chun Fa Yeung ***, but was killed in the fight, Kong Leung-choi ‡, commander of the naval forces of that region, defeated them." Can Chun Fa Yeung be the waters near Chun Fa Lok of Tsing Yi Island today? This needs further proof. The names of Tsing Yi Mun 青衣門 and Tsing Yi Tam 青衣潭 appear in the local history books written in the later part of the Ch'ing Dynasty, but nothing about Chun Fa Lok is mentioned. Is Chun Fa Lok the old name of Tsing Yi? The local elders have been unable to state the connection, when consulted on this point, though confirming that Chun Fa Lok is an old place name. Hong Kong, April, 1980 ANTHONY K. K. SIU 1 Yuet Tai Kei NOTES was written by Kwok Fai in the Wan Li reign (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty. The map of the Kwangtung Coast is shown at the end of Chapter 32. ================================================================================ 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 147 2 On the map, the location of Hong Kong Island should be that of Aberdeen today. There is another large island showing the names of Chung Hum春暟, Chik Chu赤柱, Tai Tam大潭 and Wong Nai Chung黄泥涌. * These two islands should be joined as one, since all these places are located on present day Hong Kong Island. It is probably so drawn because the author drew the map while he was standing on the mainland side, facing the water. * Chin Wan is today's Tsuen Wan. Island. The English name for Yeung Shun Chau is Stonecutters. * See, Map 72 of Volume 2 of Hong Kong Streets and Places published by The Lands and Survey Department of the Hong Kong Government. Also p. 154, Zone 30: Tsing Yi and Ma Wan Islands of A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, 1978 edition. 7 ? See Chapter 13 of the San On Yuen Chi, 1819 edition.✩✩✩✩縣志卷十三、 * See Kwangtung To Shuet✯✯✯x, 1889 edition, and Kwangtung Yu Ti Chuen To (ARж#'), 1909 edition. A TUN FU (£) CEREMONY IN TAI PO DISTRICT, 1981: RITUAL AS A DEMARCATOR OF COMMUNITY I recently had the opportunity to witness a tun fu ceremony in Fung Yuen, a small multilineage village in a coastal valley to the east of Tai Po. Since I found Notes on earlier ceremonies published in this journal by James Hayes to be very valuable as I prepared to observe the Fung Yuen ritual, it occurred to me that other field workers might similarly find my notes on this subject useful. The ceremony aims to protect villagers from the wrath of various spirits that might be disturbed when engineering or construction works affect local fung seui in some way. If indigenous villagers feel that the health and well-being of their community might thus be threatened by government works, they may request such a ceremony. The expenses incurred in the hiring of a specialist to conduct the rituals and the purchase of various items of ritual paraphernalia and sacrificial objects are covered by the district office. Given the pace of development in Hong Kong today, we can expect that such ceremonies will continue to be held frequently. Thus there is considerable value in examining the meanings they hold for the people in whose interests they are performed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 148 NOTES AND QUERIES Fung Yuen is a coastal valley cutting deeply back from the coast of Tolo Harbor, about a mile and a half deep and perhaps a half mile wide, flanked by hills falling sharply down to the sea on both sides. The eastern hill, the abode, geomantically speaking, of the Green Dragon, has been shaved off in Government engineering works as a "borrow area" for bay fill several years, and tun fu ceremonies have been held in Fung Yuen in the past. In 1981, "borrowing" was to begin on the western hill, the home of the White Tiger, so new ceremonies were necessary. The details of the 1958 and 1960 rituals described by Hayes (JHKBRAS 5:122-124 and JHKBRAS 11:204-209) are roughly similar to those I observed in Fung Yuen in 1981. However, the specialist hired, according to the village head, was not a fung seui sin saang, but a tun fu sin saang (could this perhaps indicate the growth of a new occupational specialization?). He was aided by one elderly assistant. Offerings included both meat and vegetarian dishes; the specialist commented that since many spirits are invited to such a ceremony and one does not know their preferences, a variety of things should be made available to please them all. The basic ceremony consisted of the presentation of offerings and prayers, the burning of candles, paper money, and incense, and the renewing of ritual objects that had been positioned in a similar ceremony a few years earlier, and were now reconsecrated and left in place once more. Large incense pots were filled with fresh sand, into which new bamboo sticks affixed with charms were stuck. Fresh, tall stalks of bamboo, very leafy at the top, with a paper charm attached to each, were erected beside the pots at various locations in the valley. As the village head explained it to me, the ceremony serves to invite a benevolent deity, a po sat, who is a sin sih, or a kind of an official in the heavenly bureaucracy, to protect the village from malevolent spirits who may be disturbed by the earth removal. He is, I believe, represented by the paper charm attached to each tall leafy bamboo stalk. It is not only the fine details of ritual acts, nor the numbers and types of ritual objects used, that had significance on this occasion. The spatial patterning of the sites chosen for the series of one major and seven minor ceremonies conducted over the course of Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ 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 149 the afternoon was equally meaningful. According to Hayes, the priest in charge of the 1958 ceremonies on Lantau decided how many pots should be prepared with charms, and where they should be placed at various spots throughout the area. In the 1960 case in Sai Kung, two pots were prepared, and one was placed at either end of the village. In the Fung Yuen case, however, as many as seven pots were needed (plus an extra ceremony with no pot), and though the ritual specialist may have dictated the precise orientation of each, they are located at sites which could only be derived with a full knowledge of the local social rather than geomantic terrain. Almost 450 people make their homes in Fung Yuen, according to my surveys, of whom only about 120 are "indigenous villagers," or descendants of the several small lineages that settled the valley in the middle of the Qing dynasty. Some sixty people name other New Territories villages as their native places, though they have been settled in Fung Yuen for forty to sixty years; the remainder are more recent arrivals, immigrants from China who now grow vegetables as tenants on lineage-owned land. But of these several categories of Fung Yuen residents, only the first, the villagers, face potential harm from the changes to be wrought by government engineering works. This understanding is shared by everyone, despite the fact that the terrain to be altered embraces the homes of everyone, not just the villagers. In fact, those actually farming the land, including some villagers as well as many immigrants, might be considered to be at highest risk, for the water that sustains their vegetables and their livelihoods runs down from the hills where the Green Dragon and White Tiger live. That ritual units are constituted socially rather than geographically or economically, however, is a lesson brought home very clearly in the tun fu ceremonies. The first ceremony, and the only one complete with all food and drink offerings as well as other ritual paraphernalia, was conducted at the site of the local Daaih Wohng Yeh shrine, and was addressed to the nearby Touh Deih Gung as well. These gods define a community, in that all who are full members in that community fall within their sphere of responsibility; the gods are concerned with their welfare, and the reverse is equally true. In tradi- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 154 NOTES AND QUERIES numerous minor grades excel those of other places in their colour, fragrance and taste. Chu Yi-chuen of Sau Shui remarks, "There is no fixed standard as to which place in Fukien and Kwangtung produces the best quality of lychee, but in my opinion “Kwa Luk” from Kwangtung tops all." The three most outstanding selections of "Kwa Luk” are "Siu Fa Shan”, “Luk Law Yi” and "Kau Kei Wan”. A species named "Sheung Shu Wai", literally "being carried (wai) by the Minister (Sheung Shu)", originated from a minister Cham Man-kang who brought back a pip of lychee from Windy Pavilion. Most lychees fall into this category. The most valuable lychee tree whose fruit is priced scores of times more than others is the one growing in the West Garden located outside West Gate of the County Seat. In fact, there were other lychee trees which were as good as, or even better than, that tree. Another species called “Crystal Ball" of Cha Kong is of the same grade as "Kwa Luk”, and also on the list of the delicious lychees are "Sai Kok" (rhino's horn), "Kwai Mei” (taste of osmanthus), "Nor Mai Chee" (like glutinous rice), "Sung Ka Heung" (fragrance of Sung Family), "Chun Fung Yuk” (jade offered to emperor) and Ho Pau (wallet). (translation by District Office, Tsuen Wan) 3. By chance, I heard recently of the existence of at least one tree of the special type of “Kwa Luk” mentioned in the opening paragraph from the father of a friend. This gentleman, a Hakka from Ng Wah District, served pre-war in the provincial administration of Kwangtung at Canton. He had a friend Mr. Wong Ping-kwan (*A), who was the district magistrate (*) of Tsang Shing at that time (about 1937-38). This official used to send a parcel of this special lychee to his superiors in Canton. The fruit came from trees in the courtyard and gardens of his office in Tsang Shing. It was not for sale, and although my friend said he had heard of some being available on the market in recent times, he was sure they were not the genuine article. Hong Kong. December, 1979. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 156 NOTES AND QUERIES removal to the housing estate, to ensure that a full scale excavation programme could begin in late 1980. Thereby, through uninterrupt-ed intensive work, we hoped to make up part of the lost time. In the interim one other incident which showed the strength of village feeling about the fung shui hill occurred in November 1979. In this case, a demolition contract had been let for the houses in the old Chung Mei and Lo Uk villages. The Rural Committee and the village elders had agreed, but unexpectedly there was opposition when the contractor began to move his bulldozer into position to start the work. This time, it came from the young men of the village, and we were informed by the Rural Committee Chairman that they could not be persuaded to agree. Upon investigation I found that it was not (in the main) the demolition which was being objected to, but rather the route by which the bulldozer was to obtain access to the old village sites. This was over the face of the same fung shui hill that had been causing the prolonged delay, and naturally it was being objected to. I greatly wished the contract to proceed, on the principle that, when you are dealing with villagers, it is bad to go back on a deci-sion reached with their leaders, besides having to explain to the Finance Branch of the Government Secretariat the claims from the thwarted contractor. However, when I saw how things were, and being mindful of the wisdom of not interfering with the hill, I instructed staff to take the bulldozer by an alternative route. This would still open bare earth on the hillside but it would be out of the sight of the villages, which was what mattered, and it would be on a route to be formed for roadworks at a later stage. In a meet-ing held in my office, the twelve or so young men who had insisted on accompanying the elders, were perfectly agreeable to this solution and the demolition continued. The end of the story is quickly told. The residents of the four villages moved into the new public housing accommodation when it was ready for occupation, the Project Manager (P.W.D.) was able to let his contract, and the successful contractor was at last able to carry out uninterrupted major excavation of soil from the hill-sides. There was trouble at the seashore where mariculturists had to be moved to enable a pier to be built and a channel dredged for the barges that would take away the soil to the Tsuen Wan Bay reclamation: but that is another story! Hong Kong, June 1981 JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ 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 ANOTHER (MISSING?) LIBRARY 157 In 1935, after two years' travel and study in China, Gerald Yorke's book China Changes was published by Jonathan Cape of London. In Chapter Eight, entitled "In Search of a Hermitage", the following extract (p. 159) refers to a library at, it would appear from the final paragraph, "the temple of the Mountain Cave (Tung Yuan) above Lanchi." This is county in Chekiang Province. "In the meantime Li [Li Yuen-tzu, his companion, interpreter and friend, to whom the book is dedicated] had heard of a temple in the hills behind the town. It was not easy to find, and at first sight proved disappointing; for a family of peasants were in charge. But a draper's assistant, whose master had failed, was staying there to study. I had stumbled on a library presented by a scholar (Chao Ke-lao) in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. A tablet in his handwriting still bears witness to the gift. The books are in their original bindings and as fresh as if printed yesterday. Several appear to be of great age. This is hardly surprising, as the Tripitaka, the Bible of Chinese Buddhism in over one thousand volumes (the San Ts'ang), was first struck off wood blocks in the nine hundred and seventy-second year of Our Lord. The draper's assistant knew his way about and picked out for me volumes with exquisite woodcuts as frontispieces. Unfortunately, he never distinguished between the dynasty in which a book had been written or translated, and the century in which it had been printed. I longed for a bibliophile to enlighten me. Over two thousand books printed before the year 1500 survive in as clean a condition as anyone could wish. Before taking them from their cases, sticks of incense and candles are lit by the peasant in charge. It gave me a real thrill to find such a treasure so respected in the hills. The veneration in which learning is held in China has no counterpart in the West. There were too many people living at the temple of the Mountain Cave (Tung Yuan) above Lanchi. I decided to return to the Ch'ientang gorges, where the temple of the Master of the Water Rushes (Lu Su Chen Kung) had attracted me with its name." Does anyone know if this library still exists? Hong Kong. January, 1981. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ 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 159 National Biography, but with the library mentioned by Angus Hamilton. What became of it? Hong Kong, May 1982 JAMES HAYES A MISSING CHINESE LIBRARY Our Hon. Librarian, Mr. Rydings, has been following up the question posed in my Note on this subject that appeared in the Journal in the 1976 issue (Vol. 16: 284). The papers reproduced below will be of interest, and may also result in the still missing library being restored to wider public knowledge and use. Hon. Editor 30 July 1980 (I) Letter to The Librarian, David Bishop Skillman Library, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. 18042 Dear Librarian, William Edgar Geil Please see the enclosed extract* from Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16, 1976, p. 284. As Dr. Geil was one of your distinguished alumni, I am interested to know whether you can throw any light on the mystery of the missing books. It seems extraordinary if they have disappeared without trace, yet I can find no mention of them other than in the source quoted. Any help which you can provide would be much appreciated. Yours sincerely, H. A. RYDINGS Librarian c.c.: Dr. J. W. Hayes * In order to compile his book Eighteen Capitals of China (Philadelphia and London; J.B. Lippincott Company, 1911) Dr. William Edgar Geil, the celebrated American traveller and author stated in his preface: (p.x) "With the aid of viceroys, governors, Hanlin scholars, librarians, booksellers, we have gathered a large collection, out of which selections by leading scholars have been translated, and a few specimens are given, to let the readers see the old style of book. Local proverbs in themselves have never been brought together on our scale; and to choose from a mass of new material which would fill three volumes has been a difficult task." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 160 NOTES AND QUERIES It would appear from the introduction penned by the famous American sinologue missionary and teacher, Dr. W.A.P. Martin, that this literary material was collected on the spot, at each capital, comprising "their topographical treasures, a mass of literature destined to form the basis of a Chinese Library" (p. viii). Also that, as for one of Dr. Geil's former books on China, on his journeyings along the Great Wall, Martin had helped to put his materials in shape (p. viii). Does anyone know of the present whereabouts of this valuable collection which presumably was taken back by Dr. Geil to his home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania where, according to Who Was Who in America, he was born, lived and died (1925). Hong Kong, 1977, JAMES HAYES. Postscript (1981). I was in error as to place of death. Dr. Geil died at Venice on 11th April 1925. (II) Letter from The Mercer Museum & Fonthill, The Bucks County Historical Society Pine Street, The Spruance Library Doylestown, PA 18901 H. A. Rydings Librarian University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong Dear Mr. Rydings: September 18, 1980 Your letter of July 30 was forwarded to us by Mr. Robert G. Gennett of the Lafayette College Library in the hope that we might know something of the present location of the Chinese library of William Edgar Geil. The enclosed copy of a 1910 article in our clipping file indicates that the material did come home with Mr. Geil. However, we do not own it and we do not know what has become of it. When Geil died in 1925, he left his manuscripts and collections in his will to his wife (as indicated in the second enclosed clipping). Mrs. Geil died on January 16, 1959. The newspaper account of her will makes no mention of the library. She did leave a daughter, Mrs. Constance Geil Laycock, who was then of Shaker Heights, ================================================================================ 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 163 and again in 1921, to share its territory with the Maryknollers. It was to do so yet again when, in 1931, a large part of scenic north central Kwangsi centered on the capital city, Kweilin, was transferred to them. The three books make fascinating reading, partly because these were not ordinary men, and because they worked in China at a time of change, but also because the scene is set in South China among the Hakka and Cantonese of the districts adjacent to Hong Kong where, too, the Order established its mission house and language school in 1934. Indeed, Monsignor Bernard F. Meyer was, with Father Theodore F. Wempe, the author of The Student's Cantonese-English Dictionary, first published in 1935 and still going strong. To end this note of appreciation, I shall quote from a letter sent by one of our members, Mr. W. J. Howard, following publication of the account of Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong, 1941-1946 in the last Journal. Hong Kong, May 1982 JAMES HAYES MR. W. J. HOWARD'S LETTER TO THE HON. LIBRARIAN, dated 18 January 1982 Dear Sir, JOURNAL OF THE HK BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY VOL. 19, 1979 (published 1981) Please send me five (5) copies of the above Journal addressed to me at Causeway Bay PO Box 30704. I will remit the total cost together with postal charge as soon as I receive your debit advice. I require so many extra copies of this particular Journal because I wish to send them to my friends. I consider the articles on the Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-1946 by Rev. James Smith and Rev. William Downs, M.M., shed about the most accurate and unbiased record of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. Some of my relatives were interned in Stanley during the war and I was interned in Shamshuipo P.O.W. camp and later in Japan. I Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 BOOK LISTS 167 For these reasons the work is thoroughly recommended. It is to be hoped that, when he finds time, Dr. Baker will produce similar work on the city, which is just as fascinating as the countryside. A last word of thanks goes to Mr. Robin Hutcheon, Editor of the South China Morning Post, who saw a good thing and made it all possible. One regret perhaps? Each volume cites its own guide to reference books and the third has a useful index to the whole, but I'm lazy and would have liked page references to help me track down the originals of quoted passages. Hong Kong, 1981. JAMES HAYES CHINESE WALLED CITIES: A COLLECTION OF MAPS FROM SHINA JŌKAKU NO GAIYŌ, Benjamin E. Wallacker, Ronald G. Knapp, Arthur J. Van Alstyne, Richard J. Smith, eds. (1979, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press). 266 pp. The reader who wants one hundred sketch maps of traditional Chinese walled cities—as they stood in the 1930's—will find them in this book. Lest this brief statement seems to do less than justice to a volume of 266 pages, let me quote from the description of Chinhsiang (page 130) in Shantung: "The city is 45 kilometers southwest of Chi-ning. Population is given as 3,000 households and 15,000 individuals." On the right-hand side of the page, there is also a drawing of the city wall, noting that it is 8.0 m. high, 3.0 m. wide at the top, and 10.0 m. at the bottom. On the map of Chin-hsiang, you can also see that there is a north gate, an east gate, a south gate, and a west gate. The Introduction notes that these maps were made by Major Ishiwari Heizō of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces in China, and were originally published by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1940 under the title Shina Jōkaku no Gaiyō (General outline of the walled cities of China). The editors added a few photographs to break up the monotony, but no extra research. Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1980. DAVID FAURE ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 BOOK LISTS 173 perhaps the case.* A list of Canton and Hong Kong newspapers is included in Roswell S. Britton, The Chinese Periodical Press 1800-1912 (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1933). (n) Subscription books These are not strictly speaking “books,” but subscription lists bound in the same Chinese-style format. They either promote an object like the reconstruction, repair or extension of a temple, school or charitable hospital, the repair of a bridge or road, or in Republican times the financing of a militia or a self-managing local government or commercial or other association. Whatever the cause, a full subscription list was usually printed upon the conclusion of the work or the closing of the lists; or in the case of temples, buildings and public works often placed in the building or nearby, on a stone tablet. The short list which follows is merely a sample. There were many more subscription books in handwritten format: I saw these when District Officer South 1957-62 as they were sometimes brought in for endorsement, and I have collected others. Section B BOOKS PROVIDED FOR AND BY SPECIALISTS I have not attempted to provide any listing of material in this huge field, save for the specialists in family rites and social etiquette, whose stock of knowledge seems mostly to have been derived from the hand-written volumes which researchers in Hong Kong have chosen to style “village hand-books”. If not actually derived from the printed books listed in sub-sections (b), (d), (f) and (g) above, their contents were similar in nature. A detailed comparison has yet to be made, and is an important scholarly task. I wish to thank Mr. Peter Yeung, Curator of the Hung On-To Memorial Library (Hong Kong Collection) of the University of Hong Kong for his great help in preparing these lists. Hong Kong, 1982 JAMES HAYES * A fragment of a Hsuan-tung issue of a Canton newspaper (1909) was given me by a Tai O (Lantau) shopkeeper, and I recall seeing a newspaper that came to light at Pui O (also Lantau), behind the plaster of a decaying temple last repaired in 1914. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Patron: H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., M.A. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1981: President: Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Vice-Presidents: J.W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.Div. Hon. Secretary: Margaret O'Hara Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editor: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: H.A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Alan Birch, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.Soc. A.I.Diamond, M.A. Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. D.H. Liu B.A.V. Peacock, M.A. Oliver Siddle, B.A.(Oxon.), F.R.S.A. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 2 sen and his Hong Kong experience and was based on a current study he is undertaking into the meaning and significance of Sun Yat-sen's sojourn in Hong Kong. Also in February we were pleased to welcome Mrs. Robyn McLean, assistant archivist at the Public Records Office, who, using material on her files, spoke on the efforts to locate the Chater art collection after the Japanese Occupation - an effort that proved in vain. Finally, this month Carl Smith, one of our Vice-Presidents and a well-known investigator of primary sources of Hong Kong history, spoke on the origins, functions, and network of the Hong Kong compradores. Expeditions: Hong Kong and Abroad - During the year we had one walking tour in the New Territories and two expeditions to Rajasthan. The November walking tour was one of the winter walks which David Liu of your Council arranges from time to time, and the first for members of the society. Thirteen people participated. The first expedition to Rajasthan was centred around the Pushkar Fair/Camel safari but included many other novel activities, such as desert camping, 6 days by camel to visit off-the-track villages of the Shekhawati with their frescoes, a visit to the remote desert town of Bikaner with its palaces and forts, as well as a visit to the Rajmahal Palace, Jaipur. Altogether fifteen members took the tour. The second tour, entitled "Meet the Maharaja", took place in January of this year and went from Delhi through Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer. Participants stayed in hotels converted from maharajas' palaces, met maharajas, and travelled on a royal saloon train. Seventeen members went on the tour. This is the first time that overseas tours have been arranged for us outside the Council, and I cannot report fully on the tours as no member of Council was able to go along. We will be pleased, however, to get the reactions and comments of those taking part. Mrs. Craig has kindly offered to show moving films of the two expeditions that she took to the Society, possibly in April - and those taking part in them will be invited to bring along their own photographs for display. Publications - The 1979 Journal (Vol. 19) was published and distributed during the year. Editorial work on the 1980 Journal was completed, and so was much of that on the 1981 Journal. Dr. James Hayes, who handed over the role of editor to Dr. David Faure last year, remained in charge of the Journal for 1980 and as advisor on that for '81. He has asked me to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m convey his apologies for the delay in getting the 1980 issue out, which has been due to considerable pressure of work in his public life and a recent transfer to a new job. Dr. Hayes worked as our editor for over fourteen years and this is an appropriate point, perhaps, for me to pause for a presentation we wish to make to him on behalf of the Society for his many efforts on our behalf. Dr. Hayes, who is an historian of Hong Kong Chinese society, is also a keen follower of archeological progress in the China field. We thought therefore it would be appropriate to present him with this illustrated account of The Great Bronze Age of China, which was based on an exhibition from the People's Republic held in the U.S.A. in 1980-81. The 1980 Journal will probably be the last to be printed under the personal supervision of Mr. Y.F. Lam of Ye Olde Printerie. Mr. Lam has been a member of the Society for many years also. I would like to take this opportunity of extending our warmest thanks to Mr. Lam, who is now semi-retired, for his patience and kind advice in all matters of printing. They have contributed so much to the smooth production of the Journal and our other occasional publications. Photographic Survey I turn now to the photographic survey. The Council is again calling for volunteers to continue the work connected with this survey which began in the early 'seventies and has been mainly in the competent hands of Messrs. Tony Rydings and Ian Diamond. The object of the survey has been to compile a photographic record of Hong Kong's street scenes - with its people and variety of occupations -- and Hong Kong buildings. The local scene is changing so rapidly that we felt we should try to capture a visual impression of the city and rural areas, in their older more traditional aspects particularly, before all is swept away. The object is not just to take numerous photographs but to compile a fully documented visual record in which every photograph is dated, each photographer's name noted, and every building, architectural feature and so forth recorded, is identified. Briefly this has meant the compiling of schedules of sites to be photographed, followed by expeditions to carry out the work, and finally the identification and cataloguing of the results. Our appeal is now urgent. Tony Rydings and Ian Diamond have carried the main burden for many years and now feel, I think quite justifiably, that it is time others came forward to do the main work. If you want this work to continue, it is up to you to come forward and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m Seven. Again I appeal to all who are changing their addresses or leaving Hong Kong and want to transfer to overseas membership to notify us of the change. Occasionally we receive a protest from a member who has moved that he is not receiving notices, and we usually discover that he has not informed us of his move. You still need to inform us even if you know somebody on the Council who is aware of the change - this information does not automatically reach those who address and send out mail. Library Tony Rydings has tabled a separate library report so I will not dwell on library business, but would like to remark our pleasure at the increase in borrowing during the year: it is nice to know a library is actually being used. The new catalogue should be out fairly soon and we hope it will further encourage use. I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking donors of books during the period: Hong Kong University, Dr. James Hayes; Professor Ho Peng-Yoke and Dr. S. C. Young, founder of Kyung Hee University, Seoul. Since the Librarian's report was written we have also received over twenty books and several issues of periodicals from the Editor of the magazine Orientations. Details will be included in next year's report but again I take this opportunity of extending our thanks for the many excellent additions to our collection. It remains, finally, for me only to thank everybody who has contributed to our activities this year and whom I have not mentioned by name -- our auditors, lecturers, expedition organizers and those helping to distribute our publications for sale. Thank you all very much indeed. Marjorie Topley ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m # 9 # HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR 1981 - 82 For the period 7th November to 18th January the Library was inaccessible to members, owing to renovations to the 15th floor of the Arts Centre. Nevertheless it is good to record an increase in borrowing of books during the year. In order to encourage even more use, a revised edition of the published catalogue of the Library is in active preparation, and will be put on sale in the near future. Because of the great deal of time required to prepare this catalogue (upwards of 100 man-hours), and because I am also engaged in the indexing of vols. 11-20 of our Journal, the usual routines have fallen behind, and no books have been added to stock since the last report. This is particularly regrettable as we have in fact received rather more gifts than usual, including the following: 12 volumes on Korea (as part of our exchange arrangement with the University of Hong Kong), one from Dr. James Hayes, one from Professor Ho Peng-Yoke, and one from Dr. S. C. Young, founder of Kyung Hee University, Seoul. Several volumes have also been purchased, while our collection of bound volumes of periodicals continues to grow as the result of exchanges for our Journal. Some gaps in the back sets have been filled, mainly by the University Library from its duplicates. The holdings list of periodicals for the new catalogue will contain nine new titles compared with that in the 1978 catalogue supplement; on the other hand, two exchanges have been discontinued. Excluding those recent additions which have yet to be catalogued, the present stock is Books* Pamphlets Bound periodicals 670 56 635 in 477 volumes 1,203 * including 48 in Chinese It is hoped that the present shortage of shelf space for our books in the Kotewall Library of the Arts Centre will soon be overcome by additions to the furniture there. 15th March, 1982 H.A. Rydings Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 142 TA ACTON 22 of J. Hayes "The Hong Kong Region" in JHKBRAS 14(1974) p. 111 and D. Akers-Jones, "Boat People's Ceremonies observed at Island House" in the JHKBRAS 15 (1975) pp. 300-303. This paper does not make overt ethnic judgments, but does have an odd ethnographic style: for example "In the middle of all this there was a wedding ceremony, and I think the preceding activities were connected with it. But I was particularly struck by the frenzied, almost ecstatic and unseemly behaviour of the women." 23 Barbara E. Ward, "A Hong Kong Fishing Village", in the Journal of Oriental Studies 1 (1955) p. 195 24 Barbara E. Ward "Varieties of the Conscious Model" in M. Banton ed. The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology. (Association of Social Anthropologists Monograph No. 1, London, 1965). p. 113, and "Sociological Self-Awareness: Some uses of the Conscious Models” in Man, (1966) p. 201. 26 H. Kani A General Survey of the Boat People in Hong Kong, (New Asia Research Institute, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1967) p. 67, E. Anderson, "The Boat People of South China" in Anthropos 65 (1970) and “The Floating World of Castle Peak Bay", University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Mich. 1978. 26 E. Anderson "The Ethnoichthyology of the Hong Kong Boat People” in his Essays on South China's Boat People", Orient Cultural Service, Taipei, 1972, p. 39. 27 J. McCoy, "The Dialects of the Hong Kong Boat People: Kau Sai" in the JHKBRAS 5 (1965) pp. 46-64. But note that this paper is based on work in only one village, does not take account of the well-known habit of respondents with both “high” and "low" versions of their own language to use the "high" version when speaking to outsiders. Note also the contradictory evidence in this paper at page 18. 28 T. Acton, "II ruolo della cultura tradizionale romani come contributo allo sviluppo dell'educazione moderna" in Lacio Drom, Rivista Bimestrale di Studi Zingari 15:3 (1979) p. 20 29 J. Gibbon ed. Viewpoint Hong Kong (Longman, Hong Kong, 1977) ch. 3 For example, on p. 19 of this book of English Language development exercises, we are asked "Some people look down on the boat people. Why is this unfair?” 30 F.M.O. document "Duties and Responsibilities of Liaison Officers", Para. 11 (3) iv. 31 Ibid. Para III (6) 32 W. Hahn Aberdeen Catching the Last Rays (Perennial Press, Hong Kong, 1974) pp. 193-4. 33 D. Wood ed. Hong Kong 1980 (Government Information Services, Hong Kong. 1980) p. 59 34 SOCO, A Survey of Boat People in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1978, in Chinese), p.3 35 V. Wong "Among the Sewage and Sampans of Yaumatei” in the South China Morning Post, 13 October 1979. pp. 10, 14. R. Daryanani "Home for 5,000 is most polluted” in the South China Morning Post, 8 September, 1980, p. 19 36 E. Elliott "Ordinance not in public interest" (Letter) in the South China Morning Post 11 August, 1980, p. 20. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 211 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH MEMBERSHIP LIST (As at 31st December, 1982) Patron H.E. Sir Murray Maclehose, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., HONORARY MEMBERS The Aide-de-Camp, Government House LAM, Mr. Yung-fai LAWRY, Mr. R.E. MACLEHOSE, Sir Murray, G.B.E., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O. O'HARA, Mrs. Margaret, TOPLEY, Dr. Marjorie, LOCAL LIFE MEMBERS ALLEYNE, Mrs. E.L. BOARD, Mr. D.B.M. BONSALL, Mr. G.W. BUTT, Dr. N.S.G. CALCINA, Mr. P.G. CHAMBERS, Mr. J.W. CHAN, Mr. Alfred T. CHENG, Mr. Tuck CHIU, Dr. Ling Yeong, CHOA, Dr. Gerald H. CHUN, Miss Oy-ling COMBER, Mr. Leon CRAMER, Mr. B.L.C. CRONE, Dr. D.L. DJOU, Mr. G.G. DUNCAN, Mrs. Josephine EMERSON, Mr. Geoffrey C. EVANS, Mr. Paul J. EVANS, Mrs. P.J. FABER, Mrs. Audrey FAULKNER, Mr. Raymond J. FOK, Miss Nora FREMANTLE, Mr. Adam FRY, Mr. R.A. FUNG, Mrs. Beatrice, GAFF, Mrs. Jennifer A. GORDON, The Hon. Sir S.S. GREEN, Mrs. Judith HASE, Dr. Patrick H. HAYES, Dr. James W. HAYIM, Mr. E.J. HO, Mr. Tick-on HONEY, Dr. N.R. HOPKINSON, Mrs. I. HOWARD, Mr. William James HOWNAM-MEEK, Mrs. R.S. HOYNINGEN-HUENE, Baron Ture von HU, Dr. Shih Chang HUI, Miss Wai Haan HUNG, Mr. Chiu-sing IU, Miss Sheila KINOSHITA, Mr. James H. KVAN, Rev. Erik LAI, Mr. T.C LAU, Dr. Michael Wai-Mai LAWRENCE, Mrs. B.M.I. LEE, Mr. J.S. LEE, Dr. R.C. LETHBRIDGE, Mr. H.J. LEUNG, Mr. Pak-Kui LI, Mr. David K.P. FUNG, Sir Kenneth Ping-Fan, O.B.E., J.P. LISOWSKI, Prof. F.P. LISOWSKI, Mrs. W.Y. GILKES, Mr. David GORDON, Mr. K.H.A. LIU, Mr. D.H. LO, Mr. T.S. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p CONTENTS Page PRESIDENT'S REPORT viii ADDRESS BY DR. J.W. HAYES xiv ADDRESS BY REV. C.T. SMITH xvii TREASURER'S REPORT xviii LIBRARIAN'S REPORT xxi ARTICLES: Structure and Function in an Urban Organization: The Mutual Aid Committees JANET LEE SCOTT 1 Origin and Development of the Political System in the Shanghai International Settlement J.H. HAAN 31 The Strike and Riot of 1884 A Hong Kong Perspective - ELIZABETH SINN 65 The New Constitution and China's Emerging Legal System in Perspective W. ALLYN RICKETT Two Chinese Domestic Murders LETHBRIDGE 99 H.J. 118 Phonology of a Cantonese Dialect of the New Territories: Kat Hing Wai -- LAURENT SAGART 142 Saikung, The Making of the District and its Experience during World War II-DAVID FAURE 161 The Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club and its Predecessors - CARL T. SMITH 217 Village Education in Transition: The Case of Sheung Shui — NG LUN NGAI-HA 252 V ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p NOTES AND QUERIES The Po Tak Temple in Sheung Shui Market - DAVID FAURE, LEE LAI-MUI The Attempt to Assassinate the Governor in 1912 - N.J. MINERS Problems of the China Trade a Century Ago: Two Letters on Transit Passes - H.A. RYDINGS The Village Watch in the Hong Kong Region - JAMES HAYES Village Rules: Firecrackers in the Settlement of Disputes and in Token of Fines - JAMES HAYES 271 279 285 294 297 Canton Water Pines (Glyptostrobus Pensilis (Lamb)) at Tai Hang Village, New Territories - IU KOW-CHOY, LAY CHIK-CHUEN 302 More About the Tung Chung Fort - ANTHONY K.K. SIU 305 BOOK REVIEWS 308 MEMBERSHIP LIST 363 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p Chinese University's History Department and editor of our 1981 Journal, spoke on Saikung district during World War II: the district being a regular escape route for prisoners of war from Kowloon. After a summer break we began again in October with Professor Shih Hsio-yen, Head of Department of Fine Arts at Hong Kong University, talking on recent Chinese archeological finds and how the Chinese on the mainland look at their origins. In December Dr. James Hayes led a tour of the New Territories, which included Sam Tung Uk village built in the eighteenth century and scheduled as a museum and cultural centre, and Tsuen Wan, with a vegetarian lunch at the Yuen Yuen Hok Yuen, Tsuen Wan, a temple complex belonging to a Chinese syncretic religious group. Also in December, Professor Rulan Chao Pian, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and of Music at Harvard, and currently visiting Professor of Music at the Chinese University, spoke on traditional forms of dance narrative in North China. Her talk was illustrated with video tape material. Finally, in January Dr. Graham Johnson, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia, talked on the Chinese in Canada, discussing their history from the early rural migrants who worked in the goldfields and on the railway, to the more sophisticated urban migrants going to Canada after 1967, many from Hong Kong. There was very poor response to the two overseas tours offered through, or by, the Society during the year. The tour to India had to be cancelled through lack of sufficient numbers, and the tour of the Pearl River Delta consisted of six persons only, including the leader, Dr. Michael Lau, to whom I express my thanks. This year about seven members will be joining a tour arranged by Dr. Brian Shaw for late March-early April. The group will witness the annual sacred masked dance festival at Paro in Bhutan and also visit other places in Bhutan, and Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Other tours may be arranged by Dr. Shaw during the coming year, and Mrs. Craig will also be offering tours to members, who will be kept informed. As the year progressed we found it increasingly difficult to obtain bookings at the Volunteer Officers' Mess due to heavy ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p demand by other cultural societies like ourselves. St. John's Cathedral Hall was used occasionally but is not very satisfactory for our purposes for acoustic and other reasons. Towards the end of our year we were most fortunate in obtaining permission from the Government Information Services to use their excellent and very comfortable theatre. I express our great appreciation of this facility: long may we continue to enjoy it. Publications During the year papers from our 1980 symposium at Robert Black College entitled "The New Territories and its Future" were published by the Society. Dr. Alan Birch, who organised the symposium, was also the editor. Mr. Rydings, our Hon. Librarian, produced a second edition of the library catalogue and I take this opportunity to thank them both for their efforts on behalf of the Society. Mr. Rydings has tabled his separate library report but I would like also to thank those who have donated books during the year: Dr. James Hayes, who has given us many books in the past as well as those during this year, and also purchased several volumes to add to the library; and Lady Maclehose, who presented a rare 1933 tourist guide to Kashmir and seven old and also very rare maps of India and Kashmir. In October, our 1981 Journal, edited by Dr. David Faure (currently on sabbatical leave in Cambridge), was published and distributed to members. Publication of the 1980 Journal was still beset with problems, this time on the printing side and because of changes at our printers, Ye Olde Printerie. This volume, the last to be edited by Dr. James Hayes, is now in the process of being printed, I am happy to say, and should be distributed shortly. I said last year that the 1980 Journal would probably be the last to be printed under the personal supervision of Mr. Y. F. Lam of Ye Olde Printerie, and indeed this is to be the case, and I repeat our thanks to him for his devoted interest over the past twenty years his firm has undertaken our printing. Photographic Survey Work on the photographic survey has been in abeyance for most of this year as Tony Rydings and Ian Diamond, who have X ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p ADDRESS BY DR. JAMES HAYES, AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 17TH FEBRUARY 1983 Dr. Topley, ladies and gentlemen, According to p. 4 of Vol. 1 (1961) of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society: "THE HONG KONG BRANCH was resuscitated as the outcome of a meeting attended by some thirty interested persons, held at the British Council Centre on December 28, 1959. The meeting adopted a constitution approved by the parent Society in London, and formed an interim Council to hold office until a General Meeting should be held. The following were elected to the Council:- President: Dr. J. R. Jones; Vice-Presidents: the Hon. Sir Tsun-nin Chau and Dr. L. T. Ride; Hon. Secretary: Mr. J. D. Duncanson; Hon. Treasurer: Mr. T. J. Lindsay; Hon. Editor of the Journal: Mr. J. L. Cranmer-Byng; other Councillors: Dr. Marjorie Topley and Messrs. James Liu, Holmes Welch, and G. B. Endacott. The Inaugural Meeting of the revived Branch was held on April 7, 1960, in the Loke Yew Hall of Hong Kong University. It was to have been presided over by H. E. the Governor, Sir Robert Black, K.C.M.G., O.B.E., had illness not prevented it. The Inaugural Address was delivered by Professor F. S. Drake, Professor of Chinese at Hong Kong University, on "The Study of Asia: a Heritage and a Task". On January 23, 1961, Sir Robert Black presided over a meeting of the Branch in his capacity as Patron, and thus restored a tradition after a lapse of a hundred years.' ** As incoming President, it is my honour on this occasion, twenty-three years later, to make a presentation to Dr. Topley on your behalf, in recognition of her work as President of the Society from 1972 onwards. But first I wish to speak about her own contribution to the formation of our Society and its work over nearly a quarter of a century. xiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p position in the community and long record of public service, was better able to perform this part of the preparatory work and to act as our first President. I turn now to Marjorie's more recent contributions to the Society. It is in the nature of things that most societies rely on a few persons for their inspiration and direction. We have been fortunate indeed in having Marjorie to guide our fortunes in the 1970s. Her scholarly reputation is international and it is no accident that we have always been able to attract speakers of high academic calibre for our lecture programme. We owe to her, too, the inspiration for many of our symposia. Seven of these are now in published form, three of them under her editorial pen. These symposia volumes deserve to be more widely known, especially at this time when interest in Hong Kong, its past, present and future are at a high peak, and when knowledge and appreciation of Hong Kong and its achievements and potential are, in a very real sense, crucial to that future. Those of us who have lived in Hong Kong these past 25 to 30 years cannot fail to have a keen sense of historical progress. In this time Hong Kong has progressed from being a "left-over" from history to a place with, if I am not mistaken, a mind and identity of its own, above all a place which deserves a future. In its own way our Society has assisted towards this development. We care about Hong Kong, and because of this have helped to document both its past and the change referred to above. Our contribution to the greater public knowledge and awareness of Hong Kong is surely a valuable one. It is certain that Dr. Topley has greatly assisted in this work. Thus, in thinking over what might be an appropriate parting gift from the Society, we considered that a bound set of the Symposia might be the most fitting and perhaps most appreciated gift that the Council could contrive. On your behalf, I now present them to Dr. Topley with every sentiment and appreciation of goodwill.* * Plate 1. xvi JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT Perhaps the most important occurrence in a relatively eventful year was the donation of over 20 books and several parts of periodicals, nearly all relating to Asia, from the Editor of the well-known Hong Kong monthly ‘Orientations'. This was briefly noted in the President's report at the last annual general meeting, but occurred after the Librarian's report had been prepared. We are extremely grateful for this most useful addition to our collection. Apart from a few volumes which need binding, these gifts have already been added to the shelves. During the year other gifts were received from Dr. James Hayes, who also purchased several volumes on behalf of the Society, including a useful and fairly complete run of the Peking Natural History Bulletin, the complete volumes of which have been bound. Other acquisitions were received on exchange from the University of Hong Kong Libraries, while the regular exchanges with other institutions for our Journal continued. An arrangement was made with the Hong Kong Anthropological Society, whereby their small library of material in Chinese and vernaculars, some 20 volumes, has been placed on indefinite loan with our collection, and is included in our catalogue. It is fortunate that the space shortage at the Kotewall Library of the Arts Centre, mentioned in the last report, has been overcome. Additional bookcases have been provided, allowing us to spread the books over a greatly increased length of shelving. Even with the increasing accessions noted over the past two years, we will be able to keep our collection in better order for a few years to come. As of this date the stock of our collection is as follows: Books* Pamphlets Bound periodicals 757 57 686 in 507 1,321 volumes * including 50 in Chinese xxi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 129 for dinner and Miao dined alone. A Miss Crossley, the owner of the Borrowdale Gates Private Hotel, where they stayed, told Miao that a bus from Keswick was due at 9 p.m., and offered to meet it for him, since he claimed he had a cold and had been told by his wife to stay indoors. Miao told Miss Crossley his wife would not come by bus but by hired car, since she disliked buses. At 10:30 p.m. he asked the hotel maid whether he should inform the local police that his wife had not returned from her shopping expedition to Keswick. Apparently, he did not do so: he went to bed. Already her body had been found. At 7:30 p.m. a farmer had seen her lying in a lakeland wood, apparently asleep. She was on her back, her legs apart, an open umbrella shading her head. The farmer mentioned what he had seen to a detective-constable on leave, who, his suspicions aroused, went back to the spot and found Mrs. Miao dead. She had been strangled by three cords wound tightly around her neck. Her skirt was above her thighs, and her knickers torn. It was later argued that the murderer had attempted to simulate a rape or sexual assault. In fact, there was no medical evidence of any form of sexual violence. It is not easy for a murderer to rape a woman unless the inspiration for his crime is sexual. A husband, who hates his wife enough to murder her, is not likely to achieve sufficient tumescence prior to, or just after, his crime. It was also not likely that a wandering necrophiliac, a Cumberland shepherd, let us say, had stumbled upon the corpse and violated it.32 One must assume the body was so arranged as to suggest sexual assault. If that were so, what was the motive? At 11 p.m. Inspector Graham of the local police, informed of what the vacationing Southport detective had found, went to the hotel and discovered Miao in bed. He cautioned Miao, then arrested him. It is alleged that Miao asked the curious question: 'Had she knickers on?' Later, he claimed what he really said was 'Had she necklace on?' (There was no translator present at the trial, for Miao was inordinately proud of his legal knowledge and voluble half-command of English, although his ungrammatical discourse at times presented problems both for ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 160 LAURENT SAGART * Saunders, C.J. (1897) "The Tungkwun dialect of Cantonese" China Review 1897, Vol. 22: 465-476. Hayes, J.: "The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911” Hamden, 1977, p. 30. 10 Sagart, L: "Phonologue du dialecte Hakka de Sung Him Tong". Paris, Langages Croises, 1982. 154 p. "Henne, Henry: "Sathewkok Hakka phonology" Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap 20, 1964, 109-161. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p # SAI KUNG, THE MAKING OF THE DISTRICT AND ITS EXPERIENCE DURING # WORLD WAR II ## DAVID FAURE'*' ## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This article records and analyses the findings of a research project into the oral sources available for the history of Sai Kung, conducted by members of the Oral History Project Team of the Centre for East Asian Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Thanks are due to many people for the successful completion of this project. Mr. Colin Bosher, former District Officer, Sai Kung, suggested it in the first place, and Mr. S.J. Chan, the present District Officer, gave his advice and encouragement most generously. Professor Chen Ching-ho, former Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, took a most understanding attitude towards research on local history, and his kindness made possible not only this project, but also several other projects concerning the history of the New Territories. At every stage, the staff of the Sai Kung District Office and members of the Sai Kung Rural Committee helped in many and varied ways. The kindness of Miss Carrie Tsang, Miss Joyce Nip, Mr. Lei Yun Shou, J.P., Mr. Chung P'oon, Chairman, Sai Kung Rural Committee, and Mr. William Wan, must be especially acknowledged. Between November 1980 and August 1981 many residents of Sai Kung and neighbouring districts kindly agreed to be interviewed by the research team and their student assistants. For the record, their names and the dates of these interviews are appended to this report. As always, Dr. James Hayes and Dr. Patrick Hase offered kind and sound advice, and made available their own research notes for consultation. Father Sergio Ticozzi provided information on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Sai Kung. Mr. K.M.A. Barnett generously gave us his time to discuss numerous issues that arose in the interviews. Thanks are also due to the Sai Kung Rural Committee and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for providing financial support for this project, and to Mr. Deacon Chiu, whose generous donation to the University made its grant possible. The research team included David Faure (co-ordinator), Lai-hung Kwan, Bernard H.K. Luk, Yue-him Tam, and Barbara E. Ward. At different times, the following students at the Chinese University assisted: Cheng Shui Kwan, Kwok Po Nei, Lam Loi, Lau Kwan Yau, Lee Lai Mui, Lui Shuk Yee, Ngo Yin Ling, Tang Chan Yiu, Tsui Lai Yi, and Wong Yue Leung. Miss Cheng Shui Kwan and Miss Lee Lai Mui worked on this project from the start to its completion, and their contribution to the project is immense. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 296 NOTES AND QUERIES Nga Tsin Wai until he retired over ten years later. Work usually started at the second watch and continued until dawn. There was usually one man in his time, with help if things weren't so quiet. At Tai Wai, in Shatin, the village youths would act, for instance, as watchmen during the decennial Ta Tsiu1 festival, since it could be assumed that not only would most houses then be deserted, with their residents out watching the puppet show, but also that there would be large numbers of outsiders in the area as well. Neighbouring villages would often cause trouble during the Ta Tsiu because of the Fung Shui influence of the Ta Tsiu on them. The youths would work in shifts. This was also the case during the Ta Tsiu at Shek Pik on Lantau Island, though here these protective rituals were performed every three years instead of every ten. In normal times at Nga Tsin Wai, the watchman patrolled all six lanes inside the village, and also the area round about the outside of the village. He also sat occasionally in the entrance gateway of the village during the night. The watchmen's night began at 6 p.m. The first watch (tau kaang) was from then until 9. The second (yi kaang) was from 9 to midnight. The third, fourth, and if necessary a fifth, were from 12 to 3, 3 to 6 and 6 to 8 or 9. The drum was beaten at half-hourly intervals, and it was usual to beat the number of each kaang: three during the third kaang and so on. But at dawn it was usual to beat the drum many times, indicating the finishing or 'breaking up' of the kaangs. To ta kaang (T), the watchmen used a drum made of cow hide (ngau pei koo) beaten with a wooden stick, stated to be not of bamboo. He thought that all the Kowloon old villages beat a drum, and was certain that Sha Po, a sister village, used a drum like Nga Tsin Wai. However, he added that in many other places the watch used a gong (loh) instead.5 JAMES HAYES NOTES 1 Hong Kong Government Gazette, 8th April 1899, p. 546. * CSO 1903 Ext/3690, minute of 7th May 1903, in Public Records Office, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 302 NOTES AND QUERIES (Arthur Grimble Return to the Islands (London, John Murray, 1965) 159-167, first printing 1937). Another case in which firecrackers did the trick is described in some detail by Carl Crow. It concerned an advertising sign for cigarettes placed near a village outside Shanghai, credited with causing harm to its residents. In this instance, the writer found himself in a very difficult situation, between a wealthy, influential client and village feeling, and the case was only settled for good when the man lost interest in the product and turned to other lines of business. (Carl Crow, 400 Million Customers (New York, Pocket Books Inc., 1945) 99-102, first printing 1937). But we need more examples from Hong Kong. Now that village handbooks are being collected in greater numbers, and the work of interviewing old persons and experienced senior local leaders is being done across the territory by the energetic team of researchers in the Chinese University, there is every likelihood that more local examples of this and other aspects of village rules in the settlement of disputes will come to light. This note is intended as an indication of the scope and importance of the subject. Hong Kong, 1982. JAMES HAYES CANTON WATER PINES (GLYPTOSTROBUS PENSILIS (LAMB)) AT TAI HANG VILLAGE, NEW TERRITORIES The rapid development of the New Territories in the last decade has posed threats not only to many sites and buildings of historical and cultural interest but also to plant and wildlife habitats of scientific significance. Considerable effort has been made by the authorities concerned to conserve the best of these, with varying degrees of success. In the 1972 issue of this Journal, an account was given by D. C. Shen on two mature trees, Canton Water Pines, growing in the Tai Hang Village near 183 Milestone, Tai Po Road. Readers may be interested to know of conservation efforts made since then, and the present condition of the trees. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p BOOK REVIEWS 329 Augustus K. K. Siu and Anthony K. K. Siu, Studies on Chinese Genealogies and the History of the Hong Kong Region, Fung Chin Institute, Hong Kong, 1982. This book consists of eleven essays on the Hong Kong region (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, and neighbouring areas). Four of them deal with genealogies, six principally with the history of the New Territories, and the last with boat people's songs. The central theme is that genealogies are valuable source materials for writing the history of this area, and this theme is illustrated with numerous examples. There should be no dispute on the central theme: the question is how to put it into practice. The essay on migration into the Hong Kong region (chapter 5), despite the misleading reference in the title to all immigrant lineages as "guest lineages", is a useful example. In this essay, the authors list the time periods during which fifty-three surname groups first settled here from evidence recorded in their genealogies. The Tangs of Kam Tin, Lung Yeuk Tau, etc., and the P'aangs of Fan Ling came at the end of the Sung dynasty, the Lams of Shek Po Tsuen, and the Lius of Wu Kai Sha came in the Ming, and so on. The list is a useful first approximation, but obviously much more needs to be done. Another interesting essay (chapter 4) describes ten historical “events” recorded in the genealogies. They include the marriage of the Sung princess to the ancestor of the Tangs, several famines and piratical attacks, the coastal evacuation from 1662 to 1668, the establishment of Tai Po New Market, the burial of a Chinese Christian at a Protestant cemetery on Hong Kong Island in 1854, the establishment of charity schools by philanthropist Fung Ping Shan, and flooding in Tsuen Wan in 1954. Similar "events" are discussed in greater detail in four other chapters (6, 8, 9 and 10), i.e., the establishment of the "five great clans" of the New Territories, the legend often referred to as "letting go of the wooden goose", the experience of the Southern Sung court in Kowloon, and the Tsuen Wan village feud of 1862 to 1864. Quite a few of these events have been discussed by other authors, notably Lo Hsiang-lin and James Hayes. These later chapters make use of stone tablets and oral ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 350 BOOK REVIEWS However, such incomplete listings are probably common to many gazetteers. In truth, the gazetteer was never intended to be comprehensive, and Mr. Ng and Dr. Baker cannot be faulted. Perhaps it is just as well to emphasize this. Instead, we should be thankful that the informative and often picturesque descriptive writing in the gazetteer comes over so well in translation, and for the liveliness of Dr. Baker's notes and his other writings (particularly the Ancestral Images series mentioned above). Through the far-sightedness of the Hong Kong University Press, the two authors have surely provided us with a most valuable and useful basis for intelligent appreciation of our past, as well as with many hints for further reading and further studies if we are so minded. JAMES HAYES Histoire de l'Asie du Sud-Est, Révoltes, Réformes, Révolutions, Pierre Brocheux (compiler), Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1981, 276 pp. This collection of twelve essays, with a 9-page introduction by one of the contributors on behalf of himself and eight others, devotes itself largely to Vietnamese history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also includes material on early 20th century Laos and Cambodia, on Java and early Indonesian communism, and on present-day Singapore. The Vietnamese subjects are widely distributed in time and place. They include a historical review of peasant movements; reform and traditionalism at the court of Hué in the later 19th century; Ta Thu Thau, an unsuccessful revolutionary assassinated by the Vietminh in 1945; a revolt (1918-22) among the Hmong "montagnards" living on the confines of China and Vietnam; the extreme left pan-Asiatic movement and the Vietnamese national movement 1905-25; and a survey of the communists' approach to the peasantry in Vietnam. There is also an essay on the agrarian reforms of the Diệm regime with American prompting and support. In their introduction, the authors make the point that the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p BOOK REVIEWS 351 study of revolts, reforms and revolutions in the South East Asian region is of particular interest and relevance for the outside world. This is because the variety of its component races, religions and political systems, before and after the colonial period, are paralleled by the diversity of situations experienced in revolution, reform and revolt. They are as diverse in kind as the very varied social, cultural, economic, historical context will allow, whether in or outside the colonial period, whether the colonial power was French, British or Dutch, whether a communist party was present or not. They are also, they claim, made the more interesting through the variety of "models," outside assistance and influences available to the leaders of its governments and insurgent movements alike. The authors state that, out of the total of twelve articles, five study revolts, three reforms and four revolutions. Five of the nine new states are represented (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore and Vietnam), with the former colonies of French Indo-china making up three quarters. Two articles concern events before 1914, three take place between 1914 and 1945 and four after the Second World War, and three span several of these periods. Neither the early period of colonial penetration nor the contemporary scene have been neglected, though by choice the authors have generally not gone back beyond 1850. Generally speaking, the essays illustrate the theme of the Introduction, and they do cover a most diverse and interesting set of events. This is a stimulating collection of essays which will certainly be of value to serious students of South East Asia. Also, they bear out the authors' claim that they have a wider relevance than the region in which they are set. JAMES HAYES Chinese Festivals Joan Law and Barbara E. Ward, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 1982, 95pp, including Bibliography, Index. 85 Colour plates It is surprising that no-one produced a book like this long ago. Of course, this superb volume is no less welcome for that. The book consists of a short introduction, followed by brief ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p Page 363 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH MEMBERSHIP LIST AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 1982* PATRON: H.E. SIR EDWARD YOUDE, G.C.M.G., M.B.E., GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG. HONORARY MEMBERS THE AIDE-DE-CAMP LAM, Mr. Y. F. LAWRY, Mr. R.E. MACLEHOSE, Baron O'HARA, Mrs. M. TOPLEY, Dr. M. YOUDE, Sir Edward ALLEYNE, Mrs. E.L. BOARD, Mr. D.B.M. BONSALL, Mr. G.W. BUTT, Dr. N.S.G. LOCAL LIFE MEMBERS CALCINA, Mr. P.G. CHAMBERS, Mr. J.W. CHAN, Mr. A.T. CHENG, Mr. T.C. CHIU, Dr. L.Y. CHOA, Dr. G.H. CHUN, Miss O.L. COMBER, Mr. L. CRAMER, Mr. B.L.C. CRONE, Dr. D.L. DJOU, Mr. G.G. DUNCAN, Mrs. J. EMERSON, Mr. G.C. EVANS, Mr. P.J. EVANS, Mrs. P.J. FAULKNER, Mr. R.J. FOK, Miss N. FREMANTLE, Mr. A. FRY, Mr. R.A. FUNG, Mrs. L. FUNG, Sir Kenneth P.F. GAFF, Mrs. J.A. GILKES, Mr. D. GORDON, The Hon. Sir S.S. GREEN, Mrs. J. HASE, Dr. P.H. HAYES, Dr. J.W. HAYIM, Mr. E.J. HO, Mr. T. HONEY, Dr. N.R. HOPKINSON, Mrs. I. HOTUNG, Mr. J.E. HOWARD, Mr. W.J. HOWNAM-MEEK, Mr. R.S. HOYNINGEN-HUENE, Baron T. von HU, Dr. S.H. HUI, Miss W.H. HUNG, Mr. C.S. IU, Miss S. KINOSHITA, Mr. J.H. KVAN, Rev. E. LAI, Mr. T.Y. LAU, Mr. M.W.M. LAWRENCE, Mrs. B.M.L. LEE, Mr. J.S. LEE, Dr. R.C. LEE, Mrs. S.J. LETHBRIDGE, Mr. H.J. LEUNG, Mr. P.K. LI, Mr. D.K.P. LIU, Mr. D.H. LO, Mr. T.S. LOSEBY, Miss P. LUK, Mr. G.P.C. LUM, Miss A. MACKENZIE, Mr. J. MACKEOWN, Dr. P.K. MARDEN, Mrs. J.L. McCRARY, Mr. M. MCKEIRNAN, Rev. M. MCINTYRE, Mr. W.M. NORONHA, Mr. J.E. OGDEN, Mr. B.J.N. OU, Miss G. PAIN, Mr. J.H. PICCUS, Mr. R.P. RAE, Mr. J.A. RAWLINSON, Mr. M.C. RAYNER, Mrs. C.M. RIDE, Lady May RUST, Mr. H.A. RYDINGS, Mr. H.A. SEED, Mr. B. *Honours and Decorations of Members are not noted in this list. Page 363 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p Plate 1. Dr. James Hayes presents a memento to Dr. Marjorie Topley, outgoing President. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Edward Youde G.C.M.G., M.B.E., Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1983 President: J. W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. A. I. Diamond, M.A. Hon. Secretary: R. H. McLean Hon. Treasurer: D. A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editor: P. H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: V. E. Morgan, B.A., A.L.A. Councillors: M. Topley B.Sc., Ph.D. Alan Birch, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist. Soc. H. A. Rydings, M.B.E., M.A., A.L.A. Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. J. Young, M.A., Ph.D. Oliver Siddle, B.A.(Oxon.), F.R.S.A. Elizabeth Sinn B.A. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v CONTENTS Page PRESIDENT'S REPORT viii TREASURER'S REPORT xv LIBRARIAN'S REPORT xvii OBITUARY xviii ARTICLES: Field Trip to Maryknoll House, Stanley by the Hong Kong Royal Asiatic Society Dec. 8, 1984 - M. MCKIERNAN 1 So Kon Po: Notes for the Visit Made by Member of the Society, 26th November 1983 — J. W. HAYES 7 Notes on the So Kon Po Valley and Village - REVD. CARL T. SMITH 12 Disfunction of Chinese Rural Society - RAMON H. MYERS 18 The Self-Perception of Buddhist Monks in Hong Kong Today - BARTHOLOMEW P. M. TSUI 23 Notes on Some Chinese Customs in the New Territories - B. D. WILSON 41 Of Hongs and Tongs and All That Jazz: A Note on Lexical Borrowing from Chinese in English with Special Reference to H.K. - MIMI CHAN 62 The Islands Around Hong Kong — W. SCHOFIELD 91 Secular Non-Gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organisations in Urban British H. K. - J. W. HAYES 113 Business Ideology of Chinese Industrialists in Hong Kong - WONG SIU-LUN 137 Variation Technique in the Formal Structure of the Music of Taoist Jiao-Shi in Hong Kong - PEN-YEH TSAO 172 V ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v NOTES AND QUERIES Dog Divination from A Dunhuang Manuscript CAROLE MORGAN 184 An Ode on Hong Kong Composed by the Major of Canton in 1845 P. BRUCE 193 Relics of Hong Kong and China in British Army and Regimental Museums P. BRUCE 196 An Imperial Chinese Banner Preserved in Kendal, England P. BRUCE 202 A Relic of St. Francis Xavier P. BRUCE 204 A Ch'ing Cannon from Wyndham Street, Hong Kong J. W. HAYES 208 Chue Mo Peng, A Fever Reported from Villages in the Hong Kong Region, and Its Cure, Together with Other Village Remedies for Excess Heat J. W. HAYES 209 The Kwun Yam Tung Shan Temple of East Kowloon 1840-1940 J. W. HAYES 212 A Community Shooting Bungalow Near Chinkiang, Kiangsu, and Its Library About 1905 J. W. HAYES 218 Ancestral Images: A Bibliographical Note HUGH D. R. BAKER 221 Old Hau Wong Temple, Tai Wai, Sha Tin P. H. HASE 233 Traditional New Territories Farming: Manuring P. H. HASE 241 The Cultivation of the "Incense Tree" (Aquilaria Sinensis) IU KOW-CHOY 247 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v Hon. Treasurer's Report As usual, Mr. Gilkes will provide a separate account. Conclusion Finally, I wish to thank all members of the Council for their support and hard work. We are all busy people, and yet nothing can be achieved for the Society without effort. We are fortunate in having a good Council and an efficient, helpful Assistant Secretary. I wish also to thank others who have helped us during the year, including Government Information Services for the use of their theatre for our lectures, our honorary auditors and our printers, our Assistant Secretary, and Mr. Philip Bruce whose work has been noted above. Thank you. 30 March 1984. xiv JAMES HAYES Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v # THE LIBRARY OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY # REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1983-1984 Since the retirement of H. A. Rydings, Esq., last year, and his resignation from the Council, there has been a quiet period of gradual takeover. This has been followed by a wild flurry of activity caused by the donation to the Society of a large number of books from the collection of the late W. V. Pennell, Esq. These came to us via the University of Hong Kong Library and will boost the size of our collection considerably. My intention is to produce an additions list this year. This will provide members with details of the new books. Approximately 280 titles have been added since the last edition of the catalogue which must be a record for the Society. This total also includes gifts from Dr. James Hayes and from the International Cultural Society of Korea. There is only one pessimistic note. This is the recurrent problem of accommodation which has inevitably raised its head with such an influx of material. It may be necessary in the end to re-locate the journal collection but preferable alternatives are being sought. On the subject of journals, the purchase of Volumes 1-18 of Monumenta Serica this year establishes almost a complete run of this title. We have also a new exchange journal to add, The Journal of East Asian Affairs which comes from Korea. In all it has been a most productive year. 14th March 1984. xvii V. E. MORGAN Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 11 (i) The French Convent Church and Hospital These three institutions are covered in Carl Smith's notes and one remarks, in every case, the Christian concern for proselytization and good works, among and for the urban poor, and especially women and orphaned children. J. W. HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 21 A prolonged discussion followed, mostly with local researchers into the history, economy and society of the Hong Kong Region. Dr. David Faure offered two contributory reasons for the KMT's failure to deal with land reform in addition to those mentioned by Dr. Myers. One was the effects of the World Depression of the early 1930s; another was the amount spent on military expenditure that might have been usefully spent on land reform. Dr. Myers agreed. Dr. Hayes said that if the time needed for land survey and settlement in the N.T. of Hong Kong (4 years) and its cost were any indication of the size and complexity of the task, it might indicate that it was beyond the KMT's capacity, even in one province. There was also the matter of sufficient trained staff. The discussion then turned to tenancy itself. Dr. Patrick Hase said that, if the N.T. was in any way typical of the situation in the sub and top soil ownership situation, the amount of true tenancy was small, consisting of a small number of landless peasant families and others who had to rent land from others to make up for their own insufficient holdings. He also queried whether one could apply a broad brush. There was surely a difference between subsistence areas such as the Hong Kong Region and highly developed market-economy regions centred round big cities, as at Canton and in the Yangtze delta. Dr. Hase went on to say that in discussion of tenancy an important factor in assessing its effect was the percentage of the crop taken in tenancy, either by the sub-soil owner or by the surface owner from sub-tenants. In the Hong Kong Region the percentage of the crop represented by the first was very low, below 25% and getting less as more land was opened. The latter was (and had long been) customarily set at around 50%, and there were no signs that it had created economic deprivation and social tensions. Dr. Hayes added that the desperate economic situation of the peasants attributed to the tenancy position, as reported by the Institute of Pacific Affairs' social scientists in the 1930s, seemed very unreal to those of us working on the Hong Kong Region. Dr. Quested asked "who, then, were the tenants?" and what had been their experience and significance. Dr. Myers said they ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v SECULAR NON-GENTRY LEADERSHIP OF TEMPLE AND SHRINE ORGANIZATIONS IN URBAN BRITISH HONG KONG JAMES HAYES There is now, in contrast to ten or twenty years ago, a sufficient body of research on Hong Kong's rural society to make possible some reliable conclusions on the nature of its institutions and their leadership at the local level, especially in the field of religion.* The place of the community temple in the rural setting, and the manner of its secular leadership, has been well-established by a number of studies, and comparisons with adjoining areas of Kwangtung enable one to state with confidence that communally organized non-gentry temple management bodies were normal and of crucial significance throughout traditional Hong Kong (and South-east China) society. This phenomenon mirrored the general capacity for self-management that characterized rural society as a whole, and its manifestation in the religious sector of village life was clearly only a part of a general competence that extended into social, economic and political aspects of the whole spectrum of rural activities. 1 The urban situation is less well researched, especially in its historical aspects. Hong Kong comprised a number of scattered villages and small fishing ports before the establishment of Victoria and its first urban suburbs in the 1840s, and whilst it is clear that, being without gentry, these were organized in the self-management pattern by peasants or shopkeepers that we have come to expect from studies of similar communities in the New Territories, it is not so certain whether this pattern was continued into the new city which was so quickly established on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. Did the same pattern of leadership emerge at street and district level, associated with the new shrines and temples established by and for the new population; or did another pattern of temple organization involving overall leadership by merchant elites who were not identified with a particular * See plates 1-8. Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 133 NOTES 1 See John A. Brim "Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong" in Arthur P. Wolf (ed) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1974) pp. 93-103. More recently, David Faure has given examples from the eastern New Territories in articles published in this Journal. See pp. 76-85 of "Hong Kong and China in the Village World” in Vol. 21(1981); pp. 172-179 of “Saikung, the Making of the District and its Experience during World War II" in Vol. 22(1982); and his Note (with Lee Lai-mui) "The Po Tak Temple in Sheung Shui Market" in the same Volume, pp. 271-279. A book is forthcoming. 2 This is the theme of my own studies, particularly in The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911, Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside (Hamden, Conn, Archon Books with Dawson, Folkstone, 1977) and The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1983), hereafter Hayes 1977 and Hayes 1983. 3 A study of one of the smaller villages of Hong Kong island, Tai Tam Tuk, is given at pp. 61-73 with 250-255 of Hayes 1983. This provides some information on the coastal market centre, Shau Kei Wan, to which the villagers went regularly (pp. 65-6 and 253) but, generally speaking, this entire subject is still badly under researched. 4 The Hong Kong government's census returns, printed in the Hong Kong Government Gazette from 1853 (and before that in the China Mail into which government notifications were placed) show the rapid growth of population, almost all of it newly urbanized. G.B. Endacott's A History of Hong Kong (London, Oxford University Press, 1958) devotes half its length to the first thirty years and gives population figures at pp. 64-66, 85, 98, 116 and 125 for this period. The population rose from 20,338 in 1848 to 121,825 in 1865. 5 See Revd. Carl T. Smith "The Emergence of a Chinese Elite in Hong Kong" in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society (hereafter JHKBRAS) 11(1971), pp. 74-115. 6 The native place of the Chinese land population of the Colony was overwhelmingly Kwangtung province (227,615 out of 234,443 at the 1901 Census, with the population of the newly acquired New Territory taken separately. The Report was published in Sessional Papers (Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong) 1901, No. 39 of 1901. See paras. 23-24, and the detailed breakdown of origin by districts of the province at Table XI. This detail is not available for earlier printed reports and is included here to indicate the diverse origins of the urban population, most of whom may be presumed to have been from the rural countryside of Kwangtung. 7 "It is not regarded as a promising missionary station, because it is the resort of the lowest class of the natives", wrote Revd. William Aitchison, a newly arrived American missionary to China, in 1854, a view imbibed from English and American Colleagues at Hong Kong, Revd. Charles P. Bush, Five Years in China The Life and Observations of Revd. William Aitchison, Late Missionary to China (Philadelphia, Presbyterian Publication Committee, 1865) pp. 91-2. 8 Ap Lei Chau or Aberdeen Island () is an island, 0.455 square miles in area, on the southern side of Aberdeen Harbour—see the Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960) p. 97. 9 Evidence given by a local inhabitant (b. 1815) in a hearing under the Squatter Ordinance 1890—see Notes of Proceedings of the Squatters ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 134 Board (in manuscript), p. 121 kept in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong as Hong Kong Record Series 206. Pages 120-141 of the Proceedings relate to a hearing held on 6th June 1893, "Claim to a Temple at Apleichau". 10 The same man also said that Ap Lei Chau 'was built about 1850' (ibid, p. 122). However, as stated in my text, the Hung Shing temple on the island appears to date from the 18th century and another local resident (b. 1825) who gave evidence to the Squatter Board (ibid, p. 132) said that it was enlarged in 1847. The temple originally stood on its own little island, later joined by reclamation to Ap Lei Chau. See JHKBRAS 7 (1967) p. 170, footnote. 11 W.F. Mayers, N.B. Dennys and C. King - The Treaty Ports of China and Japan (London, Trubner & Co., 1867) p. 49. 'Boat building and general trade' are listed as the principal concerns. The "Ap-le-chow" and "Shek pai wan" (Aberdeen) entries in this work are bracketed. The latter had 160 houses and 205 boats and the total recorded population for the two places, together with the boat people, was 1,664. See also information given in the printed proceedings of a court case over ownership of land on Ap Lei Chau given in Sessional Papers August 1886 - September 1887" (Appendix to Report from the Land Commission of 1886-87) pp. 33-35. 1* See the Hong Kong Government's printed Sessional Papers for 1897 and 1911, pp. 484 and 103 (23) respectively. 1 Sessional Papers 1901, No. 39 of 1901. pp. (6), (18) and (20). Of the 947 vessels, 787 were fishing boats. At that time, there were 2,799 land persons living in and round Aberdeen-Ap Lei Chau. 11 Sessional Papers 1897 and 1911 at pp. quoted at note 12 above. For similar organizations of M. Freedman's article "Immigrants and Associations: Chinese in Nineteenth-century Singapore", Comparative Studies in Society and History, III (1960-61), 25-48; and for other coastal market centres in the Hong Kong region, Hayes 1977, chapters 2 and 3 dealing with Cheung Chau and Tai O respectively. 10 See the account given in the printed Ap Lei Chau Hung Shing Festival brochure for year (1983) now in Hong Kong Collection, University of Hong Kong Library, 10 Squatter Board proceedings, p. 138. The word "Kaifong" (#) or street association was commonly used in South China to describe (a) all the inhabitants of an area (b) the voluntary organization of leading residents which managed the affairs of that community, e.g. the Kaifeng looked after the interests of all kaifongs. On Ap Lei Chau, the Kaifong and the Fongs' leaders seem to have been one and the same. For Kaifongs in the Hong Kong region see Hayes 1977, pp. 64-69, 81-84, 96-98, 171-172 and 218 note 27. Also, Hayes 1983, pp. 45-46 and 56-59. 18 For divining blocks, see J.J.M. De Groot, The Religious System of China (Ch'ing Wen reprint, Taipei 1976) Vol. VI, pp. 1285-1287. 1o See Hayes 1977, p. 219, note 41, for similar honours paid to leading office bearers reported from Canton (1902). * The shopkeeper petitioners who came to see the Registrar General in 1893, as recorded in the Squatter Board proceedings, stated that "The temple is the property of the inhabitants of Ap Lei Chau and the boatpeople who subscribe”. The Ap Lei Chau section of this article is based mainly on the oral statements of Messrs. CHENG Kam-kwu ($##) b. 12.10.1887, CHENG Lim () b. 17.12.1891 and LUN Shing-fun () b. ... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 135 14.8.1897, all three Ap Lei Chau residents belonging to the old Luk Hing, Sau Hing, and Fuk Hing Tongs respectively. Their evidence enlarges and confirms the information obtained from the record of the Squatter Board's proceedings. "Hayes 1977, pp. 99-101. The Tai O information is more explicit on this point, but the Cheung Chau practice was the same. ** See E.G. Pryor, Housing in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1983) pp. 15-17. These new urban districts were very susceptible to contagious disease. It is well to recall Governor Des Voeux's report of 1889 in which, describing the City of Victoria, he wrote: "Going ashore our visitor would see in the Chinese quarters houses, constructed after a pattern peculiar to China, of almost equally solid materials, but packed so closely together and thronged so densely as to be in this respect probably without parallel in the world.. It is believed that over 100,000 people live within a certain district of the City of Victoria not exceeding 1⁄2 square mile in area. It is known that 1,600 people live in the space of a single acre." (Sessional Papers 1889, pp. 303-304). 15 ** Victoria had seven officially-approved sub-districts in 1857, as listed and described in the Hong Kong Government Gazette for 9 May 1857, GN No. 69. They included "No. 1, or SEI-YING-POON — From the small village westward, called Cowee-wan, to the end of Circular Buildings, including all the houses on Bonham Strand, west of No. 1 Police Boat Station. The historical development of this area is given by Revd. Carl T. Smith's note at pp. 211-218 of JHKBRAS 14(1974) in "Programme Notes for Visits to Older Parts of Hong Kong Island (Urban Areas....) See also Chapter 3, Sheung Wan, of Frank Leeming's Street Studies in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1977) pp. 45-66. 24 Sheung Fung Lane itself is situated between Second and Third Streets in that section bounded by Centre Street to the East and Western Street to the West. ** An account of pao wui at the Tam Kung festival in Shau Kei Wan from a Secretariat for Chinese Affairs' file of 1958 is typical: "There were about 15 Kaifong elders in the Tam Kung temple who were enrolling pao wui (K), there were about 18 pao wu's from the sea and about 10 from the land. The wul's who brought their own roast-pigs with them had to pay "oil money" and "worshipping fees" from $10 to $30 to the elders before entering the temple. It is learned that the worshippers have no objection to pay these fees. In addition the temple keeper also charged $5 or $10 for each roast-pig brought into the temple plus $5 to $10 "oil money". 20 A recent account of the proceedings at Sheung Fung Lane is given in the article "Everyone's festival" in The Asia Magazine issued weekly by Asia Magazines Ltd., Hong Kong, Vol. 21, Number V7, 4th January 1981, pp. 3-6. 3-6. For a very well illustrated account of a similar old neighbourhood in Singapore, and its community festivals, see "Singapore's Vanishing Chinatown" by Joan Ogden in The Asia Magazine 25th July 1976. * "No. 3, or TAI-PING-SHAN From the end of Hollywood Road near Circular Buildings, to Gough Street steps, including all the houses on the south side of the Queen's Road between these two points." See the plan opposite p. 124 of Marjorie Topley (ed) Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch 1967). This was drawn in 1882 (ibid, pp. 123-124). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 136 Sources on population are given in Marjorie Topley and James Hayes, "Notes on Temples and Shrines of Tai Ping Shan Street Area" in Topley (ed), op cit, pp. 123-141, at p. 124. 20 Topley, op cit, p. 139. These and other details are given in Topley, op cit, pp. 123-125 and 136-139. * See note 5 above. Whilst the Kung sor is still in existence a school building (R) on the other side of the temple has been pulled down. See the photograph p. 72, 58 in the Urban Council's 1982 publication, The Hong Kong Album. For a historical account of this area see Revd. Carl T. Smith's note on "The Five Terraces" with Li Po Lung Path, in "Programme Notes for Visits to Older Parts of Hong Kong Island (Urban Areas)," in JHKBRAS 14(1974) pp. 197-199. + + There is a possible confusion here. If the three powers of nature are intended it would be, without A. If truly 三聖公 it could refer to Yao, Shun and Yû or Yü, Chou Kung and Confucius (W.F. Mayers, The Chinese Reader's Manual, (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1874) pp. 301-302.) I am grateful to liaison staff of the City District Office, Western, who obtained the information on this shrine for me in 1974. The 1841 estimate comes from the first Hong Kong census of May 1841. The remaining figures, taken from later census returns and other sources, can conveniently be found in Hayes 1983, p. 253 note 21. 10 Tung Tai Kai and its eastern adjunct Ah Kung Ngam together had four temples. There were large Tin Hau and Tam Kung temples in the Street. To its front, built on rocks in the sea and therefore known as the Hoi Sum Temple (or temple in the sea), was another smaller, older Tin Hau temple which for long has been completely hemmed in by squatter boats. On the east was the fourth of these temples, dedicated to Yuk Kung (Jade King). Tablets and other dated material inside the temples, together with other information, show that they date as far back as the 1860s, 1905, the 1890s and the 1840s respectively, at the least. See my note "Visit to Old Shau Kei Wan --- 24th May 1969" in JHKBRAS 10(1970), pp. 183-88. * Sessional Papers 1901, No. 39/1901, p. 18, Table XII. Like most of the Shau Kei Wan villages, the residents were mainly stonecutters. For the quarries see JHKBRAS 10(1970) p. 186 in the Note cited above (note 36). * Information from Mr. Walter Schofield, Hong Kong Civil Service 1911-38. * Sessional Papers 1901, No. 39/1901, p. 18, Table XII. * See Endacott's History of Hong Kong. p. 293 and Edward Szczepanik The Economic Growth of Hong Kong (London, Oxford University Press, 1958) p. 114. It will be obvious that this article could not have been written without the assistance of many people. I gratefully acknowledge their assistance here. I also wish to thank Dr. Patrick Hase, editor of this Journal, for much encouragement and good advice in its presentation. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 208 A CH'ING CANNON FROM WYNDHAM STREET, HONG KONG JAMES HAYES The photographs at Plates 15 to 17 are of a large cannon from the Chia Ching period (1796-1820) of the Ch'ing dynasty. For some time after its discovery in 1965 it was kept in the old Marine Office at Rumsey Street, Connaught Road Central, but is presently located at the entrance to the Marine Department's dockyard beside the Canton Road Government Offices, Kowloon. A plaque on the carriage made for this cannon states that it was discovered during excavations on 4th March 1965 in the forecourt of Nos. 10-12 Wyndham Street near the "South China Morning Post" building. It was, probably, originally positioned at the site of the third Harbour office (1843-1845). On the barrel are markings giving the weight as 1,500 catties and showing that it was made during the tenth month of the 10th year (1805) of the reign of Emperor Chia Ch'ing by Man Tsoi (*) Man Shing (萬盛) Man Ming (萬明) and Man Tat (萬德). It is not known whether this cannon was brought to Hong Kong when it was first made, which is unlikely in my view, or whether it was taken from elsewhere by British forces during the first China War in 1840-42. Other cannons from this period are to be found on the walls of the Tung Chung Fort, at Lantau Island. See this Journal Vol. 4 (1964) pp. 146-150, and Vol. 18 (1978) pp. 207-209 with photographs. For two earlier cannon from Hong Kong see "A Cannon from the end of the Ming period" in JHKBRAS Vol. 7 (1967) pp. 152-157, with plates. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 209 CHUE MO PENG (#Ł), A FEVER REPORTED FROM VILLAGES IN THE HONG KONG REGION, AND ITS CURE, TOGETHER WITH OTHER VILLAGE REMEDIES FOR EXCESS HEAT JAMES HAYES This note deals with chue mō pêng (Meyer-Wempe Cantonese but variously romanized below) the subject of a disease often complained of by local villagers, in my experience. Eitel's Dictionary* mentions it under mo; ‘Chu mo ping or chut chu teng, a common disease in South China. It begins with high fever and after vigourously rubbing the chest, bristles an inch long appear through the skin, after their removal the fever goes down' (vol. 1, p. 619). A similar account, under "Chu Mo Teng", appears at pp. 171-2 of S.H. Peplow's Hong Kong Around and About, published in 1930 by the Commercial Press, Hong Kong. The author was a Land Bailiff with the District Office South, New Territories of Hong Kong and would have been well acquainted with village life. "A common disease in South China. The translation is: chu—a pig. Mo—hair. Teng—nail. A disease where hairs, like pig's bristles or nails issue forth. It is purely a native fever." By chance, I came across a dramatic instance of this disease in my early years as a government officer when engaged in compensating and rehousing villagers who were to be displaced for the Shek Pik reservoir on Lantau Island, 1957-60. The village people attributed a major epidemic that caused many deaths about the year 1936 to this disease (100 persons were said to have died, though this is probably an exaggeration). * A Chinese-English Dictionary in the Cantonese Dialect by Dr. Ernest John Eitel, revised and enlarged by Immanuel Gottlieb Genähr of the Rhenish Missionary Society (Hong Kong, Kelly and Walsh, 2 vols., 1911 and 1912). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 212 THE KWUN YAM AND TUNG SHAN TEMPLE OF EAST KOWLOON 1840-1940 J. W. HAYES This note details the origins, rise and fall of a temple, over the course of a full century, in what was originally a rural district of East Kowloon. The community connected with the temple originally comprised farming villages and stone cutters' settlements. To this core, urban and suburban elements were more and more added until they eventually came to dominate the area entirely. These changes led to the virtual extinction of the original community and, with it, its temple. The Tung Shan Temple is now in ruins; only the walls remain. It became derelict during the Japanese Occupation, and was not repaired after the war. There are, in fact, two temples, standing side by side. The stone inscription above one door states that it is a Kwun Yam (*) or Goddess of Mercy temple, rebuilt in the 13th year of the Kwang Hsü reign (1887). The inscription above the main door of the other states that it is the Tung Shan (*) or Eastern Peak temple, dated the equivalent of 1904. The two are here treated as an entity, as (it is stated) they were always under the same management. According to two elders from the Chu Family (朱) of Tai Hom village (born in 1891 and 1896; interviewed 1967-1968), the Kwun Yam temple is built on land belonging to their clan. The Chu's were Hakka latecomers to rural east-central Kowloon, arriving in the 18th century and taking up higher land under the encircling hills. The spot where the temple was constructed was originally padi land, growing poor quality rice; but after a great grandfather had placed an image of the Goddess of Mercy near the fields they began to yield good crops. At the insistence of this same man, the village elders erected a small temple there in the Tao Kuang reign (1821-1850). My informants had this story in their youth from their clan uncles. The next chapter in the history of the Kwun Yam temple opens with its repair in the Kwang Hsü reign (1875-1908). No ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 218 • There are four in the year, but the principal one falls on the nineteenth day of the second moon. * See my "Secular Non-Gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organisations in Urban Hong Kong" pp 113 to 136 of this Journal. * See my article "The Japanese Occupation and the New Territories", South China Morning Post, 15 December 1967. A COMMUNITY SHOOTING BUNGALOW NEAR CHINKIANG, KIANGSU, AND ITS LIBRARY ABOUT 1905 J. W. HAYES The following extracts are taken from A. H. Rasmussen's China Trader, published by Constable of London in 1954. Mr. Rasmussen was barely twenty when he joined the Chinese Customs Service at Chinkiang, where there was a small, lonely British concession. During his first four years, two of the original thirty-five Europeans died, two went mad, two cut their throats, and he himself was twice nearly murdered by smugglers. At this time, as he relates, he was lucky enough to find relaxation and renewal of spirits brought low by the conditions of life and work in shooting wild pig, and in finding a library and visitors' books in a small shooting bungalow in the countryside near the Chinkiang concession. Let him speak for himself. "When the Concession really got me down I 'lifted up mine eyes unto the hills' and got new strength from them. A ride of about eight miles took me to a hill called Wu Chow where for many years there had been a community shooting bungalow for those who were keen on wild boar-shooting. It was rather an expensive sport as it required about fifteen beaters at fifty cents (or one shilling) each a day. Moreover, a rifle had to be bought and fortunately I came across an ancient Lee-Metford single-shot carbine used in the Boer War. I bought it for fifteen dollars. In view of the daily cost it was important to get shooting companions to share in the beating expenses. No serious shooting had been done out there for several years, and no one in the port seemed to know the ropes. I went out one week-end to investigate and to get away from everybody, most of all from my old bored self. Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 221 bungalow, its library and its visitors' books. I wonder if by some miracle, it and they are still in existence? ANCESTRAL IMAGES: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE HUGH D. R. Baker* In Vol. 20 of the journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Dr. James Hayes published a very kind review of my Ancestral Images books (S.C.M.P., Hong Kong, 1979, 1980, 1981). Quite rightly he regretted the omission of page references from the passages of quotation in the books. It is unnecessary to detail the process by which I contrived to leave out this important information, but by way of penance I have prepared a complete list of the quotation references and I append it to this note. Leafing through all the books again, I was struck by the age of the sources which I used - well over half of them were written before 1949, and 16 of the 17 authors quoted more than twice each were writing before 1940. This is not, I hasten to say, an apology for conservatism, for there is no doubt in my mind that in much of the older material there is greater understanding of the Chinese and their culture than is to be found in the sometimes arid sociological analysis of later scholars. Certainly it is easier to find lively and illuminating passages for quotation in works written by experienced, jaundiced "China-livers" rather than in those of dispassionate "China-watchers". In any case I was trying to shed light on the "Chineseness" of Chinese and Hong Kong society, and "Chineseness" is an accumulation of three or four * Hugh D. R. Baker is Reader in Modern Chinese in the University of London and Head of the Contemporary China Institute, School of Oriental & African Studies. He has also written A Chinese Lineage Village: Sheung Shui and Chinese Family & Kinship as well as many other articles and contributions to books. He has conducted extensive research in Hong Kong, which he visits frequently, and was Chinese Language Training Adviser to the Hong Kong Government from 1974-75 on secondment from London. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 225 Hayes, James, The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911, Hamden, Conn., 1977. Herrman, Albert, An Historical Atlas of China, Edinburgh, 1966. Hook, Brian (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China, Cambridge, 1982. Hsiao Kung-chuan, Rural China: Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century, Seattle, 1961. Lethbridge, H. J., Hong Kong: Stability and Change, Hong Kong, 1978. Needham, J., Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge, (series still in progress). 1953- + Ng, Peter Y. L., New Peace County: a Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong Region, Hong Kong, 1983. Watt, John R., The District Magistrate in Late Imperial China, New York, 1972. Wu Ching-tzu, The Scholars, Peking, 1957. Of all the books I have quoted from, three stand out as my clear favourites. J. J. M. De Groot's Religious System of China is such a mine of information and so well supported with Chinese quotations that it could, I think, have supplied almost everything I wanted on the religious side. J. Dyer Ball's Things Chinese, with its idiosyncratic treatment of Chinese culture under such headings as 'Topsyturvydom', 'Forfeits', 'Mendicants' and 'Lighthouses', betrays a sound knowledge and excellent if cynical understanding. And the Rev. Justus Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese, based mainly on observations in Fukien province, gives a broad coverage of Chinese society in a systematic and very readable way. Happily, all three of these books have recently been reprinted, two of them in Taiwan, and Ball in Hong Kong. Between them they have delighted readers for over 270 years and there seems no reason to suppose that they will not continue to do so for centuries to come. I dare to hope that all the titles listed in this note will serve to spread that delight even further, by encouraging the reader to wander further into the mysteries of Chineseness. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Edward Youde G.C.M.G., M.B.E., Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1984 President: J.W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. A.I. Diamond, M.B.E., M.A. (until February 1985) D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Secretary: R.H. McLean, B.A. Hon. Treasurer: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editors: P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. (Co-editor) Hon. Librarian: V.E. Morgan, B.A., A.L.A. Councillors: Allan Birch, M.A., Ph.D., F.R. Hist. Soc. Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael W.M. Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. D.H. Liu O.R. Siddle, O.B.E., B.A., F.R.S.A. Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT viii HON. TREASURER'S REPORT xvi HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ARTICLES: Temple Oracles in a Chinese City - Julian Pas 1 Notes on the History of Tsuen Wan - David Faure 46 Hong Kong Island Before 1841 - James Hayes 105 State Regulation of Prostitution in Hong Kong, 1857 to 1941 - R.J. Miners 143 The Pearl River Estuary Oyster Industry in and around Deep Bay - R.A. Bowler, D.S.C. Yang and A.J.E. Smith 162 The Structure and Operation of Kei Wais (鄉 僻 ) — Y.H. Cheung, K.Y. Tai, S.W. Tsao and L.B. Thrower 182 The Shanghai Municipal Council, 1850-1865 - J.H. Haan 207 The Chinese "Yue Lan” Ghost Festival in Japan: A Kobe Case Study, Aug. 31 - Sept. 4, 1982 — Choi Chi-cheung 230 NOTES AND QUERIES: Traditional Tea Growing in the New Territories - P.H. Hase, J.W. Hayes and K.C. Iu 264 Cheung Ah-lum, a Biographical Note - Choi Chi-cheung 282 Julian Tenison Woods in Hong Kong - Roderick O'Brien S.J. 288 Lime-making on Tsing Yi - Wong Tak-yan 295 Wai Cheung (k), a Kind of Rural Leader in the 19th Century Hong Kong Region - James Hayes 307 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 Village Shops in the Hong Kong Region — James Hayes 310 Hong Kong Hilltop Retreat for Cross and Lotus — Hugh Witt 312 Diocesan Boys School Seventy Years Ago — W.J. Howard 318 Book Reviews 325 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 left Hong Kong on retirement. Allan had served on the Council to our great advantage for many years. April, 1985. XV JAMES HAYES President ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 105 HONG KONG ISLAND BEFORE 1841 JAMES HAYES Hail, little isle! and Hong's fair haven, hail! First-fruits of China to the ocean-queen! New orient realms, new navies' embryo sail Glass'd in thy shifting horoscope are seen. May British virtue shine, in thee confest; And in her colony be Britain blest!'* The cession of Hong Kong evoked different feelings in both China and Britain. In China, needless to say, there was scarcely rejoicing. The sixty-year-old Tao Kuang emperor, monarch of China since 1820, when asked to sanction the proposed Treaty of Peace that granted Hong Kong to Britain, spent the rest of the day and most of the night pacing up and down the corridor of his Palace, deep in anxious thought. Several times he was heard to mutter "impossible" and to sigh deeply. At last, at 3 a.m., he stamped his foot and proceeded to the audience chamber where he affixed the "vermilion pencil" to the draft. One of his subjects, the great Chinese statesman Tso Tsung-tang (1812-1885), then an unknown and rather unsuccessful scholar, wrote four poems in which he expressed grief and indignation when he heard that the British had taken over Hong Kong; and when he learned the final terms of the peace he was so overcome that he thought seriously of retiring to some lonely mountain retreat for the rest of his days. 2 3 In England the young Queen Victoria, twenty-two years old and married with a baby daughter wrote to her uncle, the king of the Belgians, "Albert is so much amused at my having got the Island of Hong Kong and we think Victoria ought to be called Princess of Hong Kong in addition to Princess Royal".2 Her Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, was not amused. He received the news of the Chuenpi agreement (January 1841) between Captain Elliot, the British Plenipotentiary, and the Imperial Commissioner Kishen, with disappointment and disapproval. * See Plates 1-3 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 106 JAMES HAYES Nor did he mince his words. “You have disobeyed and neglected your instructions” he told Elliot. "You seem to have considered that my instructions were waste paper which you might treat with entire disregard, and that you were at full liberty to deal with the interests of your country according to your own fancy." The Foreign Secretary accused Elliot of having settled with the Chinese for much less than he had been told to demand “without the full employment of that force which was sent to you expressly for the purpose of enabling you to use compulsion, if persuasion should fail”. He was not impressed by the cession of Hong Kong “a barren island with hardly a house on it” and clogged by conditions which made it doubtful if it was a cession in full sovereignty." 196 This myth, for myth it was, has died hard. Indeed, I fear it is not yet dead. It has always been more striking to compare the glowing present with such an insignificant past, and this has been the case at all times in Hong Kong's later history. Over forty years after the British occupation of Hong Kong, Governor Sir G.F. Bowen, addressing the Legislative Council at the opening of the 1884-85 Session, stated that "... the Island of Hong Kong... when annexed to the British Empire in 1843 (sic) was merely a barren rock, inhabited only by a few fishermen and pirates.” This view was expressed another forty years on by the American Consul-General, George E. Anderson, writing on the Hong Kong Consular District in an official publication of the American Department of Commerce. "The island of Hong Kong consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills, the highest, Victoria Peak, being approximately 1,800 feet in height. There are few valleys of any extent and scarcely any ground for cultivation... In general, the hills and mountains are bare and the soil is poor." He added usefully, "The island of Hong Kong, 28 square miles in extent, is about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad; its circumference is 27 miles".* Is this a justifiable description? Was Hong Kong ‘a barren island with hardly a house on it"? Were its people, such as they were, "a handful of fishermen and pirates"? The answer is NO, on both counts. There were several villages of some size, as well as hamlets, and a few larger coastal villages which served as market towns for the villages and as home ports for a permanent boat population and visiting craft. The land people were settled, and as we shall ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 108 JAMES HAYES “How they live I don't know for I seldom see any boats going in or out; but they all manage to look fat somehow.” Collinson goes on to describe Little Hong Kong. The village still stands at the head of the Wong Chuk Hang valley immediately west of the southern concourse of the Wong Nei Chung to Aberdeen Tunnel, although its few remaining old village houses are buried inside an area of squatter huts and squatter industries. He continued in the same letter, “The valley between Shuckpyewan and Hong Kong bay (called Hong Kong in the map) is the proper Hong Kong of the Island and is the largest and best cultivated and prettiest in the island. It is almost a dead flat and according to the people's account has 100 acres of these little fields in it, with the village on an artificial level at the head and a thick wood of evergreens around and behind it and steep rocky hills rising above the wood. Though as dirty as every Chinese place I have been in, it contains a piece of civilisation I did not expect in Hong Kong -- a village schoolmaster; who in his black cotton coat and white stockings is ridiculously like both in manner and appearance (if his tail was cut off) the same character in England. He has only nine scholars, but they are certainly the cleanest 9 of the 200 in the village and he teaches them arithmetic, by giving them so many characters to copy and learn by heart. The school room would have shocked Charley and from the number of drawings on the walls I should say ‘Boys will be boys.’ Even in China.”12 Collinson concludes by commenting on the village itself and the wood clearly the fengshui wood behind it. “You will have some idea of the way they build villages in this part of China from this one, 70 houses of which are all packed on a space 100 yards by 70. The evergreens behind the town are most luxuriant and reminded me of the oak woods in Wicklow, and the tall bamboo would make a graceful ornament to any garden.’ 13 Another military officer was impressed with the villages and the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 110 JAMES HAYES that every spot in the varied surface of the isle is either reduced beneath the government of industry, or made tributary to the beauty of the landscape. Turning to the inhabitants of the villages I will say something about the boat people below; they were, it seems, both Cantonese and Hakkas. The former occupied the larger, longer settled villages like Little Hong Kong and Wong Nei Chung. The latter were to be found in the smaller villages and hamlets such as the Chai Wan villages and Tai Tam Tuk. The Cantonese are the older and more numerous inhabitants of the Kwangtung province, but the Hakka constituted a numerous and distinct secondary body, speaking their own dialect; some would say language, which is quite different from Cantonese. The two groups appear to have occupied separate settlements in the island of Hong Kong, though the population of the larger coastal fishing and market villages was mixed. 18 The village people of that time were generally members of either a single or a few clans, descended from founding ancestors who had come to the area in the preceding century or even before. For instance, the ancestor of the Chow clan of Little Hong Kong—in 1841 it shared the settlement with at least two or three others—came into the area in the mid-17th century. According to a letter I received from Mr. Y.K. Chow, J.P., in 1967, the founding ancestor's son Yuc-tsun (†Œ) was born in Hong Kong in 1667. By 1841 their descendants had been settled for seven to eight generations and were clearly well rooted in the local soil. In Pokfulam, the Chan clan had been there since the eighteenth century. At a hearing on 6 July 1893 of the Squatters Board, set up to examine the claims of villagers in 1890, a man of 71 stated that he had been born and lived there ever since. "I claim 15 and 4/10th mows of fields. They are all together in one place. This land was left to my ancestors. My father and ancestors have been there 100 years." The Wong Nei Chung families, which belonged to several clans, were probably longer settled still. A woman, Ip Chan Shi, giving evidence before the Squatter Board in 1891 about various properties belonging to her late husband, who had died the previous year aged 55, said that he had four houses in the village altogether and that his family had been in the village for "many generations". +19 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 112 JAMES HAYES en are all of the sort that go barefooted and work in the field. I have not seen one small-footed woman here. At least 8/10 of men here smoke opium.' As we have seen, Aberdeen, about the same time, was, as Collinson reports, also a fishing port. According to another military observer, Captain Cunynghame, it contained about 200 buildings, and had “a very respectable appearance”. It is thus very likely that it engaged in the same mixed business as Stanley, and contained a similar size of population and a similar mixture of people.24 The villagers were essentially farmers and fishermen relying on their padi fields for a subsistence rice crop twice a year, supplemented by coastal fishing. The old style of village life, that must have characterized Hong Kong's settlements before British rule, lingered on in its essentials well into this century until squatters and development ended the old life style. Even as late as 1967, at Little Hong Kong, Old Village, an old lady then aged 80 told me that her's had been the first family in the village to apply for a mains water supply ten years before, and some villagers were still in 1967 cutting grass to use as fuel to heat water, cook pig food, etc. and going to the foreshore to find edible items. In earlier days, the hillsides were apportioned for grass cutting between clans and their member families as in the New Territories, and she had changed areas where she married a man in another clan from the New Village. Besides being cut for fuel at home, grass was taken to Aberdeen and Deep Water Bay to sell to the boat people anchored there. They used it to burn the marine growth from the underside of their craft at regular intervals (usually twice a month), as was done in many coastal villages in the area. The villagers used the adjacent sea shore to supplement their diet, waiting for the tide to go out and spending up to four or five hours daily in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lunar months (March till May or June) gathering sea eggs, digging in the sand for clams, looking for other shell fish among the stones and gathering sea weed to feed the pigs. Both men and women engaged in the work, and she recalls both her mother and father carrying large baskets of sea ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 114 JAMES HAYES lation hard at work getting in the second crop of paddy. The principal part of the labourers was the women, owing probably to the fact of the men being generally engaged in fishing. The paddy rice grows to a height of about two feet six inches. The fields are little patches of about fifty paces, on account of the unevenness of the ground. The rice is thrashed out of doors: first, in a tub with a screen, by a man, who takes a bunch in his two hands to strike the ears against the edge of the tub and then gives the rice again to be thrashed on a floor made hard with chunam, the Chinese asphalt. Ploughing is here done with a very primitive plough and a wonderfully small bullock, as the ground is soft and does not contain a single pebble, ... After being harrowed, it may receive a crop of sweet potatoes, or ground nuts. The women work with children on their backs. No one appears too young to take a part in the work. In the next fields are sugar-canes. 9.29 Thus long before 1841, the villagers of Hong Kong, and the shopkeepers and local boat people too, had settled into the routine of a settled life. Tied to their fields and houses, and to their businesses and daily occupations, they had established institutions of the kind that is usual in Chinese communities, including the shrines and temples that were the object of periodic and special rites through the calendar year. They were therefore to be numbered among those who, in another place and time, twenty years on at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, were described as "the old inhabitants of this site, who are indeed orderly people” in contrast to newcomers who were suspected of being "thieves and outlaws”.3 30 Their good behaviour struck a series of visitors from outside. The famous botanist Robert Fortune, writing of his experiences on the Hong Kong area in the 1840s commented: "In all my wanderings on the island, and also on the mainland hereabouts, I found the inhabitants harmless and civil. I have visited their glens and their mountains, their villages and small towns, and from all the intercourse I have had with them I am bound to give them this character. Another observer, the military surgeon Keith Stewart McKenzie, Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 116 JAMES HAYES This did not mean, however, that local villagers were not averse to minor piracy and smuggling, and generally to taking advantage of opportunities for gain. There are too many accounts of villainy from the surrounding waters for us to rule out the occasional initiative. In this connection, the remarks of a Chinese brigade general ordered by his superiors to cooperate with two young British naval officers against pirates thought to belong to villages in the present day Yuen Long area of the New Territories, has to my ears the ring of truth to it: "Having seen these eighteen villages we have, becomingly and properly, together admonished the people thereof, and I think that they will be compliant and obey our orders. But this is merely an affair of vagabonds who rob with violence and make forays, who are not in the same category with confirmed rebels and pirates.”37 The English officer in charge commented: "It must clearly be borne in mind that piracy in China differs from piracy elsewhere in this respect that there the pirates live on the land and only put to sea occasionally to carry on their depredations... Nor is this state of things confined in this vicinity to the neighbourhood of Deep Bay. Piratical villages exist along the whole coast wherever the native traffic is sufficient to render such an occupation remunerative."38 +39 Writing specifically of Hong Kong itself on 11th April 1846 to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in his annual despatch on the state of the Colony, Sir John Davis observed that “A principal obstacle to the Chinese commerce of the place is the system of piracy which infests the approaches from the east and west. In another despatch dated 26 February 1848, Davis commented on the subject as follows: "The former prevalence of piracy has been checked (as appears best proved by the increase of native trade) through the active exertions of Captain Loring of HM's ship 'Scout', by whom nearly 300 pirates were captured in the last year, and delivered over to the Chinese government. 1540 Whether the Hong Kong villagers joined in such behaviour ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 118 JAMES HAYES interior; and it is considered a profitable trade, because stone blocks are constantly in demand, and will always fetch a good price in proportion as buildings are in course of erection." The clearest evidence of this trade in granite blocks comes from the Hoi Sam Temple in Shau Kei Wan. This temple was built in 1845, the year before Gutzlaff's report, and the tablet in the temple stresses that the construction was a community effort extending over some time. The tablet records 232 donors whose names can still be read, of whom no less than 48 were identified as quarries (E) who donated about 28% of the total sum raised. Of the 14 most generous donors to the temple construction project 5 were identified as quarries, with 6 out of the next 14, and 5 out of the next 17. Collinson's survey of 1843-45 shows the coast pock-marked with quarries all the way from Quarry Bay through Quarry Point (both so named by Collinson), to Ah Kung Nam, with each group of quarries with a few houses for the quarry workers and a landing place for boats. Some of the quarries contributing to the Hoi Sam Temple project may have been from the Kowloon side of the bay, where there were numerous quarries in the Kwun Tong area, but most undoubtedly came from the Shau Kei Wan area. 30 quarries donated to the restoration of the Hau Wong temple in Kowloon City in 1822, of which only 4 also donated in 1845, strongly suggesting this." There can be no doubt that quarrying was the dominant economic activity of the whole north-east coast of Hong Kong. The importance of long-distance trade in the blocks is, perhaps, shown in the eagerness of the quarry operators to contribute generously to the construction of a temple to the seaman's goddess. In the same report, Gutzlaff speaks of the fish trade: "The fisheries carried on from Aberdeen and Stanley are in a flourishing condition, and consequently, also the trade in salt fish, which the mass of the people use generally for seasoning their rice. How many smacks belong to these places has never been ascertained; but at New Year, when they make up the accounts with their partners and owners, the harbours are full of them." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 120 JAMES HAYES there to support the dried fish trade in their native places and also to provision the merchant boats which followed the fishing fleets. Their presence is recorded for Shau Kei Wan before 1841,46 which is in line with their presence on Cheung Chau from the eighteenth century.” At Stanley, village tradition ascribes the foundation of the Pak Tai temple there in 1803 to them. This widespread presence of outsider merchants is clear evidence of a substantial trade not limited merely to the immediate marketing area. 48 I come now to a particular feature of the Hong Kong scene before 1841 that was to be encountered again in Kowloon in 1860 and in the New Territories in 1899. According to a near contemporary account compiled by three knowledgeable British officers in the 1860s: “Hong Kong so far back as the Ming dynasty was owned by a respectable family of the name of Tang. When Kanghi ordered the Coast to be cleared of its inhabitants [1662] the possession of Hong Kong was abandoned. But when the Emperor revoked his decree [1668], the occupation of it was again resumed and title deeds granted, authenticated records of which remain to this day in the offices of the chief magistrates of Sin Ngan [ ] and Tungkwan [ ]. The land tax for two centuries and upwards had been regularly paid by this family, its members being considered by the government as its true and lawful landlords.”49 The authors continue that, when ceding the Island to Britain: “No provision seems to have been made by the Chinese Government for the original proprietors of the soil, who made suit to the British Government humbly praying for remuneration. It was said that some eight or ten thousand dollars were paid for certain fields in Wong-nei-chong and Su-kon-pu not to the members of the Tang family, however, but to the persons occupying the soil and claiming to be its true and rightful owners. Whether they were so or not does not appear. 150 The Tang family to whose claims to land ownership of Hong Kong Island I shall return presently continued to suffer from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 122 JAMES HAYES claims, besides being initially ignorant of their position, were as sceptical and cautious as can be expected. Ultimately, however, they were quite prepared to find precedents for a solution after confirming the situation, leisurely, and to their own satisfaction. The exchange began with a petition dated 8th day of the 4th lunar month of Tao Kuang 21st year (28 May 1841) to the magistrate of Hsin-an district: "We inherited from our forefathers the taxable lands in the following places [named severally]. There are official registration records in respect of our ownership of the aforesaid lands which are collectively known as Kwan Tai Lo (#) of Hong Kong Island (). These areas have previously been leased to farmers Pang Shun-yau () and Chow Ah-yau (A) for cultivation. The situation had always been peaceful and quiet until they came to us and complained of forcible occupation of the lands around Kwan Tai Lo area by English barbarians () whose ships were anchored in the neighbouring bay. These barbarians destroyed their crops to make way for roads and built huts on the unploughed fields. Knowing the fierce and violent nature of these barbarians, our tenant-farmers dared not negotiate with them. We depend on the rents collected to pay our tax and support our families. Now that we have been robbed of our vital resources, where are we to turn to for our livelihood? Faced with such stringent circumstances, we feel obliged to bring the case to your attention. Should we be exempted from the payment of land tax for the ravaged areas or are we to join forces to expel the barbarians? We should be most grateful if you would give us advice on this urgent matter at your earliest convenience."54 Official instructions, presumably to a subordinate, were given as follows: "With reference to the case of the Tangs, please furnish us with a full account of the individual areas, the amounts of tax payable and the names of the registered owners of the forcibly ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 124 58 JAMES HAYES Nearly a year later, the case still unsettled, four of the Tangs' tenants from Little Hong Kong and ten from Wong Nei Chung and Soo Kon Po were listed as refusing to pay rent in another petition of 23rd of the 4th moon of Tao Kuang 24th year (8th June 1844).** Perhaps there were others, given the Tangs' limited knowledge of their tenants they had cultivated the land from father to son since settling at Wong Nei Chung and elsewhere in the eighteenth century or before9— and the added difficulties of the island having passed under British rule. Having dressed down the Tangs, the authorities were not pleased with the tenants' behaviour either. After complaining of the insufficient information and proof of ownership given to him, the magistrate went on: "On the other hand, it is said that the tenant Wong Wah and others had refused to pay the rents and grain that are their due. Moreover, they had gone as far as to make up a pretext to usurp the land and, not satisfied with even that, had reported to the foreign officials untruths against their own landlords. They are the emperor's subjects: that they could willingly subject themselves to these barbarians is really a case of utter obduracy and obtuseness. We have lately found out that Yip Shin-tak and others had refused to pay rents and this case has been reported to the [Chinese] officials at Kowloon. The said Kowloon officers would arrest all tenants concerned and if necessary, might discuss the case with the English barbarians. Further steps might be taken as the situation requires. 160 Ultimately, the provincial authorities to whom the case was sent for decision realized that there was no putting back the clock. It was concluded that "since the English barbarians who had been granted permission by His Imperial Majesty to stay in Hong Kong built quarters on the plots of land owned by the petitioner Tang Chi-cheung (*), it was impossible for him to carry on farming there [sic]. It was suggested that the land tax thereof should be exempted in accordance with the precedent set by the Magistrate of Pun Yue county (K) when houses ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 126 JAMES HAYES been characterized as being a group apart. They were conceived, born, lived, married and died upon their craft, often no more than the cockleshell sampans which used to be so common a feature of our coastal waters. They were not allowed to live on shore, did not attend the village schools and were excluded from the official examinations and hardly ever intermarried with the landsmen, though some of their girls became the secondary wives of wealthier villagers. Generally, they lived a life apart, under separate official regulation, and were despised and often oppressed by the land population as the popular and long received legend has it. 67 66 The Tanka people manned the larger fishing craft that were usually based on the fishing ports of the Hong Kong region in places like Cheung Chau and Tai O. They also congregated in small groups that frequented sheltered bays and inlets for generations at a time. I have encountered this in various parts of the New Territories, and found it also at Tai Tam Tuk on Hong Kong island when I enquired into the land and boat populations there in the early 1960s. I learned that the elder fishermen and their fathers had been born at Tai Tam Tuk which had been used as a permanent anchorage by a group of Tanka boat people for at least the previous eighty years, one old lady having been born there in 1884. They were always at Tai Tam Tuk during the main typhoon season from the fifth to the eighth lunar month of every year, fishing the surrounding waters for the rest of the year. From what they said, there were about twenty families living in boats there when the village was removed in 1913 for the reservoir. About half these families were surnamed Cheng, while the remainder came from four or five other surnames. It was very likely a man from one of these boat families who, under the recorded name Chun-Fat-Che, gave evidence against a mandarin junk charged with piracy in May 1874 during the Chinese so-called “blockade” of Hong Kong. 'I am a fisherman and have a small fishing boat about 18 feet long. It has one sail and carries myself and wife, my four sons and their two children. My fishing place is at Stanley, Tai Tam and Cape D'Aguilar. I have fished there ever since I was a child and I am 62 years of age, and my father before me. My son generally accompanies me in another boat.68 Whilst this information comes from the 1870s, its reference to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 128 Temple JAMES HAYES Temples on Hong Kong Island in 1841 1. Tin Hau, Stanley Objects dated before 1841 Comments Bell, 1768, Honour Board 1820, Couplet 1820 2. Pak Tai, Stanley Cloud Gong, 1803 3. Tin Hau, Aberdeen Bell, 1727 4. Hung Shing, Apleichau Bell, 1774 5. Tin Hau, Tunglowan Bell, 1727 6. Sam Shing Kung, Stanley none 7. Tin Hau, Shek O none 8. Hung Shing, Sai Wan none 9. Pak Tai, Wong Nei Chung none 10. Hoi Sam (Tin Hau), Shau Kei Wan none Comments 1. This temple (destroyed in the War) is not shown on Collinson's survey, which specifically marks the other two Stanley temples as "Josshouse”. The site, however, is of fung shui significance, guarding the left-hand entrance to the harbour as the Pak Tai temple guards the right-hand entrance. It was probably in existence in 1841, perhaps, however, only as a small shrine rather than a full-scale temple. 2. Nothing is known of this temple earlier than 1891 when an honour board was hung there. That board does not seem to record the building of the temple, but a providential escape from storm (the board reads "The Sea Shall not Raise Waves"). A building is shown on the approximate site of the temple on Collinson's survey. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 130 JAMES HAYES previously been located near Sham Chun, but, shortly after the cession of Hong Kong the sub-magistracy was moved to Kowloon, known as Kowloon City after a wall was built around it in 1847. A military garrison was transferred to Kowloon City from Tai Pang in north-east San On, at about the same time. 73 There had been a few small military posts on the island of Hong Kong established long before 1841. These were manned by soldiers and ratings of the Tai Pang battalion which served as a kind of military marine constabulary, sailing war junks and manning small posts scattered across this part of the district. However, they may have been discontinued before 1841 as there does not seem to have been any civil or military establishment on Hong Kong island when it was taken over. Johnston wrote in 1843 "no public buildings were found on any part of the Island of Hong Kong when it was first occupied by the English, except a small tumble-down Chinese house at Chek-choo (now Stanley) and another at Shek-pie-wan (now Aberdeen) where the petty mandarins stopped occasionally 76 +74 It seems, then, that the magistrate sent collectors and runners to the island in connection with the land tax and that a clerk was sent in a boat to issue licences to the boat people. There are reports of the district magistrate's officers still attempting to collect land taxes at Stanley as late as 1844 and the boat people may have been subject to the annual charge of 400 cash said to be levied on the 150 boats privileged to fish in local waters. The San On magistrate was still trying to collect this in 1844. Such visitations were being reported by the inhabitants in the few years following the British occupation of Hong Kong, and the British official correspondence gives the impression that this had been a regular practice in past days. However, it was not to be tolerated after the cession, and after representations by the Hong Kong Government, the provincial treasurer of the Canton province indicated that any claims to the former land tax would now be relinquished. 77 Otherwise, the inhabitants were left to their own devices. In common with other communities of the region, large and small ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 132 temples. JAMES HAYES The village temples of Hong Kong Island were the centre of community activities at more than a single village level, as elsewhere in South China. A letter from Collinson of 29th April 1845 refers to: "a great feast... celebrated in Chuck Chu [Stanley] for the last 3 days, which was nothing more or less than a fair in front of the principal Joss house."82 This "fair" was clearly celebrating the birthday of Tin Hau, which falls on the 23rd day of the 3rd moon, which in 1845 was 30th April. A temple fair to celebrate Tin Hau's birthday, still held on the land in front of the main Stanley temple, is still celebrated at that season each year. There can be no doubt, too, that the double festivities at Aberdeen, on the birthday of Tin Hau, and on that of Hung Shing (23rd of 3rd moon), on each of which celebrations the statue of the deity whose festival is not being celebrated is solemnly carried in procession to the other's temple “as a guest”, as a concrete demonstration of the local people's feeling that their prosperity and safety at sea depends on both deities, also date to before 1841. Temples required management committees, and it was usual for temple management committees to take on, as the Kaifong, the general oversight of the market towns or the community of villages in or near which they stood. The towns on Hong Kong island certainly had kaifongs. A couplet of 1820 in the Tin Hau temple at Stanley was given by the Chik-sze (managers)83 which certainly implies the existence of a management committee at that date. If the tradition that the Pak Tai temple was founded in 1803 by the Hoklo community of Stanley is correct, it is possible that the Kaifong was built around ethnic groups, as was almost certainly the case at that date in Cheung Chau, and which was common later. **Certainly the 1820 Chik-sze are typical of later kaifongs in that, of the eleven Chik-sze named, five certainly, and at least a further two in all probability, were names of commercial enterprises, showing dominance of the kaifong Temple Committee by the market shopkeepers. Equally typical was the likelihood that ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 134 JAMES HAYES equally there is no reason to doubt that arrangements similar to those at Stanley and Shau Kei Wan were to be found there. This account does not claim to be a comprehensive account of Hong Kong before 1841, but aims to stimulate an interest. If it reaches members of old Hong Kong village families by one reason or another, I hope it will encourage them to dig into their family chests to see if anything remains that will fill out the story. 89 NOTES The material for this essay is varied. I am in considerable debt to several good friends; Ian Diamond, Tom Poon, Anthony Siu Kwok-kin, Patrick Hase, and Carl Smith among others. Nineteenth-century writers, including officials, especially those who saw Hong Kong in its early colonial years, are also valued contributors to the story. Correspondence in the possession of the Tang family of Kam Tin figures prominently. I have also been fortunate to have spoken with old persons in their 'seventies' and 'eighties' back in the 1960s. They were able to give valuable information about life in their youth, when the lifestyle and appearance of the Hong Kong villages and boat people's anchorages had changed relatively little since the 1840s, compared with the total obliteration and change all too frequently experienced in the past fifteen years. These interviews took place in a variety of places; in an old tenement in Shaukeiwan, in one of the old hillside villages there, in a resettlement estate, in a Housing Society estate for fishermen's families, on a friend's pleasure craft manned by a boatman whose family had been living on boats in Deep Bay for generations, on a working cargo boat in a typhoon shelter, in a converted stake-net fisherman's hut, in a village house overwhelmed by squatter huts, and so on. Each of these locations testified to how modern Hong Kong was dealing cards to the persons concerned and their families, swept along or thrust to one side in the maelstrom of intensive postwar development and redevelopment. To all the above contributors, I tender thanks and appreciation. 1 C.J.C. in Revd G.N. Wright and Thomas Allom, China Illustrated in a Series of Views (London and Paris, Fisher and Co., 1843), Vol. 1, p. 17 in my set, "Harbour of Hong Kong”. 2 Harley Farnsworth MacNair, Modern Chinese History Selected Readings (Shanghai, Commercial Press, Second edition, 1927), p. 169. 3 W.L. Bales, Tso Tsungtang, Soldier and Statesman of Old China, (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1937), p. 69. 4 The Letters of Queen Victoria, A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence between the Years 1837 and 1861, ed A.C. Benson and Viscount Esher, (London, John Murray, 1908), Vol. 1, p. 262. 5 Following G.B. Endacott's History of Hong Kong (Oxford, University Press, 1958), p. 18. 6 Sessional Papers (Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong) 1884-85, p. 2. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 136 JAMES HAYES p. 78. There was a custom-made school building on the edge of Wong Nei Chung village which is shown on maps from Collinson's survey onwards. 13 By "town", Collinson means village. 14 The Last Year in China by a Field Officer actually employed in that Country (London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 2nd edition 1843) p. 75. 15 Cited from the Canton Press for January 1842 by G.R. Sayer op. cit., p. 121. For information on present day So Kon Po, see the Notes by Revd Carl T. Smith and myself in JHKBRAS, Vol. 23 (1983) p. 7-77. 16 Wright and Allom, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 17 and again at p. 33, "Bamboo Aqueduct at Hong Kong". For a fuller account see J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911, Land and Leadership in Town and Countryside. (Hamden, Conn., Anchor Books, 1977) pp. 25-32. E A copy of this letter from Mr. Chow Yat-kwong, JP, dated 30 March 1967, is now in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong, 19 This statement can be found in the manuscript volume Summary Report of the Squatters Commission 1891-1906 in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong, under the date of hearing 6 July 1893. By "100 years" is meant "from before anyone now alive can remember," as normally in local village usage. 20 21 Ibid, hearing of 26 January 1891 of claims at Wong Nei Chung. Report of the Hong Kong Mission, Vol. 23, June 1843, November 6, p. 157, in American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions Archives, Valley Forge, Pa., by courtesy of Revd Carl T. Smith. 22 American Baptist Mission Archives, folder of Revd I.J. Roberts, No. 1 — China, also by courtesy of Revd Smith. 23 Captain A.A.T. Cunynghame, quoted in Sayer, op. cit., p. 104. 24 Stanley and Aberdeen in 1841 would seem to have been very similar in size and composition to the New Territories Market Towns in 1898 and earlier. Thus, Sai Kung had 50 shops and 150 houses in 1898 with a population of 512 (cf. C. Fred Blake Ethnic Groups and Social Change in a Chinese Market Town. (Hawaii, 1981 p. 27-28), Tai Po New Market had 38 shops within eight years of its foundation (J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region, op. cit. p. 36 and n. 78), and Yuen Long Old Market had about 160 buildings of which at least 100 were shops (see unpublished Report 24 (Yuen Long Kau Hui) produced by Antiquities and Monuments Section, Hong Kong Government). 100 shops specifically noted as being from the Yuen Long Old Market donated to the restoration of the Tai Wong Temple there in 1837. At the Yuen Long Old Market many of the families working in the Market lived in the adjacent villages of Nam Pin Wai and Sai Pin Wai. As well as the 100 shops donating in 1837, 7 residents in the Market, 52 in Nam Pin Wai, and 22 in Sai Pin Wai donated, suggesting a total community of about 200 families, about half of which had shops. Tai O must have had more than 100 shops: 119 shops donated to the restoration of the Tin Hau temple there in 1838, 98 to the restoration of the Hung Shing temple there in 1841, and between 105 and 126 to the restoration of the Man Mo temple there in 1852 (in each case counting "workshops" and "ferries" as shops). 科大衛,陳總集,吳倫電位,合術 香港碑靠藥衚 MOMSKOM * (D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong) (Hong Kong Urban Council 1986), pp. 86-90, 90-93, 95-97, 103-107, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 137 Revd Justus Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese, (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1865), Vol. II, p. 55; Robert K. Douglas, China (London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2nd Edition, 1887) pp. 280-1; Juliet Bredon and Igor Metrophanow, The Moon Year, A Record of Chinese Customs and Festivals (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh Ltd, 1927) pp. 314-5. 26 J. W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region op. cit., p. 210 note 87. A full account of the stakenet fishing is given in my forthcoming article on the coastal and inshore fisheries of Hong Kong Island and adjacent places in the 19th century and earlier, to appear in Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Asian Studies, 1986, Vol. I, China, Asian Research Service, GPO Box 2232 Hong Kong. 27 China Mail No. 212, 8 March 1849, Witness No. 23 at the recorded Coroner's Inquest. Possibly also nos. 19 and 22. 20 A large scale map of Little Hong Kong at 80' to 1, in five sheets, showing the Old and New Villages and their fields (1892) is in the PRO of Hong Kong. In 1844 it was stated that the Wong Nai Chung fields measured 75.1 acres (CSO129/9807, p. 277). 1 Illustrated London News, 16 January 1858. 10 Hong Kong Government Gazette, Government Notification 41 of 1860, dated 24 March 1860. Robert Fortune, Three Years Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China (London, John Murray, 2nd edition 1847) p.17. He qualifies his remarks slightly, but the substance is as stated. See also his general very favourable verdict on the Chinese people at p. xv. 32 K.S. McKenzie, Narrative of the Second Campaign in China (London, R. Bentley, 1842) p. 160. 33 Captain G.G. Loch, Closing Events of the Campaign in China (London, John Murray, 1843) p. 21. 14 35 McKenzie, op. cit., p. 163. Dalrymple's Observations on the Southern Coasts of China and the Island of Hainan (London, 1806). After p. 20 in the text. This willingness to trade with strangers continued into the period of hostilities between Britain and China when the local people appear to have been very ready to supply the British forces and the civilian population with food and other necessities. Indeed this extended to such a degree that led Captain Elliott to state in one of his despatches to Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, that the retention of Hong Kong would be "an act of justice and protection to the Native population upon which we have been so long dependent for assistance and supply. Indescribably dreadful instances of the hostility between these people and the Government are within our certain knowledge; and they cannot be abandoned without the most fatal consequences.” Hosea Ballou Morse, The International Relations of the Chinese Empire, 3 vols, reprinted by Book World Company, Taipei, Appendix I to Vol. 1, pp. 650-1. See also pp. 241-2 for local provisioning. 34 John Francis Davis. Sketches of China, Partly during an Inland Journey of Four Months between Peking, Nanking and Canton, bound in with Volume III of his A General Description of China and its Inhabitants (London, Charles Knight, New Edition, 1845), p. 12. See also Wright and Allom, op. cit., "The Harbour of Hong Kong" which speaks of the "innate gentleness, and disinterested hospitality, of the farmers and the fishermen of Hong Kong". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 138 JAMES HAYES 37 CO 129/99, Despatch No. 115 of 28 July 1864. 38 Ibid. The report, by Lieutenant Adams, R.N., dated ‘Woodcock’, Hong Kong, 28 June 1864, is at pp. 37-45. 39 Reports on the Past and Present State of Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions (hereafter Blue Book) 1845, No. 38 Hong Kong, p. 149. 40 Blue Book for 1847, No. 36 Hong Kong, p. 308. 41 e.g. W.F. Mayers, N.B. Dennys and C. King, The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. (London, Trubner and Co., 1867), p. 108, for two very bad piracies there. 42 Harbour Master's Report for 1887 in Sessional Papers (Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong) September 1887-December 1888, p. 258. 43 Blue Book for 1845, No. 38 Hong Kong, p. 151. 44 **科大蘭,陳鴻基,吳倫霓霞, 合品 香港碑銘彙編 p. 98 (D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Urban Council 1986) p. 98-101, 75-78. 45 Public Record Office, London: CO129/12/9757, para 12. 46 E.J. Eitel Europe in China op. cit. p. 132. 47 J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. p.62, (and see also p. 27, n. 11). 48 Unpublished Temple Directory, The Temples Unit, Home Affairs Dept. H.K. Government, 1980, p. 17. 49 Mayers, Dennys and King, op cit, p. 2. Sin Ngan (#) variously romanized herein as San-on, Sun-on and Hsin-an was the county to which Hong Kong Island belonged in 1841. Tungkwan ( ) otherwise Tung-Kwun was the older, larger county from which it was created in 1573. For Hsin-an see Peter Y.L. Ng, prepared for press and with additional material by Hugh D.R. Baker, New Peace County, A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong Region (Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 1983). 50 Mayers, Dennys and King, op. cit. p.3 51 52 53 Friend of China, 24 July 1858 (courtesy of Revd. Carl T. Smith), Ibid. See J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. pp. 46-53. See also J.W. Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1983) pp 9-10. 54 Petition dated 8th day of 4th lunar month, Tao Kuang, 21st year, i.e. 28th May 1841, to the District Magistrate of Hsin-an. This and other quoted papers belong to the Tang family of Kam Tin, New Territories. I am grateful to the District Officer, Yuen Long and Mr. J.T. Kamm for the translations that appear here. They have been checked against the originals by my friend Dr. Anthony K.K. Siu. Kwan Tai Lo was a village near the foot of the present Leighton Hill. 55 Copy of an undated instruction to a presumably subordinate office following the above. 56 Petition dated 28th day of 5th lunar month, Tao Kuang 23rd year i.e. 25th June 1843. 57 Undated reply to the petitioners, presumably from the District Magistrate, following receipt of the foregoing petition. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 139 58 Petition dated 23rd day of 4th lunar month, Tao Kuang 24th year i.e. 8th June 1844. 59 60 See notes 19-20 above and relevant text. Response or comment, presumably again by the District Magistrate, following the petition of 8th June 1844. 61 Instruction dated sometime in Tao Kuang 24th year, but date and originator not clear to me. 62 Communication dated 15th day of 11th month, Tao Kuang 24th Year, i.e. 24th December 1844 (from Series CO129/7/9807, p. 326). See also Mayers, Dennys and King, op cit., p. 57. 64 Public Records Series CO129 and FO233. Copies of this deed, together with a few other papers from Chai Wan, belonging to Mr Law Wan-yeung(c) of Chai Wan, are available in the Public Records Office of Hong Kong. 65 See note 26 for the Wong holdings. The Tangs leased out similar properties on Tsing Yi Island in the present New Territories, where they apparently did hold the sole rights to the sub-soil up to 1899. 66 See the account given in J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op cit, p 32 and in J.W. Hayes The Rural Communities of Hong Kong op. cit., pp. 34-37 and 244-246. 67 For accounts of these places see chapters 2 and 3 of J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region, op. cit. 6. See J.W. Hayes The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, op. cit., pp 68-9 and relevant notes on p. 254. 69 See the information on settlement in north-west Kowloon and Tsuen Wan in J.W. Hayes The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, op. cit., chapters 5 and 7. 70 Kuo Fei(部) Yueh Ta Chi 與天記三十三政事類渗防廣東沿潮閣 71 This is perhaps misleading and more information is required. The list of places where land was claimed to be in the private ownership of the Tangs, with dates of purchases and names of sellers is given in a petition to the Hsin-an District Magistrate dated 18th day of the 10th moon in Tao Kuang 24th year, i.e. 25 November 1844. This shows that part of those Hong Kong lands registered in the Tung-kwun district yamen, presumably before 1573, had been purchased by the Tangs from another family in the Ch'ien-lung reign, and therefore cannot be used to show Tang ownership in or before the Ming dynasty, although they do suggest that the lands were cultivated and of value in the Ming. Nor do we know whether land registered in what later became Hsin-an had earlier been registered in the Tung-kwun yamen but with the relevant registers transferred to the new district yamen in 1573. 72 For the dates of these temples, and especially for the items mentioned in the Table, see 陸鴻基, 吳偏霞霞, 合编, “香港伸銘彝術 op. cit. (D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong), passim. I 71 See J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. chapter 7. 74 ** A.R. Johnston “Note on the Island of Hong Kong” in London Geographical Journal, XIV, reprinted in the Hong Kong Almanack and Directory, 1846, 75 Endacott, op cit., p. 59 76 E.J. Eitel, Europe in China op. cit. p. 215. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 140 JAMES HAYES 77 See despatch No. 76 Civil from Governor, Hong Kong to Lord Stanley, 28 December 1844 in CO129/7/9807, especially p. 323. Ako Mayers, Dennys and King, op cit, p. 57. See J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. and The Rural Communities of Hong Kong op. cit. D. Faure The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 1986), J.W. Hayes Secular Non-Gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organisations in Urban British Hong Kong JHKBRAS, Vol. 23, 1983 pp. 113-137, passim. J.W. Hayes The Rural Communities of Hong Kong op cit. p. 63. 80 See D. Faure Visit to Stanley, elsewhere in this Journal. J.W. Hayes Secular Non-Gentry Leadership op. cit. JHKBRAS, Vol. 23, 1983, pp. 127-132. See note 10. 12 81 科大街 陸鴻基,吳倫霩霹 A*." ****" op. cit. p. 821 (D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong). 84 J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op. cit. pp 61-64, and 64-69, and J.W. Hayes Secular Non-Gentry Leadership op. cit. pp. 113-121. 85 科,陸,吳, 香港碑銘 #‚É‚1⁄2‚“ ***(op. cit.) (Faure, Luk, Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit.) p.76. *,4,5," *** "(op. cit.) (Faure, Luk, Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit.) p. 102. For the Kaifong hall, see also D. Faure Visit to Stanley elsewhere in this Journal. H 科,陛,吳, 香港郈銘 (op. cit.) p. 98 (Faure, Luk, Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong). 63 *.,," "(op. cit.) (Faure, Luk, Ng, The Historical Inscriptions 科,陸,吳, 香港碑銘 of Hong Kong), p. 152 (Foundation of Tin Hau Temple 1873 by group lead by General Managers and two grades of Managers 總理, 董理, 個事), p. 166 (Refoundation of Tin Hau temple 1876 by group lead by General Managers and Managers), p. 347 (Foundation of Tam Kung temple 1905 by group lead by General Managers and Managers #), p. 388 (Repair of Tam Kung Temple 1908 by group lead by Managers). 89 The possibility certainly exists. Revd. Carl Smith's researches show that some Hong Kong village men took advantage of the new situation to acquire language skills and advance their fortunes through service as government interpreters and clerks to solicitors, or by acting as compradores for Western business firms. The most famous of them all, Sir Shouson Chau, born in Little Hong Kong in 1861, was sent to America with the "First Hundred" Chinese boys (of the Chinese government's educational mission) in the 1870s. He graduated later from Columbia University, served the Ch'ing government as a high official and afterwards returned to Hong Kong where he was a member of both the Executive and Legislative Council. His father was compradore of the Canton Hong Kong Steamship Company with its head office in Canton, and according to family history his grandfather, the village head of Little Hong Kong in 1841, assisted Captain Charles Elliott in posting up one of his first official proclamations on the Island in 1841. (Letter quoted at note 18 above, together with the biography in Chinese and English at pp 4-5 of Prof. Woo Sing-lim's The Prominent Chinese in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, The Five Continents Book Co., 1937)). See also D. Faure Visit to Stanley elsewhere in this Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 3. Sampans of the Boat People off Castle Peak Road, Tsing Lung Tau, New Territories, 1957. Ink and sepia drawing by A.F. Robertson, in author's possession. These were, then, still typical of the craft to be found in the small anchorages of the Hong Kong Region before 1842. 142 JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 264 Notes and Queries TRADITIONAL TEA GROWING IN THE NEW TERRITORIES P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES, K.C. Iu* Following the establishment of the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware interest was expressed in the indigenous tea growing and preparation customs in the New Territories. A visit was paid to one of the villages where traditional tea growing is still practised to ensure that a photographic record of the process was taken. A written record was also taken, which appears below as section 1 of this Note. Section 2 is a selection of notes on traditional tea growing elsewhere in the southern part of the New Territories, and section 3 is a note on the Mountain Begonia, which was also used to make tea, at least on Lantau. (1) Traditional Tea Growing in Mau Tso Ngam (PHH) Mau Tso Ngam Village is a Hakka village inhabited by members of the Cheng and Lau clans situated high up on the slopes of Kowloon Peak in the upper reaches of a stream that eventually reaches the sea at Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin. This village is one of the few left in the New Territories which still grows and prepares its own tea in the traditional way. This note briefly describes the tea preparation processes in use at Mau Tso Ngam as seen by the author on a visit to the village on 26th April 1986 and as described further to him by the Village Representative, Mr. Cheng Kau-hung.' Tea trees2 are planted here and there on the edge of the hills near the village: most families own a few trees, while others are owned by the Ancestral Trusts of the village. Tea from the trees owned by the Ancestral Trusts is used for offerings to the gods and spirits. There are no tea plantations as such, since each family keeps its trees scattered at traditional sites on the hills near its See Plates 33-41 Page 265 Page 285 Page 286 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 266 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU their natural juices and the tastes and flavours of those juices, and leave behind only the taste of the substance of the leaf itself. This preparation takes several hours and each village family does the work necessary for its own tea itself. This preparation work is done by the village women. 4 A very low fire is lit in the stove. The fresh leaves are placed in the dry wok for ten or fifteen minutes. In the heat the leaves in the wok wilt, and drops of juice ooze out to form steam, so that the whole mass of leaves quickly becomes a heap of warm, damp greenery. It is essential for the fire to be neither too hot, which would cook the leaves and make it difficult to express the juices, nor too cool, which would inhibit the wilting and steaming. Once the steaming is complete, the leaves are taken out of the wok and placed on a rice winnowing tray. The leaves are then vigorously squeezed and rolled on the tray for up to half an hour to force out the juices. After this operation the tray is stained all over and wet with the juices. At this stage the leaves are returned to the wok, which must still have only a very low and steady fire to ensure that the leaves do not burn or cook. The leaves are now slowly stirred in the wok by hand for about two hours. This stirring is to ensure that no leaves stick to the wok and burn, and to make it easy for the housewife, by feel, to ensure that the fire is kept at the right level, and steady. After the stirring process is complete the tea leaves are completely dry and brittle, but retain some of their green colour. The leaves are now ready for use. At present villagers store the prepared tea leaves in large cans with tightly fitting lids: traditionally the leaves were merely stored in rattan baskets in dry places. In the traditional storage system, the leaves had to be checked every week or so, particularly in wet weather: if there was any sign of damp, the stored leaves had to be taken out and placed on rice winnowing trays in the sun to dry out again, being carefully turned several times to ensure that the re-drying was done evenly. Villagers do not bother to sift or grade the leaves, large and small leaves with the twigs and stalks are all stored up together. In time the heavier particles (twigs and the larger, coarser leaves) and the dust ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 268 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU family will produce enough tea from one stripping to last that family a year. Before the War, villager families would put in more time, stripping the trees up to four times in a year, to produce in addition a few baskets of tea for sale in the market towns, to supply those villages, mostly the large, lowland villages, who had no tea trees of their own. The villagers have no recollection of their tea ever being traded more widely than in the local market town." As well as at Mau Tso Ngam, several other hill villages in Shatin still prepare tea in this way (including Wong Chuk Yeung, and Kwun Yam Shan) and several others did until recently. Probably most hill villages of the New Territories used to prepare tea in this way. Traditionally, villagers drank tea out of their rice bowls at the end of the meal after the rice was finished. Special tea bowls were used in ritual contexts (e.g., when offering tea to gods or spirits or during weddings when tea is offered by the bride to her husband's mother) or when tea was offered to important visitors. The rice bowls were kept very carefully, and the owners would often scratch their names into the glaze inside the bowl to guard against loss." A set of rice bowls used for tea drinking in Mau Tso Ngam from about 1920 is now preserved in the Hong Kong Museum of Teaware, together with tealeaves produced at Mau Tso Ngam, and a full photographic record of the preparation processes. (2) Traditional Tea Growing in the Southern New Territories (JWH) My recollections of local tea go back to 1957-58 when, newly appointed as District Officer, South, I visited all villages and hamlets in the district within a six months' period and much of it on foot! My recollection was that I drank hill tea in a number of places as well as ordinary tea or hot water in others. Referral to my notebooks has provided some information on tea growing in the villages of the Southern District but not as much as I had either thought or hoped. Hill tea came to my attention when I was offered it to drink, and this was conspicuously the case in the Clear Water Bay villages. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 270 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU In the 1970s when District Officer and Town Manager, Tsuen Wan, my contacts with local village people established that there were families in Lo Wai which had tea bushes on the mountain slopes of Tai Mo Shan. The Hui (4) family of Lo Wai village collected tea from wild bushes near the present radar station at the very top of Tai Mo Shan. One old man, born in 1896, used to collect ten catties a week during the season, commenting that the best time for plucking the leaves was in the third lunar month: the leaves become older and coarser thereafter. This type of tea was described as wan mo (雲霧) ("cloud mist"). He began doing this when he was about 10 years old, selling to other villagers and not to shops or teahouses. He also collected medicinal herbs on the mountain. Another favourable location for wild tea trees on this mountain, he said, was Nam Tong To (南塘肚) where the Shing Mun villagers collected leaves from wild tea bushes there of the same type. Such trees could not be replanted and grown elsewhere, he stated. Separately, old Shing Mun villagers living in Kam Tin since their removal there in 1928 for construction of the Jubilee Reservoir, themselves confirmed their taking of leaves from trees in this locality. In the foothills west of Tsuen Wan, villagers of Yau Kam Tau also collected leaves from wild tea bushes.12 Lantau island possessed a rather special type of red "tea", with a brilliant red infusion, known as tsz pooi tin kwai (紫背天葵). Tsz pooi tin kwai was described to me as being “half herb half tea”. It was used as a kind of cooling tea (清熱茶) for “over-heating” from food or drink, sore throats and the like. The leaves came from a plant growing between cracks in rocks and stones in high gulleys where there was much moisture. The people of Tong Fuk village on south Lantau, at the foot of the Fung Wong mountain, used to collect these from upper slopes. It was also collected by the women inmates of the religious houses of Ngong Ping and others living at the Po Lin monastery there. Some of the produce found its way to shops in Tai O market where one of the leading shopkeepers, chairman of the Rural Committee, gave me some at intervals. According to Shiu-ying's Hu's An Enumeration of Chinese Materia Medica (Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 1980) page 153, it is to be described in English as the Tea Begonia (Begonia fimbristipula) and in Chinese as (紅天葵/紫背天葵).13 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 272 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU Ngam village is situated and that tea growing there had come to the attention of the Botanical Department soon after the lease of the New Territories in 1898. It is, however, of interest to note that contemporary villagers in the areas of these terraces state that their ancestors, as far as they know, had no interest in these terraces, and no-one claims any ownership of them today. Tea was also being cultivated in some localities in San On County in the 1850s. Writing on the county in 1858, Revd. R. Krone stated "Tea is also cultivated in several places and is generally called "Shan-cha” (mountain tea). It has a rather strong astringent taste, but is much liked by the natives, and particularly by those who are of advanced age, who consider that it promotes digestion and cools the system. Many drink only this indigenous tea" 16 To summarize, it is possible that tea cultivation was at one time flourishing in the region. If the terraces I have mentioned were truly tea terraces, it must have been a commercial venture on a large scale. However, since no memory of commercial tea cultivation remains in village tradition, at least in those places where I have made enquiry, final proof is unlikely to be available. On the other hand, the cultivation of tea for local consumption appears to have been practised in many villages in the 19th century and after, and perhaps earlier. The Mau Tso Ngam experience is simply one of many, though it is one of the few in which the practice is still carried out. Finally, may I enter a plea for research on another aspect of village activity, the collection and preparation of medical herbs? Coincidentally, my information also comes mainly from Mau Tso Ngam. When interviewing an old village lady born there in 1884, but married to Hok Tsui village at Cape D'Aguilar on Hong Kong island, I was told about the tea bushes but did not follow it up and, instead, heard more about medicinal herbs. Her information was that her family and those of the main clan in the village, the Chengs, collected and prepared herbs on the hillside for sale in Kowloon City market. They did this all year round when they were not busy in the fields. The herbs had to be washed, dried and chopped or sliced. They were taken for sale four or five times a year. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 274 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU around Lantau Peak. Because of its properties, it has traditionally been collected by local villagers to make "tea". Normally, the fresh or dried leaves are boiled in water, and sugar added if necessary. Apart from local consumption, the leaves are dried for sale in the herbalists' shops at Tai O. Over the years, the plant has been established as a local product of Lantau Island. Hawkers doing business in front of the Po Lin Monastery on Ngong Ping Plateau are also "cashing in" on the trade by bottling the drink for sale to visitors. Because of the thirst-quenching properties and good "cooling effect", the drinks are particularly welcomed by hikers. However, most of the dried leaves for sale there nowadays are in fact imported from Ting Wu and Lo Fu Mountains (#LI, #) in Guangdong Province. The price ranges from $5 to $12 per packet according to weight. The popularity of the drink seems to be declining in recent years, particularly among young people who prefer ready-made soft drinks. This change has in fact helped to conserve the declining population of this plant species on Lantau Peak. NOTES My (PHH) thanks to Mr. K.C. Ho, Assistant Curator, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware for his assistance in preparing this Note, and to Mr. M. Cheung of the Visual Aids Section of the Hong Kong Museum of Art for taking the photographs. Tea trees used for the production of "Hill Tea" in Mau Tso Ngam and elsewhere in the New Territories are plants of Camellia sinensis in common with tea bushes used elsewhere in China in the commercial production of tea. See Plate 33. (Note by K.C. Iu). Plate 34. Plate 35. 5 Plate 36. 6 Plate 37. 7 Plate 38. & This method of preparing green tea is similar to that used in many other parts of China, and involves three steps, viz (a) pan firing, (b) rolling, and (c) roasting. The main purpose of pan firing is to inactivate the enzymes inside the tea leaves (these enzymes must remain active if fermented, rather than green tea, is being made). Rolling releases the tea juices which are considered to be the essence of the tea. The constituents of the juices will stick to the surface of the tea leaves after the final roasting process. Roasting aims to stabilise the process, by baking the leaves to dryness to facilitate storage (Note by K.C. Ho). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 276 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU 33. Tea Tree (Camellia sinensis) (Photograph courtesy of AFD) 34. Tea being picked near Mau Tso Ngam Village ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 278 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU 37. Rolling the leaves to express the juices 38. Roasting the leaves to dryness over a low heat. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 40. Abandoned Terraces, possibly once used for tea, northern slopes of Tai Mo Shan 280 P.H. Hase, J.W. Hayes and K.C. Iu ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 300 WONG TAK YAN but also abroad as far away as Borneo. Raw materials for the kilns were not in short supply. Business was booming. Unfortunately, despite the good prospects, after several years, lime began to be imported into Hong Kong from both China and Japan. Because of the cheapness of labour in China and the highly mechanised nature of the industry in Japan, the price of the imported product was very low... furthermore, the Government normally insisted on the use of Japanese lime in its public works. As a result, the business of Hong Kong lime kilns had to face very severe competition, and they were unable to keep going. San Shing Lei Lime Kiln Factory closed in the early 1960s, and this historic industry came to a close. Since then, investment in Hong Kong has continued to grow. Under the influence of the development of the construction industry, land all along the coast has become valuable, and so, one after another, the lime kilns have closed until the industry has become no more than a feature of history. NOTES This note was written in Chinese by Mr. Wong Tak-yan, Chairman, Tsing Yi Trade Association Ltd and President (1984-85) of the Rotary Club of the New Territories, following a lunch speech to the Club by Dr. J.W. Hayes in which he urged members of the Club with interesting family histories relating to the development of the New Territories to commit their memories to writing. The note was translated by the Editor. 2 Plate 42. 3 Plate 43. 4 Plate 44. 5 Plate 45. Plate 46. Plate 47. One small lime kiln still remains in business at Lau Fau Shan (editor). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 305 THE SOLDIERS AT THE TUNG CHUNG FORT ON LANTAU ISLAND IN LATE CH’ING TIMES JAMES HAYES In the 1968 Journal (Vol. VIII, pp. 165-167) I gave an account of the naval and military garrison at the Tung Chung Fort, taken from an old lady born at Tung Ching in 1877 and married into another village in the area. A few years later I found, and was able to speak several times with, another old lady from the Tung Chung valley. She was born at Ngau Au village in 1879 and like the other had married into Sheung Ling Pei (at age 22 sui). She had this to say about the fort and its garrison, and her account both corroborates and adds to the earlier account. I have run the text of our conversations together, and they amount to the following: "The fort was there to protect us villagers. They were successful in this. When I was young there were no robbers and pirates, though I heard that there had been many before I was born. There were lots of soldiers, about 70 to 80, under an officer called a sau fu (少府). The soldiers wore robes. Their superiors were better dressed and had horses to ride. These officers had some contact with the elders of the villages of Tung Chung area, but did not speak with the younger men or the women. The soldiers' supplies were brought in. There was no need for us to give or sell foodstuffs to them, and the soldiers didn't have to do any cultivation themselves. They were all Kwangtung men and spoke in Punti. Some were even local villagers. The soldiers had many flags, over ten of them at least. The men of the garrison went to worship at our Hau Wong Temple on the 1st and 15th of each month, and joined in the opera show that was held yearly at the temple on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. There were wind and steam driven military vessels in the anchorage, and I remember that some were blown onto the adjoining San Tau beaches in a typhoon." This old lady also had interesting things to say about the temple inside the walls of the fort. It was, she said, a Sham Shing Miu (神聖廟) but only worshipped by the officers and troops of the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 307 WAI CHEUNG ( Mk), A KIND OF RURAL LEADER IN THE 19TH CENTURY HONG KONG REGION JAMES HAYES Leadership in the villages and market towns of the Hong Kong Region has always fascinated me, and I have touched on the subject in The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911, Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside (Hampden, Archon Books 1977) and The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1983). Besides the more common terms encountered in my enquiries as described in the two studies mentioned above, I have come across the less familiar one which forms the subject of this Note. Fortunately, there is both verbal and documentary evidence for its existence. In speaking twenty and more years ago with old people born in local villages in the late 70's and early 80's of the last century, the term wai cheung (#1) was used in several places for another category of local leader. In Sha Kok Mei village in Sai Kung, for instance, I was told by a leading elder born in 1885 that this was a post pertaining to each of the accepted clans in this large village, of which there were no less than eleven in the late 19th century (the implication is that there were other, newer clans which were not permitted to have a wai cheung). Clansmen were to serve by rotation in the post for one year. The post carried responsibility for the guardianship of the common property of the lineage, and also an obligation to join with the wai cheung of the other clans to hear and settle dispute cases, though the council so formed had no collective name or other description. This council had little to do in this line in his youth, as far as he can remember, as the times were quiet. In the Tung Chung villages, according to an old lady born in one of the local settlements in 1879 and married into another of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 308 JAMES HAYES them, this title was given to persons who would later be called the headman (†) or village representative (††). Their main job was to stop or settle petty squabbles and secure the adjustment and payment of compensation for damage to crops caused by straying cows and pigs. These leaders consulted each other by mutual visiting, and by occasional meetings in the Hau Wong temple (i) when the occasion was serious enough to warrant this. Even persons of 30-40 years of age could serve, if they were capable and had the time. Written proof for the Sha Kok Mei wai cheung comes from a sale of land recorded in 1942 during the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong. The buyer and seller and wai cheung were all from the village (local testimony) and the fact that the post was, as stated above, held on a yearly term of office is confirmed by the expression ... . The deed reads as follows, in translation: 2 I, CHU Hei, executor of this sale of paddy field for want of money at home, hereby sell of my own free will thirteen pieces of paddy land that have come down to me from my ancestors. Of different sizes, they total two tau chung, and they are situated at Kang Lau Ha. Sold for the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars, they pass into the perpetual ownership of TSANG HO Sze as of this day without possibility of redemption. This deed is final and binding between the two parties. The hand of seller of land; CHU Hei Witnessed by: CHU Kat-hing LAU Kei-yau, Wai cheung of current-year. Dated the 8th day of the first lunar month in the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942) The fact that the wai cheung who witnessed the transaction was not of the seller's clan is probably accounted for by the fact that the CHUs were among the smaller clans in this large, multi-clan village. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 309 First hand information after this lapse of time is naturally scarce. The above merely serves to indicate that this was a term formerly in use in the Hong Kong region, but one which, as usual, could be applied with variation. 1 NOTES See Hayes 1977, pp. 116-119 and 226-7. An overview of leadership and its occasions is given in Section IV of the Introductory chapter of Hayes 1983. The tau chung is the normal local unit of land measurement and represents the land requiring one bushel of seeds to sow properly (一斗種). While the amount of land represented by the tau chung varied according to the type of soil, fertility, etc. It was often close to one-sixth of an acre. Page 330 Page 331 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 310 VILLAGE SHOPS IN THE HONG KONG REGION JAMES HAYES Village shops are seldom written about: in the main, I suppose, because they were of such little consequence. Villagers had to go to market towns or market villages for necessities like oil and salt, and anything else that they did not produce or make themselves. The village shops were seemingly contemptible affairs, selling sweets and an assortment of joss papers, and were run as part-time ventures by village people. Some examples from different places have cropped up in my accounts of discussions with old persons born in the last few decades of the 19th century. At Ma Wan Chung (pop. 51 at the 1911 Census of Hong Kong) a coastal village at Tung Chung on Lantau Island near an anchorage, there were a few little shops which, in addition to the basic stock-in-trade described above sold peanut oil for villagers' lamps. Their status and uncertain existence were graphically described as being "run by villagers who operated them when they had a little money to buy goods and stopped when they had none". Ma Wan Chung had some business with the resident boat population, so there was more incentive than in ordinary places. From my enquiries, it seems that many of the sixteen Tung Chung villages (total pop. 1198 in 1911) had a shop of this kind, because there were always villagers who hoped to make a little money in this way from providing a convenient service for the other residents. There were also visits from itinerant hawkers who brought with them a wider variety of goods including crockery, oil, sweets, cloth etc. Elsewhere on Lantau Island, at the large village of Shek Pik on the south coast of the island, (pop. 363 in 1911), there were three or four little shops when my informants were boys, in the first decade of this century. They were kept by village men "as the women were illiterate and couldn't count or keep simple accounts". They sold groceries, kerosene, joss paper and ritual goods, cakes, sweets, fruit and the like. As at Tung Chung they stopped and started as capital was or ceased to be available, and their operators changed frequently. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 328 There are quite a few mistakes in Chinese characters and I assume that there may also be mistakes in Japanese or other words. THOMAS H. C. LEE The Chinese University The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes, James Hayes, Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1983, x + 308 pages, 19 plates. Jhat zaak vronq ngraw ngrap daem ghuk Jhat zaak sue ngraw jhat ghaenn vhuk If Dr. Hayes had lived in China, as I did, when sycee silver was still used for large, and copper cash for small transactions, he would never have passed the egregious error which occurs on page 184 of this splendid compilation. But since the younger generation of scholars who (as I shall mention) I hope will complete the study of Hong Kong's rural communities while there is yet time have not only not lived in war-lord China, but probably also not been taught mental arithmetic, I had better tell them at once that one tael = 1.19 troy ounce (in this context, of silver) and the formula should read not $1 = 72 tael = 1,000 cash, but $1 = 0.72 tael = 1,000 cash. Quite a difference. = = (When I lived in Canton the rate was of the same order of magnitude. The relative values of copper cash and of the ten-cash copper called "cents" vis-a-vis the silver currency varied from day to day and from hour to hour; the rates were displayed in money-changers' and other shops, markets and on buses, and varied around 120 "cents" (1,200 cash) = 1 Canton dollar of 5 silver 20c pieces: the Canton dollar itself stood at about $1.40 = 1 Customs tael and $1.30 = 1 Hong Kong dollar.) With this single exception I heartily recommend this book, both to the general reader (if the species be still extant) and, more particularly, as a reference manual and vade mecum to any serious ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 329 student who can find a generous sponsor for complementary studies of those rural areas which lie outside Dr. Hayes's purview: the other Peng Chau (in Mirs Bay or Dapeng-wan), Tap Mun, Sha Tau Kok, Tai Po, Yuen Long and their hinterlands. Even within Hong Kong's 400 square miles can be seen the kind of variations which Ouyang Hsiu described (in his preface to the Hsin Wu-tai Shih) as: it is a strength of Chinese society that such healthy variability can exist. Time is short, because when I was last there in 1982, the opening up of roads had already begun to erode village life, as it did in Tsuen Wan, Lantao and New Kowloon, + - Dr. Hayes is a true Cadet, in the tradition of Cecil Clementi, Walter Schofield, Stephen Balfour and John Barrow, and his work puts even them in the shade. But oh! oh! that romanization! He says disarmingly in the Foreword "I confess that romanization has been a problem." No shame in that: Chinese — whichever you wish of the 3,000 languages, all known as Chinese — does not lend itself to phonetic writing, and the Cadmean alphabet, while no doubt adequate for the Western Semitic language for which it was devised, was not really suited to Latin and is hopeless for English (though it does not do too badly for Finnish and Welsh) — how much less for Chinese? But of all the inadequate answers to this problem, why choose the obsolete Wade-Giles without its vital apostrophes and tone-numerals, too for what Western academics obstinately call “Mandarin”; and Meyer-Wempe for Cantonese? The latter, with omitted or misprinted diacritical marks, of which I found many (and have sent Dr. Hayes a list) is gibberish. Besides, being based on West River dialects, which differ considerably from the Upper Punyu which, after the eclipse of Sai Kwan wa from 1905 onward, became the standard speech of Canton, Hong Kong and overseas Cantonese (except those from the 5 districts known as Sze Yap), Meyer & Wempe's handy little dictionary has serious shortcomings. What a pity an updated Eitel never appeared! Nothing will ever persuade me that Cantonese, Hakka and Hokkien place names should be written in letters indicating a pronunciation which no local would understand. (I suppose it must be a matter of politics, with which no scholar should soil his hands). Just you try getting a boat to “Shayuyung”! (The place is ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 330 Shayuchung: just as it took the Northern pundits half a century to recognize that the Cantonese (ex-Yao) word "I" was to be rendered "zhun" and not "ch'uan", so they will not yet be told that in Cantonese usage "東" and "北" are not, as they are in North China, the same word, but different words of which the latter is pronounced like "dung4)". Likewise, to write Blacksmiths' Street (p. 80) "Ta T'ich Chich" is, pardon me, sheer barbarism, and a mixture of two systems like "Po Kat in ... Paoan" (p. 40, for either "Po Kat in Po On" or, if we must have this wretched Northern jargon, "Buji in Baoan") is ridiculous. And if there be any who will take up the challenge for Sha Tau Kok, & c., they cannot do better than emulate Dr. Hayes's Chapter 2 (Peng Chau) and Chapter 4 (Tai Tam Tuk — even though he does mistranslate the second word of the name). Both chapters are models of how this kind of study should be written up. And the same applies to nearly every part of the book. I wish I had written it! The quotation with which I opened is, by the way, in one local variety of Naam T'au dialect, and means One shagoo (small humped cattle) is worth 20 piculs of unhusked rice; One water buffalo is worth a house, Such mnemonic jingles used to be common in the rural areas. Can anybody be found to collect them, while they are still remembered? I read recently that the Hakka "shan-ko" had been rediscovered in N.E. Kwangtung. Is anybody collecting them? And how about itinerant story-tellers? All right, all right, I was only asking. There is so much to be done. K.M.A. BARNETT i ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Edward Youde G.C.M.G., M.B.E., Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1985 President: J.W. Hayes, M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Secretary: R.H. McLean Hon. Treasurer: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editors: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: Peter Yeung, B.A., M.L.S. Councillors: Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Y.W. Lau, B.A., Ph.D. D.H. Liu, Oliver Siddle, O.B.E., B.A. (Oxon.), F.R.S.A. Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil. A.K.K. Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT TREASURER'S REPORT LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ARTICLES: vii xvi xviii Tan Tse Tao: A Contemporary Chinese Faith-Healing Sect in Hong Kong — Bartholomew P.M. Tsui 1 Notes for a Visit to the Government Cemetery at Happy Valley Carl T. Smith. 17 Kau Sai, an Unfinished Manuscript Barbara E. Ward 27 The Cult of the Dead in Ancient Rome and Modern China: A Comparative Analysis — John Karl Evans . 119 Found in a Pennsylvania Attic 1903-1906 Wei Peh Ti Letters form China 152 A New Source for Chinese Trade to Japan in the Seventeenth Century Anthony Farrington Bibliography of New Territories Historical Literature Peter Yeung.. NOTES AND QUERIES: The Decline of Tiu Chung as a Chinese New Year Flower 187 192 K.C. Iu 207 The Country Boy Who Died for Hong Kong D.D. Waters 210 A Republican Book of Receipts in United College Library - David Faure. 216 The Nixon Scroll James Hayes 217 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x want particularly to thank our Honorary Secretary, Robyn McLean, for her quiet devoted work on behalf of the Society and for her never-failing support. We owe her a great debt of thanks for which I hope you will now signify your enthusiastic appreciation. Thus we continue to fulfil the objectives which were laid down for our Society in 1959-60. I have mentioned that the tour to the Happy Valley Cemetery last week included a visit to our first president's grave. On that occasion it gave me pleasure and encouragement to be able to recount Dr. Jones' career and various contributions to Hong Kong. We were reminded anew of the vision and energy which motivated him and his fellow founders to restart our Society in Hong Kong after a lapse of 100 years here and a 20-year gap in Shanghai. Personally, I was glad of this reminder of past efforts, which encourages us to work all the harder for our future. 20 March 1986. XV JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 178 WEI PEH TI are expected to return the value in something else. So I am going to be Chinese and send you a calendar, but I am afraid it will not be as useful to you as the one you sent me. This will tell you the Chinese large and small months, the seasons and festivals and the Sundays throughout the year with a topic and Scripture reading for each Sabbath. These small ones (calendars) are just to let the Christians know when the Sabbath comes. We have large ones giving every day too. Begin at the top right hand and this 月 is month, this is large shio, small, So you can see which are the large months and which are the small. The characters on the top are just 1,2,3,4, etc. Can you read it? They have a very familiar look to me now. I have a little house all to myself now, but continue to board with Mrs. Malcolm as usual. We are just separated by a tiny little garden. At first it was very cold over here, for my floor is just a few inches above the ground and my ceiling or roof is very high and my stove is so tiny it cannot begin to heat even one room. But we have had a very mild winter, only two snows, and it really is Spring now. The violets brought up with me are just beginning to bloom in the garden. I have lots of company over here in the way of rats and bats and in the summer scorpions and mosquitoes. Last summer Mrs. Malcolm killed ten scorpions over here and caught about half that many rats. The bats are here still and that's my fault. When the room was being cleaned for me we found three bats wintering behind some stools, which the women wanted to keep for medicine. The Chinese do have some horrible concoctions, and she wrapped them up in paper and put them under a stone in the yard. Mr. Malcolm spied them and thought some one was trying to hide a piece of soap in the mix-up of moving. So opened the paper and to his amazement found nothing but bats! As he hates anything of the mouse-kind, you could not expect him to wrap them up again, so they began to escape but hadn't gone far, because the sun was on them. When I passed by and very kind-heartedly gathered them up and put them in a box back in my room again. That night bats flew about my head but I just thought we had not caught them all. Imagine my disgust the next day at finding them all escaped out into the room again! And I pondered over the moral to the story of the man who nourished a frozen snake in his bosom and resolved ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 192 PETER YEUNG BIBLIOGRAPHY OF NEW TERRITORIES HISTORICAL LITERATURE* PETER YEUNG 沙田文獻: 第一册 韋家總虒譜 吳氏歷代祖脈根源記(沙田小瀝源吳金發藏) 第二册 [日用對聯大全]書面蔡添發(沙田田心村) 叩酹平安福神部 中華民國四拾二年春立 吳容記 〔沙田小瀝圍村吳容先生藏) 應世道德集神州聖德 萬代永垂 民國六壬子年二月廿二清明 公元一九七二年四月五日周三 吳金發手襲(沙田小瀝園村) [多為帖式] (沙田小瀝園村吳金發先生)記事冊 自公元1967年10月30日 民國丁未56年9月28日起 [記民國初至七〇年代有關吳氏及沙田之雜事] 第三册 帖式 吳耀章墨寶 一九三八年 會德馨(會大屋) 帆文 1938年的德馨(會大屋) 對聯 1938年 吳耀章墨寶 會德韾(會大厔) 第四册 瑞瑋書東帖式 民國廿一年仲冬月壬申年九月朔日立 (陳耀輝先生藏,Wo Che village) 帖式,壹佰業(沙田田心村) [對聯大全](沙田大圍蔡錦全先生藏) *This is a partial bibliography of historical documents collected by the Oral History Project at the Centre for East Asian Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong, between 1980 and 1982, and microfilmed by the Hung On To Memorial Collection at Hong Kong University Library in 1983 and 1984. It includes all titles collected except for the library of a scholar at Hoi Ha Village, for which a separate bibliography is being prepared for publication. Members of the Oral History Project in these several years included David Faure, Patrick Hase, Lee Lai Mui, Cheng Shui Kwan, Lui Suk Yee, Tsui Lai Yee, Lee Yee Fun, Mak Shui Chun and Wong Wing Ho. Contributions were also received from James Hayes and Chan Wing Hoi. Peter Yeung, who has compiled this bibliography, is librarian of the Hung On To Memorial Collection and a council member of the society. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 201 彭氏家譜 廣東寶安縣粉嶺樓十七傳裔孫錦榮編錄 歲次亥年(一九七一)仲冬 黃是瑤聖堂一次賣斷契 道光拾0年 (松栢朗村) 發批人黃文彩契 道光二十二年 (松栢朗村) 道光九年[简]富興花興發福兄弟三人賣契 田主廖輔宸,藉芳,統一聲明 (松栢朗村) 第三册 客族平民山歌 (禾坑李晏濂先生藏) 廖氏族譜 民國廿七年歲次戊寅孟夏吉立 (上水華山村廖騰芳先生藏) 吉喪帖式雜文 李晏濂下抄 (禾坑李濂先生藏) 葉氏族譜 (孔嶺村葉貴先生藏) 香港新界金錢村侯氏族譜 [ 侯氏族譜]河山鄉侯成祖先生藏 [帖式] 蓮麻坑村 葉吉清村長藏 田畝賑目及帖式] (蓮麻坑村葉吉濤村長藏) [帖式] (蓮麻坑村葉吉濤村長藏) 第四册 太原堂族譜 帶清收錄 統元年已西歲秋月吉日立 溫姓族譜 (沙頭角担水坑村溫華恩村長) 黃氏族譜 光緒十四年辛卯歲鈔(沙頭角山咀村黃來福先生) [帖式] (萬屋邊村鍾國材先生藏) [又帖式] (萬屋邊村鍾國材先生藏) [亞媽衛村獎歌] (鹿頸陳永海藏) 第五册 始平馮氏世代家譜傳流 光緒十二年丙戍歲孟夏梅月立 [枓學村馮氏族譜] 民國二十四年寶安縣九龍租界柴灣角半月照潭形鄧族祖墳近狀之報 告 (龍躍頭村公所藏) [ 地契十九張] 第六册 禾坑村族譜 附抄錄前人雜文 (禾坑李濂先生藏) 第七册 報德同神誕册民國拾二年 龍山口 (From Old Account Book kept by Liu Yan-sham, Chairman of Sheung Shui Rural Committee & loaned to me 7/72 [This statement was written by Dr. J. Hayes]) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 203 第二冊 [伏以拜請 + + + ] Copied from a reprint made for James Hayes by a priest who practised from a room in a housing estate in Tsuen Wan 茅山來源 張法能傳 張子興書] 迎聖科 道安堂宣統貳年吉立 Copied by Prof. Tanaka Issei at the Lam Tsuen ta-tsiu 1981 第三册 洪聖廟 宰西年 月號 (洪聖廟釋氏借出之大悲懺[孔嶺村]1982年7月20日) 仙巷庵 蓮花經 (仙悲庵藏書) 早晚課誦 蓮花經 (孔嶺洪聖廟釋氏借出 一九八二年七月二十日) 第四册 調朝書 民國十四年抄 林道常置 (林培先生藏 元宵洪朝文獻) 晋今洒口神水蕩穢天尊...This is a text that the naam-mo priest 陳九先生 used in the 襬 斗 ceremony at the ta-tsiu in Lam Tsuen on 1/12/81 引福堂蓮惜 This is a text that the naam-mo priest Mr. 陳九 used in the ji ceremony in the Lam Tsuen ta-tsiu on 1/ 12/81. I was told afterwards that the original belongs to Mr. 謝貴 北斗經 引福堂 深圳文獻: 第一册 (以下各目皆為向西張子英先生藏) 西溪家乘 扯年五月重修 廣東城西湖街張瑞元堂鐫 張氏述善堂藏版 (Mr. Cheung said this was presented to him by an American scholar, but confirmed this is their genealogy) 契尼 光緒十六年 稅契 民國十九年 第二冊 羅湖袁氏家譜 上卷 ·中華民國八年歲次乙未孟秋重鐫 (Copied through kindness of Dr. James Hayes) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 204 九龍文獻: 第一册 PETER YEUNG 吳氏家乘 民國廿六年丁丑裔孫煥琪子美畧述 英琪子齡重修 (衙前圍村吳揚森先生藏) 吳氏族譜 翟家族部庚午年立 第二册 關於九龍城衙前圍立村之事跡 (衙前圍村李富村長藏) 論延陵堂來歷詩一首 (沙莆村的吳世明先生傳 現住鳳凰新村) [吳氏族譜] 吳氏重修族譜 民國七年戊午歲孟秋月吉日 廣東第五軍副司令裔孫鏡如敬送 新界文獻補編: [厦村鄧氏族譜] (Genealogy of the Tang lineage at Ha Tsuen) [歌書,廖潤琛藏] (Song book, held by Mr. Liu Yun Sam, J.P., Sheung Shui, collected by Chan Wing Hoi) 幼學信札 廖康雞 (Letter formats, held by Mr. Liu Yun Sam, J.P., Sheung Shui) [對聯集錄] (Village handbook, held by Mr. Liu Yun Sam, J.P., Sheung Shui) [西貢地契,許舒收集] (Land documents collected by James Hayes from Sai Kung) 廿元月會會友芳名 孔聖誕派肉部 辛巳(一九四一年)八月初八立 (元朗新墟合益公司辦事處藏) 厦村鄉十年例醮功德部 民國六十三年歲次甲寅二月吉立 廈村鄉鄧鈞澤先生借出 (Handbook used in the Ha Tsuen ta-tsiu, copied by Segawa from manuscript, winter 1984 [Masahisa Segawa, 瀨川昌久]) [丙崗侯氏族譜] (Genealogy of the Hau lineage at Ping Kong; copied by Lee Lai Mui from manuscript held by a member of the village) (Deeds of Mr. 新界白沙澳海下村翁朝先生地契與地契目錄 Yung Sz-chiu of Pak Sha O Ha Yeung Village New Territories with index) 迎聖科禁垴科 (Two religious texts used in the Lung Yeuk Tau ta-tsiu in winter 1983, copied by David Faure) 魷魚灣村地契 (Land deeds from Yau Yu Wan given to James Hayes) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x Dear Sir, I have examined the fragment of ch. 494 of the Ta pan-jo po-lo-mi-to ching (Maha-prajna-paramita sutra) which you forwarded to Mr. Gardner on behalf of Mr. Nixon. It is undoubtedly a genuine document from the Tunhuang monastic library. I was extremely fortunate that Mr. Dzo Ching-ch'uan, who has worked on these manuscripts in Paris, came to London the other day, and was kind enough to give a second opinion. He considers that it is either 8th or 9th century, but certainly no later. The top and bottom have been trimmed, but it is impossible to say whether in modern times or not. Some of our documents were trimmed before the 10th century. The Tibetan document we consider to be later, from the type of paper, but we are not able to comment on the text. I have taken the roll personally to the India Office Library, and they will write separately. The fundamental work on paper, calligraphic style, dating sequences, etc., has yet to be done. Among the Tunhuang documents scattered throughout the world there are several hundred of the same title as the Chinese fragment. This one is average to good, with a greater variation of characters in the column than is usual. Yours Sincerely, sgd. (E.D. Grinstead) Assistant Keeper The scroll is described in our catalogue as follows: 大般若經 大般若波羅蜜多經卷第四百九十四第三分善現品 第三之十三三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯 1 44×24公分 卷軸 敦煌殘卷共 26 行行17字 The text of the scroll is reproduced in Plate 14. James Hayes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir Edward Youde G.C.M.G., M.B.E., Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1986 President: J.W. Hayes, I.S.O., M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Secretary: Anita Wilson, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editors: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: Peter Yeung, B.A., M.L.S. Councillors: Julian Davey, M.A. (Cantab.), M.A. (London) Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Y.W. Lau, B.A., Ph.D. D.H. Liu Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil. A.K.K. Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT HON. TREASURER'S REPORT HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ARTICLES: vii xiv xvi Immigrant and social ethos: Hong Kong in the nineteen-eighties Helen F. Siu.. 1 John Joseph Francis, citizen of Hong Kong, a biographical note-Walter Greenwood. 17 Henry Thomas Jackman (1874-1928), engineering, Public Works Department, Hong Kong — Stephen Selby The Hong Kong Botanical Gardens, a historical overview D.A. Griffiths and S.P. Lau 46 55 Observations at the Jiu festival of Shek O and Tai Long Wan, 1986 - Chan Wing-Hoi 78 The Minorities of southern China: a general view Nicholas Tapp 102 Hainan Island, a brief historical sketch D.L. Michalk. — 115 REPRINT: A sense of history (Part I) — Carl Smith. 144 NOTES AND QUERIES: More about the Kowloon Walled City — Anthony K.K. Siu 265 Lantern Festival, Cheung Chau, 10th February 1971 James Hayes.. 267 Visit to the Mitsukoshi Department Store, Muromachi, Tokyo, Japan, June 1986 — James Hayes. 270 V ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 6 October, 1986: 19 January, 1987: 17 February 1987; 16 March 1987: 31 March (still to come): Dr. Betty Wei Peh T'i "Treasures from an Attic in Pennsylvania: Letters from the Chinese Countryside 1901-6" David Lung "Vernacular Houses in Fujian and Guangdong" Dr. Ronald Skeldon "Ladakh: Land, Peoples and Plays" Anthony Lawrence "The Long March: The Story of a Joint Venture" Mr. Geoffrey Emerson "Yankee on the Yangtse" Besides the lectures, eight local visits were made during the year to places of interest. They comprised the following: 9 and 30 August, 1986: Visits to the Museum of Teaware and Hong Kong's 1941 Underground Military headquarters David Pannach, Robyn McLean and James Hayes 25 October, 1986: Ta Chiu at Kat O island 9 November, 1986: James Hayes Walk from the Peak to Kennedy Town to view the fortifications which guarded the Western approaches to Hong Kong Phillip Bruce 29 November, 1986: Ta Chiu at Tuen Mun James Hayes 6 December, 1986: Fung Ping Shan Museum Dr. Michael Lau viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 20 December, 1986: Mai Po and Lau Fau Shan Dr. Richard 14 March, 1987: Irving Shing Mun Arboretum and Tai Po Kau Forest Reserve James Hayes Besides the local visits, there were two weekend tours to the city of Foshan in Guangdong organized and conducted by Dr. David Faure of our Council. The May 1986 visit was so popular that it was repeated in December. Arrangements were also made during the year for members to participate in a Bhutan tour for early 1987 arranged by Mrs. Peggy Craig, one of our members and a well-known travel specialist. The Council noted the high quality of the programmes and wishes to express its deep appreciation to the lecturers, visit and tour leaders. Special thanks go to Elizabeth Sinn, Chairman of the Programme Sub-committee, and her helpers for such a satisfactory outcome. The Council also wishes to thank the Curator, Hong Kong Museum of History, Kowloon Park, for the regular use of its well-equipped lecture hall, and the assistance of his staff there. The Council continue to discuss venues for lectures. Mindful of the fact that not everyone finds it easy or, dare I say natural to go to lectures at the Museum of History at Kowloon Park, Tsimshatsui, we try to find venues on Hong Kong Island. Some suitable places have been suggested, but in most cases require more advance booking than we are usually able to contrive. However, we will try to improve on the position. Administration During the year, we benefitted from the conscientious, thoughtful and strong support given by our new Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Rukhshana Daroowala who worked closely with the Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Robyn McLean. It was therefore a double blow when, unexpectedly, Mrs. Daroowala had to leave Hong Kong early in 1987 when her banker husband was posted to Canada, and at more or less the same time Robyn McLean left Hong Kong to return to Australia after fourteen years' residence, the last six of ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 in Beijing. Sir Edward was respected by all for his great capabilities, his good manners and his deep concern for Hong Kong. Amidst overwhelmingly heavy duties he still managed to take a genuine interest in our Society. This was most clearly demonstrated by his attendance with Lady Youde at the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Branch in November 1985. We much regret his passing. The President attended the memorial service, together with our Hon. Secretary Ms. Robyn MacLean, on that occasion representing the Society. Concluding Remarks After this round up of our events and concerns during the past year I would like to thank the Council and our members for their support and interest. The Council's conscientiousness and hard work is beyond question. Members' interest too, is plainly evident at lectures, visits and tours. In this connection I wish to mention the support given by one of our oldest members, Mr. Willie Howard, who though now unable on account of advanced years to come out on most tours, sends me kind letters of encouragement and goodwill. On this happy note, I would like to end this year's report. 20 March, 1987 xiii James Hayes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1986-1987 The Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Besides gifts from Dr. Hayes, the Library has received gifts from Mr. David Liu, Mrs. Valerie Garrett, and Mrs. M.L. Winkler. Mr. Walter Greenwood has also donated to the Library his article in manuscript entitled "John Joseph Francis, citizen of Hong Kong: a biographical note". The Council is considering including it in the next issue of our Journal. Nearly all the books in the last two years have been catalogued and shelved in the Kowloon Central Library. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian on request. The Library has donated two items of its duplicates to the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library, and made an offer of permanent loan of McMullen Bills of Lading to the University of Hong Kong Libraries. Regarding the usage of the Society Library, Mrs. Barbara Luk, the Chief Librarian of the Urban Council Public Libraries wrote: "As at 28.2.87, there were 18 requests for information, 17 of which were from members of the Society. A total of 37 books were consulted during the year." To maximize the use of the Library, Dr. Hayes has sent the Catalogue of the Library to about twenty librarians, with his covering letter giving a brief description of the Library. The Kowloon Central Library is planning to have an exhibition of books from our Collection in the coming September to make the general public more aware of the Library. The Council is looking into the question of insurance for books in the Society Library. March 1987 xvi Peter Yeung Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 15 NOTES This idea was put forth to me by Professor Wang Sung-hsing of Chubu University. 1 See "Xianggang mianlin renkou baozha" (Hong Kong faces population explosion), by Zhou Yongxin, Qishi Niandai (November) 1980: 23-26. 2 See "The migration of Shanghainese entrepreneurs to Hong Kong" by Siu-lun Wong, in From Village to City, ed. by David Faure, James Hayes, Alan Birch, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984: 206-227. 4 This perception is based on a survey of local newspapers such as Huaqiao Ribao, Ming Bao, Xingdao Ribao; public media such as programmes in the two Chinese television channels in Hong Kong; journals such as Qishi Niandai and Baisheng. “Xin Yimin” (Recent Immigrants) was conducted and published in 1982. They obtained valid responses from 510 Hong Kong citizens and 203 recent immigrants. The survey concluded that recent immigrants were subjected to prejudice. 6 See Li Ming-kun “Neidi laike de shehui gongneng" (The social functions of aliens from the mainland), Qishi Niandai 1980 (December): 59-60; He Li, “Luyinzhe chengle erdeng gongmin” (Green stamp aliens have become second-class citizens?) Qishi Niandai (March) 1983: 59-60; “Xin Yimin" (Recent Immigrants) is a survey conducted by the Student Association of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University Social Work Team, and the Social Service Group of the New Asia Students Association; Zhou Yongxin, op. cit. 7 See S.K. Lau, Society and Politics in Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 1982: 176. 8 See Lau 1982: 175, who quoted from an article by William Liu, “Family interaction among local and refugee Chinese families in Hong Kong.” Journal of Marriage and the Family (1966) 28, 3 (August): 314-23. 9 See a speech by Li Ming-kun, “Jieji zhengzhi yu Xianggang qiantu” (Class politics and the future of Hong Kong) published in Qishi Niandai 1981 (November) 142: 70-71. 10 In a comment on the government budget of 1981-82, Gelin pointed out that the real wage of 900,000 manufacturing workers in Hong Kong did not increase for the previous two years. Instead of blaming the decline of wages on Chinese immigrants, he suggested that high rent, and high interests coupled with unsteady overseas market caused small-scale enterprises to go under at a high rate. He pointed to the polarizing trend as the real cause for alarm. See “Gongren gongzhi xiajiang yu caizheng yuxuanan” (The decrease in real wages and the government budget) by Gelin, Qishi Niandai (1981 (April) 135: 74-75. 11 See “Zhengfu jieru jingji de maodun” (The contradiction of government intervention in the economy) by Suqi, Qishi Niandai 1981 (April), 135: 71-72. It analyzes the budget plans of the Hong Kong government for the year 1981-82 to show its increased role in the economy. 12 See “Shehui fuwu kaizhi zugou liaoma?" (Are there adequate social service expenditures?) by Zhou Yongxin, Qishi Niandai 1981 (April), 135: 72-74. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 269 tions, was the senior military official at Kowloon City. The scroll has been kept by a member of the Wong Wai Chak Tong (**) of Cheung Chau, who has looked after the shrine for the past twenty years or more. He had it from the previous keeper in return for keeping the scroll and other objects — there is a table inscribed lo tang pang and for erecting the matshed. He gets all the oil and incense money given by worshippers during the three days of the first month in the lunar year that the matshed is in position. It is not put up at any other time. A fuller account, with an illustration of the scroll, is at pp 311-318 of the RAS Journal, Vol 15 (1975). The street associations are interesting. The Pak She Association has office premises, from which it provides services and amenities for residents of the street. It takes part in the procession (chut wui i) for the Bun Festival, the major religious activity of the year in which all the leading associations take part. It also has a recognised annual part in the organisation of the festival. As stated above, the Chung Hing group has no premises, but uses the Tin Hau Temple (AGB) in that street for its meetings. It takes an annual part in the chut wui for the Bun Festival, and forms part of the organizing group like the Pak She Association. The Tai San Street people have no premises and take no part in the procession but have this curious connection with the lo tang pang. The Hing Lung Street people have association premises put up about 1960 when I was D.O. on a piece of vacant ground. They are connected with the procession for the Bun Festival but not the organisation of the festival itself. Some of the associations celebrate the lantern festival on other days during this period, probably because of the difficulties in securing accommodation in the few restaurants large enough to take the numbers of people involved. I was told that the dates do not vary and have been followed for many years. Hong Kong, 1987 NOTES James Hayes The day of my visit was also the 15th day of the lunar new year (hsin-hai year), the proper date for celebrating the Feast of Lanterns. For information on this festival see Juliet Bredon and Igor Mitrophanow's The Moon Year, A Record of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 271 counter to one side of the entrance hall. We were not allowed to enter until the opening ceremony at 10 sharp, when a male executive came out, looked at the "opening hours" signboard outside the entrance, and then placed himself in the centre, flanked by the two girls. Together, they bowed us into the building. Much more was in store for us. As usual, all the employees, male and female, and there were very many of them, standing in their sections. Being among the first customers, we received many bows and gracious words of welcome. Similarly, at each escalator level, more floor staff together with executives waited to receive us as we ascended to the first and second floors. Meanwhile, an organ began to play. First (presumably) came the Japanese national anthem and (perhaps) the Company's own song, and then a selection of “vintage” Western songs of the type popular before the Second World War. Advancing to the balcony, and looking down, I was astounded to see a large assembly hall at ground level, with a huge multi-coloured wooden religious carving in the centre and a large painting (in fact, two, as it was paralleled by another on the opposite wall, hidden from my view). The organist was there, placed high up behind the carving. Looking up, I saw the coloured glass roof of the building high above me and each succeeding upper floor. The whole, being old and opulent, together with the ceremonial and the music and the art works, caused a very acute awareness of time and place, so that I felt the occasion deeply. Indeed, I cannot recall being so affected in recent years. Upon descending to the hall — and cursing myself for having told Mabel not to bring the camera as I thought it unnecessary and just something more to carry — we found that the carving and the paintings had been specially commissioned about the years 1906-08, which probably dates the building to that period. What a pity not to have all this on film! Hong Kong, June 1986 James Hayes End note: Mitsukoshi is the department store chain of the famous Mitsui concern which began the drapery side of its business in Edo (Tokyo) in the early 17th century. See Charles J. Dunn, Everyday Life in Traditional Japan (Tokyo, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1972), pp. 114-121. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 272 NOTES AND QUERIES that one of these is an earlier version, including the annual accounts for only 1911 to 1913. A photocopy of this one was given to James Hayes by the Chairman of the Sheung Shui Rural Committee in 1972, and Dr. Hayes kindly made it available to the Oral History Project at the Chinese University. It is now incorporated into the volumes on Sheung Shui in the Project's Historical Literature of the New Territories. The other copy is held by the British Library, and includes the annual accounts from 1923 to 1960. The British Library also holds the only copy of the accounts of the New Alliance, on the cover of which is written: Temple celebration of the New Alliance, opened on the 1st of the Sixth Month in the 1st year of Hsüan-t'ung, Lung Yeuk Tau copy (新約會神誕,宣統元年歲次己酉六月初一日✰✰✰). It includes the annual accounts from 1906. Both copies held by the British Library are originals, not photocopies. According to these account books, member villages held shares in these alliances, managed the communal property by annual rotation among the shares, and participated in the annual sacrifices that were paid for from income derived from the communal property. The Old Alliance was made up of four shares and the New Alliance of six. The four villages of the Hau (侯) lineage (Kam Tsin, Ping Kong, Ho Sheung Heung, Yin Kong) together held one share in the Old Alliance, and so did the Liu (廖) lineage of Sheung Shui, the Wan Shing T'ong (雲升堂) of Sheung Shui (a sub-lineage trust of the Liu lineage), and the Tang (鄧) lineage of Lung Shaan, i.e. Lung Yeuk Tau. According to oral tradition in Sheung Shui, the Wan Shing T'ong bought its share from the Man (文) lineage. This is corroborated by an undated document entitled, "Eulogy of the four surnames of Hau, Liu, Tang and Man on the foundation of the Po Tak Temple”(侯、廖、鄧、文四姓立報德祠頌詞) published in a recent commemorative volume (Liu Yun-sham, Commemorative Volume on the History of the Venerable Chau and Wong 廖潤深,周王二公史蹟紀念專輯 Hong Kong, 1982, p. 13). We have not seen the original of this document, but its title suggests that it was written for the Old Alliance at a time before the Man lineage sold its share to the Wan Shing T'ong. In the New Alliance, the four Hau villages, Sheung Shui, Lung ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Editorial Group: David Faure, P.H. Hase, Wei Peh T'i and James Hayes Printed in 1990 Obtainable from booksellers or direct from the Hon. Librarian, The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, P.O. Box 3864 Hong Kong. Printed by Yee Tin Tong Printing Press Ltd. ii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Wilson, K.C.M.G. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1987 President: J.W. Hayes, I.S.O., M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. Hon. Secretary: Anita Wilson, M.A. Hon. Treasurer: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Hon. Editors: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: Peter Yeung, B.A., M.L.S. Councillors: Phillip Bruce Julian Davey, M.A. (Cantab.), M.A. (London) Hugh Gibb, M.A. Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Y.W. Lau, B.A., Ph.D. D.H. Liu Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. A.K.K. Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT HON. TREASURER'S REPORT HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT OBITUARY: K. M. A. BARNETT TRANSACTIONS: Jean Chesneaux, China in the Eyes of the French Intellectuals Elizabeth Sinn, Kowloon Walled City: Its Origin and Early History ARTICLES: Anthony Sweeting, A Middleman for All Seasons: Snapshots of the Significance of Mok Man Cheung and His English Made Easy Lars Ragvald and Graeme Lang, Confused Gods: Huang Daxian (Wong Tai Sin) and Huang Yeren at Mt. Luofu Graeme Lang and Lars Ragvald, Official and Oral Traditions About Hong Kong's Newest God David W. Mahoney, The British (Protestant) Cemetery at San Pedro, Makati, Manila, Philippines Valery M. Garrett, A Hoklo Wedding Carl Smith, A Sense of History (Part II) The Hong Kong History Project NOTES AND QUERIES: Anthony K. K. Siu, Tam Kung: His Legend and Worship The Cannon in the Kowloon Walled City James Hayes, Hong Kong's Own Boat People Visit to the Iwataya Department Store, Fukuoka, Japan Notes on Temples and Shrines, Hong Kong Island BOOK REVIEWS vii xiii xv 1 11 30 46 74 93 101 112 117 254 278 279 280 283 285 292 Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 June 24 July 15 Prof. Alan Griffiths "Victorian Flower Power' Mr. Phillip Bruce "The Bogue Forts' September 29 Dr. Elizabeth Sinn 'Kowloon Walled City' (repeat) October 17 Rev. Carl Smith "History of the Wanchai District' October 28 Mr. Mitya New 'Expatriates in Pre-Revolutionary China' November 27 Dr. Betty Wei Peh-T'i 'Shanghai: Crucible of Modern China' February 8 Ms. Veronica Pearson 'Health and Welfare in Modern China' February 27 Prof. Jean Chesneaux 'China in the eyes of French intellectuals' Local tours were made to the following places of interest: Wanchai and the Ruttonjee Sanitorium (7 November, led by Rev. Carl Smith and Dr. Elizabeth Sinn), Stonecutters Island (3 December, led by Phillip Bruce), the Hong Kong Bank Picture Collection (18 December, led by Mrs. Anita Wilson), Tai Po and Island House (9 January, led by Dr. Patrick Hase) and Sam Tung Uk Museum and Tin Hau Temple in Tsuen Wan (10 February, led by Dr. James Hayes). Tours outside Hong Kong included two visits to Shekou, Humen and the Bogue Forts on 18/19 and 25/26 July organised and led by Phillip Bruce, and an eight-day visit to the Yangtse River Gorges starting 29 August led by Dr. Michael Lau. You will, I am sure, agree that these activities have given a great deal of pleasure to members of the Society. Our thanks and appre- viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 vertise its existence and value for students and researchers, the Urban Council mounted an exhibition of important books from the collection at the Library between 18 November and 1 December. Two talks were given during the exhibition; one in Cantonese on the RAS Library by our Hon. Librarian, Mr. Peter Yeung and one by myself, in English, on the RAS in Hong Kong and Shanghai 1845-1987. Concluding Remarks I have left one major concern to the end. Our greatly increased membership is a source of gratification; for its own sake and because it reflects much effort. However, this great increase does bring one factor into sharp focus. Whereas at this time last year one-fifth of the Society's membership was Chinese, the new members are almost all European, considerably reducing that percentage thereby. This is not the way we ought to be going. The future of the Society requires that, whilst maintaining the English-speaking basis for our literary work, we should move towards recruiting more Chinese and other local members from the professional, managerial and academic sectors, having more Chinese councillors and office bearers, and using Chinese language alongside English as far as may be practicable in our programme activities. We have a balance on Council at present, and in my view this should be maintained and extended. The study of Asia is our heritage and task, as Professor Drake said in his inaugural lecture to our Society in 1960. To continue to play this role in Hong Kong after 1997 the Hong Kong Branch must ensure that it is firmly rooted in Hong Kong society. The Council endorsed this view at its last meeting, when considering our review, and requested me to form a working group to look carefully into this important matter. Finally, I wish to thank my colleagues on the Council, and those members of the Society who have helped during the past year, for their much appreciated support and encouragement. 11 March 1988 James Hayes President xii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 # HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT The Society Library has acquired in total 102 valuable titles through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Among them, 84 titles were donated by Dr. Hayes and 18 titles were purchased for the Library. Dr. Hayes has also kindly lent his set of Hong Kong Naturalist to the Library for photocopying to complete our gaps. An exhibition entitled Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was jointly presented by the Society and the Urban Council Public Libraries in the Kowloon Central Library in the period between 18 November and 1 December 1987. Two talks on the history of the Society and the Collection were delivered by Dr. J. Hayes and Mr. P. Yeung respectively. Statistics show that there is an increase of the usage of the Library. As at 29 February 1988, there were 44 requests (compared with 17 last year) for information. A total of 100 volumes (37 last year) of books were consulted. Seventeen volumes of books were lent out for home use by Society members. March 1988 XV Peter Yeung Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 OBITUARY: K. M. A. BARNETT, O.B.E. Three contributions to the memory of a remarkable man, Fellow of the RAS of Great Britain and Ireland (1949) and a founding member of the Hong Kong Branch: from James Hayes, Derek Davies, Solomon Bard. Three weeks ago one of the most distinguished retired members of the Civil Service passed away in England. Mr. K. M. A. Barnett's death was noted in the South China Morning Post on 30 October 1987. A factual account of his services was provided, beginning with his posting here as a young Cadet Officer in 1932 and ending 37 years later with his retirement from Hong Kong, but with a further 10 years' service for the United Nations Organisation in Malawi and Bangladesh on duties connected with the census. It is difficult to do justice to this exceptional man. Few friends of his own or a later generation could claim to have covered quite the same ground, or in the same way. For this reason, letters of appreciation have to come from several persons, and not from one pen alone. Dr. Bard's letter printed on 20 November is a case in point, (see pp. 8-10 below). As a Hong Kong civil servant his greatest achievement was probably the 1961 Census, the first for nearly thirty years. He established the office (the present Census and Statistics Department) and was its guiding genius. The work suited him to a “T”, for he was able to bring to its organisation and subsequent reporting, all the knowledge, experience and intellectual qualities that make it a lasting and major landmark in the history of Hong Kong's post-war development. Each segment of the land and sea population, by origin and occupation, each type of dwelling place (and they were legion in those hard times), education, marriage and much else was covered in the 3 volume report, and he personally wrote the manuals for the field staff and supervisors. He conducted further investigatory work, including the 1966 By-census, before retirement in 1969. My own association with Ken Barnett stemmed from our being colleagues in the Administrative Grade of the Civil Service, and from shared interests. He was District Commissioner, New Territories when I was posted to the District Office (South) in 1957, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 to go to supper and talk in less unusual surroundings. I hope I have communicated the main characteristics of the man: his great knowledge and capabilities, his friendliness and helpfulness, and his delight in life from which more and more as he grew older, he derived his serenity, compassion and wit. 25th November, 1987 JAMES HAYES I have remarked before on the propensity of the Hongkong bureaucracy to lose, deliberately or otherwise, the services of its best and brightest. One such was Kenneth Barnett who died suddenly in October while happily playing with his grandchildren. He was 76. He had joined the Hongkong civil service in 1933, fought the Japanese as a volunteer and spent the rest of the war in prison camp. He had left the Hongkong Government as Commissioner of Census and Statistics at the age of 58. He was not the sort of man to take up a lucrative post locally where his years of public service could be profitably exploited by his new employers (as is the lamentable fashion these days); Barnett went to work for the United Nations as a demographer in Bangladesh and then Malawi. Barnett had one of those impressive brains somewhere up in the upper echelons of IQs. He was master of written and spoken Chinese in many dialects, including some of the more obscure tongues, and of a dozen other languages — each of which he was apparently able to absorb within a few months. He was an expert calligrapher and an authority on Chinese history. He was the sort of man who polished cryptic crosswords off in 10 minutes, played chess in his head, littered his letters with obscure Greek and Latin quotations (which he generously assumed any educated person could understand), was an amateur archaeologist and anthropologist of note, and wrote poetry (I have quoted a couple in these columns most recently on 30 April, in which he likened the exoskeletons of Hongkong's buildings to a coral reef). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 30 KOWLOON WALLED CITY: ITS ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY ELIZABETH SINN The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong is one of history's great anomalies. Until recently, it was a place over which two governments claimed jurisdiction but with neither actively administering it; anarchy reigned while secret societies presided. Above the maze of dark filthy narrow alleys with open drains hovered high-rise apartment buildings, constructed with neither respect nor reference to Hong Kong's building ordinances. Drug pedlars, addicts, pimps and prostitutes operated openly in this favoured hideout for criminals. Small factories, some supplying food for the rest of the territory, proliferated beyond the prying eye of factory and sanitary inspectors. For many years it did not have any water supply. Dentists and doctors unable to register with the Hong Kong government served the poor while lining their own pockets and upholding their professional dignity. Outsiders were immediately recognized and suspiciously watched. The Kowloon Walled City, in fact, was a world unto its own. It has always aroused curiosity, and fear, and few dared venture inside. Since the announcement in January, 1987 of its demolition under the auspices of both the British and Chinese governments, interest has multiplied. Hardly a day passes now without some group of visitors trooping down the alleys hoping to see this unique physical, legal, historical and social edifice before it is gone forever. But, in a way, the City remains an enigma. This paper attempts to unveil some of the mystery by tracing the origin of the historical anomaly and revealing its pre-War development and the unusual role it played in the history of the region. The City's site at the northeastern corner of Kowloon peninsula was first fortified in 1668 when a signal station was established. About 1810, a small — and according to one account, “miserable” Dr. Sinn is Resources Officer at the History Department, University of Hong Kong. Her book on the history of the Tung Wah Hospital will appear shortly. Author's note: I am grateful to Mrs. Eunice Price, Mr. Liang Tao and Dr. James Hayes for drawing my attention to many interesting sources. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 42 NOTES Anthony K.K. Siu, "The Kowloon Walled City”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, (hereafter, JHKBRAS) vol 20 (1980) 139-140; his Chiu-lung ch'eng shih lun-chi ” (“Studies on the Kowloon Walled City") (Hong Kong: Hin Chiu Institute, 1987) p. 27. It was called miserable by the Rev. Krone in his “A Notice of the Sanon District” China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Transactions 6 (1859) 71-105, reprinted in the JHKBRAS 7 (1967) 104-137, 132. 2 Chou-pan i-wu shih-mo (The complete account of the management of barbarian affairs) 260 ch'uan (Photographic copy of original compilation, Hong Kong, 1964), ch'uan 70: 18b-19b. The hsun-chien originally administered 496 villages in the county; with the cession of Hong Kong Island, 5 were taken out of his hands, and in 1860, another 12 were lost with the cession of the Kowloon Peninsula. Thus by 1898, he was only responsible for 479. See Siu, Chiu-lung ch'eng, pp. 16-20. 3 ibid., p. 28. 4 Chou-pan i-wu shih-mo, ch'uan 76: 3a-4a. 5 J.H.S. Lockhart, [Report on the New Territory], enclosed in Lockhart to Chamberlain, October 8, 1898 in Great Britain. Colonial Office. Original Correspondence (Series 129) (hereafter CO129)/289; p. 74. According to a later account, however, the wall was about 23 English feet high, and the width at the top between approximately 5.8 feet and 11.75 feet. See Chiang-shan ku-jen LA, “Hsiang-kang hsin-chieh feng-t'u ming-sheng ta-kuan" (A panorama of local customs and famous places in Hong Kong and the New Territories) part 104. These articles appeared in the Hua-chiao jih-pao between 1935-36, and are collected in an album deposited at the University of Hong Kong Library. Based on observations, these articles are an important source of geographical and historical information of places in the territory. However, it seems that Lockhart, who had been commissioned to reconnoitre the newly leased territory, might have gone to greater lengths to obtain accurate measurements. 6 Another detailed observation of the wall and guard houses was made by Walter Schofield in 1928, and his notes are reproduced in JHKBRAS 9 (1969) 154–156. 7 Chiang-shan ku-jen, “feng-t'u”, part 104. 8 Lockhart, p. 75. 9 Lockhart, p. 75. 10 Chiang-shan ku-jen, “feng-t'u”, parts 109-110. 11 See the inscription recorded in David Faure, Bernard Luk and Alice Ng Lun Ngai-ha ed. Hsiang-kang pei-ming hui-pien (Historical inscriptions of Hong Kong) 3 volumes. (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1986) vol. 1, p. 101, James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1977 (Hamden, Connecticut, 1977) pp. 167-168. The building was partially demolished in the early 1980s, and a high-rise apartment building was built over it. At the moment (1988), the frame of the entrance with the original couplet is still in place, and an altar, said to be from the school, still stands on the ground floor. 12 Hsun-huan jih-pao June 13, 1883. 13 Hayes, p. 168; Chiang-shan ku-jen, "feng-t'u”, part 107. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 14 Ibid., part 106. 15 Ibid., part 105. 43 16 Lockhart, p. 77; Hayes, p. 164. 17 13 For the Kowloon Street and its kaifong, see ibid., pp. 171-173. 18 See ibid., pp. 168-171; also Chiu-lung Luo-shan-t’ang pai-nien shih-shih HACKETT (One hundred years of the Lok Sin Tong) (Hong Kong, the lang, [1980]). 19 Peter Wesley-Smith, Unequal Treaty 1898-1997 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1980) pp. 19-20; Stanley F. Wright, Hong Kong and the Chinese Customs. China. The Maritime Customs. VI Inspector Series: no. 7 (Shanghai: Statistical Department of the Inspector-General of the Customs 1930), pp. 9-10. “Native” customs offices were handed over to the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs after the signing of the Hong Kong Opium Agreement in 1886. 20 See Faure et. al., vol. 1, p. 166, p. 251. 21 Siu, Chiu-lung ch'eng, p. 37. #1 23 24 25 Bowring to Grey, August 21, 1854, despatch 61: CO129/47. Krone, p. 116. Macdonnell to Buckingham, August 27, 1867, despatch #358: CO129/124. Jarrett, Vincent H.G. "Old Hong Kong”, vol. 2, p. 613. This is a series of articles on the history of Hong Kong taken from the South China Morning Post from June 17, 1933 to April 13, 1935, and re-arranged alphabetically by subject. A Xerox copy of copies typed from the original articles is deposited in four volumes at the University of Hong Kong Library. 26 Bowring to Grey, August 21, 1854, despatch 61. 27 W.J. Norton-Kyshe, The History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong, 2 volumes (Hong Kong: Vetch & Lee, 1971; 1st published 1898) vol. 2, 423–429. Another case occurred in 1896 when a Chinese policeman was shot in Hong Kong. His murderer was arrested in Canton and brought to Kowloon City where he was beheaded. (John Luff, “The Hong Kong Police", China Mail, February 24, 1960). Macdonnell to Kimberley, April 3, 1872, despatch #976: CO129/157. 29 See Faure et. al., vol. 1, pp. 103, 114, 133. 30 The tablet is dated the first year of the Tung-chih reign, i.e. 1862. It is still in very good condition. 31 Newspaper cutting dated May 27, 1886, enclosed in Marsh to Granville, May 31, 1886, despatch #183: CO129/226. 32 3 Hua-tzu jih-pao #711, January 17 and 18, 1896. Daily Press, January 20, 1896. 34 Wesley-Smith, Unequal Treaty, p. 17; The open nature of the gambling was also decried by the Hsun-huan jih-pao, December 17, 1885. 35 Norton-Kyshe, vol. 2, p. 423. 36 In fact gambling houses were re-opened as soon as Chinese officials departed from Kowloon, Blake to Chamberlain, August 18, 1899, in Great Britain, Colonial Office. Confidential Prints Eastern (Series 882) (hereafter CO882)/5, no. 66, p. 340. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 94 associated with the organization after interviewing the surviving founders in the 1960's, and there is no reason to question its veracity. Where, then, did the old lady's account come from? First, it should be noted that few people who visit the temple are even aware of the name of the private organization which has managed the temple for the past 60 years (Chin, et al., 1977:29). Fewer still will have read the temple's history, written in Chinese in glossy brochures which are provided mainly to the members, government officials, and other dignitaries on ceremonial occasions. Hence, it is not surprising that details of the founding of the temple are not widely known even among devotees of the god. How then do worshippers account for the temple's origins? In this particular case, the informant appears to have adopted a miracle story which is not uncommon in the Hong Kong area: the recovery from the sea of a god's statue. The statue of Pak Tai in the temple of Cheung Chau island, near Hong Kong, for instance, was allegedly found by fishermen floating in the sea off Guangdong, and became the object of worship (Savidge, 1977:82), displacing other statues of the god. Another instance has been related by adherents of the Kuan-yin temple near Tai Ping Shan Street on Hong Kong Island, in which the statue of the goddess displayed in the temple was “carved from a block of wood floating in the sea and, according to the local story, giving off mysterious golden rays” (Topley and Hayes, 1966:126). The main icon in the Tin Hau temple at Shek Tong Tsui on Hong Kong Island was also said to have been recovered from the sea (Hayes, 1966:89). This kind of story is superficially similar to the “drifted deities” worshipped by fishermen in the Noto Peninsula area of Japan (Ogura, 1980). Many worshippers in Hong Kong will have heard this kind of story about a god's statue being recovered from the sea. When many years have passed, it is difficult for some people to remember which god's statue was found in the water. One's favourite god may then become the subject of the story. Another case we have discovered suggests that the process of transfer can occur quite rapidly. In 1966, in a paper on temples on Hong Kong Island, Topley related the account given her by a Cantonese lady of the life of the Taoist hermit worshipped in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 95 Hong Kong as Wong Tai Sin. Her informant claimed that One day he was found dead sitting in a Buddhist meditation position at the base of a cliff and covered with earth from a land-slide. When his body was removed it was found to be sweet-smelling and uncorrupt. (Topley and Hayes, 1966:129) This version conflicts sharply with the temple's version of the hermit's life on earth, a version based on classical literary sources. Obviously Topley's Cantonese informant had not had access to the official account. But such unusual details as she related are unlikely to have been fabricated on the spot by the informant herself. Where then did the informant get her version of the story? It was not long before we discovered the probable source: a similar story would have been circulating in Hong Kong in 1966 concerning the monk Yuet Kai, who had died in 1965 at the age of 87 after presiding over a Buddhist temple and pagoda in Sha Tin, New Territories, since the early 1950's. After he died, His body was placed in a sitting position in a square box. It was then buried in the hillside behind his temples, and, after eight months, the body was exhumed. People who were there have recorded that there was hardly any sign of decay, and that the body had a phosphorescent glow. (Savidge, 1977:107) The coincidence of details between the two cases — the individual was buried in a sitting position on [or at the base of] a hillside, and when exhumed his body had not decayed — suggests that the Cantonese lady was transferring a miracle story she had heard about an obscure monk to explain the origins of a famous god who was once an equally obscure hermit. This process of the adoption of a miracle story originating in another context to embellish a narrative or fill gaps in one's knowledge may or may not be deliberate. Doubtless in some cases it results from faulty memory. While these "errors" seldom leave identifiable traces in literary sources, occasionally they can be detected, as for instance in the apparent assimilation of deeds Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 99 REFERENCES Allen, Barbara, and William L. Montell 1981 From Memory to History: Using Oral Sources in Local Historical Research. Nashville: The American Association For State and Local History. Chin, Margaret, et al. 1977 Religion and Organization: A Study of the Temple of Wong Tai Sin. Department of Sociology, Hong Kong University. Day, Clarence Burton 1969 Chinese Peasant Cults. (2nd edition) Taipei: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Co. Hayes, James 1966 "Chinese Temples in the Local Setting". In Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, pp. 86-95. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Lang, Graeme, and Lars Ragvald 1988 "Upward Mobility of a Refugee God: Hong Kong's Huang Daxian”. Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies. vol. 1, 54-87. Loomis, C. Grant 1948 White Magic: An Introduction to the Folklore of Christian Legend. Cambridge, Mass.: The Mediaeval Academy of America. Ogura, Manabu 1980 Drifted Deities in the Noto Peninsula. In Studies in Japanese Folklore, ed. Richard M. Dorson, pp. 133-44. New York: Arno Press. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 100 Rhoads, Edward J. M. 1975 China's Republican Revolution: The Case of Kwangtung, 1885-1913. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Savidge, Joyce 1977 This is Hong Kong: Temples. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government. Sik Sik Yuen 1971 The Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of Wong Tai Sin New Temple, 7 October. Hong Kong: Sik Sik Yuen. 1981 Inauguration Ceremony, Fung Ming Lau and Nine Dragon Wall, 26 November, Hong Kong: Sik Sik Yuen. 1982 The Opening Ceremony of Temple Library, Confucian Hall, and Yee Mut Hall, 9 September. Hong Kong: Sik Sik Yuen. Topley, Marjorie, and James Hayes 1966 "Notes on Temples and Shrines of Tai Ping Shan Street Area". In Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, pp. 123-139. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Wong, Shiu-hon 1979 "The Cult of Chang San-feng”. Journal of Oriental Studies 17:10-53. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 254 THE HONG KONG HISTORY PROJECT This note is based on a taped recording of the meeting of the Society, 22 May 1984, when this subject was discussed by James Hayes, David Faure, and Patrick Hase, with questions and comments from the speakers and the floor. James Hayes This evening, we are going to hear about the "Hong Kong History Project". This aims at rescuing something of the social, economic, and political history of the communities of this area before 1841, and indeed right up to the eve of the modernization of the New Territories in the 1970s. The late Maurice Freedman, who was Professor of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics, and then at Oxford University before his death in 1975, said that until the 1950s, Hong Kong was almost totally neglected by all manner of social scientists. It was regarded as of no importance to scholarship, being viewed as "no more than the railway route into Guangdong". Thereafter, a few mainly overseas scholars, people who were mostly anthropologists engaged on researching doctoral dissertations, came now and then to Hong Kong. This continued, and is going on at the present time. Among the first of them was our member Barbara Ward — unfortunately for us, she died at the beginning of this year — who went to study the boat people of Kau Sai in 1952. She was followed by Hugh Baker and Bob Groves, who came in the early 1960s to work in Sheung Shui and Tai Po Market, and there were one or two others before that. They were the pioneers of the anthropological study of Hong Kong's past and present, and its social history, too. You will note that the researchers mainly came from outside. Neither Chinese nor European staff of the University of Hong Kong were interested in the subject, and it also took some time for people at the Chinese University established in the 1960s to become aware of local history. I want now to say something about my own interest in the subject, how it began, and its relevance for the efforts made later ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 268 time trying to catalogue this library. We have now, all three of us, given you some idea of what we are doing, but although James has been at it for almost 30 years, effectively we are only starting. We are only 3 or 5 people with an interest, with busy jobs and in David's case a heavy teaching and research schedule of his own. None of us can give up more than a fraction of time to studying village life and society. We are therefore doing all this in our spare time, in odds and ends of time, and we just cannot keep up with the information that is coming in. We hear things which we can't take on, however much we want to take them up; and then you find that a couple of years have passed and it is still one of the things that you would like to do; but now it is no longer so easy to do because the person who told you is dead. But when the present generation of villagers who are now 70, or in their late 60's, is dead, the opportunity to research the richness of village life will have gone with it, and it is possible that all that will be left of the work that we are doing because of the lack of staff and the lack of money and the lack of institutional support, will be a great deal of rather half-baked and ill-connected loose information. This is roughly the position that we are in now. To be sure, all of us, I think, have got very strong ideas as to what the society that we are looking at is like, but we would also agree that apart from one or two aspects of it, we are a very long way away from being able actually to prove our case. This is a terrible thing. I'll leave it there for the time being. James Hayes We still have a lot of other things to talk about, as well as exhibitions, publication, and "spin-offs" of various kinds. Let each of us speak for another five minutes to talk about those other aspects. This will take us to 6.45 pm or slightly after then, leaving say 15 minutes for questions, because I think questions are very important. Let me take up my story again, and update it a little. I was very ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 273 person who has really done it is James in his two books, and with a bit of luck we will see more of this in the future. James Hayes I think we had better go over to questions. Who would like to open? (Pause) Patrick How much of the raw information that has been accumulated so far is being studied? Has anybody analysed any of the information, or has this yet to be done? JH - No, I don't think so, apart from David and perhaps Dr. Alice Ng. Do you know of anyone else in the Chinese University who is using it? PH - No. To answer my own question, I think the problem is, it is probably too early, actually. When you are doing this sort of work, you start from a fixed point and work out. I was at one fixed point in Sha Tin because I was District Officer and could put the “squeeze" on people who were reluctant to discuss! There were other fixed points in Sai Kung, and there have been other fixed points elsewhere, but the compact nets around these various fixed points don't link up. There are still lots of blank spaces, like the map of Africa in the 19th Century. This includes almost the whole of the western New Territories. I doubt if we have even dipped our toe in water in more than a tenth of the New Territories yet. If you read James's recent book carefully with this in mind, you will see how patchy the information is on the area; lots from Lantau and Cheung Chau and bits from here and bits from there, and huge blank areas where there is nothing at all. JH That's right, simply because if one is going to do anything, especially if you are a civil servant lucky enough to have a job that takes you to a part of the New Territories, you can only work there. I was never in a position where I could go to work anywhere else. I concentrated on the areas that were accessible to me and where I had contacts. That's the way it has had to be built up. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 282 kon ɔk. Before the tram service was opened in 1904, her family members used to walk there to buy goods, going also to the shops in the Western District of the Island. (She called it by its old name of Ham Yue Lan, or "Salted Fish Dealers”). Before the trams, it was common for little wooden carts pulled by men (and probably women also) to carry goods along the north shore of the Island. The Shau Kei Wan shops catered mostly for boat people, owing to the large number of craft using the anchorage. They included both local and visiting craft. The old lady's purchases were largely of fishing supplies. She particularly recalled buying the traditional dye stuff called shue leung. This was used for dyeing nets, and she remembered the large wooden vats set up beside the shore that were used to immerse the hempen nets in order to restore their strength. Shue leung was also used for dyeing cloth, she said. At this point her son and daughter interposed, saying that their mother had been very competent at making clothes and had made all the family's garments for a long time, after first dyeing the cloth purchased from the shops. In response to questions about the local temples, and her visits there, she said that when young and through her life, she had gone regularly once a year to the Tin Hau Temple at Causeway Bay during the annual festival, adding that there was a Kuan Yin or Goddess of Mercy image there as well. She did not seem much interested in the other temples of the adjacent areas, but did mention that she kept the traditional observances at the little shrine on board the family boat on the 2nd and 16th days of each lunar month (tso-nga #4). Unfortunately, I paid only the one visit. JAMES HAYES ADDENDUM: For a detailed account of Tanka fishermen in a permanent local anchorage, see Section I, “Chinese Fishermen: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 285 the stream, waterfalls and gardens returned. It had been an impressive show, enlivened by the little comedy of the amiable man and the two girls. JAMES HAYES NOTES ON TEMPLES AND SHRINES, HONG KONG ISLAND The 1983 Journal contains my article about urban shrines and temples, written largely from the organizational and managerial aspects. See "Secular Non-Gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organizations in Urban British Hong Kong”, in JHKRBAS 23 (1983), pp. 113-136. The present Note refers to one of the shrines examined in the article, the Earth God shrine at Sheung Fung Lane, Sai Ying Pun at pp. 121-124 therein: and to another in the urban area of Hong Kong Island which was not included. This second shrine is the Pak Kung altar at Peel Street in the Central District, just below the junction of Peel and Staunton Streets. Sheung Fung Lane On 9th February 1974, when serving in the Urban Services Department as Assistant Director of Urban Services (Hong Kong Island) I attended the opening of the celebrations marking the god's birthday which falls in the first lunar month. There was a pailau (M) or ornamental arch at the junction of Queen's Road West with Centre Street. The stage for the customary puppet opera performances, together with its adjacent temporary altar, both made of bamboo, were assembled in a nearby public playground. The whole frontage of the combined stage and shrine constituted another pailau. Ribbons were stretched across the whole frontage, with another ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 291 Finally, as I have mentioned above, the Peel Street shrine was developed by Hoklo speakers living in and around this older part of Central District. This prompts me to add a few more words about them. Hoklo speakers in Hong Kong were, and still are, a distinctive group. I have been friends with a number of them since the mid 1960s, when the caretaker of the block of flats in which we were then living at Mount Austin, who was one of them, introduced me to a growing circle of his fellow countrymen. Others introduced themselves! I was always glad to meet more members of this interesting group of people, whose attachment to their home area and its customs has been of special and abiding interest to me. Many belong to groups centered on new shrines and temples, developed in the manner described above. In fact, my caretaker friend has long been a leader at the Peel Street shrine and has a connection with another Hoklo temple in Sau Mau Ping, in East Kowloon. Others are connected with them in other places, and have spent years in their service. These two accounts are based on notes taken in 1974. Hong Kong, November 1988 JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 299 count given in the book-length study. Personally, being interested in military matters, I would have liked to have had more information on the recruitment, organization and officering of the “Ever Triumphant Army”. If not in this account, where else? It is too shadowy a body for my liking. Nor is there enough about Giquel in the Introduction, and unlike me, many readers may not have the other book to hand for reference. This handicap sometimes applies in reverse, since there are no maps in Transferring Technology, and the useful section in the Diary giving biographical vignettes only appears in that work. Finally, in neither work are we told anything about Giquel's wife and children, and the Giquel family, although the 1864 diary and other papers came from his grand-daughter's home. Notwithstanding these observations, readers will find much of interest in these fascinating works which relate to a man who clearly had much to offer, did his best, and assuredly deserves to be better known and appreciated, especially in China itself. JAMES HAYES Frank Ching, Ancestors, 900 Years in the Life of a Chinese Family. London, Harrap, 1988, pp. 528. Frank Ching is a journalist. He has the journalist's eye for the dramatic and unusual. He knows a good story when he sees one, and how to put it across. These gifts have served him well in his first book, an account of his own family over nearly a millennium. The book comprises a series of studies of eminent persons of the Ching lineage from whom he is directly descended. In such studies, motivated by the desire to get at one's roots, there is always the danger that we shall get hagiography rather than history, but there are few signs of this. The author has set himself high standards. Starting, as he tells us in the prologue, from scratch in as complex and difficult a field as Chinese historiography, it is remarkable that he has achieved such a tour de force. The book is of great and absorbing human interest, perhaps heightened for readers by the fact that there is a direct connection with a living person. It has been assiduously researched, in person and using the best authorities, and is well organized and beautifully written. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 301 I understand that Mr. Ching is contemplating a book about the major families of Hong Kong, descended from successful men who came here in the 19th century with little more than their wits. On the showing of his first historical work, I cannot think of a more suitable person to undertake this task than Mr. Ching, and I hope that, warts and all, he gets all the cooperation and understanding of the requirements of the job from the families concerned. From there, or in the process, he could perhaps take up the true history of families great and small during the years of the Japanese Occupation of the colony, where the same rules apply. The job needs to be done, because of the way in which leading families have shunned the very mention of these years. Shanghai was not the only place where, as Mr. Ching writes (p. 458), the returning authorities looked down on those who had lived under the Japanese as tainted. JAMES HAYES Mind Landscapes: the Paintings of C. C. Wang, by Jerome Silbergeld, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington Press (Seattle and London), 1987. 132 pp. + plates, bibliography, index, US$40.00 (cloth); US$19.95 (paper). C. C. Wang is certainly one of the most intriguing Chinese artists in the later twentieth century. His life chronicles cataclysmic changes many Chinese have endured and his path — artist, collector, connoisseur, businessman and exile was rarely clear. He was called upon to continuously redefine his relationship with China and the West as he travelled, explored and matured. Having been born into a Suzhou family of mandarins in Imperial China in 1907 and having had a traditional Chinese education till the age of 14 assured young Wang the basis for blossoming into a twentieth-century version of the literati. But young Wang longed for a Western-style education, into which he switched at age fourteen and from which he went on to study law in Shanghai at China's distinguished Suzhou Law School. But his art education, which started as he learned to read and write, was carried on simultaneously and ever more seriously. Over time he had many art teachers and, indeed, became a teacher himself at an early age. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q © The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Editorial Group: David Faure, P.H. Hase, Wei Peh T'i and James Hayes Printed in 1990 Obtainable from booksellers or direct from the Hon. Librarian, The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. P.O. Box 3864 Hong Kong. Printed by Gabriele Printing Company Ltd. ii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Wilson, K.C.M.G. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1988 President: J.W. Hayes, I.S.O., M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. Hon. Secretary: Eveline M. Caldwell, M.A., M.B.C.S., F.Coll.P., M.I.E.E. Hon. Treasurer: Robert Nield, F.C.A., F.H.K.S.A. Hon. Editors: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: Peter Yeung, B.A., M.L.S. Councillors: Phillip Bruce Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Y.W. Lau, B.A., Ph.D. Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. A.K.K. Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Anita Wilson, M.A. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT ............. HON. TREASURER'S REPORT HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ARTICLES: • Dian H. Murray, Pirates in the Pearl River Delta ... Dan Waters, A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong • Steven A. Leibo, Not So Calm An Administration: The Anglo-French Occupation of Canton, 1858-1861 Wei Peh T'i, Through Historical Records and Ancient Writings in search of the Giant Panada • Carl T. Smith, The First Child Labour Law in Hong Kong vii xviii xxiii • 1 10 16 • 34 44 Sung Hok-P'ang, Legends and Stories of the New Territories; Tai Po 70 Sung Hok-P'ang, Legends and Stories of the New Territories; Castle Peak 26 76 Sung Hok-P'ang, Ts'in Fuk 86 Violet Mebig Chan Lew, A Sentimental Journey into the Past of the Chan and Jong Families 94 Harold M. Otness, "The One Bright Spot in Shanghai" A History of the Library of the North China Branch of The Royal Asiatic Society NOTES AND QUERIES: • David Faure, The Man the Emperor Decapitated Carl T. Smith, The Archives of the Basel Mission 185 198 203 P. H. Hase, The Lanterns of Chuko Liang O. William Borrell FMS, A Silver Bracelet with an Ancient Greek Coin found in Wewak, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea · 207 212 James Hayes, The Tai Sheung Lo Kwan Temple, Chai Wan 217 • E. W. Wright, The Hongkong Milling Company's Failure 218 P. H. Hase, A Traditional New Territories Latrine James Hayes, A Note on Rice Hullers 222 226 James Hayes, A Glimpse of the Land Settlement at Shek Pik Village, Lantau Island, Hong Kong 228 BOOK REVIEWS 234 · vi Page & ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 27 May 9 30 June 10-13 27 July 11 August 1 October 1 17 November 1 26 December 1 10 January 6 21 February 24 25 March 4 10 17 "Women in China" (lecture: Dr. Maria Jaschok) Cocktail Party for New Members "Britain and Vietnam, 1948-1955" (lecture: Prof. Mary Turnbull) Visit to Foshan (organiser: Dr. Michael Lau) "Fortune & Safe Passage: Chinese Paper Folk Art (Kam Fa)" (lecture: Dr. Janet Lee Scott) 1 "Ancestors" (lecture: Mr. Frank Ching) "Pirates in the Pearl River Delta" (lecture: Prof. Dian Murray) Visit to Fung Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong University (organiser: Dr. Michael Lau) **Introduction to Chinese Musical Instruments" (lecture: Prof. Tong Kin-woon) Chinese Dinner for Members Tour of Central Police Station and Royal Hong Kong Police Museum (organiser: Mr. Geoffrey Roper) "Jade Carving" and "Chinese Costume" (joint lecture: Mrs. Sydney Fung and Mrs. Valery Garrett) Walk around Western District (organiser: Dr. James Hayes and others) "Influenza: the Asian Connection" (lecture: Prof. K. F. Shortridge) Introduction to New Territories Villages (tour: organiser Dr. Patrick Hase) **Shanghai Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong" (lecture: Prof. Wong Siu-lun) Tour of Kowloon Walled City (organiser: Dr. James Hayes) Tour of Country Parks (organisers: Dr. James Hayes and Mr. K. C. Iu) "The Tale of the Norma Bell" (lecture: Mr. John Chetwynd-Chatwin) Annual General Meeting and Dinner We are grateful to all speakers and organisers, and following last year's innovation have continued the practice of inviting them to attend the Annual Dinner as guests of the Society. It is gratifying to report that eleven of them have accepted our invitation this year. In addition, we vili ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q We have also considered the bilingual approach to our work. Obviously, this is desirable in regard to tours and visits, and is more easily applied to them than to talks. This would require back-up services, including skilled staff and equipment that, even by occasional hire and through booking suitable premises, would be beyond our financial means. However, the Ad Hoc Committee will continue to review the situation. As for the future composition and nature of our Society, it may be that it can do more for Hong Kong after 1997 by staying a predominantly English language institution. This would match Hong Kong's continuing role as a financial and commercial centre for the region, and therefore a place that will continue to attract many expatriates (including many English-speaking Chinese). Our Society can assist them all to a better understanding of the place, and provide means of meeting local people outside their workplace, as it does today. Our Patron Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales are the Patron and Vice-Patron of the parent body: and since the re-establishment of the Hong Kong Branch in 1959-60, it has been honoured by the patronage of successive Governors of Hong Kong. The present Governor, Sir David Wilson, is an extremely busy man, and we cannot expect to see much of him in the ordinary way. It is therefore with great pleasure that I can announce that he and Lady Wilson have agreed in principle to attend our next Annual Dinner. The date will be fixed later, to fit in with his busy schedule. Finally, a special word of thanks and appreciation to Anita Wilson who has again made the arrangements for this year's Dinner, and also to Rosemary Lee through whose good offices we are enabled to use this very comfortable Club, with its high catering standards. On this happy and expectant note, I now close this year's report. Hong Kong, 17 March 1989 James Hayes xvi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1988-89 As usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 138 titles in 144 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. It is noted that there is a gradual increase in the number of books in oriental languages. Dr. J. Hayes is still the most generous donor to the Library. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can contribute more to the building up of our collection. An additions list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request. From the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.4.88 to 21.2.89 is noted as follows: 1. No. of requests for information : 76 2. No. of books consulted : 115 3. No. of borrowers (RAS members) : 3 4. No. of books checked out (by RAS members) : 5 For the convenience of the majority of members, the Council would seek the possibility of moving the Library back to Hong Kong Island. March 1989 Peter Yeung Hon. Librarian xxiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 212 agricultural calendar, this falls in September rather than July as in Yunnan. Needham was able to find no references from the north of China to hot air balloons, and this local custom in the New Territories may well be yet one more case of the New Territories villagers sharing with the South Chinese minority tribes a traditional practice not known to the Chinese north of the Kwangtung-Fukien mountains. P. H. Hase + NOTES J. Needham Science and Civilization in China Vol. 4 Part 2, 1965, pp. 595-599 I have not been able to spot any references to hot air balloons in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which contains most of what is told about Chuko Liang. The germ of the connection may be the night signal of seven lamps" which Chuko Liang used at Ch'ishan (Chapter 103, Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Detail in this Note is taken from interviews with Mr. CHÔI Kam-chuen, retired village representative of Tai Wai, Sha Tin, and other Sha Tin and Tuen Mun villagers, and particularly with Mr. LEE, village representative of Wo Hang, Sha Tau Kok, and other Wo Hang villagers. My particular thanks are due to Mr. LEE Man-yip of Wo Hang. + On the importance of those practices, which required the co-operation of village youths, see the author's "Observations at a Village Funeral" in From Village to City ed D. Faure, J. Hayes, A. Birch, Hong Kong 1984, pp. 129-163, espec. pp. 129-137, and also D. Faure The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, Hong Kong, p. 96. Needham op. cit. The Yunnan hot air balloons are quoted by Needham from J. Goullart, The Forgotten Kingdom 1955, p. 178. The Yunnan balloons were fired by bundles of splintered pine twigs, and were able to fly for only a few minutes. The Yunnan balloons. like those in the New Territories, were made of paper pasted over hoops of split bamboo: presumably the hoop was a rim-hoop. A SILVER BRACELET WITH AN ANCIENT GREEK COIN FOUND IN WEWAK, EAST SEPIK PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA A silver bracelet was found in the sand on a raised beach in Wewak, at a depth of approximately 0.5 m in disturbed ground. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 217 that one of the later owners found it worthwhile to set the coin in a bracelet shows that it was a significant symbol of some sort. O. William Borrell FMS THE TAI SHEUNG LO KWAN TEMPLE, CHAI WAN James Hayes led members of the Society on a visit to the Tai Sheung Lo Kwan Temple on 28th July, 1988 during a tour of Chai Wan, and supplied the following information from notes compiled by the Eastern District Office. "The Hong Kong Chiu Chau Overseas Public Welfare Advancement Association (ABE) was first incorporated in 1970 under the Companies Ordinance as a limited company. The main objectives of the Association are to promote welfare and foster friendly relationship and affection among the clansmen of the 'Chiu Chau'. In 1972, the Association erected the Tai Sheung Lo Kwan Temple (大上羅關) at the hill knoll opposite Block 4 of Chai Wan Estate under Crown Land Licence. Henceforth, the temple acts as their premises for recreational activities and other religious ceremonies. All Chiu Chau Clansmen and their blood relatives who are residing in Chai Wan and have attained the age of 21 are eligible to become members of the Association. At present membership of the association is below 1,000. "Most of the worshippers of Tai Sheung Lo Kwan are Chiu Chau living in the Chai Wan Area. Nowadays, there are two main religious celebrations each year, namely, the Yu Lan Festival (盂蘭勝會) Celebration in August and the Tai Sheung Lo Kwan Festival Celebration (大上羅關寶誕) in December. Both of the celebrations are organized by the above-mentioned association with the aid of Chiu Chow "Kaifong" living in the area. Rice packets and other daily necessities are usually distributed to the aged and needy during the Yu Lan Festival Celebration.” ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 228 It reads in translation: + + "There are two sorts of rice huller. One is made of wood. The other sort is made of mud. This sort is made with a round bamboo frame, filled with clean yellow mud. Bamboo teeth are pressed into both the upper and lower hulling faces. The upper frame of the huller has a hollow to receive the grain, the capacity of which is double that of a wooden huller. If the grain is at all damp when it goes into the huller, it will be crushed. After hulling 200 shek (E) of rice, a mud huller will start to fall to pieces. Wooden hullers require strong men to operate them, but mud hullers are suitable for operation by women or young people. The ordinary peasants use mud hullers of this type." I am grateful to Mr. Yau for drawing my attention to this description. James Hayes A GLIMPSE OF THE LAND SETTLEMENT AT SHEK PIK VILLAGE, LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG In the opening years of this century, following the lease of what is now the New Territories of Hong Kong, all land that was being utilised or had been occupied was surveyed by the new government. A Land Court was set up to settle all claims to ownership of land, and any disputes were adjudicated. Finally, a register of ownership for each of the 355 Demarcation Districts was prepared and bound into a folio together with a survey sheet and a Block Crown Lease. Whilst the work of the survey and land court are well-documented in the official reports of the time,1 few materials showing the process in the villages have survived. To my mind, the most interesting of these are the small printed "chits”, known to villagers and government staff alike as Chi Tsai ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q DEZAKETTRE DWUKISME) James Hayes 233 NOTES See the list of printed papers given at pp. 271-272 of my book, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911: Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside (Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, 1977). Perhaps I should add that whilst the progress of the survey and land settlement are described, the records of hearings in cases where disputes could not otherwise be settled are not now available, save for some reports in the local English-language newspapers.1 See Chapter 4, "Shek Pik, A Multilineage Settlement of Cantonese Farmers" in Hayes 1977, op cit, pp. 104-128. I have also used some of the documentary material in my paper Education and Management in Rural South China in the Late Ch'ing at pp. 575-592 of Vol. 1 of Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Asian Studies 1984, (Hong Kong, Asian Research Service, 1985). 1 Although surviving “Chi Tsai” from the New Territories are few in number, they are not rare either. I have come across them here and there in my research, but unfortunately dismissed them as being of no particular interest or value, compared with the Block Crown Leases and actual customary deeds of sale and mortgage. One entry from my Notes, for instance, taken at Chuk Yuen Village, New Kowloon, in July 1963, states, "Her husband's father was Lam Hei (), and she showed me a few chits for lot numbers claimed at the Land Court in 1901. They included one interesting receipt for 13 tax receipts, presumably Ch'ing land tax receipts, which must have been submitted as proofs of ownership at the land settlement following the lease of the New Territories to Great Britain in 1898“. A collection of some dozens of chi tsai from New Kowloon villages is in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong (HKMS104): these will be the subject of a separate note in due course. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 236 names in Mandarin (Wade-Giles). This book is about South China. The whole "feel" of the place and its people is somehow different if it and they masquerade as something else: had Cantonese Romanization been used, the identification of the two villages named at pp. 126-127 need not have been explained, to cite one example. The late K.M.A. Barnett said the same when he reviewed my book, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, in Vol. 24 of this Journal, when I was another victim of the system. Frankly, I should have known better, having even more to buck convention than Dr. Murray! James Hayes Jerry Dennerline, Qian Mu and the World of Seven Mansions, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. When Qian Mu (Ch'ien Mu) returned to the Chinese University some years ago on the occasion of the founding of the series of lectures that bears his name, students flocked to hear him even though few could have understood his Jiangsu dialect that passed for Mandarin. I have always looked upon that incident as being highly symbolic of the call of Chinese nationalism, of the attraction that the unity of Chinese culture held for Chinese students, and of their propensity to accept as wisdom what they could not understand. Qian Mu symbolizes Chinese culture, untainted by Westernism or party politics. Qian Mu was my colleagues' teacher. He founded New Asia College that became a part of the Chinese University, in Hong Kong and not Taiwan, driven by nothing except his determination that scholarship should be pursued for its own sake. My colleagues at the Chinese University recall with nostalgia the comradeship they felt as students of New Asia in the 1950s. Despite Hong Kong's colonial status, and despite the 1949 Revolution, in New Asia they studied the Chinese classics as the fundamental philosophy that would remain forever Chinese. You cannot but marvel at the confidence that was inspired by this great man, and you can understand why students would turn to him for intellectual leadership. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE 34 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY Patron: H.E. Sir David Wilson, K.C.M.G. Governor of Hong Kong The Council, 1989 President: J.W. Hayes, I.S.O., M.A., Ph.D., J.P. Vice-Presidents: D.A. Gilkes, M.A., C.A., J.P. Carl T. Smith, B.A., M.DIV. Hon. Secretary: Eveline M. Caldwell, M.A., M.B.C.S., F.Coll.P., M.I.E.E. Hon. Treasurer: Robert Nield, F.C.A., F.H.K.S.A. Hon. Editors: David Faure, B.A., Ph.D. Hon. Librarian: Peter Yeung, B.A., M.L.S. Councillors: Phillip Bruce Michael Lau, B.A., Dip.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Y.W. Lau, B.A., Ph.D. Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. A.K.K. Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. P.H. Hase, B.A., Ph.D. Anita Wilson, M.A. iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h AGM for an approach for financial assistance to those leading “Hongs" which support the parent body in London with its publishing expenses, a letter has now been sent to them to this end. We waited for publication of the new book and the latest Journal before taking action, so that they could see the results of our labours and (hopefully) feel more encouraged to help thereby. There is no doubt that the time has come to seek their assistance, given the difficulty in making ends meet and yet pursuing an energetic and rounded programme of activities in line with our remit. The Programme The past twelve months saw 9 lectures, 10 visits and one Chinese dinner, besides the usual dinner following the AGM. The visits were the largest number on record. This was due to a greater sharing of the load by members of the Activities Committee, which now includes Members of the Society as well as Councillors. Details are as follows: Dr. Maria Jaschok “Concubines and Bond Servants" 18 April Dr. Tom Stanley **Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War' 12 May Professor Tong Kin-woon “Oracle Bones, the Key to Shang China" 9 June Stephen and Anne Selby "Pukka Pidgin" 14 July Dr. Dea Birkett "Women Travellers in Asia' 28 July Chinese Dinner in the City Hall Restaurant 25 September Dr. Lauren Pfister "Clues to the Life and Academic Achievement of James Legge, 1815-1897” 20 October Professor John Hodgkiss **The Biology of Mangroves and the Role They Play in Hong Kong" | December Professor Graham Johnson "The Hong Kong Chinese in Canada: an Updating" 5 January Rev. Carl Smith (with Elizabeth Sinn, Susanna Hoe, Maria Jaschok, Patrick Hase and James Hayes) "The Ladies of Lyndhurst Terrace" 23 February Dr. Mimi Chan "Images of Chinese Women in Anglo-American Literature" ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 23 March Dr. Elizabeth Sinn "Management of the Chinese in 19th Century Hong Kong and the Role of the Tung Wah Hospital” The following Visits were made: 29 April 6 May 24 June 1 July Anita Wilson and Dr. James Hayes Visit to the Pottery Kiln at Tuen Mun, Ha Tsuen Tang Ancestral Hall and Old Market, Ling Wan Monastery (with vegetarian lunch), Lai Family Study Hall and Mansion at Sheung Tsuen, Hakka Mansion at Sham Ka Wai, and Yuen Long Old Market Dr. James Hayes and Ted Brown Visit to Kowloon Walled City, Again! Phillip Bruce Visit to Old Marine Police Headquarters at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Phillip Bruce Repeat of the Visit of 24 June 14 September Dr. Patrick Hase and Lee Man-yip Visit to Wo Hang for the Hot Air Balloon release at Mid Autumn Festival 25 November Dr. James Hayes 9 December Visit to places of interest on Hong Kong Island, including Waterfall Bay, the Aberdeen Country Park Management Centre, Chung Hom Kok, Shek O Village and Lei Yu Mun Barracks and Leisure Centre Rosemary Lee and Richard Gee Repeat of the N.T. Visit of 29 April 13-14 January Anita Wilson, Dr. Dan Waters, Rev. Carl Smith and Dr. Joseph Ting 22 January 18 February Week End Visit to Macao Phillip Bruce Visit to some interesting Naval and Military Graves in the Colonial Cemetery Phillip Bruce and Dr. Anthony Siu Visit to the Tung Chung Area, the site of Hong Kong's Future Replacement Airport This varied and interesting programme has again been due to the Activities Committee, which has worked hard under Dr. Elizabeth Sinn's ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h community, and this will encourage others to take up the task from year to year. In this regard, we shall most likely develop along much the same lines as the Society has done in Japan and Korea, where two lively, long-established Branches of the RAS continue to make a useful contribution to these nations and their people. It has become clear that new needs attend the transformation of expatriate society brought about by political change and continuing “leaps and bounds" modernization. I was strengthened in the above thoughts the other day, when a Japanese friend was explaining why her daughter was being sent to the Chinese International School, now fast growing but operating in three locations and therefore striving to raise the very large sum needed to build a large new premises of its own. “Neither the English Schools Foundation nor the leading local secondary schools provide the kind of Eastern-oriented English language education that people like me need if we are to bring our families to Hong Kong", she said. Finally, following after so many distinguished predecessors, not only since 1960 but also in the first period of our existence here between 1847 and 1859, it is both an honour and a burden to be President of the Society of Hong Kong. I have tried to make a contribution, and leave the post happy in the thought that, through many people's efforts, the Branch is larger and stronger than ever before: and also secure in the knowledge that in the present Council we have a willing and capable body of people who believe in the abiding worth of this Society, and are dedicated to its continuance and the promotion of its objectives in Hong Kong. From personal contacts and correspondence, I know that many of our Members feel likewise, I doubt if any voluntary body can ask for more! Thank you all for such fine support during my tenure of office. 24 March 1990. James HAYES XV ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h membership. They include talks, lectures and symposia, as well as local tours and visits. The independent co-operation of guest speakers and the willing agreement of persons and institutions visited during tours are equally vital. These, too, stem from the personal freedoms enjoyed in present day Hong Kong. It follows that I link the Society's success with the continuance of these freedoms. They are now being addressed by both governments and are expected to be the subject of a Bill of Rights whose contents will be incorporated in the Basic Law. I very much hope that these provisions will be real after 1997 and not just 'paper' freedoms. Please bring this letter to the attention of the Drafting Committee. Yours faithfully, JAMES WILLIAM HAYES President xvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h TEXT OF ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, DR. JAMES HAYES, AT THE ANNUAL DINNER 1990 Sir David, Ladies and Gentlemen, Speaking on behalf of the Society, it is my great pleasure to say how delighted we are to have our Patron, Sir David Wilson, together with Lady Wilson, with us on this occasion. Despite their overwhelming schedule, they have made time to be with us tonight, and we are the more appreciative: but not only on this account. Sir David is a scholar-diplomat, a former Editor of The China Quarterly, and very well acquainted with the history of China and its tributaries, and their relations with the West. A Fellow of our parent body since 1968, he shares the concerns and aims of this Branch of the RAS, its youngest offspring. Both he and Lady Wilson take a keen interest in our progress, and we are most grateful for their support and encouragement. This is also an occasion of another kind for me, since (though not leaving the Council) I am stepping aside after 25 years as an office-bearer of the Society, the last seven of them as President. Seizing on this opportunity to the full, I have made some gratuitous observations on the role and modus operandi of the Society in the coming years in my Annual Report to the AGM, and shall now indulge in a more personal aside. Over many happy years working for the Society and doing "recces" and preparing Programme Notes for visits to places of interest, the one that still means a great deal to me was our visit to Bethanie in 1972 in its centenary year; both for its own sake and for its insights into bygone Hong Kong. The Maison de Bethanie, nowadays a storehouse for the University of Hong Kong, was the sanatorium of the Paris Mission, that valiant body which preached the Gospel in China and other countries of the Far East from the 17th century on. In his brief note for visitors, Father Caminondo who was in charge at that time wrote for me, “At a time when travelling was not easy and xviii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h medical care not available in many mission countries, the Superiors of the Paris Foreign Mission Society decided to put up a house in the Far East for sick and old missionaries. Hong Kong was chosen for this purpose on account of its climate and medical facilities available. It must be added that at that time few places in the Far East offered the political stability and religious tolerance of the Colony". Those words have long rung in my ears. I doubt if there could be a finer unsolicited tribute to British Hong Kong. I must confess, too, against that stirring background of service, and recalling the over 100 priests and high dignitaries of the Mission who were buried in the private cemetery then within the grounds, that I was moved by the inscription that can still be found over the entrance. Father Caminondo had continued, "The name of Bethanie was chosen after "Bethany village" of the Holy Scripture, and the inscription above the main entrance "Lord he whom thou lovest lies sick" is part of the message sent to Jesus by Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus became sick”. Truly memorable, at least for me. But enough of the past: though it enriches the present. We are a strong Society in both numbers and spirit. We aim to continue in the service of scholarship and mutual understanding in this great City for as long as may be possible. Judging by the record of the last 30 years, there will never be a shortage of willing workers and contributors, whether British, Chinese or others. With Sir David's consent, I shall now ask him to propose a toast to the Hong Kong Branch of the RAS. xix JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h HONG KONG BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1989-1990 As usual, the Society Library has purchased many out-of-print items through Dr. J. Hayes' effort this year. Altogether 215 titles in 251 volumes were processed and are available in the Kowloon Central Library. Among 121 gift titles, 119 titles were donated by Dr. J. Hayes. Other donors were Mr. Phillip Bruce and Mrs. Eveline Caldwell. New additions will be made known to members through the RAS Journal. Arrangement has been made that members may also borrow books from the City Hall Library. From the report by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library covering the period from 1.3.89 to 9.3.90 is noted as follows: 1. No. of requests for information 2. No. of books consulted 3. No. of borrowers 4. No. of books checked out : 90 : 112 : 14 : 21 Mr. Wan Yiu Chuen will stand for the election for the Hon. Librarian this year. He is now working in the Special Collections, University of Hong Kong Libraries and has ample experience both in public and academic libraries. 22nd March 1990 xxiii PETER YEUO Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h Tin magnate and businessman Eu Tong-sen had 13 sons and 11 daughters by his many wives, among whom were a few Europeans. He was also told he must continue building, although when he died, in 1941, he had completed only three fantasy homes (all now demolished); one at Eucliff at Repulse Bay and another at Euston in Bonham Road, both in pseudo-Gothic style. The third was an old-world, rambling, English-style country mansion, named "Sirmio", which stood on the north shore of Tolo Harbour. The author attended a swimming party at Eucliff which contained a large number of paintings — in 1955, and a picnic in the grounds of Sirmio a few months later. At the time, apart from caretakers, both were unoccupied. With 1997 approaching the Aw and Eu prophecies regarding building, as stated above, are now being applied to Hong Kong itself, and some believe that, if construction stops, the Territory itself will wither and die. Acknowledgement The author is grateful to Doctor James Hayes for his comments on a draft of this paper. NOTES 2 V.R. Burkhardt, Chinese Creeds and Customs (1982), p. 174. 3 Remarks of the nephew of J.J. Ropes, letter to the Editor Hong Kong Standard (later 1970s); and Anthony Walker and Stephen M. Rowlinson, The Building of Hong Kong. Constructing Hong Kong Through the Ages (1990), passim. 4 Burkhardt, op.cit. passim; and Anthony Walker and Stephen M. Rowlinson, op.cit. Chapter Four. 5 The author recalls how, when a Chinese woodwork instructor in one of the old Technical College workshops (which was equipped with western-style tools) wanted a particularly good finish on a piece of timber, he would always use his own Chinese plane. 6 The author taught building technology and allied subjects at the Government Technical College (this became the Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1972) during his early years in Hong Kong. 8 G.B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong (1958), p. 116. 9 The Craft of Chinese Scaffolding, editor Ho So (Circa 1972); and Jayson Wong, "The bamboo wonders of territory's high-rise world", South China Morning Post, 20 September ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 119 NOTES 1 Ch'ü, Ta-chün, Kuang-tang hsin-yü [New Tales from Kuang-tung], Hong Kong: Chung-hua ch'u-pan-shê, 1974, reprinted from 1700 edition, p. 677. 2 ibid, pp. 674-676. 3 Yung-yen, “Hong Kong ti ming k'ao” [The Origin of Place Names in Hong Kong], in: Li Chun-wei (ed.) Hong Kong pai nien [Centenary History of Hong Kong], (Hong Kong: Nan chung pien yi ch'u-pan-shê, 1948), p. 68. 4 Hong Kong Daily Press, February 5, 1873. 5 Siu, A.K.K., “The Hong Kong Region Before and After the Coastal Evacuation in the Early Ch'ing Dynasty”, in: Faure, David, James Hayes and Birch (eds.), From Village to City, (Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984), p. 2; Fêng K'ê-pin (ed.), Hsiang chien [Notes on Incense], in: Kuang pai ch'uan hsüeh hai (1), 1998. (Taipei: Hsin-hsing shu-chü, reprinted in 1970). 6 Balfour, S.F., “Hong Kong Before the British”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 10, 1979, p. 176. 7 Ch'ü, p. 677. 8 Chang, Y.N., "Hong Kong Ts'un (Hong Kong Village) and the Cultivation and Exportation of Incense from Kowloon and the New Territories”, in: Lo, Hsiang Lin (ed.), Hong Kong and Its External Communications Before 1842, (Hong Kong: Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963), p. 114. 9 Tung-kuan Hsien-chih [Tung-kuan Gazetteer], compiled by Ch'ên Pai-tao, (Tung-kuan yang-hêng yin-wu-chü, 1910), Section 14, p. 13; Dunn, Stephen Troyte and William James Tutcher, Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong, (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912), p. 9. 10 Iu, K.C., "The Cultivation of the Incense Tree (Aquilaria sinensis)”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 23, 1983, pp. 247-249. 11 “Imports for the Year 1846”, Hong Kong Blue Book 1846, p. 200, 204, 207. 12 “Imports for the Year 1847”, Hong Kong Blue Book 1847, pp. 200-212. 13 “Imports for the Year 1848”, Hong Kong Blue Book 1848, pp. 251-254. 14 Hsü, Kuang-ch'i (ed.), Nung chêng ch'üan shu [Encyclopedia on Agricultural Techniques], (1847), Section 18, pp. 13-15. 15 Yung-yen, p. 68. 16 Lockhart, S. "Extracts from A Report by Mr Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong on October 8, 1898”, Sessional Papers concerning the Acquisition of the New Territories 1899, p. 190. 17 Nathan, cited by J.W. Hayes. "Notes and Queries: Sandalwood Mills at Tsun Wan". Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16, 1976, pp. 282-283. 18 'Report on the New Territories for the year 1925; B. Southern District", Hong Kong Administrative Reports 1925, p. J13. 19 'Report on the New Territories for the Year 1931; B. Southern District" Hong Kong Administrative Reports 1931, p. J18. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 215 Programme: C.M. Von WEBER: "Der Freischütz", overture; by Messrs Essex and Ewing, piano. Sir Henry BISHOP: "Foresters sound the cheerful horn“ (glee). Heinrich PROCH (1809-1878): "Within the grove's deep shadow", a song by Mr. J.P. Tate, W.A. MOZART: String quartet No 7 by Messrs Tate and Howell (violin). Ewing (viola) and Essex (cello). William HORSLEY (1774-1858); "By Celia's Arbour" (glee), F. MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: "Andante, presto and allegro vivace" (from?) by Messrs Essex and Howell. Ibidem: “Andante and finale" (from?), by Messrs Essex and Howell, Sir Henry BISHOP: "Sleep gentle lady" (glee), William Vincent WALLACE (1813-1865); **The Bellringer", a song by Mr. Essex, F. von FLOTOW: “Allessandro Stradella", fantasia, by Messrs Essex and Howell, William HORSLEY: "See the chariot at hand", song, L. van BEETHOVEN: "Egmont", overture, played on two pianos by Messrs Essex and Ewing. Th: Theatre Royal (G) R: This was the first occasion on which the names of the amateur musicians who entertained the public were mentioned. Some can be traced in the **Shanghai Almanac for 1862”. others belonged to the military forces. Thus the names have come to us of the following gentlemen: H. Cope and E.C. Essex (both of Geo. Barnett & Co). D.A.C.G. Ewing. F.R. Gantwell (Silk broker), A.A. Hayes Jr (of Olyphant & Co), Howell, Inglis, J.M. Nixon (of Blain, Tate & Co). J. Priestley Tate (of Blain, Tate & Co; Municipal Council member 1861-1862) and J. Wheatly (of Reiss & Co). In general the Herald was very satisfied: "It was pleasing to see the gentlemen who volunteered to throw aside for the nonce the cares of business and entertain con amore their less gifted fellow residents with a charming chamber concert. Everything was conducted in a quiet gentlemanly manner so that we imagined ourselves in a drawing room more than a theatre. There was no attempt at grandeur of display or extraordinary performance on special instruments which characterize too much the quasi-musical taste of the day where the composition of the author is sacrificed frequently to the execution of the performer and the audience is led to think more of the latter than the former". These were rather stringent remarks for someone living in an area where very few opportunities arose to compare musical qualities of instrumentalists. Yet the argument of faithfulness to the author's or composer's intentions crops up from time to time and that was obviously regarded as important by the Herald. Unfortunately the acoustics of the theatre were not of the very best so that "Mr. TATE's delicate tenor voice (in the song by Proch) could not fill the house sufficiently for all to hear the diminuendo passages of his beautiful voice". (NCH 18.4.1863). The Lancashire Relief Fund had been established in order to help those in Britain who had become a victim of the stoppage of cotton imports from the Southern states of America (due to the Civil War), with the result that numerous labourers in the mills were laid off. 29.4.1863 (Wedn) Performances by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery. No titles of plays were recorded. Th: Theatre Royal (G) R: In consequence of the "great success" a "Second Fashionable Night” would be given on May 4th (NCH 2.5.1863). 4.5.1863 (Thur) As on 29.4.1863. 1.8.1863 (Sat) The last of a series of performances by Mr. Smythe's company. Soloists: Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Martin Simonsen (violin) Th. N.N. (H) Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 223 harmonium by D.H. ENGEL 17. "Eupeidee" (German student song and chorus) Th: Olympic Theatre (H) R: An advertisement only was published in the Herald of 29.10.1864. From it we learn that tickets could be obtained at the premises of Hiram Fogg & Co (ship chandlers, general store and auctioneers; one of the oldest foreign firms in Shanghai, located at the southern end of the Bund); Hall & Holtz (see 29.6.1864); A.A. Hayes Jr (Olyphant & Co, Nanking Road, ex Park Lane); and Herbert Cope (Geo Barnet & Co, Kiangsi Road (ex Church Street) and Hankow Road (ex Custom House Road)). It also becomes clear that there were at that moment at least two theatres in the Settlement: the Lyceum and the Olympic. The programme is interesting for the number of composers which have now been forgotten (Silcher, Kücken, Becker, Werner, etc.) and the piano arrangements of well-known opera arias. 12.11-18.11.1864 W. BROUGH: “Conrad and Medora” (1856) T: Burlesque pantomime (1 act) J.B. BUCKSTONE: “Married Life" (1834) T: Comedy (3 acts) J.W. MARSTON: "A Hard Struggle" (1858) T: Domestic drama (1 act) W. SHAKESPEARE: “King John”, prison scene (Act IV, scene III) Furthermore: “Cinderella”, possibly by H.J. BYRON (1860) or T. TAYLOR (1845). "Wonder"; no contemporary pieces are listed in HED; only: Mrs. S. CENTLIVRE: “The Wonder. A woman keeps a secret” (1714) and H. CAREY: "A Wonder or an honest Yorkshireman" (1735). C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: N.N. (E) R: The Lewis company continued to draw large houses and ventured even to put a Shakespeare scene on the programme, from King John. It proved to be "the hit of the week". In it starred Miss Julia EDouin and Mr. Henry BIRCH: "The acting was perfect. Miss Julia EDouin doing the fullest justice to the character of Prince Arthur and indeed taking the house by storm!" (NCH 19.11.1864). 19.11.1864 Sat H.J. BYRON: “Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp” (1861) T: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act) C: Lewis A.D.C. TH: N.N. (U) N: Benefit of Miss Tilly Earl who played the role of Aladdin R: NCH 26.11.1864 23.11.1864 (Wedn) R.B. SHERIDAN: "The Rivals" (1775) T: Comedy (5 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. TH: N.N. (P) N: Benefit of Mrs. Gill who played the role of Mrs. Malaprop. R: NCH 26.11.1864 26.11.1864 (Sat) H.J. BYRON: "Aladdin or the Wonderful Scamp” (1861) T: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 293 from our journey's end. The wind for days has sent us along at two or three miles an hour; but we hope it is now freshening for good. We ought here to have the regular SE monsoon, but it seems we do not deserve it. The captain tries to persuade everybody that it is through someone on board; and often he makes out that no ship can sail, with a b---- of a parson on board, as he considers me. All I wonder at is that his swearing has not been more severely punished, and that worse visitations have not befallen us. It is truly wretched to live with such a man, whom you perpetually feel to be your enemy, and whom you know hates you from the very bottom of his heart. Nowhere can I get out of the way of his swearing; and his daily conversation, saying nothing of his swearing, is enough to disgust even the lowest of the low. The night before last an amusing incident occurred, which at the time was rather alarming. Of course you know these islands are infested with Malay Pirates, who attack every ship that falls in their way, and murder the crew to get the cargo, after which they sink the ship. About four o'clock I was woke out of sleep by a shout. I heard the captain run on deck and in a tone of despair say: "Good God, it is a pirate boat alongside; we shall all be murdered.” I instantly got up, and dressed, and after putting my watch out of sight, was ready to sell my life only after trying my best at fighting. I determined that if I was robbed, the fellows should pay dearly for what they got. No one had seen the boat come alongside. The lookout had not seen it through negligence, and the second mate on the quarter deck had not seen it, because it lay the other side of the mainsail. But nobody moved, and there the boat lay, till at last we came to look closely at it, and found that it was an old tree that had been washed away by the sea, and drifted along side of the ship. The shoals of fish following it and leaping out of the water, sounded like the oars of a boat. Poor captain's guilty conscience made him a coward. He did nothing and said nothing through fright. His heart I believe was up in his mouth, and he came down to his cabin, where I heard him vomiting at a fine rate. It just shows what he is, with all his bullying. It was, however, very gratifying to find out our mistake. Yet I cannot reflect that if it had been a true alarm, there could have been but little resistance, since the firearms are kept out of the way and out of order. We have nearly 50 muskets, but not one can be used. Our two signal guns are both dismounted, and lie down on the main deck. The heat continues very great, but it does not effect me in the least. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 324 C. Scramble over land in Kowloon Although scrambles over land was not new to this region, it was in the context of the British occupation of Hong Kong and Kowloon that the last major disputes over land holdings in the Kowloon peninsula took place. In 1860, when south Kowloon passed into British hands, the Dangs of Kam Tin, with another branch of the larger clan, were held to possess 276 acres of the 452 acres of land for which registered land documents were produced to the Anglo-Chinese Land Commission (Hayes 1983:87-88). The re-registration of land is a likely occasion for disputes. Besides, as a result of the development of the port of Hong Kong, the land in Kowloon doubtlessly appreciated sharply in value. It is from an anecdote about Dang Ting-sam that we learn about the dispute between the Kam Tin Dangs and the Ping Shan Dangs over the rents from Kowloon Tsai. In the words of the informant, they scrambled for the rent. There was fighting between them. In the fighting a ha-yan of the Kam Tin Dangs killed a mou-geui-yan of Ping Shan. The ha-yan, whose name was Ah Chiu, had been sent to Kowloon Tsai to take care of the rent collecting. He was staying at a house his master kept for this purpose. The military degree holder of Ping Shan wanted to infringe upon the rent. He came to the house to make a claim that the land had belonged to him. Soon the fighting began. He was killed by Ah Chiu, who was not as strong as the mou-geui-yan but was very clever. The Ping Shan Dangs sued the Kam Tin Dangs for this. Chi-Naam made use of his skill [and connections?] to get Kam Tin out of the trouble. He was allowed to see the written complaint from the Ping Shan people. After reading it he offered 500 taels of silver to the official to let him add three strokes to the document. The original complaint said yung fu seung yan ("caused injury by using an axe"). Chi-Naam added one stroke to the character yung, and altered it to lat, "[an object] fell off". So the accusation had become "an axe fell and injured a person". Because of the alteration, the Kam Tin Dangs did not have to pay compensation for the killed man's life, they only had to pay a fine. D. The land re-registration of the New Territories Much of the land of the Kam Tin Dangs was lost when the British government started the re-registration of land holdings. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 354 [**posting the memorial”] which will start at about 8 a.m., and a meal. The procession is to cover the 5 wai and 6 chyun of Kam Tin, paying respect to the gods. It will end at about 5 p.m. There will also be a ceremony to be officiated by James Hayes at 4 p.m. The procession on the next day will go all the way to Yuen Long, taking about the same amount of time. But as it can start earlier there is no need to wait until a preceding rite is over it will probably end a bit earlier... the daai-yau [“Great Offering to Ghosts"] on the last evening of the jiu will start at about 7 p.m., and end at about 3 a.m. T — The four rites named were the events which many of the villagers took part in, and the routes of the procession were unique to Kam Tin. It is therefore not surprising that the no. 1 ritual representative could estimate their timing with some confidence. Of the other rites performed by the priests, he did not seem to know much. He told me that to have a better idea of what the schedule would be, I had better talk with the priests. The answer of the priest I talked to on the telephone was that he would not know until he and his colleagues got to Kam Tin, as Kam Tin had a written record prescribing its own requirements for the jiu. I had the opportunity to read the manuscript in detail. It included contracts for the priests, paang construction contractor, paper image and offerings maker, puppeteer and opera troupe, among others. It also listed the rites, giving details of the offerings and other arrangements required. A few copies of the manuscript from previous celebrations were still kept. While the manuscripts provide much useful information, the responsible villagers do not seem to use it fully. While the contract for the paper image maker specified the figures to be included, the elders probably had no idea what there should be besides the images of the ten Kings of the Underworld. They had no idea that in the contract they required several dozen sets of paper clothing for use as offering to "heroes". The record had a diagram showing the proper arrangement of the temporary altars to be set up for the ying-sing rite, which had been in practice in the previous celebrations, but this time the layout no longer agreed with that in the record. Part of the confusion must have been due to the fact that a few different ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 367 The villagers had already gathered at the festival site when I arrived at half past nine in the morning. The red slips of paper etc., were carried by the people responsible on a tray, and, in some cases, a "pavilion", back to where they had been fetched from. In all cases, I believe, the person who carried the divinities was preceded by one of his companions who beat a gong. In some cases the procession included the "Keep quiet!" and "Keep clear!" banners. I witnessed the case of the Hung-Fan Taam gods. On their arrival the villagers set up the temporary spirit tablets of the divinities at the site, and made offerings of tea, sweets, yun-bou and paper clothing to them. Then they burnt the spirit tablets as well as the paper offerings. Ahern, Emily Martin Brim, John A. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1981 Chinese Rituals and Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1974 "Village alliance temples in Hong Kong", in Wolf (1974: 93-104). Cheng, Sui Kwan Faure, David n.d. "Yuanlang Xinx", unpublished manuscript. 1984 "The Tangs of Kam Tin - A hypothesis on the rise of a gentry family", in Faure et. al (1984). Faure, David et. al (eds.) 1984 From Village to City: Studies in the Traditional Roots Hayes, James W. Kamm, John of Hong Kong Society, Centre of Asian Studies. University of Hong Kong. 1983 The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. 1977 "Field notes on the social history and fungshui of Kam Tin”, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JHKBRAS) xvii, pp. 202-216. Law, Suk-Ching and Lam Siu-Fung 1985 **Jintian Dengshi shixi bogian shi'', in Renleixie Zhou Tekan, pp. 2-14. The Anthropology Society, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 1984 "Village education in the New Territories region under the Ch'ing", in Faure et. al. (1984). 1983 New Peace County: A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong Region. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, Ng Lun, Alice Ngai Ha Ng, Peter Y.L.. Ofuchi, Ninji 1983 Chugokujin no Shukyo Girei, Tokyo, Saso, Michael R. Schipper, K.W. 1972 Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal, Washington. 1974 "The written memorial in Taoist Ceremonies", in Wolf (1974:309-324). Siu, Augustus K.K. and Anthony K.K. Siu, Anthony K.K. 1982 Studies on Chinese Genealogies and the History of the Hong Kong Region, Hong Kong: Hin Chiu Institute. 1982 "Zupu zhong suojian zhí shishi shili”, in Siu and Siu (1982), pp. 21-29. 1984 **The Hong Kong Region before and after the Coastal Evacuation in the Early Ch'ing Dynasty', in Faure ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 420 appreciated, especially in China itself. JAMES HAYES Frank Ching, Ancestors, 900 Years in the Life of a Chinese Family. London, Harrap, 1988, pp. 528. Frank Ching is a journalist. He has the journalist's eye for the dramatic and unusual. He knows a good story when he sees one, and how to put it across. These gifts have served him well in his first book, an account of his own family over nearly a millennium. The book comprises a series of studies of eminent persons of the Ching lineage from whom he is directly descended. In such studies, motivated by the desire to get at one's roots, there is always the danger that we shall get hagiography rather than history, but there are few signs of this. The author has set himself high standards. Starting, as he tells us in the prologue, from scratch in as complex and difficult a field as Chinese historiography, it is remarkable that he has achieved such a tour de force. The book is of great and absorbing human interest, perhaps heightened for readers by the fact that there is a direct connection with a living person. It has been assiduously researched, in person and using the best authorities, and is well organized and beautifully written. Once one has read the prologue, and absorbed the author's background and motivation, derived from having been an exile (in Hong Kong) from his native place at intervals during the early part of his life, it does not really matter whether one reads the book from start to finish or (as I did) takes up those chapters that appeal most. All are of equal interest. If I have to make a selection, I liked the account of his father (1888-1959), a bitter-sweet and, it seemed to me, quintessentially Chinese individual who lived in trying times; a brilliant man who perhaps deserved to have had a more favourable arena for his talents, certainly after he left Shanghai to rejoin his family in Hong Kong in 1949. There were so many years of enforced idleness in both places. Personal accounts like this tell us more than the historical record, and illuminate the times more effectively. I liked the author's notes to the chapters: over 40 pages between pp. 471-511. They are not only a guarantee that he has done a good job: they also help interested readers to look into books and sources of which ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 421 they are not aware. Take, for example, his description (pp. 38-39) of the formalities and practices of marriage in Sung times in his opening chapter on the Sung poet Qin Guan, the subject of the first biography in the book. He cites his source and adds useful information (p. 473). When describing the arranged marriage that was the norm until recent times, and still lingers on here and there in and outside China, he adds that this is why the event was described as the family taking “a new daughter-in-law” rather than as “a son taking a bride” (p. 40). See also note 14 on p. 499 and note 12 on p. 501 together with the upper plate on the 10th page of illustrations I'm giving no clues, look for yourselves! In short, he illuminates as well as entertains. By now, readers will have gathered that I like this book. Of course, in such a large work (528 pages) and in an academic field that is very demanding and exacting for those who write in it, there are bound to be places in the text where the reader's own studies may refute or add to it. Contrary to what Mr. Ching says in the prologue (p. 20), recent collecting and oral history projects in the New Territories have shown that most, if not all, Chinese lineages, including those comprised of the peasants who made up the great bulk of the population, have kept written genealogies, albeit few of them got published like those of the Qin and other major lineages or, until recently, found their way into the great library collections of the West. I understand that Mr. Ching is contemplating a book about the major families of Hong Kong, descended from successful men who came here in the 19th century with little more than their wits. On the showing of his first historical work, I cannot think of a more suitable person to undertake this task than Mr. Ching, and I hope that, warts and all, he gets all the cooperation and understanding of the requirements of the job he will need from the families concerned: From there, or in the process, he could perhaps take up the true history of families great and small during the years of the Japanese Occupation of the colony, where the same rules apply. The job needs to be done, because of the way in which leading families have shunned the very mention of these years. Shanghai was not the only place where, as Mr. Ching writes (p. 458), the returning authorities looked down on those who had lived under the Japanese as tainted. I JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 423 student and to begin to understand a bit about town commerce. I was overjoyed." One of these two, then aged 59 sui, was the owner of a general store in Xunwu and a former president of its Chamber of Commerce, the other, aged 51, was a poor peasant and a County Soviet official (p. 46). Like the Chairman, I also want to know more about petty commerce, still a rather neglected topic in the Chinese field, though now being addressed by the Chinese Business Studies group. As a long-time researcher into the rural history of Hong Kong and South China I have found both the Report and the Introduction equally fascinating. I strongly recommend them to readers of this Journal and especially to those who wish to know more about the Chinese countryside in the 1920s and 1930s, a crucial time in China's modern history. JAMES HAYES REVIEW NOTES The following books have been received by the Journal from the publishers and are briefly noted here. They have been placed in the RAS Library. THE BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Hugh Baker, Hong Kong Images — People and Animals, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 1990. 172 pp. Maps, Photographs, Notes, Index. A reprint of Professor Baker's highly successful book published originally in 1979, and subsequently in 1980 and 1981, this paperback continues to inform and entertain readers interested in the Chinese tradition as practised in Hong Kong. Tun Li Ch’en (English translation by Derk Bodde), Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1987, reprint of 1936 edition. Illustrations, Glossary, Index, Bibliography. This brief but beautiful volume brings the reader through the Chinese year, including customs and festival celebrations as practiced at the turn of the century in Peking. Craig Clunas, Chinese Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series, 1988; printed in Hong Kong by Oxford University Press, 1990. 118 pp. Illustrations, Notes, Index. With traditional Chinese woodblock prints and modern photographs by Ian Thomas of pieces from ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 Page & ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1990/91 Members who attended last year's Annual General Meeting and the dinner that followed will remember with pleasure that the latter was attended by our patron, the Governor of Hong Kong, His Excellency, Sir David Wilson. It was a singularly happy occasion in which at a speech at the dinner Sir David, a notable scholar on Chinese affairs and culture, wished he could be plain Dr. Wilson again. He said he appreciated the good work done by the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and that the Journal had built up an established place in scholarly circles; the visits and talks programmes did a great deal to inform members and their friends about Hong Kong. He went on to say there were two kinds of overseas resident. Those who never bothered much about their surroundings and could, if they wished, live a hotel type of existence and the other kind to which our members belonged, i.e. those who were always curious about the local scene, and wished to know more about it. The Society was largely founded on the great British tradition of scholar-officials and such persons had contributed much to the study of Asia. He recognised, however, that changes were in the air and was pleased to know that there was now a significant local element in the membership of the Society and in the organisation of its activities. That evening, however, also saw another significant event, and I refer of course to the stepping down of Dr. James Hayes as President of the Society, in view of his departure to Australia, although I am more than pleased to see that he has returned temporarily and is here this evening. It is difficult to tabulate briefly what James has done for the Society, from the moment he joined soon after its revival in 1959, and later as a permanent office bearer: he was Editor of the Journal for fourteen years, Vice-President since 1970 and then President as from 1983. His scholarly contributions to the Journal are there in our publications to read: many of us have benefited from his knowledge and expertise on the many exhausting excursions he led in Hong Kong. In brief he epitomised everything the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong stood for and we all miss his wise counsel. With those events in mind it is with some trepidation therefore I stand before you to report on the Society's activities during my first vii Page & ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT OBITUARY: HUGH GIBB HON. AUDITORS' REPORT vii xiv xvii HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT. ARTICLES: J.W. Hayes — The Old Popular Culture of China and Its Contribution to Stability in Tsuen Wan C.C. Choi Studies on Hong Kong Jiao Festivals David Wilmshurst The 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching' Chinese Local Semi-Divine Deities Keith G. Stevens P.H. Munro-Faure China on the Brink of War Fred Dagenais John Fryer's Early Years in China: First Impressions of Hong Kong and the Chinese People.. Sau Y. Chan The Offering to the White Tiger in Cantonese Opera Lauren F. Pfister Clues to the Life and Academic Achievements of one of the Most Famous Nineteenth Century European Sinologists James Legge (AD 1815-1897). Dan Waters Hong Kong Hongs with Long Histories and British Connections NOTES AND QUERIES: P.H. Hase Ta Kwu Ling, Wong Pui Ling and the Kim Hau Bridges.. P.H. Hase A Village War in Sham Chun P.H. Hase Sha Tau Kok in 1853 Keith G. Stevens The Buddha, the Heavenly True Warrior .. Keith G. Stevens Altar Images from Hunan Keith G. Stevens T'i-shen: A Substitute for a Person. Riden Sung Chi-Pui – The Making of a Husk-grinder.. H.J.W. Chetwynd-Chatwin – The British Merchantman "Norna" Geoffrey Roper Report on Visit to Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, Mid Autumn Festival 1992. Dan Waters Sojourners in Xiamen: Notes on the RAS Visit. BOOK REVIEWS 1 26 44 75 89 146 169 180 2 219 257 265 281 297 298 299 302 303 307 309 314 XX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 year as your President. Have we coped, you may ask? Well, I believe we have, and for this I need to thank my fellow councillors for the very loyal and hard work they have put into ensuring that the Society's affairs run in a smooth and on the whole organised way. In particular mention must be made of Elizabeth Sinn for arranging a varied programme of activities and lectures, Carl Smith, for his loyal and perceptive encouragement, Patrick Hase, for arranging interesting visits and editing the Journal (perhaps the most arduous duty), Robert Nield for keeping us on the right financial track, for our team of ladies, Evelyn Caldwell our Secretary, a post which really holds the Society together, Anita Wilson for doing the newsletter, and our Assistant Secretary, Sharon Bruce, also our Librarian Y.C. Wan, and all those other Council members and helpers who help to make this Society tick and move forward. So what have we done and where do we stand? I will start with the Programme. During the year there were the following talks and visits: Talks: Chang Tsong Zung Peter Leeds Michael Luk Peter Steyn James Hayes Wang Gungwu Miss May Wong Anne and Stephen Selby Sister Beatrice Leung Susanna Hoe Richard Stott Visits Hong Kong Art in the 80s History of Transport in Hong Kong The Origins of Chinese Bolshevism Memories of India The Libraries of the Royal Asiatic Societies in China Western Scholarship, Asian Continuities Changing Lifestyle of Young Japanese Women Pidgin English on the China Coast Sino-Vatican Relations and the Recent Developments of the Chinese Catholic Church Gin and Bridge All Day: Myths about Western Women in Hong Kong 1841-1941 Hong Kong Birds Visits were to Waglan Island, organized by Geoff Roper and Roger Perry, Wo Hang Mid-Autumn Festival visit organized by Dr. Patrick viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 reference for those who wish to study this part of the world. For those who have not got the back issues I am sure you will find them of interest and you can obtain them by contacting the Assistant Secretary. In addition there may be some of you who have aspirations to publish their research work and if you think that it could be suitable for our Journal, I hope you will contact Dr. Hase. Long articles are of course welcome but even short notes about Hong Kong history or some other aspect which you think might be of interest are also very much appreciated. Finance The Treasurer, Mr. Robert Nield, will give a detailed report shortly. You will notice that the finances are in reasonable shape, but the overall situation does need to be watched. The new annual subscription from 1st January 1991 is $250, as agreed at the last annual general meeting and it is hoped to keep this rate for another year. The Library As you will see from the report of Mr. Y.C. Wan, our Hon. Librarian, our Library collection has continued to increase through donations and purchases, mainly through the efforts of Dr. James Hayes. The Library, as many know, is kept at the Kowloon Central Library, as part of the reference collection there. Recently I had a meeting with the Chief Librarian, Urban Council Libraries, Mrs. Barbara Luk, and I am pleased to report that subject to unforeseen circumstances it is anticipated that sometime in 1992-1993 it will be possible to move it to the City Hall Central Library into a special collection room, part of which will be specifically set aside for the Royal Asiatic Society. This is indeed good news and I hope that by this time next year I will be able to report further progress. The Library is becoming a fine reference source of books on China and I do strongly urge you to make use of it: clearly a move to the City Hall area will make it that much easier for members to gain access. Other Matters At the beginning of each Journal you will read these words "The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society was originally founded in 1847 but ceased to exist in 1859. It was revived in 1959 with the Page xi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 # ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH # LIBRARY # REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1990/91 The stock of the Library grew considerably this year and there are 1,627 books in the collection. 131 new titles (in 148 volumes) were processed and added to our collection housed in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library. Among them, 90 titles were purchased through Dr. James Hayes from local bookstores, in Australia and Britain. Most of them are out-of-print, if not rare, items which cannot be found in local libraries. The remaining 41 titles were received as gifts. Dr. James Hayes again contributed 25 titles to the Library. Other donors included Dr. G.H. Choa, Mr. Eric Peter Ho, Dr. D.D. Waters and Mr. Ian Diamond. As reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of the Library in the period from March 1990 to January 1991 is as follows: | Category | Number | | ------------------------------- | ------ | | 1. No. of requests for information | 84 | | 2. No. of books consulted | 136 | | 3. No. of borrowers | 16 | | 4. No. of books checked out | 20 | Members might like to know that they can also check out books from the City Hall Reference Library, though only 2 books were checked out in the same period. Following the up-grade of the City Hall Public Library into the central library in Hong Kong Island in, we hope, mid-1992, our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Library where our members would find the Library more accessible. 21st February 1991 Y. C. WAN Hon. Librarian XX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 THE OLD POPULAR CULTURE OF CHINA AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO STABILITY IN TSUEN WAN James W. HAYES* Introduction This article is aimed at investigating the very marked social stability which was so clear a feature of Tsuen Wan society in the early post-War years. What were the factors which, in the virtual absence of external controls, enabled so many people to live for so long in an orderly and peaceful manner in unhygienic and sometimes unsafe conditions in hillside squatter huts and urban hovels, or in the over-crowded conditions of the early resettlement estates? What was it that the incoming squatters shared with the indigenous villagers which allowed both groups to run their affairs so peacefully and effectively, and with so little external pressure or assistance? Finally, what were the roots of the generally co-operative attitude towards removal and relocation upheavals which were essential for development of the Tsuen Wan New Town, and a prerequisite of steady progress with construction and modernisation, but nonetheless always traumatic for those affected? PART ONE: The Influence of the Past As I see them, the answers to the questions posed above lie in the Chinese character; but more specifically in some leading features of the traditional upbringing and education. That traditional upbringing and education was deeply rooted in a reverence for the past, and for the moral standards which the heroes of the past were believed to exemplify. This reverence was invariably noted by those Westerners with a familiarity with the Chinese countryside and a rapport with its inhabitants, as the following statements from the 1940s show: * The author was District Officer and Town Manager, Tsuen Wan from 1975 to 1982. He has recently completed a book about the growth and development of this, Hong Kong's first New Town, which is expected to be published by Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, in mid-1993, under the title Transformation: a Century of Tsuen Wan and its People. (Editor), 1 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 28 membership of an alliance." III. Studies on Jiao Festivals in Hong Kong: the 1980s a. Trend 18 There are not as many studies of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong as in Taiwan. The earliest study in Hong Kong is probably Taylor's 1953 ethnographical essay on the Cheung Chau Jiao festival. The article was re-printed in every issue of the special annual bulletin for the Bun festival in Cheung Chau until the beginning of the 80s. The late Prof. B.E. Ward noticed very early the importance of the Jiao festival to the understanding of rural society. Her account of the festival itself, however, appeared only briefly in her introductory guide book on festivals in Hong Kong. Dr. James Hayes has also noticed the importance of the celebration during his studies on rural communities in the outlying islands and new towns in Kowloon. However, only some of the celebrations were given brief mention in his 1983 book. Mathias' study on the 1975 Kam Tin Jiao festival is probably the earliest comprehensive study of the festival. It is a pity, however, that it has not been published. Kani, Obuchi and Yoshihara are probably the earliest Japanese scholars to realize the significance of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong. Kani, in his study of boat people in Hong Kong regards the Jiao on Cheung Chau island as an event, like the Hungry Ghost Festival, to feed wandering ghosts. Obuchi, working with a Taoist priest, Mr. Chan Wah, studied the symbolic meanings of different Taoist rituals performed in the 1975 Shatin Jiao festival. Yoshihara in a section of his paper on religion in Hong Kong briefly described the 1977 Tai Wai, Sha Tin, event. Beginning in 1979, Tanaka and Segawa commenced active data collection on the festival. Tanaka began his extensive research in Hong Kong in 1979. At least 14 different Jiao festivals were recorded in his three books. Segawa joined the research later, from 1983 to 1985, and several articles have since been published in Japanese. 20 22 The nineteen eighties saw a growth in interest in Jiao festivals among local institutions and scholars. In 1980, students and lecturers of the History Department (Dr. D. Faure), the Sociology Department (the late Prof. B.E. Ward), the Anthropology Department (Dr. S.H. Wang) and the Music Department (the late Dr. B.C. Lu) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK] began concurrent studies on Jiao ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 40 Dean. Kenneth “Revival of Religious Practices in Fujian: a Case Study in Pas. Julian F. (ed.) The Turning of the Tide: Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society & Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 72. 4 Mr. Pang Cheng-chuen (Peng Zheng-chuen), interviewed by author, Fanling, Dec. 30. 1990. P Dean. 54. A student of the University of Hong Kong told me on Feb. 3, 1991 that he saw, by chance, a Jiao festival in 1990. He could not recall the exact date and location. However, he was very sure, from the celebrating flower boards, that it was a Jiao festival. K Ibid., 776. Liu Zhi-wan, Taibeishi Songshan qi an jian jiao jidian, Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica Monograph, no. 14, (Taipei: The Institute, 1967). Besides Liu, the research team from the Academia Sinica included Song Lung-fei and Xu Jia-ming. Song's paper concentrated on aspects of folk architecture and decoration while Xu focused on the economic and social aspects. See Song Lung-fei "Song-shan jian jiao jiao tan jianzhu di zhuan shi Yi shu" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 157-217; Xu Jia-ming: "Songshan jian jiao yu shequ" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 109-153. 4 Li Zian-zhang. "Daojiao jiaoyi di kaizhan yu xiandai di jiao” Sinological Researches 5 (1968): 261. Ibid., p. 201. Saso, Michael R., Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (Washington: Washington State Univ. Press, 1972), 34. Law, Joan & B.E. Ward, Chinese Festivals (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1982), 83. Okada, Yuzuru, Kiso Shakai (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1949). See Brim, John A. “Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong" in Wolf. A.P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1974), 93–103; and Suenari, Michio "Sonbyo to sonkyo: Taiwan Hakka shuraku no jirei kara” [Village temple and village boundary: a case study of the Hakka communities in Taiwan] Bunka Jinna Gaku [Cultural Anthropology] (1985) 2:255-260. 15 Ueno, Hiroko, "Taiwan nanbo no osho to sonraku: Tainanken hito saishiken no sonraku aida kankei" (Wang Jiao and villages in southern Taiwan: worshipping area and village relationship] Bunka Jinriú Gaku 5 (1988): 64-82. + Taylor, W.A. "The Spirit Festival" Bulletin of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival 1980 (Cheung Chau: n.p., 1980), 39-41. (reprinted from Wide World Magazine, Dec. 1953). The annual Cheung Chau Jiao festival is better known to westerners as the Bun festival because of the three tall "bun mountains" erected at the ritual area. The festival is the most studied Jiao festival in Hong Kong probably due to the fact that (1) the island is comparatively easy to get to, (2) it is celebrated every year and (3) it is widely publicized by the Hong Kong Tourist Information Bureau. Besides Tanaka's accounts (see note 36), see also Jonathan Chamberlain and Ian Lambot's photographic account. The Bun Festival of Cheung Chau (Hong Kong Studio Publications, 1990). דן I owe my interest in the Jiao festival to Prof. Ward who first introduced me to Jiao festivals in 1980. She then suggested that I participate in the Jiao festival in Kau Lau Wan. K Law & Ward, 83-84. Hayes, James W., The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes (Hong ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 41 Kong: Oxford Univ. Press, 1983), 156-160 & 163-164, on the Jiao festivals celebrated between 1964 and 1972 in Ma Tau Wai, Nga Tsin Wai, Tung Chung and Tai O. N Mathias, John R.G., Study of the Jiao: a Taoist Ritual in Kam Tin in the Hong Kong New Territories (unpublished D.Phil. thesis, Oxford University, 1977-78). #I Kani, Hiroaki, "Hồn Kôn Chugokujin no shukyo shiso no ichidan nitsuite" Shigaku 40, no. 2 & 3 (1967). 22 Obuchi, Ninji, “Hon Kon no tokyo girei" |Daoist ritual in Hong Kong] in Ikeda Sueri Hakase Koki Kinen Toyo Gaku Ronshu (Tokyo, 1980), 753-769. 27 Yoshihara, Katsuo. "Shukyo" [Religion] in Kani Hiroaki (ed.) Motto Shiritai Hon Kon (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1984), 184-191. 11 See note 37. 14 I have been told that Dr. Faure had a manuscript on the Jiao festival sent to a publisher in Hong Kong. However, due to whatever reasons, it has not yet been published. See also Hayes, 164, about Faure's book on Jiao festivals. 36 I was probably the only researcher who participated in the 1980 Kau Lau Wan Jiao festival when I was first introduced by the late Prof. B.E. Ward and Dr. S.H. Wang to the Jiao festival celebrated by the fishing village. In October the same year, Dr. Faure and I attended the Jiao festival at Pak Kong, Sai Kung. In November, the late Dr. Lu Bin-chuan of the Music Department of CUHK, Dr. Lu's student Mr. Chan Wing-Hoi and I attended the Jiao festival in Fanling. Dr. Faure, Prof. Ward and Prof. Tanaka also came. The Jiao festival of Fanling and that of other areas are mentioned here and there in Faure's 1986 book. In December 1980 students of CUHK under the guidance of Dr. Faure, Dr. Wang and Prof. Ward started an ethnographical research on the Jiao festival in Ho Chung, Sai Kung. A detailed report of daily rituals was written by Lee Lai-mui and Cheng Shui Kwan, two CUHK students majoring in History and minoring in Anthropology. The report was sent to interested scholars. Unfortunately it has never been published. Two students of the CUHK at that time should perhaps be mentioned here: Chan Wing-hoi, who specializes in music and computer, was employed by the History Museum of Hong Kong to study the Kam Tin Jiao festival in 1985, a report of which was published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29 (1989). Chan's master's thesis on folk music in Hong Kong also includes a chapter on the ritual music played by the Taoists at the Jiao festival. Chan also has an ethnography on the 1986 Shek O Jiao festival published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 26 (1986), 78-101. The master's thesis of Leung Chor-on, now Ph.D. candidate of Cambridge University, submitted to the Anthropology Department of the CUHK gives a good account of the ritual symbols of the festival. Chan, Leung and I held a seminar on Jiao festivals on Dec. 11, 1988 for the "Research Circle of the Regional Society of Southern China" focusing on musical, ritual and social aspects of the festival. 27 Locally published works besides those by Faure and my own are: - (a) Chamberlain, Jonathan, "Introduction” in Chamberlain J. and Iam Lambot The Bun Festival of Cheung Chau (Hong Kong: Studio Publication, 1990). This is largely a collection of photos. Chamberlain's introduction is very descriptive but no sources are quoted. (b) Chan Wing-hoi, “Observations at the Jiu [Jiao] festival of Shek O and Tai Long Wan, 1986" Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 26 (1986), 78-101. Chan recorded meticulously what he was told and observed about the 'settlement', the 'participants', the "ritual site", the "local gods" and the "events". (c) Xiao, Kuo-jian (Anthony K.K. Siu), Xianggang Xiandai Shehui [Pre-modern society of Hong Kong] (Hong Kong: Chung Wah, 1990), 86-97. Xiao attempts to illustrate three reasons why the communities in Hong Kong celebrate the Jiao. The first reason is to plead for fortune, to pay sacrifices to the gods, to drive away evils and to prevent 4 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 219 HONG KONG HONGS WITH LONG HISTORIES AND BRITISH CONNECTIONS +++ DAN WATERS* Trade the beneficent daughter of liberty and industry. The giver of human happiness! The creator of wealth. The supporter of social existence! Blessed commerce, the friend of the slave, the liberator of the oppressed John Holt merchant and West African trader 7th January 1906 Introduction This paper traces the histories of some of the present-day commercial, industrial and professional firms, that have British origins or connections, which were established in Hong Kong in the 19th century. Traditional Hong Kong romanisations of Cantonese names have been used. When currency is referred to, unless otherwise stated, it is Hong Kong dollars. A valuable start in researching the hongs (large business houses), has been made by Dr S.M. Bard (Bard, 1988) who prepared a paper for the Hong Kong Museum of History. Clearly, as Bard stresses, it is important not to forget Chinese merchants. Here too a useful beginning has been made by Professor Wong Siu-lun (Wong, 1988). The aim of the author of this article is, as Bard suggests, to continue the momentum. Now, one-and-a-half centuries after Hong Kong was established, is a good time to retrace steps, especially as the story of industry * The author is grateful to his friends, Dr. James Hayes, the Rev. Carl T. Smith and Dr. Elizabeth Sinn, for their encouragement, for recommending research material and for assistance in other ways. Thanks are also extended to the many companies covered in this paper, and to their members of staff who helped the author and without whom this study would not have been possible. This paper was first presented at the 12th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia, at Hong Kong University, in June 1991. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 TABLE 1: VILLAGE WARS IN THE HONG KONG AREA 279 Antagonist Lo Wu Antagonist Tsoi Uk Wai Date Source Comment 18.36 Above Over control of landing place Lo Wu Wong Pui Ling 1856-75 Ahove Ta Kwu Ling Wong Pui Ling TRGON Hase 1989 Sheung Shui Wong Pui Ling VERSOS Baker 1967 1979 Sheung Shui Ho Sheung Heng long-term Baker 1966 Over control of landing place Over control of river-crossings. 23 dead on TKL side alone. Hero shrine. Over control of irrigation systems San Tin Ping Kong 1851 Kam Tsin Baker 1966 1968 San Tin Ping Shan 1851 Baker 1968 Hero Shrine Shup Pat Heung San Tim Ping Shan 1851 Watson 1982 Over control of ferries Ha Tsuen Baker 1968 Sha Tseng Pok Tau Kong 185.3 Krone (above) Po Kat neighbours 1853- Above Sheung Shun Fanling long-term Ping Kong Fanling Baker 1966 Over control of market Earthwall on border Ho Sheung Heung Long Yeak Tho Fanling long-term Oral Par Fleung ?Kam Tia Tinid 19 Hero Shrine Sheung Tsuen Wang Tei Shan 2nud (19 Oral Lam Tsuen Hero Shrine Tsuen Wan Shing Mun Tsim Sha Tsui neighbours Tai Wai Cheung Sha Wan Keng tam 1862-4 1862 mid-late c19 Haves 1983 Hero Shrines Hayes 1983 Paure 1986 Hero Shrine Kak Tin Shek Pik Sha Lo Wan נִי Hayes 1983 Pui O San Tsuen Pui O La Wai 1930 Hayes 1983 Kam Tin Ping Shan Chan 1989 Heroes worshipped Pat Heung Kam Tiu Ping Shan long-term mid c19 Chan 1989 # [Baker 1966 = "The Five Great Clans of the New Territories", H.D.R. Baker, Journal. Vol. 6, 1966, pp. 25-49; Baker 1968 = H.D.R. Baker, Sheung Shui: A Chinese Lineage Village, London, 1968; Baker 1979 H.D.R. Baker, Chinese Family and Kinship, London 1979; Faure 1986 = D. Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong, 1986; Hayes 1983 = J.W Hayes. The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies anet Themes, Hong Kong. 1983; Watson 1982 = Rubic S. Watson "The Creation of a Chinese Lineage: The Teng of Ha Tsuen, 1669-1751", Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 16(1). 1982 pp 69-108; Chan 1989 = "The Tangs of Kam Tin and their Jio Festival", Chan Wing-hoi, Journal, Vol 29, 1989. pp. 302-376.] ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1991/92 May I first of all welcome you and any of your guests this evening to our Annual General Meeting and that you will enjoy what we hope will be a very enjoyable and stimulating time. It is particularly gratifying to welcome our immediate past President, Dr. James Hayes who again has flown back from Australia to be with us. Giving a President's report to the Royal Asiatic Society is not an easy task: I need to ensure that you will actually listen to a rather factual lecture, not think of the excellent dinner we will be having later, and be prepared to come to next year's Annual General Meeting. I cannot like a chairman of a company report on sales turnover, profits, or declare a dividend which could be considered as the usual criteria of success for organisations of that kind. Our society's measures of success are more subtle, hidden and full of mystery: our performance indicators, to use an academic phrase very much in vogue in tertiary educational establishments, are not tangible: they are intangible and are perceived in the mind of the members and also non-members who if they are not members would pose the question to themselves, “Would I like to join the Royal Asiatic Society,” and would reply “Yes, I would like to join, I have heard they publish annually an outstanding academic journal, have a good monthly lecture, and have very excellent visits to places of historical interest with occasional tours outside Hong Kong. They seem to be good, the sort of society that will help me to understand the history and customs of Hong Kong and China outside the political and financial problems which usually dominate my life here. The above profile is perhaps a little too simplistic: I believe there are other factors which make members retain their membership, and which non-members will soon perceive once they become members. Yes, we are a society interested in historical aspects of Hong Kong and the friendships and academic interaction we obtain by this common interest binds us to carry out multifarious activities which really cannot be done without the existence of the Royal Asiatic Society. Yes, we are a society which strives to bring together and expand upon East and West relationships - Yes, we are a society which provides a platform for several of our members not only to publish in the Journal but also to encourage members to seek out areas of interest and publish themselves, and you VII ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j Mr. David Sheil Mr. Michael Kirkbride Mr. Yip Cho-hong Mr. Philip Bruce (twice) and Mr. David Mahoney Dr. James Hayes Mr. K. Leung Mr. Tao Ho Mr. Charles Walker Tibetan Rugs Hong Kong: a Landscape History Preparing for the Future: Our First 15 years in the Antiquities Office Second to None: The Hong Kong Volunteers and the Battle of Hong Kong Tsuen Wan: 1887 to 1987 Civilians Under Japanese Occupation Western Market Eric Lidell There have also been the following trips/tours over the last year since I last reported. Dr. Patrick Hase and Dr. Graeme Lang organised a trip to Wong Tai Sin, and three visits have been organised by Mr. Philip Bruce namely the Bogue Forts in the Pearl river Delta, the Colonial Cemetery and Chek Lap Kok in conjunction with Mr. Bill Meacham (again and probably the last), Mr. John Wilson organised a trip to the Shing Mun Redoubt in keeping again with the Society's sights on the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong. Dr Patrick Hase and Mr. Philip Bruce did not also forget to look after our gastronomical and liquid desires since the former organised our annual Chinese dinner at the City Hall, and the latter our resuscitated Christmas cocktail party at the Volunteer Officer's mess at Beaconsfield house. Since the new year we have also been well taken care of by a visit to the South Side of Hong Kong Island organised jointly by Mrs. Rosemary Lee who took us to the war cemetery at Stanley, Mr. Michael Kirkbride who expanded on Keteleeria Trees, and Colonel Douglas Fox who showed us how the South side of the island and Stanley Fort in particular was fortified in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Colonel Douglas Fox also led a very successful trip to Stonecutters Island. This was followed in quick succession by a tour to more of the remote parts of Lamma Island led by our honourary secretary Mr. David St. Maur Sheil. And more recently we had a very successful if rather wet trip to Xiamen, organised by Mrs. Anita Wilson and Mrs. Rosemary Lee, and a very comprehensive tour of Tsuen Wan led by Dr. James Hayes. To all these organisers may I extend our thanks and sincere appreciation. Our local tours are very popular as many members, who were not able to get on some, found: the Council is very conscious of this problem, IX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j # ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY # HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY ## REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1991/92 97 new titles, of which 78 titles in English and 19 titles in Chinese, were added to the library collection this year bringing the total number of titles available in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Reference Library to 1,724. All of them were received as gifts and donors included Dr. James Hayes, Rev. Carl Smith, Dr. Alan Birch and Mr. Nigel Cameron. It is urged that prospective donors among our members can take a more active role in contributing to the building of our library collection. An addition list is available from the Hon. Librarian upon request. As reported by the Urban Council Public Libraries Office, the usage of our library collection in the reporting year is as follows: 1. No. of requests for information 160 2. No. of books consulted 165 3. No. of borrowers 3 4. No. of books checked out I reported last year that our library collection would probably move to the City Hall Public Library following its up-grade to the central library in Hong Kong Island in mid-1992. Yet, I was later informed by the Chief Librarian that there were unexpected delays in the programme. It is highly likely that the anticipated move would not be able to take place in the near future. I will keep in touch with the Urban Council Public Libraries Office to monitor further development. March 1992 I xix Y. C. WAN Hon. Librarian ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 35 Faure, David W. 1990. The Rice Trade in Hong Kong Before the Second World War. In Between East and West Aspects of Social and Political Development 216-25. Edited by Elizabeth Sinn. Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. Fok, Kai-cheong. 1988. Wanqing qijian Xianggang dui neidi jingji fazhan zhi yingxiang (The influences of Hong Kong on the economic development of mainland during the late Qing period). In Xueshu Yanjiu 1988/2 70-4. 1989. Xianggang huaren zai jindaishi shang dui Zhongguo de gongxian shixi (A preliminary study on the contributions of Hong Kong Chinese to China in modern history). In Huaren Yanjiu | 81-8. 1990a. Lectures on Hong Kong History Hong Kong's Role in Modern Chinese History. Hong Kong: Commercial Press. 1990b. Private Chinese Business Letters and the Study of Hong Kong Industry: A Preliminary Report. In Collected Essays on Various Historical Materials for Hong Kong Studies. Edited by Hong Kong Museum of History. Hong Kong: Urban Council. 1992. Xianggang yu Jindai Zhongguo (Hong Kong and modern China). Hong Kong: Commercial Press. 1993. Nineteenth Century Hong Kong: China's Gateway to the Western World of Business - themes and sources. Unpublished paper presented at the 34th International Congress on Asian and North African Studies. Hong Kong. Gaw, Kenneth. 1988. Superior Servants: the Legendary Cantonese Amahs of the Far East. Singapore and New York: Oxford University Press. Godley, Michael R. 1981. The Treaty Port Connection: An Essay. In Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 12/1 248-59. Hamashita, Takeshi. 1991. Higashi Ajiashi ni okeru Honkon no ichi (The role of Hong Kong in East Asian history). In Sōbun 320 1-8. Hamilton, Gary Glen. 1991. Edited Business Networks and Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong: University Press. Hao, Yen-p'ing. 1969. Cheng Kuan-ying: The Comprador as Reformer. In Journal of Asian Studies 29/1 15-22. 1970a. The Comprador in Nineteenth-Century China: Bridge Between East and West. Cambridge and Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1970b. A New Class in China's Treaty Ports: The Rise of the Comprador-Merchants. In Business History Review 44/4 446-59. 1970c. Maiban shangren wanqing tongshang kouan yi xinxing jieceng (Comprador-merchants: "new class" in late Qing treaty ports). In Gugong Wenxian 2/1 35-44. 1977. Zhongguo jindai yanhai shangye de buwenling-sheng (Commercial uncertainties along modern China's Coast). In Shihuo Yuekan 7/8-9 1-11. 1979. Commercial Capitalism along the China Coast during the Late Qing Period. In Proceedings of the Conference on Modern Chinese Economic History 303-27. Edited by Chi-ming Hou and Trong-shian Yu. Taiber: Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica. 1982a. Entrepreneurship and the West in East Asian Economic and Business History. In Business History Review 56/2 149-67. 1982b. The Compradors. In Maggie Keswick (edited) 85-102. 1986. The Commercial Revolution in Nineteenth-Century China: The Rise of Sino-Western Mercantile Capitalism. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hayes, James. 1979. The Nam Pak Hong Commercial Association of Hong Kong. In Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 19/2 16-26. 1984. Collecting Business Papers of Chinese Enterprises in Hong Kong. In Research Materials for Hong Kong Studies 47-55. Edited by Alan Birch. Hong Kong: Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. He, Wenxiang. 1989. Xianggang Jiezushi (History of Hong Kong's big families). Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 38 1981 The Predicament of the Comprador Ideologists. He Qia and Hu Liyuan In Modern China 7/2- 191-225 1993 Hong Kong in Chinese History A Study of Community and Social Unrest from 1842 to 1913 New York, Columbia University Press Wang, Gungwu 1990 The Culture of Chinese Merchants Working Paper Series No 57 Ontario: Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, University of Toronto-York University Also adopted in Wang (1991) 181-90 1991 China and the Chinese Overseas Singapore, Academic Press Wang, Jingyu 1965 Shijiu shiji waiguo qinhua qiye zhong de huashang fugu yundong (The activities of Chinese merchants to buy capital-shares from the foreign aggressive enterprises in China during the late nineteenth century) In Lishi Yanjiu 1965/4 1983a Tang Tingshu yanjiu (A study of Tang Tingshu) Beijing, Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe 1983b. Shijiu shiji xifang ziben zhuyi dui Zhongguo de jingji qinlue (The economic invasion of western capitalism on China in nineteenth century) Beijing, Renmin Chubanshe 1990 Shilun Jindai Zhongguo de maiban jieji (A preliminary discussion on modern Chinese compradors) In Lishi Yanjiu 1990/3, 89-108 Wang, Shui 1983. Qingdai maiban shouru de guji jiqi shiyong fangshi (An assessment of compradors' income and its spending ways in Qing dynasty). In Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Jingji Yanjiusuo Jikan 5 298-324 1984. Maiban de jingji diwei he zhengzhi qingxiang (The economic achievement and political tendency of compradors) In Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Jingji Yanjiusuo Jikan 7 255-93 Wilmott, William E 1966 The Chinese in Southeast Asia. In Australian Outlook 20. 252-62 1972 edited Economic Organization in Chinese Society Stanford. Stanford University Press Wong, Bernard 1988 Patronage, Brokerage, Entrepreneurship, and the Chinese Community of New York New York. AMS Press Wong, Siu-lun 1983 Business Ideology of Chinese Industrialists in Hong Kong In Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 23 137-71 1984 The Migration of Shanghainese Entrepreneurs to Hong Kong In From Village to City. Studies in the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society 206-27 Edited by David Faure, James Hayes and Alan Birch Hong Kong, Center of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong 1985 The Chinese Family Firm: A Model In British Journal of Sociology 36/1 58-72 1986 Modernization and Chinese Culture in Hong Kong. In China Quarterly. 106. 306-25 1988a Emigrant Entrepreneurs Shanghai Industrialists in Hong Kong Hong Kong, Oxford University Press 1988b The Applicability of Asian Family Values to Other Sociocultural Settings In In Search of an East Asian Development Model. 134-52 Edited by Peter Berger and Michael Hsiao New Brunswick and Oxford, Transaction Publishers 1990 Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Trust In University of Hong Kong Supplement to the Gazette 37/1 25-34 1991 Chinese Entrepreneurs and Business Trust In Gary Hamilton (edited) 13-29 1993 Business Networks, Cultural Values and the State in Hong Kong and Singapore Unpublished paper presented at the Workshop on Chinese Business Houses in Southeast Asia since 1870 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Woon, Yuen-fong 1984 Social Organization in South China, 1911-1949 the Case of... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 104 CHINESE FUNERALS: A CASE STUDY DAN WATERS The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave Awaits alike the inevitable hour; The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in Country Churchyard. Introduction This paper examines an actual, fairly typical, present-day Chinese death in urban Hong Kong and the funeral services and mourning that follow. Comparisons are made with past customs in Hong Kong, with traditional Hong Kong New Territories funerals and European funerals. Because this paper is largely about Hong Kong, Cantonese terms and Romanisations are mainly used rather than pinyin. Currency quoted is in Hong Kong dollars. The author is grateful to Mr Gerald C.S. Siu, manager of the Hong Kong Funeral Home, Doctor James Hayes, the Reverend Carl T. Smith, Mrs Judy Kant Young and other persons and organisations named in this paper. Help varied from recommending source material to providing information. The Case Study One November night in 1988, a couple received a call saying the wife's mother had been taken to hospital. Shortly after midnight the couple, together with the wife's two younger sisters and two granddaughters, gathered around the corpse. Traditionally, Chinese hope for a peaceful death in old age with family mustered around the deathbed. In this case the end came suddenly. As Chuang Tzu, sometimes named as the first important Taoist writer, phrased it: We are born as from a quiet sleep, We die to a calm awakening. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 132 NOTES This paper is based largely on the author's own experiences while attending and being involved with Chinese funerals over a period of four decades. 2. B.D. Wilson, 'Chinese Burial Customs in Hong Kong', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 1 (1960-1), pp. 115-123. Martin K. Whyte, 'Death in the People's Republic of China', Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, Eds. James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski, University of California Press (1988), pp. 289-316, (p. 313); Laurence G. Thompson, Chinese Religion, An Introduction, Fourth Edition, The Religious Life of Man Series (1979), pp. 50-54. Patrick Hase, 'Traditional funerals', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 21 (1981), pp. 192-6; Patrick Hase, 'Observations at a Village Funeral', From Village in the City: Studies in the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society, Ed. Davis Faure et al., Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong (1984), pp. 129-163; Hugh Baker, 'Burial, Geomancy and Ancestor Worship', Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, Week-end Symposium, 9th-10th May 1964, pp. 36-39. 5. VR Burkhardt, 'Funerals, Requiem Masses and the Path to Purgatory', Chinese Creeds and Customs (1982), pp. 96-110. Evelyn S. Rawski, "The Imperial Way of Death: Ming and Ching Emperors and Death Ritual", Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, op. cit., pp. 228-253 (p. 238). 7. T.C. Lai, Husein Rofe, and Philip Mao, Things Chinese, ed. T.C. Lai (1971), p. 70. 9. Ibid., p. 71. John Z. Bowers, 'Surgery Past and Present', Medicine and Public Health in the People's Republic of China, ed. Joseph R. Quinn (1973), pp. 53-62. 10. Linda Chih-ling Koo, Nourishment of Life: Health in Chinese Society (1982), p. 7, and discussion between Dr. Koo and the author, 18 June 1992. 11. Hugh Baker, 'Soul', More Ancestral Images, A Second Hong Kong Album (1980), pp. 5-8. 12. Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital (1989). 13. James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911, Institutions and Leadership in Towns and Countryside (1977), pp. 67-8. 14. James Hayes, The Rural Committees of Hong Kong - Studies and Themes (1983), p. 45. 15. Frena Bloomfield, The Book of Chinese Beliefs (1983), pp. 100, 101, and 112. 16. The author has visited this 'Coffin Home' on various occasions. 18. Harold Ingrams, Hong Kong (1952), plate vi; James L. Watson, 'Funeral Specialists in Cantonese Society: Pollution, Performance and Social Hierarchy', Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, op. cit., p. 109. 19. James Hayes, 'Sandal Wood Mills at Tsun Wan', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16 (1976), pp. 283-3. 20. Gems of Langzhu Culture, exhibition at Hong Kong Museum of History, 11 April to 9 August 1992. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 182 It was a group loosely attached to the University of Hong Kong and NOT a public society. By 1957, this small Team had visited and examined several previously-known sites. Several new members were enrolled, among them Robin and Elspeth Maneely, John Llewellyn, Gerald Moore, and John Walden. By the end of 1957, nine more members were enrolled, among them Dr. Chiu Tze-nang, Mr. (now Dr.) J. Hayes and Dr. Albert So. Total membership now stood at 19. More sites were visited, such as Potoi Island, High Island, Picnic Bay (Lamma island) and Tai Long (Lantao Island). In 1958, four more members joined the Team, including Mr. B. Williams. In 1958, the administrative responsibility for the Team had passed from the Institute of Oriental Studies to the Department of Geography and Geology (at the request of Professor Drake), and with this change, Professor Davis became the Head of the Team and its committee. Throughout 1958, the Team was very active. Several sites on Lamma Island were visited as well as Cheung Chau, Tai Long, Shek Pik, Castle Peak, and Soko Islands. An excavation at Man Kok Tsui was undertaken. In 1964, Mr James Watt joined the team and became the Secretary of the committee. After 1964, the Team activity appeared to decline. Some members became inactive, others left Hong Kong. By the end of 1966, it became apparent that the Team could not continue its work in the old way. Four active members of the Team James Watt, Bernard William, James Hayes, and Solomon Bard met in January 1967 and agreed that a public society should be formed from the Team, to be called the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, and that the assets of the Team should pass on to the new Society. The first meeting of the new Society was held in May 1967. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 209 What more can a reviewer add? Perhaps to emphasize that an attempt has been made throughout to be and stay historical, and to let the pictures speak in a true harmony with the Introduction and captions, so that the readers can gain as much from the presentation as possible. The result is a work of lasting value. But what we sorely need, of course, is a book of photographs by Chinese photographers of the period, ones which are free from the pressures and purposes of the state. I am not qualified to say what might be available of this kind, though I suspect this is probably asking for the impossible, and unattainable given the many constraints of the time. In lieu, substitutes from other segments of the visual arts from and about this epic period in the history of China and its people must be found. But one lives in hope. JAMES HAYES Xianggang lishi wenhua kaocha [Field Studies on History and Culture of Hong Kong]. The Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture, ed. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. 1993. SIUMI MARIA TAM DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG This book is a collection of ten project reports that entered the "Award for Field Study Reports on History and Culture" competition between 1989 and 1991, organized by the HKIPCC. The book is divided into six sections in the following order: religion, archeological sites, historical events, occupations, festivals and civic life. The editor sets out to provide a comprehensive view of local history and culture research in terms of topic, field methods and presentation. All of the projects were undertaken by local secondary school students who chose the topic, designed the research and carried out the field investigations themselves. Although these are reports by teenagers, the standard of work produced is strikingly high. Much as the adjudicators have experienced (as indicated in Elizabeth Sinn's introduction and in the comments at the end of each report), I was pleasantly surprised by the insights coming from our teenage students, their ability in organizing and carrying out field research, and producing well-referenced reports. Many of the reports also include an ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT. ARTICLES: 1 Keith Stevens A Jersey Adventurer in China: Gun Runner, Customs Officer, and Business Entrepreneur and General in the Chinese Imperial Army, 1842-1919 ... Vii P.H. Munro-Faure - Behind the Front Lines in Burma, The Marches of the Salween Border, 1942-1944... 113 Wei Peh Ti A Peek Backwards into the Jewish Community of Shanghai. 149 James Hayes - Old Chinese Graves from the Tsuen Wan District of Hong Kong's New Territories ... 164 David Faure An Exploratory Study of Pingshan, a Hakka Village Cluster to the East of Shenzhen ... 180 NOTES AND QUERIES: David Faure - China Resurgence of Folk Religion in Western ... 193 Denis Bray - Growing up in China: Lecture to the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, 14 May, 1993 ... 199 P.H. Hase Bandits in the Siu Lek Yuen Yeuk ... 214 Alvin P. Cohen First Meeting of the Warring States Working Group, University of Massachusetts ... 216 BOOK REVIEWS ... 218 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 'Fire Dragon' Mid-Autumn Festival - Tai Hang Party for Dr. James Hayes Geoff Roper Michael Kirkbride Prof. Tong Kin Woon — Chinese Music Elizabeth Sinn Visit to the New Territories ― Kam Tin Patrick Hase Visit to Devil's Peak Visit to Royal Observatory Visit to Mai Po marshes Visit to the Exhibition of Painting by Nancy Wu John Wilson Elizabeth Sinn & Rosemary Lee Dan Waters & Rosemary Lee Michael Lau There was, as you see, another expedition to Chek Lap Kok! This really will be the last one until the new airport is completed, after which you will undoubtedly be able to visit it as much as you can afford to. I would like to thank all those who took the time and effort to organise these visits and expeditions. The programme committee is also responsible for organising our lecture programme and those of us who have been able to attend them will, I think, agree that the standard has been well maintained. Without detracting from the other lectures, I would like to highlight the two lectures at the beginning of January 1993, where we were fortunate to have two prominent academics in the form of Professor Hugh Baker, Professor of Chinese at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, and Professor James Watson from Columbia University. The full list of lectures and speakers are as follows: Lecture Speaker American Chinese Film Making Shirley Sum Central Highlanders of Vietnam Grant Evans Cambodia: Is Peace Possible ! ix Peter Leeds ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x Chinese Painting & Caligraphy Armoured Cars in the Battle of Hong Kong TC Lại Arren Leung Inheritance and the Chinese Lineage Hugh Baker From the Common Por James Watson No Environmental Myopia at Mai Po Dick Irving & David Melville Feng Shut David Shru The Woman as a Symbol in Judaeo-Christian & Hindu Buddhist Traditions Caroline Muar & Rajeshwari Ghose Good lectures however can rarely be carried out unless there is a reasonable venue and the technical aspects are in place. Fortunately, as members will know we have an excellent relationship with the Urban Council which not only sponsors our talks, but provides us with a very well fitted out room, and I would like to record our sincere thanks for the council's unstinting co-operation. I would now like to turn to the second of our area of activities; the Journal and the Library. To produce an annual journal as we do is a very time-consuming business and throughout the history of the Society we have been particularly fortunate to have had a line of very distinguished editors, Professor Crammer-Byng, Professor James Lui, Dr. James Hayes, our immediate past president, Dr. David Faure, and one who has done it since 1982, Dr. Patrick Hase. We do owe a great deal to Patrick who assures me that the 1990 Journal will be out very shortly, (we are waiting for the final version of the 30th anniversary lecture given by Dr. Wang Gungwu) and the 1991 Journal will, it is hoped be out by the end of the year. Last year I reported to you that I hoped to be able to report more encouragingly on the move of the Library from its present location in the rather inaccessible Kowloon Central Library, to a special collection room in the reorganised City Hall Central Library. I am pleased to say that this is now likely to happen in the foreseeable future probably by the end of the year. This is something we have been working on for sometime and it is particularly gratifying that it is now becoming a reality: our thanks go to Mrs. Barbara Luk, Assistant Director Museums and X ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 164 OLD CHINESE GRAVES FROM THE TSUEN WAN DISTRICT OF HONG KONG'S NEW TERRITORIES JAMES HAYES 'The geomantic name for the location of my ancestral grave is 'Fish Land. It is a good fung-shui as it made my father into a rich man.' Introduction 'How very evocative these old things are!', my wife's mother observed one day, after we had gone over together the Chinese texts of some of the letters and inscriptions pertaining to old graves retrieved from my service in the Tsuen Wan District of the New Territories between 1975-1982. I was glad that she shared my delight with these materials which, together with much else from the period, have been the mainstay of my interest in Chinese cultural life as it used to be in country districts. In the course of researching the popular culture of traditional China, it would not be possible to ignore one particularly important element: the beliefs and way of thinking regarding ancestral graves. These comprise, in particular, the filial responsibilities of descendants towards the grave and the ancestor buried in it, the belief that neglect of these services would bring harm to the living family members; and the ever-present fear that the fung-shui of the grave could change for the worse, and damage fortunes of the descendants. The local hillsides on the mainland and islands parts of the district still contain thousands of traditional, horseshoe-shaped Chinese graves. Each possesses an inscribed tablet with texts of varying length, all giving basic details of the deceased such as name, sex, and date of burial. The graves of members of wealthier families sometimes give a good deal more information. The graves are not found everywhere, however, since geomancy has dictated their siting in practically every case and obviously the configuration of some places is considered to be more auspicious than others. Consequently, though the graves are generally scattered, many are to be found crowded together in favoured locations where the fung-shui was considered to be especially auspicious. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 219 is a typical example of 'chaos'. For the reader interested in finding out something about 'chaos' the book by J. Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science is a better introduction. For the reader interested in getting a thought-provoking and deeply insightful exposition of the subject, this book by a Professor of Meteorology is a must. CHARLES K. KAO James Hayes, Tsuen Wan: Growth of a 'New Town' and Its People. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993. xx + 227 pp. Notes. Glossary. Index. One of the long traditions of British colonial government has been the existence of a small band of administrator/scholars who have seen their role as extending far beyond the mere paper-shuffling of local bureaucratic processes, into developing a long and deep understanding of the cultural diversities of the societies with which they have become involved. This involvement has been not only to better understand the societies themselves, but also as much to explain to the wider world. There is therefore a long history of erudite and carefully-researched study of colonial cultures and societies written by such officers, and it is well known that Hong Kong has also had its share over the years. This tradition still continues, and as a visiting academic also writing on Hong Kong over the years the reviewer has often been reminded of the recent work of two contemporary members of that illustrious band — James Hayes and Ted Pryor. Both continue to uphold the tradition of careful scholarship, and when something new comes from either, one knows that it will be interesting, that scholarship will have been applied, and that because of the unique official position of both within government (until recently) some new and authoritative insight will be given into contemporary British colonial administration. James Hayes' new book on Tsuen Wan and its development one of Hong Kong's nine new towns is no exception. James Hayes is well-known in Hong Kong for his interests and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 220 perceptive writings on the cultural history of the Territory, and in this instance he has been able to add to his long experience in this field his particular advantage of having worked personally in the new town for many years, first as a District Officer and then as Town manager; both as a government officer within the Hong Kong New Territories Administration. In the Preface to his book Hayes sets out his basic approach to the study succinctly: As a former career civil servant, my approach to writing has inevitably been coloured by the knowledge and experience gained as an official. However, this book is not a thinly disguised 'official version' of events in Tsuen Wan. The motivation has been wholly personal, and readers should view it as the work of an interested writer who was also the man doing the job'. This view is fully reflected by the text, and it is not an overstatement to suggest that at times the narrative comes across as a labour of love in which the author is very much expressing his personal involvement and feelings on the events that he is unfolding in the text. The result is a unique blend of academic scholarship and personal interpretation. This is not to say that the book is in any way polemical or less than fairly researched. It is a text packed with carefully reviewed and assessed detail, and put into that wider cultural context that only this author can provide. It is thus not only about Tsuen Wan's development itself, but also its place within the wider contexts of recent Hong Kong history over the twentieth century. The book is organised into eleven chapters, with very full notes, bibliography and index. All but two of the chapters are largely chronological: the remaining two (VIII and IX) concentrating rather more on the various processes and policies of government and management at the local level with which James Hayes was himself so intimately involved during the formative years of the town's development. The joy of the book is that its style is not at all the dry factorial text that some historians are apt to produce, but rather the author has been able to intersperse the chronology with intense personal reminiscence, both of his own and of the many other participants of the Tsuen Wan story that he has been able to interview over the many years of his involvement with the town. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 221 The book is therefore both factual and interesting, and at times even amusing. The reader is thus able to learn much about Hong Kong's new town development process through the personal insights of many of its past and present inhabitants. The result is therefore a very readable variety of perspectives on the growth of Tsuen Wan, from government and newcomers alike, but perhaps more than any other through the eyes of the many indigenous inhabitants who grew up with the early town and endured the heady expansion of the 1960s and 70s. Having worked on parts of the Hong Kong new town story before, the reviewer is well aware of how much remains to be learned and told of this amazing story which has been created largely over the last thirty-five years. In this book James Hayes has added a large and unique addition to that academic enterprise, and has been kind enough to add some very important gaps in our knowledge of that story that only he could fill. For that we should be grateful, for the result is a text that not only gives the wider public the first detailed account of just how one of Hong Kong's nine new towns has developed, but perhaps even more importantly it has been put into a social and cultural context that has rarely been touched upon before. It can well be said that a town is its people. In Tsuen Wan: Growth of a 'New Town' and Its People James Hayes has given us the very best of an account of how such a new community has grown up to form one of the dynamic new centres of contemporary Hong Kong. MICHAEL BRISTOW Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology: An Introduction. Baltimore and London, John Hopkins University Press, 1993. xix + 322 pp. Bibliography. Indices. Anne Birrell's Chinese Mythology is unquestionably the best book on the subject in print in English. Despite Birrell's obvious and acknowledged debt to Yuan Ke's works in Chinese, her book is a vast improvement over Yuan Ke's recent publication in English, Dragons and Dynasties (Penguin), which supplies a single version of each myth (usually a composite of several versions), with no attribution to any Chinese text. Birrell's Mythology is to be applauded for the care with which it lists variant versions of the same myth and gathers different myths on the same theme. All the major subjects in early Chinese myth ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 Lectures: 1993 16 April 14 May 11 June 9 July 15 October 30 October 19 November 26 November 9 December 1994 21 January 18 February 11 March 21 March Chinese Opera Di S.Y Chan Growing Up in China Mr Denis Bray New Territories Poetry and Song Di Patrick Hase The Li Family of Hong Kong Mr Frank Ching Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong. Dr Patrick Hase based on video taken by Mr. Peter Lee Mult-culturalism and Asia Asian Arts Society of Australia Dr. James Hayes Emigration from Hong Kong Dr. Elizabeth Sinn Law as a Foreign Language Professor Derek Roebuck Triad Societies in Hong Kong Mr. Ip Pau-fuk William Mesney. Mr Keith Stevens Chinese Clothing An Illustrated Guide Mis Valery Garrett Eternal Serenity Meaning of Architecture of the Chinese Buddhist Monastery Di Puay-peng Ho Ancient Chinese Gold Dr Simon Kwan Crossing the Taklamakan Desert Mr Charles Blackmore Visits: 1993 3 April 2 May 22 May 5 June/September 25 June 3 July 30 September Exhibition of paintings by Nancy Woo - Fung Ping Shan Museum, HK University Jewish Cemetery Mer Yung Tang Collection of Paintings by Chan Dai Chien Chinese University Art Gallery Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui (two visits) Japanese Tea Ceremony - Fung Ping Shan Museum, HK University Picnic and outing to Yuen Tun Village Civil Aid Services Camp, Tar Lam Chung Wo Hang Village to see making and letting off of paper balloons (Moon Festival) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 From the programme, I would now like to turn to other topics which have exercised the Council's attention over the last year. As I mentioned earlier the Society has appeared twice before the LegCo Panel on Information Policy and this was due primarily to the stand which the Society has taken in respect of the Government's intention to move the Public Records Office to an unsuitable and inaccessible factory building in Tuen Mun, a step that is likely to happen in June. I do not wish to tabulate all the arguments that have been rehearsed many times within Council and the media on this subject, except to say that if it had not been for the Royal Asiatic Society's strong opposition to the removal of the Public Record to Tuen Mun then it is unlikely that we would now be looking at a more favourable situation than seemed possible this time last year. As it is we have been informed that the move is only temporary, the Government is actively looking for a site in Central, and provided funds are available the Government is prepared to build or convert some suitable buildings for public records; meanwhile the more important and the most used public records will be moved into a special room within the Government Secretariat. The position will need, however a great deal of attention and watching to ensure that those responsible for the preservation of Hong Kong's public records do really understand what is meant by the word preservation. Hong Kong's efforts in this direction leave a lot to be desired and compare very unfavourably with other countries including China. For this more optimistic emerging picture we need to thank several people including our past President, Dr. James Hayes, who continually prods the Government in the underbelly from down under and the Reverend Carl Smith who, at the height of the controversy last June, agreed reluctantly to appear in a T.V. documentary on the subject and was actually filmed, going to Tuen Mun, and seen groping through the polluted air and smog amongst the surroundings of the future Hong Kong Public Records Office. In addition I would like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Sinn, Mr. John Wilson, Dr. Lau Yee-cheung, and Dr. Choi Chi-cheung for their valuable inputs into these issues. The second time members of the Council appeared before the LegCo Information Panel was fairly recently and also to do with public records but in the context of a possible Access to Information Bill. This is a difficult subject and I am not sure one that the Society should become too involved. The Society is more concerned with public records and an Archives Ordinance, since without this there is little point for legislation on access to information if there is no guarantee that the information in question will be available. A letter to the legislative councillors involved xii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 200 not have been written at all 58 See the plan and cross-section of a typical 1853 Sha Tau Kok shop unit, taken from the drawings and descriptions of the Basel missionaries, in P.H. Hase, "The Alliance of Ten", in D. Faure and H. Siu, eds, Down to Earth, op. cit., and see also P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 59 D. Faure, A. Ng, B. Luk, eds, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280 60 The Hong Kong Museum of History has a set of Po Tau equipment 61 Julonghaiguan Barman Dashiji, op. cit., sub anno. 62 P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 63 The Tai Po to Sha Yue Chung Ferry was also deeply involved in this trade. In 1939, the Customs came to an agreement with Tsang Sang, the leader of the guerrillas controlling the eastern side of Mirs Bay, that the Customs would treat as duty-free goods anything imported through Sha Yue Chung for the guerrilla fight against the Japanese, but, while this trade was, therefore, not smuggling, it still faced major problems from Japanese attack. 64 Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1899, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers, (Sessional Papers), "Extracts from Papers relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong. Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor: Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong" (No. 9 of 1899), p. 190, notes this boatyard as a significant business in 1898. 65 "Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart" (Sessional Papers, 1899), op. cit., p. 189 66 For the Sha Tau Kok Branch Railway, see R.J. Phillips, Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section). A History, Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 84-93 67 A. Macmillan, Seaports of the Far East, London, 1925. I am indebted to Mr. J. Lanham for drawing my attention to this description. 68 For the first two of these tablets see Faure, Ng, and Luk, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280, and Vol. 2, pp. 376-379. The third is unpublished, and is now at the Hong Kong Museum of History. 69 A further, small, boatyard was at Kat Om in 1912: see Oime Report, op. cit., para. 76, p. 55 70 See, for instance, details on shops in Sai Kung in D. Faure, "Saikung, the Making of the District and its Experience during World War II", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 22, 1982, pp. 161-216, on Tsuen Wan in D. Faure, "Notes on the History of Tsuen Wan", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 24, 1984, pp. 46-104, and on Cheung Chau in J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 1850-1911, op cit 71 See P H Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853”, op cit 72 The largest shops were Kwan Tau (144) the household goods shop (Nai Wai, Niwei, in Luk Heung) 2 Wang Hap (Z) the household goods shop (Yung Shue Au) 3 Kwong Yue (M) the grocery (Fung Hang) 4 Yuen Tai (54) the grocery (Tong To) 5 Sam Lung ( ) the grocery (Wo Hang) 6 Yan Hong (10) the grocery (Yim Tin) 7 8 Cheung Ding (FL) the fishmonger (Kwun Lo Ha, Guanlouxia, in Luk Heung) Wa Shong (4) the fishmonger ("Sha Tau Kok" probably Sha Lan Ha) 9 10 Tak Ding (120) the tobacconist (Luk Keng) 11 Tsui Cheung (4307) the silversmith (Tsai Muk Kiu) 12 I San Cheung (1) the tailor and cloth dealer (Yim Tin) 13 San Lung (954) the tailor and cloth dealer - the largest shop in the market - (Au Tau, Aotou, in Luk Heung) 14 Tung Yue ( ) the carpenter (Sau Hang, Xuokeng, in Luk Heung) 15 Jung Hing ([]) the carpenter (Sha Tseng Tau, Shajingtou, Luk Heung) 16 Cheung Sze (12) the boatbuilder (Sha Tau Kok Sha Lan Ha) 17 Sze Fong Ting (P44) the gambling house (Wo Hang) 18 Nung Sang Tong (WE7) the doctor (Yim Tin) 19 Wo Hing Tong (ABU) the pawnshop (Yim Tin) Thus, of the largest shops, five were owned by Luk Heung people, four by Yim Tin Yeuk people, two by Wo Hang Yeuk people, two by Sha Tau Kok (Sha Lan Ha) people, two by people from the Thi Tin Yeuk (the area south-west of Sha Tau Kok across the sea, around Luk Keng and Nam Chung), and one each by people from the Hing Chun Yeuk (around Lai Chi Wo), Kuk Po Yeuk, and Sam Heung. Thus, in 1925, not only were the largest shops all operated by people from the Shap Yeuk area, but ownership of these larger shops was spread around most of the Yeuk areas of the Shap Yeuk. The Basel missionaries make it clear that the shops in the market in 1853 were also all owned by people from the surrounding villages see P H Hase, “Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op cit 71 See J W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911, op cit for the places of origin of shop-keepers at Tai O and Cheung Chau, and J W Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, op cit for those at Kowloon city. D Faure, loc cit gives details on those at Tsuen Wan and Sai Kung. The fisher ports in the Islands (Tai O, Cheung Chau), and, to some degree Sai Kung on the mainland, had the largest percentage of non-indigenous shopowners, but Sha Tau Kok had fewer "outsider" shopowners even than Tsuen Wan. 74. A contact from Tsat Muk Kiu village, for instance, said that she would go to the market with her wood, sell it, buy what she needed in the market, and return home, passing on her way home the women from Wang Shan Keuk still carrying their wood. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 217 REPORT ON VISITS TO THE SWIRE INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE AND CAPE D'AGUILAR, 1993 AND 1994 GEOFFREY ROPER On Saturdays, 6 November, 1993 and 5 November, 1994 parties from the Branch visited the Swire Institute of Marine Science at Cape D'Aguilar, Hong Kong Island and also toured areas of historic interest on the Cape On the first visit, the Institute was still known as the Swire Marine Laboratory but by the second visit had become an Institute - a mark of the progress it had achieved in the study of marine science in Hong Kong. Progress was also demonstrated by the expansion of facilities seen on the second visit and by the imminence of marine protected area status for the adjacent sea shore ecological research area, Lobster Bay. Professor Brian Morton, Director of the Institute, and a very welcoming host, addressed the Society on both visits. He spoke in particular on the recent history of marine biology in Hong Kong, the work of the Institute, support from the Swire Group, problems caused by increasing sea pollution, and a wide range of items of local natural science interest, including the bird life. On both visits the parties visited the nearby Cape D'Aguilar Lighthouse, first put into service in 1875, and viewed the remnants of the Cape D'Aguilar Gun Battery. An area of especial historical interest visited on both occasions was Hok Tsui (Crane's Bill) Village, with its mid-to-late 19th Century granite watchtower and Pak Tai Temple. For the second visit we were fortunate enough to be accompanied by Dr. James Hayes, Past President of the Branch, who spoke about the pattern of pre-1841 (i.e. pre-British) settlements in Hong Kong, of which Hok Tsui was one of the few remaining examples on Hong Kong Island remaining close to its original form and still settled, at least in part, by descendants of the original settlers. According to clan records, quoted by Dr. Hayes, the first ancestor of the Chu family arrived in Hong Kong in 1762 and opened a stone quarry in Shek Tong Tsui, Western District. He prospered and started a farming village at Hok Tsui before dying there in 1781 A highlight of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 218 our visit was when Dr. Hayes met his old acquaintance Mr. Chu Siu Wah (*), the long serving Hok Tsui Village Representative. Two recent developments concerning Hok Tsui Village are of especial note. The first concerns the decision to use Chu lineage funds to restore the Watchtower. The second concerns the Hayes/Morton proposals to Hong Kong University for a village ecology study to complement the work being done on and off shore. It would be nice to think that this renewed interest in the history of the Cape has to some degree been helped by the Society's visits. If so, Major General D'Aguilar, who was a founding office bearer of the Hong Kong Branch in 1847, would have been pleased with us. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g CONTRIBUTORS Carl Smith, B.A, M.Div. is a Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch). He has written extensively on the social history of Hong Kong. Dan Waters, M.Phil., Ph.D. is the Acting President of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch). He has written extensively on Chinese modern history. Keith Stevens, B.A., is a regular contributor to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) and is a noted authority on Chinese deities James Hayes, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. is a past President of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch). He has written extensively on the culture and customs of Hong Kong. Elizabeth Sinn, B.A., M.Phil, Ph.D. is a Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch). She is a noted authority on the history of Hong Kong. Anthony Siu, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. is a member of council of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch). He has written extensively on the history and culture of Hong Kong. Wong Wing Ho is a research assistant at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Richard Webb, Ph.D. is a director of Richard Webb and Associates, Environmental Consultants, Wicklow, Ireland and has written a Ph.D. thesis on the fung shui woods of Hong Kong. Betty Wei Peh Ti, Ph.D. is Head of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Academy for Performing Arts and is a frequent contributor to the Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g PRESIDENT'S REPORT CONTENTS HON AUDITOR'S REPORT ARTICLES: Carl Smith - The German Speaking Community in Hong Kong, 1846-1918 Dan Waters - Foreigners and Fung Shui viii xiv 1 57 Keith Stevens - The Taking of Chapu, May 1842 119 James Hayes - The Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch 129 0 Elizabeth Sinn - The Study of Local History in Hong Kong: A Review · NOTES AND QUERIES 147 Anthony Siu Kwok Kin - Notes on Cheung Pao Tsai ...... 171 Anthony Siu Kwok Kin - A Short Biography of Lai Chun Bun 175 Wong Wing Ho - Yet More on the Man the Emperor Decapitated 179 Richard Webb - Earth God and Village Shrines in the New Territories 183 SPECIAL FEATURE An English Bibliography for China Studies - compiled by Betty Wei Peh Ti 193 vii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g and a platform for members to publish, and in this connection may I draw your attention to Vice-President, Reverend Carl Smith's book recently "Chinese Christmas" which can be bought at all leading book stores, and also at the back of this room. In addition one of Hong Kong's oldest members and of this Society, Dr. Dan Waters, has published his own memories entitled unashamedly "An Old Hand's Reflection" - again it can be bought at all leading bookstores and at the back of this room. In addition we have an excellent quality library with many interesting books and, not only is this steadily augmented by our past roving President, Dr. James Hayes, from Australia, but in this past year we have been given a magnificent collection of books on China and Hong Kong from Mr Archie Graham, who at the age of 91 has emigrated to New Zealand. All these books are now in a special room on the 3rd floor of the City Hall, High Block; and at this point I would like to give a sincere thanks to the Urban Services Department and their library staff in particular. In the past year not only have they moved the Society's library from the rather inaccessible Kowloon Public Library to the City Hall library in Central but they have computerised the collection and altogether made the whole collection far more accessible than it has been in the past. I really do urge you to visit this and see for yourself what is there, and of course members can borrow most of the books. For this improvement in our library facilities I must also thank our Librarian Mr. Y.C. Wan who has been very helpful in making all this possible. I said earlier that the Society makes its views known to the public: I should also add that public and Government organisations also seek the views of the Society, not only on an individual basis, but also on a collective one. I mentioned last year the assistance we gave to the Antiquities Advisory Board in helping them to grade some of Hong Kong's older buildings. At one time the Society had 20 members involved in this, but as I understand it since many of the eligible buildings have been graded then the members have declined: this project has been led by Dr. Dan Waters and we owe him and his team a vote of thanks for their hard work. On a collective front the Society has continued to be very active in monitoring the situation over the Public Records Office. Last year I reported to you that we thought we were making some progress and the position at the moment, whilst not completely satisfactory, is considerably better than we hoped for two years ago. The Public Records Office is XI ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 61 While stating that fung shu has its arcane aspects, Webb went on to state its basic principle was 'living in harmony and balance with one's environment.' He continued: Historically, fung shui has practical roots. It is a 'pattern Language' for the development of well-nice farming villages in ancient China. Its sensible application produces a functional, beautiful and productive landscape which has lessons for the present day world with the increasing urgency of its ecological crisis. It behoves all of us to take responsibility for our own impact on the environment. In some cases fung shui is linked to practices such as soothsaying, ancestor worship and animism, with, for example, spirits residing in rocks and trees. Fung shui can also be linked to run fu (EA), a spirit-placating ceremony (Hayes, 1979: 214). This consists of a series of complicated and what can be expensive rites to alleviate misfortune which can be brought about by bad fung shui. Deities are beseeched to counteract malignancy and ensure peace (Hayes, 1965:122). Varying views Certainly many Westerners resident in Hong Kong do take an interest in the pseudo-science of fung shui (Au Yeung:23). As one English woman explained to the author: 'There are seven of us in our real estate office, including five Europeans. The fung shui chap has instructed us to keep the curtains drawn. As soon as someone inadvertently opens them, one of us rushes over to draw them. We are all terribly superstitious.' In another example, where a European was asked for her views, she replied: 'I'm fascinated by fung shui. My husband is in charge of a fast food chain. He makes detailed plans and then finds he cannot implement them because of fung shui.' ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 64 the agreement is only a diplomatic document and not part of the treaty or laws of Hong Kong, it would be unlikely to present a successful legal claim (Wesley Smith; 1992; 29). Customary law is, nevertheless, an essential part of rural life in the New Territories. It has thus been argued that the existence of fung shui was tacitly acknowledged by the government (Hayes, 1963: 143). While Englishmen sometimes claim that, legally, their houses in Britain have 'right of light' or 'right of air', in ancient China disputing parties sometimes went to court over infringements of fung shui rights. 'He has ruined my fung shui. He has no business to put himself above me,' a Chinese would state. In Hong Kong, however, impaired fung shui has never been actionable under British law. Compensation Nevertheless, the Hong Kong Government has not only respected the beliefs of the New Territories' villagers but also paid out sizeable amounts over the years as compensation when people have claimed the Government has spoiled their fung shui. One wonders how many other colonial powers would have been as considerate. Examples of spoiling fung shui include excavations that break the 'neck of the dragon' and constructing highways or water supply schemes which impair the sweep or rhythm of hills. A less caring government would have ridden roughshod over any perceived obligations, In 1990, the Government paid HK$1.1 million to fund a 72-hour fung shui ritual at Ha Tsuen, which included engaging Taoist priests and erecting a small, temporary temple. The fear was that the construction of a sewerage disposal system, which included tunnelling through a small hill on which many of the villagers' ancestors are buried, would disturb evil spirits. Another example occurred on Tsing Yi Island when the villagers reacted at intervals from 1977 to 1980 (Hayes, 1979: 213; and Hayes, 1980: 155). There are many other cases. Women protesters are often more visibly active than men. In November 1994 Mr Brian Jenney, the Government Director of Audit, tabled his annual report. Tuen Mun New Town, he stated, had cost ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 1=1 Extel, Ernest I, Feng-Shui, Graham Brash, 1984 (Just published 1882) Fan Wei, 'Village Feng Shui Principles', Chinese Landscapes: the Village as a Place, ed. Ronald G. Knapp, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1992, pp. 35-45 Feuchtwang, Stephen, An Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy, Vantage, Southern Materials Centre Inc., Taipei, 1974 Fong, Gordon, An Introduction to Chinese Geomancy, privately published, Australia, 1980 Freedman, Maurice, 'Chinese Geomancy: Some Observations in Hong Kong', The Study of Chinese Society: Essays by Maurice Freedman, Stanford University Press, 1979 — 'A Report on Social Research in the New Territories at Hong Kong, 1963', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16, 1976 Groot, J.J. de, The Religion of the Chinese, Macmillan, 1912 Groves, Derham, Feng Shui and Western Building Ceremonies, Graham Brash, Singapore, 1991 2 Gwee, Peter Kim Woon, Fengshui: The Geomancy and Economy of Singapore, 1991 Hase, Patrick H., and Lee Man-yip, 'Sheung Wo Hang Village, Hong Kong: a Village Shaped by Feng Shui', Chinese Landscapes: the Village as a Place, ed. Ronald G. Knapp, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1992, pp. 79-94 Hayes, James, 'A Ceremony to Propitiate the Gods at Tong Fuk, Lantau, 1958', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 5, 1965 — 'Geomancy and the Village', Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, week-end symposium, October 1966, Brochure of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society — 'Local Reaction to the Disturbances of "Fung Shui" on Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong, September 1977-March 1978', Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 19, 1979 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 129 THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH JAMES HAYES* Basically, traditional Chinese civilization fascinates outsiders because it is one of humankind's vastest treasuries of cultural achievements and social experience, and to be ignorant of it would greatly diminish our appreciation of the wondrous variety to be found in the historical life of man. I have begun this paper with this quotation from a fairly recent work on China, because it provides the rationale for our continuing interest in, and fascination with, China and "Things Chinese"; and because, though written long after the event, the formation of our parent body in the opening decades of the 19th century was surely prompted by similar feelings. The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1823, receiving its royal charter the following year. It may justly be described as one of the leading cultural bodies of its kind in the world, a reputation it has retained over its long, continuous history with the help of its many branches in the East. A Brief History of the Hong Kong Branch Among these various offshoots, there had been a short-lived but productive "China" Branch in Hong Kong between 1847 and 1859. Thereafter, in line with the gradual expansion of British interests in China, the focus had shifted further north. A North China Branch flourished in Shanghai for almost ninety years between 1862 and 1949. Its heyday had been in the 1930s, before Sino-Japanese hostilities began in earnest in 1937, when it had over 8,000 members and owned its modern library and museum premises. Both these earlier Branches of the Society provided a lecture programme and issued Transactions, Journals, and other publications, contributing significantly to the study of China in all its rich complexity. *The RAS, Hong Kong Branch has just celebrated its 35th anniversary with its publication on Hong Kong villages. It is hoped that a volume on the history of the Branch will be provided on a future occasion. In the meantime, these notes on my time with the Society to date may be of interest to Members and may even encourage someone to undertake the "History". ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 150 studies, they uncovered huge volumes of local historical materials - genealogies, land deeds, books, stone inscriptions, and oral history. Ethnographic material obtained through the observation of rituals, artifacts and dress, architecture, economic activities, language, symbols and everyday behaviour added further dimensions to their knowledge and highlighted vital links between the present and the past. These scholars might be more interested in using the materials to either discourse about Chinese culture, social organization, social status, power and government, gender issues, inter-lineage relations and so on, but their work nevertheless became invaluable ingredients for reconstructing the unique history of each locality. The Scholar-Officials The New Territories was the happy hunting ground of another group. These were District Officers of the Hong Kong government who were responsible for governing rural Hong Kong. Scholars of the sinologist tradition, they were particularly well placed to collect large amounts of oral and documentary materials while working among villagers in the New Territories. Prominent among them were K.M.A. Barnett, David Akers-Jones, and James Hayes, who was to become Hong Kong's leading historian. His major works, which combine scholarship, administrative experience and personal insights, are now classic studies. 6 This group, known as the "scholar-officials", was later joined, and greatly strengthened, by Patrick Hase in the 1970s. It should be noted that to these scholar-officials, the study of 'traditional' Chinese society is more than a purely intellectual exercise. To govern the New Territories, the Hong Kong government needs a working knowledge of the customs and culture of the indigenous inhabitants, especially in relation to land, family, lineage relations etc., and relies heavily on District Officers who are 'on the spot', as it were. For judicial purposes, too, when disputes over land and inheritance arose, 'sinologists' - academics and civil servants - are frequently called in, even flown in, to act as expert witnesses at court. A recent Ph.D thesis by Selina Ching Chan for the Oxford University analyses how in the New Territories, traditions are interpreted differently by the rulers and the ruled, each group in the way most expedient to them; thus she offers rare insights into the intricate relations between power and scholarship. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 152 It is, moreover, fortuitous that he not only examines records for his own immediate purposes, but collates his data so systematically that it may conveniently be used by other researchers. His home, with hundreds of drawers of index cards, is more like a library. More importantly, his willingness to share his research experience and information has greatly helped other scholars in their study of Hong Kong. Recently, the Public Records Office has further processed his data to make it retrievable electronically. It would be no exaggeration to say that Carl Smith is a key figure (keystone?) in building a firm foundation for the study of local history, and has become something of an institution himself. Historical Geographers Another small group studying local history were the geographers, notably D.J. Dwyer, C.J. Grant, T.G. McGee and later Ron Hill of the University of Hong Kong, whose work covered the rural as well as the urban areas. It should be pointed out that under their guidance, many of their students have produced extremely interesting work, but unfortunately this is not widely known. Their field projects and BA theses, many of which are focused on localities and date back to the 1960s, are kept in the Map Library of the Geography Department, HKU, and these, with their contemporary descriptions and photographs, are in fact of immense value as source materials for local history. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Though the five groups were quite diverse in their focus and approach, two institutions did bring them together: the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) and the Centre of Asian Studies (CAS) at HKU. Almost all of them had at least some of their works published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Society's Occasional Publications. As early as 1962, three years after the Society was re-established, the Hon. Editor expressed a hope to develop the study of Hong Kong by printing articles and short notes about the life and customs of the people. James Hayes' article, "The Patterns of Life in the New Territories in 1898" appearing in the 1962 Journal, in a way marked the beginning of the RAS' deep commitment to local studies. This was Hayes' debut, to be followed by massive output in each following volume. Not surprisingly, it was also he who reminded the Society that "Hong Kong has an urban history" (his italics).12 As Hon. Editor from 1967 to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 166 Hai Journal, no 12 | August 1981, pp 191-201) 1 Lo Hsiang-lin, Hong Kong and Its External Communications Before 1842 The History of Hong Kong Prior to British Arrival (Hong Kong Institute of Chinese Culture, 1963) Barbara Ward, "Rediscovering our social and cultural heritage", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, (JHKBRAS) 20, pp 116-124, p 124 See Jack Potter Capitalism and the Chinese Peasant. Social and Economic Change in a Hong Kong Village (Berkeley, Calif University of California Press, 1968) He contradicts the theory that the industry and commerce of the treaty ports were the principal reasons for the bankruptcy of the Chinese countryside by showing how in Ping Shan, the effects of capitalism were beneficial to peasants. James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911. Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside (Hamden, Connecticut Archon Books, 1972), The Rural Communities of Hong Kong Studies and Themes (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1983), Tsuen Wan Growth of a New Town and Its People (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1993) 7 For the special nature of the District Officer's duties, see Austin Coates, Myself a Mandarin Memoirs of a Special Magistrate (Hong Kong Heinemann, 1975) Selina Ching Chan, "Tradition Inherited, Traditional Reinterpreted. A Chinese Lineage in the 1990s", (Unpublished Ph D thesis, Oxford University, 1995) Alan Birch and Martin Cole, Captive Years the Occupation of Hong Kong 1941-45 (Hong Kong Heinemann, 1982) and Captive Christmas (Hong Kong. Heinemann, 1979) 10 Most of the Rev Smith's work was published in articles in various, often obscure, journals, but more recently they have been collected in anthologies - Chinese Christians, Middlemen and the Church in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1985) and A Sense of History Studies in the Social and Urban History of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co, 1995) See especially, DJ Dwyer (ed) The Changing Face of Hong Kong. Proceedings of a Weekend Symposium of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch (Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 1971) 12 Editorial, JHKBRAS, vol 7(1967)pp 1-3,p 2 13 PH Hase and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Beyond the Metropolis Villages in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Joint Publishing (HK) Ltd, 1995) 14 Marjorie Topley, (comp) "Anthropology and Sociology in Hong Kong Field Projects and Problems of Overseas Scholars" Proceedings of a Symposium, February 8-9, 1969 (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1969) See Ian Diamond, "The Paper Chase - Archives and the Public Records Office of Hong Kong" ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 167 Kong, HIIKBRAS, vol. 14 (1974) pp 12-27 and his Facilities for Research on the Public Records Office of Hong Kong, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Materials for Hong Kong Studies, (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 153-192 16 In 1994, the Executive Council instructed that all records over thirty years old should be reviewed, this does not automatically mean opening the files to the public, and some materials are re-classified. Applications for use still have to go to the generating agent (department) for approval. But it is now much easier to get access to records over 30 years old. 17 Peter Young, The Hung On-Lo Memorial Library, the Hong Kong Collection, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds), pp. 137-152 IX The most current project is an index to CO129, the Colonial Office Original Correspondence series on Hong Kong, from 1841-1926, containing about 45,000 despatches. The index, put on CD-Rom, operates on the basis of search by keywords. The chief investigator of the project is Elizabeth Sinn who currently runs the Hong Kong History Workshop. Her major works include Power and Charity. The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989) and Growing with Hong Kong: The Bank of East Asia 1919-1994 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1994). 19 Peter Y L. Ng. The 1819 Edition of the Hsin-an Hsien-chih a critical examination with translation and notes. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, 1644-1842 (Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1961). The work was published many years later as New Peace County: A Chinese Gazetteer of the Hong Kong region, prepared for press and with additional materials by Hugh D.R. Baker, (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1983). 20 Ng Lun Ngai-ha, Interaction of East and West: Developments of Public Education in Early Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1984). 21 Other scholars include L.Y. Chiu, K.C. Chan, K.C. Fok, Ming K. Chan, Elizabeth Sinn and Steve Tsang at the HKU, David Faure and Bernard Luk at the Chinese University, John Young, Fung Pui-wing and Chung Po Yin (much later) at the Baptist University, and later Choi Chi-cheong and Liu Dik Sang at the University of Science and Technology - although not all of them are, or would agree to being labelled as, practitioners of local history. 22 Patrick Hase, Research Materials for Village Studies, in Alan Birch, Y C Jao and Elizabeth Sinn (eds) Research Material for Hong Kong Studies (Ibid) pp. 31-46 23 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngai-ha Lun Ng (comp.) Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, 3 volumes (Hong Kong Museum of History, 1986). 24 David Faure, Bernard H.K. Luk and Alice Ngan-ha Lun Ng, The Hong Kong Region According to Historical Inscriptions, in David Faure, James Hayes and Alan Birch (eds). From Village to City: Studies in the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society (Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1984) pp 43-54 ================================================================================ 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-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g context of to-day's Hong Kong, and I am grateful to all members who have kindly contributed to that debate, notably Mr. John Wilson and our past President, Dr James Hayes, and I would now like to briefly give you the upshot of that review, and if any member would like to give input into this please do so. This review covered such issues as the Society's role in relation to the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law and on this score, there is no doubt that the Society can continue to function after 1997 without fear of any legal restrictions other than those at present contained in the Society's Ordinance. In addition under Article 149 of the Basic Law it is clear that there will be nothing to prevent the Hong Kong Branch of the Society having dealings with its parent body in London or with other branches in the region or even with international bodies. The Council also discussed two other issues, firstly the Title, and secondly its appeal to all the community in Hong Kong. On the first issue there was general consensus that the Society should continue to be called the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. It may seem unfashionable to retain the word Royal but in view of our history as outlined above I believe it is the right decision. There is also the problem of what to call ourselves if we did not include the word Royal. There is already in Hong Kong a Society called the Asiatic Society originating in London, and another one called the Asia Society formed about six years ago from America. For this Society to drop the name Royal will probably cause even more confusion than there is already. On the second issue the Council agreed that whilst it had broadened its appeal over the last ten years, which has brought in many more local orientated members on the Council and in its overall membership it should continue to do more in this direction, without of course deleting one of the original purposes of the Society which is to inform and educate the public about the history life and culture of the local community. Related to this the Council agreed that where appropriate the Society should keep in close touch with other local societies in its various fields. The review and the discussions in Council were I felt very valuable in focusing our attention on the current status of the Society. However, 1X ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 143 THE USE OF HILL LAND FOR VILLAGE FORESTRY AND FUEL GATHERING IN THE NEW TERRITORIES OF HONG KONG. RICHARD WEBB While recent economic and social changes in the New Territories of Hong Kong have wrought irrevocable changes to the rural villages, until perhaps twenty years ago, villagers appeared to have used the hillsides much as they pleased, even though some of the larger clans claimed payments for hill land. The villagers of Cheung Sha Wan, west Kowloon, for example, paid regular sums in silver to the Tangs of Kam Tin for their forest land. The Liu family of Sheung Shui was leasing forest land to the villagers of Long Keng under a deed of 1867 (Hayes 1983). However, hill and forest land was usually annexed by the nearest village. Each village had its forestry lot, apportioned to families according to natural boundaries. There was a major difference in people's minds between land under pine tree cultivation (Pinus massoniana) and other hill land used for fuel gathering, grass cutting, and grazing. The British administration carried over the common usage of hill areas for pine cultivation into their village forestry licenses, or "t'sung shaan p'aai", which allowed villagers to occupy Crown Land for the purpose of growing these trees on which they relied for fuel, poles, and timber. It was the 'pine hills' that mattered more to the village families, even though they possessed no proper title to them, save under British rule, an undifferentiated notional share in the village license through being part of its community. Like houses and fields, hillside plots could be passed from father to son. Daley (1975) provides an account of forestry activities, although it is not clear if this refers to village forestry, in which 211,015 trees were planted in 1880, rising to 1,157,609 in 1883. The British administration established the Botanical and Forestry Department in 1880, with the objective of planting the badly eroded areas and water catchments. From 1881 to 1891, an average of around 647,223 trees were planted every year, of which 95% was Pinus massoniana, a local pine which can establish on very poor soil. By 1938, 70% of Hong Kong island had been afforested with government plantations, and 200 km2 of the New Territories were occupied by leased forestry lots used as a source of firewood. By this time, the government plantations were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 145 4000 acres. The creation of Government Forestry reserves would however probably involve considerable expenditure in the acquisition of the trees, and in watching and preserving the reserves. Hitherto funds have not been available to meet this expenditure" (Dunn, 1907). It was a delicate matter for graves to be sited within a village forestry area, even within a family's own portion. Agreements had to be forthcoming from village elders and from other families. Sometimes these areas had a secondary fung shui significance. For example, a fung shui hill on Tsing Yi island, consisted of a steep slope covered with pine trees, which was held under a forestry license by the Rural Committee on behalf of the villagers (Hayes 1983). Tsing Yi seems to have been the exception with regard to the islands as Schofield (1983) comments, “Forestry is confined to the growing of firewood for use and sale. The plantations are generally near villages, but some on the islands belong to owners who live elsewhere. Nearly all Tsing Yi is divided between three forestry lots: yet on Lamma there are no forest lots, though there are trees all right. The biggest forestry lot is at Tung Chung. Very little planting is done except when encouraged by the District Officer: trees are allowed to sow themselves. Grass, growing thick in summer, is cut for fuel everywhere in autumn; it is the chief cooking fuel of the New Territories. Its cutting is women's work.” Coates (1968) observes that the natural regeneration of trees and shrubs was severely limited by this regular grass cutting, as young trees could not be seen in the long grass. The problems of village forestry were described by Schofield (1977) from his time as a District Officer in the islands in the 1920s: "During my periods in office I made an attempt to get the Chinese communities and villages owning forest lots to look after them and to plant trees. Free seed was distributed and planting instructions given, and a forest guard appointed to supervise and watch results. The difficulties of forest conservation in such scattered and isolated areas were certainly formidable: one was that the boat people could land almost anywhere and steal trees; another that the grass-cutters who annually collect fuel in the autumn are quite likely to cut and take young seedlings: to say nothing of true diseases and caterpillar infestation, often very serious. One bad case was at Tai O, where an entire hillside was laid bare at one swoop by its licensee instead of being cut in stages, and I told him ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 146 to get it planted. Another great difficulty was to find forest guards who would do their job: a former A.D.O, North once minuted 'Where forest guards abound, there do abuses much more abound!'. Also according to Schofield (1983), pineapples were grown on the hillsides, "nearly always under pine trees; these help to shade the plants and hold the soil together, otherwise the heavy summer rains would wash it all off and make the hillside a desert. The plants last seven to nine years." Other users of hillsides were noted by Hayes (1977), “On Tai Mo Shan as on other hillsides, there are the collectors of the plants and herbs that form so essential a part of Chinese medicine; and those who trap birds, snakes and wild creatures, or comb the mountain streams and pools for items that serve the same medicinal purposes. These they sell to shops or individuals, or consume at home. These persons are usually outsiders in a skilled line rather than local villagers, although these can also be found carrying home plants and leafy branches for use at home in the bath, to soothe or invigorate the body. The collectors include the springtime pluckers of wild tea bushes, high up on the mountain, for, as mentioned briefly in the gazetteer it is famous for tea, producing a favoured type of green tea. Besides the cultivators of distant upland padi fields, village users of the mountain include boys tending draught cattle which rove across its slopes when not at work: and, most distinctive of all, the village grass-cutters, women as a rule, looking from a distance, as Heywood described them just before the war, 'like miniature haystacks wandering on the mountainside'.” Tea cultivation took place on even the highest hills. The Xin An Gazetteer of 1688 refers to tea cultivation on Tai Mo Shan, which was terraced to near the summit to produce the famous green "cloud and mist tea", and on Castle Peak and Lantau Peak. Former tea terraces can be seen on other mountain sides in the New Territories and on Lantau, so that human impact on the native vegetation was not confined to the lowlands. The age of the terraces is not known but they probably predate the Hakka settlements. An account of traditional tea growing in 1986 around the village of Mau Tso Ngam on Kowloon Peak, where tea trees, Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Ktze, are planted here and there on the edge of the hills near the village, is given by Hase et al. (1988). Hill slopes were formerly used to grow heung trees, Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg., the wood from which was ground to make ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 149 mentioned that incense trees in fung shui woods were ever harvested. Iu (1983) claims that the misunderstanding may have been caused by the reference to another incense producing species Aquilaria agallocha which was commonly grown in north Vietnam. Another resource, long since exhausted, were the forest trees used for charcoal burning, once a flourishing local industry all over the New Territories. The memory of this occupation remains in one of the place names at Shing Mun, known as Tan Chong or "charcoal factory”, in which some houses were already abandoned by the early years of this century (Hayes, 1983). An account of the charcoal industry, which was carried out by outsiders for trade, is given by Shen (1971). The village hill areas were the main suppliers of fuel, usually in the form of grass cut in autumn, but also as pine and brushwood gathered to augment a villager's income. Firewood was taken to market as it was one of the three basic staples, including rice and vegetables, that was required by the rapidly growing urban population. Firewood from Shatin was brought on foot to Kowloon (Sessional Papers 1903, p209) which list 66,521 loads of firewood, each of 90lbs. The Kowloon Lok Sin Tong levied a small weighing charge on each load of firewood sold in Kowloon City market, for charitable works. The annual output of one acre (0.4ha) was 11 piculs (640kg), (Hong Kong Annual Report 1938 p59). Gathering firewood was the main occupation of the village women. A typical headload would be in region of 90-100lbs (45kg) and would be collected twice a week, (Hayes, 1983). Firewood was used in earthenware stoves, known as "feng-lu", for cooking family meals and special food at festival times. Grass gathered from the hill side in autumn and the stalks from the first crop of rice were the universal fuel used for heating water and pigswill. Firewood was still being used up until 1964 in the urban encroached village of So Uk in west Kowloon for cooking at Chinese New Year, as it was better for baking (Hayes, 1983). When a bride came to live in her husband's village, the older women would show her those areas from which fuel could be gathered and those areas, usually the fung shui woods, where it could not be gathered. This information was often learned by means of a 12 line poem or song to name those areas where the young wife should not gather fuel. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 152 Country Parks, currently plant around 300,000 trees a year for amenity, erosion control and the repair of fire damage. Usually only introduced trees such as Acacia will grow under the harsh conditions of bare and eroded slopes, but under more favourable conditions native tree species are also being planted for the benefit of wildlife. DAF organizes forestry camps where each summer around 2000 young people learn to care for trees. Each spring in the Country Parks DAF also organises community tree planting days in which 20,000 trees are planted by the public each year. REFERENCES Chan, Ka-yan (1989). Joss Stick Manufacturing A Study of a Traditional Industry in Hong Kong Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 29 94-120 Chang, YN (1963) Hong Kong Ts'un (Hong Kong Village) and the Cultivation and Exportation of Incense from Kowloon and the New Territory in Lo, H. L. (ed) Hong Kong and its External Communications Before 1842 Hong Kong Institute of Chinese Culture P114 Coates, A Myself a Mandarin (1968) Oxford University Press Daley, PA (1975). Man's Influence on the Vegetation of Hong Kong In Thrower, B (ed) The Vegetation of Hong Kong Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 44-56 Dunn, S T (1907). Report on the Botanical and Forestry Department for 1907 Hong Kong Govt Hase, P, Hayes, J W and Iu, K. C. Traditional Tea Growing in the New Territories (1984). Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 24 264-281 Hayes, J. (1977), Notes for the Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Tai Mo Shan, 3rd April 1976. Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 17 157-178 Hayes, J (1983) The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, Studies and Themes Oxford University Press Hong Kong Daily Press 1873 February 5 Iu, Kwok-choy (1983) The Cultivation of the "Incense Tree" (Aquilaria sinensis), Hong Kong Quarterly Journal of Forestry July Nichols, D (1978) Some Aspects of Vegetation in Hong Kong with Special Reference to Fung Shui Woods University of Leicester Dept of Geography Quoted in Thrower, S ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g Book Review 217 JAMES HAYES (1996), Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People, 1953-87, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 11 chapters, appendix, glossary, index, 320 pages. James Hayes needs little introduction to most members of the Society. He was a former editor of the Journal and President of the Council for many years. He is also an extraordinarily nice human being with a passion for bow-ties. He allegedly retired, to Bondi Beach, Australia, in 1987 but there is little evidence that he is taking this seriously. Au contraire, he continues to write prolifically for the Journal and has also added many new books to the Society's collection through his constant forays into used-book shops. All-in-all, James spent 32 years in Hong Kong. He was a member of the Administrative Service of the Hong Kong Government from August, 1956 (he was here briefly in 1953 with the Army). Although he had the varied career that characterises the Service, he spent almost half his time in the New Territories as District Officer South (1957-62), District Officer (and Town Manager) Tsuen Wan (1975-82), and Regional Secretary, New Territories (1985-87). He was, and remains, a noted sinologist and accomplished in the Chinese language. Academically, he was very sound with a PhD from the University of London and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters bestowed by the University of Hong Kong in 1992. James has decided to share his memories of his service in Hong Kong with us in a new book. Autobiographies by former Hong Kong Government civil servants, and by Hong Kong people generally for that matter, are relatively rare events, almost as if the majority are reluctant to write their memoirs for fear of criticism or ridicule, or have little in their careers worth writing about. James has no problem on either count. His career was rich and varied, filled with achievements and may truly be said to have added value to public life in Hong Kong. As for the telling of it, he has avoided the inclination to embark upon a literary ego trip although he is not averse to describing the highlights in detail. Few will be offended by the style. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1996-97 PRESENTED AT THE 37th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 25 MARCH 1997 It is my pleasure to report on the activities of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from 30 March 1996 to 25 March 1997. During the year, David Gilkes served as President for the first seven months and I acted for the remaining five months. The first thing I must report is about the years of service and the retirement of David Gilkes. David arrived in Hong Kong in January 1967, in what has euphemistically been dubbed the "Year of the Disturbances." There was a vacancy on the Council for a Treasurer. Young David volunteered. Someone wrote, somewhere: Many will be shocked to find When the day of judgement nears, That there is a special place in heaven Set aside for volunteers. Anon. David filled the post of Honorary Treasurer right up until 1987, the same year he was elevated to Vice-President. He took over as President from Dr James Hayes in 1990, and stepped down at a Council meeting followed by a Branch dinner held in his honour on 28 October 1996. Approaching 30 years of service as an office bearer is a memorable achievement. During this period the Territory changed rapidly. The increased tempo affected our Society. Activities increased. No doubt when David Gilkes was awarded the MBE in 1994 by Her Majesty the Queen, his sterling service in the Royal Asiatic Society and his other community work carried substantial weight. We are extremely grateful to David for all he did, over a period of almost three decades, for our Branch. Past President James Hayes said, in a newspaper interview in 1996: "The Royal Asiatic Society is the joy of my life." He returns to Hong Kong at intervals. We were pleased to welcome Ian Diamond, a past ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 Any learned society depends on an impressive programme which provides a stamp of learning and authority. Details of our past year's programmes are as follows. 1996 12 April 10 May 14 June 19 July 6 September 4 October 18 October 1 November 15 November 6 December Title "The Forbidden City: the Great Within,” by May Holdsworth and Caroline Courtauld "What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans make Sense of their Worlds," by Dr Gordon Matthews "Fung Shui in the New Age," by David Yung. "Chinese Export Ware for the Dutch Market," by Dr Christian Jorg "An Introduction to Tam Kung: the Hakka Boy Deity," by Geoffrey Roper and Dr Anthony Siu Kwok-keung "Tsuen Wan: from Hakka Enclave to Post Industrial City," by Dr Graham Johnson. "Textiles and Traditions of Laos," by Mary Connors "Hong Kong Heritage Trails," by ST Chiu "Second Thoughts on a Memoir," by Dr James Hayes. "Dr Aurelius Harland: Prominent Hong Kong Doctor 1843—1858," by Professor Harland. 1997 17 January "Food Dynamics: Family, Class and Chineseness in Hong Kong," by Cheng Sea-ling. xiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 89 5% 2.992 females aged 25-30 in 1911, 2,795 in 1921 Census Report 1911, Table XXI Census Report 1921, Tables XXIV-XXVII Based on a figure of double the female population since the male population is clearly significantly distorted by immigration * See JW Hayes, The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911: Institutions in Town and Countryside. Hamden, Connecticut, 1977 ** Census Report, 1977, Tables IX and X. No detailed breakdown of Place of Birth of the Floating population is included in the 1911 Census C. I The statistics for Place of Birth in the 1921 Census give a somewhat different picture. There (Census Report, 1921, Table XI) the place of birth of 34,724 Northern District males and 36,311 Northern District females are given, of which only 88% (males) and 82% (females) were born within the New Territories. The sharply higher figures for persons born outside the New Territories seems to be due to three factors. The first is the time of the Census. The 1921 Census was taken during the cooler weather (March-April) as compared with the 1911 Census (April-June). Numbers of stonecutters, itinerant weavers, etc., are likely to have been higher in 1921 as it is known from oral evidence that many of these village-to-village traders went back to their own families in villages outside the New Territories for the summer and harvest seasons, and would thus have been enumerated in 1921 but not in 1911. This is doubtless the reason the 1921 Census shows a far higher figure for males born in Kwai Shun District (997 compared to 354), and also for males from the area north of Canton (241 as compared to 23), although the numbers from Ka Ying and other East River areas were lower (142 as compared to 177). This may also be the reason for higher recorded numbers of males from other inland areas in 1921 (Sze Yap 77 as compared to 25, and Shiu Hing area, 95 as to 19). With the exception of Kwan Shun, all the 1921 figures for these areas show far fewer females than males (Kwan Shun, 1507 females; north of Canton, 1-42; East River, 72; Sze Yap, 16; Shiu Hing, 45). The effects of the Ching Ming Festival, and the remaining 1920 refugees are responsible, almost certainly, for the much higher numbers of San On born males (1213 in 1921, only 243 in 1911), and may in part also account for the increase in Tung Kun males (385 in 1921, 163 in 1911). Most of the difference, however, must be due to a more careful enumeration of the boat people in the area. The higher numbers recorded in 1921 for males born in the Delta (750 as against 234), the Chin Chau area (143 as against 9), Hong Kong (226 as against 10), and Macao (25 as against nil), must be due to this factor. The reduction in the numbers of women recorded as born in Hong Kong (1208 as against 2383 in 1911) may be due to errors in the 1911 record. Because of these differences, it is difficult to compare the two Censuses directly with regard to these statistics. It is considered likely that the 1911 figures are closer to the actual position of long-term land population residents born outside the area. The information in the 1921 Census does not permit any direct comparison with the Place of Birth figures for Southern District in 1911, since the 1921 figures include New Kowloon as well as the Islands. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 160 with the ancestors is piously worshipped. Individual worshippers also visit the Houwang Temple regularly to offer oblations on the 1st and the 15th of the lunar month and during important festivals. The temple is obviously owned and controlled by the Tung Chung community and has thus been regarded as a “village alliance temple,” as defined by Brim.1 In such a mix-surname community as Tung Chung, folk religion and the temple of the principal local deity often stand out as a crucial cohesive force in the forming of an inter-village coalition. Researchers such as James Hayes have considered Tung Chung an example of multi-clan communities on Lantau Island, where temples provide the vital link and become the venue of inter-village groupings.2 Emphasizing the concept of territory, Faure suggests that local temples, as centres of collective worship and communal ritual performance, serve as symbols of territorial unity. In villagers' perceptions, as observed by him, their territorial organization is expressed in terms of gods, shrines, and temples, which form one of the most important conceptual systems in the village world. A local temple might be built as a result of the formation of a neighbourhood of villages. The shared management of a temple would, in turn, strengthen a village neighbourhood's territorial dominance. In Tung Chung's Houwang Temple, a tablet recording a 1910 reconstruction project with a list of money donors supporting the work clearly evidences the existence of a community of joint villages worshipping Houwang as its patron god and managing the temple as its village coalition temple.J t Although two more temples, the Old Temple of Hsuan-t'an (at Shek Mun Kap) and the Ta-wang Palace (E) at Ma Wan Chung, were set up in Tung Chung after the War, they are far inferior to the Houwang Temple in terms of size, style, and architectural structure. In sharp contrast to the mass worship which takes place at the principal deity's temple, personal rituals are performed at these minor temples only by a few residents at individual respective villages. The Old Temple of Hsuan-t'an is situated in front of the big rock that marks the village entrance of Shek Mun Kap. Local legend holds that there used to be a Hsuan-t'an Temple at the village but it collapsed. In the 1970s, Shek Mun Kap's villagers rebuilt the temple for geomantic purposes. They hoped that Hsuan-t'an, the Tiger Conqueror, could vanquish the white tiger, a rock on the hill facing the village, and protect ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 165 55 representatives of the rocket associations bid for the rockets Physical violence is avoided, but competition remains keen among bidders who strive to show superiority over each other in terms of wealth and power' To decide who in the winning group can take the representation of the god home, another ceremony should be held whereby the temple keeper, after placing on the temple altar a list of members of the rocket association and reciting a “song to invite the god" (#), casts the divining blocks thrice for each member The winner is he who passes the divination three times in a row. 1 50 In addition to the representative associations from villages such as Mok Ka's Yu-ch'ing tang W, upper Ling Per's Ch'un-ying t'ang #*, Ngau Au's Ch`un-lu t’ang San Tau's Ch'un-ch'ing tang # , and so on, other units such as social clubs and recreational societies also form their own rocket associations. According to Hayes's observation in the 1960s of the concomitant celebration of the Houwang feast day and the reopening of the Houwang Temple after the first major repair in 1909, among the rocket associations, two were fishermen's groups, (one from Tung Chung and the other from Tai O) and one was formed by the Seamen's Union from Hong Kong which came to Tung Chung for the festival for many years." Many native Tung Chung seamen had joined the union. By forming the associations and attending the festival, members of the same profession can also exchange information and news of their trade. In this sense, the festival functions tend to promote solidarity not only among villagers, but also among colleagues. For local residents of different surnames and various social backgrounds, the Houwang worship and its all-pervasive influence provide them with the social bond of union and the ideology of territory identity, through which the Tung Chung community seems to have become a culturally self-sufficient entity Even the fishermen settled in the district seldom visit the Empress of Heaven Temple at Chak Lap Kok or Ma Wan. Like other Tung Chung villagers, they pay homage mainly to the Houwang, the principal deity of the locale, and participate quite actively in the “bid-for-rockets” contest during the annual feast day festival. The Houwang's Birthday celebration also provides the local community with an opportunity for contact with the outside world. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 180 The Issei, "The Jiao Festival in Hong Kong and the New Territories," in Julian F. Pas, ed., Turning of the Tides: Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 271-298 Interviews: K'ung Chao-hsiang (age 79), Lung Tseng Tau, Jul 6, 1991; Hsieh Ch'i, op. cit. Interview of Mo Shu-ling (age 65), Mok Ka, Jun 29, 1991 Interview of Lo Ch'uan, op. cit., Jul 8, 1991 [hid] "Ho, op. cit.; while some villagers did not remember the role of the Houwang in the rituals, an old man, who had witnessed the festival three times, indicated that the Houwang idol would be "invited" from the temple and enshrined on an altar set up for the ceremony (Interview of Lo Ch'uan, op. cit., Chap Mun Tau, Jun 22, 1991) "Tanaka, op. cit., pp. 273-274 *Faure, 1986, op. cit., p. 84 14 James Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 159-160 "Ho, op. cit., p. 6 16 Interviews: Cheng P'o, op. cit.; K'ung Chao-hsiang, op. cit. "Interviews: Cheng Man-hung, op. cit.; the Tung Chung Public School, Jul 1991; Tseng Kuan-hsing (age 60+), Upper Ling Pei, Jul 12, 1991 *Interview of K'ung Chao-hsiang, op. cit. 14 JCH Ibid.; Interviews: "Uncle Li", op. cit.; Cheng Man-hung, op. cit.; the Tung Chung Rural Committee, Aug 12, 1991 Interview of Feng Po (age 65), Ma Wan Chung, Jun 16, 1991 Brum, op. cit. *James Hayes, "Chinese Temples in the Local Setting," in Some Traditional Chinese Ideas and Conceptions in Hong Kong Social Life Today, Week-end symposium, Oct 2, 1966, the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 92 "Faure, 1981, op. cit., p. 76 **"Ch'ung-hsiu Houwang-miao pei-chih," IV, 1910, collected in K'o Ta-wen, Lu Hung-chi, & Wu Lun Ni-hsia, comp., Hsiang-kang... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 182 ++ James W Hayes, "The Patterns of Life in the New Territories in 1898,” JHKBRAS, Vol 2 (1962), p. 75. James Hayes, "The Settlement and Development of a Multiple-clan Village," in Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, ed., Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, Week-end Symposium, 9th-10th May, 1964 (Hong Kong: Cathy Press) p. 13. Hayes. 1966 op cit, pp 92-93 ***Kung-li Ta-hsi-shan Tung-Hsi-chung Chiang-shan chu-tien Liang-hsiang ho-huo yung-yuan chao-na pei,” £££%£¶‡ui (@N✯ in K'o, et al. op cit. p 43 65 For the concept equating local temples with the yamen and temple gods with local officials, see Faure, 1986, op. cit. p 71 James Hayes, "Secular Non-gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organizations in Urban British Hong Kong," JHKBRAS, Vol 23 (1983), pp. 113-114 K'o et al, op cit. pp 399-402 + * Law Man Sang, "The Rural Leadership of Tung Chung " Graduation Thesis, History, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992, pp 36 AT Interview of Kung Chao-hsiang, op cit For this point, see Topley, op cit p 18 Interviews of Kung Chao-hsiang, op cit, Jul 6, 1991, Jul 8, 1991 70 Ibid "Interview of Cheng Man-hung op cit Jul 1, 1991 Ibid 21 Interviews Lo Chin-hu (age 80), Shek Lau Po, Jun 29, 1991, Li P'o, Cheng Man-hung etc, upper Ling Pei, Aug 11, 1991, Huang P'ing T (age 70), Ma Wan Chung, Aug 19, 1991, Cheng Man-hung, Huang Chieh-lin etc, Tung-sheng-lou Sept 23, 1991 # "Interview of Cheng Man-hung, op cit. Aug 11, 1991 "Law, op cit p7 Th Interview of Huang P'ing, op cit. Aug 18, 1991 + "Ng Cheuk You "Land and People in Tung Chung Valley An Example of Rural Land Use in Hong Kong." Ph D Thesis University of Hong Kong, 1965, p "Interview of Ch'en Kuang-sheng, op cit, Jul 8, 1991 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 251 PAST PRESIDENTS DAN WATERS Since our Branch was resuscitated we have been fortunate in having a number of distinguished Presidents who put in considerable time and effort towards the running of our Branch. Some of them have, or had, scholarly reputations of international standing. We remain grateful to them. Our Past Presidents, together with their years in office, are listed below: Dr. J. R. Jones, C.B.E., M.C., M.A., LL.D., J.P. 1960-1969 Sir Lindsay Ride, C.B.E., E.D., M.A., Hon. LL.D., J.P., 1969-1972 Dr Marjorie Topley, B.Sc.(Econ), Ph.D., 1972-1983 Dr. James W. Hayes, L.S.O., M.A.(Lond.), Ph.D.(Lond.), Hon. D. Litt. (HK), J.P. 1983-1990 Mr David A. Gilkes, M.B.E., M.A., C.A., J.P., 1990-1996 According to our Constitution (Rule 11.), 'In addition to the elected Councillors all Past Presidents of the Society who are resident in Hong Kong shall be Members of the Council.' ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 # STYLE SHEET # THE OLD POPULAR CULTURE OF CHINA AND ITS CONTRIBUTION # TO STABILITY IN TSUEN WAN ## JAMES HAYES ### Introduction That the old popular culture of China had a significant effect on the stability of Tsuen Wan there can be no doubt... ## PART ONE ### The legacy of self-management and local leadership #### Story-telling #### Table 1 Distribution of ethnic groups in Tsuen Wan #### Figure 1 Old map of Tsuen Wan The author is a former Hong Kong civil servant [short biographical note]... This paper was first presented at [if the case]... 2 A former market town in the western New Territories of Hong Kong and now a major population centre. Page vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 sometimes attended RASHKB functions. He still has interests here—for example the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. Earlier in 1997 two of our Past Presidents, Mr David Gilkes and Dr James Hayes, were also made Honorary Members in recognition of many years of devoted service for our Branch. We were pleased to welcome David and his wife Edith back on a brief visit in late 1997. Our membership today is becoming more cosmopolitan and includes about 20 different nationalities comprising scholars, teachers, lay persons and students. It is made up of specialists, who can pursue their own interests, as well as generalists. We welcome persons of all nationalities and from all walks of life and we encourage interaction between the different groups. There is strength in diversity. Yet in a few ways the Branch has not changed over the past 30 odd years. In the 1965 President's report the following was recorded: "the Society should have a publicity officer, somebody who would chase after a few more members." Today, too, we need new members and, with the assistance of Robert Neild, Phillip Bruce and Arthur Hacker, a recruitment drive is under way. But all members can help. If all present members could each recruit a friend our aim would be more than achieved. Publicity is important. It is also up to all of us living and working in the 'New Hong Kong', to ensure that our Branch is seen as a friendly group of similarly minded people who are prepared to welcome all types of members. As at 27 March, 1998, the number of local members stood at 393. Of these, 62 were Life Members. In addition there were 110 overseas members of whom 77 were Life Members. It is regretted, however, that, in spite of repeated warnings, members underpaid their subscriptions often because they would not take the trouble to up-date their bankers' orders. This causes considerable extra work. It has been decided that, in future, any member who does not pay his or her full subscription will not be entitled to a free copy of the Journal. Although some complain that our subscriptions are high one has to remember xii Page ... (No additional text like "Page" number information is available other than the "xii" which seems to be a page number or a marker) was not provided, hence not added was removed as per rule 12. The text is now output in HTML using for paragraphs. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 Let me give you an idea of the amount of work involved. Over the past year we have corresponded or had links with something like 50 institutions in Hong Kong and around the world, in addition to writing or contacting countless individuals. In many cases institutions or people undertaking research write to our Branch for information about Hong Kong history or other aspects of Hong Kong life. Academics and students not infrequently contact the Branch seeking advice and information. Venues Our lectures are normally jointly organised by our Branch and the Urban Council. Such functions are usually held in the City Hall. We are grateful for this assistance. Similarly, our Council and committee meetings are usually held in the offices of Price Waterhouse and again a sincere 'thank you' is due. Overseas Our Branch has 110 members living overseas and, as one goes through name lists, one often recalls faces of old friends who were active with the RAS in the Hong Kong of days gone by. The older you get the more you like to 'tell it like it was' and it is not surprising many of those now retired overseas still think fondly of the years they spent in the Territory. Last August Keith Stevens came up with the idea of forming a 'Friends of the RASHKB in Britain' Group and for it to meet a couple of times a year, or so, over a Chinese meal, and to have a lecture about Hong Kong or some similar function. Arrangements have been made for the Group to meet possibly either at the RAS Headquarters in London or at Saint Anthony's College Oxford. Details are still being worked out. Similarly, Dr James Hayes and our Branch are now considering setting up a similar Group in Australia provided sufficient support is forthcoming. xix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT As of 15 March 1998, the library collection had increased to 3,429 volumes. A total of 240 volumes were added during the year. There was a reduction of books purchased by Dr. James Hayes from Australia. However, a large donation was received from the Command Library (British Armed Forces Library), amounting to around 60 books. Most of these books are about Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia. Donations of books were also received from Dr. Gillian Bickley, Dr. James Hayes, Dr. Li Shu-fan, Mrs. Patricia Lim, Mr. Liang Xi-hua, Dr. Elizabeth Sinn, Dr. Anthony Siu, and The Hong Kong Archaeology Society. Members of the Royal Asiatic Society visited the Hong Kong Collection of the University of Hong Kong Libraries together with the Hong Kong University Museum on 22 November 1997. The comprehensive collection of books, records, newspapers, microfilms and other documents is renowned as the best collection relating to Hong Kong in the territory. The group was given a guided tour by the curator of the Special Collections, Mr Y.C. Wan. Mr. Wan also gave a brief history of the unique collections in the Rare Book Room. Members were particularly interested in the antique maps of Hong Kong and China. To help publicise and promote the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, as part of the University of Hong Kong Libraries' digital project, it was suggested that selected articles of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society could be mounted on the HKU Libraries web server for wider access. The proposal is still under consideration because of copyright concern. Consent of the authors is required to launch the project. As of November 1997, the RAS Collection is available for searching on the Internet (http://www.uc.gov.hk/ucpl) via the On-line Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) of the Provisional Urban Council Public Libraries. Users may search the catalogue by author, title, subject, and/or keywords. The RAS collection is one of the special collections in the City Hall Library. xxxiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 77 health and fortune would not be harmed by evil spirits. In fact, these two religious activities are held in Fanling Wai (the settlement of the Pang lineage in Fanling) by the Pangs exclusively. The Pang villagers, be they in Fanling Wai or in other settlements, will enjoy the supernatural benefit from these activities through the descent line of their father or husband. This figure was collected from the Lands Department in the North District Office. 12 See Fong, Peter, K. W., op. cit. "But the Lees in Wo Hang, Sha Luk Kok recognised that renting village houses out would infringe on the values contributing to the maintenance of their community as a whole. The villagers defined occupancy within the village as permanent residence, and the rights for it could only be enjoyed and inherited by their fellow villagers through the male line. Houses were not simply residential structures but constituted Wo Hang as an agnatic village community. The house was a source of the rootedness that permitted the natives to claim identity with their natal village community through their right of occupancy." See Allen Chun, op. cit., pp. 249-50. David Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the New Territories, Hong Kong, pp. 2-4. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Liao Hua Chuan, "Xin Jie Yifan Lai Min Quan Yi Lu You" (The Origin of the New Territories Indigenous Inhabitant's Prerogative), p. 144, in Lu Yan (Ed.), Xiang Gang Zhang Gu (Legends of Hong Kong), Xiang Gang: Guang Jia Jing, 1987. 16 See GWE Jones, “Rural Housing in Hong Kong", in Lok, S. K. Wong (Ed.), Housing in Hong Kong: A Multi-Disciplinary Study, Hong Kong: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia), Hong Kong, 1975; Kwok Kam-chau, Planning for Village Development in the New Territories, M.Sc. thesis, The University of Hong Kong, 1987; Allen Chun, op. cit.; and James Hayes, Chinese Customary Law in the New Territories of Hong Kong, paper proceedings of the fourth International Symposium on Asian Studies in 1988. 18 For details, see Heung Yee Kuk (Ed.), Xin Jie Xiao Xing Wu Yu Zheng Ce Te Ji (Special Collection of the New Territories Small House Policy), 1980. **Of this total of twelve houses, four were built in 1979, five in 1980, two in 1981, and one in 1982. 19 The one allowed to build ding wu on Crown land had to pay a premium of about $4,000 at that time. 20 210 hectares of this new town were designated for residential and commercial development, 50 hectares for industrial development, and 140 hectares for government and community use. See Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong 1984 (Annual Report), p. 132. Hong Kong Government Press. 21 Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong 1985 (Annual Report), p. 183. Hong Kong Government Press. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 150 eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In recent years visits have also been paid to such destinations as Taiwan, Vietnam and various parts of China. Before looking in greater detail at what the Hong Kong Branch (RASHKB) does, let us review briefly the history of the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS 1979). History The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in London in 1823, and it received its Charter of Incorporation as a Royal Society the following year. It is the oldest and most important learned society of its kind in Europe, and it is the doyen of societies promoting the study of Asia. Its membership has included generations of eminent scholars and explorers with a deep understanding of the East. A large part of the Society's work has, however, always been carried out through its branches and affiliated societies. Branches were formed in such places as Bombay and Madras about 1838, and in Ceylon in 1845. The Hong Kong Branch followed in 1847, the North China Branch at Shanghai in 1857, the Japanese in 1875, the Malayan in 1878 and the Korean in 1900 (RAS1979: 15). Such countries as Japan and Korea were never, of course, part of the British Empire, and, in any case, British territory today is reduced to a few small pink dots on the map; such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar. Thus the RAS can now be thought of, very much, as an international organisation rather than as being purely British. Although the Hong Kong Branch was first established in 1847, it ran into difficulties and, consequently, ceased to exist after the end of 1859. It was, nevertheless, resuscitated a century later (Hayes 1997: 129). Achievements Going back to the middle of the last century, although the Branch was comparatively short-lived, it was nonetheless productive. With its emphasis on practical projects one of the most conspicuous notches in its belt must have been the proposal that a piece of land be requested ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 154 Schofield, a competent geologist, a good example of the colonial scholar-administrator, helped to map more than 100 sites with evidence of archaeological finds (Bard 1995: 383). Another well-known scholar, a big man in every sense of the word, who served the Hong Kong Government from 1932 to 1969, was K. M. A. Barnett. As a jovial, erudite scholar who managed to master various Chinese dialects, this larger than life personality received a severe beating at the hands of the Japanese for volunteering information to a Red Cross team which came to inspect a prisoner-of-war camp in Hong Kong during World War II. Ken Barnett, who in prison camp had difficulty, according to Dr Solomon Bard another inmate, in finding people with whom he could play "mental chess", has fortunately left a few examples of his scholarship in RASHKB journals. When the Branch was re-established, in 1959, Dr J. R. Jones (J. R. as he was known to most of us) became its founding President. As well as being a good all-rounder in the heritage field, he too was a linguist. Dr Jones was followed as President by Sir Lindsay Ride, a Rhodes Scholar and, from 1949 to 1964, Vice Chancellor of Hong Kong University. During World War II he escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp in Hong Kong and, from a base in China, served with the British Army Aid Group. One of his best known pieces of research, which he undertook together with his wife Lady May (also a long time member of the RASHKB), was about the East India Cemetery and protestant burials in Macao (Ride 1996). The third RASHKB President was Dr Marjorie Topley, an anthropologist. She too was recognised internationally and a number of her papers may be seen in our Branch's journals. Dr James Hayes, who first joined the Branch back in 1961, served all but about six years of his membership period in Hong Kong as an office bearer. He did not step down as President until 1990, when he emigrated to Australia. There are more contributions by Dr Hayes in the Branch's journals than by any other author. He too has an international reputation as a scholar, and, in 1992, an Honorary Doctorate of Letters was bestowed on him by the University of Hong Kong for his work in the field of local history. For him, the Royal ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 155 Asiatic Society has really been a “labour of love" and James has described the Branch as the "Joy of his life". Although now living "Down Under", he likes to stress he is "only a fax away". He makes regular visits back to Hong Kong. Following Dr Hayes as President was David Gilkes. Almost all his nearly 30 years as a member of the Branch in Hong Kong was spent as an office bearer. In addition to Dr Hayes the Reverend Carl T. Smith, at present as Honorary Vice-President, an American, is another Branch member with an international reputation. He has made major contributions to local history with many publications to his credit. One of his greatest achievements was working through all the records in the Hong Kong Public Records Office (Smith 1995: 315). As a result the "Carl Smith Card Index System" has been microfilmed by the Utah Genealogical Society and a copy of the system is in the Public Records Office where it is known as the "Smith Collection", Other Hong Kong RAS present or past members of note include J. D. Romer, normally known to the Chinese as the “Snake King”. In Cantonese, this expression has a double entendre. Romer was, however, certainly not a lazy person! Worldwide, the Romer Tree Frog (Philautus romeri) is found only on one or two of Hong Kong's islands. It is little bigger than an adult's thumb nail and was first identified by Romer (Dudgeon 1994: 168), There is also Keith Stevens, now an overseas member living in England, where his house has a large “god room". His personal collection, said to be the largest private collection of Chinese gods in the world, consists of about 1,500 images of deities (Stevens 1997). The future A well attended seminar was held in May 1987, the purpose of which was to look at the future of the RASHKB. At the time, a questionnaire was also issued to all members. Since then, the future role of the Branch has been discussed at various Council meetings. It was quoted in a publication entitled, A Handbook to Hong Kong, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 157 Bearing in mind the RASHKB is sometimes seen as supporting the "establishment”, in October 1989, four months after the Tiananmun incident, Dr James Hayes, then our President, wrote to the Chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law (Hayes 1989: xvi). As no reply was received a copy was then sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London. Again, no reply was forthcoming. In this letter, put very simply, the President wrote that the RASHKB hoped to be able to continue its activities in the interests of Hong Kong long after 1997. Indeed, members hoped to be able to carry on in the same way as they had been able to operate before 1997. The letter went on to say that the Branch's particular functions are to increase the common stock of knowledge and understanding of Hong Kong and to build a bridge between the Chinese and expatriate sectors of the local community, promoting social interaction and friendship among residents. Like a number of other societies in Hong Kong, over the years the RAS has in its own way contributed to peace and stability. It has helped to nurture the growing sense of territory identity, for example, that has formed especially since the end of the 1960s. In spite, however, of trying to recruit more Chinese members, especially in recent years, the Branch has had limited success. I am pleased to say, a few months after the handover of the Territory to China, the Branch is continuing to operate along similar lines as in the past. For the RASHKB, in other words, it is "business as usual”. It is accepted that the world, including Hong Kong, changes in various ways, and our Branch will need to keep its ear to the ground and move with the times. Although we remain basically an English-speaking Society, we did conduct some lectures in Cantonese during the winter of 1995-96. These were held in conjunction with the Exhibition, Hong Kong Going and Gone mounted jointly by our Branch and the Antiquities and Monuments Office. Our Society, which has a long and honourable history, consists mainly of active members who make up a generally friendly, cosmopolitan body of people with similar interests. In spite of the fact ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 158 that you cannot please all the members all the time there is still a role for societies like the Royal Asiatic Society to play in Hong Kong. It is interesting to recall that some of the best research on Hong Kong history has been carried out by amateurs, often by RAS members. We, as members, must continue to ask ourselves the question: How can the local Branch make Hong Kong a better place and how can we members continue to serve the community, including both Chinese and Westerners? References Bard, Solomon. 1995. “Archaeology in Hong Kong: A Review of Achievements”, Archaeology in Southeast Asia, University of Hong Kong: 383-395. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Revised edition 1969. states: “(Bowring) ... acquired knowledge of 200 languages”. Dudgeon, David and Richard Corlett. 1994. Hills and Streams: an Ecology of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press. Endacott, G. B. 1958. A History of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press. Hayes, James William. 1989. “Letter to the Chairman, Consultative Committee for the Basic Law”, Journal RASHKB, 29: xvi and xvii. 1997. "The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch", Journal RASHKB, 34: 129-145. Pfister, Lauren F. 1993. "Clues to the Life and Academic Achievements of One of the Most Famous Nineteenth Century European Sinologists-James Legge (AD 1815-1897)", Journal HKBRAS, 30: 180-218. Ride, Lindsay and May, 1996. An East India Company Cemetery, ed. Bernard Mellor, Hong Kong University Press. The Royal Asiatic Society: Its History and Treasures. 1979. eds. Stuart Simmonds and Simon Digby, The Royal Asiatic Society London. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 181 HONORARY MEMBERS DAN WATERS In September 1997 Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, who as Sir David Wilson served as Governor of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1992, graciously agreed to become an Honorary Member of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. As a sinologue, at one stage in his career he worked as editor of the China Quarterly which is published by the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Previously, in September 1997 both Mr David Gilkes, Immediate Past President, and Dr James Hayes, Past President, were made Honorary Members of the Hong Kong branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Rule 9 of the Constitution reads: Persons of eminent attainments, rank or situation or persons who have rendered distinguished service towards the attainment of the objects of the Society may be admitted by the Council to be Honorary Members... David Gilkes joined the Branch soon after he arrived in Hong Kong in early 1967 and served for approaching 30 years as an office bearer: as Honorary Treasurer, Vice President and President. James Hayes joined the Branch in 1961, and served from 1967 to 1990 as an office bearer. He held such positions as Honorary Editor, Vice President and President. Both David Gilkes and James Hayes devoted considerable time and effort to the furtherance of the work of the Royal Asiatic Society. With the addition of the two named above, all past presidents of the Hong Kong Branch, including Dr J.R. Jones the Founding President, Sir Lindsay Ride, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1949-64, and Dr Marjorie Topley, have now been made Honorary Members. The first person to be made an Honorary Member was Sir Robert ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 182 Black, Governor of Hong Kong and Patron of the Branch when it was re-established in 1960, In his letter dated 28 February, 1964, to Dr J.R. Jones, Sir Robert wrote: ...I feel very honoured to have been admitted to be the first Honorary Member of the Hong Kong Branch of the Society and I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation for the courtesy of yourself and the Members of the Council in so admitting me Signed: Sir Robert Black Other Patrons of the Branch who were later made Honorary Members include past governors Sir Murray (later Lord) Maclehose and Sir Edward Youde. A great deal of the work in reconstituting the Branch, in 1960, was carried out by Dr Marjorie Topley and Professor Granmer-Byng. In addition to Marjorie Topley who has been mentioned above, Granmer-Byng was also made an Honorary Member. Mr R.E. Lawry, another founder member of the Branch, was also made an Honorary Member. Most of the above Councillors undertook research and published and some of their work may be read in past editions of the Branch's Journals. In the case of some, such as James Hayes and Marjorie Topley, they published internationally. Other persons who have in the past been made Honorary Members include Lady Pamela Youde and Mr Lam Yung-fai, an active Member of the Society and printer of the Branch's Journals for many years. Mrs Margaret O'Hara, who at one time worked for the British Council was responsible for a great deal of the RAS's administrative work in earlier years. She too was made an Honorary Member and she still takes part in Branch functions. In addition to all the above Honorary Members the Reverend Carl Smith was made an Honorary Vice President, under rule 9 of the Constitution, at the 1997 Annual General Meeting. Carl Smith was elected to the Council in 1975 and still sits on the Council. He was first made a Vice President in 1976. He is respected internationally as a scholar specialising in Hong Kong history. Page 210 Page 211 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 together with his wife Edith, re-visited Hong Kong. So did Past President Dr James Hayes who gave an entertaining, illustrated talk to our Branch about his army days, in Hong Kong and Korea, in the early 1950s. We were delighted to see these three old friends once again. It is always sad when old friends depart, for whatever reason, and we are sorry to have to report the passing of two of our overseas members in Britain: the Reverend Cyril Clarke and Mr G Harden. We are also sad to record the passing of Lady May Ride who was a strong supporter of our Branch from 1960 right up to her death after she had moved to England. May they all rest in peace. In addition other members resigned and some left, we later discovered, without informing us which complicates the keeping of our records. As a matter of general interest, there appears to be no founding member (who joined in 1960) who is still active in our Branch today. Membership drive Because of reduced membership, strenuous attempts have been made to increase numbers in various ways. For instance a successful photographic exhibition, on the Landmark Building's Overhead Walkway in Central, was mounted at the end of May, 1998 (see Appendix C). The major organisers for this event were Robert Nield and Tim Ko, assisted at planning stage by Philip Bruce and Arthur Hacker. Their efforts were greatly appreciated as was the help of a large number of other members, including Dr Michael Lau who did the Chinese translation. In addition to the successful Landmark Exhibition (no pun intended), the RAS message has been spread in various other ways. This has included the President and members giving talks to, or liaising with, approaching 20 associations, such as the Corona Society, Dante Alighieri and the Hong Kong Natural History Society. Reciprocal arrangements with other societies are obviously important and, in some cases, other associations have been very supportive. Councillors have also taken part in radio and television programmes and our Branch is to be allocated space by the British Consulate on the Internet. For all this assistance we are grateful to many different organisations. We are also grateful to RAS members Bob and Sally Bunker and Xiv Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 Appendix A Talks 28 March, 1998, 19th Century Government-led Education in Hong Kong by Drs Verner and Gillian Bickley. 29 March, Annual lectures in conjunction with South China Research Circle and the Antiquities and Monuments Office. 3 April, Prisons and Paparazzi-how three generations of one family survived Hong Kong 1930-97, by Kirsty Norman. 8 May, Identifying and Recording Hong Kong's Historical Gardens, by Bill Greaves and Bob Horsnell. 29 May, The East River Column with Special Reference to the Hong Kong and Kowloon Group, by S.J. Chan. 26 June, The History of the Hong Kong Film Archives, by Cynthia Liu. 7 August, Imperial Connection: Chinese Snuff Bottles by Humphrey Hui. 28 August, The Hungry Ghost Festival, presented by Elizabeth Sinn. 18 September, Conservation for Hong Kong Museums, by Paul Harrison. 30 October, An 18th Century Armenian Macau Merchant Prince, the Man and his Money, by the Reverend Carl Smith. 23 November, Archery Seminar led by Dr Charles Grayson and organised by Stephen Selby in conjunction with the Asian Traditional Archery Research Network. 11 December, Military Experiences in Hong Kong and Korea in the early 1950s, by Dr James Hayes, followed by dinner at the FCC. XX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1998/1999 As of 1 March 1999, the library collection had increased to 3,704 volumes. A total of 275 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mrs. Barbara Baker, the estate of the late Mr. Christopher D'Almada, Mrs. Valery Garrett, Dr. James Hayes, Peter and Rosemary Lee, Mr. John MacKenzie, and Ms. Margaret Moore. The addition of several collections to the RAS Library is worth mentioning. Mrs. Valery Garrett managed to obtain some nineteen old and valuable books from the Hong Kong Club, with the help of Mr. John MacKenzie, for HK$20 each. Two big boxes of Arts of Asia magazines dating from 1972 - 1993 were donated from the estate of the late Mr. Christopher D'Almada. Mr. Geoffrey Roper recommended three fascinating books relating to the Ningbo visit: The Five Sacred Mountains and Sacred Buddhist Lands compiled by the Hong Kong China Tourism Press, and Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China edited by Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu. Peter and Rosemary Lee also donated four videos: Minorities of Guizhou and To the Roof of the World via the Backdoor, to the RAS Library. The digital project of mounting RAS journal content pages and full-text articles on the HKU Libraries Web server for wider access was discussed and decided not to be feasible. There was major concern on copyright. Consent of each author in writing is required prior to mounting his/her article on the Web and it is difficult to trace them all. Easy access to full-text articles on the Web may also result in the reduction of sales and a subsequent decrease in revenue from sales of the Journal. The latest news on the opening of the new Hong Kong Central Library at Moreton Terrace in Causeway Bay is that the City Hall Reference Library will be relocated to the Central Reference Library around the end of 2000. To provide more convenient access to the RAS Collection, there is consideration that the Collection, as with other special collections, will be searchable via the on-line catalogue as a separate subset. XXXV ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x # STYLE SHEET ## PART ONE, TWO etc. ### Main heading #### Sub-heading ##### Sub sub-heading ### TITLE ### AUTHOR Text ### Table title ### Figure title ### REFERENCES #### Samples (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd (Article in a journal) Waters, Dan (2000). Laughter across the Great Wall: A comparison ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT ............................................................... xi FRIENDS OF THE RASHKB (UK) REPORT ............................... xxii HON. AUDITOR'S REPORT ......................................................... xxv HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ...................................................... xxxiv ARTICLES P.H. Hase - Beside the Yamen: Nga Tsin Wai Village ................ 1 D.D. Waters - Safeguarding One's Fortunes: The Importance of Tun Fu ............................................................... 83 Lawrence Lai Wai Chung - The Battle of Hong Kong: A Note on the Literature and the Effectiveness of the Defence ............................................................... 115 P.J. Aston - Decoded Version of Squadron Leader Donald Hill's Wartime Diary Maintained Whilst in Captivity in Hong Kong: (a) Translation of "Russels Mathematical Tables" ................ 137 (b) A Decoded Diary Reveals a War Time Story .................... 157 Nicholas Tapp - The Barbara Ward Memorial Lecture Post - Colonial Anthropology: Local Identities and Virtual Nationality in the Hong Kong-China Region ...... 165 James Hayes - The Characteristics of Chinese Religion: Mainly Taken from 19th Century Writings, but yet Relevant for Contemporary Hong Kong ............................... 195 James Hayes - "That Singular and Hitherto Almost Unknown Country: Opinions on China, the Chinese, and the "Opium War" among British Naval and Military Officers who Served During Hostilities There ............................... 211 vii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x SPECIAL FEATURE Papers on the Conference Held on 9 December, 2000 to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Reconstitution of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (HKBRAS) - Hong Kong: Forty Years of a Growing City NOTES AND QUERIES 235 James Hayes - Feng Shui and Roadworks at Tong Fuk Village, 1958 255 James Hayes - A Torn Scrap of Paper: Relating to a Money Loan Association, Small Loans, or What? 261 P.H. Hase - Further Tales of the Man the Emperor Decapitated 269 Photograph Taken on the Occasion of the HKBRAS Visit to the Public Records Office in January, 2000 ... 273 D.D. Waters - One of Hong Kong's Many Hillside Temples 275 Crystal Tang - The HKBRAS trip to Vietnam between 30 September and 6 October, 2000 283 James Hayes - Translations from the Russian, HKBRAS Journal. No 38 291 BOOK REVIEW Gillian Bickley - Hong Kong Invaded! A '97 Nightmare 293 viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x CONTRIBUTORS Philip J. Aston, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Surrey, UK. His research interests are in bifurcation theory and chaos. Code-breaking has been only an interesting sideline. (p.aston@mcs.surrey.ac.uk). Patrick H Hase, BA, Ph.D., is a long-standing Member of Council of RASHKB and currently the Hon. Editor (Books). He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian and has written prolifically on the subject (phhase@hkusua.hku.hk). James Hayes, Ph.D., D.Litt. (Hon.), is a Past-president of RASHKB. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian, and has written several books, the most recent being Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People, 1953-87. He has contributed prolifically to the Journal (mouseh@one.net.au). Lawrence Lai, is an Associate Professor with the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong (wclai@hkusua.hku.hk). Crystal Tang, is an active member of RASHKB (crystal.tang@dfait-maeci.gc.ca). Nicholas Tapp, has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (1988). He lectured in Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1989 to 1992 and then at Edinburgh University for five years. He is currently Senior Fellow, Acting Head, Department of Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra. His main publications are; Sovereignty and Rebellion: the White Hmong of Northern Thailand; (co-ed. with Chien Chiao) Ethnicity and Ethnic Groups in China; and (forthcoming) Context and the Imaginary: the Hmong of China. He has researched extensively on Hmong society in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China (ntapp@coombs.anu.edu.au). Dan Waters, M.Phil., Ph.D., is a retired Assistant Director of Education of the Hong Kong Government. He is a long-time council member of HKBRAS and has been President since 1997. He has written ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x Membership As at 16 March 2000, our Branch's membership stood at 607. This was made up of 487 local members and 120 overseas members. In fact, since the Council meeting held on 27 January 1999, to 16 March 2000, 147 new members have been recruited. As I have pointed out in previous presidential reports, one thing that has changed in recent years is the composition of membership. Among expatriates, Hong Kong is not so 'British' as it used to be and the turnover of people is more rapid. This has resulted in a more cosmopolitan Branch which makes for variety. This is no bad thing. It must be emphasised that it is not just council members, among the membership, who play active parts in ensuring Branch functions run smoothly. Non-council members who sit on the Activities Committee, for example, have an important role to play as do our Volunteers who assist the Antiquities and Monuments Office. But even outside these bodies several RAS members play active roles. These vary from helping to recruit new members to leading outings. We are grateful for their assistance although there are too many willing helpers to name everyone individually. It gives me great pleasure to record that, in November 1999, our Honorary Vice President, the Reverend Carl T Smith, prominent historian and keen supporter of archival research, was awarded honorary membership of the International Council on Archives East Asian Regional Branch. Congratulations Carl! We are also pleased to report that one of our newly recruited overseas members, Dr Edward Cecil Harris FSA, was recently awarded the MBE in the 2000 New Year's Honours List by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Although Dr Harris lives in Bermuda he is no stranger to Hong Kong. He has been here on a number of occasions attending conferences and on speaking engagements. Congratulations Dr Harris! I am also pleased to report that our Past President, Dr James Hayes, together with his wife Mabel, returned to Hong Kong over the period 17 November to 13 December, 1999. Although some nine flying hours away, and living in Sydney, we are pleased that James still considers XII ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x Appendix One Activities - Talks Date 1999 23 April: Writing a History of Hong Kong, Challenges and Rewards, by Frank Welsh. 7 May: In Search of the Gods: An Anecdotal Miscellany of Memories, by Keith Stevens. 28 May: Korean Palaces, by Dr James Hayes 25 June: The Social History of the Jewish Community in Hong Kong 1842-1949, by Dr Caroline Pluss. 27 August: A Bird's Eye View of Hong Kong, by Dr David Melville. 10 September: Should Geographers Take Feng Shui Seriously? by Dr Elizabeth Teather and Eddie Chow, followed by dinner at the Mariners' Club. 22 October: Voices of Macau Stones, by Jason Wordie. 26 November: Speak English, Will Travel, by Drs Gillian and Verner Bickley. 29 November: August Borget in China and Macau, by Barbara Giordana. 10 December: The Yaumatei Book Project, by Drs Patrick Hase and James Hayes, followed by dinner at the Foreign Correspondents' Club. 2000 21 January: My Century, by Anthony Lawrence. 3 March: Hong Kong's Countryside-Conservation for the New Territories Lowlands, by Edward Stokes, XX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1999/2000 As of 1 March 2000, the library collection had increased to 3,950 volumes. A total of 246 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mr. Solomon Bard, Mr. Rowan Callick, Dr. Edward C. Harris, Dr. Patrick Hase, Dr. James Hayes, Mrs. May Holdsworth, Mr. David Mahoney, Mr. Robert Nield, Mr. Geoffrey Roper, Dr. Dan Waters, Hong Kong Museum of History, and Hong Kong Public Records Office. Following the success of the book, Beyond the Metropolis: Villages in Hong Kong, the Society's new book: In the Heart of the Metropolis: Yau Ma Tei and Its People, represents another breakthrough and was successfully launched in December 1999 at the Foreign Correspondent's Club. Edited by Dr. Patrick Hase, the book consists of photographs by members of the Cathay Camera Club and portrays Yau Ma Tei as the “economic and social heart of West Kowloon, the heart of 'real' Hong Kong in recent decades.” To promote the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch), an exhibition of over 55 photographs extracted from the archives of the Society, illustrating domestic, industrial and commercial buildings and interesting street scenes in Sheung Wan and Western District in the 1960's, was held at the foyer of the University of Hong Kong Libraries from 3-21 January 2000. These photographs were supplemented by two old maps and a few air photos from the HKU Map Library as well as some books and pamphlets from the Main Library to provide more detailed illustration in some areas. The result was very promising; there were questions and emails expressing interest in the activities of the Society. Library users were particularly enticed by the photographs since some of them or their relatives/friends were residents in the surrounding area prior to redevelopment in the mid-1970's. The book: Hong Kong Going and Gone, which was compiled from part of the photographic survey, became a high-demand item, both for research in architectural structure as well as Hong Kong studies in the 1960's. 25 copies were sold, 14 new members were recruited, and more were recorded later. Investigation was made into the possibility of setting up an exhibition xxxiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 60 disappeared. By the early 1990s, only the area within the walls of Nga Tsin Wai remained, and that run down and poorly maintained. The squatter huts surrounding the village, backing onto the 1724 walls, made the village invisible from outside, especially given the village's low level below the reclamation level chosen by the Japanese for their nullah banks. Many people began to think of it as "just another squatter area”, being unaware of the depth of history of the proud community the remnants of which are so sadly embedded within. The future for this venerable and historically fascinating village remains unclear, but, whatever the future holds, this does not affect the village's past. This remains the village of the Ng, Li and Chan clans, with more than eight hundred years of history. Within it still stands the ancient Tin Hau Temple, six hundred and fifty years old, with its history of miraculous interventions by the deity. This remains the village of the brave, vigorous, and public-spirited clans who saw off the Taiping bandits, and who assisted with the foundation of the Lok Sin Tong and the Lung Chun School. However poorly maintained and run-down the village is today, this should not blind us to the village's long and prosperous history in the years before development robbed it of its fields, and of its shops and businesses in the nearby Market. Nga Tsin Wai remains, without question, a site of the highest historical interest. NOTES 3 Much of the material in this article was gathered together for a Report on the Historical Heritage Significance of Nga Tsin Wai Village prepared for the Land Development Corporation, and is published here with their consent. The author would like to express his gratitude to Dr James Hayes for his comments and assistance in general, particularly by giving the author access to his notes on Nga Tsin Wai. For the history of salt in the Hong Kong area, see ** Some of the references to the new districts in the eleventh century speak of three districts only, not including Kwun Fu, but it seems likely that this is due to an error in an early document. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 62 market clearly grew in the later nineteenth century, but it was already large and prosperous by 1846. "The map is the Coastal Map of Kwangtung of 1553 of Ying Ka (MW l), reproduced in Hal Empson, Mapping Hong Kong: A Historical Atlas, Hong Kong, Government Information Services, 1992, Plate 1-2. Kowloon is not included in the list of Markets in the 1688 San On County Gazetteer (at least, not under an easily recognisable name), but both a "Kwun Fu Village" (九龍墟) and a “Kowloon Village" (九龍村) are, as well as Nga Tsin Wai, Po Kong, and Ma Tau Wai Villages. Despite this, however, it seems likely that a market was in existence at Kowloon City from well before the late seventeenth century. The Kowloon City Market is equally not included in the 1819 County Gazetteer, by which date there can be no shadow of a doubt that the market was very well, and very long, established. The earliest surviving land-deeds for the market date from 1751 and 1755, by when, clearly, the market was well-established: see J. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region: Institutions and Leadership in Town and Countryside, Hamden, Connecticut, 1977, p. 235, n. 14. In 1822, when the Hau Wong Temple near the market was restored, 85 shops from Kowloon City Market donated to the restoration, together with 5 (probably apothecaries), 31 quarries (石場), presumably from the surrounding hills, 4 ferryboats and 29 fishing-boats, as well as 8 shops from other markets. Clearly, the market was, in 1822, a vital and very well established place. See D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit. Vol. 1, pp. 75-78. WE The dates of 1354 and 1724 are included on a tablet giving the history of the village placed by the villagers in the Tin Hau Temple in the village. The details of the three founders' connections with the late Sung court are from statements made by village elders to Dr Hayes, and again to me, at various dates. 14 I have used a copy of one of the Nga Tsin Wai hand-written versions (kindly given to me by Mr Ng Hung-on, 吳雄安), the (privately printed) Nga Tsin Wai Wai Clan Genealogy (寶安縣衙前圍吳氏族譜), and the hand-written version from Siu Lek Yuen, a copy of which may be found in the “Historical Literature of Sha Tin" series in the library of United College, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 15 A copy was kindly given me by Mr Chan Wai-hong (陳偉康). This Tsuk Po was produced some years ago, from genealogical information written on the back of the clan Ancestral Tablets. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 63 16 The date is engraved on the earth god shrine in the village For the Ta Tsiu at Nga Tsin Wai, see J W Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong Studies and Themes, Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1983, pp 157-159 See also p 162 18 These guns were all sunk in the moat immediately to the south of the village gate when the Japanese came 19 In the 1902 Block Crown Lease, the Ancestral Hall is shown as the Ng Kit-san house, and the Ng Kit-san house as the Ancestral Hall by some strange error 0 1 ༣། Despatch from Sir M Nathan to Colonial Office, January 11th, 1905, in file CO882/6, printed in Eastern No 88, Confidential Hong Kong Correspondence [December 15 1903 to February 27 1907] Relating to the Proposed Canton Kowloon Railway', printed for the use of the Colonial Office, April 1907, No 59, pp 81-88 The slopes to the east of Lion Rock were under the protection of Kwun Yam These slopes were called Tsz Wan Shan (Fill, “Mountain of the Cloud of Compassion one of the titles of Kwun Yam) There has been a temple to Kwun Yam half way up to the pass since at least 1853, probably much earlier The early ownership of this temple is unclear Information on the Chus is taken from their Tsuk Po, a copy of which I was kindly given by Dr James Hayes, and from notes of interviews Dr Hayes had with Chu clan elders in the 1960s See also, Southern District Board, 1996, p 138 On the Tung Shan Temple, see J W Hayes, "The Kwun Yam - Tung Shan Temple of East Kowloon, 1840-1940”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol 23, 1983 pp 212-218 *For instance, in Aed (), Joint Publishing (Hong Kong), 1994, p 44, and RPF Lam, ed The Hong Kong Album, Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1982, p 66 25 I am indebted to Dr James Hayes for much of the detail of this section 26 See A Lui, Forts and Pirates, op cit p 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 64 27 See P.H. Hase "Bandits in the Siu Lek Yuen Yeuk", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 32, 1992, pp. 214-216. 29 I am indebted to the interview notes of Dr James Hayes for this incident. 29 The traditional land-law of the New Territories divided the land-ownership rights into subsoil rights and topsoil rights. The topsoil landowner had the right to till the land, or to sell or mortgage that right. The subsoil landowner had the right to take a rent-charge from the topsoil landowner, and he resumed the topsoil rights should the topsoil owner fail. It was the subsoil owner who was responsible for paying the land-tax, if any. The British declared the system inappropriate, and declared the topsoil owners the sole owner, and personally responsible for the Crown Rent. For the Nga Tsin Wai sub-soil rights in Kowloon City, see J.W. Hayes The Hong Kong Region op.cit. pp. 167-168. 30 See J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, op. cit, pp. 168-171. 31 The information in this section is taken from the Chan clan Tsuk Po, and from information given me by the Chan clan elders. See also B. Williams, "The Chan Family of Tseung Kwan O", in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 7, 1967, pp. 158-160, which gives additional material taken from the information given by the elders in the 1960s. 32 See J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, op. cit. p. 171. 33 See J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, op. cit. pp. 167-168. 34 For these inscriptions, see D. Faure, B. Luk, A. Ng, The Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit, Vol. 1, pp. 75-78, 114-116, 184-188. 35 Information from the recently revised Tsuk Po. 36 Information in this paragraph is taken from the Census of 1911, and from information given by elders of a number of villages. See P.H. Hase, “Traditional Life in the New Territories: The Evidence of the 1911 and 1921 Censuses", in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 36, 1996, pp. 1-92. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 91 differences between Catholicism, the Non-Conformists and the Orthodox Churches. Similarly, it is not really surprising that there are marked differences within Chinese folk religion (the religion practised by the common folk) and with aspects of Buddhism and Taoism that Chinese popular religion commonly embraces. It is interesting to compare observations in this paper with those of Judith Strauch at a tun fu ceremony held at Tai Po (Strauch, 1983, 147). The ceremony at Pat Heung, described in detail in this paper, it must be stressed again, was largely within a Hakka community. With a Cantonese ceremony there are marked differences and sometimes the comb of a cock is cut, its head is pierced, or it is even nailed to a tree in order to obtain its blood. This is smeared on the talismans and allowed to drip on the pots. Such customs frequently shock westerners (Grout, 1971, 204). Rooster's blood is considered to possess magical properties and is used during the swearing of oaths, for conducting sacrifices and for bringing the statue of a god to life (Burkhardt, 1982, 267). The cockerel is, of course, one of the twelve animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac and its comb depicts a crown denoting literary success. Again, with some village tun fu ceremonies, restrictions are placed on inhabitants who are not allowed to leave their village, in some cases for a period of three or four days after the ceremony (Hayes, 1983, 125). In addition, villagers only partake of vegetarian food - Buddhist fashion. This mixing of folk religion (such as tun fu), Taoism and Buddhism, in varying proportions, is of course in line with Hong Kong's practice of syncretising religion. Nevertheless, irrespective of the religion, obligations frequently seem to be less stringent these days. For instance, with a Chinese funeral, today the number of weekly rites, which used to number seven, is now sometimes reduced to five. Again, for a tun fu ceremony, villagers are often not now confined to their village for a period of days. Life is also easier for Catholics. For a long time they have been able to eat meat on Fridays. Tun fu ceremonies again differ because, although the priests and masters who perform them may practise the same basic rules, they often have different beliefs when it comes to some details. For example, as previously mentioned, exactly where pots should be placed in a village and the number of talismans that should be put in them. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 93 told the Editor: 'Villagers are out to "screw" Government.' One Scottish, retired, senior civil servant and his Chinese wife who was herself at one time a government servant, both level-headed people, agreed between them it was 90 per cent money and 10 per cent belief in feng shui. Some other Chinese government servants take a similar view. 'Perhaps some of the older Tang Clan members really believe in tun fu', a Chinese, past District Officer who is outwardly quite westernised but inwardly still very Chinese, told the Author. 'But not the younger ones. Some young people do believe, nevertheless. And for those that do not it does not mean to say that, as they grow older, their views will not change. Such people, in middle age or when they are elderly, sometimes become the most enthusiastic proponents of traditional values. 'A woman who did not believe in feng shui nearly died', the Author was once informed. 'After recovering she became convinced', the informer continued (Waters; 1997, 63). It has been argued by Wong Siu-lun that most Hong Kong Chinese are westernised only in a superficial sense (Evans; 1997, 3, 7). Inwardly, they are very Chinese. To a large number traditions and festivals are important. There were, however, few young people at the Pat Heung tun fu ceremony as it was a weekday and pupils had to go to school. The ceremony was, nevertheless, well attended by adults. There are, of course, other reasons for attending. In some cases villagers were expected to be there by others. In any case people could meet old friends and chat. They might even get invited to a lunch at government expense. Not everyone agrees believing is all a question of money. James Hayes, a past District Officer in the New Territories, wrote (Hayes; 1998): some European civil engineers and contractors' staff stated their belief (to me) that it was all hooey ...' ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 94 'I don't go along with that for one moment. Village people have a long tradition of believing that cosmic harmony is required for the well-being of the living and the dead...' The Author agrees with Hayes that many Chinese do take feng shui and tun fu very seriously. This includes some of the western-educated. The fact that with some ceremonies villagers are prepared to put up with inconveniences, such as not being allowed to leave their village, demonstrates this. People spend large sums of their own money on some festivals, not just money that is given to them by the Government. Feng shui can even be a source of terror: if a grave of an ancestor is flooded, for example (Waters; 1997, 106). Taking remedial action and conducting ceremonies can have a therapeutic effect on the persons involved. The fervency with which these ceremonies are carried out, as described in this paper, are also indicators of 'serious intent'. Organisers and participants frequently put themselves to a great deal of trouble and inconvenience. On a lighter note a retired, English, Hong Kong senior police officer told the Author that, in the early 1960s when he was stationed in the Ping Shan district in the north-west of the New Territories, tun fu ceremonies were more common. The belief then among the police was that as long as there was money in Government's coffers to pay for them and to let off a few firecrackers, with a bit of cash left over for villagers including paying for a lunch, then everybody was happy. 13 West Rail representatives complained, at a government meeting that the Author attended in 1998, that New Territories' villagers were not always co-operative. In the case of the tunnel at Pat Heung, work has not been held up. Compensation, it seems, can sometimes help buy co-operation. This has not always been so. For instance, as previously mentioned, in the case of the Tang clan, they closed some of their buildings along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail in retaliation because the Government needed to move an ancestral grave (Cheung; 1999, 582). Nevertheless, even if many villagers do genuinely believe in tun fu, there are, it is agreed, inconsistencies in their beliefs even if, at times, the average Chinese does not act as though everything depends on such things as the pulsation of feng shui. Chinese not infrequently say that, when a baby is born, ‘it lands on the ground, cries three times ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 103 1997, Introduction, the Anthropology of Contemporary Hong Kong.' Hong Kong: The Anthropology of a Chinese Metropolis, eds. Grant Evans and Maria Tam, Curzon Freedman, Maurice 1979, 'Chinese Geomancy: Some Observations in Hong Kong', The Study of Chinese Society, Stamford University Press Grout, GCW and James Hayes 1971, 'Ceremonies of Propitiation Carried Out in Connection with Road Works in the New Territories, in 1960', JHKBRAS, vol. 11 Hayes, James 1965, 'A Ceremony to Propitiate the Gods at Tong Fuk, Lantau, 1958', JHKBRAS, Vol. 5, Notes and Queries 1983, The Rural Committees of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes, Oxford University Press 1998, February 26, letter to the Author Hong Kong Government 1960, A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories Hong Kong Standard 1990, March 23, ‘A Million to Bury Village Ghosts' Leung, Chor-on 1992, 'Blessings Are Not For All', The Hong Kong Anthropologist Lo, Raymond 1992, Feng Shui and Destiny, Tynron Press, England Myers, John T 1975, 'A Hong Kong Spirit-Medium Temple', JHKBRAS, vol. 15 Phillips, David P, Todd E., Ruth and Lisa M Wagner 1993, November 6, 'Psychology and Survival', The Lancet, vol. 342, Britain ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 195 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINESE RELIGION: MAINLY TAKEN FROM 19TH CENTURY WRITINGS, BUT YET RELEVANT FOR CONTEMPORARY HONG KONG JAMES HAYES Introduction Some years ago, when preparing material for my book Tsuen Wan: Growth of a 'New Town' and its People (Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1993), I spent a lot of time compiling a statement on Chinese religion as it was seen and practised at the local level. This material was drawn from my readings in a variety of sources, coupled with my own observations on the subject in over thirty years' residence in Hong Kong. The writings of the leading missionaries to China, mostly Protestant and from the late 19th century, were especially helpful. Their keen interest and first-hand experience enabled them to make statements that are as vivid and illuminating as when they were penned, and notwithstanding vastly changed times, are still useful and often valid today, owing to the lingering influence of old ways of thought and deed among the Hong Kong population. Other writers, including eminent Chinese scholars, provided complementary information for the text and in the notes attached to it. Reading through this material again, and notwithstanding the immense amount of published writings on every aspect of this huge topic, it has yet seemed to me that others may get as much enlightenment (and enjoyment) from reading this compilation as I did from its production, and since it could not be used in the Tsuen Wan book, I offer it here, hoping that it may prove useful to readers of our Journal. PART ONE Worship and Teaching in Chinese Religion As is well known, the three main religions of China are Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.1 Each derived from the lives ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 211 "THAT SINGULAR AND HITHERTO ALMOST UNKNOWN COUNTRY"; OPINIONS ON CHINA, THE CHINESE, AND THE "OPIUM WAR” AMONG BRITISH NAVAL AND MILITARY OFFICERS WHO SERVED DURING HOSTILITIES THERE. JAMES HAYES Introduction In February 1840, the British Government advised the Qing authorities of the dispatch of an expeditionary force of troops and warships to the China Coast. Its purpose was to force the Chinese authorities to cease their harassment of British traders and officials resident in China, and to make reparation for goods and property taken from them. A blockade of China's principal ports was to be established, and one or two islands demanded as a place of residence and commerce for British subjects. A piece of Chinese territory was to be occupied, to be restored only when matters were settled to the British Government's satisfaction. Hostilities continued on and off until August 1842 when three specially appointed Chinese commissioners signed the treaty of Nanking on board a British warship in the Yangtse River. This much is, of course, common knowledge. However, the subject matter of this paper is perhaps less well known. Among the by-products of the China Expedition were the books written by British naval and military officers about the War and their experiences in China. Some of the letters sent to family and friends at home have also found their way into print. Such books and letters, together with official papers, are used here to illustrate the sentiments, opinions and attitudes of the day towards China and the War, and I have occasionally quoted from them at length, in order to provide greater realism. Scant Knowledge of China and the Chinese This was the first time that British forces had fought in China. Consequently, there was no one with experience of conducting operations there on land or sea. Moreover, the higher levels of society to which the British officer corps mostly belonged - the aristocracy, the landed gentry and the professions - had little or no knowledge of China. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY (HONG KONG BRANCH) ONE-DAY CONFERENCE Hong Kong: Forty Years of a Growing City Saturday 9 December 2000 OPENING ADDRESS DR DAN WATERS ISO BBS, PRESIDENT 235 (This Conference was organised jointly by the RASHKB and the Hong Kong Museum of History to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reconstitution of the Hong Kong Branch. The Conference was held at the Museum of History.) I am highly honoured to address you all today as we near the close of our 40th anniversary year. As you must know our Branch was re-formed in 1960, after a hiatus of a century. A very warm welcome to everyone. I have received messages from Dr Marjorie Topley, Dr James Hayes and Mr David Gilkes, all past presidents. They sent their best wishes for a successful conference. The RASHKB Group of ‘Friends’ in Britain, has sent us a congratulatory Card. If I had been born in the computer age the chances are I would be reading this address from a portable electric brain, as a computer is termed in Cantonese. But several of us taking part in this conference were born many years earlier. Indeed some of us have lived in Hong Kong for longer than the 40-year period (1960 to 2000), which we are reviewing here today. But continuing with my introduction: may I say that some of the most successful events our Branch has organised, especially in the 1960s and early '70s, were our one day and weekend symposia (see Appendix). A previous Honorary Secretary, R E Lawry, first proposed them when a small group of RAS members, in October 1963, was walking back to Silvermine Bay. Of course it was on a hill path as the first road on Lantao, or rather track, had only been constructed a few years earlier in order to build Shek Pik Reservoir. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 240 committees. As was common in an earlier age, he addressed many people by their surnames, such as 'Hayes', as James sometimes likes to remind me. Nevertheless J R Jones was not a snob. He made old bones and the last trumpet call sounded in January 1976, when he was 88. He was lucky to be buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery (previously called the Colonial Cemetery), in Happy Valley. It was already just about full at the time. On his tombstone are two lines of Welsh, which are supposed to mean so I am informed: An affectionate son who loved life (literal translation, 'who loved the world'). I have been informed by a Welsh scholar, however, who teaches at the University of Wales, that there are mistakes in this Welsh inscription. This is a pity but fortunately, hardly anyone notices it. Few people in Hong Kong can read Welsh. I could, of course, name many other interesting people who have been members of our Branch, many of whom I knew personally. Unfortunately, time will not permit. There was the late John Romer, the 'snake king' (ser wong), who later established the Natural History Society. There was 'big,' in every sense of the word, Ken Barnett who had a splendid command of various Chinese dialects. Governor Sir Samuel Bonham (1848 to 1854) believed that studying Chinese addled the brain. But it did not apply in Ken's case. He had a prodigious intellect. In prison camp, according to Dr Solomon Bard a past RAS member, they used to play mental chess. But no one could keep pace with Ken Barnett. Aims of this conference Why are we here? As with many of the contributors to our Journal you will find that our speakers here today, while they may not be full-time academics, have lived through or had access to important periods of local history. For instance Mr Tim Ko, who will be speaking this afternoon. His family came to Hong Kong around 1850. The male members worked as stonecutters and masons. They came here because business was brisk. Five generations of Tim's family have lived in Hong Kong. If anyone can describe himself as a true 'Hongkonger' it is Tim Ko. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 255 NOTES AND QUERIES FENGSHUI AND ROAD WORKS AT TONG FUK VILLAGE, SOUTH LANTAU, IN 1958 JAMES HAYES In my memoir of government service, Friends and Teachers, Hong Kong and its People 1953-1987 (Hong Kong University Press, 1996), one of the opening chapters was devoted to my duties in connection with the Shek Pik Water Scheme on Lantau Island to the west of Hong Kong in the late 1950s. In it, I recounted the periodic confrontations with the villagers of that then remote place over the drillings and soil excavations needed to establish the viability of the proposed design for the dam, along with the similar difficulties experienced later on, during construction work on the reservoir, its access roads and catch waters. Bringing obstruction and delays, the local people's opposition stemmed from their strongly rooted belief in geomancy (fengshui) and in the adverse effects for man and beast certain in their minds to follow any tampering with the landscape, especially when its orange-red coloured soil was exposed to view. Similar problems were also being encountered in adjoining old villages during the extension of the only recently completed South Lantau Road to the reservoir site. Five miles of new motor road were required, and the line passed through several settlements. There were difficulties with the villagers at each of these places, particularly at Tong Fuk Village, to which at one point I and my land staff had to make frequent visits because of the villagers' continual interference with the contractor's workmen on site, regardless of promises made and assurances given. Needless to say, the appearance of Tong Fuk village today, with its array of smart "Spanish Villa" type houses, restaurants and shops bears no resemblance to its former self. In 1958, every house was old and built in the traditional architectural style, occupied by humans or livestock, or used for storage, and all its inhabitants were engaged in agricultural work, mainly in raising the two annual rice crops on which they depended for a subsistence livelihood. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 261 A TORN SCRAP OF PAPER: RELATING TO A MONEY LOAN ASSOCIATION, SMALL LOANS, OR WHAT? JAMES HAYES The torn scrap of paper shown at Plate 1 was found between the leaves of a Chinese book bought some time ago from a second-hand dealer in Hong Kong. Measuring only 3" by 2", it was probably incomplete, yet someone had kept it as a record. It contained seven names and seven amounts, but one of the names had been scored out. Reading from the right, a translation of the characters and amounts, as given in the Cantonese rendering which I believe to be appropriate, runs as follows: Yip Tung 10 cents; Yeung Tai 7 cents; Ah Yee 8 cents; Seng Ho 13 cents; Seng Chan 16 cents; Name crossed out 7 cents. The currency being used, singly or in combination, for the accounts was the sin, a one-cent coin, and the ho, a ten-cent coin. The first can be found in Rev. W. Lobscheid's An English and Chinese Dictionary, revised and enlarged Japanese edition, Tokio, J. Fujimoto, 16th year of Meiji [1884], p. 220. The second appears on p. 162 of Ernest John Eitel's A Chinese Dictionary in the Cantonese Dialect (London, Trubner & Co. and Hongkong, Lane, Crawford & Co., 1877) p. 162. Lobscheid's dictionary was originally published in Hong Kong in 1868, but to date, this author has never seen a copy of the original edition. For the sake of clarity, the renderings made in translation are given uniformly in cents, instead of variously in the two different units used in the original. I believe these coins were Hong Kong currency, but the date of their introduction is not known to me. However, it could not have ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY HONG KONG: TRANSLATIONS FROM THE RUSSIAN (Journal, Vol.38, 1998-99, pp.229-246). 291 Through an oversight, I omitted to include some essential acknowledgments in connection with these interesting documents. The lady who very kindly translated them from the original Russian texts is Miss Vera Vargassoff. Dr. S.M. Bard, recognising their intrinsic worth as valuable contributions to the history of British Hong Kong, requested Miss Vargassoff to make the translations. This done, he sent them to me, and they were then passed to the Hon. Editor, for inclusion in our Journal. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n FROM THE HON. EDITOR The publication of the fortieth Volume of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (and my tenth contribution) seems to merit a special mention by your Hon. Editor as, of course, it marks the fortieth anniversary of the rebirth of the Society. You "saw" the fortieth anniversary conference (in 2000), now read the book! As you know, Council's instructions are for about 200 pages (Don't give 'em too much!) but I've strayed beyond that by about 50 per cent. Perhaps I can be forgiven, given the propitiousness of the occasion. Once again, I've striven for variety and, as you will see, the contributors are both old and new. The distinguished Solomon Bard has come out of retirement to pen Tea and Opium, a wholly dispassionate look at a controversial subject. Brian Fawcett's The Chinese Labour Corps in France, 1917-1921 represents an enormous investment in time and I should imagine he knows France quite well now. The redoubtable Keith Stevens has contributed two articles including the long-awaited (for me) The Celestial Ministry of Time, a veritable Tour de force. Readers of Volume 38 - 66 our Y2K issue will recall the photograph of Tai Sui, the Goddess of Time, on the dust jacket, and so kindly provided by Jennifer Welch. What was not revealed at the time was that Keith Stevens and Jennifer Welch were writing The Celestial Ministry of Time and has lots of photographs of Tai Sui including the magnificent one of Jai Zi which adorns the dust jacket of this issue. I wanted it for Volume 38 but, understandably, Keith and Jennifer held out on me. Otherwise, the unflagging Dan Waters has almost single-handedly provided the Notes and Queries section but with most interesting contributions from Barbara Park and our man in Bondi Beach, James Hayes. Barbara has given us a perceptive glimpse of The Peak in "the good old days." James keeps editors on their toes ("Dear Peter, please find attached the fifteenth amendment to my article."). Jack Lao's 1954 photograph of the Harbour will bring back memories for many. I came into contact with Teresa Kowalska in Poland, and her exquisite... When I was researching the piece on A Many Splendoured Thing, iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n STYLE SHEET AUTHOR PART ONE main heading sub-heading sub sub-heading text table title figure title REFERENCES (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd (Article in a journal) Waters, Dan (2000). Laughter across the Great Wall: A comparison viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n Dan Waters - A Brief History of Technical Education in Hong Kong, 1863-1980 ..... 210 Dan Waters - More Photographs from the HKBRAS 40th Anniversary Celebration Conference held in December, 2000..... 227 Dan Waters - The HKBRAS Volunteers 231 More on the HKBRAS Trip to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam between 30 September and 6 October, 2000 233 Jack Lao Mou Chi - Photograph of Hong Kong Harbour and Waterfront taken in 1954 ..... 251 Peter Halliday - Some Thoughts on Love is a Many Splendored Thing 255 Chiu Hang Shi - Amendments to the Article 'Yaumatei and the Yu Lan Festival' in 'In the Heart of the Metropolis: Yaumatei and its People' 267 James Hayes. - Model Village, Kowloon Tsai, Hong Kong 269 xi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n CONTRIBUTORS Solomon Bard, O.B.E., E.D., is a long-time, well-known resident of Hong Kong and amongst his many other accomplishments is a musician, archaeologist and historian. His published works include the following: In Search of the Past: A Guide to the Antiquities of Hong Kong (Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1988); Traders of Hong Kong: Some Foreign Merchant Houses, 1841-1899 (Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1993); and Garrison Memorials in Hong Kong: Some Graves and Monuments at Happy Valley (Antiquities and Monuments Office, Hong Kong, Occasional Paper No. 4, 1997). Brian C. Fawcett, was born in the Far East where his father served with the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. He also joined the bank and served from 1961 to 1978, being based in Hong Kong from 1971 to 1978. During that time he was also a volunteer with the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force, now the Government Flying Services. He is a life member of HKBRAS. Peter Halliday, M.A., Ph.D., is an Assistant Commissioner with the Hong Kong Police Force and is in charge of the Information Systems Wing. He has been the Hon. Editor of the HKBRAS Journal since 1993 (peterhalliday@police.gov.hk). James Hayes, Ph.D., D.Litt. (Hon.), is a Past-president of HKBRAS. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian, and has written several books, the most recent being Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People, 1953-87. He has contributed prolifically to the Journal (mouseh1@bigpond.com). Teresa Kowalska, Ph.D., is a professor of physical chemistry at the Silesian University, Katowice, Poland. She has a distinguished academic record in her chosen field and publishes widely. Her interest in and admiration of, the writer Han Suyin is an extracurricular pursuit (kowalska@uranos.cto.us.edu.pl). Jack Lao Mou Chi, is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Labour of the Hong Kong Government and a member of HKBRAS. Barbara Park, is a landscape designer and a long-time member of HKBRAS. xii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n ... we do the general view was (see volume I of HKBRAS Journal)". not go out into the highways and byways to recruit members..." As a well-qualified member of staff at the University of Hong Kong said to me during the past year, 'In the 1960s, it was not easy to join the HKBRAS. It was quite exclusive. Meetings were usually held in the Hong Kong Club.' Since the Hand Over of Hong Kong, from Britain to China, we have had a recruitment drive. This has paid off. It was necessary largely because of the appreciable drop in numbers with many members leaving the Territory. With about 73 per cent of our members being aged between 40 and 60, we were pleased, during 2000/2001, to see a few of our younger members playing active parts. I have special pleasure in thanking Moody Tang, Josephine Wong, and Crystal Tang for their assistance. Our Society needs more younger people taking part to leaven the membership. Continuing, it gives me great pleasure to report that our long-serving Vice President, Dr Elizabeth Sinn, was awarded a Bronze Bauhinia Star in the Hong Kong SAR 2000 Honours List for her work in the field of Heritage. We like to believe consideration was also given to her related work as a long-time office bearer of our Branch where her contribution has been considerable: Congratulations Elizabeth! I also have great pleasure in congratulating one of our members for 'pushing back the frontiers of knowledge.' She is Dr Sheilah Hamilton. As a mature student, she received her doctoral degree from the University of Hong Kong. Very well done! During the course of the year, we were delighted to receive a letter from Dr Marjorie Topley who played a leading part in the re-establishment of our Branch in 1960. We have also kept in touch with Dr James Hayes and Mr David Gilkes. All three served as presidents. All three are now Honorary Members. On a sadder note, we are sorry to record the passing, at 82, of Lord Murray MacLehose who held the distinctions of being not only the longest-serving governor but also one of Hong Kong's greatest achievers. He was our HKBRAS Patron from 1971 to 1982 and, later, we were proud to bestow honorary membership upon him. In a letter to our Branch, Lady MacLehose wrote: "The many generous tributes to XV ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n They contain a wealth of observations and well-researched material written by both RAS members and non-members who have frequently lived and worked close to their subjects for considerable periods. Such studies often contrast with those of other scholars who, because of lack of personal contact through no fault of their own, must distance themselves from their subjects and rely largely on secondary sources. I should like to thank our present Honorary Editor, Dr Peter Halliday. Nevertheless we must not forget earlier editors such as Drs Patrick Hase, James Hayes, David Faure and their predecessors, who put in countless hours in honorary capacities. Do you possess any special knowledge or expertise? Do you have something important to say regarding Hong Kong's past? If so, we look forward to reading your contribution. Over the past year selected papers and articles from our Journals have been digitised and placed on the Hong Kong University Libraries Homepage. The Home Page includes a search engine thus obviating the need for an index. We are grateful to the University for giving us the opportunity to co-operate with them on this meaningful project. Our publications continue to attract attention and sell to scholars and discerning readers around the world. Over the past year a number of bodies have requested permission to quote from, or to display, photographs from our last book, In the Heart of the Metropolis: Yaumatei and its People. Such requests are normally granted provided due acknowledgement is given. Our bimonthly Newsletter continues to be read avidly, RAS member Robin Bridge wrote: 'My thanks to all those who have researched and compiled such an informative Newsletter. Delighted to receive it e-mail, too.' While a few of us have fed in information over the past year the Newsletter was prepared, firstly, by Sarah Parnell and, for the second part of the year, by her successor, Mary Painter. We again congratulate our members who have published in their own right over the past year. Because of numbers we are unable to name them individually. Other than in special cases we try to refrain from showing favouritism to individual authors. Nevertheless any member who publishes may, if he or she wishes, have their work mentioned in our Newsletter. Writing is, some contend, a form of therapy. One sometimes wonders how those who do not write manage xvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n Thank you must go to Chartered Surveyors Bill Greaves and Bob Horsnell, both long-time residents on whom our Volunteers depend for leadership. Historian Tim Ko has also helped in various ways. We are grateful to all concerned. Friends of the HKBRAS Our group of "Friends" in Britain, who held their first meeting in July 1998, consisting largely of HKBRAS members who lived in Hong Kong for many years, has had another active year. Their activities are detailed in a separate report written by HKBRAS Immediate Past-President, David Gilkes, who is now Chairman of the Friends in Britain. I will shortly present his report at this AGM. Of course, our Branch keeps in close contact with the Friends. Past President James Hayes wrote '[The standing of HKBRAS] is mirrored by the success of the Friends in UK and is very gratifying.' The Friends deserve our congratulations on their achievements. The setting up of this overseas group has been one of the most important events that have happened in recent years. It allows our members who return to Britain to live, to maintain links with the Territory and our Hong Kong Branch. In an effort to strengthen contacts among our overseas members who are not members of the 'Friends', we circulated a letter together with the 1999/2000 President's Report. In return, we received replies from Messrs Roderick MacLean MBE and B C Fawcett, who both now live in Britain. The latter is researching the Chinese Labour Corps that served with the Allies in France during World War One. It is good to hear from old friends. HKBRAS Library and finance Both our Honorary Librarian, Julia Chan, and our Honorary Treasurer, Robert Nield, who have contributed so much to our Branch, have prepared their own reports. These they will present at this AGM. I wish to make it clear that we depend on the professional experience of Julia and Robert a great deal. We are grateful for their assistance over many years. We are also grateful to the staff at the City Hall, and the staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers for their unfailing assistance and support. We are especially grateful to Mr Christian Stewart and to Ms Ada Loi, and of course to Robert for doing most of the work for our xxi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n If there is such a person or institution that I have not thanked then my profound apologies. An extra word of thanks, nevertheless, must go to Sarah Parnell who served as Assistant Secretary for seven months of the past year although she has now stepped down. She is, nevertheless, continuing to play an energetic and active part in the work of our Branch. In her place we welcomed Mary Painter who quickly settled down in her new post. Conclusions How do you judge a society such as ours? We average about two functions a month. This is considerably more than most similar societies. We undertake research and publish scholarly works, including an annual Journal issued free of charge to all fully paid up members. Having read this Report you will know clearly what other benefits you can enjoy. We can be proud of what we achieve. We give value for money. Rosemary Lee, past Hong Kong resident and a RAS “Friend” in Britain wrote: 'The RAS is a truly remarkable organisation - so vital and with such a variety of activities.' James Hayes wrote from Down Under, ‘... the impression I have of the Society from afar, through newsletters and publications, is that it has never been better... It is all due to the team and their sense of our Society's abiding worth.' There have been and will continue to be, depending on the way our Branch develops, changes regarding the membership of our Council. For my own part the time has come. As an octogenarian and after four-and-a-half-years at the helm I must make room for my successor. While old age is not bad when you consider the option a younger President will no doubt bring in new ideas. It will be good for the health of the Branch to have a change. I'm sure I shall miss the duties that the post entails. Following many distinguished HKBRAS Presidents, including both those who held office during the 12 years in the mid 19th century and those over the past 40 years, it has been a great honour for me to have served as your President. Much of the work of the President is, of course, open-ended but you cannot make an omelette without breaking the odd egg. While it is good to have fire in one's belly inter-personnel skills are also important especially in a voluntary organisation like ours. Occasionally there has xxiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2000/2001 As of 1 March 2001, the library collection had increased to 4,133 volumes. A total of 148 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mr. Anthony Chung, Ms. Launa Christofis, Mr. Peter Crush, Mr. Bob Horsnell, Dr. James Hayes, Dr. Dan Waters, Hong Kong Museum of History, and Friends of the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The relocation of the RAS Collection to the new Hong Kong Central Library at Moreton Terrace in Causeway Bay has again been delayed. It is now planned to move in April 2001 to take advantage of the Easter holidays so that it will cause less disruption to service. There will be two RAS Collections in the new Library: the Main Collection of post-1900 materials shelved in the Special Collections area, and the Rare Book Collection of pre-1900 materials (with selected rare post-1900 materials) housed in the Central Library Rare Book Room. Both collections will be on the 7/F of the Library. The Rare Book Collection is for reference only and will be under close supervision. Some Council members have expressed concern about the deteriorated condition of some books in the RAS Collection. City Hall Public Library has kindly agreed that their Conservation Unit will help to restore these books through binding and repair after they have settled down in the new location. They will also cooperate with the Hon. Librarian to catalogue and process the Arnold Graham Collection which was donated by the late Mr. Arnold Graham in 1995 but sent directly to the City Hall Public Library without being catalogued. These books will then be able to be accessed from the Online Catalogue. In light of the move to the new location, the Library Regulations for usage and borrowing have been revised and accepted by the Council members. The regulations became effective July 2000 irrespective of the Collection's location. Copies of the Library Regulations have been distributed for information. The new Library Regulations demand stricter borrowing xlii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 63 from October 1914 and closed to British burials in May 1919. His grave is amongst those saved for officers who had died in early 1915. [see photograph] My wife and I visited St. Etienne-au-Mont cemetery and amongst the graves is that of Cheng Shun Kung (Zheng Shungong), [53497], of the 60th Company CLC, who died on 23rd July 1918 after being convicted of the murder of a fellow countryman. On his grave is carved ‘A Good Reputation lives Forever.' The date of his death, as shown at the Public Records Office, is 27th July 1918. The CWGC, in a letter to the author, state that their records cannot be amended until such time as they have written authorised confirmation. The CWGC also state that the British Library, Oriental and Indian Office and Army Records, Hayes, hold no records for the CLC. In this cemetery is a large memorial, with inscriptions in Chinese, French and English, stating that it was erected by comrades of the CLC. Close-by, it has four small white magnolia trees, in bloom at the time of our visit in April. We also visited the cemetery at Abbeville, in which there are the graves of expatriates who served with the CLC. Sgt. E.J. Collins served with the 43 Company CLC and died on 7th November 1918. Staff QMS (WO II) George William Bashford was with the RASC before transferring to the Labour Corps attached to the 91a Company CLC. He drowned on 18th November 1919. 2/Lt. Henry Elderfield of the Northumberland Fusiliers was attached to the 163rd Company CLC and died on 11th November 1918 [Armistice Day]. Sgt. T. F. Murphy of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers transferred to the 135th Company CLC and died on 26th March 1920. Cpl R H Smith of the 2nd Bn. Cameronians [Scottish Rifles] transferred to the Base Depôt, CLC and died on the 27 November 1918. Cpl. Robert Whittaker of the Royal Welch Fusiliers also transferred to the Base Depôt CLC and died on 3rd November 1918. Cpl. J. Wilkie from the Durham Light Infantry was another who transferred to the Base Depôt CLC and died on 19th September 1919. There are no Chinese buried in this cemetery. St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, amongst others, holds the graves of 44 members of the CLC and four British attached to the CLC. For the most part, graves in this cemetery are laid head to head. Lt. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n DESIGNATORY LETTERS AFTER AN RAS MEMBER'S NAME DAN WATERS 205 'As an RAS member, am I entitled to put letters after my name?' Occasionally, your Branch receives such enquiries. We are also sometimes asked if our Hong Kong members are Fellows Although RAS members of our London Headquarters are given the title of Fellow, that has never been the practice with the Hong Kong Branch since it was reconstituted in 1960. There are other Royal societies in Hong Kong, however, which do use the term 'Fellow.' The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society is one example. Indeed even when the Hong Kong Branch of the RAS was first established, from 1847 to 1859, the title 'Member' and not 'Fellow' was used. It would also appear from records that the title 'Member' was used in the North China RAS Branch in Shanghai. Regarding putting letters after one's name. That splendid reference book, Things Chinese or, Notes Connected with China, is of special interest. The author was the noted sinologist J Dyer Ball MRAS (Member of the Royal Asiatic Society) as he styled himself. One notes straightaway that he used the title Member and not Fellow. That is probably because he was a member of the North China Branch. Interestingly, Dr James Hayes points out that the famous missionary, sinologue-author, J Edkins DD, in his booklet on Opium (published by the Presbyterian Mission Press, in Shanghai, in 1898), styles himself, 'Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society (sic) London and of the Japanese Branch'. I have sought the views of RAS Head Office, London, on this subject. They say they cannot find any official statements sanctioning the placing of RAS after one's name. They suspect it has not been encouraged. Head Office also mentions that, in Professor Beckingham's History of the Royal Asiatic Society, he does not refer to Fellows being called anything else nor does he refer to the use of designatory letters. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 269 MODEL VILLAGE, KOWLOON TSAI, HONG KONG JAMES HAYES Dr. Patrick Hase made mention of Model Village in his article Beside the Yamen: Nga Tsin Wai Village, published in Vol. 39 of the Journal, pp. 1-82. As stated therein, this was a village created by the Japanese military authorities during their wartime occupation of the Colony for families displaced by the extension of Kai Tak airfield from the central Kowloon area near Nga Tsin Wai. In 1966, I went to Model Village, and spoke with a number of persons living there. Some had been among the original inhabitants, whilst others had moved there after the war. Their accounts throw further light on this interesting place, and its wartime origins. Together with photographs taken at the time of my visit, they fill out the information given to Dr. Hase by the Nga Tsin Wai elders. On the basis of notes taken during our conversations, I have let the Model Village people speak for themselves. Ages are given by the Chinese reckoning, usually one or two years less than by Western computation. My Informants' Account of Themselves and of Model Village 'I am Yip Choi, a Hakka, born in April 1897 in Tam Shui of Waichow County. When I was five or six years old, my father took me to Po Kong Village in central Kowloon. At the time of the extension of the airfield, I was living in a stone house in the village. It was ordered to be demolished and we were told to go over to Model Village. We had to help the contractor who was given the job of building the houses there by the Japanese authorities. There was no pay, but those persons who worked on the site got one catty of rice per day. This area was originally known as Shi Ling Village (Lion Ridge Village) but the Japanese commander in charge of the rehousing operation said this was not a peaceful name, and changed it to Model Village. I also have a vegetable field at the village, and am still farming.' 'I am Madam Ng Lin Tai, Cantonese, aged 77. My father's family (Ng) was originally from Ng Uk Village, near Nam Tau, but I know that my father and grandfather were born in Kowloon Tsai Village (I am not sure about the older generations). We kept up the Nam Tau... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g ## STYLE SHEET ### TITLE (UPPER CASE, BOLD, CENTRED) AUTHOR (UPPERCASE, REGULAR) #### PART ONE, TWO etc (UPPER CASE, BOLD) ##### **Main heading** (lower case, bold) ###### _Sub-heading_ (lower case, italics) Sub sub-heading (lower case, underlined, regular) Text1 (lower case, regular) #### **Table title** (lower case, bold, centred) #### **Figure title** (lower case, bold, centred) ### REFERENCES (UPPER CASE, BOLD) Samples * (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press * (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd * (Article in a journal) Waters, Dan (2000). Laughter across the Great Wall: A comparison of Chinese and Western humour, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 38:1-50 ### NOTES (UPPER CASE, BOLD) A word on punctuation Punctuation is not an exact science and styles vary. The Journal's style for quotation marks, however, is: direct verbal or written quotes single quotation marks; and anything else in quotes - double quotation marks. Please ensure that quotation marks "wrap around" commas and full stops, e.g. 'Life's greatest tragedy,' wrote Han Suyin in *A Many Splendoured Thing*, 'is not to love.' 1. Endnotes only (regular) viii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Elizabeth Teather - Deathspace in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Seoul: A Review of Recent Research, 1995-2001 .... Chiu Hang Shi - Unicon Dancing in Pat Heung 329 341 Keith Stevens - A Contentious Christian Missionary in Central China, 1887 353 Kirsty Norman - Friends of the HKBRAS Trip to Cornwall....... 357 David Akers-Jones - Tea and Opium: Some Further Notes on Macartney's Role 367 Jennifer Welch - Coincidence? ... 373 Dan Waters - Another Donation to the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 375 Richard Garrett - Taipa Fort and a Nineteenth Century Cannon 379 Peter Halliday - More Thoughts on Han Suyin's A Many Splendoured Thing: A Tribute to Ian Morrison...... 391 Rosemary Lee and A.C. Bromfield - The Life and Times of Captain Samuel Cornel Plant 407 Anon. - More on the Two Obelisks at Tai Tam 417 BOOK REVIEWS Dan Waters - Long Night's Journey into Day: Prisoners of War in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941-1945 419 James Hayes - Heaven is High, the Emperor Far Away:Merchants and Mandarins in Old Canton 423 Patrick Hase - Hong Kong Metamorphosis 427 Peter Halliday - Searching for Frederick and Adventures Along the Way. 430 X ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Police Force and was its chief information officer for the last seven years of his service. He is now the managing director of an IT services company. He is the Hon. Editor of JHKBRAS (peterhalliday@netvigator.com). Patrick Hase, B.A. Ph.D., is the current president of HKBRAS. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian, and has written prolifically on the culture and history of Hong Kong (phhase@hkusua.hku.hk). James Hayes, Ph.D., D.Litt.(Hon.), is a past-president of HKBRAS. He is a noted scholar and Hong Kong historian and has written several books, the most recent having been Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People, 1953-87. He has contributed prolifically to JHKBRAS (mouse1@bigpond.com). Professor Anthony Headley, B.B.S., J.P., M.D., F.R.C.P. (Lond., Edin., Glas.), F.F.P.H.M., F.H.K.C.C.M., F.H.K.A.M., F.A.C.E., D. Soc. Med., was trained in the medical schools of Aberdeen and Edinburgh and formerly worked in endocrinology and internal medicine before moving to the field of public health medicine. In 1983 he was appointed to the chair of public health in the University of Glasgow and since 1988 has been Professor of Community Medicine in Hong Kong and honorary consultant to the Hong Kong Department of Health and to the Hospital Authority. The involvement of four graduates of his alma mater, Aberdeen University, including Kai Ho Kai, in the founding of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1888, has stimulated his interest in their many contributions to several aspects of educational, social, and political developments in Hong Kong in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (commed@hkucc.hku.hk) Ko Tim-keung is a council member of HKBRAS and a keen researcher into Hong Kong history. Rosemary Lee spent thirty years abroad in Pakistan, Switzerland, Iran, and Hong Kong. During this time she was able to indulge her interest in archaeology and in Hong Kong was one of a team of Antiquities and Monuments Office volunteers. She was a member of the Archaeological and Palaeontological Committee and Programme and Events Organiser of the Council of the HK Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. On returning to England, she became Co-Events Organiser of the Friends of HKBRAS, as well as becoming actively involved with the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (rosemary.lee@talk21.com). Dr. Alfred H.Y. Lin, B.A., M.Phil. (Hong Kong), Ph.D. (London), was trained as an historian at the University of Hong Kong and the School of Oriental and African Studies (London). He is currently an associate professor of modern Chinese history at HKU. His research focuses on the history of South China, particularly Guangzhou politics and society in the 1920s and 1930s. He recently published an article entitled The Founding of the University of Hong Kong: British Page 15 Page 16 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Appendix Activities for 2001/2002 Date Lectures 2001 Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch Fri 20th April: Dr Janet Lee Scott on The Fung Chew of Hong Kong May 4th: Harry Harum on The Last Emperor's Garden Restored after 75 Years. May 18th: Pauline Poon Pui-ting on Domestic Servant Girls: the Po Leung Kuk Fri 1st June: Drs Gillian and Verner Bickley on "How Hong Kong History entered the Space Age”. Fri 3rd Aug: Hugh Phillipson on 150 years of Hong Kong's Water Supply Fri 31st Aug: William Shang on Imagination and Reality in the Drawings of William Alexander. Fri Oct 19th: Kim Salkeld on Life in Government House. Fri October 26th: Cesar Guillen Nunes on "Macau's St Paul Façade: a Re-table-Façade?". Fri 16th Nov: Dr James Hayes on Village Culture in South China. Fri Dec 7th: Dr Dan Waters on Hong Kong in the 50s and 60s Sat Dec 8th: Tim Ko and Jason Wordie on 60th Anniversary of the Fall of Hong Kong 2002 Fri Jan 18th: Dr Paul Van Dyke on Daily life in the Pearl River Delta during the era of the Canton Trade. Fri 1st Feb: Susannah Hoe on Lady Macdonald and the Empress Dowager. Summer 1900. Fri 8th Feb: Prof Paul Cohen on Humanizing the Boxers. Fri 15th March: Jonathan Wattis on South China and the Pearl River Delta in Western Maps. Xxvii Page 30 Page 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRANCH LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2001/2002 As of 1 March 2002, the library collection had increased to 4,380 volumes. A total of 247 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Mr Anthony Chung, Mr Peter Crush, Mrs May Holdsworth, Mr Bob Horsnell, Dr James Hayes, Mr Lai Tim-cheong, Mr Hugh Phillipson, Dr Dan Waters, Hong Kong Museum of History, and Friends of the Art Museum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The long awaited for Hong Kong Central Library was finally opened on 16 May 2001. The RAS Collection is now housed on the 7/F of the Central Library. The Main Collection of post-1900 materials is shelved in the Special Collections area, and the Rare Book Collection of pre-1900 materials (with selected rare post-1900 materials) is housed in the Rare Book Room. Compact shelving is provided to maximize storage capacity and a comfortable reading area close to the Collection is also available for users to consult the materials. A guided tour of the RAS Collection was organized by the Hon. Librarian for the Society members on 15 September 2001. A total of 34 members in two sessions attended the tour. All were impressed and appreciative of the modern and well-equipped facilities as well as the spacious and pleasant environment conducive to study, research and recreational reading. It was gratifying to see that the RAS Collection is well taken care of and has adequate room for expansion. During the Library tour, the Hoi Ha (Village) Collection which was moved from the Shatin Central Library to the Hong Kong Central Library was displayed specially for the members. These books were found by our President, Dr Patrick Hase, by accident some years ago. It included books on schools and medicine and covered all aspects of village life in that period. Patrick gave a very interesting talk on the history of the collection at the same time. With the move to the new location, Hong Kong Central Library xlii Page 45 Page 46 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 266 November 1889. 18 Ibid. 19 The China Mail, 23rd November 1865. 20 Although the Colonial Cemetery was referred to as 'the Protestant Cemetery' in most 19th century government notifications (starting from HKGG Notification 120 of 15th November 1856) and maps, the ordinance to set apart certain section of the cemetery to be used as a burial ground for persons professing the Christian religion only had its first reading in the Legislative Council in November 1909. See Smith (1985), NOTES FOR A VISIT TO THE GOVERNMENT CEMETERY AT HAPPY VALLEY, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.25, pp. 17-26. The earliest Chinese name of the cemetery that could be traced is, see HKGG Notification 92 of 6th October 1859. In some 19th century tourist guides, the cemetery was simply called 'the Anglican cemetery,' e.g., A HAND-BOOK TO HONGKONG BEING A POPULAR GUIDE TO THE VARIOUS PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE COLONY, FOR THE USE OF TOURISTS (1893), Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, p. 94. The cemetery was renamed 'Hong Kong Cemetery' in the 1970s. 21 Levien, Michael (ed) (1982), NAVEL SURGEON: The Voyages of Dr. Edward H. Cree, Royal Navy, as Related in His Private Journals, 1837-1856, New York: E.P. Dutton, p. 89. Dr. Cree had also made a water-colour sketch of the funeral of Brodie which is shown on p. 90 in the same book. Both the graves of Brodie and Wilson are still lying in the Hong Kong Cemetery. 22 This burial ground in Wan Chai had been referred to as 'the old Colonial Cemetery, see HKGG Notification 447 of 2nd November 1889. A list of the tombstones removed from the burial ground in Wan Chai to the Colonial Cemetery can be found in the same notification. 23 Eitel, P. 246. 24 See Blue Book, 1845, p. 40, or HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE COLONY OF HONG KONG 1841 - 1930 (1932), Hong Kong: Government Printer, p. 4. However, one source suggests the cemetery was opened on 1 February 1844, see Hayes (1970), COACH TOUR OF EASTERN HONG KONG ISLAND 19TH OCTOBER, 1969, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.10, p. 190. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 267 Smith, NOTES FOR A VISIT TO THE GOVERNMENT CEMETERY AT HAPPY VALLEY, p. 17. 20 The boundaries of the new cemetery were rearranged in July 1870, when the government granted a nearby site for the Muslim Cemetery, and it was extended northwards in 1927. See Ticozzi, p. 13. 27 Ticozzi, pp. 12-13. 28 Sinclair, Kevin (ed) (1982). A SOLDIER'S VIEW OF EMPIRE: The Reminiscences of James Bodell, 1831-92. London: Bodley Head, pp. 58-60, 65-66. 29 The China Mail, 23 November 1865. 30 Oxley, p. 33, of personal correspondence of Bandsman F. Davis, 2nd Battalion 20th Foot, who was posted to Hong Kong between December 1863-January 1864 and May 1866-March 1867. Civilians are not included in this number. 31 This cemetery was not related to the Chinese cemetery in Stanley. See below for a description on the Chinese cemetery. 32 R.S. Hawkins, p. 41. Early barracks was erected around the present St. Stephen's College site. 33 Hayes (1970). COACH TOUR OF EASTERN HONG KONG ISLAND 18TH OCTOBER, 1969, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 10: 193. 34 Dr. S.M. Bard has also conducted research on Stanley Military Cemetery, the report, titled REPORT ON SURVEY AND STUDY OF SERVICE GRAVES AT STANLEY MILITARY CEMETERY, was presented to the Antiquities and Monuments Office in 1984. 35 A little below the present University of Hong Kong site. 36 Ticozzi, p. 12. 37 The present Pokfulam Road. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 303 generals and an admiral, he must have had a very patriotic, British father. As a British subject, Charlie Stilwell was interned in Stanley prison camp during the Second World War. A great story-teller he liked to recount how a police superintendent escaped. In reprisal, the entire police contingent at Stanley was incarcerated in Stanley Prison proper. Some had brought musical instruments from the police band into camp. As they were marched away to prison, Thirlwell recounted, the musicians struck up the well known, stirring march, Colonel Bogey, and everyone in camp joined in singing: 'And the same to you!' As a result, the Japanese felt they were losing control of the situation and fired their revolvers into the air (Sinclair; 1997, 32). After the war, besides working as a lighthouse keeper, Thirlwell led an active life when on shore leave. This included community service. Thirlwell had close connections with the Chaiwan fisher folk and boat people and his wife, in fact, was one of them. 'He was a nice, cheerful man,' Dr James Hayes recalled, ‘and yes, he sang very well...' (Hayes; 1999). He not infrequently sang stylised, Cantonese opera, with correct tones. He even sang lusty, boat-people songs which were beyond the capabilities of most native Cantonese. This surprised many who did not know his background. Charlie's appearance was much like a European. In reality, he was a Hong Kong born and bred Eurasian and he started learning Cantonese at his mother's breast. Perhaps surprisingly, he spoke English with a bit of a North Country English accent. HKBRAS member Louis Thomas agreed with Hayes: 'Yes, he was a jolly man, humorous, and one of those people who seemed to know everyone. He was well thought of. He enjoyed a glass of beer.' Thomas said that at one stage his Round Table in Wanchai linked up with a boat people association at Chaiwan to provide assistance. Thirlwell was one of their leading members. He did a great deal of much needed community service. Deservedly, for his work as a loyal lighthouse keeper (and later in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 307 and Monuments Office and the Government Marine Department and to everyone mentioned in the text. Without their help this paper would not have been written. Special thanks are also due to Yip Kin-sang Superintendent of Aids to Navigation of the Marine Department. Thanks are also due to many other helpful people including Master Mariners Roger Parry and Alan Lack, Dr James Hayes, Simon Lord, Paul Brown, Phillip Bruce, Louis Thomas and S J Chan. This paper would not be complete without photographs and those published here are indeed rather special. For these, a very sincere thank you to Charles Slater. NOTES Part One 1. T. Roger Banister (1932). The Coastwise Lights of China, Shanghai: Inspectorate General of Customs, Statistical Department. 2. Lee Krystek - http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/pharos.htm 3. Trinity House - http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/ 4. A day in history - http://www.sis.gov.eg/calendar/html/cl171196.htm 5. It was named after James Horsburgh (1762-1836), an eminent hydrographer for the East India Company, author of the book Sailing Directions, which became the most widely used nautical directory of Eastern waters during the first half of the 19th century. He was also a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The lighthouse has a cone-shape tower painted with black and white horizontal bands. http://www.lighthouseclothing.com/database/searchdatabase.cfm. 6. It was rebuilt in 1875 in the form of a white conical cast-iron tower with black trim. The 30-foot high tower with lantern constructed of oyster shells had a light visible for 20.5 nautical miles. 7. T.R. Banister concedes that the claim is good only in its literal sense. '...if we except such primitive lights as the old open beacon at north-east promontory, or the ancient native light on Fisher Island in the Pescadores. The Tungsha Lightship, in the Yangtze Estuary, was established in 1855, and the Taitan Light was apparently first shown by the Chinese priests in 1863. But neither of these were exactly light [houses].' ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 312 BIBLIOGRAPHY INCLUDING WORKS CITED Banister, T Roger (1932), The Coastwise Lights of China, An Illustrated Account of the Chinese Maritime Customs Lights Service, Shanghai. Bruce, Phillip (1990), Suggested Notes for Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Waglan Island. Dyson, Anthony (1983), From Timeball to Atomic Clock, Hong Kong Government Publication. Endacott, G B (1958), A History of Hong Kong, Oxford University Press. A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong Kowloon and the New Territories (1960), Hong Kong Government Printer. Harrison, Paul (1999), East India Company Guns, letter and information to Author. Hayes, James (1999, February 16), letter to Author. Hong Kong 1962 (Year Book), Review, the Port of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Government. Hong Kong Observatory (1999, February 26), letter from Director to Author. Hong Kong Standard (1989 August 23), Lowering Flag for Last Time. Jones, Kenneth Sutton (1985), Pharos: The Lighthouse Yesterday and Tomorrow, Sparton Press, UK. Lack, AJ S (1999, April 19), letter to Author. Lee, H C (undated), About Waglan Lighthouse, a paper, prepared by Hong Kong Government Marine Department. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 331 of those who use it. Places, their layout and furnishings, and their associated activities, are crammed with meanings that can be identified and analysed for what they tell us about people's beliefs. Thus, the sociologist Anthony Giddens suggests that one way to look at place is as a 'locale', a 'setting for interaction'. Activities come and go, but places remain, with the traces of what has happened there. And meanwhile, the shaping of a place will continue, both in terms of the physical qualities of that place and in its image in the minds of those for whom it has some significance. As a result of my visit to Wo Hop Shek, and subsequently to many of the other urban cemeteries in Hong Kong, I wrote several papers about Hong Kong's urban cemeteries and columbaria. In 1999, curious to know how fifty years of Communist rule had affected the spatial manifestation of death in a metropolitan landscape in mainland China, I extended my research to Guangzhou. And, equally curious to find out how a modern East Asian society with an uninterrupted tradition of Confucian beliefs and customs was coping with the expression of death in the landscape, I also arranged to carry out associated research in Seoul, South Korea. I refer to each paper below. In the published versions, each has a long list of references. These are a valuable dimension of the published work, as they offer a sound starting point to those wanting to carry out related research. These lists represent hours of leafing through back issues of journals, combing bookshelves, following up other researchers' reference lists, collecting newspaper cuttings (and, in one case, employing a Chinese-speaking research assistant to access a Guangdong evening paper online), and using electronic search tools to search and download. The website of the Korea Herald was especially useful. As well, of course, I used — especially for theoretical approaches — articles in recent issues of those professional journals to which I subscribe. Very important were the occasional and invaluable recommendations of 'You had better get hold of this....' from RAS members! Personal introductions have helped, too. In fact, several members of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) have been consistently generous and encouraging since I began this research, and I owe a lot to them. Dan Waters, James Hayes and Patrick Hase have kindly read several of the papers listed below and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 335 I wrote (p. 35) that 'Rather than religious beliefs, it is lineage and ancestral place that are affirmed in non-Christian Chinese cemeteries. In contrast, in Chinese Christian cemeteries, the dead are gathered not into a secular fold but into the fold of the Church, and they affirm a very different concept of the meaning of human existence'. graves Teather, E.K. and Chow, C.S. (2000). The geographer and the fengshui practitioner: so close and yet so far apart? Australian Geographer 31(3): 309-332. This paper isn't about cemeteries but grew out of my efforts to understand them. I was infuriated with the dismissive attitudes of western academic geographers to fengshui, so we somewhat provocatively took one of the most influential French spatial theorists, Henri Lefebvre, and compared the spatial principles of fengshui with his 'moments' of spatiality. In 1995 or 1996 I'd gone on an RAS field trip to Wo Hang village in the NE New Territories with Patrick Hase. Clearly, that village was typical of countless hundreds of others in China. Patrick himself had written about it in R.G. Knapp's Chinese Landscapes: the Village as Place (1992), which contains other detailed examples of the pervasive influence of fengshui on the siting and layout of villages. Clearly, one cannot begin to understand the landscapes of which such villages are part without an appreciation of fengshui. Dr. Chow and I gave a talk about this theoretical approach to analysing fengshui at an RAS meeting in 1999. While we were developing this paper, James Hayes told us about the eighteenth century Korean Yi Chung-Hwan's Taengniji: the Korean classic for choosing settlements, newly translated into English by I.C. Yoon (1998). This book describes the geography of Korea and accords prime consideration to fengshui. By a wonderful coincidence, the International Geographical Union met in South Korea in 2000. I went on a four-day post-conference field trip organised by a Korean cultural geographer who - to the bemusement of many non-Koreans on the trip, but to my great delight - spent a lot of time pointing out how fengshui had shaped human geography in the heartland of South Korea, Andong Province. Teather, E.K. (1999). The Heritage Significance of Hong Kong's Chinese Cemeteries, Proceedings of International Forum UNESCO, University and Heritage, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 337 The paper began as a collection of notes squirreled from all sorts of sources, and as other information arose it grew almost on its own. For example, when I was in New Zealand for some months teaching at the University of Canterbury in 2001, a postgraduate student popped a just-published newspaper article on my desk about a shipload of Chinese coffins that had foundered on its way to China in 1902. Maori villagers had buried some beached remains with due respect. The house where I'd lived in Dunedin for ten years had been close to a big cemetery, but I'd lived there in ignorance of the fact that there were Chinese graves there. By 2001 I had met Les Wong, a Kiwi Chinese who has made it his business to restore those graves and other Chinese graves in cemeteries close to the old gold-mining centres of Central Otago. Dunedin's Dr James Ng, who came to Otago as a child from Guangdong Province, sent me in late 2001 a copy of an autobiographical article which vividly brought to life the familial links (and breaks in links between 1949 and 1979) between Chinese family members in New Zealand and their home villages in Guangdong. I have appreciated the encouragement of both Les and James. Teather, E.K. (2001). The case of the disorderly graves: contemporary deathscapes in Guangzhou, Journal of Social and Cultural Geography 2(2): 185-202. This paper describes three agendas that are shaping contemporary deathscapes in Guangzhou: the modernist planning agenda, the market economy, and the Chinese Communist Party ideology and resistance to it. It develops the concept of deathscapes into deathspace, "a symbolic system that represents a stage in the ongoing process of conflict and compromise involving the traditional and the modern, the personal and political, and the sacred and the secular'. Preparing for this research was quite a challenge and I can't imagine how I ever thought I'd find out what I wanted to know. An introduction from James Hayes led to my meeting Dr. May Bo Chan, from the Department of History at Zhongshan University. This department generously hosted my second week in Guangzhou and invited me to give a seminar. Existing links between Hong Kong Baptist University and Zhongshan University were invaluable. An enormous stroke of luck was finding a superb and energetic ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 426 Made more by way of observation, there is the matter of the restrictions imposed, in their turn, upon the foreign traders at the Thirteen Factories in Canton (see p.97 and the Addendum). Mrs. Garrett has explained how they were increasingly ignored by them, in her chapter 9 ("Disobedience and Destruction: The China Wars"). Here, it seems appropriate to note that the laws of China, designed to support the security of the government and the happiness of the people through enforcing the moral ideas and usages which had characterized the nation over two millennia, were (like the 'Regulations' for the foreign merchants) precisely and minutely detailed, so as to be readily available to the authorities as and when required. Non-compliance with the laws was not confined to outsiders! One notable deviation was noted by Sir George Thomas Staunton (a resident at the Factories 1798-1816) in his part translation of Qing Statute Law, published in London in 1810; that is, how certain ‘religious' activities, prohibited in the penal code, were 'openly practised in every part of the empire,' leading him to surmise that these clauses were 'retained for the purpose of enabling the magistrates to control and keep within bounds these popular superstitions,' when required. (p.175n of the Taiwan reprint by Ch'eng-Wen Publishing Co., Taipei, 1966; with another such on theatrical representations at p.418n). I mention these points in passing, as being relevant for the times. Returning to Mrs. Garrett's book, the standard of production is high, and typos are few. But (e.g.) since he has been mentioned, Osmond Tiffany, Jr. appears variously in several places, including the index, as 'Oswald' or 'Osmand': Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)'s book, The Golden Chersonese has been misspelt: and the Cantonese romanization for the Eighteenth Ward is Shap Pat Po, not ‘Shap Pak Pu.' (pp.144-5). But this is to cavil. All in all, this is a very competent and attractive recreation of a bygone world, linked to surviving buildings and other relics from the time, and heartily recommended to the reader - for all of which reasons, the kind of specially-drawn map I have suggested should form part of any further edition of this book. JAMES HAYES ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 FROM THE HON. EDITOR I have been receiving a relatively large amount of material over the last couple of years and Council has therefore authorised me to continue producing Journals which significantly exceed the '200 page' rule, in order that publication of accepted submissions is not overly delayed. At 532 pages, therefore, this Volume, No. 42 is another bumper effort. There are 11 contributions in the ARTICLES section, which must be something of a record. Andrew Abraham has provided a most scholarly paper on the pros and cons of the transfer of the Straits Settlements from the jurisdiction of the Indian Government to the Colonial Office in 1867. Continuing our review of the Battle of Hong Kong during World War II, there are contributions from Chohong Choi and Anne Ozorio. The former rehearses Allied thinking on an invasion of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong and possibly the Chinese hinterland behind it, which area might then have been used as a base from which to bomb Japan. Chohong then discusses, somewhat novelly, the challenges to such an invasion from the weather. Anne Ozorio's paper shows that, contrary to popular belief, the British military were very much prepared for an attack on Hong Kong by the Japanese - in terms of continuing intelligence gathering and covert resistance during the occupation - and that they were very active in China until the end of hostilities. Our man in Bondi, former President, James Hayes, shares with us his experiences of Chinese ceremonial occasions and the considerable etiquette and pomp that go with them. Lawrence Lai et al. reports on a survey of the World War II military installations on Devil's Peak, Hong Kong. I have reproduced a very pleasant piece from Eve Lam of TVB On HKBRAS which centres on the 40th Anniversary Celebration Conference held in December, 2000 at the University of Hong Kong. Lauren Pfister's account of the life of Ch'ëa Kam-kwong (1800- iii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 ## STYLE SHEET AUTHOR ### TITLE #### Main heading ##### _Sub-heading_ ###### Sub sub-heading Text #### Table title #### Figure title ## REFERENCES Samples * (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press * (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd * (Article in a journal) Waters, Dan (2000). Laughter across the Great Wall: A comparison of Chinese and Western humour, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 38:1-50 Xi TITLE (UPPER CASE, BOLD, CENTRED) AUTHOR (UPPERCASE, REGULAR) PART ONE, TWO etc (UPPER CASE, BOLD) Main heading (lower case, bold) Sub-heading (lower case, italics) Sub sub-heading (lower case, underlined, regular) Text' (lower case, regular) Table title (lower case, bold, centred) Figure title (lower case, bold, centred) REFERENCES (UPPER CASE, BOLD) Samples (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd (Article in a journal) Waters, Dan (2000). Laughter across the Great Wall: A comparison of Chinese and Western humour, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 38:1-50 Xi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT....................................xix FRIENDS OF THE HKBRAS (UK) REPORT.................................xxxiii FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.........................................xxxix HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT.......................................xlix ARTICLES Andrew Abraham - The transfer of the Straits Settlements: A revisionist approach to the study of colonial law and administration..........1 Chohong Choi - Between the nine dragons and a divine wind: How Hong Kong's weather might have affected an allied invasion to retake the territory.........................................33 James Hayes - Hong Kong's Chinese associations: Their ceremonial occasions and their helpers..........................................67 Lawrence Lai, Daniel Ho and Leung Hing Fung - Survey of the Devil's Peak redoubt and Gough Battery...............................101 Eve Lam - The Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch): The faces, the stories and the memories..................................139 Anne Ozorio - The myth of unpreparedness: The origins of anti-Japanese resistance in prewar Hong Kong...........................161 Lauren Pfister - The proto-martyr of Chinese protestants: Reconstructing the story of Ch'ea Kam-kwong............................187 Stephen Selby - Chinese archery: An unbroken tradition?...........245 Keith Stevens - The Yangzi port of Zhenjiang down the centuries...255 Dan Waters - Hong Kong in the 1950s and '60s: Reminiscences.......323 xiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 NOTES AND QUERIES Gliding: How Louis de San beat the Asian duration and altitude records in Chungking, China, in 1940, from the Belgian journal Aviation, Volume 2, Number 14, March 1946, translation by Paul Bolding 345 Paul Bolding - More on Louis de San 357 Arnold Graham's Shanghai Christmas card, 1905 Julia Chan - The Library of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 361 373 James Hayes - Afterthoughts on South China Village Culture, Oxford University Press, 2001 385 393 became Kalekie drzewo Peter Hansell - The colourful Douglas Lapraik (1818-1869) Paul Harrison - Introducing the Conservation Section of the Hong Kong Government Peter Halliday - Adventures in publishing: How The Crippled Tree 377 381 ... Robert Horsnell - A note on the Japanese gun emplacement at Tathong Point, Tung Lung Chau......... 399 David Mahoney - More on THE CHINESE LABOUR CORPS IN FRANCE, 1917-1921: A new discovery .... 405 David Mahoney - Yet more on THE CHINESE LABOUR CORPS IN FRANCE, 1917-1921 .... 411 Martin Merz - Yet more on TEA AND OPIUM 413 February 2002... Robert Nield - Photographs from the HKBRAS' visit to Bhutan, Keith Stevens - The wrestling princes 417 431 xiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 Peter Stuckey and Chris Bailey - Visiting St. John's Island Dan Waters - Projects and enquiries ........ 435 449 Dan Waters - Yet more thoughts on Han Suyin's A Many Splendoured Thing: Conduit Road and its environs 453 John Wilson - A poem from the HKBRAS visit to East Bhutan, February 2003...... BOOK REVIEWS 459 Peter Halliday - Voices from the past: Hong Kong, 1842-1918 (Solomon Bard) 467 Peter Halliday - The development of education in Hong Kong, 1841-1897 (Gillian Bickley) 468 Patrick Hase - The fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation (Philip Snow) 472 James Hayes - From rice to riches: A personal journey through a changing China (Jane Hutcheon).... 474 XV ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 James Hayes, is a Past-President of HKBRAS and a former long standing member of Council (mouse1@bigpond.com). Robert Horsnell, is a former civil servant and a Volunteer (of research into and cataloguing of old Hong Kong buildings and monuments) of HKBRAS (argyho@netvigator.com) Lawrence Lai, Daniel Ho and Leung Hing Fung, are, respectively, Reader, Associate Professor and Department Head of the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong (wclai@hkusua.hku.hk). Eve Lam, has been working in journalism in various capacities for the last nine years. Her current position is news sub-editor/anchor for TVB Pearl in Hong Kong. She holds a master's degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong and a bachelor's in Physical and Health Education from the University of Toronto. David Mahoney, is an active member of the Friends of HKBRAS in Great Britain. Martin Merz B.A.(Hons.), studied Chinese at Melbourne University. He continued studies in Taiwan, including a stint at the National Taiwan University Graduate School of History. He worked as a translator and interpreter in Taiwan for several years, acquiring a taste for Oolong tea along the way. He moved to Hong Kong in 1987 to set up a trading company. Robert Nield, is the Hon Treasurer and a Vice-President of HKBRAS (hiflyer@netvigator.com). Anne Ozorio, is an active member of the friends of HKBRAS in Great Britain. Lauren Pfister, is an Associate Professor in the Religion and Philosophy Department as well as jointly appointed to teaching in the Humanities course at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has lived in Hong Kong with his family since 1987. Serving as Associate Editor for the Journal of Chinese Philosophy since 1997, he has continued to pursue research in 19th and 20th century Ruist philosophy, the history of sinology, as well as comparative philosophical and comparative religious studies. He serves also as an Associate Research Fellow of the Centre for Sino-Christian Research at Hong Kong Baptist University (feileren@net1.hkbu.edu.hk). Stephen Selby, is the Director of Intellectual Property, Hong Kong Government (srselby@ipd.gov.hk). xvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 HONG KONG'S CHINESE ASSOCIATIONS: THEIR CEREMONIAL OCCASIONS AND THEIR HELPERS JAMES HAYES 67 Introduction The close involvement of the District Offices of the New Territories Administration in the pre-1997 Hong Kong Government in the celebration of festivals and major religious rituals by local communities throughout the lunar year was described in Chapter Seven of my Friends and Teachers, Hong Kong and its People 1953-87, published by Hong Kong University Press in 1996. This particular feature of the Administration's work had seemed worthy of special notice, since its personnel's interaction with their leaders, their many helpers, and less directly with the audiences and participants, had always helped to build up and sustain the "government and people" relationship. Such occasions provided the connecting links of community life across the decades. Some were regular annual events, like the main festivals of the lunar calendar and the birthdays of the gods in the local temples, often with accompanying opera or puppet shows. Less frequent, but equally regular were the important, quasi-religious Ta Chiu or periodic protective rituals, still held nowadays by large villages or linked groups of villages in the longer settled districts of the New Territories, but held practically everywhere a century ago. The officials' participation extended to many other community events, especially those held or organized by Hong Kong's Chinese associations in town and country, individually or jointly. They attended at ceremonies marking a special occasion, such as the completion of a new school building provided by a kaifong association or religious body, or the finalization of a local public works project by a village or rural committee. They might help to inaugurate or close the district summer youth programmes held from the late 1960s onward, or the local community's evening of entertainment for the elderly. Other major events attracting their presence might include associations' dinners connected with fund-raising drives for a special project or a charitable purpose, usually with a singing or even opera performance. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 Plate 13. Rosettes. Christine Chow and Mabel Hayes (City District Commissioner, Hong Kong, and City District Officer, Eastern respectively) at a function, mid 1970s. 田三十年慶建 蕙 啟壇 Plate 14. Scissors and rosettes. Opening ceremony for the Kam Tin Ten Yearly Ta Chiu, 1985. 93 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 94 DI Plate 15. Mabel Hayes, City District Commissioner, West Kowloon. presenting a four character banner to a senior police officer, Shamshuipo, Kowloon. late 1970s. Plate 16. Mabel Hayes and Christine Chow again, at a function in Eastern District. Note the inscribed plates on the table, for presentation. Mid 1970s. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 145 and started to work on what he loved - studying local history. so I “By nature I'm a local historian,” said Hase. "It's just nearly impossible to do it here for the 7th century English history started looking at local history." Hase briefly removed his glasses and seemed to look different from the way he had the last 30 years, with glasses. Because of those spectacles, I was able to stumble upon the academic in the 1984 edition of "Who's Who in Hong Kong.” In it is a picture of Hase with a bit thicker hair, but essentially looking very much the same. "I have no idea how I got in there,” said Hase who was at the time one of many civil servants listed. "I guess they just wanted all civil servants of a certain rank to be included." Hase was listed as principal assistant secretary to home affairs and his boss Dr. James Hayes, also was listed in the book. It was through Dr. Hayes - a past president and previous editor of the RAS Journal that Hase got involved with the Society. Hase joined the RAS in 1980; he became a member of its Council in 1981 and served as honorary editor. But Hase said he was not a very good editor. When he took over, they had fallen behind by a year and a half, and later on, that was extended to three years. "I was a good editor in doing the editing when I could get myself to do it, but I hated the work so the journals got horribly, horribly delayed... Eventually I did it, and I did it well.” He edited seven journals and two books for the RAS. Hase has himself published over 30 articles on life in the New Territories, customs, Fung Shui and pure history. Hase's next article, on Ngau Tse Wan Village, will be published in Vol. 39 of the journal. Most of Hase's subjects were born between 1910 and 1920; those people that still remember how the New Territories was before major changes wrought by increased settlement between 1915 and 1925. But in another 10 years Hase likely will not have any sources left for his research. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 149 because they had this American idea that once the handover is made, that everything would be a total mess in Hong Kong,” said Smith. "Nothing left, you know. An entirely mistaken idea.” Smith decided to go with the Library of Congress because it has the financial backing from the US government his cards will be taken care of - and because the library is accessible to all. For 13 years, before settling in Hong Kong, Smith was pastor at a U.S. church he established. At 42, he came to the territory in 1960 to teach for the Church of Christ in China, Smith taught through a translator at first, and then his students began speaking English to him, so he never got a real grasp of the Cantonese dialect. But the Reverend reads and writes characters and has used these skills in his work. Smith has written many articles over the last 40 years and has published two books. Smith considers his article on "The Emergence of Chinese Elites in Hong Kong" his most significant work because it appears in bibliographies most often. "People are always polite and they say nice things...if we're going to look at early Hong Kong we're going to have to go and look at the article." Smith's book “Chinese Christians: Elites, Middlemen and the Church in Hong Kong" was published in 1985 and coincided with the 25th anniversary of the re-establishment of the RAS Hong Kong branch. James Hayes said in the foreword that it was a time to look ahead to the handover and to the Society's continued contribution to the study of Hong Kong culture and history. The Society held a one-day seminar that year to talk about the '97 issue. Opinions were divided on keeping the Royal in the name and Smith was one of the ones opposed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 153 "I would like to do more for students...In our time at school, even in the university, no one really cared about Hong Kong history and at secondary school, we never had a chance to study Hong Kong history, so no one knew about what happened in Hong Kong." Ko has also published a battlefield guide and a bilingual publication for the Country Parks Authority. His next book, a resource guide for teachers and students on Kowloon City, should be out in May. Ko has not published in the RAS Journal, and has no plans to. “Not as many people are writing in Chinese,” said Ko. "There are a lot of many very good scholars writing very good things like Patrick Hase, James Hayes, but all these, they only write in English." Ko is a fifth-generation Hong Konger. He is Hakka and his ancestors were stonecutters. He has traced his family back to the 1850's, before the British came. Ko studied Japanese at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and worked for the HKTA (Hong Kong Tourist Association, now the Tourism Board) for six years before quitting to do more of what he does today record Hong Kong history, including what life was like in the early resettlement blocks. "It's quite unimaginable for young people now, the communal toilets, communal bathrooms, no tap water in a small flat," said Ko. "You remember I emphasised during the talk, 24 square feet for each adult, a 100-square foot room would take at least four adults or six, if there are children. You could imagine how the situation could be. All the male members would need to sleep in the public corridor. "I always dream of, even till now, I dream of life in the housing blocks. I don't know why, many times a year, even till now, because actually I spent 22 years there...[They] could not be regarded as fond memories because we lived on the top floor and there were a lot of problems then with the ceiling leaking.” The 37-year-old has supported himself for the last 10 years through freelance jobs -- acting as co-ordinator and translator for the visiting Japanese media book royalties, and other odd projects. Ko has been a member of the RAS since 1990 and on the Council ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 154 since 1997. But getting Ko to first join, and then to be on the Council, was not easy. "I never heard about [the RAS] of course, not until I started working at the HKTA. They have the whole set of the journal in the library. So I started reading and it was really an eye-opener for me. Particularly reading those articles written by James Hayes...I never read anything like that before in my life. "Even though I'm so interested in history and I knew about this organisation, I think...it's not an organisation for people with a background like mine.” But Ko met Philip Bruce, a Council member, during a freelance job, and decided to join. In 1997, he was asked to serve on the Council. "At that time my first thought was it was totally beyond my wildest thoughts because of my background...I had nothing to do with academics. I don't have any degree in history, anthropology or whatever, and at that age, I'm not that young, but because all the other Council members are much more senior in whatever aspect, I was quite surprised when they invited me. "This is Dr. Hase, Dr. Sinn, Dr. Waters...and who am I?” Although he answers with sincerity that he doesn't know what he's contributed as a Council member, he has given several talks. Ko believes that one reason he was asked to serve on the Council was to help with the recruitment of younger Chinese members. Seventy-three percent of the members of the RAS are aged between 40 and 60, but over the last year the society has stepped up its effort to recruit new members, especially young Chinese members. Ko said he has tried to recruit some young Chinese friends but because the RAS is an English-speaking society, Ko says from personal experience, it can be intimidating for people who are second language speakers. "It's too difficult to speak in English, I think, for many people. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 156 : Sinn has written extensively on the history of modern China and Hong Kong, in both English and Chinese, and was awarded a Bronze Bauhinia Star in the SAR's 2000 Honours' List for her work in the field of heritage. She has edited many books and with Dr. Hase was co-editor of the RAS publication to mark the 35th anniversary of Hong Kong branch, "Beyond the Metropolis: Villages in Hong Kong." She is proud of her introduction to the book. 1 "It's hard to remember which of my articles I enjoyed writing most. I guess I rather enjoyed writing 'Kowloon Walled City.' [But] '1884 riots' was much too serious, and if I were to be writing it again today, I would take a very different approach—a more relaxed approach. The 'Study of Local History' is very informative, but I don't think it's particularly exciting! In the long run, I think the last one will probably have the greatest impact." Sinn joined the Council in 1982, and is currently serving as vice-president and has been for the last 10 years. "I was invited to join the Council—I don't remember by whom, but it is most likely to have been James [Hayes]. I joined because I thought the RAS did interesting things. Before I joined the Council, I had attended some of the lectures and seminars and also read the journal. I felt I was learning a lot from it. According to Hase, Sinn was the number one choice for the presidency two years ago, when Waters first wanted to retire, and again this year. "I'm still very doubtful as to whether I was the best choice [for president]. Elizabeth Sinn would have been the best choice. We asked Elizabeth to be president, but she said no,” said Hase. "My ambition in life is to be a really good historian and write a few great books," said Sinn. "And I wouldn't be able to do that if I tried to do too many things. A good president really needs to invest a lot of time in the job—like Dr. Waters. I respect him so much because he really gives it his all. Since I know I won't be able to spare the time, it's best that I don't take up the presidency." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 280 food and shelter with money he collected from foreigners. He always wore straw sandals, Chinese clothes and cap, and had a strong Chinese complex. The local Chinese adored him, but not so the missionaries; they detested him, even refusing him food and shelter, or any assistance whatsoever - consoling themselves with the reflection that he was a 'disgrace to the cloth'. Dr. James Hayes has reminded me that he produced a note for Volume 23 of this JHKBRAS[1983] in which he provided extracts from A. H. Rasmussen's China Trader21 describing the westerner's community shooting bungalow in about 1905. Rasmussen was barely twenty when he joined the Chinese Maritime Customs at Zhenjiang, a small, lonely British concession. When first posted there he had been assured by others that Zhenjiang was a very nice and clean Concession, with a good club and excellent shooting. He found this to be a good description of the Concession but not of the native town. During his first four years, two of the original thirty-five Europeans died, two went mad, two cut their throats, and he himself was twice nearly murdered by smugglers. After several years with the Imperial Maritime Customs he was offered a job representing a foreign firm still in Zhenjiang and found himself now one of the upper set. No longer could he walk down the crowded streets of the Concession but must ride in state in his sedan chair, borne by his four chair bearers garbed in his firm's colours. Rasmussen's sanity was saved by the presence of a small shooting bungalow in the countryside near by, looked after by a caretaker. It was about eight miles away on a hill called Wu Chow where he would stay during his off-duty hours either reading or hunting wild boar. Though it was relatively expensive in ammunition and tips for the beaters he was able to lessen the latter by sharing expenses with shooting companions. Rasmussen spent many happy hours scanning the visitors' book finding out more about previous hunting successes and failures. He describes how he relieved his boredom by walking up and down the Bund, three hundred yards there and three hundred back, and for a change he walked along the only cross street to the south gate of the Concession, two hundred yards there and two hundred yards back. One of the most lucrative trades around Shanghai and Zhenjiang used to be that of being shot. Foreign merchants often went up creeks in house-boat parties, or wander about the fields in the outskirts, looking for snipe. There were no hedges or game laws and innumerable ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 364 Block was expanded and renovated. The Society's collection was housed in a Special Collection room in the City Hall Library. Collection expansion with a resulting shortage of accommodation is a common problem amongst all libraries. While members appreciated the convenient location and ease of access with the City Hall Library, some members lamented that the room was becoming very crowded, making it very difficult to browse the collection. Although the Chief Librarian, Mr. Mak, acknowledged their concern, not much could be done since the City Hall Library was experiencing similar space problems for its entire collection. The situation was ultimately relieved with the building of the new Hong Kong Central Library at Moreton Terrace in Causeway Bay. This was officially opened on 16 May 2001, and comes with well-equipped modern facilities, and a spacious and pleasant environment. The Society's collection, as part of the Reference collection, was relocated to the new Central Reference Section. The Main Collection of post-1900 materials is shelved in the Special Collections area while pre-1900 materials (with selected rare post-1900 materials) are housed in the new Rare Book Room. Compact shelving is provided to maximize storage capacity with adequate room for expansion. A comfortable reading area is also available for users to consult the materials. The Collection Since the acquisition, through inheritance, of the Medico-Chirurgical Society's collection, the Library continues to expand through donations, purchases and international exchanges. Periodic appeals are made by presidents of the Society for gifts of books. While many members generously send donations to the Library, Dr. James Hayes has to be acknowledged for his relentless contribution to the building up of the Society's substantial and valuable collection. Dr Hayes (HKBRAS President from 1983-1989) has been largely responsible for book purchases, especially during his presidency, augmenting the Library's size to around 3,000. Subsequent to retirement in Australia, he still actively searches for modestly-priced, hard-to-find books in second-hand bookstores, for the Society. The Society now possesses an excellent quality Library. The collection consists of books, periodicals, pamphlets, photo albums, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 367 unique collection will be able to serve a much broader scholarly audience in the pursuit of Asian studies and scholarship. NOTES 1. The Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 1, 1961, pp.1. 2. President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 2, 1962, pp.3. * President's Report, Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 4, 1964, pp.8. * Dr. James Hayes, the then President, selected a collection of books for an exhibition jointly presented by the Urban Council Public Libraries and the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held in the Urban Council Kowloon Central Library between 18 November and 1 December 1987. A Catalogue of Books on China and Hong Kong in the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) Collection was also compiled and printed, and was available free to the public at the exhibition. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 393 AFTERTHOUGHTS ON SOUTH CHINA VILLAGE CULTURE (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China), 2001) JAMES HAYES After completing a book, there are bound to be after-thoughts! Whether one likes it or not, the mind continues to work away in the sub-conscious, reviewing the end result. This has certainly been the case with my South China Village Culture. The Oxford University Press Images of Asia series, to which it belongs, has been a considerable success, but perhaps because it is a tall order to compress big subjects into a small book format, does render its authors more prone to having such after-thoughts. I now consider there have been certain omissions, and would like to make at least some amends. Some precedents for supplying further information after publishing come to mind. When reviewing Dr. Hugh Baker's three volumes in his Ancestral Images series (Hong Kong, SCMP Ltd., 1979-81), I had regretted the lack of full references for so many interesting quotations from older books, whereupon Dr. Baker had supplied a complete set, prefaced by an interesting bibliographic note. These were printed in a subsequent issue of the Journal (Vol. 23, 1983, pp.221-232), to our enduring benefit. My first omission was to completely overlook, in the 'Heritage and Preservation' chapter, the former Hong Kong Government's policy for the reinstatement of old village communities in the New Territories. Although a large number of villages were demolished to allow New Town development, the indigenous communities themselves were preserved intact through reprovisioning on new sites at public expense. This applied - and as far as I know the policy is still being followed by the SAR Government - not only to houses, but also to ancestral halls, shrines, and temples. Over a hundred old villages have been reprovisioned in this way in the last forty and more years. However, a greater omission was the absence of any reference to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 474 direct or through the lives of those to whom she spoke, seem to indicate that part of the solution must lie in improving the quality and ethics of the bureaucracy at all levels. In a country where the officials and the Party still call all the shots, attempts to educate the people at large in "good conduct" will be abortive, as well as meaningless, without it. Paradoxically, there is the long Confucian (and quintessentially Chinese) tradition of good government and right behaviour to sustain the dual effort - still meaningful and understood, but not, in every age, or everywhere, attainable. Have I any criticisms? Not really. The photographs (mostly colour) illuminate the text, and there are next to no typos, but as a historian, I noted an oversight (p.78) in which Xiamen (formerly Amoy) and Guangzhou (Canton) are located together, and a paragraph in which (p.145) the essential legislation ending the Chinese institution of mui tsai (servant girls) in Hong Kong is given as the 1950s instead of the 1930s. To conclude, we are much in Jane Hutcheon's debt for such a useful and pertinent survey of a great people and nation at this crucial stage of their transition to modernity. There is much to learn and ponder upon in this attractive book, which will serve as a handy benchmark for checking on 'New China's' course in the years immediately ahead. Its leaders, too, could benefit from the dedicated efforts of a skilled observer who, though critical, is always balanced, and is ever a true friend of their land and its people. JAMES HAYES, SYDNEY, 2003 Page 540 Page 541 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 CORRIGENDA Page 93, Plate 13, caption should read: 'Rosettes. Mabel Hayes and Christine Chow (City District Commissioner, Hong Kong, and City District Officer, Eastern respectively) at a function, mid 1970s. Pages xiv and 373: ‘1905' should read ‘1990.' [The card was sent by Arnold Graham to James Hayes in 1990. The reference to 1905 comes, inadvertently, from the photograph of the famous bubbling well taken in 1905, on page 374.] Page 44: Caption should read 'Steps leading to statue of St. Francis Xavier, St. John's Island' 111 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 FROM THE HON EDITOR The annual Journal is, or should be, published a year in arrear and a few months before the following AGM. Volume 42 for the year 2002, therefore, should have appeared towards the end of 2003. For various reasons unfortunately, publication was delayed until July 2004. Volume 43 has been similarly delayed for which I tender my regrets. This is my 13th Journal and as always I have striven for freshness and diversity - within the ejusdem generis of the Society's objectives - and "value for money." Whilst I enjoy the duties of Hon Editor however, I never forget that, sooner or later, we all reach the end of our shelf life. I have seen too many people hang on to the bitter end with their zest, creativity and energy inexorably declining in the process. I shall not be one of their number as it would be neither fair to the readership that I serve, nor to me. End of personal lucubration. There are a total of seven Articles, six items under Notes and Queries, two Book Reviews and on this occasion, sadly, an Obituary. Sidney Cheung, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong discusses the history of three Hakka villages in the Sai Kung area of Hong Kong, namely Tai Long Wan, Pak Lap and Chek Keng and the competing demands of conservation and progress. Contrary to the sanctimonious sermonizing of so many (and on so many issues) these days, there are no easy answers. The essay by Eric Danielson on Shanghai's Longhua Temple is delightful. Eric has studied his subject for many years and has lived in Shanghai for the last five, and thus writes with authority. Equally erudite is James Hayes' sojourn into the world of the Old China Trade. James has dug up some fantastic sources for his article and reading it one can almost feel the wind on one's cheeks and sense the excitement of the foreign barbarian seamen gazing upon fabled Cathay for the first time. Lan Li and Deidre Wildy of Queen's University Belfast have unearthed two statutory declarations made by Sir Robert Hart, the distinguished Anglo-Chinese statesman at the turn of the 20th century iv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 I have included two masterful book reviews by Gillian Bickley and Elizabeth Teather. And, finally, James Hayes has written a moving tribute to Ian Diamond, who died last year. My thanks to all those who have contributed to this volume of the Journal. As for our esteemed readers all over the world, please enjoy. PETER HALLIDAY vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 STYLE SHEET (Font size: Headings and titles, 12 points; Text, 11 points; Endnotes, 10 points) TITLE (UPPER CASE, BOLD, CENTRED) AUTHOR (UPPERCASE, REGULAR) PART ONE, TWO etc (UPPER CASE, BOLD) Main heading (lower case, bold) Sub-heading (lower case, italics) Sub sub-heading (lower case, underlined, regular) Text1 (lower case, regular) Table title (lower case, bold, centred) Figure title (lower case, bold, centred) REFERENCES (UPPER CASE, BOLD) Samples (Book) Hayes, James (1996). Friends and teachers: Hong Kong and its people, 1953-1987. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (Chapter in a book) Pearson, Veronica, and Yu, Rose Y.M. (1995). Business and pleasure: Aspects of the commercial sex industry, in Pearson, Veronica, and Leung, Benjamin, K.P. (Eds.), Women in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd xii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT ..XX FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ..xxviii HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT .......xxxix FRIENDS OF THE HKBRAS (UK) REPORT ..xlvi VOLUNTEERS REPORT ...xlviii ARTICLES Sidney Cheung - Traditional dwellings, conservation and land use: A study of three villages in Sai Kung 1 Eric Danielson - How old is Shanghai's Longhua Temple? 15 James Hayes - Canton symposium: The world of the old China trade: the locales and the people 29 Lan Li and Deirdre Wildy - A new discovery and its significance: The statutory declarations made by Sir Robert Hart concerning his secret domestic life in 19th century China 63 Roderick O'Brien - Justice, law, and the proposed tribunal for the Khmer Rouge 89 Jonathan Parkinson - H.M.S. Hermes: China Station, 1930-1933 105 Keith Stevens - Between Scylla and Charybdis: China and the Chinese during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 127 xiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 ship. His final seagoing appointment was in command of the experimental deep diving ship HMS Reclaim. After retiring from the Royal Navy in 1972, he joined the secretariat staff of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland administering the 1,800 or so Rotary Clubs in GB&I from which he retired as Secretary to the Association in 1996 (michaelgillam@compuserve.com) James Hayes, Ph.D., (London), Hon. D.Litt. (Hong Kong), spent his working life as an Administrative Officer in Hong Kong. He is a noted scholar and local historian and has contributed prolifically to the Journal. Among his books are The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911: Institutions and Leadership in Town and Country (Hamden, Archon Books, 1977) and the memoir of his Hong Kong service, Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and its People 1953-1987 (Hong Kong University Press, 1996). His most recent book, a volume in OUP's Images of Asia series entitled South China Village Culture, was published in 2001. Dr Hayes is a Past-President and former Hon Editor of HKBRAS (mouseh1@bigpond.com). David Mahoney, is an active member of the Friends of HKBRAS. He joined the Crown Lands Office of the Public Works Department, Hong Kong Government, 1964, and moved to Swire Properties in 1973 where he spent the next 20 years looking after Taikoo Shing and Taikoo Place. A keen collector of medals, he has just celebrated 50 years of membership of the Orders & Medals Research Society. Specialising in awards to Britons who served in China, Mr Mahoney addressed HKBRAS on the subject in 2000. Having previously served on the committees of various societies, his only remaining commitment is to the British Association of Cemeteries in South Asia, an organisation which locates, identifies, records and restores European cemeteries in India, Pakistan and South East Asia (davidwmahoney@aol.com). Lan Li, Ph.D., is an anthropologist working at Queen's University Belfast as a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Anthropological Studies. She also lectures in Chinese Culture and Society at the Institute of LifelongLearning was corrected to Institute of Lifelong Learning. Her research interests are Chinese popular religion, history, politics, and ethnic minorities. She was a co-organiser of the international conference on 'The Career and Legacy of Sir Robert Hart,' which took place in Belfast between 26 and 27 September 2003 (lan.li@gub.ac.uk). xvii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LIBRARY REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2003/2004 As of 1 March 2004, the library collection had increased to 5,081 volumes. A total of 225 volumes were added during the year. Donations of books were received from Dr Patrick Hase, Dr James Hayes, Mr L. J. M. Litmaath, Mrs Mary Painter, Mr Andrew Tse, Mr Mynak R. Tulku (Director of National Library of Bhutan), and Dr Dan Waters. Gifts of books were also received from Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Foundation of Islamic Cultural Propagation in the World, Hong Kong Museum of History, The Siam Society, Sweden Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. The Journal of the Siam Society and the National History Bulletin donated by the Siam Society were personally brought back by our Council members, Mr Peter Stuckey and Mr Jason Wordie when they stopped by Bangkok. We would like to thank all our donors and welcome future contributions of old and rare books or journals. Following the journal replacement exercise with the Public Libraries last year, great effort was also made to identify missing volumes of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in academic and museum libraries in Hong Kong. To keep HKBRAS journals up to date so that users will be able to have access to the complete set, Council members agreed to send missing copies to these Libraries on the condition that they will take out a subscription for future issues. All the ten academic institutions including University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Lingnan University, and Open University of Hong Kong; as well as three museums, namely Antiquities & Monuments Office, Hong Kong Heritage Museum and Hong Kong Museum of History now have a complete set of the Society Journal. We will be sending Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences a set of the Society Journals soon and are in the process of granting them Honorary Institutional membership with the understanding that they would assist and encourage scholars in using their Museum to write articles on incidents xxxix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 29 CANTON SYMPOSIUM: THE WORLD OF THE OLD CHINA TRADE: THE LOCALES AND THE PEOPLE JAMES HAYES [This article was prepared for a day symposium, China Trade: Insights into a Commerce that Traversed Seas, Continents and Centuries, organized by The Asian Arts Society of Australia at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Saturday, 1 November 2003.] Introduction The Old China Trade is a fascinating topic, in all its many aspects, broad and narrow. In all my years of study it has never lost this inherent attraction. This paper, intended to serve as a backcloth to the others in this Symposium, deals with the places in which the Old China Trade was carried out, and with the Manchus and Chinese with whom the foreign traders and sailors came in contact during the last hundred years or so of China's foreign Trade, under the arrangements of what became known as the Canton System.1 It is essentially about the Chinese side of the Old China Trade. Besides listing the various functionaries and personnel connected with it, I shall also be describing the condition of the people and the behaviour of the mandarins, both factors which had much to do with the conditions under, and the way in, which the foreign trade was administered. It also takes in the mutual ignorance of the other's history and culture, not omitting the lofty disdain long felt by all Chinese for "outer barbarians" nor the robust, self-confident pride of the visitors to their shores. The locales (see Map at Plate 1) Macau The Story of the China Trade begins in Macau. Until it reverted to Chinese rule, in 1999, Macau had been the oldest European settlement ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 51 There is a good selection in Views of the Pearl River Delta, cited above. 19 In a major exhibition of China Trade paintings brought to Sydney's Maritime Museum in 1998, of the 22 oil and other colour paintings of Canton, no fewer than 19 were by Chinese artists. And of 7 such paintings of Whampoa and the Bocca Tigris, 4 were also by Chinese artists. 20 Morse, International Relations, Period of Conflict, op.cit. p.70. 21 Hayes, James, with Garrett, Richard and Valery (1992-3). The Honam Temple (Haichuang Dzi) Revisited, at pp.137-143 of Hong Kong Library Association Journal, No. 16. Honam became a site for additional trading houses under an Agreement signed on 6 April 1847, after Sir John Davis had sent an expedition up the Pearl River and captured the Forts at Bocca Tigris. "The territory of Honam", it was stated, "is a place for trade, the renting of warehouses or of ground for building houses is therefore fully conceded. This will be managed properly by the Consul and the local authorities in accordance with the provisions of the [1842] Treaty. Hertslet's China Treaties, Third Revised Edition 1908, Vol.1 [of 2] p.17. 22 Preface to Dyer Ball, J.(1911). The Chinese at Home, The Man of Tong and his Land. London, The Religious Tract Society. "Tong' is the Cantonese romanization of "Tang'. 23 In MacNair, Harley Farnsworth (1923). Modern Chinese History, Selected Readings. Shanghai, Commercial Press, at p.145. 24 Fu, Lo-Shu (Compiler etc., 1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations (1644-1820). University of Arizona Press, 2 vols., at Vol. I, p.368. 25 Chinese text at No.37 in Vol. 1 of the three volume set of Hong Kong's Historical Inscriptions published by the Hong Kong Urban Council in 1986. 26 Davis, Sketches of China, op.cit., p.261. 27 Burford's Panorama, Leicester Square (1838) Description of a View of Canton, The River Tigress, and the Surrounding Country, London, pp.11, 15. 28 Views of the Pearl River, op.cit., pp.176-7. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 103 'Decision to Establish the Task Force for Cooperation with Foreign Legal Experts; Decree 55$Sr, 10 August 1999. * Ea Meng Try: Victims and Perpetrators? Testimony of Young Khmer Rouge Comrades, Documentation Center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, 2001. See also Rasy Pheng Pong: "Tuy Kin: A Traumatized Perpertrator" Searching for the Truth, special English Edition, Third Quarter 2003, page 23. * Sok Siphana: Formation of a Legal and Judicial Reform Strategy for Cambodia, Cambodia Legal Resources Development Center, Phnom Penh, 2002, page 41-42. "See the statement of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Cambodian Defenders Project and Legal Aid of Cambodia reproduced in Michael Hayes: "Cambodian Lawyers United for UN Trial”, Phnom Penh Post, page 1-14 October 1999. 11 See CUL Seminar on Judicial Functions, Phnom Penh, 5-23 July 1993, reproduced in Basil Fernando (ed) Problems Facing the Cambodian legal System, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong, 1998, at page 133. Tom Fawthrop: "Khmer Rouge trial makes legal history", Phnom Penh Post, 5-18 January 2001. 11 Richard Woodd: "Guillotine aimed at KR trial funds", Phnom Penh Post, 2-15 July 2004, page 1 and 3. 14 See Stephen Heder with Brian Tittlemore, Seven Candidates for the Prosecution: Accountability for the Crimes of the Khmer Rouge, 2nd edition, 2004, Documentation Centre of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, page 1. 15 Australia, for example, has supported capacity building of the Cambodian legal system, and has also committed to a voluntary contribution for the proposed Tribunal. 16 See, for example, the Report to the General Assembly A/58/268 (15 August 2003) Role and Achievements of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in assisting the Government and people of Cambodia in the promotion and protection of human rights. 17 "Ea Meng Try: Justice and Reconciliation, MA Dissertation, Coventry University, September 2003, page 27-31. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 227 In short, Ian was cast in the true RAS mould; a good friend, and a joy to be with. We shall miss him sadly. JAMES HAYES OCTOBER 2004 ================================================================================