RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 7 who stressed the importance of directing the Society's attention to practical projects and to natural history, geology and botany as well as to literary pursuits. It may not be generally known that it was as the result of the efforts of the Royal Asiatic Society that Government was persuaded to grant a piece of ground for a Botanical Garden which was projected in the time of Sir John Davis and carried into effect when Sir John Bowring was President. Following this precedent we had three excellent lectures illustrated with a wealth of coloured slides by the following: Captain A. M. Macfarlane on "Birds of Hong Kong" illustrated by coloured slides and a tape record of bird songs and calls. Miss B. T. Chiu on "Flowers of Hong Kong" illustrated Mr. P. A. Nixon's coloured slides, and Mr. J. D. Bromhall on "The Marine Fauna of Hong Kong" illustrated by coloured slides. These lectures were in part designed to appeal to the educational circles and it is hoped that with wider publicity we may have the benefit of more members from the schools and colleges of the Colony. In concluding my reference to the lectures and addresses I wish to record our deep gratitude to those who have contributed so richly and so readily to the success of our first year's record. All except two of the meetings held last year were held in the rooms of the British Council and the Branch owes a debt of gratitude to the generous assistance of the British Council and of its Representative, Mr. R. E. Lawry, for affording us, free of charge, the use of these rooms as well as of the projector and operator for the slides in illustration of the lectures. Without this assistance it would have been difficult for the Branch to carry on as the moderate yearly subscription of $20.00 per member would not otherwise go far towards paying our expenses, including the hire of rooms and the issue to every member of a free copy of the Journal of the Branch. The Hong Kong Branch has no home of its own. It is indicative of the importance which Governments attached to the Royal Asiatic Society 100 years ago that the Government of Hong Kong granted to the Hong Kong Branch a room in the Supreme Court, where it could hold its meetings and house the valuable library which it built up and which it had eventually to hand over to the Morrison Education Society. In Shanghai the Government granted to the North China Branch a parcel of land on which, with the aid of generous grants from The Shanghai Municipal Council and the French Council ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r BOOK REVIEWS 133 The University of Hong Kong has from the beginning been handicapped by mixed aims and by financial difficulties. Sir Frederick Lugard, Governor of Hong Kong from 1907 to 1912 and the first Chancellor of the University, according to Professor Harrison "advocated a university for Hong Kong on various grounds: it would help to serve the higher educational needs of an awakening China; it would be a lighthouse of learning, a symbol of the Western cultural tradition in the Far East and a meeting-place for Chinese and Western cultures; it would help to maintain British prestige in Eastern Asia; and, through its dissemination of modern knowledge and of the English language, it would indirectly benefit British business." The primary aim for many years "was not so much a university of and for Hong Kong itself, as a university in Hong Kong for China.” (p. xiii) Except in the field of medicine, the University of Hong Kong was not able, prior to the late 1940's, to provide a level of instruction that would draw students from China, where a number of universities of at least as high quality were developing at the same time. A large proportion of this University's students therefore have come from Hong Kong itself; and it would appear that as many students were drawn from Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia as from China. Since World War II, particularly since 1949, thanks to the phenomenal economic and cultural growth of Hong Kong and to the active support of both the British and the Hong Kong governments, the University has developed rapidly, both in size and in quality. Today it stands among the recognized universities of Asia and of the British Commonwealth, and its sponsors and staff are determined to achieve an even higher level of educational and scholarly leadership. The colony is populous and rich enough now to justify and to support a great university. The historical narrative is found principally in chapters III (The Beginnings, by George B. Endacott), V (The Years of Growth, by Brian Harrison), VI (The Test of War, by Sir Lindsay Ride), and VII (A New Beginning, by Francis E. Stock). Most of the other chapters are also essentially historical and supply details which elaborate or supplement the basic narrative, although there is some unnecessary duplication. One is impressed with the relative indifference of the colony toward the University during ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 72 A. D. BLUE For the first few years after the cession of Hong Kong, the British Government and Royal Navy practically ignored piracy on the South China coast; and the American, French, and Portuguese governments were equally indifferent. Any attempts at suppression by the Hong Kong Government were as feeble and ineffective as those of the Canton authorities. British traders in Hong Kong and the treaty ports, however, considered that they were entitled to much greater protection, and after repeated protests and representations to the home and Hong Kong governments, the Hong Kong Government passed its first anti-piracy ordinance in 1847, and the Royal Navy began to take more effective action. As a result, many unsavoury practices were uncovered. It was found that certain British merchants were supplying arms and ammunition to the pirates against whom they were demanding protection; and that Hong Kong officials were licensing ships to provide convoy protection for Chinese traders, which ships were using the cover of the British flag to plunder the cargoes they were paid to protect. This licensed convoy system was open to much abuse, and a source of great trouble to the Navy. The Chinese called these ships "protecting tigers." The Navy itself was not blameless in its anti-piracy operations. The over-generous bounty system, which made pirate hunting a lucrative profession for the first decades after the cession of Hong Kong, often led to innocent Chinese traders and sailors losing their lives and property. Admiralty records ignore most of the errors committed by overzealous naval officers, but the Navy's anti-piracy campaign was one of the many British activities to draw unfavourable criticism from Lord Elgin in his mission to China and Japan in 1858. The Royal Navy and the Hong Kong Government faced a difficult and complex situation when they undertook serious anti-piracy operations in the late 1840's. The Navy could attack pirates anywhere on the high seas, and commit them for trial to any British or Chinese court; but Hong Kong could only free its own waters of pirates. Piracy on the coast and rivers came within the jurisdiction of the Chinese Government, and neither the Navy nor Hong Kong could operate there without permission from the Canton authorities. Anglo-Chinese co-operation, therefore, was essential for successful anti-piracy operations, and this was not always available. The Treaty of Tientsin was the first ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 BOOK REVIEWS 115 effective capital investment, and population increases. In treating these subjects one wishes the author had made more use of the valuable United Nations ECOSOC studies to which he refers in Chapter IX. But his treatment is adequate for the non-specialist. One wishes also that he had given more information on the disintegration of social life, with all its economic implications, which has been going on since the early days of colonial rule. He mentions in several places that village life is in transition or flux. But is its re-orientation being carried out successfully? This reviewer commends Professor Mills for producing this valuable and needed work. While it is a commendable contribution it will not, nor is it intended to, replace for the serious scholar the major works on Southeast Asian governments edited by Professor George Kahin, nor such country studies as Hugh Tinker's on Burma, Bernard Fall's on Vietnam and Mills' own work on Malaya. University of Hong Kong LEIGH WRIGHT ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS AND KAIFONGS 65 linguistic and economic elements of the community into one self-protective league." The self-protective The self-protective league among the overseas Chinese takes its physical form in the famous "Chinatowns', and its invisible form in the numerous associational ties which we just described. However, the closeness of Chinese communities has proved, in the long run, to be a disservice, to both the Chinese themselves and to their host societies. For centuries the Chinese emigrants have not been culturally and socially assimilated with the native populations. To the governments of the newly independent South East Asian countries, the Chinese communities form special social and political problems of their own, standing particularly in the way of national unity. No wonder many newly independent governments take up aggressive policies towards the Chinese, including both political control, such as by abolishing systems of indirect rule, and social-cultural assimilation, such as by a system of compulsory national education, and by discriminatory economic opportunities. Some writers have noted that it was only a myth that the Chinese overseas were "unassimilable” and ascribed the closeness of Chinese communities to the fact that the host governments had not provided the Chinese with special services. Thus, it is logical to predict that in due course, the Chinese will be integrated into their host societies once the protective functions of their associations are removed. Also, the third and fourth generations of the immigrant Chinese are not exempted from the all-pervasive influence of the Western culture, particularly because they live mainly in the cities where the influence of the West is most intensively felt. Thus, the younger generations are subject to the same processes of cultural change as those experienced by the younger generations of the native population. Therefore it is not difficult to foresee that both the Chinese and the indigenous South East Asian peoples are going to be drawn together by the influence of the West.10 KAIFONG ASSOCIATIONS IN HONG KONG Hong Kong is considered by some as an overseas Chinese community. However, I believe that strictly speaking, Hong 9 Richard Coughlin, op. cit., p. 60. 10 Ibid., p. 190. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 66 ALINE K. WONG Kong stands apart from the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, or elsewhere, in the United States, England, or New Zealand. The reasons are these: 1. Unlike the Chinese communities in Asia or elsewhere in the world, the Chinese in Hong Kong are not a minority people in the numerical sense. On the contrary, the Chinese make up 99% of the local population. 2. The Nationalist and the Communist governments in China have never regarded the residents of Hong Kong (and Macau) as "overseas Chinese" in the same way as they look at the Chinese in other parts of the world. Residents in Hong Kong are considered by both governments as Chinese citizens per se, and not as people with dual nationality, as were so many Chinese in Southeast Asia before the Communist government took a firmer stand on the question of nationality status, beginning in 1954. 3. The dominant culture in Hong Kong is the Chinese culture. If it is true that many overseas Chinese in other parts of the world still consider themselves as "Chinese" irrespective of their actual nationality, it is more true of the beliefs and attitudes of the Hong Kong Chinese. The organization and cultural content of their social life is unmistakably Chinese, although Hong Kong seems to be very westernized in certain aspects, such as in the styles of dress, food habits and recreational life. 4. A large number of people in the Colony are political refugees from China. According to the 1955 United Nations Report on the Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong, at least 385,000 people could be considered as political refugees at the time.11 As such, these people demand a special kind of status and require some special policy treatment. The problem of the refugees is not just a problem of cultural assimilation, but is one calling for political solutions. For the above reasons, I do not think that Hong Kong should be considered as one of the "overseas" Chinese communities. It is a city with a unique society of its own in which social life bears an unmistakable Chinese stamp. It is within this context 11 E. Hambro, The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong. Report submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, 1955, p. 125. ================================================================================ 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 THE COLONY OF HONG KONG 193 keen on the east. I see this island the natural outlet to all Europe, and by the Pacific lines to the United States, for the mineral wealth and various produce of one half the great Empire. I see itself the home of a happy population, three times more numerous than the present, and foreigner and Chinese dwelling together in mutual appreciation. I see in its harbour a forest of smoking tunnels, with hardly a white-winged sailing vessel among them; opium is a phantom of the past. The emigration of the poor goes on from it on principles approved and guarded by the Chinese and other governments, while the enterprise and integrity of its merchants, the kindness, forbearance, and purity of all its inhabitants are spoken of with delight from Peking to Hai-nan, from the farthest west of Sze-ch'uen to the borders of the Eastern sea. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 18 A. I. DIAMOND even when the inclination is there, the ability to make sound judgments about what should be preserved in the interests of academic study is often lacking. Is this to imply that archivists are endowed with a special prescience which enables them infallibly to make the sort of predictions about records which administrators cannot make? No, of course, it is not; but the ability to make consistent and reasonably certain judgments about the research value of archives depends to some extent on a sound knowledge of, and experience in, historiography and research methodology in the person who attempts the business, and these are attributes which archivists may be expected to have if they are properly qualified. Moreover, if an archivist is doing his job properly, he will not rely solely on his own judgment in the selection of records. He will seek the advice of authorities in every academic discipline to which the records he has to consider relate. Even this will not preclude the possibility of mistakes, but it will at least lengthen the odds against them. In modern governments, where archive services are well developed, the role of archivists in the scheduling of records for disposal is accepted as part of the administrative scheme of things, and generally, well-established lines of communication exist for consultation between archivists and academics in the various fields of study. I hope that such cooperation will develop between the Public Records Office of Hong Kong and the two Universities. It is doing so already, as a matter of fact. I have had the advice of academic staff on several occasions in the appraisal of records, and I hope that as time goes on, our panel of learned advisors will expand. Archivists are concerned nowadays not only with the making of disposal schedules but with the execution of them as well. The prodigious quantities of records produced by archive-making bodies in modern societies and the rising costs of storage for them have combined to encourage the development, particularly by governments, of facilities for shared bulk storage for what are termed "intermediate records". In the jargon of records management, intermediate records are those which, though no longer in current use by an office, and having no permanent value, are nevertheless required, for legal or ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 22 A. I. DIAMOND how information is obtained from them. The original registers, indexes and other finding aids of the office are ready-made instruments of information retrieval. However, the original finding aids will answer only the questions they were designed to answer and frequently questions which the student wishes to ask of the records are quite different from those which the administrator had in mind. It therefore becomes part of the archivist's business to devise supplementary media in the form of guides, inventories, lists, calendars and select indexes to which the student can turn for further guidance. Archives are highly significant resources and the most important of them are the archives of governments. Official archives constitute government's memory. They contain information on every aspect of its business, and this information increases in value and extent as archives are accumulated and preserved. "Public records define the relations of government to the governed. They are the immediate proof for all temporary property and financial rights that are derived from or are connected with a citizen's relations to a government, and are the ultimate proof for all permanent civic rights and privileges". For these reasons if for no other, the proper management by a government of its current records and the conservation of its archives should be viewed by it not as a luxury or as a concession to academia, but as an essential object of national concern, The last time I was asked to talk about the development of an archive office was in 1965 when I was in charge of the Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission. It was comparatively easy because I then had nearly a decade of development to look back on. In this case it is more difficult because the Public Records Office, Hong Kong—hereafter referred to as P.R.O.—has been in existence here for less than eighteen months and we are standing a little too close to events to see what they really amount to in terms of progress. The P.R.O. was established in July, 1972, and, as some of you will know, it forms at present a unit of the Colonial Secretariat under the general direction of the Home Affairs and Information Branch. * Perotin, Yves, "A Manual of Tropical Archivology". (Mouton & Co., Paris) p. 20. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 164 DONALD C. BOWIE ted and after a few weeks we depended upon the Japanese for the supplies of these basic necessities. Though the Japanese had not signed the Geneva Convention 1929 they apparently notified to governments concerned their intention to abide by its provisions, and in 1942 recognised the position of the International Red Cross in Hong Kong. The first Red Cross inspection of Bowen Road took place in June 1942 before I began to keep my diaries and I have now no note of this. We did not know it at the time but the Japanese obviously decided as an article of policy to leave our hospital with its own staff to look after allied sick and wounded prisoners of war. They decided the size of the staff, the number of patients who were to be admitted and sometimes who were to be discharged. They did not interfere with the treatment of our patients nor did they remove anything other than minor quantities of drugs and equipment from our stores. I have no means of judging accurately but my feeling is that the Japanese supplied us with food, fuel and small quantities of material for repairing clothes and boots, essentials such as soap etc., on what were probably the scales they used for their own troops. Perhaps the scales were those for their garrison troops rather than for fighting troops; I can recall that our Formosan guards were poorly dressed and I know shared our anxieties when rations were late arriving. Japanese fighting troops of course drew largely upon local resources for food etc., during their campaigns. In the hospital we had Japanese-supplied electricity and water for nearly three years, and when these finally failed we had recourse to our own alternative sources of power and improvised water supplies. We had no periods of relief from our surroundings and were increasingly closely confined as the years passed. I draw attention now to these points since, and before I close this account, I shall try to assess how far the outcome of our story, happier than it might have been, depended upon the Japanese and how far it depended on the efforts of our own staff and patients, the Red Cross and our friends in Hong Kong. I had made few records of the food situation before August 1942 but we fared none too well for rations. Of course we had some stocks of our own and Lt. F.J. Campbell, the quartermaster and his staff made forays without Japanese leave on the ration dumps accumulated by us in the Colony before hostilities began. These ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES AND QUERIES 315 When Yuk-tong was a boy, he sat the local preliminary examinations. For seven times he failed in these examinations, so decided to give up and joined military service, where he enjoyed a very good reputation on account of his accumulated merits. In the 20th year of the Tao Kuang reign (*) he led his troops to fight a battle in Kwun Chung ('È'). Later, in the spring of the 4th year of Hsien Feng (A), i.e. 1853 he was transferred from being a staff officer stationed in Chin Shan Checkpoint to Taipang City and was promoted to be Deputy Garrison Commander, with his headquarters in what we call nowadays the Kowloon Walled City.* He held this post for 13 years, once acting as Commander-in-chief of naval forces in Kwangtung province. It was under his care and supervision that Fort Bocca Tigris (✯✯) was repaired. When the Kowloon peninsula was first leased to Britain in 1860 and Sino-British diplomatic relations were established, negotiations between the two governments took place frequently. In spite of the fact that Gen. Cheung, the chief officer in the locality, was unavoidably involved in external affairs, he insisted that he was only responsible for local defence and the garrison and thus had no authority for making any decisions on foreign affairs. What he could do was to submit himself to instructions from higher authorities. It happened on one occasion that the general crossed the harbour to Hong Kong island, where he stayed overnight, and on the next day all the inhabitants of the Walled City set off fire crackers in order to welcome him back. It is, of course, beyond our imagination nowadays to realize just how excited were those inhabitants at that time, but we do have strong reasons to believe that the general must have been greatly admired by them.† Although the general himself was not known for his academic achievement, yet there was one thing of which he was proud in his later days; that is, that his grandson Cheung Ching-san ( ) passed with distinction in the local examinations. In the 5th year of the Tung Chi reign (♬✯) (1866) the general retired from military service at the age of 72, and died four years later, at the age of 76. * His rank was which may be translated as brigade-general. † At this time Hong Kong was under foreign i.e. British rule, and (though the article does not say so) the visit probably took place when a state of war existed between the two nations. Hence the great excitement. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q A HAWAHAN KING VISITS HONG KONG, 1881 95 accomplished linguist, went as personal attendant, to make up the Royal Suite of four.* In personal appearance, the King was a thick-set man with dark curly hair, long sideburns, and a drooping mustache. He had a striking appearance and a warm outgoing personality. His social ease and scholarly intellect brought dignity and prestige to the Hawaiian throne. To some people, however, the "Merry Monarch” was looked upon as a spendthrift who loved card games, feasting, dancing, and horse and yacht racing, 5 Armstrong had the exceptional opportunity to gather information, and he recorded his observations in a book, Around the World with a King. In the Hawaii State Archives are three folders containing correspondence and reports of Armstrong and Kalakaua about this long trip. For easier reading of the King's holograph, the Hawaiian Journal of History has published "The Royal Tourist-Kalakaua's Letters Home from Tokio to London.”7 As a farewell to the King, a Sunday morning service was held on January 16, 1881 at the Catholic Cathedral with over 1,000 people attending. The January 22nd issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser also reported a Sunday evening service at the Protestant Kawaihao Church which was filled to capacity. The Honorable J. N. Kapena took the occasion to note that His Majesty spoke at the church six years ago on the eve of his visit to Washington where he was successful in making the country richer and in the betterment of his people, as evidenced by new houses, ships, railways, and other improvements. This time the King was taking a Royal Commissioner of Immigration with him to look for people of brown skins to repeople these isles. Also, the King was going to observe other governments. "The great nations now look with respect on this little Kingdom and will have still more, when they see our King travelling among them for information to benefit his people." With this Aloha send-off, the Royal party started their nine-month tour. Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs, W. L. Green, had already written ahead on January 15, 1881 to R. W. Irwin, Hawaiian Consul General in Japan, to anticipate the King's visit. Minister Green had also sent out a circular letter on January 17, 1881 to Hawaiian consular officials abroad about the Royal tour that "one of the objects is to obtain the best possible information in the different ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 THE U.S. AND THE QUESTION OF HONG KONG 1941-45 9 Hong Kong, stated without authorization but from his "knowledge of the movement of opinion in England", he felt confident that when the time came to deal with Hong Kong, the Chinese would be completely satisfied." The Foreign Office was naturally most displeased by such an utterance,36 By contrast, the American behaviour at the conference was dis-coordinated. While much of the criticism of British imperialism and skepticism regarding the British attitude and intention in respect to the Atlantic Charter were expressed by the American participants, and while they generally supported the Chinese stand on Hong Kong, the pressure they succeeded in exerting was considerably discounted because they failed to function as a closely coordinated team. Stanley Hornbeck, a delegate to the conference, commented specifically on the organization of the American group in a memorandum on his observations of the conference: "It needs to be kept in mind with regard to I.P.R. Conferences that, whereas, as a rule, the Groups from most countries... attend and function as “delegations” (with a certain amount of guidance if not definite instructions from their Governments), the members of the American Group attend the function simply as members (without a "group" organization and without express guidance and with no instructions from their Government.)" This disjointed approach was to largely characterize the American stand regarding the question of Hong Kong during the war, Such an approach did not long escape Britain's attention. In March 1943 Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, paid a visit to Washington, apparently on Churchill's prompting. Eden's conversations with Roosevelt and senior American officials only "provided an exchange of views with regard to such matters as cooperation between the Governments with respect to political questions arising in connection with the prosecution of the war"; there was no intention of commitment on either side.38 Early in Eden's visit Harry Hopkins, special assistant to Roosevelt, made the general remark, in front of the president, to the British visitor that he "thought no useful purpose would be served at this stage of the war, and surely no useful purpose at the Peace Table, by Great Britain and [the United States] having no knowledge of [their] differences of opinion” regarding Hong Kong, Malayan Straits, and India.39 Eden could do no harm in agreeing to this comment.40 Roosevelt, however, was much more direct about Hong Kong. He ================================================================================ 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-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 174 NG LUN NGAL-HA demonstrated on his occasional visits to his native village while he was a student in Hawaii and in Hong Kong. As to the promotion of commerce, Sun's ideas were very much inspired by Ho and Cheng, both of whom were of the comprador merchant class preoccupied with commercial interests. Yet, as an eye-witness of the economic prosperity of Hong Kong, a free port under the Western and British commercial system, Sun's ideas were much more than echoes of the above thinkers. His exposition on this aspect went much deeper than the section on industrial development, which was then not a main feature of the Hong Kong economy, and which he knew about merely from his reading. The three important measures prescribed by Sun for the promotion or free flow of commerce were not original. They were the abolition of internal customs barriers, protection of merchants by government against extortion and the building of railways and ships to ensure facilities for transportation. Yet the examples he cited as being carried out by Western nations, especially Britain, were evidently learnt in Hong Kong. He pointed out that the merchant class in Western countries had long been actively involved in government policies and their overseas commercial expansion had received military support from their governments. In return, it was the financial support of the merchants which enabled Britain to conquer India, territories in Southeast Asia and Africa, and also to annex Australia. Sun wanted to prove that commercialism was the road to the nation's wealth and power and that merchants were a very influential class in the nation. The privileged position and influence of merchants and the mercantile houses were in fact evident in Hong Kong since the first day of its founding. Very often, the Governor and even the home government had to yield to their requests and demands, and all the unofficial seats in the Hong Kong Legislative and the Executive Councils were taken by prominent merchants and members of the General Chamber of Commerce.18 To show that Chinese merchants, if given chance and encouragement, would also be able to help in building up a modern China, Sun pointed out that a great part of the railway network in Southeast Asia was built by overseas Chinese investment. "If government would give assurance for proper interest and profit, these merchants would certainly be willing to invest in their native country", Sun remarked. Since Sun had received a major part of his formal education in Hong Kong, he was able to experience personally the advantage of a Western education, especially the professional training at the medical ================================================================================ 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-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 149 But they were in the minority. Most spinners entertained what appeared to me to be an impossible dream: government support without concomitant control. They criticised the Hong Kong Government on three policy areas which threatened their operations, namely the rise in land value, the 'hurried' introduction of labour legislation, and the administration's refusal to impose import control on foreign textile products. The Korean and Taiwanese governments were often mentioned as examples of political systems supportive of industry. But simultaneously, the spinners were aware of the twin evils of red-tape and corruption which often accompanied government subsidies. Their real desire appeared to be for the government to provide the ‘infra-structure' and leave them a free hand to run their business. As A12 said: 'The more government assistance the better. But this is difficult to realize. When I say help, it is not necessarily with money. To control inflation is a form of assistance. To regulate finance and prices... Now the government does not know what changes will be introduced tomorrow. If there was a definite policy, then we would know what to expect.' The tone and omissions were as important as the actual contents of their answers. Their opinions were strongly seasoned with resignation and cynicism. For example, B32 said to me: 'Mr. Wong, all these [statements] are against the government. No comment. You see, there is no use participating. It is only superficial democracy. All are yes men. The more "yes" you say, the more honours you get. So all these are theoretical, cannot be done in practice. For example, the setting up of the Cotton Commodity Exchange. We are all in opposition, but the government wants to have it. Just another gambling house!' Of course, the flavour of powerlessness was not quite real. The spinners had strong political muscles as they provided employment on a large scale. When conflicts of interests did occur, they could force the government to yield. In the early 1970s, for instance, there was a dispute over the re-evaluation of the value of industrial land on 'Crown lease'. Immediately after the Second World War, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 145 free of disease. Thus the control system achieved its main objective, which was not the protection of women from exploitation, but, as it was commonly expressed in Hong Kong, 'the provision of clean Chinese women for the use of the British soldiers and the sailors of the Royal Navy'. In Britain during the 1870s and 1880s the system set up by the Contagious Diseases Act came under attack by various moral reformers who considered that the licensing of brothels by the state implied official condonation of immoral behaviour. They also objected to the discrimination by which the women were compelled to submit to a demeaning medical examination. As a result of a long campaign the system was brought to an end and the Contagious Diseases Act was repealed by Parliament in 1886. In itself this had no effect on the colonial ordinances, but colonial governments were then instructed by the Secretary of State to follow the British example. The Governor of Hong Kong protested vigorously to London, claiming that the repeal of the local Contagious Diseases Ordinance would be unanimously opposed by the Executive and Legislative Councils, by the naval and military authorities and by all classes in the community, since it was the only means of controlling the spread of venereal disease, of preventing the proliferation of brothels in respectable areas of the city and of protecting young girls from being forced into brothel slavery. But the Secretary of State was adamant that the law imposing the compulsory inspection of women must be repealed, though he was prepared to allow the registration of brothels to continue solely for the purpose of providing a means to check against the possible enslavement of their inmates. The Hong Kong government continued to prevaricate, forwarding petitions to London from the keepers of 42 brothels reserved for Europeans and from 23 European prostitutes begging that weekly examinations and the issuing of health certificates might be allowed to continue. These pleas had no effect and the Secretary of State sent Hong Kong a copy of an ordinance which had already been passed in the Straits Settlements with instructions to introduce a similar bill as soon as possible. He also ordered that the issuing of certificates should cease forthwith. Finally in 1889, two years after the original directive from London, a bill entitled the Women and Girls' Protection Ordinance was introduced into the Legis- 10 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 The political issue of 1997 HELEN F. SIU Just as Liang was eroding prejudices against his immigrant status, he encountered anxiety from a rather unexpected angle. His gradual absorption into the working-class environment of Hong Kong was truncated by a series of political events in the 1980s. Mrs. Thatcher's visit to Beijing in the fall of 1982 thrust the issue of 1997 in front of the five and a half million Hong Kong residents. Living in a borrowed place with borrowed time, every wave of emigrants who had settled in Hong Kong since the war had pretended that the issue did not exist. The issue now rang loudly and urgently, and various social categories were faced with dilemmas of their own. Leaks of details in subsequent negotiations between the British and Beijing governments, plus speculations over the political uncertainty, created one panic after another in Hong Kong's economy. While liberal intellectuals debated the issue of political mobilization, and while professionals desperately sought means to emigrate, working youths like Liang suffered the economic consequences of a panic the political causes of which they had little anticipation or control. As both governments started the long-overdue process of building up a political infrastructure for future transition, major efforts were made to shape public opinion through the media. While vocal elite groups emphasized the need to develop a commitment toward Hong Kong's future, pro-Beijing organizations in Hong Kong hastened the planting of their representatives in the colony. Every Hong Kong resident was quite aware that Chinese personnel had been sent to Hong Kong with increasing frequency. Numbering about 50,000 (in 1985),* and easily recognized on the streets of Hong Kong with their grey suits and shopping bags, the "maternal uncles" (jiujiu) heightened the anxiety of the local elite toward China's political advances. After four years of hard work, Liang was just coming to terms with settling down. In three more years, he would receive his status of permanent residence. His position in Hong Kong would also make him useful for joint ventures with his friends in rural Guangdong. However, the political problem of 1997 upset his plans. His keen political sense taught him not to trust China's ================================================================================ 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 38 With two governments claiming jurisdiction over it, the Walled City fell between two stools, as one undertook minimal administrative responsibility to avoid diplomatic embarrassment, the other none at all. The result was a near vacuum of administrative function and authority. After Chinese officials departed in 1899, the City's population was much depleted. Some of the original inhabitants stayed on. Their landownership was terminated by the Hong Kong government, which, in turn, granted them 5-year leases. The leases were necessarily short because of the awkward political circumstances. The government was in fact reluctant to grant land leases for any but public purposes and the Protestant Church became a major beneficiary of the situation, receiving several short-term leases to operate schools and charities in the City. In 1906, the Anglican Holy Trinity Church converted the former San-sheng (Three Saints) Temple into a chapel, the T'ien-kuo chiu-tao t'ang (Heavenly Kingdom Chapel). Sermons given every Wednesday and Sunday evening seem to have attracted many women and children from the neighbourhood, who might have attended as much for reasons of faith as for the entertainment. The Church also obtained the lease of an official building to operate an old people's home, called the Kuang-yin yuan, and an alms house. Later, these were turned over to the Chinese Christian Churches Union which also ran a home for widows and orphans, known as Eyre's Refuge, in the large compound. In 1908, the Holy Trinity Church converted the former hsun-chien's office into a primary school, the T'ien-kuo A (Heavenly Kingdom) School, operating it until 1936. For some time around 1931, the Church's youth groups also held their activities there. 52 The former Lung-chin Communal School was also put to good use. Between 1900 and 1905, it was the Land Court's office. Then the Secretary for Chinese Affairs took it over to run a free secondary school for over 300 students with funds from the Hou-wang Temple nearby. At one time, a public dispensary shared the premises. In this way, the schools and other charities, besides meeting the spiritual and material needs of the City's inhabitants, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 15 NOTES The Author is grateful to the Reverend Carl T. Smith for providing material about vocational training in early Hong Kong, and to Mr. C.L. Ko and Mr. M.H. So for the photograph. T.F. Ryan, 'The Story of a Hundred Years: The PIME in Hong Kong, 1858-1958', Catholic Trust Society, Hong Kong, 1959. Hong Kong Daily Press, 20 July 1876; and Hong Kong Catholic Register, Vol. II, No. 39, 29 June 1879; and South China Morning Post, 16 November 1936. Hong Kong Telegraph, 30 January 1905; and Hong Kong Telegraph, 17 September 1901; and Daily Press, 25 January 1906; and Hong Kong Telegraph, 17 June 1914. T.C. Cheng, "The Education of Overseas Chinese: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Singapore and the East Indies' (University of London MA thesis, 1949), p. 141; and Hong Kong Telegraph, prospectus of evening courses to be held at Queen's College. *Imperial Education Conference Papers, Education Systems of the Chief Colonies not possessing responsible Governments' (Hong Kong, 1914), p. 5. 4 Ibid, pp. 27 and 28. 7 Watt Hoi-kee, "Technical Education in Hong Kong Today", Appendix I (undated), p. 26 (c. 1964). # 'Opening Ceremony New Technical College' (booklet), (2 December 1957), p. 3. *Aberdeen Technical School 1935-1965, 30th Anniversary Souvenir Number'. C 'Far East Flying and Technical School Ltd' (prospectus) (undated). Monica Yeung, 'Air-minded men who never get off the ground', Hong Kong Standard (15 September 1974) p. 19. 12 'Hong Kong Technical College 1970-71', prospectus p. 1. 11 Information given verbally by pre-war Trade School student. TH 'Tang King-po School Speech Day and Prize-giving' (brochure) (19 November 1976). 15 'Technical Education Investigating Committee, Report on Technical Education and Vocational Training in Hong Kong' (30 October 1953). 'Opening Ceremony of the Polytechnic's First New Building' (brochure) (26 October 1976), p. 1. 17 TH 19 'Opening Ceremony of the New Technical College' (2 December 1957), last page. *Report on the Cost Study of the Hong Kong Technical College' (December 1968). *'Opening Ceremony of the Polytechnic's First New Building', loc. cit. ================================================================================ 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-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 312 of degree holders, indicating social rank, there is also a wealth of swept ridges and stylised, 'teapot-handle', gables among the roofs of the common folk. Like Hong Kong, granite was readily available, and a good, dense, red face brick, some of which is quite narrow, is manufactured locally. The brickwork has an attractive, diaper pattern, with dark kiln marks on the face. Unlike Hong Kong, arches with keystones and pediments are in evidence. Much of the architecture resembles that of Taiwan, and, not unusual in many parts of China, there is a marvellous variety of murals and stone carving, including stylised motifs. Small figurines ride lions or other mythical beasts on roof ridges, which, together with eight-diagram (ba gua) and knife and sword charms ward off evil spirits. Similarly, 'wind lions' have stood on guard at entrances since the days of Koxinga. Another scenic spot for architectural gems is the 1.71 square kilometer Gulangyu Island, where at least one member of every family is said to play a musical instrument. This Island has two beautiful white egrets as its emblem and is situated a five-minute ferry ride from Xiamen proper. Part of the beauty is, however, marred by large, ugly, cigarette signs which generate high rents. No vehicular traffic is permitted in this hilly haven. It was a cold day, and RAS Party Members kept themselves warm by exploring. This included climbing to the Lotus Flower Monastery and beyond up the 90-metre high, crowded, precipitous 'Sunlight Rock'. Koxinga chose this as his bastion because it reminded him of Japan. Gulangyu Island is full of architectural 'relics' from the old International Settlement, with patchworks of yellow, terracotta and pink walls blending with oranges and greens. The forlorn, dilapidated building which once served as the British Consulate, is still there. Before World War II, 13 other governments also had consulates on the Island. They, together with tea merchants and financers, could afford to pay for, and insisted on, the best quality building materials. Much of the architecture of this 'garden island' is European, but there are examples of eclectic styles with Chinese columns and western capitals, and Chinese friezes and western brickwork. All these contrast with rows of old, Chinese type, shops with colonnades in Xiamen, with upper floors projecting over pavements; or with ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 315 Despite their conflict in the Crimea in 1855 the British and the Russians never turned the Great Game into all-out war: There the risks and horrors were in the local tribal scene — agents unmasked and beheaded or just disappearing, and mobs lynching unwelcome interlopers. A dreadful interlude was the British penetration of Tibet in order to check the rival influence, causing the slaughter with modern weapons of hundreds of ill-armed monks. How did the Great Game end? Officially, when both sides were tired of it, by an Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Britain was by then seeing Germany as a more immediate potential enemy, and Great Power attentions were focused more sharply on Europe and less on any Russian ambitions in the East. Today there are no Great Games but rather a series of smaller games in Bosnia, the Gulf, Cambodia by smaller men unaware of any code or rules. Strange to recall far-off days when Russian and British officers, meeting inadvertently somewhere in the wild Pamirs, would ask each other to dinner and apologise for their governments' cussedness. — The Great Game is a long, intricate and absorbing tale and Hopkirk tells it with unflagging enthusiasm, reflected in his lively writing-style. His is not a book garnished with footnotes for the historian (though it has a good index) but for the general reader it provides an excellent introduction to the amazing and still largely unknown and unreported world of Central Asia. ANTHONY LAWRENCE Aleko E. Lilius. I Sailed with Chinese Pirates (Hong Kong Oxford University Press reprint 1991) 245 pp illus. As this is a re-print of a book first published in 1930 its relevance to present-day events is necessarily limited. The author, a United States citizen of Finnish origin, reveals himself as a journalist of extraordinary drive, pertinacity and courage but he is very much a creature of a pre-World War II colonial era when Western attitudes towards Chinese (even dangerous-looking pirates) were condescending and patronising in a way which reads quaintly today. Which is a pity, because with a different approach and greater knowledge of Cantonese and the coastal people of Southern China it might have been possible to produce a valuable study of the motives, pressures ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 81 THE LADY DOCTOR'S “WARM WELCOME": DR ALICE SIBREE AND THE EARLY YEARS OF HONG KONG'S MATERNITY SERVICE 1903-1909 JANET GEORGE Yesterday the first bricks were carried up to the site of the new midwifery Hosp Commend We are thankful indeed to have really made a beginning. We have hoped so long for this place and will have a very warm welcome for Dr Sibree (Mrs. Stevens, 24 April 1903).1 Maternity services for local women highlight the relationship between colonial governments and people over a matter which is bound up with culture, ritual and privacy. It is of course a matter central to the family and its maintenance. In Hong Kong the development of the maternity service is particularly interesting, because of its paradoxical quality. That is, the traditional midwives, the 'wan p'o', were increasingly regulated and legally excluded from practice by 1936, even though other traditional medical practices remain untouched. Interesting also is the pattern of development, because the lead was taken by the London Missionary Society's (LMS) Alice Memorial Hospital through the support of the Chinese subscribers, although over many years the Colonial Surgeon, Dr. Ayres had urged the Tung Wah Hospital to extend its services in this direction. The outcome was the appointment in 1903 of Hong Kong's first Lady Doctor, Dr. Alice Sibree, to the Alice Memorial Maternity Hospital (AMMH) to provide a maternity service for Chinese women and to train and supervise Chinese midwives employed by the Hong Kong Government. She completed only the first five-year contract, her resignation in 1909 following years of dissatisfaction with her role and conflict with Dr Gibson, the Medical Superintendent. 2 This paper is focused on that conflict as it sheds light on the way women were perceived and their role organised in medical practice, the relationships between the Chinese elite and the LMS District Committee, and the effects of the professionalisation of medicine. The latter generated competition between the Alice and the Tung Wah Hospital for patients, as the Tung Wah gradually moved towards the incorporation of Western medicine. It also generated competition amongst doctors for appointment to the faculty of the emerging University of Hong Kong. It is argued that ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 102 as a barrier to progress, by, for example, not allowing a person to carry out a certain operation on a certain day. The Hong Kong (British) Government has certainly not ridden roughshod over Chinese culture and it has given tacit approval to fung shui by paying sizeable sums as compensation when the 'dragon's vein' has been endangered by public works. Few other colonial governments would probably have been as considerate. Also, remedial structural measures have been taken to the residence of the British Governor to bring it into line with fung shui beliefs. Many western business houses take fung shui into consideration. Their managements maintain the investment is well worth it. Staff worries are allayed. It is good for business. Although some is undoubtedly superstition, nevertheless much fung shui is common-sense and practical, taking into account natural rhythms that form part of man's lifestyle. It is, it has been suggested, up to everyone to treat fung shui with an open mind and to decide what he or she is able to accept. 'Staples' include symbolism, coins, crystal, mirrors, lights and wind-chimes. Fortune plants, with their non-calcified, non-woody stems, serve a useful purpose in purifying the atmosphere. Colours are linked not only to one's year of birth but also to the Five Elements. Every building has its own metabolism. One purpose is to channel chi to all rooms so as to improve the bond with, and the energy and performance of, the occupants. Westerners believe they are able and have the right to control nature. The Chinese view is more akin to living in balance with nature and taking a holistic approach. This outlook helps bring about harmony and peace in the home or workplace. And, as society becomes more affluent, so the Chinese have more money to lavish on things like fung shui. Also, with the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China and the resulting uncertainty, more people are likely to appeal to the supernatural, and to visit fortune-tellers and engage fung shui masters, to try to find solutions to their worries and problems. It has been argued nonetheless, not without reason, that geomancy can be rather 'hit and miss', more resembling an art than a science tested by experiments and research. It has also been argued that fung shui can be 'self-reinforcing'. This means that whatever is forecast is likely to come true partly because it is often explained in such vague terms. The fact that a forecast may not come to pass for years is accepted. As a result, much ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 117 from singing Mountain Songs, at least within the vicinity of the village. I lived in the village for about 10 years before 1974. A neighbour in the village in her 30s in the 1960s did sing them for fun at home from a book compiled by a modern author and brought from a bookstore. According to an older woman in the same village, born around 1910, those songs were exchanged mainly among female villagers while working outside the village. They did not sing them within the village, because otherwise a village leader would scold them. My recent interviews in the village show that this leader is a member of the lineage segment that produced some degree holders not so many generations before, and his other contribution to the lineage was the compilation of a genealogy that incorporates information from genealogies from other counties that trace to the same ancestors. Unfortunately, unlike ordination names which are recorded in genealogies, spirit tablets, and grave stone inscriptions, Mountain Songs do not leave much dateable information, and it is improbable that much evidence can be found bearing on the status of Mountain Songs among the Hakka before the 17th Century. 1 1 E NOTES One may speculate that such widespread ordination may be related to their claim of exemption from corvee levy. But for ordinations to be used to back a claim for such exemption, they probably have to be either Daoist or Buddhist, and I do not think the ordination names of the Yau or of the Hakka could be accepted as Daoist by the imperial Chinese governments. Luo Xianglin, Kejia Yanjiu Daolun, vol. 1, Hong Kong: Zhongguo Xueshe, 1965. For example, the first ancestor of the House of Kam Tin and nearby villages of the New Territories to come to the region is a Hon Wu Lang. The ancestor of the Pengs of Fanling, N.T., who came with his father to the region is a Peng Fa Guang. Both names match the style of ordination names found among the Hakka, and some of their descendants' villages are the only ones in the N.T. which hold the rite of Hongtou, which relates closely to the Hakka sang tradition. See David Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1986, for the two lineages and the rite of Hongtou, and a Chicken Song ritual. Although some examples of the non-numeric character could be interpreted as forming a numeric expression with the character that followed, e.g., "nian" could mean twenty, they were probably not intended as such. As I shall elaborate later, some of those characters seen thus used in the Hakka genealogies are also found among the She minorities of Fujian to indicate generation. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 195 BUSINESS INVESTMENT IN POLITICS: OVERSEAS RETURNED CHINESE, HONG KONG, COMPRADORES AND THE CANTON GOVERNMENT, 1911-1924 CHUNG PO-YIN, STEPHANIE In the first three decades of this century, at least four attempts were made by competing groups of Chinese settlers in Hong Kong to finance the setting up of regional governments in Canton. An important backdrop to these events was the fact of a politically disintegrated China with a north-south divide between Canton and Beijing. As shall be seen, these endeavours involved not only regionalism as such, but a number of economic calculations on the part of the financiers who, by funding these regional governments, requested control over provincial banks, tax collection, purchases, and the management of public properties in Guangdong. These incidents highlight what will be a recurring theme in this article - business investments relate closely to politics and in some environments, even politics itself is a kind of business investment. One argument presented in this article is that such an environment can be found in the Republican period Guangdong. The major investors in this political market, however, were the settlers in British Hong Kong. Hong Kong Society and the National Politics of China In any discussion of Hong Kong society, I think three major background factors are crucial. They are the British presence, the national politics of China, and the aspirations of different Chinese groups in Hong Kong. Political investments by Hong Kong Chinese in Guangdong serve to illustrate the interaction of these three factors. Colonial rule created new national and communal identities among the colonized, which affected their political behavior. Many stateless societies, such as India and Africa, eventually became independent states in the process of decolonization as the concept of nationhood was transplanted from Europe. At the communal level, colonial rule brought about a new distribution of power among native groups. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 198 were named the "South-west militarists". Concerning how these governments sustained themselves, I have selected four possibilities for discussion. They are taxation and provincial remittances, customs surplus, foreign loans, and internal loans. 1) Concerning provincial remittance and taxation, the government in Beijing enjoyed a limited amount from those provinces it managed to control. The southern government, however, failed to get any taxation from other provinces. 2) About customs surplus, collected by foreign authorities to guarantee payment of the Boxer indemnity, this was returned only to the Beijing government, the only legitimate government recognized by the foreigners. In the South, when Sun Yat-sen threatened to seize the customs in Guangdong, Canton was surrounded by British and American gunboats. 3) Foreign loans were monopolized by a "Financial Consortium", formed by major western banks aimed at avoiding mutual competition. As the consortium recognized only the Beijing government, all foreign loans to China were monopolized by Beijing. This picture, however, was upset by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Money was then moved away from the Far East to Europe again. As a consequence, by about 1915, the Chinese governments, in Canton and in Beijing, were increasingly dependent on domestic loans. The Chinese merchants were a major source for these domestic loans. 4) Domestic loans are where the role of Chinese merchants came into play. Generally, three important groups of financiers can be identified. They centred around Tianjin, Shanghai, and Canton-Hong Kong. One common feature of these regions was the foreign presence, which secured a base for final retreat. Understandably, many Chinese companies were registered in the foreign concessions even though they operated outside them. Political Investment in the Hong Kong - Canton Region Against this background, I will focus the second part of my article ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 200 The influence of these western-educated Cantonese extended northward in the 1860s when western firms such as Jardine and Swire established their branch offices in the newly opened Treaty ports — Shanghai in 1850, Fuzhou in 1854 and Hankou in 1861. It was in these new Treaty ports that the Cantonese recognized that a new job market in politics was open to them. A "Western Affairs Movement” was initiated by several powerful provincial officials in China by the 1870s. Under the patronage of these officials, economic and legal reforms were introduced into China in the name of westernization. These officials who rose to power after suppressing the Taiping Rebellion without Beijing's support, developed huge business enterprises in the name of the "official supervision — merchant management” or “western-affairs movement". The Hong Kong compradores were mainly responsible for the collection of capital. Their credibility came not from the enterprises they set up, with or without the legal backing of a company law, but from their own reputation as well as the political patronage behind them. Amidst the rhetoric of these western affairs movements, “reform-minded" officials recruited their own advisors and set up their own personal governments, known as Mufu, literally, tent government, or what we now call think-tanks. Many Cantonese, with or without imperial degrees, were sought to fill these posts. The strength of this “Cantonese party” rested on their early access to things western — the "Cantonese faction established predominance in China's internal affairs and foreign relations... [their strength] lies in the monopoly in the matter of emigration overseas ... Before 1840, Canton was the only port open to foreign traders”. On how these think-tank members were appointed, westerners observed that: in the exercise of patronage... the principle is that which animated Washington in the selection of his first cabinet. Latterly the Canton party, ultra-progressive, has come to the front. In the 1870s amidst this rhetoric of westernization, and with the assistance of western-educated Cantonese, the "reform-minded" officials managed to bargain with Beijing and develop huge business enterprises under their patronage. In an environment where company law and stock markets were absent, these reform-minded officials started these modern enterprises under an arrangement known as the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g where the territory was not debarred from doing so by treaty. In preparation for the negotiations at Ottawa the colonies were also asked to consider what preferences might be accorded them by the dominions and what preferences they might give to the dominions in return on the lines of the Canada-West Indies agreement.” 34 The governor, Sir William Peel, discussed Hong Kong's position while visiting the Colonial Office in June 1932. Officials agreed with him that Hong Kong's status as a free port made it impossible to impose anything like a general tariff. Any such tariff would ruin the entrepôt trade which was vital to Hong Kong's existence and no practicable means could be devised of landing goods in bond for re-export without involving so much inconvenience as to drive the entrepôt trade to other neighbouring ports. Peel was prepared as a gesture to give a preference to empire products on articles such as spirits and tobacco which were subject to excise duty and to impose a higher rate of first registration tax on foreign motor cars than on cars imported from Britain and Canada. He did not ask for any preference from the dominions in return since in his view the bulk of Hong Kong exports consists of foreign goods the proportion of the cost of which, due to treatment in Hong Kong, was not large enough to secure a preference...” This showed a surprising ignorance of Hong Kong's growing trade in domestic manufactures which were largely exported to neighbouring Asian countries. The Ottawa conference convened in July 1932. The British delegation was led by Stanley Baldwin, the former prime minister, and four other cabinet ministers. Canada, Southern Rhodesia and Newfoundland were represented by their prime ministers; Australia and New Zealand by former prime ministers; South Africa and the Irish Free State by their finance and trade ministers. India, which had been given the freedom to establish protective duties in 1923, was represented by Sir Atul Chatterjee and other members of the Viceroy's Council. The interests of the colonial empire were safeguarded by the secretary of state for the colonies, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister and one civil servant from the Colonial Office, G.L.M. Clauson. The conclusions of the conference were embodied in agreements between the United Kingdom government and the governments of the dominions and India. Britain consented to continue the free entry of goods grown, produced or manufactured in any part of the empire, and to impose additional duties on specified foreign goods which would give empire produce a preferential margin higher than the 10 per cent tariff already imposed by the Import Duties Act. Britain also agreed to 'invite' the non-self-governing colonies and protectorates to extend to all the dominions any preference at present extended to any part of the empire, and to increase the margin of preference or impose specific duties on a long list of items requested by the dominions. In return the dominions confirmed the existing ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 21 Kenya 33 per cent, Nigeria 58 per cent, Ceylon 52 per cent, Jamaica 60 per cent. 7. For example Nyasaland in 1929 raised the duty on imported soap from 5 shillings to 7 shillings to protect a newly established factory. In 1931 the duty was increased to 8 shillings a cwt. The Colonial Office first heard of these increases in 1932 when Unilever complained. Memo IDC(37)No.7, T160/763/F14811/2. 8. CO137/780. Georgina Waylen, 'Colonial Policy towards industrialisation between the wars: the case of Jamaica', Manchester Papers in Politics (University of Manchester, Nov. 1987, mimeo). 9. In 1931 a local company proposed to establish a cement factory in Kenya which required a protective tariff and a guarantee that a very high anti-dumping duty would be imposed on Japanese cement which dominated the market. The Colonial Office refused the request for protection on the advice of the Board of Trade because the local factory if successful would take over government orders, depriving British cement manufacturers of the last remnant of the market. CO533/417/18. In 1933 the Colonial Office rejected a scheme to erect a cotton spinning and weaving factory in East Africa which required a capital subscription of £500,000 from the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. IDC(37)No.8, T160/763/F14811/2. A proposal for a soap factory in the Windward Islands was disallowed because it involved the colony being given a preference over the UK in other colonies from which the copra was to be exported. IDC(37)No.7, T160/763/F14811/2. 10. Hong Kong Blue Book 1846 (PRO, CO133/3), 226, stated ‘A large number of Chinese are employed in their respective shops and houses in the exercise of industrial trades and manufactures and there are scarcely any ordinary wants of the inhabitants which do not meet with a ready supply within the town.' 11. These dates are taken from the Return of Manufactures, Mines and Factories in the Blue Books compiled every year for submission to the Colonial Office. Not all the manufacturing enterprises were successful: the cotton spinning factory closed in 1914 and removed its machinery to Shanghai. But new manufacturing ventures soon took their place. Sir William Robinson (governor 1891-98) in his first address to the legislative council spoke of the advantages that would accrue from a further encouragement of local industries. 'The community may rely upon my aid and assistance in fostering in every legitimate way the development of such enterprises.' Hong Kong Legislative Council Debates, 25 Jan. 1892, 97. This was done by selling public land by private treaty at a discount for industrial development, H.K. LegCo. Deb., 4 Dec. 1893, 1–2. 12. CO129/379, 377-384 and 392-755. 13. Hong Kong Blue Book 1930. Blue Book 1932. The largest factory was that of the Green Island Cement Company which could employ 1,470 men when working at full capacity. 14. Statistics on imports and exports were first collected in 1918. Publication was discontinued in 1925 and resumed in 1931, but no distinction was made between re-exports and domestic exports until 1959. Estimates of gross domestic product were not made by government statisticians until 1961. Domestic exports have been calculated from Hong Kong Trade Returns 1932, compiled by the Imports and Exports Department (Hong Kong, 1933), CO133/103, by identifying all categories where exports exceeded imports, on the assumption that the surplus must represent Hong Kong domestic production. This calculation certainly understates local production since it does not take account of manufactures consumed locally. Also the trade figures do not include the very large volume of goods smuggled into China to avoid payment of customs duty. 15. Memorandum in Clementi to Cunliffe-Lister, 20 Sept. 1933, CO323/1232. 16. Report of the Commission appointed by the Governor to Enquire into the Causes and Effects of the Present Trade Depression in Hong Kong, February 1935 (Hong Kong, 1935), 88-89, CO129/554/5. 17. Trade Depression Report, 75. 18. W.K. Hancock, Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs Vol II, Problems of Economic Policy 1918-1939, Part 1 (Oxford, 1940), 87. 19. CO129/344. CO129/370. CO129/392. 20. F. V. Meyer, British Colonies in World Trade (Oxford, 1948), 9–11, 18–19. 21. Hancock, 125. Meyer, 10-11. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 289 In 1888 the Chinese and Hong Kong Governments reached agreement. Gap Rock Lighthouse would be built by the British and maintained by them. The island remained Chinese territory not to be used for any other purpose. On the Chinese part, the Kowloon Customs was to contribute $7,500 towards the initial cost of the light and $750 annually towards its maintenance.22 The agreement was not put into effect. Towards the close of the nineteenth century, however, the proposal for lighthouses at the two main approaches to Hong Kong, on Gap Rock and Waglan Island, was revived. The previous agreement was then implemented. In 1891 a lighthouse was built on Gap Rock, at the south-western extremity of Lema and Kypong Islands. Lighting equipment was constructed in Sweden and the light was first shown in April 1892. Three years later the lantern was smashed by a severe typhoon. According to experts' opinions later the lighthouse should have been built on the northern part instead of the southern part of the rock. But to rebuild it would cost somewhere near $140,000. So, the original light continued to function usefully through forty years of typhoons until the Japanese invasion in 1941. Gap Rock is in the form of two hillocks, about 80 to 100 feet high, and the gap between gave the place its name (in Chinese it is called Man Mei Chau, meaning the last island or Mosquito Tail Island). The lighthouse tower is nearly 50 feet high, and the light is thus about 142 feet above mean sea level. In heavy storms seas broke right over the lighthouse but it stood, as a tribute to its builders and a pointer to the developments which have marked the growth of the port of Hong Kong.23 Waglan Lighthouse Unlike Gap Rock Lighthouse, Waglan Lighthouse has a different history. It was constructed by a Paris company for the Chinese Customs Light Department of the Imperial Maritime Customs in 1893. It started to operate on 9th May in the same year. It was run by the Chinese Maritime Customs from Shanghai. Following the lease of the New Territories by Britain, in 1898, it was transferred to the administration and control of the Hong Kong Government on 1st January 1901. Waglan was a First Order light of 45,000 candle-power burning ================================================================================