RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 210 NOTES AND QUERIES University Hall. The hall has accommodation for 80 students, all men. The present warden is Dr. Enoch Young, lecturer in physics at the University, through whose courtesy the Branch is able to visit this historic building today. We shall then walk across to the Maison de Béthanie. This building, since renovated and added to, was originally constructed in the early 1870s by the French Mission. Father Caminondo who is in charge of the Maison de Béthanie has very kindly supplied the following account: At a time when travelling was not easy and 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 the 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. The name of Béthanie 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. Many Missionaries availed themselves of the facilities offered by the sanatorium. In 1884, for instance, 43 missionaries stayed for some time. Apart from the delightful setting, the main interest of the Maison is its chapel. This is said to be built to the same design as the former French Cathedral in Tokyo, destroyed during the war. By kind permission of Father Caminondo, we are permitted to enter the chapel and walk round it, up one side to the sacristy behind the altar, and down the other. The chapel is remarkable for its fine furniture and fittings which apparently date from its construction. Note the sets of altar tables, of different shape and decoration, on each side of the aisle, and the large wall cupboards in the sacristy which is, as its name implies, the repository for vestments, vessels etc. used in the chapel. There are two memorial tablets to martyred priests behind the entrance doors to the chapel. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 NOTES AND QUERIES 205 The roof is also of considerable interest, being again provided with the pottery frieze so common in temples in Southern China, dated Kuang Hsü 33rd year (1907-08). Again this comes from the Shek Wan kilns. The temple is also remarkable for a very large image which has somehow found its way there, though it is much older than the building. It is, in fact, of the Ming dynasty and carries the following inscription — 大明萬曆三十一年歲次癸卯季秋吉旦建 which dates it to the end of 1603. Terrace Houses and Individual Buildings en route In the course of the visit, members will have the opportunity to see individual old buildings and in some cases whole terraces of houses. These appear to vary widely in date. Some belong to the late 19th century while others date from the early decades of this century. In all cases, however, they are of considerable interest and appeal, though their number has sadly diminished in the post-war years. Further Information Mr. Henry James Lethbridge, who has researched into the history of 19th century Hong Kong, informs me that a large number of the married European policemen, turnkeys and minor Government functionaries lived in Wanchai before 1900, cheek by jowl with Chinese (unlike the senior European officials who generally lived apart from them). Many of these persons moved to Kowloon when this was developed for residential purposes early in this century. Mr. Lethbridge also states that many Japanese lived in Wanchai from the early 1900's. They included girls and brothels and during the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong 1941-45, the military authorities designated it as a 'red light' area. Notes on the Nineteenth Century Development of Wanchai* The first land sale in Hong Kong in June 1841, consisted of a continuous line of Marine Lots marked off from the Chinese section of the Lower Bazaar (Sheung Wan) eastward to Hospital Hill (now the site of the Ruttonjee Sanatorium) at the east end of Wanchai. Individuals and firms bought lots in the Wanchai area and built *By Carl Smith. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 278 NOTES AND QUERIES TAM KUNG: HIS LEGEND AND WORSHIP Occasionally, one hears of the deity Tam Kung #2 as having originated in Kowloon. That mistake arises from confusing Kowloon (Chiu-lung 九龍) with Chiu-lung shan in Lin Kuei-shan 歸 county. Tam Kung, named Tao, was a native of Kuei-shan (present Hui-tung) in the Yuan Dynasty. He cultivated his moral conduct at Chiu-lung shan. He was often seen in the mountains with a tiger carrying his things. He cured the sick when they approached him. He died and was revered as a deity. When drought came, people went to him to ask for rain, and often they were satisfied. In the 6th year of Hsien-feng (1856), he was granted the title ‘Hsiang-chi 祥濟’ (“Assistance and Aid”) by the emperor. In Hui-chou, two temples were erected to offer sacrifice to Tam Kung; one on Chiu-lung shan in Kuei-shan and the other in Hui-chou City. A pavilion was built at the place where he cultivated his moral conduct. On my visit to the Chiu-lung shan in 1986, I saw both the temple, the Lung-feng tsu-miao 龍峰祖廟, and the pavilion, the T'an-kung te-tao-t'ing 譚公德道亭. A stone tablet now kept in the Hui-tung county museum, given the title, "The repair of the T'an-kung Temple of Chiu-lung shan" dated 4th year of Tao-kuang (1824), records that the original temple was built thousands of years ago, was repaired in the 40th year of Ch'ien-lung (1775), and then rebuilt and enlarged in the 4th year of Tao-Kuang (1824). The pavilion that I saw was rebuilt quite recently. In Hong Kong, there are two Tam Kung temples. They were built in the late Ch'ing by people from Hui-chou. The Tam Kung Temple at Wongneichung was built in 1901. It was originally built on the hill slope near the present Hong Kong Sanatorium. A bell ================================================================================ 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-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 251 being until this century. In the last decade of the 20th century, however, it provides three-quarters of the electricity consumed in Hong Kong. Not long after the Company placed what was reported to be the largest ever single order with British industry, in 1980, six members of the board were made Commanders of the British Empire. There have also been two Knighthoods in the Kadoorie family. Transport Motor transport was mainly introduced into Hong Kong in the present century, and, by 1909, the Colony boasted five private cars. Steam power was, however, used at sea before it was employed on land, and by 1876 there were nine steam launches operating in the harbour, and the first regular cross-harbour ferry, employing steam launches, commenced in 1880. In 1898, the Star Ferry was incorporated and took over from Dorabjee Nowrojee the previous ferry owner. British firms were, nonetheless, involved with transport, and a proposal was made by Jardine's, in 1881, for a system of trams on Hong Kong Island. The same year another proposal was made for a tramway to Victoria Gap, and in 1885 the original promoters sold their rights to Phineas Ryrie and Alexander Findlay Smith (Findlay Path on the Peak is named after him) for $2,000. The latter, a merchant who arrived in Hong Kong in the 1860s and who had been an employee of Scotland's Highland Railway, was the driving force. In 1881, it was he who requested approval from Sir John Pope-Hennessy, for this innovative scheme. According to Mrs Maud Grant-Smith, the Governor told her late husband's uncle, Findlay Smith: "My dear chap, you are simply throwing your money down the drain. Do you imagine anyone wants to go to the top of the Peak?" Because His Excellency would not help, Smith brought his own engineers from Scotland. As early as the 1840s Doctor William Morrison, the Colonial Surgeon (1847 to 1859), recommended spending the summer on the Peak. He also suggested a sanatorium be built there to alleviate the effects of heat and humidity. This was constructed but by 1868 it had fallen into disrepair, and had been rebuilt as ================================================================================