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 38 one called "The Capture of Chi Pu". This refers to the same General Chi Pu mentioned earlier, whose life was saved by the knight errant Chu Chia. In this popular version, which is in doggerel verse, the story differs from the historical account. The name of Chi Pu's benefactor is given as Chu Chieh instead of Chu Chia. This is probably due to a confusion between the names Chu Chia and Kuo Chieh, the two most famous knights of early Han. Moreover, in this version, Chu is the official sent to arrest Chi Pu, and he is blackmailed into saving the latter's life rather than doing so voluntarily. This tale in doggerel verse has no great literary merits, but is of considerable historical interest as a specimen of popular chivalric literature of the Tang period. During the Sung dynasty, professional story-tellers flourished. According to the Tsui-weng t'an-lu (B680), a miscellaneous collection of stories and verses probably printed at the end of Sung, the story-tellers divided their tales into eight categories: "miracles" (ling-kuai), “female ghosts" (yen-fen), “love romances" (ch'uan-ch'i), “legal cases" (kung-an), “long swords" (p'u-tao), “clubs" (kan-pang), "gods and immortals" (shen-hsien), and “magic” (yao-shu)." Two of these, "long swords” and “clubs”, obviously deal with chivalrous deeds. The difference between the two, judging by the examples given in the Tsui-weng t'an-lu, seems to be that the former refers to battles waged between armies using long weapons, while the latter refers to private fights involving the use of short weapons. The latter is therefore more strictly concerned with knights errant, who usually fought as individuals rather than as leaders of armies. As for chivalric tales involving the supernatural, such as the story of Hung Hsien, they were classified under "magic". Many of the prompt-books used by the story-tellers, known as hua-pen, have come down to us, though usually edited by later hands. Moreover, some of them became integral parts of long prose romances. The most outstanding example of a chivalric romance based on oral tradition is the Shui-hu chuan, of which there are two English versions, one by J. H. Jackson entitled The water margin, the other by Pearl S. Buck entitled All men are brothers. The historical events on which the oral legends and the prose romance were based took place at the end of the Northern Sung period. According to the History of the Sung dynasty, in A.D. 1121 a group of rebels led by Sung Chiang and thirty-five others ravaged several prefectures : : 10 Wang Chung-min and others, Tun-huang pien-wen chi (Peking, 1957), vol. 1, pp. 58-71, 17 Tsui-weng t'an-lu (reprinted Shanghai, 1957), pp. 3-4. This is the most precise contemporary account of the classification of stories. Other accounts are similar but not so clear. ================================================================================ 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 78 Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 son of Li Ching is Hui-an () who was a disciple of Kuan Yin (Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara), while his name, Mu-ch'a (*), is not mentioned except in one verse, and not in the prose part of Ch.21. This is the name the author of the Fêng-shên Yen-i adopted. The origin of the name Mu-ch'a can be found in chüan 18, Kan-t'ung P'ien (A) of the Sung Kao-sêng Chuan (***) by Tsan-ning (), who was a follower of the Monk Sangha (@). The latter was said to be an incarnation of the Avalokitesvara of eleven faces and died in A.D. 710. Apart from Mu-ch'a, Hui-an was also one of his disciples. Therefore, in popular literature, Mu-ch'a and Hui-an are mixed up into one person and in the "Four Travels" Hui-an remains a disciple of Kuan Yin. It was the author of the Fêng-shên who changed the character ch'a (X) to cha (RE) in his novel so that the name could have the same second character as No-cha. In some popular editions of the "Four Travels" the character ch'a (X) has also been changed. Now, in the Tantric works, though the second and third sons of Vaisravana (Tu Chien and Nata) play rather important parts, his other sons, especially his first son, are not mentioned. I have read through a large number of sutras about Vaisravana and consulted some Buddhist scholars in Japan,1a but they could not give me any definite opinion. In Oda Tokuno's (1) Buddhist Thesaurus (#) and in the Chinese work Fu-hsüeh Ta Tz'u-tien (BAND) edited by Ting Fu-pao (TR) based upon it,19 we find that the names of P'i-sha-mên wu t’ung-tzu (£££7 Five Attendants of Vaisravana) include Tu Chien and Nata, but no origin is given. I think they may be identical with the "Five Yakshas" which appear under the sub-title "Princes and Family Members" (ERB) in Caturmaharaja (19F諸小王及眷屬)in E) in chuan 6 of the Ch'i Shih Ching (). They are, in translation, Fifty-feet (wu-chang £), Wilderness (k'uang-yeh ), Golden Mountain (chin-shan ), Long Fellow (ch'ang-shên ) and Hair of A Needle (chên-mao E). They appear (translated literally from the Sanskrit) also in the Caturmaharaja of the Shih Chi Ching (H) and in chüan 19 of the Dirghagama (£§ÂŒ) as "Five Attending Genii of Vaisravana.” 20 I Dr. Henmi Baiei), Professor of Buddhist Art, Tama University (9) and others. I have also consulted the Chinese Buddhist priest Tan-hsü (1), aged 89, a disciple of the late T'i-hsien (M) of the Tien-t'ai Sect (R) and some Tantric scholars. 19 The 4th ed., I Hsieh Shu Chũ (885), Shanghai, 1939. 20 No. 24, The Tripitaka in Chinese, translated by Jñanagupta. cf. No. 25, Ch'i-shih Yin-pên Ching (#LFXE), chữan 6 & 7. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v 100 J. W. HAYES NOTES The notes are intended to amplify the text. The subjects of the longer notes are chosen rather arbitrarily and represent my particular interests, J. W. H. 1 A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. (Hong Kong Government Printer, 1960) p. 88. 2 Crown Rent Rolls, District Office Islands, New Territories Administration. * Under the Convention of Peking signed on 9th June, 1898, *Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, hereafter styled Sessional Papers. (Hong Kong, Noronha & Co., 1911) p. 103 (22) and (26). This article is mainly concerned with the land population, but for a good short description of the life, work and general background of the boat people, see G. N. Orme "Report on the New Territories 1899-1912" in Sessional Papers 1912, pp. 53-55. 5 The help of the Chairman, Vice-Chairmen and members of the Cheung Chau Rural Committee in tracing and gaining access to these tablets is gratefully acknowledged, and the great assistance given with transcription and translation by Messrs. LO Chi-chung, LEUNG Kun-siu and LEW Pang-fei, my former colleagues in the District Office. * I have translated shue-shat as study, rather than school, since it was intended for the private use of members and their children and not for outsiders. The association became known as the Tung Kwun Wui So on 16th September, 1926 (see Land Registers), previous to which it had been registered as the Po On Shue Shat. I have presumed that with such a name, a school was operated as well as the office and ancestral temple. (See note 26 and text to which it refers.) For the distinction between the names Po On and San On see Notes and Queries, p. 146 below. The character inscribed on this tablet is a simplified form of the character. Local trades included shipbuilding: see Orme's report in Sessional Papers 1912, p. 55. — * The number of Cheung Chau shops subscribing to the various schemes recorded on the tablets is as follows: Po On study (1866) 38; Defence Office (1863-70) 66; Fong Pin hospital (1878) 98, and Tin Hau temple (1879) 125, from the 200 odd mentioned in the Fong Pin preamble. * Many shops are mentioned on the tablets, but they are all listed by their business names and not by the names of the owners, in which custom the Chinese does not follow the English. 10 The Tong has a substantial genealogical record, last produced between eighty and a hundred years ago and printed from stone blocks on hand-made bamboo paper. I am indebted to Mr. WONG Shing Yip of Cheung Chau who very kindly let me see his copy. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 24 T. HARRISSON and carved wood have also survived there. Some fifty rush mats and wrappings survived under late neolithic or early metal burials in the West Mouth of the Great Cave. PUBLICATIONS Many smaller caves have been studied; and many others are available for study - over fifty. But there is no point in constantly repeating work that is very costly. Rather we seek constantly to define and re-define the project, so as to add new data, modifying or widening ideas — in preference to multiplying the established points. So far, about fifty papers have been published on the Niah results in Asian Perspectives (annually), Archaeological Newsletter, Journal Royal Society of Arts (a general review to 1963), Man (three papers), Oriental Art (Oxford), Artibus Asiae (Switzerland), Bijdragen (Holland), and the Geographical Journal (Royal Geographical Society, London). The full background and a long series of technical reports are published in the last eight issues of the Sarawak Museum Journal (Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia). The S.M.J. papers include specific contributions from Dr. R. Brothwell of the British Museum, Miss J. Clutton-Brock of the Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Calvin Wells of the Norwich Museum, Dr. D. A. Hooijer of Leiden and Professor G. H. R. von Koenigswald of the University of Utrecht, Dr. W. S. Solheim of the University of Hawaii, Drs. R. Inger and Wayne King of Chicago, the Earl of Cranbrook and Miss Pat Aldridge (now Dr. P. Marshall) of the University of Hong Kong. While those who have made specialist studies on the spot, working in Kuching, include Lord Medway (both here and at the University of Malaya), Dr. Alastair Lamb (glass beads), Dr. Solheim with Mrs. Lindsay Wall (prehistoric earthenware), Mrs. E. Moore in association with Miss Mary Tregear at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Yueh and other early porcelains), Mr. Benedict Sandin and Mr. R. Nyandoh (links to cave and other Niah folklore), Mr. Geoffrey Barnes (burial rites), Mr. J. Revers (U.S. Peace Corps; topography), Professor N. Haile (geology; now of the University of Malaya), Mrs. Barbara Harrisson and her husband. Work of this sort involves multiple cooperation, as has already been well demonstrated by the University team from Hong Kong working on Lantau Island. In 1965-66 we hope to get additional outside help from Dr. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 108 BOOK REVIEWS use all over the country, including Peking, are ching1 cheng4, meaning 'compete, competition' and cheng4ch'a2, 'struggle'. The character ch'a2 means 'verbose, slander'. But Goodrich's dictionary links it with tsui3 to mean 'interrupt in speaking' (page 5). This is wrong. The correct character is 1, meaning 'insert, drive into', which is also pronounced ch'a2, but written differently. Despite the great number of character entries, I have chanced to discover that a rather commonplace character t'o3 (oval, elliptical), is missing. Only the list of abbreviated characters at the end of the book gives this character and its abbreviated form, but, of course, not its meaning. Also missing is the character when pronounced k'a3 and used in the expression 1 k'a3p'ien4 to mean ‘card' or 'visiting card'. Another defect of the dictionary is that there exists some minor inconsistency in the romanization system. The circumflex accent which is seen over ‘e' in ‘ên' and ‘êng' in almost all cases such as chên, fên, hên, jên, kên, mên chêng, fêng hàng 'shen' on page 17, kêng, mêng, shêng, têng is missing in 'leng' on page 120 and 'neng' on page 143. Finally, there is a misprint on page xvii. The title at the top of the page should read "A Group Of Four Cycles A.D. 1804 - 2043" instead of "A.D. 1804 - 2064". There is a difference of 21 years. JOHN T. S. CHEN JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL STUDIES, Vol. V, Nos. 1 and 2 (1959 and 1960), Hong Kong University Press, 1965. Two articles in the Chinese language for which English summaries are given form the beginning of this volume. Ho Ke-en submits his research on the origin and geographical distribution of the Tan Tribe (Tan Chia) on pp. 1-40. A shorter article by Jao Tsung-i deals with the "Calligraphy in the Tun-huang Scrolls" and is accompanied by twenty-four plates presenting examples of calligraphy concerning varied subjects. Five studies in the English language follow on pp. 45-173. Herbert V. Guenther begins his "The Philosophical Background ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 NOTES AND QUERIES 171 Many acres of old rice lands have been converted into vegetable land and we now have a super grade type of land producing vegetables which pay higher prices than padi, and hence result in higher rentals being charged for the land. Recent trends show that agricultural rents are now more often paid in cash. This probably stems from the fact that vegetables are rapidly replacing rice as the main agricultural production in the New Territories. As vegetables are sold on a daily basis through the Government wholesale markets, which pay cash on the day of sale, the farmer finds it easier to offer rent on a fixed cash basis rather than arranging for an indeterminate amount of rent to be paid based on two crops of kuk per year at differing rentals for each crop. Notes 1 In S. Wells Williams, Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, North China Union College edition, Tung Chou, near Peking, China, 1909, good descriptions of the Chinese measurements mau and tau, showing how they vary from place to place, are given on pp. 583 and 804. For tam see p. 751. (In the Wade romanisation used in this dictionary they are spelled mou, tou and tan). Tam shui is not a term to be found in dictionaries as denoting a means of measuring land. 2 This division of land into three classes is taken from the old classification used by the Chinese authorities before the lease of the New Territories. See J. H. Stewart Lockhart's "Memorandum on Land" in Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1900, pp. 266-269. 3 This method of calculating the area of vegetable fields is also common to other areas and was in use in the Kowloon peninsula from at least the late nineteenth century onwards. Again, it would appear that, like the fau, the measurement is variable, even within the Colony. 4 See C. J. Grant, Soils and Agriculture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960, pp. 53-81. Mr. W. A. Taylor, the author of this Note, is Senior Land Assistant in the New Territories Administration, Hong Kong, and has long experience of land work there. In Mr. Taylor's temporary absence this note was prepared for publication by Mr. J. W. Hayes who also added the footnotes. It is an abbreviated version of a longer technical paper, with maps and tables. Addendum It has since been established that rice was grown in four locations on Cheung Chau before the Pacific War 1941-45, but not after. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 128 # CHINESE STREET-CRIES IN HONGKONG By J. NACKEN* Editor's note. Dr. Alan Birch, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Hong Kong, came across this article in the China Review, Volume II, 1873, pp. 51-55. This publication was made available to him from U.S. National Archives Microfilm, Gp. 108, Roll 9 by courtesy of the United States Consulate General, Hong Kong. The Branch is grateful to Dr. Birch for bringing this interesting article to our notice. It is reproduced here exactly as in the original, though a different format has been adopted to suit the Journal's printing style. My friend was sitting at his desk, busy, no doubt, in framing the best-worded sentence ever penned in the East, when a howl from the street rang through the lofty verandah, and rebounded, as it were, from the high ceilings of the room. "That's one of those ubiquitous hawkers," said my friend angrily, springing to his feet and rushing to the verandah to have a look at the back of the disturber. I joined my friend quietly and was just in time to see a pair of broad shoulders raising themselves, and a pig-tailed head bending backwards; and then came a second edition of the howl we had heard before. I myself, being of an asthmatic nature, rather envied the sturdy fellow who could carry so much on his shoulders and walk a brisk pace, and yet have breath enough left to utter such stentorian sounds. "What does that fellow call out?" my friend asked. I could not say, though I had been in China for some years, and, as my friend remarked, ought to know, if I pretended to know Chinese at all. That was some years ago. In the mean-time others like my friend must have suffered from the annoyance which led to the framing of Ordinance No. 8 of 1872, which says that: "Every person is liable to a Penalty who shall use or utter Cries for Purpose of buying or selling any articles whatever,... within any District or Place not permitted by some Regulation of the Governor in Council.' For the hawkers of Hongkong wooden tickets are provided which must be renewed every quarter at a cost of 50 cents. These * Mr. Nacken was a member of the Rhenish Mission, Mr. H. A. Rydings has located a brief reference to his work in South China in the account of the Rhenish Mission given at pp. 272-276 of The China Mission Hand-Book (Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1896). Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d CHINESE DESCENT SYSTEM 121 of the two should in fact have proportionately more empty houses than its poorer neighbour22; it is not impossible that the sort of inefficiencies in the descent system that I have described whereby the swelling of a descent line in one generation may leave the next with more house-property than it needs or can redistribute — may account for this anomaly.* H. G. H. NELSON. NOTES 1. Göran Aijmer, "Being Caught by a Fishnet: On Fengshui in South-eastern China", J.H.K.B.R.A.S., Vol. 8, 1968, pp. 74-81. 2. Field data drawn on in this paper are derived from a period of work in Sheung Tsuen, Pat Heung, from June 1967 to October 1968. I was employed as a Research Officer of the London School of Economics, on a project financed by a grant made to Professor Maurice Freedman by the Social Science Research Council. Much of the information from the Hong Kong Government's land records was collected by my wife, whose fare to Hong Kong was provided by the London-Cornell Project for East and South-East Asian Studies, financed jointly by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Nuffield Foundation. I am very glad to acknowledge their generosity. 3. See for example J. E. Spenser, "The Houses of the Chinese", Geographical Review, Vol. XXXVII, 1947, pp. 254-273. 4. Cf. J. W. Hayes, ‘A Chinese Village on Hong Kong Island Fifty Years Ago Tai Tam Tuk, Village Under the Water', in I.C. Jarvie and Joseph Agassi, eds., Hong Kong: A Society in Transition, London, 1969, p. 33. 5. Block Crown Lease, Demarcation Districts Nos. 112 and 114, 1905; various Memorials in Yuen Long District Office; and ‘A-Roll' volume X.14. I am most grateful to the New Territories Administration for their courtesy in allowing me access to the invaluable information contained in their Land Records. 6. The current records conceal the difference between inhabited structures and "house-lots' (Crown Rent being assessed on the site rather than the structure) - a difference of which the villagers are aware. Many of them, when asked how many houses they own, will say, "so many houses and so many lots "(uk-tel_£)". It seems to me possible that some villagers may, in 1905, have been far-sighted ---or fortunate enough to register both their houses and their ruined lots, thereby avoiding the expense and complication of obtaining a New Grant Lot when they wanted to rebuild on an old site. * Groups of houses, bigger and more durable than usual, have also been built as a form of long-term investment (and prestige expenditure) by particularly wealthy men; but their hopes of producing enough sons and grandsons to justify this deliberate over-production of houses are often sadly unfulfilled. * On the subject of this article see also Mr. Hayes' note at pp. 158-160. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 40 H. J. LETHBRIDGE Registrar-General in 1864, a key post, Deane Superintendent of Police in 1867, and Tonnochy who held the offices of Sheriff, Coroner and Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court in 1865, became Assistant Harbour Master in 1867 and Superintendent of the Jail in 1875, a post he held until his death in 1882. Lister was soon sent to the Harbour Office and Russell, who also acted as Governor Sir Richard Macdonnell's private secretary, was sent to the Magistracy. James Legge, long resident in Hong Kong, was critical of the way in which the original scheme was modified by expediency and argued that "there should have been no directing them away from their proper business of study until they had given proof of their actual interpretation in the supreme court”,22 Legge was right in principle; but although it was not the Government's intention to produce a supply of sinologues but rather administrators with a knowledge of Chinese, these early cadets did work hard at their Chinese, and one, Lister, supplied the China Review and Notes and Queries on China and Japan with many thoughtful comments on Chinese language and society. The development of the cadet scheme can only be understood in relation to changes that occurred outside Hong Kong. The scheme was influenced - if not directly inspired by changes in public administration in India and the homeland. Open competition was first invented for India and the germ of the idea is to be found in Lord Macaulay's 1854 report on recruitment of the Indian Civil Service. In Great Britain appointments to the civil service until the year 1855 were made by nomination. In 1855 a stringent examination was introduced; and in 1870 the principle of open competition was adopted as a general rule. The year 1870 witnessed, then, the abolition of patronage and the admission of people into the civil service at prescribed ages and by means of competitive examinations; and a distinction was drawn, in terms of grades and hence of salary and prestige, between the routine and intellectual tasks of government. Competitive examinations meant, of course, that there was little chance of success into the higher grade except for candidates who had a successful university career, and, often, in addition, special preparation by a private tutor. These reforms influenced the recruitment of cadets into the Hong Kong Civil Service. In 1869, as a result of the evolving climate of thought in English, a competitive examination by the Civil Service Commis- Page 45 Page 46 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 HONG KONG CADETS, 1862 - 1941 55 19 Kenneth Myer Arthur Barnett (born 1911). Educated at Mill Hill School, London, and King's College, Cambridge, Hong Kong Civil Service 1934. Retired as Director of Census and Statistics 1970. 40 Quoted in James Hope Hennessy's Verandah, London, 1964, p. 186. Hennessy is quoting, presumably, from Sir George Bowen's Thirty Years of Colonial Government, London, 1889, which I have not seen. 41 Margery Perham, op. cit., p. 302. Lugard also liked and trusted A. W. Brewin, the Registrar General: "if he once said, he was very 'pro-Chinese' this was really a compliment. He would allow Brewin to forbid his own delivery of a speech to a Chinese gathering. He could not always understand the reason ‘but I trust implicitly in him'." 42 E. J. Eitel "Chinese Studies and Official Interpretation", p. 8. 43 Alleyne Ireland, Far Eastern Tropics, London, 1905, p. 34. In 1901 Ireland was appointed Colonial Commissioner of the University of Chicago for the purpose of visiting the Far East. 44 Ibid., p. 32. 45 Norman Gilbert Mitchell-Innes (1860-1947). Educated at Repton and Edinburgh Academy, Hong Kong Civil Service 1881; Treasurer 1891; left Hong Kong Service in 1896 and transferred to the Home Prison Service. Des Voeux thought highly of Mitchell-Innes. See G. B. Endacott, Government and People in Hong Kong 1841-1962, Hong Kong, 1964, p. 112. 46 Report on Defalcations in the Treasury, Sessional Papers, Hong Kong, 1893, p. 546. 47 Ibid., p. 546. 48 Norton-Kyshe, vol. 2, p. 447. 49 Ibid., p. 447. 50 Sir Arthur George Murchison Fletcher (1878-1954). Educated at Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Oxford, Hong Kong Civil Service 1901; transferred to Ceylon 1927; Colonial Secretary, Ceylon, 1926-9; Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for Western Pacific 1929-36; Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Trinidad and Tobago, 1936-38. 51 Geoffrey Norman Orme (1879-1966). Educated at Cheltenham College and Hertford College, Oxford, Hong Kong Civil Service 1902. Director of Education 1924-26. Left Hong Kong Service in 1926. 52 The Report on the Land Court, 1900-1905, Sessional Papers, 1905, gives a list of the presidents and members of the Land Court in order of their appointment, most of whom were cadets. H. H. J. Gompertz was appointed in 1900 and resigned in 1904; Cecil Clementi in 1903; and C. M. Messer and J. R. Wood in 1904. The Registrars in order of appointment - all cadets were: J. H. Kemp, E. D. C. Wolfe, and S. B. C. Ross. The Land Court in 1905 consisted of three members: C. M. Messer, Cecil Clementi, and J. R. Wood. The New Territories became popular with cadets as a place to walk or shoot in on week-ends. Robert Oliphant Hutchison (1880-1920), the Superintendent of Imports and Exports, on his way to shoot snipe at Saikung fell off a launch in a squall and drowned. His body was never found. With him at the time was D. W. Tratman, the Colonial Treasurer. One imagines from the evidence that both had "tiffined" rather too well. 53 "At first British officials were limited in principle to two, dealing with police and land. In 1899 a police magistrate was appointed and also an assistant land officer to deal with land cases, and the police were placed Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g The District Watch Committee 121 corrupt than regular police18: Chinese could at least understand the rationale of the tariff and no doubt accepted it as a normal condition of life in their time. It was, however, J. H. Stewart Lockhart19, the occupant of the combined posts of Registrar General and Colonial Secretary at the end of the century, who perceived the strategic importance of a Chinese advisory council for the colonial government and who, at the same time, helped strengthen and expand the network of committees and boards on which prominent Chinese sat. In 1891 Lockhart took a decisive step: he recommended that twelve Chinese gentlemen, including such influential Chinese as Dr. Ho Kai (Ho Ch'i), Wei Yuk (Wei Yü), and Ho Fook (Ho Fu), should be appointed by government to form a far stronger committee20 than the informal body that had supervised the Force since its inception, so as to improve co-operation between the force and the Registrar General's Department. As Lockhart stressed in his report for 1891, 'it is hoped with the aid of the Committee the efficiency of the District Watch will be increased, and that the advice of the gentlemen forming the Committee will be of great assistance to this office in dealing with the affairs of the Chinese community'. The following year he was pleased to note that ‘its advice on several important questions connected with the affairs of the Chinese community has been of great help to this Department'. Lockhart saw the Committee, then, as a key advisory body for his own department and, it follows, for the colonial government in general. In this, it appears, he was strongly supported by the rich compradore, Wei Yuk, an unofficial member of the Legislative Council and a collaborator of Lockhart's. Wei Yuk had urged that a new committee should be nominated and that this reorganised committee should be given official recognition, backing and status.22 I have been unable to ascertain the names of the members of the Committee before 189123 but I suspect that many must have been nonentities in the eyes of the Registrar General and prominent Chinese local worthies and local leaders rather than Chinese conspicuous for great wealth, prestige and power24. It is not possible to reconstruct Wei Yuk's reasoning at this date; nevertheless it is plausible to surmise that Wei Yuk understood that the tighter the connection between the Committee of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 134 H. J. LETHBRIDGE of its history64. The Hong Kong government utilised a number of Chinese associations that had developed independently, gave official status to a few and drew them for the convenience of administration into its orbit. In doing so, to some degree it had to forego total control over the Chinese population and share such control with a small number of Chinese notables. Both benefited from the arrangement. This system has been called one of 'indirect rule' but I feel the phrase conceals more than it reveals, for a committee such as the District Watch could on occasion shape government policy. Government had to play along with a number of Chinese committees for without their support the regulation of the Chinese masses would have been at best an uncertain matter. The heaping of honours on a small number of Chinese notables was, surely, a recognition of the key part they played in promoting stability rather than prizes given for their alienation from Chinese society. Such prominent Chinese, as I have suggested, were as much watchdogs for the Chinese community, and especially the Chinese bourgeoisie, as barking dogs for the colonial government. NOTES 1 Lennox A. Mills, British Rule in Eastern Asia, London, Oxford University Press, 1942, p. 398. 2 i.e., Sir Shouson Chow, Sir Robert Kotewall, Lo Man-kam, Dr. Li Shu-fan, and William Ngartsee Thomas Tam. 3 S. F. Balfour states that Hong Kong Island was owned originally by the Tang (Têng) clan of the New Territories: 'Hong Kong Before the British', Tien Hsia Monthly, vol. xi, 1941, p. 464. A translation of a Chinese notice printed in the Friend of China, 24 July 1858, reads: Tung Wing-Fook-Tong (sic) of the Sun-on district, was formerly sole proprietor of the Island of Hong Kong, and of the hills and coast of the North Side of the Harbour under the general name of Tsin Shat-Choy.... Lately Tung Wing-Fook-Tong petitioned the Magistrate of Sun-on to examine Tung's claim to Tsin Shat-Choy and the Magistrate issued a proclamation declaring that Tung Wing-Fook-Tong is the real owner of the Property. The editor asseverated 'as to his having been a Lord of this Isle, as well as of Tsim-shat-choy, —in a word, we do not believe a word of it'. Barbara Ward writes of fishermen that for reasons probably mainly connected with their spatial mobility and the lack of land, these fishermen do not have a developed lineage system nor any real concept of one'. See Barbara Ward, 'Chinese Fishermen in Hong Kong: Their Post-peasant economy', in Maurice Freedman, ed., Social Organisation: Essays Presented to Raymond Firth, London, Frank Cass, 1967, p. 278. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 82 HENRY JAMES LETHBRIDGE It is an interesting comment on Johnston that he visited England only twice in twenty-eight years of residence in China. See Johnston's obituary in the Times of 8 March, 1938. 37 R. F. Johnston's, Twilight in the Forbidden City, London, 1934, describes his experiences as an Imperial tutor. 38 Much information on Johnston's experiences as District Officer and Magistrate are given in his book, Lion and Dragon in Northern China. 39 Annual Report on Weihaiwei for 1921, p. 3. 40 Annual Report on Weihaiwei for 1903, p. 5. From time to time the Magistrate's office issued proclamations in Chinese, notifying the people of the wishes of the Government. All the villages of the Territory were provided with large notice boards on which such proclamations were posted. The style of governing in Weihaiwei owed much to Chinese example. 41 Annual Report on Weihaiwei for 1904, p. 26. The statement is taken from Johnston's 'Report of the Secretary to Government for the Year 1904'. This is a most interesting report on Chinese society in Weihaiwei, 42 The China Review was founded in 1872 by N. B. Dennys. The publication terminated with vol. xxv, 1901. It was published bi-monthly. 43 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1937, pp. 391-3. 44 In his obituary notice of E. H. Parker, E. T. C. Werner wrote: "The editor's request to write this notice puts me in a rather awkward position, for I cannot but refer to the very great amount of valuable sinological work which has been done by members of the British Consular Service in China. Considering its relatively small size, the Service has produced proportionately more brilliant sinologists than any body connected with the Far East.” See Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (henceforth cited as JNCBRAS), vol. lvii, 1926, p. vi. 45 Sir Cecil Clementi (1875-1947). Educated at Oxford. Hong Kong cadet in 1899. Governor of Hong Kong 1925-30. He published, among other books, The Chinese in British Guiana, Georgetown, 1915, Cantonese Love-Songs, Oxford, 1904, and Summary of Geographical Observations taken during a Journey from Kashgar to Kowloon, 1907-8, Hong Kong, 1911. 46 Lockhart's interest in the Chinese language is recognised in the dedication to him of Mok Man-cheung's Tah Tsz Anglo-Chinese Dictionary, 2nd edition (Chinese foreword dated 9th October, 1914). Mok had served in the Registrar-General's department with Lockhart, and moved to the Supreme Court as an interpreter in 1891. See also note 71 below. 47 China Review, vol. xxi, 1892/93, p. 405. 48 Vols. xx to xxii. The disputants included E. J. Eitel, E. H. Parker, E. D. H. Fraser, H. A. Giles, and Lockhart. The first edition of Lockhart's book was dedicated to Dr. John Chalmers, the distinguished sinologue, and the second to Dr. James Legge as well. Lockhart spoke of them as 'two famous Aberdonians'. 49 China Review, vol. xxi, 1892/93, p. 412. 50 China Review, vol. xxii, 1893/94, p. 547, 51 T'oung Pao, vol. viii, 1897, pp. 412-430. 52 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 6, 1930-32, p. 812. 53 Chinese Recorder, Sept. 1903, p. 464. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG, 1903-1915* A. J. S. LACK There are many things in the port of Hong Kong which are taken for granted. One example which is quite remarkable in its own right is the typhoon shelter at Yaumatei, Kowloon. This shelter has provided refuge for local craft in any number of typhoons since it was completed; but it is not its present use on which I intend to speak to you today, but rather to give an account of the events which led to its construction as these are to be traced in the records of the proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong†. The story goes back to 1900 when a very severe typhoon caused a great deal of damage in the Colony. Following that storm and in the years 1901 and 1902, many demands were made that the Government should do something to afford greater protection to the boat people in Hong Kong during the typhoon season. There were then none of the sophisticated means whereby the course of a typhoon could be accurately plotted several days before striking the Colony. Indeed the nature of these storms was simply not understood at that time, and in the early days of the century and before typhoons would strike without warning and frequently caused extensive damage and loss of life. There were, however, within the harbour some relatively sheltered anchorages and unreclaimed bays in which the fishing people and the boat population in general could take refuge during storms. But there was only one artificial typhoon shelter at that time. This was a small shelter at Causeway Bay, constructed in 1883. * An Address given to Kowloon Rotary Club on 26th December, 1972. * Mr. Lack is the Principal Marine Officer in the Marine Department, Hong Kong Government, and has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1953. † In 1913 when a new edition of the Laws of Hong Kong was published, the Legislative Council of the Colony consisted of the Governor, the Senior Military Officer, the Colonial Secretary, Attorney General and Treasurer, plus up to three other Official Members and up to six Unofficial Members. The work and proceedings of the Council are set out in Instructions (1888) and Additional Instructions (1896) contained in pp. 14-23 of Vol. 3 of the Alabaster Edition of the Laws of Hong Kong, 1913. An up to date account of the work of the Legislative Council and its senior partner, the Executive Council, is given in Hong Kong 1973, Report for the Year 1972, (H.K. Govt. Press, 1973), pp. 200-201. Ed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 H. J. LETHBRIDGE European expansion and domination that ended in 1914 provided a more richly fertile environment for this social type. Adventurers do not compose a social group held together by common beliefs or ideology like anarchists, bolsheviks or suffragettes; rather they are supreme individualists and their individualism and egomania asserts itself most brutally in periods of rapid social change, in periods of social dislocation, fluid social boundaries, disorder and political ambiguity. Adventurers surface in greater numbers, then, under particular social conditions; they can impose their will, in the short run at least, by force, bluff, imposture or sheer physical courage,56 either because their social audience is credulous or because their victims desire victimisation, as a martyr seeks martyrdom; for the need to be dominated is as strong sometimes as the urge to dominate. Domination means accepting constraints, and constraint may bring a measure of psychic security and peace. South-East Asia, Central and South America, the Wild West and the Pacific, all provided an ideal terrain for the adventurers' individual obsessions, whether it was the pursuit of power, wealth, status, excitement, luxury or sensuality. And these were areas, of course, where the white man increasingly exercised control, by means of his advanced technology and dominant culture. Mayréna in the land of the Moï and Morès in the Bad Lands of North Dakota, a frontier area only recently cleared of Sioux, lived outpost lives on the margin of civilisation—one became, briefly, the King of the Sedangs, the other, likewise, the Emperor of the Bad Lands. Conditions in these places were perfect for the seigneurial role they sought to play. Such conditions would not be found easily today. At this time, two other factors favoured the adventurer class: respect for titles and poor communications. Mayréna succeeded in making dupes of several influential and wealthy persons because they were deeply impressed by his assumed rank—the 'King of the Sedangs' or 'le comte de Drey'. Morès was a nobleman and a grand seigneur by birth; the fact that his name and that of his noble house could be found enshrined in print in the Almanach de Gotha seduced people of lesser rank. The European bourgeoisie achieved economic and a larger degree of political power in the nineteenth century; this parvenu class, ostensibly resentful of social distinctions was, on the other hand, often mesmerised by titles of any kind. This was true even in democratic America: the shady thespians who ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d CONDITION OF THE EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY HONG KONG H. J. LETHBRIDGE* 'The prejudices of a whole class cannot be laid aside like an old coat: least of all, those of the stable, narrow, selfish English bourgeoisie.' Frederick Engels. INTRODUCTION In the nineteenth century the geographical setting and minute area of Hong Kong, a colony which did not expand substantially until the inclusion of the New Territories in 1898, meant that the territory could support only a small European population. From an examination of census materials it is certain that the resident European community rarely exceeded three thousand souls in all, usually rather less. Europeans in Hong Kong did not form a class of settlers or colonists of the type found in Canada or New Zealand; and, needless to say, no plantocracy—an elite of foreigners exploiting a native labour force—ever evolved; nor, on the other hand, did a class of poor whites—agriculturalists, fishermen or labourers—emerge. The European population was composed principally of middle-class sojourners, not one of whom thought of bringing up his children to regard Hong Kong as a permanent home. Sir James Cantlie declared in 1898 that 'the residents in Crown colonies are recruited, with but few exceptions, from the middle classes'. Although the majority of Europeans may be categorised as middle or lower-middle class in terms of their social origins or because of the occupations they engaged in, a minority could be properly identified as working or lower class either by reasons of birth, education, occupation, residence, or style of life. This paper is concerned with Sir James's 'few exceptions'. It is intended to * Mr. Lethbridge, Reader in Sociology at the University of Hong Kong and also a Councillor of the Hong Kong Branch, RAS, is well-known for his contributions to the study of Hong Kong's social history and institutions, some of which have appeared in previous issues of the Journal. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 148 BRIAN MORTON & P. S. WONG chi, 1966) by the application of anti-fouling paints. Undoubtedly the main disadvantage to this technique is that a large capital investment is required with high maintenance costs and a greater chance of damage and loss during a typhoon. As noted earlier oyster culture in Deep Bay is at present being run on a family basis lacking a large capital investment. The adoption of the more expensive raft method of culture would appear, under present socio-economic conditions, to be impossible. The setting up of a co-operative system by the oyster farmers concerned, together with an extension of the Government loan scheme for fisheries development to the oyster industry could enable the oyster farmers to obtain the necessary finance to improve the industry. With an available source of funds for investment and with further detailed research to determine the modifications required to ensure the success of a programme of modernisation in the special environment of Deep Bay, Hong Kong's oyster industry is not without a future. LITERATURE CITED Bardach, J. E. and J. H. Ryther, 1968. The Status and Potential of Aquaculture. American Institute of Biological Science, Washington, D.C. Vol. I (261pp.), Vol. II (224pp.). Bromhall, J. D., 1958. On the biology and culture of the native oyster of Deep Bay, Hong Kong, Crassostrea sp. Hong Kong University Fisheries Journal, 2; 93-107. Cahn, A. R., 1950. Oyster culture in Japan. The United States Fisheries and Wildlife Services Fisheries Leaflet, 383; 1-80. Furukawa, Atsushi, 1968. The raft method of oyster culture in Japan. In: Proceedings of the Oyster Culture Workshop (Ed. T. L. Linton). Marine Fisheries Division, Georgia Game and Fish Commission, Brunswick, Georgia, pp. 49-54. Hong Kong Annual Departmental Report by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1953-54 to 1973-74. The Hong Kong Government. Knight-Jones, E. W., 1952. Reproduction of oysters in the rivers Crouch and Roach, Essex during 1947, 1948, 1949. Fishery Investigations, London, 18; 1-48. Korringa, P., 1947. Relations between the moon and periodicity in the breeding of animals. Ecological Monographs, 17; 347-381. Leung, C., B. S. Morton, K. F. Shortridge and P. S. Wong, 1975. The seasonal incidence of faecal bacteria in the tissues of the commercial oyster Crassostrea gigas Thunberg 1793 correlated with the hydrology of Deep Bay, Hong Kong. Proceedings of the Pacific Science Association Special Symposium in Marine Science, Hong Kong 1973; 114-127. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q The Library of the Hong Kong Branch Royal Asiatic Society Report for the Year 1975-1976 With the closing of the British Council Library in the Gloucester Building, new arrangements had to be made for housing the Branch's collection of books and periodicals. Once again we must acknowledge our deep gratitude to the Representative of the British Council, who has allowed us to keep part of the collection in the Council's Library since 1968. The rather unsatisfactory division of the Branch's Library between two locations continued, all the books now being housed in the Library of the Public Records Office by kind permission of the Archivist; and the periodicals (bound volumes and unbound parts) and pamphlets in the Library of the University of Hong Kong. At the same time the Council approved a slight revision of the library rules, to reflect these changed circumstances, and a circular was sent to all members in Hong Kong explaining the new arrangements. In spite of this, usage of the Library remains at a low level. It has not been possible so far to issue a further supplement to the Library Catalogue, as is intended, though most of the books received in the past two years have now been catalogued, and are available for use. We have been fortunate in the acquisition of some important gifts. In June Mr. A. H. Forsyth presented seven books relating to China, mostly out of print and therefore particularly welcome. One of the last acts of the late Dr. J. R. Jones on behalf of the Society was the presentation of a bound set of the Journal of the North China Branch of the Society, of which he was for many years an active member. Starting with the Journal of the Shanghai Literary and Scientific Society (precursor of the N. China Branch), no. 1, June 1858, the set is almost complete to v. 73, 1948, the last volume published. While there have been no purchases of books, the Library continues to grow as a result of the many useful exchanges established with other institutions, and a number of volumes of periodicals received in this way have recently been bound. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q NOTES AND QUERIES 273 judging a Chinaman's respectability. Hence it regards the Committee as a mouth piece of the people". However, rabid critics of the Committee in the foreign population claimed membership on the Committee did not necessarily confer respectability or responsibility. It was claimed that "it is undignified on the part of the Government to treat with the often illiterate managers of a Hospital fund as if they possessed official powers over their fellow countrymen". (C.M. Dec. 3, 1875). The Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy was charged with extending to "men whose positions were of the humblest nature, a sort of patronage which vastly inflated their self-conceit." (C.M. Nov. 8, 1875). These criticisms, however, in no way affected the prestige status given to the Tung Wah Directors by the Chinese community. It recognized the men it elected as those who had fulfilled the achievement standards accepted by the community, In time the exclusive prestige value of the Committee was diminished by Government appointment of Chinese representatives on the Legislative Council and the reorganization of the District Watchmen's Committee into a status group. See H.J. Lethbridge, "The District Watch Committee: "The Chinese Executive Council of Hong Kong'", JHKBRAS 11 (1971), pp. 116-141. The Tung Wah Committee became responsible on behalf of the Chinese Community for being host to visiting Chinese high officials. A number of the Directors had themselves acquired an imperial degree and hence were of a sufficiently elevated rank to mix socially with their guests. Several of the Directors later entered Chinese government service holding office in the diplomatic corps. You will note in some of the museum's old photographs of the Tung Wah functions and in the reproduction of the pictures of the first Committee members that some are dressed in Mandarin costume, wearing the feathers and buttons of the appropriate degree. These they had purchased rather than earned through the literary examination system. Sometime the degree was awarded in recognition of some particularly generous contribution for the welfare of the people of China. Whatever the reason for the degree its recipient was given social deference. Those who had acquired such honours conferred status upon the Tung Wah Committee as a group. Though in Hong Kong today the Tung Wah Hospital Directorship is not so exclusively the status group of the Chinese community, it is still recognized as a mark of achievement to be sought after. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 164 WEI PEH-T'I Governor-General of Yunnan and Kweichow. By this time he was over sixty, a venerated official who had served three reigns. He was an author and scholar of distinction. He had a solid reputation abroad as a pragmatic and honest official. His family was large and despite the loss of a young daughter under tragic circumstances in 1823, by his own assessment he was pleased with his Canton years. The grain storage was full. Fortifications and new examination facilities were constructed. Other public buildings and historical sites were restored, and, of course, the famous Hsueh-hai-t'ang Academy was a reality. The seas were free of foreign war vessels, and at least on the surface, and for the time being, foreign traders and hong merchants were under control. It was not until more than a dozen years later that British commercial interests were able to garner support from their government to challenge the Canton system by force. 1 NOTES J. K. Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast, (Cambridge, Mass., 1953), p. 55. 2 The Chia-ch'ing Emperor's accusations were communicated to Juan Yuan through court letters. See, for instance, Kung-chung-tang – CC 019639 (Palace Memorials, hereafter referred to as KCT). Similar charges were levied against Juan Yuan by the Tao-kuang Emperor in KCT – TK 000013. Both emperors were angry at Juan Yüan because they felt that he was not doing enough to suppress secret society activities in the provinces under his jurisdiction. J. K. Fairbank, op. cit. p. 20; on the other hand, cited Juan Yüan as an example of the "intellectual unpreparedness for Western contact" on the part of Chinese officials of the early nineteenth century. May, 1818. H. B. Morse, The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China 1635–1834, (Taipei reprint edition), III, 316. Select Committee Reports on the East India Company and Trade with China 1821-321, Parliamentary Papers, (Irish University Press edition), 36:540. 5 Chinese Repository, II: 71–72 (June, 1835). 7 Draft Biography, Palace Museum No. 1266(1) Lei-t'ang an-chu ti-tzu chi, 5:106-11 (Chronological account of Juan Yuan's life by his students) hereafter referred as Ti-tzu chi. 8 Hsin-hui hsien-chih (Local gazetteer of Hsin-hui district) 12:16. This is a rather liberal translation. 10 9 Yen-ching shih-chi, (1820) compiled by Juan Yüan, II:7:24-25b. I am grateful to Father Benjamin Videira Pires of Macau, who took me to visit the fort in December 1979, just as the fort was being converted into a tourist hotel. Father Videira is the author of “As Fortalezas de Cidada, em 1741”, in Comunidade, a newspaper published in Macau. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 32 3. J. H. HAAN members who were not elected but appointed. Even when colonial cities obtained a Municipal Council in one form or another as Hong Kong did in 1883 with the Sanitary Board, the later Urban Council, and Singapore in 1856, while it was still under the Bengal Presidency the main government rested in the hands of the Governor and the other appointed Councils. Furthermore, in these cities, if legislative measures had to be taken, approval of one foreign authority was necessary—the one in the metropolitan country. This was in sharp contrast to the administrative system which prevailed in the Settlement. There municipal government consisted of a Municipal Council which was elected from among the foreign ratepayers in accordance with a written constitution termed the Land Regulations. If important byelaws had to be made these had to be approved by both the Council and the general body of foreign ratepayers assembled in Public Meeting as well as by a majority of the foreign consuls and ministers at Peking. This whole procedure was rather unwieldy when it was necessary to answer the new problems which were posed when the population of the Settlement increased (from 15 foreigners in 1844 to 38,940 foreigners and 1,120,860 Chinese in 1935), and when industrialisation gained pace from the 1920s.* As regards the administration of justice, Shanghai equally held a special position. All foreigners belonging to countries having a treaty with China enjoyed extraterritorial rights, that is, in law cases they were tried by their own consuls according to the laws of their own country. This did not obtain in other colonies; there, strangers were prosecuted under the laws of the colony. As for the Chinese in the Settlement they were tried by a so-called Mixed Court, in which a Chinese judge and a foreign assessor sat together on the bench. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 38 J. H. HAAN Public Meetings and the voters I have already quoted some of the articles from the 1845 Land Regulations which dealt with the meetings of landrenters. These provisions were still rather crude, but in the 1854 Land Regulations they were refined in the tenth article, and in those of 1869 in articles IX, X, XV, XVIII and XIX. Moreover to the 1869 Land Regulations were added "Rules of Procedure to be observed at Meetings of Ratepayers". In article IX it was laid down that "it being expedient and necessary for the better order and good government of the Settlement that some provision should be made for the appointment of an executive Committee or Council, and for the construction of public works and keeping the same in repair the Foreign Treaty Consuls, L 1 P or a majority of them, shall, during the month of February or March in each year, and so early in the same as possible, fix the date for the election of the Executive Committee or Council and shall also during the said months give notice of a public meeting to be held within twenty-one days of such notice, to devise ways and means of raising the requisite funds for these purposes"; and article XV provided that "it shall be competent for the Foreign Consuls, collectively or singly, when it may appear to them needful, or for the electors, provided not less that twenty-five agree in writing so to do, to call a public meeting at any time, for the consideration of any matter or thing connected with the Municipality”. Most Public Meetings up to 1896 were probably held at the British Consulate, although a small number were convened elsewhere. The very first one was in Richard's Hotel on December 22, 1846; later some were held at the Shanghai Library (on April 8, 1861 and August 18, 1864). In 1896 a Town Hall was completed (a new one being opened in 1922) and from that date most meetings took place there. Most of the time the British consul was in the chair. Earlier we saw that foreign residents thought that municipal government ought to be based on mutual agreement and consensus; but, it might well be asked, whose agreement? In other words: who were allowed to participate in the elections and discussions at Public Meetings? Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 40 J. H. HAAN It was one of the first manifestations of the fact that after all the land-renters were not sovereign in taking their own decisions and that for important measures the consent of one or more consuls was necessary. For the time being the matter was allowed to rest, but the fact of tenants not having the franchise was again broached in the mid-1860s. Amidst numerous other signs of civic disobedience, a number of tenants refused to pay taxes which they themselves had not voted. Some of them were prosecuted before their respective Consular Courts with the result that in some cases the Municipal Council was proved right and sometimes wrong.23 There was a widespread feeling that tenants could no longer be barred from attending Public Meetings; this feeling was expressed at the meeting of April 15, 1865, by the chairman of the Municipal Council, Henry Dent: "Hitherto the practice has been of only land-renters voting. That this system is wrong in principle can hardly admit of doubt. Ratepayers contribute largely to the taxes and ought certainly to have a voice in matters of taxation. (...)"24 Apart from the principle involved, it was doubtless also an effort to muster support for the Municipal Council from the tenant-ratepayers. The way seemed open for a wider franchise and indeed the new Land Regulations provided for the vote by some tenants (article XIX). The basis was rather restricted, however, and during the deliberations about the Land Regulations on March 12 and 13, 1866, it became clear that many land-renters who until then had exercised sole power—wished to limit the franchise even more than had been foreseen by the Commission which had drawn up the new Constitution. The minimum rent which gave a tenant the right to vote was, therefore, eventually put at 700 taels. The only person who pleaded the cause of the tenants was the British consul, Charles Winchester, whose opinion was "that the article just read (XIX) did not by any means come up to his idea what the franchise should be. One description of right should not alone ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 42 J. H. HAAN This limited franchise might be called the first characteristic of the voting structure in Shanghai. The second was the existence of proxy voting, that is voting by people present at a Public Meeting acting as agents of and voting for persons not present. Neither in the 1845 Land Regulations nor in those of 1854 had any provision for proxy voting been made, yet even before 1854 it was widely used, so we might put the question as to when it was introduced. The first time the matter was considered at a Public Meeting was on June 14, 1851, when the problem was raised as "to whether persons holding special powers of Attorney to deal with the land of parties absent could claim a vote on their behalf at a Public Meeting in addition to their own" 27 It was then argued that "such a system... had never been adopted at Public Meetings of this nature at Shanghai" and consul Alcock was not inclined "to admit the principle on the present occasion”. However, there were apparently some difficulties of a legal nature involved and Alcock thought it wise to consult the Attorney General at Hong Kong, whose advice was negative. Earlier I have drawn attention to the fact that the merchants at Shanghai were very self-conscious as to their self-government and the resolution against the interference from Hong Kong has already been referred to. At the same Public Meeting of May 25, 1852, it was decided, by resolution no. 2, "That all holders of Land within the British limits may specially appoint an Attorney to act for them in their absence; and further that one person may act as Attorney for several renters, and be entitled to vote for each proprietor he may be duly empowered to represent".28 As from that date proxy voting became the established practice at Shanghai and it was incorporated in article XIX of the 1869 Land Regulations. There were evident dangers in this mode of voting. The already rather oligarchical procedure at a Public Meeting might be still more monopolized if a great number of votes were collected by some persons who might then be able to corner the meeting. Moreover, less scrupulous voters might be willing to sell their own vote to the highest bidder. It should be stressed ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 48 J. H. HAAN In practice this meant that only the big commercial houses and other business interests came to be represented on the Municipal Council as virtually no private person paid enough taxes to qualify for membership: if only ten percent were qualified to vote, it may be imagined that the percentage qualified for membership of the Council was even smaller. In the period up to 1865 only one instance has been found of a Municipal Council member who did not originate from a commercial firm, namely Dr. Medhurst of the London Missionary Society, who was on the Council for 1854-55. Otherwise all members belonged to some China house, and it is remarkable that the American firm of Russell & Co. was at the top of the list, being represented seven times during the period 1849-1866, whereas the renowned British firm Jardine, Matheson & Co., very early established in Shanghai, had only one member on the Council and that as late as 1865-66. Later there would hardly be a Municipal Council without Jardines. 40 As befitted an International Settlement, the composition of the Municipal Council was mixed according to nationality. The number of members fluctuated rather wildly in the early years (2 in 1849-50; 3 in 1850-54; then it jumped to 7 for the Municipal Council of 1854-55, to be reduced to 5 the next year and to 3 as from 1856-57; it was increased again to 5 in 1862-63 and to 7 the following year). These changes and enlargements were principally caused by the numerous problems which the Settlement faced at one time or another. In the 1869 Land Regulations it was provided that the Municipal Council would consist of 9 members. In 1927, 3 Chinese members increased it to 12 and another 2 to 14 in 1930. The British and Americans were first in the field at Shanghai and throughout its history they retained their majority on the Municipal Council (until 1930 when they became on a par with other nationalities). The first non-Anglo-Saxon member was a German in the Municipal Council for 1863-64 due to the growing German commercial interests in China. The Germans retained their seat until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. After 1915, their ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 54 J. H. HAAN would, if not have abolished, at least have restricted child labour. But these came to nothing as a result of apathy or hostility on the part of sections of the foreign ratepayers who had to decide about such measures.51 Some years later, in 1933, a byelaw was in fact passed which gave the Municipal Council the right to refuse licences to industrial enterprises and through this indirect way it gained some control over factory conditions. But owing to opposition from the local Chinese administration (of the Shanghai territory outside the Settlement), which was against any new and undue expansion of the functions of the Municipal Council, the new rules were applied only haphazardly. It was true that in 1932 an Industrial Section, under the Secretariat of the Municipal Council, was created, replaced by an Industrial and Social Division in 1940, and the officials of this department sometimes managed to persuade or coax factory owners into the adoption of more humane working conditions,52 but this was all on a rather ad hoc basis. In the 1920s and 1930s more and more pressure arose from the workers, sometimes organised in small trade-unions which were, however, regarded with some distrust by the Settlement authorities (just as they had been in Britain before the abolition of the combination laws in 1824), and numerous strikes, politically or economically motivated, were held. There were a number of reasons for the lack of social legislation in the Settlement, apart from the factors already mentioned. 1. As noted above, the Land Regulations only dealt with the traditional view of government functions. Any additions to the functions of the Municipal Council in the shape of byelaws ― would have to be passed by the Council, the ratepayers, the consuls, and the foreign ambassadors, as well as, in some cases, the Chinese authorities. This cumbrous process alone was in most cases enough to nip any efforts for improvement in the bud. 2. A second major factor was that the Shanghai area consisted of three independent municipalities: The International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Greater Shanghai ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 122 he loved best H. J. LETHBRIDGE 'Yes, there is no doubt he did it, but at the time he did it he was insane',12 That Marshall Hall was baffled by Lock's behaviour is evident. He developed a subsidiary defence that his client had run amok (a line of defence that quickly fizzled out when Lock's son said, in cross-examination, that he had never seen a Chinese behaving in that way). It was also clear that Marshall Hall, like many of his countrymen in 1925, had no firm grasp or understanding of the sociology or anthropology of Chinese society. To run ‘amok' or 'amuck' is a Malay phenomenon; the Chinese have never been accused of this type of behaviour. The Malay word refers to a person who unexpectedly and frenziedly attacks with a kris anyone found in his track, and is only stopped when cut down or otherwise overcome.13 Rather lamely, the eminent K.C. concluded: 'I do not think we can get into the mind of an Oriental'. It was plain that Marshall Hall could not do so. The counsel for the prosecution, Sir Ellis Griffith,1 said in reply to Marshall Hall's impassioned oratory, "The upraised hand and uplifted voice is not for the prosecution'. The jury was out for only twelve minutes before they returned a verdict of 'Guilty'. Mr. Justice MacKinnon was greatly distressed when he came to pass sentence, for this was his first murder trial.1 "You have been convicted by your adopted countrymen of this crime', the Judge said. He exhorted Lock to meet death with the bravery that a man should'. Since Lock had sat impassively 15 poker-faced throughout his trial at the Chester Assizes in 1926 and had asked his friends, before his trial, to see that he was buried next to his wife, the Judge's words have an odd ring. Marshall Hall lodged an appeal but Lock did not bother to attend in London, as was his right. Sir Travers Humphreys writes: 'English juries undoubtedly attach great importance to proof of motive where the evidence against the accused, of having done the act charged, is not very strong; while on the other hand, and particularly in charges of murder, they are quite ready to accept the direction of the trial judge to the effect that if the killing is clearly brought home to the accused, proof of motive ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 134 H. J. LETHBRIDGE by Mrs. Miao. Miao was not in employment, having just finished his studies in America, though he did state he had been offered a legal post in China and was to take it up when he returned from his lengthy honeymoon. Little is known about his father's finances. Presumably he was an official, but had he lost his post when the Nationalists seized power in 1927, or was he dead by then? It was not only a murder for profit, but a premeditated one, planned before he left America. Miao wanted not only his wife's inheritance but her jewellery and other possessions. It has been argued that the real motive for the crime was Mrs. Miao's infertility. She had been told at Albany, so it is alleged, that she would be unable to bear children, and the knowledge depressed her husband. An article in The Sunday Express of March 24, 1929, quotes Miao as saying his wife died willingly to allow him to remarry and have heirs. This story sounds implausible. Divorce was not impossible in China in 1928; in any case, it would have been legitimate for Miao to have taken a secondary wife (tsip), as his wife's father, the Macau merchant, had done on several occasions. Adoption was, and is, a common practice in China and often utilised when a married man has no male heir. Even if Miao had been barred by his devotion to Christianity, a monogamous religion, from either divorcing his wife or taking a concubine, religious scrupulousness does not seem to provide a realistic motive for his crime. One surmises that if the statement were in fact made by Miao, it was an afterthought, a justification for a cruel murder and theft. One would agree with Travers Humphreys that Miao was an ‘odd fellow'; but to the non-murderous most murderers must appear odd, simply because they have indulged in, rather than daydreamed about, murder they have crossed the line that separates the good and the not-so-good from the truly bad. Narrowing the gap Lock Ah Tam and Dr. Miao Chung-yi exemplify, broadly speaking, the two strands of Chinese migration into Britain: uneducated or lower-class Chinese and educated or upper-class Chinese. In 1901, according to MacNair, there were only 387 Chinese reported as resident in England and Wales; 1,319 in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 218 • There are four in the year, but the principal one falls on the nineteenth day of the second moon. * See my "Secular Non-Gentry Leadership of Temple and Shrine Organisations in Urban Hong Kong" pp 113 to 136 of this Journal. * See my article "The Japanese Occupation and the New Territories", South China Morning Post, 15 December 1967. A COMMUNITY SHOOTING BUNGALOW NEAR CHINKIANG, KIANGSU, AND ITS LIBRARY ABOUT 1905 J. W. HAYES The following extracts are taken from A. H. Rasmussen's China Trader, published by Constable of London in 1954. Mr. Rasmussen was barely twenty when he joined the Chinese Customs Service at Chinkiang, where there was a small, lonely British concession. During his first four years, two of the original thirty-five Europeans died, two went mad, two cut their throats, and he himself was twice nearly murdered by smugglers. At this time, as he relates, he was lucky enough to find relaxation and renewal of spirits brought low by the conditions of life and work in shooting wild pig, and in finding a library and visitors' books in a small shooting bungalow in the countryside near the Chinkiang concession. Let him speak for himself. "When the Concession really got me down I 'lifted up mine eyes unto the hills' and got new strength from them. A ride of about eight miles took me to a hill called Wu Chow where for many years there had been a community shooting bungalow for those who were keen on wild boar-shooting. It was rather an expensive sport as it required about fifteen beaters at fifty cents (or one shilling) each a day. Moreover, a rifle had to be bought and fortunately I came across an ancient Lee-Metford single-shot carbine used in the Boer War. I bought it for fifteen dollars. In view of the daily cost it was important to get shooting companions to share in the beating expenses. No serious shooting had been done out there for several years, and no one in the port seemed to know the ropes. I went out one week-end to investigate and to get away from everybody, most of all from my old bored self. Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 129 3. E.J. Eitel (Europe in China, (Hong Kong 1895) p 190) states that this temple was built “75 to 100 years" before 1841. However, a detailed large-scale survey of the Wanchai area of 1843 shows no building on the site, although the temple building is shown on maps from 1846. The temple site is adjacent to the tiny village of Wanchai, shown on the 1843 map but removed in 1845. The villagers received new lots in compensation for the village, and it seems entirely likely that the present temple was built in 1845-46 on one of these compensation lots (personal comment from Rev. Carl J. Smith). Probably, before 1845, there was a small shrine at the foot of the fung shui rock against which the temple now stands rather than a full-scale temple; this is suggested also by Eitel's referring to the temple as Taiwongkung (Earthgod shrine) rather than by its present title of Hung Shing Temple, suggesting a lowly origin. 4. This temple was demolished late in the nineteenth century, and rebuilt at its present Ventris Road site in 1901. There seems to have been a delay between the demolition and reconstruction (see Temple Directory, unpub., Temple Section, Home Affairs Dept. H.K. Government 1980, p.30) and no datable items from the old temple were transferred to the new temple. The temple is shown on maps from the 1860s, but it is not clear if it is shown on Collinson's survey. It was probably built before 1841. 5. This temple was founded in 1845, but the tablet recording this mentions a previous “altar” (19) on the site. The other Shau Kei Wan temples are all later (To Ti, 1877; Tin Hau, 1872; Tam Kung, 1905), although the Tam Kung Temple was also preceded by a simple shrine on or near the site. The governance of the Hong Kong community was in the hands of the Hsin-an magistrate from his yamen at Nam Tau on Deep Bay just outside the present Sino-British boundary. He had assistant magistrates at several places in the district. The officer responsible for the good order of the Hong Kong villages was located at Kwun Fu Shih (17). This sub-magistracy had Page 150 Page 151 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 270 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU In the 1970s when District Officer and Town Manager, Tsuen Wan, my contacts with local village people established that there were families in Lo Wai which had tea bushes on the mountain slopes of Tai Mo Shan. The Hui (4) family of Lo Wai village collected tea from wild bushes near the present radar station at the very top of Tai Mo Shan. One old man, born in 1896, used to collect ten catties a week during the season, commenting that the best time for plucking the leaves was in the third lunar month: the leaves become older and coarser thereafter. This type of tea was described as wan mo (雲霧) ("cloud mist"). He began doing this when he was about 10 years old, selling to other villagers and not to shops or teahouses. He also collected medicinal herbs on the mountain. Another favourable location for wild tea trees on this mountain, he said, was Nam Tong To (南塘肚) where the Shing Mun villagers collected leaves from wild tea bushes there of the same type. Such trees could not be replanted and grown elsewhere, he stated. Separately, old Shing Mun villagers living in Kam Tin since their removal there in 1928 for construction of the Jubilee Reservoir, themselves confirmed their taking of leaves from trees in this locality. In the foothills west of Tsuen Wan, villagers of Yau Kam Tau also collected leaves from wild tea bushes.12 Lantau island possessed a rather special type of red "tea", with a brilliant red infusion, known as tsz pooi tin kwai (紫背天葵). Tsz pooi tin kwai was described to me as being “half herb half tea”. It was used as a kind of cooling tea (清熱茶) for “over-heating” from food or drink, sore throats and the like. The leaves came from a plant growing between cracks in rocks and stones in high gulleys where there was much moisture. The people of Tong Fuk village on south Lantau, at the foot of the Fung Wong mountain, used to collect these from upper slopes. It was also collected by the women inmates of the religious houses of Ngong Ping and others living at the Po Lin monastery there. Some of the produce found its way to shops in Tai O market where one of the leading shopkeepers, chairman of the Rural Committee, gave me some at intervals. According to Shiu-ying's Hu's An Enumeration of Chinese Materia Medica (Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 1980) page 153, it is to be described in English as the Tea Begonia (Begonia fimbristipula) and in Chinese as (紅天葵/紫背天葵).13 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 272 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU Ngam village is situated and that tea growing there had come to the attention of the Botanical Department soon after the lease of the New Territories in 1898. It is, however, of interest to note that contemporary villagers in the areas of these terraces state that their ancestors, as far as they know, had no interest in these terraces, and no-one claims any ownership of them today. Tea was also being cultivated in some localities in San On County in the 1850s. Writing on the county in 1858, Revd. R. Krone stated "Tea is also cultivated in several places and is generally called "Shan-cha” (mountain tea). It has a rather strong astringent taste, but is much liked by the natives, and particularly by those who are of advanced age, who consider that it promotes digestion and cools the system. Many drink only this indigenous tea" 16 To summarize, it is possible that tea cultivation was at one time flourishing in the region. If the terraces I have mentioned were truly tea terraces, it must have been a commercial venture on a large scale. However, since no memory of commercial tea cultivation remains in village tradition, at least in those places where I have made enquiry, final proof is unlikely to be available. On the other hand, the cultivation of tea for local consumption appears to have been practised in many villages in the 19th century and after, and perhaps earlier. The Mau Tso Ngam experience is simply one of many, though it is one of the few in which the practice is still carried out. Finally, may I enter a plea for research on another aspect of village activity, the collection and preparation of medical herbs? Coincidentally, my information also comes mainly from Mau Tso Ngam. When interviewing an old village lady born there in 1884, but married to Hok Tsui village at Cape D'Aguilar on Hong Kong island, I was told about the tea bushes but did not follow it up and, instead, heard more about medicinal herbs. Her information was that her family and those of the main clan in the village, the Chengs, collected and prepared herbs on the hillside for sale in Kowloon City market. They did this all year round when they were not busy in the fields. The herbs had to be washed, dried and chopped or sliced. They were taken for sale four or five times a year. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 274 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU around Lantau Peak. Because of its properties, it has traditionally been collected by local villagers to make "tea". Normally, the fresh or dried leaves are boiled in water, and sugar added if necessary. Apart from local consumption, the leaves are dried for sale in the herbalists' shops at Tai O. Over the years, the plant has been established as a local product of Lantau Island. Hawkers doing business in front of the Po Lin Monastery on Ngong Ping Plateau are also "cashing in" on the trade by bottling the drink for sale to visitors. Because of the thirst-quenching properties and good "cooling effect", the drinks are particularly welcomed by hikers. However, most of the dried leaves for sale there nowadays are in fact imported from Ting Wu and Lo Fu Mountains (#LI, #) in Guangdong Province. The price ranges from $5 to $12 per packet according to weight. The popularity of the drink seems to be declining in recent years, particularly among young people who prefer ready-made soft drinks. This change has in fact helped to conserve the declining population of this plant species on Lantau Peak. NOTES My (PHH) thanks to Mr. K.C. Ho, Assistant Curator, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware for his assistance in preparing this Note, and to Mr. M. Cheung of the Visual Aids Section of the Hong Kong Museum of Art for taking the photographs. Tea trees used for the production of "Hill Tea" in Mau Tso Ngam and elsewhere in the New Territories are plants of Camellia sinensis in common with tea bushes used elsewhere in China in the commercial production of tea. See Plate 33. (Note by K.C. Iu). Plate 34. Plate 35. 5 Plate 36. 6 Plate 37. 7 Plate 38. & This method of preparing green tea is similar to that used in many other parts of China, and involves three steps, viz (a) pan firing, (b) rolling, and (c) roasting. The main purpose of pan firing is to inactivate the enzymes inside the tea leaves (these enzymes must remain active if fermented, rather than green tea, is being made). Rolling releases the tea juices which are considered to be the essence of the tea. The constituents of the juices will stick to the surface of the tea leaves after the final roasting process. Roasting aims to stabilise the process, by baking the leaves to dryness to facilitate storage (Note by K.C. Ho). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 212 agricultural calendar, this falls in September rather than July as in Yunnan. Needham was able to find no references from the north of China to hot air balloons, and this local custom in the New Territories may well be yet one more case of the New Territories villagers sharing with the South Chinese minority tribes a traditional practice not known to the Chinese north of the Kwangtung-Fukien mountains. P. H. Hase + NOTES J. Needham Science and Civilization in China Vol. 4 Part 2, 1965, pp. 595-599 I have not been able to spot any references to hot air balloons in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which contains most of what is told about Chuko Liang. The germ of the connection may be the night signal of seven lamps" which Chuko Liang used at Ch'ishan (Chapter 103, Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Detail in this Note is taken from interviews with Mr. CHÔI Kam-chuen, retired village representative of Tai Wai, Sha Tin, and other Sha Tin and Tuen Mun villagers, and particularly with Mr. LEE, village representative of Wo Hang, Sha Tau Kok, and other Wo Hang villagers. My particular thanks are due to Mr. LEE Man-yip of Wo Hang. + On the importance of those practices, which required the co-operation of village youths, see the author's "Observations at a Village Funeral" in From Village to City ed D. Faure, J. Hayes, A. Birch, Hong Kong 1984, pp. 129-163, espec. pp. 129-137, and also D. Faure The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, Hong Kong, p. 96. Needham op. cit. The Yunnan hot air balloons are quoted by Needham from J. Goullart, The Forgotten Kingdom 1955, p. 178. The Yunnan balloons were fired by bundles of splintered pine twigs, and were able to fly for only a few minutes. The Yunnan balloons. like those in the New Territories, were made of paper pasted over hoops of split bamboo: presumably the hoop was a rim-hoop. A SILVER BRACELET WITH AN ANCIENT GREEK COIN FOUND IN WEWAK, EAST SEPIK PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA A silver bracelet was found in the sand on a raised beach in Wewak, at a depth of approximately 0.5 m in disturbed ground. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 176 Or perhaps Miss Durable might suit your views. Such beauty on a stage is rarely seen How well too they contrived their Crinoline! Oh! Bachelors give up your wretched lives. And take these beauteous damsels for your wives". 85 With hindsight it is of course easy enough to see the wit and irony of these lines and for contemporaries they must have been crystal clear. 96 Not many other accounts have been left to us, but some photographs of a French amateur performance in the early seventies have been published, and there is the following amusing description of a staging on board H.M.S. Scout, when she lay in Shanghai in 1861, of J.M. Morton's farce "Lend me Five Shillings" by one of the participants: Jimmy Towers and I, being the only ladies, had to go ashore to be measured for our clothes which we thought was great fun and I must say Towers who was a handsome boy, when made up and after judicious padding and paint made a most bewitching Julia. I, being rather thin, had to be padded up also and as the sun had taken such liberties with my complexion it required a great deal of paint and labour to make me presentable, and as it was a ballroom scene we had low-neck dresses and bare arms. However we were a success and I believe that those who came off shore never knew that Towers was not really a girl. A discussion then arose as to what to wear under our dresses, and it was decided that white duck trousers were admirably fitted to represent an important article of feminine attire. This, as the sequel proved, was quite correct. The play went on well, until getting too near the footlights I had to turn quickly to prevent my clothes catching fire [candles were used JH] and being unable to manage my crinoline properly, it flew in the air and a young wretch right behind remarked in a voice loud enough for anyone to hear: 'Look at her drawers'. This of course raised a great laugh at my expense". (see also Appendix III, p. 91-93.) ― Despite the often benevolent attitude of the local paper, the actors were well aware of their limitations, as witness the prologue by Peter Proteus on February 18, 1857: And tho' our Acting may not be the best Approve what's pleasing and forgive the rest Rememb'ring what we all must e'en confess ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 213 Our Wife: Count de Brissac: Major Taylor Rosine: Mr. W. Hyslop (of Gibb, Livington & Co) Pomaret, father of Rosine: D.A.C.G. Cooksley Marquis de Ligny: Mr. Stuart Mariette: Lt Maynard of the 31st regiment The Goose with the Golden Eggs: Mr. Turby: D.A.C.G. Cooksley His wife: D.A.C.G. Hayter Clara, their daughter: Mr. A. Broom (of Jardine, Matheson & Co) Bonsor, clerk: Dr. Sexton of the 5th Bombay N.L.I. (native lancers and infantry) Flickster: Li Yonge, 2nd Beloochi regiment After a lapse of almost three years the amateur theatricals took a new lease of life in a tastefully fitted up godown-theatre (for a description see Survey). It was a subscription-night with about 250 spectators, of whom 30 were female. For the first time some real names of actors were given and it became clear that the cooperation of the military had been sought for the occasion. Because the names are no longer phoney, it is finally useful to present a cast list. Among those mentioned was D.A.C.G. (i.e. Deputy Assistant Commissary General) Cooksley who died in July during one of the campaigns against the Taipings, at Quinsan. Fine playing, if one did not mind the pieces. That, however, had become a standard complaint by now. "There was nothing striking or witty in either of the plays so that an occasional local pun or remark interpolated by the actors elicited the greatest applause"; rather sourly the critic continued “this should not be as it interferes with the harmony of the play”. In Our Wife "the gentle blushing Rosine was capitally got up by Mr. HYSLOP who created quite ‘a sensation' when he made his curtsey to the audience". In contrast Mr. STUART "was graceful in his part but lacked energy where it was requisite to give effect to the plot". That female dress was not always easy to wear for the men was underlined when "Lt MAYNARD acted the strong-minded cousin Mariette very fairly, despite the difficulties of crinoline”. In The Goose with the Golden Eggs the Mrs. Turby of D.A.C.G. HAYTER was "the best piece of masculo-feminine performance we have seen". It had to be admitted though that not all men were equally up to female characters: "Clara, as represented by Mr. BROOM, although admirably got up in the coiffure, was rather outré in the dress, especially about the sleeves; while the manner and voice resembled more the roughness of the father than the gentleness of the mother". (NCH 14.2.1863). L 17.2.1863 (Tue) Repeat of 13.2.1863. 2.3.1863 S. LOVER: "The White Horse of the Peppers" (1838) T: Comic drama (2 acts) R.B. BROUGH: "Crinoline*" (1856) T: Farce (1 act) C: Amateurs of the British 31st regiment TH: N.N. R: Cast: The White Horse of the Peppers: Major Hans Mansfeldt: W. Parrott Gerald Pepper: A. Keeble Magdalene: H. MacGuire Crinoline: Mrs. Coobiddy: S. Gale Mr. Coobiddy: W. Phillips Agutha: S. Gule Dillon: J.S. Galbreath Capt. LeBrown: J.S. Galbreath Miss Tite: P. Conron ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 215 Programme: C.M. Von WEBER: "Der Freischütz", overture; by Messrs Essex and Ewing, piano. Sir Henry BISHOP: "Foresters sound the cheerful horn“ (glee). Heinrich PROCH (1809-1878): "Within the grove's deep shadow", a song by Mr. J.P. Tate, W.A. MOZART: String quartet No 7 by Messrs Tate and Howell (violin). Ewing (viola) and Essex (cello). William HORSLEY (1774-1858); "By Celia's Arbour" (glee), F. MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY: "Andante, presto and allegro vivace" (from?) by Messrs Essex and Howell. Ibidem: “Andante and finale" (from?), by Messrs Essex and Howell, Sir Henry BISHOP: "Sleep gentle lady" (glee), William Vincent WALLACE (1813-1865); **The Bellringer", a song by Mr. Essex, F. von FLOTOW: “Allessandro Stradella", fantasia, by Messrs Essex and Howell, William HORSLEY: "See the chariot at hand", song, L. van BEETHOVEN: "Egmont", overture, played on two pianos by Messrs Essex and Ewing. Th: Theatre Royal (G) R: This was the first occasion on which the names of the amateur musicians who entertained the public were mentioned. Some can be traced in the **Shanghai Almanac for 1862”. others belonged to the military forces. Thus the names have come to us of the following gentlemen: H. Cope and E.C. Essex (both of Geo. Barnett & Co). D.A.C.G. Ewing. F.R. Gantwell (Silk broker), A.A. Hayes Jr (of Olyphant & Co), Howell, Inglis, J.M. Nixon (of Blain, Tate & Co). J. Priestley Tate (of Blain, Tate & Co; Municipal Council member 1861-1862) and J. Wheatly (of Reiss & Co). In general the Herald was very satisfied: "It was pleasing to see the gentlemen who volunteered to throw aside for the nonce the cares of business and entertain con amore their less gifted fellow residents with a charming chamber concert. Everything was conducted in a quiet gentlemanly manner so that we imagined ourselves in a drawing room more than a theatre. There was no attempt at grandeur of display or extraordinary performance on special instruments which characterize too much the quasi-musical taste of the day where the composition of the author is sacrificed frequently to the execution of the performer and the audience is led to think more of the latter than the former". These were rather stringent remarks for someone living in an area where very few opportunities arose to compare musical qualities of instrumentalists. Yet the argument of faithfulness to the author's or composer's intentions crops up from time to time and that was obviously regarded as important by the Herald. Unfortunately the acoustics of the theatre were not of the very best so that "Mr. TATE's delicate tenor voice (in the song by Proch) could not fill the house sufficiently for all to hear the diminuendo passages of his beautiful voice". (NCH 18.4.1863). The Lancashire Relief Fund had been established in order to help those in Britain who had become a victim of the stoppage of cotton imports from the Southern states of America (due to the Civil War), with the result that numerous labourers in the mills were laid off. 29.4.1863 (Wedn) Performances by the amateurs of the Royal Artillery. No titles of plays were recorded. Th: Theatre Royal (G) R: In consequence of the "great success" a "Second Fashionable Night” would be given on May 4th (NCH 2.5.1863). 4.5.1863 (Thur) As on 29.4.1863. 1.8.1863 (Sat) The last of a series of performances by Mr. Smythe's company. Soloists: Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Martin Simonsen (violin) Th. N.N. (H) Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 224 F. TALFOURD: "A Household Fairy" (1859) T: Domestic sketch (1 act) "Aurora Floyd". HED lists the following authors: C.S. CHELTNAM (1863), C.H. HAZLEWOOD (1836), J.B. JOHNSTONE (1836), B. WEBSTER (1863). In addition, Adams' "Dictionary of the Drama" mentions W.E. SUTER. C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Benefit of J.B. Creswick R: NCH 26.11.1864, advertisement only 3.12.1864 (Sat) L.B. BUCKINGHAM: "Take That Girl Away" (1855) T: Comic drama (2 acts) J.M. MORTON: "A Capital Match" (1852) T: Farce (1 act) C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Benefit of Miss Lizzie Naylor R: NCH 3.12.1864, advertisement. 9.12.1864 (Fri) Benefit of Mr. Henry Birch of the Lewis Company. No titles of plays were mentioned. (NCH 10.12.1864) 10.12.1864 (Sat) Farewell performance, also the benefit of Mr. Lewis, of Lewis Australian Drama Company. No titles of plays were mentioned (NCH 10.12.1864). R: No detailed reviews of the Lewis season were published in the North China Herald, only short announcements. It is quite well possible that more nights than the above ones were given, but they have not been recorded. In general, the company had attracted rather full houses, but for the 9th "home sweet home" was preferred; "the unfavourable state of the weather prevented many ticketholders from putting in an appearance" (NCH 10.12.1864) November and December 1864 Performances by the "Christy Minstrels". Th. N.N. R: Another travelling company that visited the port in these months were the "Christy Minstrels" (see also Survey). They too managed reasonably to fill the theatre (it was not stated where the performances took place, but as the Lyceum Theatre was occupied by Lewis, it must have been another location - perhaps the Olympic Theatre). "No boredom here for by a pleasing variety they prevent that weariness which even the finest display of musical talent must, through frequent repetition, occasion" (NCH 26.11.1864). In September they had visited Macao (BGM 5.9.1864) and before December 10 they departed for Hong Kong (NCH 10.12.1864). 22.12.1864 (Thur) Performance by the Portuguese Amateur Dramatic Corps. R: It was "as usual largely attended" (NCH 24.12.1864). 28.12.1864 (Wedn) R.B. BROUGH: "Medea" (1856) T: Burlesque (1 act) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 227 A. DUMAS: "Camille" T: Drama C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: The drama Camille, an English adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' "La Dame aux Camélias" was, in the eyes of the Commercial Record (5.5.1865) "singularly unfitted for the powers of the performers. Miss Rose EDOUIN acted with her usual ability but as the heroine is a character almost impossible to render we must not object where we cannot praise”. Miss Jenny NYE starred in the farce Which is Which? written by a member of the company, Mr. GILL, who himself was a “capital low comedy actor”. 28.3.-5.4.1865 J.B. BUCKSTONE: "The Flowers of the Forest" (1847) T: Musical drama (3 acts) J.B. BUCKSTONE: “Isabella or Woman's Life" (1834) T: Drama (3 acts) D.W. JERROLD: "Black-eyed Susan" (1829) T: Musical drama (3 acts) T.J. WILLIAMS: "Nursery Chickweed" (1859) T: Farce (1 act) "Kenilworth", possibly by A. HALLIDAY and F. LAWRANCE (1858) T: Burlesque "Mr. and Mrs. Peter White", anon. (1854) T: Farce (1 act) "Rob Roy”, Numerous pieces with this title are listed in HED. i.a. by W.H. MURRAY (1818) and C.H. HAZLEWOOD (1864). C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: More than the Herald, the Record went into a rather detailed description of the Lewis season. Thus about Flowers of the Forest it wrote that there was "an energy of revenge predominating all through the play while the occasional glimpse of pathos, combined with the jovial jocularity of the gipsys, tone down the otherwise tragic situations. Miss Rose EDOUIN, Miss NAYLOR and Mr. CRESWICK acted with power and well restrained manner“, Mr. CRESWICK “possesses great dramatic force and expresses himself well. His manner is somewhat stiff, but appearances before larger and more requiring audiences will obviate this habit", "His voice is good but somewhat monotonous of lone" (SCR 5.5.1865). 8.4.1865 (Sat) W. BROUGH: "Perdita" (1856) T: Burlesque (1 act) J.B. BUCKSTONE: "A Lesson for the Ladies” (1838) T: Comedy (3 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Rose Edouin's benefit R: NCH 22.4.1865: no review, 11.4.1865 (Tue) J.B. BUCKSTONE: "A Dead Shot" (1827) T: Farce (1 act) J. KENNEDY: "Sweethearts and Wives” (1856) T: Burlesque (3 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 229 19.4.1865 (Wedn) W.B. GILL: "Aurora Floyd burlesqued" J. TOBIN: "The Honeymoon" (1805) T: Comedy (5 acts) N.N.: A Rourer* C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Mr. W.B. Gill's benefit R: SCR 22.4.1865; no review 21.4.1865 (Fri) W. EDQUIN: A Christmas Pantomime C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) N: Mr. Willie Edouin's benefit R: At a rather odd time of the year there was a Christmas Pantomime written by Willie Edouin, a member of the company (of Survey). Again the Shanghai Commercial Record was enthusiastic: "This bold venture was completely successful. The local hits were clever and met with great applause. The usual jokes, fun and frolic were duly given and some of the jumping very dexterously gone through. The get up and accessories of the said pantomime deserve all praise and the dresses and costumes were remarkably tasteful. JULIA EDOUIN danced with her usual grace and elegance. Miss NYE was particularly pretty and helped in a great way to make the performance lively and amusing”. All in all it “would be long remembered by those who saw it as a decided hit in the theatrical annals of Shanghai". About Jenny NYE the Record wrote further: "The lightness and airiness of her motion and unaffected style did much to relieve some very heavy and stilted acting. Her manner is composed and, never attempting to do too much, always ends in doing well. Simplicity of manner is not a fault and a graceful quietness in acting has often more effect than the lofty dignity of a Tragedy Queen" (SCR 5.5.1865). 25.4.1865 (Tue) D. BOUCICAULT: "The Colleen Bawn" (1860) T: Drama (3 acts) C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: Tonight Dion Boucicault's most famous Irish play, The Colleen Bawn, was given. The Record (5.5.1865) thought it a "bold step for any company to attempt in Shanghai". But the result was a success: "the actors entered into their parts with a determined earnestness to succeed and on the whole it may be classed as a creditable performance". Earlier, however, it had stated that the play "depends much more on scenery than on acting", a judgement that was hardly likely to please the author as it was not his intention to write a purely melodramatic piece, that indeed often heavily relied on spectacular Stage effects. 26.4.1865 (Wedn) W. SHAKESPEARE: "Richard III”, act V T: Tragedy N.N.: The Frantic Husband** and probably: A. MAYHEW & H.S. EDWARDS: "The Goose with the Golden Eggs" (1859) T: Farce (1 act) C: Lewis A.D.C. Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 232 not heard before and of which the best that can be said is that they are decidedly original. They seemed an imitation of the noise of braying of donkeys, but still they elicited great applause from the gallery [which was generally not regarded as very complimentary JH] perhaps from a certain feeling of sympathy. An amateur played Weber's "Aufforderung zum Tanz" with a "perfect feeling". To conclude the evening Mme SIMONSEN sung the "Valse de concert" (composer unmentioned) in which "she displayed her powers more than in any other piece she has sung" (SCR 22.5.1865). 24.5.1865 (Wedn) H. MAYHEW: "The Wandering Minstrel“ (1834) T: Farce (1 act) J.P. PLANCHE: "The Knights of the Round Table” (1854) T: Drama (5 acts) C: Amateurs of the Shanghai Mounted Rangers F: Music by the Band of the 67th Regiment; prologue read by Capt. Markham Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) ― R: In lieu of the old time favourites, Messrs Brushwood, Pickwick, Newcome and Mrs. Nesbit had come new faces. Most foreigners had not yet made Shanghai their permanent place of residence, so turnover in the theatre too was rather high. Tonight could be admired Mr. SMALLWEED who, in the Knights of the Round Table, as "the blameless king shewed a keen appreciation of his part and while he delivered the burlesque passages with much humour, proved by the taste with which he pronounced the prophetic eulogium on the Queen of England that he need not necessarily confine himself to broad burlesque in order to gain well-merited applause"; Mr. Edmund (also a member of the Amateur Burlesque Company) won golden opinions as Launcelot, whereas Mr. PEEKT as Merlin "displayed much cleverness in personating feeble old men". In The Wandering Minstrel "Mr. R.T. Larff, better known to the theatrical world as Mr. Wynnge (did this mean that he had two stage names? JH) sustained the reputation he has already gained as a low comedian and makes us the less deplore the absence of the well known and inimitable Brushwood” (last recorded performance 10.5.1860). Of course the female roles were taken by men, which led, as it always does, to some ridiculous scenes: "The company possesses great strength in the important particular of lady performers. The only drawback which, however, is immaterial in burlesque, lies in the great height and muscular development of the fair ones". Yet Miss Mary MIDDLESEX "bore away the palm for natural feminine get-up" and "nothing could excel the dash which Kate COVENTRY threw into the part of the vivandière", (NCH 27.5.1865). That not all patrons were equally pleased became evident from the Shanghai Commercial Record (5.6.1865) when it wrote: "an allusion which was considered too personal led to a corresponding in our columns" (i.e. the "Shanghai Recorder" which to the great regret of all historians treating the history of foreign Shanghai can no longer be found). At the end of the evening a number of toasts were proposed, among others to "Alabaster, to whose exertions much of the success of the company was due". This was a reference to Chaloner Alabaster (1831-1890), the British vice-consul who was also active in the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. In conclusion the Herald reported that "the arrangements were excellent and notwithstanding the warmth of the evening and the crowded state of the theatre, the air within the walls did not become oppressively hot. Punkahs were slung over the front seats and during the temporary pauses kept up a current of air", 27.5.1865 (Sat) Performance by Mr. Benjamin Seare. Programme unknown (reading, etc) Th: Lyceum Theatre (1) R: Both the Herald and the Record agreed that Mr. SEARE "is possessed of great talent" ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 95 successful in winning scholarships to England under the terms of the British Boxer Indemnity Fund. The tea party was held in the grounds of a lovely little Elizabethan-style house recently opened as the headquarters of the Sino-British Cultural Association. It was hard to believe that all the work of reconstruction, the town planning, the laying out of parks, the building of government offices, which had continued uninterrupted since Nanking had become the capital, those material expressions of the national effort to drag administration out of the centuries-old morass of incompetence and venality, were so soon to be wrecked. The fighting in the north went badly for the Chinese, who were repeatedly compelled to withdraw. They accordingly decided to divert the Japanese effort to a terrain more favourable to themselves, and nearer to the main bases of their army. Two divisions were concentrated on the outskirts of Shanghai, and it was their attempt in August to drive the small Japanese garrison into the Whangpoo, the tributary of the Yangtze on which Shanghai stands, that unleashed the aerial war in central China. The Chinese light bombers tried to sink the Japanese flagship, H.I.J.M.S. "Idzumo", where she lay anchored off the Shanghai waterfront, and the Japanese retaliated by attacking Chinese airfields in the vicinity of Shanghai, Hangchow, and Nanking. Realising the danger of air raids, but without experience, the authorities in Nanking in an excess of zeal issued instructions that all light-coloured buildings were to be painted black, and so through the advancing days the view from our windows turned from the bright red and green of brick and tile to a blurred dirty grey. Even the white and blue omnibuses were changed to match the mud of the roadway. For our part we got hold of some bituminous paint and caused it to be spread on our red-tiled roof; but in the course of time rain streaked it and spoiled the effect. The first air raid caught us by surprise at lunch on August 15th. A warning system had been established, but when the 'phone rang to advise us that the alarm had gone we did not know what to do. Someone remembered we had a large Union Jack in the attic, which after some discussion, feeling rather foolish, we decided to spread on the lawn. Tim, the pup, thought it was a new toy to be pulled at and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 199 its name - and the road from Sha Tau Kok to Yuen Long. (3) The 1819 Gazetteer adds specific references to the route from Sha Tau Kok to Kowloon (ARG.MM. AM 4) The Sham Chun to Sha Tau Kok road is not specifically mentioned in the Gazetteers, but undoubtedly also existed at this time; the Cheung Sha Kwu Tsz at the summit of the pass on this road was founded in 1789, in part as a place of shelter for travellers on the road. See P.H. Hase, "Cheung Sha Kwu Tsz, an Ancient Buddhist Nunnery in the New Territories, and its Place in Local Society", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29, 1989, pp. 121-157. 52 See 1688 Gazetteer, ch. 7, and 1819 Gazetteer, ch. 11, Chung Lap Pao edition, 1979, p. 12. See P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. It is possible that the salt fish trade in this part of Mirs Bay was centred on Kat O rather than Sha Tau Kok, although the fresh trade was certainly predominant at Sha Tau Kok. There were "many salt fish dealers" on Kat O in 1891 (Basel Mission Archive, doc. Al-25, No. 70). by 54 These figures are calculated from the surveys of traffic on the roads in the area conducted by the Hong Kong Government in advance of the construction of railways in the area. See File CQ882(PRO London, copy at PRO Hong Kong), despatch no. 59, Sir Matthew Nathan to Mr. Lyttelton, received Feb. 13th, 1905, and File CO129/376(PRO London, copy at PRO Hong Kong), despatch no. 165 (page 582), from Sir Frederick Lugard to Rt. Hon. Lewis Harcourt, 28th April, 1911. The surveys were carried out on Dec. 11 and 12, 1904, and Dec. 26 and 29, 1910. The surveys were somewhat summary, but they suggest total traffic of this approximate amount. The Governor, in 1904, calculated that they suggested an annual total of 250,000 persons travelling on the road, with a quarter of them being coolies carrying loads. These statistics are taken from the 1910 surveys noted in n. 34. The figures in the surveys have been analysed and averaged to give the totals given in the text. The surveys consisted of a head-count of people passing a given spot, mostly the summit of the local passes (Shek Chung Au, Wo Hang Au, Miu Keng Au). The surveys were conducted twice, once on a non-market day, and once on a market day. The averages have taken into account the number of market and non-market days in each month. The Governor noted that the numbers of travellers was much higher at peak seasons, such as when the rice crop was being carried to Sham Chun. Taking all the imperfections of the statistics into account, they can still be used to give an impression of the amount of traffic in the area. The figures seem high, but to put them into perspective, they are the equivalent of 1 lorry-load of goods entering the town every hour, and three double-decker buses every hour of a twelve-hour day. 56 Administrative Reports for the Year 1926, App. J, "Report on the New Territories for 1934", p. J2. 57 I would like to express my very sincere thanks to those elders, especially those in Wo Hang, who have suffered the long hours of questioning that I have subjected them to on this issue, and especially the late Mr. Lee Yau Shi, and Mr. Lee Chung (Lee San-tuen), both born in 1907, and Mr. Yau Chu, born in 1911. I would also like to thank Mr. M.Y. Lee for his indefatigable help in setting up meetings and translating. Without his help, this article could ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 105 H.M.S. HERMES1: CHINA STATION, 1930/33 JONATHAN PARKINSON In volume 41 of the Society's Journal, pages 326/328, to illustrate his article Keith Stevens kindly reproduced photographs of the aircraft carrier HERMES at Hankow during the great floods of 1931. This was not her only rather unusual experience of this commission. On passage from Sheerness, where on 3rd October 1930 she had re-commissioned under the command of Captain E.J.G. Mackinnon, DSO, HERMES spent Christmas at Singapore. Approaching Hong Kong on Friday, 2nd January 1931 she passed Gap Rock2 at 0357 hours and four hours later flew off her aircraft of Flights 403 and 440 to Kai Tak. At 1039 she secured to No. 1 buoy in Victoria Harbour. The Governor of Hong Kong at the time was Sir William Peel. He spent most of Tuesday, 20 January at sea in the ship witnessing flying exercises. The destroyer THRACIAN, Commander N.L. Veresmith, conveyed His Excellency from and back to the colony. After lunch on 5th June HERMES slipped for Wei-Hai-Wei. There the climate in summer enabled exercises to be carried out with greater zest than in the steamy waters off South China. Once clear of Lyemun Pass her aircraft flew on. She had an easy passage up the coast and through the Formosa Strait. During the morning of 9th June when crossing the Yellow Sea full power trials were carried out during which she achieved 25 knots. Just before noon, HERMES once more proceeding at her economical speed of 12 knots, the easternmost promontory of the Shantung peninsula was sighted. Two hours later the atmosphere onboard changed abruptly. A signal was received from MARAZION,3 Commander E.A. Aylmer, reporting that the submarine POSEIDON had been sunk in a collision. Captain Mackinnon altered course and increased speed to 19 knots. Another boiler was flashed up and shortly thereafter our ship was... ================================================================================