RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h CONTENTS PRESIDENT'S REPORT HON. TREASURER'S REPORT HON. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT ARTICLES: Dan Waters LIBRARIES 138 1937. vii AR In the Steps of Lu Pan: Reminiscences of Building in Hong Kong K.J.P. Lowe Hong Kong, 26 January 1841: Hoisting the Flag Revisited Keith Stevens The Jade Emperor and his Family, Yu Huang Ta Ti Keith Stevens - Fukienese Wang Yeh (Ong Ya [Hokkien]) P.H. Munro-Faure The Kiukiang Incident of 1927 A.D. Blackburn Hong Kong, December 1941 July 1942 Chan Ka-yan Joss Stick Manufacturing: A Study of a Traditional Industry in Hong Kong P.H. Hase Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz, An Old Buddhist Nunnery in the New Territories and its Place in Local Society J.H. Haan Thalia and Terpsichore on The Yangtze, Survey of Foreign Theatre and Music in Shanghai 1850-1865 Fred Dagenais John Fryer's Early Years in China: I. Diary of His Voyage to Hong Kong Chan Wing-hoi The Dangs of Kam Tin and Their Jiu Festival xxi xxiii 8 18 34 61 77 94 121 158 252 302 NOTES AND QUERIES: E. Sinn Notes on the Robert Hart Papers at the University of Hong Kong Library 376 P.H. Hase A Song from Sha Tau Kok on the 1911 Revolution 382 P.H. Hase The Mutual Defence Alliance (Yeuk) of the New Territories 384 P.H. Hase - More on The Man the Emperor Decapitated 388 Issei Tanaka The White Tiger 389 Keith Stevens - British Chinese Labour Corps Labourers Buried in England 390 Anthony Siu Kwok-kin The History of Hong Kong: From A Village to A City 391 Anthony Siu Kwok-kin Historical Records Anthony Siu Kwok-kin BOOK REVIEWS Tai Yu Shan from Chinese 394 A Tung Lo Wan 399 400 V ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 252 JOHN FRYER'S EARLY YEARS IN CHINA: I. Diary of His Voyage to Hong Kong FRED DAGENAIS* John Fryer (1839-1928) is perhaps best known as a translator of English language books on science and technology into Chinese. During a period of three decades as head of the translation department at the Kiangnan Arsenal (1867-1896), Fryer worked to translate and publish over 100 works. Fryer's translations were well-received by Chinese intellectuals, often reprinted, and were widely distributed. His translations, along with the translations of others, thus made available the then state-of-the-art Western science and technology to late Ch'ing reformers and intellectuals. During adolescence Fryer was caught up in the religious fervour of the mid-nineteenth century and the enthusiasm for things Chinese. He began his career as a pupil teacher at St. James' School in Bristol and completed his education at Highbury Training College in London. His principal at Highbury, the Reverend (later Bishop) Charles R. Alford, recruited him to serve as headmaster of St. Paul's College in Hong Kong, a school for Chinese boys sponsored by the Church Missionary Society. He worked as headmaster of St. Paul's from 1861 until 1863, when he went to Peking to become a "professor" at the T’ung-wen Kuan, or Government sponsored "Interpreter's College". While in Peking Fryer continued his association with the Church Missionary Society under the guidance of the Reverend (Later Bishop) James Shaw Burdon. In 1865 he was asked by the Church Missionary Society to become superintendent of the Anglo-Chinese School in Shanghai, where he worked until 1868, when he joined the arsenal at Kiangnan. Fryer sailed for Hong Kong on March 10, 1861. He reached Victoria on July 30th, after a voyage of 142 days, including a brief stop in Batavia, seven days before his 22nd birthday. The voyage was not unlike voyages * Centre for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Editor's Note. It is hoped to publish a series of accounts of Hong Kong and its environs written by John Fryer in this and the next issues of the Journal. They have been edited by Dr. Dagenais, who is preparing a full edition of Fryer's papers. A portrait of Fryer is at Plate 22. A few minor editorial changes to Fryer's text have been made to remove possible ambiguities and to conform with current usage. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 254 than one paragraph, the original paragraph break is marked by a caret. The stylistic “&” and “&c” have been changed to "and" and "etc." and certain numbers and fractions spelled out. John Fryer left China in 1896 to become the first Agassiz Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He held that post until 1914, at age 75, when he became Professor Emeritus. During his Berkeley years he worked to establish courses in the Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, and Malay languages, and to present Chinese and East Asian cultures to a wide audience. He was quite vocal in advocating the training of Chinese students at American universities at a time when it was not popular to do so. He forcefully supported the training of Americans in East Asian languages and cultures for eventual consular, commercial, and missionary work. He foresaw the need to integrate the study of language, literature, and culture, with emphasis on economics and political science, in a multi-cultural context. He was an early, perhaps the first, academic advocate of what we now call Pacific Rim studies. Upon his death in 1928 he left his personal library, his letterbooks, and his manuscripts to the University of California. The letterbooks and manuscripts are available in the archives of The Bancroft Library. His letters and manuscripts are currently being assembled and edited for publication. In addition to the "Diary of Voyage to China” the John Fryer papers in The Bancroft Library contain manuscripts titled “First Impressions of Hong Kong and the Chinese People” (August 1861), “Account of Three Days Excursion on the Mainland of China” (January 1862), and "A Fortnight's Adventure in China and Mongolia" (May 1865). These essays are of sufficient historical interest to warrant separate publication and will be presented in future issues of this Journal, NOTES 'A biography, primarily dealing with Fryer's translation efforts, is available in Adrian A. Bennett's John Fryer: The Introduction of Western Science and Technology into Nineteenth-century China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), published as Harvard East Asian Monograph 24. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 255 DIARY OF VOYAGE TO CHINA* From March 10, 1861 to August 6, 1861 It is with a combination of curious feelings that this journal is commenced. There is a mingled hope and fear, gloom and light, anticipations of a bright future, and occasional forebodings of ill. Yet whatever may befall, whether pleasure or pain, prosperity or adversity, it is a joyful fact that nothing can happen unless directed by a Father's hand. Jesus knows all, and safe under his guidance all will be well. Sunday, March 10th Went on board at ten o'clock, and just put matters straight enough in the cabin to be able to spend the Sabbath. About eleven I came on deck, just as the vessel began to move out of the basin. She was towed down the Thames. A great crowd of people saw her departure. As she floated down the Thames I often gave way to melancholy thoughts, when I considered all I was leaving behind, and all that is in store for me. Sometimes the burden felt greater than I could bear. Yet I felt that Jesus was with me, and under his guidance I feared no ill: it was my Father's business I was about, and surely he would give me grace and strength to perform it. The Prince Alfred went easily down the river, and cast anchor off Gravesend. On board were several people, friends of the captain, who although it was Sunday, were going to Gravesend for a holiday and treat, at his expense. They were a swearing set of fellows, and seemed to be old captains of ships. A Sunday in such company I never spent. I would not go to lunch with them, and at dinner time I was glad when all was over, and I could be alone in my cabin. But even here their shouting and laughing, when the wine and spirits began to take effect, was a great nuisance to my ears and mind. I never spent such a Sunday in my life. So as soon as it grew dusk I fastened my cabin, made up a bed and tried to sleep. For two days I had had a headache, which now grew worse, and very little sleep I had. My cabin, although in the quietest part of the ship, is rather the worse for noise. Every person that walks overhead on the deck is distinctly heard, and the noise is enough to keep one awake, to say nothing of the rolling of the ship. * From the John Fryer Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 148 that accompany this essay. Other illustrations include a photograph of the college found in the Fryer Papers and photographs of the college as it looks at present. Finally, a photograph of Fryer with a group of students was used as centerpiece for a holiday greeting card by Fryer in 1927-28, 66 years after his impressions of Hong Kong were formed, and eight months before his death at age 88: it is also included. NOTES Published in Vol. 29 (1989) pp. 252-301 of this Journal as "Diary of Voyage to China: From March 10, 1861 to August 6, 1861", Richard G. Irwin, "John Fryer's Legacy of Chinese Writings" (mimeo.) n.d. There is no evidence for this in Fryer's extant writings, but it is known that Dr. Irwin had contact with Fryer's eldest son, retired Professor Charles Edmund Fryer, of McGill University, in the early 1950s. Presumably this and other information on Fryer's life that cannot be verified at present was transmitted during that contact. 1 See note 10 in Fryer's "First Impressions" + See Plates 2-5. " FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG AND THE CHINESE PEOPLE' St. Paul's College. August 7th! My dear Parents, relations, and friends. Being now comfortably settled down in my new abode, I am going to give you a closer insight into the place, and of my new style of living. Knowing how inquisitive mothers, etc., generally are I mean to go into every little particular, just to gratify all curiosity, and this yarn being passed around will save having to insert it in every letter. And now to begin with Hong Kong itself. Hong Kong is a small rocky island, about half a mile from the mainland of China. It is about 26 miles round. The centre is nothing but hills of hard granite, covered with scanty vegetation. Yet there are numerous ravines and valleys which are fertile, and well watered. Among these "Happy Valley" ranks as the most eminent. It is indeed a lovely place. Behind the town the hills rise to the height of nearly 2000 feet. On the top of the Peak of Victoria stands a small lake which from its romantic position is an object of interest. The summit is obtained by ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 158 [Lower Albert Road] Road, with trees on each side, & seats. There is a splendid sea view. High wall. The ground rises high. Gate Way Ascending foot path (40ft above road) Foot path. Ascending G. น Trees Towar Room Verandah Shrubbery. &c + Bishop's Drawing Room Shrubbery, &c Road Garden Shrubbery &c High Embankment Ice House Street] Op's Dining Room Porch Hall Avenue Servants' Room Pantry, do Compradora's Room Students' Instruction Room College Chapel Porch Students' Dining Room Rooms of upper servants, &c Tutor's Bath Room Verandah Garden, Play Ground Offices. Lower Servants Rooms Kitchen Lower Servants Rooms + + - Lawn, laid out with trees &c Trees &c High Embankment & Declivity, planted thickly with Trees Garden, Trees &c Two Houses, very much higher up than the college, whose rent goes to support the college Steep Hill Ground Floor Plan (Rendering of a sketch-plan by Fryer, August 1861. The original including the Second Floor Plan, is pen-and-ink and colour wash, Original in the John Fryar Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Road names in square brackets added) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 NOTES 167 From manuscripts in the John Fryer Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. The title on the holograph was added in pencil at the top of the page and underlined; a pencil was used to cross out the salutation, probably at the time when the title was added prior to typing many years later. In transcribing this material I have followed the holograph document. Minor changes have been made to bring punctuation and use of numbers into conformity with modern usage and to improve readability. Editorial additions are in square brackets. Fryer tended to write run-on paragraphs; a caret indicates where long paragraphs have been broken up. Colons and semicolons are not easily distinguished in the holograph; Fryer was inconsistent in his use of the apostrophe. 1 Fryer mentions below that it has been a fortnight since his arrival. This would place the date for this letter around August 13, 1861. 4 A sketch of the general plan of St. Paul's College, drawn in ink and tinted with watercolors by Fryer, accompanies the holograph document. See Plans in text, redrawn from Fryer's sketch plan. 4 Fryer generally wrote "&" in his handwritten letters, but converted these to "etc." and "and" in his typewritten transcriptions. Fryer became engaged to Anna Roleston of Chudleigh, Devon, before embarking for Hong Kong, The Second Anglo-Chinese War, 1858-1860, which led to a stoppage of much of the trade of Hong Kong with China to 1861. # This is one of the rare examples of Fryer's use of hyperbole; other examples can be detected below. HI The Reverend George Smith, Bishop of Victoria. Rev. William Roberts Beach arrived in Canton in 1853 sponsored by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He joined the Church of England in 1855. In 1857 he became Warden of St. Paul's College and Chaplain to the Bishop of Victoria. His other appointments included a period in Macao as Missionary Chaplain in 1857, and service as Chaplain to the Forces under Sir Hope Grant in 1861. He was appointed Colonial Chaplain and Canon of St. John's Cathedral by the Rev. Alford, who in 1867 became "Lord Bishop of the see of Victoria, and Warden (for the Church Missionary Society) of St. Paul's College'. (see E. J Bitel, Europe in China, Hong Kong: Kelley and Walsh, 1895. p. 466.) Alford was Principal of Highbury Training College, London, at the time when John Fryer was enlisted for work at St. Paul's College. || This was the College in Staunton Street, later renamed St. Saviour's (1863), and then (1875) St. Joseph's. זן Fryer travelled to Hong Kong on the sailing ship Prince Alfred. Published in Volume 29 (1989) of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 14 See Plans in Text. 15 See Plates 2-4. 16. Charles R. Alford; see note 10. דן * "animals" standard English school master-speech for "schoolboys". श्र Possibly the British Museum. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 Plate 2: St. Paul's College in 1861. John Fryer was an avid photographer, and it is likely that this photo was taken by him. Original in the John Fryer Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Courtesy, The Bancroft Library. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 Cordial Christmas and New Year's Greetings with Best Wishes 1927 - · 1928 આણંદ Four of my Chinese Students at St. Paul's College, Hongkong, Photographed 66 Years Ago. From John Fryer 2620 Durant Avenue Berkeley California U. S. A. Plate 5: Greeting Card sent by John Fryer in 1927. Fryer died in July 1988, just before his 88th Birthday. Original in the John Fryer Papers. The Bancroft Library, University of California. Berkeley. Courtesy. The Bancroft Library. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 194 Baddeley, John Frederick (1854-1940) ed, Russia, Mongolia, China, London Macmillan, 1919 (NY B Franklin 1967 mostly memoirs of Russian envoys from beginning of 17th century to end of reign of Alexander I). Baikov, Feodor Isakovich, An Account of Two Voyages. First of Feodor Isakovitz Backhoff to China, Second Zachary Wagener, a Native of Dresden also in China, in Churchill, Awnsham, compilers, A Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1744, v 2, 474-478 Ball, Benjamin Lincoln, Rambles in Eastern Asia, Including China During Several Years' Residence (1848-1850), Boston J French, 1856. Barnett, Eugene Epperson. As I Look Back, Recollections of Growing Up and Twenty-six Years in Pre-Communist China 1888-1936, typescript Barr, Patricia Miriam, To China with Love, the Lives and Times of Protestant Missionaries in China 1860-1900, London Secker and Warburg, 1972 Barrow, Sir John, Travels in China, London T Cadell and W Davis, 1806 (Listed in Yale University Library catalog as Some Account of the Public Life, and Selection from the Unpublished Writings, of the Earl of Macartney and the date of publication is given as 1807) Barzini, Luigi, Pekin to Paris, An Account of Prince Borghese's Journey Across Two Continents in a Motor-Car, translated from the Italian, London, 1907, Bates, Lincoln Wallace Jr, The Russian Road to China, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin, 1910. Beattie, Hilary J, Protestant Missions and Opium in China, 1858-1895, Papers on China, 22A 115-156 (1969) Becker, C H, et al, The Reorganization of Education in China, Paris. League of Nations, 1932 Bell, John, A Journey From St Petersburg to Pekin 1719-22, edited with an Introduction by J L Stevenson, Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press. (NY Barnes and Noble reprint 1966) Bennett, Adrian A, John Fryer the Introduction of Western Science and Technology into Nineteenth-Century China, Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 1967 Bergeron, Marie Ina, Letters a Yeou-wen, Souvenirs de Chine, Tours Mame, 1973 Berry-Hart, Alice, Ching-a-Ring-a-Ring-Ching or Three Victorian Sisters in Shanghai, London. Rex Collins, 1977) Billingsley, Phil, Bandits in Republican China, Stanford Stanford University Press, 1988 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 CONTRIBUTORS Patrick Hase is a Council Member of the HKBRAS, a former Hon. Editor (Journals) and currently Editor of Books. He is a retired Administrative Officer of the Hong Kong Government. He is a noted authority on the New Territories. Chan Wing Hoi is a member of the HKBRAS with a deep interest in Chinese history. Fred Dagenais is a Research Associate with the Center for Chinese Studies, University of California at Berkeley. His primary interests are in the history of the transmission of modern science and technology to China during the century 1850-1950. His on-going project is to identify items associated with the life of John Fryer during the Kiangnan Arsenal years (1867-96) and his subsequent career as Agassiz Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature at the University of California (1896-1914). He is developing an annotated calendar of Fryer's letters and papers, the bulk of which are located in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley and welcomes any and all information associated with John Fryer's life and work. His interest in Republican China centres around the formation and development of scientific societies, particularly the work of Jeng Hung-chun and the Science Society of China. Yip Hon Ming and Ho Wai Yee are with the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Peter Ng Tze Ming is with the Department of Religion at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Stephanie Chung Po Yin is with the Department of History, Hong Kong Baptist University. Carole Morgan received her doctorate in Chinese studies from the University of Paris (ex Sorbonne). She was a member of the team that catalogued the Dunhuang manuscripts in the Bibliothèque National and is now editing the divinatory material therein. She has written a book on the Chinese almanac and published a number of articles in sinological journals. Keith Stevens is a retired member of the British Army and subsequently vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 130 This third letter is to be found in manuscript form among the Fryer papers in The Bancroft Library, papers which Fryer deposited prior to his death in 1928, papers which he was selective about preserving. It is an essay no doubt written for "home" consumption, but in its holograph form is without salutation or signature. Creases in the holograph suggest that it was mailed; perhaps it was accompanied by a "covering" letter which has not survived. The manuscript consists of six large pages with two columns per page, tightly penned, each page completely and neatly filled with writing and numbered, clearly the product of much reflection, control and effort. The manuscript has the title "Account of Three days excursion on the Mainland of China." Many years later, perhaps after the typewriter became available, Fryer added the date “1862” in pencil. Other manuscripts in the collection have been annotated with a similar blunt pencil, probably prior to typing. The date was in error as the excursion could not have taken place before 1863, as will be described in a footnote that accompanies the "letter" below. Fryer's origin was quite humble; his father was a Dissident itinerant Methodist preacher who appears to have had trouble finding his place in the society of Kent, his mother was a sometime school teacher and proprietress of a shop. Fryer was ambitious and was what we now call "upwardly mobile.” In this letter we find Fryer at age 23 and well on his way to becoming an accepted China hand. He is invited by the already prominent German missionary Rudolf Lechler, who had arrived in China in 1847 to represent the Basel Mission, to join a party which includes three other substantial Englishmen. Lechler had worked in Kwangtung (Guangdong) among the Hakka peoples, had established a reputation for having "gone native,” living in a Chinese house, wearing Chinese attire and probably a queue. The party included the Rev. Thomas Stringer of the Church Missionary Society and who had only recently arrived in Hong Kong, the Rev. John Irwin the Colonial Chaplain since 1855, and one "Captn Drummond of the 99th”. During the excursion, Fryer, the youngest of the party, is at ease in this company and appears to be well on his way to becoming accepted by the establishment. He apparently has no trouble socializing, sharing meals, rooms, yarns and jokes, and doing a bit of pheasant shooting with his fellow excursionists. Little is known of Fryer's two years at St. Paul's College other ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 1 132 NOTES Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley Transcripts of the first and second letters were published in Volume 29 and Volume 30 of the JHKBRAS The late Dr. R.G. Irwin, former cataloger at the East Asiatic Library at the University of California, Berkeley, has left a manuscript describing the Library's holdings of Fryer translations, most of which were published at the arsenal at Kiangnan. Dr. Irwin wrote that John Fryer "constructed the first telephone in China (1877) and imported the first phonograph, together with a Caligraph typewriter (1888)". The present author has examined the extant Fryer papers in detail and can find no documentation, not even a hint for such claims. However, it is known that Dr. Irwin was in contact with Fryer's son, Charles Edmund Fryer, in the 1950s; it may be that this information was passed on at that time. The present author would like to hear from anyone having information bearing on these claims. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 144 to enter: another was knocked down: and after one or two had smelt the powder, and tasted some small shot, they all took to their heels and ran. They afterwards found the wounded man, and instead of giving him up, they extracted the ball, and he is now recovered and gone to another place: although some of the people say he is dead. They have not the least fear, although a stronger attack is rumoured. They are brave, noble men, who sacrifice all for Christ. They have done great good, but keep it quiet. A man whom they admit to baptism must be well known to be a changed character. Consequently their Christian professors are an armament1a to them. Their discipline is strict, yet salutary. They win the respect of the Chinese, even those who will not embrace Christianity. When I contrast the noble boldness of their character with that of those around me - and above all with my own, I see vast room for improvement. And here my story has found an end. NOTES * From the John Fryer Papers The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley "1862" added to the manuscript in pencil Fryer made similar notes in pencil on other manuscripts in this collection many years later when transcriptions were made by typewriter. Miss W Haas Archive Assistant at the Evangelical Missionary Society in Basel, Switzerland, has determined that the date must be 1863, because a letter by Philip Winnes dated February 5, 1863, mentions a visit by Rudolf Lechler "with four Englishmen". In addition, E.J. Eitel (b. 1838) arrived in Hong Kong on October 24, 1862. Thus this excursion began on January 28, 1863, after Fryer (b. 1839) had been in Hong Kong almost 18 months. Eitel and Fryer were thus about the same age. See note 11. Rudolf Lechler (1824-1908) was a Basel Mission pioneer, he spent 52 years (1847-99) in China and worked in Kwangtung with Hakkas. The Rev. John James Irwin was Colonial Chaplain at Hong Kong during 1855-67. Thomas Stringer, M.A. (Oxford), worked for the Church Missionary Society. 1 As of this writing, Captain Drummond has not been identified. ? Perhaps it was good only to eat. 7 "Nets" in the sense of "Catches". Perhaps a pun on his name. "That is, Buddhist. ================================================================================