RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 “.......I can think of no other organisation that could have provided such a rich and varied experience' Elsewhere Anita wrote, 'My life has been greatly enriched by my membership of the RAS...' In addition Kristy Norman, who was born in Hong Kong and whose family lived here for three generations, said that the RAS had been an important part of her life. Lord Wilson, our latest distinguished Honorary Member, also wrote 'It is good to see from the Newsletter how active the Hong Kong branch is being. How splendid to think that you can arrange visits to the Bocca Tigris and the backstreets of Peking. How we would have loved to be able to do things like that when I first came to Hong Kong as a student in 1960.' With the continuing aim of serving all sectors of the community, your RAS Branch has much to be proud of. The Territory has always been a transient place with people coming and going. We are always sorry to see loyal supporters and good friends leave. In the room previously occupied by the late sinologist, the eminent Professor Joseph Needham, at Cambridge, his Chinese wife wrote Chinese characters on the wall. Translated, they mean: 'A person may leave but their influence remains'. Lectures Appendix 1997 18 April 23 May Mr Stephen Selby, The Archery Tradition in China. Messrs Ko Tim Keung and Jason Wordie, Hong ... xxi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 contributed, over the past year, by Council and committee members, speakers, tour leaders, institutions who have assisted us, and those who have carried out projects (see appendices). I must also thank Sarah Parnell, our Assistant Secretary, who has undertaken the many, often (but not always) routine tasks that have to be performed if a society as large and complex as the RASHKB is to function properly. Sarah has performed over and above the call of duty. A great deal of work has to be done behind the scenes which members, and indeed some Council members, do not necessarily know about. I now have the pleasant task of offering renewed thanks to everyone who has helped the Branch in any way and supported me during the 1998/99 Year. If I have omitted anybody who I should have thanked then please accept my sincere apologies. Conclusions How do you judge a Society such as ours? Although it is not possible to please all of the members all of the time we do, I believe I can honestly say, keep our ear to the ground and pay attention to members' views. Although we must admit we do make the odd mistake and receive the odd brickbat now and again, we also, on occasions, receive the odd bouquet. For instance, long-time member Kirsty Norman (now an Overseas Member together with husband Paul) whose family lived in Hong Kong for three generations, wrote during the past year: 'We miss our Hong Kong friends and the wonderful RAS activities, but please tell your members we think the new Friends (in Britain) of the RAS (HKB) is a great success and that we hope they will all come along if they find themselves back in England,' Dr. Dan Waters, President xix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 Appendix A Talks 28 March, 1998, 19th Century Government-led Education in Hong Kong by Drs Verner and Gillian Bickley. 29 March, Annual lectures in conjunction with South China Research Circle and the Antiquities and Monuments Office. 3 April, Prisons and Paparazzi-how three generations of one family survived Hong Kong 1930-97, by Kirsty Norman. 8 May, Identifying and Recording Hong Kong's Historical Gardens, by Bill Greaves and Bob Horsnell. 29 May, The East River Column with Special Reference to the Hong Kong and Kowloon Group, by S.J. Chan. 26 June, The History of the Hong Kong Film Archives, by Cynthia Liu. 7 August, Imperial Connection: Chinese Snuff Bottles by Humphrey Hui. 28 August, The Hungry Ghost Festival, presented by Elizabeth Sinn. 18 September, Conservation for Hong Kong Museums, by Paul Harrison. 30 October, An 18th Century Armenian Macau Merchant Prince, the Man and his Money, by the Reverend Carl Smith. 23 November, Archery Seminar led by Dr Charles Grayson and organised by Stephen Selby in conjunction with the Asian Traditional Archery Research Network. 11 December, Military Experiences in Hong Kong and Korea in the early 1950s, by Dr James Hayes, followed by dinner at the FCC. XX ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 REPORT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM FRIENDS OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY It gives me great pleasure to write about and report on the first year's activities of the 'Friends.' Why has such a society been formed you may ask? There is, as many of you know, a very respectable Royal Asiatic Society already in existence in London, which is the parent body of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong, and some of our members are already members of that august body. However, with the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the return to the United Kingdom of many members of the Hong Kong Society, there was a general view that a continuous identification of the Hong Kong Society's aims should in some way be perpetuated in the United Kingdom. A loose federation was not considered to be suitable - a more defined affiliation was felt to be desirable and it was therefore decided to sound out those members who had returned to see to what extent they would be interested in joining a Hong Kong Branch in the United Kingdom. In deciding to do this there was great encouragement from the Royal Asiatic Society in London, and from our Royal Asiatic friends in Hong Kong; the latter were particularly helpful in that they very kindly loaned us £250 (now repaid) for initial start-up expenses. The response to the first circular was very encouraging and over 100 RAS members who were in Hong Kong expressed a strong interest in joining and, importantly, a large majority sent in the first year's subscription (£15 single, £25 joint). Such a response enabled the committee to plan the first year's activities and decide where and when to meet. Since the first committee meeting in the Oxford/Cambridge Club in London in April, 1998 there have been three well attended functions: a) An inaugural lecture given by Mr. Keith Stevens on 11th July, 1998 on the subject "The Yang Family of Generals of the Sung Dynasty" at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) b) A lecture by Mrs. Kirsty Norman on 31st October, 1998 on "Drugs, Prisons and Paparazzi,” again at SOAS xxvi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x d) February 2000: A lively Chinese lunch at the suitably named Golden Dragon Restaurant in Gerrard Street, London, attended by 45 persons. For the arrangement of these activities we again have to thank Rosemary Lee, Anita Wilson, Kirsty Norman, and Keith Stevens, all of whom really make this Friends Society bond and move forward. We are now looking at the future and we will have the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Hugh Baker, Professor of Chinese at SOAS to lecture on 27th May, at which time we will also have our annual general meeting. Unfortunately the proposed trip to visit World War I cemeteries and battlefields in Northern France and Flanders to examine Chinese graves has again had to be postponed due to the incompetence of the travel agent. However the Oxford weekend is still in the planning stages and it is hoped to visit Brian McElney's collection of oriental porcelain and artefacts in Bath. I close this report by sending you on behalf of the Friends in the UK all our best wishes for a successful annual general meeting and for the years ahead. It is very encouraging to read the newsletter and to see that the membership is at a high level; there is an enviable lecture and activity programme, and a steady stream of publications; for all of this we congratulate you. D.A.Gilkes, Chairman March 2000 XXIII ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Elizabeth Teather - Deathspace in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Seoul: A Review of Recent Research, 1995-2001 .... Chiu Hang Shi - Unicon Dancing in Pat Heung 329 341 Keith Stevens - A Contentious Christian Missionary in Central China, 1887 353 Kirsty Norman - Friends of the HKBRAS Trip to Cornwall....... 357 David Akers-Jones - Tea and Opium: Some Further Notes on Macartney's Role 367 Jennifer Welch - Coincidence? ... 373 Dan Waters - Another Donation to the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 375 Richard Garrett - Taipa Fort and a Nineteenth Century Cannon 379 Peter Halliday - More Thoughts on Han Suyin's A Many Splendoured Thing: A Tribute to Ian Morrison...... 391 Rosemary Lee and A.C. Bromfield - The Life and Times of Captain Samuel Cornel Plant 407 Anon. - More on the Two Obelisks at Tai Tam 417 BOOK REVIEWS Dan Waters - Long Night's Journey into Day: Prisoners of War in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941-1945 419 James Hayes - Heaven is High, the Emperor Far Away:Merchants and Mandarins in Old Canton 423 Patrick Hase - Hong Kong Metamorphosis 427 Peter Halliday - Searching for Frederick and Adventures Along the Way. 430 X ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Imperial Ideals and Chinese Practical Common Sense in Chan Lau Kit-ching and Peter Cunich (eds.), An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong University from Foundation to Re-establishment, 1910-1950 (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2002). Governor Frederick D. Lugard and the Hong Kong Chinese featured prominently in this article (ahylin@hkucc.hku.hk). Professor Norman Miners, was the former Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong. He is probably best remembered for his seminal work The Government and Politics of Hong Kong, first published in 1975, which ran to five editions. Robert Nield, F.C.A., F.H.K.S.A., is a certified public accountant and was a former partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Hong Kong). He is a Vice-President and the Treasurer of HKBRAS (hiflyer@netvigator.com) Kirsty Norman is an active member of HKBRAS. Keith Stevens, B.A., served with the British Army and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office until his retirement in 1991. He is an authority on Chinese temples and deities, and Chinese history, and has written prolifically on these subjects. His articles are noted for the splendour of the illustrations (keith.stevens@chgods.freeserve.co.uk). Dr Elizabeth Kenworthy Teather gained her B.A.(Hons) and Ph.D. in the Department of Geography at University College London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Born in Britain, she spent some years overseas as a teenager (Iraq and Cyprus), emigrated to New Zealand in 1973 and moved to Australia in 1984. She joined the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of New England, NSW, Australia, in 1988. She has a second Honours degree in Theatre Studies completed in 1986, and is also a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (Singing - Performance). From 1995-1997, 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 she was Scholar in Residence, David C Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University Dan Waters, M.Phil., Ph.D., is a retired assistant director of education of the Hong Kong Government. He has written prolifically on the culture and history of Hong Kong. He is the immediate past-president of HKBRAS (benefit@netvigator.com). Jenny Welch, M.A., now lives with her husband in Hong Kong having spent a number of years in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Australia. Her interests include French culture and language, China and the Chinese, porcelain and history. xiii ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Heligan, and the Eden Project) with a particular reference to an Asian Connection. This visit is being co-ordinated by one of our members Mrs. Penny Byrne who lives in Fowey and to whom we are particularly grateful. This will be followed by our own A.G.M in late May at SOAS and then by a talk by David Mahoney on the subject 'Awards to Britons in China'. David has been collecting medals for some 50 years, and now specialises in medals to Britons who lived and worked in China. If any Hong Kong member is in the U.K. at these times please make yourselves known to any member of the committee. Finally I would like to pay thanks to all members of the Friends' Committee, who keep us on the road, i.e. Mrs. Rosemary Lee and Mrs. Anita Wilson (Events Organisers), Mr. Paul Bolding (Secretary), Mr. Roger Chandler (Treasurer), Ms Kirsty Norman, Mr. David Mahoney and Mr. Keith Stevens (Committee Members). It is very heartening to have such support for what we are trying to achieve. DAVID GILKES (CHAIRMAN) March 2002 xxxi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 357 FRIENDS OF THE HKBRAS TRIP TO CORNWALL KIRSTY NORMAN In April 2002, 25 members of the Friends of the RAS Hong Kong Branch took part in the group's first Monday-Friday organised tour, thanks to the excellent teamwork and organisation of Anita Wilson, Rosemary Lee and Penny Byrne. The group visited six gardens in eastern Cornwall, in order to look specifically at oriental planting, and the connections between Cornwall and the early plant hunters. Given the county's place in the history of early oriental plant introductions, there are many gardens to choose from, but in this choice we were fortunate to have the help of the remarkable Maggie Campbell-Culver, author of the recently published and well received The Origin of Plants and previously in charge of the gardens at Mount Edgcumbe, and also her husband Michael Culver. Both had become close friends of Penny Byrne and her husband Tim Heald while neighbours in Fowey. Maggie's love of her subject, and her instinctive ability to strike a balance between educating us and allowing us to roam made her a very popular guide and companion. The group met in Fowey on the Monday, visited two gardens a day for three days, and dispersed on the Friday. The trip also included that essential of a Friends outing, good Chinese food, in the form of two fine dinners organised by Penny. Gardens visited were Trewithen, Pine Lodge, Tregrehan, Heligan, Caerhays, and also the Eden Project, though Eden is perhaps more of a phenomenon than a garden. The great Cornish gardens we now know were, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the testing grounds for what was to become a veritable torrent of newly discovered plant material, much of it being brought or sent back from China, Japan, Korea and the Himalayas. The way was paved by men like Major General Thomas Hardwicke (1755-1835) of the Bengal Artillery, who brought the first Himalayan rhododendron to Britain in the early 19th century. Discoveries were made by missionaries such as Père Armand David and Père Jean Delavay in the late 19th century, but it was in the early 20th century when professional explorer-collectors such as Ernest Wilson, George Forrest, Frank Kingdom Ward, and Reginald Farrer began systematic ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Members of the Friends of the HKBRAS on a visit to gardens in Cornwall with an Asian connection in April 2002. Left to right: Michael Culver David Jordan (obscured) Penny Byrne Kirsty Norman Magie Campbell-Culver Edith Gilkes Rosemary Lee (back to camera) Roger Candler Joan Rock 365 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 the Friends' Committee, particularly to Mrs Rosemary Lee and Mrs Anita Wilson, Events Organisers. Other active members are Mr Paul Bolding (Secretary), Mr Roger Chandler (Treasurer), Mrs Kirsty Norman, Mr Keith Stevens and Mr David Mahoney. The last of these will be retiring this year and we would like to thank him for his past support and particularly for last year's Annual General Meeting Lecture. The Friends normally meet once a quarter in London on a Saturday at the School of Oriental Studies. There is a Chinese lunch gathering followed by a lecture [Hon. Ed. - Suggest you consider doing it the other way around!]. Once a year there could be a week-end away. In the last year Friends started its programme (April 2002) with a very successful week to Cornwall, when around 25 members visited the well known Gardens (Caerhayes, Trewithen, Pine Lodge, Heligan and the Eden Project) with particular reference to the Asian connection; a very sincere thanks to Mrs Penny Byrne who co-ordinated this. The programme continued with a very well informed lecture by Mr David Mahoney on Awards to Britons in China. David has been collecting medals for some 50 years, some of which he brought to the meeting; the lecture was illustrated with slides which showed the extent of the awards systems to Britons who served in China in the 19th and 20th centuries. In September 2002 the Friends were fortunate to benefit from a visit to the United Kingdom by Dr Elizabeth Sinn, who gave a talk entitled The Ultimate Return: Transhipment of Chinese Migrants' Bones to the Native Village and Hong Kong's Role in the Chinese Diaspora. This was a fascinating insight into the methods and motives as to why the Chinese living in America transported bones of relatives and friends back to China in the 19th Century. More recently, (February 2003) the Friends held their Annual Chinese New Year lunch at the Joy King Lau Chinese Restaurant in Leicester Street, London. Around 50 members attended to welcome in the Year of the Ram, of whom six were new members. For the future the Friends are looking forward to the Annual General Meeting (17th May 2003), when Dr Frances Wood, Curator of Chinese Collections at the British Library will be the speaker on Marco xxxiv ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 Our third event, in November 2003, was a lecture by Mr. Martin Palmer entitled 'Da Qin - An Imperial Christian Site of the Tang Dynasty.' Mr. Palmer, a sinologist and theologian and Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, has lectured world-wide, including to the Royal Asiatic Society of Hong Kong, and gave a riveting talk about the recent Da Qin excavations, which had brought to light the remains of the earliest Christian church in West China, dating back to the seventh century. Last, but not least, the Friends met over Chinese New Year for a good meal at the Joy King Lau Restaurant in Soho, to welcome in the Year of the Monkey. For the organization of the above events we again have to thank Mrs. Anita Wilson and Mrs. Rosemary Lee, ably supported by other members of the committee: Mr. Paul Bolding, Secretary, Mr. Roger Candler, Treasurer, Mrs. Kirsty Norman and Mr. Keith Stevens. As a committee, we try and meet at the Oriental Club in London two or three times per year; in 2003 we were especially pleased to have Dr. Patrick Hase at our August meeting. He brought us up-to-date with your events and other matters in Hong Kong. We value this interaction and I was particularly pleased to be invited to attend your December Council Meeting. The Friends in the United Kingdom, like you in Hong Kong, continue to look to the future and broaden the activities and enlarge our membership. It is therefore very gratifying to report that on 19th May, 2004 arrangements have been made to hold a joint meeting with the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, 2 Belgrave Square, London, when our own Mr. Keith Stevens will lecture on ‘China/UK Training Chinese Guerrillas (1941-45): a token operation in war-time China.' It is hoped that further joint meetings with the RSAA can be arranged. Our annual general meeting will take place on 5th June, 2004 and any HKBRAS members are welcome to attend. It will be preceded by a light Chinese lunch at 'Poon's' and followed by what promises to be an interesting talk about Captain Plant, who is buried in the Hong Kong cemetery and who navigated the Yangtze River in the 19th century. Dr. Michael Gillam, a direct descendant of Captain Plant, will be our lecturer. On behalf of all Friends in the United Kingdom, we send our very best wishes for 2004 and a successful annual general meeting. DAVID GILKES (CHAIRMAN) MARCH 2004 xlvii ================================================================================