RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 1 170 WRIGHT, Dr. Leigh R. - WRIGHT, Miss P. - YANG, Tsung-han YANG, V. T. YAO, Prof. Hsin-nung YAO, Pe-chun YAP, Dr. P. M. YATES, Miss J. N. YEH, Rev. Hua-fen YEUNG, Walter, W. T. - YOUNG, L. K. YOUNG, Dr. R. S. YU, Ping-kuen YU, Yin C, ZIGAL, Mrs. I. ZIMMERN, W. A. · c/o Dept. of History, The University, H.K. 90, Mt. Nicholson, H.K. P. O. Box 6175, Kowloon. Flat A-1, 9th floor, 2 Oaklands Path, H.K. 1, Dorset Crescent, Kowloon Tong, Kln. Wilson Road, 2nd floor, Jardine's Lookout, H.K. 7, 86C, Pokfulum Road, H.K. c/o H.K. Housing Society, P. O. Box 845, H.K. 15, Stangee Place, Katong, Singapore 15. 60-B Conduit Road, Ground floor, H.K. c/o Dept. of History, The University, H.K. Clinical Pathology Unit, Dept. of Pathology, Queen Mary Hospital Compound, H.K. Dept. of Chinese, The University, H.K. 205-7, Gloucester Building, H.K. 12 Bowen Road, H.K. c/o Wheelock Marden & Co., Ltd., Room 1234, Union House, H.K. The Hon. Secretary (P. O. Box 13864, Hong Kong) would be grateful if members would kindly inform him of any inaccuracy in the list of names and addresses. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 143 WONG, Kwok Fong WONG, Pao-Hsie WONG, Prof. Po-shang WONG, Shing-tsang WONG, Miss Shirley, Ting-yin WOO, Dr. Pak-foo WOOD, Mrs. C.. WOOL-SMITH, Miss J. WORTHY, E. H. Jr. WORTLEY TALBOT, Miss P. E. WOU, Dr. Paul, P. C. WRIGHT, Miss B. R. + T WRIGHT, D. A. L. WRIGHT, Dr. Leigh R. YANG, V. T. YANG, Tsung-han YAP, Dr. Pow-meng YATES, Miss J. N. YEH, Rev. Hua-fen YEUNG, Walter, W. T. YOUNG, L. K. YU, Ping-kuen YU, Yin C. ZIGAL, Mrs. I. ZIMMERN, W. A. + · + - + 92A, Pokfulum Road, 1st floor, H.K. c/o Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, Union House, H.K. 11th Floor, Mascot House, 746-8 Nathan Road, Kowloon, 16-B, Tai Hang Road, 1st floor, H.K. 22 Wong Ma Kok Road, Stanley, H.K. Room 204 China Building, H.K. Sisters' Qurs., Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, As above. New Asia College, 6 Farm Road, Kowloon. Flat 3-C, Union Apartment, 11 Macdonnell Road, H.K. Wise Mansion 8-C, 32 Robinson Road, H.K. c/o Dept. of Education, The University, H.K. c/o Hong Kong Club, H.K. c/o Dept. of History, The University, H.K. Flat A-1, 9th floor, 2 Oaklands Path, H.K. P. O. Box 6175, Hong Kong. 86C, Pokfulum Road, H.K. c/o H.K. Housing Society, P. O. Box 845, H.K. 15, Stangee Place, Katong, Singapore 15. 60-B Conduit Road, Ground floor, H.K. c/o Dept. of History, The University, H.K. Dept. of Chinese, The University, H.K. 205-7, Gloucester Building, H.K. 12 Bowen Road, H.K. c/o Wheelock Marden & Co., Ltd., Room 1234, Union House, H.K. The Hon. Secretary (P. O. Box 13864, Hong Kong) would be grateful if members would kindly inform him of any inaccuracy in the list of names and addresses. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d 198 WILLIAMS, C. A. S. THE LIBRARY Outlines of Chinese symbolism: an alphabetical compendium of antique legends and beliefs... Peiping, Customs College Press, 1931. Limited ed. of 250 signed copies. WINSTEDT, Richard. The Malays: a cultural history. Singapore, Kelly & Walsh, 1947. WOODHEAD, H. G. W. The truth about the Chinese Republic. London, Hurst and Blackett, 1925. WOOLF, Bella Sidney, afterwards Mrs. Lock, afterwards Lady Southorn. Chips of China. Hong Kong, Kelly & Walsh, 1930. WRIGHT, Arthur F. Buddhism in Chinese history. Stanford, Calif., Stanford U.P., 1959. (Stanford studies in the civilizations of eastern Asia) WRIGHT, Leigh R. Historical notes on the North Borneo dispute. Ann Arbor, Mich., Association for Asian Studies, 1966. 484. Reprinted from Journal of Asian studies, v. 25, 1966, pp. 471- WRIGHT, Leigh R. Sarawak's relations with Britain, 1858 to 1870. Kuching, Government Printing Office, 1964. Reprinted from Sarawak Museum, Journal, v. 40, 1964, pp. 628-648. WRIGHT, Stanley F. Hart and the Chinese customs. Publ. for the Queen's University, Belfast. Belfast, Mullan, 1950. WU, Chiêng-ên (E) Monkey; tr. from the Chinese by Arthur Waley. London, Allen & Unwin, 1942 reprinted 1945. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h RAJA JAMES BROOKE AND SARAWAK: AN ANOMALY IN THE 19TH CENTURY BRITISH COLONIAL SCENE LEIGH R. WRIGHT* (The text of a lecture given to the Branch on 18th January 1972) To the reading public a hundred years ago the name of Raja James Brooke and his oriental kingdom of Sarawak, then a medium-sized principality on the northwest coast of Borneo, conjured up visions of dark impenetrable jungles; tropical rivers and mangrove coasts infested with the fiercest and most barbaric of pirates; and a pagan headhunting primitive people, ruled over by a Malay sultan and a court of Malay chiefs who had over long years of decline and corruption been reduced to only slightly more respectable status than the pirates. Brooke was usually presented in a highly romantic light—the best type of British export, the humanitarian colonial who helped penetrate the barbaric darkness of remote Borneo and who was holding the thin precarious line of civilization. Joseph Conrad and later, Somerset Maugham, added to the romance and colour surrounding the Borneo and Malay world of which Brooke was an important part. Much that went to make up this mental picture of Borneo in the English reading world was fact. There were pirates aplenty. The Sultanate of Brunei had declined to a low state of impotence and corruption, Brunei was by the nineteenth century one of those decaying Moslem states of the Malay world about which the historian Lennox Mills wrote, + The rule of the Malays was as weak as it was cruel and oppressive; individually brave, they were unable to prevent their state from crumbling to pieces before their eyes. The Malay nobles appear to have divided their time between intrigue and dissipation at Brunei Town, and the oppression of their Dayak subjects. + Many of the Dayaks were indeed the fierce headhunters that were depicted in the nineteenth century accounts. And James Brooke * Dr. Wright is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of The Origins of British Borneo, Hong Kong University Press, 1970. 1 L. A. Mills, British Malaya 1824-67, (Singapore 1925), p. 284. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 30 LEIGH R. WRIGHT entered the Borneo scene in 1839 very much the idealist-humani-tarian, nineteenth century liberal, gentleman adventurer, in the colonial tradition of such forerunners as Francis Light of Penang and Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore and sometime British governor of Java. Even much of the colour and romance painted by the early travellers and story writers bears up under the careful scrutiny of the historian. James Brooke came from stock which had produced a seven-teenth century lord mayor of London. His father and uncle were civil servants in the East India Company, and James lived until aged 12 near Benares on the Ganges in British India where he was born in 1803. Brooke himself entered the military service of the Company after a somewhat indifferent education which involved only two years of formal schooling in the Norwich Grammar School. He was severely wounded in a campaign of the first Anglo-Burma war in 1825, and after a prolonged convalescence resigned from the Company, largely, we are led to believe, because of disenchantment with its conduct of eastern affairs and because of widespread corruption among Company servants. When in 1835 Brooke's father, then a retired nabob living in Bath, died leaving him a comfortable fortune of £30,000, James bought a schooner and fitted out an expedition to Borneo and the Celebes Islands, an area in the East Indies with which he was familiar from earlier voyages and from exhaustive reading of the accounts of George Windsor Earl and Stamford Raffles. Brooke's schooner sailed in December 1838 under the colours of the Royal Yacht Club. He looked forward to satisfying his adventurous curiosity about Borneo and perhaps doing some trading. He particularly wanted to penetrate to the interior of Borneo, and had in mind exploring up the rivers which flowed into Marudu Bay, on the northern end of the island. He was a private voyager, but the colours of the Royal Yacht Club commanded respect in naval and colonial circles and he was well received in Singapore where he arrived in May 1839. I There he was given a pseudo-official mission to perform in Borneo. Several Singapore-based vessels had recently been ship-wrecked or plundered by Bornean pirates and their crews sold into ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 32 LEIGH R. WRIGHT September 1841, I was declared Rajah and Governor of Sarawak amidst the roar of cannon, and a general display of flags and banners from the shore and boats on the river. Some observers in Singapore pronounced Brooke's new position a sentence rather than a reward. Nevertheless the new Raja set about vigorously organizing the state and establishing a rule of law, roughly based upon the Bengal code and local adat or customary law. In 1842 he visited the sultan in his ramshackle wooden palace in Brunei Town, an unattractive clutter of Malay huts built on stilts over a sluggish tidal stream. From the sultan he obtained confirmation of his appointment. The following year it was made hereditary, in perpetuity, and in 1846 the sultan executed a deed of cession of Sarawak to Brooke and his heirs. In subsequent years Brunei ceded additional portions of territory to the Brooke dynasty of white rajas, until by 1890 the state of Sarawak reached approximately its present size. This, in a somewhat sketchy way, is how Raja James Brooke acquired control of an oriental state almost as large as England and sparsely inhabited by a conglomeration of frequently fierce pagan peoples, a few Malays and some Chinese. In the remaining part of the paper I want to consider ways in which, to my mind, Sarawak under Brooke rule stood out as an anomaly in the British colonial experience. II First, let me consider Raja Brooke's position in his own state of Sarawak. Brooke considered that he had been prevailed upon by the Malay chiefs to become their raja, that they chose him. He described, in his journals, the scene upon the occasion in 1842 when the Sultan's confirmation of his appointment was proclaimed in Sarawak.4 When we returned from Borneo the Sultan's letter giving me the country was read in public, and when finished we had a scene. Muda Hassim, who was standing, asked aloud, whether anyone dissented; for if they did they were now to make it known. 3 For a study of the growth of British influence in Borneo see L. R. Wright, The Origins of British Borneo (Hong Kong University Press, 1970). 4 R. Munday, op. cit., pp. 323-24. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 34 ! LEIGH R. WRIGHT The issue of Brooke's status revolved around, firstly, the question of whether or not a subject of the Queen could hold the position as a sovereign prince of a foreign state; and, secondly, whether Brooke was in fact an independent ruler or a vassal of the Sultan of Brunei. The issue, however, was not a burning one in the ministries of Whitehall. Despite the fact that Borneo was of concern to Britain as the guardian of the eastern flank of the South China Sea route to the China coast, and was to assume, gradually, more strategic value as first France and later Germany began colonial operations in the area, at mid-century Britain possessed a colony and naval station at Labuan and a (“good strong”) consular treaty with Brunei which gave her a certain measure of control, if she chose to indulge it, in Brunei's relations with foreign states. Most of the Colonial and Foreign Secretaries in London, until the 1870s were not very interested in defining precisely Raja Brooke's status, For the most part, Whitehall grudgingly approved of Brooke's “civilizing influence" in Borneo. Lord Palmerston, Foreign Secretary in 1846, offered naval support for the suppression of piracy, and during a later term of office gave standing orders to the Eastern squadron to visit Sarawak at regular intervals. But the Foreign Office generally held to the view that "it is not the policy of Her Majesty's Government that British subjects should possess territory on the mainland of Borneo". Lord Clarendon, when Foreign Secretary in the mid-1850s, came close to disavowing Brooke's position in Sarawak. In 1853 the Raja took issue with a Foreign Office statement that seemed to assume that Brooke was a vassal of Brunei. Clarendon minuted, It seems to me that the various documents tend to prove how cautiously the government abstained from recognizing his (Brooke's) independence although in various ways the anomalous character of his position has been admitted. But Clarendon did not leave it at that. When in 1855 Spencer St. John succeeded Brooke as Consul in Brunei he suggested to the Foreign Office that he also be accredited to Sarawak as an independent state. The Raja agreed and insisted that the new consul must receive his exequatur from him. This act would render the desired 6 FO to Admiralty, 24 July 1846, FO 12/4. 7 Clarendon minute upon Brooke to FO, 27 September 1853, FO 12/13. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 36 LEIGH R. WRIGHT Sarawak. Was Brooke an independent sovereign prince, or was Sarawak a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Sultan of Brunei? And if a vassal, was it quite proper for a subject of the Queen to occupy such a position? The Raja was anxious to make Sarawak over to Britain as a colony or a protectorate and so ensure the continued political stability of his state and the progress of his people. Very much in the tradition of Raffles in his Java period from 1811 to 1816, Brooke sought the extension of British interests in Southeast Asia, not merely for the sake of commerce and trade, but for the civilizing effect that the presence of British rule of law entailed. Like Raffles he found little to admire in Dutch colonial rule either in Java or Borneo. He wrote,10 If the British public be indifferent to the sufferings of this unhappy race, now for the first time made known to them they are not what I believe them to be, and what they profess themselves. It was necessary to establish "a proper British influence" in Borneo. I conceive that policy dictates these measures at the present time, because in case of any delay it will no longer be in our power. From the distractions of Borneo, some European state must very shortly interfere in their concerns, and the supremacy of the Dutch government would be the knell of the British trade which now is carried on, and effectually stop all measures of improvement. And later, to tempt British strategists, he added, We shall have a post in time of war highly advantageous as commanding a favourable position relative to China—we shall extend our commerce—suppress piracy and prevent the present and prospective advantages falling into other hands—and we shall do this at a small expense. When ministers in London answered with a cold "no" to all of Brooke's requests for a colony or a protectorate the Raja became angry and bitter. He threatened to sell Sarawak to Belgium or 10 James Brooke, A Letter from Borneo, (pamphlet published by L. and S. Sealy, London, 1842), copy in FO12/1. 11 James Brooke, Memorandum on piracy, 31 March 1845, FO12/3. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 38 LEIGH R. WRIGHT In the meantime Brooke's friend St. John, the Consul in Brunei, provided strong evidence to support Sarawak's claim of independence. In correspondence between the Sultan and the Foreign Office, Raja Brooke's relations with Brunei were the subject of discussion. Lord Russell in 1861 asked the consul if it was true that Brunei looked upon Sarawak as an independent state. He had been told that the Sultan honoured the Raja with a twenty-one gun salute whenever he visited Brunei Town. St. John replied that the Sultan did indeed consider Sarawak independent of Brunei. St. John also produced minutes of an interview he had had with the leading chiefs of Sarawak in which they unanimously confirmed that they had chosen the Tuan Besar, James Brooke, to rule over them in place of the harsh and tyrannical chiefs of Brunei, and that they owed no allegiance to the Sultan of Brunei.16 When, then, St. John's tour as Consul in Brunei ended in 1862 Brooke's friends, with a concerted lobbying effort, prevailed upon the Palmerston government to appoint a consul to Sarawak as distinct from Brunei. In August 1863 the Cabinet approved the appointment "as the most direct and least formal method of recognizing it as an independent state". Whatever in the way of reservations Lord Russell may have held concerning Brooke and Sarawak he was aware that the appointment meant recognition. He minuted some time earlier,17 If we appoint a consul I suppose he must be appointed to reside in the territory of the rajah of Sarawak as an independent sovereign. And later, when Russell was urged to inform Raja Brooke "that the Cabinet had consented to recognize Sarawak by appointing a consul there", the Foreign Secretary instructed his undersecretary, "We may write to Sir James Brooke to say that he has reason to believe it". The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, concurred. However, bureaucratic procedures now took over, and the Consul's instructions directed him to procure his official acceptance from 16 See L. R. Wright, Origins of British Borneo, pp. 75-76; and St. John, "Minutes of an interview with Sarawak Chiefs", 25th October 1855, FO 12/22. 17 Russell minute on a memo, by Brooke, 13 August 1863, in the Layard Papers (British Museum), ADD.MSS. 38989, f. 244, 18 Russell minute, Layard Papers, ADD.MSS. 38989, f. 245. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 40 LEIGH R. WRIGHT governs it so well and cheaply for them, they will do nothing for him or Sarawak. When first France and then the United States and Germany showed signs of intruding into Borneo, or when they came close to a potentially threatening position over the important British lines of empire north and south through the South China Sea, or when the Foreign and Colonial Offices in London felt the hot breath of imperial competition, it was then that the offshore colony of Labuan and a by now weak little consular treaty with Brunei were found to be inadequate to justify, in the international arena, Britain's position in Borneo. Sarawak along with North Borneo and Brunei were incorporated into the British empire as protected states. Still for many years Britain assumed no responsibility for the internal administration of Sarawak, and adamantly refused any expenditure of imperial grants for the privilege of colouring these areas pink on the imperial maps of the world. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LIST OF MEMBERS ORDINARY MEMBERS: 263 WILKINSON, Miss A. M. Sisters' Quarters, Flat 605C, Queen Mary Hospital, H.K. WILLIAMS, B. V. - c/o Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Rd., H.K. WILLIAMS, P. B. 10, The Albany, H.K. WILLIS, D. N. 35th floor, Connaught Centre, H.K. WILSON, B. D. Flat 2D, 30, Plunketts Road, The Peak, H.K. WILSON, J. K. Flat 3D, Man Kei Toi, Pak Sha Wan, Sai Kung N.T. WISBEY, Miss Glenda c/o Poste Restante, G.P.O., H.K. WONG, Kwok Fong 92A Pokfulam Road, 1st floor, H.K, WONG, Miss Marion 8, Fung Tai Terrace, Happy Valley, H.K. WRIGHT, D. A. L. c/o The Hong Kong Club, H.K. WRIGHT, Dr. Leigh R. Dept. of History, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. YEUNG, Walter W. T. 60B, Conduit Road, H.K. YOUNG, Dr. Frances M. c/o The Bishop's House, 1, Lower Albert Road, H.K. ZIGAL, Mrs. Irene 12, Bowen Road, H.K. ZIMMERN, W. A. G.P.O. Box 837, H.K. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 28 LEIGH WRIGHT The state of Brunei annual report for 1956 describes the water city, Kampong Ayer, this way, Set in a wide sweep of the river, this river town is in its way unique. At high tide under favourable conditions of light it takes on quite a remarkable beauty; viewed at close quarters it is even more remarkably ramshackle. The houses are grouped together in small villages, being connected by precarious plank walkways, and there the inhabitants carry on their multifarious activities in much the same way as if they were on land. NOTES 1 See e.g. O. W. Wolters, Early Indonesian Commerce; a study of the origins of Srivijaya, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967); and D. E. Brown, Brunei: the structure and history of a Bornean Malay sultanate, (Brunei: Brunei Museum, 1970). These works have drawn upon the earlier studies of such scholars as W. P. Groeneveldt (1880) and Lien Sung (1919). 2 See Brown, op. cit., Ch. XI. 3 The fullest account of the Moro wars is in E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493 - 1898, (Cleveland, 1903 -09). 4 Lord Stanley of Alderley (ed.), The first voyage round the world by Magellan, by Antonio Pigafetta, (London: Hakluyt Society, 1874). 5 J. Hunt, "Some particulars relative to the Sulo islands in the Archipelago of Felicia”, in Malayan Miscellany, I, (Bencoolen, 1820). 6 James Horsburgh, Directions for sailing to and from the East Indies and China, (London, 1811), the navigational handbook for generations of British sea captains. This work drew heavily upon the surveys of eighteenth century seafarers such as Alexander Dalrymple (1774) and Thomas Forest (1780). 7 S. B. St. John, Life in the forests of the Far East. (London, 1862), Vol. 2, pp. 248-49. 8 British Parliamentary Papers, 1854-55, XXIX (253), 9 Sarawak Gazette, 26 April, 1872. 10 Henry Keppel, The expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the suppression of piracy, with extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. of Sarawak, (London, 1847), 11 S. Baring-Gould and C. A. Bampfylde, A History of Sarawak under its two white rajahs, (London, 1909), pp. 82-83. 12 Lennox Mills, British Malaya, 1824-67, (reprint: Kuala Lumpur, 1966), p. 248. 13 British interests in Borneo are treated extensively in, L. R. Wright, The Origins of British Borneo, (Hong Kong, 1970). 14 See L. R. Wright, "The Foreign Office and North Borneo", in Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. VII, No. 1, (January 1969). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 WATT, Mr. James, ORDINARY LOCAL MEMBERS Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NEW TERRITORIES. WATT, Mr. Mo-Kei, Cheong K. Co., Cheong K. Building, 84 Des Voeux Road C., 2/Fl., HONG KONG. WEN, Dr. Ch'ing-Hsi, Rhenish Church College, 30 Hereford Road, KOWLOON. WHOLEY, Mr. J. W., Agriculture & Fisheries Dept., 393 Canton Road, KOWLOON. WILLIS, Mr. David Nye, H.K. Tourist Association, Connaught Centre, 35/F, HONG KONG. WILLOUGHBY, Prof. P. G., 59 High West, 142 Pokfulam Road, HONG KONG. WILSON, Mr. Brian D., Flat 2D, 30 Plunketts Road, The Peak, HONG KONG. WILSON, Mr. D. C., 2 Mount Kellett Road, HONG KONG. WILSON, Mr. James K., Economic Services Branch, Colonial Secretariat, Lower Albert Road, HONG KONG. WIN, Mr. Oliver, Suite 1, 13th Floor. Imperial Building, 58-66 Canton Road, KOWLOON. WINKLER, Mrs. Rowena, C 62 Carolina Gardens, 30 Coombe Road, HONG KONG. WONG, Miss Marion, 8 Fung Fai Terrace, Happy Valley, HONG KONG. WONG, Mr. Siu Lun, Dept. of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG. WOODS, Mrs. Rowena, c/o Flat 18, 9/F, Block I, Scenic Villas, Victoria Road, HONG KONG. WRIGHT, Mr. D. A. L., c/o The Hong Kong Club, HONG KONG. WRIGHT, Dr. Leigh R., Dept. of History, University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG. WYMAN, Mrs. Pamela, 23B Ventris Road, Happy Valley, HONG KONG. YEUNG, Mr. Michael Wing Chiu, 12D, 80 Gloucester Road, HONG KONG. YOUNG, Mr. Richard, The British Council, Easey Commercial Building, 255 Hennessy Road, HONG KONG. ZIGAL, Mrs. Irene, 12 Bowen Road, HONG KONG. 253 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m SALMON, Mrs P.A. SAPSTEAD, Mr Gordon A.G. SCOTT, Dr. Ian SEARLS, Mr M.W., Jr. SHAM, Mr Francis SHANNON, Major J.M. SIDDLE Mr Oliver R. SIEGFRIED, Mrs Stephanie S. SIU, Mr Anthony Kwok-Kin SMITH, Mr Reginald C. SMITH, Mr Stewart P. SMITH-ROBERTS, Miss Karen A. SO, Dr Chak Lam STEAD, Miss S.M. STEINER, Mr Henry STEWART, Miss Jessie STRICKLAND, Mr John E. STUMF, Mr Karl L., O.B.E. SU, Mr Samson SURECK, Mr Joseph SURECK, Mrs Joseph TAM, Miss Adelaide Chiu-hor TANG, Mr David TANG, Mr Hai Chiu TANG, Mr Stephen Wing-hung TAYLOR, Mrs V.V. THATCHER, Mr Melvin Paul THOMAS, Mr Reginald THOMAS, Mrs S.E. THOMPSON, Mr F. John TING, Mr Joseph Sun Pao TING, Mr Thomas Kam-Shu TISDALL, Mr Brian TOCHRANE, Miss Vera TOH, Miss Esther TOOGOOD, Mr C.W. TRETIAK, Professor Daniel TSANG, Mr Augustin Chung-Kong TSANG, Mr Hin Sum TSO, Miss Priscilla TURNER, Mr H. David TWITCHETT, Miss Yvonne VINE, Mr P.A.K. WALKER, Mr A.P. WALKER, Mrs Prudence WALTERS, Mrs Sandra L. WATERS, Mr D.D. WATT, Mr James WATT, Mr Mo-Kei WEBB, Mrs Susan M. WEI, Miss Peh T'i WHITTAM, Mr Anthony R. WHOLEY, Mr. J.W. WILLIAMS, Miss Stephanie WILLIS, Mr David Nye WILLOUGHBY, Prof. P.G. WILSON, Mr Brian D. WILSON, Miss Elinor WIN, Mr Oliver 215 WINKLER, Mrs Rowena WONG, Miss Marion WONG, Mr Siu-Lun WOODS, Mrs Rowena WORKMAN, Dr Gillian WRIGHT, Mr D.A.L. WRIGHT, Dr Leigh R, WRIGHT, Miss V. Moya YANG, The Hon. Mr Justice YEUNG, Mr Michael Wing Chiu YOUNG, Dr John D. YOUNG, Mr Richard YUNG, Mr David C.W. ZIGAL, Mrs Irene OVERSEAS LIFE MEMBERS ARMERDING, Mr Ludwig E. BAKER, Dr Hugh David R. BAKER, Mr William Ernest BALL, Mr John M. BARNETT, Mr K.M.A. BENNISON, Mr Larry L. BERTUCCIOLI, Dr Giuliano BLACKMORE, Mr Michael BLACK, Sir Robert BLAKER, Mr D.J.R. CAPLAN, Mr Malcolm CARLSON, Miss R.E. CATER, Sir Jack CLARKE, Rev. Cyril S. COCKELL, Miss Juve V. COLLIN, Mr P.H. COSBY, Mr Ivan P.S.G. COSTANTINI, Dr Giulio COSTANTINI, Mrs G. CRANMER-BYNG, Prof. J.L. CUMMING, Mrs Dorothy M. DUNCANSON, Mr J.D. EWING, Miss E. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 339 ous. Even at the best of Chinese times local families enjoyed "virtual autonomy from the imperial court" (p. 163). Rebellion against Chinese rule, indeed, was endemic throughout the later phases whether peasant led or fomented by leading families. The whole confrontation culminated in the major clashes with T’ang officialdom in the ninth century, which also saw an uneasy alliance of some Vietnamese factions with the inland Nan Chao kingdom. For all his development of the Vietnamese pre-Chinese roots, this is not a unique position. Taylor's contention that scholars have tended to neglect this aspect (p. xvii) is not borne out by the work of others such as D.G.E. Hall (see his History of Southeast Asia, MacMillan, 1955) and George Coedes (see his The Making of Southeast Asia, Berkeley, 1966). In spite of a heavy emphasis upon anti-Chinese rebellion and the throwing-off of Chinese rule, and earlier of the inculcation of Chinese cultural models, Vietnam at independence in the tenth century was not only a very impoverished and ravaged land, but also a pretty rude place. There was nothing of note in buildings; cultural levels were far below those expected in a T'ang province; and nothing to compare favourably with the grand styles of the contemporaneous Champa and Khmer kingdoms to the south and west. This is an absorbing book, and a valuable contribution as filling some gaps in our knowledge of ancient Vietnam. It ends with fifteen appendixes—mostly descriptive essays on Vietnamese legends, migration, textual and geographic problems; a glossary of place names, titles, personal names, and terms and expressions in Vietnamese and Chinese. LEIGH R. WRIGHT University of Hong Kong Page 360 Page 361 ================================================================================