RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g 82 CARL T. SMITH collecting rent on over a hundred shops and houses. But in 1855, he was declared bankrupt. He had stood security for the administration of the estate of the Chinese merchant Chinam; the administrator had misused the property of the estate, and Loo Aqui had to pay up, throwing him into insolvency. However, anticipating this, he had previously transferred most of his property to his relatives. After his bankruptcy, he no longer appears as a public figure, although two near relatives, perhaps his sons, Loo Shing and Loo Chew (or as he is sometimes called "Young Qui") are on several of the later lists we have used to determine elite status. One of Loo Chew's sons was compradore for David Sassoon, Sons and Company in the 1870s; another son, Loo Kum Chun, in 1872 was Secretary to the Tung Wah Hospital. The family of Loo Aqui was from Whampoa, and they were most likely Tanka or boat people. The Rev. Karl Gutzlaff, Chinese Secretary to the Superintendent of Trade, reports that "the most numerous class who have, since our arrival, fixed themselves on the island, are from Whampoa; many of them are of the worst characters, and ready to commit any atrocity".9 They had defied the Mandarins' edicts prohibiting Chinese citizens from supplying provisions or other services to the British forces. However, it is not surprising they seized the opportunity to make a quick profit by collaborating with the enemy. They were a secondary caste within the Chinese social structure and were deprived of certain rights. As boat people, they had had a long association with foreign shipping. In recognition of their valuable services to the British, they, along with others, were allotted land in the new town. The Tanka, on leaving their boats for land, soon put aside their distinctiveness and merged with the general population, though they long maintained control of trade in cattle, fish, and prostitutes.10 Hong Kong government authorities were much concerned in the first ten years of the Colony's existence about the type of Chinese who came here. Conditions were not conducive to attract substantial Chinese of respectable background, who could strengthen Hong Kong's economy by promoting local and south-east Asian trade in Chinese products. There had been some optimists who believed that the Chinese would welcome the opportunity to live and trade under an "enlightened, benevolent government", but they had underestimated traditional Chinese ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES: KAM TIN 115 and is on a hill named Hau Tei (#) king crab ground, near the village of Ch'ai Waan Kok (A) Ts'uen Waan ( ) district. The tablet has a poem engraved on it written by Paak Yuk Shim (1) a poetical genius of the Sung dynasty. He was also famous for his paintings which were highly admired among Chinese Scholars. Legends have attributed to him magical powers, and he is supposed to have appeared and disappeared in all the famous mountains from Tung Koon, San On and to the east of Kwangtung. He received the title of "Tsz T'sing Chan Yan” (**^^) from the emperor Sung Ning Tsung (#). Biographies of him were recorded in Tung Koon Yuen Chi (£) Ch'iu Chau Foo Chi (M) and many other books. The poem on the grave was remarkable for the curious allusions that were made in it to the future. It runs:- 1. 長伸左手接星羅, 2. 走攬青衣濯碧波, 3. 深夜一潭星斗現, 4. 裏頭容萬船過。 5. 有人下得朝陽穴, 6. 十三年內登科, 7. 若是世人尋不得, 8. 囘頭轉問釣魚哥。 This can be roughly translated as follows: 1. "Put out the left hand as far as Sing Hill, 2. running as far as to Tsing I island wash it in the green waves.” These two lines refer to the position of the grave. 3. "In deep night one harbour all the stars appear.” Alluding to the lights of Hong Kong harbour in the future. 4. "Inside harbour there will be ten thousand ships passing to and fro. The trade that was to come to Hong Kong. 5. "If any one can find the proper site of the grave 6. in thirteen years' time his descendants will pass the highest degree of Government examinations." This came true in so far as the Tang family were very successful in passing examinations and some of them became high officers and men of rank. 7. "If people in the world try to find, and are unable to find it 8. turn your head round and ask the young fisherman." Referring to the grave again. When Tang Foo was finding the place for the grave the local villagers pointed out to him a stone known as the Fishing Stone which helped him to decide on the site. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES: KAM TIN 117 from Kwantung province Wong Chi Tsoi (£*) of Tung Koon district was rewarded with this privilege. The Lik Ying Tsaai had a large library which housed many thousands of books, and outside the North gate of the village Tang Foo built several hostels for the students to live in. He cultivated the surrounding fields, and the income derived from them was used for forming scholarships for poor students. Tang Foo lectured to the scholars himself sometimes, but he also paid learned men to teach regularly. In the 24th year of Ka Hing (✯✯) A.D. 1819 of Ts'ing (†) dynasty when "The History of the San On district" was revised the ruins of the school were still to be seen, but now there is no trace of it left. According to a copy of the family tree belonging to the Ping Shaan (1) branch of the Tang family, the original stone on Tang Foo's grave was replaced in the 45th year of Ka Tsing (†) A.D. 1566 of Ming dynasty, by a man named Tang Shui Faan (†4K) as it was broken and illegible. On the new stone it was said that the date of Tang Foo was not obtainable, but it stated that he lived during the Sung dynasty. In the 33rd year of Hong Hei () A.D. 1694, of Tsing dynasty another stone was erected, and it is this one, that gives the date of Tang Foo passing his Tsun-sz (+) examination to be the 2nd year of Sung Ning ($) of Sung dynasty A.D. 1103, but considering that his great grandson Tang Sin (#) (or Tang Yuen Leung, one of the "five yuens”) is known to have been district officer of Kung Yuen (4) Kiangsi province in the 3rd year of Kin Yim (£ƒ) A.D. 1129 of Sung dynasty, it is probable that Tang Foo lived a good deal earlier. In fact in the 8th year of Shing Fa (1 ) A.D. 1472 of Ming dynasty the Tang family wrote in their family tree the suggestion that perhaps the 2nd year of Sung Ning () was miswritten for 2nd year of Hei Ning ( ) which would put the date of Tang Foo back to A.D. 1069, a far more possible date. The system of district magistrates in the Sung dynasty was quite different to the system in the modern dynasty of Ts'ing (). When the "Five Dynasties” Ng Toi (£†) A.D. 907-959 began China was in a state of rebellion and disunion. Large armies under their separate generals had to be sent to the various localities to keep order, but far from supporting the Emperor the generals turned the country they were sent to control, into feudatory states, Faan Chan ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 204 NOTES AND QUERIES as "land-holding corporations" and are treated as such, descent data being regarded essentially as secondary particulars. 6. Although the implications of this statement for the general theory of unilineal descent groups have largely been ignored, the observation is borne out by a study of the ethnographic and historical data concerning the Kam Tin Tangs. The elders classify no fewer than four ancestors as hoi chuk cho, and, according to them, honor all four with essentially the same ritual obligations. These ancestors [1) Tang Hon Fat (**), 2) Tang Foo (##), 3) Tang Yuen Leung (*), 4) Tang Hung Yee (###)] are central pivots around which much of the oral and written history revolve; yet, as an investigation of the genealogy (##) kept by the elders reveals, long spells of "historical time" and interrupted residence separate them one from another, a disturbing fact which has, in the past, generated considerable debate on their individual legitimacies. 7. Sung Hok Pang* mentions a debate, recorded in an early Kam Tin genealogy during the Shing Fa () years of the Ming dynasty, concerning whether Tang Hon Fat ever actually visited Kam Tin at all. Elders maintain that this debate is still very much alive. 8. The debate concerning the founding of Sham Tin, i.e., whether Tang Hon Fat or Tang Foo founded the Tang settlement, is perhaps understandable when we realize the striking similarities in the biographies of the two men. Tang Hon Fat settled, it is said, in the vicinity of Sham Tin at a place called Kwai Kok Shan (± A L), some time towards the end of the tenth century A.D. There is speculation that he constructed the Hung Shing Kung (†), a temple still intact in Pak Pin (at) Village. He was a government officer, shing mo long (#4), from Kiangsi (31), Kat Shui Yuen (##), Pak Sha Tsuen village (#). The Nam Yeung Tang genealogy (✯✯✯✯✯), held by the Ping Shan Tangs, credits him with being the first settler. The Kam Tin Tangs disagree, placing most of the credit on his great-grandson, Tang Foo. 9. Tang Foo was also a high official of the Sung Dynasty (holder of the chin shih (+) degree and county magistrate of Yeung Chun (**)). He, too, is supposed to have settled at Kwai... See Mr. Kamm's Essay I, f.n. 20 and Essay II, f.n. 21. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 205 12 On this particular type of tenancy, see John Kamm, "Two essays on the Ch'ing economy of Hsin-an, Kwangtung Province”, JHKBRÁS 1977, pp. 55-84, and James Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911, Folkestone, Kent, England, 1977, pp. 50-53. 13 Ints. Mr. Wong 22.6.81, Mr. Lam Kaap Shau 8.6.81, Mr. Cheung Kau 26.6.81, Mr. Cheung 26.6.81, Mr. Cheng Yung 10.7.81, and Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81; Hugh D.R. Baker, Sheung Shui, A Chinese Lineage Village, Guildford and London, 1968, p. 172. 14 Father Sergio Ticozzi, 12.5.81, quoting from Giovanni B. Tragella, Le Mission Estere di Milano, Nel Quadro Degli Avvenimenti Contemporanli, Milan 1950-1963, vol. 1, pp. 274-275, vol. 2, pp. 85, 89, and 314. Int. Father George Carusso, 20.5.81. 15 Ints. Mr. Lok Tak K'ei 17.7.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81, Mrs. Lau 14.6.81, and Mr. Tse Kw'an 16.11.80. 10 Int. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81. Mr. Yau's term for "moorage inlet" was "siu wan t'au". Cf. also the type of market James Hayes refers to as "coastal market centres" in his Hong Kong Region, p. 37. 17 Documents on this case are included in Kuan T'ien-p'ei, Ch'ou-hai ch'u-chi (1836, n.p., Taipei reprint, 1968) 2/26a-33a, 56a-74a, 80a-99b. Kuan was Naval Commander-in-Chief for Kwangtung from 1834 to 1841. C. Fred Blake, in Ethnic Groups and Social Change in a Chinese Market Town, Hawaii, 1981, p. 46 note 8, states "Lung Shuen Wan was a traditional outpost for the Chinese imperial navy's regulation of eastern approaches to the Pearl River. I wonder if perhaps Lung Shuen Wan was the original 'coastal market centre' in this area?" Elsewhere (loc. cit. and p. 95) he points out that the Lung Shuen Wan Tin Hau Temple retained the patronage of the Pak Kong and Sha Kok Mei villagers, despite the greater convenience of the Tin Hau Temple within Sai Kung Market. 18 These are figures of shops as registered in the Block Crown Lease (DD215, DD224). It is more than likely that these were shop spaces rather than shops, and in the event that a shop might take up more than a shop space, there were fewer shops in Sai Kung and Hang Hau in the early 1900's than noted here. For comparison, in 1905, Yuen Long had only seventy-four shops and Tai Po Market twenty-three large and fifteen small ones. See James Hayes, Hong Kong Region, p. 36. 19 Ints. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 15.5.81, Father George Carusso 20.5.81, Mr. Lei Kan 19.6.81, Mr. Ue Shun Hing 10.7.81. 20 Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 15.5.81. 21 Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Madam Chiu I Mooi 7.5.81, Mrs. Foo, née Lei, 28.6.81. 22 Mrs. Kong Lei San Kiu 21.6.81. Mr. Cheung Kin Wa 10.6.81 of Taai Fung Nin (opened c. 1933) in Sai Kung Market remembered that the shop used to slaughter a pig each day to sell to the boat people. 23 Mr. Chan Kei Shang 28.5.81, Mr. Chan Shou 19.6.81. 24 Mr. Hoh King 6.5.81, Mrs. Lei née So 20.6.81, Mr. Lei Yau 13.11.80, Mr. Cheung Ming Shing 8.6.81, Mr. Lai Foh 8.5.81. Mrs. Lei used to obtain piglets from Kam Lei Loi in Sai Kung Market. It took six to seven months to fatten them, and two dollars to have each pig carried back to Sai Kung Market. She also had rice and pig feed (chiefly rice husk) from Kam Lei Loi on credit. Kam Lei Loi was a butcher's cum general store, where her husband worked. 25 According to Mr. Yau T'aam Shang, 15.5.81, the interest rate in Sai Kung Market was 5 cents per dollar per month, i.e. 60 percent per annum. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 207 36 1911 Census. 37 For a brief discussion of these ideas, see David Faure, "Hongkong and China in the village world", JHKBRAS 21 (1981). A noteworthy variation is the shrine for the Taai Shing Yan Kung Ma at Luk Mei Village, which is both an ancestral figure and a territorial god. See research notes on Ue Lan Festival at Luk Mei, 5-7.8.81. * Ints. Mr. Cheung T'o 29.5.81, 15.6.81, Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Mr. Tse Ming 8.81, and notes on the ta tsiu at Ho Chung, 27.12.81 - 31.12.81. For the donations of the Uens towards the repair of the temple, see Ch'e Kung Temple tablet and ints. Mr. Uen Chi Ming 16.1.81, 13.2.81, 7.3.81. Our interviews did not discover if only villagers of Ho Chung contributed towards the annual Ch'e Kung Festival, or if other villagers in the villages that took part in the ta tsiu also did. 3 Int. Mr. Chan P'aang Hing 29.5.81. 40 Ints. Mr. Cheng Ip 14.5.81, Mr. Lei Yiu T'ing 23.6.81, Mr. Lei Kau 23.6.81, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, 21.7.81. 41 Ints. Mr. Tse Wing 9.6.81, Mr. Tsang 25.6.81, Mr. Tsang Yung 25.6.81, Mrs. Wai 27.6.81 42 Ints. Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Mr. Cheung Wing 1981; see also Mr. Sung Kw'an 23.6.81 for similar arrangements for raising pigs in Tit Kim Hang, and Mr. Shing Uen Wan 10.7.81 in Pik Uk. 43 Ints. Mr. Shing Ip On 14.6.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81. Every year, on the 28th of the First Month, all the five surnames of Mang Kung Uk joined in the worship of the earth god. A matshed was built in the village, on which lanterns were hung. See int. Mr. Ue Shun Hing 10.7.81. See also Patrick Hase, “Observations at a Village Funeral", presented at the Conference on Hong Kong Society and History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, December 1981, (papers to be published shortly). 44 ** Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.8.81. * Ints. Mr. Sung 22.6.81, Mr. Tang Kei Faat 25.6.81, Mr. Hoh King 24.6.81, Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, Mrs. Lau Lei Loi T'aai 28.6.81, store keeper at Wong Chuk Wan 28.6.81, Mrs. Hoh née Lau 29.6.81, Mr. Kuet Po Shing 2.7.81, and notes on the ruined temple at Wong Chuk Wan 28.6.81. The composition of the Shap Heung given by Mrs. Hoh née Lau and Mr. Kuet differs slightly from that in the text here. Other village groups in the Sai Kung area include one that consists of Tse Keng Tuk, Chiu Hang, Ta Ho Tun, and Ma Nam Wat (int. Mr. Chan Uet Shing 24.6.81), another that consists of the three villages at Man Yee Wan (int. Mr. Lei Shiu Yam 8.5.81), yet another the seven villages that made use of the sugar press at Ko Tong (int. Mr. To 19.6.81). Apparently, Tai Long, Pak Tam Au, and Chek Keng, and then Sham Chung, Lai Chi Chong, and Pak Sha O were two groups of villages that had close social ties (int. Madam Chiu I Mooi 7.5.81). 48 Ints. Mr. Tse Wing 20.6.81, Mr. Yau 28.7.81. Fung shui was involved in the dispute in Sha Kok Mei. The villagers considered that part of a hill nearby, known to them as the "tiger's land" (foo tei) was essential to the fung shui of the village. Sha Kok Mei would not permit burial, grass or tree cutting on the foo tei. "Mr. Chau T'in Shang 9.7.81, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, Mr. Yau Taai Hin 8.81, Mr. Tse Ming 8.81. Major temple celebrations before World War II were held in at least the following places: Leung Shuen Wan, Sai Kung, Tai Miu, Hang Hau, Pan Long Wan, Tseung Kwan O, Kau Sai. Pak Kong and Ho Chung had a ta tsiu every ten years, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 214 DAVID FAURE Dates Dates Name (and village) interviewed Name (and village) interviewed Mr. Tsang Yau (Tai Mong Tsai) 23.6.81 Mrs. Cheung, née Chan 27.6.81 (Sha Kok Mei) Madam Tsang, Mr. Liu 27.6.81 23.6.81 Madam Cheung (Cheung Muk Tau) (Wong Mo Ying) Mr. Wong (Sha Ha) 27.6.81 Madam Lau 23.6.81 Mrs. Lau Lei Loi T'aai 28.6.81 (Pak Kong Au) (Wong Chuk Wan) Mrs. Loh, née Tsang 23.6.81 Store-keeper 28.6.81 (Tai Mong Tsai) (Wong Chuk Wan) Madam Cheung 24.6.81 Visit to temple at 28.6.81 (Sha Kok Mei) Wong Chuk Wan Mr. Wong Yung 24.6.81 Mr. Foo Ts'ing's funeral (Tung Sam Kei) 28.6.81 Mr. Chan Uet Shing 24.6.81 Mrs. Tsang, née Lei, 28.6.81 (Tsiu Hang) Mrs. Hoh, Mr. Tse, née Lau 24.6.81 née Lei (Tai Tan) (Che Keng Tuk) Mrs. Cheng née Mo 28.6.81 Mr. Tse Shui Kam 24.6.81 (To Kwa Ping) (Che Keng Tuk) Mr. Wong Ping Lin 29.6.81 Mr. Hoh (Ha Yeung, 24.6.81 (Tai Wan) near Ko Tong) Mrs. Wong, née Sin 29.6.81. Mr. Wong (Ha Yeung, 24.6.81 (Tai Wan) near Ko Tong) Mr. Lei (Wo Liu) 29.6.81 Mrs. Wai, née Lei 25.6.81 (Sha Kok Mei) Mr. Chung Kam Faat 29.6.81 (Ma Nam Wat) Mr. Tsang 25.6.81 Mr. Wan 29.6.81 (Sha Kok Mei) (Ma Nam Wat) Mr. Tsang Yung 25.6.81 (Sha Kok Mei) Mrs. Hoh, née Lau 29.6.81 (O Tau) Mrs. Siu (Pak Tam) 25.6.81 Mr. Wan Koon Fuk 31.1.81, (Wong Mo Ying) 25.6.81 (Tai Nam Wu) 6.81, 5.8.81 Mr. Tang Kei Faat Mr. Lau Wan Hei 25.6.81 Mrs. Lau, née Lei 1.7.81 (Pak Kong Au), (Hei Tsz Wan) Mr. Kong Sai P'ing (Lung Mei) Mrs. Lau 1.7.81 (Hei Tsz Wan) Mr. Cheung Kau 26.6.81 (Ping Tun) Mr. Lei (Wong Chuk Yeung) (1) 1.7.81 Mrs. Cheung née Wan 26.6.81 (Ping Tun) Mr. Lei (Wong Chuk Yeung) (2) 1.7.81 Mr. Cheung 26.6.81 (Tai Po Tsai) Mr. Lei 1.7.81 Mr. Lei 26.6.81 (Tsak Yue Wu) (Muk Min Shan) Mr. Lei (Wo Liu) 2.7.81 Madam Keung 26.6.81 Mr. Lau Yun Shang 2.7.81 (Muk Min Shan) (Wong Chuk Wan) Mrs. Wai 27.6.81 Mrs. Yung, née Wan 2.7.81 (Sha Kok Mei) (Hoi Ha) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 NOTES AND QUERIES THE PO TAK TEMPLE IN SHEUNG SHUI MARKET The Po Tak Temple (Temple to repay a virtuous deed), also known as the Ts'un Foo Temple (The Governor's temple), in Sheung Shui Market now occupies only a small flat in a multi-storeyed building on Tsun Fu Street, but it was a sizable building until it was burnt down in the fire in 1955. For a long time, it was also the political focus of the Punti villages in the northern and eastern New Territories. The temple was built to commemorate Chau Yau-tak (H), Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi from 1670 to 1673, and Wong Loi-yam (E), Governor of Kwangtung in 1669, the two officials who were instrumental in petitioning the Emperor to end the coastal evacuation from 1662 to 1669. No-one remembers when it was built. According to the 1819 edition of the San On Gazetteer, it was one of three temples devoted to these two officials in the county, the other two being located north of Sham Chun Market. This record must not be taken to be exhaustive: there was at least one more devoted to these two officials in Kam Tin (the Chau Wong I Kung Shue Uen). Village elders remember that before the Second World War and in the 1950s sacrifice was offered annually at the Po Tak Temple to the two officials by two separate but overlapping groups referred to as the Old Alliance (Kau Yeuk) and the New Alliance (San Yeuk). The Old Alliance sacrificed on the nineteenth of the Fifth Month and the New Alliance on the first of the Sixth Month. The account books of both groups are fortunately extant, and they provide valuable documentation on these two important inter-village organizations. Two copies of the Old Alliance account book are available. Both have written on the front covers: Po Tak Temple temple celebration volume, 12th year of the Republic, Lung Shaan copy (報徳祠神誕冊,民國十二年立,龍山冊). We have compared the introductory texts, and they are identical. It seems ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q There besides Chinese are Japs and Hawaiians of both sex but these women are not so weak and helpless as the Chinese women are. Having told you so many unpleasant things now I tell you some good chances that we have met. The whole Chinatown is gone except fifteen to twenty brick buildings were left. It was very very fortunate that the fire did not reach our store side. The Honolulu Chinese Chronicle's whole block was burned, including several brick buildings, as Sing Chong, Yee Wo Chan and others. The unexpected fire was caused by the strong wind. Anyway the whole town shall be burned but gradually had not the big fire had happened. When the people left their homes for quarantine they were not allowed to take anything more than they can carry. So one of these numbers had to lose 90% of what he had or more. The Chinatown Quarantine did not raise entirely but King St's quarantine was raised on the 15th Feb. Our store had been resumed to business on that day. The business is very rapid and profitable because there are only four or five big grocery stores in town now. It is also lucky that Yim Quen, Lum Kam Chin, Yim Seg Lock, Lum Chock Hoo and Chong Chug are not in quarantine, if they are the store will probably not reopen so soon. All schools will probably reopen in a couple of weeks, if no more new cases have been known from now on. There have been no case for nearly two wks. in Honolulu. It is said that the quarantined people in Kalihi will be all let out before March. I shall be glad to tell you some more news happened later. Your loving brother Ping Lim Chan** On 14 April 1900, Ping Lam informed Father that all schools had reopened and that the Board of Education had designated Kauluwela School open to both Chinese boys and girls in view of the fact that the school for Chinese girls had been destroyed. Apparently there was sexual segregation as well as racial discrimination then. Ping Lim had been depressed over his mother's death on 4 October 1899, but the upheaval caused by the Chinatown fire a few months later drew his attention away from his grief. No record has been preserved to indicate when Ping Lim matriculated at the University of California in Berkeley where he became interested in dentistry, then in law and in political economy. In his letter of 17 January 1903, he said that 250 students were expelled and 900 more received conditions because the large enrolment forced these eliminations. [17 ================================================================================